All the Blessed Films that Kid ▲ Watched in 2012

January 15
Dear Robert Smith, please sue Sean Penn's ass for identity theft.

Watched with housemate on a suicidal day, made me see things in a different light.

February 5
Had to excuse myself a couple of times while watching this, because of James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence and Caleb Landry Jones, all of whom send me into a serious state of arousal.

February 8
I went to see this because of Michael Fassbender's penis - that is all.

February 20
Kieran Culkin as Wallace Wells made it all worthwhile.

March 8
With a beautiful cast (Pandora & The Cockettes), otherworldly set designs, costumes, psychedelic hair & make up, under the direction of Steven Arnold.. you might expect a visual masterpiece - I did - but was quite disappointed in the way this was shot (out of focus, concentrating on the wall and not the painting-sort of stuff) and dubbed - no dialogue, just made up language and artsy experimental soundscapes by Warner Jepson.

March 28
Yet another one of my housemate's fave raves... I actually wanted to stop watching halfway through cos I found this utterly disgusting, but I suppose the free pot kept me hanging around.

March 31
My kid sister asked me over to eat pancakes and to watch TRON, I would have been crazy to turn down such an offer.
Jeff Bridges is like a good drug; he makes me feel secure, mellow, fuzzy, at ease, at peace with the universe.. he's very Lebowski-like in the film, calling everybody 'man', I dug that.

I stopped taking modern films seriously a few months ago so now I can watch just about any CGI film and not cringe and bitch on about how silent films were the only true film medium. Cos in the end, who cares. This is entertainment.


That cat Olivia Wilde was superbly sweet as Quorra and Michael Sheen positively dashing as Zuse.

April 2
Gosh, my life seems to parallel that of Kenneth Williams, minus the comedic side. I've found another soul brother, he fits neatly between my other two saints, Quentin Crisp and Stephen Tennant.

The film was a bit of a fairy tale type of biopic but not excessively surreal. It's a pity the filmmakers left out Kenneth's half sister, as if she never existed.
Michael Sheen is a good actor.

Episodes 'Kenneth Williams: Seriously Outrageous' and 'Desperately Funny' (1998)

April 2
Having watched the 'Fantabulosa' biopic, I wanted to dwell in deeper into the story of this remarkably familiar man.

This documentary makes use of actors who portray staged, overly dramatized scenes... like something from 'E! True Hollywood Story'. It seems quite unnecessary and tacky. There's also a deal of unrelated archival footage.

All the interviewees are splendid, however and save this from being a total bum trip.

April 2
Having watched the BBC Kenneth Williams biopic, this was interesting and a bit more factual. A pretty average talking heads type of documentary, Kenneth's colleagues and friends describe his career and life, you get to seee some old snapshots and film clips. A soft landing, an easy introduction.

April 3
Brief anecdotes and analysis from Kenneth's friends, combined with film/tv clips. Nothing special, really.

The Kenneth Williams episode.

April 3
K. W. takes us on a journey into his childhood and youth by revisiting personally significant places in London.
Spiced up with some songs and stories.

I enjoyed the concept and would like to see more episodes of this series.

April 4

April 4
Shades of Scooby Doo, Magical Mystery Tour, Batman, psychedelia, exploitation, far out decor, cheesy but brilliant dialogue....Loved it.

April 5
After watching all those Kenneth Williams documentaries, I learned to see Maggie Smith in a new sort of light. I wasn't born yet when she was a fresh starlet so I've never seen her early works before - but when I saw her sharing the screen with her mentor-collaborator KW, I was blown away.

She looked androgynous, cool, out of this world. Like Tilda Swinton and Melissa Auf Der Maur rolled into one, sprinkled with some holy ashes of Luisa Casati.

I dug up this film of hers and watched it while slightly stoned.

This is one of those films that could not have been made in any other decade. The 1960s would have been too clinical and the 1980s too artificial. Made in 1973, this was kind of fragile and organic, if those words make any sense.
It's the story of two foreigners who meet on an unfamiliar ground, by chance. A british girl with a heavy secret and an american boy who struggles with depression. They meet in Spain and despite having nothing in common, they end up traveling together.

The plot and mood brought to mind one of my favorite films, 40 Carats, which has some familiar themes and was released in the same year. I guess both films would be branded as chick-flicks these days, but I don't really care.

Maggie's co-star was Timothy Bottoms, whose other works I'm unfamiliar with. He looked like a mixture of a plump Jim Morrison and Chris O'Dowd. A sympathetic guy.

i didn't laugh while watching this, I think they should have left out the forced comedy bits, but maybe some people dig that stuff more than I do.

There was too much of the sort of atmosphere-shots where you get to see tons of tourist attractions and local folks from Spain.. shit that didn't really matter.

But the ending was groovy, made me smile.

April 6
Ooooh what beautiful set design this had! The amazing Halliwell-Orton collage that they reproduced, Joe's cool cool clothes, the boys in Morocco... superbly done.


I could definitely identify with poor Mr. Halliwell, who was portrayed by Alfred Molina. Halliwell started off as the stronger one of the couple, nurturing, tutoring and supporting Orton, but in the end he got no credit for his input in anything and ended up sitting at home while Joe was out partying and having one night stands.

I wish he'd had it in him to leave Orton and to make a name for himself.

Their untimely deaths were so unnecessary.

April 7
The story of a teenage runaway who wants to escape from small town boredom to London. She sneaks into a van that belongs to an up and coming pop group. They take her along and she soon realizes just what is expected of her. She gets used, abused and passed on by a number of bands, none of them very good, really.

Most scenes are just excuses to showcase girls panties or actual tits & asses.
About 80% of all the actors - including the men - wear wigs and I'm not kidding. I guess most of them wanted to use disguises so that no one would know they were in such a silly film.

The opening credits are playful and inventive, worth watching.


One of my fave raves from the film was the lord on the left. He's Simon King, who went on to become a drummer for Hawkwind.

And then there was Donald Sumpter.. boy oh boy.
He's the cat who plays Maester Luwin in Game of Thrones.
Most people think of him looking like this:


But once upon a time he looked like this:






Oh dear, so fine.

April 11
A film that blends documentary with fantasies. This was like having David Hockney's paintings come to life. A frank portrayal of the gay scene in the early 1970s. Intimate, depressing, beautiful.
I need to get some screen caps for Listal soon.

April 14
I'd seen this one years ago but figured it was worthy of a re-watch when I got together with my kid sister for a film night. Having been born in 1989, my sister didn't know who River Phoenix was, and that's a real shame. I think this film serves as a soft landing to River's work.
True, his role is pretty small but cool none the less. I could see a lot of myself in his character, the New Age/sensitive type boy Devo who has a crush on his employer's wife.

The story is quirky, making murder into comedy. The cast was perfect. Kevin Kline as the sleazy adulterer, Tracey Ullman as the saintly wife, River as Devo, Joan Plowright as the mother-in-law, plus a pretty dazed and confused Keanu Reeves as a bungling hitman.

April 19

April 21
Today I continued the River Phoenix theme with my sister while eating junk food. I wish I'd grown up in the sort of surroundings and era depicted in the film. And had a friend like Chris Chambers (Phoenix) and a brother like Denny Lachance (John Cusack).

April 22
The surviving cast & crew discuss the making of the film. There's some schmaltzy stuff near the end where people talk about River Phoenix's death, it's kinda overdone but other than that, this is a nicely done documentary.
The actors who played the boys still have very vivid memories of the whole pre-production and actual shooting of the film. Stephen King is always entertaining to watch.

The story of Boy George. Beautifully shot and done, loved the sets and costumes, wished they were all mine.

And hey, any Game of Thrones fans out there? Does this kid look familiar, huh?


Yessir, it's Robb Stark aka Richard Madden who plays Boy George's early love interest in this film.

I learned about the death of this kid I knew, he was only 19. And he looked exactly like Alex Winter who plays Bill in this film, so I watched this as a sort of a tribute.

The last time I saw this was back when I was a child, maybe like, 8 years old. I dug this a lot at the time.

I've grown too cynical to watch comedies but every now and then I try.

I guess the best part about this film was Alex and Keanu looking real good and wearing the coolest clothes and that girl who played Joan of Arc (Jane Wiedlin). And Dan Shor was charismatic as Billy the Kid.


Oh, sweet Jane.
*sigh*

What the fuck is this? No, seriously?
Was every person involved in the making of this movie high on drugs?

1. Chevy Chase was beautiful as usual
2. Beverly D'Angelo turned me on about 4137317188 times
3. little Juliette Lewis... awwwwwww
4. Johnny Galecki... the moment I realized he's the dude from Big Bang Theory I choked on my sandwich and died
5. I found the film so unfunny that I think there's gotta be something wrong with my sense of humor.

Still very much having a crush on Donald Sumpter, had to track down this obscure film.

Look, look... sheer fantabulous perfection! :

I was feeling all lousy on a Sunday morning, having stayed up all night cos my dumb upstairs neighbor had decided to listen to his entire record collection at full volume, thus keeping me awake. I was having daydreams about running upstairs to puke into his mailbox, but then my housemate knocked on my door and asked to come in.

He said he'd downloaded the Basquiat documentary and that I'd be most welcome to his side of the house to watch it while sharing some excellent pot. How could I decline such an offer? Bleary eyed, I followed Mr. Housemate to his lair, which is a grungy dungeon littered with guitars, decorative plastic plants & flowers, huge Basquiat collages and some weird shit that you wouldn't want to step on but will, cos it's so dark in there.

We settled down to watch the thing. Jean-Michel, what a fox he was. So beautiful and effortlessly cool. The documentary was built around an interview that was shot two years before his death at the age of 27. Old friends and lovers tell his life story.

Ha! I'm just like Owen's character, always forcing my siblings to stick together. Wish I could drag us all to India too to have some sort of a spiritual awakening. Brilliant cast, heavenly soundtrack, smashing wardrobe... just... damn fine.

Re-watch, third time. Still love this to pieces. Wanna have Eli's babies. Even if that was physically impossible.

Watched the british version with my kid sis last year, it was much better. This one felt really forced and soulless. And that Amy Winehouse joke made me wanna puke.

The last time I saw this I was but a wee punk, this time around the whole thing was a dark and disturbing ride. Extremely beautiful sets and brilliant child stars, tacky 1980's make up and wigs, sparse dialogue... watch it, you'll love it.

You might as well say that this is a film in which Owen Wilson stars as me, cos you know, I've always been a sucker for Paris circa 1920, and that's just where he's heading in the film.
This flick gives plenty of food for thought for those of us who yearns for the past.
Owen plays a young Woody Allen type of cat, gets to meet his historical heroes. Fab stuff.

Oh wow. So you decide to put three hot stars that I love, all in the same film? Thank you. I won't be able to think straight for a year now. Owen, Jack and Steve.... can't really top that.

OMG LOL LOOK, IT'S THE LONG LOST BROTHER OF CHARLIE MANSON AND BRIAN WILSON

Yet another one of my house mate's picks. He insisted that we watch this and now that we're both on a sober health nut kick, I can tell you this didn't go down quite as nicely as I'd wished. I'd sneak a peek at my wrist watch every now and then, wondering how long this shit was going to last.
I understand that the film is supposed to parody biopics and music legends in general but the jokes were so overdone that I felt like crying towards the end. Even my housemate was like "I didn't remember this was so long... or stupid".
But the soundtrack was pretty rad.