Blog Archives
Fishing with David Lynch
This year we celebrate the 30th anniversary of the David Lynch sci-fi epic, Dune. While the film was a commercial bomb, it’s gone on to garner cult status and the theatrical release of Jodorowsky’s Dune — which tells the tale of director Alejandro Jodorowsky’s failed, earlier attempt to bring the Frank Herbert classic to the [...]
Hermanos de Sangre
I’m planning to cover the Nashville International Film Festival for a variety of papers and blogs again this year. One of the films I’m most excited about is The Voice Thief by Alejandro Jodorowsky’s son, Adan who played the young boy in Santa Sangre. Here is a profile of Adan who is a musician in [...]
Witchboard!
Even as the internet and digital technology drag us inexorably into a faster-moving future, the wake of virtual living stirs up artifacts from the past, recontextualizing them in the frantic now. One of the best places to find the newly-turned-over flotsam and jetsam of yesteryear is on YouTube where you can watch every episode of [...]
American Zoetrope at 45
This year we will be celebrating the 45th anniversary of Francis Ford Coppola’s production house American Zoetrope. Conceived of as an alternative to the Hollywood movie machine, Zoetrope first opened its doors in San Francisco in 1969. Here is a note about the beginning of the dream from the American Zoetrope site: Francis Ford Coppola [...]
25 Years After Cassavetes
25 years ago, in February of 1989, filmmaker John Cassavetes died. One of the greatest actors of his generation, Cassavetes mostly turned his back on appearing in front of the camera in favor of self-financing a series of highly personal, deeply polarizing films that continue to vex critics, actors, directors and audiences alike. I discovered [...]
Soviet Era Hobbit Film
While the second installment of Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit trilogy has brought the J.R.R. Tolkien universe back into the pop culture spotlight, this treasure I just discovered is a crazy/beautiful Arkenstone of its own. Made with no license from the Tolkien estate, this 1985, Soviet era, Russian language film of The Hobbit is as bizarre [...]
The Farm on Film
My neighbors in Tennessee live on the longest-surviving hippie commune in the United States. Here’s ABC’s take on the place in 2012: If you thought communes had gone the way of the tie dye shirt, think again. New, non-hippy ones are springing up. The oldest, The Farm—still hippyish and still going strong–is the subject of [...]
Soviet Silent Movie Posters
I’m not sure why it’s true, but it is: The most totalitarian regimes often produce some of the most beautiful art. Of course, when we’re talking about totalitarian regimes and art, we’re almost always talking about propaganda — usually the only kind that’s allowed to be produced. While filmmakers in the old Soviet Union were [...]
Death of the Kung Fu King
It’s difficult to over-estimate the impact that Run Run Shaw and his invention of the kung-fu film genre have had on action films specifically and on world cinema in general. I heard on the radio this morning that Mr. Shaw has left the Earth for that big movie palace in the sky. Here’s The New [...]
David Bowie’s Serious Moonlight
30 years have passed since David Bowie released his 15th record Let’s Dance. Co-produced by Nile Rodgers and featuring a track listing including the title song, “China Girl” (co-written with Iggy Pop), “Modern Love” and “Cat People (Putting out Fire)” — which was later used to maximum effect in the Inglourious Basterds soundtrack — Let’s [...]
