Herzog quote

There's lots of reasons I like German director Werner Herzog. This quote from his 2008 documentary Encounters at the End of the World is just another reason:
"I loathe the sun both on my celluloid and my skin."

Amen brother! Sunlight is evil.

Life of Brian, Budapest, 1995

In 1995 I spent some time in Budapest, Hungary. I saw a bunch of films there, usually on the very cheap, in tiny or makeshift theatres that weren't traditional movie theatres. There were dozens of small theatres all over the city and you never really new what was going to happen until you found your seat. One of my favorites, Blue Box, was a square room that utilized park benches as seats. The strangest screening I had in Budapest was for Monty Python's Life of Brian.

It started as it usually did when I'd see a film in Budapest--I'd make sure it was indeed in English with Hungarian subtitles and not dubbed. It was. I was told to sit near the front of the stage for the screening as I got my ticket. "Okay," I thought, odd request but I was fine with it as I entered the little room that had a screen towards the back of the theatre stage.

Seven or eight others were already in their seats and all were sitting in the first couple of rows. My Hungarian was extremely poor (it's a very hard language to pick up) so I can only guess that the others were as befuddled as I was about the directive to sit near the front. Maybe they knew what I didn't know but I don't think so based on their immediate reaction regarding what was about to come our way.

When it was time for the film to start, we found out why we were told to sit where we were sitting. A moveable cart with TV and VCR was wheeled onto the middle of the stage directly in front of us. They were plugged into an extension cord and turned on. I couldn't believe my eyes! "Surely not," I thought as I watched the two guys in their 20s on the stage fiddle with knobs. But it was true, one pressed play, lights dimmed and the film started.

This was incredible to me. This group of strangers were going to watch Life of Brian together IN a movie theatre but ON a portable TV and VHS tape! And, you know what? We laughed like crazy and had a terrific time. I may have enjoyed it more due to the unexpected way it was screened. If I had one story to sum up my time in Budapest, it just might be the night I watched Life of Brian.

UTW review of The Damned United

Go here if you want to read my review of The Damned United. It's an English film set in the world of 1970s soccer. Based on a real story and a novel by David Peace, Michael Sheen delivers a wonderful performance as Brian Clough.

Blu ray

I've taken the next step when it comes to film watching pleasure--blu ray! Got it on Thursday and have already watched two films.

Total Recall looked pretty good but some of the 1990 effects were rendered a bit dated (it's a fun film but it has a lot of issues!). Werner Herzog's documentary set in Antarctica,  Encounters at the End of the World, was absolutely stunning visually. Wow.

I've already reorganized my queue on Netflix with a lot of things I want to re-watch.

UTW review of Pirate Radio

Go here if you want to read my review of Pirate Radio in Urban Tulsa Weekly. It is a comedy set among a motley crew of DJs who broadcast rock music into England in 1966 despite not having a license to do such a thing.

Movie tickets #12

Poll results

Based on the very spartan number of votes on the latest poll--romantic comedy picked up three votes as favorite film genre.

New poll question on CineRobot: what is your favorite decade for films? 1970s? 1980s? 1990s? 2000s?

UTW review of The Fourth Kind

Go here if you want to read my sort of scathing review of the newly released alien abduction thriller The Fourth Kind.

I Heart Sam Rockwell

As I was writing the review of Moon (August '09 archives) I was struck at how much I liked the lead actor Sam Rockwell. He carries Moon and is in practically every second of the film. Without Rockwell's performance, the film loses its center and who knows how it might have turned out with a different actor. I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have been as good. Rockwell has been adding quality to films for nearly fifteen years so I'm hoping he gets some award recognition for how great he is in Moon.

Rockwell isn't more known because he's chosen a career path of quirky indie films or supporting roles (my favorite but less appreciated by the mainstream) in larger movies. He's a young actor with the mindset of a veteran character actor in that regard. He also isn't bashful about changing his appearance dramatically for a role by growing beards or mustaches (check out his great 'stache in the photo!). Rockwell is kind of old school you might say. Because of these things, Rockwell is going to be acting in films for decades.

I first noticed Rockwell in the oddball 1996 Tom DiCillo film Box of Moonlight. Rockwell plays an eccentric (the first of many eccentrics Rockwell has played) dressed in buckskins, who lives in a half-trailer in the woods, that befriends a stuffy man with no imagination. I liked this little film when I saw it but was struck by the energetic young actor perfectly trading dialogue with the excellent John Turturro.

Other Rockwell films or performances I've liked are Lawn Dogs (1997), Galaxy Quest (1999), Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002), The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007), Frost/Nixon (2008) and the previously mentioned Moon.

(scroll down a little to see Rockwell's screen test for Confessions...)

Sam Rockwell (as Chuck Barris) dancing

I'm about to post an "I Heart Sam Rockwell"...thought this clip of his screen test for CONFESSIONS OF A DANGEROUS MIND shows why I like the guy. If you've seen THE GONG SHOW, you can see how he nails Chuck Barris in this audition. George Clooney shows up near the end.

UTW review of More Than A Game

Go here if you want to read my review of the documentary More Than A Game. It's a basketball documentary that follows the early days of LeBron James in Akron, Ohio.

Poll results

What is your favorite John Carpenter movie?

Big Trouble In Little China: 9
The Thing: 7
Halloween: 5
Escape From New York: 1
They Live: 0

New poll question is on CineRobot home page.

October movies

Didn't see a ton of movies in October. I actually saw the terrible Quarantine a month or two ago but forgot to write it down. That is a sign a film is not worth remembering. It was a good month anyway as I saw six films that I got paid to write about! I got to see one of my all time favorites that had a part of the first ever poll on CineRobot (The Thing) and SJ and I watched Pretty In Pink as part two in her Molly Ringwald trilogy. We've actually got a John Hughes education/appreciation rally at my house every so often.


Capitalism: A Love Story---2009---usa   ***
The Invention of Lying---2009---usa   **1/2
Zombieland---2009---usa   ***
American Harmony---2009---usa   ***
Bright Star---2009---australia   ****
Meet Bill---2007---usa   **
Sugar Hill---1973---usa   *1/2
Quarantine---2008---usa   *1/2
Pretty In Pink---1986---usa   ****
Paranormal Activity---2009---usa   ***1/2
The Thing---1982---usa   *****!
Good Hair---2009---usa   ***
Near Dark---1987---usa  ****

Londonism

CineRobot has a lot of new stuff recently so how about a short film I made? When in London in September I filmed a bunch of the city with a small, super8 styled camera I was carrying. I love the dreamy, over saturated look of the images of this camera and think it perfectly fits my memory of spending time in London.

Here is the first one of various little short things I plan on filming in the upcoming months--including LONDONISM2.

Subscribing vs. following

I think I posted something in error a few weeks ago. The followers list sign up might not send out e-mails to you when posts/comments occur. It is more a Facebook style app to see who is following CineRobot. I've had a few e-mails about people thinking they were going to get e-mail notices when posts were coming after signing in. For that, you will need to put the same info in the "sbscrb to CineRobot" box just below the poll box. You can choose to be alerted to posts + comments or just posts. Let me know if this doesn't work either.

UTW review of Good Hair

Go here if you want to read my review this week in Urban Tulsa Weekly. It's the Chris Rock documentary Good Hair, which examines various social, cultural, political elements to the way African-Americans (mostly women) choose to wear their hair.

Channing Tatum: horrible actor & dream invader

It's bad enough when you watch some movie you don't like--at least that's done by choice and you can turn it off or walk out of the theatre. What happens when you wake up in the middle of the night and realize you have just had a dream about a movie and it was force fed to you against your will? That happened to me a few nights ago and let me tell you, it wasn't a good night's sleep. On the bright side, it may lead to a new film being adapted and turned into box office magic by adroit Hollywood insiders if they happen to stumble upon this post by sheer accident.

Any dream with lunk headed actor and Vanilla Ice worshiper Channing Tatum (see photo of the douche himself) in it can never be good. Ever. Tatum, who has been in such films recently as Fighting and G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra, seems about as bright as a brain-addled turtle. I've seen him a few times being interviewed and the guy has difficulty accessing the part of the brain to make these things we call sentences. I don't want to go out on a crazy limb here but his career owes more to that rockin' bod and his pouty face.

So, imagine my inner terror when Tatum shows up in a dream where I'm at a movie theatre watching a film. Get ready Hollywood producers and wannabe screenwriters for a doozy of a premise that I want a co-story credit (I'll use an pseudonym due to embarrassment, unlike the current spate of Hollywood types) if you steal this idea from my subconscious. I suggest casting Tatum in the lead too since I can attest to his ability to play this role to perfection--it's right in his range (the character's name is Duke and this will be Tatum's third role as "Duke"; this makes it easier for him to recall his lines) as he'll play a guy who grunts and never lets loose with dialogue with more than two syllables. Call Tatum quick!

The plot of the film early on is about skateboarders in their late 20s who refuse to give up the casual lifestyle they are immersed in. It's their life, their passion, their reason for getting up in the morning and taking to the pavement. The leader of the pack, a surly (yet sensitive!), gifted boarder (Tatum!) thinks it might be time to give up the board but he's torn between loyalty to his crew and the new found maturity he is pondering (pony up the money for Megan Fox!). Imagine the emotional fireworks as we cut to Tatum's face scrunched up in deep thought (he's trying to remember the short phrase he's supposed to utter) and he has a eureka moment and hollers out, "I'll get that G.E.D.!" Later on, Duke (uhm, Tatum, I'm getting confused myself) decides med school is the route to go as that will show all the haters!

Here's where the film takes an odd, but believable twist--at least believable in this day and age of filmmaking. While on a post-dawn skate, Duke/Tatum begins to do battle with these demonic creatures that rise out of the cement and attempt to pull people under the concrete and into the netherworld of hell. This is where the film can load up on the CGI that will coax all the males into seeing this PG-13 rated movie. Duke/Tatum gets to fight off all kinds of demonic spawn, naturally shirtless, with his skateboard in a flame ridden underground city.

Unfortunately (well, fortunate for my well being actually), this is where I woke up but I believe I've laid the groundwork for any filmmaker, producer or Hollywood type to take this idea and run with it. I know, it's not a sequel. It's not based on a graphic novel or a comic book. It's not based on a book or a TV show either. This is something you don't see a lot of now--an original idea via my dream state. I'm not sure I'd score it that high if I had seen it at a test screening but don't brush it off yet. Isn't the awesomely bad Channing Tatum, shirtless skateboarding scenes and lots of violent (but not too violent as we don't want that scary R rating that would cost us that precious teenage market) demon fighting be enough to PR/cross promote the shite out of it into a hit? Didn't you, dear Hollywood, just do that with soulless films like Transformers 2 and G.I. Joe? It can be done again and again and again and again and again and again and again. These idiot audiences of 2009 will never get wiser and they will lap it up every time.

UTW review of Paranormal Activity

Go here if you want to read my review for Paranormal Activity in this week's Urban Tulsa Weekly. It's a low-tech horror film that taps into your imagination.

Poll questions + searches + other changes

I've updated CineRobot's layout and settings somewhat. New features include the ability to search CineRobot for particular actors, actresses, directors and films--there's posts going back over four years now so you'd be surprised how many names pop up in posts. Try a few searches and you'll see what I mean.

I've also added a poll question that I'll change every couple of weeks--unless no one ever answers the question. If that happens I'll scrap that. They are anonymous so there's no reason to be a lurker and to not answer it! The first one is relevant as I'm going to go see The Thing this week and Halloween is coming up soon--not to sway your responses.

There is also a link on the bottom of the sidebar to add yourself as a "follower" to CineRobot. This should send you a notification each time a post is made--so you don't have to come back and check every so often. Not sure if this will allow you to see the polls on the home page but you could always head over to the home page after you've read the new post.

There might be a few more changes on here too as the new layout offers other things that might make CineRobot more interactive, we'll see. Whether or not the interactive stuff stays or goes might depend strictly on you, dear readers.

The Sewing Circle

Book review. The Sewing Circle is kind of a sleazy book about actresses during the 1920s-1950s who were lesbian or bisexual. Garbo, Dietrich, Bankhead, Hepburne, Stanwyck and many others.

The Sewing Circle is written by Axel Madsen and he writes with the air of an academic as he digs up the dirt on these Hollywoodians. He's not. This faux academia gives the book an ever sleazier edge as it pretends to be something it isn't. When the gossip and the details start flying, it makes them even more jarring.

Not great but luridly interesting if you like to read about this era of films as it dishes out all kinds of tales about women (and men) who lived secret lives outside of the glare and the glamor as cinematic stars.