Sunday, August 5, 2007

Blaxploitation Marathon

One of Mulligan and I's favorite podcasts is Filmspotting. An on going tradition of the show is to catch up on a series of films, all related by genre, director, etc, they have not yet seen.

As you may have noticed in my previous posts, they just wrapped up their Film Noir marathon. Well up next is a genre that doesn't get enough respect yet demands it. Films with conventions that no other holds. A style that defined an era, yet holds relevance for today's audience. DeNiro himself, wished he could have been apart of this revolutionary era of poetry, harmony, and love. I of course refer to the genre that bitch slaps other genres...BLAXPLOITATION.

As we precede with our Screening Room sessions, I will also try to fit in these six films that many are deemed as Movies You Must See Before You Die. There are no set dates for discussion. I will post about them or at least mention them in our monthly Recent Watches. If you want to play, by all means join in the discussion, but if not, that is cool too,..just not nearly cool as Dolemite is.

1. Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song ('71)
2. Shaft ('71)
3. Superfly ('72)
4. Coffy ('73)
5. Foxy Brown ('74)
6. Dolemite ('75)

3 comments:

Brian Mulligan said...

I've wanted to tag along on a Filmspotting marathon for a while now, but I don't know if Blaxploitation is the one that's gonna hook me in. Of the films listed in the marathon, there are two that I own and want to definitely catch up with at some point Sweet Sweetback's Badasssss Song and Shaft. Whether or not I catch up with them in the next couple of weeks is another story. For right now I'm using the Screening Room Sessions as a way to catch up with obvious holes in my film watching history.

However, I wouldn't mind doing an homage to Filmspotting and adding a Bergman and Antonioni film into the Sessions as a nod to two careers I definitely need to get more familiar with. If you're interested in adding any of their films, The Seventh Seal, Scenes from a Marriage, Blow-Up or The Passenger for example, I'm ashamed to say I haven't seen a single film by either filmmaker. I'd like to rectify that.

chachiincharge said...

I think it would be good to add some of their films into the sessions, granted their films would have made my lists if we went further back than 1990. I don't think I've even heard of Antonioni, but I certainly heard of his films. I was meaning to catch up with Bergman here soon. I kinda wanted to catch all his Criterion films like Watching the Directors did. I'm so ashamed that I've seen neither of these esteemed director's films.

chachiincharge said...

Well I thought this would happen. Filmspotting has now decided to do a Bergman Marathon before visiting these equally worthy film classics. So I will try to keep up with that instead since I have a lot of catching up to do with Bergman.

1. Smiles of a Summer Night
2. Seventh Seal
3. Wild Strawberries
4. Winter Light
5. Shame
6. Fanny and Alexander

other films of his I will try to see as well include:
-Cries and Whispers
-Scenes from a Marriage
-Autumn Sonata
-Virgin Spring
-Persona
-Saraband
-Magic Flute

But I hope they stick with Blaxploitation after this. Bergman's stuff looks extremely heavy, depressing, long, and well Swedish. I'll need some good old fashion American entertainment after this, and what is more American than pimps and hos.

Blog Directory - Blogged