Club Columbia DVD

Paranoia Park was the film yesterday.  With all these movies I’m renting for Club Columbia DVD, I’m beginning to look into a movie DVD club to see if it’s a cheaper option- I like the idea, because I’ve had a lot of experiences with Blockbuster and scratches and wrong disks etc.  If you know of any, feel free to leave a comment.

Anyway, I saw Paranoia Park yesterday.  First off, the main guy looks exactly like a friend of mine.  He has a great band called The Kahoos.  He probably skateboards too.  It doesn’t matter too much.  Honestly the main guy looks like every 13-16 year old boy I’ve ever seen with hat hair.  Maybe that’s the point.

I wasn’t expecting anything from this movie, which is usually the best way to watch.  Hamlet 2 wasn’t as good as I thought it would be- because I thought it would be the funniest thing ever made.  (For the record one of the funniest things ever made is Tropic Thunder which I’ll review in a bit.)

What I thought would be a cheap, slasher skateboard-movie turned into an astonishing dark psychological look at adolescence.  Other blogs will write longer words about the theory behind it, but I won’t go into that- the point is this film is definitely a film and not a movie.

The camera work is excellent.  Whatever you think of Gus Van Sant, in this film he captures some kind of profound beauty.  His camera glides along with the skateboard and you see why these kids are drawn to it- a culture of escape from the numbing existence in real suburbia.  

The film is based around the death of a security guard on a railroad by a skatepark.  We follow Alex and live his predictable existence until he goes to Paranoid Park one evening.  The film reveals little bits of the story over time, and it comes together at the end perfectly- this is a beautiful story, well-told.  Here’s a good trailer:

The music is wonderful.  It’s like flicking through Alex’s iPod- it has a variety of music that adds nothing but value to the emotional charge of the film.

Barnes and Noble has it for $25, but you’ll be better off just renting it from Blockbuster.  If you know of any a movie dvd club that carries it already, feel free to leave a comment.  It’s not the kind of film you’ll watch over again, but it’s a unique experience in film- whose atmosphere will stay with you forever.

Technorati Tags: gus van sant, movie dvd club, paranoia park, the kahoos

I saw this for Club Columbia DVD yesterday.  I had seen The Thing, and hopefully you have too.  The Thing is a weird one- I wouldn’t put it in my top 5 list (which is totally arbitrary anyway), but I think a life without seeing The Thing is a slightly sad one.

There is something about John Carpenter.  The special effects are so bad they are cool.  Go a step further- they’re so dated that they actually seem more realistic.  The CGI of today’s big action films, while looking close to reality, stink of fake explosions and animation.  The special effects in Deju Vu were impressive, but they weren’t as fun to watch.  There’s something about real special effects- real explosions, models, special makeup- and The Thing is the best film to see this in.

Even though I’d love to talk about The Thing more, this post is about Escape From New York.

There are a couple of movies I’ve seen which have a very similar style- Escape From New York, The Warriors, Clockwork Orange- these films take this dated 70s look to the extreme respectively.  It’s a stylised urban theme with a tight budget.  Although they fail to depict reality, they take you into this fantastic world of their own.

Street gangs, dirty streets, night violence- these films capture a urban wild west.  And the sheriff in town is Kurt Russell.

Let’s get one thing straight.  Kurt Russell with an eye-patch and a gun is awesome.  Not in the ‘dude’ way.  In the true meaning of the word- awesome.  In this gritty city world he is Clint Eastwood.  

Ex-special forces turned bank robber, Snake Plissken (yes, that is the best name ever created) is given a chance to get a pardon for his crimes if he completes a mission.  New York has been converted into a maximum security prison to cope with the crime epidemic sweeping America.  Manhattan Island is full of hardened criminals.  But a terrorist act crashes Air Force One right into the prisoner island- with the president on board.  The only man who can rescue the president from this mess- is a veteran mercenary, renowned within the criminal community…called…Snake Plissken.

Watch this old trailer to see what I mean- if you like cult films, you’ll love this.  It’s a cult flick on steroids.

The late and great Isaac Hayes is the Duke of New York.  Kurt Russell is an ex-special ops mercenary who’s become jaded with the government.  Manhattan Island has been turned into a maximum security prison where criminals have made their own city.  Seriously.  What more could you possibly want?

Amazon has Escape From New York for $12.99, but get this- it has Used Copies for $0.01.  A cult classic for 1 cent?  Please.  Don’t ever tell me I’m not looking out for you guys.

Enjoy the movie and feel free to leave some feedback on Club Columbia DVD.  We love the attention.

Technorati Tags: escape from new york, john carpenter, the thing

Club Columbia DVD would like to introduce you to a living legend.  He’s a playwright.  He wrote a dark, dark, black comedy called The Pillowman which remains one of the funniest things I’ve read today.  I was surprised at how good his writing was- most playwrights just don’t get it, but then I found out why he is so good- he’s a cinema man.

His dialogue has pace, rhythm, violence- and he got this from Martin Scorsese, Terrence Malick and Quentin Tarantino (all personal favourites of Club Columbia DVD), not from playwrights like Tennessee Williams or John Osborne.  This guy was brought up on film, and finally he has made the transition from the stage to the screen, where he really belongs.

He’s Irish.  He’s rude.  He’s offensive, but intelligent.  His name is Martin McDonagh.  For the record you’re going to hear a lot more from this man, so watch out.

This year his first feature film was released called In Bruges.  The poster made it seem like a Colin Farrell action picture- but I don’t think anyone was prepared for what the film actually was.  It starts off in Belgium.  Quaint.  Slow.  Martin McDonagh’s writing slowly warms up- mostly I think so that the audience can get used to it- most films advertised have such bad writing, that people just expect it now.

Not in this movie though.  Not by a long shot.  In the beginning we hear this introduction:

After I killed him, I dropped the gun in the Thames, washed the residue off me hands in the bathroom of a Burger King, and walked home to await instructions.  Shortly thereafter the instructions came through- “Get the fuck out of London, you dumb fucks.  Get to Bruges.”

I didn’t even know where Bruges fucking was.

[pause]

It’s in Belgium.

This film is amazing.  Colin Farrell and Ralph Fiennes play roles you wouldn’t expect them in, and they are hilarious.  This film won’t be for everybody- this is another movie you should miss if you attend church regularly and have more than 3 cats.  There are midgets, prostitutes, drugs, guns, violence and gore- all dealt with in the funniest way possible.

This is one film that you may have missed.  Go see it.  Unplug the telephone when you see it.  It’s that good.  Amazon has In Bruges for $19.99 which is a bit much, so you may want to rent it.  Whatever you do, go see it.  Club Columbia DVD forbids you to watch it twice in a row though- it’s such a good film that you may never leave the house again.  Seriously.

Technorati Tags: belgium, colin farrell, comedy, in bruges

While Club Columbia DVD is mostly about DVDs, I thought I’d share with you one of my favourite online sources for films.  And the best thing about it is it’s totally legal.

The months leading up to The Dark Knight were pretty dry- 10,000 B.C. for example- oh man, that was bad.  In those desperate times I found myself struggling to find entertainment.  Without the distraction of amazing cinema, I looked in on myself, and looking in my reflection in a puddle like Ben Stiller I began to wonder- ‘Who am I?’

This led me to start finding out about the world.  I wanted to know about politics.  I wanted to understand economics.  I wanted to learn about philosophy.  Naturally I’m too lazy to read all about that- so I turned to documentaries.

Documentaries are great because they are usually no longer than 2 hours.  You get an overview of the topic, and if it interests you, you can look into it further.  I would hate to start reading a lengthy book on the Illuminati only to realise half-way through that I really didn’t care in the first place.

The place I’m talking about is freedocumentaries.org.  They have a fantastic selection of popular films like Sicko and Super Size Me, but that’s not why I like it so much.  This site has some older gems that would be hard to find elsewhere.  Some of these films will completely change the way you view the world.

The Corporation is a famous documentary that takes a look at the origin of corporations- the massive power structures that have enormous influence over our lives.  It’s one of those films you have to see to even begin to understand how the world works today.

Noam Chomsky’s Manufacturing Consent is also a true classic.  Even if you don’t agree with his views, you can learn a lot from this film.  The other film that changed my perspective was the Century of Self- a look at how the discoveries of Freud were adapted to marketing and changed our culture forever.

Of course there are some more crazy documentaries on there- the usual line up of conspiracies, but these are worth a watch at least for the entertainment value.  The fact is that watching a documentary here is far more well-spent time than watching some new blockbuster like Fool’s Gold.  The best documentaries are entertaining as well as informative, so that you don’t feel like you’re sitting in a classroom all day.

Anyway, freedocumentaries.org is non-profit and has some great films on there.  It gives a short review for each one so you know what you’re getting yourself into, and the layout is very easy to navigate.

Check out the site- it’s like 300 excellent films for free.  Club Columbia DVD thoroughly recommends it if you feel like learning something about this world.  Who said the internet wasn’t good for something.

If anyone knows of any other legal, decent streaming films sites, feel free to leave a comment below.

Technorati Tags: corporation, documentary, free