JACK BOND

VBS.TV have got up a new doc about avante-garde surrealist film maker Jack Bond. A British film maker who worked with Salvador Dali and Andy Warhol, created bizzare features, docs and music videos. I had heard about him last year when news broke that he was finally allowing his back catalogue of films to shown again.....I had not heard of or seen the films in question, but the idea that a man who had kept all his art locked away from public for over 30 years and finally released them in his old age is an enticing and and engaging story in itself....I still have not seen the films, but after watching this I will indeed be seeking them out!

I'll let the show and the man speak for themselves but there are some great (and tragic) stories here. He also comes across as true gent!

Dali and Bond

UNKLE / JOHN HILLCOAT / RAY WINSTONE

Three good things here....great band, great director, great actor.

Ray Winstone talks about getting struck by lightning while John Hillcoat driects the imagery to UNKLE's music...tri-fector of cool shit right here!

UNKLE - The Answer

'Faaaaaan-dabi-dozey!'

Boardwalk Empire

I first heard of this show over a year ago and I'v been eagerly awaiting it since. Boardwalk Empire is a new HBO series from Terence Winter (head writer of The Sopranos) and Martin Scorsese. It's set in Atlantic City in the 1920s and deals with one of the major social issues of the time - prohibition (a period of 13 years when the US government thought it would be a good idea to criminalize the selling and consumption of alcohol - it basically didn't turn out to be a good idea!) With prohibition came gangsters, with gangsters comes corruption, cars, cool clothes, money, woman and some pretty slick bars, parties and speakeasies!....all this points to what should be one killer show!

No doubt with the combined talents of Scorsese and Winter at the helm, this show will be more than style over substance. But for now simply idea of the setting and aesthetic is enough to get the excitement going!...check out these promos for the show and a time capture video of the incredible looking set they built in a Brooklyn dockyard.

Boardwalk Empire airs on HBO in the states later in September.

www.hbo.com/boardwalk-empire

Read more here....www.nytimes.com/2010/09/05/arts/television/05empire

The Human Centipede -OMG!!!

The Human Centipede @ The Duke of York's Friday 3rd September 2010

Photo By Toby King

Lettering By Kirsty Barron

The Human Centipede @ The Duke of York's

I'm lucky enough to work in the oldest and longest running cinema in the UK, Brighton's Duke of York's Picture House.

As front of house staff, me and my colleagues don't have too much say about what we show at the Duke's (luckily the programming department for Picture House do a swell job....(honestly I'm not just saying that))...however, earlier this year we had to show some awful excuse for entertainment called Sex and the City 2. During this dull (but remarkably busy) period, I thought about other potentially awful films that this fine cinema could show to a desiring public. My friend and co-Duke's compadre Alasdair had bought a film called The Human Centipede to my attention, at the time I thought it was gross and hideous and not my thing at all, but it sure looked sick and fucked up and therefore appealing to most people in some twisted way. I suggested to my manager Jon that if we can get away with showing Sex and the City 2 for two weeks then we could get away with showing something like The Human Centipede (I could see similar levels of atrociousness festering in both filmic concepts). Originally a tad skeptical Jon let me start a facebook group to see how much interest was out there...and with the aid of some influential friends (cheers Sam and Will!) over 600 people joined the group and the head honchos at Picture House noticed (thanks Jon) and programmed in The Human Centipede. Initially it was just going to be shown at the Duke's but it has now been booked into many Picture House cinemas including Brixton, Notting Hill, Liverpool, Edinburgh, Southampton....

So on friday the 3rd September come to the Brighton's Duke of York's for a special late nite screening of The Human Centipede

read more at Don't Panic....!

Buy tickets HERE!

and I recommend you look at these things too....

High Rankin - www.myspace.com/highrankin

Sam Hiscox - samhiscox.blogspot.com/

Splendour Cinema - splendorcinema.blogspot.com/

Afghanistan in the UK

VBS.TV have launched a new series about a mock Afghanistan training village that the British army built in the midlands somewhere. Part 1 is up now and you can see it right here NOW...

A bizarre, yet I suppose tragically necessary, idea for the many British youths to train on before they embark on bizarre and tragic (but maybe not necessary) tour of Afghanistan.

This is only part 1 of 5 so keep watching.

If God Is Willing And Da Creek Don't Rise - Spike Lee and the aftermath of the aftermath

When The Levee's Broke: A Requiem in four parts was director Spike Lee's interpretation of the tragic events in and around New Orleans after the Hurricane Katrina disaster in 2005. The resulting documentary was an emotional journey through the lives torn apart, not just by the storm but by the monumental fuck up that was the US governments response to the Hurricane and the immediate years post Katrina. An incredibly emotive piece of documentary filmmaking, portraying the anger, grief and despair of the people affected the most by the disaster and as a result showing the shoddy infer structure of the institutions that are supposed to help the people and the ignorance and stupidity of those individuals who head them.

Although the events of Katrina were tragic and horric, When The Levee's Broke still managed to highlight the positive aspects of New Orleans, it's culture and it's people. Spike Lee's documentary proved to be an incredibly well rounded piece of documentary filmmaking.

Now five years later, Spike Lee and crew have returned to New Orleans with a follow up If God's Willing And Da Creek Don't Rise. The recent BP Gulf oil spill was a truly tragic coincidence.....here's an interview with Spike talking about the project...

DISASTER CAPITALISM!!!

If God Is Willing And Da Creek Don't Rise is starting HBO real soon...no doubt it will make it way to other outlets in the near future....

A while back I posted something about New Orleans featuring When The Levee's Broke, Hot 8 Brass Band and Black Lips...HAVE A LOOK

Black Swan - Aronofsky does 'The Red Shoes' ?!

Check out this trailer for Black Swan

This should be amazing...Darren Aronofsky is one of best directors of his generation, full of original ideas and an acute understanding of film...The Wrestler was probably my favourite film of whatever year it came out and Requiem for a Dream I found so harrowing I haven't been able to watch again since the first time I watched it drunk at 1 am about six years ago...I even liked The Fountain but most people didn't.

Natalie Portman and Vincent Cassell are always worth a look, and Mila Kunis may surprise people in one of her first credible roles...(she was the probably the best thing about Forgetting Sarah Marshall), just have to try and get past the voice of 'Meg Griffin'!

However, this film looks like it maybe a re imagining of Powell and Pressburger's true masterpiece, The Red Shoes.

Really...if you haven't seen this yet you must....much has been written on this film so I wont go into it too much, but its hard to find a film that conveys the power of art, dance, film, love, paranoia and obsession any better.

Just from looking at the Black Swan trailer there are some clear similarities, not just the ballet theme, but the ideas of obsession and competitiveness...there were also some shots in the trailer directly lifted from The Red Shoes.

However, is this a good idea, is the Black Swan going to come across as a mere contemporary nod and salute to The Red Shoes or has Aronofsky got something truly great up his sleeve? Hopefully it will be the later as Aronfosky has shown that he is a very credible and unique filmmaker, and Black Swan will further demonstrate this and not be a simple case of Aronofsky standing on the shoulders Powell and Pressburger's giants.

I'm Still Here - (trailer)

The other week I posted about I'm Still Here - the 'documentary' following a bearded Joaquin Phoenix as he endeavors in a new career in rap!

well, here's the trailer...

'I'M A MOUNTAIN TOP WATER DROP!'

still doesn't reveal too much but looks kinda interesting?!?!....