Tonight, I’m off to the cast and crew screening of Paul Greengrass’s new Working Title Iraq WMD thriller ‘Green Zone’, starring Matt Damon it’s very loosely based on the the award-winning book by Rajiv Chandrasekaran ‘Imperial Life in the Emerald City‘.  My Twitter buddy Screen Jabber liked the movie as did GQ. I hope it lives up the hype and I get the ‘Bourne’ in the desert adventure I’m hoping for.  I will report back!

Israel, an old friend from the political blogs I banter on sometimes, has written a cracking post for TFAD.

Over to Israel:

I would like to thank Simon for the opportunity to write this which came about from a rant l had when l sent him an email.

As a lover of movies, expecially some of the classics, l have never really been totally comfortable with remakes. Even though some classics themselves are remakes (the Western versions of Samurai movies being the best examples) there has been a troubling increase in the last few years to remake classic movies from the last 30 years.

Now, if these are done well then grudgingly you can say that they were okay. Sadly this hasn’t been the case as the complete piles of steaming manure that have been ‘Fame’, ‘Friday The 13th‘, ‘Race to Witch Mountain‘ (which l really enjoyed as a kid, that’s why it’s here), and ‘Halloween‘ have been.  Depressing as these are there are more to come. We are yet to see just how bad they can be with ‘Footloose‘ and ‘Nightmare on Elm Street‘ both of which will soon arrive to inflict more horrors on us so the only film l am giving pause to is the remake of ‘Clash of the Titans‘ which is solely down to my unbridled and unashamed love of nearly any film where someone is fighting with a sword (whenever l watch the film ‘Troy‘ l get to the end of the Achilles/Hector fight and then switch off. If you’re going to deliberately ignore the telling of the myth to keep a character in until the end of the film why bother in the first place? Why not have them all survive at the end of ‘300‘?) My original question was “Why don’t they remake bad Eighties movies?

The problem is, there were not too many films in the Eighties that actually were bad. Okay, ‘Teenwolf‘ was one, but in a decade where the clothes police took a decade long sabbatical we saw an explosion of creativity with music and films that our now reality tv obsessed world can only lament at.  Being very lazy l went onto wiki for a list of eighties films and l was staggered by the number of good films l had forgotten which were made in that decade. I had forgotten that for every ‘Teenwolf’, ‘Action Jackson‘, ‘Buckaroo Banzai’, ‘Ishtar‘, ‘Missing in Action‘, and ‘Howard the Duck‘ there is a ‘Full Metal Jacket’, ‘48Hours‘, ‘Hellraiser‘, ‘Airplane’, ‘Killing Fields‘, ‘Lost Boys‘, ‘Platoon, ‘Princess Bride‘, ‘Once Upon A Time In America’, ‘Raging Bull’, ‘Scarface‘, ‘Witches Of Eastwick‘, ‘Time Bandits’, ‘Untouchables‘, ‘Wrath Of Khan‘ and many more to get the bad taste out of your mouth.

So l can suffer through the dodgy remakes and the rise of the franchise movies, expecially as a collector of comic books l can now see film special effect technology catching up and making a very good effort in visualising what l have been reading for over 25 years. That is until some sweaty pallid film exec gives a green light to starting a remake of ‘The Lost Boys‘. An act of heresy that will have me flying over to Hollywood to join the baying mob with pitchforks and torches!!!

‘The Hurt Locker‘ won six Oscars last night including best director and best picture:

To quote Roger Ebert :

‘The Hurt Locker is a spellbinding war film by Kathryn Bigelow, a master of stories about men and women who choose to be in physical danger. She cares first about the people, then about the danger. She doesn’t leave a lot of room for much else.’

Congratulations to Kathryn Bigelow and to regular readers Wael Khairy and Shawn Slovo who both called it.

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The Galactic Force Band – Space Dust

This is where the infamous Rob Base and DJ ez Rock got the sample for the original party starter …’It Takes Two‘

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Jan turkenburg – In My Spaceship (pilooski mix)

What can only be described on an obscure and catchy song ?

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LCD Soundsysyem – 45 : 33 (theo parrish space cadet remix)

My favourite interpretation of the amazing LCD Soundsystem remix package ,deep, dark and definitely disco!

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Venus Gang – Space Woman

Released in 1981, this still sounds fresh on today’s dancefloors.

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Max Romeo & the Upsetters – Chase the Devil

No introduction needed ….tweaked to hardcore perfection by the prodigy on their track out of space

The still is taken from Duncan Jones‘ wonderful directorial debut ‘Moon‘ you can follow him on Twitter here and he blogs at blog.manmademovies.

If imitation is the sincerest form of filmmaking, then the Brucesploition picture is cinema’s sincerest sub-genre. I mention it in an article I’ve written for the upcoming edition of The Big Picture and, when talking to friends about what I’ve been working on lately, have subsequently mentioned it to them. I’ve been surprised – and, in part, gladdened – that so few of them had heard of one of the most absurd and exploitative series of movies in cinema history.

In case there is anyone else out there who has so far survived unsullied and un-amused by exposure to Brucesploitation, I’ll elaborate a little on the term. The Brucesploitation picture sprang up (and the metaphor is appropriate, connoting the spread of an opportunistic fungus in a murky and stagnant environment) almost immediately after the death of Bruce Lee – who was, then as now, the number one name in kung-fu films. Lee’s presence and skills were so extraordinary, and his output so tragically curtailed, that, among millions of moviegoers, there was an insatiable – and impossible – appetite for more of his work.

As its names suggests, Brucesploitation ensured that appetite was thoroughly exploited. Using a stream of Lee lookalikes (who were, sadly, seldom able to become what they aimed to be: Lee punch- and kick-alikes), these movies retold, extended or just piddled all over the plots and scenes Lee had played out onscreen. The works were sometimes sold as acts of homage to the movies’ finest martial artist, but often – and rather despicably – they were marketed as films that, though posthumously released, actually starred him.

Misleading names abounded. The ‘stars’ of these films were the likes of Bruce Le, Bruce Li, Bruce Lo and Lee Bruce, and the films had titles that were classically cut and shut versions of those of Lee’s films. For anyone who can’t recall the title of each entry in Lee’s oeuvre, I’ll list them. Before his death, Bruce Lee made movies called Fist of Fury, Way of the Dragon, Enter The Dragon and The Big Boss. He also, famously, filmed sequences for an unfinished film to be called Game of Death (the one featuring the oft-referenced black and yellow jumpsuit). After his death, Bruce Lee’s imitators made movies called Exit the Dragon, Enter The Game of Death, Bruce’s Fist of Vengeance and, least imaginatively of all, Re-Enter The Dragon. The plots, acting and action on show in these films, though not always as awful as you might expect, is very often far worse than you could imagine.

For a Hollywood equivalent, picture James Dean – who, like Lee, died a young icon who had completed only a few films – inspiring a slew of no-budget, no-brain faux-angst-fuelled melodramas, starring actors calling themselves James Dein, James Dane, Dean James and Jimmy Dine, and given titles like Rebel of Eden, East of Paradise and Giant Without A Cause.

One of the videos embedded in this article showcases the abilities of Bruce Lee, and the other those of Bruce Le. Look very closely and see if you can spot which is which.

As ever when a 21st Century Oscar weekend approaches, the blogosphere is abuzz. Everyone who doesn’t actually have a say in who will win an Oscar is having a say about who will win an Oscar. But we at Touching From A Distance are different. It would be unfair of us to use our endless connections within, and peerless understanding of, the film industry to accurately predict the winner of every category. It would remove all excitement from Sunday’s ceremony for our readers and so be a crime akin to printing spoilers for The Sting. Instead, rather than speculating about the 82nd Academy Awards, we’re in a mood for reflecting on the biggest winners at the previous 81.

Unless you’re an Oscars obsessive who has given brain room to an encyclopaedic repository of Academy Awards trivia, it’s often more difficult to guess what has won Oscars at previous ceremonies than to guess what will win them at the next. Even without being certain, most would assume that Casablanca, Gone With The Wind and The Godfather had been voted Best Picture – but far fewer would guess that Hollywood once thought Gentleman’s Agreement, Marty, The Life of Emile Zola or The Great Ziegfeld to be the very best and most important picture it produced in a particular year.

Here, set to a soundtrack of Oscar-winning songs, is a look at the first 81 films to earn the Academy’s number one award. It’s too simple to play ‘spot the outrageous omissions’, so play ‘spot the unexpected inclusion’ instead.

N.B. For those insistent upon pulling a prediction out of us, we’ll make an exception for Best Picture. Both Simon and I are certain that Avatar will take the most sought-after statuette at Sunday’s ceremony – but only Simon thinks it deserves to.

1) Ray Mang -Look Into my Eyes
2) Discodeine – Invert ( parce que edit )
3) Sana doris – Pseudo Wind
4) Who Made Who – I Lost my Voice (golden bug remix )
5) Tele Music – Baby ( leo zero re edit )
6) Jackpot- Ragazza
7) Kanakas – Odessa
8) Roberto Rodriguez – About ThisLove (crazy p remix )
09) Swiss Bubble Bath
10) DJ Hell feat Bryan Ferry – U Can Dance (tim goldsworthy remix )
11) tape to tape – I
12) Spleen United – Surburbia (juan maclean remix )
13) Headman – Private Show (tape to tape remix I)
14) Cut Copy – Hearts on Fire (drum dub )
15) Azari & III – Reckless With Your Love
16) Runaway – This Fire Below
17) Krikor and the Dead Hillbillies – God Will Break Them All
18) Presets – Anywhere ( still going acid mix )
19) OMD – Talking Loud and Clear

You can download the exclusive tape to tape mix for ‘Touching From a Distance‘ here. And I promise you it’s an absolute scorcher!

If you’re in Glasgow take some time to experience this sound installation by Glasgow based American artist Alexandra Spaulding

Visits by appointment, contact Natalie Lambert
natalie@noisefornothing.com
+44 788 633 4894

Photo credit all images
Ruth Clarke and Alexandra Spaulding

Author and Twitter buddy Marc Nash, has very kindly written a fascinating post on the relationship between music and literature.

Over to Marc:

I never read books until I was 14 years old. Typical boy, I was out in all weathers playing cricket or football instead. What turned me on to literature, was when a respected older Cousin suggested I listen to The Cure’s “Killing An Arab” and then read Camus’ “L’Etranger”, both of which I dutifully did. At the time I was on the look out for cool bands to drop in to conversations at school, but through this one suggestion I had my appreciation opened up to a second vibrant art form. Oh yeah, I not only read books now, I write ‘em as well. And as part of that, music is still key.

Literature is perhaps regarded as the highest, most nobles art form for expanding our minds towards contemplation of the world around us. And rock’n'roll, bubble-gum three minute pop about puppy love and teenage crushes, is regarded in some quarters as the most disposable of art forms. Books occasionally percolate society’s collective consciousness, such as the obscenity trials over “Lady Chatterly” or “Last Exit To Brooklyn“. Pop often outrages, from Elvis The Pelvis, through “God Save The Queen” and the Beastie Boys. Yet despite being from fairly opposite ends of the class spectrum, the two are fundamentally intertwined and mutually inform one another.

Apart from the above example of The Cure, Gang of Four referenced Joseph Conrad’s “Heart Of Darkness” with “We Live As We Dream Alone” and Kafka’s “Metamorphosis” with “Love Like Anthrax’s” lyric “Just like a beetle on its back”. Howard Devoto (Magazine) sung “I could have been Raskolnikov, But Mother Nature ripped me off” and also referenced Dostoevsky’s “Underground Man” in “Song From Under The Floorboards“. Artists honouring fellow artists who have gone before them. Inspired them. Given them words and ideas to stir their own creative pools…

Of course it goes back the other way too. Poets Linton Kwesi Johnson, Benjamin Zephaniah and John Cooper-Clarke have all performed live with backing bands. Gus Van Sant has set texts by William S Burroughs to music and Steve Fisk made a remarkable piece of music for the late Steven Jesse Bernstein’s poetry on SubPop (if anyone has a link to a download, please supply it to me. My last version of it was on cassette tape!). Then there are the crossover artists, Patti Smith, Nick Cave and Henry Rollins to name but three with a foot firmly planted in both camps. Recently we have had short story anthologies inspired by the words of Mark E Smith and the music of Sonic Youth.

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It was said of Lenny Bruce that he hated punchlines. You can tell if you listen to his infectious routines, or bits as he called them, that he loved showing off to his audience, flattering them, tickling them with a new idea. But when he got to the end of a bit he rarely went for, or got, a big laugh.

I have just seen ‘Jerusalem‘ with Simon at the Apollo in Shaftesbury Avenue and Mark Rylance gives a performance just like that. You just want him to keep talking, telling tall tales. When the other characters talk you are willing them to stop so that you can hear more of what he has to say.

Jez Butterworth’s lines serve him brilliantly, they appear to come out of him spontaneously and are full of just enough beguiling pagan codswallop to lure you into a prechristian druidical reverie.

An earlier poster called Rylance’s character, Johnny Rooster Byron,” a Jimmy Porter for our times”. Rooster is an inverted Jimmy Porter, not angry, but in many ways soothing and supportive to his comrades, not a young man railing against people standing in his way but an old man surveying the wreckage in his wake.

The ending, when it comes, seems like the ending of a thousand plays I have seen, a big loud crescendo with a mysterious change of lighting, suggesting a semi supernatural intervention. What Lenny Bruce would call a cop out.

If you can ignore the sad fact that in theatre, as in life, all good things come to an end then you can ignore the stagey conclusion and revel in the company of the little red Rooster.