LFDW ON THE WEST COAST

Conducted by Caleb Dante. Read more from him in our magazine. Issue #4 comes out in October.   

I don't remember the categories, I don't remember who won awards. But here's some pictures from the One Shot Tattoo Bike Show. One Shot is located on the Westside of Cincinnati, Ohio and they are currently being talked into hosting another show next year.   

As you probably have seen we've been screening movies. They play the first Monday of every month at the Esquire Theater in Cincinnati. We've done Dirty Harry, Death Wish, and Easy Rider. Next month we're doing two. Rancho Deluxe and one that has yet to be announced.  I fuckin' love movies. I watch 4-6 a week. Not exaggerating. (Shoutout to the Criterion Collection) Most the movies are old, 20 plus years, some are new. It's not that I don't like new movies, it's that I don't think most are well made. Recently the only new movies I've liked have been Dune, one and two, The Batman, Mad Max, and The Bikeriders. Most of those are expansive epics with real cool shit going on, which seems to be what most movies are going for now but very few do well. But, I hate the marvel trend and I don't need another Star Wars.  The biggest issue I have watching mostly old movies is that you almost always have to watch them at home which, especially for movies made before streaming, is not the way the filmmakers intended them to be seen.  We're very lucky in Cincinnati. We have a number of groups, most of which are run by friends of mine (Secret Base Cinema, Conveyor Belt Books, and Outer Cinema), that put on old movies in real theaters on big screens. I've come across some of my favorite movies and directors through other people's showings. Dario Argento's Deep Red opened a whole world of Giallo filmmaking to me. However, I'm not sure I would have connected with these movies the same had I seen them at home. All the movies that LFDW has shown are ones I've seen before, multiple times, but never on the big screen. Seeing them the way god and Don Segel intended is a totally different experience. The shots are bigger and better and the action more intense. They are also all funny. Dirty Harry, Death wish and Easy Rider are hilarious. They're not hilarious in an unintended way either, they're really funny movies. This is something I think a lot of modern movies are missing. Comedy. Not everything has to be one genre. Not everything has to beat you over the head with overly dark tones. Not everything should be just dumb low level jokes either, Marvel.  After watching Easy Rider in the theater my wife said "that's my Marley and Me." Because it's a truly funny/fun movie that ends with the main characters being blown away for no reason (dog dying).  Old movies reflected life. They're funny, serious, sad, goofy, etc. They let the story breath and develop without relying on dumb tricks and cheap pops. They were made to be seen on big screens with other people. The first time I saw ONce upon a Time in Hollywood was in a packed theater. When everyone realized the Manson family wasn't going to kill Sharon Tate and her friends the entire place erupted in laughter. A hundred people laughed harder at multiple violent murders than at any recent comedy I've seen. Why? Because we all experienced relief together. Tarantino is a master director with a great love of old movies. He knows how his work is meant to be seen. He knows how to manipulate an audience.  But sadly master directors are few and far between now. So, until movies swing back around and get good We'll keep showing the old ones the way they're meant to be shown. Big and to a crowd.