The Craigterion Collection

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Slow It Down

Though Andy Warhol was arguably the most productive filmmaker of the 1960s, few of his films have been seen.  This is because in the 1970s Warhol himself decided to stop allowing them to be shown.  He liked the idea of them developing a mythos.  Films that were talked about often but impossible to see.

Since his death in 1986 it's become a bit easier to see these films, but not by much.  Some are available on murky bootlegs while the bulk are only shown in conjunction with museum retrospectives of the paintings.  That's how I finally got to see a  a handful of his infamous screen tests.

While it's true that the films are much more stimulating intellectually than visually, there is no denying a certain beauty in his imagery.  Shot at sound speed and projected at silent speed, the nearly imperceptible slow motion helps to give great pomp and circumstance to even the most minuscule movements.  Something is off but you can't exactly place it.

On Tuesday (4/7), Plexifilm is releasing 13 Most Beautiful...Songs For Andy Warhol's Screen Tests.  This is the first ever authorized release of a Warhol film on DVD.  Hopefully there will be many more to follow.  I personally would love to see a Criterion release of The Chelsea Girls.

Baadasssss!

A few weeks back at the New York Comic Con MTV hosted a panel to determine the Top Ten Movie Badasses. Since then a lot of hip celebrities have been posting their lists on their blogs. Since I like to consider myself a celebrity (in my mind) I will now bestow upon you all my personal list of Cinematic Badassery:

Walker (Point Blank)
John McClane (Die Hard)
Ellen Ripley (Aliens)
The Bride (Kill Bill Vol 1)
Lee (Enter The Dragon)
Pike Bishop (The Wild Bunch)
Doc Holiday (Tombstone)
John Shaft (Shaft)
Blondie (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly)
Gny. Sgt. Hartman (Full Metal Jacket)

You are now free to return to your regularly scheduled lives.

25 Storytellers

Entertainment Weekly recently made a list of the 25 greatest working directors. Lots of talented people on there and lots of “what the fuck?” James Cameron? Fella's only now making his first film in over a decade!

I’m gonna take this opportunity to come up with my own list of 25. EW limits their list to working directors. In my opinion this means their current films have to be of a consistent quality. No skating by on past glory. Sorry Woody, sorry Godard. Here (in no particular order) are the names that can get my ass in a seat:

Martin Scorsese

Steven Spielberg

Pedro Almodovar

Paul Thomas Anderson

Allison Anders

Clint Eastwood

Darren Aronofsky

David Fincher

Guillermo Del Toro

Alfonso Cuaron

Joel & Ethan Coen

Quentin Tarantino

Stephen Soderbergh

Wes Anderson

Jim Jarmusch

Lloyd Kaufman

Spike Jonze

Werner Herzog

David Cronenberg

Gus Van Sant

Spike Lee

Wong Kar-Wai

John Waters

David Lynch

Kevin Smith

Prescious Little Life

Scott Pilgrim makes me happy. Sure the character is wickedly immature and insensitive but the comic book he stars in is one of the most vital titles of the aughts.

AND IT'S GOING TO BECOME A MOVIE!!!

Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead & Hot Fuzz) is exactly the right person to be doing this adaptation. Scott Pilgrim is the sequential art extension of what Spaced did on television. Characters who view themselves through a pop culture prism. They don't just talk about films and old video games - they live them.

Wright has also lined up one hell of a cast consisting of young Hollywood's finest and according to one of said cast members: THERE ARE GOING TO BE ANIMATED SEQUENCES!

Though I am extremely eager to see The Watchmen, I think this is the comics to film project I am most anticipating. It's the perfect melding of artist and subject. Should be plenty reverent but also not slavish.

SCOTT PILGRIM Vs. THE WORLD

coming soon

In the mean time you can pick up the just released Scott Pilgrim vs. The Universe. Book 5 of 6. At the moment it's available only in comic shops (I know you're scared). Soon it'll be everywhere.

Time to catch up.

Behold!

Look what the Academy has deprived themselves of by denying The Boss another nomination. This all could have been yours...



Sure his snubbed song "The Wrestler" isn't really conducive to power sliding. But that's beside the point. Let's just hope M.I.A. has recovered enough from having her kid to at least show up and liven the place up.

Best Flicks 2008

As always a day late and a dollar short but. Oh well.

Here are the 5 flicks I dug the most from last year:

Other films worth giving a look-see:

The Wrestler
Che

Iron Man
The Dark Knight
Hellboy II: The Golden Army
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Zack and Miri Make a Porno
Gran Torino
Mother of Tears (US release)

Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead
Burn After Reading
Wall-E
Be Kind Rewind

"Are the girls in Phoenix that bad?"

Though I've only seen her in one film I would be remiss if I did not mark the passing of film noir legend Ann Savage at the age of 87. Her performance in Edgar G. Ulmer's Detour has to be seen to believed. She really lives up to that last name of hers. She recently appeared in Guy Maddin's latest film My Winnipeg which I still desperately need to see.

Ms. Savage, you will be missed.

Lowest Common Denominator

For the most part I hate contemporary film posters. Gone are the days of awesome stuff like this Saul Bass masterpiece: And what do we get instead? Shitty "big head" posters. Yeah you know what I'm talking about. All of them look EXACTLY like this:

Oh wow Julia Roberts is in this movie? I could have never found that out by reading the poster. Good thing her face was on their big as life. I only go see movies based on who is starring in them. I have to go drink some paint thinner now. Bye.

Anyhow...Occasionally a good poster will come along. Something with a very nice graphic sensibility. Something you might actually hang on your wall. Something like:
The image also makes for great DVD art. Or so you might think. According to the fine folks at Touchstone, this monstrosity will make you want to rent Miracle at St Anna:
What the fuck is wrong with this world? Were they trying to make use of shitty reject art they had laying around? Is DVD art really that important these days? I understand needing an image that appeals to the lowest common denominator so as to grab their attention while they are roaming the video store. But most people these days get their films either by bootleg, Netflix or cable.

Can't we just keep the nice pretty original art? Please?

It's Beautiful

Sam Bottoms, who made his screen debut as the innocent Billy in Peter Bogdanovich's classic The Last Picture Show, died today. He was only 53. Bottoms also appeared in Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now as surfing superstar Lance B. Johnson . Though he has left this world, those two performances will remain forever. Rest in peace sir.

Tout Va Bien?

This morning when I first heard about the sit-in at Republic Windows & Doors, the first thing that came to mind was Jean-Luc Godard and Jean-Pierre Gorin's film Tout Va Bien about a strike at a sausage factory.

I did not think of Karl Marx

I did not think of the Industrial Revolution

I did not think of social justice & worker's rights

I thought about a movie

What is wrong with me?

"Don't go out there! There's something in the mist!"

Sweet Jesus this fog is thick!

It got Becca and I talking about Frank Darabont's AMAZING adaptation of Stephen King's novella The Mist. If you have not seen it yet you NEED to. It is crazy good with one hell of an ending.

If/when you do see it, I recommend watching it at night and in black and white. The two disc DVD of the film comes with a black & white version. If your video store only has color just adjust your TV's settings. Totally worth it.

Give Love A Chance

Even if you're not familiar with the band Love you have probably seen this album cover somewhere -
Whenever there is a list of the greatest albums of all time you will likely find Forever Changes on there. It's a really great album. "Alone Again or" is one of the greatest album openers ever and the following 10 tracks live up to that promise.

I didn't hear this album till about a year ago when I found it among the CDs of my long deceased uncle Gary. When he died he was living with my grandparents and his CDs are still there. It's weird - I've kind of grown up with that collection. Every few years I look through the various discs and find something new. When I was in 4th grade it was Elvis & Meatloaf, when I got to high school it was Frank Zappa and last year it was Love.

As great as the album is, I for some reason never attempted to look into any of their other albums until this past Tuesday.

On Tuesday (with change I had been amassing on my desk) I bought the Criterion edition of Bottle Rocket. Though I had seen the film at least three times before, I had never really paid attention to the music in the first burglary scene. Maybe it's due to the shitty mix on the standard edition DVD. Who knows? But anyway - this time the music stood out. I found myself wondering -

Who the fuck is this awesome band?

It sounded like if The Who were inventing punk. Quick IMDB search and I discover that the song is called "7 and 7 is" by Love. It's off their album Da Capo which came right before Forever Changes and is pretty awesome as well.

Take a listen



Most of you hip cats out there are likely already on the Love bandwagon. But those of you who are not better get jumpin' cause this is great great music.

Dig?

Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

Fuck the auteur theory. No single man or woman makes a film. A film is the product of intense collaboration between a team of talented individuals, all bringing their unique skills, in hopes of elevating the whole. Nowhere is this better exemplified than in the contrast between Bottle Rocket the short film and Bottle Rocket the feature.

During the two years that elapsed between the short and the feature, Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson were subjected to an intense film bootcamp administered by the legendary James L. Brooks. Over the course of those two years, Wilson and Anderson developed a much stronger sense of narrative and structure. It was also during this time that Wes met cinematographer Rober Yeoman as well as the design duo of David and Sandy Wasco.

Now I'm not saying that Wes and Owen were a couple of country rubes who were whipped into shape by the Hollywood machine. In their short you can see protian forms of everything that would eventually come to bear in the features. Especially that tone. That tone is all them. What I am saying is that with the right collaborators, good artists can become great.

Variations On A Theme (Due)

Set-up:
A group of wealthy Italians go for a cruise and decide to visit a deserted island. While exploring the island, a girl goes missing. Her boyfriend and best gal pal take it upon themselves to find her.
Sounds like a fairly decent first act to a what could be a great thriller.

Upon its premiere at the 1960 Cannes International Film Festival, Michelangelo Antonioni’s masterpiece L’avventura was met with audible “Boo”-s.

What they were reacting to was the film’s apparent contempt for narrative. The mystery of the missing Anna is never resolved. What we as an audience are left with is the romance(?) of the two people searching for her.

While watching this film, one cannot help but think of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho. Serial killers aside, the films are strikingly similar. A female protagonist goes missing, her boyfriend and best friend (or sister) go looking for her, they fall in love.

It’s almost like Hitch was attempting to show that in the proper hands, this set-up could be quite the crowd pleaser. The catch is that both films were released in 1960. Neither filmmaker was aware of what the other was doing.

How do you say collective unconscious in Italian?

the EMPIRE strikes late

Last month, anyone and everyone with a love of cinema was talking about Empire Magazine's list of "The 500 Greatest Movies Of All Time". Once the issue made it's way to the US (Empire is a British mag) it sold rather rapidly and thus it was rather difficult for one such as myself to get ahold of a copy. Fortunately today I was able to track one down (with "A Clockwork Orange" on the cover no less). I shall now regale you with my thoughts on the list.

Aside from the fact that it's a little geek-centric, and the inclusion of some head scratchers ("Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace" and "Lords of Dogtown" to name a few) it's a pretty decent and diverse list. Check out the top 10:

10. Fight Club
9. Pulp Fiction
8. Singin' In The Rain
7. Apocalypse Now
6. GoodFellas
5. Jaws
4. The Shawshank Redemption
3. Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
2. Raiders Of The Lost Ark
1. The Godfather

Another cool feature is that peppered throughout the issue are handwritten ballots submitted by cool filmmakers like Roger Deakins and John Sayles as well as less cool filmmakers like Uwe Boll. Ever wonder what Quentin Tarantino's top 11 (apparently 10 is for lesser men) favorite films are? Wonder no more:

1. The Good, The Bad and the Ugly
2. Rio Bravo
3. Blow Out
4. Taxi Driver
5. His Girl Friday
6. 5 Fingers of Death/King Boxer
7. Pandora's Box
8. Carrie
9. Unfaithfully Yours
10. 5 Graves to Cairo
11. Jaws

Somehow I did not receive a ballot in the mail from Empire. This is odd seeing as I am such a powerful figure in the film industry. Perhaps there was some sort of trouble with the international mail service. Oh well. I shant let this deprive you from my Top 11 list (screw you Tarantino I can count that high too):

1. Pulp Fiction
2. Ed Wood
3. Dr. Strangelove
4. Taxi Driver
5. L.A. Confidential
6. Annie Hall
7. The Godfather Part II
8. Chasing Amy
9. Buffalo '66
10. Boogie Nights
11. Y Tu Mama Tambien

Hopefully Empire'll get that whole mail thing worked out before it's time to compile another list. Until then...

See you at the movies.

The Road

As excited as I am about the Obama victory, there is still great sorrow in my heart today. It comes from the fact that though we as a country chose by and large to break away from eight years of failed policy, we were unable to stop ANY of the bans on gay marriage.

All over the news, people have been talking about what an Obama presidency symbolizes to our Nation and to the world. They talk about how we are now a show rather than tell country. They talk about how now it is truly possible for anyone to become President if they so desire. Well apparently that does not apply to our friends in the LGBTI community.

But there is hope.

From 1924 until 1967, Virginia had a “Racial Integrity Act” which made it a felony for a white person to marry a non-white. This act was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in the landmark case of Loving v. Virginia. What was the deciding factor in that case?

The 14th Amendment states: “No state shall…deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

As depressed as I am today, that statement is what gives me hope. It demonstrates our system’s amazing ability to correct itself when things are inherently wrong. As unjust as these bans are, they will lead the way for lawsuits which will in turn lead to Supreme Court cases like Loving v. Virginia. Sure it’s a long road ahead, but I am prepared for the journey.

Also...

Remember, remember the fifth of November
The gunpowder treason and plot
I know of no reason, why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot

Tonight is Guy Fawkes Night. I recommend watching V for Vendetta. It's relevant to the gay marriage issue as well.

Hasta la victoria, siempre.

Movies Of The Future!

Next Tuesday will mark the DVD release of “Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead” and though I have not seen the film myself I highly recommend it to anyone and everyone.

Some of you might be wondering: "What could give him such unbridled enthusiasm for an unseen film?"

For you I have two words: "LLOYD KAUFMAN!!!"

Many out there (close friends of mine included) like to dismiss Troma© as schlocky trash with absolutely no redeeming value. On one level they are correct. Troma© has released its’ share of “goat shit”, but when it comes to actual Lloyd Kaufman productions, you are in for a treat.

Lloyd is no dummy. He attended Yale alongside the likes of Gary Trudeau, Oliver Stone, George W. Bush and John Kerry. He also knows his cinema. As a young man he worshiped at the altar of art filmmakers like Andy Warhol and Stan Brakhage and it is this anti-authoritarian/underground streak that shines through in all of his films.

Unlike so much of the shit cluttering out multiplexes in this day and age, Lloyd actually makes films ABOUT something. He makes films about AIDS, abortion, women in the arts, our consumerist culture, etc. Of course it all gets related through the prism of a gory horror comedy but that just makes it all the better. A spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down.

Even the ramshackle/low-budget nature of the productions serves as a plus. Godard isn’t the only one who can effectively used Brechtian devices in film. A particularly fake looking head explosion is an excellent way to remind you that you are watching film. An aware audience is much better able to interpret and discuss the ideas they are being fed. Unlike “Forrest Gump” et al, these films are not propaganda.

Now of course Troma© isn’t for everyone. Those with weak stomachs might want to take a rain check and that’s to be understood. But for those of you out there who consider yourselves serious cineastes, there is absolutely no excuse.

Lloyd is quite simply the most inspiring individual currently working in film. His passion is so intense that regardless of the medium, he is able to reach out and grab you. His prose can be just as inanely infectious as his cinema.

Recommended Viewing
-The Toxic Avenger
-Troma’s War
-Tromeo & Juliet
-Terror Firmer
-The Toxic Avenger IV: Citizen Toxie

Recommended Reading
-Make Your Own Damn Movie

NOW LET’S GO MAKE SOME ART!!!

Casting Couch

Over the years the gap between a film’s theatrical release and its’ appearance on video and TV has grown smaller and smaller. So small in fact that many consumers opt to just skip the theatrical run altogether.

Good news for DVD and cable sales, bad news for theater owners. That is unless you’re 2929 Entertainment®.

Owned and run by billionaire Mark Cuban and his business partner Todd Wagner, 2929 Entertainment® consists of:

- Magnolia Pictures
- Landmark Theatres
- Magnolia Home Entertainment
- HDNet
- HDNet Films

Yep. They own the means of production as well as the means of distribution.

It is with this in mind, that back in 2005, 2929 Entertainment signed a deal with Oscar® winning director Stephen Soderbergh, to produce six feature-length films for simultaneous release on pay cable, DVD and in theaters.

Within a year of the deal Soderbergh had produced “Bubble”, an excellent film about murder in a small town, starring non-actors who all work at a doll factory. Definitely worth a rental.

Now, nearly four years and four non-2929 films later, Soderbergh is ready for another go around. This one will be titled “The Girlfriend Experience” and will center on the world of high-class call girls.

When the project was first announced Soderbergh stated that his intention was to use a girl from the world of adult film as his star. Yesterday he announced his choice:


I don’t know exactly how to feel about Sasha Grey.

She’s pretty, insisted on being photographed by Terry Richardson for Penthouse, pals around with the likes of The Smashing Pumpkins and The Roots, she’s a feminist (though some might dispute her on that) and loves art cinema.

So what’s the problem right?

My problem is with this tough yet aloof exterior she presents. She’s confrontational yet blasé about EVERYTHING! She’ll talk about the taboo of interracial porn or about empowering herself by pushing her personal sexual boundaries and I'm sure she really means it all, but it all comes off feeling false.

Yeah I know she’s got an image to maintain but that image really prevents me from taking her seriously about anything she has to say. Regardless of the topic, it all sounds the same. Who finds that interesting let alone sexy? Perhaps I’m just too square.

Anyhow, I’m really interested to see how “The Girlfriend Experience” turns out. If anyone can get behind her façade, it’s Stephen Soderbergh. Who knows? She could end up surprising me.

The People's Mouse

I just had to share this photo:
Yep that's Mickey and Walt with Soviet Auteur Sergi Eisenstein.

I found it over at http://criterioncollection.blogspot.com/ and apparently it's included on their edition of the "Alexander Nevsky" DVD. Though it by no means forgives my issues with The Walt Disney Company® - it does make Walt a tiny bit cooler. Let's not forget he also hung with Dali.

Now if only we could convince Bob Iger that Walt would have wanted Mickey to go into public domain so that he could become the property of the proletariat.

Oh who am I kidding? When's the last time anyone at that company gave a thought to what a member of the Disney family might want?

Mahalo