It’s been way too long since I’ve seen Velvet Goldmine again.  That movie just begs for re-viewing.

Note the rainbow lettering. Oh yeah.

As a fan of psychedelia, feather boas, and men in catsuits (not all men, mind you) I’m pretty much genetically pre-disposed to glam fandom.  Oh, and that little bit about androgyny and sexual ambiguity?  Also a fan.

So it’s no surprise that when I first saw the film Velvet Goldmine, I was blown away.  This has everything my mind could want.  It’s amazingly trippy and far-out, it’s got an AWESOME soundtrack, Ewan McGregor as some kind of Kurt Cobain looking, Iggy inspired, Mick Ronson stand-in, feather boas, Eddie Izzard, men in shimmery jumpsuits, and Johnathan Rhys Meyers as a Bowie-inspired bisexual glam-rocker who often runs around in high-heeled boots and makes out with the aforementioned Cobain look-a-like.  YAY!

Ewan McGregor and Johnathan Rhys Meyers

The story is told in a series of flashbacks of the life of superstar Brian Slade (JRM), as his mysterious death is being investigated by reporter Arthur Stuart (played by Christian Bale). Brian’s life is one of fame, confusion and sexual debauchery. Brian marries a young woman just as he is about to become famous. Once he does so, however, he is quickly thrown into a mad world of sex and drugs. Brian falls in love with American guitarist Curt Wilde (Ewan McGregor). Curt, however, has a volatile temper and the two men eventually go their separate ways. Brian’s career ends in tragedy when he is shot onstage during a performance. The killer is never found and Arthur Stuart, an avid fan of Slade’s during his teenage years, takes it upon himself to reopen the case and investigate the mysterious murder of the glam superstar.

Ewan and Johnathan in another great promo shot.

This movie is utterly amazing and fantastic and I recommend it to fans of all that is Glam-tastical.   

Here’s a little clip, just to give you a feel for how odd and wonderful it is.  The song is called “Satellite of Love” by Lou Reed and I highly recommend you look it up, because it’s beautiful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXESfMD01h8

Jag har märkt att jag skriver väldigt mycket om min musiksmak, men nästan ingenting om dom filmer som jag gillar. Så jag börjar med att skriva om en av mina favoritfilmer, som är en film från 1998, Velvet Goldmine.

Det som skildras i filmen är allt mellan upptäckter av nya artister, kärlek, sökande, musikframträdanden, sex, otrohet, drogmissbruk och glitter&glamour. Flera skådespelare som är stora namn idag är med i filmen – Jonathan Rhys-Meyer, Ewan McGregor, Christian Bale och Toni Collette.

Filmen är en skildring av glamrock-eranunder 70-talet, och karaktärerna tycks vara inspirerade av David Bowie, Iggy Pop och Kurt Cobain. Ytterligare kuriosa är att mycket av dialogerna sägs vara taget från Oscar Wilde-citat.

Confesso não ser um conhecedor do cinema de Haynes. É apenas o segundo filme seu que tenho o prazer de assistir. Por coincidência, ambos foram motivados pela mesma paixão: a música.

No caso do anterior (Não Estou Lá) fui atrás de um filme que tratasse do meu ídolo mor Bob Dylan; nesse aqui, atrás de algo de David Bowie, meu segundo músico favorito, atrás apenas, por óbvio, de Dylan. Mas, os filmes não se cruzam somente por essa particularidade musical, mas também em termos estruturais. A sensação que tive é que Velvet é um ensaio para o que viria a seguir com I’m Not There. A narrativa toda quebrada, com misto de passado e presente, fatos misturados com lendas e por aí vai… a questão é que, diferentemente do que vi em I’m Not There, Velvet é um pouco mais instável, às vezes soa bastante confuso, quase como um mosaico de imagens, uma colcha de retalhos, mas reparem, isso não é uma crítica, já que todos os retalhos são interessantes. O fundamental é que o filme explode na tela, bem como o movimento que expõe (a fase Glam do rock, puxado, claro, pelo camaleão) você de fato vive aquele movimento intensamente, assim como o personagem de Christian Bale, que é o repórter encarregado de investigar a vida de Brian Slade (o pseudo Bowie) e que tem sua vida, de certa forma, bastante afetada, pois quando mais jovem era fã de Slade e seu movimento.

Alternando momentos semi-documentais (como em I’m Not There) e ficção-baseada-livremente-em-fatos-e-lendas-”reais”, Velvet Goldmine é uma experiência bastante intrigante e interessante, apesar de bem complexa. A questão que me surge é, se o filme tem o mesmo impacto pra quem não curte/conhece essa fase da música, assim como os envolvidos (Bowie, Iggy Pop e até Lou Reed – inclusive tocando músicas desse último, como Satellite of Love). Costumo dizer que filmes com pré-requisitos são falhos, já que os conhecimentos externos devem somar e não sustentarem toda a bagaça, não sei, pode ser que falhe, mas comigo não falhou, não sei se porque adoro os (pseudo) envolvidos ou porque é um grande cinema.

Na via das dúvidas, grande filme.

3/4

Djonata  Ramos

Bom, como a tempestade está enfraquecendo, vou voltar a falar de filmes e de outras coisas além desse meu coração vagabundo.

Nos últimos dias eu vi “Amantes”, “Bastardos Inglórios” e “C.R.A.Z.Y”. Além de “Quem tem medo de Virginia Woolf?”, “Quanto mais quente melhor”, “Rebecca”, “O pecado mora ao lado”, “Pacto de Sangue”, “A Malvada” e “Velvet Goldmine”. E agora verei “Tempestade de Gelo”. Depois eu faço um apanhado dessa volta aos filmes.

This past Sunday [September 27, 2009], at 10:00 PM Eastern [02:00 UTC], I was back on Mystic Politics for Part II of my exploration into The Dark [k]Night and the crazy synchronicity surrounding it. Downloads of the show are available at the host’s site on blogtalk radio [FIXED]. {*1} You can also use the below player:

For those not in the Chat Room, you missed out on Stygian Port (aka ViolatoR), talking about anal sex and harassing people making friends. I’d like to thank those “familiar faces” who made it and participated, notably: DazOotz, Deciph, Karin8, JackC, Lamarv, Matshanley, Mudpuppy97, StompingEvil, and ViolatoR.

Hope I didn’t forget anyone. Do note, to the right of these exact words, there is presently a poll taking place in regards to wordpress’s new rating/voting feature. So far, “I like puppy dogs and kitty cats” is out in the lead. Not sure exactly what the proper course of action pending such a result would be.

We got into ChristIan Ba’al’s mutliple roles and penchant for being cast as one suffering from split personalities. Safe to assume there’s a good reason for that. The Prestige poster reminds us, “Are You Watching Closely?” Lest we forget, there was Ba’al’s infamous insane rant against the lightman on the set of Terminator.

Not mentioned [durning the show] was Bale’s first role at twelve years old in Empire of the Sun. Let’s see, you’ve got a young boy trained in ballet, being directed by [alleged] “dirty old man” Steven Spielberg. I think [forces behind] South Park gave us a pretty good hint as to what may have happened to the young “Christian.”

For those who missed my prior blogs, here’s the Disney rim job and the Disney facial. But, I’ve already summed up Disney in one pic. Thanks to a comment from Deciph, I was reminded of our ballerina’s role in another gender bending story:

I guess the Dark Knight dropped enough hints as to why the Joker thought Bruce Wayne was practically “begging for it.” While that may not qualify as a justifiable rape defense, you can at least see why the Clown thought the “familiar place” would appreciate his acquaintance and why Batman might “see fireworks” as a result.

I’ve already written about Bill Kaulitz, the lead singer from Tokio Hotel and lesbian agenda poster boy before [hm, this trend of "hipsters" respelling words incorrectly is surely part and parcel of the dubming down agenda]. Hence, I wanted to find a new picture to add here, and found a “good” one of the young man lady [right].

I also found the above [left] image from a series showing a bunch of fans, future whores mindless bimbettes [¿useless eaters?] greeting him outside his hotel. There are so many levels of wrong with that picture, but flashing your titties to a gay boy, that is the definition of insanity [as someone was kind enough to remind us]. Speaking of Bill Willhemina, here’s his her adhoc rendition of “It’s Raining Men.”

Hallelujah! Lastly, the series was taken/posted by a mysterious voyeur, and the last of them is revelatory gold. “Fuck You, Pervert,” or the German equivalent, is my guess at the words leaving the top hole of the young lady hapless whore in the middle of all the little girls around her [and their mothers feeders/trinket-providers]. I’d recommend she stay out of Transylvania, as her inability to see her own reflection in the mirror, might lead to someone driving a wooden stake through her, um, “heart.” Rats, this means by next time I vacation on the Greek Isles, the average German girl will be just as stupid and worthless as an American one. {*2}

Depending on how far back you wanna trace the blame game for the agenda, I’m sure part of it could be assigned to another homosexual poster-boy of his time, “dOCTOr” Alfred Kinsey. Indubitably, as the revelatory Time cover makes clear, the man was promoted well beyond the length of his feeble reach. Though Kinsey may have spoken highly of me, I just cannot return the favor.

Heck, the center image makes clear, that even back then [1956], subtlety escaped the average moron. “You Need to Suck Dick, Shiksa” is the implied title of that record [yes, released as an LP]. Oy veh, Doctor Murray, oy veh! [¿O-V?] As for Liam, does playing Kinsey, being Batman’s, ahem, “mentor” [¿WTF?] and also “crossing swords” with a flamboyant gay man in Rob Roy qualify him too?

As said back in my initial write-up, the movie, under the layers of brain-fucking, drops more than enough hints as to who won and what really happened. All you/we have to do is decipher them. The Joker may riddle, but at least, he is not lying.

When the “good guys” stoop to such levels [as Gordon and Batman], than all is lost. Per my interpretation, that was the point of the movie. Some credit for the “pop culture” addition to the above image, goes to an unrecalled voice in the chatroom.

Aside from the scene reminding us buildings don’t fall unless all detonations go off [¿hm, like in a "money bomb"?], and the promo poster, I had forgotten the above [left] shot. Someone really wanted us the popcorn munchers to remember 9/11 and why “they” need “them” [as V for Vendetta reMinded us and them].

Beyond thermite, dancing Israelis, TV fakery, mini-nukes, short-sales, insurance scams, Zionist comptrollers, missing trillions, and the resulting “truth” movement, there was a lot more to the ritual involved on 9/11 than most are willing to contemplate. I don’t know why the “face” on the right syncs with the face on the left, but the portal meme is with us, and whenever one is opened, logic suggests it’s a two-way door.

If there was nothing to it, I doubt someone would have taken the time to create a fake face in the smoke [other side of the building] to confound the public mind.

For those who’ve been following my blog, you know I care little for a “real” [new] 911 Investigation, and see little point in such, for that will, at most, produce nothing other than a few sacrificial scapegoats for the fire, and just placate the same masses who missed the entire point of this movie. Far more pressing to me, is that people “wake up” to the hell they are putting themselves in.

We played an Elvis song during the show, and now another comes to mind, from a song appropriately entitled, “New Amsterdam” [i.e., "New York"]: “The transparent people who live on the other side, living a life that is almost like suicide.”

This is the world Batman/Wayne wants us peasants to live in. What an asshole! If he wasn’t such a little whore, this Rebel would fuck him too. If such thoughts sound extreme/insane to you, then perhaps, this song [played during show] is about me: “Here I am on the far side of crazy. Here I am the mortal enemy of man.”

Another undeniable truth spoken by Ledger’s Joker was regarding how people will accept all sorts of madness and unsanity, as long as it “goes according to plan.” Oh, the horrors we have tolerated [such as above], and we are tolerating [Darfur, Palestine, Iraq, Sri Lanka, et al] on schedule. The death toll of 911 was but a hiccup in comparison, yet “unplanned“ [publicly] … hence, “everyone lost their mind.”

The conversation between Dent and Rachel, subtly put in as party banter, was a veritable “goldmine” of truth. Surely, the words were lost on the average viewer:

Rachel: “Harvey Dent, scourge of the underworld. Scared stiff by the trust fund brigage.”

Harvey: “You cannot leave me alone with these people.”

Rachel: “The whole mob’s after you and you’re worried about these guys?”

Harvey: “Yea. Compared to this, the mob doesn’t scare me.”

The really sick fucks aren’t walking among us or hiding in imaginary vans, wating to pounce on us. They attend lavish parties, occasionally appear on LifeStyles of The Rich and Famous, and laugh at the fools who “brand” themselves with their names. Kubrick obviously knew that. Hm, “Harvey” was the name of a famous rabbit.

One important fact time and chaos prevented me from sharing during the show, was a little find about Janus, aka Two-Face, aka Obamanaton. Janus was the patron deity of beginnings and endings, and also “of openings and closings, of entrances and exits, and hence the god of the door or gate that opened both ways.” In other words, of stargates.

Unfortunately, aside from discussing the notion of a “star” as representative of an anus, I didn’t have enough time to get into the stargate concept; that beyond the anus as a place to put one’s cock in [per society's indoctrinated ponyographic mores]. The stargate topic is a veritable show unto itself. Come to think of it, whenever some Hollywood mogul tells a young [and soon to be naked] actor/actress, “Baby I’m gonna make you a star,” technically, they aren’t “lying.” {*3}

We got into Atlantean Time’s excellent well of related syncs, Heath Ledger and the Five Points of Rennes le Chateau. Shame he’s not writing anymore. In consideration of the Burning Ring, the above pictures remind me, that in countries that didn’t undergo the bullshit [and degrading] feminist movement, women learned to wield their power subtly; letting their man serve as the “facade” of power. Hm, the red dress makes me wonder if that was implied for the Matrix’s Merovingian?

Much has been made of the demon/devil sculpted at the Renes Le Chateaux. But for me, that guy is far less scary than the Whore from Hell and the creepy blond-haired Demon Spawn she’s holding. Come to think of it, the proximity of the two above sculptures at the Chateaux is giving me a whole Damien/Rosemary’s Baby vibe.

All aboard Bus 22! Or, not. May have to expand on “death becomes her” one day. Coincidentally [whatever the fuck that means], a Catch 22 is a metaphor for a “no-win situation,” and the name of Joseph Heller’s famous novel. For some reason, I had been under the [false] impression, he also wrote of the horrors of Dresden in Slaughterhouse-Five [a la the star].

The idea of a knife/sword being representative of a phallus goes back quite a ways in Hollywood. Per the pictures below, so does the gay agenda. Oh, how obvious!

Unfortunately [depending on perspective], didn’t have time to get more into the gay agenda, for which I had created the below image from Entourage for the show. Afterwards, I was reminded there was an episode where Drama and Turtle, per the script, accidentally “crossed swords,” while sharing some whore between them.

Didn’t have enough time to get into the “x-box” either, suffice to say that you will see one in just about every major studio movie made of the [at least] last 20 years. Nor, did I get into the victim-to-be “selecting” the burning/flaming red wig.

For those curious as to my “emergenpy,” both the snake and the frog lived to hop/crawl another day. Per my neighbors, the next day they got up, to find the frog parked right in front of their door, as if to express his gratitude for saving him.

The kitten which made a surprise guest appearance is the latest addition to the Rebel family. His name is Perseus and he’s got a “fuck-all kick-ass” personality. Named him after the Perseids Meteor Shower, which me and friends were out watching, when this scrawny little guy [roughly 4/5 weeks old], walked out to the middle of nowhere to greet us. He and the dog started playing together and in unison, my friends remarked, “You know this means you have to keep him.” Of course. Note to any Medusae intent on paying me a visit: you are fucked!

Yea, I did use a couple of Bible quotes. There is much wisdom contained in the book, but it’s like deciphering movies, you have to look past bullshit aimed at the Eucharist-munching masses. Speaking of same, I find a well of endless humor that they use the Bible to describe homosexuality as an abomination [¡!], while quoting the version dedicated to one of the biggest poofers ever, King James. {*4}

I have to apologize. After last week’s show, I had about an hour of material left over. Prior to this week’s show, I expanded on some areas and added about two hours of material to it. Next time I do a show [no, there won't be a Dark Knight III interview], I’ll have a better idea of the handwritten note to hour ratio.

Also didn’t have time to get into the two lunatics below, but I really love the first image, so have to share it. Worth noting, the sis informed me that Pluto [i.e, the "planet" according to people with a few brain cells left in their head, and "something else" per those whose head is filled with nothing but shite], is moving to Capricorn this year [the "when" debatable], a place it hasn’t incidentally been since 1776.

On the night after the show, I’m up at my bar, and for some god-damn reason, a few people are asking me about my blog. “Not a good intro week,” I’m cursing, as the front page article was the one where I spoke of “fucking Jehovah up the ass.”

Anyway, one guy wanted to “talk” about movies, and I was grimacing [internally], cause I’ve learned that when most people say “talk” they mean, “they talk, and you listen,” and usually go off on tirades about politics and other matters I couldn’t give two shits about. This guy insisted on talking about the many layers of Shawshank Redemption and I played along, until it [the below scene] exploded in my skull:

So, Morgan, aka God, aka Lucifer, just happened to go by the name of “Red?” Oh, man! Sometimes, (a) even with this world’s parabolically rising level of ignorance, I should have some faith in my fellow man, and (b) I too need to stop talking long enough to listen. A “river of shit!” The “other side!” Oh, as another very famous carpenter, Karen, once crooned, “We’ve only just begun.”

*1: Now, that Mercury is out of retrogade and all my computers are working, should perspiration and inspiration ever meet, I may combine the two shows, normalize and trim-out the dead NSA air, upload somewhere, and attach here [right here]. Gods/Planets be willing, of course. [LB]

*2: A Fräulein was always worth a shag back in the days. But then again, my German readers might guess it’s been a few years since. I should make an image that reads: Tokio Hotel: “Whores check in, but they don’t check out.” [LB]

*3: For those who missed the Karl Rove pic, here it is. After the show, Violator reminded me that in Team America, World Police, when the producer invites the young actor/star inside his limo, he responds: “I’m supposed to get in your car and let you put your finger inside me.” For more info on the Stargate in the [new] Atlantis, follow the white-rabbit [but, only if your heart is pure]. [LB]

*4: Yes, King James wo so fabulous, that he was often referred to as “Queen James,” openly. His first “love” was his little cousin. Heck, even the sickening homage to his solar predecessor, the female queen (Elizabeth), strongly hinted at it. Yes, the “sun shone out of his behind.” [LB]

Na? Welcher in diesem Blog oft erwähnte Schauspieler hat hier als Bowie-Imitator keine so besonders schöne Gesangsstimme? Sicherlich nicht allzu schwer zu erraten…

I’m Brionny and I hate typing like this. CAPS IS WHERE IT’S AT GUISE. But so you don’t automatically assume I’m YELLING AT YOU, I’ll stick to typing in a “normal” fashion as much as I can…

Okay, so basically I like white wine, sleeping and staring at my laptop screen until 4am. What else do you need to know?

Musically Br& New have my srs love for all eternity. I believe in Jesus Lacey for sure. Andrew McMahon also has my undying love. And omg, I’m a huge fan of the fabulous glam that comes in the form of Queen, Bowie and the epic that is ‘Velvet Goldmine’. Say it with me, “WHO IS JACK FAIRY?” Top of my unofficial glam list is American Idol’s Adam Lambert. I am quite aware that he dominates much of my conversation but uh, deal please because that bench is fabulous. Can I get a FY!?

Um, if I had my way, I’d spend my days at the cinema. Would anybody like to buy me a house with a built-in cinema? Nope, didn’t think so… In that case, just hand me Brad and Leo and everything’s fine

Another slight obsession of mine is musicals. Srs mmm-ing at ’We Will Rock You’, ‘The Rocky Horror Show’, ‘Wicked’ and ‘Les Miz’. My granddad was a huge ‘Les Miz’ fan and he recorded the 10th anniversary concert off the telly for my mum. I remember watching it with mum one day and going “Wow! How are people even singing like that?” The passion from the actors and the way the music made me feel alive is something is something I’ve never forgotten.

Journalisticly, (aha, is that even a word?), I want to write about music or far-flung holiday destinations. And I’d like to be head of the BBC please. If only to revive my beloved ‘Torchwood’ and bring back everyone Russell T Davies killed off

HAVE I WAFFLED ENOUGH? I’m going with a firm “Yes.” Kthanxbai.

Bon, j’ai écrit “Drames” pour les opposer aux comédies, en gros, parce que je ne savais pas quoi écrire comme genre. Ne vous inquiétez pas, ce ne sont pas des films à kleenex! Beurk! En général, j’haïs ça. Prenons-les plutôt comme des films américains indépendants (parce qu’ensuite, on se déplace.) Comme je vous ai déjà parlé longtemps d’Ed Wood, j’ai décidé de le laisser de côté cette fois-ci.

- Happiness

Il s’en brasse, de la marde, dans ce film au titre plutôt ironique. Je me rappelle mon premier contact avec Happiness; à l’époque, mes parents étaient abonnés au TV Hebdo (bien oui, on n’avait pas l’internet!) et je lisais tououououotes les critiques de films, et un jour, il y a eu le résumé d’Happiness dans la chronique des sorties en vidéocassette (bien oui, ça fait longtemps! lol) Alors, qu’est-ce que ça dit à mon sujet lorsque j’ai été prise de l’envie folle de louer ce film où se côtoient un pédophile, un pervers qui fait des coups au téléphone, une obèse meurtrière, un Russe voleur, une chanteuse folk névrosée, une femme au foyer en pleine dénégation…? Happiness est là pour nous montrer la décadence de la vie américaine, et disons que ce n’est pas à coups de subtilités. En fait, le tout est mené par un humour noir qui est, à mon avis, absolument hilarant. Paradoxalement, ce film me met véritablement de bonne humeur lorsque je le regarde. Mais disons que cela exige tout de même une certaine qualité d’abstraction, parce que si on réfléchit quelque peu au propos du film, c’est sûr qu’on a envie de se tirer une balle. Coeurs sensibles… je ne dirais pas “s’abstenir”, mais sortir votre côté le plus sarcastique et grinçant. Enjoy.

Du même réalisateur que Palindromes.

- Secretary

Encore une histoire de critique de films sortis sur DVD (oui, Secretary est plus récent qu’Happiness), je ne sais plus si c’était dans le TV Hebdo ou ailleurs… Cette fois-ci, c’est la pochette qui “fesse”, sans mauvais jeu de mots, puisqu’elle représente un derrière féminin en jupe bien dressé en l’air, prêt à recevoir la fessée. Eh bien, je me montre décidément sous mon meilleur jour en vous exposant ce qui m’accroche dans une description de film. On dirait que j’ai l’esprit mal tourné! Donc, Secretary décrit une relation sadomasochiste entre une secrétaire et son patron, mais relation qui n’est pas uniquement centrée sur la sexualité. En fait, il s’agit d’une histoire d’amour égalitaire, où chaque partie trouve son compte et ce qu’elle recherche. Ce film a révélé Maggie Gyllenhaal, qui a fait parfois des choix étranges dans sa carrière, mais que j’aime beaucoup en général. Honnêtement, je ne crois pas avoir rencontré quelqu’un qui n’avait pas aimé ce film.

- Velvet Goldmine

J’ai vu ce film des milliers de fois! En tant que grande fan de David Bowie, je ne pouvais pas ne pas aimer ce film qui s’inspire de sa carrière et surtout d’une rumeur de relation homosexuelle avec Iggy Pop (certains vous diront que ce n’est pas une rumeur!) Le très beau Jonathan Rhys Meyer incarne Brian Slade, personnage inspiré de Bowie, et Ewan McGregor se met en nu en Curt Wild, réincarnation d’Iggy Pop. C’est un film esthétiquement magnifique, avec une direction artistique irréprochable. Plus on le regarde et plus on replonge dans les images de la carrière de Bowie (surtout dans les années 60 et 70), plus on voit à quel point ils ont mené leurs recherches. Le scénario est aussi très intéressant, assez complexe. Pour ma part, j’ai regardé le film 2 ou 3 fois avant de tout saisir (mais depuis, on peut le regarder sur DVD, et je crois honnêtement que les sous-titres anglais aident). En fait, le canevas est calqué sur Citizen Kane: un journaliste enquête sur la vie d’une star de la pop mort sur scène il y a 10 ans. Plusieurs des entretiens du journaliste (Christian Bale) sont calqués sur ceux de Kane: le vieil agent en fauteuil roulant, l’ex-femme alcoolique dans un boui-boui désert. Vraiment un film riche, avec une trame sonore entraînante si on aime le glam-rock et cette époque. Le réalisateur Todd Haynes nous a depuis donné un autre film sur la musique, le encore plus beau et encore plus complexe I’m not there.

- Mysterious Skin

Ce film est véritablement une belle découverte, qui demeure encore peu vue, je crois. Pour ma part, j’ai détesté le seul autre film du réalisateur Gregg Araki que j’avais vu, soit The Doom Generation. Je pourrais m’étendre pendant des heures sur pourquoi j’ai haï ce film. Alors, j’étais vraiment hésitante à regarder Mysterious Skin. J’aimais la pochette, et j’étais intriguée par les acteurs: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, qui est bien cute et que j’avais déjà remarqué ailleurs, et surtout Michelle Trachtenberg, qui sort tout droit d’un film de Disney, The Ice Princess, et qui a aussi joué un rôle secondaire dans Six Feet Under. Une très jolie fille. Je me suis donc lancé et j’ai découvert un excellent film, visuellement très beau et plein de sensibilité, ce qui semble être une première pour Araki, d’après ce que j’ai lu par la suite. Deux jeunes garçons ont tous deux été agressés par leur coach de baseball étant très jeunes. Adolescents, ils ont chacun leur manière de sublimer leur vécu; le premier devient un prostitué, l’autre refoule tout souvenir et est convaincu d’avoir été enlevé par des extraterrestres. Puis, ils seront amenés à confronter leur passé… Selon mes souvenirs, on ne voit pas de scènes traumatisantes de l’agression, mais il y a d’autres scènes violentes et tout le film est évidemment très chargé émotivement.  Choisissez donc votre soirée pour vous lancer, mais ne passez pas à côté.

- Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Je ne m’éterniserai pas sur ce film, puisque je pense que pas mal tout le monde l’a vu ou entendu parler. Sinon, qu’est-ce que vous faites encore ici? Ruez-vous sur ce film. 1- Jim Carrey peut être un bon acteur. 2- Kate Winslet est magnifique. 3- Ce scénario est un chef-d’oeuvre. Il fait de la mémoire un espace qu’on peut investir, et qu’on peut même effacer. Il table sur les processus inconscients, la sublimation, etc. La mise en images est aussi géniale. C’est à voir absolument.

Den här filmen har jag precis sett. Rekommenderas.

Med risk för att få stryk, så tycker jag den påminner om Velvet Goldmine, fast med ännu bättre musik.

Filmography:

• · Rage:
  Release Date: 2009
  Released by: Babelgum (Online/Mobile) Cinetic Rights Management
• · Valkyrie:
  MPAA Rating: PG13
  Release Date: December 25, 2008 (USA)
  Released by: MGM United Artists
• · The Chronicles of Narnia, Prince Caspian:
  MPAA Rating: PG
  Release Date: May 16, 2008 (USA)
  Released by: Buena Vista Walt Disney Studios
• · Igor:
  MPAA Rating: PG
  Release Date: September 19, 2008 (USA)
  Released by: MGM
• · Across the Universe:
  MPAA Rating: PG13
  Release Date: September 28, 2007 (USA)
  Released by: Revolution Studios Sony Pictures Entertainment
• · Ocean’s Thirteen:
  MPAA Rating: PG13
  Release Date: June 08, 2007 (USA)
  Released by: Warner Brothers
• · The Wild:
  MPAA Rating: G
  Release Date: April 14, 2006 (USA)
  Released by: Buena Vista Pictures Walt Disney Pictures
• · My Super Ex-Girlfriend:
  MPAA Rating: PG13
  Release Date: July 21, 2006 (USA)
  Released by: 20th Century Fox Regency Enterprises
• · Romance & Cigarettes:
  MPAA Rating: R
  Release Date: September 07, 2007 (USA
  Released by: Humperdink Productions United Artists
• · The Aristocrats:
  MPAA Rating: NR
  Release Date: July 29, 2005 (USA
  Released by: THINKFilm
• · Ocean’s Twelve:
  MPAA Rating: PG13
  Release Date: December 10, 2004 (USA)
  Released by: Warner Brothers
• · 5 Children & It:
  Released by: Pathe
  Director: John Stephenson
• · Revengers Tragedy:
  Director: Alex Cox
• · The Cat’s Meow:
  MPAA Rating: PG13
  Release Date: April 12, 2002 (USA
  Released by: Lions Gate Films
• · All The Queen’s Men:
  MPAA Rating: PG13
  Release Date: October 25, 2002 (USA
  Released by: Atlantic Streamline Strand Releasing
• · Eddie Izzard: Circle:
  Director: Frank Garritano
• · Shadow of the Vampire:
  MPAA Rating: R
  Release Date: December 29, 2000 (USA
  Released by: Lions Gate Films
• · The Criminal:
  MPAA Rating: R
  Release Date: 2004
  Released by: Downtown Pictures
• · Circus:
  MPAA Rating: R
  Release Date: May 05, 2000 (UK)
  Released by: Columbia TriStar Sony Pictures Entertainment
• · Mystery Men:
  MPAA Rating: PG13
  Release Date: August 06, 1999 (USA)
  Released by: Universal
• · Dress to Kill:
  Director: Lawrence Jordan
• · The Avengers:
  MPAA Rating: PG13
  Released by: Warner Brothers
• · Velvet Goldmine:
  MPAA Rating: R
  Release Date: November 06, 1998 (USA)
  Released by: Miramax
• · Glorious:
  Director: Peter Richardson
• · The Secret Agent:
  MPAA Rating: R

Poster for (500) Days of Summer

Note: The following post about (500) Days of Summer and why I was not charmed by it contains spoilers. I will also adhere to a list-like format for the sake of brevity. However, if you wanna read it as some dig against the sleeper rom-com’s indexical use of number-play, texts are bendy.

It was hard to go into the screening for this movie objectively. I had some misgivings about this movie that I catalogued prior to attending a Saturday matinee screening. They are as follows:

1. The preview is really fucking twee.
2. The oft-mentioned post-coital musical number, complete with marching band, animated bird, and ironic use of Hall and Oates’s great but over-used “Dreams Come True.”

Still from the dance sequence; image courtesy of paisleypetunia.com

3. A friend mentioned that Gordon-Levitt’s character moves on from Summer with a girl named Autumn. Seriously.
4. Same friend made quite the indictment on race and whiteness.
5. The “vintage” clothes — while Deschanel and Gordon-Levitt are in adorable outfits, they seem less vintage than Anthropologie’s upper-middle-class version of vintage. Everything is so tidy and worn once and unlived in. It just made me miss my friend Kit, who almost exclusively wears amazing thrift-store dresses (many of which I know she’s worn multiple times). Her look is much more comfort-based and much less polished. I think I would’ve responded to the outfits if there were at least one loose thread or frayed cuff, especially since Summer is probably not cashing fat checks as a personal assistant to the head of a greeting card company. Sigh. I know; it’s a movie.

But my big problem going in was the self-conscious music geekery. Examples:

1. Gordon-Levitt wears the “Love Will Tear Us Apart” Joy Division t-shirt in one scene. GET IT? Ugh. Such an obvious visual joke. I think if there’s gonna be a music geek dramatic irony t-shirt joke, maybe having him wear a My Bloody Valentine t-shirt would have been better. But is there really a need?

Still of Gordon-Levitt wearing an in-joke

2. A friend said that Summer quotes a Belle and Sebastian song in her high school yearbook. Blech.
3. When they break up, Summer casts her and Tom as Sid and Nancy, respectively. Ain’t nothin’ skid row about these two.

In addition, I tend to have misgivings about movies and TV shows that make music geekery — and its quirky application — so central to informing characterization and narrative (see also Juno, Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, and Flight of the Conchords). It might be contrarian, but I feel instantly resistant to these kinds of texts because I feel like I’m supposed to like them because of the music geekery. But I need more than that. While I enjoy movies like Adventureland and High Fidelity (among others like Velvet Goldmine, Times Square, Dazed and Confused, and recently Hedwig and the Angry Inch), the music geekery is actually most interesting in the peripheral.

As an aside: it seems the people of my acquaintance who have the most vitriol toward this movie are also the most personally invested in music culture. They’re also pretty cool, but wouldn’t describe themselves as such. This perhaps gestures toward how pejorative and subjective the word “hipster” has become within my generation.

To stay positive, three things about the movie made me hopeful anyway:

1. The leads are appealing.
2. Summer doesn’t want to be in a relationship.
3. Apparently director Marc Webb made iPod playlists for the leads for each scene to help get them into character. This is interesting to me, especially read alongside playlist auteurs like Quentin Tarantino, Paul Thomas Anderson, and Wes Anderson, who use music to create scenes and develop characters.

With that said, I hated this movie. So much so that I was relieved that I saw it for free. 

I was pretty turned off from the start. Principally because the trailer and the opening sequence stress that this is not a love story. But that’s a lie. It’s completely a love story. It’s just not between Gordon-Levitt’s Tom and Deschanel’s Summer. It’s between first-time feature director Webb and first-time screenwriters Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber and how goddamn clever they can be. Just how goddamn clever?

1. There is a marching band and a girl named Autumn.
2. There is a black and white French film that plays in the middle of the movie that turns into Tom’s life story as he sees it. I think they’re going for Godard here, but in my limited knowledge of Godard, this seems too cheap for him. He seems like the type who’d have celebrity culture gatecrash into real life, not have real life imitate a French film.
3. Summer and Tom like to have dates in Ikea, playing house in the showrooms. I will overread this as a Pavement reference.

And then there’s icky touches of whimsy that feel forced and disingenuous. Being cute and fanciful is tricky business, mainly because being charming on camera has to seem effortless. The exemplar for me is Jack Lemmon straining pasta with a tennis racket in The Apartment. Here are a few examples that miss the mark:

1. This movie has a narrator (who, as my friend Karin astutely pointed out, is far from omniscient or objective — he’s basically there to align the audience to Tom). In general, I hate movie narration. It reminds me of what I learned from “Charlie Kaufman” in Adaptation. With some exceptions, narration is profoundly lazy storytelling and filmmaking.
2. Tom has a blackboard covering an entire wall of his bedroom. So he can be close to his true passion. Drawing buildings.
3. Summer is so much a fan of artist René Magritte that she’s actually arranged a bowler hat and an apple on her coffee table.

Magritte's "The Son of Man"

4. Tom wants to be an architect, but is somehow saddled with a job at a greeting card company. To convince Tom of his true passion, Summer has him draw a landscape on her arm.
5. After Summer breaks up with Tom, he quits his job at the greeting card company after a rousing boardroom speech about how the industry feeds lies about romance to mankind. When he storms out, his wiseacre friend does the slow clap. (Aside: I actually predicted this by starting my own clap about five seconds before actor Geoffrey Arend did it on screen – gold star for me!)

And then there are things that make no sense:

1. Summer and Tom first get to know each other at a karaoke bar. Summer does “Sugartime,” a delightful little tune from the late 1950s. Apparently she wanted to do “Born to Run,” but they didn’t have it. Then Tom does a rendition of “Here Comes Your Man” by The Pixies. What karaoke bar has The Pixies but doesn’t have any Bruce on hand? The Boss is who drunk people turn to when they don’t wanna sing Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing” again.
2. It takes Tom twenty days or so to work toward his dream of becoming an architect. Primarily because he starts drawing and making lists on his blackboard and reading books at coffee shops.
3. Tom rags on Summer for liking Ringo best. Who doesn’t like Ringo?
4. This movie takes place in Los Angeles? Really? Locals and natives, help me out. I’ve been to your fine, sunny city several times. I’ve even been in the vicinity of where some scenes were shot. It never looked like New York to me.

And finally, there were four things that I found interesting, but did not think were well-executed. As they were related to issues of gender and age, these missed opportunities made me the saddest.

1. Summer really doesn’t want a relationship with Tom and stresses that from the very beginning. There’s mention of her parents divorcing when she was young, but I think she just wants to be alone and be independent and figure out what she wants in life (both maybe explain why she cries at the end of The Graduate before breaking up with Tom). I thought this was awesome. . . . At least I thought this until she gets married to some guy at the end for some reason.
2. The movie seems invested in making a commentary on how men objectify women, how movies abet that process, and how it results in men not really knowing the women they claim to love (I think Michel Gondry’s Science of Sleep was trying to make a similar statement, and failed in my estimation for similar reasons). Tom’s “expectations vs. reality” split-screen sequence is made all the more poignant after the scenes where Tom (along with the camera and the editor) have cut Summer into fragments (her smile, her hair, her laugh, her eyes, her knees, etc.). Because, for all his obsession, Tom never really knows Summer. He may think he sees her everywhere, but he never really sees her. Instead, he sees creepy images like this one.

Summer through Tom's eyes; image courtesy of 500days.com

3. Tom has a wise-beyond-her-years kid sister. Too bad she’s not really a person. A good precocious girl is my kryptonite (I love you, Linda Manz).
4. Summer isn’t really a person either. That’s too bad because I think Deschanel could have easily made her one and does fine with what she’s given (as does Gordon-Levitt). I also think this movie would have been more interesting if this sort of character was the protagonist.

Again, I think Summer’s lack of embodiment is part of the point — Tom wants Summer to be a manic pixie dream girl that can save him from his mediocre, humdrum existence, but she never performs as he thinks she should. Thus, Tom becomes obsessed with a woman he never actually knows.

But we, the audience, never really get to know her either, in part because the production personnel seem similarly vexed by her (as I think Tom is really just a stand-in for one of the screenwriters), but mainly because they are so bewitched by their words and camera tricks to give their characters any genuine motive or meaning.

Cioè, a me i rock movie piacciono così, di default: basta che ci sia l’inquadratura di una puntina che cala sul vinile, un concerto, una suite videoclip style e mi hanno.

(A proposito, la triplette dei miei preferiti:
1) Velvet Goldmine
2) Strade di fuoco
3) Il fantasma del palcoscenico)

Così, The Boat That Rocked non poteva che piacermi anche se Richard Curtis è un regista sui generis, spesso un po’ meccanico. In una scena almeno comunque riesce a dare qualche brivido: quando piazza Father & Son su un salvataggio subacqueo tra padri, figli e 33 giri.

Poi, siccome i simpatici distributori italici l’han rinominato I Love Radio Rock, io con una Radio Rock ci son cresciuto, pure se non stava su una nave al largo britannico. A Roma trasmetteva (e trasmette, perché c’è ancora, anche se è qualche anno che non la seguo più) sui 106.6 FM. Cosicché per un attimo mi sono immaginato Paolo Mazzullo al posto di Bill Nighy, e ho tremato di brutto.

Però, a parte tutto, davvero, Radio Rock m’ha fatto scoprire tanta della musica che amo, fin da quando la cioccai navigando a caso per frequenze un lontano agosto e i Van Der Graaf Generator si sprigionarono dalle casse. Con Prince Faster e Claudia McDowell, Gianpaolo Castaldo e Jelena Milic, ci ho passato tante di quelle ore da non poterle contare. Ho trasmesso pure insieme a Fabio Giannotti in una delle mezz’ore degli ascoltatori.

Cosicché sono entrato in un mood un po’ nostalgico, e sull’onda della modulazione di frequenza mi son ricordato che una pietra che rotola non raccoglie mai, ma proprio mai sugo, e buonanotte.

Hi readers! I’m going to London tomorrow and I’ll stay there for 10 days… without my computer… But I don’t want you to feel lonely so I’ve prepared a special list just for you! I hope you like it!

Breakfast on Pluto

Delicate and deep.  Patrick “Kitten” Braden is a sweet character living in a fairytale, but unfortunately life is not always pink and romantic. Amazing cast and original plot.

Velvet Goldmine

Do you miss Glam Rock? Or maybe you don’t know anything about it… (like me before this movie) Well these are two reasons to watch this film! The costumes are funny, coloured, shining and the music is magic… The cast? First class.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show

A classic. If you haven’t watch it already… just two worlds: do it! One of the best musicals ever.

Beetle Juice

Another classic. Tim Burton is a genius…

Panic Room

Normally I don’t watch horror/thriller movie but I really enjoyed this one.

Little Ashes

Probably because I’m in this “surrealistic period” but I can say it’s a good film! I know that critics didn’t like it so much but I really enjoyed the performances of the actor and the plot was not that bad.

The Rules of Attraction

Provocative… another movie from an Easton Ellis’ novel! (like Less than Zero and American Psycho)

Romeo + Juliet

“Surreal… but nice” (quote from Notting Hill)

Revolutionary Road

A really good and intense movie.

Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles

I admit it. After reading the Twilight I’ve watched a lot of films about vampires but this is certainly the best one.

Ok. Now I can go to London confidently…

I want to see comments when I’m back… lol

XOXO MARYG90

Notorious, il film appena uscito nelle sale che racconta la storia del rapper newyorchese Notorious B.I.G. è solo l’ultimo di tanti biopic che raccontano vita, morte e (relativi) miracoli di grandi della musica pop e rock (in questo caso del rap). Il biopic rock è una di quelle operazioni sinergiche che tanto piacciono all’industria: il film su una star della musica parla di qualcuno di molto noto e spesso molto amato, e quindi si presume un buon incasso al botteghino. D’altro canto, l’industria musicale si prepara a vendere colonne sonore e ristampe e a godere del rinnovato interesse intorno a quel personaggio. Quanto ci vorrà prima che annuncino un biopic su Michael Jackson? Nel frattempo Notorious, diretto da George Tillman jr., non si discosta da quelli che sono stati gli ultimi biopic musicali. Il film sul defunto rapper è un teatrino fatto di infanzia difficile, dipendenze, cadute e redenzioni, amori e corna. Una struttura da soap opera che ricorda molto quella di Ray, il biopic di Taylor Hackford sulla vita di Ray Charles. Anche quel film presenta una serie di schemi – gli amori, i tradimenti e la dipendenza da droghe – che tendono a reiterarsi in maniere piuttosto schematica, finendo per annoiare. Hackford ha qualche buona idea, come quella di enfatizzare i suoni, visto che per un cieco le orecchie sono gli occhi, e l’uso di movimenti di macchina e montaggio più frenetici nel momento “Trainspotting” del film, quello del momento della disintossicazione dalla droga. Per il resto, si tratta di una regia piuttosto convenzionale.

A spiccare, in quel film, era l’interpretazione mimetica di Jamie Foxx, calato a tal punto nel ruolo da ridere e muoversi come il vero Charles. E, se ci pensiamo, il punto è proprio questo: forse in questo tipo di operazioni si punta tutto su una ricostruzione storica forte, sulla musica e sull’attore principale, che fa un gran lavoro di preparazione. E meno sulla regia. È anche il caso di Walk The Line – Quando l’amore brucia l’anima, dedicato a Johnny Cash. Anche qui al centro di tutto c’è un grande attore, Joaquin Phoenix, con una grande aderenza, fisica e spirituale, al ruolo. E un regista, James Mangold, che finora è stato più una promessa di autore che un artista realizzato. Il risultato è un film godibile, sicuramente superiore ai due sopra citati. Ma che funziona – vedi anche sottotitolo italiano – più come una storia d’amore che come un film su un artista che ha segnato la storia della musica.

Fortunatamente, non tutti i film di questo tipo vanno in questa direzione. I film dedicati a stelle del rock funzionano quanto più sono dei film d’autore, caratterizzati dalla visione di un artista del cinema su un artista della musica. E quanto più si distinguono dall’idea classica del film biografico per diventare qualcosa di più complesso. L’esempio tipico di un film rock che è molto più di un biopic è The Doors di Oliver Stone. Il regista americano gira un film che è molto di più della vita di Jim Morrison e della sua band: riesce a cogliere l’anima del poeta Morrison, le sue visioni, il cuore di canzoni come The End, messe in scena come lunghe allucinazioni dell’artista. Senza che manchino gli altri elementi del genere: attenzione per la musica, per i fatti storici, e un’interpretazione mimetica e indimenticabile come quella di Val Kilmer nei panni del leader della band.

Di recente il miracolo è avvenuto ancora con Control, dedicato a Ian Curtis, leader dei Joy Division. Anche qui a essere vincente è la visione di un artista: Anton Corbijn mette in scena Curtis e la sua band con quel bianco e nero sgranato con cui li fotografava verso la fine degli anni Settanta: così la forma del film aderisce perfettamente all’arte dei Joy Division, portandoci immediatamente in un’epoca, in un’atmosfera sociale, culturale e sonora inconfondibile. Il bianco e nero ci fa vedere quello spleen che la musica dei Joy Division evoca. Tanto che non riusciremmo a immaginarceli mai a colori.

Così come non potremmo mai immaginarci il glam rock in bianco e nero. E infatti Velvet Goldmine di Todd Haynes è coloratissimo. E va oltre la concezione di biopic. Haynes stesso – cogliendo il concetto che stiamo cercando di spiegare – lo ha definito “non un film sul glam, ma un film glam”, nel senso che più che una storia cerca di trasmettere uno stato d’animo, uno stile di vita, un mondo. Le due rockstar non si chiamano David Bowie e Iggy Pop, ma li ricordano. E la storia non è esattamente la stessa, ma ne coglie movenze, motivazioni e sensazioni. In questo modo, il film si prende le sue libertà, che sono sinonimo di creatività, ma entra nel glam rock e nel periodo Ziggy Stardust molto meglio di quanto lo avrebbe fatto un classico biopic su David Bowie (per una mancata sua autorizzazione, pare, non sentiamo le sue canzoni nel film).

Come diceva una pubblicità, Todd Haynes vuol dire fiducia. Non a caso è suo un altro dei film rock più belli degli ultimi anni. Io non sono qui stavolta non rimane nel vago: il personaggio al centro della storia è  - e si chiama – Bob Dylan. Solo che invece di un personaggio sono sei. Ancora una volta al centro di un grande film c’è una grande intuizione e una grande scelta di regia: frammentare un artista nelle sue molteplici anime, ognuna con la propria vita e la propria direzione. Un modo per dimostrare  come sia irrappresentabile un artista come Dylan. E forse ogni artista. Io non sono qui è forse il film che più di altri alza l’asticella del genere, facendo (letteralmente) a pezzi il concetto di biopic classico. Ci aveva provato, con poco successo, qualche anno prima Gus Van Sant, con il suo Last Days, dedicato a Kurt Cobain. Che è l’opposto del biopic come lo intendiamo normalmente: vanno in scena gli ultimi giorni della vita di Cobain, ma di lui non ci viene detto quasi niente. Così Van Sant racconta l’imperscrutabilità e l’insondabilità dell’anima di Cobain, il mistero della sua vita. Non ci mostra niente, ma ci comunica disagio, ansia e straniamento. Per quelli a cui non è piaciuto il film, ne arriverà forse un altro. Mentre è stato annunciato, ma non se ne è saputo più nulla, il film di Spike Lee su James Brown, e smentito il film di Tarantino su Jimi Hendrix, si parla da tempo di un nuovo film su Kurt Cobain. La sua vedova, Courtney Love, avrebbe personalmente scelto Ewan McGregor nel ruolo di Cobain. Ma di questo progetto non si sono avute più notizie. Probabilmente sarebbe un altro film sul rock (sul grunge in questo caso), piuttosto che un film rock.

Velvet Goldmine
★★★ / ★★★★

I can understand why most people would dismiss this film due to its disorganized way of telling the story and featuring a lifestyle that was not (and still is not) fully accepted in society. “Velvet Goldmine” was about a journalist (Christian Bale) who was assigned to write an article about a glam rock star named Brian Slade (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers) whose stardom quickly plunged because he faked his own death. Incidentally, Bale was a fan of Slade when he was younger so the assignment was a lot more personal to him than any other projects he had before to the point where he rekindled some of that obsession he used to have for the rock star. In order to get the full picture regarding Slade’s life, Bale interviewed the people that knew Slade most: the one who discovered him (Michael Feast), his wife (Toni Collette), his manager (Eddie Izzard), and his competition/partner/lover (Ewan McGregor). I must give kudos to Todd Haynes, the director, for featuring strong performances from the four leads (Rhys-Meyers, Bale, Collette and McGregor). He told the story in such a way that each of the four had an equal share of the spotlight and really gave scintillating performances. I also liked the fact that Haynes’ message about music was different. Most pictures that tackle the meaning of music tend to argue that music is a meaningful entity. In here, the message is the antithesis: music is meaningless; music is driven by the artists’ ego and thirst for taking over or changing the world; lastly, music–or real music–should not and does not contain anything personal from the artist because its purpose is to simply entertain; to put something personal in it is to contaminate it and thus defying itself. Well, at least that’s how I interpreted the film. I found this film to be particularly cold: It did not make an effort to convince its audiences why they should care for the characters. Interestingly enough, I loved it because it embraced the feeling of the 1970’s glam rock era which consisted of revolting against the norm, being apathetic to things that should matter, and embracing the dirtiness and griminess of atypicality. For an independent film, I thought it was particularly powerful, especially when it used techniques from the film “Citizen Kane”–fusing past and present in order to truly understand the characters that have been so wrapped up in the darkness they’ve created for themselves. I also appreciated the fact that it featured the fluidity of sexuality, emotions and ideas. This is a rich film with fascinating images and ideas but it’s not particularly accessible so one should be wary on whether he or she should watch it. But if one has an open mind, this should be a pleasant surprise. This reminded me of a weaker “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” (though the two are very different films); a little bit more focus would have made this an instant favorite of mine.

Godínez intenta impresionar al departamento de fotocopiado asegurándoles que no sabe quien es Brad Pitt ya que él ve puras de Kieslowski y tiene un tatuaje de Tetsuo en la espalada baja.

Acepta la invitación de Godínez para que te meta mano en lo oscurito de la cineteca; cortesía de su abono que no incluye palomitas.

Duración: 75 minutos 13 segundos / 34.4 MB

Canciones:

• The Jam / A Town called Malice [Billy Elliot]
• Michael Jackson / Ease on down the road [The Wiz]
• Gavin Friday / Wig Wam Bam [Breakfast on Pluto]
• Goran Bregovic / Mesecina [Underground]
• Antonio Banderas / Bella María de mi alma [The Mambo Kings]
• Marc Anthony / Mi Gente [El Cantante]
• Richard Berry / Louie, Louie [Animal House]
• The George Baker Selection / Little Green Bag [Resorvoir dogs]
• Bob Dylan / The man in me [The Big Lebowski]
• Underworld / Born Slippy [Trainspotting]
• Roxy Music / Virginia Plain [Velvet Goldmine]
• M.I.A. / Paper Planes [Slumdog Millionaire]
• Curtis Mayfield / P.S. I love You [Superbad]
• Elton John / Tiny Dancer [Almost Famous]
• Louis Armstrong / La vie en Rose [WALL*E]
• Slim Whitman / Indian Love Call [Mars Attacks!]
• La que debes ver antes de morir. El luchador.

Arte: Folder para tu Pc / imprime, recorta y arma el empaque.

Descarga: Godínez va al cine. 16 canciones remezcladas en el rancho de George Lucas que se recomienda escuchar en sonido Surround envolvente.

Escucha en línea:

i was coerced into watching the movie because…well it’s Adam’s favorite movie…that coupled with the fact that it has ewan mcgregor, jonathan rhys myers AND christian bale in it…those are compelling reasons friends and neighbors…

so i’m going to go through the movie random points style.

1) it wasn’t the ground breaking epiphany i was expecting it to be….i didn’t hate it but if there was a deeper, more significant message my idiot brain could not get past the glitter and the tight, tight leather pants

2) christian bale is a very hot man, that being said he should never EVER wear makeup

3) jonathan rhys myers would make a ridiculously hot woman

4) everyone is horny and willing to have sex with everything else that moves…orgies even

5) tony collette might just be the coolest woman in the world

6) ewan mcgregor looks so achingly beautiful it makes my heart hurt, the long hair, the glitter, the sans shirtness, the fluid silver pants, the huge belt buckles….very good look for him

7) with blond hair ewan looked a lot like kurt cobain

this movie made me love david bowie and iggy pop even more

” – Carnea de oaie, spuse călugărul răpciugos, cu un aer doctoral, nu e recomandabilă unei flegme caustice, seul find în contradicţie cu acizii bilei, precum şi cu cheagul splinei, apoi salivă zgomotos.

Un ţăran puţind a oaie udă îşi făcu o cruce mare, speriat de atâta ştiinţă.”

“<Știu un singur loc, spuse, unde nu pute, și acela e -  topos atopos - al bietului Platon, dar acolo nu cred că femeile au ce căuta>”

“În cameră era cenușiu și cald și înălțîndu-se, Tache pluti o vreme prin aer ca o pasăre adormită, și Flora cea Borțoasă se ridică alături de el, plutiră așa. Întinzând mîna, Tache mângâia aerul dimprejurul ei, roșcovana, desenându-i conturul fragil, stătură în aer ca într-un pat veșnic. Cuprinzându-i umerii, Tache se răsuci puțin și o sărută pe păr. Hipnotic, părul ei se ridică fremătând ca o algă roșie și verde, tentaculele acelui păr îi mângâiară ca un răspuns fața, se alăturară privirii lui maiestuoase și senine. Jucându-se, Flora simți cum din ea se înalță pruncul acela, spuse:

- Se mișcă iar! și coborând, în scaunul ei, își descheie nasturele de la gît, gâfâind puțin din cauza efortului pe care îl făcuse zburând. Unduindu-se, poalele rochiei i se așezară pe picioare, acoperindu-le.”

Ștefan Agopian – Tache de Catifea, Ed. Polirom, 2004

Ele está em cartaz agora em Exterminador do Futuro: A Salvação, no papel do salvador do mundo  John Connor, mas antes foi o Batman em O Cavaleiro das Trevas e em Batman Begins. Antes disso, só em 2002, que ele dá uma guinada em sua carreira e só então escolhe (ou é escolhido, quem sabe?) ser protagonista de um filme de ação. Ele é Christian Bale.

Biografia: Christian Bale

Christian Bale

A carreira de Bale, na verdade, começou aos 10 anos de idade, no teatro, ao lado de ninguém menos do que Rowan Atkinson (o eterno Mr. Bean), numa peça chamada “The Nerds”. Após isso, estrelou um comercial de cereais e só aos 13 anos, derrotando um pelotão de 400 meninos, foi escolhido pelo próprio Steven Spielberg para participar do filme de drama de Segunda Guerra Império do Sol, isso em 87.

Chistian Charles Phillip Bale naceu no dia 30 de janeiro de 74, em Haverfordwest, no condado de Pembrokershire, em Gales, Reino Unido. Vem de uma família de artistas: a mãe era bailarina circense e os avós eram atores. Ele é o caçula da família, tendo mais três irmãs. Em 29 de janeiro de 2000 casou-se com Sibi Blazic. Ele a conheceu por intermédio de Winona Ryder, durante as filmagens de “Adoráveis Mulheres”, em 94. Sibi se tornou assistente pessoal de Bale, casando-se com ele 6 anos mais tarde. Eles têm uma filha, Emmaline, nascida em 2005.

Chistian Bale e John Malkovich em "Império do Sol"

Foi einda em Império do Sol que Bale, um menino de 13 anos, conheceu a fama. E foi bem difícil. Certa vez, ele declarou: “Era um horror! Eu estava prestes a chorar nas entrevistas e fugir durante as coletivas de imprensa”. Depois desse filme, vário convites pipocaram de todos os cantos.

Em 88 fez o filme sueco Mio Mim Mio, em 90 fez um filme para tv à cabo, Tresure Island, somente para poder trabalhar com o veteraníssimo Charles Heston (Moisés, em Os 10 Mandamentos, clássico de 1956) e em 92 fez parte do musical “Extra! Extra!”, para o qual aprendeu a cantar e dançar.

Todos esses filmes geraram uma satisfação pessoal enorme em Bale. No entanto, aos poucos, o grande público foi se esquecendo do garotinho de Império do Sol, já que os filmes seguintes não tinham retorno do público e não geravam grandes receitas publicitárias, apsar do grande apreço artístico que elas tinham.

Mas foi em 1994 que tudo mudou. Winona Ryder o escolheu pessoalmente para contracenar com ela em “Adoráveis Mulheres” e, a partir daí, Bale conseguiu se firmar como grande estrela de filmes adultos, o que lhe deu projeção e fama internacional. O filme foi um enorme sucesso de público e crtítica e também deu a oportunidade de Bale contracenar com a ptórpria Winona, além de Susan Sarandom e Kirsten Dunst.

Em 98 suas fãs devem ter ficado malucas com a cena protagonizada entre ele e Ewan McGregor no filme Velvet Goldmine. Eles se beijaram. Talvez isso só o tenha ajudado a ser eleito no mesmo ano a celebridade mais cultuada na internt da década de 90, segundo a revista Entertainment Weekly. Veja a cena do beijo clicando (aqui).

A partir de 2000, Bale começa a estabilizar sua carreira como grande ator e estrela hollywoodiana. Participa de filmes como Pscicopata Americano, Shaft, Equlibrium e O Operário, até chegar em 2005, quando é convidado por Christopher Nolan para reviver o até então esquicido Batman nas telas.

Bale como Batman em cena de "Batman Begins".

Após o sucesso estrondoso de Batman Begins, os próximos filmes escolhidos por ele também tiveram relativo sucesso, principalmnte da crítica. Foi o caso de O Sobrevivente, O Grande Truque, Tempos de Violência e o westen Os Indomáveis.

Em 2008 volta ao papel de Batman em Batman – O Cavaleiro das Trevas. O segundo filme em que ele encara o papel do homem morcego faz mais sucesso ainda do que o primeiro, arrecadando a bagatela de 1 bilhão de dólares ao redor do mundo durante o período que esteve em cartaz. Entretanto, um episódio lamentável mancha a sua tranquila vida pessoal. Antes da pré-estreia europeia do filme em Londres, Bale é preso pela polícia local, acusado de agredir e manter em cárcere privado em um hotel a sua mãe e sua irmã. O episódio ainda está em aberto na delegacia.

Agora, em 2009, Christian Bale aparece na telona em mais um blockbuster. Encara o papel de John Connor no quarto filme da série Exterminador do Futuro, Exteraminador do Futuro: A Salvação. A trama vem dividindo muito a opinião pública (críticos e fãs). Durante as filmagens, Bale teve uma áspera discussão com o diretor de fotografia do filme. A briga ocorreu porque o diretor ajustava uma luz ao fundo de uma cena durante uma interpretação de uma intensa e pesada, o que acabou desconcentrando o ator. Os gritos e xingamentos vazaram na internet, pois algum espertinho deixou os microfones ligados durante toda a discussão, gravou e tornou a pública. Ouça clicando (aqui). Depois, calro, Bale veio a público e pediu desculpas.

Confira a filmografia de Christian Bale:

O Exterminador do Futuro: a Salvação (2009)

Batman – O Cavaleiro das Trevas (2008)

Inimigos Públicos (2008)

Os Indomáveis (2007)

Não Estou Lá (2007)

Tempos de Violência (2006)

O Grande Truque (2006)

O Sobrevivente (2006)

Batman Begins (2005)

O Novo Mundo (2005)

O Operário (2004)

Laurel Canyon – Rua das Tentações (2002)

Reino de Fogo (2002)

O Capitão Corelli (2001)

Equilibrium (2001)

Psicopata Americano (2000)

Shaft (2000)

Sonho de uma Noite de Verão(1999)

Velvet Goldmine (1998)

All The Little Animals (1998)

Metroland (1997)

Retrato de uma Mulher (1996)

The Secret Agent (1996)

Pocahontas (1995)

Reinado de Fogo (1994)

Adoráveis Mulheres (1994)

Swing Kids (1993)

Extra! Extra! (1992)

As Aventuras na Ilha do Tesouro (1990)

Henrique V (1989)

Mio na Terra da Magia (1987)

Império do Sol (1987)

Quando não está filmando, Christian Bale vive em Londres com sua família, dois cachorrinhos e três gatos. Agora ele está viajando o mundo para promover Exterminador 4.

After writing about The Boat That Rocked the other day, I thought about other music-related movies that I really enjoyed and found that I had several favorites that I could watch over and over again and enjoy almost as much as the first time. These aren’t concert films – those are obvious repeat performers – but movies about pop music. I’m also focusing on the more modern era (forgive me, Sal Mineo). Plus the movie has to be good (sorry, Tommy) . A few are obvious commercial favorites (is there anyone who doesn’t quote Spinal Tap?) but a couple of these must be off the path; I find most people have never heard of them, let alone seen them.

But hey, that’s a large part of why I do this, to share information about what knocks me out and hopefully expose people to a great band, film or book they might have missed. I highly recommend every single one of these, and hopefully there’s at least one you haven’t seen that you will take a chance on. Enjoy some great movies with great music, whether it’s a library rental, a used copy on Amazon or circling the listing in TV Guide when you see it. Without further ado (you’ve had just the right amount of ado so far, right?) and with apologies to The Committments and The Rutles, here they are in alphabetical order…

Almost Famous : Cameron Crowe drew upon his own story to craft this brilliant peek behind rock’s curtain, from the groupies (sorry…Band-Aids) to the roadies and the madness that is rock’n'roll. Great music and wonderful performances from the leads and Philip Seymour Hoffman’s great turn as Lester Bangs.

A Hard Day’s Night : The Beatles. Need I say more? “I’m a Mocker”

Hedwig and the Angry Inch : Absolutely the best rock opera ever. John Cameron Mitchell’s brilliant performance and Stephen Trask’s music are a perfect match, and both the musical and the movie soundtracks could stand on their own as great music. But the film is phenomenal.

The Idolmaker : Ray Sharkey should have won the Academy Award for his performance as a teen idol Svengali. Great performances from Paul Land, Joe Pantoliano and Peter Gallagher.

A Mighty Wind : The Spinal Tap of folk music and another perfect movie from Christopher Guest. Tremendous performances from everyone, but Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara as “Mitch and Mickey” were brilliant. How did this song not win the Academy Award?

Rock and Roll High School : The Ramones. Need I say more? “Things sure have changed since I got kicked out of high school”.

Spinal Tap : Absolutely hilarious, with pitch perfect performances from the three leads and an amazing array of bit parts and cameo roles, like Paul Shaffer as Artie Fufkin and Bruno Kirby as the Sinatra-loving limo driver (the extended deleted scenes are priceless). Here’s a song so good I like it even though it’s parody.

Still Crazy : I think the common thread in all these movies is perfect casting. Bill Nighy is wonderful as the fragile lead singer and you can’t go wrong with comic geniuses Billy Connolly and Timothy Spall. But the story is as heartwarming as it is funny and the music is phenomenal.

That Thing You Do : Tom Hanks nailed the screenplay about a one-hit-wonder band and even wrote many of the songs that the other acts in the “galaxy of stars” performed. The main songs benefitted from pop wizards like Adam Schlesinger (Fountains of Wayne) and Mike Viola, but the perfect casting was only exceeded by the movie’s heart. One of my favorite films of all time in any genre.

Velvet Goldmine : Glam fans will lap this up – an Eddie and The Cruisers type plot in the world of glitter and decadence, with Ewan McGregor and Jonathan Rhys Meyers as thinly disguised Iggy Pop and David Bowie plus great performances from Christian Bale and Eddie Izzard.

► Tumbling Down – Velvet Goldmine OST ♫

Todo aquel que me conoce sabe que no me suelo fijar en la banda sonora de las películas que veo, por lo que me he perdido grandes canciones cinematográficas.  Sin embargo, hace poco más de un año pude disfrutar de la hipnótica Velvet Goldmine, una película que relata el ascenso y caída de un ídolo del glam-rock. Por tanto, hay cabida para las ambigüedades de  la  época, con esos personajes de apariencia misógina.

Rhys-Meyers como Brian Slade

Se dice que es una biografía no oficial del camaleón David Bowie, encarnado por Rhys-Meyers, y de Iggy Pop, inmortalizado por Ewan McGregor.Sea como sea, lo que está claro es que este film de Todd Haynes hace las delicias de los amantes de la música setentera.

Incluso hay hueco para los geniales T-Rex en el repertorio. Brian Molko y su banda se encargan, en un pequeño papel, de dar forma al tema 20th Century Boy.

En las aburridas y largas tardes de la época de exámenes, T-Rex son casi los únicos que me ponen de buen humor.