Harvey Korman Will Be Missed.

I have wonderful memories of laughing a lot while watching Harvey Korman in action.
This scene from High Anxiety is one of my favorites. Before Cable television, I would make a point of watching High Anxiety, Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein whenever they were shown. I love early Mel Brooks. When we saw History Of The World Part I in the theaters, I could not stop laughing. For a ten year old, it was insanity.

Zack And Miri Make A Porno Teaser Trailer

The teaser trailer for Kevin Smith's Zack And Miri Make A Porno is online now. I have and always will be a Kevin Smith. I doubt that will ever change. The idea of Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks in a film by him is very tantalizing. Below is teaser trailer from http://www.quickstopentertainment.com/:

Movie Geeks United Interviewed Bryan Bertino Last Night...

We had a great show last night. We interviewed Bryan Bertino, the director of The Strangers. This sounds like a good kind of throwback horror film. Well, I hope it is a good, scary movie.
We also talked about the passing of Sydney Pollack. He directed, produced and acted in so many films. He will be missed. Talk about a legend and I believe A.O. Scott was right in The New York Times to compare him to William Wyler. Pollack had incredible range. Give the show a listen below and have a great weekend. Thank you.

Speaking of shows. I had a blast with Jamey last night on the show. We really appreciated everyone's calls to Bryan and to us. Sunday night's show was no exception. I was in top form for some reason. All the Rambo and Indiana Jones talk was good for the soul.

Inglorious Bastards At Cannes In 2009?

According to this story at JoBlo.com,
http://www.joblo.com/tarantinos-next-is
Quentin Tarantino claims that his World War II Men on A Mission film, Inglorious Bastards may be at the Cannes Film Festival next year. I have been waiting for this film for many years. This is exciting news. Speaking of Cannes, I really want to see Gomorrah really badly. Really does make me want to go Cannes next year. Hell, I would love to go every year. Enough daydreaming for a Tuesday morning at work.

Movie Geeks United Videos...

Movie Geeks United is the ultimate movie radio on the internet. Jamey, Chris and yours truly bring you the latest in movie news, top rate interviews and pure cinematic insanity. It is Fresh Air meets Tough Crowd With Colin Quinn twice a week. We have been doing this show twice a week for well over a year now. We have interviewed Rutger Hauer, Phil Donahue, Ellen Spiro, Gabrielle Union, Brian De Palma, Paul Schrader, Dana Delaney, Steven Bauer, John Badham, Jeff Goldblum, William Forsythe, Bo Goldman, Uwe Boll and many others. The best is yet to come. Join us at the link below every Wednesday at 10:00 PM (EST) and every Sunday at 6:00 PM (EST) for a wild and fun time.

Ten Sundays Productions Presents a scene from "Abraham Lincoln"

This is a scene from a film by Ten Sundays Productions. The film is written and directed by Ian Albetski and Paul Busetti. Francis Abbey and Bridget Devlin Burke are in this scene. Ten Sundays, like George Pelecanos, is another reason I am glad to live in the Washington DC Metro area. They are very creative and good people.





http://tensundays.com/index.html

You Go To Find Your Maker In The Blizzard: Flashbacks To Another Age

Special Note: This is a repost from a MySpace blog I wrote on January 21, 2007. I wanted to repost it on this site as well. I believe this is where the Quentin Tarantino obsession begins. Thank you.



Sometime yesterday morning as I was waking up, I could not stop thinking about that Babel film. Not the usual stuff, why did it win a Golden Globe or any awards season crap like that. It will get a lot of nominations this Tuesday and it does not really matter in the long or short run of things. So many people seem to like the film that really is Crash's sleeker and hipper younger brother. I was really just thinking of Brad Pitt's performance and why I deleted my review I was writing on October 8th. I was forcing myself to like a film that may be 21 Grams lite at best. It is Pitt's performance that stands out and the one thing I take away from the film. So thinking about that and dreading a morning run against the cold winds-- my mind wondered off back to the Blizzard of 1993. My last year of college, I moved back home and it turned out to be the best decision I could make. I must be the only person in the history of the University Of Maryland who preferred home to dorm or apartment life. Sometime in 1992, I finally fell in love with reading on my own again. Sadly, I dumbed myself down during the first couple of years of college. I knew I was on the right track while reading Tom Robbins Skinny Legs And All before class one time and someone came over and thought it was for class. They were relieved it was not required reading. English majors were not to keen to do outside reading-- at least this was one observation. I just kind of had to read again and catch up. My Dad always said I would be playing catch up. He is still so right.

During Spring Break of 1993, we got hit with a major blizzard for these parts. It was very cool. I just stayed home watching films and writing a lot of poetry for class and just for myself. Than I looked at the show times in the paper. Reservoir Dogs was back in circulation. It opened in October of 1992 and closed after a week at the Outer Circle. I told someone we should go see the film and they looked at me as though I was nuts. For an indie film, it did get a write up for its poor box office performance in Variety the following week. I always thought that was odd. All I knew at that time was Wes Craven walked out of a screening of the film. My brother, Saul, was lucky enough to have seen it in New York and said it was the best film of 1992 besides Howard's End. Tarantino's film would come back to the Foundry or the Cerebus-- old Georgetown theaters that no longer exist. But it didn't stay long there either. So when I saw it playing at the Janus-- I knew we had to see it. Loyal friend and fellow movie partner, Scott a.k.a. Skippy was game for it. Although he would not do the original double feature of Reservoir Dogs and Bad Lieutenant. It was so cool to see Harvey Keitel enjoying a second wind. Mortal Thoughts and Thelma And Louise brought him back and this was the reward. I would have done the double feature with no problem. But Skippy was not sure about either film. So we got into the good old Red Jeep Cherokee that 10 years later would take me to and from California. Lots of snow, but very little traffic and parking was not that bad. Come on it's the aftermath of blizzard in Washington DC-- this place closes down for flurries.

The Janus like the Outer Circle, the Key, the Biograph, the Embassy and countless others is no longer around. My Mom and I were counting the theaters that have closed around over the last twenty years and it is staggering. I think the first film I saw at the Janus was Watership Down and we saw Das Boot there too. Watching Reservoir Dogs was meaningful. I would come back here to see Stalingrad, Trees Lounge, Boys Don't Cry and countless others. So how was watching Reservoir Dogs? It was perfect. This Tarantino guy was like one of us. The geek that triumphed and got his vision to the screen. The dialogue was so razor sharp and the references were kept telling me-- he gets it. He loves the art form so much. The violence was so refreshing-- at the time Steven Seagal passed for action and that was unacceptable. It was only the summer before that I saw John Woo's The Killer-- how could I ever go back to the generic shit after seeing John Woo or Ringo Lam or later on Johhny To. I felt vindicated watching this heist film. I felt good. It was refreshing and would set everything up. True Romance and Natural Born Killers became things to look out for sooner than later. Killing Zoe was a film to see no matter where it was playing. Pulp Fiction needed to be seen opening day at all costs. I devoured everything about him after watching the film. It was a revelation. Hell, Tarantino owned War Of the Gargantuas on laserdisc-- how could you not love this guy?

Before this blizzard, actually during winter break. We went to go see The Crying Game at Dupont Circle and then went to The Palm for dinner afterwards. I miss those days and times. Those family outings and going to our favorite restaurant will live with me for the rest of my days. While watching the trailers before hand. My brother, Michael, turned to me and mentioned that I had seen all the films already. One of them was for Peter's Friends which my Mom and I saw earlier that week. I never get bored of this thing. The best is when we went to The Usual Suspects at the same theater back in 1995 and we were all pretty blown away by that one too. Those days seem like a distant era. Another time that seems like it never existed in the first place. I really miss the times my brothers and I would walk up to the Mercado-- a great theater that is no longer with us. We saw The Man Who Would Be King and The Wind And The Lion there. We saw everything there and yes that is where I watch Excalibur for the first time. That film is one of my favorites. Just go check out Shaun's Blog for more on that.

A normal person would not make the jump from Babel to Tarantino, but that is just how my mind works. I think for many people my age and younger, Quentin Tarantino represents to us many things. Sure, he is one of hundreds of directors I worship. And I am very grateful that I went with my gut that day and witnessed the birth of something special in my life. Tarantino made me love film making again. The freshness of things came back. The following week, the film came out on video. My parents watched it and were enthralled and years later I loaned the film to my friend, Dave. I decided to buy another copy; the thought of Reservoir Dogs not in the house freaked me out, but I wanted him to see it. We had a blast watching Pulp Fiction. And my friend Skippy is a good guy. He moved to Seattle and I visited him out back in 1997. It was a weird time I was going through back then, but he made it worthwhile. 1997 was a a cluster fuck of a year for me-- but that is another blog. And for those of you who have been reading since July. Skippy is a lot like Jay Liebenow. Are they my Tyler Durdens? I miss them, but we all have to go our own ways. But I would be a liar, if I did not say that they added a lot of value to my life.

Werner Herzog Does Abel Ferrara

"Hey, listen to me. I'm the boss, not Aunt Wendy. When it's your time to use the bathroom, you tell Aunt Wendy to get the fuck out of the bathroom! What are you, men or mice? She's hoggin' the bathroom - call me! Call me, and I'll throw her the fuck out!"
-- The Lieutenant from Bad Lieutenant

1992 was a great year for Harvey Keitel. Reservoir Dogs and Bad Lieutenant were a double assault of major bad ass cinema. Sadly, the proposed double feature of the two films never happened because my friend would only go see one of them. It was the blizzard of 1993 and we picked Reservoir Dogs at the Janus in Washington, DC-- the theater is sadly gone like so many theaters. The first film I saw there was Watership Down. There was a pole in one of theaters that obstructed viewings. I also wanted to see Bad Lieutenant, but he would not do two films. I have already written about how seeing Reservoir Dogs and its impact on me. It had a large impact on everyone else too, but still what an awesome film.

I finally saw Bad Lieutenant the following summer on VHS and it was as wild as I had heard from everyone. Abel Ferrara does not disappoint. King Of New York was another good film. I vaguely remember Ms. 45 and China Girl. The Driller Killer was his most infamous film before Bad Lieutenant. I am a big fan of The Addiction and The Funeral. I just admire Abel Ferrara's view of the world. The idea of a remake of any of his films sounds completely unnecessary, but what if it was by an equally unique and visionary director. If anyone can re- imagine an Abel Ferrara film, then Werner Herzog is the right man for the job. I want the director of Aguirre: The Wrath of God, Fitzcarraldo and all of the rest of those crazy collaborations with Klaus Kinski to direct this film. I am very curious to see what he is going to do with it. More importantly to see if Herzog can get a real performance out of Nicolas Cage. I am not sure what to think of his casting in this or what he will be like in the Bangkok Dangerous remake. If Kinski were still alive, well he could play the part like no one else. Herzog's Rescue Dawn was very good and I think that Christian Bale would be a natural candidate for the role of the Lieutenant. This is one remake I am curious about. Come to think of it, Training Day is kind of a remake of Abel Ferrara's notorious classic. Just a thought.

Cannibal Cheerleader Camp Trailer

I am very lucky to have two very talented and creative filmmakers as friends. Francis Abbey and Paul Busetti are two maverick filmmakers from the Washington DC area. I have already posted Francis Abbey's Boxing Day trailer in a previous blog. Below is a trailer for Paul Busetti's Cannibal Cheerleader Camp which stars the very talented Bridget Devlin Burke as well. Ten Sundays Productions is the real deal!!!
I wished I had helped out on Cannibal Cheerleader Camp!!!

This Is Genius!!

"What I should have done... was liquidate all the high-ranking officers, as Stalin did! "
-- Adolf Hitler from Der Untergang

I know this has been around for awhile, but this clip from the Downfall on its own was insane. Whoever did this with the football related subtitles is a genius. I have not laughed this hard in a long time. Indulge me. Thank you.

Everyone Knows The Score...

"I can't make out whether you're bloody bad-mannered or just half-witted."
-- General Murray from Lawrence Of Arabia

My devotion to keeping up this blog has been pathetic at best-- need to update it more often. I have been having a good time writing film reviews for all the sites that will have me so far. I am eternally grateful for the chance to work for them. I have been busy with Movie Geeks United for the last year. I have really come to love doing this show with Jamey and Chris twice a week now. Yesterday we played our Rutger Hauer interview and talked a lot about Oliver Stone's George W. Bush film. I love it!!!It has given me a much needed release and purpose. The Myspace blog has been good for the last two years, but I rarely blog there. It is mainly a place to post links to reviews and update people on the latest MGU show. There is so much to be done. I miss real blogging. I really should use that Live Journal account too. Maybe not, but who knows? I will just try to focus on this and the reviews for the summer.


After I got back from the gym yesterday morning, I got to use an ax. I helped my brother chop up a dead tree. That is hard work, but I have to say I enjoyed it. The countless whacks were tiring, but it was fun. Sorry, no pictures-- I still do not take enough photos or shoot enough video and I have the bloody tools too. Yeah, but going at it with that ax was a good outlet.

Right now for some reason, I am all about Kill Bill. This happens with Tarantino films-- I get fixated on the music he uses in all his films. The soundtracks for both volumes have so many gems on them. The trailer for Kill Bill: Vol. 2 has some really nice Morricone goodness going on.

Francis Abbey and His Film, Boxing Day

I am still writing reviews-- for other websites at the moment. I will post links to those in another blog. For now, please watch these videos from my friend and filmmaker, Francis Abbey.
His vlogs can be seen at:

Thank you.