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Film
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
History / Film Go See Hole Drummer, Patty Schemel, And Her Q&A
Posted by Kelly O on Wed, May 23, 2012 at 1:30 PM
Unlike some sure-to-be-terrible films about musicians—this new documentary looks A+ interesting. Charles Mudede suggests it. Patty Schemel will be in addendance during the Friday the 25th and Saturday the 26th screenings, at Northwest Film Forum.
Fashion / Film What Do You Think Of Tom Cruise's "Rockin' New Look?"
Posted by Kelly O on Wed, May 23, 2012 at 11:55 AM
W Magazine —"Who, What, Where, When, And Why In the World Of Style"—has a music issue this month and is on newsstands now. The feature fashion spread is called "Fashion Groupies: Tom Cruise Rocks A New Look." That certainly *is* a new look for Tommy—a coke spoon necklace, manliner, rings, duct tape, black nail polish, and holy-wowzers, a skull-gun-pointing-right-at-penis tattoo, AND a new nipple tattoo. SERIOUSLY, WOULD YA LOOK AT THAT NIPPLE TAT?
It's all for Broadway-play-turned-feature-film Rock Of Ages. Cruise plays a '80s "rocker" named Stacee Jaxx. From the short W Magazine interview:
There are a lot of sexy scenes in this movie: At one point you're climbing a stripper pole; in another scene, you're grinding up against a Rolling Stone reporter played by Malin Akerman.
CRUISE: I knew we had to push the sexuality because of the nature of the character and the songs...
What do you think of his new look, his pushed sexuality, on this cover? And is the image of Tom Cruise climbing a stripper pole sexy? Let's discuss.
- W Magazine, June 2012
- W Magazine, June 2012
Trailer for Rock of Ages, plus a bonus "rocker" photo after the jump!
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Monday, May 21, 2012
SIFF / Last Night / Film Bad Brains: A Band in DC
Posted by Kathy Fennessy on Mon, May 21, 2012 at 11:34 AM
- K.C. Fennessy
- The ROIR tape
Though I lived just outside Washington DC for a few months back in the 1970s, when my Dad was located in Falls Church, VA, I never got to see the DC-based Bad Brains live. They formed in 1979; we moved to the Bay Area in 1975, and I've never been back. In retrospect: I couldn't have handled the Bad Brains of the late-'70s. I grew up on classic rock and Top 40. The minute I heard the group, not long after I moved to Seattle, I fell in love, but by the late-'80s, I was ready for their super-charged sound. The first thing I bought was the tape above.
I still love the Bad Brains, I always will, and Benjamen Logan's documentary, A Band in DC, which premiered last night at Pacific Place (as part of SIFF's Face the Music series), makes a good case for their influence on a number of other hardcore and hip-hop artists, including Henry Rollins, Ian MacKaye, and the Beastie Boys. I cannot lie: when Adam Yauch* appeared on screen, I started to cry. And it isn't just a cameo appearance; he goes into a lot more detail than Mike D or Ad-Rock (the latter spends most of the interview chewing gum).
* Yauch produced the Bad Brains' eighth album, Build a Nation (Megaforce, 2007).
Film RE: Fuck It, It's Gross and Rainy and Monday: Have Some Beach Boys and Sssssssss-SATAN!
Posted by Kelly O on Mon, May 21, 2012 at 11:26 AM
New documentary originally Made by a German film crew in 1997 as part of the Pop Odyssee TV series. The Beach Boys and The Satan includes interviews with Kenneth Anger, Kim Fowley, Dick Dale and members of The Beach Boys. It also covers some familiar ground, including the Charles Manson connection.
I want to see this one. On a related note, who's going to see the new Bad Brains music doc? This Wednesday, and/or Sunday. Thanks, SIFF!
SIFF / Last Night / Film "Don't Fuck with the Fat Kid!"
Posted by Kathy Fennessy on Mon, May 21, 2012 at 8:04 AM
- K.C. Fennessy
- Cast members, including Matt O'Leary (center)
Actor Matthew Lillard's directorial debut, Fat Kid Rules the World, pivots on a Renton high school student who finds himself through punk rock. Although Jacob Wysocki, who plays Troy, wasn't in attendance at last night's Egyptian screening, most of the rest of the cast and crew showed up, including Lillard, Matt O'Leary (who also stars in Megan Griffiths' Eden), and Billy Campbell, who's been working on The Killing in Vancouver. Unlike the AMC series, which claims to take place in Seattle, Lillard's adaption of the K.L. Going novel was actually shot here.
More pictures below.
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Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Film A Band Called Death: The Documentary
Posted by Kathy Fennessy on Wed, May 16, 2012 at 11:49 AM
- Drag City
"Ahead of punk, and ahead of their time." —Jack White to The New York Times in 2009
If a documentary about Akron duo the Black Keys seems premature—because it is—a documentary about Detroit trio Death (1971-1977) is long overdue.
Though most people wouldn't discover them until three decades after the fact, the band of (actual) brothers provides the missing link between the virtuosic rock & roll of Jimi Hendrix and the righteous hardcore of Bad Brains. In other words, they were proto-punk, just like their Motor City brethren in the MC5 and the Stooges.
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Film Pickled Pig's Feet and Corn Liquor
Posted by Kathy Fennessy on Tue, May 15, 2012 at 9:24 AM
STANDING IN THE SHADOWS OF MOTOWN
(Paul Justman, US, 2002, 108 mins.)
- Artisan Home Entertainment
- With Dennis Coffey (left) on guitar.
"Nobody never mentioned too much about us."
—Joe Hunter (keyboards)
After catching It Came from Detroit, a celebration of the city's garage-rock renaissance, a documentary about Motown's house band sounded particularly appealing, especially since Denny's Tedesco's The Wrecking Crew is back in the news (he's stepped up fundraising efforts on behalf of the film's music cues).
While Tedesco profiled a group of Los Angeles session players, Paul Justman turns his gaze to the Funk Brothers who fueled Motown's Detroit-powered singles, proclaiming them "the greatest hit machine in the history of pop music."
Monday, May 14, 2012
Crap / Film Does the World Really Need a Black Keys Documentary Yet (or Ever)?
Posted by Grant Brissey on Mon, May 14, 2012 at 12:08 PM
Okay, okay, okay, everybody take a Time Out here. It's official, there are too many white kids running around with expensive video cameras and too much time (money) on their hands.
"A lot of music documentaries spend too much time trying to make people look cool," filmmaker Noah Abrams told Spin. "I'm fortunate enough to know both these guys pretty well and their relationship is pretty incredible and very funny." He says the film will be a "a buddy comedy with perhaps the greatest soundtrack of all time."
Wait, how is something a documentary and a comedy at the same time? Also, when you make people look funny, are you not simultaneously making the look cool? This whole thing has RUINED MY MORNING.
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Video / Film On Musical Perpetual-Motion Machines
Posted by Kathy Fennessy on Mon, May 14, 2012 at 9:16 AM
- A Stable Sound
- Cut Chemist
The first time I heard Cut Chemist's new single, "Outro (Revisited),"* I resisted it, because it sounded too much like Rage Against the Machine or one of those rap-metal meet-and-greets from the 1990s, like Anthrax and Public Enemy's "Bring the Noise" revamp—or the entirety of the Judgment Night soundtrack.
In other words, it didn't sound bad so much as dated—I enjoyed that 1991 Anthrax/PE tour—but I've listened a few more times, and it's grown on me. The Corey Brandenstein-directed video below sealed the deal. Not because it's the greatest thing I've ever seen, but because I love clips and films in which the front person or protagonist never stops moving. (Yes, I like Running Man! Who doesn't?) In this case, emcee Blackbird straps on some stylin' kicks, and gets to it.
*The press notes don't mention it, but the original "Outro" appears on Blackbird's Bird's Eye View.
Friday, May 11, 2012
Film Live Music + 35mm Classics at the NWFF
Posted by Kathy Fennessy on Fri, May 11, 2012 at 2:00 PM
- UCLA Festival of Preservation
Starting tonight, The Northwest Film Forum presents a series of four silent films with live musical accompaniment. I've attended a few of these events over the years, most notably Sacred Cinema, 2005's Yasujiro Ozu retrospective, which included 10 silents. Participating musicians at the time included Wayne Horvitz, Robin Holcomb, John Atkins (764-HERO), Carla Torgerson (the Walkabouts), the Aono Jikken Ensemble, Stranger Genius Award nominee for music Lori Goldston (Black Cat Orchestra), and koto players John and Elizabeth Falconer.
Goldston returns for tonight's premiere, while Torgerson returns for Saturday's screening (along with former Mr. Epp member John Beezer). More details below.
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Film Mudhoney Documentary I'm Now Premieres at Triple Door June 8
Posted by Dave Segal on Thu, May 10, 2012 at 12:16 PM
The Mudhoney documentary I'm Now makes its world premiere June 8 at Triple Door. There will be two screenings: 8:00 pm (all ages) and 10:30 pm (21+); $15. You can purchase tickets here.
(Here's a previous Line Out post about I'm Now. Check the brief trailer after the cut.)
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Upcoming / Film The Story of Genesis Breyer P-Orridge and Lady Jaye
Posted by Kelly O on Wed, May 9, 2012 at 11:45 AM
While the news of Tom Gabel of Against Me! is currently blowing my mind, another story—that brought most of a theater close to tears at SIFF cinema on the opening night of the The Seattle Transgender Film Festival—is "The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye." The theory of pandrogeny is perfectly fascinating: "Live! Destroy All Archetypes, and Viva la Evolution!"
Orridge's story also seems easier to believe, as it's coming from a bar-pushing performance artist, inventor of industrial music, and frontman of Throbbing Gristle and Psychic TV. Gabel's story, seems more unexpected. And, to a point, a greater challenge. I hope Against fans continue to support the band, whether with a Tom or a Laura.
I can't wait to see how it unfolds. Also, don't miss "The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye" when it returns to Seattle, sometime this fall, at the Northwest Film Forum.
Saturday, April 28, 2012
Film "Fuck You, We're From Detroit."
Posted by Kathy Fennessy on Sat, Apr 28, 2012 at 10:29 AM
IT CAME FROM DETROIT
(James R. Petix, US, 2009, 87 mins.)
- James R. Petix
"Fuck you, we're from Detroit. We're gonna show you how it's done." —Mark Walz, Rocket 455
Any documentary that opens with the Gories has already earned a place in my heart, so take everything I have to say about It Came from Detroit with a grain of salt. As you can probably guess, the film doesn't cover a broad spectrum of Motor City music or it would begin long before the mid-1980s. Instead, director James R. Petix focuses on the garage-rock scene of the past three decades.
Fortunately, he doesn't leave the previous generation in the dust. If there's no Iggy Pop—who split the scene for sunnier climes—he's got the MC5's Wayne Kramer to reflect on Detroit as an automobile-making city that no longer makes automobiles, leading to a white-collar exodus, a development that brought the price of apartments and practice spaces down (something that rarely rates a mention in most of the hand-wringing about its economic decline). What's bad for the middle-class isn't always bad for musicians. By contrast, the indie artists in the Austin doc Echotone, which I just watched a few weeks ago, have nothing but lamentations for the way gentrification is pricing them out of existence.
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Film The Pecknold Brothers Team Up for a Film That's (Kind Of) About LOL Cats
Posted by Megan Seling on Thu, Apr 26, 2012 at 2:27 PM
Two local filmmakers, Sean Pecknold and Matt Daniels, are working on a new film called The Internet: A Blog Cats WTF Universe, about a successful LOL Cat caption writer. From their synopsis (via Kickstarter):
Matt is one of the best LOLCat caption writers in the world. He's experienced the rise of the internet and came out on top. Thousands of fans, plenty of money in the bank, a successful career. But one day he realizes that perhaps there's more to life than just viral internet cat humor. So he packs his bags and moves to Berlin, the new center of the artistic and philosophical renaissance, or so he's been told.
...
Matt sets off on his quest and everything is going great. Why wouldn't it? He's falling in love with Nadja, a mysterious bartender. He's got internet luck, he's the King Midas of viral. He's going to make the meaning of life viral. Or so he thinks...
This is a story of a man's hopeless quest for truth among the cats.
Sean's brother Robin (AKA the lead singer of the Fleet Foxes) is on board to score the film. What do LOL Cats sound like? I imagine they sound a little like this mixed with this.
They're hoping to raise $15,000 via Kickstarter and if you give them $250, they'll give you a handwritten document explaining the meaning of life. You can donate/learn more/tell them they're crazy here.
I want to believe there could be good in this. Sean Pecknold has done some great videos and Robin Pecknold is a talented musician (even if you don't like the Fleet Foxes music, it's hard to deny the guy doesn't have a way with harmonies and melodies). Also: I like cats. So maybe the silly-feeling premise is more a headline grabber and the film itself won't turn out as goofy as it sounds? Here's hoping.
Tip of the hat, even though I don't wear a hat, to Mr. Harms.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Film The Heart and Soul of Texas Funk
Posted by Kathy Fennessy on Tue, Apr 24, 2012 at 11:01 AM
THUNDER SOUL
(Mark Landsman, 2010, US, 83 mins.)
- Roadside Attractions
Heartfelt but never saccharine, Mark Landsman's Thunder Soul pays tribute to Conrad "Prof" Johnson through the music he made and the lives he touched.
Ninety-two-years-old at the time of filming, the 37-year veteran educator led Houston's Kashmere Stage Band throughout the 1970s. Instead of big-band standards, he taught the all-black outfit to play funk music as competently as the professionals they admired, like James Brown and Earth, Wind and Fire. They also added dance moves to the mix, another crowd-pleasing innovation.
Landsman found out about the band when he caught an NPR profile in 2006, and knew he had to make a movie while Prof was still able to participate (since he’s from a feature-film background, he originally envisioned a fictional scenario).
Monday, April 23, 2012
Gossip / Film Taylor Swift May Play Joni Mitchell in Film Adaptation of Girls Like Us
Posted by Megan Seling on Mon, Apr 23, 2012 at 4:03 PM
I, unfortunately, saw Valentine's Day, which features Taylor Swift as a hyper-happy high school student, and SHE WAS TERRIBLE. She was in the movie for maybe five minutes. She was so unnatural. So stiff. Now she's going to be Joni Mitchell?
No, please.
But if not Swift, who? I suppose, as far as young, female singer-songwriters go (who, you know, actually sing and write their own music), Swift is the obvious choice. Do you have any better ideas?
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Interview / Film After Cinerama's Screening of Metropolis Last Night, the Film's Scorer, Alloy Orchestra, Answers All My Questions
Posted by Trent Moorman on Sat, Apr 21, 2012 at 3:44 PM
Christopher “Santa” Frizzelle (who almost wore a Buttweiser T-shirt to the theater) remarked that the live instruments made the actors seem not dead. It was true—the live music made it come alive. The debate over Tupac’s Coachella hologram came to mind: People watch dead actors in film all the time, and are entertained, not offended.
Cycling near-tribal drums built tension upon tension, fitting the wildly over-acted, grainy scenes. The score was effectively the talk without the talking. Main character Freder ran around a lot, clutching his heart. The happy, drawn-out ending involved a robot clone being defeated, children being saved, and love being found. Some of the newly restored scenes did seem to drag, however. The grand scale of the shots and sets was rendered well in the grandness of Cinerama. Afterward, Alloy Orchestra’s Ken Winokur answered some of my questions about the score. Here's what Alloy Orchestra's set-up looked like before the lights went down:
- Trent Moorman
What was the original Metropolis score? Is it incorporated into yours?
Winokur: There is an original score by Gottfried Huppertz. But when we first wrote our score, 22 years ago, this score wasn't available and we didn't know about it. We originally wrote our score to accompany the 1984 release of Metropolis. That version had music written by Georgio Maroder and performed by Loverboy, Pat Benetar, Freddie Mercury, Adam Ant and others. It was audacious and not very well appreciated. That soundtrack led to the founding of Alloy Orchestra. A local film programmer in Boston, where we're from, wanted to show the film, but didn't want to play the score that came along with it. So he asked us to whip together a score for a weekend of performances. The first screenings were a giant success and we were asked over and over to return and perform with the movie. The more shows we did, the more developed the score became until we actually had a fairly tight and repeatable composition.
Over the years the film has been reedited and re-restored numerous times. Alloy has worked with four different versions of the film, each version becoming successively longer and more complete. Each time we rewrote our score and added more material. Finally they have an almost complete version of Metropolis, as it was premiered in Berlin in 1926.
Two years ago, Alloy was asked to perform for the North American premiere of the newest restoration, at the Grauman Chinese Theater in Los Angeles for the TCM Classic Movie Festival. The score we presented at the Seattle Cinerama this weekend was that version, along with our newest, and hopefully last, version of our score.
What was your process for composing the score?
We work collaboratively. We went into our studio, watched the film on VHS, it was more than 20 years ago, and went through the film scene by scene, improvising ideas and recording them onto cassette tape. We made successive passes through the film, writing more elaborate music to go with each scene. The end result, for the first performances, was half composed and half improvised. Over the years we have reworked the score numerous times to accommodate the new restorations of the film.
How many times have you seen Metropolis? What are your thoughts on the film after multiple viewings? What do you find yourself noticing/taking from it, message-wise? Like what does the film say to you? Does it ever get old? Are there any parts, where your like, "I know it was 1927, but damn that looks fake"?
We have performed Metropolis upwards of 500 times over two decades. We took a little break from it a few years back. We had done enough shows and wanted to focus on other films. When the new restoration came out, which was almost 30 minutes longer than the last one we had worked with, and almost an hour longer than the original version we scored, I was worried that the film was going to seem too long and tiresome. But after we had a chance to see it we realized that the directors cut, the so-called complete version, was really much better. The continuity of the plot is much better presented and the characters have more depth.
Since I know the score so well by now, I do have a little trouble keeping my focus during performances. I’ve begun to look for the little details of the film. For instance, there are an amazing diversity of lamps pictured in the film. There are unbelievable wallpapers. It was the most elaborate set design of the silent era, and possibly ever, and every scene has a wealth of gorgeous and fascinating details. I'm really glad that this is the film that we've become so attached to. An ordinary silent film, or any film, wouldn't sustain such a long relationship.
Message wise, I don't think there's really that much to take away from the film. It's a naive message, mashing up many of the philosophies that were floating around Europe at the time, particularly trying to weld together a soft Marxism and simple-minded Christian themes. Really, that doesn't matter. The plot is so engaging, the cinematography and sets are so amazing, that audiences get swept up in the film and don't notice how dumb it really is.
What other scores have you been performing as of late?
We've done 27 feature length scores and about 50 shorts over the 22 years we've been in business. Recent scores have been to von Sternberb's Underworld, Hitchcock's Blackmail, a collection of shorts we call Wild and Weird, and a really crazy German Expressionist film called From Morning to Midnight.
What's next for Alloy Orchestra?
The Overcoat, a Soviet film by Grigori Kozintsev, Leonid Trauberg from 1926 based on a short story by Nikolai Gogol.
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Film The Long, Strange Saga of Fishbone
Posted by Kathy Fennessy on Tue, Apr 17, 2012 at 10:01 AM
Everyday Sunshine: The Story of Fishbone
(Lev Anderson and Chris Metzler, US, 2011, 107 mins.)
- Cinema Guild
- Jamming at Mama Fish's place
High-profile fan Laurence Fishburne, who worked as a bouncer during their early days, narrates this revealing profile of LA ska-punk-funk-metal outfit Fishbone.
Enthuses Mike Watt, "I've seen 'em do every style in the same song." Adds Ice-T, "It wasn't rock, it wasn't metal, it wasn't hip-hop, it wasn't funk." Throughout, other admirers, like Flea and Gwen Stefani, testify to their talent and influence.
Since 1986, the sextet has recorded for a major label, worked with Branford Marsalis and Spike Lee, and played around the world, so co-directors Lev Anderson and Chris Metzler try to figure out why they never quite found success.
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Film Free Samples: "Featuring Original Music by Say Hi"
Posted by Megan Seling on Tue, Apr 3, 2012 at 11:19 AM
Good news, Say Hi fans! No, there's no new album, but Say Hi (aka Seattle's own Eric Elbogen) has scored the music to this film, Free Samples, which is about a cranky girl working on an ice cream truck. It's debuting at the Tribeca Film Festival later this month—hopefully it'll get distribution so we can use it as our fix for new Say Hi material.
Look, the guy from the Facebook movie is in it!
Update: Elbogen says, via Twitter, that the new Say Hi record is 94% done. YES!
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
"Trapped In the Closet: The Next Installment"
Posted by Megan Seling at 9:36 AM in Film
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Monday, March 5, 2012
Tonight at Northwest Film Forum: Have You Ever Had a Beard?
Posted by Grant Brissey at 3:35 PM in Film
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Monday, February 27, 2012
Who Should Play Whitney Houston In Upcoming Biopic?
Posted by Megan Seling at 4:05 PM in Film
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Re:Generation Tonight Only at Pacific Place
Posted by Grant Brissey at 5:04 PM in Tonight / Film
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
A Trip to the Moon with Air
Posted by Kathy Fennessy at 12:03 PM in New Releases / Film
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Soldier of the Road: A Portrait of Peter Brotzmann Premieres at Grand Illusion
Posted by Dave Segal at 11:33 AM in Film
Monday, February 13, 2012
Friday, February 10, 2012
Friday, February 3, 2012
Watch Decasia: The State of Decay in Its Entirety
Posted by Dave Segal at 9:53 AM in Film
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Girl Walk // All Day to Screen @ Neumos Feb. 11
Posted by Dave Segal at 9:40 AM in Upcoming / Film
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