Draped in graffiti, a rickety old subway train makes its way across a rugged slice of New York that looks more like Mad Max than Mad Men. Only seconds into director Shan Nicholson’s documentary Rubble Kings, the audience understands that the residents on display in the film’s South Bronx ghettos live in a place that barely qualifies as America.
People have a pretty intimate relationship with music. The song that was playing when you had your first slow dance, broke up with that certain someone, or lost your virginity will rank higher for you than it will for some random listener. Even bad songs have a way of causing flashbacks, for better or worse. …
“This is Joe Bob Briggs reminding you that the Drive-In will Never Die!” In 1993, Monstervision on TNT in America, was mostly a program that aired old horror movies and science fiction with the occasional hosting from magicians Penn and Teller. During the early nineties, many cable channels hadn’t yet solidified their formats, and horror …
Foul-mouthed octogenarian rappin’ n’ scratching grandmothers. Abrasive, gold-laminated 3D holographic shamans. A scene -tealing human-beatbox waitress, buxom yakuza mistresses, sex-crazed adolescents, breakdancing ninja dervishes, and tank-wielding Shibuya henchmen. All these ingredients and more are present in the latest dish of neon-lit lunacy from Japanese provocateur Sion Sono, a filmmaker with a long and distinguished relationship with the London Film Festival following exposure for his earlier cult cuts Cold Fish, Exte: Hair Extensions, and Why Don’t You Play in Hell?. His latest film, Tokyo Tribe, is another one for the midnight movie crowd: a delirious contemporary musical based on the popular manga by Santa Inoue, it’s a phantasmagorical pop art pastiche of the American rhythms of Streets of Fire, West Side Story, and The Warriors.
The Warriors Directed by Walter Hill Screenplay by David Shaber and Walter Hill 1979, USA Even if you haven’t seen The Warriors, you’ve most likely heard someone quote the film numerous times. Of all the many classic one liners spoken in the movie, perhaps the most memorable was, “Waaaaariors, come out to plaaaay.” If …