Jim Jarmusch's Down by Law is in the same minimalist, oddball, black-and-white groove as his classic of American independent cinema, Stranger than Paradise (1984). The setting is Louisiana, where two losers (musicians Tom Waits and John Lurie) find themselves stuck in a jail cell together. One day they are joined by a boisterous Italian (Roberto Benigni), and the chemistry changes--suddenly an escape attempt is on the horizon. Conventional drama is not Jarmusch's intention; one of the emotional high points of this film is the three guys marching around their prison cell shouting, "I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!" Yet the deadpan style creates its own humorous mood, underscored by melancholy (also underscored by the music of Lurie and the gravel-voiced songs of Waits). This was the first American film for Italian comedian Benigni, (Life is Beautiful), and he lights it up with his effervescent clowning. Jarmusch has said that Down by Law forms a loose trilogy with Stranger than Paradise and the subsequent Mystery Train (1989)--a triptych of disaffected, drifting life in the United States. Few filmmakers have ever surveyed ennui so entertainingly. --Robert Horton, Amazon.com
The second of Francis Ford Coppola's films based on the popular juvenile novels of S.E. Hinton (the first being The Outsiders), Rumble Fish split critics into opposite camps: those who admired the film for its heavily stylised indulgence, and those who hated it for the very same reason. Whatever the response, it's clearly the work of a maverick director who isn't afraid to push the limits of his innovative talent. Filmed almost entirely in black and white with an occasional dash of color for symbolic effect, this tale of alienated youth centers on gang leader Rusty James (Matt Dillon) and his band of punk pals. Rusty's got a girlfriend (Diane Lane), an older brother named Motorcycle Boy (Mickey Rourke), and a drunken father (Dennis Hopper) who've all given up trying to straighten him out. He's best at making trouble, and he pursues that skill with an enthusiastic flair that eventually catches up with him. But it's not the whacked-out story here that matters--it's the uninhibited verve of Coppola's visual approach, which includes everything from time-lapse clouds to the kind of smoky streets and alleyways that could only exist in the movies. The supporting cast includes a host of fresh faces who went on to thriving careers, including Nicolas Cage, Christopher Penn, Vincent Spano, Laurence Fishburne, and musician Tom Waits. --Jeff Shannon
Tom Waits - Under Review 1971 - 1982 is a 90-minute film covering Waits' career and hugely influential music from this period. The program charts his rise from bar-room crooner to the extraordinary performer songwriter and vocalist he had become by the early part of the 1980s. Showing also how he developed as a scintillating raconteur how he was more than willing to draw on a vast range of unorthodox influences and how his records progressed in sophistication exponentially during
Few early rockers were more gifted or less honoured in their prime than the late Roy Orbison, whose vaulting tenor and vulnerable love songs conjured heartbreak and desire with operatic intensity. This 1987 concert special came two decades after Orbison had retreated from pop's front lines, yet neither Orbison nor his music coasts on mere nostalgia: in every respect, A Black and White Night survives as a triumphant performance and a superb video production, as well as a first-rate retrospective of Orbison's hits.Filmed in black and white against the streamlined art deco stage of the since-demolished Coconut Grove in downtown Los Angeles, the concert is buoyed by a remarkable cast of A-list Orbison fans who signed on as his accompanists. Under the direction of producer T-Bone Burnett, the stage band thus includes Jackson Browne, Burnett, Elvis Costello, k.d. lang, Bonnie Raitt, J.D. Souther, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Waits and Jennifer Warnes, along with the rhythm section from Elvis Presley's fabled late 60s and early 70s touring band. That astonishing line-up is all the more noteworthy for the restraint with which they collaborate--it's evident that those superstars came to honour Orbison, not upstage him, resulting in a gratifying cohesion to the performances.Orbison himself sounds as powerful as ever, his soaring falsetto cresting as dramatically as it did on the studio versions of the hits that inevitably dominate. Those songs meanwhile confirm that his blue-chip admiration society came as much for the calibre of his writing as for his ravishing voice: if he remains best known for the jaunty come-on of "Pretty Woman", Orbison was first and foremost a rock balladeer, capable of bringing lumps to our throats with such classics as "Crying" and "Only the Lonely", or conjuring romantic trances through such gentle charmers as "Dream Baby". On this night, he handled all of them with fervour and finesse. --Sam Sutherland, Amazon.com
From the moment Zia (Patrick Fugit) cuts his wrists and enters a bizarre afterlife reserved for suicides, this film becomes a strangely uplifting, darkly comic tale about a journey through the hereafter.
Two classic films from auteur(!) director Jim Jamursch. Down By Law: 'It's not where you start - it's where you start again...' In one of the hippest comedies ever made three misfits find themselves thrown together in a New Orleans jail cell. There's Zach the unemployed DJ Jack the small time pimp and Bob the crazy Italian tourist. Unavailable for many years this cult hit stars Tom Waits John Luries and the Oscar-winning director and star of 'Life Is Beautiful' Roberto Be
Francis Ford Coppola returns to the original source of the Dracula and fashions a modern masterpiece. It follows the tortured journey of the devastatingly seductive Transylvanian Prince (Gary Oldman) as he moves from Eastern Europe to 19th century London in search of his long lost Elisabeta who is reincarnated as the beautiful Mina (Winona Ryder)...
TOM WAITS Under Review 1983 - 2006 an 80 minute documentary which looks at this extraordinary musician & performers music between 1983 & 2006 after his marriage to Katherine Brennan in 1980 his music became more experimental challenging & left-field but without any compromise of his craft - the songs were better than ever during this peroiod he stunned his audience time & again with his releases this looks again at these records & the man who made them & in doing so provides the most enlightening revealing & entertaining Tom Waits documentary yet to emerge.
Johnny Fortune is no good to anyone not mean but just no good. To escape Casino bosses who want him for stealing money he flees to England. He gets a job dressed as a bear for Punch & Judy shows which is an effective disguise. But when the Casino thugs track him down it's up to his two resourceful bosses to help him.
It's almost 40 years since Tom Waits' debut record, and during a career that, for most fans, has quite simply gotten better, more exciting and more challenging with each new release, he is surely the only performer and writer from the rock age to be consistently satisfying while remaining as difficult to predict as the weather. This double DVD set reviews Tom's career from his pre-contract days when he worked as a struggling songwriter, right through his Island years and his experimental phase bringing the story up to date with his most recent records. With the aid of plentiful archive, rare footage, interviews with the man himself plus contributions from his nearest colleagues, this set comes as close as it's possible to get in tracking the true Tom Waits and revealing quite what it is that has made this extraordinary artist the maverick he truly remains. Includes brand new interviews with producer Bones Howe, biographer Barney Hoskins, collaborator Jerry Yester, ex-Village Voice music editor Robert Christgau, Rolling Stone's Anthony De Curtis and many others.
An offbeat and original series which pairs musician/actor John Lurie with friends Dennis Hopper (looking for giant squid in Thailand) Jim Jarmusch (seeking shark in Montauk) Tom Waits (in Jamaica) Matt Dillon (in Costa Rica) and Willem Dafoe (ice fishing in Maine). The plan? Travel to the world's most exotic places and fish. The catch? Lurie doesn't know how to fish.
Permanent Vacation (1980): In downtown Manhattan Allie a twenty-something guy (Chris Parker) whose Father is not around and whose Mother is institutionalized is a big Charlie Parker fan. He almost subconsciously searches for more meaning in his life and meets a few strange and surreal characters along the way. Stranger Than Paradise (1984): Winner of the Camera d'Or for Best First Feature at the 1984 Cannes Film Festival Stranger Than Paradise not only launched Jim Jarmusch's career but also earned him recognition from critics as one of today's more inventive and creative filmmakers. Lounge Lizard musician John Lurie stars as Willie a disenchanted New Yorker who along with his best friend Eddie (Richard Edson) and cousin Eva (Eszter Balint) decides it's time to leave behind their boring lives in search of ""paradise."" But as their unforgettable road trip to Florida unfolds they find that amidst the sunshine blue skies and palm trees their pursuit of happiness is constantly road-blocked by the very thing they can't run away from... themselves. Down By Law (1986): In one of the hippest comedies ever made three misfits find themselves thrown together in a New Orleans jail cell. There's Zach the unemployed DJ Jack the small-time pimp and Bob the crazy Italian tourist. Unavailable for many years this cult hit stars Tom Waits John Lurie and the Oscar-winning director and star of Life is Beautiful Roberto Benigni. A film that firmly established Jim Jarmusch as the coolest director on the American independent scene.
In 1960s Tulsa, the 'right' and 'wrong' sides of the tracks are represented by rival gangs, the upscale Socs and the underprivileged Greasers. Darrel Curtis (Patrick Swayze) is doing his best to raise his two younger brothers, Sodapop (Rob Lowe in his first film role) and Ponyboy (C. Thomas Howell). Sensitive Ponyboy is a budding writer in love with Cherry (Diane Lane), the unobtainable beauty from the enemy gang. When Ponyboy's buddy, troubled Johnny Cade (Ralph Macchio), kills one of the So...
Please wait. Loading...
This site uses cookies.
More details in our privacy policy