Hitchens and Sharpton

WATCH VIDEO
sure this is an old video year old, but it is really entertaining to watch Al Sharpton debate a book he only read the title of. Hitchens is very entertaining, as is Sharpton's way of debating that I have nick named "gooble-dee-goop"

Songs From the Second Floor.

Sure, I could blog about Indiana Jones, but I don't wanna waste my time- it had good, it had bad, if you were let down maybe you should think twice about spending your money to see a 60 year old man go on an adventure.

I want to let you know about SONGS FROM THE SECOND FLOOR
That image, first shot of the film, should be all you need to see this film. two men have a serious conversation while one is in a tanning bed. wonderful. This film feels like a Bunuel film to me. It is a film of trivial things in an absurd, modern world. The production design, still camera and wide shots of the film feel like Tati's Playtime- but the film is completely original.

It is an amazing mix of comedy and tragedy. Filled with people who are at the lowest points in their life, in a world that is on the brink of collapsing.

The production design is nothing short of amazing, with almost everything in the movie built on a sound stage. I don't want to toss out a bunch of names that it is "like"
it's great.

You could go on Youtube and watch a trailer, but just do as I did and see the film cold, and on the biggest TV you can see it on. The film is shot VERY VERY wide. I so wish I could have seen it on the big screen.

The director is Roy Andersson. this is his fourth feature made in 2000. His first was in '69, then '70, '87 this one is 2000 and he has a new feature that I hope to see soon.

The film is challenging, but worth it. I am now going to give Uwe Boll some help in his opening weekend. I have never seen one of his films, and this one -POSTAL- looks to be pretty amazing. What kind of amazing? we shall see

YES!

Dexter

you know that show Dexter? I am watching an episode now- it sucks. SO if anyone tells you it is "amazing" don;t trust them- they will steal from you and act like your friend.

Indy! Blaxploitation! Blood Car Hipster T's

Its a good week that started pretty crappy.

Day one of this week: I go to sleep and wake up and someone just went to the main breakers and cut off my power (WTF? right?) then I go out to my car- when I parked it the day before, it was fine- but that day they installed parking meters and I had a ticket- WHAT A JIP, L.A.!

I was pretty let down so I bought some Blaxploitation DVDs (Black Ceasar, Shaft in Africa, The Black Klansmen, Hit Man, Soul Man and I got The Education of Sonny Carson- which is an amazing film) I know what you're thinking- why all the 70's soul flicks, Alex? Because I am starting to do research for the next retarded movie- which will have Blaxploitation and other race elements-(handled tastelessly), Banditos and some kind of Frankenstein thing going for it- I don't want to jump the gun or anything BUT THIS FILM IS GOING TO BLOW YOUR MIND HOLE OUT YOU'RE EAR HOLE

I also may get a job of some kind with some kind of writing of some kind of something. -official press release, ho's- so that's good news

I'm counting down the seconds until I can go see the new Indy Movie at Arc Light. I'm really excited even if George Lucas is involved.

I also ate some Sushi at a place called Sushi Go 55. It was hidden in a mall in Japantown, was almost completely empty on a Tuesday, was fairly priced AND WAS AWESOME. No trendy-town atmosphere, just really good sushi and a really friendly staff of people to make sure everyone is all smiles, and we were. I recommend it highly. The Toro almost made me slap someone in the face it was so good. And we had this weird Japanese desert called Moki(sp?) rice paper covered sherbert- odd (but good odd)texture and very tasty.

Today I am going to order some hipster cool Blood Car shirts to take to Edinburgh so everyone will know about BLOOD CAR in the UK. These shirts are gonna rock, so if you want one, throw me a couple bucks and I'll add one to the order. Just go to American Apparel website and check out the men's 50/50 shirt (product # ) and the women's baby ribbed T (product # 4377) I will give them to you for only $12 each- they cost more than that WITHOUT a Blood Car logo on them at American Apparel.

THE FALL

I just saw THE FALL at Arclight and it was followed by a very long Q&A with the director Tarsem. you should do yourself a favor and go see this film. it is eye candy meant for the big screen- it also features one of the best child performances I have ever seen. you might dig the movie- like I did- or you might not. But you should see it . It was shot in 18 countries over 4 years. The director does A TON of big big commercials and music videos and all that kinda stuff. He piggy backed a bunch of the locations onto commercial shoots and let a 6-year old Romanian girl dictate the flow of the film. He also directed The Cell...which I never saw. But this movie is really cool- it is a fairy tale, fantasy- whatever you wanna say and the story of the making of the film and the ideas the director had for it were really amazing. And even though I would think that a huge commercial director with one name would be really full of shit, he actually wasn't. He quoted Rodney Dangerfield and sited Kurosawa and Polanksi as influences. Just go see it- the guy made it out of pocket too and believe me, it is pretty nuts. This movie was TRASHED by every reviewer because the guy made commercials or they said the film was boring or whatever. But I am glad I shelled out the cash to go see it. And I paid full ticket price. I could write more but I'm tired.

AFF, IFFB, nice people in UK and more!

Hello everyone!

I went to the Atlanta Film Festival, Independent Film Festival Boston and I have discovered couchserfing.com
Let me catch you up on some movies I saw first.

FROWNLAND! FROWNLAND! FROWNLAND!
Whoa....that's my review of Frownland. For the first chunk of Frownland, I wasn;t sure what was going on, at all. But PLEASE watch this film because it is jaw dropping in how good it is, and not indie film "awww, those kids made a movie" good. The acting in this movie can be help up against any performance in film history. It brings to mind A Woman Under the Influence - if that means anything to you, its not the same at all, but still an amazing performance. After the film I saw what was probably the most entertaining and insightful Q&A I've ever seen. if I win the lottery, I'm financing a Ronnie Bronstein film.

Glory at Sea - I worked on this short film from Court 13 in NOLA. these kids are nuts and they made a really wonderful film. There is something going on in this film that allows it to cut right into me. It was an extremely emotional experience watching this film, I can't put my finger on exactly what it is, but something visceral that shouldn't be overanalyzed - just appreciated.

BIG MAN JAPAN - you may remember me RAVING when I read the synopsis for this film and yes, I LOVED IT. I don't want tohttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif go nuts and tell you it is the greatest thing for monster movies, comedy and my own reasons to be a filmmaker (but it was) you have to see it, the awesomeness is in the last reel. I almost broke myself laughing at it. I.....Lost.....MY....MIND at the end of this film. I like to laugh, everyday, every hour, as hard as I can and I can seriously count on one hand the films that made me laugh this hard. The movie kind of meanders around in parts but I loved that about the film. It could be tighter, but ot wouldn't be the same film.

Transsiberian- not for me.

Secrecy- I missed this film at Sundance. It was full of information, that was interesting. But as far as the film goes- it was a little thin a lot of talking heads and I got a little bored. It presents a pretty awesome paradox about what it means to be safe and the nature of secret intelligence that always leads me back to a Ben Franklin quote that I will paraphrase- Any person willing to give up civil liberties for safety, doesn't deserve to have civil liberties.

Wild Blue Yonder - this film is made by the daughter of David Maysles and the film seems to be about this girl making a film to get to know her Dad, who if you didn;t know- died too young. But that is not what is really going on. The film tries to make some sort of case against Albert Maysles and put us in the middle of a family squabble about who should have the rights to the Mayseles brothers' films- or one film in particular (ummmmmm, the other brother that made them, or the family that decided to start a court battle- no brainer there) the film is full of emotion that seems to be because this girl can't get what she wants and paints Albert Maysels as a bad guy, but the film does the opposite of what it intends and makes me root for Albert because he was never wrong. See it, it will get a good dialogue going after, but mainly about the delusions of the filmmaker. During the Q&A after the film the filmmaker said that "anyone can get a camera and make a film, and that's part of the problem" that comment makes me so mad I can't begin to describe it. I can't even go into what that comment means to me in less than 10,000 words.

that was at IFFB

at the Atlanta Film Festival I was on a panel with a bunch of big shots- here's a pic.

Mark Wynns (blurry), Alexis Fish, Me, Craig Zobel and Alexander Motlagh we talked about distribution

movies in theatre:
I saw a Streetcar Named Desire, Last Tango in Paris double feature- uhhh awesome
My Blueberry Nights- so terrible it broke my heart because I ADORE the films of Wong Kar Wai
Standard Operating Procedure- go see it, it is Errol Morris so its interesting but i think the really disturbing thing is that these things happened and I really don't care anymore. I hate to say that, but it is true. I am over the Iraq War film so much. No more evil empire for me for just a minute. we fucked up, it will stain our country for 100 years or even more, but I am burnt on it in film right now and there is no easy way out of the situation.

I WENT TO FENWAY!!!

I sat 5 rows from the Red Sox on deck circle. Saw them give out 2 golden gloves and a silver slugger award (just coincidence), saw a AA pitcher throw 6 innings of 2 hit baseball and saw an Ortiz home run. great game but the Sox lost.

here are a couple pics:
Ortiz HR! that's the view from our seats!


me and my old friend Clay Neely, who now lives in Boston


we also went Candle Pin Bowling. you use this little ball and get 3 throws at little pins. its fun! you can get a "crazy wicked" curve going on the little ball.


I also did a walking tour of historic Boston- which I love that American History stuff! Here is our guide and our group and Paul Revere's grave. I like those guided tours full of historical info, I recommend them. we did the Freedom Trail and our guide was AWESOME.


going to see Iron Man today

oh and www.couchserfing.com
it rules. check it out if you travel and can...well...couch serf