jwtfanning
Lifetime Total
10+
IMDb Member
10 years
Reviews
Flaming Ears (1992)
When being esoteric really just makes things dull..
After seeing a trailer for this being re-released I was rather excited that a long-lost art film "gem" that I missed may be available to all but unfortunately it's really a slog.
Believe me, I do love a fantastic & weird art film, especially from the past. It's a backbone part of my character and overall self, but through the years I've had many experiences with these arty films that absolutely just has me going "My god that was boring..". "Flaming Ears" unfortunately fits among those experiences.
The main credit here is that indeed a lot of the low-budget aesthetics are quite cool in that early-90s-fringe way where a lot of people wanted desperately to be away from the 80s but hadn't settled into the odd atmosphere of irony mixed with nihilism with an air of desperation that would basically define the decade (at least as far as I'm concerned). Another interesting aspect is its primarily lesbian context which basically just is "there" and doesn't get exploited in a cheap or cliché way. Unfortunately, the "just being there" aspect is basically the whole film in general.
It's rather impossible to do much of any kind of synopsis of this film's plot/story or general ideas. Most of it meanders around one claustrophobic scene to another of vague conversation and what we guess are alliterations to something though it's always hard to tell honestly what that is. The problem I think is that the movie keeps feeling like it is trying to say something and basically keeps not doing so. I had high hopes for the outré weird factor after the opening sequence of a strangely dressed woman roller skating around a warehouse full of furniture where after zig zagging around some closets pours water (or gas maybe?) onto a classic-looking bureau/dresser and proceeds to have "sex" with it. I thought "OK, now we're getting somewhere", yet that was pretty much the only kind of intriguing "weirdness" in the film. The rest of it just coasts along, mostly getting stuck in vaguely Dadaistic conversations and awkwardly slow pacing.
In the end, check it out if you're curious and maybe you'll see things I've missed. Of note to experimental music fans is in the involvement of Austrian sound artist/composer Curd Duca, who shows up as music & lighting assistant as well as a driver, interestingly enough.
Believe me, I do love a fantastic & weird art film, especially from the past. It's a backbone part of my character and overall self, but through the years I've had many experiences with these arty films that absolutely just has me going "My god that was boring..". "Flaming Ears" unfortunately fits among those experiences.
The main credit here is that indeed a lot of the low-budget aesthetics are quite cool in that early-90s-fringe way where a lot of people wanted desperately to be away from the 80s but hadn't settled into the odd atmosphere of irony mixed with nihilism with an air of desperation that would basically define the decade (at least as far as I'm concerned). Another interesting aspect is its primarily lesbian context which basically just is "there" and doesn't get exploited in a cheap or cliché way. Unfortunately, the "just being there" aspect is basically the whole film in general.
It's rather impossible to do much of any kind of synopsis of this film's plot/story or general ideas. Most of it meanders around one claustrophobic scene to another of vague conversation and what we guess are alliterations to something though it's always hard to tell honestly what that is. The problem I think is that the movie keeps feeling like it is trying to say something and basically keeps not doing so. I had high hopes for the outré weird factor after the opening sequence of a strangely dressed woman roller skating around a warehouse full of furniture where after zig zagging around some closets pours water (or gas maybe?) onto a classic-looking bureau/dresser and proceeds to have "sex" with it. I thought "OK, now we're getting somewhere", yet that was pretty much the only kind of intriguing "weirdness" in the film. The rest of it just coasts along, mostly getting stuck in vaguely Dadaistic conversations and awkwardly slow pacing.
In the end, check it out if you're curious and maybe you'll see things I've missed. Of note to experimental music fans is in the involvement of Austrian sound artist/composer Curd Duca, who shows up as music & lighting assistant as well as a driver, interestingly enough.
Die Pinups und ein heißer Typ (1981)
A must-see for any classic Eurotrash lovers!
I'm a long-time aficionado of classic Eurotrash films, which generally means a time period between the later 60s until the middle (and occasionally later) 80's. It was a kind of odd twilight period for many things, but especially for the weirder/ridiculous and yes trashy side of films in Europe (where I live, though am not from but moved to because of a number of reasons... the legacy of trash was a big factor though!). The Israeli/German production "Die Pinups und ein heißer Typ" ("The Pinups and a Hot (Guy)") fits right in the timeline and fully encompasses what I love about this.. well, not "genre" but it sort of is in its own way. This really was just meant to be a normal type of "film" but ends up with the "trash" tag as it generally is a bit exploitative and technically a "mess", but in SUCH the right way that it goes into another category than it originally expected.
I'll do a brief overview of the plot as it's pretty simple, basically this down-on-his-luck German songwriter guy named Fredy (Sascha Hehn) really wants to have a hit and decides he wants to have a girl-group make it happen for him. He recruits various misfit girls (who are all randomly American though somehow just in Germany because.. whatever) to be in the group. His main hit he really wants to make happen is honestly the worst song of the whole movie (though by the end of the film it finally gets a better version done of it), "Where Are You Now Number One". After failing at getting audiences to care, Fredy and the other main guy Rolf (Moti Giladi) decide to go "New Wave" to make the girls seem "hip" and "now". This becomes the best decision they could have made, especially for us as viewers, because this is when the film really kicks in (around the 40 minute mark). When the girls get their new wave makeover they bust out one of the best songs of the film, "New Wave Lover" (which is one of the alternate English titles of the film), this song is GOLD. Totally catchy and I keep rewatching it rather frequently. Same goes for a song that shows up a bit later with the girls going full-crazy for the performance of the song "Neon" which is fantastic. Both songs are absolute highlights, in addition to the other big heat number "Money & Love", which is more minimal (the lyrics are just 2 words). Also noteworthy are Moti Giladi's impressions of various people, including Billy Joel and amazingly Amanda Lear!! Of course there's a tacky trans-joke made about her but that was sadly typical of the time.
Anyway, to cut a long story short Fredy is an oddly difficult guy and for reasons that aren't particularly clear blows up at the girls rather often and this becomes a problem later on. I won't give spoilers but I don't think it necessarily matters. The main things to care about are the musical numbers anyway, I've honestly just gone back and replayed the 3 hottest songs over and over. I'd suggest trying to search for the actual album "The Pinups" and wonder where all this somehow went wrong and never actually got anywhere it seems. Perhaps there had to be a large number of years for it to be lost and rediscovered to be appreciated, which can often be the case. Still, I think it's totally worth watching!
I'll do a brief overview of the plot as it's pretty simple, basically this down-on-his-luck German songwriter guy named Fredy (Sascha Hehn) really wants to have a hit and decides he wants to have a girl-group make it happen for him. He recruits various misfit girls (who are all randomly American though somehow just in Germany because.. whatever) to be in the group. His main hit he really wants to make happen is honestly the worst song of the whole movie (though by the end of the film it finally gets a better version done of it), "Where Are You Now Number One". After failing at getting audiences to care, Fredy and the other main guy Rolf (Moti Giladi) decide to go "New Wave" to make the girls seem "hip" and "now". This becomes the best decision they could have made, especially for us as viewers, because this is when the film really kicks in (around the 40 minute mark). When the girls get their new wave makeover they bust out one of the best songs of the film, "New Wave Lover" (which is one of the alternate English titles of the film), this song is GOLD. Totally catchy and I keep rewatching it rather frequently. Same goes for a song that shows up a bit later with the girls going full-crazy for the performance of the song "Neon" which is fantastic. Both songs are absolute highlights, in addition to the other big heat number "Money & Love", which is more minimal (the lyrics are just 2 words). Also noteworthy are Moti Giladi's impressions of various people, including Billy Joel and amazingly Amanda Lear!! Of course there's a tacky trans-joke made about her but that was sadly typical of the time.
Anyway, to cut a long story short Fredy is an oddly difficult guy and for reasons that aren't particularly clear blows up at the girls rather often and this becomes a problem later on. I won't give spoilers but I don't think it necessarily matters. The main things to care about are the musical numbers anyway, I've honestly just gone back and replayed the 3 hottest songs over and over. I'd suggest trying to search for the actual album "The Pinups" and wonder where all this somehow went wrong and never actually got anywhere it seems. Perhaps there had to be a large number of years for it to be lost and rediscovered to be appreciated, which can often be the case. Still, I think it's totally worth watching!
Les poneyttes (1968)
Oddball bit of forgotten French ultramod-ity
I'm rather surprised I'm the first person to review this one ever, but I'm quite happy to do so! "Les Poneyttes" is one of those films that anyone who's into European ultramod style films of this time period (like say, one of my all-time favourites "Modesty Blaise" to name but one) will absolutely be ALL over. Every scene will have kitschy vintage aesthetic lovers literally drooling. The hypercolor-painted Ferrari featured in it alone is something people would probably fight over to own, as is a lot of the fashion in it as well (I'd totally rock the side-buttoned velvet purple-then-orange suit donned by Hubert Wayaffe on any special occasion).
It's a tough film to peg down as far as categorizing. It's irreverently semi-humorous in its overall approach but it's not a "comedy". It's not completely heavy handed or quite serious enough to really be considered a "drama" though that probably is the best tag for it in the end. It's got a lot of that "French arty" film touch to it but much more pop art than like Truffaut or so, though it does play around a lot with existential philosophy in its own way. I'd say it's much more a "societal commentary" film with a bend towards the music and fashion industries as well as the struggle of financing such things. The plot is also rather tricky to describe/decipher, basically it's about the main character Max Torp (Hubert Wayaffe), who's a kind a "jack of all hip trades" kinda guy, running a fashionable magazine amongst a couple of other side hustles such as a pirate radio station and a club. He's somewhat confusingly involved with this rich old school bourgeois American lady played by Arlene Dahl (who speaks decent enough French with an American accent actually) who bankrolls his endeavors but eventually gets into a heated fight with him and cuts off the money supply. His big client/buddy is Johnny Hallyday, who was really hugely famous in the French speaking world as a singer (he's basically like the French Elvis and was one of the best selling artists in the world). Johnny shows up a few times and most noteworthily croons a quasi-psychedelic tune whilst being entirely done up like a bronze statue.
In the end it's a pretty entertaining bit of business despite losing some steam as it wraps up (the ending is real "meh" honestly). Primarily laudable for its aesthetics above the plot and whatever message it may have wanted to convey other than "life can often not work out like you'd hoped it would". At least it looks good while attempting to do so!
It's a tough film to peg down as far as categorizing. It's irreverently semi-humorous in its overall approach but it's not a "comedy". It's not completely heavy handed or quite serious enough to really be considered a "drama" though that probably is the best tag for it in the end. It's got a lot of that "French arty" film touch to it but much more pop art than like Truffaut or so, though it does play around a lot with existential philosophy in its own way. I'd say it's much more a "societal commentary" film with a bend towards the music and fashion industries as well as the struggle of financing such things. The plot is also rather tricky to describe/decipher, basically it's about the main character Max Torp (Hubert Wayaffe), who's a kind a "jack of all hip trades" kinda guy, running a fashionable magazine amongst a couple of other side hustles such as a pirate radio station and a club. He's somewhat confusingly involved with this rich old school bourgeois American lady played by Arlene Dahl (who speaks decent enough French with an American accent actually) who bankrolls his endeavors but eventually gets into a heated fight with him and cuts off the money supply. His big client/buddy is Johnny Hallyday, who was really hugely famous in the French speaking world as a singer (he's basically like the French Elvis and was one of the best selling artists in the world). Johnny shows up a few times and most noteworthily croons a quasi-psychedelic tune whilst being entirely done up like a bronze statue.
In the end it's a pretty entertaining bit of business despite losing some steam as it wraps up (the ending is real "meh" honestly). Primarily laudable for its aesthetics above the plot and whatever message it may have wanted to convey other than "life can often not work out like you'd hoped it would". At least it looks good while attempting to do so!
Jocks (1984)
The best Italian disco movie EVER made
If you are at all a fan of Italo-Disco, who's actual glory time period was about 1982-1986 so definitely after the original explosion of what most people consider "disco", then you absolutely must see this film!!! Even if you don't know much about it but are a (music) lover of Italy/Europe and the 80s, it's worth it.
The main star is American singer Tom Hooker, who was a long time Italian resident from a young age and was the actual voice behind Italo-Disco star Den Harrow (look up their never-ending feud with each other if you want a good laugh, btw). Here though he purely acts and doesn't sing. The plot is that Hooker and Russell Russell (who I know literally nothing about) are friends who try to score funding for the biggest Italo-Disco party "ever". That's really basically it! However in true classic Italian style this paper-thin plot gets unbelievably stretched out and padded into a full length feature.
The glory here really is about the settings (the mobile disco-truck featured is an absolute marvel), the fashions, the (often sketchy) dancing, the absurdities and overall the music and performances. It primarily takes place at the huge Altromondo Studios club which is STILL going to this day in the same location as in the film in Rimini, Italy (Rimini is also featured heavily in other scenes). Every part of this film is just mind-boggling and actually almost hard to describe. It's one of those where if you're feeling it, you're ALL about it.. if you're not, you'll probably hate it. You have to honestly appreciate the real low-brow end of "classic" Italian cinema and the audacity that was the 80s.. basically you kinda need to be prepared for this one!
If you can get a few people over who would be into it, it would definitely be a fantastic party. However, let's all hope a blu-ray or at least a decent version on streaming platforms gets released at SOME point as finding a decent copy of this has been basically impossible so far. Music-wise the soundtrack is heavily dominated by the oddest of all Italo-Disco acts The Creatures (and no, not the follow up band to Siouxsie and The Banshees of the same name), who you could almost say were like the GWAR of Italo-Disco with absolutely grandiose/ridiculous costumes. Their performance towards the end of the film is really a "must be seen to be believed, if you actually can" kind of thing. It's honestly almost more like bizarre performance art... er.. in a disco. "Believe In Yourself" is the hot closing number and is one of my absolute favourite Italo-disco tracks.
The main star is American singer Tom Hooker, who was a long time Italian resident from a young age and was the actual voice behind Italo-Disco star Den Harrow (look up their never-ending feud with each other if you want a good laugh, btw). Here though he purely acts and doesn't sing. The plot is that Hooker and Russell Russell (who I know literally nothing about) are friends who try to score funding for the biggest Italo-Disco party "ever". That's really basically it! However in true classic Italian style this paper-thin plot gets unbelievably stretched out and padded into a full length feature.
The glory here really is about the settings (the mobile disco-truck featured is an absolute marvel), the fashions, the (often sketchy) dancing, the absurdities and overall the music and performances. It primarily takes place at the huge Altromondo Studios club which is STILL going to this day in the same location as in the film in Rimini, Italy (Rimini is also featured heavily in other scenes). Every part of this film is just mind-boggling and actually almost hard to describe. It's one of those where if you're feeling it, you're ALL about it.. if you're not, you'll probably hate it. You have to honestly appreciate the real low-brow end of "classic" Italian cinema and the audacity that was the 80s.. basically you kinda need to be prepared for this one!
If you can get a few people over who would be into it, it would definitely be a fantastic party. However, let's all hope a blu-ray or at least a decent version on streaming platforms gets released at SOME point as finding a decent copy of this has been basically impossible so far. Music-wise the soundtrack is heavily dominated by the oddest of all Italo-Disco acts The Creatures (and no, not the follow up band to Siouxsie and The Banshees of the same name), who you could almost say were like the GWAR of Italo-Disco with absolutely grandiose/ridiculous costumes. Their performance towards the end of the film is really a "must be seen to be believed, if you actually can" kind of thing. It's honestly almost more like bizarre performance art... er.. in a disco. "Believe In Yourself" is the hot closing number and is one of my absolute favourite Italo-disco tracks.
La discoteca (1983)
Unfortunately not the Italo-Disco movie I was hoping it would be
Italian crooner and comedy misfit Nino D'Angelo bungles around in this pretty dullsville comedy that is slightly misleading in it's title. While it is called "La Discoteca/ The Disco" the disco is sadly actually less of a focus than I'd hoped from the poster.
This is absolutely not "Saturday Night Fever" italian-style nor is it ANYWHERE close to my absolute favourite Italian disco-based movie "Jocks" aka "Music Fever" from 1984. Instead it's more about Nino working various types of jobs at resorts (first at a ski resort in Bolzano, then later on further south in Positano) and yet again chasing lady tail and warbling out various songs. I've hated on his singing before and I still stand beside that.. I just can't deal with it. There's also this continual joke of his boss being a version of Hitler that is totally not funny and also never seems to end.
The main entertaining bits here generally do actually happen at the various discos that exist in both spots Nino is at, especially watching Nino (or what may be a double at some points?) dance, which is some real next level odd residing somewhere between bizarre ancient folk dancing and an epileptic seizure.
This one's only for the real hardcore old school Italian comedy fans or people who can gleam some satisfaction out of gloriously tacky 80s fashion/hair styles/settings while ignoring most of the actual plot.
This is absolutely not "Saturday Night Fever" italian-style nor is it ANYWHERE close to my absolute favourite Italian disco-based movie "Jocks" aka "Music Fever" from 1984. Instead it's more about Nino working various types of jobs at resorts (first at a ski resort in Bolzano, then later on further south in Positano) and yet again chasing lady tail and warbling out various songs. I've hated on his singing before and I still stand beside that.. I just can't deal with it. There's also this continual joke of his boss being a version of Hitler that is totally not funny and also never seems to end.
The main entertaining bits here generally do actually happen at the various discos that exist in both spots Nino is at, especially watching Nino (or what may be a double at some points?) dance, which is some real next level odd residing somewhere between bizarre ancient folk dancing and an epileptic seizure.
This one's only for the real hardcore old school Italian comedy fans or people who can gleam some satisfaction out of gloriously tacky 80s fashion/hair styles/settings while ignoring most of the actual plot.
Uno scugnizzo a New York (1984)
Must-see for fans of dumpy 80s Italian films!!
This is one of those obscure gems that gets unearthed and brought back up from the vaults I swear just to entertain nerds like myself who just adore 70s/80s Eurotrash, especially Italian comedies that basically make little sense.
So, since this is an Italian film, everyone in it speaks Italian though it's set in New York City. Street urchin Nino from Naples (the "scugnizzo") works as a delivery boy for a milk company. He literally runs into this guy while delivering who is a black guy named Matumbo who for some unknown reason wants to relocate to Naples of all places.
Nino and Matumbo spend a lot of the movie mostly trying to do things to impress these 2 white (Italian of course) girls they met randomly when they ran into each other. One early scene of him and Matumbo hanging with the girls and dancing to music from apparently a portable radio is one of the best nonsensical scenes I've seen involving music (a great dumpster-level italo-disco jam battling classical music in a way that honestly is undescribable in addition to absurd). Nino's main passion though is being a singer, which we do get to experience a few times (god help us all, Nino shouldn't quit the delivery business anytime soon). Really most of the film just follows these 2 elements and that's kinda it, except for a vague subplot regarding some heavies trying to make some moves on Nino but who cares?
The main reasons to love this lie more in the peripheral things, like a couple excellent scenes in a discotech (I'm not 100% sure which one but I swear it was also used in the film Liquid Sky, savvier older New York clubbers would know it), including some terrible breakdancing. There's lots of great shots of downtown/42nd Street/Times Square from the time period that I myself am a HUGE sucker for, I was sadly too young to have experienced the heyday there so living that through film totally does it for me. It's also totally full of Italian filmmaking clichés that seasoned watchers of these sorts of films will recognize and get a kick out of, like the cheeseball theme song getting played repeatedly at various points.
It's a lot of dumpy brainless goofiness and I'm just all about it. My next goal is to see Nino D'Angelo in "la Discoteca" because that's totally got to be up my alley..
So, since this is an Italian film, everyone in it speaks Italian though it's set in New York City. Street urchin Nino from Naples (the "scugnizzo") works as a delivery boy for a milk company. He literally runs into this guy while delivering who is a black guy named Matumbo who for some unknown reason wants to relocate to Naples of all places.
Nino and Matumbo spend a lot of the movie mostly trying to do things to impress these 2 white (Italian of course) girls they met randomly when they ran into each other. One early scene of him and Matumbo hanging with the girls and dancing to music from apparently a portable radio is one of the best nonsensical scenes I've seen involving music (a great dumpster-level italo-disco jam battling classical music in a way that honestly is undescribable in addition to absurd). Nino's main passion though is being a singer, which we do get to experience a few times (god help us all, Nino shouldn't quit the delivery business anytime soon). Really most of the film just follows these 2 elements and that's kinda it, except for a vague subplot regarding some heavies trying to make some moves on Nino but who cares?
The main reasons to love this lie more in the peripheral things, like a couple excellent scenes in a discotech (I'm not 100% sure which one but I swear it was also used in the film Liquid Sky, savvier older New York clubbers would know it), including some terrible breakdancing. There's lots of great shots of downtown/42nd Street/Times Square from the time period that I myself am a HUGE sucker for, I was sadly too young to have experienced the heyday there so living that through film totally does it for me. It's also totally full of Italian filmmaking clichés that seasoned watchers of these sorts of films will recognize and get a kick out of, like the cheeseball theme song getting played repeatedly at various points.
It's a lot of dumpy brainless goofiness and I'm just all about it. My next goal is to see Nino D'Angelo in "la Discoteca" because that's totally got to be up my alley..
Más allá del terror (1980)
Tedious nonsensical obscure Eurotrash that could have been wayyy better
First up in regards to the reviews, this has really absolutely nothing at all that resembles "Tombs of the Blind Dead" so I don't get why that gets referenced.
Anyway, a gang of nihilistic overly murderous heathens (sort of lead by a girl who's one of the most murderous of the bunch which is unique) do some random robbing and murdering and force this bourgie couple to drive them to wherever but that gets screwed up (due to a nonsensical fight) then they end up at a grandma's house, kill the womans dog outside and then proceed to terrorise her & her grandson (more the grandma really) for more nonsensical unclear reasons, then after doing so set the lady's house on fire because they think they have to (??) leaving her and the grandson to burn up, the bourgie's seem to have no problem with this (!!???) and follow the gang along as they escape. Grandma had a trick up her sleeve however and is besties with good ol' Satan and curses them just as they're leaving and she's "dying" on the floor.
I'll really move things along though here because "nonsensicality" is the name of the game with this thing. Everyone basically does completely confusing/absurd stuff constantly. Some examples: Bourgie dude gets burned alive in a car, could've been saved rather easily but no one does anything. Bourgie lady gets all hot over gang leader Chema and even later says she was going to start some new life with him, apparently because her dude just didnt do it for her (!!??). One gang member recites some religious stuff in a sacrilegious way while nonsensically masturbating while evil girl gangmember hangs out watching a fire burn but then she (not to long after) injects the same dude with heroin and then proceeds to give him a bj (!!??, also this is virtually impossible), dumb stuff like that.
Basically everyone dies in mostly pretty boring ways and shockeroo.. It turned out to be the Satanic grandma behind it all and she and the grandson AND the dog are all not dead anyway, the end, blah.
Mostly worth it for old school Eurotrash horror freaks (like myself) to watch once, cross off a list and then forget about. Some of the sets were decent enough and it's got that great 70s/early 80s look to it, the score isn't the worst... other than that though? Meh.
Anyway, a gang of nihilistic overly murderous heathens (sort of lead by a girl who's one of the most murderous of the bunch which is unique) do some random robbing and murdering and force this bourgie couple to drive them to wherever but that gets screwed up (due to a nonsensical fight) then they end up at a grandma's house, kill the womans dog outside and then proceed to terrorise her & her grandson (more the grandma really) for more nonsensical unclear reasons, then after doing so set the lady's house on fire because they think they have to (??) leaving her and the grandson to burn up, the bourgie's seem to have no problem with this (!!???) and follow the gang along as they escape. Grandma had a trick up her sleeve however and is besties with good ol' Satan and curses them just as they're leaving and she's "dying" on the floor.
I'll really move things along though here because "nonsensicality" is the name of the game with this thing. Everyone basically does completely confusing/absurd stuff constantly. Some examples: Bourgie dude gets burned alive in a car, could've been saved rather easily but no one does anything. Bourgie lady gets all hot over gang leader Chema and even later says she was going to start some new life with him, apparently because her dude just didnt do it for her (!!??). One gang member recites some religious stuff in a sacrilegious way while nonsensically masturbating while evil girl gangmember hangs out watching a fire burn but then she (not to long after) injects the same dude with heroin and then proceeds to give him a bj (!!??, also this is virtually impossible), dumb stuff like that.
Basically everyone dies in mostly pretty boring ways and shockeroo.. It turned out to be the Satanic grandma behind it all and she and the grandson AND the dog are all not dead anyway, the end, blah.
Mostly worth it for old school Eurotrash horror freaks (like myself) to watch once, cross off a list and then forget about. Some of the sets were decent enough and it's got that great 70s/early 80s look to it, the score isn't the worst... other than that though? Meh.