Category: Film
Fairport Convention documentary on YouTube
Fairport Convention – Folk Heroes (2017) is a documentary on the pioneering English band that fused folk and rock music.
Blaxploitation documentary on DVD and YouTube
BaadAsssss Cinema (2002) is a documentary about Blaxploitation films. It’s on YouTube (link below) and DVD. The DVD has extended interviews with some of the people in the documentary including Fred Williamson and a great passionate one with Gloria Hendry.
The film is brief but excellent. It’s a fine overview of Blaxploitation films with lots of clips and interviews.
Two DVDs about Gram Parsons
I recently watched Gram Parsons: Fallen Angel (2004) an outstanding documentary about the late musician. It’s very balanced, showing both points of view about the controversy over his body after his death. It has extensive interviews with musicians who worked with him including Chris Hillman and Parsons’ friend Keith Richards, There are many interviews with his family members who don’t gloss over the problems he and his relatives experienced. There is a fine bonus on the DVD where the director recounts how the film was made over a long period of time.
Also on DVD (which I have but haven’t watched yet) is a film of a tribute concert to Parsons from 2004.
Both films are on YouTube – see the links below.
Two films by Thom Andersen
I watched Thom Andersen’s Los Angeles Plays Itself (2003) several years ago. It’s an excellent film about movies set in LA.
I just watched Eadweard Muybridge, Zoopraxographer (1975) and realized later that both were done by the same director. Muybridge was a 19th-century pioneer in photography of people and animals in motion. The documentary is excellent and has many examples of his work.
Both films are available on discs which is how I watched them.
I haven’t watched it yet but this is Andersen’s 2010 short Get Out of the Car, also about Los Angeles.
The Atomic City
I just watched The Atomic City (1952) which is set in Los Alamos. Kidnappers want a nuclear formula in return for a kidnapped child. It’s an entertaining but minor crime film.
Of course, Oppenheimer (2023) is the most famous film with scenes in Los Alamos.
Above and Beyond (1952) is a film about the first atomic bomb which also shows how the military secrecy affects families which is also part of The Atomic City.
Posts and videos on Sunset Boulevard at 75
The great film Sunset Boulevard is 75. The anniversary has been marked by a new book and new Blu-rays discs.
75 years after its screen debut, what ‘Sunset Blvd.’ says about stardom
Alfred Hitchock cameos
Bluesky post on the third version of The Blob
I recommend Blobfest held every July in Phoenixville, PA which celebrates the first version.
‘Sinners’ is an outstanding film
Tired of franchise and superhero movies? Want to see a completely original film? Then ‘Sinners’ is for you. It’s not like any other film I can name. It’s a unique Black Horror film. It’s got the blues, 1930s history, look and sound, vampires and great actors. Michael B. Jordan plays twins but this never seems like a stunt.
I watched the Blu-ray disc and recommend watching the bonus features, too. They are much better than normal and give insights into how the film was made. Usually, the bonus features are the director talking about how great the actors and and the producer and actors complimenting the director.
I wasn’t a horror fan but it seems that is where most of the really original films are. I’m thinking of Jordan Peele’s movies, ‘Talk to Me’, and ‘Late Night with the Devil’ to name a few. They all have a fresh contemporary look at horror.
Sad! 