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Showing posts with the label Music

Fish Story (2009)

Director: Yoshihiro Nakamura Producers: Yasushi Udagawa, Hitoshi Endo Screenplay: Yoshihiro Nakamura, Tamio Hayashi Starring: Kengo Gora as Goro (Vocalist) Kiyohiko Shibukawaas - (Drummer) Toshimitsu Okawa as Ryoji (Guitar) Atsushi Itล as Shigeki (Bass) Mikako Tabe as Masami (Student girl) Gaku Hamada as Masashi (Driver) Kenjiro Ishimaru as Taniguchi (Cult leader) Music: Kazuyoshi Saito Cinematography: Takashi Komatsu Editing: Yoshihiro Nakamura Release Date: March 20, 2009 (Japan) Running Time: 112 minutes Language: Japanese   ***SPOILER ALERT*** Fish Story: A Love Letter to an Underrated Gem Here I am, after my third watch of Fish Story. A movie that I absolutely love and always lingers in my mind after watching it. I haven't come h...

Death Metal Angola (2012)

Death Metal Angola is a 2012 Angolan-American music biographical film directed by Jeremy Xido. Death Metal Angola received unanimous acclaim during its festival run. The Huffington Post's E. Nina Rothe called Death Metal Angola a "must-watch film" and "a cult-classic in the making." source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_Metal_Angola Death Metal Angola follows a loving Angolan couple, Sonia and Wilker, whose love for death metal music is bringing hope to the town and children of Huambo, and Angola as a country. source: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2118609/ ***SPOILER ALERT*** Heavy Music Rising from a Wounded Country KRASNAYA: The third film of the week is Death Metal Angola from American director Jeremy Xido. When Freddy pressed play, I honestly rolled my eyes because I did not feel like listening to death metal for 83 minutes. But the documentary quickly becomes much more than that. It opens with horrifying s...

Good Vibrations (2012)

Good Vibrations is a 2013 UK film directed by Lisa Barros D'Sa and Glenn Leyburn. This comedy drama is based on the life of Terri Hooley, a record-store owner instrumental in developing Belfast's punk-rock scene. The film features music from bands released by the Good Vibrations label, including Rudi, The Outcasts, and The Undertones. source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Vibrations_(film) A chronicle of Terri Hooley's life, a record-store owner instrumental in developing Belfast's punk-rock scene. source: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1920945/ ***SPOILER ALERT*** Punk Rock in the Midst of The Troubles FREDDY: The first question that comes to mind is how could anyone live in Ireland during The Troubles? The movie mixes real footage from that period into the story, which helps give you a better feel of the times. And here comes Terri to lighten up and unite the youth of Belfast for brief moments with the power of Punk Rock. KRAS...

The Rutles: All You Need is Cash (1978)

Plot Summary: Rutland Weekend Television takes a look at the Pre-fab Four: Dirk, Barry, Stig and Nasty; better known as the Rutles. This documentary follows their career from their early days in Liverpool and Hamburg's infamous Rat-Keller, to their amazing worldwide success. A parody of Beatlemania and the many serious documentaries made about the Beatles. Directors: Eric Idle, Gary Weis Writer: Eric Idle Starring: Eric Idle John Halsey Ricky Fataar Neil Innes George Harrison John Belushi Mick Jagger Paul Simon ***SPOILER ALERT*** Dreadful Songs and Unfunny Reenactments FREDDY: The songs are dreadfully annoying, nothing like the Beatles. I don't know how I endured them until the end. Reenactments of the Beatles footage are not that funny. At least today. It was funny, though, to find out that Paul McCartney didn't like this movie either, an...

Love & Mercy (2014)

Plot Summary: In the 1960s, Beach Boys leader Brian Wilson struggles with emerging psychosis as he attempts to craft his avant-garde pop masterpiece. In the 1980s, he is a broken, confused man under the 24-hour watch of shady therapist Dr. Eugene Landy. The film is presented in a parallel narrative covering these two specific time periods in Wilson's life. Director: Bill Pohlad Starring: Paul Dano John Cusack Elizabeth Banks Paul Giamatti ***SPOILER ALERT*** A Melodramatic but Affecting Biopic FREDDY: Yeah, I'm a sucker for music artists biographies and mental disorder films. This isn't the most amazing biopic out there; sometimes it can get a bit too melodramatic. But, it got me. I was very emo when the real Brian Wilson appeared at the end. My emo buzz got crushed pretty quick though, because my dear companion said the movie was complete boring crap when I asked her for ...

Derailroaded (2005)

Derailroaded is a 2005 documentary film, directed by Josh Rubin and Jeremy Lubin, aka The Ubin Twinz. The film chronicles the life of Wild Man Fischer, an outsider artist who went in and out of several mental institutions when he was a child. During the 1960s he was a street singer in L.A., which gave him a cameo appearance in Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In in 1968. The same year Frank Zappa gave him the opportunity to record his first album, An Evening with Wild Man Fischer. Fischer's eccentric personality provided some truly unique music, but his mental problems rapidly ended his career. Fischer suffers from paranoia and schizophrenia and thus became impossible to work with, despite the best efforts of other artists to help him. So despite his cult reputation Fischer remained a poor street musician until the end of his life. The film makers tell Fischer's tragic story through archive footage, interviews with people who were once associated with him and also interview...

Sound City (2013)

Sound City is a 2013 documentary film produced and directed by Dave Grohl, in his directorial debut, about the history of recording studio Sound City Studios in Van Nuys, Los Angeles. After the closing credits there is a short, silent segment of a home movie showing a band getting set up. The picture freezes on one person and the following text appears: "In memory of Brian Hauge (1970 – 2012)." He was the key grip of the film. Sound City Studios was located in the San Fernando Valley, amidst rows of dilapidated warehouses. The little-known recording studio housed a unique analog Neve recording console and had a reputation for recording drums. Artists such as Nirvana, Kyuss, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Fleetwood Mac, Neil Young, Rick Springfield, Tom Petty and Slipknot recorded groundbreaking music at the studio. The film tells the story of the studio from its early days in 1969 until its closing in 2011. source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_City_(film) ***...

Don't Need You (2005)

Don't Need You is a documentary film that tells the story of the origins of Riot Grrrl in the American independent music scene of the 1990s, and how this feminist movement evolved into a revolutionary underground network of education and self-awareness through music, writing, activism, and women-friendly community. The film gives audiences a chance to meet key figures in the development of Riot Grrrl and see for themselves how these women have changed the history of music and feminism forever. The film features one-on-one interviews interspersed with rare, archival materials, including original Riot Grrrl fanzines, flyers, and photographs, as well as seldom seen footage from pioneering Riot Grrrl bands like Bikini Kill, Heavens to Betsy, and Bratmobile. source: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1016293/ ***SPOILER ALERT*** I'm afraid to say anything; this is enemy territory. If I were born a girl, I would be a riot gr...

The Clash: Westway to the World (2000)

The Clash: Westway to the World is a 2000 documentary film about the British punk rock band The Clash. In 2003 it won the Grammy Award for Best Long Form Music Video. Directed by Don Letts, the film combines old footage from the band's personal collection filmed in 1982 when The Clash went to New York with new interviews conducted for the film by Mal Peachey of members Mick Jones, Paul Simonon, Topper Headon, and Joe Strummer and other people associated with the group. Although The Clash: Westway to the World ostensibly provides an overview of the band's history, the film implies that The Clash broke up in 1983 when Mick Jones left the band, making no mention of the post-Jones version of the band that existed between 1983 and 1986, nor the album that iteration produced (Cut the Crap). Danny Garcia's 2012 documentary film The Rise and Fall of The Clash covers this period in some depth, placing an emphasis on the band's declining years and the repercussions of Mick ...

Lemmy (2010)

Lemmy is a 2010 documentary film profile of British rock musician Ian "Lemmy" Kilmister, bass guitarist and lead vocalist of the British heavy metal band Motรถrhead. Lemmy was directed and produced by Greg Olliver and Wes Orshoski and features interviews with friends, peers, and admirers such as Slash and Duff McKagan of Guns N' Roses and Velvet Revolver, Ozzy Osbourne, James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Robert Trujillo, and Kirk Hammett of Metallica, David Ellefson of Megadeth, and Scott Ian of Anthrax. It also features Dave Vanian and Captain Sensible of The Damned, Peter Hook of Joy Division and New Order, and Nik Turner and Dave Brock of Lemmy's former band Hawkwind. The filmmakers were able to capture many candid moments as colleagues such as Dave Grohl and Billy Bob Thornton converse with Lemmy in bars and recording studios. The film includes footage shot in the United States, Germany, England, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Russia, Wales, Scotland and Denmark. Footage...