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I believe God is a good God. Why? Because he created Marianne Faithfull.
11.12.2010
03:29 am
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Marianne Faithfull looking stunningly gorgeous in 1967 French musical comedy Anna starring Anna Karina and Jean-Claude Brialy. In this scene Marianne sings ‘Hier Ou Demain’ written by Serge Gainsbourg.

Oh, Marianne. My knees are trembling, my upper lip quivering, my groin is vibrating like a tuning fork struck by the hand of God and storm clouds are bursting in the skies hovering above my feverish head. My dog is slapping me silly and begging to come to my senses. Could this be love? .
 

Posted by Marc Campbell
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11.12.2010
03:29 am
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Mark Sandman’s cure for pain
11.11.2010
06:42 pm
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During my days of running a music venue in Manhattan, I had the pleasure of booking Boston band Treat Her Right, a hugely talented group that in retrospect was ahead of its time. Lo-fi, jazzy, bluesy, unhinged and punky, THR created music that oozed a kind of gritty sexuality.

Mark Sandman was in Treat Her Right and over the two years in the 1980’s that I spent time with Mark, I came to know him rather well. Mark was an avid reader of the beats, Bukowski, John Fante and harboiled writers like Raymond Chandler and Jim Thompson, the dark stuff. He also dug badass surrealists like Artaud and Rimbaud. It showed in the lyrics of his songs, which were miniature narratives of the darker side of modern life, fever dreams populated by broken-hearted lovers, alcohol and drugs. In his noirish tales of romance gone bad and the wreckage left in the wake of lives lived on the edge, the evil ways of the world were shot thru with glimmerings of sweet sex and black humor that gave one the sense that all was not hopeless. He could be very tender.

With his band Morphine, Mark continued to create a body of work that was remarkable in its musical and lyrical integrity. Sandman was a writer as gifted as those he admired. He was just hitting his stride as an artist of significant magnitude when he died of a heart attack at the very young age of 46. The night I learned of his death, I went to my bar and sat on a stool that Mark had sat on many years ago and I had a drink in his memory, a good Scotch…straight up. I recalled the way Mark talked, which was like he sang, deep and soulful, and what he said always mattered. Even his small talk was big. Words were a way out of the dark for Mark and his music was a cure for pain.

Cure For Pain a documentary on Mark and his music has been completed and will soon be released. I’m looking forward to it and so should you.
 

 
Here’s some raw video of Mark being interviewed:
 

 
Check out a very cool Treat Her Right video after the jump…
 

READ ON
Posted by Marc Campbell
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11.11.2010
06:42 pm
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When Crispin Glover met William Burroughs
11.11.2010
04:30 pm
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In a scene from Twister, a 1989 cult comedy film starring Crispin Glover, writer William S. Burroughs appears in a cameo role as the weird old guy shooting guns, a part that must have been written specifically for him…
 

 
If you want to watch the entire film online, you may do so here.

Thank you, Jescie!

Posted by Richard Metzger
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11.11.2010
04:30 pm
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Digitally restored classic films in 4K: Bringing the past back to life with stunning clarity
11.10.2010
05:24 pm
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The restored digital 4K version of Dr. Strangelove will be screening at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Austin November 15-18. The Alamo has installed a new 4K projection system and the results are awesome. I saw The Bridge On The River Kwai in a 4K presentation this past Monday and it was stunning. 4K is a 10 megapixel image with a native resolution of 4,096 x 2,400—more than four times the resolution of HD. If your local theater has a 4K system (they’re not cheap) and you have a chance to see a newly restored classic in that format, go for it. The Good, The Bad And The Ugly will be screening at the Alamo later this month also in a 4K restored version and in its original aspect ratio. The flies, the sweat, the squinting eyes, the dust, the nostrils…all digitally restored. I can’t wait.

Watching the restored The Bridge On The River Kwai was a reminder of just how breathtakingly beautiful technicolor films can be when presented in pristine condition. While the digital presentation is not quite the same as celluloid, I still felt I was viewing the film in all of its original splendor (I saw the film as a child and remember it well). The color, detail, depth of field were all enhanced and take on an almost lysergic clarity. And there’s still some grain. Simply gorgeous. Apart from the beauty of the film, the story is powerfully anti-war. Even as a child, I picked up on that. I’m quite sure that my father, a Naval officer, took me to the film expecting a patriotic message. Little did he know.

I’m hoping that this new 4K technology and the digital restoration of classic films introduces them to a new audience. There’s nothing like seeing a widescreen David Lean or Sergio Leone movie on the big screen, nothing.
 
Animated gif from IWDRM

Posted by Marc Campbell
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11.10.2010
05:24 pm
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Fug on Film: Tuli Kupferberg is a beatnik God
11.10.2010
03:41 pm
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The recently deceased Tuli Kupferberg plays God in the wild 1972 underground film, Voulez-vous coucher avec God? made by Canadians Michael Hirsh and Jack Christie. A rare screening of Voulez-vous coucher avec God? will take place on November 14 at the Anthology Film Archives, 32 2nd Ave. in Manhattan during a special celebration of celluloid Tuli called “Fug on Film.” Presented by Arthur.

J. Hoberman writes in the Village Voice:

As strenuously druggy, anarchic, and blasphemous as it is, this 1972 feature might have been one of the many post–El Topo movies auditioned as a midnight attraction by the old Elgin Theater and might even have caught on. Instead, it’s having its belated local premiere this Sunday as part of Anthology’s tribute to Kupferberg, beat poet, Fugs founder, and Voice contributor (mainly in the form of letters to the editor).

Here, he plays Middle America’s worst nightmare: His God is an unkempt, hairy schmoozer, consorting with his female subjects in a vaguely Baghdadian crash pad identified as Hashish Seventh Heaven, while holding forth in a braying New York accent: “Give ‘em some of that blackface crap—we’ve got enough sexism,” he advises the filmmakers in between chants of “Oy, oy, let’s bomb Hanoi!” As cheerfully offensive as it is, the movie’s greatest outrage comes when God anoints a toothless derelict to run for U.S. president. (The same actor, identified only as “George,” doubles as the angel Gabriel—in which role he’s punished for dereliction of duty with a hot-oil enema.)

Slapdash, but not badly made, this exercise in Yippie vaudeville employs Claymation and television, as well as a bevy of naked houris, to hold one’s attention—although it does fall apart midway. End title delivered as a moon notwithstanding, the climactic gross-out is the mouse omelet prepared for George—a repast that only serves to burnish the genius of John Waters, whose Pink Flamingos (the movie in which Divine eats dog shit) was the Elgin’s midnight attraction for 48 weeks, from late winter 1973 to January 1974.

 

Posted by Richard Metzger
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11.10.2010
03:41 pm
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‘Blubberella’: Uwe Boll’s latest crap fest
11.10.2010
03:16 am
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Blubberella, the latest cinematic crapfest from the world’s worst director Uwe Boll. Starring Ron Howard’s talent deficient brother Clint and Lindsay Hollister as the title character.

“The first female fat superhero ...She will kick major ass - with her major ass ...” 
 

 
Boll continues to make films despite being savaged by critics and producing films that don’t seem to have an audience (other then the curious). Three years ago, in response to his critical drubbing, Boll challenged several critics who were particularly vocal in their distaste for his films to a boxing match. A few took him up on it. Clips from these fights are on display in a new documentary on Boll called Raging Boll, which I recently saw at the Austin Film Festival.

GoldenPalace.com Sponsors Filmmaker’s Revenge Movie critics beware; you might have to put up or shut up from now on, as filmmaker Uwe Boll made history by beating the tar out of four of his harshest critics in “Raging Boll”, a boxing match sponsored by publicity-hungry internet casino GoldenPalace.com. Boll, an experienced boxer, pulled no punches as he systematically dismantled and humiliated critics Richard “Lowtax” Kyanka of SomethingAwful.com, Jeffrey Sneider of Aintitcoolnews.com, Chris Alexander of horror magazine Rue Morgue, and 17-yr-old Chance Minter with his mother closely watching. Boll has over 30 years experience in the ring, and didn’t hold back. He served up savage hooks, head shots, and body blows, easily winning all four fights. None of the competitors lasted more than 2 rounds and all the fights ended by KO or TKO. The unique match originally began as an Internet challenge from Boll to his many critics, and made massive amounts of press all over the world. It turned into a media-inspired phenomenon, which naturally piqued the interest of internet casino GoldenPalace.com

 

Posted by Marc Campbell
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11.10.2010
03:16 am
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Booda Ode: Manic musical comedy from Nigeria
11.09.2010
07:33 pm
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Booda Ode (Stupid Brother) is a Nigerian musical comedy in which the characters are constantly in motion. I’ve never seen anything like this. Between the looped Yoruba rhythm track, non-stop dancing and chanting of dialogue, this is a completely new take on the concept of the film musical. It’s either hypnotic or maddening, or both, depending on where your head’s at.
 

 
Parts 2, 3, and 4 after the jump…
 

READ ON
Posted by Marc Campbell
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11.09.2010
07:33 pm
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The Dude dicking around
11.09.2010
01:46 pm
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It’s only Tuesday. I want this week to be over already!

(via Nerdcore)

Posted by Tara McGinley
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11.09.2010
01:46 pm
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Chris Morris on ‘Four Lions’
11.08.2010
11:02 am
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Director Chris Morris talks about his controversial new “jihadi satire,” Four Lions, a bleak, black comedy that explores the undeniably farcical side of terrorism! Four Lions—which has been justifiably compared to This is Spinal Tap and Dr. Strangelove—in the words of the director, “understands how terrorism relates to testosterone. It understands jihadis as human beings. And it understands human beings as innately ridiculous.” Now in theaters, released by Drafthouse FIlms.

READ ON
Posted by Richard Metzger
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11.08.2010
11:02 am
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There Will Be Super Mario Bros.
11.06.2010
07:48 pm
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Tomfoolery unleashed the SNES game version of director Paul Thomas Anderson’s Academy Award-winning film, There Will Be Blood, starring Daniel Day-Lewis and Paul Dano.

“Milkshake!”

Via Kottke

Posted by Richard Metzger
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11.06.2010
07:48 pm
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