"Shoot Him Again, His Soul's Still Dancing"

When word hit that Nicolas Cage was producing and starring in a remake of Abel Ferrara's 1992 scuzzy and NC-17 rated cult classic Bad Lieutenant, the news was greeted with the typical eyerolls and proclamations of Hollywood's further abyss into unoriginality. Then we learned that the film, to carry the subtitle: Port of New Orleans; would be directed by none other than Werner Herzog. Would this be a cynical Hollywood paycheck for the distinctive German filmmaker and all around madman, an opportunity to fund his next documentary about competing prostitution rings in the moors of Scotland (which I would totally see)? But very quickly things got interesting, Herzog said that not only would his film not be a direct remake of the 1992 film, but the first in a franchise of Bad Lieutenant films (next up: Bad Lieutenant: Downtown Wichita?) and besides he had never even seen the original or even, unbelievably, heard of Abel Ferrara!

And now we have the trailer, and it's a work of insane inspiration. If I see a crazier trailer this year...nevermind, not going to bother finishing this sentence, I will not see anything like this, Enjoy:



Bad Lieutenant: Port of New Orleans, which strangely enough fits within Herzog's overriding directorial theme of the effects of environment on the mental stability of its inhabitants, opens in December.

Trailer (s) of the Week: The Percy Rodrigues Edition

In the pantheon of great trailer narration, my favorite has always been the Jaws narrator who gravely intones this choice simile: "It's as if God created the Devil and gave him...JAWS!" After hearing his voice in another trailer posted on another blog, I decided to seek out a little more about the person behind the voice.

The narrator is Percy Rodrigues, a character actor of mixed African and Portuguese decent whose most famous role is as Commodore Stone on the Star Trek season one episode "Court Martial". His great deep voice provided him a long career in voice over work throughout several decades before he passed away in 2007.

Here are some Percy Rodrigues narrated trailers that I have tracked down.

The original Jaws trailer


Universal was smart enough to rehire him to voice the 1979 sequel, Jaws 2, where Rodrigues would make another intense proclamation, one that would long out live the repetitive mediocrity of the film: "Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water"


Universal also hired him to narrate the trailer to John Badham's 1979 remake of Dracula starring Frank Langella as the titular bloodsucker. Surprisingly, I've never seen the film, but let's give credit to Rodrigues for giving dignity to the trailer's awkward claims of being "the story of the greatest lover who ever lived, died and lived again"


In 1979, after the success of Star Wars, Disney tried to get into the sci-fiction game, the underwhelming result was The Black Hole. I've haven't watched the film in about ten years, but remember being bored both times I tried to get through it, but damn if the trailer with it's retro graphics and yes, Rodrigues narration, piqued my interest in "the journey that begins where everything ends"


And finally, for the time being at least, Rodrigues was asked to narrate the trailer to the interminably delayed (delayed as in three people who were interviewed for the film: Rodrigues, Peter Benchley and Roy Schieder have since past away) documentary about the Jaws phenomena, The Shark is Still Working. The trailer is in itself a homage to the original.


That's all for now, hopefully I can hunt down more to share with you soon.

The Semi-Annual "Why I'm Not Blogging" Excuse Blog

Excuses: My wife and I bought a house and I temporarily took a job shift that is more exhausting then I had imagined. Plus my laptop died.

I may do some filler posts between now and then, but expect this blog to return to it's more traditional schedule in June (ie more frequent filler posts!) just in time to completely ignore Transformers: Return of the Fallen Transformers That Had Previously Fell.

I am also flirting with the ideas of twitter (the pet rock of '09) and flicker (sorry, flckr) accounts as an annex to this blog. And yes, I do have a Death Wish IV review in the works that surely will continue to illicit the same reaction as the first three: no response. Yay!

My Sunday of Horror

I'm not a big convention guy, or at least anymore. However, between the age of 13 to my mid-20's I would annually attend the Wonder-Con in Oakland. At some point (namely, my first, and to date only, sojourn to the the San Diego Comic-Con in 2002) the lines, crowds and no offense, over abundance of fanboys in a perpetual state of arrested development became too much for me. Still, I allowed my uncle, a proficient micro-budgeted horror director in his own right, to persuade me to attend the final day of this year's Fangoria Weekend of Horror.

The crowds were much thinner than I had expected, perhaps due to the fact that the big names guests like Sam Raimi were not in attendance on the convention's final day, and there were a lot less merchandise tables than I remembered from my aforementioned experiences (more on that below), but the day made for an interesting experience.

I do see some significant areas that could do with improving, and if you will indulge me (hey, it's my blog after all) I would kindly like to provide some suggestions to the organizers.

1. The Trailer Showcase--first things first, the audio/visual presentation just blew, the color frequently went in and out during the trailers (unless there's a lot more black and white films being produced then I think) and when the color was correct, the projection was muddy. There's also significant room for improvement in the programming aspect. The two upcoming horror films I am most looking forward to Sam Raimi's Drag Me to Hell and the much buzzed about, post Sundance screening this winter, Grace, were not included (despite the fact Raimi was the top listed guest and the Grace trailer was playing at the Lionsgate booth). And while I appreciate your promotion and emphasis on lower budget independent work, I think you did a disservice to the films by stringing all the trailers of unknown films in a row, and bookending them between more known quantities like Terminator: Salvation and Inglorious Basterds. Oh, and a note to the editors of these trailers, the flickering lights and abrasive loud noises are no longer effective, as of, oh 2003.

2. More Merchandise Tables--Focus at comic book conventions have morphed from their original internet (a place to buy comic books and comic book related memorabilia) with the mainstream success of the super hero based movie to a tool for filmmakers and stars to create publicity for their upcoming blockbuster releases. Coincidentally, this shift in focus parallels my declining interests in attending them. Hey, I love films and celebrities as much as the next guy, but I can live with waiting a week or two for the "exclusive" trailer to say, Iron Man 2, to make it's way on-line, or gasp, catch it theatrically. I am more of the find cool, rare or out-of-print posters, shirts, DVDs, books, et cetera kind of guy, and the options yesterday were minimal. There were probably as many tattoo artists as DVD sellers.

3. Celebrity signings--My biggest grip, and I am not sure whose to blame for this, but attendees pay $25 to get in, and inside there are a bunch of interesting filmmakers and actors, but to get an autograph, it costs you another $20 each. This leads me to the assumption that these people are making the money solely from what they sell and not from a cut of the door sales. Perhaps a better solution is to up the entry charge to $30 a ticket and give a percentage of the extra $5 to these horror icons, which this year included the likes of Fred "the Hammer" Williamson, Sybill Danning, Coffy director Jack Hill, Bill "Chop-top" Mosely, and original Texas Chain Saw Massacre final girl Marilyn Burns. And the thing is, I have absolutely no interest in collecting autographs. I do though think it would be interesting to talk to many of these people or just give them a simple "thanks for the memories", but if I wanted to converse with, for example, Corey Haim (who was there) I'd feel either awkward for not being interested in purchasing a Lost Boys still for him to sign and furthermore feel like I am preventing him from potentially making money or I'd feel compelled to purchase said still, which I would frankly have no interest in and probably shouldn't be wasting my money on with a mortgage and all. So what's the result, remember the convention scene in The Wrestler where Randy the Ram and his co-horts sit around wasting away the day with the occasional interruption from a paying fan? That's pretty much the case. But I think if my solution was implemented a better sense of community between fans and filmmakers would be fostered and there'd be more interaction and possibly, just as much if not more financial profit. I am not saying David Hess can't sell DVDs of Last House on the Left, but there shouldn't be the sense of obligation on the convention attenders part if they feel like just chatting with him. It's a sad state of affairs, when the Suicide Girls garner more attention at a horror convention then Ruggero Deodato, the director of Cannibal Holocaust! Speaking of wrestlers, Roddy Piper gave a Q and A and followed it up with an impromptu and might I add, free, autograph signing. The result? Lines around the auditorium that ate into the start time of the next schedule events.


Despite the dearth of what really interested me: vendors, I did pick up some cool stuff. I bought DVDs of Stone, an Australian biker film that is the progenitor of Mad Max and the Ozsplotation movement--which I watched and really enjoyed, it's surprisingly more of a character study than motorcycle chase film, with some interesting cinematic choices including an at times very experimental sound design, and Lucio Fulci's The Psychic from the good people at the Severin DVD table., a t-shirt with everyone's favorite 80's Action B-movie, partially Israeli mob funded, studio logo:



And the crown jewel of my purchases, an original 1975 Jaws poster from the Czech Republic, seen here:


I don't know if I'll rush back to a convention anytime soon, but despite the complaints, I enjoyed myself and witnessed some impressive surreal sights like seeing Trauma founder Lloyd Kaufman talking with a prancing costumed Toxic Avenger.

Trailer of the Week: Remembering My Favorite Film of the '00s (thus far)

With only eight months left in the decade, pretty soon the usual suspects will begin compiling their list of the 00's best films (have we decided what we are calling this decade yet? The aughts?).  Without too much thought given to the subject, I'd nominate Michel Gondry Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind off the top of my head, which coincidentally just celebrated it's fifth anniversary on March 19th (in related news: I feel old). 

Whether you find the conclusion of the film as a triumph of love or a cynical assertion that these two characters are doomed to a self-perpetual cycle of co-dependence (something hinted at in an excised denouement in Charlie Kaufman's script that didn't make the final film), or hell, both, is really besides the point, the essential message I take is something much simpler: keep the bad memories, because they are just as essential a component of our lives as the happy ones. 

I saw Eternal Sunshine at a particularly poignant moment in my life: a few months after a long, and similarly doomed cyclical relationship had finally come to it's end. While painful at the time, the film helped me in some small way to appreciate the moments I had with that person and I met my wife within 10 months of catching it opening day (celebrity sighting/gossip: I had a conversation with Sarah Silverman and her sister who were companions of one of the friends I saw the film with on the merits of Michel Gondry's work after the showing, and it was refreshing to see the usually sardonic comedienne notably touched by it's artistry). 

Here is the film's equally brilliant trailer which opens as a commercial for the Lucana corporation before morphing into a dialogue light quick montage of moments from the film set to ELO's "Mr. Blue Sky". From the first time I saw the trailer theatrically in the fall of 2003, I knew the film would be special, although I could not foresee the particular connection that I would, and still, have to it. 

An Admittedly Cheap Joke

A couple of weeks ago some friends sent me this link to a 125 page transcript between Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and Lawrence Kasdan of the first story conference of a project that would eventually be Raiders of the Lost Ark.

In response I sent this, I am not saying it's any great shakes, but it's the only thing I've managed to write in the last the few weeks so I may as well include it here at my neglected blog.

Enjoy, or you know, don't...

INT UNIVERSAL STUDIO BOARDROOM-CIRCA 1984

Three well dressed EXECUTIVES sit at a large oval desk, they stare with great anticipation at a world famous, multi-chined, DIRECTOR.

Executive #1: After the success of the Star Wars trilogy, Universal wants to be in the Lucasfilm business.

Executive #2: So what great ideas do you have twirling around in that fantastic brain of yours?

The Director's face emerges from a mountainous pile of cocaine that would make Scarface himself blush.

Director: So there's this comic book, see, it's about a duck from outer space, he comes to earth. Money in the bank.

Executive # 3 cautiously makes a wiping notion with his index finger to his cheek.

Executive # 3: Uh, Geo--Mr. Lucas, you have some, uh, on your cheek there.

Director: Wha?

He touches his cheek, feels the offending substance, pulls out a $5,000 dollar bill, crumples it like a Kleenex and uses it to wipe it away.

Director: There.

Executive # 1: So this, uh, duck idea?

Director: Yeah, his name is Howard, it's going to be.....

The Director suddenly convulses, the pupils of his eyes turn white.

Director: You meansa peoples gonna die!

Executive # 2: Pardon?

The Director shakes out of his possessed state, returns to normal.

Director: Sorry, just an idea for later.

The Movies Go to the Movies: 10 to Midnight

10 to Midnight (1983, J. Lee Thompson)
Aero Theatre, Santa Monica, CA

"You know what this is for, Warren? It's for jerking off!!!"-Leo Kessler (Charles Bronson)

After subjecting myself to a double bill of two underwhelming recent films (Taken, the Friday the 13th reboot) that attempt to replicate the trashy aesthetics of the 70s-80s American B-movie, I was ready for the real thing. Luckily I had a Charles Bronson film in the mail courtesy of Netflix, and not just any Bronson movie, 10 to Midnight, his first film produced by the Cannon Group (the studio which would release every movie starring him from here until the end of the decade), which incidentally enough was a kind of hybrid of the two modern films in that it featured a highly trained protective father and a serial killer with a thing for young nubile ladies. While it's yet another entry in Bronson's post-Death Wish shtick where his renegade character is the only sane man in a pansy society where crime reigns and the police are ineffectual due to rules like Miranda rights and shit like that, it does have the novel twist of pitting the Bronson archetype against a serial killer who stalks women in the nude. To clarify, he actually undresses before chasing his prey!

Early in the film, our stripping serial killer decides to head to the movies and try to pick up on some young girls to establish an alibi when he leaves out the bathroom window to murder his target. Which movie does he see? Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. And where does he go to see it? Even with out any shot's of the theatre's name above the marquee, anyone whose been there will discern this is Santa Monica's own Aero theatre.

Aero denizens will appreciate that not only were the exterior scenes shot on location, so were the interior shots, including the lobby, the actual theatre, even the tiny restroom whose window serve as our villain's escape route.

The Aero has been a neighborhood fixture on Montana Avenue since 1939 and was the boyhood cinema of actor/director/Sundance film festival founder Robert Redford (not sure if Butch Cassidy playing there in this scene is a shout-out or a mere coincidence). I was unable to track down too much information about the theatre's history, I gathered it was a second run theatre in the late 70's/early 80's (the time 10 to Midnight was filmed) and ran as a AMC theatre until 2002 (I remember The Bourne Identity was playing there the first time I visited the area shortly after moving to Los Angeles). In 2003 it was purchased by the American Cinematheque who took over the programming, turning it into a repertory theatre and sister site to it's similar renovation/reacquisition, Hollywood Boulevard's Egyptian theatre.

So today, you are just as likely, if not more, to catch a screening of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid there then you were in 1983.


Additional Link/Places of Interests:

The Aero Theatre's Cinema Treasures site

The American Cinematheque website

It's Fundamental

The scene: Late December 2007. I look at the stacks of unread books accumulated from various thrift and secondhand book stores piling up in my apartment. The year's end fast approaching.

The resolution: Perhaps not entirely apt. It was more of a challenge for myself: I will read 52 books in 52 weeks beginning January 1st, 2008 and ending December 31st, 2008.

The rules: More concerned with averaging a book a week rather than a hard-line stance of one book read per week. Books per my rules were anything of at least 75 pages. Yes, graphic novels which exceeded that length, and of which I read two, count. Short story compilations count as one book. Choose Your Own Adventure books would only be allowed if my adventure lasted at least 75 pages. You will notice a complete lack of Choose Your Own Adventure books, whether that's because I did not read any or my adventures were chosen poorly I will leave up to the reader's imagination. What good is life without some mystery?

The reason: The aforementioned stack of unread books. Secondly, admitting that reading has become less of a practiced activity post college; taking weeks to months on end to finish novels I started, often placing them down for days at a time to only have to reread the last 10 pages to get reacquainted with the story since last I left it.

Mission: Accomplished! Where's my banner????

And now, for posterity in the world wide interwebs, here are all 53 (yes, I beat my goal by one!) books I read in 2008, listed in order of completion:

1. Rage-Richard Bachman (nee Stephen King)
2. The Long Walk-Richard Bachman (nee Stephen King)
3. Red Harvest-Dashiell Hammett
4. Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis (graphic novel)-Peter Kuper
5. Live From New York-Tom Shales & James Miller
6. Blood Meridian-Cormac McCarthy
7. Ask the Dust-John Fante
8. Saturday Night: A Backstage History-Doug Hill & Jeff Weingrad
9. Exile on Main Street: A Season in Hell with the Rolling Stones-Robert Greenfield


10. The Road-Cormac McCarthy
11. Pure Drivel-Steve Martin
12. Raymond Chandler: A Biography-Tom Hiney
13. Trouble is My Business-Raymond Chandler
14. The Ten Cent Plague-David Hadju
15. Devil in a Blue Dress-Walter Mosley
16. The Old Man and the Sea-Ernest Hemingway
17. The Jaws Log-Carl Gottleib
18. White Teeth-Zadie Smith
19. Rebels on the Backlot-Sharon Waxman
20. The Pigeon-Patrick Suskind


21. The Complete Peanuts 61-62-Charles Schulz
22. Seven Per-Cent Solution-Nicholas Meyer
23. The Thin Man-Dashiell Hammett
24. The Studio-John Gregory Dunne
25. Honeymoon-Patrick Modriano
26. The Man Who Heard Voices: Or, How M. Night Shyamalan Risked His Career on a Fairy Tale-Michael Bamberger
27. Bringing Down the House-Ben Mezrich
28. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (compilation): Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
29. The Tragedy of MacBeth-William Shakespeare
30. Danse Macabre-Stephen King
31. Nightmare of Ectasy: The Life and Art of Edward D. Wood, Jr-Rudolph Grey
32. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde-Robert Luis Stevenson
33. The Yiddish Policeman's Union-Michael Chabon


34. The Invisible Man-HG Wells
35. The Glass Key-Dashiell Hammett
36. A Red Death-Walter Mosley
37. The Spirit Archives 1-Will Eisner
38. The Sun Also Rises-Ernest Hemingway
39. The Getaway-Jim Thompson
40. The Lives and Many Deaths of Harry Houdini-Ruth Brandon
41. The Ox-Bow Incident-Walter van Tillenburg Clark
42. Cash-Johnny Cash
43. True Confessions-John Gregory Dunne
44. The Year of Magical Thinking-Joan Didion
45. Savage Night-Jim Thompson
46. Somebody Owes Me Money-Donald Westlake
47. How to Talk Dirty and Infulence People-Lenny Bruce
48. The Final Solution-Michael Chabon
49. The Busy Body-Donald Westlake


50. The Maltese Falcon-Dashiell Hammett
51. Roadwork-Richard Bachman (nee Stephen King)
52. Deathbird Stories-Harlan Ellison
53. The Crucible-Arthur Miller

Some stats, since they proved so popular in my year end movie assessment article:

Number of Fiction books read: 40
Number of Non-Fiction books read: 13

Authors read multiple times:

Dashiell Hammett: 4
Stephen King/Richard Bachman: 4--side note: until last year, I hadn't read a Stephen King book since my teenage years (when he was my favorite author), prompted by the release of the film version of The Mist (the novella included in the Skeleton Crew compilation) I decided to re-read it since it was the first novel that I thought I should adapt into a movie (I was 14 years old, and didn't get very far). I read the other stories in Skeleton Crew, rekindling a nostalgic appreciation for King which lead to reading the Night Shift compilation on my honeymoon which...well, you get the idea.
Cormac McCarthy: 2
Walter Mosley: 2
Ernest Hemingway: 2
John Gregory Dunne: 2
Michael Chabon: 2
Jim Thompson: 2
Donald Westlake: 2

Books written by Men: 49
Books written by Women: 4 (sorry, ladies)

By Decade Written:

2000s: 12
1990s: 8
1980s: 5
1970s: 6
1960s: 5
1950s: 4
1940s: 2
1930s: 5
1920s: 2
1890s: 2
1880s: 1
1600s: 1

As far as 2009, I have no plans to replicate this particular goal. Not that I don't plan on continued reading, but there are a good many longer novels and classic literary works that would require a certain amount of attention that could have thrown a wrench in the overall goal. For example, since Christmas 2000 I have owned David Foster Wallace's epic Infinite Jest without cracking more than the first dozen or so pages, his death last year increased my urge to finally delve into it. (Of course you can see by the sidebar that thus far I've read two graphic novels in the first six weeks of the year....)

And now back to reading, somehow that stack of unread books has actually increased.