Retroview: Bring a Book: Cool World (1992)

A Retroview Review. 
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Luke Here. Spending time talking about movies I don't like feels cheap, mean, and makes me wonder if I'm making up for something... But if there's something deeper to examine, then I will. I'll keep the negativity to a minimum, but if you plan on watching Cool World, I suggest you Bring a Book.

Have you seen Cool World? I have. I loved when I first saw it. I was also 8. That seems to be how old everyone else involved with it must have been. I'm going to be frank here: I can't believe how wholly unenjoyable this movie is. From the awful pacing, to the embarrassingly shabby sets (though, admittedly, if they were in a more interesting movie, they could totally work), to the terrible acting, there is hardly an engaging moment in the entire 100 minute trudge. I'm going to keep this short and sweet because I shouldn't waste time on a movie this bad, but this movie is a symptom of a greater disease, and that's what I really want to talk about. Here we go!

SLM Mixtape #46: Behaving

Behaving from TuffLuke on 8tracks Radio.

Native Americans - Les Seldoms
Moonstruck - The Megaphonic Thrift
Texas Overture - Pere Ubu
Peach Cobbler - Marmoset
New Drug Queens - Pink Mountaintops
Charlie - Spider
I Wanna Be Tall - Estrogen Highs
New Building - Looking for Jenny

Retroview: Sir Arne's Treasure (1919)

A Retroview Review. 
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-Luke here, talking about a movie heralded a shining example of the Golden Age of Swedish Cinema.
 

Written/adapted and directed by one of Sweden's most prolific filmmakers, Mauritz Stiller's Sir Arne's Treasure (Herr Arnes pengar) is a beautiful, surprising silent movie, rife with wonderful textures, colors, and a plot the likes of which cinema is all too unfamiliar. There is a striking quality to SAT that I found enticing and engaging, while concurrently finding it to be strange and unsettling. It's a hard movie to watch at times, maybe because of the various foreign qualities (it being a silent Swedish movie), but maybe because it's a love story, heck, a story at all, to which I can honestly draw few comparisons. With this movie coming out in 1919, adapted from a novel released in 1903, I find the fact that it feels so fresh and new to be the most striking thing about it.  Here we go!

SLM Mixtape #45: makin' it look easy

makin' it look easy from TuffLuke on 8tracks Radio.

F U C-3PO - Zammuto
In The Dark - ROLLERSKATERS
Baltic Sea - HUMAN TETRIS
Sweet Sipping Soda - Reptar
Days Untrue - S.C.U.M.
The Break Up - Les Loups
This Head I Hold - Electric Guest
Make Up Your Mind - Here We Go Magic

Retroview: Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows, Pt. 2

A Retroview Review. 
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(He's Harry, he's Harry, he's Harry bloody Potter.)
Luke here, with a quick and dirty reflection on WB's nightcap of a movie.

 

HP7II is a difficult movie to talk about, because it's not really a complete vision. It marks the completion of a full work, be it the entire series, or just HP7, but HP7II is, in itself, not a whole movie. I'm going to say right here and now that I loved watching it, and am incredibly pleased to see it opening night with all the squealing fully grown adults, but that I felt cheated. This review will not be a recap of the other movies, or a discussion on the end of an era, or the end of a series. There will be a time and place for that, and I don't believe that this is that time. For now we have this final offering, this desert of a movie to consume, digest, and reflect upon. No spoilers here, but I have a feeling you already know how it ends, either because you read the book, or you've already seen the movie (judging by the box office numbers, you've probably already seen it). Here we go!

SLM Mixtape #44: The 8 Hour Road Trip

I made this mix for my best friend.  Here it is!

The 8 Hour Road Trip from TuffLuke on 8tracks Radio.

Retroview: Rubber (2010)

A Retroview Review. 
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Hold on to your butts. It's Rubber.

Rubber is a movie about a tire coming to life and going on a killing spree. Beyond that I have a hard time telling what is a spoiler and what isn't, because the movie is so much more than just that. It's the second feature film by Quentin Dupieux, better known as musician Mr. Oizo, and I have to say I was thoroughly impressed. The acting was spot on, each cast member expertly flirting the line between being caricatures with the expected amount of over acting, and delivering believable, relatable characters. The way the light seeps through the lens of the camera and onto the film, you can almost feel the desert heat, the dry air, the course sand. The atmospheric soundtrack is playful at times, knowingly cliche during others, and perfectly drops out when it needs to, letting the images talk for themselves. It's a fun, funny, ridiculous movie, all on a foundation of one of my favorite things: The Absurd. You're going to love it. Go watch it and come back. Now. ... Okay, now that you're back, let's talk about why this movie is so awesome. Minor-minor-minor spoilers follow, but they only spoil a little bit of the first 10 minutes. Here we go.

SLM Mixtape #43: this isn't a conversation

this isn't a conversation from TuffLuke on 8tracks Radio.

Take Me Back - Lightning Dust
Alien - Sea Of Bees
I Can Feel It Fade Like An AM Single - Spoon
Slowdive - Pasteboard
Simon - Labrador
Brimstone & Vaseline - Parenthetical Girls
You Are An Engineer Too - Liger
The Lonesome King - SuperMayer