Healing Us (documentary)

Healing US Network

Flack (2019)

If you’re going to do celeb culture then it better be hard-hitting satire, and Flack delivered.

Searching Amazon video, I saw Anna Paquin’s name, and I knew she’d be quite discerning about her next role. With so much sex, drugs, and bad behavior it’s a two-season long train crash, and I wish there was more.

These are the people fucking over our world, the paid liars whom the other paid liars go to when they fuck up. It should be depressing, but it’s damned funny and twisted at times. Some of the moments are so tense, it’s hard to believe it’s just a TV show about publicity.

What ties it all together, thematically, is the frailty of human nature. Everyone’s on a journey to screw up somewhere. That much shines through, and so many possibilities present themselves, for perpetrating and for redemption. It’s quite a good show, if you like that sort of thing.

The Menu (Review)

The second I saw that was Anya, I was sold. She’s just the top. I’m also a fan of films about cults, and so this was absolutely the first thing to see as soon as it became available.

The best horror/drama films retain a connection to reality, feasibility. I don’t usually go in for that hocus pocus nonsense, #unimpressed. But, if they can keep it plausibly possible then I’ll keep watching.

As I said, I would watch Anya all day, even when the love interest she arrives with is the most annoying prick ever, and you just want a good old horror-film end to him as soon as possible. I suspected it would be a slow-burn, and it was. Half the film before things ramp up, but there is quite a bit of setup and characterization, and I did appreciate that.

An eccentric restaurant for the over-privileged is a great idea for a cult. Add in a touch of class struggle, Norman Bates’ mother, and a bunch of liars, and it does succeed in what it set out to do. No spoilers.

What are the Most #UNDERRATED #Movies of All Time?

Hoping others will join in with something decent for me to watch.

Europa Report

Caligula

How to Get Ahead in Advertising

Festen/The Celebration

Bob Roberts

Goldfrapp: Wonderful Electric

Last Night in Soho

Queen of the Damned

Jojo Rabbit

The Ninth Gate

Triangle

Musical Sunday

YOUTUBE CENSORED Safe & Effective Documentary #COVID

GO TO THE FILM’S WEBSITE:

Safe & Effective: A Second Opinion (Full Documentary)

Evil Google/Youtube ALSO censored/purged the film’s graphic images from its image search.

Cult Classic: The Road Warrior

Leaving HBO at the end of this month, you have time to catch it now.

This film is possibly the greatest action thriller ever made. The stunts put Hollywood to shame. Everything is real, kinetic, and life-endangering.

Whether or not you like Mel Gibson, he brought Mad Max to the world, and his world is brutal, chaotic, and sublime. The Road Warrior stood as untouchable for thirty years until George Miller delivered Mad Max: Fury Road in 2015, and we had something to finally compare it to.

The Humungous

The opening montage sequence is a bit dated in its style, and perhaps underwhelming as an opening. Start at the first frame after it, however, and all bets are off. The music also seemed a tad old school, but the action is jaw dropping and center stage.

The plot of The Road Warrior revolves around a siege, that of an old oil refinery in the desert, surrounded by The Humungous and his dogs of war. The refinery people have a small society, straining to keep civilization going in contrast to the scavengers of the wastelands. Max must decide which world he belongs to.

And he’s not a great guy.

But he’s not a bad guy either.

What he is is a damaged guy for a damaged world. And he keeps his word.

It’s interesting how everyone sees value in him, but not himself. He seems to consider himself worthless, a rat scavenging guzzoline wherever he can find it. That’s all he’s capable of aspiring to.

I cited The Road Warrior as a major influence on my 2014 novel Transfixion. There is also a siege and with a school bus lodged across the front gate of a school. I made sure there was a truck/car chase sequence or two as well. It truly was effective, if you believe the readers.

It’s not all about Max. Supporting characters make this movie. Top spot goes to the feral kid, whom you have to stop and just cheer for. The feral kid is amazing. We’d never seen him before or since, and he’s perfect. Max’s gyrocopter-flying sidekick is also a key man in the story. And the helicopter afforded magnificent aerial shots of desert chaos that make sense, and so you never think twice as to why they have all these grand overhead views. It’s just magnificent filmmaking.

The Road Warrior is must-see cinema. End of discussion.

Ithaka: the fight to free Julian (Trailer)

Assange Documentary Screens in London: Hacking Justice

Today's film screening about Julian Assange in @CurzonSoho with @StellaMoris1, @lopezclara2, @ApsanaBegumMP and @JohnWRees#FreeAssangeNOW #DropTheCharges pic.twitter.com/0jwYeXkFZx

— Don't Extradite Assange (@DEAcampaign) May 18, 2022

Julian Assange documentary screening in London’s Curzon Soho Cinema

Cult Classic: Wag the Dog

This film came out long before this blog existed, and so there was no entry for it. I was critical of the film for not going far enough, but it is required viewing today. Get it.

STREAM ONLINE

It is, of course, a satire about American propaganda and gullibility when it comes to WAR.

“Hollywood is Full of CIA Agents”

Covert Action Quarterly:

“Hollywood is Full of CIA Agents,” Says Ben Affleck

Abby Martin Interviews Oliver Stone: JFK