Tuesday, August 29, 2006

I know I don't talk about music much on here but I have to say I finally got a chance last night to see the show I have been waiting for, for quite some time now. I saw Envy play in Columbus. If everyone doesn't know already from me ranting and raving I will clue you in. Envy is a band from Japan that would be label as hardcore even though they are so much more than that. They are a wonder. They play the most amazing music which just so happens to involve quite a bit of screaming. But don't shy away because of the vocals they are way beyond that. There are not words to describe how beautiful they are musically. Take a few minutes (roughly six minutes actually) of your day and listen to Further Ahead of Warp, from their new album Insomniac Doze. Its awe-inspiring. Remember listen deeper than the vocals (which you may or may not enjoy). Just do your self a favor and take it all in. You won't be disappointed. This was hands down the best show I have ever seen.

Okay so on with the film ranting now.

So the new schedule for the Cleveland Cinematheque (September/October) has been released and its pretty promising. For starts at the beginning of September they are playing Kill Bill Vol 1 and 2 back to back. Pretty damn cool, huh. But thats just the beginning. Miike's The Great Yokai War (a fun movie), Lower City (a film from the producers of City of God), 13 Tzameti (a film from France that I have been hearing about), the Pusher trilogy ( three films from Denmark that have been the talk of many website as of late), Two Drifters (from Portugual directed by a truly bizarre filmmaker that Film Comment speaks highly of).

But no oh no, it does not stop there. October 26th through the 29th is a great weekend for classics with both Polanski's Repulsion and Jean Pierre Melville's Army of Shadows fitting the bill. Both truly great films from two equally spectactular filmmakers.

So do you think thats all. Nope sorry again. The last two weekends of October house for Early Godard films: Le Petit Soldat, Alphaville, Les Carabiniers, and last but surely not least, Pierrot Le Fou. Flashback to the last two weekends of of September and you got yourself a Viva Pedro! Thats right, the Pedro Almodovar retrospective is making its way to Cleveland after beginning in New York. September 22nd through October 1 will be the time to catch up on not olny his most recently masterpieces (Bad Education, Talk to Her, and All about my Mother) but also some early works that made him famous, and which I have also neglected to see including Woman on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Live Flesh, Law of Desire, and Matador).

As usual, I am sure there are more lost treasures hidden inside the Cleveland Cinematheque schedule that I have yet to find. I lost count of the times I have skipped over something listed in their schedule only to read about it months later and being pissed off I didn't catch it at the Cinematheque.

One last thing I will mention before I stopping writing for the day is to let you all know of the slight date change of the release for the Red Angel dvd from Fantoma. I know I know. The original date was August 22nd. And I am sure all of you readers went to your local stores to pick it up and lo and behold it was not there. Well, rest assured, they moved it to September 19th. A sigh of relief, I know.

All kidding aside though this is a disc that everyone should definitely check out. Yasuzo Masumura was an amazing filmmaker from Japan who made some really breakthrough films. Unfortuately Fantoma been the only studio smart enough to release his films on American soil (others than Homevision's release of his entry in the Hanzo the Razor series). Red Angel follows in the footsteps of their previously released Masumura titles Blind Beast, Giants & Toys, Afraid to Die, and Manji. All films I bought cite unseen based souly on my satification of the previous film. If it is even close to the brilliance of both Blind Beast, and Giants & Toys then it should be one hell of a film. Red Angel is a film I truly look foward to and I hope you give it a chance too.

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

So okay. its been like 10 years since my last post. I apologize to all three of you. I am actually thinking about buying a domain for a few bucks and making a real website hear in the distant (or not so distant) future. would be cool. The plan is to actually go to the dark side and use myspace as marketing and getting the word out about the site. That is of course if I get off my lazy ass and make a really freakin cool website that I would update daily or every few days. That is the thing about some sites. Don't get me wrong I love alot of great sites but damn they update sometimes every three months if I am lucky. That's what you gotta love about Twitch . The man updates daily. what a kick ass site.

Anyways, I should have updated two weeks ago after viewing The Science of Sleep but I didn't lazyness is to blame.

Man, what a killer film. I loved it. Best film I saw this year (okay, maybe a tie with Kamikaze Girls). It is such a beautiful and entertaining film. I would be pointless to try to explain the plot or even the point of the film because its not about that. Just please just see the film when you get a chance. Its a film of beauty about love and happiness and sadness and anger. Its everything and nothing. Just do yourself a favor and see it. I will warn you though, some may just not get it. If you have ever seen a music video by Michel Gondry then you will honestly have a better understanding of his visuals in this film. His vision has finally come full blown. It is one of his videos come to life more than anything he has done previously. I explained to some one the other day that Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind will seem straightforward and normal compared to how abstract he goes with this film. But that is truly the genius of him as a filmmaker and more importantly the beauty of the film. That is all I will say.

Also caught World Trade Center over the past weekend. Good stuff. Very moving. Nothing negative really to say. Was pretty much what I thought it would be. Will I watch it again? Probably not. Am I glad I saw it? Definitely. Oliver Stone has got some points back in my opinion. I was starting to worry about 'em.

It only a matter of days (alright maybe like 60 days..but still) before Babel hits theaters and I am dying to see it. After finally seeing a full length trailer of the film I have to say I will continue to tell people that it is going to be the film to beat this year in my opinion. I am already predicting it to be my film of the year. I really hope it gets some recognition this year at the Academy Awards cause it looks absolutely amazing. Please check out the trailer, when you get a chance by clicking on the picture below.

Well, I guess that is good for now. I will write more tommorrow, I promise. My computer has a bad CPU fan it it shuts off from time to time so I don't want to push my limit.