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Scrolling through some of my recently watched…Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972)16th century conquistadores driven to madness in the Andes. You can tell that these dudes were in the shit while filming. Always thought of this film as the original Apocalypse Now. Werner Herzog and Klaus Kinski. Good stuff.Badlands (1973)Seen It many times. Timeless visual beauty and performance chemistry between Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek. Terrence Malick’s directorial debut. Love it.Network (1976)This screened the other night in LA while I was out of town so I rented it for the twentieth time. As relevant now as it was then. A stone-cold masterpiece. Paddy Chayefsky won an Oscar for screenplay, but it lost best picture to Rocky. Taxi Driver was also nominated. What a year!Tess (1979)Just saw this for the first time. One of Polanski’s best. Feel like he was inspired by Barry Lyndon.Year of the Jellyfish (1984)A French friend recommended this one. I think it’s kind of cherished by some as a trashy cult classic. But if you’re looking for a film full of gorgeous, topless French women on vacation in San Tropez in the 1980s, this is for you!The West (miniseries) (1996)I rewatch Ken Burns documentaries all the time. Jazz, Country Music, Baseball, Lewis & Clark, all of them. I’ve seen each one multiple times. The West is remarkable. A comprehensive deep dive into 19th century American history. 20-hours replete with unmistakable, soothing Burns-esque narration and somber songs of the old American frontier. Fascinating, harsh and profoundly sad.
May 30, 2023
Related Recs
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My favourite thing in the world is motion pictures. These are some movies I recommend, a fraction really. I also want to say I really dislike irony so hope no one thinks i’m kidding about what I recommend. Fractions also of television art and writing . Not qualified to recommend anything elseHouse of Games (1987), The King of Marvin Gardens (1972), California Split (1974), Beau Travail (1999), The Juror (1996), The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973), The Bourne Identity (2002), The Long Goodbye (1973), At Close Range (1986), Hardcore (1979), Where’s Poppa? (1965), Face/Off (1997), King of New York (1990), The Deer Hunter (1979), The Piano Teacher (2001), Born to Win (1971), The Limey (1999), The Town (2010), Glass Chin (2014), Climax (2018), Midnight Special (2016), Three Days of the Condor (1975), Downhill Racer (1969), The Conversation (1974), Arrival (2016), Body Heat (1981), Romancing the Stone (1984), Inherent Vice (2014), Body Double (1984), Barry Lyndon (1975), Touch of Evil (1958), McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971), The Game (1997), Sisters (1972), Half Moon Street (1986), Masquerade (1988), Hi, Mom! (1970), Symbiopsychotaxiplasm (1968), Bitter Lake (2015), La Soufriere (1977), Rififi (1955)
Mar 29, 2022
I watched a bunch for research while working on a western screenplay. I’ll call out some specific ones.
High Plains Drifter
- borders on avant-garde
Lonesome Dove
- an epic
The Great Silence
- a subversive Spaghetti Western so controversial it was never released in America and is only available in Italian
The Proposition
- a dark Australian western
Quigley Down Under
- a fun Australian western
The Missing
- horror
The Settlers
- a dark Chilean western
Jan 30, 2025
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This is my all time favorite movie by one of my favorite directors and mad genius Alejandro Jodorowsky. It’s an insane movie: crazy cast of characters, outlandish plot, trippy cinematography, circus freaks. It starts somewhere you wouldn’t expect and ends somewhere completely different. It’s an odyssey. The beautiful insanity is both awe inducing and artistically refreshing. I couldn’t recommend it enough.
Sep 11, 2023
Top Recs from @jeff-kite
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French Prog Rock from 1979. Are you naked yet? Very little is written about this extremely weird and cool record. I randomly got this on vinyl a long time ago, not knowing what it was, and it has become impossible to find anywhere except of course— someone loaded it onto YouTube a while ago. The magic comes from the DIY nerd-flow of melodic ideas, the bedroom-album ambition, the tactile energy of the tones, and BONUS: there is limited Muso-Overplaying that so much Prog Music gets defined by. It sounds like 1779 had sex with 1979 on a bed of Parisian cassettes.
May 30, 2023
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This trilogy is one of the most interesting and ambitious things I’ve ever read. The scale of the story consistently expands, and there is unique profundity to the concepts that the author introduces. It leaves you contemplating the depth of our place in the universe, and the philosophies upon which we entrust ourselves to evolve further into the unknown. It's going to be a Netflix series soon, so read it before it gets ruined by Corporate Money Goblins!
May 30, 2023
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19th-century America has captivated me in the last couple of years. Most recently I read, Empire of the Summer Moon by S.C. Gwynne. It’s about the rise and fall of the Comanches, the most powerful Indian tribe in American history. It also tells the story of Cynthia Ann Parker, who was kidnapped by Comanches as a nine-year-old girl, and her mixed-blood son Quannah, who became the last and greatest chief of the Comanches.Also just finished, Nothing Like It In the World: The Men Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad 1863-1869. By Stephen Ambrose.
May 30, 2023