Leave it to your choosing whether this topic or the more specific director or film topic suits you. Because I now live in LA I have access to a handful of great revival theaters and a lot of times when I see one of these there doesn't feel like a place to discuss it. So, I will here, and I hope it appeals to more people and they do too.
Three great ones in a short period. The first was Madame de..., Max Ophüls 1953. At the Aero as part of Kevin Thomas favorite film series. It's a great period picture and one that doesn't betray the story by emphasizing the environment. What it does is unfold a romance story it makes emblematic of social constrictions normal for the period, this strengthens the desires and passions of its leads because of how easy it is to emphasize with characters wanting resolution and explosive emotional content when as an audience member we're asking for the same. We want them to let go, fix their problems, resolve their storyline, but we can't make them and they aren't doing it. Its ability to communicate the inhibitions of the leads without forcing the leads to uncoil feels very genuine and more believable than what you see in an Amadeus from the present.
Mary, Abel Ferrara 2005 the next day again at the Aero. I love Ferrara because Bad Lieutenant is brave and moving and because The Funeral is an intelligent and powerful crime film. But I feel about him kind of like pete feels about Guillermo Arriaga, I think he said it in the Three Burials thread, how it seems like Arriaga doesn't know the difference between contrivance and serendipity. Besides the two listed all of his films are pretty inconsistent. Mary fits along with this. It has two or three really jarring scenes, interesting character dynamics, and intelligent conversation about at least one of its major themes (the suppression and misrepresentation of female figures in the Bible). But it also reaches into places without exploring, which might be called provocative since provocative seems sometimes to mean inconclusive and unilluminating. All scenes involving the infilm director are included in this description - in fact his entire story line. And Whitaker's ending. Their purpose seems to suggest the complexity and confusion implicit in Biblical study but Ferrara so oversaturates these scenes with strong images and emotional intensity that it feels like he's other trying to say more and not accomplishing it or not sure about what he wants to say. So the powerful of Ferrara's filmmaking overcomes his power as a storyteller. Other times his filmmaking is weak, like in all the Whitaker television scenes.
Second Breath, Jean-Pierre Melville 1966. Last night at the Egyptian. Italian neorealism is for me what the French New Wave is for others, and so what continues to fascinate me the most is that semi-realistic but poetic and filmic French period just pre-andinto-New Wave, like Melville, Becker, and Bresson. Those actually are still my favorite kind of movies, and I'm lucky that the whole world makes them now (and it literally just now occurred to me that that's obviously noir's appeal for me). But anyway Second Breath was everything like that. This is my favorite kind of fantasy world to enter into, where everyone seems concerned with spiritual value but are moved forward by the machinery of society. Melville did this with criminals, here and in other films. Second Breath has an existential value to it, you feel it in the actors, dialogue, and situations. You feel it in the exposition and structure. Second Breath certainly has a lot of setup. It's a pretty long film with a middle that requires a lot of your attention. In the end though I'm not watching a criminal complete acts introduced in the first act, I'm watching the closure to a man's journey of expressing his value as on object of this world.
Killer of Sheep, Charles Burnett 1977 and My Brother's Wedding, Charles Burnett 1983. Last night at the Billy Wilder Theater (but the all-night horror marathon at the Aero slipped my mind until this morning so that's kind of a bummer). These two films are a part of some movement that people kept referring to as the LA Rebellion. There might have been a manifesto even. That's the stuff for trivialists though, and what I saw was a great example of regional filmmaking. In both films there's a real bleakness and gloominess hovering in the South Central, a despair that Burnett gives images too, and characters whose stories are never forcing themselves out of their location into ethereal Hollywood elements. I don't think you could watch either film and not identify with the characters, then carry the characters around with you. My Brother's Wedding had a stronger narrative and you could see Burnett become more a storyteller. Killer of Sheep is raw, it stands its misery and celebrations alone, outside of plot, and the children and adults who inhabit the film burn their way into your thoughts. Killer of Sheep reminded me of Kenneth Anger or Harmony Korine in style because each scene was meant to have its own voice. A scene will be just a man and woman dancing to a song in front of a window. Or a boy starting a fight with some girls on the street and the girls taking apart his bike. These two things aren't connected other than temporal and spatial distance but Burnett connects them emotionally, and the total devastation and heartbreak of the film is brilliantly achieved.
Blade Runner: The Final Cut, Ridley Scott 1982 and 2007. Saturday night at The Landmark. Made it out for this weeks late and it was still a cheering audience. The revelation for me was just how good Harrison Ford is in this. And how perfectly the atmosphere in Scott's future setting emulates the dreary, amoral film noir vibe. Critics that dismiss the film as falderal must be focusing on the sci-fi robot theme too much because I don't see how this isn't obviously as tonal of a film as anything noir I've ever seen, and that this doesn't get credit while Minority Report does is biased or hypocritical or both.
However, now that I've done Blade Runner in the theater I couldn't do Blade Runner anywhere else. It fills the fucking screen.
Quote from: w/o horse on October 28, 2007, 10:53:49 AM
Killer of Sheep, Charles Burnett 1977 and My Brother's Wedding, Charles Burnett 1983. Last night at the Billy Wilder Theater (but the all-night horror marathon at the Aero slipped my mind until this morning so that's kind of a bummer). These two films are a part of some movement that people kept referring to as the LA Rebellion. There might have been a manifesto even. That's the stuff for trivialists though, and what I saw was a great example of regional filmmaking. In both films there's a real bleakness and gloominess hovering in the South Central, a despair that Burnett gives images too, and characters whose stories are never forcing themselves out of their location into ethereal Hollywood elements. I don't think you could watch either film and not identify with the characters, then carry the characters around with you. My Brother's Wedding had a stronger narrative and you could see Burnett become more a storyteller. Killer of Sheep is raw, it stands its misery and celebrations alone, outside of plot, and the children and adults who inhabit the film burn their way into your thoughts. Killer of Sheep reminded me of Kenneth Anger or Harmony Korine in style because each scene was meant to have its own voice. A scene will be just a man and woman dancing to a song in front of a window. Or a boy starting a fight with some girls on the street and the girls taking apart his bike. These two things aren't connected other than temporal and spatial distance but Burnett connects them emotionally, and the total devastation and heartbreak of the film is brilliantly achieved.
i missed this thread, but i'll
revive it (.. bump it a few spots) to say that i've seen both killer of sheep and my brother's wedding in theaters this year and i think both are the best things ever.
you're right about killer of sheep - its apart of a family of herzogian films that exist to give these incredible moments and/or images a context. my brother's wedding has a stronger sense of narrative and even though its probably the less popular of the two choices, i love love love it. seriously, see my brother's wedding. pete is always talking about soul. this has soul. its also the most heartbreaking thing ever.
killer of sheep and my brother's wedding are the only two burnett movies i've seen.
Killer of sheep is incredible... i caught it at the Jacob Burns last school year. The Film society and some other offices on campus are screening it (on dvd following its recent release) here at school with a discussion that should be pretty good to follow (led by my favorite professor)... i believe that it's thursday night if any NYC xixaxers feel like coming up to Purchase.
will see both movies soon then, after you put it like that. They're doing the chaplin films over here again, I think I'll go see City Lights again. I love it too much.
Diva, Jean-Jacques Beineix 1981. At the Nuart on Monday. Despite there being several kind of vacant thought drifting scenes this is a solid movie that is well summarized in its tagline "A Comedy. A Thriller. A Romance." You can sometimes feel the pastiche wheels turning but the film has a serious affairs tone, a contemplative ethereal wandering camera, and straight-faced actors (the Taiwanese pirates probably excluded). Think the lowest form of great, if you follow.
Tonight is a Head and Beyond the Valley of the Dolls double bill at the New Beverly with Edgar Wright introducing Head. If it doesn't sell out before I get there.
Man have I been having a great time. Friday night I did indeed get to see Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, Russ Meyer 1970 and Head, Bob Rafelson 1968 at the New Beverly with Edgar Wright, Mickey Dolenz, and Eli Roth (who was there seeing the films but not in a staying the background sort of way). I'd never seen either; what a crowd to see the films with for the first time. It turns out that Head by the way, if you've approached the dillusion that I had prior, is not at all the Monkees kind of movie that the Monkees show was. It's an anarchic humor. Dolenz said big influences on the film were Nicholson's marijuana joints and the Marx brothers. The film is like a more rapid and more acidic (literal and pun) Meaning of Life. Beyond the Valley of the Dolls was a holler fest. A very quick moving film with lots of outrageous stuff going on. Someone after said it was like two years of soap opera in under two hours and that's not a bad place to start when describing the film.
I had so much fun that I made sure to go early last night, the final night of the Edgar Wright film festival, to get good seats for Raising Arizona, Coen brothers 1987 and Evil Dead II, Sam Raimi 1987. I'd seen these two but the energy from the audience definitely made this a great experience. Wright called them two of his favorites films and said Raising Arizona is probably his favorite film of all time. The camera operator for Arizona was Shaun's DP. Then he surprised us, his "Christmas gift" for us, with a screening of Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky, Ngai Kai Lam 1991. Goddamn. It was without hyperbole 88 minutes of the audience laughing and gasping and yelling at the screen. A lot of us hadn't seen the film so it was funny sometimes that the first person to laugh would be Wright before the humor came. I see that it's on DVD and if you haven't seen it already and you're the kind of person who watches movies for entertainment and possibly with a group of friends and some booze this is one you owe to yourself. Wright's suggestion: drink every time someone says Ricky or there's gore (from IMDb: This was the first Hong Kong movie ever to receive a "Category III" rating for violence rather than sex). Mike White and Eli Roth were there but stayed in the background. Gregory Nicotero was the special guest before Evil Dead II.
yeah ricky oh is pretty awesome. it's so awesome that I remember a buddy telling me about it in fourth grade. I had no idea what he was talking about, he was this kid with missing parents and cousins in gangs, the teachers basically gave up on him so he was free to roam around and read comics all day. one day he came to school and I just remember he was going on and on, babbling incoherently about a guy who was really powerful, and a warden who was even more powerful. I had no idea what he was talking about but somehow that speech had always stuck with me, and became one of my few remaining memories of that kid. I read about ricky oh in high school, but didn't see it until I was 19. I saw it with my roommates and it was as fun and cool as everyone said it was going to be. then I saw it twice I think at two different midnight screenings in boston. made some friends there and then. when ricky oh's girlfriend committed suicide the theater gave it a standing ovation. it was a great experience, but I think the weirdest midnight screening of that type of movie still has to be Journey Into Bliss, and the best midnight screening has to be Drunken WuTang, which I consider to be the quintessential cult film (however small its following might be). But Ricky Oh became a much sweeter memory one day last year when I finally linked my fourth grade best friend's crazed speech with the movie. It's hard to convey or set it up, but essentially for 14 years, all I remember was the sound of his voice from that monday morning at grade school. And then one day it just clicks that he's talking about Ricky Oh, then it becomes very clear why he's sounded so excited.
w/o horse, are you the Landmark person? I noticed they are screening next week The Red Balloon and White Mane.
Quote from: Gamblour. on December 18, 2007, 12:20:27 PM
w/o horse, are you the Landmark person? I noticed they are screening next week The Red Balloon and White Mane.
Are they/did they? It was at the Neon for a week but I have no idea what this movie is. I hope it's not one of those 'I can't belive you missed it!' movies because I try to never miss those.
Tonight is John Woo's The Killer at New Beverly.
I saw that at a revival screening once in Boston. my friends had already warned me, beware of them irony-loving crowds, they will laugh the film to death. my buddy and I went, and sure enough, everyone started laughing as soon as the music kicked in. One laughter was particularly annoying. I shouted "That shit ain't funny, motherfucker!" and it stopped for a minute. but then it just got so ridiculously macho that my buddy and I started laughing too. it was a funny movie.
That's pretty much how it went for me as well. But overall I really liked the film, especially the scene when Chow Yun-Fat is betrayed by his friend in the apartment.
LA is outrageously awesome with upcoming screenings.
The Magnificent Ambersons tonight at the New Bev.
At the Hammer in February: Pre-code films from Universal and Paramount (including City Streets by Rouben Mamoulian and Impatient Maiden by James Whale). Roger Deakins and Curtis Handson presenting Army of Shadows on the 27th.
At the Nuart: Last Year at Marienbad, playing for a week. A BOY AND HIS DOG MIDNIGHT SCREENING WITH DIRECTOR L.Q. JONES IN PERSON FEB 8 (my caps).
At the Aero: Spirited Away, Darling, Shampoo, The Parallax View, Videodrome, The Bitter Tea of General Yen. February 16th fucking Tobe Hooper is doing live commentary for Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
At the Egyptian: The Iron Horse, Diary of the Dead. They're ending February with DGG's full line up leading into Snow Angels.
I'm going to have to make a goddamn calendar.
L.Q. Jones is the nicest person I've ever come across who is in the industry.
Saturday was the live commentary of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Tobe Hooper 1974 w/Tobe Hooper and Mick Garris in person. Hooper and Garris are amazing people, I mean it. I'm going to have to stop being impressed by how articulate, insightful, and friendly some filmmakers are as it seems entirely possible. Hooper is a really great person, was my impression, I asked an audience question (my first!) and it was this: "Sometimes I hear about, say Romero or Carpenter, having one of their films remade and they say in the press, 'Why didn't they ask me to do it?' Did that happen to you? Were you offered, did they bother to offer you the TCM remake?" and Hooper replied that he had talked to Van Sant (because of the shot-for-shot Psycho remake) about if he should do it or not but decided he couldn't do it because he's a different person now and couldn't make that film again. He would like to make another TCM though. Next he's doing a script written by Garris called Death or Death + something. I also learned: Hooper helped develop The Thing remake, and Hooper at one point was going to direct Return of the Living Dead.
Monday night was Pieces, Juan Piquer Simón 1982 and Torso, Sergio Martino 1973. The first two films shown in the Eli Roth film festival (that he's titled The Greats of Roth.....). Very good films. Pieces is maybe to horror films like Riki-Oh is to martial arts films: over the top, (un?)purposely funny, and full of genre gags. Many hand clapping moments. Torso is a good example of a good giallo film, even if I thought all the best stuff was in the first twenty minutes.
Last night was really special. Since and including A Boy and His Dog at the Nuart last week I've had really positive, enjoyable, and invigorating experiences meeting filmmakers and attending screenings, and last night was the perfect culmination. Hopefully it's not even the culmination, but if it was it was perfect. It was a screening of Mother's Day, Charles Kaufman 1980, Creepshow, George A. Romero 1982, and a special screening of Fellini's segment from 1968's Spirits of the Dead, Toby Dammit. The second part in Eli Roth's programming at the New Beverly. Eli Roth is a really impressive person. Not only did he put a lot of planning into his screenings, by bringing along memorabilia from his movies (last night I held the axe from Hostel II - for shits and giggles), inviting filmmakers (Charles Kaufman in attendance last night), creating an atmosphere (Q&A, lots of information on the films (impressive amounts of knowledge on very minor films and amazing insights into the achievements of these films more than makes up for calling Fellini boring), inviting his parents, being incredibly enthusiastic and open and supportive), and picking unusual films for his festival, but it was also my birthday, a couple of my friends were there, and the energy from previous screenings and personal revelations came together to make last night really great.
The films were okay. I think Roth exaggerates the significance of Toby Dammit, Creepshow pales in comparison to Tales from the Crypt, I really only like two segments, and Mother's Day drags by the third act, so it wasn't even the films, it was much more the audience loving the films, hearing Roth and Kaufman speak, kind of celebrating New Beverly cinema and appreciating what's going on outside of the cineplex. Last night the theater was like a graduation hall and Roth was giving Kaufman a chance to express his gratitude for us recognizing his efforts and rewards. Kaufman is now a successful baker, owning something like nine bakeries around San Diego, and he has a terrible stuttering problem that nearly made me burst into tears (I too have public speaking fears), but I'll be goddamned if Roth didn't present Kaufman like Notable Filmmaker of the Millennium and if the audience didn't receive the film like One of the Best Ten in the Genre.
It was more than infectious. It was inspiring.
The best part about seeing Cannibal Holocaust, Ruggero Deodato 1980, at the New Beverly was noticing Lamberto Bava's name as assistant director. It's a fucked up movie with truly violent images that genuinely shocked me. I just personally feel that are certain things cinema shouldn't show, among that list is a girl getting raped with a large rock, and there were several other things this movie did I could have done without. Not because of like an attack of my sense of morals, but like how The Grave of the Fireflies couldn't have been a live-action because no one wants to watch two kids starve to death. I don't want to see these things. In that regard I must admit it's very effective and a good horror film.
How was the audience? I saw it at a midnight showing in the fall, and everybody was laughing and having a good time. A group of dudes sitting in front of my friends and I were super serious about the movie. they had cannibal holocaust shirts on an everything. I noticed early on that they were getting agitated every time somebody laughed, so I made a point of not making any noise during the movie. they seemed like intense dudes. my friend did not notice however, and about halfway through the movie one of the dudes turned around and yelled at him (and pretty much the whole audience), "WHAT THE FUCK IS SO FUNNY?"
everybody went silent for like 10 seconds until another ridiculous thing happened and you heard some dude in the back say "well that was pretty funny." it was pretty tense for the rest of the movie, maybe cos the movie got progressively more shocking, but mostly because there was a group of guys in the room totally buying into the drama of people eating each other.
The theater I saw it at consistently has a very comfortable, informal atmosphere and isn't really a good place for the kind of uptight film watcher you're talking about. And it's a horror movie with a body count so who the hell doesn't expect screen talking. There were a couple people scattered about who kept mimicking the bloop-bloop noise of the soundtrack towards the beginning, I thought that was pretty annoying, but they stopped doing it when the movie became more intense.
Caught a midnight screening of The House That Screamed, Narciso Ibáñez Serrador's 1969 boarding school horror thriller last night at the Nuart. Went to this one despite its stupid title (its Spanish title of La Residencia is much better) because I recently Netflixed Who Can Kill a Child? (the translation of the perfectly fine original Spanish title ¿Quién puede matar a un niño?, which is much better than the US title Island of the Damned - which it was probably only titled because of movies like Village of the Damned and These Are the Damned (my current avatar)), and that movie was awesome. That's more title talk than review. Let me say that Narciso Ibáñez Serrador is amazing and if anyone here explored him they would likely say the same. He simply makes beautiful movies that value character equal to craftmanship. His make you suffer along with the characters, draw you into the experience and bring you to the point of identifying. They're real movies, and they're beautiful, patient, genuine and terrifying.
Mac have you seen Who Can Kill a Child? I think you'd really like the movie.
Tonight at the New Beverly is a midnight showing of Streets of Fire, a 1984 Walter Hill film I don't know anything about and could go either way. Its tagline is "Tonight is what it means to be young." and its plot outline is "A mercenary goes after his ex-girlfriend, a singer who has been kidnapped by a gang." That sounds like the ingredients for good kitsch fun. Tuesday at the New Beverly is the Nicholas St. John written Abel Ferrara film Ms. 45, from 1981, and Nicholas St. John + Abel Ferrara means expectations in my book. That's playing with Alley Cat.
The big, big news for me is the Mario Bava retrospective going on at the Egyptian this month.
Thursday, March 13 7:30 PM BLACK SUNDAY & BLACK SABBATH
Friday, March 14 7:30 PM FIVE DOLLS FOR AN AUGUST MOON & BLOOD AND BLACK LACE
Saturday, March 15 7:30 PM LISA AND THE DEVIL & BARON BLOOD
Sunday, March 16 7:30 PM KIDNAPPED & SHOCK
Thursday, March 20 7:30 PM DANGER: DIABOLIK & PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES
Friday, March 21 7:30 PM A BAY OF BLOOD & FOUR TIMES THAT NIGHT
Saturday, March 22 7:30 PM THE WHIP AND THE BODY & KILL, BABY, KILL
Sunday, March 23 7:30 PM THE GIRL WHO KNEW TOO MUCH & HATCHET FOR THE HONEYMOON & CALTIKI THE IMMORTAL MONSTER
I'll be at as many of those as I can fit into my work schedule.
boy, tonight i saw minnie and moskowitz on the big screen and it was just great.
Quote from: JG on March 18, 2008, 10:39:37 PM
boy, tonight i saw minnie and moskowitz on the big screen and it was just great.
You can tell me more. Like the theater and what the crowd was like and if the big screen changed the movie for you or what. If you want(ed) to.
This month it's noir month at the Egytpian. Might stop in for some, including tonight's Cornered/To the Ends of the Earth double feature. Probably for Stranger on the Third Floor/The Face Behind the Mask/The Grand Inquisitor and Cry of the Hunted/Lure of the Swamp as well.
I'm pretty excited that Joe Dante is programming for the New Bev this month:
April 8
Blood Diner (1987)
Scream Bloody Murder (1973)
April 9, 10
Mondo cane (1962)
Zulu (1964)
April 11, 12
Hollywood Boulevard (1976)
Truck Turner (1974)
April 13, 14, 15
The Sadist (1963)
The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover (1977)
April 16, 17
The Secret Invasion (1964)
The Tomb of Ligeia (1964)
April 18, 19
Wrong is Right (1982)
Mystery movie
April 20, 21
Blood on Satan's Claw (1971)
Horror Express (1973)
April 22
The Movie Orgy (1968)
So I sat behind Quentin Tarantino at the midnight screening of Gremlins 2 Saturday night. I had both been wanting this to happen and knowing it would happen. I was at the front of the line to see this movie but all my friends had bailed, at like 11:40 QT shows up and I call them with the news. They all ended up making it.
Truck Turner was really, really good also.
But the huge news in this post is Roger Corman's scheduled appearance on Thursday. The Secret Invasion and The Tomb of Ligeia are playing.
Quote from: w/o horse on April 15, 2008, 06:12:51 PM
So I sat behind Quentin Tarantino
did you throw popcorn at his head?
Quote
The Tomb of Ligeia
maybe you'll sit behind martin scorsese for that one. :shock:
Quote from: Hedwig on April 16, 2008, 02:43:36 AM
Quote from: w/o horse on April 15, 2008, 06:12:51 PM
So I sat behind Quentin Tarantino
did you throw popcorn at his head?
You would have gotten along with the girl who sat behind me. You see QT is kind of a tall guy with kind of a big head, so sitting behind him I had to sit up straight for a full screen view. This irritated the girl behind me who, just before Gremlins 2 came on, tapped me on the shoulder and asked me if I could please slouch a little. I told her I've got people in front of me too and she goes "Yeah, that fucking Tarantino and his big head" pretty loud. That was awkward.
The chick again this year has gone off to Fangoria's horror convention:
http://www.fangoria.com/news_article.php?id=6386
I think tonight I'm going to catch the midnight screening of Teeth and tomorrow night the midnight screening of The Howling. It's Halloween in Los Angeles once more.
UA's 90th anniversary circuit came to the Nuart. I've seen The Great Escape and Annie Hall so far. Annie Hall was fantastic in the theater and I almost didn't go because I was like thinking "Woody Allen big screen small screen what's the difference" but I would now recommend to the Nuart (I'm going to write a letter I think) replacing the midnight screenings of Rocky Horror with Annie Hall. I had about that much fun. A lot fun. The movie is much more funny and much quicker than I remembered it being and I think that a combination of Allen's recent work and so much television viewing of his older movies has forced me into forgetting how cinematic he once was.
The Great Escape I, unfortunately, don't have anything nice to say about.
Tonight I might see the Dr. No and Thomas Crown Affair double bill but I might blow it off to watch Yasuzo Masumura's Giants & Toys which I watched thirty minutes of a couple days ago and can't wait to start over and finish.
Tati's Playtime last night at the Egyptian, 70mm. What can you say about a film in a format that is always talked about as one of the perfect examples of a film in the format? Except maybe people shouldn't talk about it so much because it kind of dulls the experience when it actually comes. People don't want to know if I liked Playtime, they want to know how much I liked Playtime. It does deserve its reputation though of course, the film is amazing and all things said about it are true.
i was going to go to that. they bring it back at least once a year. one of the best movie-going experiences of my life, seeing a 70 mm print of playtime.
also wanted to go see the "super rare!" 70 mm print of apocalypse now tonight but the laker game is on, and i don't feel like driving.
I saw Pulp Fiction on tuesday... man i forgot how great that movie is.
Quote from: samsong on May 16, 2008, 07:36:36 PM
i was going to go to that. they bring it back at least once a year. one of the best movie-going experiences of my life, seeing a 70 mm print of playtime.
also wanted to go see the "super rare!" 70 mm print of apocalypse now tonight but the laker game is on, and i don't feel like driving.
Playtime's going to be at the Aero Sunday, May 25. You don't even have to wait a year. Last year when it came through I think I had just moved to LA, and didn't last year they also show other movies, maybe it was even a Tati retrospective I don't know, because didn't Trafic play?
Quote from: 72teeth on May 17, 2008, 03:48:34 AM
I saw Pulp Fiction on tuesday... man i forgot how great that movie is.
I saw Reservoir Dogs last night (at the New Bev). My new favorite scene is Mr. White prepping Mr. Orange for the heist, the "hit his nose with the butt of your gun" and look at the bitch who is giving you shit like she's next and "see if she don't shut the fuck up" scene. "I'm hungry, let's get a taco."
Quote from: w/o horse on May 17, 2008, 01:53:53 PM
Quote from: 72teeth on May 17, 2008, 03:48:34 AM
I saw Pulp Fiction on tuesday... man i forgot how great that movie is.
I saw Reservoir Dogs last night (at the New Bev). My new favorite scene is Mr. White prepping Mr. Orange for the heist, the "hit his nose with the butt of your gun" and look at the bitch who is giving you shit like she's next and "see if she don't shut the fuck up" scene. "I'm hungry, let's get a taco."
cool, ill take note, theyre playing dogs next wednesday down here and Lebowski this wednesday....
Escape from New York and Escape from LA double feature was everything I wanted it to be. John Carpenter honestly said that he wouldn't mind spending the rest of his days on his couch playing videogames (he had just beaten Ninja Gaiden II) and watching basketball. His final words: "I have a meeting with my drug dealer now." He was a total bad ass and yet open and approachable. He also said that after Christine he started feeling like his name was taking over the credits and that's why he stopped taking credit for some of the things he continued doing for his films but stopped taking credit for.
An Umberto Lenzi triple feature at the Egyptian, Assault with a Deadly Weapon, Almost Human, and The Cynic, The Rat and the Fist went well beyond my expectations. Especially Assault and The Cynic. Similar sensibilities to American exploitation films of the 70s. A Sergio Corbucci double feature, The Mercenary and Navajo Joe was great for the former and kind of dragged during the latter. In all films what impressed me was the rich character detail and inventive, unrestricted filmmaking. It's not often now that I see films that fully engage me and here was a handful of films that did.
I've been blowing off the Godard retrospective for the Italian Grindhouse, but Wednesday I'm going to be at the Aero for Two or Three Things I Know About Her and Band of Outsiders. Tonight or tomorrow night I'll be at the New Bev for Wet Hot American Summer.
A charmingly inneffective film was
Midnight Madness, the film that played before Wet Hot last night. A perfect pair it turned out. Madness is this absurdly simplistic scavenger hunt film, literally, and literally as in it's a film about a scavenger hunt and its narrative is a scavenger hunt of conventional filmic drama and comedy. An accidental parody or an awesome and hilarious parody, it's really difficult to tell, and you could sense that all of us in the audience (like ten of us) were unsure if it was awful or brilliant for the first half hour. Then everyone gave in the film started getting big laughs. I recommend as a party film.
It also has this humorous trivia bit at IMDb:
QuoteThe movie inspired Joe Belfiore, a high school junior in Clearwater, Florida, to create a similar game. He took the game with him to Stanford University, then ultimately to Microsoft. The Game, as it came to be called, in turn, inspired the movie The Game (1997).
Compulsiveness led me to see Spartacus (Aero Theater). It's my final Kubrick, the last of his works unseen to me. I'd been avoiding it because of a dislike for sword and sandal epics, because of stories about Kubrick's troubles over control, and because it always seems to be placed outside of the rest of his films in conversation and criticism. I didn't expect to like it as much as I did. It was the script and score that I liked the most, even though the second half the film felt padded and too concerned about accountability. The characters were all distinct people, it made me realize how many contemporary period films will simply have the "fighter personality" the "leader personality", etc, without concern for the details and life of its characters. If historical accuracy is notably sacrificed in achieving this, and maybe a show like Deadwood shows you don't have to make that sacrifice, it's a valuable trade to have emotionally enriched characters. Insanely quotable too. The new documentary about Dalton Trumbo had reviewers everywhere commenting on the sorely missed verbal wit of Trumbo, on the elegance of his prose and speech, and those qualities were a big part of the success of Spartacus.
Two other epics I experienced recently were Once Upon a Time In America (Aero) and Inglorious Bastards (New Bev). Once Upon hosted sensational sequences, absolutely incredible sequences that were highly engaging if not properly motivated. I don't think the narrative is as fluid as it should be. This I'm sure has much to do with the cut footage. What works is fascinating and memorable.
Inglorious Bastards I don't have much to say about. It was a serious error confusing my expectations for QT's film with this film, which doesn't have much to offer. What my friend and I both were thinking and discussed afterward was that the most impressive part of the film is the scope of the production compared to the small accomplishments of the script. It's appropriate the same thing could be said about Tropic Thunder.
The Exiles, at the Billy Wilder. I read the Ebert review just now because I don't know how to talk about this film, and in his review Ebert mainly describes the film, which if you want the film described here is Ebert:
QuoteHomer Nish is one of several American Indians who are followed for most of a day and all of a night in Kent MacKenzie"s "The Exiles," a sad and beautiful film about a group of hard-timers in Los Angeles, circa 1960. MacKenzie was a USC film student at the time; he died in 1980. His film, photographed in stunning 35mm b&w by Erik Daarstad, Robert Kaufman and John Morrill, would have been a key work of the New American Cinema, the Cassavetes generation, if it had ever been seen. It played three film festivals, never got picked up for distribution, has survived only in a low-quality 16-mm print. Now the UCLA Film and Television Archive has restored it, apparently working from the original materials, and it looks like it was made yesterday. Milestone has picked it up, will exhibit it in "selected theaters," and then release it on DVD. It is like cracking open a time capsule.
"The Exiles" in the title are Indians who have left reservations to live in Los Angeles. They were already exiles, of course, when they lost their ancestral lands and were confined to the reservations. Those we meet are alcoholics, marginally employed, locked in a cycle of drinking and carousing and fighting all night. In footage shot over many months, MacKenzie used his "cast" to recreate a typical day. It begins in the kitchen of Homer's wife, Yvonne Williams, the most sympathetic character. She fries pork chops and serves them on white bread to her husband and his buddy Tommy Reynolds, and then the two join friends in a convertible, drop her off at an "all-nite" movie, and hit the town.
I think it's surviving because it's both nostalgic and resentful, beautiful and bitter, uplifting and depressing. It's not a tragic film but it is - sometimes people get stuck. And in this film these Indians are stuck in LA. There's no direction to their lives, there's nothing hopeful presented through the narrative, but the details of their lives as explored by the film contain the entire, complete and complex range of human emotions. It's full lives they live, with disparate levels of passion and intensity, and the film reminded me that the above all, while society shifts and shapes into some impersonal glob, we'll all still live our lives of personal pain and triumph.
Believe me I'd tell you why the film is so great if I could. It's definitely not found in its filmmaking prowess alone - like Burnett's Killer of Sheep (he was appropriately a producer/presenter for this restoration) - I mean you can't describe a shot from Killer of Sheep or The Exiles and recreate the true experience you had of seeing the moment. The Exiles is one of those films you feel.
It's very good.
Tomorrow 7:30 PM
Last Man on Earth &
Omega Man &
12 Monkeys at the Aero. Then I'm driving across town for:
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fa273.ac-images.myspacecdn.com%2Fimages01%2F44%2Fl_2bf3c22e841f1982ecc21087157c7420.jpg&hash=dcb5a17a2d2b2bf5c8514a21aedc849c3a670f7f)
at the New Bev.
P.S. Some AMAZING shit going down at the Silent Movie Theater in October.
I did some fancy number crunching to get across town by midnight from the triple feature that started at 7:30. As in I had no shot at making it for The Gate.
Last Man on Earth is still a kind of boring movie that's more important than good, The Omega Man is pretty ridiculous and I contemplated napping the whole way through, and 12 Monkeys is better than I remembered. Most sci-fi/time traveling/movies in general should kill for a script as cohesive and involving.
OK so...here you are, and you live in LA, or nearby, and you like movies and whatnot, and you have time available April 8: tell me how the hell you are going to miss this:
april 8, 9
* Two by John Cassavetes!
* Minnie and Moskowitz (1971)
o 7:30
* Love Streams (1984)
New Beverly Cinema.
Fuck yeah.
I like it when The New Beverly redeems itself liked this for it's lesser, shittier, choices.
Godard's Made In The U.S.A. is playing in San Francisco at the Castro - and, presumably, in other cities as well. I'm seeing it tomorrow. I am properly excited.
I'm in W/O Horse. I just saw a double feature of ishtar and joe vs. the volcano last night. So much fucking fun...I have to write up a article on 'ishtar', defending it.
minnie and moscowitz is the only cassavettes movie i've seen a film print of, and i've seen it twice. its pretty amazing. but love streams. i've never seen it, and if i'm not mistaken, its pretty hard to find. go see it!
Last Saturday I went to a screening of Nobuhiko Obayashi's House at the Castro Theater. It was, appropriately, terrific. Momentarily terrifying, absurd, and beautiful. Like David Lymch describing the plot of a Hayao Miyazaki film - an absolutely wonderful discovery.
I'd had some growing reservations about the crowd I imagined would show up to this. Primarily due to conversations by people who seem to want to see this for all the wrong reasons, (It's fucked up! it's stupid!") and because Pete hit the nail on the head in the Alice in Wonderland thread:
Quote from: pete on April 04, 2010, 11:43:17 AM
castro is a sad case of a theater brought to its knees by a shitty film crowd. San Fran has like a dozen indie theaters, but they have not found a way to build a relevant, exciting crowd, nevermind exciting programming. everything is a scene in this city, and moviegoing becomes especially shallow when it has to compete with great comedy, good bands, AND great weather. I'm sick of revival theaters playing second run indies or The Big Lebowski. Seriously. The curators seem to have no connection no balls and most of all, no cash.
The main perpetrator being Jesse Hawthorne, who curates the "Midnites for Maniacs" series at the Castro. Monthly double and triple features complimented by the occasional rare or interesting print... but mostly an irony-free embracing of shit like Hackers and Jennifer's Body. Screenings he usually introduces with a gratingly sincere declaration of how "important" these films are and how you shouldn't enjoy them for any reason other than that they are actually good films.
1.) It's terrible to have to urge anyone to enjoy a film without irony. Clearly, you are doing something wrong in your programming.
2.) It's terrible to tell people to enjoy shit like Hackers irony-free. There's no reason to enjoy that film otherwise and, even drenched in irony, it's charms are debatable.
Hawthorne, uselessly, introduced House and (surprisingly) his pleas for sincerity might have actually been useful here. Instead we got a packed crowd with an unfortunate portion of the audience laughing at the film consistently. Not out of surprise or bewilderment, but at the same repeating images and even at some actually beautiful images. Like they were above the film. There are plenty of things on view in the film that can illicit a worthy laugh, but this laughter was different. It was condescending at a film that was too technically and emotionally accomplished to deserve condescension.
It wasn't too large a portion of the crowd to ruin the experience. It was just a mild irritation but an unfortunate one, nonetheless.
Shitty film crowds might not dominate revival theaters, but there are a lot of great revival theaters in California and a lot of terrible scenesters showing up to them. Don't let these fuckers win.
Also, go see House if you have the chance, y'all. It's fucking wonderful.
john, as awful person as I might turn out to be, you and I need to go on a movie date.
I actually turned down the chance to see House because I was urged to by a sincere girl who has a lot of wrong film friends.
Yeah, man. I think it's high time we mutually enjoy each others company... I'm pretty sure we're both monsters that inhabit the very same jar. Our equal awfulness should finally be shared.
If not in a darkened theater, then in a room with a lot of guitars and instruments that make noises.
Just a weird coincidence that you would be denigrating Jesse, john, because I have a friend here who apparently knows Jesse and always holds his taste up as like a gold standard. You know, like I'll say "Saw movie x, didn't like it" and he'll go "My friend Jesse (he programs the Castro in San Francisco) loves movie x and programs it all the time." And then I'm reduced to "Ok, well I don't know this Jesse guy," etc variations, which usually ends in "He programs the Castro."
Which sometimes drives me crazy. Maybe next time I'll try "Well john (he posts on a message board) says Jesse's full of shit." See how that goes.
My House theater experience was kind of like yours. It's weird to say, but I can't wait to see it at home on the tv, you know, alone and without the influence of others laughing. Weird to say because theater > home, but also because House makes more sense with celluloid passing through light, don't it? Was the film really emotionally accomplished? Or did you mean the laughter of your audience was sometimes in contrast to the emotions of the movie? If it was emotionally accomplished I was really led astray. My favorite moment was when the guy who comes closest to rescuing the girls turns into literal bananas before he reaches the house.
Quote from: Captain of Industry on April 28, 2010, 12:54:27 PMMaybe next time I'll try "Well john (he posts on a message board) says Jesse's full of shit." See how that goes.
haha.
Quote from: Captain of Industry on April 28, 2010, 12:54:27 PM
Just a weird coincidence that you would be denigrating Jesse, john, because I have a friend here who apparently knows Jesse and always holds his taste up as like a gold standard. You know, like I'll say "Saw movie x, didn't like it" and he'll go "My friend Jesse (he programs the Castro in San Francisco) loves movie x and programs it all the time." And then I'm reduced to "Ok, well I don't know this Jesse guy," etc variations, which usually ends in "He programs the Castro."
Which sometimes drives me crazy. Maybe next time I'll try "Well john (he posts on a message board) says Jesse's full of shit." See how that goes.
My House theater experience was kind of like yours. It's weird to say, but I can't wait to see it at home on the tv, you know, alone and without the influence of others laughing. Weird to say because theater > home, but also because House makes more sense with celluloid passing through light, don't it? Was the film really emotionally accomplished? Or did you mean the laughter of your audience was sometimes in contrast to the emotions of the movie? If it was emotionally accomplished I was really led astray. My favorite moment was when the guy who comes closest to rescuing the girls turns into literal bananas before he reaches the house.
I need to get someone to film one of his introductions so I can post it here. That way you could see for yourself that, while probably a very nice dude, he IS totally full of shit. Another reason his introduction for House was especially intolerable... HE HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THE SCREENING. It's not a Castro exclusive that he booked, it's playing everywhere across the country. He has no connection to it other than he wanted to get on a microphone, hear himself speak, and pimp out his upcoming screenings of shitty films.
"Emotionally accomplished" might have been the wrong words. "Emotionally precise" is a more justified claim given the dream logic of the film... the best example being the one you've given - the guy turning into bananas.
I like that you mentioned watching it at home because I said the same thing after it was over. I appreciated being able to see it in a theater with an audience, however intolerable some of them might have been, but wished my first screening had been at home in my living room, quiet and dark without a single distraction. I told this to my friends and they said, "you sound like a shitty, cranky old man right now." To some extent, I guess they're right... but my reaction was still justified.
the New Bev is finally reopening, although it is clear that they have not, in fact, been spending the time away to work on their schedule. no it's a fine schedule, but nothing spectacular you know
(https://i.imgur.com/0jtBzIK.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/LRvyxPq.jpg)
tomorrow i'm going to see The Band Wagon at 2pm at the New Beverly (http://thenewbev.com/program/may-22-the-band-wagon-afternoon-classics/), it's $6 and part of the afternoon classics series. it's called the most sophisticated musical ever made and it'll be like the fifth or sixth musical i've ever seen
i'm going to go alone and i'm perfectly fine with that, it's not really the kind of movie i can invite friends to. but it'd also be a great moment to cross paths with a xixaxer, a really pure circumstance, so i mentioned it, just for the hell of it, no one can say i never did
We should try and figure out which of us are clustered where, so we could try stuff like this.
I only seem to do revivals and anniversary screenings on the big screen anymore.* I was at the New Bev for "Magnolia" a few weeks ago (a sold out afternoon matinee!) and would have enjoyed a little Xixer-Mixer, as it were... Ditto the Egyptian last Friday night for "Goodfellas". ("Raging Bull" is the end of this week.) ("Boogie Nights" in Downtown L.A. in late July!)
I can't remember if I've ever seen The Band Wagon. Not sure yet what my schedule is like tomorrow, yet, though...
We need badges or a secret handshake or something.
* I'll be making an exception for OUATIH.
"can you give me directions to the eiffel tower?" or "do you know where the eiffel tower is?" anything eiffel tower related, i've suggested
what happened based on what I just learned is wilberfan was there, exactly where he told me he would be, but I didn't see him and we didn't see each other. damn.
I thought it was an okay movie. I don't think I have a growing affection for musicals so much as I was moved by the musical Hans Christian Andersen, bc in that movie Hans embarrasses himself and fails at romance, fails in the city and returns back home but it's a positive movie. that moved me. The Band Wagon as the most sophisticated musical ever is bologna. It had some nuances sure, but overall it behaved like a movie.
went to see the "ultra-rare" nitrate print of Gone to Earth by Powell and Pressburger, at the egyptian
the movie is insane
QuoteA beautiful, superstitious, animal-loving Gypsy is hotly desired by a fox-hunting squire even after she marries a clergyman.
(https://i.imgur.com/4lfGUpe.jpg?1)
the fox, Foxy, is a central character absolutely. truly magnificent movie, wonderful moviegoing experience
apparently somewhere sometime it was known as
(https://i.imgur.com/ydHPZ1Y.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/Eh6Jj35.jpg)
and Fairfax Cinema has become Brain Dead Studios (https://wearebraindead.com/pages/brain-dead-studios):
(https://studios.wearebraindead.com/assets/images/neewflesh_calendar.jpg)
regarding the New Bev's sign:
QuoteWorldForgot [01|May 06:26 PM]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fprOiwAHKdQ
Jeremy Blackman [01|May 06:27 PM]: Camp Counselor Quentin
WorldForgot [01|May 06:44 PM]: lol :P
wilberfan [01|May 07:25 PM]: I saw him do that on Hollywood Blvd during OUATIH...All the extras joined in and everything. At the time, I didn't realize that was a Quentin Thing.
and re; Brain Dead --
Beyond! The Valley!! Of the Dolls!!!!!
*zoomz around the room in Z-Man cape*
I'm SUPERWOMAN
Man, the now Fairfax Cinema certainly has some stories to tell. The whole Cinefamily drama, prior to that a management involved murder (https://medium.com/cinemania/murder-at-the-silent-movie-a-true-story-654f8c10b5f8) (I've forgotten the details)--and way less dramatic--seeing silent movies there with my Pops when I was a kid.
Did you mean to edit your post and instead quoted + re-posted?
Only ask cuz that's happened to me before as well, lol ~
Quote from: WorldForgot on May 02, 2021, 11:23:24 AM
Did you mean to edit your post and instead quoted + re-posted?
Only ask cuz that's happened to me before as well, lol ~
Fawk.
Re-opening right after I leave, of course. I can't do anything right. :doh:
Quote from: eward on May 02, 2021, 12:38:30 PM
Re-opening right after I leave, of course. I can't do anything right. :doh:
they're just trying to look nice for when they see you next
Quote from: wilberfan on May 02, 2021, 11:10:21 AM
Man, the now Fairfax Cinema certainly has some stories to tell. The whole Cinefamily drama, prior to that a management involved murder (https://medium.com/cinemania/murder-at-the-silent-movie-a-true-story-654f8c10b5f8) (I've forgotten the details)--and way less dramatic--seeing silent movies there with my Pops when I was a kid.
totally. Brain Dead began as, and still is (https://wearebraindead.com/collections/t-shirt?sort_by=), a clothing company, previously interacting with Fairfax Cinema through this Happiness shirt
(https://i.imgur.com/DinMGMc.jpg)
so there's the possibility that, now that Brain Dead has assumed full control of operations, there will be more movie-themed t-shirts arriving. you might even find yourself in the situation in which you're in line next to a person who's there for not the movie but the shirt
what I can presume is that it is the same building owners and management of the theater, and name, has been passed onto Brain Dead
Paris Is Burning <3 Dazed and Confused <3 it's funny for a guy like me to say, but I've never seen Cinema Paradiso. it might sell out and I might still miss it, lol. I anticipate there will be a limited capacity as at other theaters (although restrictions may change? do we yet know how the old normal will return?) it's so adorable that his own movies are not only a part of the trailer, but a major part of the trailer. it's a part of him that you have to accept in order to accept him, his huge ego, and he does happen to have close enough to a heart of a gold
The FOMO is real.
we're missing out on you
Facts^
In a way that lobby + concessions experience will be more comfortable at limited capacity.
I'm already feeling anxious about the waiting-in-line bit, though. Will feel much more at home with it once cases are complete Nil.
just fyi an Academy charter member gets you exclusive screenings, early access, priority admission, and complimentary general admission. it lasts for a year and at $100 it's not a bad deal at all (https://www.academymuseum.org/en/membership). it'll undoubtedly be the coolest new theatrical thing in la for a while after it opens
The marquee for the new bev now says OUATIH June 1-6. Welp hopefully some day matinees too. Frankly would've preferred any other movie of his but that's the way it is
SEE THE FILM / READ THE BOOK
(likewise, though, my feeling was that a better hype vehicle would have been to program a diff QT each night for the first 9 days)
I get that it's promo for the novelization + audiobook, though.
June 29 is the book's pub date. Will the book sell early at the theater? I'd bite the temporary feeling of excitement, something special. If it opens without the book for sale then it's a movie I saw twice at the new bev already so I'll feel like I'm going backward instead of forward. A different qt every night would be nice since I've seen reservoir dogs and django unchained there too. Most of all, obviously I think, really, he should reopen with the whole bloody affair, which has played there too, but I didn't go, and that's a special theatrical opportunity
I'll have to wait and see what happens since once again this world isn't up to me
Quote from: jenkins on May 10, 2021, 11:41:18 PM
just fyi an Academy charter member gets you exclusive screenings, early access, priority admission, and complimentary general admission. it lasts for a year and at $100 it's not a bad deal at all (https://www.academymuseum.org/en/membership). it'll undoubtedly be the coolest new theatrical thing in la for a while after it opens
the academy museum opens in September. "nine decades in the making and costing at least $388 million"
(https://i.imgur.com/WQ9YcbW.jpeg)
I'm like dying to see their schedule
https://twitter.com/newbeverly/status/1395533040424677378
well. seems more likely I'll get to see Cinema Paradiso this way, and that will be a cool first way to see that movie. Female Trouble is my favorite John Waters movie. I think it's lame that Paris is Burning is only one night. all the midnight options are maybes for me. I am of course major bummed that cartoons won't yet return, but the note at the bottom says they're returning in July. July will also have West Side Story in IB technicolor and I've never seen West Side Story
Line outside new bev, don't yet know why
Heard they were giving away genuine 35mm sprocket holes to the first 300 nerds that showed up.
shit I was hoping you'd crack it. I drove by it, wrapped around the building so I wonder about the limited capacity situation. I think the answer to what's happening will come our way
https://twitter.com/newbeverly/status/1398322770732208133
:(
oh shit, well. the first 12 days of screenings are sold out at the New Bev. no tickets to be sold at the door. so I won't see Cinema Paradiso
They sold out in an instant. Don't know how I'll nab Velvet Goldmine but... i must try!!!
I believe in us
This is a pretty big deal
https://www.twitter.com/AltInnocence/status/1400153396263329792
Quote from: WorldForgot on June 02, 2021, 08:51:42 AM
They sold out in an instant. Don't know how I'll nab Velvet Goldmine but... i must try!!!
did you make it? everything sold out again. not sure what the capacity is on this
I only grabbed TENET
U_U
And I already had my Hedwig/Velvet Goldmine outfit planned and everything >_<
well geez I hope it had sold out is why you picked Tenet. please tell me what the capacity of the theater is when you see Tenet
also: why don't you wear that outfit to LA Plays Itself at the Nuart? that's a cool way for us to meet, and you know I'm all about normalizing adult movies. if some parts are a little too much to witness I'm going to do that thing of not closing my eyes but protecting my eyesight with my hand. the tickets aren't up for sale but I plan to be there with my friend and coworker
Do the tickets go on sale at a later date? I am considering it; one of my coworkers might dig the excursion haha
yeah, the ticket sale is coming up, I'm waiting on word from nuart or altered innocence
yeah know, I can go all into adult movies and just this movie. let me begin with adult movies: it's simply a positive perspective you take in with you, that you're willing to like this movie for what it is. you don't ask it to be what it isn't. and I have traveled through enough of them to know that it is indeed like anime, more a medium than a genre. and this means there are different types of them, that make you feel different ways and do different things. dark adult movies are a whole thing, Memories Within Miss Maggie had a cult-famous campaign for Best Movie Oscar. it's too bad an Ebert review of that movie doesn't show up through google. anyway they're a whole their own thing, and once you get that it helps you get them. they can be anything.
in terms of LA Plays Itself honestly even its trailer makes me wonder if I even am strong enough for this world and it's got two high culture points: 1 His films Sex Garage and L.A. Plays Itself are the only gay pornographic movies in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art 2 LA Plays Itself was used as the title of the Thom Andersen video essay. that's both cultural appropriation and legit appreciation of the underseen. then its cool factor is under check because Altered Innocence saw its restoration through. it's not an old print, this is a 4K digital restoration. a fresh possibility. and this movie celebrates fisting. I'm seeing urine, leather. this will be a different kind of roller coaster than the roller coasters I'm used to, at the Nuart. nice
If you guys do this, I'm guessing we will hear about it in either the worst or the best theater experience thread.
But what do I know, you guys are in LA and maybe watching adult movie with strangers is the norm there.
Quote from: Robyn on June 13, 2021, 07:08:18 AM
If you guys do this, I'm guessing we will hear about it in either the worst or the best theater experience thread.
But what do I know, you guys are in LA and maybe watching adult movie with strangers is the norm there.
Honestly, it soundz like fun. And although IRREVERSIBLE izn't exactly in the same vein - I do wonder how the opening 20/30minutes of Noe's film play on the perception of not only sex clubs, but of Adult entertainment's perceived aesthetics. Even in how the streets are lit.
It iz for some people~ or it was before pandemic. But I think that those venues largely died out even before I moved here. I used to walk by this joint all the time (https://www.google.com/maps/uv?pb=!1s0x80c2bedaaa7d3089%3A0x6f7fe0d11b366f30!3m1!7e115!4shttps%3A%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipM-fkdfVuyWdQ5-fTr5lKtw3Ud9P1xaX_BXXbdP%3Dw260-h175-n-k-no!5sadult%20movie%20theater%20melrose%20LA%20-%20Google%20Search!15sCgIgAQ&imagekey=!1e10!2sAF1QipM-fkdfVuyWdQ5-fTr5lKtw3Ud9P1xaX_BXXbdP&hl=en), though I never checked out the programming. As far as the history of those places go, and the depths of it as a medium, I'm glad for jenkins' thread (https://xixax.com/index.php?topic=14380.0) and wilder + wilberfan's mentions of what are essential texts.
Quote from: WorldForgot on June 13, 2021, 09:20:33 AM
I used to walk by this joint all the time (https://www.google.com/maps/uv?pb=!1s0x80c2bedaaa7d3089%3A0x6f7fe0d11b366f30!3m1!7e115!4shttps%3A%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipM-fkdfVuyWdQ5-fTr5lKtw3Ud9P1xaX_BXXbdP%3Dw260-h175-n-k-no!5sadult%20movie%20theater%20melrose%20LA%20-%20Google%20Search!15sCgIgAQ&imagekey=!1e10!2sAF1QipM-fkdfVuyWdQ5-fTr5lKtw3Ud9P1xaX_BXXbdP&hl=en),
That joint was famously a Pussycat Theater (https://losangelestheatres.blogspot.com/2017/03/monica-theatre.html) back in the Halcion Days of Messers Horner, James and Gondolli. Deep Throat ran there for
eight years.
Sobering for me to consider I might be one of the only active Xixaxers with first...uh....
hand, first-run experience with Golden Age Adult Cinema. (Sounds like a good excuse for an invite-only AMA.) :laughing:
Screamz 1 & 2?
Kill Bill Vol 1.
The Warriors
The Heartbreak Kid (pretty sure...)
shit I hope the capacity situation becomes full. is that happening? whatever this is I need to have seen it and written a short response to it a week ago
(https://imgur.com/aWocVp9.png)
Blazing Saddles
Something Wild
the worst Rocky
Browning's Dracula (!)
previously announced
Two Lane Blacktop
West Side Story
at least one martial arts movie I should be able to identify like a normal person and a handful of other movies it's also disappointing I'm not identifying
i'm going to head to new Bev's twitter and crack the rest of the movie list
others pining for KB:TWBA (but no)
Red Dawn w/Rocky IV
Girlfriends w/It's My Turn
Cockfighter w/2LB
whatever Excalibur is
oooh okay one I should have known was We Need to Talk about Kevin
Once Upon a Time in China (oh he's dressed so nice in it, I knew it was a famous one)
The Lady Eve (shoulda known) (w/Sullivan's Travels ~and~ Palm Beach Story, no I bet it's two, but maybe four)
Black Sunday
Torso
Michael Clayton (what?)
Don't Torture a Duckling
Over the Edge (shoulda known, thought it was this tbh)
Hard not to get goosebumps after almost a year and a half.
https://vimeo.com/562692234
wilberfan, if you use "[vimeo end bracket and start bracket /vimeo]" you can embed Vimeo vidz ~
Quote from: WorldForgot on June 14, 2021, 06:01:16 PM
Screamz 1 & 2?
Kill Bill Vol 1.
The Warriors
The Heartbreak Kid (pretty sure...)
Oh, thanks. I thought it happened automagically--like YouTube.
Tickets for sale (https://www.landmarktheatres.com/los-angeles/nuart-theatre/film-info/la-plays-itself-sextool)
Quote from: jenkins on June 02, 2021, 02:16:07 PM
This is a pretty big deal
https://www.twitter.com/AltInnocence/status/1400153396263329792
new bev's July is up
this is the one I screencapped and wondered about:
QuoteTHE BIG BOSS PART II
ULTRA RARE BRUCEPLOITATION – one of the most sought-after kung fu titles ever! The unofficial sequel to Bruce Lee's The Big Boss picks up right where it's predecessor ends, substitutes Bruce Le for the original film's iconic star, throws him in jail for his actions in the first movie, then has Five Fingers of Death legend Lo Lieh show up as his brother to continue their family's vengeance! See Lo Lieh punch and kick his way through an army of bad dudes, fall in love, and even fight an alligator on the way to an epic finale set in the famous ice factory from the first film.
and this Netflix movie is being shown on 35mm:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7ZrjXuNgmA
Quote from: jenkins on June 24, 2021, 09:01:10 PM
new bev's July is up
this is the one I screencapped and wondered about:
QuoteTHE BIG BOSS PART II
ULTRA RARE BRUCEPLOITATION – one of the most sought-after kung fu titles ever! The unofficial sequel to Bruce Lee's The Big Boss picks up right where it's predecessor ends, substitutes Bruce Le for the original film's iconic star, throws him in jail for his actions in the first movie, then has Five Fingers of Death legend Lo Lieh show up as his brother to continue their family's vengeance! See Lo Lieh punch and kick his way through an army of bad dudes, fall in love, and even fight an alligator on the way to an epic finale set in the famous ice factory from the first film.
ugh I missed it. it's happening tonight. reminder to self to get back into the swing of things
Vista calendar from '81:
(https://i.ibb.co/vJ4v80Q/E7-Pb-Pnr-Xo-AQ-Bfc.jpg)
Wow! I was going to all (well, most) of the revival houses back then--but I don't remember ever visiting the Vista. I lived in Van Nuys at the time, I'll bet the West side houses were just more convenient.
SEAN PENN: AN AMERICAN CINEMATHEQUE RETROSPECTIVE (https://americancinematheque.com/series/sean-penn-an-american-cinematheque-retrospective/)
https://www.instagram.com/p/CR4wwBsMy20/
They Live, Boogie Nights, Devil in a Blue Dress, Rebel Without a Cause, T2, Chopping Mall, Mulholland Drive, and best of all REPO MAN
Eyes Without a Face, Last Night in Soho, Phantom of the Paradise, Carrie (de palmz), Hausu, The Birds, Beetlejuice, Killer Clowns from Outer Space, Attack the Block, Shaun of the Dead, Snoop Dogg in Bones, Suspiria, Se7en, Harold and Maude.
Did I also see Rage: Carrie 2 in there?
Haha, I haven't seen that one so I wouldn't recognize it. But you've got me hopeful!
The New Beverly uploaded calendars from 1986 (https://thenewbev.com/print-calendars/1986-2/)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E_rSOGyVgAEsF6L?format=jpg&name=4096x4096)
Quadrophenia + The Wall :drool:
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E_rSO5rVcAIUo3T?format=jpg&name=4096x4096)
Diabolique + The Wages of Fear :twisted:
So cool. Admission: "General: $3.50"
Quote"August is a month of celebration! We start with the launch of Quentin Tarantino and Roger Avary's The Video Archives Podcast and our ongoing series of tie-in screenings. Next, we salute the 30th Anniversary of Reservoir Dogs with a special six-day run of Quentin's personal 35mm print of the film, as well as double bills dedicated to the movie's cast, its influences and legacy. We are also proud to present Allison Anders' groundbreaking Gas Food Lodging which played at the legendary 1992 Sundance with Reservoir Dogs, paired with her film Grace of My Heart."
Notably, too; Premiere Screening of AMERICAN BADASS, A Michael Madsen Retrospective.
(https://thenewbev.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/NewBev202208-FRONT-FINAL.jpg)
(https://thenewbev.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/NewBev202208-BACK-FINAL.jpg)
Just learned about RevivalHouses.com (https://www.revivalhouses.com/), the LA-equivalent of NYC's Screen Slate (http://screenslate.com)
Sept 3rd at the New Bev; HOT SUMMER IN THE CITY (https://thenewbev.com/program/september-3-hot-summer-in-the-city-adults-onlymidnight-show/)
QuoteThe first XXX film lensed in Michigan! Set during the long, hot summer of 1967 and its impending real-life confrontations in Detroit, Hot Summer in the City pushes the boundaries of pornographic entertainment, injecting roughie violence and exploitation themes into its hardcore sex storyline. With genuine Top 40 hits playing in the background, a group of Black Militants kidnap a young white virgin in a plan to set off race riots throughout the suburbs.
(https://thenewbev.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Hot-Summer-poster-1-385x578.jpg)
If you're in Chicago, Siskel Center has a pretty cool series coming up, Sept 15-18th:
CELLULOID NOW - 35MM: INDUSTRY STANDARD (https://www.siskelfilmcenter.org/celluloid-now)
QuoteSeptember 15 at 7pm | Ten years ago, if you walked into a random first run movie theater, there was still a chance that whatever you were watching would be projected on 35mm motion picture film. Ten years before that, it was almost a guarantee. Across the entire 20th century, there was nothing unique about seeing a film projected in 35mm. If a filmmaker shot their movie on 16mm or video and they wanted it seen widely, it was a given they'd blow it up to 35mm. In the present day, 35mm sits in an odd place, now a specialty format most exhibitors are no longer equipped to screen, when in recent memory it was just the way every theater received Twilight movies and Coca-Cola ads.
There may be fewer theaters equipped for 35mm than there were a decade ago, but filmmakers haven't left it for dead quite yet. Artists are still finding new and exciting things to do with this hundred-year-old format, and working in another medium you'd be hard-pressed to replicate something like Alexandre Larose's brouillard - passage #14 (a single 1000-foot magazine of film featuring 39 overlapping exposures of the same ten minute shot) or Mike Gibisser's Slow Volumes (filmed on a custom 35mm camera made with projector parts supplied by the Chicago Film Society). The recent availability of inexpensive direct positive 35mm prints, printed directly from a video source file, has opened the format up to artists who would've never been able to afford to strike prints of their work during 35mm's heyday (including a number of artists whose work originates on video, as seen in this very program with the films STONE and Elegy for J.M.). Plenty of film traditionalists are still kicking around too, still editing on Steenbecks and printing from A/B rolls. A few years ago they'd get called fetishists but can you name a 2022 release that looks as good as the print of Ted Fendt's Broken Specs showing here? 35mm no longer enjoys the massive cultural presence it once had but surveying this collection of films drawn from the latest (and perhaps strangest) chapter in the format's history, it's hard to not feel excited by what the future has in store for it.
Films included in program (all 35mm):
Slow Volumes (2019) — Mike Gibisser — 5 min.
STONE (2021) — Drew Hanks & Riley Lynch — 20 min.
Broken Specs (2012) — Ted Fendt — 6 min.
brouillard - passage #14 (2013) — Alexandre Larose — 10 min.
Twelve Tales Told (2014) — Johann Lurf — 4 min.
One Way to Find Out (2012) — Scott Stark — 6 min.
Potemkin Piece (2022) — Justin Clifford Rhody & friends — 2 min.
Elegy for J.M. (2019) — John Klacsmann — 4 min.
The Watchmen (2017) — Fern Silva — 10 min.
A Proposal to Project in Scope (2020) — Viktoria Schmid — 8 min. (pictured)
keep that dream burning (2017) — Rainer Kohlberger — 8 min.
Plus a selection of ads, trailers, and other surprises!
Also - thanks for this link wilder, used it a bunch the last two weeks.
Quote from: wilder on August 13, 2022, 06:53:52 PMJust learned about RevivalHouses.com (https://www.revivalhouses.com/), the LA-equivalent of NYC's Screen Slate (http://screenslate.com)
(https://i.ibb.co/WnQFmKS/275466b1-e697-424a-a287-f38f407218fd.png)
lol, one day at the New Beverly goez like
Analog Film NYC (https://analogfilmnyc.org/upcoming-screenings/) tracks celluloid screenings in the city
L.A. has got a nifty site like that as well. (Not exclusively analog)
https://www.revivalhubla.com