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.

Klute 1971. Alan J. Pakula
Klute is a a suspense thriller with a very paranoid streak, which makes sense because Pakula also directed The Parallax View and All the Presidents Men (there was a lot to be paranoid about in the early seventies). Klute is played by Donald Sutherland, a private eye working a missing persons case. Jane Fonda plays Brie Daniels, a prostitute that may have answers for Klute. Fonda is just amazing in this movie, she gives an outstanding performance as a woman trying to change her life but haunted by what she has become. Sutherland is excellent as the stoic detective from the sticks doing his best to do his job while discovering he's attracted to Brie.
Watching Sutherland and Fonda work through this lurid story with grace and class is a movie experience that is truly thrilling. This film, though made in '71 and in color, clearly has elements of noir in its design: darkness seeps into every scene, even in daylight; the cinematography is by the great Gordon Willis, who does incredible things with light and shadows. You have the detective angle, paranoia, a fear of he future, etc. it is very much a late noir work that doesn't always look like noir at first glance. Pakula delivers a film that is moving, thoughtful, and exciting.

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…

Panic in Needle Park. 1971 Dir. Jerry Schatzberg
Another fantastic movie from the Seventies. Schatzberg started his career as a commercial photographer, and in 1970 made his first movie. Panic was his second film and it's a beauty. It's a love story, and it's a hard look at life with addiction. It's shot against the backdrop of early seventies New York City, a city that no longer exists. It's a tough little movie with a young Al Pacino and Kitty Winn chewing up the scenery with fantastic efficiency. See it.

Bang the Drum Slowly 1973 Dir. John D. Hancock. This film along with Mean Street which was released the same year, pretty much put Robert DeNiro on the map. Bang the drum Slowly is the story of two baseball players who are close friends, and one of them is dying. I know: Baseball, but DeNiro and Moriarity give truly inspired and measured performances, and reminds you that DeNiro once actually cared about his craft. It's not a big movie with broad strokes, it's a small movie with delicate strokes...
Recommended.

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

Il Posto 1961 Dir. Ermanno Olmi. Olmi would become an international star with his film Tree of the Wooden Clogs in 1978 (he won the Palme d'Or for this), but his career began in e early 50's making documentaries mostly. By the early sixties, he was lumped in with the neo-realists (he has rejected this claim), but his work is definitely marked by his overt social and political perspectives that come through in his films. This film is the story of a young man trying to get a foothold in the highly desirable corporate work environment in the big city, which meant job security, but also a life of soul crushing banality. This film is sort of shocking in its depiction of how people can be seduced by certain kinds of "security" at the cost of losing ones ambitions, dreams, hopes, desires... in short, a full, rich life...

Vertigo 1958 Alfred Hitchcock. This is easily in my top 5 favorite films of all time. It's a masterpiece and a defining film in Hitchcock's long and brilliant career. There are many films you could choose as a favorite from Hitchcock's body of work, but for me this beats the rest by a fairly long stretch. Hitchcock takes a conventional suspense story and turns it into something profound, thrilling and amazing. It's a psychological thriller unlike any other. It a MOVIE movie. Vertigo is an odd film too, because it does not pretend to reside in reality, rather it is more of a fantastic, absurdist allegory. James Stewart gives one of his finest performances as a middle aged man obsessed, and seduced with the idea of a second chance, while Kim Novak was never so seductive as in this movie. What makes Vertigo so great? Aside from the masterful direction by Hitchcock, there are the wonderful actors, the beautiful cinematography by Robert Burks, the score by the great Bernard Hermann, and much more... But what I think is the real magic in Vertigo is the way it functions as a MOVIE. it eschews the trappings of a realistic story for one that is larger than life, just like Scottie's obsession with Madeleine/Judy is larger than life. It revels in its fantasy and serves it up to us as something more than what the eye can absorb at once, something more than real life, but focused, isolated and unique. And just maybe, we learn something about ourselves, about chance and control and desire and the consequences of giving in to ones weaknesses. This is what a film can be at its best, and Vertigo is one of the absolute best.

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.

This is just hilarious!... but I'm sure they don't think so...

R.I.P. Tommy Ramone. All 4 original members are now gone! Incredible and sad. They were one of e very first punk bands I ever saw live and remember how great they could be. For a young person, the Ramones offered an energy and sense of fun that was essential for that generation's sanity. They were great.

Sadness today.

The great jazz bassist Charlie Haden died Friday morning at the age of 76, according to a message from ECM Records.

For my California pals, if you can make it to this you should give it a shot. Stephen Shore's work is sublime.

Given a darkroom kit for his sixth birthday and a copy of Walker Evans’s American Photographs when he turned ten, Stephen Shore (b. 1947) was captivated by photography early in life, and quickly rose to prominence as an artist. At the young age of fourteen he sold three prints to Edward Steichen for…

Fantastic! I'm joining!