More Movies. Been lazy about writing

7. Until the Light Takes Us
Question for people that didn't know the story before going in...Did it make any sense? I was sitting there wondering that the whole time...it seemed so disjointed. Jumping from Varg rambling about corn flakes and posers to Fenriz walking around and smoking to Varg talking about stockpiling weapons to to some pictures of people who died to robot voice Faust to Fenriz walking around smoking cigarettes some more to Varg talking about varg burning churches to stock footage of Norwegian news to Varg talking about how awesome jail is because he got to read a lot of books to Fenriz almost in tears about how trendy BM was getting to a bunch of random pictures of Varg to Frost walking around then riding an airplane to uhh...what is this performance art thing? Is that Frost or some artist in corspe paint? They were just talking to Frost, so I think that is him, but maybe not...hmm....

The whole thing seemed "messy" or something. I felt like the director kind of failed to tell a story. Conceptually, I like the idea of them trying to play Varg and Fenriz as foils, but they ended up just being talking heads on the screen. If you're at all familiar with this scene, it's nothing new. I thought the mini-doc that's a bonus feature on "Metal: A Headbangers Journey" did it a lot better, and it about 30 minutes, but whatever. It's still cool that it actually played here.

8. Dirty Mary and Crazy Larry

Yeah...keeping up with the car chase movies I mentioned in my last post about movies. I picked up this DVD because I think they name-dropped it in Death Proof. I don't really know much about gearhead/car chase movies, but this one is pretty rad. Peter "I rarely survive a movie I'm in" Fonda, plays Larry, a down on his luck Nascar driver who needs money fast. Along with his mechanic, they hold up a grocery store then run from the cops. Mary, a local girl with a thing for the Larry, jumps in to increase the mayhem. The acting is actually pretty good and there are some genuinely tense moments between characters. The cops sort of get the "Dukes of Hazard" treatment, constantly ending up in ditches, but it works. I barely know anything about cars, but I know I like Dodge Chargers and this movie has Dodge Chargers!

9. Race With the Devil

We were looking for something to watch while the snow poured down Friday night. Here's another one Brad borrowed from his coworker, which also features some good chase scenes, but this time it's a satanic cult chasing Peter Fonda, Warren Oates, and Loretta "Hot Lips" Swit in an RV! How's that for mixing it up?! Anyway, this is pretty much straight up drive-in fare, with Oates and Fonda witnessing a satanic ritual/murder. The cult catches on and starts chasing them. Every where they turn for help, they get a cold shoulder. Eventually the viewer picks up that this is bigger than just a cult, as horrible things happen every time they stop the vehicle. Snake attack, low-bridge gag, and the satanic ritual were definitely the highlights for me.

10. Two Lane Black Top
The snow was still falling Friday night, so we knew we weren't going anywhere, so we decided to pop in this early 70s cult classic, starring James Taylor as Driver, Dennis Wilson as Mechanic, and Warren Oates as GTO. I still don't really know what the hell is going on with this movie, but I liked it. Is it really just a road movie or is it THE road movie. Is it just a couple gearheads traveling across the country or do they represent something larger? And why cast a couple of musicians who can barely act? For the name recognition? Is that it or something else? The film left me with so many questions and very few answers, but sometimes that's okay. I can't imagine a better representation of the isolation of the road. There are millions of others traveling those same roads, yet you know nothing about them. I know very little about the "art of film making", but the pacing, lighting, dialog, even acting (or lack there of), really pushed this beyond "just a movie" for me, but I'm still not sure why. Weird stuff.