ELECTRA GLIDE IN BLUE, 1973 dir.James William Guercio
This film is a beautifully shot and well crafted production about a highway motorcycle cop who discovers a murder. It was the debut film for director Guercio who made his mark as the producer for the popular seventies band Chicago, this was his only film as a director. The cinematography is by the great Conrad Hall. Robert Blake is outstanding as the highway cop who wants to break out of his mundane job and become a detective where he can be more useful in his line of duty. He is investigating this murder which was initially listed as a suicide. Unfortunately, the movie was written off as a rightwing answer to Easy Rider, mostly due to the fact that it gives the story from the cop's (establishment's) perspective, and in the end the roles of the establishment vs. the counterculture are reversed. This is unfortunate because it does not appear to take sides whether politically or morally. It looks at the big picture and sees it for it's failures, wherever they come from. Blake gives a sensitive and thoughtful performance, one of the best of his career, while the rest of the cast seem like caricatures at times -- whether this was intentional or not, it nonetheless reveals the inadequacies of all the various sides, political, moral, just, whatever.

just added the last of the FB film blurbs to the tumblr blog, in case you were wondering what happened to those... http://jimsharpe.tumblr.com/

The Misfits. 1961 John Huston. I re-watched the Misfits last night. Though i’ve seen it a number of times, i hadn’t watched it in many years. I was really struck by how great a movie it is and how insanely beautiful Monroe was. The performances by Monroe, Clift, Wallach and even Gable - who i have a…

The Servant 1963, Dir. Joseph Losey. This is the first of several collaborations Losey did with the playwright Harold Pinter, and for me still the best. It stars the great Dirk Bogarde with Sarah Miles and James Fox. Pinter's adaptation concerns an upper class sort of playboy who hires a manservant to handle his apartment. It soon devolves into a relationship of practical and psychological need and slowly the roles of master/servant begin to shift. By the end, the roles are so far from what one would expect that you wonder how they got there. The tension between the 4 main characters is finely tuned by Losey, who was a master at handling actors as well as the written material. It's a sort of attack of the British class system and how morally, socially and ethically debased it is. Bogarde is genius in this film.

Out of the Past, 1947 Dir. Jacques Tourneur
This is another great noir with a twisted tale of someone trying to put the past far behind him and live a relatively “normal” existence. Except, the past comes back to collect, to taunt and to otherwise undermine any attempt to escape from the darkness that was once routine. It’s got all the necessary ingredients: beautifully dark cinematography, a convoluted storyline, the Femme Fatale, betrayal, the odds stacked impossibly high against the main protagonist, etc. Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer and Kirk Douglas give outstanding performances and this is one of the all time classic Noir films directed by Tourneur. Tourneur also directed the excellent I Walked with a Zombie and the original Cat People, but Out of the Past is arguably Tourneur’s finest film and it is worth revisiting regularly.

At Christopher's suggestion, as well as the urging of a couple of other pals here, I have started a blog with the film blurbs I've been posting. All of the previous blurbs (I'm calling them blurbs because they don't warrant being called reviews) have now migrated onto Tumblr, with some edits and updates. Going forward, i will continue to post new blurbs here, but also add them to the tumblr blog
For those interested, you can read them all here: http://jimsharpe.tumblr.com

The Misfits. 1961 John Huston. I re-watched the Misfits last night. Though i’ve seen it a number of times, i hadn’t watched it in many years. I was really struck by how great a movie it is and how insanely beautiful Monroe was. The performances by Monroe, Clift, Wallach and even Gable - who i have a…

Enter the Void. 2009 Gaspar Noe. Noe has made some notably difficult and shocking films in a time when nothing seems shocking anymore. His earlier films I Stand Alone and Irreversible left an indelible mark on world cinema and basically said: Look Out! Strong on style, visually dynamic and an almost poetic sense of editing, Noe approaches film in a way few directors have the ability, or even courage to engage. Enter the Void is a film that deals with no less a subject than the cycle of life. It is initially presented as a somewhat sensational drug/crime thriller, but then takes an incredible turn into an almost philosophical examination of where a soul can go to re-engage with life. Plus, it is an amazing kaleidoscopic avalanche of eye candy. See it, and LOOK OUT!

Thanks everyone for all your kind words and birthday wishes! I will be seeing you all soon! Fabio

Damn! This place was really something unique in a city that is rapidly losing its soul...

So it goes.

Once again to everyone who checked in here with your greetings... You're a fantastic bunch of humans and i'm lucky to know each and every one of you!!

get on the Failure train today @ 3pm. Strength Through Failure http://wfmu.org

Wow!

Plus reissue of We Are Time, which they'll be performing in full live, and new rarities album in October

This guy is such an asshole, but we know this already...

Rocker Gene Simmons, of KISS fame, tells those dirty poor people they better be nice to the rich, because the rich make jobs and stuff.

Asshole.

New business opportunity!

Time to have your glass of Lysergic Acid!

In the 1950's this woman decided she would participate in a science experiment where she would take LSD for the first time in her life.

Fairly direct.

Do you want to know the real reason why there’ so much violence in the Middle-East? This animation by Nina Paley is one of the most beautiful, accurate and true cartoons I ever seen! A masterpiece! The animation makes it clear why there can be no clear “winners” over this land. Time to end the blood…

Hold Me While I'm Naked. 1966 George Kuchar. This short film is one of my favorites by Kuchar, who made HUNDREDS of films (some with his brother Mike, who also made his own films). I know there are some here who are well versed in the works by the Kuchars, but there are probably many more who have never seen a Kuchar movie, which is a shame. This movie shows George exploring his own relationship with his work as a filmmaker (loosely autobiographical), but done with humor and a sensitivity that rivals anything Hollywood could dish out. Imagine if say, Douglas Sirk were not allowed in Hollywood, came from a working class home in the Bronx, with no money except enough to buy some super 8 film and shoot everything with friends or family; That's pretty much how Kuchar operated. I recommend diving into as much Kuchar as possible (most are short and some are available on Youtube). They are brilliant gems and highly entertaining. You can watch this one here: http://youtu.be/6QL3yU3fyxo

http://youtu.be/6QL3yU3fyxo

Today on Strength through Failure... 3 (THREE) hours of non-stop failure action! 3-6pm It's the motherload of Failure! wfmu.org

Saturday. 3pm FREE LIVE MUSIC! come and say hi...

Disgusting.

Sen Bernie Sanders exposed a dirty little secret that the Kochs and other conservative billionaires don't want you to know. The Republican attacks on the IRS are part of a deliberate strategy to help the Kochs buy our democracy.