Friday, February 29, 2008

Lost But Not Forgotten: The Woman Chaser (1999)


The Woman Chaser - (1999)
dir. Robinson Devor


The Negative Cutter Says: This underground, overlooked and underseen, retro-noir, dark comedy, based on a forgotten 10 cent pulp novel by cult-pulp writer Charles Willeford (whose novels have also been made into Monte Hellman's "Cockfighter" (1974) and George Armitage's "Miami Blues" (1990)), is hip twisted fun, that cuts like the chipped razor blade you forgot to change be for shaving. Patrick Warburton, wielding his always fascinating persona, here with more depth than is usually asked of him but that he is certainly capable of, is spectacular as Richard Hudson, a man who could sell anything to anyone and a experienced used car dealer who moves to L.A. to start a new dealership. The dealership is very successful but it holds nothing for him, and neither does much of anything else; except art. He has an epiphany that he needs to create something to justify his existence, so he decides to make a film. His stepfather, a Hollywood director back in his hey-day but who is well past his prime now, is the angle and connection he needs. Richard completes his film, but it gets caught in the eternally bloody Hollywood war between art and product.

Buy this on DVD for $7.00 at allcluesnosolutions.com

The Boom Operator says: One of my heroes (Patrick Warburton) really showing us what he's made of. Piss, Vinegar, Creativity, and a dashing exterior. Well shot and enjoyable to the last frame, I don't know how this movie flew under the radar so completely.

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Post Oscar show with Podcast

Howdy folks,
The "post oscar" show is in the books, granted I didn't give you much Oscar coverage. Quite frankly, I'm a bit over it...as if you need ANOTHER blog telling you what happened, which assumes that there was anything worth talking about that actually happened. Here's what I played:

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Hawaii Five-O - Morton Stevens - (1968)
John il Bastardo - Nico Fidenco - (1967)
The Man With One Red Shoe - Thomas Newman - (1985)
Heathers - David Newman - (1989)
Puppet On A Chain - Pierro Piccioni - (1971)
The Last Emperor - Ryuichi Sakamoto - (1987)
Dead Man - Neil Young - (1995)

DOWNLOAD THIS SHOW

So, I guess I will bitch about the Oscars a little after all. Why not...it seems the fashionable thing to do today, yes? So, in short. The Oscars stink. John Stewart does too. Hey, I like the Daily Show...but I don't think he's got quite the "host with the most" skill to wrangle up an event with our supposed "best of the best" in Hollywood I miss Steve Martin, Jack Benny, Jack Lemmon, and as much as it pains me to say this......Billy Crystal.
Nowadays the show is almost like watching a really pathetic episode of SNL Mad TV. On top of that, they seem to want to hurry these great Hollywood power players off the stage so fast just to make room for another poorly delivered Jon Stewart joke. I'd much rather listen to a heartfelt speech than watch a tired comedian squint at a teleprompter. I digress. It's the oscars, what can you expect.
On a less depressing note, Sean Lennon is stepping up to score the upcoming indie vampire flick Rosencrantz and Gildenstern are UN-Dead. Which considering it's starring Ralph Macchio, and based on the awesome work of it's namesake, I'm pretty pumped. About as pumped as I am to see the new live action AKIRA with Leo DiCaprio, seriously.

Saturday, February 23, 2008

Saturday Score Selection #12 : The Never Ending Story (1984)


The NeverEnding Story (1984)
music by Giorgio Moroder

Of all the score selections I've done since I started the Saturday feature, Giorgio Moroder seems to be the most popular. So I decided to give you a little more of him this week with the classic "The Never Ending Story" score. Before you go and get your knickers all in a wad, you need to know that Moroder wasn't the only one who was involved with this project, though his main theme outlived all of the work Klaus Doldinger ever did for the franchise. Just for that, I'm not going to give you the main theme, as you've all heard it before. I figured instead I'd give you some of the other work that Moroder did for this film (though of the 15 tracks on the released score, he only did 5). Enjoy these fun Italo disco-esque adventure classics. Maybe one day I'll give you a taste of the other half.

Oh? I guess I left out a review...It's awesome. Have fun.

Download "The Ivory Tower" by Giorgio Moroder
-and-
Download "Sleepy Dragon" by Giorgio Moroder

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Lost But Not Forgotten #3: The Peanut Butter Solution (1985)



"The Peanut Butter Solution" (aka "Tales For All #2") (1985) (Michael Rubbo)

The Negative Cutter Says: #2 in Canadian producer Rock Demer's bizarre and enchanting chronologically cataloged stand-alone "family" film series "Tales For All"; and it is without a doubt one of the wildest, weirdest, and most outrageously and ludicrously baffling of the whole series; of any series!.

1985 / 94mins / English Language / Color / Canada

Picture Quality: A (Source: VHS)

Pick up a copy dirt cheap over at
www.allcluesnosolutions.com

The Boom Operator says: Magic paint brushes made from the hair of a boy with magical growing hair who is kidnapped by some crazy painter...complete with paint brushes paint things that will happen in the real world. Why they didn't paint pictures of me with super models and gold bullion, I'll never understand.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Movies I'm embarassed about wanting to watch...

You know, maybe because the French really know how to make movies about love featuring catchy Parisian music shot totally on digital...or maybe because Helvetica font just makes things look extra artsy, or that watching a "feel good musical" about threesomes just sounds fun...but I kind of want to see this.

Les Chansons d'amour

But just in case you start to question how potent, virile and well endowed I am, or question if I can lift a truck and eat nails for breakfast...I also want you to know I kind of want to see this as well. Even though it looks terrible.


Red Belt

Though, in a perfect world, they'd combine them both, and it'd hopefully look something like this...

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

PODCAST + Pour one out for HD-DVD, as if you need another blog to tell you.

Howdy Folks,
Another show for the books, you heard music from the following:

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The Wiz - Charlie Smalls - (1978)
The City of Lost Children - Angelo Badalmenti - (1995)
The 13th Warrior - Jerry Goldsmith - (1999)
Starship Troopers - Basil Poledouris - (1997)
Splendor - Armando Trovajoli - (1986)
Selections from Various Werner Herzog Films
Heavy Metal - Elmer Bernstien - (1981)

DOWNLOAD THIS SHOW NOW


In other news, like 99.99% of the other movie bloggers out there, I'm going to have to pour one out for Toshiba's HD DVD format. If you haven't heard the news, then you need to step up on your net game, cause it's all over "teh interwebz" like voyeur cams and free ipods. With that said, I'm not going to bore you with the details but I will give you this warning. Do not go run out and buy a Sting-ray, Blu-Beam, Heat-ray, Blu-jay or whatever the hell it's called player. The technology just isn't polished enough yet, plus it's mad $$$ to get it. Sony is notorious for releasing newer versions of their hardware as they slowly start to improve their technology leaving us consumers left to keep purchasing upgrades. Now that they have the market cornered...who knows what they'll do. Be patient. You really don't need to watch 300 in Hi Def yet. It doesn't look THAT much better, plus it's a terrible movie. Granted if you're locked into a dick measuring contest with your neighbor and his home theater set up, then go blow your cash on fancy equipment you'll trash in a few years, like a MCA's LaserDisc or Sony's betamax and mini-disc players as well as their abandonded SDDS, ATRAC and HiFD formats...oh, and the struggling UMDs. I guess one victory in seven isn't bad.

Do yourself a favor and go to your local A/V store and stand in front of the Blu-Ray demo booth and actually WATCH it for once, just be sure it isn't a pixar movie, cause that stuff was made for Hi Def. Guess what? It doesn't look that great. Cause Hi-Def isn't that great yet. Watch carefully in places with lots of motion, you can see giant pixels everywhere from the encoding of the digital video. I suppose if you want to watch nothing but CGI movies and PowerPoint presentations, then you're good to go. Though, I don't know about you...but I like to watch all kinds of movies.


Betamax wasn't so bad...it just never took off.

Saturday, February 16, 2008

Saturday Score Selection #11: Non ho sonno (2001)


Non ho sonno (2001)
music by Goblin

When Dario Argento wants to slash up a bunch Italians and needs music to do it by, who do you think he calls? Goblin, that's who. If you've ever watched an Italian horror movie ever, you've probably heard some music from Goblin but might not have known it... these guys have scored some of the best. After a 20 year break, Argento and Goblin finally reunited for this project, and this score is pretty awesome. I almost want to put on some black gloves and slice someone right now. This score is creepy, suspenseful, but has that neato rock guitar sound that goblin works so well with. I leave you with two tracks I particularly enjoy that capture both the classic Goblin rock sound and the classic Goblin "oh shit something is in this room and it's going to garrote me" sound. Enjoy.

Download "Non ho Sonno" by Goblin via yousendit
and
Download "Ulisse" by Goblin via yousendit

Download the whole album from Amazon.com

Friday, February 15, 2008

Lost But Not Forgotten #2: Hit Man (1972)


"Hit Man" (1972) (George Armitage)

A "blaxploitation" version of Ted Lewis's novel "Jack's Return Home" (the basis for Mike Hodges's "Get Carter" a year earlier); by cult writer/filmmaker George Armitage (who more recently directed the masterful "Grosse Pointe Blank" (1997), and in the 70's scripted the wild "Darktown Strutters" (1975) and clever "Gas-s-s-s" (1971) for Gene and Roger Corman).

1972 / 90mins. / Original Aspect Ratio (1.85:1 Widescreen) / English Language / Color / USA

Picture Quality: A (Source: Rare Television Broadcast)

Pick it up cheap on DVD over at
www.allcluesnosolutions.com

(Boom Operator says: "Perfect for February!")

Thursday, February 14, 2008

13 Films that prove it isn't worth it on Valentine's


Howdy Folks,

Looking for a few movies to rent this evening so you can snuggle up in bed with that special someone? Look no further. Gentlemen, if you'd like no better than to show your lady how much of a thorn in our crotches sides they really are, make sure you've picked up one of these babies from your favorite rental establishment. Better yet, pick one of these up anyway and remember why it is you're sitting at home this Thursday watching LOST stuffing your face full of double cheese Krystals wondering who in the sam hell "Jacob" is.

I present (in no particular order)
13 Movies That Prove It's Not Worth It On Valentines!
(Why 13? Cause I'm not VH1 damnit! I don't have to work in round numbers for you.)

1. The Karate Kid: 2 (1986) - After you single handedly bringing down the evil cobra kais, what does your girlfriend do? She dumps your ass for the star QB, and then what? You have to fly to the other side of the world to find a date in Okinawa, where all girls like tall gaijin. Think it'd be that easy? Hell No. After battling a tsunami, some angry karate guy gets pissed at you for making eyes with this dame and challenges you to a fight to the death. Women just don't appreciate the hoops we jump through.

2. Better Off Dead (1985) - Girl dumps guy, guy tried to kill himself A LOT. Has to ski down the break neck K-12 just to get her attention, finally realizes that girls suck. Obtains happiness...also has sparks with a foreign exchange student. Proving AGAIN. American gals suck. Also proving that being desperate and pathetic is really cute only in the movies, and when played by John Cusak.

3. Very Bad Things (1998) - Christian Slater and John Favreau show us that marriage is more trouble than it's worth, and usually ends up in a life time of misery or even multiple homicides. The plot twist at the end? Totally predictable. The wife, whom they are trying to keep all this a secret from, ends up being more of a homicidal maniac than all of them put together. Go Figure.

4. The Last American Virgin (1982) - A tale that isn't afraid to stop sugar coating things for chubby nice guys everywhere...because guess what? We They do finish last. Plot: Nice guy likes girl who likes his asshole friend. Asshole friend knocks up girl and splits, nice guy is there for her and pays for her abortion, he thinks things are going well, only to walk in on her and that asshole making out at a party. Tears. End Credits. Sound familiar?

5. Trust(1990) - A great film by Hal Hartley that shows us that dating "the one" can lead to you losing your job, getting beat up by your drunken father, sexually harassed by your girlfriends mom in an attempt to get you to break up, and ultimately leaving you in your former work place with a grenade because you've had it with all this shit, hoping that maybe the world will just let you do what you want. Sorry. You end up going to jail anyway leaving your significant other watching you drive off in the back of a police car. End Credits.

6. Conan The Barbarian (1981) - Oliver Stone and John Milius show us that if you're going to be the king of any sort of Age, then falling in love just doesn't work out. Pretty soon you'll have some snake cult leader realize your weakness and shoot your broad with a poison snake arrow thing leaving you bitter and cold for the rest of your days. At least revenge fills the heart as well as, if not better than, love.

7. The War of the Roses (1989) - Here we have Danny DaVito showing us how a marriage can be foiled by greed. Your baby lives in your swank mansion and she then starts to wonder if the grass is greener...like women have a habit of doing. However, she still likes the house and is willing to fight for it....with knives and murder plots. Of course as male your hate eventual rekindles your love for her and in your moment of death together you reach for her, only to find her pushing your hand away. Typical.

8. Oldboy (2003) *spoiler alert*- In this film we are reminded why you should never fall in love with girls you meet in restaurants. More often than not, it usually turns out to be a ploy by a childhood enemy trying to abduct you and trick you into falling in love with your own daughter as revenge for peeking on him in elementary school. Then you cut your own tongue out. I see too many relationships go sour like this...damn shame really.

9. Death Becomes Her (1992) - A perfect look at how the ladies can get so caught up in vanity and jealousy when competing for another man, that they actually don't care about the man at all. Same old story you know? Girl drinks elixir to become immortal to look better so she can steal her ex husband back, then other girl tried to top it. Then they just carry on through eternity trying to look better than the other one making the poor man have to patch them up every time they blow a hole or cut a limb off of each other, till he grows too old and meets his eventual death. Of course, by this point the girls are buds. You see it every day...

10. Army of Darkness (1992) - Handsome, witty, strong? Doesn't matter. Your girl from last time turned into a zombie and you had to chop her to pieces, think things can't get worse? So you meet a cute and innocent peasant girl, then what? Well of course she gets seduced by your evil undead twin who has a sweet skeleton army, do you have one? You'll just end up having to give her a first rate pike job in the tummy, and she'll never believe it hurt you more than it hurt her.

11. Dellamorte Dellamore (1994) - Even with Rupert Everett's charm falling in love can sometimes lead to a strange journey into your own sub conscious causing you to go on killing sprees pretending you're the angel of death and lamenting the loss of some chick you killed cause you thought she was undead. Then just like a girl, she'll tease you from beyond the grave haunting you with various super hot images of herself, convince you to chop your wang off, then run away with another man.

12. Fa yeung nin wa (aka In the Mood for Love) (2000)- What's worse than having a significant other that travels a lot on business but is secretly having an affair? Having a neighbor who's significant other travels a lot on businesses and has secret affairs with your significant other that travels a lot on business. Then you and your neighbor start to figure it out and your own flame develops, but you both are too chicken to leave your partner or even do the horizontal mambo and spend the rest of your life regretting it.

13. Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) - You probably don't realize how sad of a movie this really is do you? Sure Robin Williams can dance around like an old woman for you to get your jollies, but stop and think about what is going on in this film. A free spirited man gets pushed around by his wife to a point where she leaves him and takes the kids away. She won't let him see the one thing he cares about most, driving him to madness and causing him to dress and pretend to be a house keeper while his ex wife goes and fools around with 007 himself (Pierce Brosnan). Even in the end when he makes up for his follies, the best that old wench can do is let him have limited visitation. A "feel good comedy" my ass.

Welp. Hope you have a wonderful "holiday" and remember there are plenty of good movies to rent at the video store that AREN'T on the new release wall!


yes, that's me.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Podcast and Roy Schieder tribute...plus Tolkien rises from the grave!

Howdy Folks,

This week we had a fantastic show (of course), take notice of the last four films in the playlist as it was a small tribute to the work of Roy Schieder. Download the show and take a listen!
DOWNLOAD THIS SHOW
via media fire

Fitzcarraldo - Popol Vuh - (1982)
Field of Dreams - James Horner - (1989)
Crossed Swords - Maurice Jarre - (1977)
Benji - Euel Box - (1974)
Cleopatra Jones - J.J. Johnson - (1973)
French Connection - Don Ellis - (1971)
JAWS - John Williams - (1975)
Naked Lunch - Howard Shore & Ornette Coleman - (1991)
Seaquest DSV - Jon Debney - (1993)

DOWNLOAD THIS SHOW
via media fire

In other news, it seems that J.R.R. Tolkien is managing to sue New Line Cinema from beeyyooond theee graaaavvveee. In proper Middle Earth Fashion, a guy that died 35 years ago is pissed about profits from the films. (Full Story) Okay, so maybe it's not him, but some illuminati group known as "The Tolkien Trust" who claim to be a charity organization; but as far as I can tell they don't benefit anyone really. (Check it out for yourself) My hypothesis? Sauron. That guy's been wanting to fire up Mt. Doom ever since Return of the King. Why not start a charity group to raise money to do it? Anyway, New Line Cinema is under heavy fire, and not just from the orcs at the Tolkien Trust, but also from Peter Jackson for profit reasons as well. I wonder what this means for the planned Hobbit films?

Monday, February 11, 2008

Roy Scheider dies age 75



Roy Scheider just died after a two year battle with cancer of the plasma (myeloma). First of all, I didn't think you could even get plasma cancer...I wonder if he picked that up on his adventures on Seaquest DSV...must be some crazy deep sea cancer (first Jonathan Brandis, now this?). I was really bummed to hear this news, as he was totally awesome...and even killed JAWS. This guy KILLED JAWS. THE JAWS...but cancer got him. Just shows you how tough cancer can be.
He sailed to the great beyond berthing from Little Rock AR, which is about 3 hours away from me. That'd be cool, if we weren't talking about him dying and everything.
Check his obituary here. He was a kick ass dude.

Check out JAWS 30th Anniv Ed.

Check out Seaquest DSV: Season 1

Check out Seaquest DSV: Season 2

Saturday, February 09, 2008

Saturday Score Selection #10 : The Adventures of Baron Munchausen


The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988)
music by Micheal Kamen


Heath Ledger and Terry Gilliam seems to be on everyones tongue and/or blog lately, what with the potential death of The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus...oh and the actual death of Heath Ledger. All this talk has once again stirred up yet another chapter of the "Terry Gilliam Curse". (If you've never heard about it...follow that link. It's pretty interesting) I thought that this week I'd bring you music from a Gilliam film that was no less troubled, but actually got finished in the end. One that many people overlook, but I consider to be a fantastic fantasy/adventure, and that's The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. I won't go into a film review, as we're talking about music here...but like the film, the score by Micheal Kamen is innocent and whimsical with a touch of magic and adventure. I find this one of the most interesting Kamen scores out there, as it really shows how diverse he can be when scoring films. We've all heard his work on Highlander, Lethal Weapon, and X-Men, but this has quite a different feel that he pulls off just fine. So I leave you this week with a couple of very out of print tracks that capture Gilliam's great sense for the bizarre and Kamens broad versatility. Enjoy.
Download Micheal Kamen's - Wednesday via yousendit
-and-
Download Micheal Kamen & Eric Idle - The Sultan via yousendit

Get the film on DVD for 15 bucks!

ps- when the link dies, you can always find my score selections
streaming here.

Thursday, February 07, 2008

Lost But Not Forgotten #1: 99 And 44/100% Dead (1974)

Howdy gang!

I'm excited to offer a new weekly feature here at the Speakerbox, contributed by an old co-host of the radio show and dear friend of mine The Negative Cutter. He runs an out of print movie website All Clues, No Solutions, and each Thursday I'll be spotlighting one, giving you his short review, and you can even go buy it. CHEAP. Oh man, I'm pumped? How about you? Let's get to it.



"99 And 44/100% Dead" (1974) (John Frankenheimer)

The Negative Cutter says: "Offbeat gangster melodrama with pop art and new wave sensibilities; about a hitman (Richard Harris) hired by one mobster to knock off a rival gang, who has subsequently hired arch enemy hitman (Chuck Connors with an interchangeable appendage apparatus) to do the opposite. Kookiness abounds as characters and scenes seem out of moving comic books. Strange little absurdities pop up all over the place when least expected and actors play out bizarre sequences straight faced, all of which boldly feeds your curiosity. Stylish and peculiar. It is a lost mini-revolution of studio avant-garde deviation. Frankenheimer later regretted it but you might not."

1974 / 98mins. / English Language / Color / USA

Buy this for $7.00 on DVD.



(note from the Boom Operator: I love this movie, especially the scissor handed Chuck Connors.)

Tuesday, February 05, 2008

Technical problems, but all is not lost!


Howdy folks,
Another week has come and gone and normally I'd have a brand new show for you guys. However, due to some technical problems at the station, I couldn't record a podcast, so I just played a show from the archives that I've never made available here on the website. It was a pretty good one too. It originally aired on August 20th, 2007. I'd have a playlist for you guys, but I'm too lazy to go through and make it. So you'll just have to be surprised!

DOWNLOAD THIS SHOW via Mediafire

Instead of a playlist for my podcast I'm going to give you a short list of some cool DVDs that came out today!

Perfect Strangers - 1st and 2nd Seasons! (1986)
Remember Balky? Yeah...me either.
21 bucks at Amazon.com

Portrait In Black / Madame X (Double Feature) (1966)
Lana Turner...Film Noir...say no more.
13 bucks at Amazon.com

The Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection - Volume 10.2 (Giant Gila Monster / Swamp Diamonds / Teenage Strangler / Giant Spider Invasion) (1964)
Dude, it's MST3K...nuff said.
45 bucks at Amazon.com

Anthony Bourdain Collection 2 (2005)
This guy is the Steve McQueen of the kitchen...and who I want to be when I grow up.
18 bucks at Amazon.com

Tootsie - 25th Anniversary Edition (1982)
Bwahaha! Dustin Hoffman in drag...so classic
15 bucks at Amazon.com

Roxy Music - Thrill of It All: A Visual History 1972-1982 (2006)
Love em or hate em...they know some visuals
17 bucks at Amazon.com

The Whitest Kids U' Know (2007)
A comedy troupe that actually makes me not want to hang myself
20 bucks at Amazon.com

Midnight Express (1978)
If you don't have the Giorgio Moroder soundtrack to this, shame on you.
15 bucks at Amazon.com
Get the score at iTunes

You've Got Mail (Deluxe Edition) (1998)
Order this and you're a homo...and you smell, and you need to put your foot down at home more often
13 bucks at Amazon.com

Jean-Luc Godard Box Set
Contains the films: Passion, First Name: Carmen, Détective, & Oh Woe is Me
26 bucks at Amazon.com

Drive-In Cult Classics - 8 Movie Set (1975)
Stuff like this is always fun...and affordable to boot
10 bucks at Amazon.com


Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (Special Edition) (1964)
A great Ukrainian film released by the good people over at KINO
27 bucks at Amazon.com

You know what? There's a couple of other ones that tickled my fancy, but I'm tired of typing, and you're probably tired of reading. So, if you like any of those...follow those direct links and grab a copy for yourself. Heck, it even supports my broke ass.