Two Words, One Answer.
could they
 Only They Could Have Made This Album $11.98 Celia Cruz was the heart and soul of salsa. She stood above all. Trombonist Willie Colon was a foremost arranger and producer. Here he blends four horns, four percussions, guitar, piano, bass, and voices into textures of Afro-Latin rhythm and blues, pop, and jazz. She covers it with polish, charm and charisma. He creates mood and nuance. She personifies each with distinction. The first three songs establish the session's framework. She opens in a medium tempo, then accelerates to warp speed, retaining sharp clarity, and eases into a slower pace to the warm accompaniment of guitar."Zambullete" starts casually, the queen taking command with her trademark shout, and driving hard to the finish over the relentless pulse of bass and rhythm ensemble. "Tu Y Las Nubes" follows, its mellow tone again lending effective contrast. Her exchanges with the chorus in "Pun Pun Cantalu" are playful. She is coy and provocative, fast and furious. Joy and fun abound. She imparts a serious message in "Todos Somos Iguales", where power lies in its restraint and simplicity. The romantic "Rinkinkalla" is sweet. The lyrics are in Spanish; although I am not fluent, the message rang clearly. Two accomplished artists, at their best, gave us a gem.  If Only They Could Talk by David R. Stoecklein 11.75"x18" Art Print Poster $20.00 If Only They Could Talk by David R. Stoecklein Image Size 11.75" x 18" Paper Size 16" x 20" Fine Art Reproduction on High Quality Art Paper. Retails for $20.00 or more.  Icons of Horror - Boris Karloff (The Boogie Man Will Get You/The Black Room/The Man They Could Not Hang/Before I Hang) $24.96 Before I Hang: 3 out of 10: Boris Karloff stars as Dr. Kevorkian in this expose of stem cell research gone wrong. Okay maybe that is not completely accurate but one might certainly think along those lines as a doctor found guilty of a mercy killing is sentenced to hang despite his promising youth serum. Karloff quickly finds himself in a prison experimenting with the blood of a recently hanged killer the clock ticking against his own execution. He injects himself with the serum it works the governor pardons him and he goes off to save the world. Actually that is not completely accurate as well. Apparently the blood came from the prisoner "Abby Normal" and Karloff starts getting that look in his eyes and his over-sized handkerchief out of his pocket and the population of the movie starts dropping precipitously. The movie is poorly directed and despite some initially good albeit rushed ideas it quickly falls into the old blood memory turns man into killer nonsense. The pacing is bizarre with a ton of plot simply explained through voice-over (the hanging verdict in particular seems unlikely as shown) in the first half the second half with Karloff stalking the elderly drags. A weak film that starts of strong and quickly goes nowhere. The Boogie Man Will Get You: 6 out of 10: If Ma and Pa Kettle ever did Arsenic and Old Lace it would be this movie. Very very silly and occasionally quite funny the Boogie Man has a couple of big faults. The supporting cast is mixed at best and the ending is a mess. It also has two great assets, Boris Karloff and Peter Lorre. Karloff is spot on as the bumbling well meaning murdering scientist. Whose experiments on traveling salesman to create super-soldiers for the war effort are both well meaning and quite homicidal. Peter Lorre is hilarious as the Mayor, Police Chief, Undertaker, Notary, excreta. He dresses in a three piece suit with a Siamese kitten in his pocket to which he coos in German. Watching these two together is pure entertainment and certainly worth a viewing. The rest of the movie is light, frothy, derivative, and occasionally irritating. Just watch the stars at work and forget the rest. |
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