Thanks to the glory that is Janus Films and their continually outstanding Criterion Collection...um, collection -- I've recently been turned on to the staggeringly beautiful weirdness that is Louis Malle's Black Moon. An English-dialogue French Surrealist revision of Alice in Wonderland that concerns itself with ambiance and atmosphere, rather than any actual plot. Bitchy fat unicorns, brother/sister make up parties, an elderly matron whose best friend is a rat and who breast feeds from her daughter -- it's an incomprehensible, indescribable fever dream that follows dream logic from start to finish. While it's not a film that will connect with everyone, it's definitely a film that will leave its mark with all who give it a chance.
Last weekend, I rented Wes Craven's last offering -- My Soul to Take Take.
What could have been a pretty decent teen slasher film turned out to be little more than Wes Craven trying to remake Wes Craven's A Nightmare on Elm Street, by way of Virginia Woolf's The Waves -- a group of teenagers connected through a superfluous "other;" in this case, it's a Freddy Krueger-like mass murderer (the Riverton Ripper) with multiple personalities. The main characters of the story were all born on the night the Ripper supposedly died, and are believed throughout the community to each be an embodiment of one of the Ripper's various personalities.
It starts off interesting and with potential, but loses steam halfway through and then gives up completely by the end, leaving some gigantic plot holes in its wake.
I followed that one up with the Bava/Argento production, Demons.
I don't know why I got it into my head to check this one out; I'd attempted to watch it on numerous occasions, but always gave up about 20 minutes into it. But this time, I stuck it out and kept with it -- and I'm glad I did. While it does move at a slower-than-glacial pace at the beginning, it really picks up after a while and becomes a pretty damn fun, gory mess of a classic. And it even has a killer soundtrack to go along with it.
I recently found out there is a sequel to this one, so I'll probably pick that one up soon.
This evening, I caught the Stephin Merritt/Magnetic Fields documentary, Strange Powers at the Hollywood Theatre. It left out quite a bit of the band's story -- cutting out most between the first album and 69 Love Songs -- but above all else, it was a fun, competent document of a misunderstood modern genius.
"AK 100: 25 Films by Akira Kurosawa on DVD on 12/8/09 (SRP $399, but it's available for pre-order on Amazon for just $299). This extraordinary set will come enclosed in a linen-bound box and will include an illustrated companion book. Released on the 100th anniversary of the legendary Japanese director's birth, the set will include 25 of his films on 25 DVDs - the most complete such set ever released in the U.S. - 4 of which have never been available on the DVD format in this country. Included will be:
The Bad Sleep Well (1960), Dodes'ka-den (1970), Drunken Angel (1948), The Hidden Fortress (1958), High and Low (1963), I Live in Fear (1955), The Idiot (1951), Ikiru (1952), Kagemusha (1980), The Lower Depths (1957), Madadayo (1993), The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail (1945 - new to DVD), The Most Beautiful (1944 - new to DVD), No Regrets for Our Youth (1946), One Wonderful Sunday (1947), Rashomon (1951), Red Beard (1965), Sanjuro (1962), Sanshiro Sugata (1943 - new to DVD), Sanshiro Sugata, Part II (1944 - new to DVD), Scandal (1950), Seven Samurai (1954), Stray Dog (1949), Throne of Blood (1957) and Yojimbo (1961)
Each of these films is presented with a restored digital transfer, with audio in the original Japanese and English subtitles. The companion book features an introduction and notes on each of the films by Stephen Prince (The Warrior's Camera: The Cinema of Akira Kurosawa) and a remembrance by Donald Richie (The Films of Akira Kurosawa)."
One Wonderful Sunday (Subarashiki Nichiyōbi) An early, nearly unknown (in the US) film by Akira Kurosawa. One of the first post-war films of his career, and one of the first that wasn't nationalist pap churned out at the behest of the Japanese film studios. It tells the story of two young lovers spending their weekly Sunday together (the one day a week they get to see each other), with barely 35 yen between them. It's an incredibly simple tale and an incredibly simple movie with some incredibly complex characters and performances. It's one of the best films I've seen in a number of years; and one of the only films in recent memory that has engaged me enough to make it through in one complete, uninterrupted sitting.
It's not really representative of what Kurosawa would go on to do, and go on to become, with his samurai epics and odd retellings of Shakespeare; but it's definitely a wonderful introduction to the man if you don't know him, and almost necessary viewing by fans and admirers.
It's been out for nearly a year, but last night I finally got around to watching Return to Sleepaway Camp -- a direct sequel to the fantastic Sleepaway Camp, written & directed by series originator Robert Hiltzik. In his sequel, the events of the former sequels (Unhappy Campers and Teenage Wasteland) never happened and Peter/Angela has been locked in an asylum for 20 years. So...no Bruce Springsteen's sister, no murder-by-outhouse, no weird character name in-jokes. Just a straighforward sequel to a movie that was made nearly 30 years ago. And, surprisingly, it's not that bad. As could be expected from a low-budget, direct to DVD horror flick, it stumbles here and there; but all in all, it succeeds. Obviously, it couldn't capture the magic that's found in the original, but -- much like the sequels before it -- Return to Sleepaway Camp isn't trying to be the original. It's simply a welcome new entry in a franchise that's been dormant for far too long.
I think I could have managed a ticket for this show (I think it was $12 or so), but I knew if I went I'd easily blow my financial wad on merch at the show. And seeing as how I'm in the infancy of getting my finances wrangled up and in line, spending the money-that-I-need-to-stretch-through-the-week all in one place wouldn't have been the best decision.
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Cry Baby at the Laurelhurst
This one's towards the bottom of the John Waters list for me, so I'm not too bummed about missing it. Still, it would have been fun. Maybe.
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Stone at the Bagdad
Australian biker-sploitation film from the 70s. I'd never heard of this one until I saw the poster for it outside the Bagdad a few days ago. Sounds interesting, but probably more interesting to those more interested in biker culture than I am. Though, I guess it could have served as a great appetizer to this upcoming main course.
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What I did:
Dead Snow at the Hollywood Theatre
An ode to Evil Dead (with a bit of Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things, Friday the 13th, April Fool's Day, Halloween, Leprechaun....seriously, half of this film is for horror geeks to play 'Spot the Influence"), only replacing the demonic woodland spirits with a horde of Nazi Zombies. It's fun and silly and ridiculously gory. It's not gold by any means, but much like Black Sheep, it's a perfect way to shut your brain off for a few hours and watch people getting their intestines pulled out (usually for comedic effect).
I went to see Tarantino's latest this past Friday afternoon. Since I was in SE, I decided to catch it at CineMagic on Hawthorne. I get to Cinemagic maybe once a year, and every time I go I ask myself the same question -- why don't I head to this place more often??? A $4.50 matinee and popcorn and soda totalling $5.75 means a complete theater experience for just over $10.00 [this would be the part where I say something like, Fuck You, Regal Cinemas! -- but, I'll more than likely be overpaying for a movie at a Regal theater again before too long]. And, any concession stand that sells moonpies gets an A+ in my book.
As for the film itself...it was OK. It's certainly not Tarantino's best, but it's a worthy attempt, nonetheless. It's epic and grandiose and a little overeaching and very heavy-handed and kinda silly and incredibly bloody and violent. And Brad Pitt's accent sucessfully took me out of the experience every time he was on screen. Whenever his character was around, I was very aware that I was watching a movie. It wasn't a bad character, it was just a bad fit for the actor. And, after serving up such genre-homages as Kill Bill and Death Proof, it's strange to see a more-straightforward offering from the man. But then again, he claims that this is his "spaghetti western," and seeing as how that's not I genre I know much about, I probably missed all of the signifiers a more trained eye would have spotted. Oh well. It was a worth it. Check it out.
And if you're in Portland, be sure to give Cinemagic some business sometime. You might like it.
This week, I ended up having breakfast three times at the Little Red Bike Cafe in north Portland. It's quaint and cute and the food is yummy and kinda heavy but not too heavy (eggs, bacon, and cheese seem to be big with this place). And in a few weeks, once the rain sets in, a nice breakfast outside anywhere in Portland will be something to remember rather than experience.
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Also this week, it seems the spirits have been doing their best to remind me what a complete prick I can be -- intentionally or not. Just when I think I've improved on that, it seems I've merely reset to default settings.
District 9 is OK. It's not perfect, but it's not completely flawed. The Room is the most amazing piece of celluloid shit I've ever seen. Purple Rain is probably the second most amazing piece of celluloid shit I've ever seen.
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Crisis on Infinite Earths is good, but slightly dated. And now that DC has returned to the concept of the multiverse, it's incredibly irrelevant to today's audience.
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If it gets approved, I'll be taking a follow-up darkroom class, as well as a fun(-sounding) class on pinhole photography which will cost me (after what my employer will subsidize) $10 out of pocket.
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I think I finally got everything worked out, I will be a volunteer during MusicfestNW. Woohoo!
"This resets the bar for awfulness. At some point you realize that this movie will never become bearable and you just have to accept it." -- Mike, post-The Room conversation
"This is so bad it's almost good." "This is so bad it's gone past good and back to bad again." -- Rebecca Doppelmeyer and Enid Coleslaw, Ghost World
Last night was Portland's first theatrical screening of Tommy Wiseau's* vanity trainwreck The Room -- a film that Wiseau wrote, produced, directed, and starred in. The majority of the film took place in two rooms on a soundstage, set designs were minimal, outside skylines were digitally added in post-production, the acting was nothing past "F"-grade -- yet somehow he managed to spend $6 million on this. I suppose a large chunk of that was used on the HD video camera (this was back in 2003, so it probably cost a penny or two), so that he could film in both 35mm and HD, side by side on the same camera mount no less, simply because he wasn't aware of the difference between the two formats and wanted to compare.
As for the film itself, I can't even begin to describe the experience. It is a trainwreck in every sense of the expression: it is a horrible monstrosity that you don't necessarily want to look at, yet you can't take your eyes away from it. And the spoon throwing, yelling reactions at the screen, or trying to gouge your eyes out with the straw from your soda cup doesn't make it any better, only more tolerable. This movie is a turd wrapped in an enigma and covered with six million dollar bills. And it is truly one of the most glorious things I have ever seen.
It's back in Portland in two weeks. I think I may have to go again.
*The man's ambitious, I'll give him that. According to Wikipedia -- Current and upcoming projects for Wiseau include a sitcom pilot called The Neighbors which he is currently pitching to networks, a book on the differences between 35mm and HD video, a Broadway adaptation of The Room, a Dracula movie, a musical based on Ayn Rand's life and an untitled second feature film, on which he will begin production in the summer of 2009.
After work, met up with Mike and Michael for a trip to Arts on Alberta's Last Thursday celebration. It's been a while since I'd taken part in it all -- in the few years since, it's nearly reached critical mass. It's still fun and enjoyable, but it's starting to get that New Orleans Mardi Gras vibe: to some people, it's more about saying you went rather than taking part. But, regardless, there was a lady selling lemonade in 10+ different flavors, yummy pulled pork, a robot costume with a fully-functioning Atari in its belly, a cow-suit on rollerblades, delicious eye candy, and some thing called "art"...whatever that means.
From there, we headed over to the Hollywood Theatre for Ink.
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Friday:
Started dogsitting the two puppies in SE. It's been going a lot smoother than anticipated, which is nice. Plus, the apartment has A/C and a PS3, which is nicer. But rather than trying out Metal Gear Solid 4 or something more capable of pushing the PS3's limits, I've been locked onto Lego Batman. I tried picking up Uncharted, but threw my hands up during the first full-throttle run-n-gun.
Had dinner with Jay, then he and I met up with Vadim, Kevin, Mike, and Michael at the Hollywood for a screening of The Wiz.
An overlong, bloated fabulous mess of a film filled with costume designs that have inspired generations of drag queens, as well as incohesive set designs and locations. Each different piece or scene feels like it's cut from a different film. But, it was fun...even if I was distracted throughout by Michael Jackson's unnecessary prosthetic double chin.
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Saturday:
Attended my first sitting with the Graphic Novel Book Club in the morning. We were supposed to discuss B.P.R.D., vol 1, but since the group consensus was "M'eh..." we didn't discuss it for very long. We did talk about other books though, and a few other random things. And I found out that I wasn't the only fan of the Josie & the Pussycats movie. It seems like a nice, fun group and I'll definitely be going back for next month's meeting.
After that, I spent the majority of the day with the doggies and playing more Lego Batman.
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Sunday:
Started back to my work week.
Had a wonderful lunch with the wonderful Stephen who came down for a brief weekend stint. And afterwards, I spent a bit of [Portland Bookstore]'s dime walking around the store and discussing/recommending books with him.
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And that's all I got. I start my beginner's Photoshop class on Thursday.
As the light fades and the city goes to sleep, two forces emerge. They are invisible to us except for the power they exert over us in our sleep. These two groups battle for our souls through our dreams. One force supports our hopes and gives us strength through good dreams. The other force leads us towards desperation through our nightmares. ~~ taken from the Double Edge Films website.
Ink is a wonderful, fresh, sincere entry into the Modern Fantasy canon. It's well~crafted, well thought~out, self~contained, self~realized, and while it can be a bit cliché, it's rather intelligent and never insults the audience by talking down to them or overexplaining the situation. The characters wholeheartedly believe in their world and it's subsequent mythology. The viewer is simply along for the ride.
As with any low budget film, this one is not without its flaws (the fight scenes seemed a bit too ambitious: attempting Zac Snyder on a Roger Corman budget), but it succeeds on far more levels than it stumbles. The acting, the costumes, the visuals, the world where it all takes place....so much of it comes together to an astonshing degree that you can easily overlook whatever may not work.
This one's in very limited release/distribution right now, but if you get a chance to see this one (either in a theatrical setting or later on DVD), I highly recommend it. Unless you don't enjoy films that have slightly more heart and imagination than they do budget.
Tomorrow (Tuesday) night at 7:45pm, the Portland Grindhouse people are screening the infamous Vice Squad at the Hollywood Theatre. If I wasn't working (and since Tuesday is my night for the author events, I shouldn't really call out), I'd definitely be there. I saw this one a few months ago in Seattle, and it's not to be missed by the grindhouse set. And seeing as how a couple of douchebags from Austin, TX won't be in the audience to give the stinkeye to anyone who tried to have fun with the movie (as they were in Seattle), it should be a fun time for all.
By far, one of the best Hollywood horror films to come along in years. Like his first two Evil Dead films, Raimi deftly balances camp and humor with some pretty nice jumps and scares. It's silly, it's fun, the sight gags are hilarious....somehow, he turned a horror film into a great summer theater experience. I think this one will live on for years to come. Seriously.
If you're a horror fan, go see this one. If you're not a horror fan, I doubt this one will win you over: it plays off of Raimi's strengths and his beginnings as a horror director, as well as plays with a lot of the established rules for the genre. And, while it doesn't have much (if any) gore -- it's PG-13, fer chrissake -- some of the sight gags are a bit over the top and gross.
Pee-Wee's Big Adventure A truly fantastic film. A wonderful late night spent with Vadim, Mike, and Jay.
And Fleur de Lethal is fabulous. If you're in Portland, I highly recommend checking out some of her upcoming events. I'll definitely be at: 6/20 -- Velvet Goldmine (at the Bagdad) 8/21 -- Purple Rain (at the Mission)
Hopefully I'll see you there.
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Truck Turner I've never been much a fan of the blaxploitation genre, but Truck Turner has me reevaluating my stance. Caught this one at the Hollywood, along with Kevin and Mike. Check this one out if you get the chance. I don't think you'll be disappointed. Unless you want snooty, high art, award winning fare.
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Until the Light Takes Us A great (if somewhat esoteric) documentary on the beginnings of the Norwegian Black Metal scene, and how it quickly spiraled out of control as the more political and radical faction began burning down churches and killing fellow band members. While those unfamiliar with Black Metal and its sordid history could easily get lost, I thought it managed an even-handed account of the various personalities to be found within the movement. Definitely a must-see for the Black Metal fans; though, for interested parties not familiar with the movement, you might want to pair it with Lords of Chaos or True Norwegian Black Metal. Watched this one with Kevin, Mike, and Zac.
Street Trash By far, one of the worst movies ever made -- it might even take the top honor of being the worst. And yet, watching it this past weekend was my 3rd or 4th time watching it. I still haven't made it all the way to the end, but I make it a little further each time.
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Cat Soup A strange, surreal short animated film about a mischievous young kitten who traverses the land of the dead in order to save the soul of his older sister. Watching it is like watching someone else's dreams.
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Un Chant d'Amour Jean Genet's only film short (which he would disown later in life) -- a completely silent (I think the clip above has an ambient soundtrack added to it) piece dealing with the chaste, unrequited love affair between two male prisoners. For 1950, it's kind of shocking how much cock is shown on screen.
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Leolo Since Wellbutrin and Vodka mixed together help to form a makeshift hypnotic, I ended up sleeping through most of this one.
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The Phantom of the Paradise A really horrible film that tries to fuse Faust and Phantom of the Opera by way of mid-70s rock music. I really hate this one, yet harbor some sort of fascination with it that I don't understand.
As the title implies, you'll find a bit of everything here -- thoughts, expressions, opinions, likes, dislikes, current points of interest, random bits of my everyday life, etc.
You'll also find some of my photogrpahy here as well.
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