Gothkill
Year: 2009
Director: J.J. Connelly
Studio: Wild Eye Releasing
Stars: Flambeaux, Erica Giovinazzo, Mistress Julia
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Running Time: 75 Mins.
Official Website: http://www.gothkill.com/
There are many times that you just want to sit back and watch mindless fun and out of control gore. “Gothkill” fit that bill, very perfectly.
This horror/ comedy exploitation film focuses on Nicholas Dread, a Catholic priest and inquisitor, who finds out that innocents are being framed as witches. His superiors don’t agree with his theory and burns him alongside two women that he forced confessions from. During his burning, Nick makes a pact with the devil to reign over his own kingdom, at any cost.
Fast forward to the 21st century, Dread has returned from the dead to finish his deal. To achieve that, he must find one hundred corrupt souls to seal his deal. Dread finds that, when he stumbles onto a secret society of Goths, known as the Scorpion Society. Soon this group of Goths must battle him, in order to save their own soul, from eternal damnation.
Movie Review:
“Gothkill” is one of those films that you just sit back and enjoy the fun. This was a very fun film. Director J.J. Connelly does a great job filming all the aspects that needed for a film of this. This film has it all, bloody violence, hot women in latex and dark imagery that makes the darkness of your soul, happy. The action is filmed very well. Connelly keeps the action at an intense pace, so that all the campy violence comes out. He also does a good job making all the dark images and the gothic subculture feel demonic and dark, as it made the imagery devilish like. But what makes this direction very good was the way that Connelly gets the performances from his leads to be entertaining. The performances in this film were very good, especially from the two leads, Flambeaux, who really makes his performance over the top, which fits his character and Erica Giovinazzo, who does a really good job making her character Annie, both innocent and demonic, which was need, if the performance was going to be right.
Connelly’s screenplay is very thought out. He does a great job not making this film, become one of those films that just use these goths as a punchline. He instead does a very good job developing the story and the Nick Dread character. I liked how it goes into the character history and his Marquis de Sade like behavior. It makes the film very interesting, as you’ll never lose interest in the story. There also some good humor here, especially in Dread’s dialogue, as it made the performer do in a way that it’s so over the top, you can’t help, but laugh at it. That helps generate, your interest in this film
The only negative that I could find with this film, it was the fact the film only ran for about seventy- five minutes. I really was having fun with this film, it’s characters and it’s over the top violence. But, you can’t have everything, as this is still a fun film to watch.
DVD Review:
The DVD extras start off with a video commentary that features director JJ Connelly, and actors Falmbeaux and Eve Blackwater. This was a very entertaining commentary. The three do a good job going into the making of the film. But what made this track entertaining, the fact that the three inject some humor into it, which helps make the film and track, even more fun to watch. Next, we a have two and half minute featurette called “Gothkill Live Performance Chronicle”. This featurette covers highlights of the performances that took place during the film’s screenings in New York. The next extra on the disc is “Q&A with director from NYC screening”. This feature provides some very detailed stories about what happened during production and what films and directors influenced Connelly. The Dvd also has a couple of image galleries, along with trailers for this film and Wild Eye’s other two releases.
The disc overall was good, but I would have liked to have seen a behind the scenes featurette or interviews with some of the actors, to get their perspectives on the film.
I urge you to seek this film out. “Gothkill’ is just very good campy fun with an entertaining performances and a well conceived story.
Film Review Rating: 5 Stars
DVD Review Rating: 3 Stars
Welcome to the 186th Edition of my series. Last week, I got a bit of heat for SPIDER-MAN 3 which I expected but as per my request, you commented on other things so I appreciate that. I had a tough time putting this one together. I usually don't but this week the rules prevented me from featuring some on this blog. I return with my Random Myspace Profile selection which only has one selection. Next week, I know of one but expect two but it is always subject to change. I am still awaiting the casting situation of BIG RIVER but will keep everyone posted and add to my Myspace name.
Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man (1951): I bring in the comedy duo this week where they play inept detectives who are investigating a murder of a boxing manager. Arthur Franz plays Tommy Nelson who was accused of killing his manager but is innocent and uses a visibility formula that scientists did not want to give him fearing the mental effects. A & C help Tommy to find the real killer in many funny ways. If you like Abbott and Costello and classic comedy, you should check this one out.
Chasing Amy (1997): This is one I have been waiting to include here but it just wasn't the "right time" to put it on here until now. Kevin Smith directed this one and this is my favorite of his. Ben Affleck, in a sort of breakthrough role here, stars as Holden McNeil and MY NAME IS EARL alum Jason Lee stars as Banky Edwards. This is really a breakthrough for both of them. They are both partners of the comic book BLUNTMAN and CHRONIC and are very successful. At a convention, Holden meets a girl named Alyssa Jones, played by Joey Lauren Adams, and falls in love with her even though she is a lesbian until he learns of her past. Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith reprise their roles of Jay and Silent Bob. There are a few references to CLERKS and MALLRATS in this. It is a very funny movie with lots of great discussions like the heated argument on the sexuality of Archie. While I cracked up, for the first time I see there there is a little message. I felt the message was that it might sometimes be good to leave the past alone since it cannot be changed and to let the other move on. Holden got so obsessed with Alyssa's past that it really clouded his judgement when he couldn't let her move on and enjoy what he has now. I think you get the drift so I'll shut up now. Other people in the movie incude Ethan Suplee, Dwight Ewell, Casey Affleck, Matt Damon and many others.
Carry on Sergeant (1958): This is one of the many "Carry On" movies in Britain and this is the first. Last week I did the one that took place in the hospital. This one takes place in the Army I believe. William Hartnell stars as Sergeant Grimshaw who wants to retire after the Star Squad prize but finds out he has his work cut out for him when he has some pretty inept people in his service he must turn around. This has the British humor so it might not be for everyone but it had some pretty funny moments in my opinion. Good satire on military life.
Innocent Husbands (1925): This is my silent short film for the week this time using the more unknown Charley Chase. In this one, his wife is suspicious of him because he does not seem to do any wrong. Things become a bit complicated when a woman passes out in his bedroom and must do what he can to keep her from his wife seeing since she would suspect more. Chase portrayed characters who were apparently very mild-mannered but turn out to be losers. He never did any feature films and did a lot of directing of Three Stooges shorts. He is now available on Kino Video.
Lars and the Real Girl (2007): I was very amazed by this one which was directed by Craig Gillespie. Ryan Gosling stars the title character who is a delusional young man who lives alone in the garage where his brother, played by Paul Schneider, and sister-in-law, played by Emily Mortimer, live. He then brings home a girl that turns out to be a life-size doll. First they want to get him all the help possible but the doctor advises to go along with him and his relationship with what he feels is real. The rest of the community begin to follow along when they understand how much of a good person Lars is and "Bianca" becomes a friend to many. This is very hard to explain. It just needs to be watched to be believed. It is interesting how they come up with the idea to support the mentally ill instead of "curing" him. This plot sounds absurd but it was done so well and so much that it did not come off as stupid like it could have. It is a very touching comedy and Gosling makes it very easy to care about Lars. It is unfortunate that movies like these do not receive much publicity. They don't have a bunch of CGI effects, there is no cool action scenes, all they have is a good script and good actors to fill it. Patricia Clarkson plays the doctor who advises everyone to go along with his delusions.
Lorenzo's Oil (1992): George Miller directed this true story where the title character has a very rare disease called ALD that no cure has been found or really explored. Nick Nolte and Susan Sarandon star as his parents who will not give up on finding the cure for there son. Despite having no medical knowledge, they do everything they can to learn about it to find their own cure. They begin to alienate some of their friends who believe they should just give mercy and let Lorenzo die and just abotu anyone can say that but I don't really judge since I have never gone through this before. Seeing Lorenzo's pain was very hard to watch but the movie was done very well through the performances and cinematography. In real life, many children have been saved because of their efforts. The real-life Lorenzo actually recently died on May of last year. Look for Laura Linney in her film debut.
-Rex Harrison (My Fair Lady) plays Julius Caesar in the 1963 film CLEOPATRA.
Jason Lee (Chasing Amy) and Ryan Gosling (Lars and the Real Girl) both live in the L.A. Neighborhood of Silverlake.
Casey Affleck (Chasing Amy) played Robert Ford in the 2007 film THE ASSASINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD which was one of the best performances I have seen in this era in my opinion. Paul Schneider (Lars and the Real Girl) plays Dick Liddil, one of the members of James Gang, in the same movie.
Susan Sarandon (Lorenzo's Oil) played Janet in the 1975 film THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW. My facebook friend Kristen played the role in various versions at Muncie Civic Theater and will be pursuing her acting career in Chicago.
Peter Ustinov (Lorenzo's' Oil) played King William IV in the 2001 tv movie VICTORIA AND ALBERT. Jim Broadbent (Longford) plays the role in the 2009 film THE YOUNG VICTORIA.
Terminator Salvation
Director: McG
Writers: John D. Brancato and Michael Ferris
Starring: Christian Bale, Sam Worthington, Moon Bloodgood, Anton Yelchin
Well, it’s that time of the year again. The smell of BBQ propane tanks hit the hot seasonal air, SnoCone stands begin to sell their multicolored frozen treats, and the multiplex cinemas across the nation are packed full of Hollywood’s desperation. With that said, this weekend opens with one of the largest summer blockbuster explosions, Terminator Salvation. In the attempt to continually keep James Cameron’s 1984 cash cow lactating money, director McG has constructed a mindless film. This shouldn’t appear as much of surprise coming from the man that blessed us with not one Charlie’s Angel film, but two. I digress (for the time being), I don’t want to unleash all my anger just yet, and I’m only in the first paragraph.
Before I continue I feel like I need to lay this down, but I’m writing this review (maybe) at a bit of a disadvantage. I never watched Terminator 3. I remember when I was nineteen when the film was released, and at the time I really didn’t want to ruin the nostalgia of two childhood films I grew up with. I already fell for that trap with episode one. Don’t get me wrong, just because I didn’t care to sit through it, doesn’t mean I have any idea what the third one was about. Thank you, IMDB.
The year is 2018; the world is close to seeing the end of all human kind. A resistance is slowly growing and leading the fleet is John Connor (Christian Bale). Skynet, the artificial intelligence network created by Cyberdyne Systems is the futuristic scourge that is seeking to eliminate all human life. This much so far sounds pretty typical for a terminator film.
“Oh, how could I forget?”
Time travel; there can’t be a terminator film without this obnoxious dysfunction. Paradoxes aside, the story still revolves around Skynet attempting to eliminate John Connor. Several events are foretold to Connor in recordings left by his mother, and everything is going to plan until- Enter Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington) a prison inmate on death row from the year 2003. He is talked into giving his body to science by Dr. Serena Kogan (Helena Bonham Carter) a delegate of Cyberdyne Systems. Fifteen years passed, Wright wakes to a barren post-apocalyptic Los Angeles and he meets a teenage Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin). Connor is seeking to find Reese so he can fulfill his mother’s recordings and to make sure certain events occur. The resistance discovers information about the new T-800 models and that they could switch a captured terminator unit from kill to not kill (more or less). This reminds me of that Futurama episode where Mom (from Mom's Friendly Robot Company) uses a switch to have all robots revolt against their human oppressors. The story moves on to several asinine explosions and ridicules CGI scenes that later brings Connor to discovering Marcus Wright and who he truly is. It is now up to John to decide if Wright is friend or foe and how he is going to save the small bit of humanity that remains.
Terminator Salvation moves like a roller coaster, lots of fast action and there’s a stupid carnie running the operation. To be honest there were a few moments when this film actually worked. The opening development with skynet coming from the future to recruit from the past was intelligent and had me demanding more. Having Christian Bale cast as John Connor had my other eyebrow cocked. Unfortunately, there was some reason his character role was dampened by several under developed characters and unresolved sub plot lines. It seems to make sense why Bale lashed out at that director of photography from his infamous TMZ recording. He wasn’t angry at him, he was pissed that his role (was/may have been) reduced. He was also probably angry because he was in a McG movie. Pretentious remarks aside, the film seemed to have focused more on Sam Worthington’s character than Bale’s. He’s nothing to boast about, his character development seemed overly contrived and his portrayal did not meet the match. Moon Bloodgood plays Blair Williams, a fighter pilot who is shot down and is saved by Marcus Wright. She’s an overall deaf character in comparison to the rest of the movie. She is more or less placed in the film to fill the sexy female role and (sadly) that is about it. Anton Yelchin was interesting to see as the young Kyle Reese. As it may be a surprise to some, he recently portrayed the Russian Starfleet officer, Pavel Chekov in J.J. Abrams Star Trek. I don’t know if it is saying much, but I was pleased with his Kyle Reese more than his Chekov. One person I would have wished to have seen more of was Michael Ironside, who plays the inexorable General Ashdown. I know he’s mostly a character actor, but he’s such an animated looking individual. The greatest section where the film seems to drop the ball is with the lack of development in the large assortment of characters and a weak assessment of a story arch. Other than that the film is a great mind numbing summer blockbuster packed with action, explosions, and computer generated imagery. McG is probably most to blame for the film’s end result, though it most likely did not help having Michael Ferris and John Brancato craft the screenplay. These two are known for their priceless works on films, such as 1995’s The Net, the straight to DVD sequel of same movie, and 2004’s Catwoman. It may seem like I’m being unfair but, this film had a two hundred million dollar budget. Why couldn’t a larger portion of that money been invested with a more accredited filmmaking team than this?
Overall, the film has several critical development problems. It’s loaded with everything a hyper active teen would love but, the Terminator franchise should rise to a little bit higher demographic than this. If you’re a fan of the Terminator series, go ahead and see it, but be forewarned. If you really like Christian Bale, it’s definitely not worth catching; and if you are a fan of McG films, well… then I’m sorry.
Not since “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan” (or “Addams Family Values” for that matter) have I walked into a sequel with the full confidence of knowing it would be better than the original. “The Da Vinci Code” was an amazingly boring snooze of a movie which ended up generating a lot of needless controversy. Seeing Catholics react so harshly to this adaptation of Dan Brown’s bestselling novel made it seem like they were about to witness a long delayed sequel to “The Last Temptation of Christ.” But in the end, the story, while clever, was clearly fiction and to take it so seriously was ridiculous. Maybe “The Da Vinci Code” wasn’t as terrible as many made it out to be, but considering the A-list talent involved, it seemed worse in retrospect. Yet it made a gazillion bucks at the box office, so God forbid that the movie studio stops the money train there.
The question here is how much better “Angels & Demons” is than its predecessor. The same creative team that brought the first Dan Brown novel to the big screen, Ron Howard and Tom Hanks to name a few, are back and have appeared to have taken the criticism from their first go around with Professor Robert Langdon to heart and have made a much more exciting film. At the same time, it suffers from the same problem as the first movie (and Hanks’ character said it best) in that it is all a bunch of “hooey.”
Dan Brown’s book of “Angels & Demons” is actually a prequel to the events of “The Da Vinci Code,” but the filmmakers decided instead to treat this as a sequel to that aforementioned bestseller. This also is due to many people not getting around to reading the “Angels & Demons” novel until they discovered or heard about “The Da Vinci Code.”
We meet up with Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) who has been asked to come to the
Reading the book before seeing this movie will help get you through a lot of the mumbo jumbo Hanks’ symbologist character ends up espousing. It’s not entirely necessary, but it sure would have helped me in terms of describing of what the hell is going on here. In the end, this is essentially a ticking time bomb thriller a la “24.” So even if you can’t make heads or tails of what’s taking place, you will be caught up in the immediacy of the situation, and that’s what kept me going through the movie. It is never boring, and it does not get too hung up on issues the way “The Da Vinci Code” did. All you need to know that a bomb will go off if the good guys can’t stop it in time.
I guess only an actor like Hanks could pull off a character like this. His work as Professor Robert Langdon will not go down as one of his best roles, and it is not close to being on the same level of his tremendous work in “Forrest Gump” or “Saving Private Ryan.” But Hanks’ does give a good dose of believability to the goings on here, and he as an actor has been around long enough to where we don’t have much of a reason to doubt him. But as he goes on, I cannot help but wonder how many other possible disasters could have been prevented had Professor Langdon have gained more access to the
Hanks’ partner in all things religiously sound or unsound is Ayelet Zurer (I’m sure I will be able to pronounce her name someday), an Israeli actress who has previously appeared in films like “Vantage Point” and “
“Angels & Demons” is also populated with the most reliable of character actors such as Stellan Skarsgard as Commander Richter, a chief detective in the
But the movie’s best performance in my opinion belongs to Ewan McGregor who plays Camerlengo Patrick McKenna, a man who holds temporary power over the church after the passing of the Pope. Ewan, after all these years, has really proven to be one of the most underrated actors working in movies today, and he gives his role a passionate fire that “Angels & Demons” desperately needs throughout. While Ewan may have been defanged a bit (as many actors were) from those “Star Wars” prequels, he has been in many other movies before and after that which show he is no mere flash in the pan of an actor. On top of “Trainspotting,” he has also done excellent work in movies like “Moulin Rouge,” even if he was eclipsed by the brilliant Nicole Kidman. Without McGregor’s performance in this movie, this movie would have lacked a real heart and a soul, and it would have merely existed just as a ticking time bomb movie with no real feeling.
“Angels & Demons,” however, was undone by a totally unnecessary twist ending that came right out of left field and called into question everything that preceded it. I don’t know if that same ending is in the book or not (I haven’t read it), but it just felt tacked on and how it all came about was way too convenient for me to buy into. As a result, I went out of the movie theater scratching my head as if to say, “what the frak?!” Were it not for that ending, I might have been able to give “Angels & Demons” a more positive review, but even Scooby Doo would have had a hard time buying into the switch that occurs. No Scooby snacks would have made him feel better about it either. Feel free to see it for yourself, and let me know what you think of it.
Ron Howard just got off of one of his best movies as a director with “Frost/Nixon,” and I certainly did not expect this one to be as good. However, it is clear that he has improved on the gaping flaws that more than undermined Professor Robert Langdon’s last adventure in all things Catholic. Ron keeps the movie going at a steady pace, and it does not lag for too long in spots. It is an entertaining movie that kept me involved, and that’s even though the movie itself is not entirely special or unique in its genre. In the end, “Angels & Demons” is kind of an average movie done by a great group of people. It does not stand out in its genre, but it gets the job done to where moviegoers won’t be complaining too much.
There’s no doubt that there will be another Robert Langdon adventure in the future with Ron Howard and Tom Hanks on board, and I bet they will top this even one with what they come up with next.
**1/2 out of ****
“Angels and Demons”
2009
*** out of ****
Cast: Tom Hanks, Ayelet Zurer, Ewan McGregor
Robert Langdon and I have a history together…
Three years ago, and I had my own little mystery – what the fuck was this “The Da Vinci Code” that I heard about everywhere I went? Bookstores had it on their shelves and anybody who was anybody read it. So I went out one day, bought the book, and fell in love with it. With the movie coming out that summer, it easily became the flick I looked forward to the most that summer. Funny thing about that flick. It turned out to be one of the worst flicks that summer and one of the biggest disappointments of my life.
No one liked the film supposedly, but it made enough money to bring in a sequel… wait… this movie, which was based on a book, had another one following it? NO OF COURSE NOT! “Angels and Demons,” which is a continuation of our (least) favorite symbologist’s adventures in countries that isn’t America, is actually a prequel, but since everyone picked up “The Da Vinci Code” without knowing it was the second book of a trilogy, the book is less known around reading circles.
Before you ask, no, I haven’t read the book. I’ve had it ever since I finished reading “Code,” but my excuse for not reading it is because I’ve had better things to do. Out of nowhere comes the film adaptation, which was supposedly one of the first films affected by the Writers Strike a couple years back. I’m happy to say that this isn’t nearly as close as being as bad as “The Da Vinci Code” was. It isn’t so much good as it is just a fun time, but like your thirty-sixth blowjob, you’ll forget about it by the time you leave the theater and look forward to your next film.
“Angels and Demons” brings our hero Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) to Rome this time around. After a pope dies, there are four popes in candidate to become the new pope, and a secret group called the Illuminati kidnaps the candidates and threatens to kill them all, one after one, before it hits midnight. Oh, and there is some kind of bomb that they gotta disarm before it goes off, but no one knows where it is.
This isn’t the most plausible movie, but it doesn’t have to be. Without having to think about much, “Angels and Demons” is just a fun cat-and-mouse game through the city of Rome. The film works best when it focuses on the Illuminati and not the bomb, but it’s still a pretty fun movie with the bomb intact. There are a few good action sequences, even though they don’t go on for too long. Most are just a tease, but they’re the good kind of tease.
Because the film is based off of a Dan Brown novel that is highly controversial, the Vatican wouldn’t let director Ron Howard shoot the film in the area. Instead, he had to use green-screen to recreate most of the setting. I’m not going to say that it was perfectly used, but it is used well enough that unless if you did your research, you wouldn’t have realized it. A lot like “The Da Vinci Code,” most of the historical inaccuracies are still intact, but unless if you’re a history major, this shouldn’t bother most of the movie-going public.
You know what I hated the most about “The Da Vinci Code” though? The script. Whenever Langdon went on one of his lectures (and which there were many), the pace of the film slowed down. Thankfully, it was corrected here. The pace almost never slows down. The film is almost two and a half hours long, but it feels like an hour an a half. That’s what you call a good movie and a better blockbuster, folks.
I’m not going to talk about the acting too much because there isn’t much to it. If you’ve seen “The Da Vinci Code,” it is mostly the same thing. They give Tom Hanks all of the charming but sarcastic one-liners and give nobody else any great moments where they can shine. But if anyone does a great job, it is Ewan McGregor. He plays a Camerlengo for the church, and has several scenes with Hanks where he out-acts Hanks and makes him look like a fool. If there is any flaw in his performance, it is that of the editors for making him look like a fake.
Without any major problems with “Angels and Demons,” it is your standard summer blockbuster. It is our relief without those “National Treasure” movies (and believe me, you know you love those flicks). There are far better movies out there that are worth your money much more than this is (ahem) but if have two and a half hours to waste and want to watch a fun movie where you won’t be bothered by plot-holes or inaccuracies, “Angels and Demons” does it. For everyone else, the obvious answer is “Star Trek.”
The Death Factory: Bloodletting
Year: 2009
Director: Sean Tretta
Stars: Claudia Vargas, Noah Todd, Michelle Mousel
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Studio: Well-Go USA
Running Time: 86 Mins
Official Website: http://www.deathfactorybloodlettingthemovie.com/
“The Death Factory: Bloodletting” is the sequel to the 2002 film “Death Factory” released by Brain Damage Films.
The film is about, Ana Romero, a woman who is tracking her daughter’s murderers. She comes across an underground website known as the Gorehouse, where a video of her daughter’s murder is found. Romero then poses as a illegal video trader, in hopes of finding those people responsible for her death. Her quest takes her to an abandoned factory where she joins a group of deviants, ararchists, and neo-Nazi’s to witness a bloodletting, which displays the torture and murder of an innocent person. Little do they know, they walked into a trap that was set by a madman, who uses the place for this bloodthirsty inhabitant known as Alexa, to carry out his rampage. Now Romero is trapped in the warehouse, where her killers are the guest and a religious zealot, who’s hellbent on killing everyone.
Before I go into my assessment of the film, enough with the Saw, the Hostel, and the Tarantino knock offs, as this film falls into all those categories
With that said, “The Death Factory: Bloodletting” is a film that not going to win points on substance and storytelling, but it’s very gory and at the end of the day is a mindless fun horror film. The reason for that was Sean Tretta’s direction and editing. Both of these aspects help save this film, from becoming a total disaster. He does a great job keeping the action moving to the point that you’re into the film, considering the screenplay has it’s ups and downs. The reason for that was the way Tretta edited the film. The editing plays a big part, as it makes the fights and bloody sequences, very graphic. It also helps move the film, when some of the action started to drag on. He also does a good job with the dark lighting. It sets up the film’s gloom and doom atmosphere that takes place. Another thing that Tretta did very well was to get the performances out of his actors. It made me interested in the film, considering the sub-par script. He gets a very good lead performance from Claudia Vargas, who makes her character very dark and likable.
This film is very lucky that it had a talented crew behind it, as the screenplay was sub-par at best. The major grip that I had with this film, it feels the story had bits and pieces from other horror films. Tretta and screenwriter, Mike Marsh pays homage to a lot of things, from the grindhouse films, to the torture porn films of this decade, to the “Feast” like intros. It hurts the screenplay, because you think about all those homages, plus the fact that there weren’t many frightening situations to begin with. Also, I didn’t like getting hit in the head over and over the religious subplot. It really got annoying at times.
But if there is a saving grace with this screenplay, it was the fact that I was interested in the main character and her story. I liked how the writers gave the character some background information on her troubled live and her willingness to do anything to exact revenge. It kept me interested, in whatever little story this film has. Also, I liked how the last third of the film really makes you forget about the problems this film has, as the action sequences were entertaining and ties up everything.
The Death Factory: Bloodletting may not be a perfect film, but you have to admire it for it’s direction and the fact that it’s something that would make a gorehound satisfied.
Review Rating: 3 Stars
Smother
Year: 2008
Director: Vince Di Meglio
Studio: Screen Media Films
Stars: Diane Keaton, Dax Shepard, Liv Tyler
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Running Time: 98 Mins.
“Smother” is a film about a guy (Dax Shepard), who one day gets fired from his job, as a physical therapist. If his day couldn’t get any worse, it does when he comes home to find out that his mother (Diane Keaton) drops in uninvited with all of her belonging and needing a place to stay. Soon, his life gets even crazier, when she interjects herself into everything he does, which drives him crazy. If that wasn’t enough, he having problems trying to find a descent job, a wife (Liv Tyler) that desperately wants a baby, and another houseguest (Mike White) that seems too busy talking to his computer and writing a screenplay. Now, he must deal with all that, while his mother continue to drive him crazy and smother him to the point that he loses his sanity.
I was really hoping that I would have a good time with “Smother”, as the film has such talented actresses in Diane Keaton, and Liv Tyler and was produced by Jay Roach of “Austin Powers” fame. You would think that this would be decent, but this quite frankly is one of the worst films released in 2008.
Vince Di Meglio’s direction was very flat and all over the place. He doesn’t do a good job making the material funny. Instead, this is a film that relies on one joke after another. It was to the point that the performances and film was becoming repetitive and annoying. Also, I didn’t care for the characters. The reason for that, Di Meglio direction of his actors was just awful. It was like; the actors were there to cash a paycheck. Diane Keaton, was very annoying, as she made her character very obnoxious. It turned me off to whatever was going on. Also, Liv Tyler, made her character quiet and lifeless. It hurts whatever chemistry she had with Dax Shepard, who was equally as boring, in the lead role.
The screenplay written by Di Meglio and Tim Rasmussen fails on all aspects. The plot went all over the place, as everything that went on felt rushed. The screenplay doesn’t developing the relationship between the main character and his mother or his wife. They also had no backstory or an introduction to any of these characters, which turned me off. Instead, they rush into the humor, which wasn’t the least bit funny. It felt dry and jokes were repetitive, as there was no set up to them. Also, I was bored with the way the screenwriters wrote the characters. Even though the performances ruined them, they were also not written well. The characters felt flat, as they felt like they came out of different movies.
This film is not filled with funny jokes; it’s filled with some of the most annoying characters you’ll ever see. “Smother” is a film that should be kicked out of the house, immediately.
Review Rating: One Star
Title: Wifey
Review Date: December, 2008
Year: 2005
Director: Barry Bowles
Cast - in credits order Jazsmin Lewis ... Malika Melrose Tiffany Lowery ... Shalae Carl Gilliard ... Blind Charlie Other credited cast listed alphabetically Brian Hooks ... Trump Christina Lyons ... Clee Rodney Perry ... Icky Hava Seda ... Sara
MPAA Rating: R
Studio: Blueprint Pictures
Distributor: Monarch Home Video
Running time: 90 minutes
Official Website: www.monarchvideo.com
Trump is a thirty year-old self made millionaire who has what he believes is the perfect life. But in the blink of an eye, his world is turned upside down when he loses everything, including his gold-digger fiancé Shalae. Due to his reversal of fortune, Trump is forced to move back to his old, small-town hood. This is where his whacky but lovable grandfather, goof-ball friends and the intellectual and annoying, but all grown up, little girl-next-door Malika still lives. A rocky start leads to a rocky friendship as Malika tries to help Trump get Shalae back to the alter.
An off-beat softball game, fish fry, charity bachelor auction and fashion show all lead up to the inevitable wedding ceremony. Will Trump get the gold digger or the girl-next-door? I will give you only one guess.
There are some genuine laughs in Wifey; and if you are familiar with African-American family-types (Brown Sugar, etc.) you will appreciate many of the situations and inside jokes. It is also interesting to note that the movie was made in 2004 and after a brief festival appearance in February, 2005 did not resurface again till 2008. Perhaps the fact that this is one of the last appearances of actor Lamont Bentley had something to do with it.
A versatile and up and coming actor in both screen and television, Bentley died an untimely death in a car crash at age thirty-one in January, 2005. Over the course of his brief but productive career, he had played many roles including Hakeem Campbell on Moesha and The Parkers as well as Corporal Sea in Buffalo Soldiers. He is missed.
Wifey follows in a great tradition of goofy throw-a-way romantic comedies that have been customized to every ethnicity (Sweet Home Alabama). It doesn’t break any new ground nor give us any new insights. On the other hand it doesn’t have to. It is simply a fun ride with good to better acting and production value. For ninety minutes you can disappear into this silly little film world have a good laugh and forget the greater issues at hand; all for the price of a DVD rental. And that is not a bad thing. Three stars.
Earth Days
Sundance 2009
USA, 2009, 101 min., color
Producer/Director: Robert Stone
Executive Producer: Mark Samels
Original Music:Michael Giacchino
Cinematographer: Howard Shack
Editor: Don Kleszy
Sound designer: Coll Anderson
Official website: www.earthdaysmovie.com
Director Robert Stone (Radio Bikini, Guerilla: The Taking of Patty Hearst) assembles an inspiring, sobering and ultimately hopeful work in Earth Days, a documentary that recounts the history of the modern environmental movement from its beginnings nearly four decades ago. Environmental activism really began with the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970, and precipitated an unexpected and galvanizing effect on the national psyche.
Told through the eyes of nine multi-generational and very divergent witnesses, including a secretary of the interior, Stewart Udall, a biologist, Paul Ehrlich; a congressman, Pete McCloskey; and an astronaut Rusty Schweickart, Earth Days is a visually stunning, globe spanning chronicle of watershed events and consciousness-raising realizations that prompted a new awareness: the post-World War II American dream of a future world created by scientific progress, new technology, and economic expansion was rapidly changing into a nightmare.
Deftly weaving together archival footage and talking heads, Stone takes us back to the 1930’s and propels us forward to today. He creates a new awareness through the stitching together of bits and bytes of history, that our reality today was not a surprise for our leaders or ourselves. We have known it was coming for sometime but chose to be pacified and blinded, as Cesar Augustus would say, by “bread and spectacle.” We focused instead on short term personal interests and rampant unchecked Capitalism instead of long term social and societal imperatives. We have lost thirty years, but there is till time--barely. A great piece of work by a multiple-award-winning documentary filmmaker, it showcases the craft of the historical research-documentarian unlike most others. Earth Days is the kick-in-the-pants we all need to incorporate the planets needs into our day to day lives. A must see…more than once. Five stars.
Title: BUREAUCRACY
Year: 2009
Directed by Mark Perreault
Writers Mark Perreault Rock Schroeter
Producers Andrew Perreault ... producer Rock Schroeter ... associate producer
Cast Jack Robinson ... Roger Van Gundy David Simon ... Mr. MacMurray Kaitlyn Black ... Patricia Jane Shepherd ... Mrs. Atwater Christine Haeberman ... Janice Alex Quattlander ... Eli Myles McLane ... Richard John Godley ... Detective Thompson Alvin Bellow ... Detective Highsmith Mike Holley ... Hardware Store Clerk Cheryl Murphy-Johnson ... Postal Clerk
Runtime: 87 mins
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Official website: www.bureaucracymovie.com
An underpaid, brown nosing and nerdy assistant to who takes care of a blind sister is driven to murder by his duplicitous boss when he finds out that he is being used, manipulated and driven into financial ruin.
The concept of obsession and corporate greed taken to an explosive extreme is not new. However it is always sympathetic and interesting. Unfortunately the most impressive thing about Bureaucracy is what it is about. What it has going for it in concept it lacks in execution.
The script although not overly wordy, lacks memorable lines and dialog. Positioned as a drama, at times the lines are so stilted that I couldn’t help waiting for the satiric punch line which never comes. Combined with long silences and close-ups, Bureaucracy has the feel of a 1950’s office melodrama with the high key lighting of a modern sitcom. If the sound or music track had at least given a cinematic clue I might have known what emotions were being elicited from the audience. Instead I remained distant from the story and constantly trying to figure out what was going on in the characters minds.
The acting, cinematography, directing and editing while pedestrian were not bad. Overall pretty good I would say. The production value was also not bad. So what is the problem with Bureaucracy? I have to conclude that it is neither nether fish nor fowl. It tries to do too much and does too little. The script and dialog are 1950’s but the lighting, sound and mis en scene are 2009. You would think that an 87 minute film would move quickly and yet it feels like three hours. By the end I felt that the story would have been better suited to a twenty five minute short. The payoff at the end just did not justify an hour and a half. Also, there are holes in the script that are incongruous. Because the lighting and sound do not help tell the story, the actions seem out of place and contrived; as does the ending. It is a hodge-podge of the cinematic language that it needs to tell the story effectively. Why?
This first outing for composer, director, writer, editor Mark Perrault is just that, a first outing. It suffers from a lack of experience and talent, as well as a lack of collaboration with experts in their specialties. In a different time, say the 1960’s, this film would have been simply a learning exercise to show once and then to move on from. In today’s democratized filmmaking era it is potential direct-to-DVD fare as well as festival submission. While I applaud his making of it, which is itself no easy task, I would recommend that he put it aside and move on. One Star.
Title: The Garden
Year: 2009
Documentary: USA
Running Time: 95 minutes
Directed by Scott Hamilton Kennedy
Writers Scott Hamilton Kennedy
Producers Julie Bergman Sender ... executive producer Dan Cogan ... supervising producer Dominique Derrenger ... co-producer Scott Hamilton Kennedy ... producer Vivianne Nacif ... co-producer Stuart Sender ... executive producer
Cast Danny Glover ... Himself Daryl Hannah ... Herself ... Himself
Original Music Doug DeAngelis Gabriel Tenorio
Cinematographers Scott Hamilton Kennedy
Editors Alex Blatt Tyson FitzGerald Scott Hamilton Kennedy
Production Managers Leilani Makuakane Potter ... post-production supervisor
Sound Department Ryan Gegenhiemer ... sound effects editor Paul Hackner ... sound re-recording mixer Paul Hackner ... supervising sound editor Kimberly Lowe Voigt ... dialogue editor Andrew Twite ... sound editor
Editorial Department Joseph K. Chen ... assistant editor Callister Christian ... on-line editor Ryan M. Fritzsche ... on-line editor Antonio Scarpitta ... assistant editor
Miscellaneous Crew Renee Good ... production assistant Robin Petgrave ... helicopter pilot
Production Companies: Black Valley Films
Official website: www.thegardenmovie.com
The 14 acre community garden in South Central Los Angeles was the largest of its kind in the United States. It was started as a form of healing after the devastating L.A. riots in 1992. Since that time, the South Central Farmers had created a miracle in one of the country's most blighted neighborhoods. Growing their own food. Feeding their families. Creating a community. But now bulldozers threaten their oasis. The Garden is an unflinching look at the struggle between these urban farmers, the City of Los Angeles, political interests, and the personal interests of a powerful developer.
First of all I have to mention that I was briefly associated with trying to help raise funding for this project. Therefore I was aware of The Garden long before now and I got to see the unfinished product; before the saga had played out to its current state of affairs, if not absolute conclusion. All that being said, I still like and applaud the result.
I am sympathetic with the story of the film and to its participants, on both sides of the issue. In many ways it is a classic clash of Socialist American and Capitalist American philosophies in the shadow of deregulation and dirty backroom politics. It is also a microcosm for the national tensions that exist between the Latino-American and African-American communities as they fight over power and politics, land and resources. Four years in the making, Scott Hamilton Kennedy’s sophomore documentary outing is an Oscar nominated and Silverdocs award winning performance that shows his talent and versatility as a documentarian. As he did in his first full length documentary, OT: Our Town, he demonstrates a natural ability to showcase small local stories in unattractive parts of the community that contain large, national and international implications.
However, in The Garden, Kennedy also shows a unique talent for using music to move the plot forward and tell a compelling story. He takes us on an emotional roller coast as we watch the successes and failures of the farmers unfold, while uncovering the ugly underbelly of politics and politicians. As the layers of hypocrisy are stripped away from Councilwomen Jan Perry, she is left exposed as self serving, power hungry and racist. A dramatic conclusion given that she is also African-American. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is shown to be a political animal devoid of personal interest in the Latino community, or any for that matter, except to the extent that he can feather his own bed and get votes.
The Garden is an important lesson that highlights the huge obstacles that stand in the way of developing a comprehensive national environmental policy. The role of individuals, governments and private enterprise in the current global warming crisis is brought into local focus. Does The Garden have anything to say about global warming? Not directly. But indirectly it is the canary in the coal mine of what we have to overcome over the next fifty years. A must see. Four stars.
Welcome to the 185th Edition of my series. I am still working on getting a role in a community theater show now that my work seems to be allowing it. So far I am 0-2 where I tried out for both RENT and FIDDLER ON THE ROOF but no luck so far. Tomorrow I am trying out for BIG RIVER which is a musical about Huck Finn so I keep you all posted there.
Rope (1948): I start out this with the "Master of Suspense" Alfred Hitchcock. This is loosely based on the Leopold-Loeb case. A couple weeks ago, I used another movie based on the case called COMPULSION. It is based on a play by Patrick Hamilton. John Dall and Farley Granger play two college students who concoct the "perfect crime" by strangling a fellow classmate and put the body in a small chest in the apartment. They then proceed to have a party to challenge the perfection of their crime. James Stewart plays Rupert Cadell, a former teacher of the students who inadvertingly teaches them what they know and becomes very suspicious. Almost this whole movie was filmed inside the house where the party was taking place. Hitchcock wanted a theatrical feel for this film which used very little cuts. There was also a lot of indirect references to homosexuality which made the film very controversial and banned in some cities. This was not the most suspenseful since the crime is done in the beginning but still very entertaining to see where we go with it. Each character was written very carefully and each person pulled off their parts.
Oliver and Company (1988): This is my tribute to Dom Deluise who recently left us. The Disney shorts I have shown the past two weeks come from this one. This is the Disney version of OLIVER TWIST where we find Oliver is a cute little kitten, which is done by BLOSSOM alum Joey Lawrence. He is recruited by a dog named Dodger, done actually by singer Billy Joel, who brings him into a group of other animals who survive by leading a life of crime led by Fagin, done by the late Deluise, who is in deep debt to Bill Sykes and his great danes. In one of the crimes, Oliver meets a young, wealthy girl named Jenny who takes in Oliver but Sykes threatens their relationship. This has some pretty good music and funny moments. Good for the family. Other voices include Cheech Marin and Bette Midler plus an opening theme song sung by Huey Lewis.
Friday Night Lights (2004): This is my football movie for the week which is directed by Peter Berg. This takes place in a small town in Texas where high school football is everything. Billy Bob Thornton stars as Coach Gaines who is under a lot of pressure from the town to win. He always wants his team to be "perfect" and has an interesting description about what he means by it. His SLING BLADE co-star Lucas Black stars as the quarterback who is also under a lot of pressure with the team and his troubled mom. Country singer Tim McGraw co-stars as one of the fathers who is an alcoholic and is overbearing on his son and wants him to have the same success that he had in high school. This is actually a true story of a town who needed hope. Derek Luke also stars as the running back that becomes injured. It seems to be a pretty accurate portrayal of Texas high school football and them being the most important part of a town. The tv series KING OF THE HILL shows a lot of serious high school football.
Sheba, Baby (1975): I got this as a free birthday rental at Hollywood video and wanted to take a look at some more Pam Grier from the 70s. This is a Blaxploitation film which has most of the white people as either a villain or a lazy cop who won't do anything. There are always stereotypes towards the blacks but that is to be expected in this movie. I felt Pam Grier diverted from most of the stereotype. She plays the title character who is a private detective in Chicago and must go back to Louisville to help her father whose loan business is being muscled. She uncovers a plot that goes to each level of corporate greed. There is not much else to say. It has a pretty good music score, if you can get past the stereotypes, you might like it. I can usually watch Pam Grier in most things.
The Milagro Beanfield War (1988): Robert Redford went behind the camera on this movie about Northern New Mexico. It is a town that is poor but very proud. Chick Vennera stars as a farmer named Joe who illegally diverts water to his home but gets support from the town who feels wronged by the government. Christopher Walken co-stars as Kyril Montana, who is sent to try to stop the town and starts quite an eruption when everyone unites to keep the big business away. It is a very nice look at a small town that will never be rich but likes where they are. Other actors include Daniel Stern, John Heard, Melanie Griffith, James Gammon, and M. Emmet Walsh.
First Knight (1995): The Facebook friend I selected for this one was Katie who I went to school with from middle school up to high school graduation. Jerry Zucker directed this much different adaption of the Arthurian legend. In this one, Sean Connery is the noble King Arthur who seems to have already gotten Excalibur from the stone and in fact, I do not believe it is even mentioned in the film and is set to marry Guinevere, played by Julia Ormond. Richard Gere is the care-free Lancelot who happens to save Guinevere who slowly becomes one of the knights and has a thing for Guinevere. Their biggest conflict is a knight named Prince Malagant, played by Ben Cross, who left the round table for his own path and has a vendetta against Arthur. There is no Merlin in this one so no wizardry, nor does he have his conniving sister Morgana or his illegitamate son Mordred. Maybe he already conquered both of them. The leads play their parts well making for a decent Arthur film.
A Fistful of Dollars (1964): Sergio Leone directed this first of the Man With No Name trilogy which is a western remake of Akira Kurasowa's 1961 film YOJIMBO. Kurasowa ended up suing for breach of copyright and states he made more off this than YOJIMBO Clint Eastwood stars in his star-making role as a drifter who roles into a town with two feuding families where he pits them both against each other and getting more money in the process. There is really not much to say here. Ennio Morricone wrote a great music score for this and in researching this, apparently Steve Reeves, known for HERCULES turned down the lead role saying he was making more money in other things. What would have happened if Reeves had accepted the role and where would we be today? Eastwood fans need to check this out and western fans as well. Just about everyone should.
A Sailor-Made Man (1921): This is my silent film for the week which includes "The Third Genius" Harold Lloyd. He wanted to marry a girl, played by his future wife Mildred Davis, but her father told him that he had to get a job first so he goes into the Navy. In the Navy, he finds that he does not fit in all too well but leads to some pretty funny situations. When the girl and her family dock at a Middle Eastern Kingdom and she is kidnapped and he must try to save her. This movie was originally intended to be about 20 minutes but Lloyd added on so much that they did not want to cut it making it around 45 minutes which was considered a "feature" film in those days making his first. Through the years I have tried to give Lloyd some exposure on here and hope if you like Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, that you will look into him as well. His thing seems to be the average guy doing everything he possibly can to impress a girl which worked very well.Carry On Nurse (1959): I had to go to the library and make a more random selection since AMC and TCM were showing non-stop military movies and the last one was based on the Navy so I didn't want anything more that deals with military. I was looking at this and these were two different comedies and it sounded rather interesting. This is a British comedy that takes place at a hospital where a men's ward is wreaking a lot of havoc where they try to get payback on a nurse and even do their own surgery on someone. Shirley Eaton is one of the nurses. This was a satire of a hospital and what it was like in there. There is really not much to say except I laughed quite a big.
Spider Man 3 (2007): This is in tribute to actress Lucy Gordon who recently died. She played reporter Jennifer Rubin towards the end of the film. I might takes some heat for this one but while it was quite flawed, it had its moments for me and I liked it better than TERMINATOR: SALVATION which I had just seen. Sam Raimi took the helm once again as director with Tobey Maguire reprising his role as the web slinger. He has much to fight here. First, Thomas Haden Church plays the Sandman who I felt stood out in the movie which is a tough opponent for Spider Man. James Franco reprises his role as Peter Parker's friend Harry Osborn, who is very bitter towards him and follows in his father's footsteps as the New Goblin. THAT 70S SHOW alum Topher Grace co-stars as Eddie Brock, a rival photographer to Peter who later becomes Venom. Not only did he have those three to contend with but he also had to contend with himself when a black entity got to Peter Parker/Spider Man and turned his suit black. The black suit enhanced his abilities and also brought out a very dark side of Peter. I did like the Peter Parker/Eddie Brock rivalry though I felt they dealt with the Venom character way too quickly. I also did not believe the special effects of Spider Man when he was web-slinging around and looked too computerized like in THE HULK. I can always watch Bruce Campbell who makes a cameo as a French waiter. Kirsten Dunst, OZ alum J.K. Simmons, Dylan Baker, Rosemary Harris, Willem Dafoe, Bryce Dallas Howard, and many others co-star. Now we have the Broadway musical of Spider Man to look forward to so if you hate this one, let it be known but please at least make comments on the other nine. I liked the first two better but as I said, this had its moments for me and enough to feature here.
Well, that is it for this week, tell me what you like and what you do not like and stay tuned next week for the 186th Edition. Only on here does Joey Lawrence get to be on the same boat as people such as Hitchcock, James Stewart, Eastwood, Harold Lloyd and so on. And to the filmmakers out there, give me a link and I will view your movie with a possibility of being featured here. Stay tuned next week for Audrey Hepburn and Mark Hamill and no I don't have STAR WARS for next week.
FUN LITTLE TRIVIA
Cedric Hardwicke (Rope) and Sean Connery (First Knight) have both played King Arthur and Allan Quatermain
-Hardwicke plays King Arthur in the 1949 film A CONNECTICUT YANKEE IN KING ARTHUR'S COURT. Connery plays the role in this week's feature FIRST KNIGHT. FIRST KNIGHT co-star John Gielgud played King Arthur in the 1996 film DRAGONHEART which was uncredited
Cheech Marin (Oliver and Company) plays David Reyes in LOST, who is the father of Hurley in three episodes. He is Hurley's father and was never on the island. Daniel Dae Kim (The Onion Movie) plays Jin Kwon in the same show and is a regular.
Cheech Marin (Oliver and Company) played Joe Dominguez in the 90s tv series NASH BRIDGES. James Gammon (Milagro Beanfield War) played Nick Bridges, the father to the title character.
Bette Midler (Oliver and Company) was Rose in the 1993 tv movie GYPSY. My Facebook friend Joanne played the role in a production at Anderson Mainstage Theatre.
ANGEL FRANCHISE
-Christian Kane (Friday Night Lights) played Lindsey McDonald, an attorney for Wolfram and Hart which was Angel's nemesis much of the show.
-Alexis Denisof (First Knight) played Wesley Wyndam-Price, who fought alongside Angel and his character started out on BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER for a brief stint as the new watcher.
JAMES BOND FRANCHISE
-Christopher Walken (The Milagro Beanfield War) plays villain Max Zorin in the 1985 Bond film A VIEW TO A KILL, the last of the Roger Moore era-Sean Connery (First Knight) plays James Bond in the 60s to the early 70s.
-Shirley Eaton (Carry on Nurse) plays "Golden Girl" Jill Masterson in the 1964 Bond film GOLDFINGER which started rumors that she died from the gold paint which could not be further from the truth.
Melanie Griffith (Milagro Beanfield War) plays actress Marion Davies, a ex-girlfriend of William Randolph Hearst and the biggest source for his hatred of CITIZEN KANE on her portrayal in the 1999 film RKO 281. Kirsten Dunst (Spider-Man 3) plays the part in the 2001 film THE CAT'S MEOW.
Ben Cross (First Knight) plays Cardinal Richelieu in the 2001 film YOUNG BLADES. My facebook friend John plays the role in a recent Muncie Civic Theater production of THE THREE MUSKETEERS.
Clint Eastwood (Fistful of Dollars) cites James Stewart (Rope) as one of his favorite actors
