My Cinematic Rant for the Films of 2011

We sent in a more verbose version of this rant to a film magazine. The film we are 'discussing' here "Bellflower" was quite a cult sensation. It was shown at the Shadowbox Cinema in Roanoke, Va., and at a/perture Cinema in Winston-Salem, NC, among other places. Originally, "Bellflower," which we gather was filmed in Wisconsin (don't quote us on that), made a splash at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.

It also played somewhere in the Washington-DC metro area. We tried to find where by checking out a review of the film in "City Paper," but while we were unable to find out, the publication told us that the film only cost $17,000 to produce?! Of course, we could have found that out on the Internet Movie Database as well.

I thought "Bellflower" was a very interesting, hip film until the third act, and amazingly enough the reviewer for "City Paper" seemingly agreed with me. The film concerns a road trip as the apocalypse is looming.

I guess the best way to describe it is a "Mad Max/Easy Rider meets Left Behind" kind of film, except that "Bellflower" does not have an evangelical political agenda unlike the film series with born-again actor Kirk Cameron best-known for the '80s sitcom "Growing Pains," who is the exact same as I am!

And, we gather he has something like 14 children (that is a joke, but it is a ridicolous number that is slightly lower than that!).

Here is my revised rant:

"I must profess sincere admiration for film director Even Glodell and his film "Bellflower," even though I gave it a four out of ten on the IMDB. It is such a 'so bad it's good' film that I almost put it on my top 20 films of the year list.

Glodell made his own unique film in his own unique way. The fact that the screenplay's dreadful third act derails the film into a lurid mess shouldn't make each of us admire him profoundly.

He may well end up learning from his mistakes and end up out Tarantinoing QT himself!"

Quote of the Week- Quentin Tarantino

Having once worked as a teacher in a North Carolina prison (I was NOT an inmate there, oh btw!), I am not sure I would share this view from filmmaker Quentin Tarantino:

"I was kind of excited about going to jail the first time and I learnt some great dialogue."

Remembering Dennis Hopper (1936-2010)

Today, we want to remember Dennis Hopper who died yesterday in Venice, Calif., with some tidbits from some of his most famous films. We will not include his most famous work which was "Easy Rider" (1969), a film which he also directed. But, I did learn that Hopper and his co-stars Peter Fonda and Jack Nicholson actually smoked real marijuana in the film.

Here are some trivial notes for some of his other films, including "Apocalypse Now!" (1979), which is pictured above:


"Apocalypse Now!:"

-Steve McQueen was the first to turn down the part of Captain Willard which initially went to Harvey Keitel who was in turn fired from the set and replaced by Martin Sheen.

"Rumble Fish:"

-Matt Dillon, who played the title role, told the original story's author S.E. Hinton that "Rumble Fish" was his favorite novel. She reportedly responded by telling him that those who like the book were usually in a reformatory!

-Tom Cruise was offered Dillon's role, but he turned it down for "Risky Business."

-Director Francis Ford Coppolla said the movie is among the top five favorites that he's directed himself.

"Straight to Hell:"

-This film featured several musicians including Joe Strummer, Elvis Costello, Grace Jones and Courtney Love as well as film director Jim Jarmusch in addition to Hopper.

-At the end of the credits, a title comes up which says: "COMING SOON: BACK TO HELL," yet this quirky 1987 spaghetti western rip-off never had a sequel.

"True Romance:"

-The film uses the f-word some 225 times.

-Hopper said the only lines he improvised with Christopher Walken were 'egg plant' and 'cantaloupe.'

-Quentin Tarantino, who partially wrote the screenplay, never came on director Tony Scott's set during the filming.

Lastly, we leave you with this tweet from Slash from the rock band Guns N Roses concerning Hopper:

"You take the great ones for granted until they're gone. RIP Dennis Hopper."

Film Comment Readers Pick Films of the Year

Here is a list of the Best Films of 2009, according to readers of "Film Comment," which includes myself.

The current issue with Matt Damon on the cover has a brilliant profile of controversial French director Catherine Breillat by one of the cinema writers of our time Amy Taubin.

My overall pick for Film of the Year was "Up in the Air," which finished eighth in the poll. Amazingly enough, "The Hurt Locker" was not only the top choice in both the critics and readers poll, it also won the Best Picture Oscar!:


1. "The Hurt Locker" (dir. Kathryn Bigelow)

2. "Inglourious Basterds" (dir. Quentin Tarantino, pictured)

3. "A Serious Man" (dir. Coen Bros)

4. "Fantastic Mr. Fox" (dir. Wes Anderson)

5. "Summer Hours" (dir. Olivier Assayas, France)

6. "The White Ribbon" (dir. Michael Haneke, Germany)

7. "Up" (dir. Peter Docter and Bob Peterson)

8. "Up in the Air" (dir. Jason Reitman)

9. "The Headless Woman" (dir. Lucrecia Martel, Argentina)

10. "Where the Wild Things Are" (dir. Spike Jonze)


"The White Ribbon," which I am extremely eager to see now that it has finally opened in our market here in North Carolina, is the only film I haven't seen from this list.

Quote of the Week- Jean-Luc Godard

Last week, on our sister blog "The Daily Vampire," we quipped that we had quoted John Waters more than any other film director except Woody Allen and Jean-Luc Godard.

Today, we are hence quoting both of them.

The latest Godard film available on dvd appears to be "Notre Musique" (2004), which I gave a modest six out of ten on the Internet Movie Database.

Here is this quote which Quentin Tarantino, a devout fan of Godard, who turns 79 on Dec. 3, seems to have taken to heart:

"A story should have a beginning, a middle, and an end.....but, not neccesarily in that order."