Previous selections:
Sheitan by Ava Driver
Just Another Love Story Jesse
Charade joel carral

Oh man was this difficult.

What to choose? An awesome supernatural blaxploitation flick? A sweet documentary about a cute red muppet that is guaranteed to make you cry a little from pure happiness? Another doc guaranteed to make you shake your fist at Mr. Lucas? A campy 80's sci-fi thriller/horror with two valley girls as the leads? Another campy PG-13 horror movie from the 80's that scared the piss out of me as a child? So, so, so hard.

Those movies I've hinted will probably be future picks, but I decided to go with something drastically different from previous picks!

This was inspired by Christian Bale since Batman is due to return this summer. Most know him from Empire of the Sun, American Psycho, or Batman Begins. I was introduced to him via Velvet Goldmine which is my selection. Velvet Goldmine is responsible for one of my favorite movie soundtracks; so great. This movie is very loosely based on David Bowie. It's pretty wild and filled with fantastic actors (Bale, Ewan MacGregor, Jonathon Rhys-Meyers, Toni Collette, Eddie Izzard). I hope this is new to you guys, and I admit that I expect someone to probably not think it's that great.

It's available on Netflix and Hulu Plus for streaming. I'm dying to see what you guys think!

Ahh, velvet goldmine, it is a strange thing when a film reaffirms why you love glam rock and why you hate glam rock.

Nevertheless, when i heard it was loosely based on David Bowie, i knew i would like it. And afterwards finding out most of the dialogue is from Oscar Wilde's writing means i will definitely be re-watching, soon.

Two things I'll note of this film; London in the 70's would have been a sweeeet place to grow up in, and Tenacious D probably borrow from this for 'pick of destiny'.

I think i may have watch more Todd Haynes movies, because between this and I'll Be There, he clearly knows how to make a movie.

i can see why people might not like this movie, it feels kind of like a litmus for homophobia.

Nice pick! This film club has been great at getting me out of the horror and sci-fi rut I've been stuck in. This is a movie I hadn't heard of before, and would have never known to look for otherwise.

I know almost nothing about glam rock, outside of the bigger David Bowie hits from that time period, so this was a very interesting if confusing introduction to the genre and time period. It was probably harder for me to follow than someone who knows more about the subject, but I think I got a good feel of the sound and presentation of the glam rock movement, although I have to admit I was chronologically lost a few times.

I would have liked to see more time spent on the characters and their lives and motivations, you get fragments but I wasn't able to piece everything together in a satisfactory way for myself. I loved what exploration there was of the ideas of struggle for creative expression and identity, but I wanted to know more!

I loved it visually, it's a very stylish movie and the music and sets were great. Good acting from a good cast too.

joel carrall wrote:
Some of us just found it boring. Did not give a crap about the characters.

I owned the soundtrack for this for a year or two before seeing the movie, because I was foraging for any and all Radiohead/Pulp materials at the time. Neither the album or the movie satisfied me, but at least the album led me to early Roxy Music and Brian Eno.

As for Todd Haynes, I think his previous movie, Safe, is incredibly good, with a knockout performance by Julianne Moore.

joel carrall wrote:
London at any time is a pretty happening place. I want to go back badly. But the Tenacious D thing? I never even thought of that. I'll have to listen to the commentary again and see if there's a reference. I don't remember there being one, but it has been a while since I've watched Pick of Destiny.

Jesse wrote:
I have to admit that this is probably true. I was already wise to David Bowie when I saw this (Labyrinth) in high school when this movie was released. I think this movie was also hurt a bit after Bowie wanted nothing to do with it after discovering that a lot of the movie was based on his ex-wife's book; that's why there are no Bowie songs. I'm happy that you hadn't heard of this movie after wowing me with your previous knowledge of Sheitan. The costuming in this movie is fab (I think it was nominated at the Oscars, actually) and I'd kill to have those knee-high purple platform boots that Rhys-Myers wears during the performance of the Ballad of Maxwell Demon. I wonder if there were any plans to turn this into a Broadway musical. I think it would be perfect.

Dorrk, I know that Velvet Goldmine isn't universally loved and it was good to see that not everyone dug that movie. Would you like to pick the next film since you haven't posted before in the previous threads? If not, then Jesse's up for picking!

Ava Driver wrote:
Well, it's been 6-7 years since I've seen Velvet Goldmine, so it's not a fresh reaction. I couldn't muster the motivation to watch it again.

Is there a criteria for selections, like availability on streaming services? I turned off Netflix last fall when they divorced DVDs from their streaming services, so I don't know what they have.

I would probably suggest something I haven't seen to spur myself to finally watch it. Here are a few candidates:
Sorcerer (1977)
Yojimbo (1961)
Meek's Cutoff (2011)
The 36th Chamber of Shaolin (1978)
Submarine (2010)