District B13
A brilliantly terrible French action film, much of District B13 is so poorly done that it races through atrocious and ends up amazing. The stunts are the highlight, many performed by parkour experts such as David Belle, one of the stars of the films and a co-founder of the art. They are mesmerizing and all the more impressive considering there is little use of special effects. The rest of the film is just garnish, but delightfully tasteless garnish. Set way in the future, in 2010 France, the most uncontrollable parts of the city have been walled in and people within these communities have somehow acquired severely pimped cars, shiny gangster clothing and copious weaponry. One of the best things about French cinema is listening to that beautiful language, but this has been overdubbed with English — the cartoon voices and terrible lip-syncing adding to the film’s overall hilarity. There is then a slab of social commentary jammed inappropriately at the end and what results is a package so terrible that is immensely enjoyable. Worth repeated viewing just to marvel at those stunts and the truly disastrous scripting and acting
Tagged: France, French movies
- 1
- 0
RELATED
Living the high life in Biarritz, France
Seriously, is there anywhere in the world more glamorous than the French holiday town of Biarritz? I recently visited Biarritz for the second time, and this visit, was even more wowed by the endless array of buffed, leggy, chain-smoking Europeans — each of them dripping in jewellery, swanning about in their caftans, and sipping champagne like it was water. Read more
France regulates photoshopped images
The big media news of the past few days has been the proposal by fifty French lawmakers that would require all altered images be labeled with a disclaimer that they have been digitally enhanced. Read more
Château d’Estoublon’s olive oil
It was the haute couture perfume-like bottles that first sparked my interest in Château d’Estoublon’s scrumptious olive oils. So on a recent trip to Provence in the South of France where the Estoublon estate has its roots, quite literally, a quick stop for a tasting was on the agenda. Set on a massive 48 acres, replete with vineyards, olive groves, gardens, a pond, and of course, a massive château, the space is inspiring, as are its products. Read more
Also by XAVIER TOBY
Valentino: The Last Emperor — Fashion documentary
A documentary about one of the world’s most famous fashion designers? Hmm. Not a film I’d ever choose to see, but sometimes we do what we don’t want to in order to make friends happy. It’s called compromise apparently, and the experience reminded me that any material, if well structured and presented, can make a decent film. The filmmakers follow the over-tanned Valentino Garavani and his long-term lover and business partner Giancarlo Giammetti. Read more
Larry David plays a slight variation on his Curb Your Enthusiasm incarnation, spouting some of the most articulate rants on humanity in Woody Allen’s new comedy. I enjoyed last year’s Vicky Cristina Barcelona, but this is definitely better. It’s a spectacularly executed comedy farce, with the action constantly escalating along the way, adhering to the old comedy formula of putting the characters through hell for big laughs. Read more
Black Dynamite blaxploitation movie trailer
One very angry and unstoppable man wages war against drugs and malt liquor. A take-off of the old blaxploitation films, this is parody at its best, with many knowing nods to camera and hilarious moments involving clichés taken to their extremes. There’s the Asian kung-fu master, pimps and orphans hooked on heroin. It all begins with Black Dynamite being spurned on his quest for blood after his brother’s brutal murder, and then pushed further for the love of a good woman. There are hoes and guns, along with catchphrases and great one-liners. See it.
YOU'RE SAYING (0)
No comments yet.
HAVE YOUR SAY
I’d been trying to figure out who the illustrator was who had done a few of the beautiful pieces for this year’s Kiehl’s holiday display for a while until I was serrendipitously pointed toward a certain rep’s website to check out some of their illustrators and I discovered it was Justin Gabbard. Score! Since finally coming upon Gabbard’s site, I’ve been back more than a few times to ogle his colorful, chiseled paintings, as well as his fantastic assortment of drawings and experiments. What I find most wonderful is the way in which Gabbard appears to continually tweak his techniques, painting one time, trying it digitally the next, throwing in a little of this and a little of that from one project to the next. Next time I’m out and about in the city and manage to happily stumble across Gabbard’s work, I won’t have the least bit of trouble placing it. Read more
Look closely at the froth of this latte and you’ll see a portrait carved out amongst the grains and milk. It’s a truly a work of art and it’s a feature of the coffee served at Richmond, Melbourne cafe Flavours of Lakhoum. Check, please!
New York-based eco-line Loomstate create the coolest tees made of organic cotton. Each printed t-shirt not only celebrates nature but is stylishly crafted, with contrasting stitching coupled with signature twisted side seams for a sleek fit. My favourite is the Seabra design [pictured below]. And, boys, don’t fret because Loomstate cater for males, too. Read more
Employing a whole gamut of textures and mediums, London-based illustrator Gwen Lee creates perfectly spontaneous black and white drawings that really hit the spot.
This odd, atmospheric animation by web artists Aaron Russ Clinger and Miltos Manetas is simple but effective, a finely rendered piece of interactive art. There are some pretty crazy things you can make the floating man do if you play around with this long enough.
You heard it here first. Singer-songwriter Julian Perretta might just become the most exciting new artist of 2008. Read more
There’s something quite attractively kitsch about the Lucky Dragons’ latest release, Dream Island Laughing Language. It’s undoubtedly unusual, and not too friendly on the ears, but something warm and fuzzy keeps creeping out of the broken drum rhythms and looped vocals. It’s a mish-mash of jangly folk licks, Squarepusher-style drum ‘n bass with a few Coco Rosie-esque experimental sound effects thrown in: intriguing, original, and fairly hard to describe!
WE'RE RESPECTING
WE'RE POSTING / SOME OF THE BEST
Hong Kong-based illustrator Man-Tsun draws dark and beautiful painterly images that look like they are straight off a high-end Japanese animated film. Read more
Alex Passapera’s dizzying pen and ink drawings are cascades of images melting into one another, often looking like contorting, mutating creatures spewing blood-like ink splatters. Read more
Trip out with Sparrow Vs Sparrow’s retro illustrations, I love their aesthetic, color use and sense of humor. Read more
Scanners’ new single Salvation
I love this track by London based rock group, Scanners, which is off their latest album, Submarine. Having toured with acts such as The Horrors, The Wedding Present, The Charlatans, Electric Six, and Juliette & The Licks, Scanners could well blow up in 2010. Figuratively speaking, not literally. No, that wouldn’t be fun.
There is not a medium that UK illustrator Lizzy Stewart cannot wrap around her little finger to make the most beautiful, whimsical images. Read more
Thanks to Sony Australia, four Lost At E Minor readers will win personal audio prizes, including the new 8GB Walkman S series video MP3 player and the MDRXB500 Extra Bass headphones. Read more
Golden Half is one of the world’s most popular toy cameras. It’s compact in size and each click of the shutter uses half of the standard 135mm frame. This means a 36-exposure roll of film will return around 72 images. It’s available for US$100. Read more
FOLLOW US
DISCOVER MORE
SO...
SEARCH: Can't find what you're looking for? Do a search..
IS IT GOOD FOR YOU TOO?
We hope you're enjoying your time on Lost At E Minor, but it’s not over yet. Got something to share? Tell us about it and we'll look to publish it. If you want to have your work featured on the site, we'd love to hear from you. Pssst, we also have an online store stocking some of the goodies we feature on the site.
If you're a media agency and want to use this platform to connect with our readership, then drop us a line and tell us about it. Oh yeah, and we do digital consulting for cool brands that want to reach the sort of demographic that visits this site.
