Predisposer

2015-02-14T13:50:00.000-08:00

Bitter Moon
(Roman Polanski, 1992)

Boring English people meet obnoxious Franco-American couple; really interesting Indian character is woefully underplayed.

Let's cut the crap and get right down to it. This film sucks. It's one of them weird over the top "perverted" sex movies designed to shock. Sadly, nothing is terribly perverted or gasp worthy. We have Hollywood to thank for that. Having truly lived thru the era of release was fond of some of the trappings, but didn't find the jolts jolting. Though a decade its senior, Bitter Moon is akin to The Dreamers (Bernardo Bertolucci, 2003) w/ the snore inducing sex romp. However, what saved The Dreamers was excessive nudity. The term saved is used in the loosest sense.

'Aight, Bitter Moon. What you need to know! Poorly written, unnecessary scenes, excessively long scenes, excessively long runtime, wooden acting, amaterish line delivery, &c. Sitting there wondered to thineself, "why in the h-e-double hockey stick did I select this title again?" And so while the film whiled itself away ran to the interweb... right! Vangelis soundtrack. Sadly, even so this trait was not enough to grant a pass. Sample of sick ass V-dawg cut: Dorky saxophone licks.

And so if you're the type that finds 50 Shades of Grey scandalous and tittilating this one's for you! If you understand that there are positions beyond missionary and enjoy actually good movies this one is not for you!

Not Recommend.

All that aside, there were perhaps two interesting scenes towards the end which genuinely dripped contempt, likely even disdain. Though, it is acknowledged such is comparatively related to rest of film. Not Recommend stands.

wait it's set in korea, but about vietnam?

2015-02-14T13:31:00.000-08:00

M*A*S*H
(Robert Altman, 1970)

Unrelentingly crude field surgeons romp 3 miles from the front.

Pleasingly well cast (❤ u E.Gould), oddly paced, sensation of deep background. To be sure based upon a text, as are most films, but modified to critique/discuss topics of the time. Or so scant research hath revealed. A spirited conversation w/ rrriles did ensue asking, "Have we, 'Murricah, proxy films re: Mid-East military excursions of the past 3-ish decades?" Converstaion courtesy Google Talk which Google is shutting down today, or soonish. Thank you Google for removing/changing yet another perfectly fine service and forcing yours truly into yet another overly heavy, unnecessarily option laced, pseudo-app. Jennywho. That is to say, are there films set in Vietnam, but about Desert Storm? Or really as stage for discussing . Oh, sorry, "policing action."

Right, so anyhow. At the core, M*A*S*H does indeed exude good filmness. However, best consumed by folks living thru the era, or those w/ better understanding of the social context. That said, as one might be interested, do look into such. A dated film at first blush, but truly a window into a day long gone by. Unlike say, Nighthawks.

Recommend'd.

Note: ❤ listed as HEAVY BLACK HEART. How accidentally topical. Is that serendipity? I'm not going to bother w/ looking the word up, so I'll never know. As you, dear reader, are more studious the truth shall be known.

omg occupy post box!

2012-01-23T09:23:00.000-08:00

"Highlights of the new single-piece First-Class Mail pricing, effective Jan. 22, 2012, include:

Letters (1 oz.) – 1-cent increase to 45 cents
Letters additional ounces – unchanged at 20 cents
Postcards – 3-cent increase to 32 cents
Letters to Canada or Mexico (1 oz.) – 5-cent increase to 85 cents.
Letters to other international destinations – 7-cent increase to $1.05"

http://about.usps.com/news/national-releases/2011/pr11_116.htm

Bro jus' can't do no wrong

2012-01-22T21:12:00.000-08:00

となりのトトロ
(Miyazaki Hayao, 1988)

Giant cuddly bro and anatomically correct cat-pal help siblings strengthen their bond.

Perhaps the 4th or so Miyazaki film I've consumed and y'know what? None of them are bad. Bro's gotta pretty good good-streak. Anyhow, like so many excellent things made a hundred years ago glad this one was! While the charm, or whimsy if you will, of the animation and story can be struck anytime, it's the BA synth heavy tunes that are a product of the time of publication. Suppose not much to say that isn't already common-knowledge about Studio Ghibli stuff. More than excellent art and animation. Succinct and charming plot, dialog. However, while trying to find pictures of cat balls this lil gem turned up. Ah, the creativity of the knitting crowd!

Recommended!

You love that which you can lose, yourself, a woman, a country.

2012-01-20T14:08:00.000-08:00

Solyaris
(Andrey Tarkovskiy, 1972)

First contact is with the physically manifested mind.

Holy cow, was like watching 5 movies! That were all incredibly slow and confusing, but still higher than the bar known as "good." Rather enjoyed the space station sets. Would like to know more about how such an authentic decayed and unmaintained look was achieved. Quite glad this was made way back when. Can only imagine the cluster-F CG would have made this. And to that end there is the post 2000 G.Clooney reissue so... But maybe this is a compare and contrast I'll not bother w/. The beauty herein is far too perfect to disrupt w/ lame sauce remakes.

Anyhow, this is an indescribably deep introspective psychological journey. One I was enthused to take, but really didn't fully comprehend what I was getting myself into. At times the introspection is so intense it hurts and you think that's the "aha!" and the credits will roll, but no. It goes on and on. The balance between painfully slow and gripping is awkward indeed. Yet despite all that--esp being confused by the drive thru Tokyo sequence--I heartily recommend to anyone looking for a more cerebral and off the beaten path viewing. Note, however, this may not score points w/ your new found movie buff friends. This shit is for the true hardcore film nerd. Not your name droppin', angst ridden couch potato(e).

Recommended, but brace yourself!

Cinema ended in 1991, nothing was left to be said

2012-01-18T18:18:00.000-08:00

Slacker
(Richard Linklater, 1991)

A menagerie of dorks, weirdos, losers, cheats, psychos, and assorted rabble.

Hands down of the greatest films on celluloid to-date. Wonderfully insightful and well woven peek into the life of all manner of strange birds; open type observed and seamlessly the next presented and allowed to describe itself. Many of these characters I met during the days at the junkyard and as such the shifty hot rodders hold a certain tender spot in my heart (ah yes, I know you well sneak parts-thru-the-fence guy and I have foiled you more than once). For those tangled up in this side of life it's an animated mug book. For those who wished they were cool, this will allow them to finally credibly make up stories about all those crazies they never really met.

Recommended, highly!

You Shoulda Been There

2012-01-17T15:42:00.000-08:00

Silent Movie
(Mel Brooks, 1976)

Madcap trio sets out to save the day using well-worn(out) charm of yesteryear.

Mel Brooks, Marty Feldman, and Dom DeLuise set out in a silent film about making a silent film. A novel romp parodying and borrowing charm from the early days of cinema with mixed results. There is a sense that this was better viewed when new, way back when, since there is an apparent leaning-on of contemporary personalities (one more educated on pop would know them and gain more enjoyment) and old-school folks by then standards (wager to say wholly unknown now). Gags run the gamut of didn't quite get it?, ho-hum, and downright hilarious. Would have been nice if there were fewer dead-audio spots and if the text screens were treated better; printer's decorations or some such. A film with Bernadette Peters will always earn extra brownie points from yours truly.

Maybe not the best for solo or non-sexually-charged paired viewing, but certainly a good one for group movie nights where banter is the focus and on-screen funnies bring extra levity.

Recommended, contextually!

Sometimes fiction is stranger than reality. Should reality be in caps?

2011-02-27T21:58:00.000-08:00

Miracle at St. Anna
(Spike Lee, 2008)

Buffalo soliders surrounded by the Wehrmacht fight each other, locals, flashbacks.

It's sorta like Saving Private Ryan, Band of Brothers, and Buffalo Soliders, but isn't nearly as awesome as any of these. Not even close. In fact not even entirely sure what to say... Sure the combat was pretty decent, tho not as amazing as the three (3) aforementioned films, dialog unintentionally hilarious, and surprise boob shots on two occasions; and yet none of the pieces really came together? What happened here? Well, for starters everyone was too clean for being out in the field. The story far too fantastic; making a film around fact would have really helped here. Wildly unnecessary closeups, establishing shots, intro & outro sequencing, go-nowhere character building, confusing and contradicting messages (within one scene no less!)... The list does go on, but I'd rather get to my fish and make some cookie dough. The film was freakin' 160min! If you're gonna make a film marathon long it's gotta be at least as good as Das Boot and this ain't! You know what. Enough. Time to end this. Tho it is worthy to mention that R.Ebert said "one of the best battle scenes I can remember, on par with Saving Private Ryan." (not even close. not even. jus' sayin' only bein' real) Jus' a lil note to all y'all kiddies out there. Maybe not the most credible source for movie reviews any more. All in all, a fine example of the trouble I get myself into by not reading up on a film before grabbing it/watching any title I hear of.

Verdict:
¡DO NOT WANT!

79min Short

2011-02-27T21:37:00.000-08:00

Before I Self Destruct
(50 Cent, 2009)

Former baller struggles to support genius little brother.

If I followed the credits correctly, written, directed, produced, music by Curtis Jackson. So that makes it pretty much awesome. Oh, and the fact it's on disc 2 of the album by the same title equals extra cookies. Action sequences were awesome, fast, brutal. Real life vomiting! Leadin' chick pretty hot. Love scene was interesting. Somehow they managed to show the entirety of the boobs, but never the nipple. The editor deserves a freakin' Oscar for that work since there is no way in hell the cherry on top should have not been visible w/ those angles. There's an interesting mix of "how it is" and fantasy in the film, er short, that adds a bit of whimsy. Such as the scene wherein Fiddy & his grocery store coworker are talkin' about a fly honey who comes into their humble house of employ compared to the wild over the top speech of the neighborhood king pin.

Overall, Hollywood would be wise to take some lessons from Mr. Jackson. 1) Guns 2) Blood 3) Broads 4) Keep it under 90min

Verdict:
If you're the kinda person to want to listen to 50 Cent albums beyond "Get Rich or Die Tryin'" then this film is for you!

YouTube Heroes #3

2009-10-19T13:10:00.000-07:00

Brooklyn- and blood-based band The Gregory Brothers have been on an edutaining roll with "Auto-Tune the News," now in its ninth episode.

To my micro-nostalgic mind, though, the series reached its harmonically enhanced pinnacle way back in April of this year, with help from Katie Couric and some very, very thin ice:

BREAK YO SELF

2009-10-17T08:23:00.000-07:00

another example of the spendocrats taking away our freedom

"highlights"

* Check-out limit: 50 items
* Interlibrary Loan fee: $5 for each item obtained
* Items designated for children 12 and under: Daily fines of 15 cents per item
* Bring borrowing limits and fees in line with other library systems

but seriously, who needs more than 50--or even 50 for that matter--things checked out at once.

Ron Paul 2012

Poor old Volunteer Tumefika

2009-10-14T16:49:00.000-07:00

Original text courtesy of my good friend Abe. Translation courtesy of teh Googles.

English -> Afrikaans -> Yiddish -> Filipino -> Swahili -> Estonian -> Maltese -> Catalan -> Thai -> English

Number seven years ago, but their focus is the Chinese people the freedom that the new focus of all human actions are created equal.

While this country a good part in the war or who are important in pregnancy can be affected. We are limited in major wars - the war area. Volunteer Tumefika at the bottom of the farm for the rest of the lower leg end his life in cattle. Effective way to improve what they deserved what we do.

But in terms of a choice - not holy - holy land - no. I dare and die in this battle of the many dedicated fish we can add or remove poverty. Earth Funny little known L. grieve or remember the set but I can not remember why, here. This is our lives, but their commitment to work is not done here and those who fought and fish art are far better. here. We will be better allocated to other than us - flowers die with remorse services they provide in the final full test - We regret the death of the art treatment of many free Highline Shaka - claims that country. Under the new freedom is God - the people and government employees who die in the field.

---

In related news, for a good time click here.

The Friday Mixtape

2009-10-09T10:46:00.000-07:00

So here is a thing I have been doing:

http://rrriles.com/mixtape/

Today's installment (the 4th in a pseudo-weekly series) has a fairly obvious and superficial theme, but I guess any theme is better than none at all. I hope you like it.

Mad props, by the way, to the developers of Opentape, an open-source clone of the essentially defunct Muxtape interface. I've been it using for the better part of a year now, and I love it dearly.

Over and out.

check yo' self MAY 11th

2009-04-30T21:46:00.000-07:00

http://www.usps.com/prices/pricechanges.htm

* first class up by 2c
* postcards up by 1c

MAY 11th 2009 CE

NOW YOU KNOW

http://www.usps.com/prices/pricechanges.htm

pure adrenaline

2009-04-11T01:20:00.000-07:00

Point Break
(Kathryn Bigelow, 1991)

...

This movie is so bad I seriously considered shutting it down just about every other minute while viewing.

NOT recommended

PS - i really don't enjoy being negative, but this is quite possibly one of the worst films i've ever seen

YouTube Heroes #2

2009-04-03T09:07:00.000-07:00

I was first exposed to the comic genius of St. Sanders a few months back, but this entry from P.I.S.S. raises the bar considerably. NSFW if your coworkers are disinclined to appreciate stifled giggles and peed pants.

via Kelly and Coilhouse

the new rileymobile

2009-03-27T20:53:00.001-07:00

lamborghini from RICHARD Fabrice on Vimeo.

Phreelancin' for the 'Phobe

2009-02-18T10:17:00.000-08:00

A smattering of '09 reviews:

Horse Feathers @ Sunset Tavern 2/11/09

Mark Farina @ Neumos 1/30/09

Video Games Live @ The Moore 1/24/09

Tapes 'n Tapes @ Neumos 1/20/09

lo tech noise

2009-01-18T22:31:00.000-08:00

Dunkirk from Pete Ashton on Vimeo.

Top 10 Albums of 2008

2009-01-06T10:39:00.001-08:00

As submitted to Melophobe for this list.

1. Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - Lie Down in the Light
- His best since "Master and Everyone"

2. Baby Dee - Safe Inside the Day
- Transgendered is the new gay

3. M83 - Saturdays = Youth
- Best revisionist 80s prom ever

4. Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours
- Aussie electropop is the new French house

5. Shearwater - Rook
- Better than step-sister Okkervil River of late

6. Fuck Buttons - Street Horrrsing
- PLZ TO HAS MOAR FUZZ DRONE

7. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
- Reverb-drenched Seattle alt-country is the new fuzz-drenched Seattle grunge

8. Deerhunter - Microcastle
- Walks that fine line between heroin and music

9. Portishead - Third
- Either I liked "Out of Season" better or I expected less from it

10. The Very Best - Esau Mwamwaya and Radioclit are the Very Best
- Malawian mash-up mixtape FTW!!!

---

Honorable Mentions:

Hercules And Love Affair - Hercules And Love Affair
- "Blind" aside, I just can't keep a straight face while listening to this album

Noah and the Whale - Peaceful, the World Lays Me Down
- I liked them more before I read their Wikipedia article

Fucked Up - Chemistry of Common Life
- If I were in middle school, these guys would be at #1

of Montreal - Skeletal Lamping
- Kevin Barnes, dredged in sex and glitter, deep fried

Paavoharju - Laulu Laakson Kukista
- A sad Finnish circus drowning in a sea of static

MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
- Kids these days (and their acid)

Girl Talk - Feed the Animals
- The fact that he steps on my artistic toes is no reason to hate

Shugo Tokumaru - Exit
- Badly Drawn Boy meets Architecture in Helsinki. For drinks. In Japan.

Four Tet - Ringer
- The Orbital fan in me can't get enough of this EP

Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds - Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!
- It's nice to know that street preacher rant rock still has a home

TV on the Radio - Dear Science
- Each album is poppier than the last, and I can't say that I mind

Conor Oberst - Conor Oberst
- "On the Road" ... again

Erykah Badu - New Amerykah Part One (4th World War)
- I just hope Part Two doesn't take another five years

Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
- Fittingly enough, a perfect winter driving companion

Beach House - Devotion
- More of the same, but it's a good same

Marnie Stern - This Is It & I Am It & You Are It & So Is That & He Is It & She Is It & It Is It & That Is That
- What the hell is this, Deerhoof for the masses? Nice

Suzie Magnion - The Other Side Of The Mountain
- Turns out she didn't much need the other half of George

diskJokke - Staying In
- Would make a fantastic video game soundtrack

Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
- Paul Simon did a better job of white boy Afropop, methinks

El Guincho - Alegranza
- It is really, really hard to stop moving while this album is playing

Frightened Rabbit - The Midnight Organ Fight
- Hey look, the endangered straight-ahead indie-rock band!

Blatant Self-Promotion

2008-12-01T15:26:00.000-08:00

<ADVERTORIAL>

Two quick items:

1) M83 concert review for Melophobe

2) Tuneage on Casewag's burgeoning mixtape blog

That is all.

</ADVERTORIAL>

YouTube Heroes (first in a series)

2008-11-17T13:55:00.000-08:00

As far as I can tell, jetdaisuke's life revolves around his collection of synthesizers, shutter shades, and track jackets. Also, he reviews ramen:

Interview w/ Daedelus @ Stranger Genius Awards 9/13/08

2008-09-19T10:56:00.000-07:00

Tighe and I went to see Daedelus perform at the Moore last weekend on the 'phobe's behalf, and were somewhat disappointed to found out we hadn't been scheduled for an interview. Undeterred, we asked the man for a few minutes of his time, and he was kind enough to play along. The whole thing's now up on mel.opho.be, complete with Tighe's super-sweet Holgaroid photos. Do check out.

EDIT: Tighe informs me that Daedelus was in fact aware of our pending interview. I maintain that my memory makes for a better story.

http://mel.opho.be/index.php/articles/interview-daedelus.html

Drunken Angel

2008-08-29T23:10:00.000-07:00

Yoidore tenshi
(1948, Akira Kurosawa)

Sot doc cares for the underbelly.

Wavers between pretty darn good and amazing. Compact. Insanely fitting score. Never slow. Each portion lasts the right amount and adds upon the last.

Recommended

she was right, it really doesn't make a lasting impression

2008-08-09T00:04:00.000-07:00

I am Legend
(Francis Lawrence, 2007)

Army guy fights virus, vampire/zombie critters.

ok, ok, ok. SO just realized I hadn't BLOGGED about Omega Man yet I'll go ahead w/ this since well here we are. OK several issues here: CG looks like shit. Why is Neville such a pussy in this version? Thanks for all the product placement. And loud noises after a pause do not mean INTENSE it means poor design. Pretty much anything that you'd think a film producer to think the public would find cool was here. I <3 how Neville's rifle has every goddamn accessory known to man on it, just like the cover of gun magazines! W/ Neville's character being such a candy ass my theory is that he was made such since most all Americans are candy asses and they need to be able to identify w/ the main character. Uh... lame-o conflict between top zombie and Neville. City was too destroyed. Didn't look right, looked over done like "OH SHIT THE WORLD ENDED, GET IT?" WHY did Neville not hunt down the zombie menance like in Omega Man and Last Man on Earth? What was w/ all the pushing God stuff? I was pleased by the effect of a grenade tho. Again, CG looks awful. Where were all the corpses? The deer in the city was kinda cool, but not really because the CG sucked. Cars driving around in CG... ok here's the rub. Looked totally lame and all floating like. Even the most basic car videogames the rigs appear grounded. WTH people? LAMEST method of building sorrow into the main character. A bit torqued by contemporary media's portrayal of military folks as wusses such as the squabble between the wife and he. GEEZ o petes. Give me a break. This was part 3 of a 4 part study around the story of I am Legend. Part 4 shall be reading the orginal text. Seeing how the films fall short so far Omega Man is the top film, The Last Man on Earth in second and I am Legend not even placing.

NOT recommended