Watched the original Italian Job for the first time last night, what a delightfully fun misogyny movie. Jesus it’s all real, they roll like six different cars down the Alps, there’s a tracking shot of a Land Rover going through Turinese back alleys while stalking a convoy that’s driving along the main road parallel in the background. Red white and blue Mini Coopers spin out on wet marble. A hilarious, semi-comeuppance in media res ending. Glorious
Realized about a third of the way through that Austin Powers isn’t really parodying James Bond but this one single movie in particular
still believe that Luc Besson has been inspired by that movie, because of how they are treating the commodity transport for the masses with due disrespect that only could be born out of an age where cars were replaced after five years max, because they were beginning to disintegrate w/ rust.
watched the Rooker/Ishibashi action schlock “Back to Back” aka “American Yakuza 2”, and while the dialogue sucked, there was some really funny and creative stuff. a super annoying bobcat goldthwait gets disintegrated by a dead man’s switch, tim thomerson talks about his wife that does nude tarot at the ren faire, and there’s some genuinely fun action sequences. the house invasion scene feels like john wick! blowing apart walls with a street sweeper! directed by the guy who did “trekkies”
The AFI Theater in Silver Spring has been running a Taiwan Film showcase recently. I have seen two films so far: Days and Detention.
Seeing Days in the theater was, I think, ideal despite a certain audience member crunching popcorn during scenes of absolute silence. You know what? My discomfort at hearing them chip away at their bag, one kernel at a time, may have just served to underline themes in the movie. Well done, theatergoer.
Tsai Ming-Liang has been focusing on the mundane, undefined moments that take up the majority of his characters lives. In a dark theater and with a large screen, I was forced to look at a screen that I would otherwise be compelled to glance away from to seek something that would fill my time. But it was important to fixate on the dull moments because they began to blossom into something with texture and meaning. In extreme closeups, I began to imagine what the characters’ face and body might feel like if I slowly traced my fingertips over it. In a later scene, the two actually do this and I understood it completely.
Detention is based off of Red Candle’s video game. It’s a pretty unique style of horror movie since it is framed as a nightmare which itself frames real memories of the past. The relationship between the male teacher and female student somehow feels right on the edge of being extremely uncomfortable but also legitimately sincere and tender. It’s not a bad memorial to the victims of the past.
in the effort to learn about surf culture i must solemnly announce that i have watched Gidget (1959) starring sandra dee. happy to report it contains at least one wonderful surrealist image - when the title character almost drowns from getting tangled in seaweed, and the love interest comes out to rescue her on his surfboard - and then he stands up on it and surfs back to the beach while she’s lying sprawled and unmoving on the board.
the cast of surf guys includes tom “billy jack” laughlin as “loverboy” as well as another guy who has the worst fake british accent i ever heard in a movie but where it’s unclear whether he’s meant to be faking it or not. most engaging is the comparatively brooding and ahabesque surf bum / army vet called Kahuna, given to declaiming his hatred for all forms of work until he’s enticed back into getting his pilot certification by the combination of gidget’s kind heart and the love rival’s fists. the love rival is named moondoggie and so there are some good scenes where the heroine writhes around in bed whispering “moondoggie… moondoggie…” there’s another part where he rolls her up in a tube to prevent fever and then abruptly starts lipsyncing the soupy theme song of the movie, pennies from heaven style. the big climactic music swell happens not when they kiss, but when he gives her his fraternity pin afterwards.
an early line of dialogue which made me wonder if i was truly prepared for this level of camp is “count 'em, girls - six gorgeous hunks of male! almost enough for second helpings!” but i’m glad i stuck around since later there’s a bit where gidget’s dad yells “cold cash?! legs of lamb?! do you think this is what the young men of today want?!” and there are also some absently unsettling interior shots. something for everybody.
What you really need to do is show up on a random work night, weasel your way out of a commitment and then go hang out at Cuba’s house and bore his wife to death about nerd shit.
I love how you’re re-written your memory to erase the fact that I was actually talking about Otakon in the good old Baltimore Convention Center. Or would you hate Magfest more because that’s actually held at National Harbor?
