8/10

7/10

6/10

Yes and I agree with demonrail that it's the best role she played in any movie. To be honest I never thought much of her as an actress before, just ok I guess.

Glad you liked Shock. There's nothing spectacular about it, just really well done, I think. It's Daria Nicolodi who really stands out in it for me. And Vigilante!! Blimey, I've not seen that in years. I remember liking it but can't remember much about it. I can't believe I still haven't seen Spasmo.

I hadn't watched ''Vigilante'' in a few years and I have to admit I am a sucker for the sort of movie where an entire city seems besieged by out of control gangs. Add to that that it's filmed in what looks like a derelict NYC and I am bought in a second. When you eventually get to watch ''Spasmo'', let me know if it was just me hallucinating while watching movie after movie in a row, or the first scene seems to have no particular relevance to the whole film at all. It's the one where the amorous couple get out of the car and are confronted by the hanged doll. I am not one to object to nice touches the director uses because they add to the atmosphere of the movie, but that seems like a whole scene aimed to serve a purpose the film doesn't really need. Of course it would be a different story if the director was someone like David Lynch or Werner Schroeter, but not ''Spasmo'', which is a very plot-dependent movie.

After re-watching ''Christiane F.'' I decided that what makes me love this movie more than anything is how it portrays Berlin as this very urban, nocturnal place inhabited by half-dead smackheads. I don't think the book is better, it just contains so much more dialogue which Uli Edel left out in favour of the cliched language you'd normally associate with someone naive falling flat on their arse because of drugs. Some of the humour on the book, as well as the mean language, is so cut out it always makes it more enjoyable for me to watch as a landscape sort of film.

Yeah, I've also got a thing for 70s urban dereliction. And I know what you mean when you talk about them as sort of 'landscape films'. There's a specific atmosphere to those settings.

I remember as a teenager going to the Scala in Kings Cross, when that area was still really sleazy. I'd never seen a prostitute or a junky before I went to Kings Cross and I'd always love coming out of the cinema after watching something like Maniac or Vigilante to see my own equivalent on the walk back to the station. It's criminal how clean Kings Cross now looks. Along with Soho it used to be my favourite part of London. (Soho's another area that's had much of its soul polished out of it now. Vegetarian options at the Coach & Horses?!?)

Yeah, there are loads of movies from that era which really focused on that seedier side. Besides the ones already mentioned my favourite ones centred on NYC would be Mean Streets; Taxi Driver; Basket Case; Midnight Cowboy; The French Connection and almost anything by Paul Morrissey or Abel Ferrara. A lot of blacksploitation movies from that era also have a lot of that atmosphere.

For a similar sleaziness but from a more European perspective, some Fassbinder and very early Almodovar are great. Also, albeit more recently, Gary Oldman's Nil By Mouth has that atmosphere in spades.

Another great one is the Brazillian film, Pixote.

Daaaammn.... Genteel's getting the job done.

It is a shame that those kinds of theatres have now pretty much vanished. The great thing about the Scala in particular was that it was really cheap and used to do all-nighters so half the audience would be tramps who'd use the place as a cheap warm shelter or insomniacs just looking to kill time. It was great watching a film like Basket Case surrounded by people who looked like they could've had a part in the film. A genuine grindhouse experience.

I saw this Japanese film called Love Exposure, it's running time is like 5 hrs. Great film.

Also another Japanese film called Confessions. Depressing and ace!

Dr. Strangelove.

9/10

a lot of artwork put into this movie
very good

Awesome shit right here, even the Jarmusch parts. I think I'm gonna back off on hating him so much, despite his goofy haircut and dull pacing in his films. I actually did enjoy Stranger Than Paradise and Dead Man, for what it's worth. It's fun to see Buscemi, Thurston, Kern, Lunch, Nick Zedd, and John Waters all in the same doc.

Also really makes me wanna check out Amos Poe and Eric Mitchell films. I had never even heard of them before.

I've not seen any of Amos Poe's films but I think you'd really like Mitchell's Underground USA.

I'd only seen bits and pieces of this before. Great to finally watch this in full; a wonderful introspective look into the craft - which is especially helpful when I'm currently in the process of editing myself. Nice big-name cameos, as well.



This is still easily one of my absolute favorites of John's. I fell in love with this movie when I was about 6 or 7 years old, making it my introduction to the man I'd now (probably) consider my favorite director of all-time.

Three Colours Red

It seems almost cliched to heap praise on Kieslowski but I really do think this is an out and out masterpiece and, for me, his best film. And definitely one of my favourite climaxes (assuming you've also seen Blue and White) of any film I've seen.

The Take

starring


Billy D Williams

Its been awhile since I've seen the Three Colors Trilogy, I liked it. I wish Kieslowski had a chance to do his Heaven/Hell/Purgatory trilogy. I haven't seen "Hell", did they ever make it? Did they ever make Purgatory?

The Heaven Hell and Purgatory films were written with the intention that other filmmakers would direct them but as far as I know, nobody's made Purgatory yet. I haven't seen Heaven or Hell. Is Heaven any good?

I thought "Heaven" was good. Its directed by Tom Tykwer who directed "Run Lola Run" and "The Princess and the Warrior". I think given his interest in movies about fate and a couple overcoming obstacles to be together, its right up Tykwer's alley.