Archive for June, 2008
Monday, June 30th, 2008
The trailer for the new Bond film—Quantum of Solace—can be seen here. It features loads of sharply edited mayhem and paranoia, with some supersecret organization hinted at. If they can't call it SPECTRE, at least let it be SPECTRE with the serial numbers filed off.
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Thursday, June 26th, 2008
They show up on time and don't get drunk on the job. In honor of WALL-E, here's a selection of some of the many robot bands on the Internet. It apparently is an old tradition, as witness some badly filmed footage of a 1950s French robot band playing a Richie ...
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
Tuesday, June 24th, 2008
Just in time for the June 27 opening of WALL-E, Richard von Busack caught up with director Andrew Stanton and talked to him about his newest cinematic baby.PIXAR’S Emeryville campus is inviting from the first look. In the parking lot, workers were emerging from their Priuses, carrying acoustic musical instruments ...
Posted in New Movies, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Monday, June 23rd, 2008
Ben Kingsley lowered his aesthetic standards bar to ground level long before that interview with Richard von Busack (see previous post for gory details). For your consideration: Harem, an unseen 1985 epic, a Stockholm Syndrome in the Sahara film about a woman (Nastassja Kinski) who is captured by an Arabian ...
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Sunday, June 22nd, 2008
I got a quick phone interview with Ben Kingsley in '05 before he turned up at Cinequest, the San Jose Film Festival. I listened raptly while he told a few stories about growing up in north England, playing in a skiffle band, seeing an Italian neo-realist movie and what not. ...
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Tuesday, June 17th, 2008
PossessedOne night it’s Christian botheration (see entry below on The List), the next night it’s Santeria exploitation. My Netflix queue will soon be in need of an exorcist—perhaps Udo Kier’s wacky padre from Dario Argento’s The Mother of Tears is available.Anyway, this brings us to The Possession of Joel Delaney, ...
Posted in Classic Movies | No Comments »
Monday, June 16th, 2008
Separated at Birth? Innocently seeking a cheap, no-redeeming-qualities evening in front of the TV, I innocently rented something called The List from Netflix. I thought I was getting the new erotic thriller starring Ewan McGregor and Hugh Jackman about a sex club whose rich and powerful members are recorded on ...
Posted in New Movies, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Thursday, June 12th, 2008
These are the kind of news notes that give home improvement a bad name:"Kansas man fine after nail lodged in Skull" (AP)In Shawnee, Kan., one George Chandler and friend were using a nail gun when the pneumatic hose got all tangled up. A nail ended up in Chandler's skull. A ...
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Sunday, June 8th, 2008
Somehow—uh, must have been something to do with the low-budget promo department at Fantagraphics, "where the underrated are underpromotedTM"*—I missed the news that there was a Fletcher Hanks collection printed last November. I Shall Destroy All the Civilized Planets, edited by Paul Karasik, brings forth the work of a genuine ...
Posted in Things that are great! | 1 Comment »
Friday, June 6th, 2008
On the Move at 01SJBy Michael S. GantIF NOTHING ELSE, 01SJ has been good for my health—it encourages getting up and out in downtown San Jose. Think of it as the Wii of digital-arts festivals.My Friday amble was accompanied by a series of subversive koans posted on light poles—“Reality can ...
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