"In the Mirror of Maya Deren"

This wonderful documentary is about the avant garde filmmaker who led the independent film scene way back in the '40s. I have been an obsessed fan of Maya Deren since I first saw her seminal "Meshes of the Afternoon" when I was a kid. I won this documentary in a contest Zeitgeist Films had where they asked an obscure trivia question about her. I can't remember the question, but I remember winning.

This portrait of her and her films and those that knew her is by filmmaker Martina Kudlacek, it's based on the book "The Legend of Maya Deren" and uses footage from Deren's films, interviews and observances from Stan Brakhage, Amos Vogel, Anthology Film Archives’ Executive Director Jonas Mekas, and others. The soundtrack is by John Zorn.

One of my favorite scenes is of Jonas Mekas standing in his famous East Village, New York City Anthology Film Archives holding spools of 16mm film preserved in old Stella D’Oro coffee cans.

Born in Kiev in 1917, and known best for her work in experimental film, she was also a poet, a dancer, a choreographer, a dancer, a writer, a photographer, an ethnographer and knew Voodoun very well. Her book on Voodoo, "Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti" is very interesting!

She died October 13, 1961.

"Quatermass and the Pit"

...or "Five Million Years to Earth" depending on where you lived.

I love this 1967 British film by Hammer Film Productions! It's a sequel to the other films, "The Quatermass Xperiment" and "Quatermass 2," and like its predecessors it was written by Nigel Kneale. I'm such a huge fan of Kneale's smart writing!

This was directed by Roy Ward Baker and stars Andrew Keir as Professor Quatermass, and honestly I like him so much more than Brian Donlevy who played the role in the two earlier films. However, I like Donlevy, too.

The cast is strong with such powerful performances like James Donald, who was in "The Bridge on the River Kwai" (for Christ's sake!) and the beautiful and talented Barbara Shelley who also stands out in Mark Gatiss's BBC documentary "A History of Horror".

All in all a solid film and to me, but for a few things, still it stands up and gives me the same kind of thrill it did when I saw it as a kid.

"The Lion King 2: Simba's Pride"

Again, as with the first one, I just wasn't up to watching it, but the 13 year old in the house forced me, too.

This film centers on Simba's daughter, Kiara, who falls in love with Kovu, the boy lion raised as one of Scar's followers. Wanting so badly to be together, they must ignore the two people that keep them from one another; One being the most evil creature ever on film (pretty close, I think) Kovu's mother, Zira, and the other is Simba, who is still holding a grudge against the Outlanders. Kiara is the key to a resolving the bitter hatred between Simba's pride and the outcast pride led by the mate of Scar.

I didn't find a single song I liked in the soundtrack and I was surprised to find that Joss Whedon has written some of them.

It was okay. Maybe it was better than I thought it would be. I tell ya, though… I'm about Loin King-ed out! Yet, this scene is awfully cute! Oh, and a lil' scary!

"Mad Monster Party?"

Baron von Frankenstein voiced by Boris Karloff, decides to retire, leaving the monster business to his nerdy nephew, Felix Flankin. He calls an international roster of monsters to a creepy convention. The party consists of the Creature and his mate voiced by Phyllis Diller, Frankenstein's seductive assistant Francesca voiced by the sexy Gale Garnett, Dracula, the Werewolf, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Invisible Man, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde, The Mummy, and It… It seems to be King Kong and I imagine they were told not to use the name because of legal reasons.

I loved this when I was a kid! I still love stop-motion, but watching this with a 13 year old in the room proved to me kids today are way more sophisticated. She seemed completely bored with this after years of loving Tim Burton's "Vincent," "The Nightmare Before Christmas" and "Corpse Bride".

Mad Magazine creator Harvey Kurtzman penned the script, but the puns and jokes fall so flat one would think Famous Monsters of Filmland's Forrest J. Ackerman had written the script.

"Danger: Diabolik"

This 1968 film from director Mario Bava is based on an Italian comic book Diabolik.

John Phillip Law is Diabolik and Marisa Mell is his sexy partner Eva Kant. This Dino De Laurentiis production was filmed in Rome in his studio where Bava, using his special effects knowledge to make paper cutouts and small miniatures look like enormous sets allowed Dino De Laurentiis to convincingly lie about the actual cost of production. I mean, of course, he generously inflated the figures. The musical score is by Ennio Morricone.

I think most kids know this film from the music video for the Beastie Boys’ "Body Movin'".

One of my favorite movies, Roman Coppola’s "CQ" is obviously inspired in part by this and "Barbarella,".

I think this is a fun film to watch with friends. That's how I've always watched it.

"THX 1138"

This is one of my favorite films. I got to share the experience tonight with someone who had never seen it. They may not have been as enthusiastic as I was.

Made in 1971, directed by George Lucas and starring Robert Duvall and Donald Pleasence. It depicts a dystopian 25th century future where a man and a woman rebel against a society that has the population controlled by android police and mandatory drug use to suppress all emotions.

It was the first feature directed by Lucas and developed from his student film and based on an idea by Matthew Robbins, "Electronic Labyrinth: THX 1138 4EB," was made in 1967 while attending USC.

The feature film was produced as part of an experiment of 7 films Francis Ford Coppola's new production company, American Zoetrope would bring to Warner Brothers. The poor response to this visionary film ended the deal for all films and pushed Coppola into massive debt.

One thing that always stood out to me was that the credits roll down instead of up just as they did in Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining" also a Warner Bros. film.

I still love this film, no matter which version of it I'm watching.

"Blood, Boobs and Beast"

Well, with a title like that… Okay, here's the thing; When I was a kid one of my favorite magazines other than Omni, Heavy Metal, Penthouse, Famous Monsters of Filmland, Castle of Frankenstein, Playboy…

There was Cinemagic!

I LOVED that magazine!

Don Dohler started it and before the Internet we all could write each other and talk about the things we were doing and the magazine was our portal.

Don also made films and they have been called everything from oddly brilliant to some of the worst films of all time. Don somehow was able to get international distribution for all 9 of his sci-fi and horror films, as well as TV syndication for his first film.

Don Dohler inspired many artists and filmmakers like Robert Crumb, J.J. Abrams, Art Spiegelman and many many more with his DIY filmmaking magazine.

If you're like me, a fan of low budget horror movies scifi movies, and DIY culture, this documentary would be very interesting for you to see.

"Frazetta: Painting With Fire"

I used to be such a fan of his as a kid! Frank Frazetta was the man! He dominated the fantasy art genre and my young life with images of savage warriors, curvaceous slave women and buxom princesses, alien creatures... My walls were covered with his work!

In this documentary, we journey through his life and see his family, his friends, his loves, his fans, his impact, and we see how he learned to draw left handed at 70 after having a stroke!

Interviews include Bernie Wrightson, Dave Stevens, William Stout, Neal Adams, Al Williamson, Forrest Ackerman, Ralph Bakshi, John Milius, Glenn Danzig, Bo Derek, Brom, Simon Bisley, and Joe Jusko.

If you're like me and used to buy paperback books because you recognized his art on the cover, or wanted to paint like him, you need to see this film!

The real Frank Frazetta Tribute from GuTispel on Vimeo.

"The Lion King"

I had never seen this film before and really thought I could go my whole like without seeing it. But stronger powers prevailed and I was forced to watch it. It seemed familiar; stories of Joseph and Moses from the Bible, Shakespeare's Hamlet, Star Wars...

The Lion King is probably highest grossing 2D animated film of all time, but not one cent came from me, so it shows you just how important I can be.

Songs were by Elton John and Tim Rice, and the score by Hans Zimmer. I really enjoyed the music, but found myself already burned out on many of the tunes I had already heard on radio years ago.

I really did enjoy it, but I seem to have a problem with any kind of cinema that takes place in sand and heat. I don't get it either.

The voice performances were great, I thought.

By the way, this was the 2D version and I'm glad because I believe my headache would have been three times as worse as it already was. There was enough depth here for me.

"American Grindhouse"

This very good documentary explores the history of exploitation films. The movie's about the often overlooked genre of cinema and finds it's populated by shameless hucksters, carnival barkers turned film producers, guys and gals just looking to make a buck and it discusses the shocking origins of this popular, but sometimes hidden entertainment.

The film features John Landis, Joe Dante, Jack Hill, Fred Williamson, Allison Anders, Larry Cohen, William Lustig, Herschell Gordon Lewis, David Hess, Fred Olen Ray and is narrated by Robert Forster.

I can hear some say, "Jerry, how many documentaries about films can you watch?"

Well, quite a lot it seems.

"Nightmares in Red, White, and Blue"

Lance Henriksen's deep, creepy, and raspy voice narrates this documentary, "Nightmares in Red, White, and Blue: The Evolution of the American Horror Film". Interviews with filmmakers like Roger Corman, John Carpenter, George Romero, and more, talk about how their films and those of others were shaped by the times they lived in and the influenced of other filmmakers.

There is a very funny scene where George Romero is discussing "The Thing from Another World," and he points out that doors are constantly being opened throughout the film, so there's a montage of doors opening and closing.

Documentaries about this kind of subject can never be long enough or dig deep enough to be completely satisfying, but it may be the best I've seen in a while.

"The Harryhausen Chronicles"

Ray Harryhausen is famous for special effects and stop-motion animation art. Films like, "The 7th Voyage of Sinbad", "Jason and the Argonauts", and "Clash of the Titans". He is a mild mannered, easygoing and very sweet patient man. I have met with him several times and we've had dinner together on occasion, I find this documentary has captured him perfectly and honors him as an artist, a very giving man and a generous mentor.

The Harryhausen Chronicles is a fantastic video documenting the man, his art, his beginnings and the love many of today's special effects geniuses, filmmakers and fans have for him. It include interviews, early work, experimentations, and great close-ups of his puppets.

When I was young I wanted so bad to be a stop-motion animator, so I watched and read everything I could about him and the process. If only I had this film back then!

"Transformation: The Life & Legacy of Werner Erhard"

This documentary is about Werner Erhard, the creator of est, the multi-billion dollar personal growth seminars that made him a cultural icon in the 70's.

This film has some rare footage inside the est seminars, which I admit I found fascinating. I knew some people that had taken the program back in the day and it appeared to me that their lives had changed.

Asking my friend, who was watching this with me, if she'd like to take the seminar if Erhard was doing them today and she said, "Why pay $500 to have someone yell at me and call me an asshole all day long? I had ex-husbands and a father that did that for free!"

I think people will be surprised at how Erhard’s ideas and catchphrases have permeated our culture and dialog.

Was he a man on a mission to make a difference in people's lives, or just a man out to make a few billion? Can you separate the message from the messenger? This film even looks at how religious groups, cult leaders and the media target public figures.

I found this very interesting and would like to found out more about him and his work. I believe I would like to take the seminar and see if I have a transformation, because I'm ready for one!

"Michael Clayton"

This film was written and directed by Tony Gilroy, stars George Clooney, Tom Wilkinson, Tilda Swinton and Sydney Pollack. It's about attorney Michael Clayton trying to deal with his bipolar friend and colleague's mental breakdown when he lapses in taking his medication, and the corruption surrounding a major client of his law firm being sued in a class action lawsuit over the effects of toxic agrochemicals manufactured by a company a lot like Monsanto.

But there is so much more going on in this film.

This is about the 4th time I've seen it and I must say it still holds up and is one of my favorites. This film is smart. The acting is fantastic. Tom Wilkinson, Sydney Pollack and Tilda Swinton are just amazing. George Clooney has the really hard part in this and I find his work here to be his best.

I really love this film and hope there are people out there like Arthur Edens and Michael Clayton.

This opening speech by Wilkinson is incredible!

"Chewed Up"

This is a stand up performance by comedian Louis C.K., filmed at the Berklee Performance Center in Boston. This performance was dedicated to George Carlin.

Louis Szekely, known as Louis C.K., is a comedian, television and film writer, actor, producer, and director with credits as a writer on The Late Show with David Letterman, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, The Dana Carvey Show and The Chris Rock Show.

I know some would say, "Jerry, a stand up comedy special is not really a film."

Well, there were moving pictures that played in my head as he was talking. I laughed out loud about every 15 seconds. I began to hurt. This man is a genius.

"Finding Nemo"

This is a computer-animated film written and directed by Andrew Stanton and produced by Pixar. It's the story of a very protective dad played by the awesome Albert Brooks who, along with a another fish with short term memory played by Ellen DeGeneres, searches for his son Nemo.

I really did get into the story. It was sad, scary, up, down, funny... It was a roller-coaster ride. I thought it was gonna end bad. I was worried. Then I realized it was a Pixar film and I was pulled out of the story when I knew then that no real harm was going to come to all those colorful pixels that make up Nemo.

I dunno if it's because I got all emotional about it, but I kinda hate myself for it today. I immediately watched a John Cassavetes film.

"‪The Living Dead: Three Films About the Power of the Past‬"

This ‪documentary made by British filmmaker Adam Curtis‬ ‪investigated the way memory ‬and history itself, ‪both ‬personal and ‪national‬ly‪ have been ‬controlled and manipulated‪ by ‬governments, KGB, CIA, MK-ULTRA, doctors, ‪politicians and others. ‬

As I'm a huge fan of Adam Curtis, I had been looking forward to this film. It is amazing, terrifying and at times hilarious. You get to see how naive science can be, how tax dollars fund huge black budget operations that inflict horrifying tests on enemies and the public without their knowledge.

I love how the opening credits mimic the opening of "Blade Runner." I wondered why at first, then it hit me that that film was about memory as well.

There are so many threads and ideas in this documentary, a dozen fiction films could be generated and I'd be surprised if the makers of, "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" hadn't seen this film.

You must watch this!

"Horror of Dracula"

"Horror of Dracula" from 1958 is a Hammer film inspired by the Bram Stoker novel Dracula. It was directed by Terence Fisher, and stars Peter Cushing, Michael Gough, Melissa Stribling and Christopher Lee.

This film also stars the beautiful Carol Marsh, who we just saw a few days ago in "Brighton Rock."

Jonathan Harker, in this film goes to the castle of Count Dracula posing as a librarian, but he has come to kill Dracula. He had partnered up with Dr. Van Helsing, played by the always awesome Peter Cushing.

Jimmy Sangster (a real hero of mine) has made this screenplay tight. Jack Asher’s lurid colour and cinematography is gorgeous. What Bernard Robinson was able to do with set design for what was available to him and the space he had to work with is great, but for the fact some wallpaper and set pieces do reappear in other locations. I shrug it off as that time period didn't have Ikea or many choices in decorators.

Terence Fisher, the great man of British horror, directs this film and to me this film is nearly flawless. I watched it with a 13 year old girl who mocked it, complained about how old and unscary it was, but in the end she wanted to sleep with her mother. Nice!

I love this film!

"Henri Langlois: Phantom of the Cinematheque"

In the documentary, "Henri Langlois: Phantom of the Cinematheque" which I've seen before, he said something that caused me to pause and think. It was in reference to one not knowing the value of a film. He was talking about collecting films and early on he had dismissed some that later turned out to be of great value and he had let it pass, it became a lost film and never had forgiven himself. So he said take it all, keep it all, throw nothing away, cause you never know how it will be viewed in the future.

This made me think about the recent discovery of longer cut of a Hammer Film found in Japan. There are more and more films disappearing everyday. This also made me think about memories and history in general. This is a wonderful documentary.

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"La Dolce Vita"

"La Dolce Vita" was written and directed by Federico Fellini.

This is a story of a sad, lost, and passive journalist in Rome, the observer caught between a type of purgatory between a heaven and hell where truth is illusive, but lies are everywhere can be bought and sold. He searches for both happiness and love but it will never come to him or those few people he might call friends.

I first saw this film when I was 17 and it all meant something different to me then as it has every time I've seen it. There were several shots in this film that reminded me of shots from other films. There's the car scene when it is loaded down with people that looks just like a scene in, "A Clockwork Orange" and when Marcello visits his friend Steiner, there is a shot of him in front of some windows that look straight out of the "man in the shed" sequence in "Eraserhead" and it goes on and on. This film was very influential.

I love this film.

"Quantum of Solace"

"Quantum of Solace" is the 22nd James Bond film, and is the direct sequel to the film "Casino Royale." Directed by Marc Forster, it features Daniel Craig's second performance as James Bond fighting wealthy businessman played by the awesome Mathieu Amalric playing an environmentalist intent on a coup d'état in Bolivia to seize control of the nation's water supply. This part reminds me of "Chinatown."

Bond also seeks revenge for the death of his lover played by the beautiful Eva Green, and partners with Olga Kurylenko who is also seeking revenge for the death of her parents. Paul Haggis, Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, and Joshua Zetumer contributed to the script.

I've watched this film several times and really enjoy the performances, the depth of character in Bond and M's relationship, the opening theme song by Jack White of The White Stripes and Alicia Keys, and the complexity of editing, the camera moves and set design.

I like this film a lot.

"Watchmen"

"Watchmen" directed by Zack Snyder is an adaptation of the comic book by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. The film is set in an alternate history 1985 at the height of the Cold War with the Soviet Union, as a group of superhero vigilantes investigate a conspiracy to kill them all and uncover a plan more horrifying.

The casting is great, but Jackie Earle Haley as Walter Kovacs / Rorschach rocks it.

I liked this movie immensely when I saw it on opening day, but for some reason it doesn't hold up for me the way the comic did. I like it, but now it seems like it's trying too hard. Too stylized. Too fake.

Maybe it was just a bad day to watch it.

"The Secret: Evidence We Are Not Alone"

The central basis of "The Secret: Evidence We Are Not Alone" is the content of government documents and the amazing story they tell. This is interesting, as UFO documentaries usually deal with eyewitness testimonies and we all know how useless humans can be.

This is the story of how these documents, using forensic techniques are proven genuine by type and age of paper, ink age, watermark, type fonts, classification stamps and markings prove that we have been recovering crashed flying saucers since 1941.

This isn't the same old rehash of Roswell crap, it shows evidence that the first crash of a UFO was in Cape Girardeau, Missouri in 1941. I believe the same town and time Rush Limbaugh was born, but I could be wrong. This documentary has Stanton Friedman, Timothy Good, Michael Lindemann and others.

"Dangerous Days - Making Blade Runner"

"Dangerous Days - Making Blade Runner" is a great documentary about the making of "Blade Runner," but in a way it's about the fight of making anything that's never been seen before. It stands out for me as being a film made by real artists fighting with commerce.

"Blade Runner" was the first film I posted on this blog and I know this may seem too soon, but this documentary stands on its own. I love this as much as "Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse" directed by Fax Bahr and George Hickenlooper about Francis Ford Coppola's "Apocalypse Now" yet I dig it for other reasons.

Culled from something like 80 interviews and hours of never-before-seen outtakes and lost footage. It covers conception, casting, art, set design, and its release, and reaction. There's interviews with actors, writers, Ridley Scott, financiers, production designers, and people who were involve with the movie, as well as other directors like Guillermo del Toro who were inspired by the film.

One could learned a lot about filmmaking by watching this. 

"‪Sabotage‬"

"‪Sabotage‬"

This is a 1936 thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock. I'm embarrassed to say I had never seen "Sabotage," because I had always got it confused with his other film "Saboteur". This was based on Joseph Conrad's novel "The Secret Agent" and that too, got me confused with Hitchcock's film "Secret Agent" so I've about given up!

Well, I think I can finally get it straight!

The way this film got chosen was I was talking to some friends who call the house I'm living in the "Beetlejuice House" because of its slight similarity and we started talking about Sylvia Sidney.

I always liked her and in this film she's so pretty, but how in the world did her character end up with Oscar Homolka? Karl Verloc (Homolka), is the owner of a cinema and part of a gang of terrorists who are messing things up around London.

It was weird that 9/11 came to my mind quite a bit while watching this, but being that date is only 2 days away, I suppose it shouldn't. It's just that some of the forms of terrorism this gang performs is also of a low tech way.

I enjoyed this film a lot.

"Damned: The Strange World of Jose Mojica Marins"

"Damned: The Strange World of Jose Mojica Marins"

José Mojica Marins is one of those guys that I would have to say is like going down a road you are familiar with, like to your school, you know the way, but up ahead is a detour sign that takes you to someplace you've never been before.

I was living in Dallas, Texas in the late 80s and an acquaintance who was like me, in radio, one night came to a midnight film series I hosted and programed said to me, "Who do you think you are, Coffin Joe?"

I didn't know who he was talking about, but I was starting to think he was insulting me. Maybe he realized this because he quickly started explaining to me about José Mojica Marins. He told me that he had been a radio deejay like we were and making horror films. I still to this day don't know if that is true about him being a dj, I can't seem to find any info on that.

My friend a few weeks later came over to my house and showed me, "At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul" and "This Night I'll Possess Your Corpse" and my mind was thoroughly blown.

Marins is Coffin Joe, but he is also a Brazilian filmmaker, actor, screenwriter, and television personality. Coffin Joe's true name in the films is Josefel Zanatas. Zanatas because backward it reads Satanas," and the 12 year old in me says, "I dig that!"

"At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul" came out the year I was born and is supposedly Brazil's first horror film. You must watch it with a friend. You must watch them all. He really is like a big kid trying to tell scary stories so the pretty girls cling in fear.

I maybe should show you one of his films, and maybe I will, but I just happened to be watching this documentary by André Barcinski and Ivan Finotti and it won the Special Jury Prize at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival. So if someone walks in on you while you're watching it and gives you a questionable look, tell them it's an award winner.

His website: http://www2.uol.com.br/zedocaixao/

"Brighton Rock"

This is the 1947 version directed by John Boulting and starring a very young Richard Attenborough as Pinkie and the fantastic Carol Marsh as Rose.

I've been wanting to see the new remake with Sam Riley and Helen Mirren, but I wanted to see this again. The first time I saw it, I was so taken with Hermione Baddeley's performance as Ida that I hardly paid attention to the rest of the movie. This time it was Carol Marsh, looking not unlike Samantha Morton who played Sam Riley's wife Deborah to his Ian Curtis of Joy Division in "Control"

The film was adapted from the 1938 novel, Brighton Rock by Graham Greene and it reminds me of "A Clockwork Orange" in some small aspects, being a young thug leader who you hope and wish might change his evil ways because there is definitely something compelling and maybe ever so slightly likable about their characters.

This morning I was reading a thread of comments on my friend (Video Watchdog Magazine) Tim Lucas's Facebook profile about the new version and someone mentioned how hard it is to see the older one. I searched and found it rather easily in six parts. I post part one here for you to watch. Enjoy!

"Eraserhead"

"Eraserhead" is still my all time favorite film. It came out in the same year as "Star Wars" and it also changed my life. This surreal and abstract film written, directed, and produced by David Lynch took five years to complete while he lived in stables at the AFI Conservatory. He used money from friends, family, a Wall Street Journal paper route, and from production designer husband of Sissy Spacek and childhood friend, Jack Fisk.

I used to live in various warehouses and bad neighborhoods because of cheap spaces and because of having little money, so the industrial and the sounds it makes and how it drills into your bones is something I very much recognize in this film. There was a time in fact where I would say I watched the film on a weekly basis. I would hold pot luck parties on Friday with one group of artists and the Saturday a party with another group of artists and then I'd live the rest of the week on the leftovers. Some annoying artists would stay and stay so I would start playing movies I thought would make them all leave so I could sleep, but "Eraserhead" was one that would keep the interesting ones there.

There have been times when I've been really down and that world in the film would pick me right up. I honestly don't know why. There is something profoundly spiritual in the film that moves me. Every time I see it, it takes me back to the feeling I had when I first saw it. There was a deep feeling of smuggling contraband, seeing this film. If a friend was showing it to you, he was pushing some mind altering, philosophy changing drug that he believed would awaken something inside you, a nonverbal experience that would open you up for hours of discussion.

If this is your first time seeing "Eraserhead," I'm glad I'm that friend pushing it onto you.

Watch the film "Eraserhead" click here!

"Winnebago Man"

"Winnebago Man" is a comedy documentary about one of the first and funniest viral videos. I remember getting a couple of VHS tapes in the mail from friends who had dubbed off copies. This was way before YouTube or the Internet.

I watched this on SnagFilm which is a wonderful site, but this time the film kept stopping and buffering and then it would lose its place at start again 20 minutes earlier. It was hard to watch that way.

There are some laugh out loud moments and some sad, even heartbreaking ones. I really liked Jack Rebney, who is Winnebago Man. I think he is a smart, verbose, complicated and troubled man. I think he's had a rough time.

It reminded me of a few other films that I can also recommend, "Best Worst Movie" "American Movie" and "Grey Gardens" however each is unique in its own way.

There are so many reasons why I would recommend this film to friends. These friends have not that much in common with each other, but I could find reasons why each of them would enjoy this film. I would love to hear your thoughts on the film.

"BAADASSSSS!"

"Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song" is a 1971 independent film, written, produced, scored, directed by, and starring Melvin Van Peebles, I saw that movie when I was just a kid. It was X-Rated and I can't remember how I got in being so underage. I was also the only white person besides the projectionist. He came down and sat with me. I guess he was concerned. I loved the film and I loved the energy in the theatre.

"BAADASSSSS!" is a 2003 biopic, written, produced, directed by, and starring Mario Van Peebles. I love this film even with its many flaws. It's very inspiring. It makes me want to get out there and make a film that speaks to the disenfranchised, but I don't know who that can be at this moment.

I have met both Melvin and Mario and enjoyed their company immensely. Melvin has had an amazing life. He is a true artist, actually he's a true Artist, with the capital A. He really has done it all.

If you want to make important independent cinema, this might be something to get you going. It's a real roller-coaster ride, but very much worth watching. I showed it to a few people who I wasn't sure if they'd dig it, but happily they did.

"Moon"

This is British science fiction at its best! Well, I don't know why I narrowed it down to "British," but... It is great science fiction. I guess I was thinking back to Nigel Kneale, Gerry Anderson... You know, that kinda stuff. This film about a man at his wit's end as he wraps up a three-year solitary mining job collecting helium-3 on the far side of the moon for a large corporation.

This film is the debut of director Duncan Jones, who happens to be the son of David Bowie. Sam Rockwell stars as Sam and Kevin Spacey is the voice of his robot, Gerty.

There is a love here for hard scifi that brings to mind 2001: A Space Odyssey, Silent Running, Solaris, Alien, Outland, and THX 1138. Jones clearly loves these movies and it doesn't feel like the ideas here were ripped off as it does in other films that pretend that it is instead, homage.

I loved the special effects in this! I am a huge fan of the use of miniatures instead of CGI. I don't mind CGI for small additional effects, like the way the Bjork video, "All is Full of Love" uses CGI for mechanical arms, drills, welding rods and pasting Bjork's face onto a mannequin, because there's a physical object in the scene to give it weight. That's just me.

I saw this film when it was first released and I knew nothing about it going it, so I was very excited by the mystery and the characters of Sam and Gerty. I must say, I was very moved, even emotional in a few parts. I really liked this film a lot! Duncan Jones is quite a talent, just look at his commercial work below.

Duncan Jones Moon Interview from /Film on Vimeo.

"Night Tide"

There is a similar quality to the film I watched last night, so there may be a theme to my choices. And of course I've seen this before just as with the other films on this blog, but I wanted to see it again with my wife who has never seen it and hasn't seen it yet as she fell asleep in the middle of it. My tastes my be in the slow mode for some.

This film has a dreamy fable feel, albeit in a lower budget. It's great seeing the old locations of Venice and Santa Monica and buildings that don't exist anymore, so it is like looking at old ghosts.

Linda Lawson is very interesting as Mora the Mermaid. She has a Angelina Jolie kinda look in some angles.

Marjorie Cameron who was a mysterious person in real life plays a mysterious figure in the film. To learn more interesting and shocking information about her, visit this link.

http://jerrylentz.blogspot.com/2011/09/scifi-sex-nasa-occult-cakes-brownies.html

This film was written and directed by Curtis Harrington and stars Dennis Hopper. I think you should watch it, but when I tell you something has a dreamy quality to it, that doesn't give you an excuse to do what my wife did and fall asleep and dream about it while it's still playing.

Curtis Harrington birthday is coming up in a couple of weeks on September 17. He was born in 1926. I might, if I can remember do a bit of a film fest of his work.

http://www.terrortrap.com/interviews/curtisharrington/

http://www.forteantimes.com/strangedays/obituaries/645/curtis_harrington.html

House Of Harrington from Jeffrey Schwarz on Vimeo.

"I Walked with a Zombie"

This 1943 film directed by Jacques Tourneur with producer Val Lewton is another favorite of mine. I know it seems I'm only rewatching films I love for this new blog, but then… I guess it is true. I'm looking for films that might inspire my own work and possibly yours.

There are things about this film, I saw this for the first time when I was 11 or 12, that stick with me. This film seems to me, if I were living in 1943 and were to walk into the theatre to see it, to be so out there for that time. I can't imagine another film like it being seen then. I know the Tourneur - Lewton films have that dreamy quality, but there's something odd and special about this one.

I know from some friends of mine and their kids, if they see "Zombie" in the title, they're ready for action. Even a "Night of the Living Dead" type of zombie is too slow for their ADD - MTV sensibilities. Some might find this slow and dull, but not me. I loved this island, I love the people in the story, I love this story, the complex love triangle, the dread, the sacrifice these characters are willing to take for each other.

This movie led me to find one of my favorite filmmakers, Maya Deren because of her book, "Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti" through that I discovered her brilliant films. Through her films I discovered Gore Vidal, Curtis Harrington, Stan Brakhage, Anaïs Nin, Kenneth Anger, Donald Cammell, Marjorie Cameron, Aleister Crowley, Jack Parsons…

Funny the paths certain films can lead you down. Sometimes these films walk with you through life. They are the zombies, frozen in time, unchanging, yet they can make changes in you.

"The Haunting"

Check out my other blog for News of, "The Cycle" a horror film I'm making as I type this.

http://jerrylentz.blogspot.com/2011/08/cycle-is-new-film-i-making-now.html

I have an odd but informative collection of videos and links on filmmaking and horror films. I hope you enjoy it.

Tonight's film is Robert Wise's, "The Haunting" and I'm sure you've seen it, and remember it, because if you saw it you would remember it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shirley_Jackson
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Haunting_of_Hill_House
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Wise
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Haunting_(1963_film)

I love this movie and I remember the first time I saw it was at 2am in an old creaking house in the woods near a lake. Yeah, not the best idea to watch this film all alone when you are housesitting for an elderly lady whose husband just died and is away for his burial.

I sat on her antique couch that was in the middle of a huge room facing her TV while behind me was a big black empty space. I kept feeling an unseen presence behind me. I knew the ghost of the old dead man was watching me, wondering why I was there…

But enough about me!

This is the perfect ghost story for the believer and the sceptic, too! You gotta see this amazing film!

"History of Motion Picture Special Effects from Georges Méliès to King Kong"

This documentary, while not being feature length and glossing over quite a bit and spending too much time on nonsense... Wasn't bad. In fact, "The Right Stuff" SPFX interviews on their techniques was very interesting and it seemed so possible to do.

It gave me ideas!

And I'm looking for ideas!

I've loved the special effects in, "The Right Stuff" and they've still held up when so many CGI style effects don't after so many years.

That segment reminded me of a documentary I watched about the effects in, "Alien" where the spaceship model was moving down to a planet and the model was so huge and heavy it was being moved by a forklift covered in black velvet in some of the shots! That's just amazing to me!

They even painted big beachball-sized balls to be planets instead of using computers to do such things. I think the effects hold up really well in "Aliens."

Look how great the effects are in a film from just a few years ago like, "Moon" where miniatures were used in similar ways. Hmm... Maybe I'll watch that tomorrow.

What are your thoughts on Special Effects? What are some of your favorite effects in a film? Is there an effect that fooled you and then later discovered it was an effect?

Today's film is "The Devil Rides Out"

I've loved this film since I was a kid and seeing it again was easy. I showed it to my wife (JL2) who was unfamiliar with it or the author Dennis Wheatley, but she loved the film as I knew she would.

This film can show the filmmaker and even the film student how little is needed by way of special effects or wall to wall action when there is a great story with wonderful characters you want to spend time with and will answer your questions as this morality play unfolds.

I was saddened by how little info or videos of him exist on the web. He was a major author and it's a shame more young people aren't aware of him. If you find one of his books, read it! You'll dig it and when you are done with it pass it on to a friend.

Watch the film and let me know your thoughts on this fine work from Hammer, Christopher Lee and Dennis Wheatley.

The Devil Rides Out