Nick Robinson: FilmReviews

Who?

Sun, 23 Jul 2006 03:50:05 GMT

Who? When buying my first 16mm print, I didn't think twice about the name, but, it's actually kind of a pain to do an Abbott and Costello routine whenever I tell somebody about the movie. Anyways, watched the movie tonight, and it was pretty good. A little different than I was expecting, but the magic of showing film in your own place just helps anything. An incredible performance by Elliot Gould doesn't hurt either. Gould plays a CIA agent who has to determine if this half-man/half-robot is really a scientist who was in a car accident, or a secret Russian spy sent by his arch nemesis in a ploy to destroy some secret plan. Gould doesn't let up on the guy, just giving him a hard time at every turn, not giving him an inch of wiggle room. Some sweet lines, flashbacks in first-person, and a pretty well-done character study. It's not exactly the film I thought I was getting, but I'm thrilled with it.

Lady in the Water

Mon, 17 Jul 2006 12:15:53 GMT

Searching for living places in the day... screenings at night. I guess it could be worse. Going into this screening I was defending M. Night Shyamalan against naysayers. Sure, the trailer isn't that great for the movie, but, M. Night's pretty interesting and he generally does make good movies (For the record: I like Signs a lot). But halfway through the movie I turned on Minoj. Lady in the Water is one of the most disappointing movies I've ever seen and the worst movie I've seen of the year. M. Night's ego had shown through in his previous works, but not to the extent that it does in this film, and I'm not even talking about his character being a magic genius who changes the way the world works forever. M. Night decided that audiences would be interested in any story that he told because it was him telling it. So, he didn't bother making sure if the story made sense, had reason, interesting characters or interesting anything. He just decided to ramble on and on. It shows. He'll use the "it's a bedtime story" defense against the onslaught of critics, but, when asked if his children held guide or mold the story at all, he said, "My children know not to talk when I'm telling a story". That says a lot right there.

Clerks 2

Fri, 14 Jul 2006 04:59:59 GMT

Clerks 2. I've, basically waited 8 years to see something like this. Once upon a time, I was a pretty typical yet somewhat geeky teenager going through high school. I watch Mallrats and it's pretty funny, but from there I discover Clerks. Clerks gets the ball rolling and basically I am the man I am today because of Clerks. Take it as you will. So, now Clerks 2 comes along, starts appearing on the horizon, and it's getting incredible press, the Cannes ovation, the Quentin/Rodriguez clip, glowing reviews from online presses, etc. I saw, it sounds good but it can't be that good. I was wrong. I have never laughed so much at a movie. I have never cried so much at a movie. I've never been just so overwhelmed by emotion at a movie. During the ending I just couldn't control myself and was just crying because I loved it so much. I haven't felt this way over a movie since Running Scared. I feel the same way after I did that movie - I can't think, can't function, can't handle myself. I just don't know what to do with myself. If I could do anything, I would watch it again. Of course, it's not for anything - for my family that reads this, it's not for you. But it was for me, and everyone else who was there. The audience was incredibly into the film and received it well and made it the best screening I've been to. This one is everything they've been saying it is. I hate having to wait until next Friday to see it again.

Nacho Libre Alamo Premiere Show

Sat, 10 Jun 2006 04:24:49 GMT

To preface: It's impossible for me to separate the film from the event, as the event was done to present the film optimally - through the eyeholes of a mask. Many years ago, on a trip to LA, I found myself with my last $20 faced with a decision. I could either buy a Mexican wrestling mask or I could buy some album (I can't even remember what one). Little did I know how much that would pay off later. Tonight, the Alamo Drafthouse's Rolling Roadshow took me out to the Glenn in Bee Caves for a premiere of Nacho Libre. Free to those of us who donned the masks of the trade. Of course, I was very happy to do this, as the mask is fun to wear. Hopefully Nacho Libre will become the cultural sensation as it's cousin Napoleon Dynamite was, so that it'll be a new fad. Just go downtown or to the grocery store and wear a lucha mask. Save time on hair, makeup, etc. Just a thought. When the Alamo has a premiere, they do things right. A sellout crowd of 1000, 150 of whom were masked. They also brought in a troupe of authentic Mexican wrestlers from Mexico City to ply their trade. The wrestlers put on a fantastic show, I don't know if they thought the crowd was into it, though. Cheers and jeers just aren't as loud in an open venue. That didn't stop them from going all out, though. Wrestlers were thrown into trash cans, exposed, demasked, and abused for the crowd. Two of the wrestlers were midgets (well, one midget and a short dude) and were incredibly talented. My favorite bit involved the good (legitimate) midget being triple-teamed by the evil wrestlers. They beat him so badly that he had no life left in him. They'd lift his arm, it'd fall listlessly to the canvas. The same with his leg. "ES MUERTO", they proclaimed him. The midget was dead. The Mexican people are a religious people, so, when confronted with the death of a colleague they couldn't just leave him there. The three evil wrestlers did the right thing and prayed for the midget's soul - BUT THEIR PRAYERS BROUGHT HIM BACK TO LIFE! The revived midget now had the power of God on his side and attacked his murders with all of his vengeance! The fight waged on, and soon even Time League, owner of the Drafthouse, found himself under attack. A fantastic show, many stood and applauded the show. I had a blast with it. When he'd finally recovered from his injuries, Tim plugged some other Rolling Roadshow events, teasing us with his Snakes On A Plane show (1 ticket gets you 24 hours of the movie, and during each showing you can eat a different snake). And then came the movie. It's really going to be interesting to see how people receive this movie. I liked it, but not much more than that. There's some stuff that doesn't work, and there's some that does. It's basically Napoleon Dynamite meets Jack Black. I like Napoleon, and I like Jack Black, so I was alright with it. Outside of a few very bright spots the movie is alright. But, it's very much in that Napoleon Dynamite vein, and those who hate it are going to absolutely hate this movie. Hate, hate, hate. Those who are into it are only going to like the movie. Not love, as they did Napoleon. I would love to separate the movie from Dynamite, but it's impossible. The movies are incredibly similar in style, and it's obvious that the same people worked on it. It is a step forward for them, though, as this movie actually has a plot. In many ways Hess shows signs of growth, but at the same time, he put so much toilet humor in the movie that it's a step back in terms of maturity (seriously, Jack Black is almost always in the bathroom in this movie). I liked it, but not much more.

The Best of QT-Fest Day 5: The Big Triple Feature

Sat, 29 Apr 2006 03:07:05 GMT

I went to a Pre-QT fest dinner with some of the regulars and had a lot of fun. However, they were warning me about Billy Jack and not agreeing with Tarantino's choice of it at all. So, I was a little shaky about it. Still, I was definitely going to see it. The night started off with Lewis Black of the Austin Chronicle talking about Billy Jack and saying that he'd basically seen the movie when he was living in politically dead Florida and was blown away by the politics of the film, despite not being able to figure out what they were (Like a Sam Fuller movie). When he went back to Chicago, he showed the film to his politically active friends and was embarrassed halfway through when he looked at the film in that political climax. He was saved, however, when his friends were laughing at the film and thought that was the reason why he brought them. Oh Lewis. Quentin got up on stage and began preparing us for the film and talked about how the film seemed like it was pretty quiet politically then, but watching it now it's incredibly blatant in it's display of endorsing non-violence. To add to this, this was a film that everybody in his fifth grade class saw. They'd talk about it on the playground because it was a real badass movie. He couldn't imagine the Anti-Bush film that everybody in 5th grade would go see today. He then got serious for a bit talking about much of a love letter this film and it's two sequels are from Tom Laughlin (writer/director) to his wife Delores Taylor (lead actress/ writer). "Delores Taylor, she's not an attractive woman. I'm not saying that for a laugh", the audience at this point is dead quiet, "She's not a good looking woman, again, not for a laugh, but it's such a love letter from a man who worships his wife that it absolutely breaks my heart.". It also gets serious, too, in the film she gets raped and the film deals with the pain of rape like no other, leading it to get praise for Pauline Kael (whom Tarantino describes as "One of the best writers ever"). Quentin went on to talk about how when he first showed the movie he performed a scene from the movie before showing it (in a similar fashion to his acting performance for Silent Night, Deadly Night. However he wasn't going to do it, because he thought that he might have cockblocked the movie, and if there's one thing he's not about, it's cockblocking the movie! Billy Jack
I was really impressed with Billy Jack. I'd heard from a few people who'd seen it that it was "ok" or "worth seeing, but nothing spectacular", and the like, so the bar was set pretty low (then raised by both Lewis and Quentin). I can definitely see why 5th grade classes across the country went to go see this, Billy Jack is an incredibly character, in every frame of the movie you look at him and you see a real man. He stands tough, he fights for what he believes in, and he just doesn't take any crap. At one point not only does he beats a guy up, but tells the guy exactly how he's going to do it first. Billy Jack fights to protect an Indian reservation and an alternative school on the property from people who want to poach mustangs on the land and destroy the school because they don't believe in it's hippy messages. The school is made up of students played by members of "The Committee" an improv group that featured Howard Hesseman - best known as Dr. Johnny Fever. The improvers do what they do best - improv. They have these bits in the film where they have a zany situation and run with it in the film. They start and they keep going and going and going. Some of them run 10 minutes, even. All they can do to stop them is to just use a flip transition and try to move on. They never end, they just edited the movie to go to something else after a while. I thought it was hilarious. Funnier than the actual gags the improv group did. Billy Jack is interesting in that it plays like a great exploitation film, but it's also so serious and well done enough that it's also a forgotten mainstream film. It's got some wonderfully badass moments, and some uncomfortable moments and some funny moments. I really liked it, I don't know how the others didn't. Vanishing Point
This is one of my brother's favorite films. I'm actually surprised he didn't come down and see it. Either way, I was pretty excited about this one, there's not a better atmosphere to screen any film than QT Fest. Quentin took the stage and was brief for once in his life. He basically didn't want to oversell or overhype the movie and wanted it to speak for itself. He did mention that it was pretty much the movie that spawned the car chase genre of film - one that he's looking to continue in "Death Proof" - his half of the upcoming Grind House film he's doing with Robert Rodriguez. He expanded and said that, basically, Vanishing Point is the rosetta stone to his film, any questions about his movie can be answered by Vanishing Point. He also cited 'Point as being one of the first films to have a pop-music soundtrack despite the film not using any hit songs, and only very recently had an album released of all the songs. I can see why my brother likes this movie so much, it's the best of the "man and his car" type films that I've seen. We never learn much about Kowalski, we see glimpses of his past, but nothing too comprehensive. We're not even sure of what to make of the glimpses that we do get. Kowalski is just too cool the way we see him. He drives, and does his thing. We don't need to know about his childhood or what he did in high school - we accept him as he is now - doing speed and driving a car on a job that he was encouraged not to take. Super Soul, the blind DJ guiding him acts as his only friend, despite not having any means of communicating with him directly. This is a very 70s film, it's concepts of defeating the establishment in any way that you can, in extreme individualism, in burning lots of fossil fuels, but it still holds up well today. The ending still boggles a few minds, as discussions as to possible meanings or reasons for it could be heard afterwards. If nothing else, the ending's great because it can still get people talking today. Rolling Thunder
As much as Billy Jack was dogged for me prior to tonight, Rolling Thunder was built up. People were (supposedly) attending the night just to see this film again (of course, there's people who claim this for just about every film). This isn't one of the films that Quentin saw opening weekend (from the way he talks about the movies that he'd watch back then, it's hard to believe that exists). In fact, it took him a while to see it, and all the while he kept hearing about it and hearing about it. Eventually he got to see it in a double bill with Enter the Dragon. Rolling Thunder is the one that he was impressed with. So much so that he followed the movie around, watching it wherever he could, taking the LA bus system (Which sucks, according to him) all over the county to see it in whatever dirt theatre he could. Sometimes he'd even miss the bus and be stuck in the ghetto all night. Rolling Thunder made it worth it. He described the traveling to follow the movie around in a very nostalgic way, saying that the DVD market has ruined some stuff. "I go into the bathroom and I hear people say 'oh, the Dion Brothers, I'll have to pick that up on DVD'.... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH" he unleashes his evil laugh. The Dion Brothers isn't on DVD. A lot of these won't work as well on DVD - the few movies that I've found on DVD haven't been the same (Fistful of Talons). However, some (Crack House) are still amazing. He agrees, there's something that isn't the same about getting a DVD from best buy for $15 when you have to get some other stuff and a year later you haven't even unwrapped the plastic (he admits doing this himself). "You've seen it, now you've got it in your head, remember it and take it with you. Next time it's playing somewhere, go see it and be happy to relive it." The movie, itself, stars out slowly. A pair of Vietnam vets come home from being POWs for 7 years. They have to readjust to a life that's basically foreign to them. A father comes home to a son that he doesn't know and a wife that moved on. They're able to get a cold beer when they want one, and eat decently. They've come home from being tortured to be celebrated. Tommy Lee Jones plays one of the vets and sports perhaps the greatest natural monobrow in film history. It should be a thing of legend. Soon, Maj. Charles Rayne is confronted over a case of silver dollars he was given by a bunch of thugs. He doesn't respond to their threats and ends up being tortured, beaten, his hand put in the garbage disposal and his family shot. You get caught up in it and almost forget that they're not doing this over a large sum of money. It's just about $2,000. Nothing worth losing a hand over. But Rayne is a proud man, a tough man, and he doesn't give in. Sometimes your best traits are your worst, and he suffers because of it. He swears revenge. He spends his time tracking down the people responsible. Then come some of the great moments of the film. Rayne goes to Tommy Lee Jones' house during a family dinner and tells him that he's found them. Tommy looks at him, nods his head a little and responds, "I'll get my gear" and pulls a shotgun out of his closet. Wild applause over this. The two gear up and go down to Nuevo Laredo (which isn't as tough then as it is now) to go stir things up. The baddies are held up in a brothel, so TLJ goes in and procures the services of one of the ladies. He goes up to her room and is completely uninterested in her. She notices this and keeps trying him. He doesn't care, he lets her do whatever. She takes off his shirt and sticks her hand down his pants. He secretly pulls out both pieces of his shotgun from his duffel bag. Gun shots go off, he pulls her hand out, sits up and slides the two pieces together. The hooker asks, "What the fuck are you doing?". TLJ simply responds, "I'm about to kill a bunch of people". I'm not sure there's a better exchange in all of film. Rolling Thunder is everything that I was hyped up to believe and more. I can definitely see why Quentin would follow this movie around, and I definitely hope this shows again in town so that I can relive it. We leave and it's raining, people stay under the overhang of the drafthouse before mustering the courage to run out in the rain. Eli Roth said it best with, "C'mon, that guy lived in a POW camp for 7 years, we can take some rain!"

Best of QT-Fest Day 4: Riding the Gravy Train

Fri, 28 Apr 2006 03:55:10 GMT

Today I helped out a friend with his film shoot in a town about 30 minutes away. I let him know that I had strict times to be out and such, but, he needed the help so I gave him a little bit of wiggle room. Then drove about 80 all the way back. I figured if a cop stopped me I'd simply explain to them that "The Gravy Train" is playing tonight and I have to be there. I think it would've worked. Fortunately, I didn't need to. The Outfit
Tim League took the stage and formally apologized for his comments regarding Brotherhood of Death, explaining how much he really enjoyed it (he didn't mention The Black 6). He said that he was lambasted on the internet by Harry Knowles (right here) and said that he could call into question some of Harry's reviews... but it'd be much too easy. The audience was really laughing, especially the AICN crew. He then said that he was thinking of The Muthers, which was to be the midnight screening. This upset Quentin, but Tim assured him that he was joking. Tarantino took the stage and talked about how this film was released by MGM at a time when the head honcho was a moron. Once NY and LA were panning his films, he'd just regionally release films, often with different names in different places and just see how they worked. When Quentin saw The Outfit it was called "The Good Guys Always Win", which is a lame title until you hear the line said in the movie (I didn't believe the line could be that cool, until I heard it in the film). Then Quentin started talking about... books. There's a series of books written by Donald Westlake that feature a character named Parker. Parker is the man when it comes to being a professional thief. He's an absolute professional, what needs to be done gets done, if unfortunate things have to happen in order to get the job done... tough. He's not a cold blooded killer or a psychopath, he's just doing his job. A lot of people have played Parker in the movies, from Mel Gibson to Anna Karina to Lee Marvin, but none have actually played Parker as Westlake would sell the book, but not the character. To add to this there's been a bunch of unofficial Parkers in the movies. Two that Quentin "Knows damn sure about" are Robert DeNiro in Heat and.... Mr. White in Reservoir Dogs. Wow. Quentin pulled back the curtain and surprised us all. The Outfit gives us Robert Duvall in the Parker role (named Macklin this time around) and does a great job in it. He's smooth, he's unrelenting, he's tough. I just would not mess with this guy at all. He starts out busting a guy in the face with a vase and just starts interrogating the guy. The guy complains about glass in his face and Macklin just doesn't care. He keeps attacking the guy until he gets his information. He doesn't bullshit around. The mob is attacking the guy for everything he did in another Parker movie, so he just finds out who is the source and demands money from them. If they don't pay, he'll just rob their places until they pay up. No nonsense, this is the way it is. I would've paid, but the mob didn't. So, Macklin and his friend Cody go around robbing places, using just badass techniques. How do you take care of a female secretary? Punch her right in the face and knock her out. Brilliant. Duvall in this movie basically goes around kicking ass in all sorts of ways. Insane. The Gravy Train AKA The Dion Brothers
Often movies have two names, but never have they been used so interchangeably than The Dion Brothers and The Gravy Train at QT-Fest. Doesn't matter which one you use, as long as you're talking about that movie. Everybody was talking about it before and everyone was talking about it afterwards. But, let's not get ahead here. Quentin got up on stage and first praised Duvall in The Outfit, and then started singing the praises of Stacy Keach. Stacy Keach was one of the few people who put their star power to good use, making it so that the weirdest most unconventional films got made, Quentin says, "The most convention film he made in that time was 'The New Centurions' and that film is pretty fuckin' weird!". The Dion Brothers (Quentin's preferred title) first showed at QT-4 (I believe) and tore down the house. Ever since then, people have been asking for it again and again, and today he finally gave it to them. Quentin then went on to quote a line from the trailer that doesn't make a lot of sense out of context, but doesn't make too much in, either - "I need my pants - I have to meet my mom!". Lots of fun, then lots of laughs. Then he drops the bombshell. This movie was ghost written by none other than Austin's own Terrance Malick. I gasp. Literally. I was not the only one. Quentin did it too, in a mocking sort of way adding in conversations with himself - "Really?" "Really." "Really, really?" "Really". Dead serious. As for the movie, I cannot believe it was written by Terrance Malick. The Dion Brothers is just an amazing experience with this crowd, one that cannot be replicated. This festival is about lost gems - here's a 24 karat diamond right here. How this has been overlooked is beyond me. There's no DVD, no video versions, and honestly, I'm glad about that. This is a film that absolutely needs to be seen with an audience. You can't rent this movie from blockbuster and watch it alone one night and have the same experience. We shared a film that's basically our own, it's in our memories and our hearts, and that's it. Someday I might have a chance to see this film again. I'll take it. There are too many funny moments and no way to do them justice here. There's just no way. Before the next film Quentin came out and said that there was a point, about 2/3 of the way through the movie where the audience had been laughing non-stop for about 30 minutes about a film that nobody remembers and nobody cares about. We were introduced to the film and we embraced and love it and that's what QT-Fest is about, and he thanked the audience for that experience. The Muthers
Quentin went on to talk about the next film, The Muthers - one of his favorite Philipino blaxploitation action flicks. Now, you don't think of the Philippines when it comes to blaxploitation, but that's where they shot some of the greats. However, a lot of these films only had one black star because the plane ticket cost more than production. Wow. So, often when they shipped a star out there they'd end up making two or three movies, just so they could save on the tickets. What he really likes about this film is how much the actors flat-out commit to their roles. He likened it to kids playing Star Wars, when they decide to be Han Solo, they become Han Solo, putting all of their imagination into it and dedicating themselves to it, and eventually become better than the actors who originally played their roles, just because they get so into it. I could see what he meant, the actresses did really great jobs in this movie, but, really, after The Gravy Train, it just couldn't compare. There was no way to match the energy and excitement of that film, so the Muthers just kinda fell a bit flat for me. I was pretty tired also, so that might be part of it.

Best of QT Fest Day 3: The Epicenter.

Thu, 27 Apr 2006 03:53:56 GMT

Wipeout
Not much really happened before things got started. Quentin was a bit late, so Tim League of Alamo Drafthouse fame got up on stage and vamped for a little bit. He praised Wipeout (which is used in one of the Drafthouse's "Take your ass out!" trailers) and condemned Brotherhood of Death, calling it a "real piece of shit movie". I think that phrase somehow summoned Quentin because he was right there to defend it. He then went into explaining how the fest has evolved since the days of QT-1. That basically he now finds movies and knows that they have to show in Austin, because Austin is going to get it. The people in the audience will then start talking about the movies, wanting the movies, and that has gotten a lot of films DVD releases. "Austin is the epicenter, alright? The earthquake starts right here and then ripples out". I love this town. Tarantino then went on to describe the movie, basically saying that the real difference between American Mafia films and Italian Mafia films is that the Italians have actually had to deal with the Mafia, often borrowing money to make the film (Which, as we learned from Hollywood Man, is not a good idea). The mobsters in Italian Mafia movies are dogs, lying, cheating dogs. Shake your hand with one hand and stab you in the back with another. Dogs. He also mentioned that the 70s crime flicks were just about the most violent that there ever was, rivaling the HK 80s action films. I knew we were in for a treat. Wipeout is a film about Henry Silva as a hitman inside the mafia. There's all sorts of twists and turns in this one, to lay it out would be difficult, but basically, Henry is trying to be loyal, a good hitman, and more than anything - alive. Double crosses, twists, turns populate this film, you can really tell that the Italians really hate the mob. There is a fantastic subplot in this movie, where one family kidnaps the daughter of a gangster, demanding no money, but that he trade himself for the girl, so they can kill him and take over. They have Henry Silva try to negotiate which gets them a little bit of wiggle room, but no deal is made. So, the kidnappers start to demean the girl, and give her a glass of whiskey. Turns out the girl is both a heavy drinker and a huge slut, so they just start going at it. I can say that nobody saw that one coming! Eventually Henry Silva rescues her and takes her to his apartment and she drinks his booze and keeps trying to seduce him. At first he doesn't have any of it, but he gives in and sleeps with her, but doesn't put up with any of her crap. He constantly tells her to shut up, he slaps her around, he treats her like garbage. Incredible. To quote Guy Ritchie, "they don't make movies about slapping women anymore". Brotherhood of Death
Quentin got back up on stage and starts pumping us up for the next movie, which he bills as a Blacks vs. The Klan movie. He adds in that the funny thing about blaxploitation film is that they very rarely dealt with the Klan at all, and if they did, it was usually just a funny little throw-away scene. This is a movie that flat out deals with the Ku Klux Klan. To add to this, they shot it in the south in Klan territory. "You think Hollywood Man had a tough time getting his movie made? Think about what if they found out about this movie!". To add to this, he noted that there'd be a large billboard off the highway in this film saying "Support your local Klan" - it's not production design, it's location. Yikes. For a movie about brothers fighting the Klan this movie takes it's sweet time to get to it. However, all the time in this movie is sweet time - this movie is sweet. We start off with a little bit of a red herring, the group of 3 guys and 1 girl gets some gas at a gas station and try to throw beer cans into the trash. One misses and hits a car, the owner of the car comes out and says "Hey, do you know what you're doing? There's a white woman in that car, you'd better apologize!". That sets the tone for the whole movie. The scene ends without a scuffle, or the Klan being alerted or anything. Instead, the movie takes the brothers to Vietnam where they complain about the war and fight and learn all of the Vietcong's booby traps. They then return to the US and decide to fight the power by organizing a get out the vote campaign. Then they do this, then they do that and eventually, late, late in the film, the Klan gets introduced. But once they do, it really takes off, taking the movie to even higher heights. The final confrontation of brother vs. Klan just really got the audience going. Any time a Klansman got killed the mostly white audience went crazy, applauding, cheering. This screening had the most energy of the fest and just got everyone pumped up to where they wanted to just got out and kill Klan members. The crowd was just electric and it was one of those great cinema moments where everyone is behind a movie and loves it and just enjoys the hell out of it. That's why the fest works, the energy. Watching these movies alone on DVD just isn't the same. I shold mention that after this movie I spoke to Lars, who said that Tim was thinking of "The Black 6" when he said Brotherhood was a piece of shit movie. That makes sense, because Brotherhood is simply amazing. Joy House
Quentin split before this one. It technically wasn't a QT fest selection, instead was another Weird Wednesday film. So Lars introduced it, and Lars is a great introductionist as well. It's a print that he's wanted for years, and he's struggled to get it, and now he has it and the movie is in such a wide format that the drafthouse's screen would have to be about 4 feet wider than it is to show it all. It also features Alain Delon and a young Jane Fonda. I was ready for the movie because of Alain, but it was Jane Fonda in the movie that really impressed me. She looked better in this movie than any other that I had seen her in. To explain what Joy House is about would be incredibly difficult, it's another twisting and turning one. There needs to be a DVD of this one, because there was just some stuff I missed in it. The film was really good, but it absolutely wore me out. I was tired afterwards. I was glad I saw the film, I enjoyed it, but it just sapped my energy. It's not a really good midnight film, especially following Brotherhood of Death.

Best of QT Fest - Day 2: Where the hell is the Glenn?

Wed, 26 Apr 2006 04:13:20 GMT

Bounced from Geoff Gillmore to try to make it out for the The Savage Seven, but there was a big problem. The directions that AFS gave us, that the Glenn gave us, just sucked. My friend and I went two counties over, and over a lake before we decided we'd gone too far. There's no signs or anything pointing to this "all natural ampitheatre". Plus this "all-natural ampetheatre" is in the middle of a freaking strip mall shopping center. We arrived about 40 minutes into the movie. I was not happy. I was a little bit upset, I really wanted to see this and especially wanted to see Quentin's intro. It didn't happen. However, watching the movie in this place got rid of my anger. It's a pretty cool venue, actually. The big question of the day was if we would even be here, as rain was predicted for the area. AFS said, "let's do it anyway" - and it really paid off. The entire night, not a drop fell on the Glenn. Lightning would flash in the clouds behind the screen, but we'd never hear thunder. It was cool beyond words. The Savage Seven
The first movie (or what I saw of the first movie) was pretty cool. Bikers and Indians teaming up against a landowner who was trying to take away their town - or something. Not sure on the specifics, but that's the plot I got. Watching it made me really wish that I'd seen the first, but, be very glad that I was seeing it because it was doing a lot of great things. The gang of bikers would rough people up, break stuff, and their leader would act tough, but he was a pretty nice guy throughout it. He was always doing something close to the right thing, acting with a conscience. It was kind of like a mash-up between the movies that hailed bikers and condemned them. Yes, Bikers are mean, angry drinkers who break stuff, but sometimes - it's for a good cause. Hollywood Man
Holllllllywood Mannnnnn. Quentin had quite an intro tonight. Too bad a lot of people missed it. Once Savage Seven finished up, people started heading for the exits in droves. 60% left, I'd say. Not for any reason of hating Savage Seven (although, I imagine some did) but because it was really, really cold at the Glenn. We didn't get the rain, but we got the wind. The people who left really missed out because they missed a fantastic movie in Hollywood Man, and because once Hollywood Man got going, it wasn't that cold anymore (or was it the power of Hollywood Man that made me just stop being cold. If anybody could do it, Hollywood Man could.) Tarantino came out and gave an intro that just deserves to be something of legend. He called this "The 8 1/2 of Biker Movies" (I was thrilled right there) and talked about how when you make a movie about making a movie, it's pretty risky, but Hollywood Man pulls it off completely. It's got Bikers, it's got the Mafia, and it's got a slow theme song that they play about five times in the movie - "The first time you see it, it's kinda lame, but then you hear it again and again, and by the third time you're waiting for it. By the end of the movie the song is stuck permanently in your brain, you will never be able to forget Holllllllywoood Mannnnnnn. You will be 90 and have alzheimer's and not be able to remember your wife's fucking name, but you will remember Holllllywoood Mannnnn". Absolutely incredible. Just hearing him singing it was a treat - he's dead on to how it's performed in the movie. However, I do have to take issue with him about one thing. He said, "You'll probably never see Hollywood Man again" and at that moment I wanted to yell out, "You don't know that!" but I was too far back. That said, I stand by that thought because, I am going to watch Hollywood Man again someday. At this point (4 films in) it was by far my favorite film in the festival. The story is about an aging actor who makes a Biker movie and runs out of money so he goes to the mob to get more money to finish the film. Not a good idea. The mob gives it to him, then pays off some goons to make sure that they don't finish the movie and the actor, Raef, gets deeper in the mob's pocket. To add to this, Hollywood Man's writing credits include William Smith, the lead actor and "the cast and crew", so this movie reflexes all over itself. And that's what makes it great. A lot of love went into this movie and you can tell that they absolutely had a blast making the movie. It's fun, it's funny, it's full of action, loud bikes, hot girls, great lines. I loved this movie. I want a copy of Hollywood Man. I rode back home with my friend who got pulled over on the way due to a taillight issue. He asked what we were doing out so late and had to explain QT-Fest to him. That was fun. When he started off again, all I could do was to quote Hollywood Man - "I'll show you a Honky Sheriff".

Best of QT-Fest Night 1

Tue, 25 Apr 2006 04:14:31 GMT

I really don't like missing films, but tonight I had to. If I could chose to skip a screening, it wouldn't be the first film of the Quentin Tarantino festival that had a really cool premise to it, but, like I said, Gus Van Sant is a cool guy. So, afterwards, with a little bit of haste, good luck in parking and a friend, making it downtown in time for the second screening was not a problem. We were even able to make it in before the pass buyers were able to buy, so that we didn't face the chance of not being able to get in (something I was dreading). This lead us to... Snake in the Monkey Shadow
Or Snake Fist, Monkey Shadow. Or a bunch of other names. Either way, it lead us to what was being billed as "The Greatest of the Snake Style versus Monkey Style films". I love the Snake Style. So fluid, full of motion. Monkey style is a bit unpredictable. I really couldn't have guessed who would win. The movie is pretty straightforward with one little twist. At the beginning they introduce you to the greatest of the Snake Style fighters. You think this guy is it, he's going to be a badass and you're going to follow him through the movie as he uses his Snake Style to beat people up. Not true. Turns out he's the bad guy and the Monkey Style guy is the one who's the hero. The Kung Fu films that I've seen have never really gone out on the edge in terms of plot or any sort of edge in terms of story, so this was pretty welcome. A nice change. The story line is still incredible baseline. A guy wants to learn Kung Fu, has to fight a bunch of guys, learns Kung Fu, gets revenge. That's basically all you need to know, and it's basically every Kung Fu film ever made. It's a winning formula, it doesn't need to change. Sometimes you can throw in the student fighting the master for a little bit of spice, but other than that, it's pretty much paint-by-numbers plot. What you do with it, however, is where everything lies in the Kung Fu flick. And Snake Fist accomplishes a lot. For a movie about Snake vs Monkey styles, there's a lot of different styles used in the film, Drunken, Hook, etc. By the end the main guy is combining two and three different styles into a completely new style, letting him just beat up people however he wants. The movie has fantastic choreography, some funny bits here and there, no huge gaps, but it still drags a little bit. Because late in the film is a scene that absolutely blew me away. Snake vs. Monkey. As in a real snake vs a real monkey. It's basically what everybody wants in a film, but can't name. If you ask somebody what they wanted in a movie, they'd probably say something like a good story or interesting characters, but what they really want is to watch a snake fight a monkey. Snake vs. Monkey might be the second best scene of all time behind the scene where DJ Qualls writes the backing track for "Whoop that Trick" in under two minutes. I really can't describe to you how amazing a scene it was to watch. Quentin's print is the only known copy of the entire sequence. Bootlegs and foreign DVD releases have very, very, very, very little of the scene (I have no idea why they would cut that out). After watching that scene I really felt that I could do anything. Anything at all. I can stop a speeding train - I've seen a Monkey fight a snake. What a movie.

Running Scared

Mon, 27 Feb 2006 02:45:20 GMT

Ever so often a film comes along that people just can't handle. Sometimes they become legends (Breathless), sometimes they're awful (She Hate Me). Running Scared is one of those films. Ever since I saw it, I've been trying to tell people, "this is it, this is the one", but they just can't get into it. "I'm not going to see a movie with Paul Walker", "The trailers make it look like run-of-the-mill action film", "I played the game online - no way I'm going to that movie!" and so on and so forth. It's a hard sell. Paul Walker is a decent actor who doesn't choose very many good movies. The director, Wayne Kramer, did The Cooler, which wasn't that good at all. It's also that time of the year where studios tend to dump bad films. Running Scared won't be truly appreciated for a long time, people are going to have to dig through the video store and stumble across it unless people start catching on. Here's best how to describe the movie:
You know how when you're making a movie and something comes up by accident and your buddies are like "Haha, let's do this, it would be hilarious" and you're like "Yeah, it would be but it doesn't make any sense, it doesn't help anything and people wouldn't take it seriously" and you end up not doing it? Running Scared is like if you did all of those things and then started just trying to one up every crazy thing you did. And then that game got out of control and they just started doing a bunch of meth and other uppers and it just got crazier and crazier until it reached a point where they thought they couldn't go any farther and then one guy looks to another and says "I have an idea..." That's how I saw the movie. I love it when people do that stuff in their films, just go for it, see if people can handle it. This movie was completely made of those movies. I could handle it and I loved it. I can see how people can't. What's the movie about? It really isn't important. The plot is just something that gets Paul Walker and friends into weirder situations, transitions, shots, dialogue choices, etc. The movie just moves from place to place giving you something that's going to blow you away each and every time. This movie contains:
[apple] A scene shot completely in black light
[apple] Paul Walker yelling and pointing his gun at a baby while it's mother holds it
[apple] Paul Walker getting into a fight with a man with a blow torch for no real reason
[apple] Incredible transitions
[apple] Characters that just couldn't exist in any other film anywhere. David Lynch would say, "Now that's too much" with some of these folks
[apple] A point where you forget that Paul Walker is even in the movie
[apple] More twists and turns than Oldboy.
Running Scared is one of those movies that you watch and you just don't know what to do with yourself afterwards. It really affects you.

Brokeback Mountain

Fri, 23 Dec 2005 07:56:31 GMT

I watched Brokeback Mountain, the "gay cowboy movie" as everybody is calling it, and using to reference that one episode of South Park. I haven't really seen a lot of Ang Lee's work, but I didn't like the Hulk too much as it didn't really deliver on what I wanted to see from it. Going into 'Mountain with more insight on his background and such really helped. Lee's slower style really fit well with this story (which is more about forbidden love than being explicitly about gay cowboys) and works well. While a bit long, the movie meanders through a life of secret affairs wonderfully, giving lots of development and depth to the story. Jake Gyllenhaal (AKA Donnie Darko) is the best I've ever seen him in this movie. Same goes for Heath Ledger, but Gyllenhaal really shines.

The Squid and The Whale

Fri, 23 Dec 2005 07:55:30 GMT

The Squid and The Whale, a movie from Wes-Anderson-collaborator Noah Baumbach. The movie offers a funny look at how two brothers deal with their family's divorce. It's witty, it's funny, it's everything that I wanted from it and so much more. Most of the anticipation for this movie came from Baumbach's writing credit on "The Life Aquatic", which I was mostly disappointed with (but, I need to see it again). 'Squid has everything that I was looking for in 'Aquatic, witty dialogue, interesting characters, a rich environment that you just want to leap into and explore. I loved it. (Truncated from a regular post)

One Crazy Night.

Sun, 04 Dec 2005 03:36:43 GMT

I woke up a little bit late and headed off to the lab to get some editing done. The doc for doc class is coming along. I've got a strong segment finished, now I just need to figure out how to conform the others to it. I'm not worried. I was worried about other things today. My neighbor stopped me today and started talking to me, and told me that he'd been diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic and that they were coming around to pick him up around 9:00. I don't believe everything that this guy tells me, but this I did, because it really did explain a lot. He then tells me about how he plans to get a clock radio and a calculator while in the looney bin (his words) and would use it to build a cell phone and how he'd call me. I told him that I was looking forward to that call. He also told me that he figured out how to build a weather controlling machine, but feared the Russians had beaten him to it because of the names of the past few hurricanes (I didn't want to tell him that it's the US weather centers that give the hurricanes their names). It sounds like somebody just spouting off, but given that this was all in a normal conversation and given his past, it wasn't like he was pulling an act. I bid him well and go off to do my own thing. A couple hours later there's a knock on my door and it's him. He asks to use my phone, I oblige him because I'm well into the weekend minutes period. He tries to dial but can't because his fingers are shaking. He gives me a card and has me dial the Shoal Creek mental health facility. He says that he needs to go in because he flipped out and beat up one of his friends. I believe him. As he talks he's unable to stay still, jittering, shaking, he's in rough shape. He sees somebody in the alley and jolts over to see who it is, even though I explain to him it's just a random person, he's a little bit freaked out about them. I believe him. He finishes up the phone call and asks for a ride. I didn't really want to do it, but it was a quick trip downtown and he really needed help so I obliged him. Fortunately, the trip down was nice and easy, we talked and joked a little bit. I told him that it was a big thing that he was doing, while it's scary to be checked into an institution (he told me in depth about how scared he was) that he was doing the right thing. That seemed to help. We got to the institution and couldn't find the emergency door. I drove around the building and we saw some patients sitting outside, which, to me, doesn't seem like a very good place for them, and we asked them where it was. One replied, "It's the first door down there. God help you." This did not inspire his confidence at all! But he went calmly and quietly and should be getting the help he needs. I'm just looking forward to being called on a clock radio. I never really saw myself as the wacky guy who gets into wacky situations and involved with wacky characters, but a few of my friends have recently described me as that. Over the past two days I can certainly see their argument.

I don't like spellbound.

Wed, 16 Nov 2005 03:39:19 GMT

I didn't like spellbound the first time I saw it and I don't like it now. We were watching a bit of it for editing class and everything was about how wonderful it was, and all that. Heck the class has been like that for pretty much everything. I just couldn't take it more. I made a scene. I'm usually not like that but watching 30 minutes of the movie, only to be required to watch the whole thing later in the night was asking a bit much. Spellbound would've made an awesome short, but the way the movie is made it shows the director had no background in shorts. The first 45 minutes of the movie is dedicated to giving the backgrounds of the eight different competitors, getting in-depth with them to where they fulfill the stereotypes of their race and where they say how they're not popular and spelling is the only thing they're good at. Each one is like that. It's not economic at all. Then when the spelling competition starts any time they get to an uneasy part they cut away and talk about the history of the spelling bee, instead of staying with it and building tension and excitement. I basically said got all of that out of my system and people were shocked that I didn't, wouldn't like Spellbound. I got a little bit emphatic and added that it was Awful and that Okie Noodling does the "weird sport documentary" better than anyone else had and that we should watch that. We didn't.

Work Day.

Sun, 23 Oct 2005 04:51:44 GMT

The town is filled with energy. It's that special energy that only comes when there's a lot of film events happening. I love it, you can feel it in your bones. It's making me work harder, I think. I was on call today to help a documentary that I only have a vague notion of what it's about. At some point I think I'll have to stop helping everyone that asks me for help, but, for as much stress it puts on me, I actually enjoy it. They never called, so that helped. That didn't mean I was off the hook for work today. Universal sent me 500 tickets to Prime's AFF screening. It's not sold out yet and they're worried. So, they put forth their friendliest face which is apparently me. So now I have to fill up the Paramount theatre with 30+ Women. Not the usual demographic I work with, but fortunately, there's a mall near here that basically works with affluent 30+ women and hip-hop culture pretty much exclusively. Retailers are surprisingly willing to help out, I guess it was up their alley. If I was promoting Doom this way, they might not have been as nice. Now let's just hope the people show. From there I went over to this local block of shops to shoot some footage of them having a street fair. I'm working on a documentary about these places with some other folks. I don't quite know about it. I'm not sure about it completely, and, really, I don't shop at these stores. I was hoping their fair would be something cool to shoot that might be able to bookend the movie, but it just wasn't as interesting as I'd hoped. Not good. My mom called to remind me to call my grandmother as it's her 80th birthday. I mentioned AFF to her and she said, "Oh! I've heard a lot about Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang - did you see it?" Asking me the same question that I'd been asked all last night. They don't need to advertise it with all the word of mouth it's getting! Took care of grandma and then headed off for another night of schmoozing. Lots of fun tonight, I really enjoy meeting new film people and hearing their whole take on things. Did really well again tonight.

Hustle & Flow

Sat, 23 Jul 2005 04:21:08 GMT

I had a two item agenda: 1. Hustle 2. Flow I had missed all of the free prescreenings because I was out of town, I was certainly not going to miss the first opportunity that I had to see the 9-16 Million dollar Sundance wonder. I was not disappointed. I was dreading the whole "somebody somewhere down and out tries really hard and overcomes adversity to live out their dream in the most generic way possible" line that the plot synopsis' gave me. Fortunately, they did it in their own way, and the movie was fantastic. I don't know that it is the best Sundance movie (as it's the most expensive sale there) but, it is just great. Terrance Howard gives an amazing performance as "the little pimp who could" in the movie, performing his own rap songs - he's even credited on the soundtrack. The way you watch the songs assembeled is the best since "24 Hour Party People", you really watch the rap production process - something I'd always wondered about. how do they match up a backing beat with the words? It's not like they always go together. What Hustle & Flow really accomplishes well is to link a place and a movement - Memphis and Rap. It's done in such a realistic way, where it's not quite there yet, but it's going to be. Everybody roots for the hometown hero that went off and made it and aspires to be like them, holding on to a sense of community that isn't there yet, but wants to be. The movie is worth going to. Unfortunately, the theatre wasn't. To be brief, when I left, I saw four people turning on their cell phones. I was amazed because that meant there were four phones that were off during the movie. People even took calls and just generally didn't behave. The six month baby was one of the best behaved. Freaking unbelievable. You can tell one person to shut up, but you can't tell the entire theatre. I was really upset by it all. I take going to the movies seriously and think other should too. Read one theory that says that the DVD has been a terrible invention for theatergoers - not because it's taking money away from the theaters, but because it's causing people to act like they're in their homes when they're out at a movie. Can't say I disagree.

Should be fun...

Thu, 21 Jul 2005 03:57:09 GMT

I've gotten attached to help out on some other people's projects. A little acting a little input. Should be fun. I haven't been shooting anything in quite some time, I'm really excited. Should get me away from my other worries for a while.

SXSW: Reeker

Thu, 24 Mar 2005 08:58:56 GMT

Reeker is the story of how betraying an ecstasy dealer can go wrong. That leads to the typical mysterious unstoppable monster that has no consistency, can do anything it wants to, except at a critical moment. The movie had some inspired moments, mostly dealing with it's blind character, but in the end, it really wasn't that great, and it had the most common horror movie problem - in an overt desire to have a twist that the viewer didn't see coming, it fails to make any sense at all. In the end, it left me cold and mostly uninterested.

SXSW: Pucker Up

Thu, 24 Mar 2005 08:58:20 GMT

Every year SXSW has a movie about some sort of lost art or lost sport that people ignore that has it's own competition complete with a bizarre cast of characters. This year, it was Pucker Up - a movie about competitive whistlers. Now, I have to add a disclaimer - I cannot whistle. At all. Not one bit. Fortunately they address this, they start with the phrase "There are those who can whistle and those who have tried". A great start. The movie starts out pretty strong, unfortunately, it couldn't keep it up. The biggest problem was their audio was messed up. I was told that it had problems at both locations that the movie played, meaning the problem wasn't in the setup, but the movie itself. These problems really damaged the movie, as it's mostly about audio. The movie shows off the many whistling tricks that the experts can do, which are impressive, but there's only so much that they can do. There's some weird methods of whistling, but they're briefly addressed and pushed aside for the standard form of whistling, arguably the most boring kind. I was really impressed with people who could whistle and mimic bird calls and various other forms, the regular whistle just got boring after a while. I'm not alone in this opinion: the National Whistling Convention that the competition was taking place was nearly empty. There were the entrants and that's about it. Made me think that maybe some of these dying arts should just go ahead and die. The movie made me think back to last year's doc that filled this slow - A League of Ordinary Gentlemen, about bowling. I just couldn't stop thinking about how much better it was than Pucker Up. Pucker Up becomes a very paint-by-numbers competition documentary, trying to get some tension going about who will win the contest, but it's never able to maintain that competition, parts that should be tense moments just come out of nowhere. A runoff between two of the best should have a lot of build up leading to an even more tense part, in Pucker, it just has a guy walk on stage and say "There's a tie" - you didn't know if he was introducing another whistler or anything. Combined with the competition aspect, they tried to show the novelty parts of whistling, from different styles to an Italian island where people communicate by whistling. These interesting bits are introduced and quickly gotten rid of. I wanted more of that, less of the competition. The movie is well made and well constructed, but in the end, it just doesn't deliver like I wanted it to. Too much focus on a competition that I really didn't care all that much about left me dry. In the end, it left me with an overall mediocre feeling. I'm sure there was a crop of odd sport docs, and I was hoping that the festival filter system would weed out all but the best, if this was the best, this year's crop is weak.

Interview With a Killer

Thu, 24 Mar 2005 04:22:24 GMT

Today was a very cool day. John Pierson had always told us that one of these days he was going to get somebody in to class to talk to us. Unfortunately, everything fell through. No Kevin Smith, David O. Russell has gone incommunicado, things weren't looking that good. Fortunately, he finally nailed one down. Christine Vachon came to class, right as we're reading her book. What are the odds? (I actually like her book, I'm just not as far into it as I'd like to be) She talked a lot about how Velvet Goldmine came to be, from financiers to limited partners. It was pretty in-depth, and pretty helpful actually. She talked mostly about the difficulties - shrinking budgets, forced decisions, dealing with Miramax editors, etc. It was all about the difficulties and troubles and just how impossible it is to get a movie together - but in all that, it came across with a message of hope, that it is possible and achievable. Weird how that works sometimes. She even got into some improprieties in dealing with cannes juries. She did have some really great news. Todd Haynes, after being denied the rights for the music in the brilliant Superstar, and denied Bowie's music for Goldmine, he's been given the complete Bob Dylan catalog for his Dylan picture. That's going to be really great. Not much else is going on, it's a slow, sluggish week.

SXSW: Automatic

Wed, 23 Mar 2005 10:23:15 GMT

...I didn't know what Automatic was about, but I met the filmmakers the night before, so I saw it at their request. I slipped into the theatre and was able to write up my food order just before the lights dimmed. They play the trailer for the festival and then begins this ugly-looking, inaudible mess. It starts to build some plot line about a missing purse and some underaged girl or something, I couldn't really tell. The waiter then came by and snatched my order away, first thing that pops into my head is "crap. Now I can't walk out". Next shot is artificially zoomed in DV that lots terrible. The muddles through for a few minutes to basically no conclusion and then credits - including a different title. What I watched was just a short. A terrible short, but just that. The movie then began and I was greatly relieved. I guess it goes back to the old Vaudevillian concept of "following", but having a bad short screen before your movie is actually a good thing - it makes you look that much better. seeing some good shots, and being able to hear the actors made me receptive to just about anything after the short. Automatic is the tale of interconnected relationships and an inability to change your own actions. It has sort of a doomed message to it, sort of about helplessness. It honestly asks a lot of questions that I have difficulty dealing with - am I resigned to endlessly repeat mistakes I've made in the past? Can I overcome myself? If you're doing a lot of hiding Automatic isn't for you. Automatic looks at the places in life that exist and takes a look at how they change. If you've seen 24 Hour Party People you're familiar with the concept of Boethius and his wheel - that good times and bad times are constantly replacing each other. Have it all today? It can easily be gone tomorrow. Lonely today? There may be somebody just around the corner for you. We're all subjects to the fickle finger of fate. That we are almost resigned to our own actions - that we have no control. The most rewarding tale in the movie is one of the love of a man and his half-sister. Just a lot of good stuff there. "Ride up on my spokes if you like", says the wheel, "But don't complain when you're cast down into the depths". Scares the hell out of me every day.

SXSW: The Puffy Chair

Wed, 23 Mar 2005 10:22:43 GMT

...I went down to the Paramount to see The Puffy Chair, a Sundance import that a lot of people were talking about. The film is about a guy who purchases a large purple recliner off of E-bay, drives to pick it up with his girlfriend, picking up his brother on the way, to deliver it to his father for the father's birthday. Shot on some good looking DV it could conceivably be passed off as a documentary (a doc with a lot of coverage, but a doc nonetheless). I'm told that the cut off age on this movie is 30 - if you're under 30 you'll love it, if you're over you won't care for it that much. That said, being 22, I absolutely loved it. The movie is a raw look at the relationships between people, and I found it really relatable. The directionless relationship, dealing with a brother, saving money via scams, dealing with misrepresentation on ebay... while I don't doubt that people over 30 have gone through these situations, I found them to be very young and young-person oriented. I'm not sure why though. I'm sure that a lot of people over 30 enjoyed the movie, just how that dynamic was presented to me... I found it very interesting. Anyways, the Puffy Chair is a funny movie through all of it's relational exploration, it's biggest laughs come from some of the most emotional parts. It's the odd sort of movie where the tougher the issues the characters deal with, the more you laugh. The Puffy Chair deals with tough issues in a surprisingly well mannered way. More surprising that the film was in the "Emerging Visions" category for a first or second time feature film. It's very mature in it's construction and treats it's characters with respect. Director Jay Duplass (who also plays the lead) is a very talented man.

SXSW: Kung-Fu Hustle

Wed, 23 Mar 2005 09:44:28 GMT

...I was looking forward to something sort of weird but silly, and boy, did this movie deliver. The basic premise is that evil gangsters are trying to take over a small town, and only people with mystical kung-fu powers can defend the town and it's people. What follows is a mix of fantasy and comedy that really satisfies. The movie uses a lot of CGI to create it's world, but it doesn't detract, it adds to the sort of unreal world that it is, where Kung-fu is involved in everything, one brand of Kung-fu allows you to play a musical instrument in order to kill your enemies. The movie is really out there and it works for it. Sit back, and have fun. This one is bound to be a cult classic.

Quickie Update

Wed, 23 Mar 2005 03:18:53 GMT

Not a lot today, just catching up on a lost of loose ends. I've been told that cable access TV enthusiast and man who does everything, Spencer Parsons has seen Dos Blokes - and says that he's going to help us get into more festivals. Never in a million years did we think this thing would get so huge. I'm writing again. I talked to Charles Mills and he got excited about shooting another project together. We'll see what happens. I've also written more about SXSW. I'll be up to date in a few days, don't worry.

SXSW: The Devil and Daniel Johnston

Tue, 22 Mar 2005 09:43:39 GMT

...Fortunately I made it in time to catch The Devil and Daniel Johnston. I didn't know anything about him, but the movie came highly recommended from a number of people. So I checked it out and was not disappointed. Daniel Johnston is a brilliant, yet troubled musician, who never really got things together, and never really got it together. He's supposed o be an Austin phenomenon, but I'd managed to miss him. However, now, I can recognize his iconography all around. Daniel made a habit of filming and tape recording his goings on from a very early age, so the filmmakers had an incredible library to pull things from, and it really showed. Daniel showed an incredible ability to write songs and even make movies at a young age. However, his problems grew and grew and grew. It's really amazing to watch as Daniel grows and deteriorates. The first shot you see of Daniel in present day is like looking at a completely different person. The youthful Daniel shows promise, enthusiasm, current Daniel is troubled and uncontrollable. SXSW seems to be the festival for documentaries on brilliant yet troubled musicians - The Devil and Daniel Johnston, Be Here to Love Me (About Townes Van Zandt), Derailroaded (Larry "Wild Man" Fischer) and more showed at the festival. Makes you wonder about musicians in general. Daniel became obsessed with religion and various aspects of it. Demons became involved in his actions, they told him what to do, they did things instead of him in his eyes. As Daniel's problems become more and more, his popularity increases, due to endorsements from Nirvana. Daniel's story is heart-wrenching, when he's helped, he can't do what he loves, when he can do what he loves, he's a dangerous individual - even throwing an elderly woman out of a window. You can't keep him in line without destroying a large part of him. It's absolutely tragic. What's really cool is that Daniel was in attendance. I went to the bathroom in the middle of the showing and washed my hands next to him. However, he managed to leave before the Q&A, before being "reunited" with his long lost love that the filmmakers had found. It made for an odd ending to everything, but the movie had done it's job. I was really impressed with the movie, from going through an incredible library of source footage to assembling a gripping tale for people who weren't even really familiar with the musician. Good stuff.