Category Archives: Film

“Bad Lieutenant” (1992) dir. Abel Ferrara

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“Bad Lieutenant” was one of the best films of the 1990s and a film that continues to fascinate and provide food for thought as the years go on. The plot seems simple (and deceptively Conservative): a corrupt cop (masterfully played by Harvey Keitel) with various addictions: gambling, drugs, sex … reaches a major crisis point, finds Jesus, and understands the true nature of Christianity. The problem (at least of for Christian Conservatives) is that Keitel’s journey is an NC-17 rated charter to Hell, with graphic sex, nudity, violence, and drug use. Keitel’s character’s hallucination / breakdown in front of Jesus, as well as his subsequent giving some crack-smoking rapists $30,000 and a bus ticket out of town, really made me understand the concept of Grace. This will likely offend most people who call themselves Christians, but it also makes me understand what Christianity is about in a way that never made sense to me before. Admittedly, it’s not enough to make me run back to church, but it’s still pretty powerful … and a great testament to Ferrara as a filmmaker and potential (albeit wacked-out) theologian.

The attached red-band trailer is admittedly awful, but it’s at least consistent with most art-house trailers. The film is way better than this trailer would make you believe.

I remember seeing this film on a sleety, gray, miserable day in February 1993 in downtown Washington DC.  The theater I went to see it in (the Janus 3) was pretty run-down.  It wasn’t what I would call a grindhouse, but definitely a venue that had seen better days.  In retrospect, it was the perfect setting to see this f–ked up masterpiece.

This was one of Martin Scorsese’s favorite films of the 1990s.

“Flirting with Disaster” (1995) dir. David O. Russell

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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.

“Destroy All Movies: The Complete Guide to Punks on Film” written by Zack Carlson and Bryan Connolly

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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

“Z” (1969) dir. Costa-Gavras

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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:

 

“Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” (1998) dir. Terry Gilliam

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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.

“The Joe Spinnell Story” (2001) dir. David Gregory

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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.

“I Knew It Was You: Rediscovering John Cazale” (2009) dir. Richard Shepard

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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.

“Nobody’s Fool” (1994) dir. Robert Benton

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My favorite film of 1994 (aside from “Ed Wood” and “Pulp Fiction”) is Robert Benton’s comedy-drama “Nobody’s Fool,” based on Pulitzer Prize winning author Richard Russo’s 1993 novel.  Paul Newman plays Donald Sullivan, a sometime-construction worker who has a lifetime of mistakes and screw-ups in his history.  When his son and grandson come back into his life, he has a chance at redemption.  Despite the sitcom-like nature of the trailer, the movie is actually much deeper and more resonant, without being heavy.  It’s a movie I always put on when I’m in a foul or depressed mood, because all of the characters (with one or two exceptions) are fundamentally decent people, deeply flawed as they are.   This is one of Newman’s five best performances and the supporting cast, from Bruce Willis to Melanie Griffith to Jessica Tandy to even Philip Seymour Hoffman in an early role, are terrific.

I loved this movie when I saw it in January of 1995, but “Nobody’s Fool” has gained special resonance for me over the years, because I wound up living in the village where this movie took place (renamed North Bath for the film) for 8 years.  I didn’t even realize this until a year after I moved there, but everything about the look of this film and town positively nails the quirky, but memorable upstate NY place I once called home.

“Gris Gris Gumbo Ya Ya” – Dr. John

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Before Dr. John hit the pop charts with “Right Place, Wrong Time” and started lovin’ that chicken from Popeye’s, he was the Night Tripper.   This song, from his 1968 debut album “Gris-Gris” has a deceptively mellow vibe, but don’t toke up or take anything stronger while listening to this… this will send you on a seriously bad paranoid trip.  Amazing, sinister jazz/blues from hell.