It gives me great sadness to announce one of the great Welsh bands of our time, Gorky's Zygotic Mynci, have broken up. I give you Poodle Rockin to remember them by.
Someday, I will do that movie where I use songs exclusively from their sublime album How I long to feel that summer in my heart.
Wednesday, May 31, 2006
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
Top 9 Docs (couldn't come up with 10)
Top 10 Documentaries
Since I’ve been on this Documentary trip for about 9 months now I should probably list my 10 favourite Docs of all time. As you can see, overt politics has no place in Documentaries for me. When you take out the topical you get to the deeper truths. I dare you to show me an Iraq Doc that can compare to any of these for pure entertainment value alone.
These are in no particular order:
Grey Gardens : Maysles Brothers – The ultimate mother daughter team. So glad they made a Broadway musical out of it.
Gates of Heaven: Errol Morris – Why do dogs make people so crazy?
American Movie: Bad Horror + Headbangin’ Director = Funny as shit doc. This is the movie Fubar was trying to be. You can’t fake a Mike Schank (god knows I’ve tried).
Cinema Verite: Defining the Moment: Peter Wintonick – A great doc about the history of documentaries.
Searching for the Wrong Eyed Jesus – Exploring the virtues of the deep south through the lens of a Brit with Jim White (alt country star) as our guide. Great structure to this offbeat film.
Half Japanese: The band who would be King – A great story of perseverance over lack of musical talent. This strangely moving tale of a couple of naïve brothers who made serious waves in the early days of indie rock.
Project Grizzly: Peter Lynch – On man’s vision to build the ultimate Bear-proof suit for wildlife preservation---I don’t think so. This guy is one f—ed up cookie but highly watchable. He’s Kind of the Hobbit version of Patrick Swayze.
Hell House – For Christians and those of the secular world this movie has something for you. It can be viewed as anti or pro depending on your faith. Essentially it is a tale of a famous Haunted house that is set up every year in Texas, to literally scare the hell out of impressionable Christian teens, thus leading them onto the path of redemption and salvation. Mel Gibson must have got the idea for the Passion of the Christ from this little movie (at least the gore elements).
Grizzly Man: Werner Herzog – Why do bears make people so crazy?
Since I’ve been on this Documentary trip for about 9 months now I should probably list my 10 favourite Docs of all time. As you can see, overt politics has no place in Documentaries for me. When you take out the topical you get to the deeper truths. I dare you to show me an Iraq Doc that can compare to any of these for pure entertainment value alone.
These are in no particular order:
Grey Gardens : Maysles Brothers – The ultimate mother daughter team. So glad they made a Broadway musical out of it.
Gates of Heaven: Errol Morris – Why do dogs make people so crazy?
American Movie: Bad Horror + Headbangin’ Director = Funny as shit doc. This is the movie Fubar was trying to be. You can’t fake a Mike Schank (god knows I’ve tried).
Cinema Verite: Defining the Moment: Peter Wintonick – A great doc about the history of documentaries.
Searching for the Wrong Eyed Jesus – Exploring the virtues of the deep south through the lens of a Brit with Jim White (alt country star) as our guide. Great structure to this offbeat film.
Half Japanese: The band who would be King – A great story of perseverance over lack of musical talent. This strangely moving tale of a couple of naïve brothers who made serious waves in the early days of indie rock.
Project Grizzly: Peter Lynch – On man’s vision to build the ultimate Bear-proof suit for wildlife preservation---I don’t think so. This guy is one f—ed up cookie but highly watchable. He’s Kind of the Hobbit version of Patrick Swayze.
Hell House – For Christians and those of the secular world this movie has something for you. It can be viewed as anti or pro depending on your faith. Essentially it is a tale of a famous Haunted house that is set up every year in Texas, to literally scare the hell out of impressionable Christian teens, thus leading them onto the path of redemption and salvation. Mel Gibson must have got the idea for the Passion of the Christ from this little movie (at least the gore elements).
Grizzly Man: Werner Herzog – Why do bears make people so crazy?
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
Bergman Central
Being a huge Bergman fan, I am wildly excited to report the English version of the much awaited Berman site is now up. This site gives you a real feel for what type of person he is as well as all those tasty tidbits we all yearn for...
Here is Bergman's top ten list -
The Circus (Charles Chaplin, USA 1928)
Port of Shadows (Quai des brûmes, Marcel Carné, France 1938)
Orchestra Conductor (Dyrygent, Andrzej Wajda, Poland 1979)
Raven's End (Kvarteret Korpen, Bo Widerberg, Sweden 1963)
The Passion of Joan of Arc (La passion de Jeanne d'Arc, Carl Th. Dreyer, France 1927)
The Phantom Carriage (Körkarlen, Victor Sjöström, Sweden 1921)
Rashomon (Akira Kurosawa, Japan 1951)
The Road (La Strada, Federico Fellini, Italy 1954)
Sunset Blvd. (Billy Wilder, USA 1950)
The German Sisters (Die bleierne Zeit, Margarethe von Trotta, BRD 1981)
Andrey Rublyov (Andrej Tarkovskij, Soviet Union 1969)
This site is the most comprehensive on the web and a must for all of his fans. Go there and Learn.
Ingmar Bergman Face to Face
Monday, May 15, 2006
Overheard at the Hotel
I was given this on a disgruntled employees last day. Wherever you see a series of 4 asterisks feel free to insert that person that causes you grief on a daily basis.
This is your notice that I no longer accept you as my employer. Time and time again your employee, ****, has been unfair, rude, and atrocious in her behaviour to me. We have discussed this situation in the past, several times, and after brief respite **** returns to her foul behaviour towards me. **** is incapable of normal human relationships in the workplace and I cannot work with such a vengeful and inept supervisor/manager, or whatever her title is! I am heartbroken - I love the ****** *****, its guests, location, history and staff, but **** makes it unbearable with her constant lack of correct protocol. I am tired of giving her chances and hearing excuses for her digesting behaviour. I am tired of her calling me down in front of the other staff for imagined offences. I am tired of her contemptuous cronies and I am tired of being lied to and unjustly accused! Clearly **** is not going anywhere, so I am. I will not indulge a sociopathic tyrant anymore and do not understand why you do! Send my remaining paycheque and any money owing to ----
This is your notice that I no longer accept you as my employer. Time and time again your employee, ****, has been unfair, rude, and atrocious in her behaviour to me. We have discussed this situation in the past, several times, and after brief respite **** returns to her foul behaviour towards me. **** is incapable of normal human relationships in the workplace and I cannot work with such a vengeful and inept supervisor/manager, or whatever her title is! I am heartbroken - I love the ****** *****, its guests, location, history and staff, but **** makes it unbearable with her constant lack of correct protocol. I am tired of giving her chances and hearing excuses for her digesting behaviour. I am tired of her calling me down in front of the other staff for imagined offences. I am tired of her contemptuous cronies and I am tired of being lied to and unjustly accused! Clearly **** is not going anywhere, so I am. I will not indulge a sociopathic tyrant anymore and do not understand why you do! Send my remaining paycheque and any money owing to ----
Thursday, May 11, 2006
Soft Confection
Just a short vitriol about a lackluster piece of physiological horror I had the misfortune to sit through yesterday. Go to IMDB if you want to know what this movie is about. I don't have the energy to recount it here on my blog. Hard Candy is dull beyond belief and with all it's CSI style editing it becomes so visually invasive I became numb to any drama that they were trying to offer me. Ellen Page's performance is so one dimensional it's almost a caricature and Patrick Wilson mostly winches when she starts monologuing (As I did) and groans or grunts for a bit of variety. Even though this is just my personal opinion I think anyone who likes subtlety or the Northern European approach to heavy subject matter will dismiss this nasty piece of kitsch faster than you can say Misery. That is giving this movie too much credit actually, for as inert as Stephen King's Misery is, it's still exists in a higher class of filmed Drama. Sorry to tell you, David Slade (the Director), independent is not synonymous with small budget. Like Whale Rider and Bend it Like Beckam all this movie exists for is as a demo real for his big bloated Tent-Pole movie we'll have to suffer through next year. Go see this if you enjoyed Identity, Butterfly Effect or anything where Ashley Judd plays a Detective.
Tuesday, May 09, 2006
Wes Anderson
Great American Express ad (I can't believe I actually wrote that). I think this was done for the Tribeca film fest. M. Night Shyamalan did one but that sucks huge.
Sunday, May 07, 2006
Of ubiquity and chicken skin
Atom Egoyan, not known for non-fiction filmmaking, had a high profile doc at Hot Docs this year. Here is the blurb on it:
"Things in this city are never what they seem," says Atom Egoyan of Beirut. He's traveled to Lebanon with his wife, the actress Arsinée Khanjian, and their son, Arshile. It has been 28 years since Khanjian has been here, where she lived as a child. Egoyan has purchased a new Mini DV camera for their family vacation, and he's "still trying to work things out." The result is a playful, provocative film hinging on Egoyan's "peculiar alchemy" with Khanjian, but with curious diversions into religion, history, politics and the nature of documentary itself. Peppered with tender family observations and self-deprecating humour, somewhere along the way a modest journal effortlessly morphs into an engaging travelogue and astute personal essay. In particular, Egoyan's interrogation of the ubiquity of captured images, and their availability for mediation and construction, firmly places Citadel within the director's impressive body of work.
Do we really need to see his Vacation video? This review is typical of a film that has no redeeming qualities and thus substance must be added to the selling of said shit.
So I'm here at Hotdocs in Toronto and what a ride this is. This is probably the only film fest I've attended where I haven't seen a film; I'm restricting myself to the trade forum this time around. It's all about selling, selling, selling. We sat through 30 Documentary pitches and had several meetings in hopes of flogging our Superdogs Doc. There are hundreds of commisioning editors from all over the world here and it's all a little overwhelming. Pitching the show has been hard for me because I'm not naturally extroverated. I need time to warm up and this world is still very foreign to me. David is a vetran of this world so he's helping me out quite a bit.
My three favourite pitches were Basement tapes, Scott Walker: 30 Century Man and Up the Yangtze. Basement Tapes is a film about these ever popular mash-ups ala Dangermouse and it'as basically an ode to open-source culture. The Scott Walker film is basically self explanitory. I met the director Stephen and he's a great guy. Up the Yangtze is about the flooding of a valley to provide power for many needy Chinese. It takes place on cruise ship and one of the villages that is going to be flooded. The characters are great and it's a huge historical event, so yes, I will see it when it comes out. During a pitch for a film about Jazz pianist Bill Evans a European broadcaster said: This music of Bill Evans gives me Chicken Skin. Shit, I thought that was priceless. The cross-cultural differences are running rampant here all week but that just topped it off.
I've been able to meet three of my heros of Candaian Documetary - Peter Lynch (Project Grizzly), Peter Wintonick (Manufacturing Consent, Cinema Verite: Defining the moment) and Allen Zwig (Vinyl, I Curmudgeon). I had a long talk with Peter Lynch and we have a lot in common. I will email him and hopefully we will form some sort of correspondence.
Toronto itself is a large, sprawling piece o' crap. There are all these piles of trash on the streets and assorted junk lying all over the place. It's very different than the experience that we are accustomed to in Vancouver. This is the first time I've been here in over 20 years and I think it's better than most people say. I don't hate Toronto I just hate the idea of it.
On my last night we went to a party hosted by one of David's friends. It was held a really cool loft in an older part of Toronto. Everyone was friendly there and having been a part of this world for nine months now I'm starting to feel comfortable around these filmmakers. Velcro Ripper (Scared Sacred) was there and I just thought he was going to be the biggest freak/prick ever to commit his ideas to film. He was actually approachable and pretty normal. We talked about problems with broadcasters and budget concerns; just standard stuff all filmmakers bitch about. I probably won't see his film cause it's not really my taste but good to know the "it boy of the moment" isn't what you'd think he'd be.
In the end there was a lot of positive response for our film and I look forward to taking it into production. The Dog movie marches on.
"Things in this city are never what they seem," says Atom Egoyan of Beirut. He's traveled to Lebanon with his wife, the actress Arsinée Khanjian, and their son, Arshile. It has been 28 years since Khanjian has been here, where she lived as a child. Egoyan has purchased a new Mini DV camera for their family vacation, and he's "still trying to work things out." The result is a playful, provocative film hinging on Egoyan's "peculiar alchemy" with Khanjian, but with curious diversions into religion, history, politics and the nature of documentary itself. Peppered with tender family observations and self-deprecating humour, somewhere along the way a modest journal effortlessly morphs into an engaging travelogue and astute personal essay. In particular, Egoyan's interrogation of the ubiquity of captured images, and their availability for mediation and construction, firmly places Citadel within the director's impressive body of work.
Do we really need to see his Vacation video? This review is typical of a film that has no redeeming qualities and thus substance must be added to the selling of said shit.
So I'm here at Hotdocs in Toronto and what a ride this is. This is probably the only film fest I've attended where I haven't seen a film; I'm restricting myself to the trade forum this time around. It's all about selling, selling, selling. We sat through 30 Documentary pitches and had several meetings in hopes of flogging our Superdogs Doc. There are hundreds of commisioning editors from all over the world here and it's all a little overwhelming. Pitching the show has been hard for me because I'm not naturally extroverated. I need time to warm up and this world is still very foreign to me. David is a vetran of this world so he's helping me out quite a bit.
My three favourite pitches were Basement tapes, Scott Walker: 30 Century Man and Up the Yangtze. Basement Tapes is a film about these ever popular mash-ups ala Dangermouse and it'as basically an ode to open-source culture. The Scott Walker film is basically self explanitory. I met the director Stephen and he's a great guy. Up the Yangtze is about the flooding of a valley to provide power for many needy Chinese. It takes place on cruise ship and one of the villages that is going to be flooded. The characters are great and it's a huge historical event, so yes, I will see it when it comes out. During a pitch for a film about Jazz pianist Bill Evans a European broadcaster said: This music of Bill Evans gives me Chicken Skin. Shit, I thought that was priceless. The cross-cultural differences are running rampant here all week but that just topped it off.
I've been able to meet three of my heros of Candaian Documetary - Peter Lynch (Project Grizzly), Peter Wintonick (Manufacturing Consent, Cinema Verite: Defining the moment) and Allen Zwig (Vinyl, I Curmudgeon). I had a long talk with Peter Lynch and we have a lot in common. I will email him and hopefully we will form some sort of correspondence.
Toronto itself is a large, sprawling piece o' crap. There are all these piles of trash on the streets and assorted junk lying all over the place. It's very different than the experience that we are accustomed to in Vancouver. This is the first time I've been here in over 20 years and I think it's better than most people say. I don't hate Toronto I just hate the idea of it.
On my last night we went to a party hosted by one of David's friends. It was held a really cool loft in an older part of Toronto. Everyone was friendly there and having been a part of this world for nine months now I'm starting to feel comfortable around these filmmakers. Velcro Ripper (Scared Sacred) was there and I just thought he was going to be the biggest freak/prick ever to commit his ideas to film. He was actually approachable and pretty normal. We talked about problems with broadcasters and budget concerns; just standard stuff all filmmakers bitch about. I probably won't see his film cause it's not really my taste but good to know the "it boy of the moment" isn't what you'd think he'd be.
In the end there was a lot of positive response for our film and I look forward to taking it into production. The Dog movie marches on.
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