Over the years Bagatellen has made furtive attempts at expanding content to include commentary on cinema. I’m hopeful that these efforts continue since both bullpen and readership are brimming with unabashedly opinionated cineastes. But in the meantime while the foundational brickwork continues to be built here, I’ve been admiring the number of quality cinema-devoted sites on the web. There are a handful that really stand out in terms of insight and scope of subject matter, sites like the scholarly Masters of Cinema and the cartoonishly populist City on Fire. My favorite haunt of late is hands-down Not Coming to a Theater Near You.
Run by a fellow named Rumsey Taylor (no relation) Not Coming’s been around in cyber-form since late 2001. The design is simple, sleek and intuitive and like Bags has an active “comments” capability for readers to get in on the action. Along with the predictable reviews and features sections there’s a relatively new category, The Screening Log, which uses a blog type format as a means for writers to explicate their viewing habits at whim. Taylor’s the most prominent voice on the site and his tastes are commendably broad, encompassing everything from Russ Meyer, John Carpenter and George Romero to Alejandro Jodorowsky, Errol Morris and Herzog. I mean what other film site has serious multiple reviews of the Sleepaway Camp and Return of the Living Dead trilogies along with musings on Le Samouraï, The Stuntman and Shoah? Taylor’s prose style occasionally veers into the dryly pedantic, but even with the occasional need for lubrication to avoid paper cuts, I’ve still been having a wonderful time paging through his numerous pieces. Same goes for other reviewers on the masthead like Ian Johnston and Matt Bailey. And dip into the Features section for illuminating essays on Stan Brakhage, James Bond and John Sayles. The breadth of content alone mandates the expense of several hours to make a full tour & it’s well worth the time spent.
Posted by derek on February 12, 2006 10:14 AMDerek,
You want to have some fun? Check out 1000 Misspent Hours and Counting...with El Santo," an entertainingly curmudgeonly and wide-ranging horror movie review site. The guy's a real bloody-minded chap, trashing the usual suspects of classic horrordom like Bride of Frankenstein and raving up forgotten gems such as Island of Terror. He seems to favor English gore from the 60's.
Also not to be missed is 5 minutes to live! - and have your pocketbook handy.
Posted by: djll at February 12, 2006 6:43 PMThanks for the links, Tom. I’m familiar with 5 Minutes to Live!, but wasn’t aware of that other site, looks like some good readin’.
Huge fan of Santo though: El Rey of the Mexican Wrester Superheroes IMO- http://santoandfriends.com/SantoBiography.htm.
Here's a completely unrelated question: when in Jehovah's green acre are we going to see a domestic dvd release of Sam Fuller's White Dog?
Posted by: derek at February 12, 2006 7:20 PMWho's forgotten 'Island of Terror'?
Posted by: walto at February 13, 2006 5:39 AMThis is not related to Fuller, but. When do we get DVD releases of classic W. C. Fields: You're Telling Me!, The Old Fashioned Way, Man On The Flying Trapeze (bad TV dub available from 5minutestolive), and Never Give A Sucker An Even Break? C'mon, Criterion! (They did such a great job with his short subjects!)
Posted by: djll at February 13, 2006 11:59 AMWhite Dog on DVD? Yeah, good luck.
Posted by: pdf at February 13, 2006 12:09 PMderek said: "Huge fan of Santo though: El Rey of the Mexican Wrester Superheroes IMO"
Yeah. Although Mil Mascaras could give Santo a run for his money...I never saw Santo live but I saw El Hijo del Santo twice when I was growing up and my friends and I went to the "lucha libre" (wrestling). Funny that we say in Spanish "lucha libre" (free wrestling). Is Santo a free music hero too?
Best of Santo's movies IMO: "El Santo, Blue Demon y Mil Mascaras contra las Momias de Guanajuato" (Santo vs. thhe Mummies). Although the soft-erotic ones (with vampires and all) from the 70's are nice too...
Posted by: gerardo alejos at February 14, 2006 3:52 PMThe 'Ruthless Reviews' site is a little too rant-based to be of much use, but their "80s Action Guide" is killer, for anyone who's into that kind of thing. Although it does not include James Woods' "Cop". Shock Cinema, the collectors' magazine that reviews mostly rare, cult, shock, exploitation...etc. films, with a malicious fondness for forgotten films in which big-name actors humiliate themselves, posts reviews and interviews from back issues online. The intrepid 5 Minutes To Live (5mtl.com), besides having the only DVD version of "Be Somebody or Be Somebody's Fool" which also includes Corey Haim's homoerotic sports romp "Me, Myself, and I", also has some reviews and articles up, along with interviews with the likes of Alexander Jodorowsky, Russ Meyer, and Seymour Glass. Another site (my own, sorry)is www.opencityforums.org - pieces about Melvin Van Peebles and some new horror flicks, an interview with a John Carpenter "expert", &c. Also some stuff on Malick and Bresson, and more, all with a generous dose of populist elitism. probably too much.
Posted by: Theresa at March 2, 2006 9:47 AM.................................................. © 2003 - 2006 bagatellen ..................................................