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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
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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)
@brad-phillips
STAFF
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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
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
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Nothing I write here will do this film justice.
I first saw it earlier this year and fell in love with it upon first watch. I pirated and viewed it on my laptop, in bed, with snot running down my nose. In June, I had the pleasure of watching it on a big screen during a Splat!FilmFest in a local cinema. I brought a friend, and I may have cried twice as hard.
I can't believe this film was made in the 60s. I can't believe Jon Voight is a right-wing maniac at his grown age, having previously (and maybe unassumingly) played a queer character. The way this thing is shot makes you think Schlesinger set a whole new pathway for capturing film, the one we are more familiar with in the 21st century. Midnight Cowboy forever !!!!
Jul 18, 2025
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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🙅I’ve grown so fucking sick of DAWs and computers— yes I know what’s great about them. After 20 years of sitting in front of a computer to record music, I’ve decided to go back to my roots. Making music without the rancid glow of a massive screen, without Safari lurking in the dock, without the gnarly centerpiece energy of a huge Apple product, has been liberating. I’m done with Tetrissing ideas, done frame fucking waveforms, done dragging 1s and 0s with a mouse. So now I’m focused on making sequences on the MPC one, building my own kits, and sampling audio from an array of synths or records or life— and it all goes stereo-out into the Tascam 446 that Beardo gave me. The vulnerability & humanity I’m interested in experiencing through music gets watered down by the digital horseshit we readily accept as software convenience.
May 30, 2023