Movies Watched -- Brown Bunny (2003)

Added on by C. Maoxian.

92 minute running time … after loving Buffalo ‘66, I thought I’d check out Gallo’s other movie, Brown Bunny, which I also liked, but can’t recommend because I watched a great deal of it on fast forward (very little dialogue) and it ends with a graphic cock-sucking scene which would put a mainstream audience off … but this is an art house movie, and I like Gallo’s humor and a lot of the shots he frames … it’s a tragedy / heartbreak movie with the story all revealed in the last five minutes or so. I enjoyed it but my tastes are not common.

Change your mind?

The Beauty of Rishi Tea Boxes

Added on by C. Maoxian.

I was just in the grocery store (missing an amazing trade as a result, argh!) and while in the tea ailse I marveled at the beauty of the Rishi tea boxes … look at these 15 beauties!

I have to do some googling to see what the story is here:

Rishi Tea Refreshes Brand With Compelling Packaging (February 2020?)

Studio MPLS … Loose Leaf Sachets Project … I think they knocked it out of the park.

Neenah Paper … Rishi Tea Case Study (text is repeat of above link)

Movies Watched -- Azor (2021)

Added on by C. Maoxian.

100 minute running time so the perfect length … this is a story set in 1980 Argentina, post-Peron, when the Junta was firmly in control and there was martial law and widespread “disappearances” of enemies of the state … anyway, this Swiss private banker arrives in Buenos Aires to look for the bank’s partner stationed there who has also disappeared … arriving from Geneva, this guy and his wife are both super suave, speak perfect Spanish and French and English, are immaculately groomed and beautifully dressed … the banker is there to calm the waters in the wake of his partner’s disappearance … the super rich of Argentina are all on edge because the new government is arbitrarily seizing their property and stealing their goodies (like their racehorses) and disappearing their children… we discover that behind all their good looks and good manners, etc. this Swiss banker is working for both the murderous new regime and the rapidly vanishing old elite … he’s polished and urbane but he’s also washing blood money … he’s an amoral money-grubber, but this isn’t news to anyone who knows anything about the history of Swiss bankers. The movie was slickly made but few Murkans will be able to sit through it since it’s subtitled. I didn’t dislike it, but it also doesn’t rate a recommendation from me either.

Anthony Lane’s well-written review.

Abramos un contrato forex

50 Greatest American Independent Films By Year

Added on by C. Maoxian.

I found this list of the 50 Greatest American Independent Movies and have re-ordered it chronologically:

  • Shadows (1959) ⬇️

  • Night of the Living Dead (1968)

  • Easy Rider (1969)

  • Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song (1971)

  • THX-1138 (1971) ⬆️

  • Two-Lane Blacktop (1971)

  • Mean Streets (1973)

  • Dark Star (1974)

  • The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)

  • Eraserhead (1977)

  • Killer of Sheep (1977) ⬇️

  • The Evil Dead (1981)

  • Blood Simple (1984) ⬆️

  • Stranger Than Paradise (1984)

  • The Terminator (1984) ⬆️

  • Runaway Train (1985)

  • Blue Velvet (1986)

  • She's Gotta Have It (1986)

  • Evil Dead II (1987)

  • Matewan (1987)

  • Drugstore Cowboy (1989)

  • sex, lies, and videotape (1989)

  • Poison (1991)

  • Slacker (1991)

  • Bad Lieutenant (1992)

  • Reservoir Dogs (1992)

  • Dazed And Confused (1993)

  • Short Cuts (1993)

  • Clerks (1994)

  • The Usual Suspects (1995)

  • Lone Star (1996)

  • Swingers (1996)

  • Cube (1997)

  • Grosse Point Blank (1997)

  • In The Company Of Men (1997)

  • Happiness (1998)

  • Pi (1998)

  • Being John Malkovich (1999) ⬆️

  • Ghost Dog: The Way Of The Samurai (1999)

  • The Blair Witch Project (1999) ⬇️

  • Memento (2000)

  • Pitch Black (2000)

  • Donnie Darko (2001) ⬇️

  • Lost In Translation (2003)

  • Little Miss Sunshine (2006)

  • Juno (2007)

  • In Search Of A Midnight Kiss (2008)

  • The Wrestler (2009)

  • Winter's Bone (2010) ⬆️

  • Black Swan (2011)

Additional movies:

  • Nosferatu, A Symphony Of Terror (1922, Ger.)

  • Blood Feast (1963

  • Pink Flamingos (1972)

  • Mad Max (1979, Aus.)

  • Monty Python's Life Of Brian (1979, UK)

  • Bad Taste (1987, NZ)

  • Withnail And I (1987, UK)

  • Roger And Me (1989)

  • El Mariachi (1992)

  • Shallow Grave (1994, UK)

  • Buffalo '66 (1998)

  • Run Lola Run (1998, Ger.)

  • Amores Perros (2000, Mex.)

  • City of God (2002, Braz.)

  • Sideways (2004)

  • The Passion Of The Christ (2004, It./US)

  • The Descent (2005, UK)

Movies Watched -- Buffalo 66 (1998)

Added on by C. Maoxian.

110 minute running time so 10 minutes could have been trimmed … this was a wonderfully weird movie made by a guy named Vincent Gallo who wrote, directed, and starred in it. This is independent movie making so it wasn’t bound by convention, which made it bizarre but also good and hilarious. I enjoyed it, and recommend it (green go). This must be a “cult classic,” but I’d never heard of it before someone mentioned it on Twitter.

Gallo plays a sort of lovable loser and Christina Ricci and her lovely chest plays his kidnapping victim … it’s set during a dreary winter in Buffalo, NY, which means it hits close to home. The movie had a David Lynchian vibe at times. I’m going to buy a copy for the permanent collection.

Spanning time