Hardware

Someone recently recommended Lost Soul to me, the recent documentary about writer/director Richard Stanley and his journey making 1996's The Island of Doctor Moreau. Before I watched it I thought I might revisit Stanley's first mainstream film, Hardware from 1990.

I remember being very into cyberpunk when Hardware came out, seeing it the Friday night it was released, and liking it enough to buy the VHS when it became available - but if I'm being honest, I remember almost nothing else. It was one of those videotapes I owned, put on the shelf, and never watched. Yes, it's time to watch Hardware, but on Netflix, the VHS is long long gone now.

Hardware portrays a post-apocalyptic world some time in the 21st century with nations at war and radiation everywhere. The technology is dated, yet somehow refreshing, even if the fashions are very 1980s MTV doomsday. Written and directed by Stanley, and based on a short story from 2000 A.D., is the story of a sculptor who inadvertently reactivates a killer robot from collected junk, which then rampages.

This is both something we've seen before and yet haven't. Stanley adds a punk attitude and style to old school scifi and horror, then turns the dials up to eleven. Hardware is sexy, dirty, and slick, fastpaced to a eclectic score and soundtrack. I found I still dig this after twenty-five years, and had to scratch my head about why I hadn't seen either of Stanley's other two films, Moreau and Dust Devil.

Stacey Travis, John Lynch, and pre-"Practice" Dylan McDermott are very good and better than the usual for this kind of genre flick, but the movie is quite easily stolen by Motorhead's Lemmy, and Iggy Pop as DJ Angry Bob. Hardware was a pleasant ride through cyberpunk nostalgia, recommended, but not for the squeamish.

Ray Manzarek 1939-2013

Amidst a whirlwind of false death rumors about the man, it turns out that music legend, and former member of the Doors, Ray Manzarek, has passed away. In a German hospital from cancer, the founder and keyboardist for the Doors is dead at 74.

This is a gut punch to me as strong as the passings of John Lennon, Kurt Cobain, or Warren Zevon. Ray Manzarek is a voice from my youth. I wasn't cognizant for the first coming of the Doors, but their revival in the late 1970s, due to many factors, was strong in my formation.

There was AOR FM radio looking for music to play and not wanting to touch disco or new wave or punk, and began to mine the sixties for music, delivering the Doors to the forefront once again. There was the book, that everyone in my suburban white drug culture high school read - "No One Here Gets Out Alive" by Jerry Hopkins and Danny Sugarman - that made a legend of the late Jim Morrison.

There was, and is, some hardcore realist inside me that knows that Morrison was just a sullen alcoholic bully, but it was Ray Manzarek that created the legend, wove the tale, built the rock god, and manifested the Lizard King from the ground up. Whatever Jim Morrison was, Ray Manzarek made him.

I remember listening to Jim Ladd and his Sunday night "Innerview" interviewing Ray Manzarek multiple times, as he told apocryphal and supernatural tales of Jim Morrison, building the legend word by word. Manzarek talked of the Native American shaman who possessed Morrison as a child, the concept that he might not be dead, and all sorts of fantastic stories of the legendary Doors, fact and fiction. And he did it all the finesse of a master radio manipulator. Ray Manzarek would've made Orson Welles jealous with these performances.


For decades, Manzarek kept the infamous Doors alive, both on radio, and in sales, as he maintained his own career as well. He created a wonderful rendition of "Carmina Burana" with Philip Glass, as well as producing several albums for LA punk band X. He also worked with Echo and the Bunnymen and Iggy Pop among others, and even toured with Ian Asbury of The Cult in place of Morrison in a version of the Doors.


His charismatic personality, his fabulous storytelling ability, and his unique keyboard creations will live on for decades to come. We have truly lost one of the rock and roll legends. Long live Ray Manzarek and the Doors. Hopefully he's jamming with the Lizard King right now.

Quickies 12-7-2010

Secretariat ~ Although falling into the same vein as Apollo 13, Miracle and the granddaddy of all the yes-you-idiot-this-really-happened flicks, Titanic, this was still an excellent and uplifting film. And unlike those others I mentioned, when I saw Secretariat, there was no one insanely younger than me worried about the outcome of the movie in the seats around me. Secretariat was the first Kentucky Derby winner I was aware of as a kid, and it was interesting to see the whole backstory as presented here. Terrific flick, great cast, highly recommended, and Diane Lane better get an Oscar nod for this.

Suck ~ This is a surprising black comedy horror musical about a rock band of mostly vampires trying to make it. Lots of great tunage, in-jokes and wonderful cameos from Alice Cooper, Iggy Pop, Alex Lifeson, Dave Foley, Henry Rollins, Malcolm McDowell, and someone probably only I remember, Carole Pope of Rough Trade. Great fun, recommended.

The Runaways ~ Dakota Fanning plays lead singer Cherie Currie in this bio-pic of the 1970s teen hard rock female sensations the Runaways, based on Cherie's book Neon Angel: A Memoir of a Runaway. Kristen Stewart of the Twilight movies plays against type as Joan Jett, and Michael Shannon, one of the best new actors of recent years is the sadistic record producer Kim Fowley. Look quick or you'll miss Tatum O'Neal as Cherie's mom. Great soundtrack, bittersweet ending and great time capsule.

The Last Airbender ~ I love M. Night. Um, I used to love M. Night. Let's face it, I held out longer for this dude than anyone else I know who loves and watches and writes and even just talks about movies. All the other rats have fled the sinking ship. I can still on occasion be caught defending The Village, swing away and yes, even the 'narf.' I saw promise, potential and genius. I just watched The Last Airbender. Wow. I seriously hope there is still a life raft willing to let me climb aboard.

Lux Interior Dead at 62

The lead singer of the Cramps, Lux Interior, passed away yesterday from a pre-existing heart condition. He was a better Iggy Pop than Iggy himself. We've lost one of the great ones, and he'll be missed.