the Devil's Rejects

the devil's rejects
Originally uploaded by rustedrare.

I didn't want to discuss this until I saw it a 2nd time, which I did last night. Now: I am one of the few who really liked House of 1000 Corpses. I didn't care for all of the MTV editing bullshit throughout the film, but everything else was from Rob Zombie's love for horror films. It seems that Zombie thought Corpses would be his last chance at making a movie, so he threw everything he loved about horror into the film: a horror host, a killer clown, Mansonesque rants, grainy super 8 footage, and on and on. Lord knows if I was given a shot to make a horror movie, I would completely vomit all of my resources, most by mistake. Well, I guess we can say Zombie took those resources and learned from them, and used Hollywood as a film school, which I rip roaringly applause--fuck them.

Alright, Rob Zombie loves 70's film; well, shit, he should; it's the greatest time in film. All the bad asses of the 50s and 60s were laying the rules down for the 70's boys to use, and they did. No one uses image as language anymore, but--let me tell you--Zombie did it in The Devil's Rejects. He sets up motifs of close ups and freeze frames that he uses when necessary (he's set a certain style in the picture). On a noticeable level, the style matches the scenes and parallels other scenes through technique. The film is thought out, and not just thrown up there with fancy editing tricks and montage. Now, before you pop a blood vessel in your asshole meter, there are a couple lines and scenes here and there that are just dumb ("I'm Willy Wonka and this is my Chocolate Factory"--stupid ass line, bubba), but overall the film has heart and it is well executed with film--not just horror--in mind.

what is this doing on ADULT SWIM?

THE ULTIMATE LOVE SONG COLLECTION.
I dont't know what's worse, that it has Michael Bolton, or it doesn't have one of the greats from THE BEST OF BREAD. What studies show that ADULT SWIM viewers want this CD collection; actually, it adds to the humor of the ADULT SWIM line up. I love it now; I have to order; shit, my grandma just fell, gotta go!!!

we're doomed

Is it a sign of the apocalypse that pop culture references and copy cat films are all people want to watch? Do we blame Hollywood or the supporting parties? We're doomed.

GOODBYE, DRAGON INN

GOODBYE DRAGON INN
Originally uploaded by rustedrare.

A sad film about a sad fact: film as an artform is slowly dying; it may be transforming into a storytelling machine, but film is suppossed to be the great reflection we all need to keep us in check. Yikes. "Miss the old song of 60's"?
THE 60s was the time of discovering how to use film, and the 70s was the time where it was perfected and used, and the 80s just ignored all of it to tell stories about brats. Now all we can do is remake and rip off under the black umbrella of homage. It doesn't seem to be at the top of anyone's list to reinvent or discover. People may say, "what is there left to do?" I don't know, but I want to find out.

10 Best Movies this summer

These are the best I've watched this summer, in no particular order.

1. Oldboy
2. The Pornographers
3. Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance
4. Pierrot Le Fou
5. I Heart Huckabees
6. Gemini
7. Pinocchio 964
8. Million Dollar Baby
9. Haute Tension
10. A Tale of Two Sisters

(11. Brotherhood of War)
SUMMERS NOT OVER YET

Pierrot Le Fou

Anna Karina in Pierrot Le Fou
Originally uploaded by rustedrare.

Art imitates life, but can life imitate art? After showing my high school film studies class Tony Scott's True Romance, I decided to compliment the film with Pierrot Le Fou; after all, the films are very similar in theme. Both films, Pierrot Le Fou and True Romance display human lives exploring a way out of their mundane existences, and their biggest inspiration is art (Clarence's muse is kung-fu and John Woo movies, and Pierriot reaches for Balzac and Johnny Guitar). In the mise en scene, Godard uses art (impressionism, expressionism, cubism, pop) to show Pierrot and Marianne's world they create. The message is clear in the end: life is not as easy to manipulate as a sentence; the rearranging of words can destroy meanings: "Words retain only what's pure." -- Marianne in Pierrot Le Fou

THE AMAZING SCREW ON HEAD

THE AMAZING SCREW ON HEAD
Originally uploaded by rustedrare.

It's the funniest comic of all time. Mignola did this little side one shot in 2002, and an animated series for the Sci-Fi Channel is in the works (please Jesus, let it rock). Screw On Head is a patriotic, secret agent who works for Abe Lincoln. The hero is exactly what the letters in his name spell, a lone head that screws onto mechanical body suits. He fights Emperor Zombie, who has an "evil skull [air] balloon" and is always trying to conjure up supernatural powers from the unknown. The Amazing Screw on Head is a great comic that will hopefully become a comic series; all in all, this one shot by Mike Mignola (who writes and draws the book) is still available, so have your local comic shop order one for you.

Monte Hellman's COCKFIGHTER

Hellman's Cockfighter is an excellent study of a subculture that is still around today. What is most upsetting about the film is that a film about roosters fighting to the death could not be made today, because most people are fucking pussies, "oh, that's horrible!!" Fuck you, asshole. They kill fucking horses in Andrei Rublev and I could give a shit; it gives me a reaction; it makes me feel something, and that's the point. It is the same with Cockfighter.

Warren Oates plays the part perfectly; it is not the style of the movie that makes it feel like a documentary, this feel comes from Oates's performance. It is easy to believe that Oates is the character he plays, Frank Mansfield.

new site: KILLA MISE EN SCENE BRAH

I've always wanted to build a site that studies mise en scene in film, well here it is, brah.
http://killa-mise-en-scene-brah.com

THE PORNOGRAPHERS

scg070505_1420_17
Originally uploaded by rustedrare.

Shohei Imamura perfectly shot this 1966 film about the parallels of cinema and pornography. By shooting about 65% of the film in deep focus shots with a voyeuristic window or frame within a frame in the midground, Imamura creates the idea that the intimacy of human emotions being captured through film is something private that possibly should not be revealed--sounds like porn to me.