Reels N' Rockets: More Human Than Human

I'd apologize for how long it's taken to add anything here, but I know there's only one of you out there who's hung up on such a thing. She's my mom, and that's because she recently joined me for a night out on the Los Angeles Perpetual Roving Film Fesitval. More on that later.

Since it has been awhile, there's a lot of ground to cover so we better keep this brief. Here's the highlights from the last several days.

I was fortunate enough to finally see CHOCOLATE the day I got back from THE WARRIORS roadie and I can officially announce to everyone that I've met my future wife.

That's her above. Her name is Thai and impossible to pronounce so I plan on calling her Zen (The name of her character in CHOCOLATE) around the house, but she's pure kick-ass in a 100-pound package and I love her, man.

I've become a huge fan of Thai martial-arts films recently, largely due to Tony Jaa's two brilliant recent releases, and CHOCOLATE is up there with the best of them. The novelty of a tiny, innocent-looking Asian girl dishing out the pain wears off quickly and the film works on its own merits. She's got crazy, crazy skills and I'm very much hoping to see more from her soon.

My mom tipped me off to WRECKING CREW, a documentary about a group of studio musicians who were so prevalent during the '60s that they're pretty much the most recorded people on the face of the planet. As it turns out, the doc was screening at the Silent Movie Theatre, which would give me the chance to introduce my mom one of my favorite haunts as well as the vegetarian-friendly confines of Swingers on Beverly Blvd.

I fortuitously was tipped off via the CineFamily's mailing list that the WRECKING CREW sold out, but thankfully Hadrian added a second show which I quickly pounced on via the online box office. Mom and I arrived at the theatre to a packed sidewalk as the 8:30 crowd passed an already long line waiting to get in for the 10:30 show.

The vibe at the Silent Theatre is always righteous, but was amped up a bit that night by go-go dancers doing their thing to some funky late-'60s grooves with some ancient music videos playing on the backdrop.

It doesn't due justice to say that everyone's probably heard something the WRECKING CREW recorded. Their work was so prevalent that it's damn near impossible NOT to have heard their music. They were the Beach Boys in the studio. (Most importantly during the band's landmark "Pet Sounds" album. Look it up sometime to see just how many epic albums followed in its wake.) They were Phil Spector's "Wall of Sound." ("Be My Baby", "Unchained Melody") They did songs so well that the bands that were supposed to have recorded them couldn't duplicate the music live. They backed Frank and Nancy Sinatra. They did commercials. They recorded TV theme songs. (That Dick-Dale esque "Hawaii Five-O" theme. Yeah, that's them.)

One member said they worked so much that they could no longer gauge their success by how many sessions they had lined up but instead had to measure themselves by how much work they turned down.

The film was directed by Wrecking Crew guitarist and mainstay Tommy Tedesco's son, who was on hand to say a little about his film. The doc is very heartfelt, so much so that it'd be easy to accuse the director of putting a little too much gloss on his father's work if he didn't have so many musical giants doing it for him. Brian Wilson in particular says his band just simply couldn't have recorded the tracks as well as the Crew did.

Tedesco is currently trying to land distribution for his film, which he says has screened very well on the festival circuit. Here's hoping this slice of music history gets out to the public because it's too good not to be shared.

I was back at the Silent Theatre a couple nights later as it kicked off a gore comedy run through the next couple months with EVIL DEAD 2. There's nothing I can say about DEAD BY DAWN that hasn't already been said a million times by geeks smarter than I am, so I'll just add that it's still as much fun as it ever was and really needs to be seen on the big screen to fully be appreciated.

I raced from the Silent Theatre to the New Beverly Cinema as Phil graced his maniacs with a patriotic installment of the New Beverly Midnights featuring the Cannon Films masterpiece DELTA FORCE.

I'm usually one to shy away from trends, but I was fully on board as Chuck Norris became a cult hero among Internet film geeks in recent years. Having now seen DELTA FORCE and INVASION U.S.A. at the New Bev during the past year, it's harder to have a better time at the movies.

There was a great turnout despite the Fourth of July holiday weekend, and the trailer reel included a brilliant NAVY SEALS preview that was worth the ticket price alone.

The New Bev beckoned again later the following week with a pair of Ridley Scott epics: The director's cut of BLADE RUNNER and ALIEN.

I'm still awed by the look and atmosphere Scott created in BLADE RUNNER, which was the first film I can remember that featured a believably dystopian future. And Rutger Hauer, one of my personal cult heroes, owns as the frightening and violent yet philosophical android Batty.

This version is known as THE FINAL CUT. I haven't seen the director's cut that preceeded it often enough to be able to tell you the differences, but I am even more firmly of the opinion that Harrison Ford's Deckard is a replicant.

ALIEN is still one of the scariest films I've ever seen and has aged amazingly well these last 30 years. The titular creature's iconic status is a testament to the film's quality. There have been many film aliens over the years, but say the word "alien" to someone and this film's vicious ball of limbs and teeth is the first to come to mind. Think about it.

The Ridley Scott night was preceded by a phenomenal ride, and I'll never complain about a day in which I get a taste for both of my true loves. I chased Damian through the Angeles National Forest and took a ton of pictures along the way. I'll shut up and let them do the talking.