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Seepage! (2005)
Good Campy Fun
This film by Richard Griffin is better by leaps and bounds than his last film, Raving Maniacs. The story in it's simplest is very straight forward and simple, there's a monster and hey guess what.. it's killing people. But the script has enough twists in it so you stay engaged in the story without getting confused by some overly pretentious and convoluted turn of events.
All the acting here is good with appropriate tongue-in-cheek-ness that one would expect in this kind of horror film. We're not talking all start A-list good or anything here, but these people in the film are definitely worlds ahead of some indie horror films where someone calls up his buddies who don't know a thing.
My personal favorite is Adam Brown playing Bubba. Right from the opening of the movie, Bubba breaks the 4th wall and acts as a bit of a narrator for the film. He breaks in doing this at a few different points. Not only is Bubba pretty funny, he also serves to send the audience a message of "Hey, kick back. Don't take this too seriously and have some fun." And that's what you get with Seepage. You get a good pile of fun that pokes fun at the horror genre. It's an indie horror film where you laugh with a "Hey that's pretty funny" rather than a "Wow look how bad they are." There's a lot to enjoy here an no one who goes into this with a good attitude will be disappointed.
Slap Her, She's French! (2002)
Laugh Out Loud Funny
In today's world of commercial attempts at humor which most often fail or have marginal success at making anyone over the age of 9 laugh (Austin Powers 3), this is a film that hits the ground running and doesn't stop until it fades to black and rolls the credits.
It's been over a year since the last such film, Le Placard (The Closet) has managed to achieve all the humor that writers and directors try to put into it. From the outset, Slap Her makes fun of two things that Americans enjoy mocking, France and Texas. But, as much as it would be mildly amusing to see the average stereotypical backwater hick towns out in Texas trying to deal with the equally stereotypical snooty French person, the writers and directors here don't bite into the lowest common denometer. There are all the aspects of Texasism along side of the Frenchness but this film plays on characters that are a step above it. Starla (Jane MacGregor) is more of a trendy cheerleader out of the rich suburbs in southern California. Her parents (Julie White and Brandon Smith) don't deal in oil and cattle, but rather are an alcoholic mother bored with life and father who spoils his daughter. Starla's brother (Jesse James) might as well not even be from Texas he radiates such an anti-Texas image.
Slap Her She's French plays to many kinds of audiences. There are some less refined jokes involving prison inmates and the author Philip K. Dick. You can see them coming from a mile away but are well done to the point where they still achieve a smile and a snicker. Conversely there are moments of sheer unexpected hilarity which will have the theater thundering with laughter.
The lead actresses (Piper Perabo and Jane MacGregor) play their rolls well. Their charactors are totally beliveable and they both play their accent well. They get good support along the way and are not subject to carrying the entire film themselves. Michael McKean is notably amusing in the supporting role as Starla's French teacher.
This film is worth the cost of admission and then some which is a hard feat to accomplish with the rising costs of admission. Slap Her She's French earns your dollar. It is not something you will be disapointed about.
Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002)
Tries too hard
This film has its moments but they are simply moments with a lot of failed jokes in between. The first Austin Powers was groundbreaking and excellent, the second played off of that and was unusually good for a sequel although not as good as the first, and this latest third installment just struggles throughout.
The opening sequences lend themselves of the humor from the first, but they quickly fade. Many of the jokes from the first two are simply reused and are no longer funny since we know what is going to happen either from seeing the previous films or the many parodies that stemmed from them.
Mike Myers still has potential in the characters of Austin and Dr. Evil and both do have good scenes but there was a lot more that could have been done but was not. Goldmember is rather 2 dimentional and Fat Bastard who was excellent from the second installment, seemed to be added in as an afterthought. Suprisingly, Scott seems to be the most developed character in this film.
The franchise has been milked for all it is worth and is in evident decline. Unfortunatly there is an opening for a fourth film. Please, leave the franchise with some dignity and do not make a fourth.
Operation Midnight Climax (2002)
Gem of the Newport International Film Festival
An incredably amusing tale with thought put into it. And the title is not misleading either! Will Keenan and Gadi Harel make a success in thier first directoral apperances. Both have roles in the movie but it is Keenan's unique style that grabs your attention. He is over the top, quite physical and does all his own stunts. He has been compared to other comedians such as Buster Keaton and Jim Carey. Keenan and his roll in OMC can be best described as Jim Carey meets Conspiricy Thoery meets a lot of women. And yet through all of the films fun insanity, there is thought to push it along. The movie itself is not far from the truth as Keenan's character is rather true to life.
If given the chance, see this movie at your local theater or film festival. Mainstream film needs more Will Keenans and Gadi Harels.
Battlefield Earth (2000)
It may be bad but...
Granted this is a bad movie. This is not in despute. The first half of it is remarkably similar to the first half of Planet of the Apes. The second half has so many continuity errors and things that simply don't make sence at all it's nothing more then funny. I mean honestly, barbarian people can't learn all the stuff the script crammed down their throats. But for all that this is a bad movie, it is an enjoyable bad movie. Half of it's enjoyment is in fact how cheesey it is. But the enjoyment is still there. The rest of the enjoyment is from Travolta's over done preformance. Whether he went into it with some intent to be somewhat mocking or if it just comes out that way, it's still amusing none the less.
It's no masterpiece but it's better then a one.
The General's Daughter (1999)
Better then it first appears
This is one of those cases where what you see on the previews does not do the movie justice. I just happened to catch it from the start on my college's movie channel. Travolta does his role justice where the character could easily have been played mundane at best and horrid at worst. I don't think many actors could have pulled it off. The support he gets from the other actors is just as good. Kudos on the director and cast for taking this difficult storyline and making into a powerful and exciting drama.
Planet of the Apes (2001)
Arg!
*This might be concidered a spoiler!!*
This movie is worth missing just so you don't have to watch the last couple minutes. They are that bad!
The only reason I didn't give this movie a 1 for being a total washout is because the rest of it was real good. Those last couple minutes were so bad they countered it all and I left the theater grumbling rather loudly.
Bad Lieutenant (1992)
Don't Judge By Its Rating
This film is rated NC-17 but one could argue that other rated R films have much more violence and sex in them. This film does have frontal nudity, repeated scenes with drug use (and not just a smoking a joint, he's busting out the crack pipe and later on shoots it in his arm) and does also have a violent scene in a church. I am not an insider with the MPAA but I can guess that it is the drug usage and that scene in the church that get the rating.
With this film none of this is gratuitious. This is a very tastefully done film and the nudity is longer then brief, but still short. Harvy Keitel does an excellent job in his role as the Lieutenent. The emotion shown on screen for the life he leads is extrodinary. This movie is most likely hard to find because of the NC-17 tag, but it is definatly worth the effort.
Grateful Dawg (2000)
Wonderful Documentary
Back in June at the Newport Film Festival (Newport RI) I stumbled across this film between two other shows I had been planning on seeing. It turns out that this was the first showing of the film. This documentary was a very pleasing suprise to me. This film uses interviews and such as do most documentaries. What sets this apart is the intimate "home movie" footage that is present in a lot of the film. This shows Grisiam and Garcia simply playing for the family. After the showing of the film we were lucky enough for Gillian Grisiam to be there and to discuss the film. Much of the footage actual was home movies where a camera was "just set on the TV and turned on." Thank you much for this wonderful documentary.