Saturday 28 June 2008

Thursday 26 June 2008

Wednesday 25 June 2008

Tuesday 24 June 2008

Warren Oates

You might not remember Warren from such movies as Race with the Devil, Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia and my all-time favourite Two-Lane Blacktop. But you might remember him from Stripes and as the grizzly police captain in the helicopter hokum fest Blue Thunder. He was best playing those past their prime, something that never happened to him because he died aged only 53.



Monday 23 June 2008

Phase IV

It’s 1974. People are starting to think about Man’s effect on the Earth. Some of them went to see The Day of the Animals - maybe even screenwriter Mayo Simon - who reads the classic short story, ‘Leningen Versus the Ants’. ‘What if ants took over the world?’ Simon writes Phase IV. Saul Bass directs. It will be his only feature film.

Monday 16 June 2008

R.O.T.O.R

Bad acting, script, effects. Bad cop!



Count the Beach Boys references



Such pace

If you've got time then watch the fan edit







I am R.O.T.O.R, you are guilty

‘We live in a world of anxiety’

In 1970 Alvin Toffler published Future Shock. He believed people were suffering from too much change, in too little time. Computers, jet set travel, mass consumerism, 24 hour news - all these elements would isolate us from one another.

Future Shock predicts us plummeting into a world where man would be a slave to technology and permanence would be a thing of the past. But in the end we chose to ignore everything and robots are, on the whole, still a bit shit. Yes, Future Shock is dated, but it's still worth a read, especially as it spawned the term 'information overload'. Arrrgh, too much data! You can pick up a copy for peanuts.

They made it into a movie and it's a good one. The soundtrack is pure Boards of Canada, with ‘frantic’ visuals to match. But best of all, they got Orson Welles to walk moodily around the place moaning about change with a stogie in his mouth. A lost classic.










Steve Canyon - starring Lee Marvin and Cher