Ultra Culture Cinema #01: The Bad Lieutenant: Port Of Call - New Orleans

Attentive viewers will recall the time last month when The Incredible Suit conducted some kind of interview with fellow movie blog Ultra Culture about their forthcoming screening of The Bad Lieutenant: Port Of Call - New Orleans. Well, the screening came and, inevitably, went and a smashing time was had by all, although the house white wine at the ICA leaves a lot to be desired.

The event itself was not just a film screening but an extended kids' birthday party, with colouring-in, free pop and gifts showered onto the audience by Ultra Culture's Charlie Lyne, the Galadriel of movie bloggers, dishing out DVDs and posters rather than rubbish leaf brooches and bits of old hair.

Next month's screening is antonym of normality Trash Humpers, the quality of which The Incredible Suit cannot confirm, but you'd still be advised to pop along if you can because it's what all the cool kids will be Tweeting about the next day. Deets here.



The Bad Lieutenant, sadly, excited me less than the possibility of a gratis fizzy drink. Nicolas Cage is hard work at the best of times (although Raising Arizona is megs), and although he didn't drive me completely Crackers Patel this time, his manic loon schtick failed to convince me that he was anything other than a weird actor behaving weirdly.

Director and renowned barmlord Werner Herzog seems undecided whether to make a 'normal' film or something typically barking, and ends up with neither, veering dangerously close to a Guy Ritchie-esque crime caper with 100% less Jason Statham and 100% more iguanas. That said, The Bad Lieutenant's refusal to sit comfortably in any given genre is admirable, and the scene in which Cage interrogates a crusty old biddy and her carer is top-notch maddery.

Of course the question on everone's lips is "Is this the film that finally reunites that bad guy and the janitor from Die Hard 2?", and I can happily reveal that the answer is a resounding "Yippee-ki-yay, muddy funsters":

Worth the price of admission just to see these two legends together again.

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The Incredible Suit Goes All Paxman

I booked tickets recently for a preview of over-punctuated crackersplosion The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans at London's ICA, starring Nicolas Cage's latest hairpiece.



What's arguably more interesting about the screening than Cage's syrup is the fact that it's being arranged by Ultra Culture, the second best movie blog on the internets. At the risk of driving you all away, Ultra Culture really is quite good, and its creator Charlie Lyne irritatingly young and talented.

You may ask what a blog thinks it's doing holding a preview screening, why that screening should be a Nicolas Cage film, what other excitement might occur at the event and if this is a sign of the future of bloggery. If so that's a remarkable coincidence because, in a first for The Incredible Suit, I actually conducted an 'interview' with Charlie and asked him those very things in the style of Jeremy Paxman, which I carried through right to the final question.

What the hell are you playing at? Whoever heard of a blog hosting a preview screening?
I think Ain't It Cool do similar stuff in the States, but this will be significantly better than that because we won't be showing X-Men Origins: Wolverine. I hope. It wouldn't be happening at all if it wasn't for the amazingly undervalued ICA.

Why Bad Lieutenant? It's got Nicolas Cage in it ferchrissakes.
What the hell are you implying? Sir Nicolas of Cage is one of the greatest actors currently living. It sounds like I'm being ironic but I'm very serious about this: he's a genius. And Bad Lieutenant is absolutely phenomenal.

What other activities can we expect to see? Are you organising a game of Pin The Toupee On The Nicolas Cage?
It's all a bit hush-hush (i.e. I haven't thought of most of them) but we have to find the delicate balance between things that are enjoyable and things that people dub 'forced fun'. It'll all have to be very optional. But I'm definitely going to wear an Iguana costume.

Is this the next step on the evolutionary ladder for blogs?
It wouldn't work for everything, but there's definitely something cool about transitioning it to the real world. You can have a look at your audience for a start.

That sounds horrific. What's next in the Ultra Culture plan for world domination?
What would be great is a very big pile of cash. So I'd like to sell out to a major distributor as quickly as humanly possible. You'll know it's happened if I start raving about Dear John next week.

What's your favourite colour?
#b9e344, obv.

The screening is on Wednesday 5th May at 8pm, and tickets may still be available from the ICA on 020 7930 3647. It's 8 quid if you mention Ultra Culture; you can mention The Incredible Suit too if you like but you'll be met with confused silence.

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