A Band Called Death

I ended up watching two movies tonight. I just checked out A Band Called Death.

I picked up their long-unreleased album as soon as it dropped in '09. I had never heard of the single before, never heard of the band. But I heard one track online and loved it. As a forgotten black proto-punk band from Detroit it was obviously something that piqued my interest.

The album is honestly amazing. The production is crystal clear, but it's from the early 70's so it's not over-produced. It's just high fidelity. High energy. The songs are imaginative. They're visceral. They sound like the Bad Brains...but more expansive. It's genius shit.

So fast forward to 2013. I watch the documentary. It's insightful. It gives a total picture of the band from their inception, through their demise, and into their adult years. It's obvious why they were lost for so long. They didn't do shit when they were around. At least judging by this doc' it appears they were a garage band who never made it past the garage. No mention of shows or anything. They just got into the studio, laid down this album, and got rejected by every label under the sun due to their controversial moniker. Even faced with the option of taking 20k (back then) to change their name and sign a deal...they didn't.

It's kinda crazy that this dude's kid finds out his dad was in a punk band from the internet. It was such a closed chapter in his dad's history that he had never even mentioned it. Cool to see the Livewire Board and peeps I know get a mention on screen. Pops, Minicucci, etc. But anyway...the doc. It's good. It's genuine. It's not amazing. But it's definitely worth watching. Death were amazing.

I've only heard horrible things about their current live shows, though. And from what I saw on the doc...yeah, you don't really need to see em live. They've certainly mellowed as the decades marched on. Stick to the album. Watch the doc. It's streaming on Netflix.

Jackie Brown

Day two, movie two. Since I'm still sitting on my ass feeling weird due to Percocet, I might as well watch more films.

I've had Jackie Brown in my Netflix queue for a long time. This is the Tarantino film I've seen the least. I hadn't seen this for over a decade and wanted to revisit it. So revisit it I did.

It stands out to me. Feels far less stylized and Tarantino-esque than his other flicks. He's nodding to the blaxploitation genre, but he's not. It stars Pam Grier, but it doesn't ham it up like a throw back to her films from the 70's. It's like a very sober version of Pulp Fiction. Almost reactionary to the flamboyance of Pulp Fiction. Like any Tarantino film...it's unique. Uniquely Quentin, and unique in the truest sense of the word.

Samuel L. Jackson kicks out another incredible performance. Obviously. Quentin can write for Jackson better than anyone can. They're made for each other.

I'm getting tired. So...yeah, you've seen this flick. It was good to watch it again. A good refresher for a good film. I wonder what I'll watch tomorrow.

Black Sunday (aka Mask of Satan)

It's been a while since I've posted on here. Been so busy with Temple of Void, work, and buying and selling freakin houses! And now I'm laid up due to my ACL surgery, so I've got some time to watch and read.

Tonight I watched Mario Bava's "Black Sunday." 1960 Italian horror. Particularly good cinematography. The edge lighting was exceptional. Such great lighting from beginning to end. Just take a look at the trailer. Beautiful.

It's a flick about vampires and Satanic possession. There are some gnarly scenes for the time, to be honest. It was a great money-maker for A.I.P. No shock there.

Is it good? Ehhh, kinda. This isn't really my genre, but I found it pretty entertaining no less. If you dig this sort of campy, derivative mid-century Italian horror...have at it! I thought it looked awesome.

Goth.

Happy Halloween

Heroin Holiday & Dirty Sprite

Vice is one of my favorite websites to go to. My Saturday mornings are spent watching Chris Harris on cars or browsing content on Vice. I don't love everything they do, some of it can be pretty obnoxious, but a lot of the time they get it right. They tip toe the line between real journalists and being exploitive and obnoxious. Anyways, here are two things from the site that I found interesting over the last week, both focusing on different aspects of drug culture, which I find pretty interesting. The first is a video about heroin addicts in Prague cooking their product and the other is an article focusing on the abuse of prescription cough syrup within American rap culture. Enjoy!

http://www.vice.com/Fringes/heroin-holiday

http://noisey.vice.com/blog/lean-on-me

Mr. Nice

The second druggie film for this weekend, Mr. Nice.

This one hops the pond. We trade Haight and Ashbury for Oxford, England, circa the 60's. Weed is rampant all over the world. Yanks and limeys, toking it up.

This film came out in 2011 and it's by the director of Candyman, oddly enough. I remember that being pretty scary as a 12 year old. It's probably shite, though. Mr. Nice is awesome. Definitely worth watching pronto.

It stars Rhys Ifans and he does a terrific job in this true account of Britain's biggest drug dealer of the 60's and 70's, Mr. Howard Marks. Chloe Sevigny and David Thewis back him up. It's a very well acted film all round.

This film is slick. It's entertaining. Takes you on a good ride from innocent Oxford student to international drug smuggler extraordinaire. And unlike Mesrine, Mr. Nice is a hell of a nice guy.

I liked everything about this. You should stream it on Netflix.

The car porn is pretty sweet, too.

The only odd thing is what appears to be the use of green screens with period footage. I'm not buying the superimpositions of Rhys in the 60's and 70's. It's just no done slickly enough. Whatever.

Yeah, check this out.

Psych-Out

Had a druggie movie weekend. First I watched AIP's Psych-Out and then today I watched Mr. Nice.

Psych-Out is from 1968. Dick Clark produced it, American International Pictures released it, and Jack Nicholson starred in it.

And importantly, Laszlo Kovacs was the DP. (He was famous for Easy Rider and highly revered by cinema nerds the world over.) I just learned that when Jean Paul Belmondo used the alias "Laszlo Kovacs" in Breathless, he wasn't referring to the Laszlo Kovacs. It was just a weird coincidence. Godard dropped Breathless in 1960 and Kovacs wasn't on the scene til later that decade. Interesting.

Anyway, this was an AIP picture from the late 60's starring Nicholson and Bruce Dern...so you know exactly what you're in for. It's drugged-out. It's got a good soundtrack. It's sensational. It has a paper-thin plot. It's crap. But it's good.

Psych-Out is about a deaf girl who goes to SF in search of her brother. She's leaving her troubled life behind and finding solace in weed and LSD, love-in's and jive talk.

Freak out the squares, maaaaaan.

Psych-Out makes it look like everyone in their 20's or 30's in SF was a jobless, stoned, bum. The chicks were all hot and ready to bone ya at the drop of a hat. Drugs were aplenty, and booty was too. Looked like a fun time.

Oh yeah, and everyone talked a lot of psycho-babble and sounded like pretentious fucking retards.

Did I mention Jack Nicholson's character was named, "Stoney?" Yeah.

This is streaming on Netflix. It's not bad to check out. But it's not a "good" movie. It's...interesting.

This Is The End.

A very funny movie to watch during the month of October. Unlike some of these other guys films, where it gets a little more serious towards the end, this movie is funny through the end. Have a couple drinks and enjoy it.

http://youtu.be/Cu4fGqSIxU4

Dust to Glory

Dust to Glory is a film by Dana Brown. His dad is the man behind Endless Summer and On Any Sunday. So you know where Dana is coming from. Like father like son.

This flick covers the Baja 1000. It's a totally insane 1000 mile race from Ensenada to La Paz, Mexico. Motorcycles, trucks, Beetles, buggies...whatever. Even dudes like Robbie Gordon and Mario Andretti get in on the action. The only crazier race than this is the Dakar Rally.

Brown's cinematography on this flick is fucking superb. Lots of helicopter footage as well as helmet-cam footage. Every angle and perspective you'd want. It's very slick. Really well put together. The Brown's have a very long history with sports documentaries and Dust to Glory does not disappoint.

This film charts the paths of some specific riders/racers, including "Mouse" who's riding all 1000 miles on a bike solo!!! If the race wasn't crazy enough...doing it solo?!

This is streaming on Netflix. Check out the trailer. It's god damn exciting stuff.

These lovely ladies aren't in the flick, but his photo came up when I did a Baja 1000 search...so.

Love the Beast

This was really fuckin good. 90 minuted doc about Eric Bana's Ford Falcon.

I don't really know anything about Eric Bana, but this film ruled. He directed it. It's about the one car that Eric has owned since he was 15 and how it's evolved over the years and been a constant in his life.

Eric and his friends have rebuilt this car 3 or 4 times over the years. This film documents the last Targa rally he entered it in, the time leading up to the race, and a brief period after.

Jeremy Clarkson, Dr. Phil and Jay Leno round out the celebrity cast. Although it's really Eric's family and friends who have the real supporting roles in this flick. Clarkson is as funny and controversial as ever. It's good fun all round.

I don't really want to go into too much detail but this is definitely a flick that anyone slightly interested in cars can enjoy. See it.