Jorg Buttgereit always casts really hot women. I wish he'd make porn rather than films that make masturbation so potentially traumatic.

phew, i thought i was the only one.

Even though I really like it, I can totally see why someone would be bored silly by Bad Lieutenant. Perhaps I like it simply because I have a fascination with those types of characters, places, etc. So I wouldn't necessarily call it a good film, just one that seems to push more of my buttons than most.

check out the zoe lund website i posted, and find her photos-- way more fascinating to me than keitel playing a degenerate cop. i don't know if it's because i'm filling the blanks with my imagination or what, but she reminds me in a way of david bowie's the man who fell to earth.

I watched The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari for the zillionth time last night, but this time it was outside at Walker Art Center, where my friends in the band Brute Heart did their original score live with the film. They expanded their lineup beyond the viola/bass/drums/voice trio and included guests on cello and modular synth. Incredible performance, and the biggest crowd I have ever seen them play to for sure. What a night. So proud of them.

Wow, I recognised her from the films but hadn't really thought about her. She is amazing looking. And I wouldn't argue with you about her being more fascinating than Keitel's degenerate cop. The thing is, while I'd struggle to defend them as art, there are little moments in BL when Keitel just blows my mind. And not the silly bits in the church or when he starts dancing on heroin. And while it's become almost legendary, I'm not even talking about the scene when he jerks off to the girls. The bits I'm talking about are small, relatively inconsequential ones, like when he's asleep on the sofa at home and his family act like he isn't there and the way he just wakes up and walks out of the room. That to me is just brilliant and I actually look forward to that scene whenever I watch it. Same as the one when he's telling his kids to stand up to the maid when she hogs the bathroom. Fucking love that. God knows why, though.

Have you ever read any of her novels?

No I haven't. I've probably lied to a few people in the past and pretended that I have, but no. Do you recommend any?

Holy Motors !!!

Big Money Hustlas
Weekend
Wings of Desire

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Somewhere

I wasn't sure about this the first time I saw it but I've been watching it a fair bit recently. I can definitely see why some people would absolutely hate it but it's really growing on me.

Wow. I was literally just looking at that film on IMDb. Good?


3 Women
Ah yes, the loquacious and bubbly Shelley Duvall, I love her. I liked this film a lot, I wasn't sure what I was in store for when I clicked play. Sissy Spacek's change in character was a nice touch, but I was expecting something a little darker but a fine film none the less.


The 39 Steps
Robert Donat is cool beans! What a fantastic and witty actor! Made in 1935? Way ahead of its time! Directed by none other then Albert Hitchcock, it was a lovely film.

It'd be more honest to say that I really like it than to say it's any good. A lot of critics absolutely hated it for reasons I can sort of understand. It's really slow, pretty much nothing happens and its theme (big Hollywood star in existential crisis) isn't particularly original. I'm a sucker for those types of stories, though, and a big Sofia Coppola fan so, while I really like it, I can totally appreciate how it might not be everyone's cup of tea. Definitely worth a look, though.

I admire great monotonous slice of life that doesn't really go anywhere, especially if its done by Sofia. I'll check it out.

If you must read one, go for ''Manhattan Suicide Addict'' or ''The Hustler's Grotto of Christopher Street''. They should both appeal to your taste for all things NY underground from around a time in the city's cultural history which has been long gone.

I have watched quite a number of films in the past few weeks, some of them brilliant and some of them not so brilliant. Here's two of them.

Ilsa: She Wolf of the SS

This movie tickled my curiousity because a while ago I've done some reading on the physical and mental cruelty inflicted on prisoners by the Third Reich's female personnel and their role and methods of recruitment in the German Nazi party. Dyanne Thorne's character seems loosely based on sadistic scum like Irma ''The Beautiful Beast'' Grese mixed with elements of other ''specialities'' favoured by some of her female colleagues intent on behaving like the most disgusting human beings the world has ever seen. I couldn't watch it in one go because the well-acted violent scenes and realistic special effects made my stomach churn a few times, even though the acting in this film is mostly so bad I can see why it was so popular with certain late night movie-goers who loved gory b-movies about nazis when it came out. The final scene when the camp prisoners put into practice their plot to escape and kill their tormentors is pretty good though. Overall I'm glad I got to watch it, but I felt like the film was loaded with a deeply disturbing subject matter and Don Edmonds invited some comedy actors to act in it. Probably I am just missing the point here.

Megan is Missing

I react in several fashions to a film like this.

1 - Dismiss it as trash while longing for my disapproval to sound louder if I was joined by more people questioning its existence with the intent of putting a stop to it all.

2 - Calm down and wonder why realism geared up to show the worst of the human mind needs to be represented in ways that only seem to appeal to teenagers forever intent on ''standing out'' from the crowd by showing images of torture and suffering to others in a faux compassionate manner towards the victims.

3 - Blame it on Radiohead. I managed to think of creative ways to blame random stuff on Radiohead by watching their videos and observing Thom Yorke representing the human condition.

4 - Get over it. Have a glass of wine.

Thanks for the Kusama recommendations.

Ilsa She Wolf is an interesting film. It feels like it should've been made in Italy, given the fascination a lot of Italian movies have with the whole SS/S&M thing, even in some of its artier films (Rome Open City, The Night Porter, etc). I used to think it was a cheap cash in on Boys From Brazil until realising it actually predates it by a few years. I've a book somewhere on the Nazi's apparent love/hate relationship with women. I can't remember the title but I'll dig it out. Do you remember the title of the book about Irma Grese? I feel a brand new fascination brewing.

Empire Strikes Back on tv
not like i watch watched it for the 1000th time again

Wow! Not much of a herman Hesse fan but I never knew Steppenwolf even existed as a film. It looks great.

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I'm intrigued by that film, less because it's by Cronenberg but because I really like the novel it's based on.

this was fun

I didn't know he was in it. I'm a big fan so that's another reason to see it.

Not one of the team's best:

 

Carry on at Your Convenience is by far the best, and might be the last film we watched, for the XXXth time.

And it was fucking great. I can't believe it took me so long to notice this movie. It might have had something to do with the ultra lame US poster:

Marie Antoinette

On a bit of a Sofia Coppola kick at the moment. This is an easy film to dislike. It definitely tries a bit too hard to tick as many 'cool' boxes as possible but I liked it nonetheless, even if it really doesn't amount to much more than a two hour music video.

oh yeah! i saw that the other day. pretty fucking great. otherwordly atmosphere. totally unexpected find for me as well. the 80s style credits didn't help either.


i love sofia but that movie was utter shit. i wanted to be her boyfriend so i could console her on that disaster. an atrocity.

drive wasn't horrible, but it could have been 20 minutes long. so many scenes where absolutely NOTHING happened.

^el symbols^ Yeah, you're probably right. I have a really tough time disliking films by directors I'm generally a big fan of. Although I did wonder when watching it last night if I'd even bother to sit through it if she hadn't made it. And the answer is probably no. And speaking of boyfriends, I think she was going out with Tarantino at the time she made it, so we can at least console ourselves by blaming him. Obviously, had she gone out with me it would've been a masterpiece.

DEAR WORLD, FUCK CRONENBERG!

1- It's one of Delillo's best novels. Why wouldn't you want to read one of Delillo's best novels?

2- It's a short novel. Are you too stupid to read 200 pages?

3- Wouldn't you rather create a rich film-like thing in your head, rather than turning off your imagination and relying on Cronenberg's brain?

4- Cronenberg gets good source material, hires talented people, and then sits back and collects the accolades. What a tit.

5- Delillo is an artist. Cronenberg is a profit-maker.

READ THE BOOK!

I agree with the first part but what's stopping people reading the book once they've found out about it via the film? I'm sure Delillo will sell more copies now that Cronenberg has adapted it.

i very much would, but he's a bit flat-chested and probably hairy.



both are artists. you're an message board critic who thinks destitution confers some sort of moral superiority. :P


sure! delillo is awesome. i'm glad he's paired up with cronenberg. i can't think of a better director to adapt his books.

i wanna go seeeeee itttttttttt!!!!!!!!! not showing anywhere here. agghhhh.

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also, saw this yesterday:




awesome! way funnier than i expected. a pleasant surprise.

Now that Kubrick's dead, I agree.

If Cronenberg really was only about the money he'd choose a far more bankable novelist to adapt than Delillo.

He's created a niche for himself in the marketplace, Cronenberg has.

He and his producers can roughly figure out how many people will see a particular film, budged accordingly, and take home a fat check at the end of the day. It doesn't matter if it will only be a few mil for Spider or more for existenz. Profit is profit.

Delillo follows his muse, even when he doesn't fully understand it himself. He's a poet on a journey, a true artist for our time, a voice piecing sense from wilderness, and does not consider money when putting sentences together.

Let me put it this way: Delillo would exist without Cronenberg; Cronenberg wouldn't exist without Delillo. (Or Ballard. Or Burroughs. etc.)


(I'm just fucking with you all. existenz was a great movie, Delillo's FALLING MAN sucked shit.)

But seriously, read COSMOPOLIS.