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it's time
Dec. 29th, 2008 | 03:32 pm
music: tears run rings - waiting for the end
let's start with the runners-up:
son of rambow (Jennings)*:
perfectly capturing what i think is a fairly common experience for most film geeks- the moment when you're first bit by the bug and realize that film is a language you wanna spend the rest of your life speaking. it's a movie drunk on the act of creating, and the friendships that result from those partnerships. Jennings elicits natural, unaffected work from his young cast and gets the period(80s) details just right in all the little ways that really matter. sweet, rowdy, heartfelt and rude all at once.
tropic thunder (Stiller) / pineapple express (Green):
-Stiller, after spending most of this century dabbling in mediocrity, comes back to directing with all guns blazing. and the movie's a total winner, scathingly hilarious and surprisingly accurate.
-indie fag D.G.Green's crime comedy also rocked major ballsacks, rocked so hard that my helper monkey bellylaughed his furry nuggets off. yea it kicks ass, tonal shift and all.
doomsday (Marshall):
playing like some obscure Avco-Embassy grindhouse pic circa '82, Doomsday is so much goddamn fun. it shoots, skewers, decapitates and blows the fuck up and out of everyone and everything on screen(sometimes all four at once ...repeatedly). assholes will complain about it being unoriginial & spastically ridiculous, but it's also incredibly spirited, utterly without pretense and Sir Neil Marshall's near-boundless enthusiasm for the all the rad 80s celluloid bursts through every frame.
also: Malcolm McDowell as a king(!).
the brothers bloom (Johnson):
Johnson delivers on the promise of his excellent debut with this awfully stylized conman pic. playing like The Sting made by Hal Ashby, it's a joy.
wall.e (Stanton):
gorgeous and lush animation, photographed with an eye for photo-realism. Wall.E's a surprisingly sophisticated fable and a complete sensory pleasure. special nod to the refined and visceral sound work by Ben Burtt, the first half of the picture is lifetime-achievement award shit.
iron man (Favreau):
confident, cocky and slick(much like Stark himself); it's pop-art writ large, populated by great actors who know exactly what they're doing here, all pulled together astoundingly well by Favreau. ILM's work combined with that of the late, great Stan Winston's is absolutely seamless, making this a 'summer product' with a pulse.
the good, the bad, the weird (Ji-Woon):
Kim Ji-Woon takes Leone's archetypes and bends them to new purpose, giving Koreans their own icons of cool in the process. not really a spaghetti western transplanted to a new location(kimchi western? nah), any similarity to Leone ends with the character models; instead this is more Raiders of the Lost Ark (definitely more than anything in The Crystal Boner)- it has the same sense of giddy invention and delighted rocket ride pulp style, with bits of The Road Warrior- the culminating chase scene in the desert is one fuckin' delight after another, an insanely enjoyable overload of mayhem that should only be seen on the biggest screen possible.
oh and did i mention the whole thing is unbelievably hilarious?
punisher: war zone (Alexander):
i'll say it right here: one of the best comic book flicks ever made. if you're at all fond of Ennis's work on the character, you'll scoop this shit with both your hands and eat it the fuck up. even if you're not a fan of the books, you'll eat up this mess; it's the BEST time i had at the movies last year, it got the most cackles outta me.
like a (very funny)slasher pic with guns, nobody simply dies in this movie, they get ...well, i dare not spoil anything, let's just say they die ..uh, horribly.
topping all the insanity is the fact that it's a dazzlingly beautiful-looking picture. it's as if Vittorio Storaro and Jack Cardiff came together to bless Steve Gainer, right before he started shooting this beast. and finally, Lexi Alexander has not only cock-punched all the contenders vying for the "most insanely bugnuts filmmaker pumping blood right now!" honor, but stomped them all into a crimson soaked mush!
and here we go, the big 10:
10) hunger (McQueen):
sound and image are given primacy in the debut by Turner Prize winning British artist Steve McQueen. an experimental, non-narrative film examining the final days of IRA activist and political prisoner Bobby Sands as he slowly perished from a 66 day hunger strike in '81.
a lingering and profoundly rewarding work; if one's able to endure the extreme imagery with a compellingly ruthless artistic vision. McQueen’s images, aided by Sean Bobbitt’s precisely-rendered cinematography, have a cold beauty that forms a striking contrast to the grimness (and griminess) of their content. McQueen, unlike other visual artists transitioning to cinema, has a sure hand with the form, especially in working with his actors, all of whom do striking work. Fassbender, as Sands, particularly impresses in navigating the physical challenges of the role, as well as the pic's centerpiece scene-a verbal avalanche, in an otherwise mostly silent work, as Sands parries in a dialectical debate with a priest. tactfully gut-wrenching stuff, deeply exploring political themes without ever being preachy.
09) slumdog millionaire (Boyle):
Boyle's been a fucking' inferno for most of this past decade or so, barely making any mis-steps, and his newest work may be his best. a somewhat Dickensonian tale, Slumdog is a complete success; exciting, charming, pulsating with sound and color and a breathlessly inventive narrative. it's easy to love this one.
08) jcvd (El Mechri) / rambo (Stallone):
-probably the most emotionally lacerating self-portrait since Adaptation, JCVD is a fuckin' miracle of a movie. one of those "holy shit this is a real movie! they really made this!" deals. so all i'll say is that i'm infinitely thankful for it's existence. shit, i never thought i'd see The Muscles cry real tears on film, how about that, eh?
-Stallone's awesome comeback(and i hope it continues) as the iconic protagonist was a welcome breath of fresh, gory air. a hardcore and unflinching return to true action cinema; the dude looks like he can actually fuck people up, as opposed to pretty-boy models prancing around on wires and delivering 'fierce blows' to thugs with their well-manicured hands. the film is lean, compelling and excessively violent ...pretty much everything it should be.
07) in bruges (McDonagh):
an absolute treasure; brilliantly mixing, comedy, introspection and shocking drama, Martin McDonagh's first foray into feature-length cinema is just the sort of demented cleverness you'd expect from the Irishman(if you're familiar with his theater work, or even the incredible short: Six Shooter).
it has at-first-glance seemingly odd touches that seem completely frivolous: why set it in Bruges? why have a pair of hitmen discuss a painting by Bosch? what the fuck is up with the film within a film starring a dwarf? but by the end of it all you realize that NOTHING McDonagh has done is gratuitous, and the dizzying conclusion is nothing short of genius as he brings all his characters together in a chaotic, potentially bloody affair. one of the most wonderful things about it is that you never see where it's going; it's an intelligent work, funnier than it has any right to be, populated by superb characters and great actors completely upto the task.
06) hellboy II (Del Toro) / the dark knight (Nolan):
and of course this was the year that 'comic book movies' came of age; they exploded into the collective consciousness, as much more than nerd genre exercises. these are adult films about adult ideas; richly imagined and beautifully acted by tremendous ensembles, films that represent the very best of what can happen when the right filmmaker gets hold of the right source material and then makes some exciting, bold choices. kinda like the characters in these films; The Golden Army for example, has two moments where characters make awful, selfish, unreasonable choices, because they see no other way to save the people they love. unlike what happens so very often in these movies where the superheores make the selfless decision- putting the world ahead of themselves. i can go on and on about these films, but i won't here. bottom line; these are not 'just comic book movies', because Del Toro and Nolan and all the madmen they collaborated with to bring these to fruition dared to drop the word "just" from their vocabulary, they aimed for art, they aimed for pure enduring cinema.
05) the wrestler (Aronofsky):
a movie about living past your expired-by date; somehow continuing after it seems most everyone would prefer for you to give in. very small scale, very quiet, even the moments where things crescendo are played as small, controlled exchanges of emotional gunfire rather than giant double-barreled histrionics. an amazing, human piece of work from Rourke and a reminder than the name everyone threw around critically during the early days of Rourke's career was 'Brando', and with this, he's earned the comparison in the most complete and complimentary way ever.
04) gomorrah (Garrone):
a merciless, distant, impressionist portrait of life and a tough, tough movie, with not a trace of sentiment. will probably attract moviegoers craving violent underworld shenanigans, who will undoubtedly be disappointed by its verite approach as the picture successfully blurs the line between dramatic film and documentary. an eventually stunning neo-realist masterpiece, its as far removed from traditional Hollywood gangster pics as can be imagined. even in the toughest US (and even most European) crime cinema you are invited to empathize with the characters and they are romanticized no matter how 'tough' the film may be, but there are no such avenues offered here. with the phony glorification and Robin Hood imagery completely absent, Gomorrah is thoroughly unconventional and without any counterparts or comparisons.
03) synecdoche, new york (Kaufman):
another TOUGH movie that i didn't have the courage to face a second time. the tone here is depressive & suicidally painful; it's a ruthlessly punishing movie about someone in the grips of decay, whose body is failing them in slo-mo ...one pain and ruined day at a time.
and of course, in addition to being roaringly funny, it's inconcievably, startingly, mind-blowingly amazing.
02) timecrimes (Vigalondo)*:
a whipsmart, creepy, jet-black comedy of errors about how easy it is to fuck up the fabric of reality when you start horsing around with time-travel. working on a tinyass budget, Vigalondo(who's a total riot himself) weaves an intricate and fiendish yarn, that manages to be funny, scary and always human, no matter how outrageous the proceedings get. this is as good as SF filmmaking gets; highly impressive and accessible, and probably the best time travel film ever made.
01) let the right one in (Alfredson):
absolutely the best picture of the year & a film i completely, profoundly adore. been described, a bit wrongfully, as an adolescent love story; it's more about friendship amongst two lost children too young to know what physical love even entails. its like Au Revoir Les Enfants, difficult childhood relationships playing out in difficult circumstances.
adapted by John Ajvide Lindqvist from his own novel and directed with exceptional tonal control by Tomas Alfredson. the plot concerns vampires and crimson-spattered splendors of flesh, but its one of the most endearing and sweetest movies i've ever seen, embracing hesistant friendship with total commitment to character nuance and storytelling serenity.
photographed with brilliant menace by Hoyte Van Hoytema, the movie is consumed with mood. it's grotesque, forbidding, unnervingly gentle and ethereal; a bizzarely heartwarming genre bender, and easily one of the very best cinematic outings of the last decade.
i'd also like to give honorable mentions to: man on wire (Marsh), not quite hollywood: the wild, untold story of ozploitation (Hartley), somers town (Meadows), red (McKee/Diesen), waltz with bashir (Folman) and burn after reading (Coens).
* movies officially completed in 2007, but only played a couple of festivals. they were released everywhere in 2008 and are hence being included here.
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R.I.P. Roy
Feb. 10th, 2008 | 07:25 pm
music: medicine - the pink
pour some out for one of the most righteous dudes of 70s crime cinema, and Friedkin's fave leading man.
i'm gonna go throw on The Seven Ups.
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jody the grinder
Feb. 6th, 2008 | 10:14 am
music: the zombies - leave me be
"So then I started thinking about what I could do. And the first idea was a bunch of young college history students that were going through a tour of the plantations of the old South. And there's a ghost of an old slave that is part of negro folklore. Jody the Grinder actually went down and bested the devil, by fucking him. And so the devil put him on earth for all eternity to fuck white women. And that was the devil's punishment.
The opening scene would take place in the classroom, with the professor telling the story of Jody the Grinder in a big four-page monologue. I would probably have had Sam Jackson playing that part. And it was really good. But then I didn't have anywhere to go with it, because if you have a story about a killer slave with supermacho powers done in the style of a slasher films, then even if he's doing it today, and even if the white girls are innocent, how can you not be on the slave's side?"
click below to read the whole thing:
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notable celluloid outings from last year
Jan. 16th, 2008 | 02:02 am
music: dna - detached
Honorable Mentions:
transformers (Bay):
big, cool, fun. giant robots blowin' shit up in the awesomest summer flick of '07. And Bay somehow makes you care about a talking yellow robot.
eastern promises (Cronenberg):
pure dynamite. Cronenberg's uniquely clinical storytelling style remains intact, with his no-nonsense approach to violence evident in the already-classic bathhouse sequence. Viggo's performance here is ridiculously chilling and intense, the best of the year.
hostel II (Roth):
taking his cues from the great Italian horrors of yesteryear this time around, Roth crafted an operatic, elegant and kickass sequel, easily superior to the original. solid performances and wicked cameos, not to mention, a sensational ending.
seraphim falls (Von Ancken):
beautiful photography coupled with two terrific lead performances results in a fantastic western, and a thesis on vengeance & obsession.
black book (Verhoeven):
Verhoeven returns to spectacular form with this old-fashioned adventure story ..with lots of blood, sex and fecal matter. mystery, romance, action & suspense are blended seamlessly into a singular narrative that never lets up. supremely exciting and daring, Zwartboek's a tremendous f'kin achievement.
no country for old men (Coens):
expertly and meticulously realized pulp, that, like its source material, meanders a bit into metaphysics towards the end. regardless though, this is an irrefutably solid flick, uniformly well-acted with Brolin a particular stand-out for me, the coolest, baddest dude in film these days.
this is england (Meadows):
Meadows eclipses his previous works with his latest. stunning stuff, featuring some absolutely incredible performances. might even move ya.
and here's my ..Top fuckin' 10:
10) michael clayton (Gilroy)/ the bourne ultimatum (Greengrass):
Tony Gilroy is quietly turning into one of the most reliably tasteful writers working right now, as is evident with these two admirable films.
his directorial debut is a sharp, intelligent and very stylish piece of 'legal cinema' that recalls to mind paranoia thrillers from that sexiest of the decades. special mention should be made of the cinematography by Rober Elswit(who also dazzled with his work on There Will Be Blood this year), it'll tear you with its fascinating contrasts. and this is easily Clooney's best performance yet.
Gilroy, is also as much the architect of the most rockin'-ass spy films to emerge in (at least 2)decades, as the man lensing 'em: Paul Greengrass. the charm of the Bourne films, to me, has always been the fact that they feel like they're resolutely of a different age, it's completely refreshing to see someone pull off badass low-tech spy fare like this. Ultimatum is breathless, edge-of-your-seat shit that only has one pace: faster.
09) superbad (Mottola):
crude, hilarious yet completely likeable. no need to mention individual gags or events, the shit is top-to-bottom funny, and Michael Cera is probably the coolest 'kid' actor working anywhere.
08) death proof (Tarantino):
a talky 70s throwback gem that's split straight down the middle by a bizzare, genre defying, two-act structure. a whole lotta motherfuckers understandably complained (after all, when Tarantino said he was making a slasher exploitation flick, no one really expected this) about the seemingly boring dialogue and pointless development in the first half, but its Tarantino faithfully adapting the traditional slasher movie archetypes, it ropes you in emotionally and culminates in the most brutal kill scene of the year. the second half seems like a complete retread of the first, until it takes an outta-left field turn and becomes a 'chick empowerment' flick ala Faster Pussycat, with the concluding chase scenes being some of the best since the heydey of such stuff. seen in it's uncut form, the transition b/w the halves makes all the more sense and the juxtaposition of the pair makes Tarantino's aim more apparent: the movie is the deconstruction of the slasher film and its own first half, as well as a tribute to the delightful, bimbo-worshipping Russ Meyer (by way of Philip D'Antoni). brilliant stuff.
07) margot at the wedding (Baumbach):
like an Eric Rohmer flick with fangs, Margot is a wonderfully cruel, amusing and spot-on study of NY literary intellectuals. working his cinema verite muscles to soreness, Baumbach captures all the neurotic chaos with the help of the awesome Harris Savides, who shot using older lenses and mostly natural light. the actors do great work here and Kidman(who i'm not particularly fond of) deserves a special nod for hers as she does some of her very best here.
06) the assassination of jesse james by the coward robert ford (Dominik):
a gorgeous mood piece, Andrew Dominik's second feature is terrific populist art on par with the greatest. the fingerprints of one, Terrence Malick, are all over The Assassination of Jesse James; the laconic pacing, the lingering on beautiful landscapes, and the detached voiceover narration are all lifted straight from the Malick playbook. not something to hold against it though, as Dominik does it particularly well and makes his own thing out of it. the cinematography by the great Roger Deakins is absolutely phenomenal; the best of the year, and it outshines his work on the Coens' No Country. excellent acting esp. by the two leads, and the moody yet thrilling score by Nick Cave(& Warren Ellis) make this one of the finest movies of recent years.
05) hot fuzz (Wright):
crazy comedic brilliance, it is almost impossible to dislike Wright/Pegg's send-up of buddy/cop/action flicks. all the sharp jokes at the conventions of action films are launched with impeccable comic timing and the film stays focused at character level no matter how ludicrous things become. a number of running gags bounce back multiple times, with great payoffs to each and every single set-up. outrageously entertaining, can't wait for the concluding chapter of their Cornetto Trilogy.
04) the mist (Darabont):
Darabont brought in the camera crew from The Shield to shoot King's homage to (the great Rod Serling's) The Monsters are due on Maple Street, in a very aggressive documentary style, which makes it both vintage and cutting edge at the same time. it's balls-out relentless and (almost stubbornly) pessimistic to a fault. badass acting, effects and execution with nods to everyone from Lovecraft to Harryhausen to the aforementioned Serling, make this the most satisfying and kickass horror flick in years.
03) there will be blood (Anderson):
shot with golden scrupulousness by Robert Elswit and scored with a high-wire percussive momentum by Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood; Blood is like an unearthed classic that can snuggle comfortably next to The Treasure of Sierra Madre, Giant and Chinatown. it's the work of a powerful artist in full bloom and it makes no apologies. this is not homage. it’s not post-modern. it’s not pastiche. it’s not a sequel. it’s not a remake. it’s not a reimagining. it’s not ironic. it’s not some ham-handed political screed. it’s not an excuse for style over substance. it's just a great story about a great character told confidently by a great filmmaker. excruciatingly refreshing. oh and, Day Lewis owns every single major acting award this year.
02) control (Corbijn):
Anton Corbijn's Control is a stunningly photographed piece of celluloid, with great performances. unlike most conservative biopics with their inclination towards the mythologization of their subjects, it offers a three-dimensinal rendering of Curtis as a real being with a growing sense of isolation.
newcomer Riley is a fuckin revelation, he's got disquieting energy and his performances of all the iconic songs, which he also sings himself, are absolutely entharlling. hitting the right notes on every level, it's a tough, intense, haunting and rewarding experience.
01) sunshine (Boyle):
the absolute best film i watched last year. so good that while watching it i thought to myself "i wish i could watch a movie like this every day of my life" ..and i do, it's that good. bold, dark and far-reaching, it's smart and heady but never pretentious. Boyle and Garland have constructed a sci-fi tale that's way sharper than your standard space opera; a character study with cosmic consequences as opposed to just a western retrofitted to a galaxy far fuckin away. everything about the production is excellent, the acting is eclectic and the visuals are awe-inspiring. the soundtrack by Underworld is also pretty unbelieveable.
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Castellari's Law
Oct. 10th, 2007 | 11:24 am
music: the 3 johns - death of the european
to catch all the double-barrelled excitment in (much)better quality, check it out on Stage6.
and here's some fuckin pictures taken on set:
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3, 5, 0, 1, 2, 5, Go!
Oct. 8th, 2007 | 10:51 am
music: magazine - you never knew me
"I wish i were a Warhol silkscreen, hanging on the wall"
-Sam Riley (as Ian Kevin Curtis)
Anton Corbijn's Control is a stunningly photographed piece of celluloid, with pitch-perfect performances. unlike most conservative biopics with their inclination towards the mythologization of their subjects, it offers a three-dimensinal rendering of Curtis as a real being with a growing sense of isolation.
Riley is a fuckin revelation, he's got disquieting energy and his performances of all the iconic songs, which he also sings himself, are absolutely entharlling(and fuckin uncanny!). seeing him perform for the first time in the film("Transmission") made my hair erect, and every subsequent one after that was equally gripping.
one of the finest biopics i've ever seen, and if you're a Joy Divion nut like moi, there is no doubt: the film will carry you through with scorching intensity, the songs are interjected at ideal moments in the film and it's a wholly satisfying and haunting experience.
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Halloween
Aug. 31st, 2007 | 04:28 am
music: johhny cash - there you go
as far as i'm concered, The Devil's Rejects (anyone that knows me knows how fond i am of that shit) afforded Zombie the benefit of the doubt on this one ..unfortunately, this motherfucker's DOA. it gets more (way more) things wrong than what it manages to pull off right.
i'll start with the shit that worked:
-the man knows how to pick and place music into celluloid, and there's some pleasant music cues in here.
-maybe one scene of pure suspense ..that actually works.
-some decent shots that fit in nicely.
-Ken Foree.
and that's about it.
the rest is like a fuckin botched abortion, and a terribly paced one at that. i'm chalkin most of the failure up to the writing, which is truly fuckin dreadful. listening to the fingernails-on-the-chalkboard dialogue made me as uncomfortable as being in the same vicinity as Jason Rose during one his recurrent flirt-sessions with a hapless, bewildered soul.
the performances are almost across the board dire, save for maybe Will Forsythe and (the aforementioned and always amazing) Mr Foree. McDowell is completely wasted as Loomis is a total fuckin goof in this shit. the kid who plays the young Myers and all the chicks should seriously go choke on a nice, fat horsecock ...or an appendage of equal girth. but again, it's mostly the dialogue that should get the blame for that. i know a shit-ton of mo'fucks complained about the chick-chatter in Death Proof, well just wait till you hear these babes yappin' ...it's a doozy alright.
by the time Mike escapes and we get to the slashing, it's already an hour and a half into the fuckin thing and the rest just plays out like a sped-up version of the original minus 102% of the suspense (while retaining approximately 0.05% character maturity and whatnot), before the superfluously drawn out, lackluster ending.
and i'm not even gonna go into how many wasted set-ups there are that just don't fuckin pay off. it's all awfully put together and above all, (the mothersucking cardinal sin of cinema) as boring as watching a nutsack contracting.
that The Mist trailer looked kinda wicked though.
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driving all around
Jul. 6th, 2007 | 11:53 am
music: tom waits - table top joe
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(power out)
May. 30th, 2007 | 11:24 am
music: pere ubu - misery goats
The Greek is this intimate, striking, tree-encircled outdoor theatre snuggled in the middle of Griffith Park.
last night, Win Butler and Régine Chassagne's family of radiacals(aka The Arcade Fire) took it's stage ...and if insurgency was a stage play, this is how it would be acted out.
the meager lexis at my disposal probably can't do justice to the splendor, so i'm not gonna make an attempt.
but you haven't really seen the Arcade Fire, until you've seen 'em.
playing both records in their entirety and oozing gleam; so many "oh my god!" moments, so many killer segues. there was no downtime, no breathers, every song a bonafide stunner. i have never seen so many people, so emotionally overwhelmed at a show (no, i don't shed tears. i was built in Lee Marvin's template so i wouldn't know how to).
plenty of playful anarchy too, as the band spent the night running around, switching & slamming on each other's instruments(and in some cases banging on and knocking over anything they could find).
exceedingly engaging moments; here's just one example, "No Cars Go" (like almost every other song)was a show-stopping phenomenon with it's astonishing marraige of strings and horns, along with Régine(a completely riveting presence on stage) back on accordion and the entire band inciting the crowd with their rallying call-to-arms shouts of "Hey!" throughout(and the hordes of course, mimicking violently) -one of the numerous times where i seriously thought i was gonna have a fucking heart-attack.
and fuck! you haven't heard "Wake Up" until you've heard a couple thousand people lung-collapse-scream along with the band while there's beautiful choas onstage.
an absolutely majestic night in the woods under the motherfuckin stars.
so catch 'em now if you can skanks and germs, 'cause it's gonna be arenas and grandeur for these guys soon ...these settings becoming all too miniature to contain such magnificence.
..you haven't really seen the Arcade Fire until you've seen 'em.
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RIP Bruno Mattei - i want your career
May. 21st, 2007 | 06:16 pm
music: the pogues - a pair of brown eyes
i was hoping he was just ripping-off someone else's coma and was eventually gonna come out of it to finish up "Island of the Living Dead", but he actually passed away today. Mr. Mattei was one of the true icons of the old Italian pop cinema and responsible for some of the grooviest shit committed to celluloid. i'm especially fond of "Hell of the Living Dead", "Rats - Night of Terror" , "Robowar", "Terminator 2"(yes) and "Women's Prison Massacre" (one of the most sordid entries into the chicks-in-chains genre) among a dozen or so of his other gems. i would die a content, blissful man if i had a filmography like that, so rest in joy Bruno and thanks for the countless hours of ...ah fuck this! come back a fuckin zombie!
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i used to fuck people like you in prison
Apr. 30th, 2007 | 10:11 am
music: shellac - boches dick
witnessed the Brothers Reid aka The Jesus & Mary Chain at The Glass House in Pomona, their first gig since the disastrous House of Blues performance almost a decade ago.
characteristically, they ignored the crowd, started off a bit muddled and finished like champs. though the show never reached the chaotic highs or delivered the feedback-detonation that typified their early performances(mostly due to them sticking to fan faves/singles), it was fiercely evident that they've still fuckin' got it.
age not having really affected them in any big way, Jim Reid (sans the Scottish fro) still seemed pissed off; his only attempt at being affable came halfway when he mumbled "happy we're back?" which naturally got a ginormous cheer from the crowd ..he responded with a "fuck off", looked over at William and kicked off "Blues from a Gun".
miss Scarlett Johansson was rumored to show up for backing vocal duties, she didn't(though i hear she popped up Friday night during their Coachella set), instead Annie Hardy from LA's Giant Drag was invited to do backup on "Just Like Honey".
midway through that song - with Will(still sporting the old hairdo) wheedling gorgeous fuzz from his axe while everything else gelled - most of us had that freshly-fucked glow about us ..with a full-blown nicotine crave kickin' in by the end.
"Reverence" ended the set, no encore.
Friday night we hit up the worst veneue i've ever had the displeasure of going to, the Belly Up in San Diego, to see Kazu Makino and the Pace bros.(Blonde Redhead). it kinda broke down like this: 30% - hipster fucks, 30% - (poor)placid BR disciples and 40% - fuckin Bros and hoochies lookin to booty shake and guzzle beer while goin "whooo yeaahhh!". if it wasn't for the utterly astonishing performance, i would've had a miserable time. but the band is nothing short of phenomenal live, and once they took the stage, everything else kinda got phased out ...with minor exceptions.
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why Luke Cage is the BADDEST
Mar. 28th, 2007 | 02:42 pm
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blasphemous jim
Mar. 1st, 2007 | 11:24 am
music: johhny thunders - one track mind
one of the more uncanny albeit fascinating things i've read today (shout-out to Big B for the point):
"Titanic and Terminator director James Cameron has found Jesus Christ, and his son. And we’re not kidding.
The director claims that he has scientific proof that Jesus Christ was never resurrected. At a
click jesusjames below for the whole thing:
on a divergent note, here's Sherry Moon-Zombie as one of the Werewolf Women of the SS:
and here's the great Udo Kier as a Nazi with Bill Moseley's evil Nazi scientist(Tom Towles plays the big H):
She-Wolves Sheri and Sybil Danning(!!!):
in conclusion, i'll say the only thing that can be said at the moment [and i'm lookin at you, you lovely Metally Nasty scribe(s)]:
fuckin ....Arm Darryl!
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she's into s&m and bible studies
Feb. 12th, 2007 | 11:25 am
music: stiff little fingers - suspect device
weird shit happens to me all the time. i was just made aware that an H&M card i was "gifted" had exactly $21.76 on it. fookin' bizzare.
so, tentative outline for the 14th: me and the lass're knockin up the "Love Sux!" nite at this pub, cheap grub and cheaper booze, maybe the griffith observatory (ugh)..
also, i kinda wanna hit up Violaine on the 17th for their MBV night, but i dunno ..its fuckin downtown near Chinatown and it'll be hard to get motherfuckers stoked for that shit.
but whatever, here's the Arcade Fire doing a cover of The (mighty)Clash's "Guns of Brixton" at St John's Cathedral in Westminster a week and a half ago:
neatest thing you'll see today.
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keep the car running
Jan. 28th, 2007 | 10:02 pm
mood: 
indescribable
music: bauhaus - she's in parties
however there is no need to get dejected kids; for when it does manifest, Skinny Black will be the answer to your age-old prayers, the savior of those pitchblack souls and the fruit that will end your existensial starvation.
the pre-prod will finally kick-off this week.
consistent updates to follow ...maybe.
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Marlowe Lives
Jan. 23rd, 2007 | 10:29 am
location: work
music: magazine - song from under the floorboards
funny cause i was just watching Altman's The Long Goodbye the other night, one of the most recent Marlowe incarnations (Mithium later played him around '75 in a couple of lackluster Chandler adaptations). Elliot Gould's performance is just a fuckin tour de force in that movie, easily comparable to say, Nicholson's in Chinatown.
anyway, here's a blurb from today's Variety:
Owen tracks down noir with Marlowe
Universal, Strike uncover Chandler series
Universal Pictures and Strike Entertainment have found a new vehicle for Clive Owen: Raymond Chandler's hardboiled private eye Philip Marlowe.
Strike has made a deal with Phil Clymer at U.K.-based Chorion to get rights to a Chandler mystery series that includes "The Big Sleep" and "Farewell My Lovely." Strike's Marc Abraham and Eric Newman will produce the film, with Owen exec producing. The project is in a nascent stage -- they are courting writers and filmmakers -- and they haven't decided which title to adapt.
But they sparked to having Owen narrate the dramas in Chandler's testosterone-laced prose, something Owen did well in "Sin City." The plan is to keep the noir spirit of the Chandler books, and keep the mysteries set in the 1940s in Los Angeles, with Marlowe continuing to be the hard-drinking, wisecracking gumshoe.
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working for the church while your family dies
Jan. 21st, 2007 | 02:09 pm
music: the arcade fire - intervention
me: fuck, Funeral in Berlin wasn't all that bad, are u forgetting Billion Dollar fuckin' Brain!?
her: that was fuckin cool man.
me: i dug it but it wasn't a fuckin Harry Palmer flick...
her: see, all the Ken Russell people hate it cause it's this kinda ...commercial thing, all the Palmer people hate it cause its this fuckin..
simultaneously:
me: its kinda like what the Peter Sellers' Casino Royale is to Bond!
her: ..its almost like that fuckin Bond spoof with Woody Allen!
her: haha yeah yeah ...fuck!
again, simultaneaously:
her: HAHAHA! *grabs hand* Lemon Drops on the bar!
in the immortal words of Rick Blaine:
"I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship"
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Willie Green's top 10 reckuds o' last year
Jan. 16th, 2007 | 01:51 pm
location: work
mood: 
mischievous
music: goblin
yeah, cause the people demanded it or whatever.
Runners Up:
10) The Fags - Light 'em up
part Cheap Trick, part Def Leppard, and sincere enough to come off more charming then cliched.
09) Cold War Kids - Robbers and cowards
not consistently grand, but the first half of the record has enough sheen to carry these whiteboy-blues to a fine finish.
08) Band of Horses - Everything all the time
i was never big on Carissa's Wierd but this debut featuring members of the now defunct Seattle outfit is pretty stunning stuff. full of majesty, these 10 heart-on-sleeve anthems are remarkable mood-exploitatives. ethereal and transcendent.
07) Irving - Death in the garden, blood on the flowers
record of the summer.
06) The Long Blondes - Someone to drive you home
Kate Jackson does the Kathleen Hanna post-riot grrl thing(by way of Morrissey) to perfection. she's fuckin whip-smart and obsessed with cinema(all she really wants is "a good film noir and a bottle of gin"). its irrefutably derivitive, but its also visceral, brash and seductive. Steve (Pulp) Mackey worked the boards.
05) Towers of London - Blood, sweat and towers
fourth generation New York Dolls ripoffs or not, that's up for debate. they play like a Stooges/MC5 hybrid to me, plus i can't really hate on a band with a song about playin air guitar.
04) TV on the Radio - Return to cookie mountain
comes dangerously close to being an "achievement", way up there on the list of great postmodern statements. magnificent and without a precedent, it's almost overwhelming at times. everything works strikingly, including the guest appearances; ranging from Kazu Makino(fellow labelmates Blonde Redhead) to the Thin White Duke himself. the shit is fuckin righteous and near cataclysmic, making their previous outing seem almost silly in comparison.
03) Love is all - Nine times the same song
brimming with shoegaze spirit, these Swedes(the fuck is goin on? motherfuckin Scandinavian stampede!) manage to etch sparkle outta the same old, same old art-punk chestnut. eerie sorrow and chic sax (that at times sounds like it's straight out of an early Contortions record) pepper the album. this is undiluted confection, and one of those "you won't skip anything and won't notice it's over" spinners.
02) The Radio Dept - Pet grief
this is less "Psychocandy" and more "Disintegration" or "Power Corruption Lies"(on valium). i never imagined i'd like anything more than "Lesser Matters" but there is something so shy and lovely about this record. another dreampop tour de force.
01) Jarvis Cocker - Jarvis
a FANTASTIC pop record and a kick in the bollocks to any other "solo debut" of years past. an eccentric feat, this is the most immediate album Cocker's put his name to in like..ten years!
how Cock-y is he?(yeah pun intd.) the wickedass "major single" is actually (well)hidden on the record as a bonus (can also be found on the Children of Men soundtrack).
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factory girl
Jan. 13th, 2007 | 02:11 am
mood: 
blank
music: les savy fav - meet me in the dollar bin
some quick estimations:
-poorly written, about as reflective as an after-school special.
-Pearce does good work, though he's too handsome for Warhol.
-that Hayden kid sucks a lotta donkeybutt.
-Sienna Miller has fantastic breasts ...oh and she does a pretty wonderful acting job here as well.
-the soundtrack is pretty pedestrian, the people responsible for it should be fuckin shot! i mean ..c'mon.
-those unfamiliar with Edie won't really get what made her the "it girl" or whateverthefuck, from watching this soap-opera bio.
pretty superficial.
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helping the aged
Jan. 8th, 2007 | 12:56 am
mood: 
contemplative
music: the beatles - i am the walrus
top 15 or so moo-vees from two-oh-six. everyoneelseisdoinitsowhycantwe.
15) The Science of Sleep, Tristam Shandy: A cock and bull story, A Scanner Darkly..
14) Running Scared (Kramer, USA)/Black Dahlia (DePalma, USA)
A couple of overlooked crimers.
Wayne Kramer’s ode to gritty 70s cinema (through “the looking glass”) was unfairly overlooked, primarily due to Mr. Walker being the lead. He avoids the postmodernist dugouts plaguing every crime flick since '94 (trying to pull off being "witty" or "smart"); instead, like the filmmakers he dedicated the film to (DePalma, Peckinpah and Walter Hill), Kramer plops out his balls and plays it straight.
Ah the Dahlia, now it isn’t just the DePalma apologist in me; I thoroughly venerated every inch of this pulpy tale that some say collapses into torrid camp towards the end. Fuck all that, it's a deliciously glorious B-movie that I firmly believe will be rediscovered later (much, much later).
13) Marie-Antoinette (Coppola, USA)
12) Silent Hill (Gans, USA)
Surreal and atmospheric like the great Italian horrors of yesteryear. Dazed to see this one come through.
11)Babel (Inarritu, USA)
10) A Dirty Carnival (Yoo-Ha, KOREA)
09) Brick (Johnson, USA)
08) The Host (Joon-Ho, KOREA)
07) The Prestige (Nolan, USA)
06) Election 2/Exiled (To, HK)
Exiled meanwhile plays like a lazy-day Mexican set spaghetti western that happens to take place in
Johnnie To is the motherfucking man.
05) Perfume (Tykwer, GERMANY)
Those are just some of the heavyweights that took a stab at adapting Süskind’s un-filmable magnum opus (considered by many, including yours truly, to be one of the absolute best books ever written).
Well fuck a horse with a horseshoe, Tom Tykwer has pulled it off. If you’ve read the book, gear up to be amazed at the beautifully visceral and aural sucker-punch of an adaptation. If you’re not familiar with the book, come equipped to scrape your jaw off the floor on the way out.
04) The Proposition (Hillcoat, AUSTRALIA)
03) The Departed (Scorsese, USA)
02) Children of Men (Cuaron, USA)
PheFUCKINnomenal.
This one is gonna be on all the future “Greatest (insert genre maybe) Films EVER conceived!” lists starting soon (if not already), it’s that remarkable. Riotously inventive, technically and otherwise, it’s a supreme treasure. Look forward to Alfonso Cuaron's incredible career.
01) El Laberinto del Fauno (Del Toro, MEXICO)