I really miss George Carlin. Carlin is one of the few comedians who got better as he got older. That guy just seemed to get angrier and angrier (and funnier and funnier). Some will chalk Carlin’s crankiness up to old age. I see it more as an intelligent man’s reaction against a world that just keeps getting more ridiculous and willfully stupid. Lots of bad language and bad attitude on this one, so not safe for work or little ones. But also painfully funny!
Director David O. Russell is currently enjoying a critical (and increasingly popular commercial) hit with “Sliver Linings Playbook.” While Russell has directed some great films in his career (“Three Kings,” “The Fighter”), my favorite is the nearly forgotten “Flirting with Disaster” from 1995. Easily one of the best comedies of the 1990s, Ben Stiller plays a new father who can’t bring himself to name his new child until he discovers who his real parents are. His journey leads him down some very bizarre and hysterically funny detours. Everything about “Disaster,” from the script to the casting (Stiller, Patricia Arquette, Tea Leoni, Josh Brolin, Richard Jenkins, Mary Tyler Moore, George Segal, and several other terrific character actors) is flawless. Aside from the generic title (which is pretty terrible, in my opinion), I don’t know why this film was not a commercial hit. While it has become a minor cult favorite, the film truly deserves better and is so goofy and weird, it will put a smile on your face, even if you’re in the worst mood.
This may be a bit shopworn, but I still think this is pretty funny/awesome. The Dan Band covers Bonnie Tyler/Jim Steinman’s overblown Wagnerian ballad from the early 1980s, only with lots of f-bombs thrown in as punctuation. This first became famous through its appearance in the Todd Phillips’ comedy “Old School.”
Many people remember Julian Cope for his mid-1980s solo hit “World Shut Your Mouth” or his stint as lead singer for the post-punk band The Teardrop Explodes. In recent years, however, Cope has built a formidable reputation as a writer on all matter of subjects, most notably music and antiquities. His overview of Krautrock (1960s-1970s German psychedelic rock) from 1995, “Krautrocksampler” is considered a classic, even though he refuses to have it republished because of factual errors he’s since discovered and because he claims there are others more knowledgeable than he is. His antiquities books “The Modern Antiquarian” and “The Megalithic European” have also proven to be very popular.
Cope’s latest book “Copendium” is a massive collection of essays (over 700 pages) culled from Cope’s website that chronicles terrific, but ignored or forgotten music albums, spanning several different genres. Among the artists that Cope exhaustively writes about: Von LMO, The Electric Eels, Montrose, Pentagram … even a Van Halen bootleg gets a detailed essay. If you love discovering new music and enjoy great writing, “Copendium” is damn near perfect.
This came out a couple of years ago, but I still haven’t completely absorbed all 463 pages of it yet. This, my friends, is the definitive and most exhaustive look at punk rock on film ever created. Carlson and Connolly reportedly spent 10 years putting this massive tome together. The concept? Watching and reviewing every film between 1975 and 2000 that not only had punk rock as its subject matter, but also every single film where someone who looked even remotely punk appeared. Blessed with the ability to rent videos for free from Seattle’s Scarecrow Video (the best video store in the world!) over the course of this project, Carlson and Connolly watched … and watched … and watched … literally thousands of films … all for the sake of proper documentation of this important subculture on celluloid. Even the publisher (Seattle’s esteemed Fantagraphics) reportedly thought they were nuts, but fortunately had the gumption and foresight to see this project through. Even if you don’t like punk rock, this punkopedia is ridiculously entertaining from start to finish. However, it doesn’t look like it’s currently in print, based on the high cost of copies on Amazon. Fantagraphics: please republish this or at least, put out a Kindle version for those who love to browse this tome, but don’t have the luggage to carry this coffee table size book with them while they’re out and about.
Be sure to hear the entertaining interviews with Carlson and Connolly that appeared on the terrific “The Gentleman’s Guide to Midnite Cinema” Podcast for more details:
http://ggtmc.libsyn.com/bonus_12_interview_with_zack_carlson
http://ggtmc.libsyn.com/bonus-29-interview-with-brian-connolly
One of the most riveting films ever made is the 1969 French-Greco political thriller “Z.” While it won best Foreign Film at the 1969 Oscars, it was also nominated for Best Picture that year, which it lost to “Midnight Cowboy.” While I love “Midnight Cowboy,” “Z” is arguably the better film. It’s intelligent, fast-paced, action-packed, and was a sizable hit back in the day (grossing the equivalent of $84 million in 2012 dollars), which is amazing for a foreign language film. A big part of the film’s success is the awesome score by Mikis Theodorakis, which rivals the best scores by Ennio Morricone.
Some excerpts of the amazing score are below:
You can hear the influence on Giorgio Moroder’s classic score for “Midnight Express:
From Terry Gilliam’s controversial 1998 film adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson’s classic novel “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,” comes Thompson’s beautiful … and sober … eulogy for the hopes of the 1960s generation. Yes, that’s Johnny Depp as Thompson’s alter ego Raoul Duke.
A positively brilliant use of one of the Who’s best songs in the splendidly droll Wes Anderson comedy “Rushmore.”
Like John Cazale, Joe Spinnell was one of the greatest and most recognizable character actors of the 1970s. Spinnell played pivotal roles in several 1970s film classics (“The Godfather,” “The Godfather Part II,” “Taxi Driver,” “Rocky,” “Big Wednesday,” “Cruising”) and was the star, co-writer, and executive producer of 1981’s “Maniac,” arguably the most notorious of all the early 1980s slasher films.
To say Spinnell was a “character” is an understatement. The man was a terrific actor and had a big heart, but was more than a little loony. Really loony. Apparently, John Wayne Gacy wanted Spinnell to play him if they ever made a movie about him. But as loony as Spinnell was, he was arguably, crazy like a fox at times. Reportedly, he was the second highest paid actor in “The Godfather” after Marlon Brando. He apparently made more money from “The Godfather” than Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall, and Diane Keaton, even though he only had a minor role. Why? He asked Francis Ford Coppola if he could hang out on the set when he wasn’t working and Coppola agreed. Since Spinnell was a SAG actor, he was logged in as “working” every day he was on the set. As a result, he collected a huge paycheck and collected huge residuals from what was then, the biggest box-office hit in movie history. As they say, nice work if you can get it.
“The Joe Spinnell Story” is a terrific documentary that was sort-of thrown away as an extra on the “Maniac” DVD. However, the entire documentary is available on YouTube. If you’re a fan of 70s cinema or cult cinema in general, this documentary is a must-see.
Not many people remember the late actor John Cazale by name. But you would instantly recognize him by the amazing characters he played (Fredo in the first two “Godfather” films; Sal, the quiet, but scary bank robber in “Dog Day Afternoon”; and Stan, the loudmouth macho-wannabe ne’er do well in “The Deer Hunter”). He was only in five feature films, before he died tragically of bone cancer in 1978. But every one of the films he was in (“The Godfather,” “The Godfather Part II,” “The Conversation,” “Dog Day Afternoon,” and “The Deer Hunter”) was nominated for a Best Picture Oscar, three of which actually won the top award.
“I Knew It Was You: Rediscovering John Cazale” is an-all-too-brief, but great documentary about one of the best character actors in film history. The fact that so many great actors (Al Pacino, Robert DeNiro, Meryl Streep, etc.) made it a point to be interviewed for this film is a testament to Cazale’s legacy.
Trivia note: the film was released by the late Adam Yauch’s (MCA of the Beastie Boys) fantastic indie studio Oscilloscope Laboratories.
Dave's Strange World 