Okay so I know this is an old trailer but it has to be one of the funniest teasers I have ever seen. So to get everyone excited for the release of Knocked Up on June 1st, I bring you the hilarious international teaser:

So its only three days in but I will call it right here and now. The Coen Brothers' latest, No Country for Old Men is going to leave France with one of the biggies, possibly the Palme d'Or. Trust me the reviews for this sucker are pretty astounding. Most call it their possible masterpiece and hands down their best flick since The Big Lebowski. All this talk has made me pretty damn pumped for this now and I am dying waiting for it.

Check out a Cannes promo reel of the film now at Solace in Cinema.

So check out the Cannes poster for the new Olivier Assayas film, Boarding Gate, starring Asia Argento.

Um, yeah....I doubt this will be the US poster, but it's, uh, interesting nonetheless.

If you are really in need of a laugh and find humor in things like The State, Wet Hot American Summer, Stella, Reno 911, and anything remotely attached to Michael Showalter you honestly need to check this out. I bring you the Micheal Showalter Showalter:

With guest Paul Rudd
With guest Michael Ian Black
With guest Zach Galifianakis
With David Cross

If you do not find humor in this, I truly feel sorry for you. Great Stuff.

We have booked one hell of a schedule for May & June at the Canton Palace Theatre:

May 27
Iraq in Fragments Not Rated 1 hour and 34 minutes
This film illuminates post-war Iraq in three acts.

May 31 - June 1
Avenue Montaigne Rated PG-13 1 hour and 45 minutes
Jessica becomes a waitress at a bistro in Paris, but she does now know
famous her customers really are.

June 17
Black Book Rated R 2 hours and 25 minutes
Set in 1944, Rachel Stein is seeking revenge for the murder of her family,
but falls in love with a Gestapo officer.

June 21
After the Wedding Rated R 1 hour and 55 minutes
Jacob attends the wedding of a Denmark family to receive a donation and
save his orphanage, but ends up in the dilemma of his life.

June 28
The Wind That Shakes the Barley Not Rated 2 hours and 4 minutes
Ireland 1920: Two brothers fight in a guerrilla army against the British,
but when victory seems near, civil war breaks out in the country. Winner of Cannes Film Festival 2006's prestigious Palme d'Or, the festival's best film award also known as the Golden Palm.

Five critically acclaimed films for 4 bucks apiece. Come on what are you waiting for. All films start at 7:30pm. Personally, can't wait to check out After the Wedding, which I have heard nothing but great things about!

I had to post this cause the cover is just so damn cool. Hope no one is offended.

That may possibly be one of the best damn sexploitation covers I have ever seen. It stars Christina Lindberg, of Thriller: They Call Her One Eye and Sex & Fury fame, and is the acting debut of Good Will Hunting's Stellan Skarsgard. Looks like some good stuff, if that's your thing of course. The disc streets on July 24th. The folks over at the wonderful Synapse Films have chosen to help out a foreign company (Impulse Pictures) get distro stateside. Expect more great exploitation on the horizon, including another Lindberg classic, Exposed, coming in November.

Simple Question...why?

Yes thats the caveman from the GEICO commerical and yes they have spawned their own show on ABC. Once again, I ask...why?

At least, NBC has decided to add onto its superhero success of Heroes with the following:

To top it off, it actually looks pretty damn cool.

On one last note, it looks like Lucy Liu is coming back to television and Parker Posey is also hoping for success on the small screen.

Alittle change of plans this week. Looks like are trip to Pittsburgh has been changed. We figure we may as well save some money and stay home tonight and hit up Columbus tomorrow. Which means a nice little bento from the new place in the mini Japanese plaza. The name slips my mind right now but man is it super tasty. I would also like to swing over to see one of my best friends, Jason, along with his wonderful wife and their newborn baby.

As much as I wanted to see I Don't Want to Sleep Alone this weekend, I know I can catch it in two weeks at the good ol' Cleveland Cinematheque. One of my other best friends, JD, will be in town and I really want to drag him along for the ride. It will be my second viewing of a Tsai Ming Liang film in the theater which is honestly the best way to see his flicks.

So Cannes has started and the feedback on the opening film My Blueberry Nights (my most anticipated film of the year) has been relatively positive. While it doesn't seem to blow anyone out of the park it has been getting some decent buzz, which is a good thing.

Check out this little teaser trailer for your viewing pleasure:

I absolutely love it. Many people have been comparing it to Wong Kar Wai's breakout film Chungking Express but I thought it reminded me alot of his BMW short film (The Follow), which we can feast your eyes on here. While your at it check out Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's powerful and brilliant BMW short Powder Keg, clearly the best of the bunch. In my humble opinion, these two directors are some of the best ever to work in the business. Amazing careers that seems to get more and more intrigue as the years go by.

I am off for now but will be back tonight or tomorrow with my usual fare...

Mucho goodies arrived today. Fay Grim and Diggers from the fine folks at Magnolia Pictures and Black Test Car from the wondrous Fantoma Films. Look for reviews of Fay Grim and Diggers to pop up here very soon while a Black Test Car will be up at KFC Cinema in the coming weeks.

Also bought a new mid-lined receiver and surround sound speakers today along with The Departed, Once Upon a Time in America, and Whisper in the Dark (I had to reach 300 bucks to get "6 months- no interest"...you know I am a sucker for that).

I think Chiaki and I are on for next week to attend the Silk Screen Film Festival in Pittsburgh. Like I mention before I think we will catch I Don't Want to Sleep Alone and Summer Palace.

I Don't Want to Sleep Alone is the latest from one of my favorite directors, Tsai Ming-Liang. I have been dying to see this for a while now and am really excited to catch it. It is playing at the Cleveland Cinematheque at the beginning of June too, so it looks like I may have two chances to see it. Summer Palace I have also been anxious to see since all the fuzz at Cannes last year. The Chinese censors did not allow it to screen at the '06 Cannes Film Festival which resulted in, not only them yanking it from the prestigious festival, but also banning the filmmaker Lou Ye from making anything in the next 5 years. Pretty crazy! I really enjoyed his last flick the 2003 release Purple Butterfly so I am really looking forward to this one too.

So I know you all do it. As much as we all hate myspace we manage to scan the site randomly out of pure boredom. Whether you are checking out songs from your favorite bands are reading the blogs of friends to still some how past the time at a rapid pace. Something I often times finding myself do is reading friend's pages, then reading their friends, and then their friends and so on. So here I am looking at a friend of a friends page (who also is a friend of mine...confused?), a really swell person by the name of Emily, and what comes blaring on my speakers but The Faint's Worked Up So Sexual.

Man, it has been a while since I heard these guys (it's been three years since their last record) let alone one of their greatest songs of their repertoire. If you have not heard this their modern new wave sound you really should check them out. Great Stuff.

Sorry for the lack of posts as of late. I have been rather busy. I promise to be back in a few with a review or two. Chiaki has a week or two off before summer school starts so we might take a trek to Pittsburgh next week for the Silk Screen Film Festival, an Asian film fest out of Pennsylvania. More than likely we will be catching Summer Palace from China and the latest from my man Tsai Ming-Liang, I Don't Want to Sleep Alone. As usual I will be back in a flash with some more nonsense.

So I guess I am part of the minority by saying this but....I really enjoyed Spiderman 3. Honestly, I understand some peoples dislikes. I can play devil's advocate and comprehend what bothers them about it but come on people, its an entertaining flick. Maybe its because I never read a Spidey comic book in my life. I don't know. Some peoples complaints have been about the somewhat cheese factor of certain seems. I guess these people never saw the first film (Green Goblin was "king cheese" in my opinion). Also I must say that Sandman was a badass. Not unlike my friend Joe states on his Spidey 3 rant, I enjoyed the character alot more than I thought I would. Thomas Haden Church was perfect for the role. At least everyone seems to like Bruce Campbell's cameo. I mean how couldn't you. The man is genius in this. It is also his longest scene in the series. Congrats my friend...now go and make Bubba Nosferatu. Pretty please!

I am off to sleep I will post tomorrow, as always, with more film madness.

That my friends is a photo from Wong Kar Wai's English language debut (unless you count his killer BMW short from a while back) My Blueberry Nights (and yep thats the lovely Natalie Portman). It is opening at Cannes and I can not wait for more stuff to pop up at their website as the festival gets rolling. I am sure there will be a clip online a day or two after the festival starts and I can't hardly wait.

Below is the poster art:

Awesome as well, I might add. More on this as the info floods in.

So I finally sat down to watch the James Fox/Mick Jagger pic Performance that I picked up a month or so back (if you know me, you know that I sometimes take alittle while to watch movies I buy). Man, do I love this film. It is a perfect film to represent the 70s. It is one hell of a head trip film which had a similar effect on its viewers as did Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Plain and simple it makes you feel like you are literally high on drugs. The film just absorbs you and doesn't let go. James Fox is sensational in the film as are the small cast around him which includes Mick Jagger and Anita Pellenberg. Highly Recommended in my book and is truly one of those films that really deserves its cult status.

Also picked up the Alejandro Jodorowsky boxset and man is the thing a beauty. Go out and buy this now. Your local Best Buy should have it for 45 bucks which it is worthy of every penny. Three films, a 35min short, and two soundtracks. Come on seriously what are you waiting for. Pick up Performance at Borders while your at it to complete your head trip movie purchase.

I guess that is all for now. I will be back in a day or so with a little more rant including my plans for the Silk Screen Film Festival and a possible trip to Columbus to see the one and only Chuck Palahniuk. Speaking of Chuck Palahniuk apparently a film adaptation of his novel Choke is a go with Sam Rockwell in the lead role. I honestly couldn't picture a better choice. More on this later.

Also in the next week or so expect a dvd reviews of the wonderful Fay Grim and the Ken "I'm going to dip my balls in it" Marino written film Diggers, both courtesy of the fine folks at Magnolia Pictures.

Man is this good for a laugh. All I will say is that it involves Will Farrell and his landord. It's a must see and doesn't take up much of your time clocking in at just over 2 minutes. Enjoy!

Why does this always happen. I wait years and years for the US to distribute a film and then finally give in and by the imported release. What happens next you say....the US finally releases the film. It as if they wait for me to spend my money elsewhere...bastards. So here is the most recent occurrence:

Yep that's Duck, You Sucker also known as Fistful of Dynamite in a nice cool looking collectors case not unlike The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly from a few years back. Good news is that they will also have the same editions for Fistful of Dollars and For A Few Dollars More, two titles I have been holding of on for a while in hopes of this very occasion. Duck, You Sucker is awesome. One of Sergio Leone best, in my opinion, right behind the great Once Upon a Time in the West. Here is the special features, which I believe are the same as my recently purchased (well recently gifted I should say) UK release:

• Fully Restored and Remastered 157-Minute Feature Not Originally Released in U.S. Theaters
• 2.35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
• English DD5.1 Surround
• French and Spanish Dolby Surround
• English, French and Spanish subtitles
• Audio Commentary by film historian Sir Christopher Frayling
• The Myth Of Revolution Featurette - Frayling on Leone’s political leanings and his
  maturing method and style
• Sergio Donati Remembers Duck You Sucker Featurette
• Once Upon A Time In Italy Featurette - Behind-the-scenes of putting together an exhibit on Leone
• Sorting Out The Versions Featurette - A look at the different versions of the film including the originally released 100-minute version and the 157-minute version included on this disc, the long flashback scene and United Artists’ decision to rename the film
• Restoration Italian Style Featurette - John Kirk discusses restoring the original Italian version for the first time on DVD
• Location Comparisons: Intercutting Film Clips with Current Footage Of Locations Used Featurette
• Six Radio Spots
• Original Theatrical Trailer
• Eight-page booklet

I reccomend you all by this baby come June 5th!

Okay, so my neck of the woods has never really been known as a entertainment mecca. Yeah, Marilyn Manson is originally from here, alot of celebs like Halle Berry, Dave Chappelle, even Steven Spielberg comes from Ohio but still a movie has never been filmed outside of Cleveland ...until now that is. Good ol' Canton, Ohio just 10 minutes away is going to be the home of a film entitled Finding Sonny come June. That's right, a biopic of boxer Sonny Liston. And who will play the fine young lad...

That honor would go to the man, Ving Rhames. How cool is that. Ving Rhames kickin' it in Canton for 21 days (95 % of the shoot...the rest I am assume on some sound stage somewhere). Apparently Rhames and the director, Michael Watkins (who has won two Emmys and is making his feature film directorial debut), were in town yesterday scouting for places to shoot. They said they want to shoot up and down Cleveland Avenue and want to shoot in front of the Canton Palace Theatre. Yeah, you heard it right, the Palace where I am on the Art Film Committee. And this 2.5 million dollar movie seems to fit that Art Film bill. I have a feeling we will have some stuff to do with the shoot if all goes well. Pretty exciting stuff. I will clue you all end as more info comes along but my ass will try to get involved in this project, in some shape or form. The film will also star Will Patton, William Baldwin, Chazz Palminteri, Jim Brown, Vincent Pastore and Frank Vincent (the latter two of Sopranos fame). Both the star and the director loved the architecture of the city and and the Watkins' exact words were that he got more than he bargained for when he got here.

Pretty cool news, I think.

As I promised, here is my review of the First Run Features recent release The Bridesmaid.

I will be honest with you all and admit a dirty little secret. I have never seen a Claude Chabrol film. There I said it. Yeah I call myself a film fascist, a big fan of the French New Wave, but was a Chabrol film viewing virgin. Until now.

So what did I think of my first experience with his work - I loved it. Laura Smet is a revelation in this film. I was in awe nearly ever minute she is on screen. But the film has alot more going for it than that. From the opening scene Chabrol had me hook mostly from his introduction of the family and their interactions with one another. He truly knows how to capture the in-and-outs of a relationships and is a pleasure to watch.

The obvious comparison that the director always seems to get thrown in the mix with is how his films often times shadows that of Hitchcock's work. However, in my opinion (at least from this particular fil,), I found Chabrol to be a bit more subtle in both style and form with this successful stab at articulately creating a very quiet yet inspiring thriller which at first glance seems more like a story of romance and how far it can take you.

This film should not be missed. Many directors that have been around this long (he has been making films for nearly 40 years) often times lose their touch in the later stages of their career but that doesn't seem to be a problem with Chabrol. If his latter films are this impressive I can't wait to get my hands on the films he created at his peak.

As always, I am not big on explaining plot details in hopes you are surprised when it seems to head in a different direction. Come on now, doesnt everyone hate to be the guy that ruins the film for everyone. But if you must here is the synopsis from First Run Features, I believe it does the film justice:

"It's love at first sight when bridesmaid Senta falls into the life of handsome young Philippe at the wedding of his younger sister. As their passion for one another intensifies, Philippe slowly discovers that Senta is shrouded in mystery. When one day she asks Philippe to perform a terrible deed as proof of his love for her, Philippe must come to terms with who his lover might really be."

So what I am trying to say is this. Go out and by this damn movie. Actually if you are lazy just click here and pick it up at Amazon. Nuff said.

On with the rest of my rants.

At this time I must take the time to give a shout out to my boy Daniel Lee who was kind enough to put some links to clips of the classic The Monster Squad on his blogspot. It really brings back from memories. These clips forced me to dig deeper and this is what I found:

- the dvd is scheduled for October 2007 as a 20th Anniversary edition
- a cast and crew commentary

- a bunch of extras such as dailies of deleted scenes (tentative), documentary footage of events this year and on-camera interviews with cast members as well as director/writer Fred Dekker.

All this from the star himself, Andre Gower, who has more news poster at his official site. Check it out.

So the Cannes Film Festival schedule has been released and their is some cool stuff in competition this year. For starters, the English language debut of Wong Kar Wai, My Blueberry Nights, will open the fest, also of interest is Secret Sunshine (from the director of Oasis), Kim Ki-duk's latest Breath, the Christopher Doyle lensed Paranoid Park from Gus Van Sant, the longer cut of Death Proof, along with new films from the Coen Brothers and Bela Tarr. Michael Moore latest medical doc Sicko is playing out of competition and so is Olivier Assayas's Boarding Gate starring the always lovely and amazing Asia Argento. All in all good stuff. Can't wait for the festivities with many clips and information about the films constantly popping up via the the official Cannes Film Festival website. Also can't wait to hear more about the films I know zero about, cause who know one may be the best film of the year. I love me some surprises.

Lastly, I am ecstatic for two reasons: next month there will be a Asian film fest in Pittsburgh, PA entitled Silk Screen Film Festival which is soon to be a favorite of mine and on June 1st and 2nd John Ewing will be screening the latest film from Tsai Ming Liang, I Don't Want to Sleep Alone, at his wonderful Cleveland Cinematheque. The anticipation is killing me.

I will be back in a few days with the film schedule for the Silk Screen festival (it has yet to be released) and some more exciting goodness.

Above is two reasons why Death Proof, the Tarantino half of Grindhouse, works so damn well. Don't get me wrong, Rodriguez's Planet Terror is one hell of a ride too. I just a kind of a bummer that alot of people didn't quite full appreciate Death Proof. Planet Terror was so fast paced and over abundantly violent that by the time Tarantino came around to add alittle bit of character development, people were a bit bored, which is a damn shame really. At least everyone I ask did enjoy Zoe Bell and her scene stealing performance in the last 20 minutes of the film. I, myself, was also deeply impressed with Mr. Kurt Russell, who I have always been a big fan of. I loved him in this film. There has been alot of talk in the last few days about it's poor box office and the possibility of splitting the two films up, like what is planned for overseas. Part of me thinks that is a bad idea but the other half would love to see Tarantino's longer cut Death Proof sooner than later. After all he has already mentioned several weeks ago that he plans to play a longer edit of his film at Cannes this May and I truly would love to see what else he has to offer.

So I forgot to mention I picked up handful of things lately. For 10 bucks a week or so ago I got Sam Peckinpah's The Ballad of Cable Hogue starring the one and only Jason Robards and Jonathan Glazer's Sexy Beast for 10 bucks at a local video store. pretty damn cool for 5 bucks a piece. I also picked up the Spanish film The Sea Inside (2004 Academy Award winner for Best Foreign Language Film) for three bucks. I am pretty pumped. The only one out of the bunch I have seen is Sexy Beast (which I am a big fan of, as you all know). I also have gotten some films recently for review here or there. I will fill you in on that a little bit later.

Also picked up the new Panthers record and the latest from Bright Eyes. Both are good but need more listens to get a more better understanding. I really need to listen to the Panthers record more. I only gave it one full listen thus far so it is due for some more lovin'.

Well it is midnight here and I am tired so I will hit the sack. I will be back either tomorrow or Friday with my review of The Bridesmaid, courtesy of the fine folks at First Run Features.

So the US division of Paramount Vantage can suck on my left nut. Look what the UK is getting.


Yeah, thats right, a two-disc Babel dvd. Granted the second disc on contains a documentary but the doc is a 90 minute feature length making-of video diary from director Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu. Thanks America.

My boy Sebastien Grainger (previously of DFA) put a new track up on his page entitled i'm all rage and its so damn tight everyone must take a listen. imagine old school Sonic Youth but dancable. its tight trust me and just take a listen.

Look at this, back the next day. Imagine that.

I forgot to mention the coolness that is Cinema Wasteland I attended on Saturday. As always it was a good time. Always a fun time seeing b-movie celebs that mean so much to a select group of people like myself and so little to the rest of the world. Good times.


One of the highlights was that Camille Keaton of What Have They Done to Solange? and I Spit on your Grave. Pretty damn cool. We were a little sadden when we went to talk to her and she didn't even know what Suspiria was (my buddy Aaron was wearing a Suspiria shirt). Nonetheless Aaron got an autographed picture and also picked up a copy of the UK dvd release of Severance. What a killer flick. Speaking of which, you all must see it when it comes out here in a few months. I myself ended up picking up a Alain Delon film from Xploited Cinema, a killer dvd distro out of Cleveland. The film is called The Sicilian Clan and also costars Jean Gabin and the great Lino Ventura. Top that off with a score by score by Ennio Morricone and you can't really pass that up. I can't wait to watch it.

Also got a chance to talk to the fine folks over at Synapse Films , who are based out of Michigan. If you read this blog often, you know how big of fan of theirs I am. Talked to Jerry Chandler, one of the co-owners of the company, and he's one hell of a guy. Don May Jr, the other half of Synapse Films, is known for his amazing film restorations and has recently remastered the classic that is Texas Chainsaw Massacre (the cool one in the collector's tin). I believe, if my memory serves me correct, they were also working on restoring the first Halloween film after getting their hands on the original negatives, which even contained some unseen footage. Pretty damn awesome. They have some killer upcoming releases which I plan on promoting the hell out of in the not so distant future.

So has anyone else heard the horrible news that the director of The Last Castle and The Contender is planning on a remake of Peckinpah's Straw Dogs. What the hell is that shit. Seriously. Something is wrong with that. No one should ever touch this masterpiece.

Well I am off for now, but do yourself a favor and check out the new Die Hard trailer. I am a big fan of the series and I think this one looks pretty damn cool. May be up there with the first one if the film lives up to the trailer. I just figured it would be a piece of crap since it was directed by the guy who made Underworld and its craptastic sequel. I guess I might be wrong. Check it out.


On a final note, I just found out Bob Clark, the director of everyone's favorite A Christmas Story, the horror classic Black Christmas (the original of course), not to mention Porky's, was killed in a car crash by a drunk driver (who also had no driver's license). It was said that Clark's 22-year old son also died in the collision. Man, so depressing. Rest in peace, Bob.