Color Me Obsessed: A Film about The Replacements
The Replacements might be one of the most important American rock and roll bands ever, and Color Me Obsessed is an oral history told by their friends and fans. This film was made with current fans in mind, and they’re likely to love it. I caught a screening at Austin’s own Alamo Drafthouse where director Gorman Bechard was on hand for questions.
“Not wanting to make a VH1/where-are-they-now style documentary, I decided to present the band in a more iconic way,” Bechard explains. “I thought, people believe in God without seeing or hearing him but rather through the passion, faith, and stories of others. After watching Color Me Obsessed, I’m pretty sure music fans will believe in The Replacements in much
—Roy Christopher, 01 May 2012
The Unbookables are a loose band of comedians (emphasis on “loose”) handpicked by Doug Stanhope.This movie documents their 2008 tour of the middle of the country, from my own Austin, Texas through Kansas City, Missouri to Peoria, Illinois. The cast of characters (emphasis on “characters”) includes Brendon Walsh, Sean Rouse, Andy Andrist, Norman Wilkerson, Brett Erickson, Travis Lipski, James Inman, and Kristine Levine. The unfortunate star of the show is James Inman. If nothing else, this film documents how reckless behavior can bring people together as well as single out one of them.
The first gig is at Nasty’s in
—Roy Christopher, 17 April 2012
The only saving grace of The Green Hornet is that Gondry’s fans know he must be more disappointed in himself than we ever could.
For once, something being 3D isn’t the crappest thing about being at the cinema. Jesus fucking H Christ, it makes Tron: Legacy look okay! And thats the best thing I can say about it.
Look, there are plenty of people out there on IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes who think it’s okay, good even, but these people are retarded, it was like being transported back to the 90s when comic adaptations weren’t big business and The Shadow, Hudson
—Neil Shrubb, 18 January 2011
As much as I am already a fan of Darren Aronofsky’s work and as soft a spot as I have for Mickey Rourke, I skipped The Wrestler (2008). Though I am open to being proven wrong, the more I saw of the previews, the less I thought it was my thing. Black Swan (2010) however struck me as more of a Pi with ballet and theatre instead of computers and the stock market. It turns out that my intuition was pretty much on point, at least for the latter case. Like David Cronenberg and perhaps Stanley Kubrick, Aronofsky is very
—Roy Christopher, 10 January 2011
Stunning.
—Chris Noble, 23 July 2010
goodstuff 029
artfilm
LIFE DRAWING
Celestial Navigations, the first full-length film release from Chicago-based archival record label Numero Group, showcases the short films and animations created in the late 1970s and early 1980s by illustrator Al Jarnow. True to form, Numero Group presents viewers with a carefully researched and compiled catalogue of Jarnow’s stunning body of work, from an animated take on Edward Lear’s poem The Owl and the Pussycat to Jarnow’s first venture into animation and a time-lapse piece compacting one year at his studio into a fifteen minute film, from which Numero Group took the title of their project. Experimental flip book animations detail the journey of a Volkswagon Beetle in several perspectives across highways, country sides and three-dimensional corridors in Autosong. Two
—Omar Almufti, 11 May 2010
SHARE: FACEBOOK TWITTER LINKEDIN STUMBLEUPON G+
goodstuff 028
productfilm
MACHO MAN
A wheelchair-bound Rick McCrank barks, “Do you need to be touching my horse?” It’s only halfway through the trailer of Machotaildrop and I’m already wondering, What the hell is this, and how was it born?
Duo Corey Adams and Alex Craig are the creative force behind the curiously strange and fascinating story of young Walter Rhum and the Machotaildrop skateboard company. Adams filled us in on a few of the details that helped this strange beast of a film come to life.
How did the Machotaildrop film come about?
It was the result of winning a contest called “The Fuel Experiment”, presented by Fuel TV. Ten filmmakers were given a hundred thousand dollars to make a short film. One of
—Anthony Smith, 15 March 2010
SHARE: FACEBOOK TWITTER LINKEDIN STUMBLEUPON G+
Regular Level-online readers will remember the review of the Banksy exhibition that occurred last summer here in the massive that is more officially known as Bristol City. I’m guessing it was a firm success—over 350,000 people swamped the city’s medium-sized museum during the one-off season when Banksy took over the place with his take on art. It was, in a nutshell, bloody brilliant. Now you’ve seen the graf, watch the movie: yes, Banksy’s gone and made a movie. I for one can’t wait.
—Mark Noble, 05 March 2010
Terry Gilliam is a director that you have probably already decided whether or not you like. His past works have all teetered between genius and madness with varying rates of success. In The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, which is incidentally Heath Ledger’s last film, Gilliam gets his Wizard of Oz / Alice in Wonderland on. It’s a dark tale of good versus evil and the triumph of imagination—and Tom Waits plays The Devil?! Does casting get any better than that?
—Roy Christopher, 23 February 2010
The Cure’s principle videographer for much of the 80s, Tim Pope, once said that a concert film is the greatest thing in the world to the fans of the band and means very little to anyone else—or something like that. Well, Iceland’s Sigur Rós may have finally shattered that mold. Combining concert footage of their 2006 tour of small venues in their homeland, interview clips and sweeping landscapes, Heima (“at home”) is a visually beautiful piece of film whether or not you’re that into the music of Sigur Rós. It might even make you a fan.
—Roy Christopher, 08 February 2010
older
contents
