Cannonball! (1976)

There are many B-films that can be very enjoyable when you enter them with a different state of mind. You have to realize yourself the acting will be bad, characters will be foolish and the fact that you have to see the film as a caricature of some aspects of society - just don't take it serious. This is one of these films and it really provided for some very comic moments from time to time.

Add up to it the lovely cars chasing and wrecking each other. There's the fire-red 1970 Pontiac Firebird Trans-Am driven by the protagonist (David Carradine), the 1976 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray and the amazing yellow DeTomaso Pantera (designed by Tom Tjaarda). Ford supplied the engine for the Pantera to compete with General Motors and their GT car: the Corvette. Without a single doubt I prefer the Pantera - I would love to be in the drivers seat of that car one day, damn. Watch out for the still with Martin Scorsese, Paul Bartel (director of Cannonball) and Sylvester Stallone eating some Kentucky Fried Chicken accompanied by some wine.

Public Enemies (2009)

The aspect of cinema that keeps me fascinated is the visual appearance of characters. Where in books a character is described with words and lots of visual meaning is added by the reader, in film this description is fully given through images including facial features, clothing and movements. Because of that characters will always be ideal - just like the marble sculptures from the ancient Greeks. They are played by the best looking actors/actresses and look like they just took a shower after visiting the hairdresser and got themselves some crispy new clothes. You never see the average joe from the around the block. Please note I need to generalize here. And it's even more interesting if the film is historic or based on a true story, since there are facts on the original story and perhaps some pictures available.

As is with Public Enemies, which is all about John Dillinger. John Dillinger has had the luck to be played by John Depp II. If you've never seen any picture of the real John you would think that he was the most stylish guy in every State of America at the time. Don't get me wrong, Dillinger wasn't under dressed but Depp simply manages to portray a character that's the only remembrance you have afterwards. Enough. Other details in the film are almost as impressing. As for the heavy cotton prisoner outfits, the tweed coat with the blocked pattern, the dashboard of an old 1920's Ford model and all the different hat styles (including the prison one!).