Filmage

So, I was about to watch Mad Max Fury Road last night until I realized it wasn't streaming on Amazon Prime or Netflix for free. As I browsed Amazon I saw they had Filmage up there. Bam! I'm in.

Milo Goes to College is a landmark record for zillions of punks. It's dark. It's melodic. It's angry as hell. It's honest. It's just what every 14 year old needs to hear. 22 years later and I still enjoy listening to it. And All had Dave Smalley in the band for a while, so...yeah, I'll watch this 90 minute doc' about the life and times of the Descendents and All.

I really wish every punk band had a documentary about them that was done this well. This was really good. Great production value, high quality film, with energetic editing. It really kept the movie moving forward. Good sound design, too. I can't complain about anything. Like I said, I wish all punk bands had something of this caliber to watch. This ruled.

No Sleep Till Saltburn

I got through No Sleep Till Saltburn pretty quickly. It's less than 300 pages and the type is big enough to read from across the room.

Anyway, it wasn't what I expected. It's marketed well, that is to say it's marketed deceptively. From the cover and the blurb you'd think it was all about NWOBHM. And it kinda is...but it's really more like a dude's diary for eighteen months or so. Yeah, he's involved in the burgeoning heavy metal scene in England, but it's not really what you'd want out of a book that proclaims to be about NWOBHM. This takes a small scene, and a focuses on one dude's experience in it from 84 to 85. It's a very micro view on a subject that could do with macro coverage.

Having said all that, I enjoyed the book once I got over the fact it wasn't what I thought it'd be.

You definitely learn about the likes of Battleaxe, Satan, Tygers of Pan Tang, Black Rose, Holland, Geddes Axe, and more...

This is a good read for die-hards. If you want to soak up every last bit of knowledge you can about NWOBHM, read this. Otherwise, there are probably other books you could be reading, to be honest. Whatever. It's pretty good.

Out of Sight

I was reading Out of Sight and thinking, "I wonder if they ever sold the rights to this." Then right now as I was looking up a pic of the book cover I saw movie posters, too. Evidently it came out in 1998 with George Clooney and J-Lo as the leads. It looks awful. Thankfully, the book is legit.

I don't recall where I picked this up, but I have it, and I've read it. I feel like it was in our house when we bought it, or I picked it up at a garage sale. Regardless, it's good. Elmore Leonard is from Detroit and he typically writes crime novels. He's most famous for Get Shorty, but it's been decades since I've seen that and I never read the book.

Out of Sight is gritty. It'd have to be cuz it's set in Detroit. Partly. It has a femme fatale...almost a modern day noir / crime thriller.

It's about bank robbers, drugs, prison, boxing, chases, guns, detectives. Y'know. Crime.

If you like reading about the above types of things then this is for you. Recommended.

Salad Days

Just watched the much talked about, Salad Days. It was a'ight.

Ian MacKaye serves as the tie that binds this whole thing together. He, along with a bunch of other talking heads from the time period, guide us through the inception of DC hardcore in the early 80's up through its more mainstream success in the mid-90's. It's got all the culprits you'd expect, Teen Idles, SOA, Minor Threat, GI, Faith, Void, Bad Brains, Marginal Man, Scream, Rites of Spring, Fugazi, One Last Wish, etc etc.

The doc is well done. It rarely felt cheap or low rent. Some cool footage and photos.

But something about it just didn't quite make it a slam dunk. Not sure what it is, though. It was somehow missing a spark.

Anyway, anyone into hardcore should watch it, regardless.

Alice in the Chains: the Untold Story

Eric gave me a bunch of Alice in Chains music that I didn't have. I've been listening to it a lot over the last few weeks. I picked up their bio and got through it pretty quickly.

It was 'meh.'

See, none of the guys from AIC were interviewed for the book. It's the first bio of the band, but it's also told from more of a research perspective and not a first hand account from the people involved. The book is flawed, or rather the book isn't as interesting and engrossing as similar bio's because you never get inside the main characters' heads. You don't hear their opinions. You just get dates, facts, other people's opinions, foggy memories, etc. It reads like a research paper for college as opposed to a personal memoir. So it's just missing that personal touch. As a result I can't rate it higher than, "meh, it was alright."

I was never a big AIC fan, but I love bio's and I love the early 90's so I was down for it. And I'm glad I read it. If you love AIC then by all means, crack it open. Check it out. You'll learn a lot.

How so many people can get into heroin is beyond me, man. Fucked up...

Beltracchi: The Art of Forgery

My coworker, Will, mentioned this flick to me. Said it was really good. Will was right. I really enjoyed this one.

Beltracchi was a master forger. He made millions and millions of dollars over 30 years forging 19th century artwork and having them sold at Sotheby's and Christie's. He fooled the most senior and authoritative specialists the world over. Time after time. The dude was absolutely incredible at his craft. His talent and attention to detail is undeniable.

Obviously one can't condone his actions, but the guy is pretty likable and he's immensely talented. It's a good doc. A great peak behind the curtain so you understand his process. Beautiful stuff.

You can stream it on Netflix.

APEX: The Story of the Hypercar

I just watched this doc on hypercars. I think it was made with help from Jalopnik and DRIVE (great YouTube series). It's by enthusiasts for enthusiasts.

APEX is pretty good. It focuses on Koenigsegg, but intersperses bits on Porsche, McLaren, Ferrari, Pagani and Bugatti. So all the main hypercars are covered. There are a bunch of automotive journalists (most of whom you're familiar with), as well as interviews with many key players in the creation of all of the above cars.

Chris Harris is in it...so you know it's gonna be pretty good right there.

I wasn't blown away with it, though. It's legit. But it kept me wanting more. It still felt a little bit like a made-for-TV documentary and not something as cinematic or artistic as it could have been. It felt very surface level, and honestly a whole doc on the Koenigsegg One:1 might have been better. If they'd done a series of 90 minute docs on each one of those cars...yeah...that would have freakin ruled.

It's worth watching. I just didn't think it was the greatest thing since sliced bread...or carbon fiber.

Satan's Sadists

Last time I watched this was 2011. I bought a DVD copy so we could revisit it for this week's Motorcycle Movie Night.

Satan's Sadists is probably the heaviest of all the biker flicks. It's a grim film. It has all the typical ingredients of a 1969 biker flick, but it goes over the edge. It's remorseless raping and killing from a truly psychopathic lead character. Your typical biker flick of this era is anti-establishment, it's wild and over the top, but it's also comical on many levels. Satan's Sadists has the comic relief due to its terrible production value, fake mustaches, and redface (like blackface, but for Native Americans), but it's overshadowed by how ruthless the Prez is. He's so nasty and nihilistic in fact that all his gang are sickened by his actions. It ends up watching like more of a slasher than a biker flick. It crosses that line.

It's still a classic biker flick. All the elements are there. I'm just saying that for once the dramatic hyperbolic claims on the poster are kinda true. It's probably the most visions and violent film of the 60's!

Papillon

After I watched the film adaptation again in 2014, I bought the book. I just got through the 560 pages today and went ahead and bought the second book by Henri Charriere, called Banco. It picks up the story where Papillon leaves off.

But anyway, I absolutely LOVED the movie. One of the greatest god damn things ever. The book is really good, too. But technically the film is better than the book, to be honest. The book is awesome source material. You could have made a 10 part series out of it. Easy.

I don't care if it's true, false, half-true, whatever. Reading it is fun and that's what counts. It's a page-turner, and there are a lot of pages to turn.

Prison break stories are awesome. All of them. And the French make the best prison break art. First Papillon, then Le Trou, and then Mesrines. Those are the best of the best.

I can't see why anyone wouldn't love this book.

Northville Cemetery Massacre

We revisited another old biker flick from one of our prior bike night seasons. This one is a local favorite. Filmed in Michigan and starring real 1%'ers from back in the day.

Already reviewed this in 2012. It ruled in 1976, it ruled in 2012, and it still rules now.