“Dancin’ Fool”- Frank Zappa (1979)- Gotta love that bizarre Zappa!
“Ocean Man”- Ween (1997)- Classic Ween from their incredible Mollusk LP
“Aja”- Steely Dan (1977)- I don’t really like this song or that genre of music anymore, but for what it is worth they clearly demonstrate excellent musicianship.
“Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance”- Frank Zappa (1968)- Damn, more Zappa!
Full Title: Reservoir Dogs Director: Quentin Tarantino Year: 1992 Comments: Reservoir Dogs is where it all began. With Dogs, writer/director Quentin Tarantino forever engraved his name in th echelon of badass cinema. Here we have our introduction to the dish de Tarantino, a dish best served cold: classic dialogue that has absolutely nothing to do with the plot (everything from astute interpretations of Madonna’s “Like A Virgin” to the subtleties in what a white “bitch” will put up with and what a black “bitch” will not), gruesome and excessive violence, a non-chronological storyline, and coolest of all a bumpin’ soundtrack with classic 70s hits. Tarantino uses these various elements to ameliorate an otherwise stale genre of film. Instead of focusing merely on the plot, he instead pulls back and utilizes the perceived frivolous dialogue as key character development and even foreshadowing. For example, in the opening scene when it comes time for the gangsters to cough up a tip, Mr. Pink (Steve Buscemi) refuses because he does not believe in it, while Mr. White (Harvey Kietel) passionately argues that waitresses rely on these tips to survive. Pink admits that he thinks it is absurd that the government taxes their tips, but he still will not pay extra i.e. go against his own self-interests. White, on the other hand, is willing to help another person out when they need it. Later in the film we see this same situation: Mr. Orange (Tim Roth) is dying and White displays incredible compassion for his comrade, and insists that he receives medical attention immediately. Pink does not want Orange to die and somewhat sympathizes for him, but makes it clear that he will not put his neck on the line for someone else. This is top notch story telling from Tarantino and Dogs definitely showcases some of his greatest creations. Grade: A+
Full Title: Pulp Fiction Director: Quentin Tarantino Year: 1994 Comments: Without a doubt, this is Tarantino’s Magnum Opus. His finest film and one of the finest ever made. It baffles me when people say they have not seen this. Just scene after scene of witty, pop culture drenched dialogue, stylized violence, caustic humor, and above all memorable characters. Probably the best work for all involved- made Samuel L. “foot fucking master” Jackson the star he is today. Grade: A+ (My Favorite Film)
Full Title: Inglourious Basterds Director: Quentin Tarantino Year: 2009 Comments: The following is a review I did upon the film’s release, one of my first film reviews for KLYAM:
First, I’ll offer you a brief rundown of the main characters
Lieutenant Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt)- Basterd, Jewish American Hillbilly crazy for revenge and leader of the renegade soldiers known as the Basterds. Provides much of the film’s comic relief. He orders his men to bring him 100 Nazi scalps each.
Hans Landa aka “The Jew Hunter” (Christoph Waltz)- The film’s chief nemesis. He is one of the highest ranking Nazis and though he is pure evil, he often displays a romantic, jovial, and courteous demeanor.
Shosanna Dreyfus (Melanie Laurent)- A French Jewish girl, who narrowly escaped the massacre of her family at the hands of the Nazis and while on the run became the proprietor of an exquisite French Cinema.
Bridget von Hammersmark (Diane Kruger)- A famous movie star in Goebbels’ Nazi Germany film industry, whilst also a spy for the British/Allies. Like always, Kruger is extremely sexy!
Fredrick Zoller (Daniel Bruhl)- The Nazi’s model sniper, killed hundreds of enemy soldiers in just a few short days. After gaining fame for his military “heroism” he became the biggest star of Nazi propaganda films.
Staff Sergeant Donny Donnowitz aka “The Bear Jew“( Eli Roth) A Bostonian Basterd that takes pride in beating his Nazi victims with a baseball bat. The crowd cheered when this guy made his killings!
Final Thoughts: An instant classic! Comparable to the Kill Bill series and certainly better than Tarantino’s last flick, Death Proof (which was good). It’s a violent, gory, hilarious, alternate version of history. This is unique because, unlike most War films it isn’t a Drama. Tarantino doesn’t make Drama films. Period. This is straight up revenge! An action packed revenge movie in the style of a Spaghetti Western with elements of the French New Wave era, like most Tarantino works. The soldiers in this film, the Basterds, aren’t portrayed as people with emotions, families, or lives outside of war, like most movies of the genre. Instead, they are fierce Guerrilas only concerned with one thing… KILLING NAZIS! On the other side of the fence, we see Nazi soldiers who do have emotions, love for the cinema, sons waiting at home to play catch with,etc. I’ve never seen a film show this side of the enemy. Remarkably we still cheer for the Americans and boo the Nazis; after all it’s a REVENGE movie! In short, Quentin is our generation’s chief raconteur; you can tell he cares about his characters and therefore we care about them.
Go See Inglourious Basterds Now!!!
P.S. For you Tarantino nuts out there (like me), he makes tremendously effective uses of his trademark “Corpse View” shot.
“I just wanted to make a sequel to Caddy Shack (1980).” That was the explanation Harmony “Harmful” Korine offered David Letterman and his audience for why he wrote the screenplay for the controversial film Kids (1995). Anyone who has seen Kids knows that clearly Harmony was pulling a fast one on the Late Show viewers. Kids follows twenty-four hours in the lives of a few teenagers in New York City as they have unprotected sex, consume copious amounts of alcohol and drugs, and commit various acts of anti-social behavior. Suffice to say both films share the common trait of having people in them, and that is about it. It is fifteen years later and Harmony is still perplexing us with his bizarre, groundbreaking films; in fact his latest feature, Trash Humpers (2009) could be his most notorious, and yes the title is to be taken literally, just watch the trailer. Before we dissect Trash, let’s take a look at what makes Harmony the unique filmmaker that he is and why his work has caused so much debate in film circles.
Harmony Korine’s career began as a screenwriter for the cult classic Kids (1995); the film was simultaneously praised and condemned for its brutally honest portrayal of urban life in America. Harmony depicted a side of America most folks would rather avoid, this trend was further augmented in Harmony’s next film, his directorial debut, Gummo (1997). Gummo was an altogether new kind of film with images and sounds coming from everywhere. The movie has no real linear plot, but rather serves as a collection of highly impressionable and memorable scenes/vignettes. What we see and hear is almost always unsettling and more often than not downright vile. Like Kids Gummo was extremely controversial and most critics walked away from the film feeling deeply shocked and offended. Most viewers criticized Harmony for exploiting his (non) actors as well as the issues of mental illness and poverty, amongst others.
With Harmony’s past film Mister Lonely (2007) he pulled back a little bit and made a somewhat more conventional film. This time there was a narrative, in the traditional sense of the word, and more professional actors participated. Do not worry though, Harmony still maintained his peculiar aesthetic as the story followed the life of a Michael Jackson look-alike living in Paris. Now, with his new film Trash Humpers he is in some ways returning to his old form. Mister Lonely was a bigger budget production and visually speaking looked like a more accessible film by his standards. Most artists would have moved further in this direction, but Harmony is not like most artists. Trash Humpers is evidence that he is still making the films he wants to make. As self-indulgent as ever, the trailer shows various clips of masked individuals literally humping trash, vandalizing, and mumbling disturbing lullabies. The film has an old VHS look to it, which adds to its raw, analog quality. In an interview with The Stranger Video, Harmony stated that “in some ways it’s the most American movie ever made… I was hoping it would get showed in public schools and become part of like a mandatory viewing, because I feel like it clues you in to what is great about America.” Once again, the theme of the ugly side of America plays a prominent role in Harmony’s works and the motive of those works. Now, I agree with Mr. Korine that his film does show us how great America can be, but I would bet my entire life and the lives of my loved ones that Trash Humpers will not become mandatory viewing for public school students.
A review of Trash Humpers (2009) will be arriving in the near future…
Be sure to check out our Band of the Week , which you can always find in the right hand corner. This week is the one and only Goner artist- Ty Segall. Ty makes invigorating, catchy, and ultimately as he would say “fun” music. Check him out. Here’s a song…
Kids Like You & Me (KLYAM) 