// Category Archive for: Movies

DVD Review: Mischief Night

By Brad Henderson

One of my favorite things in film is the home invasion subgenre. I think it’s one of the scariest real-life events that can take place. Because there have been many great home invasion films, when I saw the trailer for Mischief Night I got a little pumped. I actually turned off the trailer halfway through so it could be a surprise.

Mischief Night has the elements of a great film and does many things right in order to create a suspenseful film. The beginning of the film is a little silly and that’s because they put Charlie O’Connell in it and tried to make him a badass. I’m not sure what they were going for but Charlie doesn’t cut it. Once that dissolves, we are presented with Em, who suffers from psychosomatic blindness and her night alone during a Halloween tradition called Mischief Night.

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Best Alternative Posters Of 2013: Tal Zimerman

Godzilla by Phantom City Creative

Another award-winning design for Phantom City Creative—Godzilla AS the wreckage he causes.

The balance of simplicity, power, and conceptual playfulness that marks the modern movie poster movement just does not get better than this.

Evil Dead 2 by Jason Edmiston

Edmiston’s Evil Dead 2 poster got a ton of notice due to, among other things, the unprecedented smoothness between blended colors. Jason once again raises the bar for the screen print set.

The Visitor by Seek and Speak

This is the kind of poster you hope the movie is half as good as. It looks like how my uncle’s room smelled in the ’70s. It looks like all the Uriah Heep songs. It looks like that He–Man episode where everyone takes acid. Or did I watch it on acid and it just looked that way? I dunno.

Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter by Gary Pullin

Ghoulish Gary Pullin’s poster for Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter is a master class in unsubtle. Sometimes the indie poster scene gets a little too clever. Other times, it’s just a giant fucking Jason face coming through your wall. And I like that.

There Will Be Blood by Aaron Horkey

Impossibly tight technique meets million dollar concept in Horkey’s There Will Be Blood print for Mondo. Horkey basically prints money, anyway. Ask anyone who has tried to buy one of his posters.

Jaws by Paul Shipper

This piece was from a Jaws tribute show, and if you told me it was a long lost Drew Struzan design, I would have believed you. Thank goodness for designer Paul Shipper and his unwillingness to let the classic ’70s and ’80s poster style die.

The Silence of the Lambs by We Buy Your Kids

Looking like a playing card from Satan’s personal deck, WBYK’s The Silence of the Lambs print combines concepts and aesthetics to form something both beautiful and creepy. A modern classic.

Creepshow by Mike Sutfin

Sutfin’s pays tribute to the original poster designs for BOTH Creepshow films (there is a third film, but we don’t talk about it . . . ever) and the variant edition glows in the dark. A movie that’s fun and spooky needs a poster big on both.

Frankenstein by Tom Whalen

This Frankenstein poster is but one of many designs found within Tom Whalen’s Universal Monsters folio for boutique gallery Dark Hall Mansion. I picked this piece because, well . . . that’s how I was feeling at the time. Tomorrow, it may be the Dracula poster, or the diptych with ALL the monsters in it. Who knows?

Evil Dead by Trevor Henderson

This was one of the first posters I thought of when I signed up to make my list. Those eyes! They don’t let you forget them so easily. This image was used to promote the film’s SXSW premiere.

Tal Zimerman is a founding member of the comedy troupe The Sketchersons, writer for Rue Morgue magazine, game show winner, and currently the subject of the upcoming documentary feature WHY HORROR?

Best Of 2013: JG Thirlwell

Music
Here is some popular music I have been absorbing this year. Some on this list came out this year and some didn’t.

Chrome Hoof, Chrome Black Gold (Cuneiform)
Ken Thomson/JACK Quartet, Thaw (Cantaloupe)
Fuck Buttons, Slow Focus (ATP)
Guapo, History of the Visitation (Cuneiform)
Goldfrapp, Tales Of Us (Mute)
Dominique Leone, January – December: Mr. Leone published a new piece of music almost every day in 2013 (Bandcamp)
These New Puritans, Field Of Reeds (PIAS)
Yamantaka//Sonic Titan, UZU (Suicide Squeeze)
Noveller, No Dreams (Important)
Patrick Higgins/Mivos Quartet, String Quartet No. 2 (Ex-Cathedra)
Else Marie Pade and Jacob Kirkegaard, Svaevninger (Important Records) and Jacob Kirkegaard, Conversion (Touch)
Christian Gibbs, Sleep The Machines (Eastern Spurs)
Robert Haigh, Darkling Streams (Primary Numbers)
Tim Hecker, Virgins (Kranky)
The Field, Cupid’s Head (Kompakt)
François Bayle, Motion – Émotion (INA-GRM)
Oneohtrix Point Never, R plus Seven (Warp)
M.I.A., Matangi (Interscope)
Igor Wakhevitch, Logos/Docteur Faust/Être Dieu/Hathor (Lithurgie Du Souffle Pour La Résurrection Des Morts)/Les Fou d’Or/Nagual (Les Ailes De La Perception)/Let’s Start (Fractal)
Major Lazer, Free The Universe (Downtown)
A Hawk and a Hacksaw, You Have Already Gone To The Other World (LM Duplication)
Francis Dhomont, Mouvances-Métaphores (BVHaast)
Jonas Broberg/Erik Mikael Karlsson, Two Composers (Fylkingen)
Red Stars Over Tokyo, Melody Attack (Kompakt)
Dorit Chrysler, Avalanche EP (In My Room)

Concerts
I went to a bunch of concerts and events in 2013. Here are some of the most notable . . .

1/19: Extra Life at 285 Kent
2/7: Swans, Music Hall of Williamsburg and 6/13 at Warsaw
2/10: Beak/Chrome Canyon at Bowery Ballroom
3/23: Stockhausen’s Oktophonie at Park Ave Armory
4/4: Clint Mansell at St Paul the Apostle NY
4/7: Yeah Yeah Yeahs at Webster Hall NY
4/12: Barn Owl at Death By Audio
5/8: The Residents at Sodra Teatern, Stockholm
5/16: Tristan Perich at The Kitchen NY
5/31: Secret Chiefs 3 at The Stone NY
6/16: Asphalt Orchestra play Yoshida Tatsuya at the BOAC Marathon, Pace University
6/30: Tilt Brass/Holly Herndon at Winter Garden
7/6: Wolf Eyes/Hubble at St. Vitus
7/9: Squarepusher at Le Poisson Rouge
7/12: Cheap Trick at Coney Island
7/31: Melvins at House of Vans
8/2: Dan Deacon at Celebrate Brooklyn
9/17: Shining at St. Vitus
9/19: Lary 7 at Clocktower NY
10/16: Nicolas Bernier & Martin Messier La Chambre Des Machine at Lausanne Film Festival
10/17: Jason Lescaleet at Lausanne Film Festival
10/22: Mario Diaz de León at Roulette Brooklyn
10/27: Child Abuse/Cellular Chaos at Death By Audio
10/28: Sparks at Webster Hall NY
10/31: Raime at Output Brooklyn
12/6: Anna Von Hausswolff/Noveller at Union Hall Brooklyn
12/7 Frank Bretschneider at 285 Kent Brooklyn
12/8 Goblin/Zombi at Le Poisson Rouge NYC
12/15: Ken Thomson/JACK Quartet at SubCulture
12/21: Forma at Bowery Electric NYC
. . . plus John Zorn, various events for his 60th birthday

Film
Films I dug:
Paradise: Faith
Paradise: Love
Only God Forgives (why did everyone else hate this?)
R
Amour
The Imposter
Cold Fish
Leviathan
Gravity (for the incredible visuals and 3D, not the questionable script)
12 Years A Slave

I also keep a Tumblr blog where I talk about events that I check out, and other cultural obsessions, etc.

I must say it was a year of professional ups and personal downs for me.
Some of the highlights were:
Touring Europe with Manorexia
Working, recording, and touring with Zola Jesus, and being musical director for a succession of killer string quartets
Performing my solo piece Cholera Nocebo in Stockholm, Istanbul, and Lausanne
Writing my first piece for solo instrument—a piece for double bass commissioned and performed by James Ilgenfritz
Working with modular synths at the ElektronMusikStudion in Stockholm, and all the great music I discovered in their library
Skydiving from 13,000 feet
Pat Noecker’s Assemble Project at the Ace Hotel
Plus, I released two albums—Foetus, Soak and JG Thirlwell, The Blue Eyes—and produced another—Zola Jesus, Versions—and contributed to two others—Melvins, Everybody Loves Sausages and Kavus Torabi’s Exquisite Corpse project.

For more on JG Thirlwell, please visit Foetus.org.

Best Of 2013: Less Lee Moore

My goal for 2013 was to see 100 new (to me) movies, listen to 100 new albums, and read 100 books. I had to find time to eat, sleep, and bathe, so some of these goals were not accomplished. (Hint: the latter two.) I also watched quite a bit of TV, but not all the shows that I loved so fiercely in 2012. Part of this was availability; part of it was time. Without cable or a DVR, I’m reliant upon Canadian network websites for new shows. I did, however, get into Mad Men and get back into Supernatural, thanks to Netflix Canada, which is the second best pop culture item on my 2013. The first is the TV show that dominated everything else in 2013: Hannibal.

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Movie Review: The Visitor

By Less Lee Moore

The opening scene of The Visitor is exactly the kind of scene I love in late ’70s sci fi and horror films. John Huston encounters a faceless hooded figure in a desert, where the orange and grey sky indicates that it may be on another planet or in an alternate dimension. There are explosions, then a snowstorm. The figure is revealed to be a creepy young girl who looks decayed and then disappears. Unfortunately, The Visitor goes downhill from here, unless you like watching bad movies ironically.

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Best Of 2013: Brad Henderson

1. Blue Ruin
I could go on for days on how much this film means to me and how emotional I became watching it. Not only one of my favorite flicks of the year, but also of all time. I can’t wait to hear about the general consensus of this one.

2. The Conjuring
I’m a horror fan for life and I have lots of love for James Wan. I’m also a huge fan of The Warrens and their work so this is an obvious film for me to put on my list.

3. The Lords Of Salem
Don’t care about the hate for Rob Zombie. Zombie is a genius through and through and shows his true love for film in this one.

4. The Battery
Best $6K zombie movie ever made. Also, one of the best zombie movies ever made.

5. Jug Face
Read my review on this one. The Pit Wants Want It Wants.

6. Furious 6
You can call it whatever you want, but the title card said Furious 6, and it’s also the best in the franchise.

7. Maniac
One of the best remakes ever. Also, Elijah Wood plays a brutal serial killer and we take him seriously? Yep, it worked.

8. Mud
Great flick. It is very basic, but the way it’s presented is outstanding.

9. Spring Breakers
I’ve always disliked Korine and thought this film was going to be garbage. As it turns out, it became a favorite of mine and I think about it every single day.

10. Broken
Heart breaking and super emotional, this film hit me hard.

Best of 2013: Julie Finley

This year has been awful . . . for me at least. Between agonizing pain that led to back surgery, as well as polycystic ovarian syndrome, it made it very hard for me to enjoy anything (with the exception of a few out of town excursions).

I watched more movies than usual, due to my combined illnesses, but not too many were new films. I actually only went to a movie theater once this year. As far as television shows go, there were only a few current shows I bothered with; most were re-runs (but I hadn’t watched originally, so it was like watching a brand new show).

Concerts were VERY few: The Hives (who were great; my review), and going to see Bill Burr do stand-up. I was supposed to see Adam Ant, but that was when my back injury was out of control, and I couldn’t attend, so those tickets went unused.

So with that said, here’s a list of media I enjoyed in 2013. There are no books listed, because even though I am cooped-up, I find no joy in reading!

Most of the music I listened to was old, but there were a few releases that came out this year that I really liked.

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Movie Review: Good Vibrations

By Less Lee Moore

No doubt there are many who’ve heard of Terri Dooley, music lover, DJ, record shop owner, and tireless champion of the unheard music, but for those of us who haven’t, Good Vibrations is a giddy delight. Based on the real life (mis)adventures of the Belfast native, the film should win the hearts of all movie and music lovers, even those who’ve determined themselves too jaded to care.

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Best Of 2013: Tim Murr

When I started thinking about how my best of list was going to look, I had four entries in mind. I kept putting off writing it though, because I still hadn’t seen Jessica Cameron’s Truth Or Dare, Lawrie Brewster’s Lord Of Tears, Richard Raaphorst’s Frankenstein’s Army, or heard the new Black Flag album. Well, the year is winding down and I must move on. No doubt I’ll blab at great length about them all later. So my list is short, but strong.

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Best Of 2013: Jeremy Fury, Jeremy and the Harlequins

I must confess, I had to read a few other “Best of 2013” lists to help recall what came out between January 1, 2013 and now. . . but here it goes.

The Limiñanas album, Costa Blanca, was highly underrated. Also underrated was Hunx and His Punx, Street Punk. Along with the rest of the world, I liked the new Arctic Monkeys record, AM, quite a bit and Bowie’s return with The Next Day.

I didn’t feel Haim’s entire record, Days Are Gone, as much as everyone else on Earth seemed to, but the song, “The Wire,” is amazing and extremely catchy. As far as film, the documentary Room 237 was great and so was, A Band Called Death.

Can we go into TV? I’m addicted to Portlandia and Season Three did not disappoint. Also, the final season of Eastbound & Down redeemed Seasons Two and Three.The finale was what all TV series finales should aspire to.

Lastly, Gravity was quite a ride. Right?

Jeremy and the Harlequins’ self-titled EP came out December 17.