"Whom God Wishes to Destroy, He First Makes Mad" - Shock Corridor (1963)

Shock Corridor (1963)

When one wishes to understand 'Pulp' filmmaking one should look no further than Samuel Fuller's masterpiece Shock Corridor. Peter Breck plays the films protagonist Johnny Barrett, an ambitious young journalist looking for that Pulitzer Prize and a claim to fame. Johnny hears about a murder that happened at the local insane asylum and coerces his boss to get him submitted to the institution so he can do some un

dercover journalism to find out who really killed these patients. Johnny's girlfriend (a stripper named Cathy) is opposed to the whole idea, but agrees to go along with the plan to get Johnny submitted.

Once Johnny is submitted he meets a large ensemble of "crazy" patients. The beauty of this film is the way this film deals with insanity. Though it's not P.C. by any means, it bleeds a very important message: The world is sick and no one is well. In the institution there's an African American who hates black people, women are depicted as nymphomaniacs, and a shell shocked WWII veteran who thinks he's part of the Civil War, just to name a few. The choice of characters are completely reflective of the times, the early 60s where so much socio-political change was happening for better or for worse. All of this done under Samuel Fuller's bizarrely beautiful direction, through superimposing images and auditory experimentations his circus of looney's reads more like a reflection of reality.

La Fin Du Monde: (The End of the World)

Triple fermented and using a unique yeast straining technique which gives this beer

a champagne-like tartness on the tongue and a wonderful aroma of wild spices. Hoppy and full bodied this is North America's first Trappist beer, which means that it is brewed and controlled under the authority of Trappist monks. The monks of La Trappe Abbey in France would brew this style beer to fund their work. In my opinion the best work the church has ever done.

Country of Origin: Chambly, Quebec

Alc. Vol. 9%


Tom Waits, Blood Money (2002)

No one can capture both the grittiness and the merit of humanity like Tom Waits can. It's always hard to decide which album of his to put on or talk about because the man hasn't made a bad record in his life and he spans so many genres and styles that it's hard to pin him down in anything. When I chose this album to accompany this film and beer I was going with the theme of destruction through mitigation. I believe that Blood Money captures this. With songs like "Misery Is the River of the World," "Gods Away on Business" and "Everything Goes to Hell" you hear the deconstruction of hope in life, but at the same time the croons of "All the World is Green," "Another Man's Vine" and "Lullaby" almost say the opposite, that through this struggle we will prevail. Just another notch in the belt of masterpieces Mr. Waits keeps around his waist.

Recommendations: "Starving In the Belly of a Whale," "Everything Goes to Hell" & "Another Man's Vine,"

I Didn't Know It Was In German - Metropolis (1927)

METROPOLIS (1927)


Fritz Lang is one of those directors that took me from being a movie watcher to a movie nerd, specifically his first 'talkie' M. His movies are dark and forlorning that speak of great societal issues that usually represent impending doom upon a community or the collapse of humanity itself. I was in Brussels this summer and during our travels we were searching for a movie theater hoping to find an old deco theater and catch a film. They had a list of amazing films that were playing; most of them in other languages and Brussels having 3 nationally recognized languages and none of them being English we decided to sit in and watch Fritz Lang's silent epic Metropolis. The theater was minimal, rows of seats and a medium sized white rectangle in the middle of the floor. The theater was lit by two flood lights that were on tripods and when the film started someone had to manually come down and turn off the switches. There was no masking for screen so it just looked like it was being projected onto a wall. As bare bones as it was it felt completely appropriate for the mood of the film.

When the feature did finally begin the music rang in and the images of steel workers building a city; sparks flying and clocks being wound. World order coming into creation. Being a silent film, and it being a while since I've sat through a feature length silent movie I forgot about the title cards. The first one came on and I realized, "Shit. This is in German." So the title cards were in German and it was translated into both French and Dutch. I was lost. I had seen the film before, but years ago and remembered almost nothing about it prior to going in. So for over two hours I sat, watching something in which no words could help describe the action, and again it kind of felt appropriate. Lang is able to tell the story through just action and the dialogue is just a device to keep the audience more engaged. His story of corruption, destruction and rebirth is a powerful and epic masterpiece. This film will all and leave you thirsty for more more German Expressionism.


Samichlaus Bier. (Samichlaus = Santa Clause) Or according the Guinness Book of World Records, "The World's Strongest Beer." Brewed only once a year on Dec. 6 then stored for ten months before being bottled this lager matures into an intense and delicious brew. A perfect winter beer and an example of German influenced perfection. Like our waiter said in France, "Very good! Very strong!"

Country of Origin: Austria
Alc. Vol. 14%


Talking Heads, Remain in Light (1980)
There are no words to describe the beautiful complexity to this album. The Talking Heads have always pushed the conventional styles of music and rebelled against standards. Just like Metropolis this album deconstructs chaos and rebirths it into something beautiful.

Recommendations: The whole album.

Where is the Miller High Life? - Do The Right Thing (1989)

DO THE RIGHT THING (1989):

This movie is a lot like the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies, minus the giant talking rat. As similar as the two films may be; both taking place in New York during the 1980s and having pizza as a major plot device they do stray from similar story lines mostly impart to the Ninja Turtles refusal to address the racial problems that plagued New Yorks middle to lower class.

Brilliantly written and directed by Spike Lee, Do The Right Thing is one of those movies that time becomes synonymous as you slip into the dayglo painted world of Brooklyn. The photography of this film is breathtaking and emphasizes the emotions of interiority of the the characters.

The subject matter of this film is dealt with incredible elegance and a young sense of maturity as Spike Lee delivers an intelligent drama about the tensions of racial diversity in a small neighborhood.

With a score by Spike Lee's father Bill Lee and killer performances by all, this movie remains one of the best films of modern humanity and one of my personal favorites.

Scene from an Episode of The Critic

Color. English. 1.85:1. 120 min.


What goes good with movies about Brooklyn? How about Brooklyn's own Brooklyn Brewery Lager. This Vienna style lager's floral taste and delicious aroma comes from their practice of dry-hopping, where instead of throwing the hops in with the wort as the beer brews they steep batches of fresh hops into the batch as it matures. Goes great with warm weather, and since this movie deals with a heatwave, I don't think that there's a better match. But I must continue to ask, "Where is the Miller High Life?"

Country of Origin: USA.
Alc. Vol. 5%


Gil Scott-Heron, The Revolution Will Not Be Televised (1988)
There's not much you can say about this album. It's better than good, it's great. The blend of jazz, soul, and budding new genre of hip-hop this album carries the weight of the seventies into the eighties but with an even stronger message.

Recommendations: The Get Out of the Ghetto Blues & Home Is Where the Hatred Is




Recommendations In Brief: Citizen Kane (1941): This film will be celebrating it's 58th birthday next May. So stay in, and watch this film the way the makers intended; with an ounce of blow and a 30 rack of Coors Lite. "It's Terrific!"

Testing... Testing... 1. 2. 3.

Alright. This being my first post, I suppose I should explain myself. I'm not exactly sure what I'm doing here. I figure a little review, a little recommendation and most importantly a little pairing. Movies, music, books and beer.

This movie's got it all: Wit, balls, suspense and a musical number that will make you want to rummage through your grandparents album collection. The films intensity parallels that of it's maker. Jules Dassin, a noted figure in the budding era of America's finest film movement: Noir. Like all Film Noir, the protagonists search for success is interrupted by either his own self destructive behavior or he's ratted out by stoolie. Dassin's friend at the time and fellow filmmaker Edward Dmytryk (Murder, My Sweet, 1944), was being charged ties to Communism. Dmytryk was blacklisted and became part of the notorious "Hollywood Ten". In his attempts to clear his name Dmytryk named names, and one of those names was Jules Dassin's. Dassin, a quintessential part of the Noir movement with such epics as Brute Force, Theives Highway & The Naked City packed up his bags and moved to Europe to avoid McCarthyism and his own personal accusations, creating in my opinion his coup de grâce. Dassin playing one of the leads as Cesar le Milanais a Greek safe cracker propels this movie from bien to magnifique. The climax of the film is a thirty-minute silent safe-cracking scene that will have you reinventing the way you look at movies.

B&W. French. 1.37:1. 122 min.


What goes good with movies? Beer. Specifically this beer: Kwak. Served in probably the worlds most absurd vessel this Belgian Amber is the perfect accompaniment to a good French gangster film. One sip and you'd run over your own mother to get another.

Alc. Vol. 8%


Finally, music. Since we're in a French speaking kind-of-mood, there's no better pair to these than the swing troubadour himself, Mr. Charles Trenet. Playing with elements of traditional French music and exploring into the then-new American styles of swing and blues. If you've never heard of him, you've heard his music before. About every indie movie to come out within the past 5 years has had his song La Mer in it.

Recommendations: Que Reste-t-il de nos Amours, La Mer, Boum.