Wednesday,
January 24: Note to Dwiff...
Hey! Check
out the latest review of Automatons
(2006) at bisforbrains.com.
"What a joy!...Automatons leaves you extremely satisfied.
Nothing is lacking in this unique vision of the future. It delivers
an interesting story and intriguing characters, simple as that."
-- Brian Simpson, BisforBrains.com
I've been
looking forward to Death
Note (2006), the first in a two-part big-screen adaptation
of the
manga by Tsugumi
Ohba and Takeshi Obata, for a few months now, and wasn't
disappointed by the film. I know that the purists will disagree
with me, but for a comic book movie, this movie is very faithful
to the source material. For those of you who think the film
strays too far from the manga, there's a Death
Note anime series that you'll find much more to your liking.
It's the
story of a kid who's studying to be a cop. He stumbles across
a notebook which belongs to the god of death. Anyone who's name
gets written in the book, drops dead on the spot. This power
immediately goes to the kid's head as he takes on the role of
anonymous avenger and kills dozens of criminals. The death god
comes to earth (He looks really cool!) to find his book and
is amazed at the body count the kid is able to rack up without
even batting an eye. These are the heroes of our story.
Then there's
a group of law enforcement officials, led by our hero's dad,
who are trying to catch this new murderous cult hero. They are
assisted by a weird little Sherlock Holmes named "L",
a genius with a serious sugar addiction.
The film
ends with something of a cliffhanger. I can't wait to see part
two, Death
Note: The Last Name (2006), which hit theaters in Japan
last November.
You've probably
already seen Kirby
Dick's documentary on the MPAA's rating system, This
Film Is Not Yet Rated (2006). If not, you should. If you
have, you should go pick up the DVD which came out this week.
The bonus items alone, one of which are out-takes from the interview
with John
Waters, are worth the price of a rental.
Monday,
January 22: God Squad
Invisible
Enemies (1997) is a Christian take on John
Carpenter's They Live (1988). Here a college kid finds a
pair of glasses that allow him to see into the dark side of
the spiritual realm; he's able to both see and hear people's
sins, as well as the faces and thoughts of demons plotting to
take over his friends. Being a good Christian, he tries to use
his new powers to save the soul of his sister by enlisting the
help of his friends and fellow bible study group members. They
don't believe him at first, but manages to convince his best
friend by telling him, "I know all about you and the pornography".
The film
has all of the trappings of a late 1990's horror film, complete
with scary voices and a latex-wearing demon that shouts "Boooooyyy!"
at the hero. The vibe is sort of Wishmaster
(1997) accepting Jesus as its personal savior.
From
time to time, I get sucked into watching a lot
of TBN on TV.
I become mesmerized by the programming, watching hours and hours,
for days on end. This has been going on for years. The other
night I was tuned in and "Praise
the Lord" was pre-empted for a movie called Joseph's
Gift (1998). I figured it would be just a dull retelling
of the story of Joseph
and his coat of dreams (which it was) and was ready to shut
off the TV when the credits came up, beginning with the name
"John
Saxon". John Saxon! I love John Saxon! "Maybe
I should check this out," I thought.
The
cast for this film is insane. The title character is played
by Freddy
Rodriguez (with a leather jacket replacing the traditional
"coat of may colors", of course) with real-life Bottoms
brothers Joseph,
Ben
& Sam
playing his treacherous siblings. The usual character actors
that you see in these things are peppered throughout the film:
Brion
James, Martin
Kove and John
Dennis Johnston, all directed by the
guy who brought us The
Howling III: The Marsupials (1987).
But
the weird ones come at the end: Robert
Townsend as "The Pharaoh of Wall street", okay,
I guess the former darling of independent cinema needed the
work -- not that strange. But then there's this dream sequence
where the King of the Mimes, Marcel
Marceau shows up playing himself playing a serpent! Where
did he come from? I didn't even know he was still alive. It
was a non-speaking role, of course.
Friday,
January 19: Now Playing in Ebertville
 |
AUTOMATONS
PLAYS CHICAGO!
Weekends only:
Fridays: Jan. 19 & 26 at 11
pm
Saturdays: Jan. 20 & 27 at 9 & 11 pm
Saturday: Feb. 3 at 11 pm
The
Facets Cinematheque
1517 W. Fullerton Ave.
Chicago, IL
773-281-4114
|
 |
Also Playing
at Facets
is Jeff
Winner's film, Satellite
(2006), every day from January 19th - 25th.
And remember:
tonight at 11 pm is your last chance to see Automatons
in New York City at The
Pioneer!
Thursday,
January 18: Children in Heat
Writer &
director Zach
Clark sent me a copy of his 60-minute movie, Rock
& Roll Eulogy (2004). It's a black & white, tongue-in-cheek
take on old low-rent JD
films. It's not a spoof, nor it is one of those movies that
attempt to create a carbon copy of a type of film from years
gone by like Grindhouse
(2007) or The Devil's
Rejects (2005). If it was one of these
things, I probably wouldn't have liked the film.
Instead,
Rock & Roll Eulogy is a witty homage to these scare films
from a more naive time that expands on the source material without
becoming a broad satire. This is a really fun little picture
that follows the classic "good girl gone bad" formula
as a straight laced teen finds herself corrupted by the satanic
influences of Rock & Roll!
The film
looks pretty authentic, despite having been shot on video. This
is mainly thanks to the quality of the production design and
to the fact that it's in black & white. I was a little distracted
by the choice of an ill-fitting wig for the main character,
and the UPC symbol sticking out like a sore thumb in all of
the closeups of a calendar page, but only because everything
else worked soooo well. The amazing soundtrack features songs
by Psychocharger,
The Brimstones,
Straight
8's and a bunch of other bands, all poised to put a little
Satan in your soul.
Check it
out at: rockandrolleulogy.com
Wednesday,
January 10: No Parking on the Dance Floor
Originally
conceived as a horror film, Mikadroid
(1991) took a detour into the realm of sci-fi during it's
production when a series of child murders committed by Tsutomu
Miyazaki, a collector of horror films, put the genre out
of favor in Japan.
The
end result is a sort of sci-fi slasher movie as a World War
II cyborg super-soldier comes to life in the present day and
begins slaughtering folks in a parking garage under a discotheque
at closing time.
There
isn't mush of a story, but the effects are pretty cool (special
effects supervisor Shinji
Higuchi went on to make a name for himself on the 1990's
Gamera film series) and some of the kills are awesomely
absurd. I laughed out loud more than once.
Modern
Japanese genre god Kiyoshi
Kurosawa appears in a bit part in this straight-to-video
production from the legendary Toho
Studios.
Tuesday,
January 9: 2x2
My man Mike
Dragon gave me a copy of Roland
Emmerich's first
feature film for Christmas. Although I remember thinking
that Stargate
(1994) was okay, I'm not a huge fan of Emmerich's brand
of big-budget eye candy. The films are start out fine enough
(all nice and shiny!) and I want to like them, but man, they
are so dumb. Kind of like that cute girl (or boy) that you started
dating in college, because you couldn't get anyone who looked
like that to go out with you in high school, but after a few
days their lack of brainpower just makes it too painful for
you to continue the relationship and suddenly they're not so
cute anymore. You know?
Anyway,
Emmerich's final college graduate project, The
Noah's Ark Principle (1984) is actually exactly the kind
of film I like. It's slowly paced, takes place in space and
the characters spend more time in conversation than they do
kicking ass. The majority of the film is set in the future (1997!)
on a weather-control satellite where a couple of scientists
find out that they're being manipulated to do the government's
dirty work. They, of course, decide to resist.
The battles
here are not in the form of laser dogfights, but rather verbal
debates over an intercom. Most of the "action" consists
of words and degraded digital images being displayed over a
video screen. Like I said, exactly the kind of film that I like.
Thanks Mike!
Wednesday,
January 3: Happy 2007
Happy
New Year!
This
January I will continue my new tradition of cramming Automatons
(2006) down your throat until everyone on the planet has
seen the film. As you probably know, Automatons has been getting
great reviews, but that doesn't necessarily translate into ticket
sales, so please pass on the word to anyone you know that might
be interested in our little robot movie.
The
Two Boots Pioneer Theater In NYC has added
a couple more screenings of Automatons
(2006) this month:
January 5 at 10:40 pm
January 19 at 11:00 pm
Also, it's coming to The
Facets Cinémathèque in Chicago:
Fridays, Jan. 19 & 26 at 11 pm
Saturdays, Jan. 20 & 27 at 9 & 11 pm
Saturday, Feb. 3 at 11 pm
More
cities coming soon...
"Best Shoestring Sci-Fi of 2006" -- Wired
Because
I've been so busy pushing the robo-flick and gearing up for
Satan
Hates You (200?), I'm reducing the number of monthly "must-see"
films to three. I'll probably bring the number back up again
when my schedule permits.
This
month I'm focusing on my three favorite films of the latter
part of 2006. Pan's
Labyrinth (2006) is in theaters now and is being hailed
as director Guillermo
Del Toro's masterpiece. It's the cover story for the December
issues of both Rue
Morgue and Fangoria,
so that's saying something. You should definitely pick up this
Fangoria, still on sale, as it also features a story by Don
Kaye on Automatons. Okay, I'll stop it.
I'm
going to go out on a limb here and say that Inland
Empire (2006) is David
Lynch's
best film ever. Yup, better than Eraserhead
(1977), better than Blue
Velvet (1986). You probably won't agree with me, but I can't
tell you the last time that I sat through a 3-hour film and
still wanted more when it ended. God, I love this movie! I want
to see it again and again.
Last
November, Ray at the Pioneer
was kind enough to invite me to a screening of Simon
Rumley's The
Living and the Dead (2006). I wish I could say that I enjoyed
the movie, but for a film that is such a rough ride as this
one, "enjoyed" is the wrong word. Rumley's portrait
of the decline of an upper crust British family wracked with
illness and guilt is an incredibly intense experience, at times
reminiscent of Darren
Aronofsky's adaptation of Requiem
for a Dream (2000). I highly recommend this exhaustingly
claustrophobic and effective film. Maybe not for a first date
or for anyone on a suicide watch.
