Revenge of the Fallen is an apt title for any sequel perpetrated by Michael Bay precisely because fallenness appears to be the primary drive behind his particular brand of excess. Not content to load his film with lots of explosions, and reasonably well executed CGI special effects sequences, which like many of his other films could fall under the category of innocently giddy if incoherent cinema, he insists (as he did in his other infamous sequel Bad Boy II) in heaping sin upon what could have been a really fun enterprise. Forget the fact that the movie sprawls yawningly over 2 1/2 hours and plays like an self indulgent introduction to a videogame with exposition after exposition. Forget the fact that the action sequences in this film don’t even hold a candle to the artistry on display in the first film, Transformers 2 Revenge of the Fallen is a stupidly racist, sexist, mess.
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I’ve been on a serious Troma kick lately because of Back Catalogue, my column for Fangorias site. But when I heard about this release I was more than happy to get on the bandwagon. Troma not only has the rights to their own stuff but the rights to many, many worthwhile exploitation and grindhouse horrors. Not the least of which is Combat Shock which is finally getting released in a deluxe two disc edition. Super raw, full of unnerving energy the film tells the story of a Vietnam vet who comes home to find that the horrors of war are just the beginning. I’ve pasted the press release below for those who want to be informed. As you can see the films director and Combat Shock itself have got some major love from critics and peers.
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Mind it! I am at full tension. Quick Gun Murugan blowing is my mind in all his six gun six armed shiva shakin’ glory. If there is such a thing as armed revolt amongst those of the veg persuasion I can only heartily reccomend this for training prior to your next attempt at insurgency here stateside. The basic story has a vegetarian gunfighter fighting an evil McDonalds clone conglomerate as their CEO attempts to destroy vegetarianism in India. Add a few musical numbers, some time travel, a seriously irreverent take on Hinduism and costumes for the hero that look a tad effeminate for say…. even the Village People and you know what to expect- absolutely anything. Of course the irony is that the character of Murugan originated as part of an ad campaign for India MTV. My friends and I laughed hard and though Quick Gun Murugan does have a slow section towards the first half of the middle, the end of the film rocked us hard. We are indeed like this only! This plays the IFC Center on Tue June 23, 5:10 pm and Wed July 1, 5:30 pm.
I didn’t know what to expect when I popped in this screener. Would it be a horror film with touches of comedy, a zany horror spoof? Gladly it was neither. I say gladly because Yorio Samurai Zombie was something a lot more rare. It had plenty of the above but in the end it emerged as something that sent a genuine chill. Part monster movie, part passle of jump scenes and shoot ‘em ups, and enough gushing blood to make anyone giggle, it also gave me no real idea where it was headed until it was too late. And by then it was forcing questions about the nature of cosmic justice Vs. revenge in my head. A family is kidnapped by a pair of runaway thieves only to end up near an old burial ground where a zombie samurai warrior has been set loose. The plot, and the number of monsters, thickens as the bodies pile up until an ancient but obscure bit of history blurs the lines between guilt and innocence .There’s really nothing else you need to know here. Special effects range from passable to really good and the monsters are brought off in a sort of man in suit glory that is rare these days. My guess is you’ll have a blast and come out with a creepy chill. This has already played the fest once but Fri June 26, 9:45pm at the IFC Center boasts appearances by director/actor Tak Sakaguchi and top stuntman Isao Karasawa.
“Have you ever had a secret that you couldn’t live with keeping. And you think about it so much that you became sure people were able to tell your secret just by looking at you.” This universal inner dialogue forms the beginning of this well acted but ultimately tepid mystery thriller. A young girl, Sarah (Anna Kendrick) finds out that her best friend, Jillian (Tania Raymonde) has been seeing men she meets online. But when Jillian disappears Sarah and a friend begin to unravel her whereabouts using her diary and a strange and ominous video cell phone message. The cast is far better than the tired material allows for but that’s no reason to bother with this. It isn’t just that you can see the ending coming a million miles away it’s that Elsewhere gets everything else but the casting wrong as well. I grew up not far from Goshen Indiana and while no doubt it is, like any small town, a repository of many hidden and ugly secrets it is also far less of a charicature than this. Then again the characters here are even more charicatured. The DVD features an audio commentary with the director and producer, a making of featurette, deleted scenes and a photo gallery.
Hosted by Terrence Stamp this original Showtme series had a devout following during it’s 1997-2000 44 episode run which is understandable given that it was the brainchild of Ridley and Tony Scott. Each episode used sexuality as a metaphor to explore hunger for something and generally, though the end result was decidedly not for family viewing, it was reasonably compelling, well written and well acted supernatural TV. It also unfailingly offered startling and provocative images that far outstripped what might be expected of a program of it’s kind. The fact that it has taken so long to rise back to the surface is a bit of a mystery considering the amount of first class talent on hand such as Timothy Spall and Daniel Craig. And though there aren’t lot of extras here there is a lot of meat for lovers of the macabre to chew on. This is supernatural TV at its simplest but also surprisingly elegant and given the adult subject matter reasonably restrained. Those looking for mere sex should look elsewhere. This is bound to make you think more than you would like.
Can a late review encourage anyone still waiting to finally buy a ticket? I hope so. Not only is DMTH a lot more fun than most films of its kind it actually spoke to me in its own odd way about something near and dear to my heart. Many of my friends who’ve seen it say the same thing. At the heart of our response isn’t just the chill that runs up and down our spines when we imagine what would happen if we were cursed but why a curse is an eternal thing that can’t just be blithely passed on to someone else because you think they are more evil than you are. It seems a message especially fit for our self righteous age.
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A batch of screeners from Grady Hendrix is a happy mailbox day!!! Especially when those screeners are for nearly the entirety of the 2009 New York Asian Film Festival. The Forbidden Door was first. What’s up with the pig head and the axe? Must be a horror film. Hopefully not a Saw rip-off. No worries. This blood-soaked unpacking of what it means to sell-out should haunt anyone who has ever called themselves artist and asked to be paid for it.
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This DVD of The She Beast is movie gold. Why? Is it those Brit on the cheap production sensibilities? The fact that it is the second of a mere four features directed by the late greatly lamented Michael Reeves? The plot that combines lame satire of Eastern European communism, witchcraft and curses, Van Helsings great great grandson and young love? The bad English overdubs? The Barbera Steele Ian Ogilvy commentary track? The answer is yes, yes, oh be still my beating heart YES, TO ALL OF THE ABOVE!!!
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The work of filmmaker Don Dohler is, on the surface, pretty forgettable for anyone whose expectations have been framed by watching regular studio movies. But if you’ve ever tried your hand at movie making in any capacity, or just have an open heart to fan made films Dohler emerges as a fascinating character who deserves more recognition than he ‘s received in an industry known for hyping whatever comes along that has blood, boobs and beasts in it.
After a near death experience a young Dohler decided to do what he’d always dreamed of doing. The resultant DIY film magazine, titled Cinemagic, became a beacon for dozens of now industry professionals around the world showcasing basic filmmaking info and providing a format for the sharing of special effects secrets long before computers became part of the movie making mix.
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Those worried that this show is just a redux of Fawlty Towers can rest easy and by all means go out and buy it. Trust me, you’ll watch it often if you have any affinity at all for the hapless main character played to anxiety driven perfection by Leonard Rossiter. Produced during the years 1976-1979 the series chronicles the adventures (or non adventures) of Reginald Perrin miserable employee of the Sunshine Desserts company. Whether under the thumb of his bombastic boss C.J., being looked at askance by his devoted wife, or minimized by his grown but needy children, Perrin is looking for an escape. An affair with his secretary? Mean spirited daydreams about those he loathes? Where the series ends up taking that concept I won’t say but it does more than just deliver one off gag ridden episodes. Perrin is on a journey that Basil Fawlty never really even started.You get all 21 episodes on three discs plus a fourth disc of bonus features including a retrospective piece with interviews and rememberances and highlights from the show and cast and a Christmas special sketch. My wife and have not only laughed out loud at this show we’ve even started started to care about what happens to Reginald.
As the summer grinds through one installment of franchise entertainment after another it’s probably a good thing for critics and fans to reflect on what make those films different from each other rather than moan endlessly about why they think they are all basically the same. Number one all summer blockbuster movies are basically the same in that they promise bang for the buck. I’m not being metaphorical. We go to these things to watch stuff blow up real good. Anything else we get is icing on the cake. In Wolverine stuff did not blow up real good and the rest of the movie was entirely forgettable. Those are mortal sins for any summer film.
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Set phasers on melt adamantium. Star Trek is to good movies what Wolverine is to boring ones. Both are big budget affairs based on beloved franchises and huge fanbases. But where Wolverine falls flat (mainly due to studio meddling) Trek soars through every test and trial laid before it because of a tight screenplay that embraces what makes the past so worth revisiting and the future so full of hope. Of course advance buzz on this flick is so strong the greatest problem the film may face is being overhyped. But I can’t help but think that even that can’t hurt it. I actually thought about the first time I saw Star Wars once or twice while I was watching this film and that is perhaps the highest compliment a person my age can give a movie like this. It’s quite simply the purest blend of storytelling sensibility, sci fi action and old fashioned quick we’ve got to save the world cheese to hit the screen in a long time and even manages to be moving now and then. And did I mention that the visuals are absolutely spectacular?
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I had the privilege of interviewing Gavin Hood shortly before he won the Oscar for directing Tsotsi. It was a well deserved win. And based on that interview I thought that it couldn’t happen to a nicer guy. We need more of those in the movie business and we need more movies like Tsotsi. If you haven’t seen it you should. It is one of the most powerful films about reconciliation I’ve ever seen. Later when I heard that Hood had snared the Wolverine gig I thought it was a trifle odd. Here was a guy, coming straight off a Best Foreign film win, basically coming in for hire, and he’s going to be working at a studio with a big reputation for screwing over major talent and ruining franchises. For instance after Bryan Singer had delivered two great X Men films (the latter film being one of the very best comic adaptations ever) you would think Fox would fall all over themselves to keep him and most importantly their new franchise fanbase happy. Instead they alienate him, bring in a fixer, and turn one of great character arcs in the history of comics (Phoenix’) into an overblown, overpopulated forgettable farce. Is X3 fun? Yes but as a followup to X2 its a sinful indulgence, the kind that should make any thoughtful well informed lover of superhero films and characters squirm a little while watching it and feel like taking a bath afterwards.
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Facets/Tidepoint Pictures
I’m a sucker for anthologies. Among my favorites are Creepshow, Tales from the Crypt 1972, Trilogy of Terror, Three and Three Extremes. I must own at least twenty or twenty-five more. This ghostly anthology doesn’t have any truly standout stories on the level of Dumplings from Three Extremes but for a made for TV production this Malaysian anthology has a lot to offer, most notably a character/idea driven approach to the writing. This is short form horror done thoughtfully and on a budget with the occasional jump and manages not to suffer for lack of loud “Boos!”
All the segments are set in Kuala Lumpur during the Chinese Hungry Ghost Festival during which participants keep an eye open for ghosts allowed to escape from purgatory. Each of the four segments is directed by a different young talent, and each takes advantage of the source material to forge a distinct looking project. The visually down to the bone feel of 1413 brings forth unexpected chills out of its mundane visual landscape telling the story of a suicide pact that has an unexpected outcome. And in the best episode Anybody Home obsession move from mere madness into cosmic chaos as a young women finds that she cannot escape the attentions of a persistent lover. Two weaker entries trade a little too much in ghostly visitations of the type we’ve seen before but then they are more preoccupied with human relationships than ghostly effects. Waiting For Them follows two friends on and a ghost through a series of misunderstandings and mishaps while Nodding Scoop, in the most self referential look at the ghost story, follows a filmmaker whose chronicling of a ghost seer gives him an unwelcome look into his own future.
As with most Facets releases the English subs are optional. Other special features include a Making Of, interviews with cast and filmmakers and an original trailer.
