I have come to praise Heath Ledger, not to bury him

I'll be the first to admit that years in emergency medicine have made me a bit jaded and skepitcal. Shocking admission, ain't it?

So, I must admit that as I read the early reviews of THE DARK KNIGHT that raved about the late Heath Ledger's performance, I had to wonder how much of it was laced with sweetness to take some of the biterness off of his untimely demise.

With the 3:30 a.m. showing still very fresh in my mind, I can tell you that the reviewers have been doing the film and Ledger no undeserved favors with their praise. The film is one of the finest I've ever seen, even superior to the stellar first installment. I'll say nothing more than the film is practically flawless in every facet for fear of even giving away a tiny morsel of surprise.




And it being the ArcLight Hollywood, of course there was ample geek candy around the lobby to fuel this circus-like event.





And Heath Ledger truely is nothing short of amazing. His is a fearless turn that steals the film from a cache of powerfully talented actors, all of whom turn are phenomenal themselves. It's strange to consider his Joker performance a revelation considering he'd laid down a strong body of work prior to donning the purple suit, but this movie puts him on an entirely different level than even the Academy-Award level stuff he'd already done.





Equally amazing was the number of people scurrying around the ArcLight at 3:30 in the freakin' morning on a work night.



THE DARK KNIGHT was actually the second film of the night for me. Earlier, I was at the Silent Movie Theatre for SUCH HAWKS, SUCH HOUNDS, a documentary on the history of stoner rock.







The doc was very interesting as it highlighted several bands you've never heard of spanning thirty years. Most of them were struggling to get by as they support their music addictions, and aren't likely to find much commercial success with music that isn't accessible to most of the listening public. Can't imagine an Earthless CD sandwiched between Hannah Montana and Christina Aguilera at Best Buy.



But the bands stick to their guns, and find a little hope in the fact that the rules of the music game have changed in recent years, allowing them to bypass the labels and corporate control of media via the Internet. The highlight of the film was a segment on Sleep, a Bay-Area band who burned their bridges by using the label's money to lay down a 63-minute song (!) called "Dopesmoker" (Or "Jerusalem", depending on which mix you have) that set out to be the heaviest song ever recorded. Snippets are played during the film, and the track is overdubbed so many times that the base threatened to shake the paint off the walls of the Silent Theatre.



The film was followed by a performance by Earthless, who sort of have a free-form jazz sensibility. The three-piece band is loud and heavy without being angry; More Blue Oyster Cult than Slayer. They explained in the film that they just sort of go where the riffs take them, which made their tightness as a band even more impressive. It was phenomenal hearing them in such a small space as the Silent Theatre, even if my ears are still ringing from the insane volume.

Even cooler was the montage of freaky images Pimpadelic Wonderland, the house video-jockey for lack of a better title, laid down over the band as they played. I was able to recognize footage from THE BOXER'S OMEN and the epic ON ANY SUNDAY.


And, oh yeah...





RICKY's coming!

Walked through the Halls of Karma, Shook hands w/both the Devil & God

Look, disco just ain't my thing. If you dig it, we're cool. I'm not one to judge. But I just don't, never have and never will dig old or modern disco.

Having now sat through THE APPLE and XANADU in recent months, I'm begging programmers at my beloved rep houses to please stop showing disco musicals.

Also never been a big fan of LABYRINTH. I like Muppets. I really dig Bowie. Somehow, the two just don't add up for me, though.

That said, Diablo's still the coolest chick to ever walk the Earth.







Fortunately, she has much better stuff coming up, including a horror night that's going to feature an appearance by Frank-Freakin'-Darabont. That's gonna be too much for my silly little mind to get a hold of.

And I recently caught a peek at something on the wall of the Silent Movie Theatre that did my soul very well...



RICKY's coming!

Life imitates Nabisco snack treats

Someone said this picture of me, Promise and Andy from their joint birthday bash last weekend resembles one of those limited-edition Oops Oreos; The ones with chocolate creme sandwiched between two vanilla cookies.

Heroes Of Our Time

I don't mean to judge, but anyone who doesn't like DragonForce is a booger-eating moron.

The Devil Went Down to Hancock Park

Did I need another reason to love the New Beverly Cinema? Clearly not, since if I spent any more time there Michael, the owner/operator of the greatest theatre on God's green Earth, would charge me rent instead of admission.

Nonetheless, they did by kicking off the latest in a line of awesome film festivals hosted by filmmakers who have shaped my spongelike mind the past couple decades. Following on the heels of Edgar Wright and Joe Dante* (Still haven't recovered from having my face melted by THE MOVIE ORGY), Diablo Cody is having a go at serving up a geek buffet.

*(Rumor has it Eli Roth had his turn, but I, like many of the New Bev maniacs who hissed at the mention of his name in the weeks preceeding it, didn't see any of it.)



Mondo Diablo got started Saturday with an all-Reitman double shot: STRIPES and THANKS FOR NOT SMOKING.



I took my seat in the front row between Hollywood legend/New-Bev-mainstay Clu Gulager and several of the other film zombies I see regularly on the L.A. Perpetual Roving Film Festival circuit as Diablo set things in motion. She mentioned growing up on STRIPES back in the dark ages of video. (VHS or Beta?)

The film has aged very well, in large part because Bill Murray's comedic genius doesn't have an expiration date. In all fairness, Murray can't be credited ALL of the laughs as the supporting cast certainly carry their weight throughout the film. (Particularly the late John Candy. "How's it going, Eisenhower?")



The first Q&A followed, as Ivan Reitman discussed making STRIPES. The director said getting the Army to sign off on allowing him to film in Fort Knox was remarkably easy. He added that recruitment spiked following the film's release, as displaced frat boys undoubtedly signed up hoping for a tour of duty filled with Sean Young and mud wrestling.

Up next was THANKS FOR NOT SMOKING; An extremely funny, engaging film I'd never seen before that owns thanks to Jason Retiman's inventive visual style; tight editing and a confident performance by Aaron Eckhart as a modern-day sophist who you'd despise if it was remotely possible not to like him.



Jason took his turn fielding questions from the crowd and discussed how hard it was to get the film made while disspelling the myth about Hollywood nepatism. He said the film was about personal freedom, to which I raised my hand and offered that I thought it also served as a celebration of villainy. Jason said he really didn't see Eckhart's big-tobacco lobbiest as a bad guy. Sure, his work leads to people committing suicide on layaway via cigarettes, but he doesn't force the cancer sticks on anyone. The bad guys, the younger Reitman (And Eckhart's character) offered, are the ones who want to deny choice to Americans, even if it's the choice to do something dangerous.

I could clearly see Jason's point, but I still can't help but think of Eckhart as a villain. Either way, it was a very good film, and strikingly different from the other very good film he made recently.

Diablo recently pimped her film festival via MySpace where she promised, and I quote, "PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE COME. I'll sign your DVD. I'll sign your nutsack!"

Anyone who knows me knows I can't let a big, fat curve ball like Diablo's last promise hang over the plate without hammering it. So, following the films, I reminded Ms. Cody of her promise and had her sign my sack...



On top of being very nice, really hot and NASA-smart, Diablo is also a girl who keeps her promises. Yet another reason to love both her and the New Bev.

CURRENTLY LISTENING: Flogging Molly -- Float

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.











We pretty much had the roads to ourselves until we came across a bunch of cows crossing the road in the Lockwood Valley.

No, seriously. Look:







You can't make stuff like this up.

CURRENTLY LISTENING: Alice In Chains -- Dirt