Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970) Kelly is sick of her awesome band (The Kelly Affair) playing lame high school dances so she convinces then to load up the bus and head L.A. where her wealthy long-lost aunt resides. Once there, they meet the king of all record producers, Z-Man Barzell, who quickly changes their name to the Carrie Nations and introduces them to a world of sex, booze, and rock ‘n’ roll. You shan’t be shocked to know that things begin to spiral out of control and before you know it, someone loses a head! Out of all of Russ Meyer’s meuvies, this is the most well-known and accessible (literally; this is the only one of his films available in America. If you want to see his other films you need to buy the Region 2 boxed-set) to the world. I happen to find this meuvie to absolutely magical; the clothing, the buxom beauties, the groovy guys, the music, the silly and swingin’ script by Roger Ebert—- everything this film contains I adore and so will you… if you have good taste of course.
*Where can I see it? Buy the sexalicious DVD here!
This magical short film entitled “Les Amours de la Pieuvre” is one of the lovely short films directed by Jean Painleve which is available on Science is Fiction: 23 Films by Jean Painleve. This also happens to be a lurvely little present that my boyfriend so lovingly ordered for me and that I am ecstatic to sit down and watch!
White Dog (1982) When a struggling actress hits a dog while coming home late one night she has no idea the drama that will ensue when she takes that dog into her home. After several attacks, and even a death, Julie takes her dog to an animal trainer who informs her that what she has is a White Dog (an animal which was trained to attack black people) and there is no way to train that out of him… or is there? Once again Mr. Sam Fuller has made a controversial film and the studios boo-hooed until it was basically shelved, only springing up on television every so often. I did enjoy this meuvie, it has its slower moments (such as when the dog is running in slow motion for what seems like hours), but over all its a pretty enjoyable film. Any fan of Fuller’s other films will thoroughly enjoy this once hard-to-find gem.
Magnificent Obsession (1954) Another fantastic and over the top melodrama from the king of such films, Mr. Douglas Sirk. In this sorid tale, a millionaire bad boy (played by Rock Hudson) lives while a good guy surgeon dies, leaving a “beautiful” (Jane Wyman? Beautiful? No thank you.) widow to deal with her lonesome life… alone. When Rick Hudson meets an “enchanting” figure and then figures out it is the aforementioned widow he does everything in his power to make things right. But oops! He accidentally blinds her. And like any man who does such a thing, he goes back to medical school to figure out how to fix her peepers… and make her fall deeply in love with him. The film looks absolutely gorgeous and I was absolutely captivated by the soap opera in front of me; it was another great Sirk film… he can’t seem to make a bad one in my book.
*Where can I see it? Buy it for 50% off at B&N.com during their great Criterion sale!
Kicking and Screaming (1995) College has come to an end and several pseudo-intellectuals are faced with the realization that they haven’t the slightest idea what to do with themselves. One fella’s girlfriend up and moves to Prague, another decides to actually re-enroll in school, one majored in Philosophy (what the hell are you gonna do with that?!), and the last guy moves back in with his mom because he’s afraid of graduate school. What could have come off as an annoying and whiny coming of age story instead takes us back to that time in our early twenties where we thought we had all the answers to life when in actuality our lives were only just beginning.
*Where can I see it? Buy it for 50% at B&N.com during the Criterion sale!
The Last Picture Show (1971) A unique coming of age story set in the 1950’s which centers around an entire, almost, desolate town. This is probably one of the most splendid films to come out of the 1970’s; Peter Bogdanovich does an absolutely exquisite job directing a cast of pure amazing-ness: Jeff Bridges, Cloris Leachman, Cybill Shepherd, Ben Johnson, etc. Each and every “story” within The Last Picture Show is more depressing and beautiful as the next. If you haven’t given yourself the pleasure of seeing this fine film yet, do yourself a favor and set aside 2 hours this week and treat yo’ self. This film is another gem from my new favorite boxed set: America Lost and Found: The BBS Story.
Where can I see it? *Buy it for 50% off on B&N.com during their great Criterion sale!
Head (1968) Take a psychedelic look into the world of one of these most amazing manufactured boy bands of all time: The Monkees! The meuvie is filled to the brim with crazy special effects, magical music numbers, and some fun little cameos (Dennis Hopper, Jack Nicholson, and Frank Zappa to name a few). Co-written by Nicholson, this meuvie is a must see for those of us who love the American film revolution of the 60’s… and The Monkees! Head, along with 6 other amazing films, is part of a 6 disc— 7 film— set from Criterion chronicling films from BBS Productions.
Where can I see it? *Buy it for 50% off on B&N.com during their great Criterion sale!
Halloween (1978) A soul-less psycho escapes from the mental institution he’s been housed in since he murdered his sister when he was a young fella. He proceeds to stalk and murder babysitters in the small town of Haddonfield on Halloween night until one of them (played by Jamie Lee Curtis) puts up a fight. Everyone and their goldfish has seen this classic horror meuvie and thinks its the bee’s knees… I do not.
*Where can I see it? It’s probably on television right now.
Happy Halloween!
Two Evil Eyes: “The Black Cat” (1990) Now the second feature in the collaboration that is Two Evil Eyes is directed by the Italian Master, Dario Argento and it is much more palatable then its predecessor. Harvey Keitel plays a photographer who rides along with a couple of cops and takes photos of only the most gruesome of crime scenes (look for a Tom Savini cameo at one of them) for his pretentious art book. Things at home seem all right until his girlfriend bringg home a stray black cat. Then he goes insane. He kills the cat. He kills his girl. He kills everyone in his way as a matter of fact. Its pretty awesome. There is one dream sequence scene that made me sit up and say, “What the Hell is going on?!” but other than that it was nicely put together. Granted, the ending was a little…. quick and odd, but I’ve noticed that most of Argento’s meuvies end that way. I forgot to mention this in the previous post, but both of these meuvies are based of off Poe stories and in “The Black Cat” Argento pulls from several Poe tales.
For as long as I can remember I've been obsessed with film; my tastes range from the sleazest of sleaze to the most pretentious of foreign films. I'm also a lover of kitschy everything and work in an awesome vintage clothing store.
