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Join us as we take a brief and completely unscientific survey of the residents of New York City about which big names of science matter most to them!

some good dialogue
lots of wince-inducing crap
end: we both said "meh"

If you have two hours, and a few beers, can I recommend streaming Mondo Hollywood, a documentary of sorts of Hollywood in the late 60s. Features people in the Manson family pre Tate-murder, a health nut named Gypsy Boots, Trannys, Reagan, and (maybe removed in the stream, i saw this on vhs years ago) a vaguely pedo-weird section about designer bathing suits for little girls with out tops. Features topless 6 year old models. Very uncomfortable.

LA still sucks.

She must be bored with her singing-dancing-acting-fashiondesigning-babymaking-Ashtangayogapracticing lifestyle. Because she is now a film director too.

At this year's Berlinale Madonna debuted her directing skills in "Filth and Wisdom." I haven't seen it and I'm not sure I want to. (Except for the fact that Gogol Bordello is in it as themselves with Eugene Hutz in a lead role. That does intrigue me somewhat.)

Once a year we get some of the wealthiest, overexposed people in the entire world into one room so they can spend 4+ glorious hours patting each other on the back so hard it's a wonder they don't come out of there black and blue.

Every movie release is a celebration of how great and fantastic all of these people are! Do we really need an annual recap?

I'm cranky!

Also: still sick.

Also: Did you know that Diablo Cody, writer of Juno, was at the Oscars this year? Did you know that she was discovered on her blog?! Why don't those talent scouts ever come knocking on my door?

... And why don't I have anything good for them to read?

Oh, hell.

NC4OM is an obnoxious acronym.  But a great movie.  After the horribly shitty Lady Killers which was a remake - oh shit, Tom Hanks speaking in accents equals a horrible movie!!  That came out of nowhere, but he was in a preview with a Texas drawl and it looks like the aftermath of krystal nacht, and The Terminal is bad, Forest Gump will eventually be remembered as sentimental swill - The Coen bros. are back with an adapted work and did a great job.  Now, if anyone else saw it, I'm curious what you think about some thinks I've thoughted:

 spoilery

Oh, there was something about being a ghost that seemed tied to both characters, and the two sides of a coin thing seems obvious. and i'm firmly stating they aren't the same character but sort of a meta level to the movie. 

 Also, as for home boy above, doesn't he look like an evil Bender from The Breakfast Club?

Saw control last night. Thought it was pretty good, especially when set as a counter balance against the bright dv of 24hpp. It's kinda like a huge pimple, elegent and volatile, and you know its going to end messy. the music is pretty good, its like a really sincere cover band doing studio tracks that are just a little off. out takes. there's a bit of lyrics and poetry read aloud. I think it helped define a key dif between the two for me: lyrics (often) need the music to not sound silly. i just got back from england from a work trip. i hate england quite a bit. where is ian curtis' daughter today?

has issues. still pretty cute. i love kid movies that arn't stupid. bonus points for sci-fi.

if you liked the good bits from solaris, alien, event horizon (yeah it sucks but it has some good bits), total recall, silent running, etc. see this movie

if you ever wanted magical realism to be realistic magic, see this movie.

Thanks to Heather, Tom, and Joe for pointing this out to me. Adam Curtis is a documentarian for the BBC whose work mostly centers around the imposition of ideologies on societies. All of his series are up on Google Video. I highly recommend watching the four part Century of the Self. Adam Curtis sez: "(The Century of the Self) is about how those in power have used Freud's theories to try and control the dangerous crowd in an age of mass democracy." Check it out! The other one I made it through was The Trap, which is about the use of game theory applied to the ordering of society.

The weather's been perfect lately. I had a lovely trip to the Alps. I'm working on stuff I'm excited about. My hair has been looking great. But something was...missing. I didn't feel like myself. And then it came to me; I haven't been doing enough hating! Well, my fellow Thats Plentyites, I bet you can guess how I remedied my problem. That's right, I went down to the local theater to see Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, in its full English glory. Now you may recall my thoughts on the Black Pearl, and I recalled them too. However, I had hopes that my craving for needless big American spending and action would negate the issues I had with the last movie. And that's the story of how I wasted 12 Swiss Francs and 168 minutes.

World's End was more convoluted and tedious than ever. Each complicated action scene was followed by a more complicated action scene which didn't correspond with the last. Don't get me wrong, as confusing as it all was, I wasn't seeing anything new...no feast for the eyes, no fresh stunts to delight. It was one big pirate fight after another slightly bigger pirate fight. I saw ceaseless pirate fighting in the last two movies, what makes them think I paid to see 3 more hours of it? (Although, I did pay to see it, knowing full well what I was in for, so...well played, World's End. Well played indeed). There wasn't much else besides the fighting. Any interest one may have once had in the characters is gone by this movie. Even Elizabeth Swan and whatever Orlando Bloom's character's name is don't seem to care whether they get together or not.

The only new thing the movie offered was about 60 seconds of Keith Richards and his two lines. I say...meh. 60 seconds of Keith's well-worn face does not make a movie, my friends.

I'll admit, Johnny Depp made me giggle once or twice, because, well, he just has that privilege. Poorly done on the screenwriter's part to make him such a secondary character, but I suppose everyone becomes a secondary character when you are trying to write for 7 main characters.

Oh, and btw to those who have seen it, how about that final scene with Calypso? Was that not a total rip-off from the Little Mermaid? Do they think we've forgotten Ursula so soon?

In conclusion, when I think of kids a few years down the road, preparing for a Pirates of the Caribbean Trilogy sleep-over, I wish them luck, because there are not enough Nacho Cheese Doritos or bottles of 99 cent grape soda in the world that can last them the near 500 minute commitment. But I'm not too worried about these hypothetical kids...I suspect there won't be any, because these movies SUCK!

P.S. If you were in the Brethren Court, how pissed would you be when too-big-for-her-pirate-bloomers was named Pirate King? I mean, these are the most bad-ass and awesome pirates in the world and I can tell you for a fact that they would not put up with that shit. I can reluctantly accept the ridiculous action sequences, but the fact that those 9 pirate lords didn't make a 9-way prissy-pants-nonpirate shish kabob out of her is an insult to pirates, and thus, to me.

Paprika, now playing at the Angelika, follows a team of psychiatrists who can, with the help of what looks like a high-tech hairbrush, dive into their patients' dreams.

Of course, not fifteen minutes after the movie's started, somebody steals one of the dream-hair-clippies and becomes the world's first dream-terrorist. Madness, a good deal of jumping, some Suntory drinking in a dreamed online cafe, musical frogs, toy robots, and a generally vivid, must-see film ensue.

Drawing his characters with concise, Updikean exchanges that better resemble a good NYC indie than the average anime, Kon Satoshi (Tokyo Godfathers, Perfect Blue) tells the story of the titular Paprika's dream-apotheosis (she's, uh, maybe the alter-psyche of one of the doctors, who can maybe merge with the collective world-dream in order to save it from the terrorists?) with no holds barred and no BS.

The plot sounds confusing but isn't, except in its deliciously theophanic final moments, when most of Tokyo is destroyed (poor film-Tokyo!), and Paprika becomes a giant baby, then a giant tween, then a giant Paprika.

Again, a must-see, regardless of my inability to parse a movie as epic as Akira (or, better, Taxi Driver) into English, much less brief English. Perhaps the best I can say is: "The Science of Sleep meets Alice in Wonderland meets High and Low."

is the saddest thing

Depressing.

First off watch the first 30 seconds of this:

Now looky here at the blog for Castlevania: Dracula's Curse the blog for the movie based on Castlevania III (Sorry Sam, #2 is still left in obscurity.) So it seems Warren Ellis is writing it and James Jean is doing the art direction. It's going to be animated, but the above makes me think probably not in an Eastern/Anime style, but who knows. I really like the quaity of the animation in the trailer above, but I'm sure Mr. James Jean (which sounds really funny when said aloud. Well kinda funny) will be able to do a great job.

Eric, Sam, care to fill anyone in on the Ellis and the Fables?

It's got fairy tales, violence, the woods, fresh milk, spanish women, antique vials, fairies, pocket watches, enough fantasy to make a LARPer blush, monsters, blood, creepy paintings, long slender keys, bedtime stories, religious imagery, knives, post-civil war Spain (what's a movie without it?), a princess, underground caves, lullabies, mandrake root, afternoon sun streaming through the trees, dangerous tasks, grapes, a faun, chalk, the waxing moon, magic stones, and ambiguous lines between fantasy and reality.

It's dark, and it's beautiful, and it's violent.

Rotten Tomatoes gave it 97%!

I highly recommend The Official Website, which is streaming the beautiful soundtrack. You can browse through Guillermo del Toro's sketchbook, and you can also check out the entries for the sketchbook contest where one can submit their own fantasy drawings, the prize being winner's sketches will be included on the DVD.

Movie called Black Sheep from New Zealand.

China's most wanted painting.

During my ever so brief tenure in nyc, I had the good fortune to be sheparded by one Goodie Monster. After proving ourselves as non-entities in the quest for bagels, it was decided to catch a flick.

Twas Curse of the Golden Flower or One Crazy Day in Feudal China, by that Hero/Flying Daggers guy. I think its a very eastern movie. duh. But the fly by wires stuff is actually kept to visible wires with scythe weilding ninja like dudes who want to party. The movie is actually fairly slow and gorgeous during the half, with a multitude of busty servants following around the high court.

What's remarkable is how much stuff happens in the movie, all the intertwined, delicate plots getting snuffed, erant assassinations with vague sucess, betrayls, poison, bla bla, and most of it doesn't even matter. My sense of story was offended, but you can't be an occidental asshole about everything, and I'd have to say I like the movie because it does piss me off a tad.

Also, the relationship between royality and everyone else is insane. The game of catch with the Prince, and the saving of his life are pretty weird.

Pan's Labyrinth soon. Best movie of 2006 is still up in the air for me, but everyone should watch Cache and then immediatly go to sleep so yr subcon can chew it up.

Is great. Really great. I would put this movie on the highest of high tiers of film making. Perfect acting, music selection, casting, and above all cinematography. it's all perfect. I guess the highest complement I can pay this movie is that it makes 99% of every film ever made seem amateurish. Please That's Plenty, go see it in theaters; the small screen isn't going to cut it. I unfortunately had to sit about 5 inches from the screen and it was still totally awesome. I think I'm going to have to see it again, there is alot of small details all over the place. Also big points for use of King Crimson. Go see it. Take off work if you have to.

spoiler to follow

This one has become a cult classic though. When i first moved to LA you could see the director/star/producer/screenwriter driving around burbank in his car which had a big "the room" banner on it. Look for typos in the trailer and unaccreddited quotes!

I've come to the disheartening conclusion that you guys do not enjoy my movie reviews, and I've been trying to hold off on them as of late. But you know what? I watch a lot of movies and I like to talk about them, so screw you guys.

I'll keep them short though.

Marie Antoinette: Pretty vapid, but I didn't mind it, perhaps because my inner lesbo has a thing for Kirsten Dunst. Yeah, I know, you hate her. Everyone does. I don't care, I think she's cute. If you hate her though, you're most likely going to hate this movie. As expected, it certianly wasn't spectacular, the pacing was weird, and her life was broken into sections, and it moved without warning from one part of her life to the next without reason. Coppola didn't try very hard to show us what makes Marie Antoinette such a captivating and compelling person in history. The costumes were cool (of course) and the whole movie was really very pretty. The ending was an insulting cop-out and I was disappointed that there was no chop chop (the way in which she was unjustly persecuted is what makes her fascinating...how do you leave her entire imprisonment out of her life story?!) Oh! And the fucking 80's music couldn't have been more irritating. Seriously.

The Prestige: Pretty damn sweet. And by pretty damn sweet, I mean David Bowie as Tesla was pretty damn sweet. He was a small part in the movie, but they made sure that he was totally sweet the entire time. As for the other 110 minutes of the movie, it was really good. It was almost more a story of obsession than magic, persay, and I was guessing and fascinated the whole way through (no small feat when you're about one inch from the theater screen and have to keep wrenching your head left and right to get the whole picture). Christian Bale was great and Hugh Jackman pleasantly surprised me as well (usually I really can't handle him without his Wolverine sideburns). Scarlett Johanson has a terrible British accent, and plays your average sexy character entirely lacking in depth. I can't really say anything about the plot since it would give it away. Personally, I thought The Illusionist was more magical and delicate (although most people would vehemently disagree and yell at me about how corny it was, and then I would cry). The Prestige obviously was intended for a larger audience and was much more focused on action...but you know, one wasn't better than the other, they were just different (surprisingly different for such similar storylines). In conclusion, David Bowie Rules.

So you don't like Atlas Shrugged (because nature didn't select you to be a super human like me, I understand, you're sort of bitter). Well maybe you'll like this better, you simpletons.

They're making a Fraggle Rock Movie!

Update: I forgot to mention that Frank Zappa's son is making it, if it means anything to you.

It looks like it's going to be a trilogy, and Angelina Jolie will be Dagny Taggart...you know, I think Sigourney Weaver would be more appropriate...or Frances McDormand. Maybe they're too old, but somehow, they both are so sexy because of their convincing lack of emotion. Anyway, excited to see the utopia where all the retired industrialists hide. Who's going to play John Galt? Christian Bale, maybe? He's so hot right now. I could really see him as the physical and intellectual representation of man’s ideal. Him or Popeye.

edit: worst youtube clip that fits what I'm talking about a tiny bit, ever

David Bowie is playing Nikola Tesla in some movie called The Prestige. Something about magic. Prolly be better than his last performance in Mr. Rice's Secret which was retarded and hilarious. It involved David Bowie as a dead guy who had a secret elixer of life and a boy with leukimia trying to find the secret, while being bullied for, uh, having cancer? So bad. worth hunting down.

Anyway, Dylan, think you could do a comic about Nikola Tesla acting in a movie as David Bowie? That would be pretty cool.

Also, final episode of Venture Bros. had Bowie taking down Iggy and Nomi, while a parralel plot made fun of the neverendingstory and even luck dragons. ^ stars.

Oh, here's some girls at a slumber party drinking sugar water and reviewing the Mr. Rice movie

Check out the trailer for the adaptation of Frank Miller's 300. I've never read it (Eric, can you tell me more?), but the trailer definitely intrigues me. Like Sin City, it was shot entirely on green screen with CG backgrounds to try and preserve the look of a comic book illustration. The trailer looks like a cross between Night Watch, Lord of the Rings, and God of War. Seriously.

Check out the Trailer

Read the production blog here, should you be so inclined.

For your consideration...

The trailer finally makes its way to youtube after being stuck in some horrible streaming moviephone exclusivity. Gervais from the office and the spinal tap guys? This shall be amazing. Even if Mighty Wind sucked a bit.

Bonus Gervais below

I don't know if this will outrage anyone else, or kill their inner childhood magic like it did mine, but they've made myy favorite movie, Edward Scissorhands, into musical! They totally just jacked Danny Elfman's most beautiful music and put dancing to it. You can see clips on the website and let me tell you the worst part: Edward Scissorhands isn't even hot! Not even a little. Unless you think Christopher Lloyd in a shiny brown leotard is hot, because that's what he looks like.

Stupid taking good stuff and making it bad.

Check it out if you want to be sad: Dancing Scissorhands

Robert Edwards' Land of the Blind...

I can tell you right now that you can wait to netflix it later. It's good, don't get me wrong, but it is by no means "amazing", which everyone seems to say about it. I mean, jeez! I looked on Rotten Tomatoes and 93% of the critics on there loved it! Sure, Steve Carroll was great and the teenage boy was great, well, okay, everyone was great, but it just came off as a movie I've seen before. Lots of times before. The indie story of the off-beat family of misfits who pull together in the end because, damnit, they're a family, has been done so many times. Little Miss Sunshine is well acted and well written, but it doesn't really say anything too original. It's funny, but sometimes the kookiness of the characters is a little forced. I thought the Squid and the Whale was a much more interesting story, and came off as much more human, personally.

In conclusion, it was good, but I wish I had waited to rent it. I'm so surprised that everyone keeps falling for quirky family stories as original.

One of my favorite Victorian/Math critique novellas, Flatland (complete text) is being turned into an animated flick (again.) With the vocal talents of Martin Sheen as A. Square [] and that Veronica Mars girl as Hex, a Hexagon (very classy lady.)

There is a site with a fun trailer here that sets up the story of class warfare and Dickensian ghost stories...

Why does everyone think this movie is such a masterpiece? It's like someone woke up one day and said, Waaah, I wanna make a Noir film. Too bad all I have is these teenagers in 2006...wait a minute, that's it! and then proceeded to take said teenagers and make arrogant attempt to copy noir's one-of-a-kind style.

Noir is known for the dark. The use of dark and light is a key feature in these films; characters exist in the dark with their dark souls, hiding in the shadows from whatever they're hiding from, and beam of light at the right moment reveals secrets, intentions, deceits.
Brick borrows the use of dark for a few intense scenes, but it's so intentional that it takes away from the action. It works like a gimmick instead of an art.

I went in not expecting much, and left giggling with joy. I can't remember the last time I felt so happy about seeing a movie. It's is no illusion..it's a great movie. The Illusionist is based on a short story by Steven Millhauser, who if you haven't read, you should because his stories are bizarre and funny and wonderful. The acting was superb. Not only that, but each character just looked and sounded great on screen. I can't explain it. There were a lot of tight shots on the characters thinking or reacting or talking, and everyone just had such an interesting looking face. And the voice acting was done nicely. The voices sounded so important, so...crispy. There was a lot of emphasis on the characters themselves, almost more so than the story itself, which makes sense since the story was very character driven. The Cinamatography was beautiful, and the sets were detailed and pleasing to the eye. (of course, who doesn't love Victorian Vienna? Who?) The story had a beautiful arch, the plot kept me wondering where it could possibly be going next, I loved and cared for Edward Norton's character, Eisenheim, the script never felt forced or weird, and the magic tricks were original. A lot of slight of hand, but also a lot of fascinating stuff I've never seen before that gave it a really special feeling. And like Dylan said in his post about Ricky Jay, all of the tricks in the movie are real tricks that could have been done at the turn of the century. There is no CG. The music also had a huge effect on my love for this movie. Of course it did, it was done by Philip Glass. The ending was truly satisfying, and I found myself thinking about the movie all that night and the next day.

the only part I didn't love was the sex scene because it was corny and not very imaginitive, but they kept it brief so I forgive them.

It's an all-around well-crafted movie driven by good storytelling and good characters. It's like a really awesome kids movie for grownups Don't believe what the crappy Trailer makes this movie seem like.

If you like Edward Norton, Paul Giamatti, good plotlines, Steven Millhauser, magic tricks, Victoriana, Philip Glass, or things that are awesome, you should see this movie. (And don't worry, I know you don't like Jessica Biel, but believe it or not, she's pretty decent in it). Yay Illusionist!

Let the Matthew Barney flood gates open up and swallow the world:

Not even a IMDB listing. Website here. I dig the soundtrack roster; Nurse With Wound makes great artsy background music. No wiki entry either, but I've found Mr. Greif's bio at his record lable.

I before E
Not for Me

After observing in my queue Howl's Moving Castle, Netflix decided to recommend to me Grave of the Fireflies. So I stuck 'er in my queue, and about a month ago, it popped up in my mailbox. Then I let it sit around for a month, the paper sleeve getting ripped and dirty. Last night I finally felt like being depressed by a cartoon, and I wasn't disappointed. I can't remember the last time I saw something so sad. This movie made me sad about war more than any other war movie I can think of. It's graphic in a soft and horrible way. It looks like Miyazaki, minus the fantasy and plus a lot of suffering. (It was actually shown with my My Neighbor Totoro as a double feature when they were released in 1988, because it was thought that Totoro wouldn't stand up on it's own). It's sweet and beautiful, which of course, makes it more heartbreaking. It seems to not only be a commentary on war, but also on pride.

I liked it. A lot. The ending surprised and delighted me. The animation left me feelling a little like I was indeed just doing drugs. (I just posted this to show you that I don't hate every movie).

Didja know? Free night movies at McCarren Park Pool on Tuesdays. They're showing some good ones, like Bottle Rocket, Do the Right Thing, and Style Wars (which is to be followed by a party and DJ Spooky...I don't know, do the kids love DJ Spooky these days?) McCarren Park Pool is trying so hard to be hip it makes me want to puke all over its empty-pool-alternative-venue-space-complete-with-slip'n'slide, (I wish they'd just make it a pool. I want a pool! Waaaaa) but you can't really hate on free. Anyway, no website, but you can bet there's a myspace page with the full schedule.

I know for a fact that a few members of this here blog are going to disagree with me. In fact, they disagreed with me vehemently, in person, just last night. So I wasn't going to say anything. But then I thought of the rest of you, those with good taste, those not looking to waste their money and time. I thought of you and I knew, you had to be fairly warned.

DO NOT GO SEE Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. It makes no difference if you liked the first one. Heck, I own the first one. However, if you are too true a fan to skip the sequel, my suggestion is rent it when it comes out, fast forward to a few of the action scenes, but don't bother watching them all the way through, you'll assuredly be bored by then end of them. Give them 30 seconds each, then move on. Check out the lady in the water hut with the black teeth and the squid faced Davy Jones, but don't bother trying to figure out the plot. It's convoluted, it's stupid, and nothing is resolved in the end anyway (stupid trilogies). There, I just saved you two and a half hours.

And because I'm in such a giving mood this morning, I present you with the Trailer for The Prestige. I would rather watch this 3 minute trailer on a loop for 3 hours than ever watch Dead Man's Chest again. I'm not even joking.

After Xmen: The Last Stand, I thought, "Bryan Singer better make Superman Returns so good that I pee myself for turning Xmen over to Brett Ratner and wrecking it for everyone." Well my friends, last night I saw Superman at Imax in 3D, and did one teardrop's worth of pee depart from my body over that crap? No. No, it did not. What sort of physical reactions were present instead?

1. Arm movements resulting from constant watch checking.
2. Looking at my maniure shining in the moviescreen glow.
3. Poking broken fixed retainer wire with tongue.
4. Taking 3d glasses off in utter disappointment.

If Superman was that flat at Imax, with certain parts in three-d (granted, crappy, hard to see what's happening three-d), then I can't even imagine how poor moviegoers are going to keep their eyes open at a normal theater. Feel free to consult Stephen, Karen or Dylan on the matter. I'm sure you will find no discrepancy.

I have nothing more to say on the matter.

From Dishwasher Studio(Aka. Gekko):

Dishwasher Studio is proud to launch its 1st Single Reel Film & Video Festival this year. Dedicated to developing a platform for personal films, the festival’s goal is to create a forum for emerging independent filmmakers, animators and artists working with film as a medium of artistic expression rather than a tool for entertainment. The festival is in a series of installments throughout the year.

Deadline for submissions is August 25. (You should submit, video kids. It's a new goal to get you working again...)

Also check out this claymation by Gekko and Vuk (Such beautiful puppets):
Black and White

If you don't mind shelling out $10.75 for a an action movie that is totally awesome in the first 45 minutes, with the rest of the movie lagging behind, then this is the movie for you. In fact, this film is best enjoyed up until you hear about the bomb. Then get up and leave.

Second half should have focused on the ultra-gritty reality of a ghetto walled off from the rest of society. Instead, they went the corny ass preachy route. Is it just me, or are movies losing their balls?

Trailer

Last night Dylan and I watched a movie that gave a whole new meaning to, "it's so bad it's good". And that movie, my friends, is Blood Feast by the great Herschell Gordon Lewis. It was made in 1963, when Gore Films just didn't exist. Apparently real actors, decent scripts, boom mikes, sound effects and props didn't really exisit then either, because they were nowhere to be found in Blood Feast. What does exisit is really shiny and gross pieces of raw meat being held in our killer's shaking hands. And HILARIOUS crying scenes, especially the boy on the beach weeping. I was laughing my head off. Believe it or not, the movie isn't the real gem of the DVD. It's one of the extras, an educational short called, Carving Magic, staring none other than the detective from Blood Feast, William Kerwin. He is led by some famous home economics superstar to change his meat carving skills from downright embarassing to mindblowing expertise. It looks like a film they would show in Home Ec in the 60's and it probably was. It's 20 minutes and goes into intense detail in the art of meat carving. She carves every meat ever, and I guess they didn't have nice cuts of meat back in the 60's. It was supposed to look appetizing, I'm sure, but I'd rather eat the raw meat from Blood Feast. It's just delightful, the whole thing. Rent the DVD (but skip the rare deleted scenes: they aren't deleted scenes at all, but bad takes of scenes in the movie. No bloopers here, no sound either. Just bad takes. 70 minutes of them. Not joking.)

It's true what they say about Xmen 3. Storm's new hairstyle looks like shit. Oh yeah, and it's not as good as the other two.

One of those big Critirionical Kollection style 12 disc set DVD versions is getting released for the gold standard of sweetness: Blade Runner. Its going to have all of the various versions, plus a new one that is re-mastered. There is also a possible theatrical release. I want to know when the soundtrack is going to get a proper release...
CNN has the story

Watch this for 9 minutes. If you like it, go to Illegal Art's entry page for Wzard People, Dear Reader and download the audio, then go rent/torrent Harry Potter and watch the rest. I was sitting in a small, salty puddle of tears, tears of joy. Harry Potter always need more Mugwamps.

I actually got to see J when I first moved to LA with Virgil and H Dog at a comic book store (he writes comic books in Europe.) I took a photo of his crotch, see below, and the nice picnicy tarp that draped his table.

Anyway, he's been working on Abelcain/Sons of El Topo for a gazillion years, and it looks like Marilyn Manson is attached. This is going to be like a magnificent carcrash with maimed rickshaw drivers and those elephants with the little cabs on their backs. Anyone see The Heart Is Decietful? How was Mary Man in that flick?

Go see The Proposition. Its awesome. Real awesome. I think it ended up awesome because there are a few topics that Nick Cave is qualified to write about:

1)Cowboys
2)Murder
3)Evil
4)PJ Harvey
5)Australia

This movie contains 4 out of 5 of those things.

The previews for Art School Confidential had great promise, anyone who went to art school knows that making fun of art school can be hilarious. Remember the art class in Ghost World where the teacher shows her film, and she's repeating Mirror, Father, Mirror. Mirror, Father, Mirror. And the girl shows up with a tampon in a teacup? The dialogue in those scenes...it's classic. Art School Confidential is the same idea as Ghost world, adapted by the same guy, Daniel Clowes from his short comic, and directed by Terry Zwigoff, who also directed Ghost World. They should have stopped at Mirror, Father, Mirror. Art School Confidential was bitter and contrived. The movie didn't respect it's characters, and didn't reveal a humanity about the struggle of a disillusioned artist. It tried, but it only succeeded in displaying surface level contempt for the art world. Every character in the movie, every character is basically a talentless, pretentious asshole. Could be funny (I mean, we are talking about art school here) but it forgot to put in something to like. The film ends up coming off as more pretentious than the guy who's art is a fishtank filled with yellow pingpong balls. It's critique on the grandiosity of the art world simply comes off as a worse form of just that.
I think the lady behind me in the theater broke it down pretty well. "Why bother making a 2 hour movie about half of a 6 Feet Under episode?' Ha ha ha. LOL.

Aside from what I didn't like, there were some fairly humorous jabs at art school. While they weren't all that original, I did rather enjoy the lisping fashion major who kept whining about his girlfriend back home. And some of the classroom dialogue could have come straight out of Bennington. "My work isn't about color, form, style, or material. But I thought the class would like to see my process, so I brought some unfinished work." (Pulls out a canvas with gum or something smeared all over it.) There were funnier quotes, but I'm not good at remembering quotes, so sorry. Anyway, the story is dumb, and the kid who plagurized ended up getting famous and getting the girl. So there is hope for us all!

p.s. Anjelica Huston and John Malkovitch, come on! And Steve Buscemi! What?

If I were you, I wouldn't bother with these three short horror films from Asian directors. But unfortunately, I'm not you, I'm me. And me, I had to see it because I love the idea so much. Getting three different directors to make three horror shorts, how can you go wrong? By making Three Extremes II, that's how. If you must, watch the first Three Extremes, which features Tikashi Miike and is definitely watchable. Not all the awesomeness that the trailer had promised, but decent. So I tried out the second, and holy timewaster, what a waste of 2+ hours. The first film, Memories made no sense whatsoever (not in a good ambiguous way, but in a who's that? why's she doing that? where is she? why is the guy telling that story? kind of way), and consisted mainly of three-minute-practically-imperceptible zooms on a guy sleeping on the couch. Korean filmmaker Kim Jee-Woon's idea of scary here was having his editor take out frames here and there (OMG she moved like 2 feet in a split second!) Once he reveals what's happened at the end, you're like "Oh wow, that's probably the most unoriginal story I could have ever thought of, in fact, I wrote a story just like that when I was 2, and I crumpled it up and threw it away because I knew it was a recycled paint by numbers kind of story even then." I will say that it's beautifully shot. If you're interested in seeing a Kim Jee-Woon film, watch A Tale of Two Sisters instead...it's equally confusing but about 300 times more intriguing and bloody.

Last weekend was a great weekend for horror movies for me. (It was also great because it was my birthday and there was pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey and goodie bags and pop rocks and I got to go to the zoo!) On Friday night I watched The Changling, which I had never even heard of before, and it was totally kind of scary, and totally awesome. Then on Sunday I watched Polergeist, which, surprisingly, I had never seen before (all thee years I'd thought I'd seen it), and Pet Semetary, which was a favorite as a child. (Oh god, my ancle tendon feels so tender!) But I want more. I want to know what you think the scariest movies are. Here are the ones I like the best.

The intrigue: I heard the movie Hard Candy is so intense that it made some guy pass out at the Angelika. And people have been walking out in the middle of the movie in disgust and horror. After tonight's viewing, my summation is the movie was well acted, but not upsetting. It was decent watch, but that's where it ended for me. I felt like it used the sensationalism of pedophilia and exploited it to shock audiences, but the resulting film felt pretty empty. If you're going to make a movie about something like pedophilia, have some balls about it.

Conclusion: man who passed out, definitely a pedophile.

It feels good when he touches rusty spoons with his salad fingers.

Salad Fingers, Episodes 1-6

So here you go. Just don’t go messing up my stamp collection when you are doing your twisty dance.
http://20-248-e.onlinestoragesolution.com/spikepriggen/public/The%20Tornados-Robot.mov

You liked that, did you? Then eat your heart out at http://scopitones.blogs.com/ where there is a whole bunch more crazy French music videos. They were originally made in the 60's for French Film Jukeboxes, which eventually failed, and many of the videos were lost to history. That is until a Blog came along to the rescue, and began bringing you these amazing videos through the magic of the information superhighway. So show some appreciation, you cantankerous little whippersnappers.

Spoilers for V for Vendetta

First off, I liked V for Vendetta, the film.
Second, I love the comic/graphic novel/sequential art doo-dad.
Third, The Pist's LP was named after a great line from the comic.

Now, let's look at this movie. Please note that this is a rant. Or stream of conciousness. Or maybe bullshit.

Fellow Blogger Dylan and I took a trip to the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens this weekend, and it's totally the kind of place that makes you excited to have kids, so you can take them there and watch their little faces aglow with delight. I'll admit, Dylan and I are both video nerds, but there's a ton of fun interactive stuff to play with if you're not into looking at old cameras and archaic editing equipment. I'd like to especially suggest the make-your-own-10-second-stopmotion tables. And once you're done walking through the top two floors, spend the rest of the day on the first floor, playing old and new arcade games, including Tron, Katamari Damacy, Space Invaders, Donkey Konga and Flow, which is like the hiphop version of Dance Dance Revolution. Plus, there are old movies screening throughout the day, and a movie ticket is included in the price of admission. If you have your old student i.d. (you trickster you) it's only $7.50 to get in, which means $7.50 to see an old flick and then play unlimited video games till closing. ($10 without i.d.) I think I may have found my new hangout.
Coming up next weekend (starting Friday, March 17th), they begin screening the "Fist and Sword: Martial Arts Classics" series. Seems like a good weekend to go.

Museum of the Moving Image Official Site

I love 3-D. I follow the new tech, I read about the history, I love 3-D. Yesterday I went to see Deep Sea 3-D and here's the thing: the 3-D was awesome but the narration/plot of the documentry was friggin boring. They always are. I don't think I have ever seen a truly exciting Imax 3-D movie. So I'm putting out a call to all filmmakers (myself included, I am currently writing a horror script intended for Imax 3-D). MAKE SOMTHING AWESOME FOR IMAX 3-D. I know it's expensive, I know it's not very practical, I don't care. DO IT. I am tired of sitting through crappy, boring 3-D "educational" movies. Make it rock and do it now. If you just want more info on 3-D stuff check out the awesome Ray Zone (real name) at www.ray3dzone.com who covers a huge amount of territory. Or if you want to see where the future of 3-D is headed amble on over to www.reald.com and be amazed.

Postscript: On the plus side, I saw a trailer for "The Ant Bully" which looked like it could actually be cool.