Who put the "Pop" in Popkoff?

Humble Pie a.k.a. American Fork (2007)

2012-02-14T15:15:00.010-06:00

I saw this back in 2007 at the Austin Film Festival, under the original title, "American Fork." I'm not entirely sure that either title really does the film justice, unfortunately. This is not a great movie, but I think it's pretty underrated and very very good. I re-watched it recently and I still really like it.

"Humble Pie" is story of Tracy Orbison, a nearly 400 pound grocery store employee in a generic small town. He lives at home with his Mother, doesn't have a driver's license, or a girlfriend, or any direction in life. In some ways, "Humble Pie" could have easily been horrible. All of the plot-ingredients, visual flare, and quirkiness of other (much more annoying) films are there, but somehow the film side-steps the pitfalls those films didn't.

It does this in a lot of ways, the first and most important is in the casting of writer/actor Hubbel Palmer. Palmer gives a very assured performance; naturalistic and empathetic. His psychical appearance goes along way in characterizing some of Tracy's day-to-day problems, but fortunately the film doesn't dwell on his weight too much (although you wouldn't know it from the dvd packaging). Another way it side-steps disaster is by avoiding the inclusion of some sort of trans-formative-miracle-girlfriend that makes everything better. Though there is mentioning of his lack-of-a-girlfriend in the film, there is never an attempt by Tracy to remedy the situation (nor is there a chance encounter at the psychiatrist office).

As the plot unfolds, Tracy decides that he wants to become an actor and begins to take part in weekly acting classes taught by an actor named Truman Hope (William Baldwin), whose biggest claim-to-fame was an appearance on "Jag." Tracy is initially in awe of Truman, but soon discovers he's not such a nice guy when he screws him out of his ticket to go see Rutger Hauer give a lecture. The film has a lot of little details like "Jag" and Rutger Hauer that really adds to the comedy.

The rest of the plot concerns Tracy's relationship with his Mother, a new found friendship with a teenager at work named Kendis (Vincent Caso), and Truman's romancing of Tracy's introverted sister (Mary Lynn Rajskub). The plot-line about Tracy's friendship with Kendis goes into some pretty implausible territory, but the film manages to hang-on to believability due to Palmer's performance. He makes Tracy the kind of "twenty-something loser" that a lot of films like this lack, the kind that we can root for, the underdog. Like I said, it's not great film, there are flaws, but it succeeds because of it's sincerity and sweetness.

--Popkoff

Ladybug, Ladybug (1963)

2012-02-13T03:44:00.007-06:00

Frank Perry's "Ladybug, Ladybug" is definitely a movie of it's time. While many people frown on films that "date" themselves, I actually love movies for that exact reason. Often when I watch an older film in the theater, I spend a few moments thinking about what's going on outside the parameter of the frame. I think about things like what the film crew looked like and what else might of happened that same day. Movies are culturally significant in that they're reflective of art at the time they were made, as well as society, but each film is significant in it's own way because it captured moments in time from a day long forgotten. Even the worst movie has an interesting back-story; the act of making a film is itself often more interesting than the finally result. "Ladybug, "Ladybug" has been practically forgotten, but I couldn't help but think about what it must of been like to make this movie.

It's such a young, inexperienced cast, with such heavy material. It must of been quite the challenge. In short, the movie is about a small rural school that receives a signal indicating an atomic attack is going to happen within the hour. Not knowing whether it's real or just some sort of glitch, the Principle sends all of the kids home, escorted by their teachers.

In an effort to keep the children calm, the teachers are deliberately vague about why they are being sent home, but as time passes, more and more of them begin to suspect the worst. There's a real sense of beauty and dread to this movie. Part of it is due to the pacing of the film, it's slow and contemplative. There is also something idyllic about the scenery that adds to the ominousness.

The innocence of the children is "Ladybug, Ladybug's" biggest strength. Their fear, confusion, and inquisitiveness seems very real. There's a bit of a red herring about halfway through the film that I really appreciated in retrospect. It allowed me to be genuinely surprised by the direction it takes in the third act. The film is somewhat similar to "Miracle Mile," in the sense that it keeps you guessing up to the very end, which is always a nice device.

A few stray observations: I really like finale, even if seems a little on-the-nose by today's standards. It might "date" the film, but I can only imagine how haunting it must of been to see this in the theater in 1963. Also, the great William Daniels plays the Principal in the film. It's funny because he played a Social Worker/Child Protective Services Investigator in one of my favorite movies, "A Thousand Clowns," the voice of K.I.T.T. on "Knight Rider," and of course, he's probably best known for playing Mr. Feeny on "Boy Meets World. Somehow, he's always the voice of authority.

Crawlspace (1986)

2012-02-11T06:01:00.014-06:00

"You've got to have a sense of humor, it makes life much easier if you can laugh." - Dr. Karl Gunther.

Well, he's no Patch Adams, but Klaus Kinski's Dr. Gunther does have some crazy ideas. Gunter runs an apartment building exclusively for women, equipped by the good doctor (and coincidentally son of a Nazi) with secret air-duct passageways, hidden torture rooms, and booby-trap-style murder devices. In the opening scene it is revealed that Gunther has a woman held hostage in a cage. Her tongue has been removed and she resembles a Holocaust victim.

Much of the movie consists of Kinski hiding in the air-ducts and spying on his tenants. One of the early scenes that cracked me up involved Kinski spying on a young aspiring singer as she cuts holes in her bra. The music builds ominously as a man enters the room, presumably without her knowledge, and forces her onto the bed. Kinski just watches as what looks like a rape is about to occur, and then the musical changes to a sexier theme and it's revealed not to be a rape at all, but merely complicated, intesne foreplay.

Kinski's character keeps a journal of his exploits, which is somewhat fortunate for Josef Steiner, a man who is investigating Dr. Gunther over the wrongful death of Steiner's brother, and several others. Will Steiner be able to stop the evil Dr. Gunther? Well, no, but he does have one of the best death scenes. Dr. Gunther ritualistically plays Russian Roulette every night to determine if his psychopathic destruction will continue, and thus far, he's undefeated. Every time he survives he punctuates it with the refrain, "so be it."

So how is it? Overall, I liked it a lot. At only 80 minutes long, it's efficient and effective. The last 20 minutes is especially good, escalating the tension with shock after shock (and swastika after swastika). By the time we reach the point where Klaus Kinski is gliding through the air-ducts on a trolley, full insanity has set in.

"Crawlspace" is directed by David Schmoeller, who also made the underrated "Tourist Trap." One last stray observation: Talia Balsam, who is the main victim (I guess that how you could describe her) in "Crawlspace" kind of reminded me of a female version of Jarvis Cocker for some reason, I think perhaps the hair or teeth?

--Popkoff

Rancho Deluxe (1975)

2012-02-09T22:43:00.011-06:00

This somewhat forgotten young-Jeff Bridges vehicle about renegade cattle rustlers was a surprisingly fun way to spend 90 minutes. The joy of the film for me was the beautiful scenery and the slew of wonderful performances by a cast comprised mostly of character actors. The film got off to a slightly slow start, I think perhaps because of my limited understanding of what these guys were up to. After about 20 minutes though, I was hooked by the performances, not only from Bridges and Waterston, but also from a couple young actresses that I'm was unfamiliar with, Patti D'Arbanville and Maggie Wellman as sisters.

The plot centers around two easy-going, fun-loving guys, Jack and Cecil (Bridge and Sam Waterston) who are up to no good, rustling (illegally killing/stealing cattle) the local livestock-tycoon, John Brown's (played by the wonderful Clifton James) product. Jack and Cecil continually (and anonymously) up the ante on Mr. Brown; stealing his prize bull, $50,000 of his money, and by plotting the massive theft of a truckload of cattle.

Mr. Brown and his wife initially rely on the help of Burt and Curt (Richard Bright and Harry Dean Stanton) to try to figure out who is ripping them off. As the plot unfolds, Curt figures out who the rustlers are and, in probably the most interesting sequence of the movie, confronts Jack about his illegal activity over a game Pong. The two forge an alliance and agree to work together to deceive Mr. Brown.

Mr. Brown then enlists the help of Henry Beige (played by Slim Pickens), a former thief-turned-livestock-detective to solve the mystery. Beige brings along his daughter, Laura (Charlene Dallas), who quickly draws the attention of Curt. Curt's attraction to Laura proves to be his Achilles's Heal.

A couple other stray observations: In some ways, "Rancho Deluxe" reminded me of "Freebie and the Bean" because Sam Waterston plays a Native American, despite being really really caucasian, much in the same way Alan Arkin plays a Hispanic in "Freebie." Also, as in "Freebie," Jeff Bridges spends most of his time in "Rancho" make racist remarks toward Sam Waterston...it's just plain weird.

Waterston's father in the movie is played by the wonderful Joe Spinell. Also, the film is directed by Frank Perry, who also made "Ladybug,Ladybug," a little known film from the 1960's about the staff and students at a rural school who react to a broadcasted warning of an imminent nuclear attack, not knowing whether it is real or a mistake. I think that will one of my next viewings.

--Popkoff

The Explosive Generation (1961)

2012-02-08T23:31:00.004-06:00

This film was first brought to my attention when the AV Club's "Films That Time Forgot" featured it. The premise is about a small town that freaks-the-fuck-out when the high-school students begin discussing their true feelings regarding sex, in the classroom, against their parent's wishes. The main selling point for me was that the student's teacher is played by a young William Shatner.

There are a few interesting scenes in the third act, an early performance by Beau Bridges, and one or two chuckle-worthy moments in the film. Unfortunately though, I felt that the movie was a little too tame to be taken seriously and not quite goofy enough to have a good laugh at. In the end, I guess I just wanted more Shatner.

--Popkoff

Haywire (2012)

2012-02-06T12:31:00.007-06:00

Well first of all, from this point forward I am going to make a conscious effort to avoid IMDB message boards. I'd like to attribute this decision to Steven Soderbergh's "Haywire." I really enjoyed watching this last night; it was my first visit to the Gaslamp 15. Then this morning I scoped out the message boards to what others thoughts were and there was just so much negative nonsensical trolling going about the believability of the action, the performance of the first-time actress, Gina Carano, and "women-lib" movies that I just had to make this decision, no more.

"Haywire" is basically a spy-gone-rogue action film that Steven Soderbergh puts his stamp on. The narrative structure is mixed up a bit to keep things interesting, the music is jazzy and chilled, and several obligatory scenes are either cut short or eliminated altogether. The colors and tone of the film are reminiscent of the "Bourne" Trilogy, but unlike those films whose close-up shaky-cam style sometimes robbed the audience of clear, fluid action, the action in "Haywire" are all shot in medium to long shots. The fight scenes are particularly good and more than make up for some spotty acting here and there from Channing Tatum and Carano. The rest of the cast was very good, made up of Michael Fassbender, Antonio Banderas, Michael Douglas, and surprisingly, Bill Paxton.

Soderbergh apparently made the film because of how impressed he was with real-life cage fighter, Carano, I can see that. Overall, I was very impressed with her performance. As my girlfriend pointed out, she's got some work to be done on line deliver, but we both believed her character was real. I want to see more of her; I actually wouldn't mind seeing a sequel to "Haywire," however unlikely that is.

--Popkoff

Ben Gazzara (1930-2012)

2012-02-04T02:51:00.002-06:00

Carnage (2011)

2012-02-04T02:45:00.003-06:00

Nothing great, but not bad either. Pretty much exactly what I thought it would be. Good performances, tightly wound, and worth a look (although not necessarily at the theater).

--Popkoff

Groundhog's Day (1993)

2012-02-04T02:38:00.003-06:00

Of course I've seen this a million times, but always fun to revisit. It's funny because 15 years ago I thought it was one of the 10 Best Films of 90's, I might still feel that way, but I haven't given it much thought. It's also strange that in a weird way, it's one of those movies that you can watch over and over again, and in that way, it's kind of like you're reliving the same day over and over again alongside Bill Murray.

Anyway, the most notable thing about this viewing was where I watched it, The Dive-In Movie at The Pearl Hotel, equal parts swimming pool, restaurant, and outdoor movie theater. A fun time!

High Tension (2003)

2012-02-04T02:30:00.005-06:00

Well, I waited nearly 10 years to watch this and boy was it not worth it. I remember watching the trailer, which nicely used Sonic Youth's cover of "Superstar, and thinking that this could be something different. Of course, I heard a lot about the twist ending over the years and how some felt it ruined the movie and others furiously defended it, but I tried not think about what the twist could be (even though it seemed so obvious).

At the end of the day, I think the twist ruined the movie, but not because "it didn't make sense," although it didn't. I thought it ruined the movie because it made the audience unable to sympathize with main character because the twist required that she never ever actually try to defend the others in harms way. So as a result I spent most of the movie wanting her to do something that the "twist ending" couldn't allow.

--Popkoff

Smithereens (1982)

2012-01-29T05:54:00.003-06:00

I've wanted to see this one for a while, it seems up my alley. Overall I liked it, although it's a little repetitive, but it nails the mood and cynicism, and has a great soundtrack (mostly featuring The Feelies). Like I said, on it's own merits I liked it, but I don't think it's as good as some other entries into this genre.

Bad Girl Island (2007)

2012-01-29T04:00:00.003-06:00

This is directed by the guy who made "Mac & Me," and all that that implies. This started off entertaining enough with a hilarious dolphin and a mystery scenario, but as it went long I quickly lost interest.

--Popkoff

Tromeo & Juliet (1996)

2012-01-29T03:57:00.002-06:00

Haven't watched this since the late 90's. I was much younger then and probably didn't enjoy as much as I did this time around. There were 2 or 3 laugh-out-loud moments, but overall the thing that impressed me was that the actor was a lot better than I remembered. I found it funny that one of the actresses in the film had both fake piercing and tattoos. The only reason I find it funny is because Troma movies are so naturally dirty and sleazy that it seems like they could of found someone with real tats and stuff. Not a big deal, just an observation.

--Popkoff

Erik the Viking (1989)

2012-01-29T00:50:00.003-06:00

The opening scene of this movie is hilarious. Unfortunately it never reaches that height of hilarity again. It's not unfunny mind you, it just starts off BIG. Overall it's lighthearted fare, not a bad way to spend 90 minutes.

--Popkoff

Popeye (1980)

2012-01-28T21:58:00.004-06:00

The wondrous joy of being a fan of Robert Altman is knowing that no matter what genre the film was he's directed, he was going to leave his unique stamp on it. Look at "Popeye," a family picture, partly financed by Disney, and it's weird as hell, complete with Altman's trademark dialogue mixing and regular leading lady, Shelly Duvall (who he apparently held out for though the studio wanted Gilda Radner).

I know this film gets panned often, but consider this: Could the casting be anymore perfect? Could the universe/town be anymore perfectly realized? If made today, could Hollywood do any better??

--Popkoff

Pennies from Heaven (1981)

2012-01-28T21:27:00.003-06:00

I was considering showing this for the marathon, but decided on "New Low." George decided to show it instead. Still great.

My Review

--Popkoff

One from the Heart (1982)

2012-01-28T19:25:00.002-06:00

Shamelessly romantic and carefully crafted, "One from the Heart" is truly a spectacle and an astounding achievement in set design. It was so awesome seeing a young Fredric Forrest tear up the screen, in as a romantic lead no less. Harry Dean Stanton's hair is out of control in this. Nastassja Kinski has circus talents?? Raul Julia and Teri Garr are both wonderful. Oh, and how hot is Teri Garr in this? I never knew I wanted to see her breasts until now. I LOVED it!!!

--Popkoff

Glen and Randa (1971)

2012-01-28T17:38:00.008-06:00

This bizarre post-apocalyptic oddity was apparently critically well-received when it was initially released, although you couldn't guess that based on the current IMDB rating, which is in the low 3's. I don't think it was nearly that bad, in fact it's kind of aged well. Perhaps that's mostly due to the entertaining, and unintentional goofy performance of the lead actor, Steve Curry, sporting Sideshow Bob-style hair.

The film was originally rated "X" for the amount of nudity (and imagine some of the situations), and of course, it's seems relativity tame now. The story is pretty simple, Glen and Randa are teenage lovers (and Adam and Eve metaphors) in a future with no hope, they head out into the unknown in search of the Metropolis of D.C. Comics fame. Along the way they meet a horse, Glen violently kills some non-CGI fish, and they meet a old man who aides with the birth of their child.

I enjoyed this, probably won't watch again anytime soon, but if it were to screen somewhere, I'd take in.

Also, one of my favorite tidbits was Glen's insistence on labeling everything he learns about.

--Popkoff

New Low (2010)

2012-01-28T16:26:00.011-06:00

I saw this back at AFF 2010 and it was honestly one of my favorite movies of that year. Re-watching it today, I still really loved it. The main character might be channeling a slacker-version of a self-deprecating Woody Allen-type (which I don't mind), but some of the other characters are so well articulated that I spend most of the film thinking, "man, I know people like this."

Characters aside, what I really love about the movie is just how hilarious it is. It really has some amazing one-liners and bits. It's FREE on Hulu right, so give it a look, I'd love to know what you think.

The In Crowd (1988)

2012-01-28T16:16:00.006-06:00

I really liked this. It would make a nice companion to the movie "Mischief." There's a showstopping dance off right in the middle of the movie.

--Popkoff

"A Face in the Crowd" - (1957)

2012-01-21T21:16:00.006-06:00

I liked it, but I wasn't completely enthralled. Andy Griffith is really good. I haven't seen him play this big of an asshole since his entertaining turn in "Pray for the Wildcats." It was a really good one-time viewing, but I doubt I'll be revisiting it anytime soon.

--Popkoff

"Times Square" (1980)

2012-01-20T02:09:00.006-06:00

This is one of my all time favorite movies. Period. Robin Johnson's performance in this movie is one of the great unsung turns in any movie. The soundtrack is amazing, the use of The Ramones and Lou Reed is perfect. I LOVE THIS MOVIE!!!

Watch the whole movie below.

"The Haunting" (1963)

2012-01-19T18:58:00.012-06:00

"The House...it's alive."

Julie Harris stars as Nell Lance, a troubled, sheltered woman, who takes the sudden invitation to take part in a paranormal "experiment" as an opportunity to escape from her family and her past. The experiment takes place in the supposedly haunted Hill House, and is essentially just a prolonged slumber party involving folks with a paranormal past or a vested interest in the house. The house itself is an incredible achievement in set design and one of the movie's most valued assets.

Harris' performance is very good, and her character's internal narration provides some of the film's most surreal and creepy moments. Her inner dialogue contributes to the film's atmosphere as much as the music, sound design, and cinematography, even in seemingly non-threatening scenes like this one early on of Nell anxiously driving to the house.

The movie opens with a tone-setting narration recounting the history of the Hill House and quickly establishes it's ominous powers. The opening narration plays like a collection of campfire ghost stories, detailing the house's long history of death. One of the most effective sequences in this portion is the aging transformation of life-time Hill House resident, Abagail Crane.

After receiving what he believes is an incredible opportunity, Dr. John Markway invites Nell, Theo (a psychic), and Luke(the house's new owner) to spend a few weeks at the Hill House to chronicle what they experience. After a few days of unexplained phenomenon, Nell's past comes out and she slowly begins to slip into madness. At which point, Dr. Markway's non-believing wife, Grace, arrives to take part in experiment, in spite of her husband's wishes.

The final act of the film is very taunt and it's a credit to the craftsmanship of it that nearly 50 years later, the film is still very suspenseful. The "haunting" sequences themselves have a somewhat hyperkinetic feel to them, yet are very focused in their execution. The final sequence is perfectly set in the darkness of the pathway leading up to the house. It reminded me of something that I think about whenever I'm driving in the middle of nowhere. I always think to myself that the only thing scarier than being alone in the darkness is seeing someone else.

--Popkoff

Cinema41 Presents Actress Sharon Farrell with "Out of the Blue."

2012-01-17T20:43:00.008-06:00

I was very fortunate to have the opportunity to nervously conduct a Q&A with actress Sharon Farrell after Cinema41's screening of Dennis Hopper's "Out of the Blue" back in October. Sharon was unbelievably accommodating and generous and the screening was a great success. Check out the interview below, Sharon is great and some of her insights on Dennis Hopper will blow your mind. Also, check out the vid of Hopper performing the poem, "If," on the Johnny Cash Show.

--Popkoff

"The Pregnancy Pact" (2010)

2012-01-15T16:40:00.009-06:00

"So this is what it feels like to be Jamie Lynn Spears" - Some pregnant girl.

I've never really watched a Lifetime Movie before, although I've always suspected that there was a vast well of absurd, ironically funny, exploitative trash waiting to be explored. There are titles that I've always seen or heard about, like "Cyber Seduction" and "Invisible Child," but I haven't tried to track 'em down. So what did I think of "The Pregnancy Pact?"

There are a lot obvious plot-twists, over-the-top performance, and overly simplified commentary on hot-button issues. The representation of the main character, Sara, and the other girls is kind of hilarious. They're presented at sweetly naive plotters, intelligent girls who are just, you know, crazy (and definitely NOT stupid because that would be wrong). When one of the girls finally has her baby, the whole act of birth is presented as a horrifying trauma (complete with tearing "down there, stupid)." The aftermath of her birth is also presented as emotionally terrifying; as one of the other girls relays, "her grandmother has to force her to hold her baby."

Poor Thora Birch is in the movie as a Video Blogger/Reporter (a profession I'm sure won't date the movie at all). I've had a crush on her for a long time, she'll always be Enid to me. The third act is the best with the girls in-fighting and admitting to their own stupidity, Thora's big confession, and Sara being told off/left by her boyfriend and then she gets drunk and ends up in a hospital with alcohol poisoning (I've got to admit, it's kind of funny watching a pregnant teen run for help).

My favorite line occurs in the emotional breakdown between Sara and her parents when she argues against her parent's over-protectiveness by saying "at least my baby won't care if I have sex or not."

--Popkoff

Slithis...Returns

2012-01-14T18:59:00.008-06:00

The first post I ever made on this blog was about the 1978 shlock horror film "Spawn of the Slithis." I still think of this movie to this day, it is just such an absurd, weird piece of trash cinema. It's really really funny and charming in its own way. Anyway, the whole movie is on youtube so I thought it would be nice to post it here.

If you want to recreate the what it was like to see this movie at drive-in in the late 70's, check out the "SLITHIS SURVIVAL GUIDE."

--Popkoff

Pennies from Heaven (1981)

2012-01-13T22:29:00.013-06:00

"I want live in a world where the songs come true. There must be someplace where those songs are for real." -- Arthur

One of the last movies I watched in 2011 was Lars Von Trier's "Dancer in the Dark," I had seen it before, but decided to revisit it because I was too happy. Tonight when I sat down to watch Steve Martin's first venture into the realm of drama, "Pennies from Heaven," I would have never thought that I would be comparing it to Von Trier's sobering slab of depression. Strangely the two films have more than a few things in common.

--Both are period pieces.

--Both involve a blind girl.

--Both involve a main character wrongfully accused of murder.

--Most of all, the musical conceit in both films is that the characters are escaping their depressing lives by imagining that they're living in a Hollywood musical.

It's an interesting movie, re-teaming Martin with the beautiful Bernadette Peters, but "The Jerk 2" this is not. It's funny how when comedic actors try their hand at drama the audience is usually so conditioned to laugh at them that their characters can get away with a lot of horribleness and still flip a switch and make the audience laugh. That happens often in "Pennies from Heaven," since Martin's character, Arthur, is such a terrible person.

There are times in the film that Arthur might pass as sympathetic despite his adulterous ways since he is so obviously in a loveless marriage, but the tactlessness of his behavior with his wife, not to mention his sexual aggressiveness with Bernadette Peters character, Eileen, make it nearly impossible. There is a pivotal scene in the middle of the film where Arthur returns home after threatening to leave his wife. She has been desperately awaiting his return and humiliates herself to please him sexually. The scene is tough to watch and seems out of place in the film, but in reality, the darkness of it reveals the true nature of "Pennies from Heaven."

Steve Martin is really good this, the redeeming aspects of his character lie in his inherent charisma, Arthur's desire to "be good," and his romanticizing of what reality should be. Christopher Walken is in the movie for about 5 minutes, and it's a total showstopper. It apparently took 2 months of rehearsal.

Bernadette Peters is also very very good, but rather than post a picture of her from the movie, I'm just going to leave this here:

The last act of the movie is particularly good, pretty much from the scene in which Arthur find Eileen prostituting herself. There's a sequence where to two of them go see a movie and are complete immersed in the lavishness and joy of the musical. When they walk out of the theater, the rain is pouring down and Arthur remarks "Always the same, Come out of the movies and the whole goddamned world has changed." That scene really spoke to me, I feel like that all the time.

--Popkoff

Muppet Videos

2012-01-11T03:57:00.004-06:00

Big Bird performs "It's Not Easy Being Green" at Jim Henson's Memorial.

Kermit the Frog performs "Rainbow Connection" with Debbie Harry.

Oscar sings the "Grouch Anthem" from "Follow That Bird."

--Popkoff

Scott Walker turns 69 today.

2012-01-09T21:57:00.004-06:00

Blue Velvet (1986)

2012-01-06T02:50:00.000-06:00

Cinema Confession: I had never seen "Blue Velvet" until tonight. I'm no stranger to David Lynch, I've seen 8 of his movies. I just never got around to his most famous. I really liked it a lot.

Dennis Hopper is great of course, but I really enjoyed the scenes between Kyle Maclachlan & Laura Dern. I do wish I wouldn't have waited so long to see it because there were so many scenes that I had heard about of the years. I wish I could have seen it totally fresh, but at any rate, it was worth the wait.

--Popkoff

Uh Huh

2012-01-06T01:53:00.003-06:00

Jennifer & Heather in agreeance at Messy & Jerry's wedding.

Deadly Friend (1986)

2012-01-05T01:23:00.010-06:00

First movie of 2012 (for some reason). I remember seeing this on television when I was a kid and of course, the basketball scene has haunted me ever since. Wes Craven's "Deadly Friend" is about Paul, a new kid in town and his home made robot, BB.

Paul & BB quickly make friends with Samantha (Kristy Swanson), a cute next door neighbor who has a violent and controlling father. They also quickly make an enemy in Elvira, a crazy neighborhood old woman (Ann Ramsey from "Goonies" & "Throw Mama From the Train").

The first half of the movie was pretty fun, especially the silliness that is Bebe, the robot. The scares are pretty good as well, especially Sam's nightmare about her father's bedroom invasion. Overall the acting was pretty over the top throughout, which wasn't really that bad until the second half required the actors to be taken seriously.

When Sam's father accidentally kills her while roughing her up, Paul can't bare the idea of her dying. He steals her body from the hospital and performs "experimental" surgery on her, implanting BB's "brain" into her's. He creates a Frankenstein-style version Kristy Swanson, I mean Sam, which results in the wild and violent deaths of all of the villains in the film, including yes, the infamous "basketball scene," which was much sillier than I remembered.

The "Silly-Meter" is off the charts in the second half of the film and you just can't take any of it seriously anymore. The ending in particular really comes out of left-field, but really it doesn't matter. Overall, "Deadly Friend" is pretty average, but it does have some fun sequences here and there, and even a couple moments of sweetness.

--Popkoff

Faves of 2011: Music Edition

2012-01-02T15:23:00.011-06:00

Favorite Albums of 2011:

Milk Music - "Beyond Living" 12inch

This effortlessly blistering, riff-heavy 12-inch from Olympia, Washington's trio Milk Music ruled by speakers this year. Only six tracks and endlessly listenable, sludgy, loud, and driving. When I saw them at Chaos in Tejas, they did not disappoint.

Asobi Seksu - "Fluorescence" LP

When I first heard "Fluorescence" I thought that it was a nice Shoegazer/Dream Pop record, but not much more. I looked at the artwork, traditional 4AD style, surprisingly Asobi Seksu is on Polyvinyl Records. It wasn't until I saw them play at SXSW that I saw them as anything more that genre revivalists. They played the same songs that are beautiful on the record, but they completely rocked them out with wave after wave of white noise. When I listened to album again, I enjoyed even more. I saw them again at Fun Fun Fun Fest, where they rung the rage out of those ethereal Pop songs. It's that rare record that get better and better every time you hear it.

PJ Harvey - "Let England Shake" LP

I haven't really cared about a PJ Harvey album since 2000's "Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea," which this album has some similarities to. To be honest, I kind of forgot about PJ Harvey, and this record was a nice reminder that she was still relevant. "Let England Shake" is so obviously good that it seems like a give-in for most end-of-the-year lists, but it deserves it because of how confident and self-assured Harvey is in her voice and songwriting abilities.

Seth Sherman - "When the Moment is True" LP

FULL DISCLOSURE: Seth Sherman is a friend of mine, but fuck it, his record is definitely one of my favorites from the past year. I've always been a fan of his acoustic picking on tracks like "Kids" & "It's Shown Me Nothing," but the bigger sound he put together for this record really blew my mind. If you are a fan of Pop sound in the vain of Dr. Dog, give the whole album a listen here:

http://sethshermanmusic.com/album/when-the-moment-is-true

Allison and Katie Crutchfield - a.k.a. Bad Banana, P.S. Eliot, & Waxahatchee

Thanks to the blog ICouldDieTomorrow I spent most of the year listening to many bands made up of the Sisters Crutchfield. Bad Banana is sort of like a female version of early Japanther, fuzzy, lo-fi, and infectious. P.S. Eliot is a more polished semi-acoustic version of that sound. Waxahatchee is somewhere between those two. These girls have chops. I just wish they'd come to San Diego and play a show.

Favorite Albums DISCOVERED in 2011:

Rexy - "Running Out of Time" (1981)

This shit's funky, dumb, messy, and fun. The song "Funkybutt" is a disco send-up with a Neil Hamburger-worthy throat-clearing. Check out "Don't Turn Me Away," which has a minimal Dub feel to it.

Chalk Circle - "Reflection" (1980)

All Female Punk Rock from DC...and all that that implies.

The Wind - "Where It's at with The Wind" (1982)

1960's influenced Power-Pop from Florida. Exuberant and catchy. Reminds me a little of Jonathan Richman.

Kebab - "We Live in a System" (1982)

Post-Punk lives on and on and on and on...

--Popkoff

Faves of 2011: Film Edition

2012-01-02T04:35:00.020-06:00

Favorite Films of 2011:

"Hugo" - Dir: Martin Scorsese

In general, I haven't been a huge fan of the Dicaprio-era of Marty Scorsese's career, but there have been exceptions of course ("The Departed" & the underrated "Shutter Island)". "Hugo" is a film that, for better or worse, is a love letter to cinephiles. It's practically a memorial to the traditional magic of the cinema, crafted in the digital 3D aesthetic of our time. I'm curious to see what the future holds for this Martin Scorcese character.

"Drive" - Dir: Nicolas Winding Refn

Much was made of the sparse dialogue, odd musical selection, and lack of car chases in "Drive," but the reality of it is that those same criticisms are what sets it apart from every other movie. There's not much new in "Drive," if anything, but it's unique style and execution stuck with me after I saw it. The romantic plot-line was stripped down to it's barest bones, quietly punctuating how unnecessary dialogue really is when your story is made up of familiar scenarios like these. It works though, in the same way the violence does; the minimalism creates a maximum effect. Also, Albert Brooks is amazing in this.

"Super 8" - Dir: J.J. Abrams

We live in a world with ever-shortening attention spans. It used to seem as if it wasn't made in the last 5 years it wasn't worth remembering, but sadly it seems as if that unfortunate rule-of-thumb is shrinking. Out of date films & music are becoming more obsolete to the average viewer at a faster pace than ever. With that in mind, 2011 was a good year for appreciating "old things," you know, like, the 80's. Just like "Hugo," the main story of "Super 8" is underscored by a fond affection for old school movie magic. Abrams' Spielberg homage to the days where monsters were less seen than heard manages to succeed on the shoulders of it's young, mostly unknown cast. Though they are sparse, there are plenty of loud clanks and explosions in "Super 8," but it's the quiet tender moments (Joe falling in love with Alice as she pretends to be a zombie) that are truly exhilarating.

"Martha Marcy May Marlene" - Dir: Sean Dirken

The feature length debut of Dirken features a fascinating breakthrough performance by the least known Olsen Sister, Elizabeth, as Martha, a woman who escapes a dangerous hippie cult (or does she). John Hawkes is once again perfectly cast as a Charles Manson-type ringleader, but so too is Sarah Paulson, in the under-appreciated role of Lucy, Martha's (and really, everyone's) concerned, more successful sister. The genius of "MMMM" is that it consistently leads the audience in one direction and then wisely shifts away from their most obvious expectations of any given scene. This narrative strategy works all the to the final, gut-punching shot of the film. When the credits role, you'll hear a loud audible grown from the audience, but what you'll feel is the same frustration of Martha, the anxiety of the unknown.

"The Artist" - Dir: Michel Hazanavicius

The most overrated movie of the year? Perhaps, but it's still one of the best. More than a gimmick, "The Artist" is a tough sell, a mostly silent, black & white film, presented in a 4:3 aspect ratio, and featuring two unfamiliar stars. The fact that it's been well received by audiences, much less critics is a true testament to it's special brand of nostalgia. Like I said, it was a good year for appreciating the past, even the Great Depression. Like "Hugo," "The Artist" is about the history of cinema, but it's specifically about technological change (a topic explored before in "Sunset Blvd."), and the difficultly that people sometimes face while adjusting. As a guy who loves 35mm film and doesn't want to see it go away, these days are hard for me as every multiplex is seemingly working hand-in-hand with the studios & projector companies to force Independent, 35mm screening theaters out of business. In that regard, "The Artist" spoke to me as a someone who is finding technological change difficult.

Favorite Films DISCOVERED in 2011:

"White Dog" (1982) - Dir: Samuel Fuller

Caught this bad boy for FREE thanks to Austin Cinemateque. Co-written by Curtis Hanson ("L.A. Confidential") who got the job based on his script for one of my absolute favorite films, "The Silent Partner," "White Dog" famously fell victim to a timid studio and a fear-induced frenzy of unfounded racial outrage over the subject matter. As a result, the allegorical tale of an attack dog taught to hate black people, and the fight that ensues to save it's life by reteaching it, did not get a theatrical release until 1992 (not sure what exactly changed in that 10 years). "White Dog" is film filled with blood-fueled passion and gladiatorial intensity, crafted by an American master of matter-of-fact film-making.

"Road to Salina" (1970) - Georges Lautner

The strange and beautiful tale of rail-thin Jonas (Robert Walker Jr.), a drifter who finds himself taken in by gas station owner, Mara (Rita Hayworth!!), a woman who believes him to be her dead son. Playing the role to take advantage of her hospitality, Jonas' situation is complicated by the arrival of his "sister," Billie (played by the always hot Mimsy Farmer). He enters into a seemingly natural sexual relationship with her and that is just the beginning of the awkward uncomfortableness of "Road to Salina." The beautiful cinematography and excellent SOUNDTRACK only add to this dazzling, under-seen gem.

"Trouble Man" (1972) - Dir: Ivan Dixon

Robert Hooks plays a force of nature named Mr. T, a man of means, intelligence, and most of all, coolness. His role as a "fixer" lands him right in the middle of warring gangs and police. With all sides closing in, T is the man who must fight to clear his name. Fortunately for him, his smooth demeanor is his best weapon. Stylistically "Trouble Man" has more in common with something like John Boorman's "Point Blank" than a typical Blaxploitation outing. A sleek production though doesn't detract from the authenticity of the characters and feel of the film, in part due to the amazing Marvin Gaye soundtrack.

"Metropolitan" (1990) - Whit Stillman

I love the look, feel, score, and clothing of this film. It's hard to sell the idea of yuppies hanging out being interesting, but it's just a very clever and charming collection of episodic parties, played out night after night. Just when the formula wears out it's welcome, the third act hits and leaves you with a feeling whimsy and a strange absurdity. So Great.

"Chameleon Street" (1989) - Wendell B. Harris Jr.

The reputation of the Sundance Film Festival is that unless you win the Grand Jury Prize, you're pretty much screwed with regards to distribution. So what do you do when you actually win and still can't get distribution? If you're Wendell B. Harris Jr., you fight a 20 year war to get your film seen by the masses. "Chameleon Street" won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance in 1990, but has had a difficult road since, which is beyond unfortunate considering how incredibly good it is. Based on the true story of Douglas Street, a con artist who consistently exploited other's expectations of him, faked being a reporter, a lawyer, and even a doctor, successfully performing surgery. Harris both directs and stars in the film, which is appropriate because although it is based on the life of someone else, Harris re-invents himself as Douglas Street and the film says as much about him as it is Street.

--Popkoff

Nightwarning (1983) a.k.a. Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker

2011-12-31T03:57:00.005-06:00

Still not available on DVD (although Code Red was rumored to be putting out years ago), this under-seen and under-appreciated Horror flick boasts one of the all time best (and creepily realistic) psychotic performances by the great Susan Tyrrell. The opening scene is a knockout, and the film is filled with fun goofiness (Bill Paxton as "the Bully"), especially from Bo Svenson's homophobic cop, but it's the constant ratcheting-up of craziness by Tyrrell that really drives the Horror home. This one is a stone cold classic.

Check out the FULL MOVIE below.

Emma Mae (1976)

2011-12-18T00:19:00.020-06:00

"Nobody celebrates at Jack in the Box."

Last night Heather & I made our first trip to L.A. since we moved to San Diego. We went to the Hammer Museum, home of the Billy Wilder Theater, to see the great Jamaa Fanaka's 1976 masterpiece, "Emma Mae." It was my second time seeing it in a theater, plus it was a brand new 35mm print, presumably cut for a new DVD release in the near future (hopefully under it's original title). Heather had never seen it, but neither of us are strangers to the wondrous Mr. Fanaka. He's a born entertainer, and his Q&A's are really something special.

Like I said, I've seen "Emma Mae" once before in the theater, as well as "Welcome Home Brother Charles," "Penitentiary," & "Penitentiary 3;" all of which featured Mr. Fanaka in person, but this screening was extra special because not only was he present, but so were many of the cast members (Charles D. Brooks III & Synthia James), including Emma Mae herself, actress Jerri Hayes.

"Emma Mae" is a "moving picture," as Mr. Fanaka says, that has held up very well over time. Contrary to what the home video title, "Black Sister's Revenge," might suggest, "Emma Mae" is not your typical Blaxploitation Revenge film. From the beats and rhythms of the opening scene which captures a real life community spending the day at the park, the film feels different. It's clear in the opening minutes that Mr. Fanaka is a man who realizes the power of his camera, and that he has something to say.

An important component to fully appreciating the work of Fanaka is understanding how his early films were made. He is the only student of the prestigious UCLA film program to have no less than 3 features made and distributed while attending the University. While having access to UCLA's equipment, it is important to recognize what "Emma Mae" truly is, an ambiguous Independent film. In the same way he gained access to an abandoned jail house and masked a UCLA parking lot as a prison courtyard for "Penitentiary," Fanaka makes the most of every local he can for "Emma Mae."

The story of "Emma Mae" is that of a young naive girl from Mississippi (home of Mr. Fanaka) who moves to Southern California to be with her Uncle's family after her Mother passes away. In what was described at the screening as a "migration story," "Emma Mae" is about the difficult adjustment Emma must make to her new surroundings, combating others expectations of her, and to some extent, the equality of the sexes. Upon arriving by bus, Emma is quickly introduced to her cousins' world of friends, including Jesse & Zeke, a lanky, charming drug addict and his somewhat goofy partner.

(Left: Big Daddy, Zeke pictured on the right in the stylish hat)

When Jesse and Zeke find themselves wanted by the law, enamoured Emma holds up with them in the house of Big Daddy Johnson, a character similar to 'Seldom Seen' Jackson in "Penitentiary," who imparts a sort of elder wisdom to the youth of the film. When the cops imprison Jesse and Zeke, Emma does her best to lead a communal effort to save them. She literally fights, hustles, and robs to raise the money to get Jesse back. When he is finally released his true colors are revealed and he finds out that Emma is more than he ever imagined.

This screening was very special for many of the folks on stage, some of which, like Miss Jerri Hayes, had not scene the film on the big screen in over 30 years. After the movie, Hayes commented that it was better than she remembered, a common reaction to one's own work. Some time removed always softens one's self-criticism. I also spoke to Mr. Fanaka after the screening and he was ,as usual, a pleasure. It was nice seeing "Emma Mae" in an academic setting, in the same way it was nice to see it recognized by Turner Classic Movies a while back.

Jamaa Fanaka is an unsung auteur of Exploitation Cinema who continues to be rediscovered and appreciated everyday. "Emma Mae" is his crowning achievement.

Heather had her picture taken with Billy Wilder.

And I had mine taken with "Emma Mae."

--Popkoff

"Emma Mae" screened at the UCLA Hammer Museum on Dec. 16th, 2011 as part of the L.A. Rebellion: Creating a New Black Cinema - Film Series.

San Diego

2011-12-12T01:47:00.002-06:00

Well, I moved to San Diego for the love a woman, and because there's gold in these hills. Currently, I'm looking for a job, but when I find one I will begin my exploration of this beautiful city.

I've been pretty busy since my last post over a year ago. I made a short film with a couple friends, called "Never Leave the House."

I also co-founded an Independent Film Series in Austin, TX called Cinema41 with some friends. We're still very small, but we're getting some traction.

Like I said, I've been busy. San Diego is a new adventure for me. Maybe I'll actually suceed in chronicling it this time.

--Popkoff

Heather Cain (2008-2010)

2010-06-18T23:08:00.000-05:00

So this blog has been dormant now for nearly 2 years. Every now & again I try to revive it, but alas, I am either too busy or too lazy to do so consistently. If I had to guess the reason why exactly, I would suspect that it's because I have indeed been too lazy. My reasoning? I know for a fact that I've had no shortage of experiences to write about. What have I been doing for the past two years? Well, I've been enjoying two of the best years of my life with my main squeeze, Heather Cain.

It was two years ago this week that, according to her, that we became official. And what a 2 years it's been.

If it wasn't for Heather Cain:

--I would have never gotten in to that SOLD OUT Los Crudos show!

--I would have never seen Ray Davies sing “Victoria”

--I would have never met Bill Murray!!!!!

--I would have never competed in a Pie Fight in my own backyard inspired by Bugsy Malone.

--I would have never know who Dave Dee, Dozy, Becky, Mick, & Tich were.

--I would have never gone to Fantastic Fest 2009!!!!

--I would have never had a birthday cake in the shape of a record player that actually rotated!

--I would have never had a Christmas Card of my brother's mustaches & I.

--I would have never had a kid-themed party with a Jump House.

--I would have never watched Spaced in it's entirety on my birthday & met Simon Pegg.

--Furthermore, I would have never went to the Spaced house in London & have an awkward experience/memory with current owner.

--I would have never went to Chicago to Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds & then go to a gay sports bar afterward.

--I would have never went to Roscoe's Chicken & Waffles.

--I would have never rode a train.

--I would have never been an (unofficial) Voyeur Warrior!!!

--I would have never went to Denver to see one of my best friends & find this record for a dollar in a Goodwill basement.

--I would have never seen a play performed in a living room.

--I would have never known about “'Back in the New York Groove'”

--I would have never went to LONDON!!!!! or anywhere overseas for that matter.

--I would have never roller-skated and subsequently fell down.

--I would have never heard of Yma Sumac.

--Although I would have probably seen Tom Waits in Dallas, I would have never booked this formerly swanky hotel.

--I would have never went to Denver and seen Web Soup host Chris Hardwick (& met Him)

--I would have never went to Phoenix and seen Soup host Joel McHale on News Years Eve.

--I would have never seen The Thing!!?!!?! What is It????

--I would have never gotten in good with the owner of the greatest former-slaughter-house-turned-record-store in Texas: R.A.T.S.

--I would have never met Bobcat Goldthwait (after he referred to me as a “Muppet-Baby-Kevin-Smith).

--I would have never spent my Valentine's Day in London on a rooftop in the rain, snuggled up in a sleeping bag watching The Apartment.

--I would have never rode any water rides.

--I would have never seen Joanna Newsom round ass behind a harp in front of the Chicago Symphony.

--I would have never had an appreciation for Burl Ives.

--I would have never met Michel Gondry.

--I would have never owned my own digital projector.

--I would have never went to Los Angelas to meet Clint Howard so that he could be in our movie for an Alamo Drafthouse short film competition.

--I would have never made “At the Movies: The Movie”

--I would have never had dinner with Clint Howard in Austin after we convinced him to come to Austin and show “Evilspeak” & “Rock 'N' Roll High School.”

--I would have never seen “Evilspeak!!!!!”

--I would have never heard Clint Howard utter the words “I showed Brother Ron the movie, he thought it was funny.”

--I would have never known all these awesome people.

--I would have never swam on a rooftop hotel high above the city.

--I would have never heard the phrase "bang-to-blue-eyes."

--I would have never watched Infomania.

--I would have never watched The Dish.

--I would have never heard of Dent May.

--I would have never dressed as a Zebra Cake for Halloween.

--I would have never filmed a movie in a hotel room.

--I would have never raced around a retirement community in the middle of the night on a bicycle chasing a golf-cart.

--I would have never ate Funeral Salad.

--I would have never seen DEVO.

--I would have never experienced an Omnimax.

--I would have never watched half a season of Frank the Entertainer for this girl.

--I would have never seen Spike Lee address a practically empty Paramount theatre.

--I would have never watched It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

--I would have never learned to beware White Trucks.

--I would have never drank a full glass of liquors.

--I would have never known the subtle joys of Holiday Inn Express.

--I would have never the phrase "Romantico!"

--I would have never owned my own 35mm print of “Anguish”

--I would have never heard “Breakaway” by Irma Thomas.

--I would have never known that Fear of Corn was a real thing.

--I would have never celebrated Hanukkah that year.

--I would have never heard “Honey” by Bobby Goldboro

--I would have never seen Conan O'Brien perform, much less sign Heather's boob, and then weeks later tweet about it (sort of).

--I would have never seen the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

--I would have never appreciated Carmen Miranda.

--I would have never known what I want to do with my life.

Who Put the "Pop" in Popkoff? Duh, Heather Cain!

Out of the Blue, and into the Black

2010-05-31T02:02:00.002-05:00

Dennis Hopper was a Bad Ass. R.I.P. 1936-2010

It's strange how celebrity death seems like such a game to fans. We're emotionally invested in the celebrities because we feel like we know them, but we're disconnected enough to not be truly moved by their passing. It's kind of like we're all keeping our eyes open on the internet, looking for that next opportunity to feel a tinge of sadness about death, without having to lose someone we actually know.

Celebrity deaths never feel real, even though we know that they are.

No Homo

2009-10-25T02:06:00.004-05:00

I work with a lot of high school students and I've hear them use this phrase more and more it seems. It's nice to see the folks at Infomania rip it a new one (no homo).

--Popkoff

Fat Guy goes Nutzoid

2009-10-21T17:34:00.004-05:00

I wish I could find actual episodes of this show. Peru Ubu on Night Music:

"Breath" (mp3)

"Waiting For Mary" (mp3)

--Popkoff

Succubus (1968) a.k.a. “Necronomicon"

2009-10-21T02:47:00.004-05:00

Jess Franco’s hypnotic and dreamlike sex-trip came out in 1968, but was easily one of the craziest movies to play Fantastic Fest this year. Surreal and completely incoherent, yet ethereal and endlessly entertaining, it calls into question whether plot is even a necessity when every scene is interesting and unique. It was right up my alley.

This was one of four Jess Franco films that were shown in honor of him receiving the first ever Fantastic Fest Lifetime Achievement Award. Senor Franco was in attendance for 3 of the films, along with his wife and muse Lina Romay. I saw all four films and the Q & A’s that followed and I have to say that it was definitely an education. Though I enjoyed all the Franco films in the series (especially “Venus in Furs”), I wouldn’t include “Bare Breasted Countess” on my list of film favorites from the festival, but I do want to note that it provide me with perhaps the best moment of the festival, and definitely one of the most touching film experiences of my life. The film stars Romay and features a hefty amount of nudity and eroticism. It also features Franco in a strong supporting role as the Doctor who suspects that Romay is a murderous vampire. It was filmed when she was only 20 years old, and she admitted before the screening that she did not feel comfortable watching her films. She also noted, along with Franco, that it was this film that was the catalyst for them falling in love. As the movie began, Miss Romay left the auditorium, but Franco stayed for nearly 25-30 minutes, which was longer than he had stayed for any of the other screenings. As the film approached the end Lina helped Jess back into the theater for the Q & A. While the finale played out on screen I noticed the two of them staring up at the images together. Lina’s vampire was sprawled out naked in a bath of blood, while Franco’s doctor bursts through the door with intentions of killing her. It was the first time in the film that the Doc had seen the Countess, and his urge to kill is quickly snuffed out by her incredible beauty. So there it was, the two of them 40 years on, watching their younger selves fall in love on the screen. It was truly moving and it reminded me of what Lars, the host and organizer of the event stated at the beginning of the series. He read a quote by Franco that appeared in an Austin Chronicle interview the week of the festival: “The cinema is not the way to escape our lives; it is the way to complete our lives.”

--Popkoff

At the Movies: THE MOVIE

2009-02-23T00:34:00.000-06:00

Hey

My friends and I made a movie and it's in competition this weekend as part of an Alamo Drafthouse Filmmaking Contest. In order to make it to the finals (so that our film can be judged by an actual panel of judges), we HAVE to get VOTES. The goal of the contest is to make a fake trailer for a movie that does NOT exist. The fake movie trailer must be based on a television show that has never been turned into a movie before. We all worked extremely hard on it and it would really mean a lot to me if you could go over to filmmakingfrenzy.com and vote for our film: "At the Movies: THE MOVIE"

If you follow this LINK, it should take you right to it.

Thanks,
Popkoff

RockaFire Explosion (2008)

2008-12-31T00:59:00.006-06:00

Ever since I saw the trailer for this bad boy back in July, I had been foaming at the mouth to see it. I remember Showbiz Pizza from when I was a kid, but I was even more excited to get an intimate look at the man behind last year's RockaFire Explosion YouTube Phenomenon. Simply put, about a year or two ago, a man in his mid-30's named Chris Thrash began to upload videos on to YouTube of his in-home animatronic band, Showbiz Pizza's very own RockaFire Explosion. He had programed the band to perform modern radio Rock hits. Although the music wasn't that great, what made these videos so fascinating was the fact that somewhere out there someone had the RockaFire Explosion in their house. The mere thought of that boggled my mind.

Let just say that after watching the documentary, my mind has been boggled 100-fold!!!! Beginning in February, the Alamo Ritz will be holding screenings of the "RockaFire Explosion" documentary and I strongly urge everyone to check it out and learn about the power of dreams and the unwavering strength of the human spirit. Okay, so that's a lot of praise, but seriously, this movie was a lot fun and strangely moving at times...no joke. It's all about the pros and con of nostalgia, and the bizarre places we find happiness.

Here's the trailer that changed my life.

The Rock-afire Explosion Movie Trailer from The Rock-afire Explosion on Vimeo.

Wendy and Lucy (2008)

2008-12-31T00:42:00.004-06:00

This was a slow moving train that seemed to really bore the hell out of my friends. It did not bother me as much, but I understand why they didn't like it. It's the "deliberately paced" tale of Wendy (Michelle Williams), a woman on her way to Alaska to work for the Summer when her car breaks down in a small town. Low on cash and options, her struggles to figure out her next move are complicated even more by the mysterious loss of her dog and companion, Lucy. She spends the whole movie wandering around looking for her dog, barely scrapping by, and having strange encounters with the locals. The movie has garnered a lot praise recently and has surprisingly ended up on a lot of year end Top 10's. whatevs, it was o.k.

35mm Shorts (Passages, Frankie, The Adventure, Love You More) (2008)

2008-12-30T23:39:00.007-06:00

This was the one shorts program this year that I actually built up. Whenever you build a movie for a film festival, they never screen it before hand so you never really know if you made mistake until it first screening. It's kind of like working without a net, and it can be pretty stressful watching it for the first time with an audience. Every approaching reel change filled my heart with anxiety, but alas, there were no problems on my end. Anyway there were 4 shorts in this one.

The black and white animated piece entitled "Passages" about a botched delivery of a baby, directed Marie-Josée Saint-Pierre. It was intricate, fascinating, sad, and infuriating.

The film "Frankie" about a 15 year old Irish boy who is preparing himself to be a dad. It was interesting, but not my cup of tea.

For me, one of the 2 standout films of this collection was the curiously hilarious and uncomfortable, "The Adventure," by writer/director Mike Brune. It's about an older couple on a leisurely drive through the woodsy country side that gets interrupted by a bizarre encounter with a pair of mimes. Really Great!

Love You More preview from Matt Cooper on Vimeo.
And finally, there was the other standout short, "Love You More," by Sam Taylor Wood. It's the completely badass tale of two teenager drawn together by the Buzzcocks' single 'Love You More' during the summer of 1978. Right up my alley!

Just for the hell of it, here's "Love You More (mp3)" by the Buzzcocks!

Paper or Plastic? (2008)

2008-12-30T23:16:00.003-06:00

This was a surprisingly compelling documentary about a yearly competition that I had no idea even existed. It follows 8 very different grocery store clerks on their individual journeys from various humble beginnings to the National Championship of Grocery Bagging in Las Vegas. It's a nice little gem of a movie. There were times where I just laughed at how ridiculous it all was, but when the grand finale came around I was totally enthralled.

Psycho Sleepover (2008)

2008-12-30T20:48:00.004-06:00

This is an ultra low budget Slasher Comedy (a blending of genres that I'm not a big fan of) that was at times fun and entertaining, but that I'm willing to bet disappointed 95% of the audience that saw it during AFF. Here's the way I viewed the movie, yeah it's not a real "film" and yeah it's not "well made," but I'm guarantee if your best friend shot this exact same movie just for fun and never intending on showing it to anyone outside of their living room, you would think it was pretty awesome. Don't get me wrong, it's still bad, but it's not worth beating up because as Ian MacKaye yelled: at least it's "fucking trying, what the fuck have you done?"

Trailer:

The Boogens (1981)

2008-12-30T20:18:00.010-06:00

This Taft International production centers around an old mine shaft that runs underneath a small rural town in Colorado. Deep within the shaft live the Boogens, vicious turtle-like creatures with sharp teeth. After the shaft is blown wide open at the onset of the film freeing the little nasties, it's takes the movie a full hour to produce even the first sight of one Boogen. That's a lot of stalling or in this case tension building mixed with a lot of goofy 80's acting. Our heroes in the film are a pair of girls, their boyfriends who are part of the local mining crew, and an incredible Poodle named Tiger. Seriously though, the dog gives the best performance in the entire movie.

Despite not having a lot of action up front, the film manages to avoid being boring and provides a pretty solid payoff.

Among my favorite moments/details in the movie:

--The opening credits with it's silly "Newspaper Exposition."

--The foreman's one simple rule: “Don't Fuck Around”

--The film's main horndog announcing to the group that he was in fact "Hormone Man"

--The phrase "Doggie Electric Chair"

--The music that accompanied the Creepy Old Man, not to mention his amazingly scared uttering of the line: "The Boogens!!"

--The Unicorn Apron.

--The story of the First Girl Paperboy!

--One of our female protagonists singing “She'll be Coming Around the Mountain” in the Shower.

Role Models (2008)

2008-12-30T18:43:00.005-06:00

Comic hotshit David Wain has eked out a pretty decent career and amassed a nice following for his work on “The State” and “Stella,” not to mention his film “Wet Hot American Summer,” but he has yet to find box office success. All that's changed now though with “Role Models,” a film that fits nicely alongside the Judd Apatow sect and it pretty much follows the same formula as those films: a man-child is forced to grow up against his will and comedy ensues.

In this case there are two man-children, cynical energy drink promoter, Paul Rudd (who co-wrote this), and his obnoxious co-worker, Sean William Scott. After Rudd loses his girlfriend played by Elizabeth Banks (ot as my gf puts it, the new Rachel McAdams), he finds himself sentenced to community service along with Scott. The two of them have to participate in a mentoring program in which both of them are assigned a problem child. Rudd gets a introverted role-playing nerd named Augie (played by “Superbad's” Christopher Mintz-Plasse), while Scott gets the extroverted foul-mouthed Ronnie (played by Bobb'e J. Thompson). I won't spoil surprise as to who will help who grow up.

Bottom line on this one is that the first two-thirds is okay with enough chuckles to not leave you bored, but there's very few big laughs. The last act of the film though comes together so triumphantly that it pretty much makes the movie worth seeing.

Zero Effect (1998)

2008-12-30T18:30:00.004-06:00

Man, this was a totally random AFF screening. I saw this movie at the Gateway in 1998 and I bought it on VHS not too long after. Since then, I have watched it at least 3 times a year, if not more, and shown it to countless friends. Honestly, it's one of my top 20 favorite films of all time. Needless to say, seeing it on the big screen again (for FREE no less) with the director, Jake Kasdan, in person for a Q & A was just what the doctor ordered. First and foremost, I love Bill Pullman's incredibly odd and affective turn as Daryl Zero, the World's Most Private Detective. Ryan O'Neil is great as the complicated and realistic “villian,” Gregory Stark, and Kim Dickens is absolutely perfect as the cool and enigmatic Gloria Sullivan, the only woman to ever crack the exterior of Zero. I love so many aspects of the film, but the one thing that continues to pull back viewing after viewing is the exquisite crafting of the final 15 minutes. As my girlfriend points out regularly, they just don't know how to end movies anymore. I agree, and when one gets it right, it can be the hook that brings you back again and again.

Here is Bill Pullman's rendition of his “song,” “Let's Run Off and Get Married.” It's not quite as good as the scene in the movie, but I still find it amusing.

Let's Run Off and Get Married (mp3) - Bill Pullman as Daryl Zero

Phantom Punch (2008)

2008-12-30T18:06:00.003-06:00

So this film, "Phantom Punch," is about the life of boxer Sonny Liston was the second biopic in row for me at the Austin Film Festival along with “Crazy.” The two films finally opened my eyes to an alarming fact; most people live clichéd lives. All of these movies have the same formula: Rise to power, Fall from grace. Why don't they make biopics about truly strange lives? Perhaps a biopic about Andy Milliagan or Timothy Carey? At any rate, Ving Rhames stars as Liston. Apparently he considered this project to be his “baby” and worked on it for over 10 years. Supposedly, back in 1996, Tom Cruise (who co-starred that year with Rhames in “Mission Impossible”) considered producing it. As it ended up, the Meteor Man, Robert Townsend, directed it and he was at this screening for an introduction (a very Zack Carlson one at that). The movie had just as many clichés as “Crazy,” but the story was a little more interesting, although both films have subplots about infidelity and lonely housewives, but this movie had the girl from “Clueless” in it!! Again, this one felt like a made-for-TV production, but it's a decent movie with an inspired performance by Rhames.

My favorite line: “In that ring, I'm a deadly sin.”

How To Be (2008)

2008-12-30T17:43:00.007-06:00

So here it is just one day away from the end of the year and I'm 35 reviews behind. Since the purpose of this blog is for me to keep track of how many movies I'm watching a year (and approximately what I thought of them), I figure I have to resort to disparate measures. So I'm going to attempt to bulldoze through these 35 reviews, hoping to keep them within about 5 sentences a piece. If I have a lot to say about something, I'll put as much as I can now, and I might go back later to add stuff. To give you an idea of how far behind I am, I'm starting with my reviews of this year's Austin Film Festival, which took place in October!

Last year at AFF I remember thinking to myself that the nearly-30-year-old-white-male-loser-living-at-home had become by far the most overused lead character in the Indie film industry, and Oliver Irving's “How To Be” is no exception to that trend. The main character, Art (Robert Patterson), is a depressed and pathetic young man in the mists of a “quarter-life crisis,” who after his girlfriend dumps him (“When we first met, I thought you were deep and mysterious, but it turned out that you were just sad and unhappy”), turns to Canadian self-help guru for help. He pays to have the famous author come to London to observe his daily interactions and be his life coach. The movie started out fun and off beat, but more or less ran out of steam before the third act. I do give it credit for avoiding the urge to sympathize with it's protagonist too much, opting instead to fun of his whinny self-centered overreacting. Also, the actor who plays Art's best friend is absolutely great. My favorite line in the movie comes when Art is lying about his mother's failing health; “She's been painted with the cancer brush.” Overall, the movie was not bad, but it wasn't really that good either.

Here's the trailer.

How To Be Trailer from How To Be on Vimeo.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains (1981)

2008-12-10T20:05:00.020-06:00

So I really enjoyed Music Monday's rare 35mm screening of "Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains," it's a true cinema anomaly. The film was produced by Paramount Pictures and shot on location in Pennsylvania, L.A., and Canada in an attempt to cash in on the burgeoning popularity of Punk Rock. It tells a story that is now a familiar cliche, but at the time I'd be willing to bet that it wasn't. Since Punk had been in full swing for sometime though, screenwriter Nancy Dowd managed to articulate the fundamental contradictions of the genre while still staying true to what made the initial movement so interesting.

Young all-female band, the Stains, spawn from a small town, led by Corinne "Third Degree" Burns (16 year old Diane Lane) and also feature a young Laura Dern and Marin Kanter. The trio's sound is simplistic, amateurish, and honest, not unlike the Shaggs. After Corinne gains some unwanted publicity from a local newscast, the band sneaks aboard a tour bus of a cocaine-fueled-band of has-beens called The Metal Corpses, fronted by Lou Corpse (played extremely accurately by Fee Waybill). His performance reminded me a lot of the lead singer of this band.

Once aboard the bus thanks to the driver, a Rastafarian named Lawnboy, the Stains negotiate a opening slot in front of The Looters, a young British Punk band fronted by Billy (played by a young Ray Winstone). The Looters are also made up of Steve Jones and Paul Cook of the Sex Pistols, and Paul Simenon of The Clash. The film follows the unlikely rise of the Stains, from rebellious teen runaways to gimmicky Pop act, and the whole thing is fueled by the outrageous antics of Corinne. Along the way, her jaded outlook on life is challenged in the ways of love and success.

The movie is interesting for many reasons. For starters, it feels like a made-for-tv production (very "after school special"), but at the same time, it has slightly grimy edges to it involving Corinne's transparent clothing and her relationship with Billy. The film has a strange and awkward honesty to it that's not unlike the Stains themselves, but then the natural and obvious ending to the film is replaced by a tacked on "happy" ending that COMPLETELY UNDERMINES THAT HONESTY, NOT TO MENTION THE ENTIRE REST OF THE FILM. The ending was changed after test audience found it to be unsatisfactory. It's interesting though because they didn't omit the original ending, they just added to it, so if you watch on home video, take my advice and stop the dvd after the bus drives away.

So yeah here's the soundtrack to the movie:

Ladies and Gentlemen....The Fabulous Stains (Original Soundtrack)

1. All Washed Up [Rock] - Lawn Boy
2. Professionals - The Looters
3. Roadmap Of My Tears - The Metal Corpses
4. La La La - The Looters
5. Curfew - Lawn Boy
6. Waste Of Time - The Stains
7. All Washed Up [Reggae] - Lawn Boy
8. Professionals - The Stains
9. Don't Blow It All Away - The Looters
10. Conned Again - The Looters
11. Professionals [Video Version] - The Fabulous Stains

Plus, Here's an 7" and a couple other tracks by Black Randy and the Metrosquad who make small appearance in the film.

Black Randy the Metrosquad - Idi Amin 7"
"I Slept in an Arcade" (mp3)
"Give it up or Turn it Loose" (mp3)

Redneck (1973)

2008-12-09T21:19:00.005-06:00

“Redneck" was not the Southern-set rural Hicksploitation flick that I thought it was going to be, but rather an Italian-made crime-gone-awry film starring Franco Nero and Telly Savalas as Mosquito and Memphis respectively. The two of them play jewel store robbers who in process of getting away (via an outrageously crazy car chase sequence) accidentally kidnap a young boy named Lennox (Mark Lester of “Oliver” fame). Lennox is an effeminate lad who is in disparate need of a father figure, so much so that he projects that need onto Mosquito. Nero's performance is one of confusion, repressed anger, and despair.

Telly's Memphis on the other hand is in a different world entirely; he's a hayseed chewing, spiritual singing caricature that has more in common with Robert Downey Jr's performance in “Tropic Thunder” than with any 'redneck' I've ever met. He shoots a kid, assaults a prostitute, and kills a German family in the middle of their picnic, and all the while hysterically maintains his innocence to God, claiming repeatedly that it wasn't his fault, and that they made him do it.

By the end of the film Franco Nero is completely fucked up, shivering in the snow, covered in filth and blood, and forced to wear a woman's Tiger-skin jacket. Lennox and him are reduced to dragging a wounded Memphis through the woods and across the snow in an attempt to reach the border. All the while, Memphis suffers near-death hysteria as his crotch is covered in blood, and the police zero in on them. This movie is so crazy that the final gun battle involves a person being shot by bullet that causes them to perform a cartwheel before quietly exiting this world.

Overall, "Redneck" is a surprisingly good Thriller that's really worth checking out for Savalas' bizarro performance.

Religulous (2008)

2008-12-09T19:16:00.004-06:00

I'm a pretty big fan of Bill Maher's HBO panel show, Real Time, and I genuinely think he is a funny and insightful guy, but as a “documentary” (it's really propaganda), “Religulous” is fairly pointless. I would be surprised if anyone with an even moderately different opinion than Maher's walked away from the theater feeling their views were challenged in any way. Maher's condescending mockery will never change the minds of the people whose beliefs are the butt of his jokes. In other words, the film basically preaches to his choir, and because of that, fails as a persuasive piece. It's doesn't help that the film tacks on a ridiculous doomsday montage in the finally 5 minutes thats supposed to scare us into thinking rationally (wrap your mind around that logic).

The most interesting aspect of the film, I thought, was the interviews that Maher conducts with his mother and sister (I believe) about their upbringing. It's pretty much the only time in the movie that Maher doesn't come off as an intellectual schoolyard bully.

All this considered, I didn't hate “Religulous” because, well, I'm one of the choir, but I recognize that the film really serves no purpose.

Splatter Farm (1987)

2008-12-03T20:06:00.005-06:00

It was a little over a year ago now that Lars upped the ante on the Weird Wednesday & Terror Thursday series by unleashing “Black Devil Doll from Hell” on to an unsuspecting audience. I say that because I remember thinking after that experience that the gateway of possibilities had officially been opened. There was no longer an unwritten rule that maintained that only “legitimate” movies would be screened. Weekly audiences were now no longer safe from the results of full-blown incompetent amateurs shooting movies on VHS camcorders and editing them with VCR's. The door was opened and homemade movies found an audience that they were never meant to find, a theater going audience.

The “Black Devil Doll” crowd had their brains melted that night by the sheer uncomfortableness of it all. It was like the entire theater was being forced to watch their parents have sex while listening to brutally loud Casio tones. Though only a mere 70 minutes long, the film seemed to make time grind to a slow-motion halt with every thrust and smoky exhale from that dreaded Devil Doll. To put it another way, it was legitimately awesome.

This past January, Zack over at Terror Thursday followed up the triumphant “Devil Doll” screening with Chester Turner's second and final film, “Tales from the Quadead Zone.” Again shot on VHS, it proved to be an even more odd experience than “Devil Doll,” because it allowed the objective audience member to actually pinpoint the improvements Turner made as a filmmaker. While still completely amateurish, you could see how in it's own way, it was a vastly different level of movie-making.

All of this brings us to the recent Terror Thursday presentation of “Splatter Farm.” The 1987 shock-a-thon is truly a testament to the human spirit, of both the filmmaker's and the audience. Two twin teenage brothers, Mark and John Polina (for whom this screening was a memorial for), play Alan and Joseph. When we meet the two brothers, they are on the way to their Aunt Lacey's (Marion Costly in a performance for the ages) farm for the Summer.

When they arrive, they are greeted by Aunt Lacey and her handy man/son, Jeremy (Todd Smith giving arguably the best performance in the movie). When not working around the farm, Jeremy kills people (and horses) and uses their corpses for sex. That's just the beginning of what "Splatter Farm" has in store those brave enough to press "play."

Alan and Joseph are pretty slow when it comes to figuring out that there's something really wrong with life on the farm, but I guess that's how the plot is perpetuated. There's an impressive visual effect (seriously) about 25-30 minute into the movie in which one of the twins suffers horrendously while trying to take a dump. Seriously, really really gross.

It's not until lonely Aunt Lacey drugs and rapes one of the boys and the other one finds some human remains in the woods that the full scope of what Jeremy's been up to is revealed, but by that time it's too late for everyone including the audience; the grand finale begins.

The ending of this movie is pretty awe-inspiring. There is "the line" and there is "stepping over the line," and then there's "erasing the line, but not before fistin' it and rubbing shit all over it's face." That's pretty much what "Splatter Farm" does, and then some. It is truly a barometer of good taste, but not in the way you would think.

A lot of the time when I watch old exploitation films I try to imagine what the people outside the frame look like. I sometimes think about the time period that film was made and what the people who made it were really like. "Splatter Farm" is all of the things that I've said, but it is also a time capsule. The people in it weren't designed to look like they lived in 1987, they lived in 1987! This is where they lived and this was how they spent their time. They were friends and family, and in a strange way, "Splatter Farm" is the coolest home movie a family could have.

Anguish (1987) with Zelda Rubenstein LIVE!!!!

2008-12-03T19:56:00.005-06:00

HOLY FUCKING SHIT!!!! THIS ONE CATAPULTS INTO MY ALL-TIME TOP 10 THEATER-GOING EXPERIENCES WITH EASE.

I seriously don't know where to begin with this Terror Thursday classic. It was the second part of a double-feature of Zelda Rubenstein movies, the first part being "Teen Witch." I was at the "Teen Witch" screening, but since I fell asleep during it, I chose not to review it.

I had no idea what "Anguish" was about when I walked into the theater that night, and I'm so glad that I got to experience it completely cold. I'm even more pleased though that I got to view it in pretty much the best possible manner that I can think of, with maybe one exception that I won't go into right now.

Having an enthusiastic sold-out crowd fawning over the film's diminutive star, a Horror cinema legend, and one of the most adorable creatures to ever walk the earth, Zelda Rubinstein, only amplified the surrealism of not only the film, but the night as well. When Terror Thursday host, Zack Carlson, explained to the crowd that Zelda and him had taken to calling each other Big Z and Little Z, and then from somewhere in the audience Zelda's squeaky voice eked out "I love you Big Z," my heart exploded from unrivaled sweetness.

The film, made by Spanish director, Bigas Luna, opens with a scene of uncomfortable despair as John (Michael Lerner), the meek optometrist and son of Alice (Rubinstein), tries frantically to retrieve his pet bird from behind a standing closet. As we watch the bird flap it wings, wedged between the furniture and the wall, we sense that something awful is about to happen. The feeling of entrapment that the bird experiences is merely foreshadowing of what other characters in the film will feel later on, and maybe even some of the audience members in our theater.

John is a perpetually nervous and bad optometrist. He is also a severe momma's boy. When he suffers a humiliation at work from a customer that threatens to cost him his job, his "extra perceptive" mother hypnotizes him to enact revenge on the customer. His payback is brutal and stomach-churning. When it's all said and done is when the real fun begins. To say anymore would ruin the fun. I know the film has been available for 20 years, but there's got to be some magic left in the world, so I will end my synopisis here.

"Anguish" is really quite remarkable; it's a Slasher film, a Dark Comedy, a Thriller, and above all else, a movie-going-experience. In this age of home theaters and creatively lazy multiplexes, it difficult to go to movies and have significantly different experiences from week to week. Rarely does a movie offer something that's completely different from everything else, and although the central devise in "Anguish" has been reused into cliche, it's arguable that it's never been done as well as it is here. At one point in the film, the audience simultaneously marveled at a solitary shot, so simple, yet so completely uncommon, that we had no choice, but to laugh with awe.

Sometimes people will tell you a joke that they think is really clever even if it's not. "Anguish" is so clever that you never suspect that you are being told the joke.

On a side note, the most fascinating piece of information that Zelda offered about this gem was that it was that the entire production crew was made up of 5 people and that it was the best production that she had ever been apart of.

Tarzana, the Wild Girl (1969)

2008-11-13T19:11:00.008-06:00

Rich Englishmen, Sir Donovan, had long believed his daughter had perished in a plane crash in Africa along with his wife and family, but when strange reports arrive over 15 years later of a local tribe crowning a white woman their queen (known as Tarzana), he sends a rescue expedition to Nairobi on the slim chance his daughter survived.

This Italian production finds Safari expect, Glen Shipper (resembling an older, taller Aaron Eckhart) accompanying Sir Donovan's representatives, Doris (Franca Polesello), and the sinister Groder (Franco Ressel, resembling a younger, thinner, Alan Rickman) in search of Tarzana.

They bring along a team of helpers including the tribal dancer/trail-leader, Kamala, grizzled hunter, Lars, lecherous villain, Fred, and Shipper's driver who is a fat black man with a machete, who dresses exactly like Gilligan from “Gilligan's Island.” Along the way, the expedition wanders through a cave that looks strangely like the same one from “The Boogens.” They also find the 15 year old plane wreckage and they ward off stock footage of a lion that magically turns into a “dead” stuffed lion on a sound-stage.

The real star of the film is Tarzana (Femi Benussi) herself, or more specifically, Tarzana's breasts. Much of the film consists of Tarzana walking around completely topless, wearing nothing but a jungle g-string, while posing on a sound-stage with an elephant, a baby lion (or was it a tiger?), and a particularly human-sounding monkey. Every once in a while she pauses to let out a bellowing toneless yell to summon various animals to her aide. To help give you an idea of how obsessed the movie is with Tarzana's breasts, in the climatic sequence at the end where Doris is appealing to Tarzana to come with her and Glen, she actually appeals to Tarzana's breasts by removing her own shirt and comparing her breasts to Tarzana's: "Look, we're the same.

That's pretty much everything you need to know about "Tarzana, the Wild Girl," an unremarkable movie that was a sometimes boring, yet ultimately enjoyable Weird Wednesday.

The Shape of Things to Come (1979)

2008-11-11T12:22:00.013-06:00

So I can safely say that this unfaithful H.G. Wells adaptation was a pretty unmemorable Weird Wednesday, especially considering that it screened a mere month ago, and sitting here now, I'm struggling to recall what I thought about it. I guess what I'm saying is bear with me on this one.

The plot, as provided by imdb.com goes something like this:

Planet Earth is a devastated wasteland, and what's left of humanity has colonized the Moon in domed cities. Humanity's continued survival depends on an anti-radiation drug only available on planet Delta Three, which has been taken over by Omus (Jack Palance), a brilliant but mad mechanic who places no value on human life. Omus wants to come to the Moon to rule and intends to attack it by ramming robot-controlled spaceships into the domes. Dr. John Caball, his son Jason, Jason's friend, Kim, and a robot named Sparks embark on Caball's space battlecruiser on an unauthorized mission to Delta Three to stop Omus.

Now let me just say that reading this synopsis now, I guess I can see how a plot could be strung together by the scenes I saw, but at the time (perhaps it was my tired mental state, but I never fell asleep once during this one) I swear my mind was not processing a plot, but merely absorbing scene after scene.

That being said, the most painful problems with the film are obvious from the get-go; the lumbering pace, the low production value (for a Sci-Fi film at least), and a completely flat script are among the film's worst crimes. The absolute worst though, without a doubt, is the complete under-use of the incomparable Jack Palance. He shows up briefly early on and you're primed for some damn fine scene-chewing, and then there's nothing for an hour or so. He shows up in the last 25 minutes or so to unload some pure cinematic insanity, but it's too little, too late.

It wasn't a total loss though, there were some pretty laughable moments here and there, among my favorites:

--Jack Palance giant floating/rotating holographic head. His incredible overacting, arm gesturing, and his delivery of the line: “Where's your humanism now doctor!?!” You can also tell how evil he is by how many times he laughs out of pure amazement and delight with what he's doing.

--The hallucinogenic space travel sequence (something that seems to be a standard in 70's Sci-Fi films) that's capped with the line: “What the Hell was that about?”

--The ridiculous "robots." Sparks actually seems more human than most of the humans in the film.

--The crazy space-gladiator weapons.

--There's a group of kids in the movie that are supposed to be mutants, or fallout victims, or orphans or something. I don't know, but half of them have on awful blond wigs. The other half have either naturally blond hair or just naturally dark hair. I'm pretty sure that the idea here was that they would all have blond wigs, but the filmmakers didn't have enough to go around so some ended up with them and some didn't. The only reason I think this is because one of the kids wearing a blond wig was Asian.

To be fair to this one, I know there were a lot of other funny bits, but I just can't remember them. I leave you with this, did you know that Jack Palance's birth name was Volodymir Ivanovich Palahniuk? Me neither.

"The Shape of Things to Come" screened 10/8/08 at the midnight and was presented by Weird Wednesday.

Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist (2008)

2008-11-05T20:16:00.006-06:00

It’s funny how expectations work. I was really excited to see “Juno” last year, especially after all the hype. My disappointment with that film, I initially thought, was due to the hype, but really the more I thought about that movie the more I hated it. Did it deserve that much venom? Probably not, but…maybe. Then recently, I watched “Zack and Miri make a Porno” and I expected a hilarious and insightful Kevin Smith movie, but instead I got an obligatorily vulgar and unfunny Hollywood sap-fest, which of course resulted in my disappointment. That brings me to this movie, “Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist.” To look at the trailer for this film, you might think that Myspace produced it, and that it was carefully calculated to hit all the right cultural references to appeal to Generation Y, or whatever, but from where I was sitting it had a much more modest intent.

Nick (Michael Cera) is a sensitive Indie-Rock boy who is obsessed with two things, music and his ex-girlfriend, and he combines the two through a series of embarrassingly pathetic mix CDs, made especially for her. His ex, Tris, has moved on to College guys, and spends her days at High School laughing to her friends about how big of a loser Nick is. One of her friends, the introverted Norah (Kat Dennings), has never met Nick, but she feels a kinship with him because she’s heard most of the mixes made for Tris. Norah feels sorry for Nick because she’s realizes that Tris doesn’t appreciate the CDs.

Nick plays in a band called the Jerkoffs, made up entirely of gay men, with him being the lone exception. Much is made of the fact that the band doesn’t have a drummer, but that doesn’t stop Tris (and her new boyfriend) from heading downtown (New York) to see them on a Friday night. Norah and her chronically drunk best friend, Caroline, show up as well. Through some deception on Norah’s part, Nick and Norah end up meeting, while having to pretend that they’re boyfriend & girlfriend in front of Tris.

Long story short, Nick & Norah go out on the town to get to know one another, while Nick’s band takes Caroline home. Meanwhile Tris is crazy-jealous over the prospect of Nick & Norah dating and begins pining for him out of spite. Everything goes smoothly that night until the Jerkoffs lose Caroline, and Nick loses the interest of Norah by constantly talking about Tris. Will the Jerkoffs find Caroline? Will Nick & Norah fall in love/lust, or will Tris get him back?

Like I said, I think this movie has a fairly modest intent. Since it never wants to be anything more than the tale of 2 teenagers meeting and crushing on one another during the course of one night, that’s all it turns out to be, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Unlike “Zack & Miri,” this film doesn’t have to be outrageously funny or even clever; it merely has to be cute and earnest. Like “Zack & Miri” though, it doesn’t have to reinvent the wheel either; it just has to roll along smoothly.

That being said, expectations played a huge role in my enjoyment of this film. For example, I was surprised that a movie with the term “Infinite Playlist” in it didn’t make me feel like I was being bashed over the head with the soundtrack (like “Juno” did). I was also surprised by how adult the film was, not just in sense that it included subjects like homosexuality and “heavy petting” sexuality in it, but that it handled those subjects with an uncanny amount of maturity. That’s especially admirable considering that it’s PG-13 and aimed at pre-teens and teens. I was surprised by how authentic the performances were too. To clarify, the film does have its share of unrealistic dialogue (not unlike “Juno” or “Zack & Miri”), but due to the line delivery, it’s not only believable, but it’s also not obnoxious. Lastly, I was really surprised by how subtle the jokes were. With one exception that I can think of, almost the entire movie was made up of witty one-liners. There was no slapstick and very little in the way of gross-out humor. Again, very strange for a teen-oriented film.

Don’t get me wrong; this movie is far from perfect. For starters, there’s really not much to it, which is to say that if you’ve seen the trailer, you’ve pretty much seen the movie (except it’s better than the trailer). Secondly, the movie is not hysterically funny for a Comedy, but for me, that wasn’t a problem. The person I saw it with though felt that due to the understated humor and limited plot-innovation, it was kind of boring. It will be interesting to see how it ages as well, whether the Indie-Pop and references to Amy Winehouse will date poorly or provide a comforting nostalgia? I’m not really sure, but I do think it will find an audience over time, and a fond appreciation.

As anyone who has known me for more than 5 years can tell you, I have a nerdtastic theory about films like “Nick & Norah,” “Juno,” and “Zack & Miri.” It goes something like this: essentially, if I were to be honest, I would give all of these movie 2 ½ stars out of 4. Which would obviously mean that they are all on about the same level of filmmaking, but I would have to take my rating one-step further, just to make my feelings clearer.

To me there is such a thing as a “Positive 2 ½ stars” and a “Negative 2 ½ stars.” A Negative 2 ½ stars is reserved for films that should have been much better than they actually were, and for whatever reason they managed to fuck it up before the credits rolled. On the other hand, I use the Positive 2 ½ stars for films that aren’t really that great, but they have something going for them that makes them worth checking out. They might have an interesting premise, or perhaps they’re just really entertaining. Either way, these films are usually better than they have to be.

By those standards, “Juno” and “Zack & Miri” would be Negative 2 ½ star movies and “Nick & Norah” would be Positive. Got It? Wow, I wrote a lot about “Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist.” Who knew?

Zack and Miri make a Porno (2008)

2008-11-05T16:32:00.008-06:00

Comedy is a strange beast, you can recycle the same tired plots over and over again, and as long as you make it funny, all will be forgiven. The new film by Kevin Smith, “Zack and Miri make a Porno,” is not funny; therefore nothing is forgiven.

The film is a retread of one of cinema’s most familiar plot lines: two platonic life-long friends suddenly realize that they’re really in love with one another, but can they take the plunge and risk ruining their friendship? I’ll give you one guess to tell me how it ends? Well, to be honest it’s not important how it ends. In films like this, it’s never as important how it ends, as it is how it begins. What exactly is the reason for this couple’s emotional revelation?

In this case, our loveable leads, Zack & Miri (Seth Rogan & Elizabeth Banks), are down on their luck financially and find themselves in that unique position where having sex for money doesn’t quite sound so implausible. So they decide to make a porno and distribute it themselves. The only problem is that Miri doesn’t want to have sex with a random stranger, so the two of them agree to do it with each other.

Obviously listening to that premise, it’s easy to see how the situation could be mined for both Comedy and Dramatic gold. The problem is that Smith simplifies everything. The Comedy is Smith’s obligatory dick and shit jokes, laced with cultural references and raunchy language, which again, wouldn’t be a problem if it were funny. Since it rarely is, it feels forced and labored. The attempts at Drama are sappy and surprisingly run-of-the-mill.

As far as good things go in the film, there is a sequence early on when Zack and Miri go to their High School reunion that has some really funny bits, especially from Justin Long as a completely hilarious gay porn star. To be honest, it almost didn’t matter what he said, just as long as he said it in that voice. Seriously that guy deserves a better career. Craig Robinson is also really great as Zack's co-worker/porno producer.

When I told people at my work that I thought that there was no difference between this movie and any other Romantic Comedy, except for the unnecessary vulgarity, the first question they’d ask me was usually “Well, do you like Kevin Smith movies?” My answer is yes, I enjoyed Smith’s first 4 films, but I thought that he peaked with “Dogma,” and everything since then had been bad to mediocre. They then usually ask me, “Well, what did you really expect?” My answer is that it’s not enough to be vulgar and shocking; anybody can do that.

If I’m supposed to get excited for the new Kevin Smith movie, I want him to bring something else to the table, some sort of insight. I hate to say it, but in a strange way, Smith is an artist. Some of his films really do seem to reflect his life experiences and his worldviews. This one though, feels like it could have been made by anyone.

Okay, I’m done shitting on this movie. To be honest, it’s not that bad, but rather, mediocre to sometimes funny. I don’t know, maybe I’m being too hard on it, but as my girlfriend said, “it’s like ‘Jersey Girl,’ but with sex.”

Towelhead (2008)

2008-11-01T02:25:00.008-05:00

“Towelhead” is a Coming-of-Age Drama that is also yet another entry into the “Moral Corruption in Suburbia” sub-genre, and it fits in well alongside other films of that ilk such as “Happiness” and “American Beauty.” Fitting, since it was directed by Alan Ball, writer of “American Beauty” and the television show “Six Feet Under;” he also adapted it from a book-by-the-same-name authored by Alicia Erian.

Young actress Summer Bishil plays Jasira, a 13 year old Arab American, growing up in the early 90's during the first Iraq war. She is sent to live with her strict Lebanese father (Peter Macdissi) in a middle-class cul-de-sac after a fallout with her mother involving her live-in boyfriend. There are two houses next door to her father's; one belongs to a pair of free-thinking hippies and soon-to-be-parents (Toni Collette & Matt Letscher) and the other belongs to army reservist and pedophile, Travis (Aaron Eckhart), and his trophy wife and bigoted son.

To put it simply, life sucks for Jasira. On a seemingly daily basis, she suffers through racism, sexual harassment, verbal abuse, mental abuse, and physical abuse, and it's coming at her from all sides. From her parents to her neighbors to her classmates, hell, even her body is out to get her, and all she wants to do is feel loved.

When Jasira babysits her racist next door neighbor's son (who is seemingly even a bigger racist), she discovers him rifling through his father's porno mag collection. At first she's shocked, but strangely, she finds herself becoming infatuated with the images in the magazines. When Travis, the father, comes home from work early one day and catches the two kids looking at the magazines, he scorns Jasira, but not before questioning her about her motives for looking at the magazines.

It isn't very long before Jasira's life is forever complicated by the sexual advances of Travis. The film does an interesting job of presenting both Jasira and Travis as confused and willing participants in something that they both know is wrong, rather than the predatory situation that it actually is.

That's more or less what the movie's about, but there are also a lot of sprawling subplots that involve Jasira's dad and his new girlfriend, Jasira's mom, Jasira's black boyfriend, and the hippy neighbor's watchful suspicious eyes. Considering the subject matter of the film and title (the studio considered changing the title several times), it's no surprise that there has been a lot of controversy surrounding it.

Personally, I wasn't really effected by the film's portrayal of sexuality, but I can easily see why someone would be, it's shocking, awkward, and disturbing. It's hard for me to explain, but I never really felt like the film was telling me a story at all, but instead just showing me a series of traumatic and embarrassing events in a young girl's life. As a result, I felt sorry for Jasira, but I wasn't really engaged by her story; I was merely watching it unfold. To put another way, I felt like all of the scenes added up to picture that I could look at, but not a story and could I experience.

That being said, I would almost recommend seeing just for the great performances, particularly by Summer Bishil, Aaron Eckhart, and Peter Macdissi. The only reason I won't recommend it because of the last impression the film left on me. As my girlfriend often notes, they just don't know how to end movies anymore, and sure enough, this one was no exception. So I'll just say that the happy and sappy Hallmark ending to this parade of misery and sadness is enough for me to say forget this and rent "Palindromes" instead.

All the Sins of Sodom (1968)

2008-10-30T09:29:00.004-05:00

This was the second part of the Joe Sarno double feature, and it's a film that was thought to have been lost for 30 years. Apparently, the negatives were discovered recently and this digital transfer was made, and then screened to a sold out Weird Wednesday audience. There's something humbling about watching a film that hasn't been seen by anyone else in 30 years, or in some cases, ever. It was definitely more of what I'm used to from Sarno, exceptionally photographed Black & White sequences with iconic imagery, somewhat choppy editing, and performances that range from vibrant to cardboard.

The plot centers around a big city photographer looking to catch his big break in the world of model photography. Throughout the film he has a handful of muses, some innocent and coy, at least one of them is pure evil (well, sort of), but they all give themselves over to the photographer, both in front of the camera and behind it. When the photographer gets what he wants from both his innocent and evil muses, at what cost will he have to pay?

To be honest, I was completely conscience during this movie, but because of the slow pace and limited plot, it's hard for me to recall specific details that stood out to me. I remember thinking that the evil muse was not really my type, but that she was so wonderfully filmed that I understood why she was the catalyst in the movie. I also remember thinking that the male lead, the photographer, was not up to the challenge of acting against the female cast. His exclamations of frustration to his model; “No, no, it's not evil enough,” induced more laughter in the theater than understanding. I remember the goofy faces the elevator operator made in the background of his shots, which I think is funny now, since he's the only male in the movie that got a film credit on IMDB.

After the movie, I went out into the lobby and met Joe Sarno. I watched his trembling hand scribble out an inscription on my copy of “The Love Merchant.” The young man next to him asked Sarno if he remembered that picture, and he replied with fondness for it. I wonder what that night at the Alamo was like Sarno? I remember during the screening of “Abigail Lesley,” looking down the row of seats and seeing Joe's face as he watched the screen. I wonder what it was like to watch it in theater with an audience, after all these years?

The inscription on my dvd said: “Hey Popkoff! Enjoy the Sex! - Joe Sarno.”

Here's is a bit of one of the Q & A's from that night:

“All the Sins of Sodom” screened at midnight on 10/1/08 at the Alamo Ritz and was presented by Weird Wednesday.

Abigail Leslie is back in Town (1975)

2008-10-26T01:14:00.015-05:00

Well, well, well...in the nearly 4 years that I've been attending Weird Wednesday, there have been 3 directors that have punctuated my weekly cinema exploration: Al Adamson, Andy Milligan, & Joe Sarno. Adamson was sort of an everyman's director, who took whatever material he could get his hands on and did what he could with it, with varying degrees of success. Regardless of the subject matter though, an Adamson movie was always an "Adamson" movie. Milligan on the other hand was a shoestring budget auteur whose productions were mostly period pieces complete with hand-sewn costumes, reused sets, and loads of dialogue, mostly of the bickering and bitching variety. He was also a huge asshole apparently; whose real-life final act mirrored the best possible twist in any of his productions.

That brings us to Joe Sarno, a psychology major, whose Sex films, especially in the 60's, were more concerned with the character's motives than with their sexual actions. Known in some circles these days as "the Ingmar Bergman of sex films," his movies combined starkly-photographed, envelope-pushing scenes of titillation with suburban settings, and complex, yet compelling Soap Opera-esque performances. He's especially known for providing strong female characters in a genre where the opposite was usually the case. Most of his films that I have seen, with the exception of "Swedish Wildcats," were black & white Dramas that carried the ambiance of Film Noir into the world of Skin Flicks, and along the way mixed in occult themes, corruption, and paranoia.

This screening of "Abigail Leslie" was part of a Weird Wednesday double feature along with "All the Sins of Sodom," and was presented with Joe Sarno (now 87 years old) Live and in Person. If I had to guess, I would venture to say that this film was made either shortly before or shortly after his transition from Soft-core to Hardcore, due mostly to the excess of full frontal nudity, which was definitely more than any other Sarno film I've seen at the Alamo.

The only reason I note that is because I had invited two of my younger friends to the show, one of them 18 and the other 19 year olds, and neither one had any idea what they were in for. I imagine they were shocked and quite confused by the thought-provoking Q & A and mature analysis that followed the screening. One of them quite perfectly described the movie as "a housewife porno, but with 'real' housewives."

The story centers on Priscilla (Rebecca Brooke, giving an uncommonly strong performance in a Sex film), content yet bored housewife whose marriage was thrown into peril some years earlier by her friend and town jezebel, Abigail Leslie (Jennifer Jordan). After Abigail's betrayal, her own marriage fell apart and she left the town of Baypoint.

The film begins with the news of "that hot-pants-bitch," Abigail Leslie being back in town. Upon hearing the news, Priscilla attempts to play it cool, but retreats as fast as she can to the beach. There, she reflects back on the events that fill her with such dread. In a flashback we see Priscilla and her friend, Tracy (played by Susan Sloan), catching Abigail in bed with Priscilla's husband, Gordon. The line delivery by Tracy is the perfect contrast to Priscilla's horrified expression; "They say 'a kettle of hot water helps in times like these.'" It's at this point that the audience is introduced to Abigail's dead eyes and smoky detached voice.

Every Monday and Wednesday Priscilla goes to the beach where she meets up with Chester, a nice-guy handyman who has the eyes for Priscilla, but the two of them are too shy to take their rendezvous one step further. Meanwhile Abigail returns to the local boat yard (where most of the film takes place) and meets up with some of the other local housewives. It's not very long before Priscilla's husband hears the news and sets up a secret meeting of his own with Abigail.

Priscilla suspects as much of her husband, and feels sorrow, frustration, and confusion about her crumbling marriage, even though everyone around her, including her naughty aunt Drucilla and her beau, Bo (played by Sonny Landham of "Predator" and "48 Hours" fame), urge her to enjoy the freedom that comes with an open marriage.

Meanwhile, Abigail begins the seduction not only of every man in town, but of every woman too. I remember during the first 45 minutes of the film thinking that it was all so scandalous. The enjoyment derived from it was on par with the kind you get from hearing juicy gossip. Abigail's line delivery and philosophies in particular made me chuckle and gasp throughout. When asked why cheerleaders look more pretty today, Abigail responds "Oh, they eat better and fuck more." When she seduces one of the ladies, she says "give me your tongue damn it, give it to me!"

So much of the first half of the film is filled with seedy conversations and sleazy seductions, and all the while I felt that Abigail was concocting a plot for revenge. As the film progressed it became more and more clear that her plot was not so much vengeance as was forgiveness, well, forgiveness through a LOT of sex. Virtually the entire second half of the film is filled with sex scenes. As a result, it felt like the plot and characters eventually were crushed under the weight of all that sex screen time. Of course, I'm the kind of guy that gets bored with sex scenes after a while.

At any rate, this movie was pretty awesome, even if the first half was better than the second.

"Abigail Leslie is back in Town" was screened on 10/1/08 at 9:30 and was presented by Weird Wednesday.

Better Off Dead (1985)

2008-10-26T00:15:00.000-05:00

I cannot believe it has taken me well over a month to write a review of this movie. It screened at the Arbor as part of the Retro Replay series that they were trying out. That was on 9/3/08 and here it is now, 10/25/08. What the hell have I been doing with my time? Well, watching movies, a lot of movies. Currently, I am 28 reviews behind, but once I knock this one out I'll only be 27.

When I was a kid I liked this movie a lot, and by the time I was a teenager, it had become one of my all time favorites. I just remember thinking how zany and weird it was at the time, and how different it was than the other movies that I grew up around. Little did I know back then that in its own way, "Better Off Dead" was kind of my gateway drug for "Cult" movies. Years later, I showed it to my girlfriend and (after hearing about how it was one of my favorite movies) she just stared at me with a confused look on her face.

John Cusack plays Lane Meyer, an obsessive teenager whose girlfriend, Beth, dumps him because it's in her best interest to date someone who is "more popular, better looking, and who drives a nicer car." Lane takes it bad...really bad. He tries to kill himself several times, but fails miserably each time. His life becomes more complicated when Beth falls for the town's local pretty boy and school ski team captain, Roy Stalin, the only man ever to ski the K-12. Throw in the fact that the nerdy, fat, and obnoxious next door neighbor, Ricky, has a potential girlfriend in French exchange student, Monique, and Lane's life is pretty much horrifying (by teenage standards that is).

There are a lot of little touches that really go a long way in separating this 80's Teen Comedy from the pack; the Japanese street racing brothers (one of whom talks like Howard Cosell), the psychotic, menacing newspaper delivery boy, and the claymation Van Halen video/dream sequence, just to name a few. It also does an admirable job of both satirizing the conventions of the Teen Angst genre, while also carving it's own unique, yet true take on them.

Watching it for the first time in a theater with well over a decade of strange cinema under my belt, obviously "Better Off Dead" didn't register the same way it used to, but unlike my recent "Ghostbusters" screening, I still managed to take something new away from it. For starters, the character of Ricky came off less nerdy this time around, and more daring. He has no problem dancing at the dance, he pushes the other, weaker nerds around, and when it comes time to fight Lane at the end, he doesn't back down. Secondly, Lane's best friend, Charles (played by Booger from "Revenge of the Nerds), still steals the movie. His line deliveries, facial expressions, and screen presence ages better than anything else has in the movie, especially the soundtrack and the "my $2's" gag.

Anyway, onwards to next review!!!

"Better Off Dead" screened on 9/3/08 at 7:00 at the Arbor as part of the Retro Replay series.

Turkey Shoot a.k.a. Escape 2000 (1982)

2008-10-25T02:30:00.005-05:00

This was the final film screened during the Not Quite Hollywood series, and I watched it the night of the Bill Murray Experience. As a result of trying to the watch the documentary, “Not Quite Hollywood,” earlier in the evening, I ended up seeing many clips from this movie, and to be honest, I was foaming at the mouth, waiting for midnight to roll around.

The film is another work directed by Brian Trenchard-Smith and is set in the “near future” of 1995. It's a dystopian future at that, complete with a police-state concentration camp, and everything. At the beginning of the film, three new prisoners (one guy and two girls) are rounded up and shown the inner workings of the camp by the evil and sadistic head guard, Ritter (Roger Ward, giving the film's stand-out performance). Ritter is a maniacal monster and wonderful villain. The scene where he slaps a young female inmate till she's lying a pool of her own blood is intense, disturbing, yet strangely hilarious.

On the flip side, Steve Railsback's performance as Paul, the male lead, left a lot to be desired for me. He just seemed like a jerky dude. As the story progresses, we find out that our three leads are the next in line to take part in the camp's most cruel and unusual of punishments: they are to be hunted for sport. Their reward, if they survive, is that they get their freedom. The hunters, in this case, are Thatcher, the head of the camp, Ritter, and his cronies, including a freakish-wolfman-like-ogre, who rides around with him in a dune buggy. There is also a woman (played by Carmen Duncan) on the prowl with an arsenal of exploding arrows. While the hunters hunt, the prey, led by Railsback, fight back and attempt to bring forth a revolution.

As fate would have it, seeing the clips from this movie earlier in the evening turned out to work against the film for me. In other words, those sequences of sex and violence in “Not Quite Hollywood” proved to be the best “Turkey Shoot” had to offer. Seeing those moments in a montage ended up to setting my expectations entirely too high. As a result, whose to say what my response to “Turkey Shoot” would have been if I hadn't seen those clips? Judging from my friends who were with me (none of which saw “Not Quite Hollywood”), it might have been the same. All in all, this film was kind of disappointing, and was a slightly below average “Terror Thursday,” not that great, but with a few truly inspired and entertaining moments. Most of which were either provided by the creative gore effects, or most likely, the truckload of pyro that was used in this thing.

“Turkey Shoot” screened at midnight at the Alamo Ritz on 9/25/08 and was presented by Terror Thursday.

Rudy Ray Moore (1937 -2008)

2008-10-20T21:27:00.003-05:00

The hits just keep on coming...

The death of Dolemite himself, Rudy Ray Moore, was announced today. His passing comes as a result of complications from diabetes, and is yet another in a long line of shocking celebrity deaths this year. It seems like Heaven is getting more awesome with each passing day. Hopefully, if he sees a ghost, he'll "cut the mutha fucka."

Here are the soundtracks to "Dolemite" and "The Human Tornado."

Click "Soundrack (1975)" to download.

Not Quite Hollywood a.k.a. The Bill Murray Experience

2008-09-27T15:44:00.018-05:00

Soooooooo in conjunction with the Fantastic Fest repertory series about Ozploitation, the festival screened the new documentary, “Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation!,” from director Mark Hartley. Hartley was at both the “Dark Age” and “Razorback” screenings and projected an interesting awkwardness on stage with both Zack and Lars; I think perhaps this was due to his sense of humor being somewhat different than ours. Either way, he seemed like a very knowledgeable guy and pretty friendly.

The documentary covers the renaissance of Australian film-making that occurred in 70's and 80's that manifested itself as Genre and Exploitation films. Covering a wide number of films, mostly Sex-Comedies, Action, and Horror, the documentary does a wonderful job of functioning not just as a Greatest Hits compilation of Nudity and Violence, but also as a crash course in the unconventional, unsafe, renegade-style of film-making that transpired at the time. It's genuinely enjoyable to watch these guys reflect fondly on their days of amateurish, yet invigorating productions. Watching their faces light up as they relay their crazy stories from back then, I had to wonder if modern film-makers will ever experience this much fun on the set.

At this point in the review, I have to step back and make a confession: About 30 minutes into the movie, our waiter brought my girlfriend her food, but when she looked at it, she informed him that it wasn't what she ordered. He then apologized and said the kitchen was “really crazy right now because Bill Murray is in the lobby.” My girlfriend and I looked at it each other in disbelief.

As most of the Fantastic Fest attendees knew (hell, I knew and I wasn't an attendee), the closing night film was going to be “City of Ember,” and although rumor had it that some cast and crew were going to be there, no one seriously thought Bill Murray was going to show up. I mean, it's BILL MURRAY!!!!

At any rate, we quietly left the theater and went out into the lobby where Mr. Murray was standing, giving interviews in a sort of musical chairs fashion. Standing on the other side of the ropes, only 6 feet from him, I felt a warmth in my body; I don't know how to explain it. Something about seeing him in the flesh just made me so happy; perhaps it's all the nostalgia, I don't know. I snapped a bunch of photos of him being interviewed, while everyone in the lobby watched on in awe.

My girlfriend watched, paced, and somehow found time to take a smoke break!?! It was obvious that she was determined to meet him. A couple of months prior, she was in Chicago and went to a charity event where Bill Murray jumped out of a plane. She was determined to meet him then, but didn't even come close, and now she was just a mere 6 feet away.

I kept going back into the theater to check on our tab, and I would see glimpse of the film that looked absolutely great, but I would then remember that Bill Murray was outside and exit back into the lobby. After my final exit from the theater, Mr. Murray had finished the interviews and he was standing near the box office with security around him. He was looking at local publications, fliers, that sort of thing, and he asked an employee about, I believe, Austin City Limits, and after the employee answered his question, he asked Bill Murray if he could take a picture with him. After that, there seemed like there was a group of passive, quiet, vultures circling him in the lobby, all of them too afraid to be the first to speak to him. My girlfriend, brazen as ever, blurted out “I kiss your feet!! If you let me take a photo with you!?!” To which Mr. Murray, dryly responded, “Really? That seems a little excessive, and I don't really want to take my shoes off.” What resulted afterwards was this dimly lit, blurry photo of Heather, Bill Murray, & I.

I had always heard strange stories about people meeting Bill Murray, tales that verge on the edge of urban legends. I remember reading a story years ago about a guy who was waiting in a subway station, and suddenly Bill Murray showed up, gave the guy a noogie, and whispered in his ear: "No one will ever believe you." My friend Patricia once marveled me with a story about her Mom and her meeting Bill Murray on the beach in Florida. She was 7 or 8 years old and she saw a man walking along the beach that looked like "the ghostbuster." Her mother went over to the man with her and said, "My daughter thinks that you are man from the 'Ghostbusters,' is she right?" To which he replyed, "Yeah, I'm the ghostbuster," and looking down Patricia, he said, "don't worry, there's no ghosts on the beach." I've also always heard rumors that he was bit of a jerk in real life, much like you hear about every celebrity...maybe, who knows? I only met the guy for 30 seconds, but he nicer than he had to be to me.

As for “Not Quite Hollywood,” the whole thing wasn't a loss. For starters, the Alamo is bringing it back sometime in the Winter or Spring, and I will definitely be there in full force. Plus, as a result of the bits that I did see, I ordered some films online that night, “Dead-End Drive In,” “Road Games,” and “Patrick.”

The Man from Hong Kong (1975)

2008-09-27T15:44:00.013-05:00

"Hey! Don't give me any shit!!" - Fang Sing-Leng from "The Man from Hong Kong"

Director Brian Trenchard-Smith was in attendance for this Weird Wednesday screening of "The Man from Hong Kong," a true cinematic anomaly: an Australian set and produced Kung Fu Action movie that is also a satire of Renegade American Cop films. Would-be heir to the thrown of Bruce Lee, Jimmy Wang Yu, plays Inspector Fang Sing-Leng, a loose cannon cop from the Hong Kong Special Branch, who "learned every trick in the book, and then threw the book away." He arrives in Australia to assist a pair of local cops with the extradition of two-bit drug smuggler, Win Chan. Everything goes awry when Chan is assassinated by a killer (legendary stunt man Grant Page) hired by the extravagant crime lord, Jack Wilton (George Lazenby). Wang Yu then goes on a quest to prove Wilton is the man behind the drug smuggling ring, and destroys everything that he comes into contact with in the process, but never fear, because it's all in the name of justice.

Okay, let me just start by saying that everything about this movie is totally Badass. Even the stuff that starts out lame, like the theme song, “Sky High,” by the band, Jigsaw, is suddenly transformed into something totally Badass. Another example: Hang Gliding, usually it's really lame, but in this movie, it's totally Badass, who knew? Hell, when it combines "Sky High" and Hang Gliding, every other movie in the world should of committed suicide. I don't know how it works, but “x” plus “The Man from Hong Kong equals TOTALLY BADASS.

Other examples of Badass stuff: The opening car chase that ends with an insane car-flip and explosion that causes one of the doors to unhinge and fly towards the camera. No CGI at work, just good old fashion dangerous film-making. Hell, every car chase in this movie kicks major ass, and to me at least, it looked like Wang Yu did all of his own stunt driving. Maybe I'm wrong about that, but if am, that's even more props for the movie. There's another example of hazardous film-making later on in the film in a scene where George Lazenby is set on fire, a real fire stunt that resulted in him having to be hospitalized for burns to his hands (it also supposed resulted in Lazenby punching Trenchard-Smith). The scene looks not unlike this photo of Brian Trenchard-Smith doing a publicity stunt for the film on the rooftop of the Kerridge Odeon Building:

Another Badass thing Wang Yu definitely does his own stunt driving in the coolest fucking entrance to a date ever; he slides his car sideways, stopping just short of his rendezvous' car, which is parked on a cliff-side, she never stood a chance.

With all the great stunt driving, it surprising that the film also produces some pretty good fight scenes, the highlights being the one between and Wang Yu and Grant Page in a kitchen, and Wang Yu's climatic final fight with Lazenby, which you can watch here. I also really liked the cut effects in the movie. Even though the blood was obviously orange paint, the way cuts occurred in the film was quite convincing.

The film also sports some horribly racist, but hilarious dialogue, such as Wang Yu's love-making scene in which his mate says "This is nice," to which he responds “What did you expect, acupuncture?” Wang Yu supposedly disliked white women so much, that whenever he was preparing for his love-making scenes in the film, he would eat bugs before having to kiss them (this story was detailed in the documentary, "Not Quite Hollywood"). Lazenby also plays up the racist villain with lines like "I find Chinese make the best servants" and "I never met a Chinese yet that didn't have a yellow streak." Not to mention, one of the Australian cops off-hand remarks after Wang Yu destroys something, "Talk about the bloody yellow peril." I never thought racism was Badass until I saw "The Man from Hong Kong."

Lastly, though no one mentioned it (I totally expected Lars to since he has such a fondness for Philippine shirts), the film contains a hefty amount of colorful, crazy shirts. Considering the shirts that Brian Trenchard-Smith wore for his appearances, it's not surprising.

Here is his Q & A for the film from the Fantastic Fest screening:

"The Man from Hong Kong" screened on 9/24/08 at midnight and was presented by Weird Wednesday as part of the Not Quite Hollywood series.

Razorback (1984)

2008-09-27T15:44:00.003-05:00

Let's get this out of the way right now: A movie about a killer pig CAN be scary...if done right. Russell Mulcahy's wild-giant-boar-rampaging-through-the-outback-creature-feature, “Razorback.” isn't just done right, it's done perfectly, absolutely perfectly. Seeing it for the first time, on a big screen no less, I knew immediately that this was without a doubt one of the best Horror movies I'd ever seen.

From the opening sequence that begins with a loving grandfather (Bill Kerr) tucking his young grandson into bed and ends with that man's world crashing down around him in a ball of dust and flames as a giant savage runs riot through the child's bedroom, I knew that this was no ordinary pig movie. The epic scope of the cinematography (helmed by Dean Semler) in this sequence made my legs tense up with excitement as I watched the grandfather, Jake, stumble away from his burning house and collapse in distress over the brutal death of his grandson.

As the plot unfolds, Jake is brought to trial for the death of his grandson because no one believes his story that a giant pig stormed through the house and snatched the child up. Jake is acquitted though during the trial, due to lack of evidence, but his reputation is sullied, and he becomes hellbent on revenge against the beast that tore down his life.

Meanwhile, an animal rights activist and America television reporter, Beth Winters, travels to Australia to investigate and conduct interviews about kangaroo poaching. Naturally, she is met with hostility from the locals, especially from two ruffians, Benny and Dicko, whose entire demeanor is equal parts inbred-post-apocalyptic-hillbilly & New-Wave-chic. They are ugly folks who have nothing but ugliness on their minds. After an unfortunate run in with Benny and Dicko in the middle of nowhere, Beth escapes sexual assault, but ironically doesn't escape the wrath of the giant boar.

Beth's death is considered to be a freak accident by the locals, but when her husband, Carl, arrives in town, it becomes apparent real fast that he suspects something else caused her death. Can Carl, a stranger in a strange land, find out the truth about his wife's death? Will Jake get his revenge against the beast? Will Benny and Dicko get what's coming to them? And what is the deal with that beautiful girl in the middle of nowhere that tracks boars all day for no reason? These are all questions I let the film answer for you.

For my money, there is just no shortage of things to like about this movie. The creature design by Bob McCarron (“Dead Alive”) is unique and effective. The hyperkinetic cinematography is just plain breathtaking in it's eerie use of stark imagery, wide open spaces, and outrageous lighting, especially in Carl's incredible hallucinogenic dream sequence. The tension is wrought and unbearable at times, but the action is nonstop and for lack of better word, badassss. Even the performances are great, especially from Bill Kerr as Jake.

Watching this on the heels of “Dark Age” the night before, I couldn't help but compare the two in my head. This movie was in every way everything I hoped “Dark Age” would be, a balls-to-the-wall ass-kicking, monster movie.

“Razorback” screened at midnight on 9/18/08 at the Alamo Ritz and was presented by Terror Thursday as part of the Not Quite Hollywood series.

Dark Age (1987)

2008-09-27T15:43:00.004-05:00

This film was screened as part of the Fantastic Fest's "Not Quite Hollywood: Best of Ozsploitation" series. It was the first film of the series that I saw, and to be honest, it was little underwhelming. Basically, an Australian-set version of "Jaws," (mixed with a little "Free Willy," so to speak) "Dark Age" is about a park ranger named Steve (John Jarratt) who, along with two local guides, Oondabund & Adjaral, set out to hunt down and capture a giant man-eating crocodile, known as Numunwari, before a group of vengeful poachers (led by an actor channeling Shane-MacGowan) get to it first. The Australian government hires to Steve to put an end to the croc killing spree, but the Aboriginal guides believe that the croc harbors an old spirit that must be preserved.

There's a scene early on in the film where the croc comes face to face with a small little boy (probably 3 or 4 years old) and swallows him whole, while the little boy's family and the rest of the bystanders watch on. It's always intense when children are put in harms way in the movies, but it's a guaranteed shocker for a film to call the bluff, so to speak. After that sequence though, I felt the pacing slowed down too much for a Thriller. I felt that after it's inspired opening 20 minutes or so, the film just kind of flat-lined until the last 20 minutes kicked in.

The movie was well filmed and had a fairly strong production value, even with the big plastic crocodile (which doesn't really start to look bad until the final sequence, and even then, it looked better than the one from "Eaten Alive)." There were some decent performances, especially from the Aboriginal guides (played by Burnham Burnham & David Gulpilil) and the lead poacher. Plus, there was one excellent chase sequence near the end.

All things considered though, not bad for a one-time viewing, but certainly not the balls-to-the-wall-insanity-thrill-ride I was expecting.

"Dark Age" screened at midnight on 9/17/08 at the Alamo Ritz, and was presented by Weird Wednesday.

Streets of Fire (1984)

2008-09-27T15:42:00.011-05:00

This Music Monday presentation of “Streets of Fire” was a special screening for several reasons. For me, it was special because it marked the first time in over 10 years of attending the Alamo Drafthouse that I was actually able to drag my older brother, Mark, along with me to something really cool. I had taken him to the Alamo Village once or twice before for some new releases, but I'd never been able to take him to the downtown location for something that was truly indicative of what the Alamo is really all about.

In the grander scheme of things though, this screening marked the homecoming of Kier-La Janisse, one of the Alamo's first official programmers, who not only organized some of the original Alamo’s most memorable events, but also hosted and programmed the Music Monday series, and made it what it is today. A few years ago, Kier-La was unceremoniously deported back to Canada, leaving not only a hole in the Alamo’s programming schedule, but also in the hearts of many of her coworkers, not to mention some of the Alamo’s faithful.

I never knew Kier-La personally, but I still remember the trailers from the old days at the original location that made her views on “Streets of Fire” quite clear: “Some people might think that ‘Citizen Kane’ is the best film ever made, but those people have obviously never seen ‘Streets of Fire.’” Back then, the Alamo would play “Streets of Fire” for Kier-La's birthday and that was also the catalyst for this screening, but it also coincided with Kier-La's return to the United States for this year's Fantastic Fest. As a result, she ended up hosting this event and was greeted with the shocking news that the film's stars, Michael Pare and Deborah Van Valkenburgh, were going to be at the screening, live and in person.

Pare was actually kind of a big deal to my family in the 80's. When I was kid, “Eddie and the Cruisers,” “The Philadelphia Experiment,” and “Streets of Fire” were all staples of my household. Once I heard that Pare was actually going to be there, I knew that I had to drag my brother downtown.

Upon arriving and shuffling into the theater, the audience was greeted by Alamo geek/stud Zack Carlson, who basically explained Kier-La's history to the audience before inviting her to the stage to receive a thunderous chorus of applause and warmth. She also received, much to her surprise, a birthday gift unlike any other, her very own 35 mm copy of “Streets of Fire.” After her introduction, the real fun began!!

The film itself, directed by Walter Hill, is an exercise in style and fast-talking. It's all about the mixing and mashing of eras, music, and styles, primarily the 50's and the 80's. It also utilizes a massive amount of fast cuts in the editing, not to mention some rather neat “paper-tearing” swipes.

The plot revolves around young Rock N' Roll sensation, Ellen Aim (Diane Lane) who is kidnapped in the middle of her show by a biker gang led by Raven (Willem Defoe). Raven, along with his number 2, Greer (played by Fear's lead singer, Lee Ving), haul Ellen across the tracks to the wrong side of town where they tie her up in the back room of a seedy bar. Local waitress and Ellen Aim fan, Reva Cody (Van Valkenburgh), then calls her brother, Tom (Pare), back into town to help do what the cop can't, track down and bring back Ellen. Tom is willing to do it for a price, but mostly because Ellen and him have a romantic past. He is hired by Ellen's manager and new beau, Billy Fish (Rick Moranis), and Tom brings on tomboy McCoy (Amy Madigan) for backup. There's a lot of a action, various styles of music, and a totally sweet turn by Bill Paxton who somehow manages to get out-acted by his hair.

The movie played well to the audience, so well that it inspired hoots, hollers, and hands-clapping-along to the music throughout. Whenever a new character would make an appearance on screen, they were welcomed with cheers from the audience. From where I was sitting it was the perfect initiation for my brother into the true Alamo experience.

Personally, I loved William Defoe and Lee Ving in the movie. Defoe in particular oozes creepy sexuality and has some of the best costumes in the film. I also really liked the fact that this movie had a scene with Michael Pare punches Diane Lane, and a scene where Lee Ving punches Rick Moranis.

The Q & A after the film was fun and informative. I was surprised to see not only how down to earth Pare was, but how humble and goofy he was. Seriously, the guy was very entertaining and kind of a goofball. His insight into the production of the film (one of Universal's most expensive at the time) and particularly Walter Hill was very interesting. Apparently, Hill had little regard for Pare's safety on the set when it came to pyrotechnics and his acting direction boiled down to the phrase “just talk fast.” By far though, the most interesting thing Pare said was in regards to Rick Moranis who he called, I believe, an “obnoxious turd.”

So you would think that with all this awesomeness going on that it would be nearly impossible to sour my brother's experience, but folks, let me just say that it happened...well, sort of. The final detail about this screening that made it “special” is the fact that it was shown in conjunction with a “rough cut” of “Road to Hell (it's rare for a film's title to so frankly describe itself,)” an unofficial sequel/tribute that stars Pare, reprising the character of Cody, and also has Van Valkenburgh in some scenes.

The director, Albert Pyun, has directed a lot of films, including “Sword of the Sorcerer” and “Cyborg.” His wife, Cynthia Curnan, has written very little else besides “Road to Hell.” The “film” spawned from a debate between the two of them about the ending of “Streets of Fire.” Albert thought it was among the most romantic ever, but Cynthia felt it was tragic and that it doomed Tom Cody to life of war and loneliness. Simply put, the film is fan-fiction on the most retarded level.

As Albert Pyun's introduction of the work finished, my brother, my girlfriend, and I looked at each other and tried to decide if we were going to stay. We agreed to and my brother got up to go to the bathroom before it started. As my girlfriend and I waded through the opening few minutes of grainy digital production, hollowed sound-mixing, and truly horrible green-screen effects, a decision had to be made. Should we wait for my brother to return and risk dashing his triumphant night at the Alamo, or should we leave before he gets back? We bailed with the quickness, and we might have been the first to leave, but we were certainly not the last. Some reports indicate that by the end of the screening, there were between 10 and 15 people remaining out of nearly 200.

From what my friends who actually managed to stay all the way through have told me, Cynthia Curnan's re-visioning follows a mentally-broken Tom Cody through a confrontation with 2 loud lesbian strippers that eventually ends with Cody torturing and killing the two of them after an hours worth of philosophizing about the nature of man and war. All of this is as a result of Cody never being able to get off the loss of Ellen. That's right, they turned Tom Cody into a serial killer!?! Anyway, you can read a full review of “Road to Hell,” written by one of the truly brave souls, here.

“Streets of Fire” screened at 9:00 on 9/22/08 and was presented by Music Monday.

Man On Wire (2008)

2008-09-27T15:42:00.006-05:00

I wanted to see this when it first came out over a month ago, but my friend convinced me that it was not worth seeing in a theater because it was a documentary, and that it would translate just as well to a small screen. After watching the film recently, I would respectively disagree. There are some truly awe-inspiring shots in this movie that deserve to be seen on a big screen, or even a slightly big screen like the one I saw it on at the Dobie.

The film is about what some have called “the artistic crime of century,” a feat that occurred in 1974 that was so impressive and so grandiose that it's hard to imagine that it has become merely a footnote in history. Phillippe Petit, a French performance artist and tight-rope walker, masterminded an illegal invasion of the Twin Towers and, along with his team of devoted followers, orchestrated a daring high-wire routine stretching in between the towers, 1362 ft in the air.

Early on in the film, the audience learns of Phillippe's initial interest in the Twin Towers. Living in France, he read in magazines and newspapers about the construction of the buildings and knew from the illustrations in those publications that this feat was his ultimate dream. The movie wisely never brings up or even alludes to 9/11, but it does employ archival footage of the construction crews that built the towers laboring away day in and day out until it's completion.

For me, someone who is really in no way truly patriotic, it was still sort of disheartening to watch the expressions of anguish and joy on the worker's faces and to think that there's nothing left of their accomplishment. Being born at the end of the 70's, I really had know grasp of how long the towers actually existed, they had always been there my whole life, so I guess I just assumed that they were a lot older than they actually were. They stood for mere 30 years or so.

The documentary smartly plays like a caper film, treating the key figures less as talking heads and more like characters in a tangled plot of intrigue and suspense. Through the inter-cutting of reenactments of the break-in and actual archival footage of previous high-wire coups and subsequent planning, the films seamlessly builds tension in the audience, peeking their interest to such a degree that they cannot wait for the big payoff.

Phillippe is such an interesting personality in his older age that it's easy to see why someone would become infatuated with him and his daredevil tactics in his youth. Though thoroughly fascinating throughout, the film raises some logistical questions concerning the financing of these capers, but in the course of the narrative, I imagine any digression from the plot to explain such trivial details would seem somewhat random.

At any rate, it's hard to imagine that the story in “Man on Wire” is not better known. With the modest success of the documentary I wouldn't be surprised if it got made into some big budget feature film. As far as this movie is concerned, it's a nice piece of cinematic craftsmanship with a remarkable story and some lyric imagery thrown in.

“Man on Wire” screened at the Dobie.

Burn After Reading (2008)

2008-09-27T15:41:00.007-05:00

“Report back to me when it makes sense” - J.K. Simmons as the “CIA Superior”

When an analyst for the CIA named Osbourne Cox, (John Malkovich) is fired, it sets into motion a series of events that results in the deaths and general unhappiness of several people (including audience members). Cox, frustrated and in search of a new career, begins writing his memoirs about his life in the CIA, much to the disinterest of his cold wife, Katie, played by Tilda Swinton. When a disk containing a rough draft of his work falls into the hands of two dimwitted gym employees, Chad & Linda (Brad Pitt & Frances McDormand), they (believing that they've stumbled onto some highly sensitive material) concoct a blackmailing scheme against Cox. Linda is hoping to get enough money out of the scam to have some cosmetic surgery done, while Chad seems to be in it just for the fun of doing spy stuff.

None of this is fun and games for Cox though, who angrily takes offense to Chad's position that he's not blackmailing anyone, but rather, just being a 'good samaritan.” Once things go awry with Osbourne, Chad and Linda take to disk to the Russian embassy in hopes that they will want it, meanwhile the CIA looks on very confused by what's transpiring. There are a lot of twists and turn in plot, which also involves George Clooney's Harry, a sex-addict who is unhappy with his marriage and finds himself dating both Katie and Linda, completely clueless of the relation between the two of them. There is also a plot line involving the manager of the gym, played by Richard Jenkins, who harbors feeling for Linda.

As Coen Brother's films go, “Burn After Reading” is among the weakest, which isn't to say that it's bad, but rather, really mediocre. It is also a curious follow-up to their most financially successful film to date, “No Country for Old Men.” Essentially a Dark-Comedy/Satire of the Spy genre, “Burn After Reading” has characters that are both emotionally grounded-in-reality, similar to those in “Fargo,” and who also possess the Coen's trademark bizarre-awkwardness. The film is advertised and billed as a Comedy, but from where I was sitting, it played more like a Tragedy, with hardly a laugh in sight. The characters are not bright, which in and of itself is not funny, but can be if done right. Here though, their ignorance is more depressing than anything else. Perhaps that is because the film goes to some lengths to make the audience understand why they act the way they do. The result is that you understand them, but you don't really like them, nor do you want to root for them.

All that being said, a weak Coen Brother's film is not a complete waste of time. J.K. Simmons has two scenes in the movie, but manages to be absolutely perfect in them. Clooney is good playing a character who seems like he wandered in from a different film all together and just decided to hang around. I don't care what anybody says about him, Brad Pitt is only funny in the movie because of Brad Pitt. He has nothing to work with dialog-wise, except perhaps the line “I thought you might be worried...about the security...of your shit.” I'm kind of on the fence about McDormand in this one, which says a lot because I usually love her. I can't decide if I think she phoned it in, or if it's a truly fearless performance. And finally, Malkovich pretty much owns this movie. I kind of wanted everyone else to go away and just let the movie be about his character.

Maybe it will get better with age, but based on this one viewing, I would have to say that it was a pretty big disappointment. You know it's bad when you spend most of the movie waiting for it to get awesome.

"Burn After Reading" was screened at the Tinseltown 20 on 9/23/08.

The Gate (1987)

2008-09-24T20:50:00.009-05:00

I remembered watching this movie at my childhood-best-friend's house when I was 9 or 10. Other than that though, I didn't really remember anything else about it prior to walking into the Alamo for Terror Thursday. It's a shame too, because I probably would of grown up a lot cooler if I revisited it from time to time.

“The Gate” stars a very young Stephen Dorff as Glen, a normal little boy living in suburbia who discovers a hole in his backyard that is actually the gateway to Hell. After Glen and his best friend, Terry, play a Heavy Metal record backwards, they accidentally unlock the gate and let loose a ton of little demons. With their parents out of town, Glen, his sister Al, and Terry must survive the weekend alone while the depths of Hell crawl out of the backyard.

For starters, “The Gate” is a lot of fun, but it's also a rather well-made movie. I imagine it would play just as well on a small screen in your living room by yourself as it did in a sold out theater. They simply don't make enough Horror movies nowadays that involve kids-in-peril. Too often, the potential victims in Horror movies are annoying lame-ass adults that you just want to see die. Rarely do they make the protagonists someone you can actually root for like Terry, the black-leather-jacket-wearing, back-masking-Metalhead-nerd with dead-mommy issues.

Another awesome thing about this movie is that the kids are actually smart, and have to deal with extraordinary situations in “realistic” ways. In other words, they don't have to rely on the assistance of a charming supernatural being or the use of a magical weapon (unless you count the power of Metal) to ward off the evil demons. They are also pretty realistic kids; they're resilient in the way kids tend to be (Terry deals with his Mom's death the only way he knows how), but they still frighten easily and have real childlike fears.

The scare-factor was pretty high in the film as well (especially for a PG-13 movie from 1987), and it also included quite a bit of weird-hallucinogenic-sequences that I imagine traumatized a fair amount of little kids in the 80's. By far though, the real star of this film was the stop-motion demons. I actually got shivers at times due to the uncannily life-like movements of some of the creatures.

Anyway, good 80's flick with a Metal Heart!!!

“The Gate” screened at midnight on 9/11/08 at the Alamo Ritz and was presented by Terror Thursday.

TRON (1982)

2008-09-23T22:44:00.011-05:00

Cinema Confession #2: I had never seen “TRON” before I walked into the Alamo Ritz for the first film of a triple feature which also included an encore presentation of “Ninja Annihilation War” which I wrote about previously here, plus the Terror Thursday screening of “The Gate.” This screening was also presented by Arcade U.F.O., a brand new video game arcade located right here in Austin, TX. Their introduction of the film painted “TRON” less as a film, and more as a historical document, and in a lot of ways, it is.

The film is about a arcade-wiz/computer hacker (Jeff Bridges) named Flynn who is literally sucked into a computer that he's trying to circumvent. To be more specific, he is digitized by a laser and streamed into the vindictive hard drive; it's all very high tech. The computer, known as Master Control, basically runs everything at ENCOM, the software corporation that Flynn used to work for before his ideas were stolen and he was fired by the evil Dillinger (played by the always great David Warner). Master Control does his best to confirm the fears of 80's audiences everywhere that artificial computer intelligence was inherently evil and would eventually turn on humanity. In this case, Master Control had grown “2,415 times smarter” then it's “writer,” Dillinger, and had ceased control of ENCOM.

Anyway, once inside the computer, Flynn meets several defunct programs (all of which are played by their human-programmer/counterparts a.k.a. users), including an expert gladiator named RAM (played by Dan Shor of “Dead Kids).” Flynn is then forced to compete in Gladiator-style games where life and death are the only 2 outcomes. Eventually Flynn leads a rebellion against the Master Control that could be his only chance to get back to the real world.

The computer world, as it were, is made up of a three dimensional grids, 80's video game graphics, and a rotoscopic technique in which the human characters were filmed in black & white and then colorized later. All of this add up to a look that despite it's dated qualities, looks like no other film ever. That's the good news.

The bad news, at least as far as I am concerned, is that I think I missed the boat with this one. If I would of watched "TRON" when I was a kid, I probably would have a strong affection for it, but watching it for the first time now just made me feel like I don't understand computers.

Anyway, it was kind of worth it just to see the scene where Jeff Bridges looks at a 4 foot wide door and says "now that's a big door."

"TRON" screened on 9/11/08 at 7:00 at the Alamo Ritz, and was presented by Arcade U.F.O.

Anatomy of a Murder (1959)

2008-09-23T20:38:00.007-05:00

What a wonderful treat this picture was. I simply can't remember the last time I watched a film that was nearly 3 hours long that was so brisk and so entertaining. After 2 hours and 45 minutes, I actually wanted it to go on a little longer because it felt like the ending was little rushed.

James Stewart plays Paul Biegler, a small-town lawyer down on his luck, who takes on a high-profile murder case involving the alleged rape of a war hero's wife. The accused, Lt. Frederick Manion (Ben Gazzara), undoubtedly murdered Barney Quill, the man accused of raping Manion's wife, Laura (Lee Remick), but did the rape really happen? And furthermore, can Biegler convince the jury that the murder was allowable?

With the aide of his underpaid secretary, Maida, and his longtime associate (and town drunk), Parnell, Biegler plots a temporary-insanity defense for Manion. Unfortunately, he's not just battling against an inexcusable crime, but also the big-city/high-priced prosecuting team, spearheaded by Asst. State Atty. Gen. Claude Dancer (played exceptionally well by George C. Scott). The good news for Manion is that Biegler is craftier than he lets on, pulling out diversion tactic after diversion tactic, in an attempt to cast doubt on everything and confuse the hell out of the prosecution, all the while playing up his small-town disadvantages. By the end of the film, he's so far off the deep end in his battle against everyone and everything, that he recalls Phil Hartman's “Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer” with his “your Honor, I'm just a simple small-town lawyer.”

The case gets complicated by the reputation of Manion's wife, Laura. She's a party gal who likes to go out to the local lodge and dance with random men and play pinball through the night, all the while wearing suggestively cut clothing. It doesn't help her case, at least from a modern audience's perspective, that Laura is by far the most chipper rape-victim I've ever seen in a movie.

The film has plenty of drama, but also unloads a healthy dose of humor here and there. My favorite bit being a whispered discussion between the Judge and the lawyers concerning what word would be best to use when speaking of Laura's torn "panties" in the court room. George C. Scott's Claude Dancer stares off into the distance pondering the question as he remarks "When I was overseas during the war, Your Honor, I learned a French word. I'm afraid that might be slightly suggestive." "Most French word are," the Judge replys.

The movie is particular interesting in the way that it's moral compass works, Gazzara's murderer-on-trail is not only undoubtedly guilty, but has also obviously concocted a flimsy defense, yet as an audience member, you root for Jimmy Stewart's Biegler. In spite of Gazzara's temper and ambiguous relationship with Laura, you still want him to get away with it because you want what's best for Biegler.

This is the second film by Otto Preminger I've watched this summer at the Paramount, the other being "Laura." Both films were quite good, and Preminger definitely has a knack for pacing.

Okay, that's all got for this one.

"Anatomy of a Murder" screened at the Paramount at 7:00 on 9/10/08

Phantasm 2 (1988)

2008-09-19T18:09:00.008-05:00

Liz: “That's right...It's only a dream.”

The Tall Man: “No!! It's not!!

Cinema Confession #1: I had only seen one “Phantasm” movie before walking into the Alamo South for this Terror Thursday screening of “Phantasm 2,” and that was the original. The reputation of the Tall Man (Angus Scrimm) as a cinema villain is legendary in Horror-circles, and with good cause. His thin, pale, and lanky features, especially his hands with their long pointy fingers, recalls “Nosferatu.” His squinting grimace and bellowing voice is simultaneously hilarious and quaking.

Made nearly 10 years after the first one, “Phantasm 2” not only recasts the main character, Mike (played this time around by James LeGros, who I remember best from the film “Scotland Pa),” but completely shifts the feel of the film, forgoing the surreal dream sequences and opting instead to create an apocalyptic-revenge-road movie, not unlike “Terminator.” The story picks up with Mike, now an adult, being released from a psychiatric hospital. He's been having reoccurring dreams about his past, and about a beautiful and strange girl, who Mike senses is in trouble. He quickly gets back into contact with Reggie, the balding ice cream vendor, who battled the Tall Man with Mike when he was a teen.

Reggie, hellbent on revenge and heavily armed, teams up with Mike to head out on the road in search of the Tall Man, in hopes of putting an end to his evil ways. Mike on the other hand, wants to find the mystery girl from his dreams, hopefully before the Tall Man does. The Tall Man, meanwhile, is wiping out small towns across America, unearthing the corpses of their dead and turning them into an army of reanimated-dwarf-minions; he does this with the help of his flying-metal-bladed-spheres of course.

Mike & Reggie eventually meet up with the girl in Mike's dreams, Liz, who shares the same nightmares Mike has. The 3 of them also pick up a hitchhiker named Alchemy, played by the strangely attractive (and large-mouthed) Samantha Phillips. Her character serves little purpose in the film other than being Reggie's comically unrealistic love interest, and everybody else's eye-candy. A quick glance at her filmography, shows Miss Phillips has had a long career mostly in Skinamax-type “Horror” films such as “The Bare Wench Project 2,” “Cheerleader Massacre,” and “Andromina: the Pleasure Planet.” She was also in “Weekend at Bernie's 2.”

Anyway, Mike, Reggie, & Liz meet up with the Tall Man in a climatic final 25 minutes that sheds away much of the doom and gloom of the first hour of the film and replaces it with some truly fun and imaginative special effects. Reggie's chainsaw joust is pretty classic, not to mention his ridiculous 4 barrel shotgun.

Overall, “Phantasm 2” was a fun Horror movie that was really more of an Action movie I think it was little built up in my head because I found myself having to slog through the pacing in the first half. Still, there's no way around the incredible entertainment value of the Tall Man.

“Phantasm 2” screened at the Alamo South on 9/4/08 and was presented by Terror Thursday.

Kidnapped Coed (1976)

2008-09-11T02:50:00.012-05:00

I first saw "Kidnapped Coed" in 2004 and it has been a fixture in my memory ever since. It was one of the first Weird Wednesdays I remember seeing, and up until now, I have always suspected that was the reason why I remembered it so fondly. After Wednesday night's screening though, it's apparent to me now that it's held up so well in my mind because of how good it really is.

While I watched it this time, my mind wandered and I thought to myself "how is possible that a film like this, with such a small budget, can get it right? how could they do it back then, while modern Hollywood struggles today?" It's not innovative by far, but what it does, it does well, the same cannot be said for the majority of what comes out in the multiplexes these days.

In a lot of ways, it's one of those perfect Weird Wednesday films. It's well-made and stylish enough to please the regulars, and it has just the right amount of eccentricities to entertain the casual crowd.

I love the casting of Jack Cannon as Eddie, the kidnapper, and especially Leslie Rivers as Sandra, the coed. They are both such normal looking people, it really helps the authenticity. The story is pretty simple, Eddie swipes Sandra at gun-point and takes her to a seedy hotel, where they both get attacked by two sociopaths. Eddie gets tied up and is forced to watch Sandra get sexually assaulted. Eddie then manages to free himself and kill the assailants, but not before the damage is done to Sandra. Guilt-ridden, Eddie lets up on the tough-guy routine, and Sandra eventually develops sympathy for her capture. This leads to a surprisingly believable case of Stockholm Syndrome. There is also a pretty effective subplot about Eddie's mommy issues.

Things that I love about this movie:

--Any and all scenes involving a payphone.

--The beautiful, "Badlands"-type cinematography.

--The simple, and strangely caveman-like sequence where Eddie offers Sandra his toothbrush.

--The brutal hotel sequence.

--The pitchfork death.

--The birdwatchers.

--The only guy Sandra finds to help her happens to be blind and packing a ton of attitude.

--The dance hall sequence at the end (plus the abrupt ending)

--And finally, the long end credit title card that simply reads "For Adolf."

"Kidnapped Coed" played midnight at the Alamo Ritz on 9/12/08 and was presented by Weird Wednesday.

Beyond Atlantis (1973)

2008-09-09T14:38:00.009-05:00

What can I say about this one? I missed "Wonder Women" a few weeks prior, another Philippines production that I heard was pretty good. I don't really know what that one was like, but this one felt like a throw back to kinds of films that Weird Wednesdays used to play more often, not really exploitation, pretty competently made, just really low budget and serious. Really, there's no humor in the movie at all.

Sid Haig steals pretty much every scene he's in, starring as East Eddie, a pimp who has organized an excursion to an island off the grid, in hopes of coming home rich with rare pearls. His rag-tag crew is met by the island's natives, a race of people whose eyes are more buggy than Louis Armstrong's

They are willing to part with the pearls if it means keeping the outsiders on the island long enough for one of their own to mate. Apparently, it's necessary for the tribe's survival for one of them to mate with an outsider. The tribe's leader, Neraus, forces his daughter to "do it" against her will, in what I considered to be one of the film's highlights, an underwater ravaging that was entirely too unsexy, but whatever, it had a nice score and some great underwater cinematography. Apparently, a lot of people in the audience fell asleep during that scene.

This movie also had the great Vic Diaz in it, (of "Vampire Hookers,” The Losers," Raw Force," etc.) as Manuel the Barracuda. John Wayne's son, Patrick Wayne, was in this as well. He's okay, he kind of reminded my of the kind of really stupid character that John C. Reilly occasionally plays, put done completely straight-faced, like in "Hard Eight," or something.

I think the only humor in the film is derived from the scene where Neraus slaps his daughter around while commanding her, "YOU WILL MATE!! YOU WILL MATE!!" Classic. Again though, this one was pretty solid as a movie, but not entirely notable for anything more than the Sid Haig performance. Though, I liked the score a lot, and the pretty fish, especially the creepy, tiny starfish.

All in all, a nice detour from the usual Weird Wednesday path-of-goodness.

"Beyond Atlantis" screened at midnight on 9/3/08 at the Alamo Ritz and was presented by Weird Wednesday.

Tomorrow night: "Kidnapped Coed!!!" This will be my second time seeing this one. If I remember correctly, Jack Cannon gives a hell of a performance in an exploitation movie with a little more going on than usual. I remember it being pretty brutal at times, and for some reason I think a pitchfork plays some sort of role in the film. My friend Austin owns this on VHS under the title "House of Terror," which is strange, since I remember it being more of a road movie. Either way, I tell you what I think of round 2.

"Kidnapped Coed" screens at midnight Wednesday 9/10/08 at the Alamo Ritz

The Best of New Wave Theatre (1980-1983)

2008-09-02T15:39:00.014-05:00

"The Best of New Wave Theatre" was a Music Monday presentation screened in conjunction with a showing of David Lynch's "Eraserhead" and tied together by the release of Josh Frank's new book, "In Heaven Everything is Fine: The Unsolved Life of Peter Ivers and the Lost History of New Wave Theatre." The book is about the strange life and mysterious death of L.A. scene-promoter, musician, and performance artist, Peter Ivers, who, in 1983, was brutally bludgeoned to death in his bed.

Ivers, perhaps best known for composing and lending his voice to this famous scene from "Eraserhead," started his musical career in the late 60's, kicking around in a few bands before launching a solo career with the major label release of "Knight of the Blue Communion," a bizarre collaboration with opera singer, Yolande Bevan. After his second album, "Take It Out of Me," was shelved by Epic, he found a musical foothold in 1974 with the album "Terminal Love," followed up by a self-titled release in 1976.

In the early 80's Ivers was approached by journalist David Jove and asked to host a cable access program designed to document and promote the burgeoning L.A. New Wave music scene entitled "New Wave Theatre." The show aired, I believe, 70-plus episodes, each 30 minutes long and each featuring between 4 and 7 bands. Tons of locals bands gained exposure playing alongside better known Punk/New Wave acts such as Fear, Circle Jerks, Dead Kennedys, Black Flag, Angry Samoans, and Gun Club.

The shows were punctuated by Iver's incredibly strong and odd personality; his energetic, skillfully delivered monologues and playful post-performance questions were often highlights of each episode.

The Alamo Drafthouse presentation featured the author and contributor of "In Heaven Everything is Fine," Josh Frank and Ian Marshall, live in person to introduce and do a Q & A afterwards. The actual program ran about 70 minutes and was basically 2 episodes and an additional performance by Peter Ivers' Vitamin Pink of the song "At the Nightclub." The first episode was kind of a best of, but was really more of just an average episode. The second episode was a slightly better produced, and thus, unusual edition. Here is the actual intro from the Drafthouse screening:

Both episodes featured many shades of talent. Some of the bands were simplistic and goofy sounding (Marina Swingers), some were bulldozers at the height of their powers (Angry Samoans), and some were just Pop bands copping New Wave's style (Wet Picnic). Peppered in between it all were some spot on skits, silly commercials, and one amazing zombie-dance sequence. It was fun to not only see a rather authentic depiction of the L.A. scene (warts and all), but to also hear some of the unheard facts and stories surrounding the show.

Josh Frank was selling copies of his book in the lobby, but he also had these awesome "In Heaven" t-shirts, which I picked up one of.

One of my all time favorite blogs, Egg City Radio, not only posted 2 Peter Iver's records long ago, but also posted a homemade audio collection of New Wave Theatre performances, many of which were part of the Alamo screening. So I'm basically reposting some of his posts, along with Peter's rare first record.

To download, follow link to mediafire, and wait for "click to download" to appear.

"In Heaven" (mp3) - Peter Ivers - from the film "Eraserhead."

"Knight of the Blue Communion" (full album) - Peter Ivers (1969)

"Terminal Love" (full album) - Peter Ivers (1974)

"Peter Ivers" (full album) - Peter Iver (1976)

I had to split this one into 2 download. Sorry.

"The Best of New Wave Theatre Part 1" (Repost from Egg City Radio) - Various Artists

"The Best of New Wave Theatre Part 2" (Repost from Egg City Radio) - Various Artists

PLUS!!!!

One of the performances in the Music Monday show was a spirited acoustic performance of a humorous song about hating Hungarians, performed by some guy with a very German-sounding name, that I didn't catch. When I watched it, I remember thinking that it was pretty funny, but that I would probably never hear it again. By some stroke of complete randomness, the next day I was looking at another one of my favorite blogs, Mutant Sounds, and I read the first line of one of their more recent posts. All I read was that the album that they were posting was by the lead singer of a band called the Deadbeats, who I was aware of only because of 70's Mod comp that I have. So I decided to download it based off of that. When I opened the file, I was shocked to discover that I had accidentally downloaded the album by the German dude who doesn't want to be Hungarian. His name is Geza X, and here is his album.

"You Goddam Kids!" (full album) - Geza X & the Mommymen (1982)

"The Best of New Wave Theatre screened on 9/1/08 at the Alamo Ritz and was presented by Music Monday.

The Best of New Wave Theatre 2.0," a completely different collection of footage will screen Monday 9/8/08. Check here for more details.

Hamlet 2 (2008)

2008-08-31T23:36:00.009-05:00

Do you like Stephen Coogan? The answer to that question will go a long way in determining how much you enjoy "Hamlet 2." Coogan plays Dana Marschz, a failed actor turned failed high school drama instructor. After a series of misguided film-to-play adaptations ("Erin Brockovich") starring the only two students in his class, Marschz unexpectedly inherits a much larger group of students. The reason? The school's massive financial cuts eliminated most of the other electives, causing a group of about 20 or so kids to randomly take up theater. The kids are mostly burn-outs and wannabe thugs, who have no actual interest in theater.

Marschz welcomes the challenge of teaching the unwilling, uninterested group of kids; fancying himself the kind of inspirational teacher you would find in films like “Dead Poet's Society” & “Mr. Holland's Opus.” The new kids think that he's an idiot, and they're right, but it's his stupidity that prevents him from giving up when faced with the sour news from the school principal that the drama department is going to be next on the chopping block. He seeks out advice from the one person whose opinion he really trusts, the 9^th grade school newspaper reporter who has panned all of his productions. The little critic convinces Dana that if he could just put on an original play, and make it the best possible play he could write, then maybe, he would be able to save theater.

Marschz pours all of his time and effort into writing a sequel to “Hamlet,” that incorporates Jesus, Einstein, Time Travel, Doo-Woop songs, and his own father issues into what is ultimately a very politically incorrect production. The kids become inspired though, the school board becomes incensed, and the neighborhood controversy that arises around the play leads to a First Amendment lawsuit, spearheaded by Amy Poeler's ACLU caricature. Somewhere along the way, Elizabeth Shue plays herself as a retired actress-turned-nurse, and there's also a subplot concerning Dana's wife (Catherine Keener) leaving him for a guy named Gary (played by David Arquette,) an embarrassment by anyone's standards. The only real reason that plot line even exists is to paint Marschz as the biggest possible loser imaginable. Which leads to the ultimate question. Will Dana be able to overcome the neighborhood, the critics, and the school board, or is he as big of a loser as everyone thinks he is?

For all it's references to “inspirational teacher” movies, “Hamlet 2 is probably closest to Carl Reiner's “Summer School.” That's not a bad thing since “Summer School” has managed to live on, not because of a strong story, but because it's funny. Perhaps the same will be true for “Hamlet 2,” whose big laughs and awkwardly squirmy Steve Coogan performance deserves a better story. Where “Summer School” was aimed at random teenage youth, this film really is geared more towards adults. It's satire of modern theater and conservative/liberal views is more likely to garner a “that's gay” response from teenagers than a laugh.

At any rate, this movie really tanked at the box office, even after Focus Feature's intense “from the producers of 'Little Miss Sunshine' and 'Election'” campaign, not to mention the comparisons to “Napoleon Dynamite” & “South Park.” Hopefully, it will have a better run on home video, if not, well then, that's just Cuckoo Bananas.

I screened “Hamlet 2” at the T-Town on 8/26/08 at 11:00. It was a “tech” screening.

Dinosaurs Alive (2007)

2008-08-31T23:22:00.009-05:00

I was debating whether or not I even wanted to post anything about this 45 minute educational film, but I figured that I watched it with an audience in a theater, it has CGI, and it's stars Michael Douglas, so why the hell not?

"Dinosaurs Alive" is documentary about archaeologists in New Mexico digging up dino bones. There's also a brief history of a paleontologist named Roy Chapman Andrews discovering dinosaurs in Mongolia in the 1920's . The doc claims that Andrews was the person that the character of Indiana Jones was based off of. This simple suggestion was mulled over quite a bit during my viewing of "Dinosaurs Alive," I mean, why hasn't someone made a movie about discovering dinosaurs? I imagine that the first discovery of these giant bones must of melted people's brains.

Anyway, the dinosaurs closest ancestor, Michael Douglas (come on, scaly flesh, hooked beak, and beady bird eyes), does a decent job of voice-over work here, it probably helps that he sounds like what you imagine a talking reptile would sound like.

Either way, he's far and a way better at voice-overs than these young archaeologists. Definitely one of my biggest beefs with this movie is the awkward, obviously staged documentary footage. I could understand staging something if it was something incredible that you just didn't capture on film, but the stuff they're staging is just plain old digging and shit. Everything they said sounded like it was being read off a cue card, even their introductions! Why can't they just introduce themselves like they normally would? Why do they have to plan it out?

Whatever...So this movie should be about the dinosaurs, right? Well, they're pretty lackluster, and in "Annie Hall" fashion, in such small portions.

The only dino that manages to overcome the crappy CGI is the brontosaurus, those guys are awesome.

This was my first Omni max experience and I've got to say that it was pretty neat. Apparently at other locations, this movie screened in 3D, and I'm betting that would of been pretty good. I think the ideal imagery for the Omni max set up would probably be underwater footage. I imagine the entire screen being cover in water, and having fish swim near you would be pretty cool.

Anyway, "Dinosaurs Alive" is kind of a toss up, on one hand it's pretty lame, but on the other, it's about DINOSAURS!!!!!

"Dinosaurs Alive" screened at 3:50 on 8/24/08 the Chicago Science Museum.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)

2008-08-31T23:20:00.011-05:00

In Woody Allen's new movie, "Vicky Cristina Barcelona," two sexy young Americans, Vicky & Cristina (Rebecca Hall & Scarlett Johansson), spend their Summer vacation in Spain, and find themselves both attracted to the same man, a serious painter named Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem). Vicky is grounded and has a fiancé and future laid out in front of her. Cristina is free wheeling, aimless, and chronically unsatisfied.

When Juan Antonio approaches the two of them and matter-of-factly lays out his intentions, Cristina is all aboard, but Vicky is offended by his forwardness. After the two of them spend a weekend with Juan Antonio, Vicky finds herself regretfully seduced by him, & Cristina ends up with food poisoning.

Vicky goes back to her fiancé and tries to move on with her life, but finds that the grass is always greener on the other side. Meanwhile, Cristina enters into a relationship with Juan Antonio, only to discover that his affection for his chaotic ex-wife (Penelope Cruz) is still hanging around, and so is she.

So for starters, I like Woody Allen. A friend of mine noted not too long ago that I've been pretty consistent in seeing Woody's new movies in theaters. That being said, I thought "Match Point" was a decent movie made better by a strong 3rd act, and I still think that Woody's last Great movie was 1999's "Sweet and Lowdown." Still, it seems that whenever he puts out a new movie, there's some segment of the critical population that calls it a "return to form." That phrase is being thrown around more than ever concerning "Vicky Cristina."

Here's what I think of it. I think that it's very pretty to look at it (both geographically and the lead actors/actresses). I think that it's got a nice score that not only contributes to the brisk pacing, but also underscores the dark comedy of the film. I think that it has familiar themes, but that they are handled in a mature, skillful way. I think Rebecca Hall and Penelope Cruz are both very good in a movie generally filled with good performances. And most of all, I think that it's pretty knowledgeable, when it comes to the nature of human beings.

My personal dissatisfaction with the film stems from the fact that I found it to be instantly forgettable. I walked out of the theater and had a brief conversation with my date about it, and I haven't really thought about it since. It feels like an excellent exercise in craftsmanship that for whatever reason did not resonate with me.

I think perhaps, I'm tired of Woody writing films for younger actors. I think I would prefer to see a film written about character's closer to his age. There has always been a strong autobiographical element to his films, and a running theme of mortality-anxiety. What better time in his life is there to reflect on that theme then now?

"Vicky Cristina Barcelona" screened at an AMC theater in Chicago, Ill on 8/20/08

Rocky (1976)

2008-08-31T23:19:00.025-05:00

So, growing up, my brother loved Rocky Balboa and whenever Christmas or his birthday came around, "Rocky" memorabilia was a must (or at least, an easy gift). I've seen all of the movies in the series, but admittedly some of them bleed together, and certain aspects of them faded away or were downplayed in my head. For instance, upon this revisiting (my first time seeing it in a theater), I had forgotten how little the original had to do with boxing. It was surprising to discover that it's mostly about two emotionally-retarded thirty-somethings falling in love, "middle-school style" as my gal pal put it.

Rocky Balboa is a "never-was" boxer in Philadelphia, who works as a hired thug for a gangster named Gazzo (the great Joe Spinell of "Maniac" and many amazing films from the 70's). Rocky's got the physical prowess, but he's too nice of a guy for that kind of work. Rocco has it tough all over though, the kids in the neighborhood don't respect him ("creepo)," the gym he spars at gave away his locker (after 6 years) because he's "a bum," and the mousy girl (Talia Shire) at the pet shop won't give him the time of day.

His best friend, Paulie (played by the amazing Burt Young), works at a meat-packing facility, and helps set Rocky up with Adrian, the girl from the pet shop (and Paulie's sister). As things progress with Adrian, Rock is presented with a once in a lifetime opportunity to fight Apollo Creed (the charismatic Carl Weathers), the World Heavyweight Champion in an unprecedented novelty fight, pitting a total unknown again the Champ. Creed sees it not just as a gimmick, but as the ultimate celebration of the nation's bicentennial, and spirit of America. As he puts it, "'Apollo Creed versus the Italian Stallion,' sounds like a damn monster movie."

Burgess Meredith, of course, is great as Micky, the crotchety old boxing trainer who sees the potential Rocky, and resents him for not living up to it. I kind of wanted more Micky in this movie, but I guess that's what the sequel is for. As the movie progresses, Rocky trains and has to deal with the pressure of being in the limelight for the first time in his life.

As Rock has more success in boxing and in love, Paulie suffers from feelings of being left behind, not just by Rocky, but by his Adrian as well. I can't say enough about Burt Young, who seemed old in 1976, and is still alive today. He reprised his role in the last film in the series, "Rocky Balboa," and he basically looks the same. Why hasn't this guy had a better career?

He's always reminded me of my Dad.

Speaking of "Rocky Balboa," I really liked that movie when I first saw it 2006, and I've been re-watching it recently since seeing the original in the theater, and all I've got to say is that it really is quite good. It's such a nice companion piece to the original. When I first watched it, I felt in the first 20 minutes that Paulie was Rocky's guardian angel or something, but it turned out that it was just eerie lighting. But whenever I watch it, I like to imagine that he is.

Highlights of this viewing included:

-The great score by Bill Conti. Obviously the Main Theme is classic, but the downbeat Mellon collie stuff is really effective.

-The cinematography of Philadelphia is beautiful.

-Talia Shire's overall look.

Anyway, "Rocky" is pretty great and I'll go the distance with anyone who tries to tell me otherwise.

"Rocky" screened at 7:30 on 8/24/08 at Piper's Alley in Chicago, Ill.

10 to Midnight (1983)

2008-08-31T23:19:00.014-05:00

Let me just start off by saying that this movie made me want to shoot people! When I walked to my car afterwards, I was so pumped up that I kept thinking about my day and how awesome it would have been to end the obnoxious arguments that I had with customers with gunshots to the face, and lines like "No you won't!"

From the director of the original "Cape Fear," J. Lee Thompson, comes this Charles Bronson infused detective/vigilante film. Bronson plays grumpy veteran cop, Leo Kessler, who along with his younger, cockier partner, Paul McAnn, is hot on the trail of awkward serial killer, Warren, played by Gene Davis.

Warren has a particularly odd habit when it comes to brutally stabbing his female victims, he likes to strip down to nothing, and stalk them naked. Gene Davis' performance is really something of an anomaly; he either completely succeeds in creating an unsettlingly awkward & mentally fractured character, or he's just a bad actor. Either way, there's some amount of mental deficiency at work, and it lends a certain element of authenticity to the performance.

As the film progresses, more dead bodies turn up, but Kessler & McAnn can't put Warren behind bars. When faced with the reality that Warren might get away with it, Leo takes matters into his own hands by planting evidence to incriminate Warren. All of this leads a courtroom sequence where Warren is defended by Geoffrey Lewis (you know Orville from the Clint Eastwood movies with the orangutan).

Eventually Kessler has a conflict of conscience, and admits to planting the evidence. Warren is set free and Leo looses his badge. Warren then begins stalking Leo's daughter, Laurie, with some amazingly creepy (and hilarious) phone calls. For whatever reason Warren not only adopts a Spanish accent for these phone calls, but also a "paperboy" hat. From here on out, the film is all about Bronson stalking the stalker and just kind of fuckin' with him, ruining his day, that sort of thing. All the while, implying that he will eventually catch him red-handed.

The film culminates in Warren's murderous spree inside the dorm that Laurie lives in. He, butt-ass-naked, chases her out into the streets, which leads to the final confrontation between Leo and Warren.

Zack, host of Terror Thursday, pointed out that my favorite film critic, Roger "the Fat Man" Ebert gave this film zero stars. You can read his review here. I have no problem with him giving this film zero stars, I actually like reading his zero & half-star reviews more than his 4 star ones. I know from reading his reviews for years that he withholds zero star reviews for movies that in his opinion, he finds "somehow immoral." As my friend Austin noted, that's not really a place for film reviewer, but whatever, it's all his opinion anyway. I did find it funny that in the Fat Man's review he pointed out the logical flaw that occurs in the final chase sequence. Bronson while tailing Warren and Laurie by several minutes, somehow manages to magically cut them off at the pass, so to speak. How did he even know that they were running out in the streets, much less where they were heading, and how did he get there so fast? When he arrived at the dorm, they were all ready gone.

The only answer I can offer is that he's...Charles Bronson.

The film does a great job of balancing thematic elements and shifts rather effortlessly from a slasher film to a detective mystery to a courtroom drama and eventually to a vigilante film. Bronson is not just good as the world-weary cop, but I thought that he was very tender as Laurie's absentee father.

Some of the highlights included:

--All of Warren's dirty telephone calls.

--Leo's matter-of-fact-delivery of the following line in the morgue: "Anyone who does something like this, his knife is his penis"

--Wilford Brimley!!!

--Leo's interrogation of Warren where he holds up a "sexual aid" and bates him by asking if it's for "JERKING OFF!?!" (on a side note, a Terror Thursday regular, in a discussion of what kind of "sexual aid" we thought it was, said that they thought it was for mashing potatoes).

--Leo's comment to the press after the planting evidence fiasco: "Why don't you go fuck yourself?"

"10 to Midnight" screened at Midnight on 8/28/08 and was present by Terror Thursday

Dead Alive (1992)

2008-08-30T19:32:00.010-05:00

A giant rat rapes a monkey and all hell breaks loose in Peter Jackson's outrageously gory Zombie-Comedy, "Dead Alive." It's the tale of Lionel, a mama's boy living at home in the 50's, who meets a local grocery store clerk named Paquita. She believes (after a tarot card reading) that Lionel and her are destined to be together, and maybe she's right, but the only thing standing in their way is...MOTHER.

Lionel's controlling Mother is so protective and so threatened by Paquita that she secretly follows the two of them on their date to the zoo, where she comes face to face with an even more threatening creature, a rare and violent animal known as a Sumatran rat-monkey. The creature bites Mother on her arm and is then distastefully stomped to death by her. Lionel, shocked that his Mother is there and even more shocked by what happened to her, begrudgingly abandons Paquita at the zoo to care for his Mother.

Her health quickly deteriorates and she develops a taste for flesh, both of the human and canine variety, and it isn't long before she's in full-blown-zombie-mode. Even though Mother is obviously a threat to not only Lionel, but to everyone who comes near her, Lionel can't bring himself to put her down for good. His mama's-boy instinct is in full throttle, and he just doesn't know what to do. He tries locking her up and he even tries burying her, but nothing works.

Meanwhile, Mother continues to find new victims to infect with her Sumatran-rat-monkey-zombie-juice, and Lionel does his best to hide his newly acquired zombies-friends in his basement. As all of this unfolds, his relationship with Paquita suffers due to Lionel's secrets in the basement. Meanwhile, Lionel's exploitive uncle starts hanging around, in hopes of pressuring Lionel for a share of his Mother's estate.

Eventually all of this climaxes in a 30-plus minute wall-to-wall gore-a-thon that still ranks this one as quite possibly the goriest movie ever made.

This was not my first time seeing "Dead Alive," but again, it was my first time seeing it in a theater. It screened as the 5th of a 6 film series at the Regal Arbor 8, entitled "Retro Replay." Since the series started, they've shown a pretty odd selection of films; "Dr. No," "The Hudsucker Proxy," "Joe Versus the Volcano," & "So I Married An Axe Murder." Next week they are showing "Better Off Dead." The strange thing is that they are really trying to make it a fun and somewhat interactive experience, in this case providing hand made "Dead Alive Barf Bags" and asking trivia questions.

Obviously, as a regular Weird Wednesday & Terror Thursday attendee, these gestures echoed the kinds of things the Alamo does. Couple that with the fact that the theater I work at, a Cinemark theater, this week received a "Sing-a-long" copy of "Mama Mia," and it would seem that at least around here, the revolutionary programing of Alamo Drafthouse is starting to effect the way generic multiplexes are operating.

So far though, it would be appear that they still have a long way to go. The gentlemen from the Arbor we spoke to afterwards said that the screening we were at was the closest they had come to breaking even with the series. On top of that, the trivia question portion suffered from some embarrassing bumbling on his part, but maybe "Better Off Dead" will go better. As far as the "Mama Mia Sing-a-long" goes, the 9:00 show last night only had one person in it. Can you imagine that one person sitting in the theater singing along? Where's Henri when you need him?

"Dead Alive" screened on 8/27/08 at 7:00 at the Arbor.

Ghostbusters (1984)

2008-08-29T22:10:00.004-05:00

Obviously, this was not the first time I've seen "Ghostbusters," but it was the first time that I've seen it in a theater, and what a theater it was. The Music Box theater in Chicago is like the Paramount (minus the balcony) if the Paramount was abandoned, and illegally ran by children, which is to say, it's awesome, dark, and elegant.

Judging from this viewing though, Chicago (like Austin) has no shortage of idiots who like to talk during the movie. During the scene where Dana (Sigourney Weaver) opens her refrigerator and finds that it's filled with a floating building covered in flames and snarling creatures, there is a close up of one of the creatures. When the creature opens it's mouth and growls, a bright light shines out from it. When this scene occurred at the Music Box, the guy behind us turned to his girlfriend and said loudly, "Ha!, that's just a puppet with a flashlight in it's mouth." He said it with so much pride and superiority, as if to say "You mean those aren't real demon-dogs?"

At any rate, this dumbass got me thinking about the special effects in the movie and whether or not I thought they held up well. As time goes on, I hate hate hate CGI more and more, but as I watched the incredible State-puft Marshmallow Man walk down the street of the city, I couldn't help but notice how fake the city looked. For a moment, I was taking out of the movie, but I quickly snapped back in when I realized that of course it was a miniature city because State-puft is just a guy in a suit. I found a certain comfort in remembering that even if the illusion was just that, at least the guy in the suit was real, and at least the miniature city was real too, it wasn't just some vapid digital space.

Other than that, "Ghostbusters" on the big screen was kind of a strange one, because I didn't really gain anything from it, other than nostalgia. Usually when you watch a movie you haven't seen in years, you forget some stuff and are pleasantly surprised when you remember it, but in this case, I hadn't forgotten a single scene.

"Ghostbusters" screened on 8/22/08 at midnight at the Music Box in Chicago.