ERASERHEAD
Haunting, hypnotic, memorable, and quite possible meaningless. So did the guy with the Lyle Lovett hair father the alien with no skin beneath his bandages? And what's with lady in the radiator? And the sock drawer full of giant sperm? And the mini chicken spurting blood? And that's all before the dream sequence. The scary thing is that this man now has two kids. His disdain for parenthood is quite clear in this picture. Even if nothing else is. Still the black and white visuals are quite memorable. I cried at the end even though I had no idea what happened. Is it a happy ending? Did he put the baby out of its misery, or was he just trying to end his own selfishly? Who knows?

HEAD
The Monkees were quite often criticized by their musical peers for not being real musicians, and yet did the Monkees say anything when these guys went ahead and made movies without being "real" actors? No. But there is a huge difference. The painful but ambitious projects such as Frank Zappa's "2000 Motels" and the Beatles' "Magical Mystery Tour" all pale in comparison to the Monkees' "Head" because they had two years of going in and making a TV show under their belt. They could act. But this is not just a 90 minute Monkees episode but rather a harsh black comedy about the perils of being a manufactured band. (If *NSync has any perception or souls this movie may be a harsh warning). What the black box represents is fairly easy to guess but the rest... do they have to kill themselves to escape their fate? The box office failure of this trippy movie (too far out for their young audience) certain killed their careers. While the free-wheeling sporadic nature of the film may leave it feeling like such sketch movies as "Amazon Women On The Moon". Each of the episodes build on each other and point to something larger. Co-written by Jack Nicholson and featuring Frank Zappa and Annette Funnicello.

2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY
I have mixed feelings about Stanley Kubrick. When he's good ("Dr. Strangelove", the first half of "Full Metal Jacket") he's an amazingly powerful filmmaker. And when he's bad ("Eyes Wide Shut", the second half of "Full Metal Jacket") he just plain sucks. Now parts of this movie make sense. It's like a science fiction movie. With only thirty-some lines of dialogue. But then... What's with the giant floating embryo? Or the bright white motel room? Or the impressive for their day special effect montage? What happens at the end?!? It's really a story about three main characters; an enigmatic slab of black something, a sympathetic and charismatic computer named HAL, and a bland faceless entity we refer to as all of humanity. From the proto-monkeys at the beginning to the rather hard to distinguish apart astronauts at the end, humanity is sort of all lumped into one boring category. The only moments of human triumph or individuality are the greatest hits of classical music that pervade the soundtrack. Can you believe someone tried to make a sequel to this? An hour and a half of a film just trying to explain fifteen minutes of another film.

SCHIZOPOLIS
Steven Sodeberg went from the originator of the indie film movement with "sex, lies, & videotape" to commercial Hollywood sell-out with stuff like "Out Of Sight" and "Erin Brockavich". But somewhere along the way he made "Schizopolis". A low-low budget, little seen feature starring himself and the woman he was in the middle of divorcing. Neither of whom are actors. Painful or therapeutic? You decide. Then there's an exterminator who runs around spouting Ionesco-like gibberish who eventually gets stolen to be in someone else's story. And a vaguely threatening or falling apart Scientology style cult that he "works" for. And at one point everyone starts speaking in various foreign languages. And I haven't even mentioned the guy who runs around with no pants. Very self-deprecating. And amusing. And a lot better than anything else Sodeberg's done.

WITHOUT YOU, I'M NOTHING
Rather than simply film a live performance of one of Sandra Bernhart's already surreal stand-up comedy/cabaret shows, we get this film version of the event. Which also makes room for an African-American woman to get up in the morning, wonder around the city and leave a nasty note for Sandra in lipstick on her table. Not to mention "Shoshana", a Madonna look-like who dances around to an empty drumbeat. There are also interviews with Berhart's "manager" and "Friend" interspersed with her playing several roles in what looks like the lounge act in hell. Her witty and droll observations are generally pushed aside for her singing. Which is competent. But not what she's generally known for. So you have to wonder what she's getting at. But then she's turns Prince's "Little Red Corvette" into a truly sad and moving ballad. And then there's her star-spangled strip-tease complete with red-white-and-blue pasties. Even those who find our Miss Sandra attractive (I plead the fifth) are not likely to be aroused. Scary.