SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE - 8/10

One of the most visually amazing films ever.

also rewatched antonioni's identification of a woman

9/10. One of his best, definitely his most underrated. Mindblowing film, just like all of his stuff (though I'm still not too big into Zabriskie Point -- does anyone really like that film? Not even the rare Fahey song on the soundtrack can get me excited!)

I like Zabriskie Point, but I wouldn't say it's all that good. It's only really notable for the final explosion scene. I do enjoy watching it though. It's a nice film just to drift along with.

i loved it. even though i wish i had seen it when i wasn't sure whether it was a hoax or not, i still think its fairly inventive for a 'mockumentary'

Christmas eve/day roundup:




Now this has to be one of the most underrated films I've ever seen. It's just as fun as Escape from New York, and the fact that is a remake BUT relocated to Los Angeles makes so much difference. Carpenter really nailed all those mocking references to Hollywood (the cirurgical failures, the greedy no-matter-who-I-represent-as-long-as-I-make-some-money agent Map of the Stars Eddie, etc) and the political satire on that fucking brilliant last scene.




Great, as pretty much all Terrence Malick films I've seen, just like this next one...



...which is probably my new favorite war film of all time. Masterpiece. And THOSE landscapes, damn!



Well, Peter Sellers is a comedy god, so, non-stop laughing from start to finish.

Spent last night watching Bresson films.


MOUCHETTE - 8/10


L'ARGENT - 9/10


A GENTLE WOMAN - 9/10

Bresson is amazing.

Films I watched over Christmas

Christmas Eve:





Amarcord 9/10

Christmas Day:





The Gospel According to St Matthew. 9/10

Boxing Day:





La Dolce Vita 10/10





8 1/2. (10/10)

Haha. I'll admit that The Gospel was a selfconscious choice but it wasn't until a few minutes in that I realised what a perfect Christmas Eve film Amarcord is. La Dolce Vita definitely works for Boxing Day, too.

Anyway, just watched...




Somewhere. 4/10

Somewhere in its 95 minutes was a film, I think.

The Expendables, worst "action" movie ever. AWFUL script, not even a single funny scene.

The A-Team : much better than I expected, a bunch of really good scenes (for this kind of movies).

Is the USA "let the right one in" remake kinda interesting?

Wow badlands....speaking of grimmy masterpeices

Sorry for the late reply, but i think death to smoochy is slighty brilliant in moments. The story is very mediocre, some of the jokes just don't work but wen it works it hits it target at full speed. Williams is a great actor, poorly he has a shit taste in choosing parts. Also i love how it hints at pee wee herman allot

pointless and stupid. The original was so perfect. The casting was so perfect. Pfft.

I liked it for the most part, but the ending was disappointing.

The Passion of the Christ. 7/10

Sort of brilliant in the same way that Mel Gibson is sort of brilliant.

___"Tron"

I went for the effects, but the suits looked like
flourscent light bulbs, and my eyes hurt a bit.

overall the effects were cool.

i loved this film and Holy Mountain. i need to see fando y lis now.

i never got too into "the holy mountain" tbh. it's just a little too over-the-top and corny at times. i mean, i guess that's the point, but the whole scene with the alchemist introducing those seven figures...urgh. "WE MAKE WAR TOIZ!" go stay on a GY!BE album, you prick.

i think "fando y lis" is much better. "el topo" is a top ten all-time film for me. i still really need to see "santa sengre."

Wow, I've not heard of those before. They look great. Did you see them on DVD?

Hard Candy rules

Fellini's Roma 7/10

Yeah, they were awesome.
Didn't saw them from DVD, one Finnish channel showed those one after the other without any commercials (well, the YLE channels never have commercials) or breaks, as a "christmas gift".

Just watched Dogs Have No Hell by Aki Kaurismäki

santa sengre is amazing, i like it better than fando y lis

The ending of this flick was extremely well-edited.

santa sengre is amazing, i like it better than fando y lis

Why did you waste your time with such bland, predictable drivel?

Elephant's not TOO bad, I think some of the direction is topnotch. It just felt like it'd be a better short film than a full length film .I feel the same about most of Van Sant's films. The loneliness and emptiness, and various other themes are explored to a much greater degree in everything from My Own Private Idaho to Paranoid Park.

Jodorowsky is great, Fando Y Lis is great, Santa Sangre is a bit long but is awesome. HOLY MOUNTAIN is probably the best-directed film ever, a million dollars but looks like ... a lot more. El Topo is by far my favorite work of his. "WE MAKE WAR TOYS" haha. That's such a great scene, so brilliant. The psychadelic weapons and whatnot. I mean, it's a fairly obvious film in places, but it's deep in a lot of other areas. One of those films that can be rewatched over and over.

I thought I'd seen every Kaurismaki film but I'd never heard of Dogs Have No Hell. It's part of the TEN MINUTES OLDER series, eh? Wenders and Herzog is on this one too. I've seen the "Cello" one (this one is "trumpet" one), which had Godard. I'll have to check this one out.



I bought CHANTAL AKERMAN IN THE 70's, aka ECLIPSE SERIES 19 via Criterion. This is probably the best DVD I own .Check it out.


la chambre - 9/10
hotel montery - 9/10
news from home - 10/10
je tu il elle - 9/10
les rendez-vous d'anna - 10/10

Akerman's quiet, contemplative, meditative, patient cinema is a sight to behold. I remember being blown away by how personal a film like Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles is.. that film, as well as News From Home, has been a huge inspiration for my stuff. But every film in this set is better than Jeanne Dielman (a film I'd give a 7/10; it's just WAY too long, and the ending blows). Truly one of the best filmmakers of all time.


ALSO watched the documentary Citizen Shane


a shocking, interesting little documentary. Kinda sad in places too.

For new years, I am throwing these in at this party I'm going to.

MESSIAH OF EVIL (probably the best horror film of the early 70's; EXTREMELY underrated. Code Red released the definitive DVD of this public domain classic. Weird as hell atmosphere, scenes that dont' make sense -- including an opening that has NOTHING to do with the rest of the film... unbelievable cinematography. Truly one of the greats. I can't believe how much work and talent has went into this film, yet it remains largely unseen. From the creators of HOWARD THE DUCK, of all things. If you're into incredibly effective, creepy horror, without a lot of gore, just getting by on its atmosphere and weird set designs... this will be your new favorite).


ROCK N ROLL NIGHTMARE (I recently FINALLY got the DVD for this. My vhs had been watching so many times, by so many people, that the film looked almost black and white, from being so worn out. For the first hour, this film is nothing particularly special, but the final 20 minutes are the funniest, most insane 20 minutes in the history of films, PERIOD. The lead character THOR undresses to reveal himself in a leather studded thong with a cape, and he battles against Satan -- Satan himself. The battle consists of Satan throwing playdough starfish at Thor. They thin spin a circle as a power metal classic plays. There's also fireworks. The first time I saw this, I cried from laughing so hard. Truly topnotch hilarious film. I am going to try to turn this on at exactly midnight, to ring in my new year with absolute hilarity at the party I'm going to)


NEW YEAR'S EVIL (this film isn't very popular, for whatever reason, but I don't think you can do wrong with it. A slasher with a variety of masks -- kinda like Terorr Train! -- as well as an appearance by Caroline Munroe -- from the Last Horror Film and Maniac.. and James Bond movies. Just an AMAZING new York atmosphere... this is the atmosphere of films like Don't Go in the Woods, Don't Go in the House, Last House on Dead End Street, Madman, and other classics... that dark gritty as hell compelling as hell foggy grainy slasher thing... just a very entertaining film. Much better than BLOODY NEW YEAR.)

Hope everyone else is curling up with some great movies.

For the second time this year, still my favorite.

Watched "UP", started it before midnight, it ended after midnight.

people are passed out over here. no one really paid attention to the movies. I'm putting these on






THE COMPLEAT WEIRD AL!!!!!!!!!!!!


I took an ambien, which is fuckjing weird. Anyone ever take one? I regularly see monsters and demons and alll kiinds of weird ass shit. If I;m still not in bed by the timem this one's ovei;kss

it's NIGHTMARE IN A DAMAGED BRAIN TIME




here's a weird cover:


great movie anyway

Sounds good. I'd not even heard of it before. I'll look out for it.

If you don't absolutely love that I'll be really surprised.

I think NIGHTMARE IN A DAMAGED BRAIN is one of those movies I would've thought was the greatest movie ever made when I was 14, or if I had seen it before MANIAC (which is my favorite horror film ever). I'd give it an easy 8/10 now, I love how nonsensical and bizarre it is at some times; other times, it just feels like a standard slasher. Still, they don't make 'em like that anymore, and it's better than 99.9% of other horror films out there, by far.

I used to own 800 horror movies, but I gave nearly all of them away last year for this $1200 laptop. I replaced all the good ones with DVD-R's though. The horror I'm into is mainly of the TRULY bizarre nature (night train to terror, body melt, slime city, bride of frank, subconscious cruelty, doom asylum, kamillions, the carrier), the hopelessly and relentlessly bleak (schramm, der todesking, begotten, kichiku dai enkai -- yeah, I'd call it horror -- the beyond, city of the living dead/gates of hell), the fucked-up-beyond-belief-but-still-fuin (monster high, dead alive, rock n roll nightmare, psycho cop 2, don't go in the woods, street trash), and... giallos (oh, man, I really do need to list my favorite giallos sometime, don't I? I'll get back to you on that one). Otherwise, horror kind of bores me nowadays. I guess that's my problem with a LOT of things -- I get so obsessed, and immerse myself SO MUCH with certain (usually niche) things, that I burn myself on it pretty quickly. My thing is.. if I like a director, I have to get everything by him asap. If I like an actor, I get everything. Etc.

Anywho, speaking of SUBCONSCIOUS CRUELTY, had a rewatch of that before work..


8/10.

By far and away, one of the most relentlessly depressing and assauliting attack on the nerves yoiu will find in what basically amounts to a really really fucked up art film. There's lots of traditional "horror" elements (actually seems to have a very strong Argento influence, esepcially in the oversaturated colors and lighting), and it's SHOCKING how well done everything is (the sets, the gore, etc). It reminds me a lot of a mix of DANDY DUST..

(which is by far and away the weirdest film I've ever seen -- people who were asking me for cinemageddon "reccomendations", I guess you should check this one out. I cannot even describe how truly and uncontrolalbly, eyepoppingly, assaulitngly WEIRD this movie is. It is actually too weird. Probably the only film I would ever say that about).

...

and it also is a mix of the beautiful film L'ANGE...



which I highly, highly reccomend. Simply put, one of the most beautiful, awe-inspiring, and AMAZING experimental films ever, up there with "COLOR OF THE POMEGRANATES" and "WATER & POWER" in its absolute beauty. Here is th efirst 10 minutes, via youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8Sz3OMX3K0


....anyway, if you want to see what basically amounts to a truly bizarre, surreal, graphic mix of L'ANGE and DANDY DUST, go download SUBSCONSCIOUS CRUELTY, also, from cinemageddon.

BTW, saw this 2 weeks ago, with subtitles (yes!):

TAKESHI KITANO'S "THE OUTRAGE" - 8/10

Wellllllllll... Kitano, after his brilliant string of "arthouse" films (the beautiful Dolls, the headscratchingly brilliant Takeshis, the brilliantly headscratching Glory to the Filmmaker, and technically his greatest film to date Achilles and the Tortoise) which really really pissed off and confused his core fanbase for some ungodly, unknown reason.. look, dude has 5 violent films up until now, so he has 10 films that aren't "violent" films in any way. Why were people pining so much for this supposed "return"? Films like SCENE AT THE SEA and KIKUJIRO were just as good -- if not better -- than any of his yakuza films. I mean, seriously.


...anyway, regardless, the "fans" (or, rather, the people from other countries who make sure his films get screened and released, as long as they aren't too "difficult") demanded he return to his "roots" so here is THE OUTRAGE. And guess what? It's brilliant! I don't think extreme violence is necessarily what Kitano does best, and I thought the reason he stopped making these films was because he ran out of stuff to say and do. Where can you go after Hana-Bi? You've already revolutionized cinema, you know? His mix of lonely, poetic violence with careful arthouse sensibilities was -- and still is -- completely unprecedented. VERY few films even come close to matching what Kitano did in films like Sonatine and Hana-Bi -- I think the underrated-as-hell Gonin (starring Kitano, btw) and a few Johnnie To films come close (this includes films To PRODUCED also; see the amazing 10/10 film "TOO MANY WAYS TO BE NO. 1"; the director of that one even said Kitano was his biggest influence. God I love that movie. It's on cinemageddon, y'all! Camera spinning around the room constantly, weird unnatural lighting.. there are two scenes where the camera is turned UPSIDE DOWN for the entirety of scenes. This film genuinely did something different wit the yakuza genre. I know all the camera trickery sounds like it'd be annoying or gimmicky, there's obviously a LOT more to the film than that. It's one deep fucked up entertaining film, rest assured. I just had to mention that 5 minutes of the movie are UPSIDE DOWN! HAHA!) to doing some interesting things, but Kitano really was -- is -- in a class of his own, in his successful melding of hardcore gun (and pencil-to-eye) violence and beautiful, almost OZU-ian poetic arthouse filming. Let's not forget Godard's clear and distinct influence; Hana-Bi is not too far removed from Pierrot Le Fou (couple kills gangsters after stealing money, runs away to the beach -- yeah, yeah, it's not identical, it's not a RIPOFF like Dead or Alive 2 is of Sonatine, but Kitano has noted the clear Godard -- as well as Sogo Ishii and Seijin Suzuki, two of the best filmmakers of all time -- influence, not to mention that the music in both films is similiar at times, in the deep yearning dark strings and so on). I think that's what really separated Kitano; he created his own style -- as a writer, director, actor, editor, as well as a brilliant PAINTER, dancer, musician, and he also wore many many other hats -- while respecting styles of other great directors, while not emulating the films of them (not many hardcore Ozu-fan directors make hardcore gun violence movies).

So, the OUTRAGE. Look, Brother was, in many ways, Sonatine-in-America, wasn't it? Well, hey, I'm not sure. I've only seen the American cut. I've read countless times that the Japanese version is quite a bit different -- hopefully, they cut out that horrible ending of Omar Epps going "I LOVE YOU MAN!!!!!!! LOVE YOU ANIKI! I LOVE YOU BROTHER!!!!!!!" which almost undoubtedly was put in as a joke, hopefully a parody of some shitty american gangster film Kitano saw. That scene sticks out like a sore thumb, as by far the most unintentionally (?) hilarious, stupid, and BAD scene ever filmed by Kitano. If you look closely at that scene, it almost looks like Kitano didn't direct it.

To me, Brother -- at least the cut I've seen -- seems to be ... well, look, Kitano doesn't write scripts. He makes up shit as he goes along. So, it seems to be that he wanted to make one type of film, he got to America and decided to make something a little more interesting. But only a little more. It seemed to be about him not understanding american culture. Maybe almost being afraid of it. It kinda starts out like a Sonatine remake in America, and it becomes almost a parody of what a Sonatine remake would be, and a parody of American "gangster" films in general. If one observes Brother as a parody -- but still pays attention to its good qualities, because there are tons of good qualities -- it's actually a masterpiece. Still, I never felt it was a strong Kitano film, and despite having the best soundtrack of any of his films, as well as some of the best scenes (the dead bodies connected, spelling out the Japanese symbol for "death", the amazing paper airplane scene from the top of a very very tall building), it just felt like something was off.

This film most closely resembles Brother. Except that it feels like the movie at the beginning of Brother, before Brother humorously falls apart. You know, when it shows the scenes while still in Japan and whatnot, the deep, complex class struggle, the feuding between yakuzas and whatnot. So, it strongly resembles Sonatine at times too...

Strangely, it is flat-out a complex (not complicated, but complex) film. I was surprised at the amount of characters, all the action, all the little threads and arcs of things happening. The first 30 minutes might lose you, might bore you, but I dug the hell out of it. Take the opening scene, a long tracking shot, bathed in silence, of all the men you're about to watch commit murders. This scene is breathtaking. One thing you'll notice immediately is how good the direction is -- this might be Kitano's best-directed film. Also, the music -- while not a "traditional" Kitano soundtrack -- might be the best ever. It has an electronic tinge to it, but isn't cheesy or ridiculous in the least. It really helps in creating an amazing atmosphere, in fact.


Aesthetically, this film is mindblowing. And this is one film where you just never know what's going to happen next. I think this could frustrate people, though -- by the end, there is actually a lot unresolved. What seems like a complex story kinda falls apart -- clearly intentional, and the film remains engaging, especially in its deconstructing of yakuza film mythos. I get the feeling Kitano said "so.. people want violence? People wnat 'yakuza'? Let 'em OD on this." Most of his films have felt very deconstructive, and this one is no different. I got this weird vibe from parts of the film, almost like it was Kitano on autopilot, and also almost like Kitano saying "fuck you" to everyone and just going balls-out. He clearly isn't worried about story, after a certain point, or creating compelling characters -- indeed, every character is a horrible scumbag, and I'm talking EVERY CHARACTER -- Kitano is just interested in showing violence.

Still, no one films violence like KItano, and what's here is inventive, shockingly fresh, and downright FUN. Violence has rarely been filmed with such unrestrained artful glee. There's a lot of people getting hurt and killed, and these scenes EXPLODE, and usualyl come out of nowhere. So, the film is basically a series of people-getting-killed set pieces after a certain point.

But, like I said, it's fun. It's a lesser Kitano work, but that's still better than just about every director out there. I'd rank this on the lower end of the spectrum, just a wee bit above films like Brother and Zatoichi. It's a low 8. But it's still the best new film I saw from 2010, aside from ENTER THE VOID and SCOTT PILGRIM (admittingly, I didn't see too many 2010 films, but what I did see wasn't too hot. I mean, TRASH HUMPERS?! Come on)..

For Kitano addicts only, probably. But I'm one, and I dug it.

That's fair enough. I love it but more for a few moments, most of which aren't all that horror-related. The bits with the main guy just wandering around the red light district are great, in the same way that similar scenes in Basket Case are, or Maniac.

Like you, I'm pretty much burnt out on horror films. I spent much of my teens watching little more than the 'classic' Euro/Slasher stuff. I was a big fan of the obvious names (and still am) but there's only so many times you can watch Dawn of the Dead or Rabid or Texas Chainsaw Massacre or Suspiria.


I'm not a huge fan of Asian horror but it definitely reinvigorated the genre after the (in my view) pretty awful turn the US took in the 90s and the decline of European horror at the end of the 80s. I really like Buttgereit (Der Todesking being among my favourite films in any genre) but he's been quiet since Schramm and, while they're still making stuff, Romero and Argento haven't made a genuinely good film for getting on thirty years - and Cronenberg doesn't really make horror movies anymore. The weirdest thing is that horror may be more popular now than it's ever been.