Category Archives: movies
The Wrestler (2008)
The most philosophically evil film of our time. A post-TMZ, post-Perez, post-Reality TV hand-held dialectic in which the argument is not about the virtue of seeking fame, but rather the absolute necessity of recapturing it at any cost. Replete with … Continue reading
COMMENT: Ethical and Moral Complexity in LOST BOYS 2: THE TRIBE (by request)
(this post by request.) Look: I like dumb vampire movies and I like dumb stylistic candy and I like dumb genre exercises, so it’s a sucker’s bet thinking that I wouldn’t be all about Joel Schumaker’s The Lost Boys (1987). … Continue reading
Insanity from Above, Filth from Below: A Freaked-Out Report on the San Diego Comic Con 2008
Last summer, when I attended the San Diego Comic Con, I was struck by its blankness– there was literally nothing that required photography and nothing, after the cease of the spectacle, that was worth remembering. My sum total of purchases … Continue reading
Jason Tallon Reports on Kenneth Anger at the Anthology Film Archives, June 20th, 2008
Kenneth Anger is my Grandfather. He is upstairs in my parent’s bed and I bring him his breakfast. He’s feeling better but restless and anxious to get out again. He’s planning his escape. I’m in charge of watching him, of … Continue reading
Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008)
Truth in advertising. Two hours later and I remember nothing. Something about Hawaii and the Ukranian chick from That 70s Show. Veronica Mars? Fat guy from Superbad. That’s it. No material to work with, no half-cocked witticisms or sarcasm. Of … Continue reading
88 Minutes (2008)
At this very moment I am convinced– and am willing to throw down over my conviction– that 88 Minutes is the most heinous and shocking of mankind’s many, many crimes. A worse thing has not been known. An affront to … Continue reading
21 (2008)
I’m fairly certain that it’s because of the dextromethorphan in my cough medicine, but at this very moment I am convinced– and am willing to throw down over my conviction– that 21 is the single finest achievement in ten thousand … Continue reading
Funny Games (2008)
A film that would have appealed to me at the age of 19– but so did John Woo’s Face/Off.
WINTER TOUR 08: FRITZ DONNELLY, BABY, IT'S YOU
Fritz Donnelly (on the right.) Filmmaker, writer & apparent Gollum impersonator. Williamsburg bridge rising up behind. Mix-n-match mojo master. Man, that dude’s a mystery. Just go here. Age: somewhere between 25 and ? December something, 2007. – Previous Donnelly Action.
COMICS: AN IDIOSYNCRATIC EXAMINATION, PART THREE (30 Days of Night, five minutes of sorrow)
There’s probably a very dense and boring book published by Fantagraphics tracing the development of Cinematographic Technique in comics– beginning surely with E.C. and the endlessly flogged “Master Race” of Krigstein– but I think it’s fair to say that the … Continue reading
Moment of Ultra Weird / I Can't Believe It, I Can't Believe I'm Alive
Sitting one seat behind Roky Erickson at a screening of Creature With The Atom Brain, watching him watch the movie. And having the crowd’s laughter remind me of the rising tides of angst and embarrassment of Anthology Film Archives days. … Continue reading
ELIZABETH: THE GOLDEN AGE (and then some)
Don’t you believe the bad reviews & merciless critiques of this week’s Elizabeth: The Golden Age. I assure one and all that it is a glorious, splendid mess. In its luridness, the film comes very close to mirroring the sensationalist … Continue reading
Lyrics to Bob Dylan's "I'm Not There (1956)"
Each of the last few years has had a strange cycle of Bob Dylan frenzy, generally culminating in a Significant Fall release. 2007 is no different and November offers Todd Haynes’s gimmicky biopic I’m Not There. It’s hard to imagine … Continue reading
the lowest moment
There is no single phrase more vile, nor more embarrassing. It will be the lowest moment of your life. And yet, you say it still: “I’d like a ticket for I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry.”
Review: TRANSFORMERS (2007)
Excerpt from An Interview With Jarett Kobek by God, Discover’d in a Dream, on divers & sundry topics, but concerned mainly with Michael Bay’s Transformers (2007) God: So, Jarett, how’m I doing? Jarett: Well, I gotta say, you know, … Continue reading
B.B. stands for Bertolt Brecht
Yay for the Wayback Machine– it allowed me to find the now dead transcript of Bertolt Brecht’s HUAC testimony during the first wave of Hollywood Blacklist hearings. Unlike the ten who refused to testify, Brecht, rather concerned that he might … Continue reading
REVIEW: Black Diamond Detective Agency
In a previous sycophantic post, I mentioned that I think Eddie Campbell is the single smartest person, both as an artist and a writer, to have ever worked in comics. Bacchus (under its 200 different titles of publication) was possibly … Continue reading