Oscar Party 2009: The Third Way
Kevin Killian02.23.09
It’s another year and another Oscar party with Kevin Killian and friends. Well in posts past there have been a few grumblings about changes in the handling of the In Memorian section (this year you just might have needed some heavy glasses to actually see who had died, but Queen Latifah was great); the issue starting to shine through in 2009 – like the high beams radiating from some Oscar night bling of yore – is that the biopic needs its own category, just too darn unfair to pit an actor playing a real person versus a made up one!
Music: The Cramps: The Smell of Female
Casey McKinney02.19.09
Lux Interior, the “Mad Daddy,” i.e. your "Garbageman," the slithery lead singer of The Cramps passed away recently. He…
Lights, Camorra, Action
Jason Jude Chan02.13.09
In case you’ve decided to make like Grandaddy and take leave of Crystal Lake (ok, they weren’t talking about the same Crystal Lake) this Friday the 13th, there are other film options for those seeking a more sophisticated night out on the town. Besides teenage sex and homicidal psychos, the most indelible archetype of film is the gangster (who also usually fit in the "homicidal" category—just not the maniacal, unkillable type)—their roles cross-culturally romanticized and cast as creatures cursed by habit, vengeance, misery, and the insatiable taste for power. We obsess over shadowy hands, and mythologize the organizations behind velvet curtains and behind MAC-10s. Here, Jason Jude Chan reviews Matteo Garrone’s Gomorrah, opening today (February 13) in limited theaters.
The Wrestler: The Redemption of Mickey Rourke
Eli S. Evans02.03.09
The line that keeps circulating about Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler is that, in it, we witness the resurrection of Mickey Rourke. This ain’t exactly the truth. Rourke, the once baby faced tough who earned early comparisons to Dean and Brando, never went anywhere, ‘cept away from Hollywood for a bit, a circuitous route that saw him back in the boxing rings of his pre-acting youth and on the shit list of most everyone in Tinseltown. But he’s crept back with his villainous role in Sin City, and what happens in The Wrestler isn’t necessarily Rourke’s resurrection, but his redemption. A welcome return to form, however it’s put. Review by Eli S. Evans.
Book: Trinie Dalton et al: MYTHTYM
Casey McKinney01.30.09
A new collection drawing from Trinie Dalton’s theme based zines about Unicorns, Werewolves, and the natural world in a beautiful collection…
Book: My Vocabulary Did This To Me: The Collected Works of Jack Spicer
Casey McKinney01.14.09
Spicer’s one of the last San Francisco beat poets to avoid the seeming universal praise his bones are now swimming in, forty plus years after his…
2666 by Roberto Bolano: a review
Andy Beta12.26.08
Roberto Bolaño, Chile’s own prodigal poet has been getting an expansive amount of respect since his novels began being translated into English over a year ago. Bolaño, the longtime junky and self-affirmed outsider, passed away from liver failure in 2003; but we now fortunately have the translation of his last great unfinished novel, 2666, a sprawling, beefy, gruesome and enigmatic hunk of prognostication for where mankind may soon be headed. Best read of 2008? You decide. Review by Andy Beta.
Holiday with Preston Sturges
Jason Jude Chan12.23.08
This holiday season forget about George Seaton and a Miracle on 34th or Frank Capra and his Wonderful Life; for a change of pace, if you happen to be in New York City, come down to Film Forum for an homage to one of Hollywood’s greatest, Preston Sturges, the writer and director of Christmas in July and many other brilliant screwball comedies. The festival “Essential Sturges” runs from Christmas Eve through New Years day. Jason Jude Chan previews.
Frost/Nixon: in review
Adam Underhill12.21.08
If you are too young to know which came first, Deep Throat or “Deep Throat,” now is a good time to wiki some history on the presidential scandal known as Watergate. These days there will certainly be plenty to read about, as infamous informer Mark “Deep Throat” Felt has passed away just days before Ron Howard’s Frost/Nixon sees its nationwide theatrical release on December 25th. There have been other notable films on Richard Nixon, but Howard’s is different as it catches the man post-presidency, trying to secure his legacy against the reportage of David Friost, a rival in some ways as complex as Nixon himself. Adam Underhill reviews.
Digging for Dirt: The Life and Death of ODB
Michael Louie11.25.08
We all miss Big Baby Jesus, and no we ain’t talking about that little December squirt of joy, hell it ain’t even Thanksgiving yet. Y’all can start shopping on Friday. And if you do, pick up Jamie Lowe’s new book, Digging for Dirt: The Life and Death of ODB (that’s Ol’ Dirty Bastard, R.I.P., of the Wu-Tang Clan), a biography that’ll make a great stocking stuffer for anyone’s grandma. Michael Louie reviews, while Mr. jock draws Mr. Dirt McGirt in kind.
