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Watched A Haunting in Venice last night. Enjoyed the super-wide-angle lenses, but I have to say that the actual crime is completely unbelievable. There is NO FUCKING WAY Kelly Reilly could murder Michelle Yeoh! Are you even kidding? Michelle would have kicked that skinny bint through three windows without spilling a drop of her tea! I mean come on!
Also, in the books Tina Fay’s character doesn’t ever betray Poirot and they remain good friends across several stories.
Otherwise the movie was fine.
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Focusing on the crime being unbelievable is nit picking in that? The moustache and accent….
On topic though it’s really a horror movie and I’ve enjoyed Hildur Gudnasdottir getting to do mainstream stuff. I’ve followed her for many years.
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I found this unicorn chaser called The Burial on Amazon:
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Just, FYI, there is an Ask a Mortician video about this from a while back…
I think she mentions them making the film…
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Fascinating description there, surprised you didn’t include it!
(Restored in HD!) This is an AURORATONE produced and created by British filmmaker Cecil Stokes for use in the treatment of mental disorders - definitely a kinder, gentler alternative to the electric-shock treatments which were then in vogue!
The soundtrack features Bing Crosby and organist Eddie Dunstedter. An online biography of Bing Crosby notes that he was a shareholder in Mr. Stokes’ “Auroratone Foundation.” It also notes that Mr. Crosby made exclusive recordings of “Ave Maria,” “Home on the Range,” and “When You Wish Upon a Star,” for Auroratones, but there’s no mention of this film’s soundtrack “When the Organ Played Oh Promise Me.” It’s possible that Mr. Stokes used a recording that Bing and Mr. Dunstedter had made several years earlier.
This 16mm film print belonged to my grandfather, Gustave Martens of College Point, NY. He probably acquired it during the time he worked as a film projectionist at various psychiatric institutions in the New York-New Jersey area during the 1940’s. Only once, during the 1960s, did Grandpa show the movie to us kids, and as you would expect we didn’t know what to make of it. We asked him “What’s this weird stuff, Grandpa?” and he himself wasn’t sure!
In 2007 I put on YouTube an inferior, low-resolution video of the film and, still not knowing what it was, gave it the best descriptive title I could think of: “Psychedelic Bing Crosby Video”. Many of the comments it received were along the lines of “What was Bing smoking in that pipe?” Only recently was I informed by Crosby afficiandoes that this was an “Auroratone.”
Regarding the films themselves, I’ve found scant information other than a few mentions in psychiatric journals from the period. Several websites devoted to experimental film do mention Mr. Stokes and briefly describe his work and technique, but none of them offer any visual examples at all. One website promises to teach you how to create “The Auroratone Effect” for a fee - but its preview shows a modern re-creation only. It appears that my YouTube clip is currently the only example of an original Cecil Stokes Auroratone that exists on the internet anywhere.
If you’ve seen the earlier version, you’ll no doubt find this restored version to be much richer in color, and more crystalline in detail (literally - Mr. Stokes created these films using crystallized chemicals and polarized light). Unfortunately, Der Bingle’s song remains as corny as ever. It’s debatable if films like this really worked as visual therapy, but you need not be afflicted with mental disorders to appreciate them today.
Enjoy!
Robert W. Martens April, 2010
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So, a couple of weeks ago I see the following line in my local cinema’s newsletter: “Emma Seligman’s highly anticipated Bottoms finally punches its way on to the big screen.”, so I click though, and the description looks odd and interesting so I look up the trailer:
And it made me laugh a lot so I kept an eye out for when it opened. And then it sold out over the weekend and I caught the evening showing last night instead. And it’s fucking hilarious.
The plot is incredibly by the numbers - PJ and Josie aren’t hated because they’re lesbians, but because they’re untalented and they’re desperate to get laid before they start college so when a minor altercation with the school’s star quarterback coincides with them sardonically saying to a friend that they were in juvie over the summer break, their sudden attention leads them to start a self-defense club to try and attract the cheerleaders they fancy, and insanity follows. And that insanity is what makes the movie great while the story unfolds exactly as you’d expect it.
The humour is brash and uncompromising, there’s so much weird shit happening in the background in the school scenes. It takes all the tropes of the teen comedy and ramps them up to ludicrous levels and had the whole audience in the cinema laughing all the way through. The people I was sitting beside were repeating their favourite jokes before the credits have finished rolling. It’s also a very good example of how comedy can be absolutely filthy and still staunchly feminist, pushing back against the bizarre narrative that feminists are scolds about this kind of content. Well worth checking out, it’s already hit streaming in the US as it came out there in August, but will probably be in cinemas on this side of the ocean for another week or two.
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Thanks for the detailed description, sounds like a lot of fun!
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Was trying to persuade my 15 year old to go to it. I think she’d like it too.
I really enjoyed Shiva Baby, enjoyed in the sense that it made me chew my knuckles in embarrassment. So much cringe!
ETA Shiva Baby also written and directed by Emma Seligman and starring Rachel Sennot who co-writes and co-stars in this along with Ayo Adebiri (Sydney from The Bear and also a voice artist in the recent Spider Man and TMNT which were both actually fantastic fun).
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Screenshot, you’ll have to visit the site in order to vote:
Too bad Klaus Kinski is dead, he’d be perfect.
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I just flushed the perfect star of that film.
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For some reason, the movie Downsizing starring Matt Damon came up when I searched for a comedy as a unicorn chaser. The initial premise was somewhat cringe-worthy (and a topic that gets debated/debunked often on BB). The exploration of money and class seemed underdeveloped, but this review (spoilers) gave a lot more benefit of the doubt. That the lead’s consciousness is raised by a really problematic character/performance might be another reason why I hadn’t stumbled across it when it was first released. I’d only recommend it for hate-watching.
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Wait, you hated Stamped or Downsizing?
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I took it to mean Downsizing (the hated it)…
Also, it’s been ages since I’ve seen tht sketch, but I totally heard them in my head…
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Hated Downsizing, LOVED Stamped. I hope the latter will be watched by a lot of people (students, in particular)!
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I heard Dr. Kendi on the radio today… Looking forward to watching this soon!
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Thanks. I’ve had fun with some of Alexander Payne’s movies, but yeah, that one bombed with me too.
Looking forward to seeing Stamped.
There’s a new Payne movie out that i guess I’d give a chance if I was like, stuck on a plane. I remember thinking Sideways was funny.
Oops, Magic Black Friend alert. I guess not!
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