Dinosaur Jr., BUG Live at 9:30 Club: In the Hands of the Fans

By J Howell

The bulk of BUG Live at 9:30 Club was shot by six fans who won an online contest to interview Dinosaur Jr. and film them performing their third album, 1988’s Bug, in its entirety at the legendary DC club in June of last year. The subtitle of “in the hands of the fans” isn’t just appropriate considering the film’s production, though. In the hands of fans from way back is the best place for the DVD.
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Destroy All Movies!!! The Complete Guide To Punks On Film

By Less Lee Moore

Any marginalized subculture bristles at being misinterpreted on film. Then again, the punk subculture is by now so fragmented and unrecognizable, one hesitates to even attempt to define it, much less depict it on the screen.

Yet best friends Zack Carlson and Bryan Connolly spent five years documenting each and every appearance of punks on film. They were inspired to undertake this monumental task after re-watching Penelope Spheeris’s quasi documentary Suburbia and then shortly thereafter, seeing Joysticks, a video arcade comedy from 1983, for the first time.
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David Markey: Best Of 2010

The Runaways

Underwhelmed by most things in film this year, but here’s a few things I enjoyed.

Movies:
The Runaways (Floria Sigismondi)
The Social Network (David Fincher)
Trash Humpers (Harmony Korine)
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (Edgar Wright)
8: The Mormon Proposition (Reed Cowan)

Still waiting to see:
I Love You Phillip Morris (Glenn Ficarra & John Requa)
Casino Jack (George Hickenlooper – RIP)

Waiting for the DVD:
Machete (Robert Rodriguez)
Piranha 3-D (Alexandre Aja)
The Kids Are Alright (Lisa Cholodenko)

TV:
Mad Men
Breaking Bad
Dexter

The only CD I bought all year:
Kill City (reissue) Iggy Pop & James Williamson

David Markey is a musician and filmmaker, who has most recently directed The Reinactors.

1991: The Year Punk Broke Screens At Hot Docs

By Less Lee Moore

The title of this film—which documented the 1991 European club festival tour of Sonic Youth, a pre-world-famous Nirvana, and other bands—was intended as an ironic comment on the music industry. Although the film came out in 1992 and it was released on VHS shortly thereafter, it is still not available on DVD. How is this possible?

“It’s not on DVD because the rock & roll industry is full of shit,” quips filmmaker David Markey. “There I said it. Also, I totally blame Lady Gaga and her fans,” he adds sarcastically. In fact, Markey prepared a “deluxe” DVD package in 2004, including bonus live performances by Sonic Youth and Nirvana, audio commentary by Markey and Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore, and a 2003 panel discussion of the film at the Arclight in Hollywood with Markey, Moore, and others.
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The Remakening: Movies That Should Be Remade

Intro by Less Lee Moore

A February article on Horrornews.net proposed a list of 13 movies that need to be remade. While I didn’t agree with all of the films listed, it got me thinking.
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Popshifter‘s Best Of Lists

Pete Best

Most publications give you their “Best Of” and “Top Ten” lists in their December issues. But what about giving props to of all the great things you embraced in the penultimate month of the year?

That’s why Popshifter has decided to provide you with our favorites now, so that you can add them to your list of “Things To Check Out In 2009.”

In addition to the lists our staff compiled, we’ve also posted the lists from some very special guest contributors.

Enjoy!
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Just Getting It Out There: An Interview with Filmmaker David Markey

Interviewed by Hanna

For Hanna’s review of The Reinactors, click here.

Cult filmmaker Dave Markey’s new movie The Reinactors premiered at the 37th Rotterdam International Film Festival in January. Detailing the complicated lives of the character impersonators that work on Hollywood Boulevard as tourist attractions, it was one of the greatest successes of the festival, with all showings sold out. It was also one of the highest rated movies in the audience polls.
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The Reinactors, Directed By David Markey

By Hanna

For Hanna’s interview with Dave Markey, click here.

The Reinactors follows the lives of a group of Hollywood Boulevard reinactors—those who impersonate well-known movie industry characters on the street, posing for photos and entertaining tourists—for a span of two years. Most of them are homeless or living in mobile homes; some of them are part-time actors in Hollywood or just aspiring to it, but they are all stars in their minds.
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Bedknobs and Broomsticks and That’s Not All: Lovedolls Superstar (Fully Realized) DVD

By Less Lee Moore

“Kelly Osbourne! She wasn’t even born yet. But her look was.”
—Redd Kross’ Jeff McDonald in the commentary to Lovedolls Superstar

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