Flaming Creatures (1962)

Perverse, decadent, theatrical, baroque, erotically compulsive & contradicting, so visually amazing I can't stand it. Jack Smith is OG Avant-garde.

I read about him in Senses of Cinema and was curious to see who this underground filmmaker was, esp hearing he'd influenced so many; Federico Fellini, Andy Warhol, John Waters, Cindy Sherman, David Lynch... Then I read how this film was actually severely banned in many of the states (technically still) and a few other countries because of it's sexual perverse ongoings with transvestites and hermaphrodites...

SO I had to see it.

Even if you don't understand, appreciate, or condone it, it's captivating because of it's uniqueness.

This actually led me to a great doc about him called Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis (2006)

'Jack Smith is the hidden source of practically everything that's of any interest in the so-called experimental theatre today.'

The Squid and the Whale (2005)

This is a depressing and sometimes funny account of family crisis dramas - often too revealing and at times uncomfortable, but overall a good character study in dysfunction.

Perhaps if anything its a commentary on the bizarre amount of repression and misinformation that Baumbach remembers as his childhood.

I like that its set in Brooklyn mid 80's and slightly low budget(16mm)

Directed by Noah Baumbach and Co-produced by Wes Anderson

400 Days of Summer

no no, and no.

I watched this because someone said it was something of a small ode to downtown LA (where it was filmed) but

they lied.

Movies Not To See [Avatar (2009)]

Avatar fucking sucked.

No surprise though.

The Cruise (1998)

"Where there is cruise, there is an escourt of anti-cruise.." -Levitch
This is an amazing movie
eventhough he believes he's some sort of dishelved mess of a schticker, he is
my hero, i cant even explain.
Timmothy Levitch - Poet, Philosopher, willywonka vocabulair extrodanaire hes the most exciting eccentric ive ever seen, and smart
-he is in the know.
He sounds crazy, running himself in circles(quite literally) but if you listen (i watched it three times) he convinces you that life is the persuit of that delusional individuality in all of its chaos and glory.

Its ludicrousness that hes only a tour guide to ny double deckers- it cannot last- I heard from someone at the movie store who became interested in him that he's now been in a few other movies since this one... but nothing can stand as a testiment to life and the passion and persuit of it like this documentary about Timmothy "speed" Levitch..
"That was suppost to be an orgy, not me as the fifth wheel.."
"To all the enemies that add flavor to my life.." that scene is hilarious, he remembers every miniscule moment of alienation in his life so well.. and his retort..my god please dont stop living Timmothy..

North By Northwest (1959)

Simply fantastic. For its time or really any. The humor in this movie reaches all generations. Although I expected a lot of things that happened throughout the film there was an air of confusion and excitement that gripped me the whole time. I also got to see it in the Castro theater which is always entertaining. As a friend put it, all the actors have a sort of dreamy look on their face like this is all happening to them out of complete coincidence. The fact that they are involved in such scandalous events is really no big deal at all. Great acting by Cary Grant and directing by the infamous Alfred Hitchcock.

Window Water Baby Moving (1959)

Stan Brakhage films the birth of his first child, Myrrena.
Brakhage attempts to transcribe the emotions of childbirth to film.

Beautiful piece of film, leads up well to The Act of Seeing
Stan Brakhage has made more than 250 films, most of them silent, all of them good.

"We have the notion that we exist but we have no way to prove it. 'I am' is the closest foundation we can get." -Brakhage,
this reminds me a lot of a quote from my friend emile- "there is everything to prove we are humans, and there is everything to prove we are animals, but you cant say anything about it because it doesnt mean anything..."

Helvetica (2007)

independent film about typography, graphic design and global visual culture
its everywhere apparently, its very modern, and was made in 1957, what was mildly interesting was the ways in which one could make, identify, and classify a specific font by a few letters.

"When you talk about the design of Haas Neue Grotesk or Helvetic, what it's all about is the interrelationship of the negative shape, the figure-ground relationship, the shapes between characters and within characters, with the black, if you like, with the inked surface. And the Swiss pay more attention to the background, so that the counters and the space between characters just hold the letters. I mean you can't imagine anything moving; it is so firm. It not a letter that bent to shape; it's a letter that lives in a powerful matrix of surrounding space. It's... oh, it's brilliant when it's done well. "- Mike Parker
there are some that get off to type

Dark Days (2000)

Ive been trying to find out about this shit for some time now. a little more extensively then this film but its interesting.
Subterranean Underground Bum Town.
NYC- buut there everywhere apparently..someone told me a crazy story once which sparked my theories. Serious parties.

but the film is honorable- his goal is for not only to film but have them help him film the entire documentary in order to get out. they do. its touching.

dj shadow does the score.
made by Mark Singer

"You'd be surprised," says Ralph, underground an Amtrak tunnel in Manhattan, "what the human mind and the human body can adjust to."

Gummo (1997)

Harmony Korine, French cinematographer Jean Yves Escoffier
destructive ways to pass time realistic like a dream.
Any film that shows drugs abuse, violence, profanity, mental retardation, suicide, grief, poverty, middle America, The South, homophobia, prostitution, sexual abuse, mental illness, animal cruelty, euthanasia and racism all at once
im down.

...and for Werner Herzog

"Werner Herzog praised the film and spoke of being especially moved by the bacon taped to the wall during the bathtub scene."

Buffalo '66 (1998)

I love this film by Vincent Gallo
not just because hes fucking sexy
but the film is equally and its his directorial debut.
honestly original
Brown Bunny's next

"we're the couple that doesnt touch...we span time together"

Run Lola Run (1998)

Do not fucking watch this
German screaming is not my thing
sorry maybe its because she needs $100,000 in 20 min.

La Roue (1923)

La Roue silent film by Abel Gance
I was impressed by the length- 260-minute epic
and of course cinematography-
the black and white had to have been remastered it was ridiculously clear..
“Cinema endows man with a new sense. It is the music of light. He listens with his eyes.”-Gance

Movies Not To See [Halloween II (2009)]

Violence in film is a great pleasure.

Yet agony, especially when shared by the audience, is fucking awful.

Rob Zombie is particularly effective at creating some of the most arresting sounds. In a really bad way. The crunching of bone as a knife is yanked through someone's rib cage is unsettling.

Generally we like slasher movies and horror in general to be both fun and compelling, or at least one or the other.

Halloween lacks both of these elements.

It's basically humorless, and this is disappointing. Because Rob Zombie has made some movies that are relatively funny in spite of the suffering that we must endure to get to the end.

For instance, in "The Devil's Rejects" we get to watch as the entire family is shot to shit driving down the highway to Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Freebird". This is about fun.

Halloween is just a bunch of murders, really viscous realistic looking murders. Then a bunch of bitches yelling at each other.

100% agony.

El Topo by Alejandro Jodorowsky (1970)

"You are seven years old. You are a man. Bury your first toy and your mother's picture."
fucking classic movie
modern western
watch it
starring and directed by cult filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky

Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (1965)

Murder rampages, go-go dancers, gratuitous violence, fast cars, Russ Meyer's campy ode to violent women, whats not to like...

Divine Trash

Chronicles the life of John Waters, pioneer of trash filmmaking. I want him to be one of my confidants.

The Opening for Mondo Trasho (1969)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yK295CnM5VU

Favorite character name: Mink Stole

William Eggleston "In the real world"

Documentary about Photographer William Eggleston
This will grow on you, at first mundane however
Hes such a great purveyor of the mundane though
Directed by Michael Almereyda but it could have been anyone really

Alfred Stieglitz: The Eloquent Eye

Documentary by Perry Miller Adato

An examination of the evolution of modern photography
if your down.

Three Movies I Watched That You Should Watch Too

Somehow I've managed to miss out on the bullshit recently. First and foremost I saw Werner Herzog's Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans

This movie is fucking hilarious.

The next movie I saw that I really enjoyed is The Road, with Viggo Mortensen. Just a beautiful movie, crazy fucking lack of CGI.

Some of the most haunting ideas come up throughout.

Truly compelling look at post-apocalyptic America. Plus Omar has a cameo.

And the movie I finished watching last night, Gomorra, about the true down and dirty Italian "Camorrah" or mafia. The motherfuckers that don't fuck around, the real criminals of the world.

This movie is pretty crazy and worth watching, the director lived in an Italian slum much like that in the movie for a while before filming.



But if you see any movie this year, go see Bad Lieutenant.

McLuhan's Wake

four laws of media
ENHANCE, REVERSE, RETRIEVE, OBSOLESCE.
easy
but the terrible graphics depicting him in a boat scene....drowning or something.. not into it. otherwise a good documentary by Kevin McMahon

I learned what a Grammarian was from watching this, reminded of the notion that the five senses are working together to recreate reality in the mind of the individual, that a pervasive environment is always beyond perception, and all man's artifacts of ideas, language, laws, tools and clothing etc are an extension of our physical body.
"trust the authority of the senses." -Thomas Aquinas

Manufactured Landscapes

Edward Burtynsky
Amazing shots of photography, there's a redesigned landscape from mining, nuclear plants, and over-development among many other consequences of technology. He doesnt comment upon whats right or wrong in any of it, leaving it much more visually powerful.

2 ou 3 choses que je sais d'elle

Objective, nonobjective, mutating swirl of sugary galaxies in a coffee cup, in the midst of construction, "Objects exist, and if we pay them more attention than we do people, it is because they exist more than those people. Dead objects live on. Living people are often dead already."

Perriot Le Fou (1965)

To me, this is kind of a Bonnie and Clyde of 1960's France. There is little expression of emotion in the actors faces when they are talking about really intense stuff...Americans over-act. The story telling style is out of sequence but is a nice way to figure out what is happening. It was overall engaging considering that movies made pre-80's bore the hell out of me.

Style Wars

New York City 1983
must watch the extras on the dvd of
"Rammellzee"-graffiti and art work are based on his theory of Gothic Futurism- insane

Crumb (1994)

Illustrator Robert Crumb is a pervert.
But this is a good film and hes an amazing artist

The Cool School

Good documentary about Ferus Art, the LA Art scene in general...specifically Kienholz, Ruscha, Larry Bell, John Altoon, Billy Al Bengston, Ed Moses, Robert Irwin and Kenneth Price, among others.

Sick - The Life And Death Of Super Masochist Bob Flanagan

fascinating- wait till the part where his wife puts a metal sphere up his ass before turning off..

Cage / Cunningham

Cage /Cunningham - A Film by Elliot Caplan / John Cage, Merce Cunningham, Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns (1991)

"ive got nothing to say and im saying it" -john cage
Cage collects mushrooms daily and preforms experimental music practices in the forth dimension

How to Draw A bunny

This is a great film about artist Ray Johnson-
"Was always where inspiration and revelation were-"