Machete (2010)

Here is a link to my recent review of Machete (2010). I feel like a bit if a schill reviewing this one: it is one of those movies there is almost no chance of me disliking. Hollywood owed Danny Trejo a lead at some point.

You might lose even more respect for me if you found out that I went to see Piranha 3D last week. I was gong to confess and do a review, but I never got around to it. I actually sort of enjoyed it. Mindless fun.

Also got to review The Tubes performance at The Rialto for the Tucson Weekly. I thought they sounded great.

 In case you aren’t doing anything tonight, Bookman’s on Grant is having a screening of Vinyl Scrapyard, the 30 minute documentary I did a couple of years ago where I interview record store clerks from various stores that I frequent around the country. August is movie month at Bookman’s and they have had some great screenings with local filmmakers.  Hope to see a few of you there…

One cool thing about this big internet is that there is opportunity to archive really good stuff. Rhetoric Farm is a late 80s punk zine out of Tucson that contains art, fiction, and great interviews with  seminal punkers. Plus an interview with Keith Herring no less. All the issues have been posted as pdfs at a website of the same name. I hate to see print zines diminishing, but this sort of thing is what the internet is good for. Give Facebook a rest and check this out. Nobody cares where you ate breakfast today anyway.

Rhetoric Farm

Razorcake #57

Here is a link to the ordering information for the latest issue of Razorcake. In this issue is a long piece I wrote about the life and films of Pedro Almodovar. I hope I did him justice; I worked on this thing for a long time. Amy did the illustrations. The cover drawing of Noam Chomsky is by Cramhole regular Danny Martin who also did several of the illustrations inside.  Razorcake is a great magazine.

For any of my beltway friends looking in, I was watching this really low budget Hong Kong movie directed by Godfrey Ho called Undefeatable (1993) when I realized that one of the fight sequences takes place in the parking lot of Fair City Mall in Fairfax. I could tell the movie had been shot in Maryland as soon as one of the local hires opened his mouth. It was a trip to see FCM in the movie. It was especially funny because it is an extended fight sequence during an abduction in the middle of the day with cars going by. Later in the film, the cops are still baffled as to who is doing these abductions. I find it hard to believe they could fight for that long without somebody seeing something, but this plot hole is the least of this film’s problems. Still, it was a pretty entertaining watch.

Here is a link to my review at the Loft Blogspot- Undefeatable

This week’s Mondo Monday is a really great sci-fi film from 1969 called The Green Slime. With the culmination of years of Godzilla-style special effects, this Toho-esque production burns through three movies worth of plot lines in 90 minutes. I put a review up at The Loft Blogspot.

I also got to post a review of Winter’s Bone. A really great film. In tone, it reminded me a bit of Blood Simple (1984).  Winter’s Bone (2010)

I got a copy of Razorcake #57 and it has the Almodovar article that it took me forever to write. I am proud of it, so if you get a chance to pick up Razorcake, take a look. The Almodovar paintings inside are Amy’s. The Noam Chomsky cover was drawn by one of my favorite artists in Tucson, Danny Martin. Danny draws Publick Occurances and did a segment for us in Cramhole #3.

And I’m still in fuckin’ school. Will I EVER graduate?

I haven’t put up any movie reviews recently. Here is a link to a review I did for the weekly for the Burger Record’s Caravan of Stars. Burger is amassing an awesome catalogue of cassette releases. Amy took the picture. I think it is one of her best.

Burger Records Caravan of Stars

I got to review a really great rock show for the Tucson Weekly last week. A local band called Mr. Free and the Satellite Freakout opened for an Israeli band called The Monotonix. Two great bands. Here is a link to the review:

Monotonix

I also picked up the latest Monotonix album. The band employs heavy riffs, but in a sort of celebration that is a compliment to their live shows. The vocals remind me a bit of Karp. When I heard there was a band that tore up the place like they do, I thought it might be something of a novelty. But there is a real sincerity to what is going on at their shows, and it comes through on the album.

I have recently had the opportunity to contribute some live reviews to the Tucson Weekly. Here is a link to a review I wrote about a recent performance by Dead Meadow who came through town about a week ago.

Dead Meadow

Here are some links to some recent film reviews. With school being out, I have been to the movies a lot this past couple of weeks. The Nightmare on Elm Street remake is at the $3 theater. I keep thinking of going just to see what Jackie Earl Haley does with the role of Freddy Krueger. Maybe I need more to do with my time.

Frankenstein’s Daughter (1958)

House (1977)

Survival of the Dead (2010)

Return of the Tiger (1979)

Kung Fu: The Punch of Death (1973)

The Screening Room in Tucson is hosting a Kung Fu double feature Saturday. Although I am not familiar with the two movies playing, both were featured at Quentin Tarantino’s Grindhouse Film Festival. I generally trust his taste in these matters. There is something magical about Kung Fu movies on the big screen. The only way to better your experience is to see them on Saturday morning television when you are nine years old. So unless you have a time machine, this is a grand opportunity to soak in the 70s karate film experience. 

Martial Arts Double Feature

Saturday, June 19^th 7:00pm

The Screening Room

127 E. Congress St. Tucson, AZ