Saturday, September 24, 2011

Cult Dung 2011 Summah Sum-Up (1 of 8)

("Summah" is a term coined by Howard Kremer , aka Dragon Boy Suede, co-host of the Who Charted podcast on the Earwolf network)

Since I took such a long break from blogging (May through August - but did keep notes the whole time), I need to update this record of my media consumption, so the next few posts will be mainly lists. 

As my priorities have been shifting away from old Mystery Science Theater episodes and more towards current TV, comedy, and podcasting, I've begun to rethink my categories here. For instance, it occurs to me that the label of "Reviews" does not indicate what art form is being discussed. So far I've only used it for "Movies," which will now become it's own thing here. 

The New Order:
Movies, TV/DVR, Netflix, Podcasts, Comedy, MST/RT/CT, Music, Work

With that in mind, here's part one of my update, sans reviews, except for links to the few recent ones I did post (a * indicates a high recommendation - and for the record, I enjoyed all of these to some degree):



Movies 

Source Code* 
Your Highness
Hanna* 
Thor
13 Assassins* 
X-Men First Class* 
Super 8
Green Lantern 3D (the 3D made it seem better than it actually was)
Harry Potter #8 3D* 
Winnie the Pooh* 
Horrible Bosses (only caught the first hour)
Transformers: Dark of the Moon 3D
Captain America
Friends With Benefits
The Tree of Life* 
The Guard* 
Attack the Block* 
30 Minutes or Less
Rise of the Planet of the Apes* 
Don't Be Afraid of the Dark
Fright Night 3D
Drive* 

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Cold Fish


The most recent film from Japanese director Sion Sono (whose Love Exposure I loved so much), Cold Fish is a darkly comic exploration of the male psyche set against the colorful backdrop of tropical fish shops. 



The story focuses on a shy introverted shopkeeper who is unwittingly drawn into the world of an insane criminal and finds his personality completely transformed by it. The charismatic, successful businessman Mr. Murata consistently urges his lowly competitor Mr. Shamoto to "man up" and take charge of his life, effectively blackmailing him by seducing his wife and brainwashing his daughter into his Hooters-girl cult of fish store employees. Things get stranger from there…



Like Sono did in his earlier film, the director masterfully blends disparate themes into a statement about being ruthless: in business, in nature, and as a person in general. Cold Fish explores the notions of dominance & submission, sexual violence, child-rearing, blackmail, murder, and includes a few gruesome sequences of corpse dismemberment (which are also quite funny).



Overall, I enjoyed it's characters, humor, eroticism, music and went along with some pretty shocking plot twists. But its grim final act makes it a hard film to recommend to anyone with a sensitive stomach. 



An interview with the co-screenwriter… and here's the trailer. 




Apparently Sono already has a new film currently making the rounds at European film festivals -  Guilty of Romance - which looks to be more female-centric and sensual.


Friday, September 16, 2011

Sunday, September 11, 2011

TRANNIES 123

Bill Corbett - "Hey, look you guys, some stuff."

Recently re-watched Transformers 1 - after listening to the Experts & Intermediates podcast thoroughly dismantle a select few Michael Bay films. They came down pretty hard on it and surprisingly chose Pearl Harbor as the best of his flicks (while still hating on it). 

This was maybe the third/fourth time I've seen T1 - most times with the mocking audio commentary by the guys at Rifftrax ON, which I find the best option. The script & dialog are so idiotic I need the comedic element to enjoy the splendid visuals (even Armond White may be right: Bay is a film artist - though he disliked the final entry in this series ). The more times seen, the less confusing it becomes, esp. during the fight scenes. The hyper pro-military/technology angle throws me, as it does in some Cameron films (Aliens/Avatar). Even when the government are meant to be viewed, in part, as the "bad guys," their weaponry is always pornographically displayed - a distinct "might is right" theme always comes through. But the forced comedy elements (the parents, the dog, painfully obvious product placement, and John Turturro's entire performance) continue to bother me, helpfully leavened by Mike, Bill, & Kevin deconstructing the film as I watch it.  A strange mixture of joy and hatred for me.


T2 features even more buffoonery w/ dosed parents, dogs humping, nasal probes, plus college campus nonsense. The shapeshifting female hottie is the worst. No, Shia's male roommate Leo is. Negro-bots Mudflap & Skids got a lot of criticism (but being voiced by Tom Kenny, get a pass for him being a Mr.Show/Spongebob alum). But robots with beards, balls, and bad accents, not so much. Here, MK&B make a lot out of "no no no" and "move move move:" 



By hour 1:10 I'm looking at the time wondering how much longer this movie goes on… and its only halfway through. At the end I was relieved it was over and mostly amused by what I'd seen, helped immensely by the wisecracking. Couldn't have have done it w/o the RT crew. Pyramid stuff in Egypt was too profoundly silly to ever take seriously.

Megan Fox's absence in the third film was a non-issue as her replacement at least had a definite character to play: hot, young professional woman who strived to better her boyfriend. The action sequences in this Summer's T3 were stupendous in 3D but the plot was just as preposterous: Decepticons transporting an entire planet into Earth's vicinity. After a spectacular battle in Chicago, the good guys win (SPOILERS?). Looking forward to another Rifftrax commentary for this final entry in the Transformers "trilogy:" i.e. three attempts at the same god-damn thing. Redonkulous.


Race Against Time

Senna 

Stirring celebration of a man I never heard of in a sport I never cared for (grown men driving in circles?). But Ayrton Senna (1960-1994) was a world champion Formula One race driver and a hero to the people of Brazil. After getting a glimpse into the back-room politics and the viewpoint from the driver's seat while on the track, I came out of this with a new respect for auto racing. 


Amazing that this documentary consists only of film/video taken of during Senna's career with audio derived from from years worth of interviews with the man, his family, and those within the racing world who knew or worked with him. He was such a superstar that while there is an abundance of footage before, during, and after races, there are also plenty of candid moments: Senna on vacation with his family, being mobbed by appreciative fans, or making appearances on Brazilian TV, all of which add up to a portrait of a charming, intelligent man who, even when drawing on the most cliched sentiment in sports (thanking God for giving him a victory), his faith and gratitude seem genuine. 

“Suddenly I realised that I was no longer driving the car consciously.
I was driving it by a kind of instinct, only I was in a different dimension.
I got closer to God."


Contagion

This is that rare Hollywood animal: an all-star disaster movie with class. Multiple stories overlap to show how different elements of society deal with a worldwide attack by a highly contagious deadly virus. Artfully directed by Steven Soderbergh, featuring a minimal electronic score by Cliff Martinez, and top-notch performances by its ensemble cast (Jennifer Ehle was particularly outstanding as a dedicated lab researcher who bravely tries out an experimental vaccine on herself), it is both bleak and hopeful.


Throughout, there are deaths, many deaths (including some of the big names in the cast), and once the public is informed of the magnitude of this disease, they naturally begin to panic. Soderbergh manages to balance these tense scenes of urban chaos against quiet moments of families dealing with grief. And lots and lots of laboratory work and logistical planning of how to quarantine and manage the infected. The clinical, procedural nature of the film makes it play out like a how-to manual in the case of a disaster. 


In fact, a cynical person could mistake this movie for a piece of pro-government propaganda. Most of the stories depict a best-case scenario in which a well-run bureaucracy (the CDC, World Health Organization, National Guard) fight the clock to identify, contain, and ultimately defeat this mysterious new enemy.  


Jude Law (sporting a strange snaggle tooth appliance - to tone down his beauty, I assume) plays an overzealous blogger who has his own paranoid theories about the disease involving government collusion with pharmaceutical companies. But in contrast to the way our "liberal media" usually depicts journalists as truth-seeking heroes, in the world of Contagion, he is shown to be a greedy crackpot.


With it's positive behind-the-scenes look at government officials in the face of crisis, and the high quality of film-making on display (is Soderbergh really planning on retiring?), this is 2011's  "feel good" movie about feeling bad. 

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Love Exposure


I first learned of this 2008 Japanese film from an enthusiastic review on the sadly now defunct British podcast Mondo Movie (listen to the first 17 minutes of episode 102 - The Up-Skirt Locker) whose called it in their description "Sion Sono's dazzling four-hour mix of teen romance, religious fervour and pantie-peeking pornography." 


It finally started showing here in the States earlier this year and CHUD reviewed it lovingly, stressing that it is long (237 minutes) but that it feels more like watching a mini-series than the usual boring epic film. And also that it is a delightful mix of styles and genres unlike anything else. 


I'll hold off on calling it a "masterpiece" until I've seen more of the director's work, but for now I'll say that it is both profound and profane, and recommend it to anyone who loves cinema. And don't let the inherent weirdness turn you off, even the mainstream press have found it lovable:


My Idiot Shark



Our Idiot Brother is a comedy I've been looking forward to since Sundance in January (when it was called MY Idiot…), mainly because of it's great cast (Paul Rudd, Zooey Deschanel, Elizabeth Banks, Rashida Jones, Emily Mortimer, Steve Coogan) and potentially amusing premise: naive down-on-his-luck dude moves to the city seeking help from his family, awkwardness ensues, and everyone's life ends up being improved. Sounds pretty corny when put like that, but what makes Brother watchable is the charm of the performers, particularly Rudd's Ned, who I've I always liked (Anchorman, I Love You Man) and is so sweet and good-hearted here it's almost painful. 

The seriousness of some of the events (incarceration, infidelity, accidental pregnancy, child-rearing, unethical journalism) made it at times more of a dramedy, so the laughs were not as frequent as I expected. But there is funny to be found: T.J. Miller kind of stole the show as a helpful hippy who shows up a few times throughout the story. 



And Ned's horsing-around with his young nephew re-enacting fight scenes from Pink Panther movies was both silly and touching, and helped to establish a familial connection. In fact the main gripe I have is that his three sisters (who each have their own distinct set of personal issues that Ned manages to complicate) never seem like a real family that grew up together. It's like this brother of their's is a stranger not raised in the same household, neither sharing the same values nor memories. Some time is spent at the mothers house, but I don't recall a father ever being mentioned. So a bit more back-story might have helped me believe this group as a family unit. 

Likable cast, sweet story, but a bit hokey, and not quite as funny as I'd hoped.




Speaking of attractive casts, that was the main reason I decided to see Shark Night 3D. Sara Paxton (who I last saw get raped nearly to death in that Last House On The Left remake a few years ago) and Katherine McPhee (stunning on American Idol many seasons ago and was also in the Anna Faris vehicle The House Bunny) strutting around in bikinis along with some bland 90120-looking shirtless dudes there to protect them. (Note: that was supposed to be a joke but lead "nerd-hunk" - is that a thing now? - Dustin Milligan was indeed a regular cast member on the rebooted 90120)



Second reason was that it was shot in 3D, not post-converted. The high-speed boating and underwater sequences were stunning, with streams of tiny bubbles and bits of debris floating about that was truly immersive (submersive?). But with seemingly all the sharks being CGI creations (and there is a wide selection of shark species on display here, making it unlike most sea-creature attack movies) they generally lacked weight and real menace. There were a few jump scares (literally, twice, a shark jumped out of the water to munch on some pretty boy) but little gore. I guess to get it's PG-13 rating the filmmakers were selective about their bloody moments. There are a number of deaths we are never graphically shown. 

yes, in this movie a dude goes after a shark with a spear


Which actually leads me to the big twist of the film:

SPOILERS !!!

Turns out these sharks were put into this salt water lake by a couple of rednecks in order to make snuff films of real shark attacks. One of them explains it this way (and I'm paraphrasing):
"What's been the longest running annual event on cable TV? Shark Week. We're here to serve the hardcore fans who want to see the real thing."


So that's a pretty nutty idea that's introduced about 2/3rds through the movie. There's something "meta" about making a shark attack movie that condemns folks who just want to watch the carnage. And a bit of an insult to the audience to then not deliver the goods (at least not in the way last year's blood and boob filled Piranha 3D did - a film I must confess I missed in theaters, and can't bear the thought of seeing in measly 2 dimensions. In fact my regret at not seeing it is probably what most enticed me to see this one). Maybe director David R. Ellis was going for a more family-friendly version of Piranha. There was no equivalent here to Gianna Michaels' topless water-skiing or Kelly Brook and friend doing nude underwater ballet. Nor a dismembered "member" floating on the screen.

Shark Night does an effective enough job of setting up some 2-dimensional characters and putting them in a picaresque yet isolated location (stuck on an private island without phone service). It then manages to find ways to force them all back onto the water, allowing each of the seven kids to die (or nearly get eaten) in their own distinct ways. But the movie starts losing steam once the real villains are revealed and proceed to explain their motivations: revenge, greed, sadism, etc. Unfortunately the more time we spend with the human bad-guys, the less fun this shark story becomes. 

Still, some good moments underwater, and leads Milligan and Paxton were both likable (him for his character, strong yet shy, and her for being both  brave and vulnerable… and for that blue bathing suit).

ETA: Best part was probably the goofy post-credit rap by the cast.


Odd coincidence: in these two films I got to see both Zooey D. and Katherine McP sitting on toilets. Now I can scratch those fantasies off my bucket list.

Friday, September 2, 2011

Bellflower

"This  is nice:"



Comedian and film lover Doug Benson called it a "David Lynch fever-dream" which is not too far-off.  I'll add "…as if directed by Slacker/Dazed & Confused-era Richard Linklater."

Small-town surrealism, brilliant grunge cinematography, cool DIY inventions, great sound design/music, and naturalistic performances, esp. by the gals (who also showed the proper courtesy of baring their breasts, but cleverly only after the film's mid-point so the sexuality serves more as irritating memory then as titillation). What could have been a pretentious mumblecore nerd-bait cluster-fuck felt like genuine art. One of the best films of the year for me.

Loved it, but was admittedly confused by some events at the end which included flashbacks and some potential fantasy sequences going on in the mind of the protagonist. Hard to tell what was real or not, but didn't really change how much I was moved by the whole thing (probably enhanced by forcing me to dwell on it). Touched a raw nerve re. the brutal nature of bad break-ups, as I couldn't help but remember numerous times in my love-life where I was smitten by a girl who was so obviously wrong for me, but I just had to pursue to an inevitably disastrous conclusion. The main chick Milly was an amalgam of at least 3 different women I fell for throughout my life.



Director/writer/star Evan Glodell depicts how the broken-hearted mind can imagine horrible revenge scenarios to punish one's former lover. I'd put this in a double-bill with Blue Valentine, as at least half of Bellflower is a full-on romance, the rest capturing it's dissolution. Reminded me of people I knew in those unfocused rock and roll post-college days when I couldn't yet hold my liquor but could still hook up with a hot punk-rock chick at a party.  I also once suffered a concussion after a bicycle accident, and in my delirium found that I got laid by an ex (or two) who found my compromised physical state irresistible. So weird to me that Glodell was able to capture my own experience here on film, a decade and a half later.

But it's primarily a story about male friendship: one an introvert, the other an extrovert - two guys coming up with common goals, yet gradually outgrowing each other (like starting a band with a guy who eventually abandons you). Contains the classic trope of "best friend gets a girl, leaves his buddy behind." In a quiet moment late in the film, one says to the other, after congratulating him for bedding someone, "You know, I had a crush on her." Devastating. 

By the end of the film, having burnt all his bridges, the "hero" reflects on blissful moments with his former best friend: driving their hot-mod car, shooting flames, and firing shotguns in the wasteland, just the two of them, after the end of the world - but actually before the real-world shit went down. Not unlike Nolan's film Inception it left me wondering what was real and not. But most of it made sense to me on a visceral level, which is a true achievement for any film. Highly recommended.


CHUD.com had both good reviews and a cool follow-up about the Medusa car itself:

Also some interviews with the film-maker which provide a bit more (or less) context: