If I Could Walk That Way I Wouldn't Need After Shave

It’s 2024, and I am 60 years old, and tonight I wheeze-laughed myself to tears watching clips of The Masturbating Bear, which, prior to today, I had no knowledge of.

Wheeze-laughing is something I feel I inherited. I fondly remember my family watching Monty Python’s Flying Circus when it was new to the Dallas area in the 70s; we watched it when visiting my great-grandparents home in Ennis, Texas. And it was, I believe, during the Bicycle Repair Man sketch that my father had a prolonged bout of that same wheezing laugh. It was the first time I saw my father responding to humor in a very outward manner. I’m sure I had seen him laugh before but this was different. It was a giddy fit of uncontrolled laughter, and I think even my mother hadn’t seen him respond to something that way. It rarely happened again for the rest of his life.

Tonight, after the bear videos, I stumbled upon a string of YouTube videos from the Flying Circus show (Cheese Shop, Dead Parrot, Communist Quiz, my beloved Fish Slapping Dance, and more), and for about two hours I wheezed and gut-laughed my way through the night’s nostalgia. It was glorious.

R.I.P. Roger Corman

End of an era. Arguably, more careers were started by this man than any other single person in the history of cinema. An amazing history.

Tarsem & Dreading Unavailability

An article went up today about some janky connections between Tarsem’s THE FALL and the current mainstream joyride THE FALL GUY. And while I get their angle, it frustrates me to be reminded that I cannot get a copy of THE FALL without paying gouge prices on eBay. I won’t pay $147 for THE FALL. I would, given the opportunity, pay decent money for a Tarsem box-set of THE CELL, THE FALL, and IMMORTALS. I’d be thrusting dollars at you like there was a meme.

Tarsem’s work, if you’re unfamiliar, began in music video and commercials, but with the aforementioned projects, he established himself as one of the best modern visual artists on film (and one of the most under-used and under-appreciated). And yet his finest work, THE FALL, is not even listed on Just Watch as not available, it’s so unavailable (outside of the aforementioned gouging).

So yes, to all the boutique houses, I say: get THE CELL, THE FALL, and IMMORTALS in a solid box-set and you will make money while we enjoy the wonder and artistry of the man’s work.

Easy, right?

Vincent D’Onofrio in THE CELL.

Lee Pace and company in THE FALL.

Henry Cavill being tossed about in IMMORTALS.

Seven Hours

Last night I slept for seven unbroken hours. I haven’t done that in at least a year, maybe longer.

Not a hugely entertaining post, but something that is of great value to me.

It's Too Late To Be Late Again

Rough stretch? Put on David Bowie’s STATION TO STATION and let the title song flow over you. And then the rest of the album (including long-time favorite “Golden Years”). Gone is the anxiety, even as you complete the spreadsheet that had you tied in knots, those last-minute meetings a distant memory.

The goods.

HUNDREDS OF BEAVERS, Available Now!

HUNDREDS OF BEAVERS is now available to rent or purchase on Amazon and Apple, and while I want a physical disc I’m thrilled to be able to recommend this to any of the five people who visit this site.

A slapstick film about observation and problem-solving, BEAVERS is a throwback to something truly special in cinema that simply doesn’t come around very often. It is frantic, wacky, and hilarious. Creative in all the best ways. It is, to be clear, a modern masterpiece.

Find it. Get it. Love it.

R.I.P. Eleanor Coppola

Eleanor Coppola, director of the documentary HEARTS OF DARKNESS, has passed away.

She got her start as the assistant art director on DEMENTIA 13, a Roger Corman production where she met Francis Ford Coppola, who was directing his first film.

Death To Management

Finished the first season of Amazon Prime’s Fallout series, and I have to say, those last two episodes put the icing on the cake. Well done.

Burn! - Poster Excellence

I had seen the title BURN! over the years but never knew that it was a narrative based on WIlliam Walker, who I only knew from the anachronistic lens of Alex Cox’s WALKER. Gillo Pontecorvo’s 1969 film (originally titled “QUEIMADA”) stars Brando, and I immediately fell in love with the poster, of which I couldn’t find a large or clean version. The icon’s swagger is evident in the one-sheet, and if the description of the story hadn’t hooked me, that image would have. Apparently an edited version is available on Apple TV and Amazon Prime, an almost-complete version that is subtitled can be found on YouTube…and somewhere in the ether is a complete Blu-ray version.

I think I’ll start with YouTube.

R.I.P. Guy Caballero

Cable television magnate Guy Caballero has passed away. He left behind a saddened SCTV family.

Lola Heatherton could not be reached for comment.

"Robo Wants An Oreo"

I can’t remember the last time a making-of documentary (in this case, a 4-part miniseries) had me feeling such a continuous, giddy joy throughout. ROBODOC: THE CREATION OF ROBOCOP is so appealing, so satisfying, and so downright fun, it was an unexpected pleasure. (I found it on Tubi, but it appears to be on a number of platforms.)

More Reminiscences About That Thing I Took Part In

Looking back at the AFFD’s* past rosters (which I do every few years but more so now that I’m posting film images with greater frequency), my fingerprints are all over the years of 2010 through 2012, and I get a sly grin when I think about how hard it was to get the organization’s approval on unique (read: hard to sell) films like BREATHLESS, AT THE END OF DAYBREAK, DANCE TOWN, DISORDER, and LET’S GO!

Sure, there was the occasional VISAGE that just flat didn’t work. I’ll take that hit. But I hated for that beautiful, valuable festival to be only about easy (even if superior) crime films, swordplay, romances, and horror. All great types. But not everything I had in mind.

Below are just a few of the films I wish I could have snagged for the festival during that period.

Yoshifumi Tsubota’s MIYOKO ASAGAYA KIBUN (MIYOKO).

Vimukthi Jayasundara’s AHASIN WETEI (BETWEEN TWO WORLDS).

Kitao Sakurai’s AARDVARK.

Na Hong-jin’s HWANGHAE (THE YELLOW SEA).

*Asian Film Festival of Dallas

Classics From The Year I Was Born

1964:

DR. STRANGELOVE or: HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE BOMB

THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG

THE PINK PANTHER

THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH

THE PAWNBROKER

Don Siegel’s THE KILLERS

A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS

GOLDFINGER, wah waaaah wah, and its exquisite fashions

FAIL-SAFE

…and my personal favorite of the bunch, THE TRAIN.

Kurosawa Eternal

Everyone has a celebrity they share their birthday with.

Mine is arguably better than yours.

R.I.P. M. Emmet Walsh

Not hyperbole when I say I’ve been watching M. Emmet Walsh in films all my life. Just read that the actor passed away at 88. He was great in everything, from the silliness of THE JERK to gritty roles in BLADE RUNNER and BLOOD SIMPLE, and those are just three examples from his first 15 years of performances. His filmography reads like a wonderful library of film. He will be missed but warmly remembered.

THE JERK.