NEWS: The More You Drive, The Less Intelligent You Are

CULTURE: The More You Drive, The Less Intelligent You Are

This morning, I awoke early due to rampant diarrhea caused by an overabundance of meatloaf from last night's dinner. Unable to sleep, I did what any unemployed person would do - I turned on the TV. At five in the morning there really aren't many options as to what's on.

And then, the unemployment gods smiled upon me. No, it wasn't a winning scratch ticket, or free beer, or even a phone call from my landlord telling me not to worry about the rent this month. It wasn't any of those things, but it was still great - Repo Man was on.

For those of you who've lived under a rock for the past 24 years (or shop at Hot Topic), Repo Man (starring a pre-Bobby Emilio Estevez) is the story of a young suburban punk named Otto who gets roped into repossessing cars. The plot involves aliens, government agents, and a shitload of generic food and car air fresheners. None of that is really important, though. What is important is the fact that the movie even got made in the first place. Alex Cox, the director of Repo Man, had this to say from his website:

How it got made isn't nearly as important as the fact that it exists in the first place, though. Why? One simple reason: because it's so goddamned weird. Even a quarter-century later, Repo Man still holds up as one of the strangest films I've ever seen. It's also wickedly funny, simultaneously capturing a moment in time- the mid-1980s- and skewering it so badly you can practically hear Ronald Reagan's corpse say, "Not tonight, Bonzo". With all the references to a self-help book named "Diuretix", to the killer punk/hardcore soundtrack (look for the Circle Jerks posing as a lounge act about an hour into the film), to Otto's parents giving away his entire college fund to a televangelist (do people still do that?), the movie's jokes somehow still hold up today. Of course, it helps that the script contains so many catchphrase-worthy lines.

If you're still reading this, and you've never seen Repo Man, stop reading and go watch it. If you have seen it, let me ask you this: what movie is the Repo Man of today? Do they make films this fucking strange anymore without being from Japan or David Lynch? Suggest some more weird movies to me and I'll keep writing these things. Assuming, of course, that I have meatloaf again tonight.



MisterSatan is writing this article instead of looking for a job. He should have his knuckles slapped.

I've never seen it, but now I am intrigued.
I did a title search on the digital and it's nowhere to be found.


Blockbuster, here I come!

I have the soundtrack.

If they do have it at Blockbuster,which I highly doubt, I'd rent it, or pass out because they do have it.

It's more like the college town/independent used cd/vinyl/vhs/cd store that burns Nag Champa.

Oh, I'll find it if I set my mind to it.
Unless, of course, I get distracted by something shiny in the meantime.

I keep toying with the idea of watching Repo Man again, since it's on Directv On Demand for free, but I haven't gotten around to it. Great movie, and much weirder than most of the stuff coming out these days.

Hmmm... in fact, so much weirder that I'm sort of blanking on modern films that would equal its consistent oddness.

This is one of those films I keep meaning to see and never have.

Netflix!

See it along with Less Than Zero, it will be the best 4 hours of your life.

Oooh!
It's in the free movies OnDemand menu!


Thank you, Comcast!

I like Six String Samurai on kind of the same level that I like Repo Man.

I see that you skipped right past my post.

Not at all. I wasn't sure whether the DirectTV and Comcast OnDemand selections were the same.

Your post was what made me look!

Well don't I feel silly for swallowing all those sleeping pills just now.

*slaps knuckles*

He asked for it, people.

The films that are like this and made today are shit on and hated (Wait, maybe "Slacker"? I dunno, I'm reaching now). I don't really remember "Repo" being a huge hit when it came out and it gained cult status as the years went by. Maybe, in 15-25 years, something like "Buffalo 66" will be a fucking classic (semi-shudder).

Go check out River's Edge if you haven't already. You want quote-worthy lines and semi-trippy film-making it's got that in spades ("My Own Private Idaho"? Just throwing shit out there).

I love Repo Man. It never was a huge hit when it came out, not many people even remember it. It's kind of sad because MisterSatan is right, it's kind of a B movie classic.

It doesn't have to be sad. B movies have a certain...thing....going for them that major studio hits never will. I like where it sits in the movie pantheon. Now we should all shush before someone who shouldn't gets of whiff of how much it's enjoyed and decides to do a remake.

i didn't mean to make it sound like i was bashing B movies, i actually welcome them.

If they remake it i will stab my eyes out with a dull spoon.

"Because it would hurt more, you idiot!"

Gotcha. I'd use the handle end to gouge my eyes out while you did yours. Congrats, we just created a new genre of porn.

Wristcutters: A Love Story was pretty fucking strange. Although it was an indie, and set in an afterlife. l would recommend it to anyone who hasn't seen it yet. Plus, Tom Waits is in it.

i know the film name but thats about it, i'll be trying to rent this now aswell

i may have seen this movie over 50 times since high school. timeless and endlessly quotable.

it was just a bit more than a month ago that i had this up in my journal:



the latest DVD release has in its extra materials a really jaw-dropping interview with Harry Dean Stanton at his home - he is waaaaay out there.

God, I still can't believe people haven't seen this.

Alex Cox has one of the best filmographies of all time. In addition to Repo Man, he made Sid and Nancy and followed those up with Straight To Hell: a pretty bad western starring Courtney love, Dick Rude and Joe Strummer. Then he made Walker, which is a fanfuckingtastic bizarre film starring Ed Harris, based on William Walker. It's just been released on DVD. Check it out.

Oh, and he wrote a sequel to Repo Man that was never made, called Waldo's Hawaiian Holiday. Check it out here.

Repo Man = Genius.