"LADIES & GENTLEMEN, THE ROLLING STONES" (1974) TURNS 50 AND I WAS ONE OF THE FIRST TO SEE IT IN THE THEATER IN NYC

  ORIGINAL POSTER

It was 1974, I was 12 years old, a Stones freak and in my second year playing guitar. Living with my mom in NYC just blocks away from the theater it debuted at called the Ziegfried or something like that. You can bet your bottom dollar that I was hounding my mom on a daily basis to take me to this when it came out. And so, I want to say it was on a Saturday but whatever it was, we were at the first matinee show.

As the poster mentions above, the movie was presented with an actual JBL mini-concert sound system, I remember speakers sitting to the left and right of the screen, similar to sound systems of that era but much smaller. There was even a sound engineer employed at these original screenings to twist knobs and get the best effect depending on how many were in the theater. 

A bit of trivia here - this 1972 American Tour had a unique ticketing system, you had to send in post cards. You could send one or a hundred, but it was the only way to get tickets. We had tried but weren't picked but I'm happy to report I got to see them the following year, 1973 at the LA Forum for a very special concert known as the Nicaraguan Benefit Concert with Santana and Cheech & Chong opening for the Stones. What a special night. 

And then again in 1975 also at the Forum with the lotus stage. Yes, those were the days, my friends. Raised lighters, good vibes and what was really also an occasion to forget about business, the world and all it's trappings. This eventually gave way to the corporate sponsored tour model, cell phones, technology. And guess who was responsible for all that happening? Yep, the Rolling Stones. 

2.75 stars/2.75

 ORIGINAL NEW ZEALAND 60 SEC TRAILER

 MOST OF THE MOVIE, SANS "MIDNIGHT RAMBLER" & "STREET FIGHTING MAN" 

If you want to see the original uncut film, only on Amazon, 3.99 to rent, 9.99 to buy., 

IT'S CO-PILOT JOSEPH GORDON LEVITT AGAINST THE TERRORISTS IN FLIGHT AS HE CALLS IN A "7500" (2019)

 
Amazon Studios? Seriously? Ok, don't get me started on that stuff, let's talk about this "Amazon Original" (oh, boy!) starring the ever-versatile Joseph Gordon Levitt as a co-pilot who shortly after take-off has his cockpit stormed by hijackers. His pilot is comatose but he's also got one of theirs, man down! 

This starts a nice cat-n-mouse game as the other hijackers still in the cabin try to get Levitt to open the security door by threatening to kill passengers, etc. It's actually very predictable at every turn but the good news is they stick to the action and suspense. It's very engaging and well-produced. 

Levitt, not surprising, is excellent, he's better than this role. However, as an airliner thriller and we do love those, it's pretty darn good. Not as good as last year's Plane but close. Levitt makes the difference as best as he can. 

Now this is what I love about the whole Amazon Studios crap. I first checked this out in 2019 when it was only available with Prime. Now it's on Tubi, Pluto or Freevee, take your pick. Thumbs up!

3.0 stars/5

SIDEWAYS (2004) TURNS 20 - ALEXANDER PAYNE'S MASTERPIECE & RECIPENT OF COUNTLESS ACOLADES

 

Thomas Haden Church's association with Alexander Payne goes back to Election and even after Sideways he was almost cast in what became Dermot Mulroney's part in About Schmidt. I start my post here because I think a lot of people agree this was an all-time classic Oscar snub at Paul Giamatti. 

I did some research on this and discovered that every single major awards show (from about 25 that I looked at) including the Golden Globes nominated both lead actors with the exception of London and New York who nominated Giamatti but not Haden Church. Hmm!

Nonetheless, the overall achievement here is what counts most and the Golden Globes got it right awarding best picture. It was up against some pretty heavy competition including Million Dollar Baby, The Aviator and Ray. but Sideways is the better movie. 

On countless top ten lists for that year, on quite a few best movies of all times lists and widely considered to be one of the best movies of the 2000's.

I fully agree. When I'm asked what I consider to be the best pictures of all time I usually bring up Apocalypse Now, Midnight Cowboy, American Beauty and Sideways, 'nuff said. 

As far as streaming, Sideways right now is on Hulu if you have that subscription, otherwise it's VOD but I would note it's on sale on Amazon for only 4.99 and that's a steal.  5 stars/5

NIGHT SWIM (2024) - DEMON IN THE POOL, RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! SOMETHING IN THE WATER DOES NOT COMPUTE

 

So, we'll call this one a review in progress as I might come back and add some things. 

I must say that after about ten minutes of watching, I was ready to call this like a lot of reviews I've read - rubbish. But once the first incident or two happened in the pool, it started to grab me. The family characters are for the most part not very special or rememberable, but the dad (Wyatt Russell) is alright. It's his baseball injury that is of course tied into what's happening in the pool. 

Or is it the water? I leave that anti-spoiler with you for now, I enjoyed this flick for the most part. Not essential really, which is unfortunately where we wind up. Not anywhere near as good as Megan, sorry. 

For what it's worth, I found the dialog a little hard to understand, it was a much more enjoyable view with captions.

If anything else I find on subsequent viewings sticks out, I will add to this. For now, simply put - an adequate entry in the supernatural horror genre. But certainly in need of some missing ingredient and I have no idea what that is. Thumbs up on the cinematography though.   2.75 stars/5

Night Swim just went on sale for first time. The rental price is still top tier, 5.99. But you can purchase it on Amazon only for 7.99. Same thing with Five Nights At Freddy's, a much better film. 

"ALL THAT JAZZ" TURNS 45 - THE GENIUS THAT WAS BOB FOSSE WILL NEVER GROW OLD WITH THIS MASTERPIECE

 

It's showtime, folks and don't forget the Dexedrine. Here's another one I saw in the theaters when it came out, I was 17 and in a boarding school in Arizona and they took us into town on a Saturday night to see this. I was probably one of the only kids that really dug it and was reeling about it afterwards. The more profound lessons of death the film runs it's battery on I would learn later on with subsequent viewings. 

Threw it on last night (it's a good Sunday night movie, death of the week) and I have quite a few versions but this I found in a thrift store long time back called the "music:edition," which has some real sweet special features, the best of the lot being a huge collection of behind-the-scenes still photos, if I remember correctly from Roy Scheider's collection. 

Speaking of Roy, this is his film. He owns it on the same grand level as Liza Minelli did in Fosse's Oscar-winning Cabaret. Not only did he never do something again as good as this performance, he didn't even come close! Some of the stuff he did in the last eighties and later on in his career was downright embarrassing. I actually think 52 Pick-Up of all films is probably his closest best performance to this. 

There are more than a few scenes in the movie that by themselves, yes by themselves, warrant a 5-star rating, for example, the incredible "Air-Otica" music piece. The "Everything old is new again" scene with Ann Reinking and the girl actually made me cry last night, it's that beautiful, Reinking was the greatest dancer probably that ever existed and her work in this scene still blows my mind. 

And then there's Ben Vereen in the closing number. In just seven minutes he steals what's left of the picture and creates a forever iconic piece of art with his body. His moves would literally make Mick Jagger jealous. 

Pretty much everyone above the line is long gone, so at age 45, we raise our glasses to All That Jazz and the cornucopia of star talent inherent within - your mark on cinema is indelible.  5 stars/5

"ALL THAT JAZZ" is free right now on Tubi and only for the rest of July. 

"REPO MAN" (1984) TURNS 40 AND IS STILL THE PENULTIMATE LATE NIGHT SCIENCE FICTION COMEDY, IT CANNOT BE TOPPED

 

1. One of the best Harry Dean Stanton performances ever! (of many.) 2.Micheal Nesmith, yes, Michael Nesmith, the Monkee, secured the financing - the movie wouldn't have existed without him  3. Alex Cox in his directorial debut created an instant masterpiece of sci-fi blended with black comedy and all the music/fashions of the then-current punk scene. 4. Legendary punk band the Circle Jerks in a scene masquerading as a lounge act, need I say more? 5. Olivia Barash, one of the hottest babes to ever grace '80's cinema. 6. Tracey Walter in probably his most iconic role, a real plus for the film. 7. "Friday night TV...Dallas!....The Jeffersons!" 

If you've never seen, then don't pass go and don't collect $200 but do make sure you watch it late at night. And for those 420 enjoyers out there, omg, a must.  VOD only. 4.0 stars/5

HARVEY KEITEL SETS UP A JEWELRY ROBBERY ONLY TO BE BACK-STABBED BY HIS GETAWAY DRIVER STEPHEN DORFF IN "CITY OF INDUSTRY" (1987)

 

Good ole Harvey Keitel, always good at playing the heavy.  

Here's one from a year that was very kind to cinema, 1987. A steady and effective neo-noir thriller or heist thriller. I have no idea why it's called City Of Industry when most of the movie takes place in Palm Springs and LA. Nonetheless, a standard plot - jewelry heist planned by four guys (including Timothy Hutton) goes awry when the getaway driver (Stephen Dorff) backstabs the whole group by taking off with the loot. The rest of the movie is basically devoted to Keitel tracking down the driver so he can get revenge. 

It may be a standard plot but the more-than-worthy cast take it to the moon. I also like that there's no unnecessary subplots that distract from the action, it moves along at a nice brisk pace. Several great actresses here, of particular note is the always welcome but not seen enough, Dana Barron (National Lampoon's European Vacation,) who has a small but very sexy role here. 

City Of Industry currently streams on Tubi or VOD.  3.0 stars/5

"EYES WIDE SHUT" (1999) TURNS 25 - ONCE CONSIDERED AN 'I DON'T GET IT' - NOW CONSIDERED AN UNCANNY MASTERPIECE

 

     

And I'm sure it will come as no surprise, my personal favorite Kubrick film. (Barry Lyndon would be an extremely close second with The Shining not too far behind.) 

I remember watching it for the first time on a VHS rental with a then state-of-the-art 25" Sony tube TV, lol. A roommate in our house was spending his last night and I had promised him to go out and shoot some pool. I watched about a third of Eyes Wide Shut before I left which was a mistake because all I could think about while shooting pool was getting back to the house to watch the rest. I loved the ending because I like films where the ending is left open for interpretation. 

So much by now has been written and theorized, there are literally YouTube channels devoted to figuring out all the hidden meanings in Kubrick's films. 

The first thing I like to remind people when discussing this picture is the source material's title which in English means "dream story," dig it? 

It certainly has a hypnotic effect. 4.5 stars/5

For more, here's a really cool article on BBC - "Eyes Wide Shut, the remarkable afterlife of a notorious 1990's Misfire"

 

HOW DO YOU HANDLE A HUNGRY MAN? FEED HIM "AUNTIE LEE'S MEAT PIES" (1992) - B-MOVIE KAREN BLACK COMEDY HORROR

 

B-movies kind of lost me in the 90's especially the horror genre. This is surprising I know and I'll have to start exploring that decade more. When I'm in the mood for an '80's horror flick (pretty much every night) my mind immediately turns to the eighties. There's some stuff I like from '88 and '89 but mostly I look at '87 as being the year things started to change and the vibe of these scary flicks adapted to the changing times. My favorite B-movie horror flicks are usually from 1982-1987. 

Auntie Lee's Meat Pies plays a lot like a late '80's horror and has a catchy premise - a devil-worshiper (Karen Black) dispatches four beautiful nieces to find virile men and lure them back to headquarters. Where they are killed, ground up, and sold as meat pies. Oh yeah, so we have a hybrid if you will of Motel Hell, Corpse Grinders and I'll throw in a little Sweeney Todd. 

It's nicely shot, features lots of beautiful women, is fun and doesn't take itself too seriously at any beat. It all works. Of particular note is Kristine Rose who plays one of the nieces. You may remember her from The House That Jack Built, she's the blond that gets her tits chopped off. She hasn't been in a lot of stuff, a former model for Playboy, this flick she gets a lot of screen time happily. She's great to look at. 

Thumbs up on this one, get yerself (sic) over to Tubi (or just about any free streaming service out there) and check it out. Eat first though.   2.75 stars/2.75

The gorgeous Kristine Rose dropping off a pie. 

BILL MURRAY IS A MIDDLE-AGED MAN WHO DECIDES TO VISIT 4 EX-GIRLFRIENDS AND THINGS DON'T GO SO WELL IN JIM JARMUSCH'S "BROKEN FLOWERS" (2005)

 

Another one that's about to turn 20 and seems like I just saw it in the theater yesterday. This is a very important entry in the Jim Jarmusch filmography because it's really the film where he stepped with one foot into the mainstream, the other still planted in art house. The segway, if you will, to his future films and success. Jarmusch would end the 00's slightly stepping back with 2009's not-so-well-received Limits Of Control. The next three films would see him come much more into the mainstream in the following decade especially with Only Lovers Left Alive. I have not seen the zombie film The Dead Don't Die yet from 2019 but looking forward to checking it out. 

In Broken Flowers, Bill Murray plays a perfect leading man for this script and the title of this post describes the basic plot. He gets a anonymous letter stating he has a son from the past and this sets him on his journey to visit 4 ex-girlfriends - Sharon Stone, Frances Conroy (in a rare feature outing,) Jessica Lange, and the amazing Tilda Swinton, all excellent performances here. I would also add the amazingly hot Chloe Sevigny as a secretary who is perfect in her supporting role. 

As of this post, Broken Flowers is only available on VOD.  3.75 stars/5

At a blog like this, this guy is God, dig it? 

FOR FANS OF "THE SWIMMER" (1968) - THE ORIGINAL SHORT STORY SET TO A WONDERFULLY DREAMY SLIDE SHOW + A BREAKDOWN BY ILLEANA DOUGLAS? WOW!

 
Greetings all - I'd like to think there are a lot of fans of The Swimmer (1968) with Burt Lancaster that visit this blog. In my opinion, probably the second-best character study drama next to Coppola's The Conversation. 

And a production that was riddled with all sorts of conflict and ego problems beginning with Sam Seigal and working through Lancaster to Sydney Pollack. There were so many problems and drama it warranted a two-and-a-half-hour documentary called The Story Of The Swimmer (2014) which I highly recommend available only on the Blu-ray edition but some random clips can be seen HERE. When it's roughly three year journey from pre-production to final cut was over it had gone through four editors, two directors and three completely different cuts. 

Somehow though with all that over-tinkering, the final version is still considered a very special film. This is because of the 12-page short story it's based on, literally an allegorical masterpiece by author John Cheever. (Trivial note- in the film, he's the drunk guy floating on a raft at the big pool party.) To me one of the most amazing achievements of The Swimmer was how Eleanor Perry took a 12-page story and wrote a 100-minute movie script from just all these key random phrases that are packed into the story. Lol, you'll see if you watch the video below. 

I recently found this wonderfully creative slide show set to audio of Cheever's story. **I recommend turning the audio off and the captions on and watching/reading it like that ENJOY> I think it's real nice...

Also, this one totally blows my mind especially being a big Illeana Douglas fan, it's a video of her breaking down and analyzing the movie, great stuff from one of our featured blogs Trailers From Hell. (And great legs too, she still looks great!)

Finally, for those that have never seen the classic and might be wondering what all the fuss is about, The Swimmer is making it's once every year or so stop at Tubi, you can stream it right now HERE.  B-movie Gazette rating - 4.0 stars/5. 

AN INDIE FILM GURU BUYS A RUN-DOWN MOVIE THEATER IN THE FIJI ISLANDS AND SHOWS FREE MOVIES TO THE LOCALS IN "REEL PARADISE" (2005)

 
Oscar-winning documentary director Steve James (Hoop Dreams) captures John Pierson and his family serving free movies to the community in this totally unique film. A big favorite of mine in the doc category. Keep in mind besides Hoop Dreams, James also directed the intense "Stevie" movie. 

Here he has much easier and mellower material to work with as he films the Pierson family coming to grips with their new culture and the things that happen as they show 15 free movies in a row to the natives of the island. 

Pierson himself is quite a character, an indie film guru that you will find out early in the film was largely responsible for bringing us Spike Lee and others. He's got a bit of an ego and clashes with the natives while his wife is very loving and passive and just tries to mingle and fit in. Their sixteen and sassy daughter has a strong personality in contrast to her little brother, a sweetheart of a 13-year-old who gets along with everyone. 

The disparity in the characters and of course the theater and the movies they show all make for very interesting material and having someone like James at the helm lands up producing one heck of an entertaining documentary. 

Technically not available in the streaming world but I did find an upp on YT so I put both the trailer and that for you below, enjoy.   4.0 stars/5