In The Realms Of The Unreal

In The Realms Of The Unreal is a 2004 documentary about the artist and author Henry Darger by Jessica Yu. Darger, working as a janitor, amassed a 15,000 page novel and paintings and drawings that came to light only after is death.

Trailer bellow followed by the feature after the jump...

 

Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles

Another look at Los Angeles. 

Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles of 1972 came on the heels of architectural historian and theorist's seminal 1971 work, Los Angeles: The Architecture of Four Ecologies.  Four Ecologies is an amazing work, this is more so so, but it is a fun ride (pun not intended) with Mr. Banham as he tears around a long gone Los Angeles , starting at LAX, in his Baede-Kar. 

Miracle Mile

I'm feeling romantic for LA. I got back here about three weeks ago and didn't realize how much I missed being here while in Chicago. 

Miracle Mile is a 1988 film staring Anthony Edwards and Mare Winningham from director Steve De Jarnatt. The movie starts with Edwards getting a date with Winninghan to pick her up at the diner (Johnie's Coffee Shop) where she works when she gets off - he oversleeps and rushes out to meet her. He is too late and calls her from the payphone outside at 4am. He leaves her a message and waits around the diner for her to come back. While waiting the phone in the booth rings and the voice on the end of the line begins rambling bout a missile set to hit Los Angels in 70 minutes.

Not only does the film unfold in about real time it is set in LA in the late 80's! 

Bellow is the trailer followed by full length film after the jump. 

Good Copy Bad Copy

Tonight we are featuring a nice doc about copyright and music sampling - featuring interviews with Girl Talk and Danger Mouse (among others).  Good Copy Bad Copy is from 2007 and was directed by Andreas Johnsen, Ralf Christensen, and Henrik Moltke. 

Electra Glide in Blue

Electra Glide in Blue is a great movie deserving more than its cult status. It is from 1973 and Stars Robert Blake. The title comes from the Harley Davidson's that traffic cops are issued motorcycle. It was directed by James William Guercio who produced albums for the band Chicago - who are also featured in the film and provide some of the music.

Blake plays John Wintergreen a cop patrolling the highways of Arizona's Monument Vally who gets a chance to become a detective after a murder and an Arizona detective takes him under his wing. Everything is going well until a run in with Jolene, a bar owner played by Jeannine Riley, and shit-hits-the-fan. The scene is really great - could be very cleche`d, but isn't at all. There is a motorcycle chase that isn't great, but other than that  - adding the cinematography by Conrad Hall - the movie is a hidden gem.

The trailer Is bellow followed by the feature after the jump. 

 

Site Update

I finally have started updating my personal web site, IHeartTanis.com. Not much is up there yet with the exception of three furniture projects.

Dark Science

This documentary is a very sad one, but it ends on a fairly happy note - so push through. 

Dark Science is an Australian  a doc by  Frank Haines from 2008. It tells the story of Swedish explorer Erik Mjöberg's 1910 trip to Australia looking for the missing link between ape and man in the  Aboriginal people. He set out by first mocking the Aborigines' customs and then followed that by looting, grave-robbing and smuggling human remains back to Sweden.