Categorizing a movie as a time capsule reduces it to a simple evocation of a specific time and nothing else. William Friedkin’s To Live and Die in L.A. is drenched in 1985, a Wang Chung score, rampant androgyny, ridiculous car chases, cheerful amorality, and a cynical fetishism that seems modeled on Miami Vice, which debuted […]
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Featured quote (not written by me)
Cultural critic James Wolcott, on the new film critic:
"Film critics today have become these rabid completists... They feel like that with festivals, they have to see everything, no matter how minor. Part of it is bragging rights. The other part is that the only thing that feeds into their movie writing is other movies."
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Archive for September 15th, 2009
Skatetown, U.S.A.
Tuesday, September 15th, 2009
Tags: Adam Lippe, Anthony Edwards, Bill Kirchenbauer, Billy Barty, Bodhi, C.P.O. Sharkey, concert, Conrad Baines, Crispin Glover, Dana Plato, David Landsberg, Dennis the Menace, Diff'rent Strokes, Dirty Dancing, DJ, Dorothy Stratten, drugs, ER, Family Ties, Flip Wilson, gang, Gary Coleman, Gary Mule Deer, gay, Ghost, Greece, Greg Bradford, Hallmark, Halloween, Happy Days, Hellgate, High School USA, homoerotic, I Will Survive, Joanie Loves Chachi, Joe Cocker, John Carpenter, John Travolta, Judy Landers, Just the Ten of Us, Kathryn Bigelow, Keanu Reeves, Laugh-In, Lifetime, Linda Blair, Lovlines, Macho Man, magician, Maureen McCormick, Melissa Sue Anderson, Miami Vice, Michael J. Fox, Michael Mann, Michael Myers, movie review, musical, Nancy McKeon, Nick Castle, Night Patrol, Olivia Newton-John, Patrick Swayze, Persia, Point Break, Point Break 2, RegrettableSincerity.com, Rodney Amateau, Roller Boogie, roller skating, Ron Palillo, Rowan and Martin, Ruth Buzzi, Scott Baio, Sol Yurick, Spike Jonze, Sydney Lassick, The Brady Bunch, The Facts of Life, The Flip Wilson Show, The Happy Hooker Goes to Washington, The Jacksons, The Unknown Comic, The Village People, The Warriors, To Live and Die in LA, TV pilot, Walter Hill, Wang Chung, Welcome Back Kotter, William A. Levey, William Friedkin, William Shatner, Xanadu, Yeah Right!
Posted in Comedy, Documentary | No Comments »
Skatetown, U.S.A.
Tuesday, September 15th, 2009
Tags: Adam Lippe, Anthony Edwards, Bill Kirchenbauer, Billy Barty, Bodhi, C.P.O. Sharkey, concert, Conrad Baines, Crispin Glover, Dana Plato, David Landsberg, Dennis the Menace, Diff'rent Strokes, Dirty Dancing, DJ, Dorothy Stratten, drugs, ER, Family Ties, Flip Wilson, gang, Gary Coleman, Gary Mule Deer, gay, Ghost, Greece, Greg Bradford, Hallmark, Halloween, Happy Days, Hellgate, High School USA, homoerotic, I Will Survive, Joanie Loves Chachi, Joe Cocker, John Carpenter, John Travolta, Judy Landers, Just the Ten of Us, Kathryn Bigelow, Keanu Reeves, Laugh-In, Lifetime, Linda Blair, Lovlines, Macho Man, magician, Maureen McCormick, Melissa Sue Anderson, Miami Vice, Michael J. Fox, Michael Mann, Michael Myers, movie review, musical, Nancy McKeon, Nick Castle, Night Patrol, Olivia Newton-John, Patrick Swayze, Persia, Point Break, Point Break 2, RegrettableSincerity.com, Rodney Amateau, Roller Boogie, roller skating, Ron Palillo, Rowan and Martin, Ruth Buzzi, Scott Baio, Sol Yurick, Spike Jonze, Sydney Lassick, The Brady Bunch, The Facts of Life, The Flip Wilson Show, The Happy Hooker Goes to Washington, The Jacksons, The Unknown Comic, The Village People, The Warriors, To Live and Die in LA, TV pilot, Walter Hill, Wang Chung, Welcome Back Kotter, William A. Levey, William Friedkin, William Shatner, Xanadu, Yeah Right!
Posted in Comedy, Documentary | No Comments »
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Roadracers
Whenever there’s a genre parody or ode to a specific era of films, such as Black Dynamite’s mocking of Blaxploitation films or Quentin Tarantino’s Death Proof, the second half of Grindhouse, the danger is that the film might fall into the trap of either being condescending without any particular insight, or so faithful that it becomes the very flawed thing it is emulating.
Black Dynamite has nothing new to say about Blaxploitation films, it just does a decent job of copying what an inept [...]
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Featured Quote (written by me)
On Cold Fish:
Though the 16 year old me described the 1994 weepie Angie, starring Geena Davis as a Brooklyn mother raising her new baby alone, as “maudlin and melodramatic,” Roger Ebert, during his TV review, referring to the multitude of soap-operaish problems piling up on the titular character, suggested that it was only in Hollywood where Angie would get a happy ending. “If they made this movie in France, Angie would have shot herself.”
Well Cold Fish was made in Japan, where Angie would have shot herself and that would have been the happy ending.