Patrick Swayze, 1952 - 2009 and QUICK NOTES on a few films.

The Swayz died yesterday, and quite honestly, I'm pretty sad. I was trying to explain to Alex yesterday that the death of actors that I grew up with makes me profoundly glum. I don't know if it's the actual passing of actors that I know, and sometimes love, or the grim reminder that I'm getting older and my past is starting to fade, but there's a real potent sadness when an actor like Patrick Swayze kicks the bucket.

Swayze was diagnosed with colon cancer a year or so, and from what I've heard the disease is pretty much a death sentence, thus, I was only awaiting the inevitable news. That said, I'm still bummed that my only encounters with the man who made Dirty Dancing amazing, the man who saved Colorado from a Red Dawn, the man who had a kiddie porn dungeon in Donnie Darko, will be ones from the past. He wasn't always the greatest actor, but the man made you smile, you have to admit that.

I'll drink a few for you tonight Big Patrick. You should too.

I've been slackin' on my bloggin', and accrued a few films under my belt in the mean time. Thought I'd slice through 'em real quick with a few snarky comments and even some recommendations.

Let the Quick Notes begin!

Valentino: The Last Emperor dir. Matt Tymauer

I threw this on the Netflix queue as Alex is obsessed with fashion and this account of famed designer Valentino's life peaked her interest. I'm curious about fashion, I like to look nice, and I'm interested in the terminology and design aspects, but a documentary about haute couture and the super rich seemed obnoxious at best. Strangely, I left this film happy with the experience. Director Matt Tymauer captures a lot of things on film here - Valentino's final fashion show, his tumultuous though loving relationship with Giancarlo Giammati, and the child-like emotions of a very rich, semi-powerful man - and manages to force them together in to a pleasant little film. The rich are fucking weird, the world of fashion (especially super high-end fashion) is even weirder, and I never want to be a part of this world. But I do enjoy just a glimpse in to it.

Errol Morris' First Person dir. Errol Morris

We're winding up our obsessive digestion of all things Morris right now, and we had to tromp through a few more discs of his television series First Person in the process. I've reached a point where I shouldn't even be recommending Mr. Morris, as I'm madly in love with him and can't help but gush uncontrollably every time I see anything of his. That said, this is another fascinating collection of interviews with fascinating people. It's low-budget, fairly talky, but man, if the interview with the crime scene cleaner or the large-toothed Mutter Museum lady don't have you engrossed, your brain is a mushy world. Also, the crime scene cleaner reminds e of my mother, if she traded nursing for cleaning up dead bodies.

The Thin Blue Line dir. Errol Morris

This is my favorite Morris film. A brilliant break down of a murder in a small town that is fascinating, gripping, and a downright chilling indictment of the American justice system. The final moments will confuzzle your ears.

Twin Peaks Episode 1 & 2 dir. David Lynch

Been hearing about these for years and finally started digging in. I'm mad because the pilot, which introduces the whole story, just isn't included with the episodes, thus you're propelled in to the town of Twin Peaks with almost no back story. I'm glad because this eyeball of Americana is classic David Lynch. It's a little campy, a lot creepy, and Kyle Maclachlan is at his very very best as Agent Cooper, a ebullient burst of freaky dreams and coffee-lovin'. Can't say I recommend it yet, but I'm certainly enjoying it.

And that's it.

Wednesday: Beastie Boys Video Anthology Pt. 1 (100)

A weird thing I saw, and a new column about new releases.

A weird thing I saw today:

A rollerblader, all multi-wheeled and skirting the edge of 80s fashion, chain smoking cigarettes on Valencia.

Rollerblading and chain smoking Marlboro Lights, it seems so Miami Vice.

I want to start a new column that focuses not just on what I'm watching right now in terms of The Criterion Collection, but what they as a company continue to release. As much fun as it as to dig through what they've done before (and as I'm cutting away at the first 100, it just gets more and more enjoyable) this is also a company that continues to release absolutely amazing movies in to the public in the most fantastic way. Thus, when they have a new release (and they're on point about making sure I know) I want to tell you about it.

So, they just sent me a press release for their new release, The Human Condition (480), so let's get it started.

What Is It?: A four-disc, nine hour epic following one Japanese soldiers entire trip through the second World War.

Why Is Criterion Releasing It?: "A raw indictment of its nation’s wartime mentality as well as a personal existential tragedy, Kobayashi’s riveting, gorgeously filmed epic is novelistic cinema at its best."

My Thoughts On It?: Nine hours! Holy shit, how in the world am I ever going to finish the Criterion Collection if some of these films are topping out nearly two hours over the average person's work-day? I mean, I'll certainly, CERTAINLY, be asleep for at least four hours of this film. There just isn't any way that I can sit through nearly nine hours of Japanese soldier triumph and tragedy. It just ain't happening.

Hmmmm ... I feel as if there should be a final question in terms of my feelings about the film, but I can't think of one. Any suggestions?

Monday: District 9, Errol Morris' First Person

A moment of brain silence and GIMME SHELTER (99)

It's eerie, my brain it's quiet.

Seriously, on most occasions I could just scrawl out a list of the absurd thoughts flitting about in this gooey center, but right now, for some strange reason, it's empty. Just a peaceful haven of bird calls and cricket tweets.

I'm just going to roll with it though. Keep on keepin' on if you know what I'm saying.

Lets talk about Gimme Shelter (99).

As I expected to be, I was completely and totally blown away by how good this film was. It's absolutely the most telling documentary I've seen about the end of The Summer of Love. It sheds a harsh light on the drugs, the sex, the sort of devil-may-care attitude that permeated a certain sect of society, and what it reveals aren't entirely pretty.

I shut my computer off two days ago, Mick Jagger's distraught face burned in to my mind, and wanted to curl up in a ball and just be held. God I love it when I film can do that to me.

My thoughts on this fantastic documentary, again scrawled in my journal as I watched this film:

1. Mick Jagger is a dick

From moment one while watching this film, Mick Jagger comes across as exactly the kind of rock star I sort of hate. He's pompous and attractive and just thinks his band and the music they make is the greatest music in the entire world. There's a line when he's talking about an absolutely spectacular performance by Tina Turner that's goes something like, "It's nice to have a chick do well" that made me cringe. And through out the film, he becomes more and more so, just a man overcome with power and fame. The Maysles do a fantastic trick here, by concurrently showing the documentary to both you and to Mick Jagger and filming his reaction. So you can actually see in the lines of his Brit-face how the terrible events of the film affect him.

2. Drugs are bad.

There's a brief scene in this movie where a man, in the thralls of a bad trip, is shirtless barking at the camera that made my stomach flip. That coupled with woman screaming and then seizuring and the sheer lack of control oozing across every one's face in this film, I never want to touch another bit of that sticky-icky every again. I mean I probably will, but c'mon, this film certainly drives D.A.R.E.'s message home.

3. There's something sketchy about the whole damn thing.

Just right from the start, you know this party isn't going to be Woodstock. There's backroom discussions about spacing. The British promoters just can't seem to get the proper, well, anything set up, and the crowd, framed so creepily by these fantastic documentarians, seem almost animalistic, on the edge of sanity, ready to tear each other apart. Drugs are bad and seemingly, so are music festivals.

4. "Tough shit."

Hmmmmm ... I can't remember why I wrote this. I'm assuming there was something with someone being hurt or having a drug overdose and this was the line that emitted from the mouth of the promoters. Ew.

5. They need bandages!

This is how badly everything was set up: someone gets hurt in the crowd, and instead of a fully-prepared doctor heading on down and fixin' them up. The promoters start asking the crowd if they have any bandages. THE CROWD! A tragedy of errors.

6. I wonder if people who actually went to this show were like "Awesome!"

You know? I've been to too many concerts where something awful has happened (injuries, fights, overdoses) but the music was amazing, the crowd was fantastic, and I left thinking, "Wow, what a show." I wonder if The Maysles capture the truly negative aspect of the concert so well that we don't get a solid glimpse of the positives. Or this could just be the most fucked-up concert of all time, and this is a perfect snapshot of the event.

7. Holy shit.

There was just a point in this film, moments after The Hell's Angels (security at the event) beat up the guitarist for Jefferson Airplane that I just wrote down "Holy shit" and then stopped writing. Everything after this moment is a downward spiral, a straight shot to a truly chilling conclusion, and I couldn't find a single moment that didn't make me just want to write the two words over and over again. If Woodstock was love and peace, this was hell and violence.

Final thoughts: Please, for the love of god, see this film. If you hate The Rolling Stones (Dad), or if you don't like documentaries, or if you're a creepy interweb troller that stumbled on my blog, take my advice: see this film. It's as good a documentary (music or otherwise) as created, and you are missing out hugely if you don't do yourself the favor of seeing it.

Just saying.

Friday: Errol Morris' First Contact Marathon

Again, credibility. Pimping Criterion, and QUICK NOTES: MANUFACTURED LANDSCAPES.

Again, the SF Weekly has deemed a bit of my writing fit for their webpage. I admit, it's a bit gushy. I just can't help it, the show was fantastic and all I could do was say nice things. Don't blame me for a rare bit of positive energy.

WAVVES @ The Rickshaw Stop

Would love to hear your thoughts on it if you have a second. Please, head-punch me with honesty. I need it.


I love Criterion, seriously just about everything they do, including there smaller, lesser known Eclipse Series. It's a collection of smaller, lesser known films (be it obscure chunks of well known director's filmographies or just movements in film no one has ever touched upon, or the collected works of directors a little outside of the mainstream) that Criterion sells at a lower price. They're a little more bare bone than Criterion's main line, but that's okay because a good deal of the time you end up with collections like Nikkatsu Noir. I talked about Tokyo Drifter (39) and Branded To Kill (48), absolutely bonkers bits of old Japanese filmmaking that take the sort classic American gangster film and mix them with bizarre colors and free jazz and perversion like only the Japanese can. Well, this little box set collects five lesser known films from the Nikkatsu Noir genre that birthed those amazing films and I just wanted to make sure you knew it was out there.

Seriously, I haven't seen this yet, but I can promise if you're up for some weirdness, this'll sate your need.

Alex and I have sort of been on a non-stop bender of documentaries over the last few months. Mainly, we've been consuming Errol Morris en masse, but we've slipped in a few bits of, uh, other stuff here and there. Including this disappointing film Manufactured Landscapes. A few quick thoughts about it:



1. Alex kept referring to the film as the modern day Baraka. The only thing I remember about that film is being painfully hungover and it's strange mix of rattling drums and beautiful imagery soothing my alcohol bludgeoned brain. This film was a sort of sprawling bit of ass-kissing aimed at incredibly talented photographer Edward Burtynsky and sure there's big beautiful shots like in Baraka, but literally half this film is either still images or Burtynsky talking about the environment. I can't say either film made a huge impression on me, but this one even less so.

2. Again, Burtynsky, super-talented filmmaker, kind of a ponce as a person.

3. Thought Burtynsky claims it isn't, this film is sort of a giant middle finger to China and all it's environmental waste. Oh wait, that's what Burtynsky does by the way, he takes pictures of landscapes so drastically affected by environmental damage that they've become something entirely different. Not shockingly, many of these landscapes exist in, well, China. If I was Burtynsky, I'd be digging a bomb shelter and loading his rifle, the Commies are certainly coming to get you.

4. I'm pretty sure every cent of money spent on this film was thrown in to the opening ten minute tracking shot of some sort of giant mile-long factory in China. It is absolutely beautiful, but after that, everything else is sort of sub-standard. The audio sounds like it was recorded in a closet and honestly, a good portion of the film is still clips of Burtynsky's photo work. If only the entire film was beautiful music and these sorts of shots, I'd be a happy little man.

5. I never really knew what this film was aiming at nor who did what with it. Was it a giant homage to Burtynsky's work? Or was Burtynsky actually directing the film? Was it a film about his work or was it a film about the devastation we as a invasive, corrosive, virus have beset the Earth with? If the film was good I might've gone back and tried to figure this information out, but it was not, and thus, I will do no such thing.

Final thoughts: Eh. If you want pretty, give it a go. If you want a good documentary, try something else.

Wednesday: Gimme Shelter (99), I fucking swear.

It's Friday, and this is a short one.

I wanted to draw your attention to two things this morning:

1. My brother, a burgeoning actor in LA and a fine writer, recently got kicked in to semi-finalist status for some sort of bizarre travel writing contest on a website called Trazzler. If he wins he gets 10,000 dollars and a two-week trip to New York. Though none of us will gain anything from his victory, I will no longer have to hear him complain about his destitution and my parents will no longer have to pay for his weekly allowance of string beans and steel oats. Thus, head on over to this website, read the blurb, and then add yourself to his wishlist. The more people who end up on his wishlist, the better chance he has have winning prizes we shall never see:

Help Justin stop robbing my parent's bank account HERE.

There you go Justin, perhaps you'll win and those "50 dollar down payments" on my computer will start arriving ...

2. I found this pretty solid article about the state of rereleasing catalogs for the major studios and how Criterion continues to buck trends and be successful. I find the article interesting and sort of explains why I love Criterion so much:

Criterion? I nearly killed you.

3. I realized that most of the trailers for the films I talked about yesterday are up and about on the internet and I thought I'd share 'em with you to maybe garner a bit more excitement for the films I'm talking about:

#99. Gimme Shelter

His hair it spins so prettily.



#100. Beastie Boys Video Anthology

Those bastards on Youtube got nothing, but here's a video off the anthology.



#101. Cries and Whispers

A quote from reader Mattro2.0 about my fear of Bergman and my upcoming viewing of this film:

"The film weighs exactly 8,724 lbs, that is to say, it's heavy."

Yeesh.



#102. The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie

I love the shooting and then the sneaky ham grab. This movie is as strange as it looks.



#103. The Lady Eve

I don't know what this TCM shit is at the beginning, but hot damn, they sure do talk fast! And that voice-over is absolutely brilliant - "Hasn't seen a white woman in years!"



There we go! Hope you have a good weekend.

What's In Store #7

Hot cakes! I completely forgot about my endearing love for all things preview related and just haven't been giving you, my attractive readers, the opportunity to know what's in store for the next five films in my Criterion Quest.

I for one am sad for you, as I am sad that I haven't had the opportunity to write these. We can be sad together. Here is an injection of happiness though, my first What's In Store in weeks.

As always, thanks for reading:

#99. Gimme Shelter dir. David Maysles, Albert Maysles, and Charlotte Sverin

If Woodstock was the start of the Summer of Love, than The Rolling Stones' performance at the Altamont Speedway in 1969 was its creepy, drug-fueled end. This is the world famous documentary about that concert, and for the love of cinnamon, this is one dreary bit of concert filmmaking. If Woodstock was happy lovin' and pleasant trips and free love, this is shadowy corners, drug-fueled violence, and a group of Hell's Angels that take security a little too far. This is a must see.

#100. Beastie Boys Video Anthology dir. Various

It seems somewhat fitting that the hundredth film in The Criterion Collection is Beastie Boys Video Anthology (100) as Adam Yauch was just diagnosed with cancer, somehow adding a layer of age to the group, I thought impossible. It's also interesting that one of the films in this collection is just a smattering of videos from a Brooklyn rap-group. It also is curious that it falls on the number 100, and I can only imagine that The Criterion Collection's coffers were looking a bit empty and a bunch of videos for the kids, seemed like a good way to stuff their pockets. Regardless, I'm pretty excited.

#101. Cries and Whispers dir. Ingmar Bergman

I'm of varied opinions that in my quest to watch all things Criterion, I will invariably be subjected to each and ever film ever made by recently deceased master, Ingmar Bergman. Spear me with stones and arrows film lovers the world over, but when a Bergman flick pops up in the queue, I'm always a bit reticent. Even a bit sleepy. I'll get through it though, with your hand in mine.

#102. The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie dir. Luis Bunuel

Bunuel is another director (along with Bergman and Kurosawa and few others) that The Criterion Collection just can't get enough of, and this is a good thing, as the French director's take on well, anything, is always deeply rooted in the surreal. This film, about a dinner party that starts and ends for eternity is absolutely amazing. Images from it, which I saw years ago, still haunt my dreams. Rich people walking, you just can't get enough of it.

#103. The Lady Eve dir. Preston Sturges

Old movies used to be all about fast talk and silly situations. Plots were there, but not entirely needed, and Preston Sturges was the master of the spot-on dialogue. This film, which I saw fairly close to The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (102) was my introduction to early screwball comedies, a genre I loved briefly, but am more than excited to dive back in to. Fast talking, heavy drinking, low-moral value - it's like being at a Sander's Family Christmas!

It's a good batch these, four classics, and, uh, some Beastie Boys videos ...

Friday: Gimme Shelter (99)

Just another reason why I love Criterion and QUICK NOTES: INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS

This is a clip from one of this month's Criterion releases, Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles:



A woman making meatloaf for four minutes, and that's just a small bit of whatever this film is about.

My heart it flutters.

---

Alright, I know I watched Saving Private Ryan this week, and that bombardment of flag-waving, Nazi-killing should've been enough. But just days before I'd waited in line on opening night to see Quentin Tarantino's brand new film Inglourious Basterds, another three hour war film involving a group of men killing the shit out of some Nazis.

My quick thoughts on the film:

1. This is a weird, weird, weird film. Seriously, if you thought anything Tarantino had done up to this point was strange (and anyone who saw Death Proof has to feel this way) then this film is going to reassert the notion that Tarantino might be a bit cracked. From a 1980s style training montage set to some sort of German pop-epic to a horrifyingly death-filled finale involving a severely overcranked camera and a misty smoke monster this film will have you eyes squinted wondering, "What the fuck?"

2. This film is gorier 'n' shit. Alex left the film and the first thing she said was "I feel a little nauseous." Tarantino's always loved a gory film (Kill Bill) but by taking his lust for blood-spouting gore and placing it in the context of war, the dam is broken, the gloves taken off. People gasped the first time a scalp was taken, and it didn't stop. The death's in this film are brutal, and when people aren't dying, people are bleeding and having things carved in them and on and on and on. It barely affected me, but I've been enjoying bloody head explosions on film for years.

3. Brad Pitt is fantastic. Lt. Aldo Raines is a brilliantly put together character that skirts the edge of seriousness and cartoon so well that you can't help but love this redneck Nazi hater. His opening monologue is brilliant, and that second scene with The Bear-Jew and the mouthy German still has me chuckling. My house is not a house of quoters (damn you quoters!) but I hear Pitt's drawn out "Naaaaa-zi" all the time. Those of you who think Pitt is just a pretty face need to realize this illusion was dispelled years ago and the idea of Brad Pitt as one of the most talented character actors/leads in the business is one you need to get a hold of.

4. Not my favorite Quentin Tarantino film. I don't know where along the lines Tarantino decided to completely embrace the rest of the world's thoughts that he was just an excessively talented master of pop-pastiche, but this film feels like just another step down that road. It's cool and bloody and well done, but at the end of the day it's Tarantino, yet again, proving to the world that he knows a shit ton about film and he's fucking fantastic about showing it. I liked/loved a few moments of this film (the opening sequence - brilliantly tense), but found it to be bloated in some parts and cool for cool's sake a lot of the rest of the time. If I was still buying DVDs I'd certainly pick this one up, but it'd probably be a bi-yearly sort of watching. A special, fucked-up film to watch on the anniversary of the end of the war.

5. I was asleep, on-and-off, for forty-five minutes of this film. I just want to get that out there, so haters can't say my opinion doesn't count. I missed a few plot details, a couple of character deaths, but in general caught the entire film. So, take your mean words and eat 'em.

Would love to hear your guys opinions on the film.

Wednesday: Gimme Shelter (99)