Comment Archives: stories: Movies
Re: “Indie shocker Falls the Shadow brings the zombie hordes to Music City”
I saw this movie last night at the Belcourt on opening night. I've seen my fair share of low budget zombie/apoclaypse movies and this was impressive by any standard. The storyline and acting were on par with the genre but the camera work and cinematography was amazing. Some of the characters with smaller parts really made the film come to life. One of the redneck henchmen stole every scene he was in and added some much needed levity to the whole production. I look forward to hearing other peoples reviews but definately would recommend this movie to all my friends.
Re: “Thrift-store hipsters rip each other to shreds in Murfreesboro's splattery hoot Girls Night Out”
Sorry, Meredith. Corrected the listing at the bottom.
Re: “Thrift-store hipsters rip each other to shreds in Murfreesboro's splattery hoot Girls Night Out”
Gay VIBES, my bad, Gay Gibes not Gay Blades.
Re: “Thrift-store hipsters rip each other to shreds in Murfreesboro's splattery hoot Girls Night Out”
Since 11/12 has come and gone, let's look forward to the 11/18 Girls Night Out showing at The Basement tomorrow night! $5 cover, also features the comedy of Chris Crofton and musical stylings of Gay Blades.
Re: “Remembering Nicholas Ray at 100 in a must-see Belcourt retrospective”
@bmazor: That is amazing (though in Nashville, the Six Degrees City, it shouldn't be). What was he like as a teacher, and what were the classes like? Anything you remember, we'd love to hear. And thanks for bringing up LIGHTNING OVER WATER, which I believe is the last film to carry Ray's (co-)directorial credit.
Re: “Remembering Nicholas Ray at 100 in a must-see Belcourt retrospective”
@Jason: I just watched BITTER VICTORY on TCM a few weeks ago for the first time, and it's really impressive: it reminded me of Kubrick's PATHS OF GLORY in its bitter desolation and cynicism about the military — that last shot is a real kick in the gut. But Ray turns the desert locale into something resembling science fiction, totally unlike the golden-hued dunes of LAWRENCE OF ARABIA: this is a lunar landscape with the color bleached out of it, and when the men (including a young Christopher Lee) are walking across the white dunes, they sometimes look like astronauts floating in a white void.
Re: “Remembering Nicholas Ray at 100 in a must-see Belcourt retrospective”
By the way, Wim Wenders' "Lightning Over Water," made as Nick's life was ending, then ended, would have been a nice pairing with the "Can't Go Home Again" film..Catch that when you can, if you haven't.
Re: “Remembering Nicholas Ray at 100 in a must-see Belcourt retrospective”
Nick Ray was one of my teachers at NYU Grad Film. He would start his semesters of classes with an exercise where everyone in the room handed off a camera to each other, hand to hand, one by one, without comment or explanation, long enough and repeatedly enough that it became a sort of dance, and you came to see it was intended to be a sacred and shared object, not just an expensive tool, but one familiar enough to improvise with.
Re: “Remembering Nicholas Ray at 100 in a must-see Belcourt retrospective”
Excellent piece. I've seen most of Ray's films (THE LUSTY MEN is one of my favorites, too), but I haven't seen BITTER VICTORY or BIGGER THAN LIFE - really looking forward to those. And JOHNNY GUITAR on the big screen is gonna be a hoot!
Re: “Remembering Nicholas Ray at 100 in a must-see Belcourt retrospective”
Besides THE SAVAGE INNOCENTS (and Ray's debut THEY LIVE BY NIGHT, which was evidently unavailable), the film I really miss in this retro is THE LUSTY MEN. I can't fault The Belcourt on that, because I know they tried to book it, but I watched it during TCM's month-long Ray salute recently and found it even better than I remembered. Talk about those privileged moments: I love the whole sequence of Robert Mitchum limping back to his homestead — just the character's walk and ease with his surroundings brings the whole locale alive, conveys a whole history without a word.
Ray worked with many of the major tough-guy stars of the era (Bogart, John Wayne in FLYING LEATHERNECKS, Robert Ryan in ON DANGEROUS GROUND, Mitchum in THE LUSTY MEN) and typically got them to play damaged or wounded heroes whose pressure to meet some macho code brings only despair. Can't second Bilge enough on BIGGER THAN LIFE, perhaps the first and last word on the toll of can-do ’50s conformity (rivaled only by the "lonely woman's friend" scene in Douglas Sirk's ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWS, or the feebly kicking toy robot man in Sirk's beautiful, underappreciated THERE'S ALWAYS TOMORROW).
Re: “Michael Shannon in Take Shelter: Everything's heavy underground”
I recently saw this film at its Ohio opening in Cleveland. I agree with the comment above. I was so impressed with Jessica Chastain's performance she should be an oscar nominee. It's good to see that a high quality film can still be produced relatively cheaply ($5M).
Re: “Michael Shannon in Take Shelter: Everything's heavy underground”
I'm such a big fan of this film. It is interesting to read a take that focuses so much on the wives perspective. I was too caught up in his struggle to maintain his sanity and provide for his family to really see it from anyone else's point of view. Not sure how I feel about the last sentence, I'm not really sure that's what I came away with from the film at all. One thing I love about TAKE SHELTER, and you mentioned, is all these horrific elements that can (and do) play out in our lives and the lives around us, daily. Kind of reminds me of JACOB'S LADDER in a way, not really in terms of tone, but definitely plenty of crossing themes.
Re: “Even with Julianne Moore and Amanda Seyfried as erotic adversaries, Atom Egoyan’s Chloe loses its way”
It was a comb, not a barrette @@
Re: “12 Hours of Terror: Punk-rock zombies, killer worms and lusty South Seas witches highlight a Halloween horrorpalooza”
Fantastic show! You gotta make this an annual event. Here's my little tribute to the day's schedule!
http://schmuckunderwood.blogspot.com/2011/…
Re: “12 Hours of Terror: Punk-rock zombies, killer worms and lusty South Seas witches highlight a Halloween horrorpalooza”
They played at Fantastic Fest in Austin. Missed The Beyond on TCM Underground, but I cuddle with my DVD collector's tin often. Love the music video on it by Necrophagia (with Phil Anselmo from Pantera hiding in there) and the clips from the film spliced in between shots of the band rocking out in an old barn, too cool.
Re: “12 Hours of Terror: Punk-rock zombies, killer worms and lusty South Seas witches highlight a Halloween horrorpalooza”
Last time I saw THE BEYOND (many years ago, granted), it was in a pretty gorgeous print from Grindhouse Releasing. I'd rather see someone restore Bava's TWITCH OF THE DEATH NERVE, which is in much worse shape (and is a much better movie).
Where did you see the restorations last month? And did you catch THE BEYOND when it played (of all places) on Turner Classic Movies as part of TCM Underground?
Re: “12 Hours of Terror: Punk-rock zombies, killer worms and lusty South Seas witches highlight a Halloween horrorpalooza”
Really excited about this. It's a shame Seven Doors of Death/The Beyond couldn't get the same restoration treatment as Zombie and House By The Cemetary. I got to see both last month and they were absolutely gorgeous.
Re: “From Lars von Trier's end-times film to caustic visions from Polanski, Cronenberg and Almodovar, it was the NYFF's Year of the Apocalypse”
Melancholia has a lot of sexy girls in the cast like Kirsten Dunst. I'm looking forward to seeing her in it.
Re: “Fassbinder's World on a Wire: the missing link between A Clockwork Orange and Inception”
Good to know QUERELLE's worth checking out. Michael's right that it has a lower rep than many of the others: when I worked at a video store in Murfreesboro in the ’80s, most people hated it (but loved THE MARRIAGE OF MARIA BRAUN). Even then, however, it had some passionate defenders.
Re: “Indie shocker Falls the Shadow brings the zombie hordes to Music City”
I agree. The film looked great throughout and really picked up steam as it went along. An accomplishment, for sure, and a good sign for Nashville's film community. Steven and his dad told me they plan to be around here making movies for a while.