Artwork of the Day: Strangers in Paradise

Posted on June 16, 2017 by Dazzling Erin

Artist Unknown

Music Video of the Day: Loverboy by Billy Ocean (1984, dir. Maurice Phillips)

Posted on June 16, 2017 by Valerie Troutman

I’m not very knowledgable about Billy Ocean. But if there’s a stranger Billy Ocean video, then I wanna see it.

The video starts off, and we see Ocean get trapped inside a triangle.

After traveling through the universe, we finally land on the alien planet of the UK.

More specifically, the outdoor set of the video for Shout by Tears For Fears.

Shout by Tears For Fears (1984)

We follow this guy along the beach for some reason…

even though our hero looks different when he arrives.

After posing for the music video thumbnail…

we start to enter this cave along with the Billy Ocean triangle. There’s all kinds inside, but our hero goes right over to the BarBot.

Ocean continues to be trapped inside of a triangle.

Our hero spots, who I assume he’s here to find.

They exchange some glances, and he responds by whipping his tongue in the air.

Oral sex? It’s not a stretch considering the lyrics, the song title, and these followup shots.

Dog sailor.

Horny.

Johnny Wadd.

If this car is rockin’, don’t come knockin’.

After that, we see that Ocean is now trapped in the mirror from Superman 2.

He gets hit by some sort of phaser, which appears to force him into the shape of a cube.

Back in the bar, things are coming to a head, as he, and the people around the woman he wants, exchange some glances. This includes our hero once again, throwing his tongue up in the air.

The BarBot…

and one of Kang and Kodos’ cousins has to see what’s about to happen.

Someone is a fan of Star Wars because I have no idea who shot first.

Let’s go!

Meanwhile outside, the sand people who are indigenous to the limestone ridge on the Jurassic Coast near Lulworth in Dorset, England–or Durdle Door for short–are worshipping the Billy Ocean cube.

Look honey, I know you’re not exactly enthusiastic about this, but it’s for the best.

Cliff Richard needs this set in 6 years to do a music video for the song Saviour’s Day.

Saviour’s Day by Cliff Richard (1990)

They ride off, and we get our hero raising his hand in…victory?

So, he saved the girl, but he seems to have left poor Billy Ocean trapped in a cube.

Speaking of which, was that cube supposed to be a window to that island in the background?

I came across this one by pure chance. Occasionally YouTube surfaces an older music video I haven’t seen or written about. This is one of them.

The video was directed by Maurice Phillips, who seems to have done only a handful of videos in the 1980s. A couple of them are kind of weird as well–like the one for Lies by Thompson Twins that includes a giant rabbit. Phillips would go on to work in film and TV. He directed Another You (1991). He passed away in 2012.

Enjoy!

30 Days Of Surrealism:

A Movie A Day #158: The Girl Hunters (1963, directed by Roy Rowland)

Posted on June 15, 2017 by Jedadiah Leland

Private detective Mike Hammer (Mickey Spillane) has spent the last seven years in the gutter. Ever since his secretary, Velda, disappeared, Hammer has stopped working cases and, instead, spends all of his time drinking and passing out in alleys. That is where he is found by his old friend, Captain Pat Chambers (Scott Peters). Pat tells Mike that there has been a shooting. A man named Richie is dying in the hospital and want to speak to him. According to Richie, he was shot by the Dragon, the same communist super villain that Velda is currently hiding from. That sobers Hammer up. In fact, Mike Hammer is so tough that it only takes him a few minutes to shake off seven years of alcoholism. Mike discovers that Richie’s murder is also connected to the murder of a senator. Mike’s investigation leads him to both the senator’s bikini-clad wife (Shirley Eaton) and a communist conspiracy to take over the world. What is strange is that it never leads him to Velda. Maybe he would have found her if The Girl Hunters had gotten a sequel.

Many films were based on Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer novels but The Girl Hunters is unique because it stars Mickey Spillane as Hammer. Spillane was not much of an actor but he was a genuine tough guy who, even after he became a successful writer, still looked like he had gone a few rounds with the world so he was not necessarily miscast in the role of Hammer. The main problem with The Girl Hunters is that the mystery is not that interesting. Mike Hammer does not really investigate anything. He just goes from fight to fight. At the end of the movie, he does come up with a clever trick to catch the killer but since there is only one suspect, the killer’s identity is not a surprise.s The Girl Hunter is worth seeing for Shirley Eaton in a bikini and the novelty of Mickey Spillane playing his most famous creation but Kiss Me Deadly is still the best Mike Hammer film.

The French poster leaves no doubt about The Girl Hunters’ main selling point.

Artwork of the Day: 3-Way Paradise

Posted on June 15, 2017 by Dazzling Erin

Artist Unknown

Music Video of the Day: Freaks by Live (1997, dir. Paul Cunningham)

Posted on June 15, 2017 by Valerie Troutman

Back in the 1990s, I could recite the standard line-up: Nirvana, Soundgarden, Alice In Chains, Pearl Jam, The Offspring, Green Day, and others. Live would always be the band I would recall after that–despite them being one of my favorites. For me, it’s Ed Kowalczyk’s voice. I’m sure it’s changed by now, but I recall during one of the SNL anniversary shows that they were the only band that received standing ovations during the two times that they played the show. According to Wikipedia, they played I Alone the first time and Lakini’s Juice the second time. There’s just something so powerful and uplifting about his voice.

Also, back in the 1990s, I saw a couple of Live music videos, but the only one I could definitively recall is Lightning Crashes. I had faint memories of something involving a tiny tub. It took me a bit to find out that was the video for Lakini’s Juice. I knew the song. I just never saw the video. Or, if I did, I had no memory of it.

There are several parts of this music video that I like a lot. Peter Guinness–the actor playing the guy who enters the nightclub. The ending is memorable because of its syncing with the music and because that’s when it gets really weird.

Finally, I love this shot below.

That doesn’t look like something Kowalczyk was told to do. That looks like he was smiling at something off-camera or thought the shot was done.

I looked around and couldn’t find anything on this video other than where it was in the playlist for MTV in 1997 according to Billboard magazine. I also still haven’t come across any books that cover music videos after the first ten years of MTV. In fact, it looks like it hasn’t been till the current decade that people have started writing bios and general history of that period of music videos and MTV.

The video was directed by Paul Cunningham.

It was produced by Niki Amos.

It was edited by Scot Crane.

I can find only a handful of music video credits for any of them.

Enjoy!

30 Days Of Surrealism:

A Movie A Day #157: Pacific Heights (1990, directed by John Schlesinger)

Posted on June 14, 2017 by Jedadiah Leland

Michael Keaton is the tenant from Hell in Pacific Heights.

In San Francisco, Patty (Melanie Griffith) and Drake (Matthew Modine) have just bought an old and expensive house that they can not really afford. In order to keep from going broke, they rent out two downstairs apartments. One apartment is rented by a nice Japanese couple. The other apartment is rented by Carter Hayes (Michael Keaton). Carter convinces Patty and Drake not to check his credit by promising to pay the 6 months rent up front. The money, he tells them, is coming via wire transfer.

The money never arrives but Carter does. Once he moves into the apartment, Carter changes the locks so that no one but him can get in. At all hours of the day and night, he can be heard hammering and drilling inside the apartment. Even worse, he releases cockroaches throughout the building. When Drake demands that Carter leave, the police back up Carter. After goading Drake into attacking him, Carter gets a restraining order. Drake is kicked out of his home, leaving Patty alone with their dangerous tenant.

Pacific Heights is the ultimate upper middle class nightmare: Buy a house that you can not really afford and then end up with a tenant who trashes the place to such an extent that the property value goes down. As a thriller, Pacific Heights would be better if Drake and Patty weren’t so unlikable. (When this movie was first made, people like Patty and Drake were known as yuppies.) Much like Drake’s house, the entire movie is stolen by Michael Keaton’s performance as Carter Hayes. Carter was not an easy role to play because not only did he have to be so convincingly charming that it was believable that he could rent an apartment just by promising a wire payment but he also had to be so crazy that no one would doubt that he would deliberately infest a house with cockroaches. Michael Keaton has not played many bad guys in his career but his performance as Carter Hayes knocked it out of the park.

One final note: Keep an eye out for former Hitchcock muse (and Melanie Griffith’s mother) Tippi Hedren, playing another one of Carter’s potential victims. Her cameo here is better than her cameo in In The Cold of the Night.

Roger Corman’s Bloody Valentine: THE ST. VALENTINE’S DAY MASSACRE (20th Century-Fox 1967)

Posted on June 14, 2017 by gary loggins

cracked rear viewer

Low budget auteur Roger Corman had visited the gangster genre twice before, with 1958’s MACHINE GUN KELLY (featuring Charles Bronson in the title role) and I, MOBSTER (starring noir vet Steve Cochran ). Nine years later, Corman produced and directed THE ST. VALENTINE’S DAY MASSACRE, with major studio backing, star power, and a million dollar budget. It’s still a Roger Corman film though, which means it’s a helluva lot of fun!

We’re in 1929 Chicago (as narrator Paul Frees tells us), a time of lawlessness, bootlegging, and mob killings on a daily basis. Two rival factions are battling to control the Windy City: the Southside gang led by ‘Scarface’ Al Capone (Jason Robards) and his Northside enemy ‘Bugs’ Moran ( Ralph Meeker ). Moran sends his top hood Peter Gusenberg (George Segal) to muscle in on Capone’s rackets, but when Big Al’s mentor Patsy is gunned down by Moran’s assassins, the crime boss goes…

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Artwork of the Day: The Phantom Detective

Posted on June 14, 2017 by Dazzling Erin

by Rudolph Belarski

Music Video of the Day: Schism by Tool (2001, dir. Adam Jones)

Posted on June 14, 2017 by Valerie Troutman

Ah, Schism. This has to be the most posted music video I have ever seen. You want to watch it on YouTube? You can. Vimeo? Absolutely. Dailymotion? Of course. There is even at least one reaction video to this music video. Even though I never got into Tool, this song and music video have stuck with me 15+ years later. My reaction at the time was that this is one weird video and I love the song. I still think that. If you’ve never seen this, then do so now.

The video was directed by their guitarist, Adam Jones.

It was produced by Robyn Breen and Kevin Willis.

It was edited by Lee Cowan.

Enjoy!

30 Days Of Surrealism:

4 Shots From 4 Underground Films: Vinyl, Beauty No. 2, Kitchen, Chelsea Girls

Posted on June 13, 2017 by Lisa Marie Bowman

4 Shots From 4 Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films is all about letting the visuals do the talking.

We survived Tuesday the 13th!

To celebrate, here are 4 shots from 4 underground films!

4 Shots From 4 Films