new on the blog roll...

Got a comment on my last post that lead me to Moon In The Gutter, a great little blog by Jeremy Richey. Zip over to it to check out his entries that inlcude a look at the Canadian film (!) THE LITTLE GIRL WHO LIVES DOWN THE LANE, the cinematic work of Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin, ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE (my fave Bond film), Claudine Auger, ZABRISKIE POINT, THE HOSTPITAL, BOOGIE NIGHTS and more! Happy to add this to the bookmarks that I check weekly! Below are just a sampling of the great pics he has on his site.

over at dirty robot's blog...

X-Men uniforms found on Demon Planet!

hands up!

Vanishing Blacktop In Blue

first image of the day...

I woke up this morning and the image from this poster was stuck in my mind. Don't know why. There weren't any giant animals running amuck in my dreams. Instead there was a Christmas ornamental lawn statue that came alive, monkeys wild on the streets like pigeons, my profession as a cat burglar and other such nonsense bubbling out of my subconscious... This picture gave me the willies as a kid and still kind of does. Never did see the movie which I heard was ridiculous. Don't want to spoil the illusion.

the cannibal is out of the bag...

clue #2

Not that the clues really matter anymore thanks to Mr. Smarty Pants Greenwood...

sorry I missed this...

Being based in Toronto I am quite upset that they didn't send me the press release for this event...

STEVEN SEAGAL IN CANADA TO PRESENT A BRAND NEW APPROACH TO SKINCARE AND NUTRITION

PRESS CONFERENCE
ROOFTOP LOUNGE AT THE PARK HYATT HOTEL - 18TH FLOOR - SOUTH TOWER FRIDAY JANUARY 12TH AT 12 PM

Toronto embraces the spiritual servant of common good.

Commonly perceived as aikido master and action movie hero, Mr. Steven Seagal is in Toronto to entertain your other senses and stimulate further your imagination. To those who do not know, the Action Lama, Steven Seagal Rinpoche reveals yet another image of his reincarnations – a humble and kind-hearted poet, composer and a Grammy nominated musician, he is here in the wake of his “2007 Mantra World Peace Tour” for a purpose larger than life:

Under the auspices of The American Catechin Research Institute (“the Institute”), Mr. Seagal is in Canada to present a brand new approach to skincare and nutrition - the Concept of the Catechins (K-A-T-E-K-I-N-S) - or the key to Wellness, Fitness & Anti-Aging.

Mr. Seagal, among other things will discuss with the press his involvement with the Institute, his research of the most potent age-stopping compounds known to science today and his association with the World’s finest experts in anti-aging, including the “the Father of the Antioxidant Theory”, Dr. David M. Vesco, M.D.

Mr. Seagal and The American Catechin Research Institute will hold a press conference at the Rooftop Lounge at the Park Hyatt and introduce a brand new skincare line, “L’ACRIMA Dermal Density Factor” based on the latest dermatological advances and utilization of this unique ingredient - catechin.

Come and receive knowledge from the source – “L’ACRIMA – Giving Back What living Takes Away”. Learn what is the celebrities secret to beautiful appearance!

And go to this page to hear the man talk about this miracle wonder cream.

A big kung fu chop goes to Jesse over at The Telekino Times-Picayune for pointing this out.

a sequel we really did need...

From one of the big Cannes market issues of Variety (circa 1979) with Cannon flogging titles that never got made...

clue #1

Any guesses as to what poster this comes from? I'll post another clue soon...

Spring thaw

Que Es Mas Macho?

Does it get more macho than this? Lee Marvin, John Cassavetes and Ronald Reagan squaring off in a Hemingway adaptation?

The Killers, 1964.

See Page 99

Best magazine cover of all time?



(source)

A Snack Odyssey

Features

Well, it's not a marquee but I stole these screen captures while re-watching Errol Morris' 'The Thin Blue Line' over the weekend. Same thing.






Oh, Rainbeaux! So heavy my heart grows when I see your lovely face.





The guy who was convicted (and later freed) of the cop killing repeatedly mentions that he didn't want to stay for the second feature, the 'cheerleader flick'. I believe if I was on the jury that I would have thought him odd and found him guilty just based on that, but then I am biased.

"Thanks George Bush, Dick Chaney, and Donald Rumsfeld there is a whole new wave of horror movies that is back..."

Eli Roth on CNN...



and how he got the "look" for the his Thanksgiving GRIINDHOUSE trailer:

Holy fuck, it was so damn fun making that trailer. The best part was actually aging down the film. My brother Gabe (who produced the trailer) and I took it from the lab and threw it over a balcony, into a fountain in a courtyard. We ran the film all over the ground, stomping on it, spitting on it, scratching it, and asking any smokers passing by to burn it with cigarettes. And I have to say: it looks like shit. I mean, it looks perfect, but it really looks like a trailer that's been sitting in the floor of a beat up Chevy since 1978. It's pretty fucked up. After being so careful to make sure everything looked absolutely perfect on "Hostel Part II" it was a nice release to try and make something look as shitty as possible.

Ginger

Enjoy this clip while you can...

The Artful Penetration of Barbara

Notes on the Failure of Grindhouse

Shocker! Grindhouse comes out and makes 11 million dollars, coming in fourth place in the weekend box office. A movie with a hot chick with a machine gun leg makes less money than Ice Cube fixing up an old house? How can this be?

1. Location, location, location. There were actual grindhousey rep theatres in the States that wanted to show the film, but the Weinsteins, anticipating giant crowds, chose to program the film mostly in multiplexes that could handle them all. From what I heard about the film it has a lot riding on evoking an environment, simulating an experience. Sticky floors and spooky washrooms might have helped it all go down.

2. People are stupid. Apparently people were actually storming out of screenings and yelling at the managers about the lousy projection of the film. "What's with the missing reels? Why does the film look like shit?" I went to the Mount Scotia theatre on the weekend (but to see Shooter) and there was a big sign on the box office counter explaining to potential Grindhouse audiences that the trailers shown are for movies that don't exist, that there will be two movies in the screening, and that the crap presentation is intentional. (There was no warning for me that Mark Wahlberg was only playing a violent covert assassin in what I was about to see.) The word of mouth must have been a killer - the box office take dropped 50% between Friday and Saturday.

3. The RR/QT thing is played out.

"Right now, the sheer gusto that Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino take in hot-wiring tired clichés and overly familiar archetypes is highly entertaining, if not downright addictive. But even while [their current collaboration] is most exciting, most deliriously kinetic, it is hard to shake the impression that, sooner or later, these filmmakers really should seek inspiration in something other than other people's films." -- Joe Leyton, from a review of Grindhouse From Dusk Till Dawn, 1995.

I also read a review that said watching Grindhouse "was like watching really violent paint dry."

4. People aren't stupid. People like me sat out seeing the film, figuring that after the Weinsteins maximized the profits on Kill Bill by splitting it into two separate releases, they might at some point release each segment of Grindhouse separately (and fully reeled). And after the results of the weekend, that appears to be the plan, rolling out as early as May! Didn't expect to hear this news so soon. Now, which half to see...

Here's a wonderful dissection of the problem with this grindhouse nostalgia trip. Can't put it much better than Grady Hendrix.

cinema alley trip Nipon style

From the blog of our overseas cinema patron Jason Gray comes this cool little video that he shot when on his way to catch a screening the erotic film WATCHER IN THE ATTIC, part of the retrospective "Fugue of Sex and Love: The World of Tanaka Noboru" (「性と愛のフーガ 田中登の世界」) at Laputa, a Tokyo art cinema. He winds his way through a maze of little bars (Strawberry Fields - filled with Beatles memorbilia) at night to the lobby of the cinema. I think I walked by here when I was first in Tokyo in 2000. Seeing these images makes me wish I could hop over there and sip some sake with Jason-san and I say that out of the duty of a loyal friendship and not just because he says that,"Another great thing about Laputa is that it's completely staffed by good looking women."

Also read his posting about the notorious Japanese cannibal killer Sagawa Issei.

As I scroll further down his blog (which I haven't visited in awhile), I start to blush...

More airwaves goodness

I've featured this poster before but the radio spot is soooo caressable. Who needs a nurse?

there will be nurse on duty, but not as an advertising gimmick!

Before "leaked" clips on YouTube and other viral marketing gimmicks, all you got was this on your radio. Listen if you dare!

I want a vacation on SEXY ISLAND

This one goes out to Micheal. Was going through my collection of Hong Kong posters taking snaps today and found this tattered little gem. Got no info about it other than the fact that it sure is pretty...

the scoop on the "REAL" Grindhouse

Thanks to Mike White for pointing this out and posting it over on his blog. Seems like some kinds have these delusions that QT some how "stole" their title/concept from their film that they sent them. They have set up a website to bitch and moan about their loss. Here are some excerpts from Mike's blog entry. Click here for the whole thing.

"I was recently emailed a URL for "The REAL Grindhouse," a low budget mess of a film that happens to share its name with the cinematic experiment out this weekend from Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez. On his website director Stephen Tramontana relays the tale of how he tried to suckle at Tarantino's teat like thousands of other fanboys."

"I hate to break it to Tramontana but titles can't be copy written. Remember that film that won all those Oscars a few years ago, CRASH? No, not the one based on the J.G. Ballard novel, also called CRASH, but the other one. I wonder if Oerd Van Cuijlenborg is foaming at the mouth over David Fincher's ZODIAC since his 2001 film had the same name. Probably not."

Easter Scares

First, last night, I had to watch this since my sister always talks about me making a fuss about it as a young boy and I needed to revisit that carefree time of fright. It was pretty effective and I can see why I was all atwitter. I mean, why did they show stuff like that on TV? It freaked me out and now I finally know why I'm always afraid to look over the edge of a boat or under water in lakes. This movie and Peeping Tom screwed me up, man. I think it may have even introduced me to thinking that I may be crazy and that's never stopped after all these years!



And although it's not a horror, I found the relentless malevolence and the inability to die of the main character became worrisome as the movie progressed and he seeemed like something out of a horror. Maybe more like Scarface but a less successful gangster and complete hothead. It was pretty cool and freaky and I liked it. Plus, it had everything from cannibalism and drug use to sex and good violence but far too little Reiko Ike for my tastes and she is radiant when you first see her. I read about this movie a few times and jotted it down as one to see and then I got the poster in anticipation and now finally I've seen it. Such accomplishment!


Graveyard of Honor



Here's the trailer, by the way...


Good long weekend so far over here.

a little more

Was reading up on Bob Clark's filmography on the news of his death, and have gotten a bit curious about catching up on this one - 1975's Breaking Point, a shot-in-Toronto mob thriller with Bo Svenson and Robert Culp. It was the most expensive Canadian film up to that point (3 million dollars). It just so happens to be coming out on DVD next month...but Fox is putting this Scope film out full-frame.

And also

re:Bob Clark RIP

Here is an early piece of his that fits so well into the type of stuff that we go giddy over in these parts.





I really can't stand drunk driving (Jesse will tell you) and here's another great reason to be derisive towards its practitioners. A sad waste for sure. Black Christmas is so awesome!

Bob Clark RIP

just cause we are on the brando kick...

"If you wanna get freaky..."

The Night of the Following Day is the last appearance of the muscular Marlon Brando in the movies - for this alone it's worth seeing. But it's also a dreamy piece of late sixties eurotrash - a kidnapped girl held for ransom in a remote beach house by a gang of freaks, including Brando the chauffeur, Rita Moreno the junkie stewardess and Richard Boone as an über-sadist.

"Because of the unusual ending no one will be admitted during the final 14 minutes!"

Life made simpler

I was just over at the lovely and indispensable IMDb looking up 1968's 'The Night of the Following Day' because it was talked about on Saturday night when the blogbeer was going down and recommended with gusto by Jesse. Anyway, I know they have a new layout over there and it has some people miffed but I just noticed that you can now use keywords when trying to find suitable film entertainment. This particular piece of Brando 60s oddness comes with a couple of descriptive words including lovemaking which I just had to click on. I feel it's a sad comment on our too rushed and cold world when only 44 titles come up with that gentle keyword. Very sad indeed. However, it's better than none and if you look to the left, you can narrow that search down even closer depending on your idea of more ideal elements therein or up against this lovemaking. Like nipples or panties or ethnic slur or leather jacket. This looks like fun.

These two films are singled out in the lovemaking realm and they're all I can represent in poster form.







I'm such a fan of lovemaking that I actually have three different styles of 'The Mating Urge' housed within these soft, warm walls.

From Mikey & Nicky

Here's another reason to see Shooter - Ned Beatty plays the evil senator!

figures and a press release

Off to see the Toronto sneak of GRINDHOUSE tonight. My expectations are set to low and trying not to get sucked into the fanboy hype. Meanwhile we got a press release sent to us to post on our humble little blog. Of course, it has a Canadian angle.

Trying to search for a suitable pic for the post and came across the image for the GRINDHOUSE action figures? Huh? That's a QT action figure? As the nasty GI rapist?! Ick! I'd like to put out a call for a little contest of our own - lets see a QT figure mash-up! A cig lighter, a wire hanger and some parts from old He-Man, GI Joe, Six Million Dollar Man, Barbie or Micronaut action figures is all you need! Now on with the release:

HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN "trailer" to be shown on 150 GRINDHOUSE prints across Canada.

Jason Eisener, 24, of Halifax will have his contest-winning "trailer", Hobo With a Shotgun, programmed as a regular trailer in front of 150 prints of GRINDHOUSE, opening wide across Canada this Friday, April 6. The trailer was entered for a contest held at the SXSW Film Festival last month as a promotion by Robert Rodriguez in anticipation of his film, GRINDHOUSE. Eisner's entry won the contest. Hobo With a Shotgun has been remastered and blown up to 35mm and will be screened across Canada during the trailers section for most regular engagement screenings of GRINDHOUSE. Eisener, who works in a Halifax comic book shop, shot the trailer over five days, with a budget of only $150. The popularity of his trailer has led to its inclusion on the Canadian theatrical release of GRINDHOUSE.

GRINDHOUSE, a collaboration of Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez, is an homage to the seedy seventies-era cinemas that would screen a non-stop flow of slasher, zombie, and sexploitation films. GRINDHOUSE features two films, Planet Terror, by Rodriguez, and Death Proof, by Tarantino, bridged by multiple trailers for non-existent films of the same style, directed by the likes of Rob Zombie and Eli Roth.

Jason Eisner is available for interview/comment.
His trailer can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LlazPgxKrA

of peeping toms and panty sniffers

The reason we couldn't close the cinema and go down to Austin to see the HOT FUZZTIVAL is because we held a staff meeting and your three dedicated bloggers watched REFLECTIONS IN A GOLDEN EYE on the big screen. Oh, they just don't make them like the used to... you know, films about secrets, alcoholism, madness, nipple mutilation, adultery and homosexuality... Some interesting background on the film can be found here, such as how, "At Elizabeth Taylor’s insistence, shooting was actually done at Dino De Laurentiis’ studios near Rome" or that, "Taylor had campaigned for her troubled friend Montgomery Clift as costar; with his death, the part was turned down by Richard Burton and Lee Marvin before Brando was cast." Looking forward to the next Popcorn and Sticky Floor staff meeting!
This image collage found over at "The Very Best Web Site Honouring Her With Original Montage Images"

damn! missed it!

Look what played last night over at the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin...

"Hot Fuzztival, an all-day orgy of cop movies (and trailers), including Electra Glide In Blue, Sudden Impact, Police Story 2, and Freebie and the Bean... and all leading up to a sneak screening of Hot Fuzz, easily one of our most anticipated movies of the year. Edgar Wright and Nick Frost - two all-around great guys - are scheduled to appear at the fuzztival, and we couldn't be more psyched."

This from the fine folks over at Reel Distraction. Love their blog. It also can be used to line the bottom of canary cages!