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Tales from the Catholic Church of Elvis! (2009)
Quirky and sometimes touching comedy
I had the pleasure of watching this film at the Seattle Independent Film Festival, one of its first public screenings. From the opening scene with Jesus, Elvis and a Catholic school girl hitchhiking on a desolate Nevada road, to the episodic, nonlinear structure that retains portions of the film's stage-play origins while also expanding beyond it to take advantage of the different medium that is film, through the many pop cultural references and social commentary, and the unending barrage of bizarre and hilarious jokes, this is a film that manages to both be touching and hilarious while keeping you engaged for its entire running time.
According the director/writer/star, everything in the film is based on true-to-life events. Knowing that makes this film even funnier. Keep an eye out for this one at a film festival near you. Or, even better, snatch it up when it appears on for rent or sale on DVD/online.
Psycho Hillbilly Cabin Massacre! (2007)
Excellent effort!
What a nifty little flick! It's funny, surprising, shocking... everything so many "slasher flicks" wish they could be but fail at.
The film also features some excellent photography and editing, great acting, fantastic use of music and sound--the twangs and squishy sounds during the banjo murder were both funny and disturbing--and a clever script that sports more effective twists that you find in most horror films running ten times as long this is truly a superior effort.
The only real complaint I have with the film is the final couple of seconds. I think it would have ended stronger without the "eyes snap open" cliché at the very end.
Skeleton Key (2006)
The truth about this movie is somewhere in between.
"Skeleton Key" is a very funny movie. The people who squeezed the scripts for "Disaster Movie" and "An Amercian Carol" from their colons should watch before they try their hands at comedy again. Maybe they could learn a thing or two.
While I don't make excuses for indie films when it comes to technical incompetence--"White Zombie" was an indie film, "A Carnival of Souls" was an indie film, "Night Tide" was an indie film, "A Bucket of Blood" was an indie film, just to name a few of the thousands of excellent indie films that have been made since the arrival of sound in films--there's no point in knocking "Skeleton Key" for bad sound, lighting, or photography. Hell, doing that is missing one of the jokes, I think.
This is a spoof of horror films along the lines of "Disaster Movie" and "An American Carol." More to the point, it's a spoof of low-budget, indie horror films. It embraces it's cheapness and wears it like a badge of honor. In fact, based on other John Johnson films I've seen--like "Alucard"--I think some of the "incompetence" here is intentional.
"Skeleton Key" may not be a masterpiece, but it's also not as bad as some posters attempt t portray it. And it's far better than a number of recent Hollywood attempts at making movies along this line.
The Rat Thing (2007)
A film that deserves to be seen by as many viewers as possible!
I saw "The Rat Thing" this week at the Seattle True Independent Film Festival, and I loved every minute of it.
This is one of those films that demonstrate that you don't need hundreds of millions of dollars to make a great comedy, and that many of the best movies these days aren't on the big screen or even on cable, They are found at film festivals and in the direct-to-DVD distribution channels... although if there are any film distributors or cable TV network programming buyers with even a tiny amount of good taste, they'll meet whatever producer/director/writer/co-star Kevin Keresey is asking for the rights because it is that good. It's a film that deserves to be seen by an audience far larger than any film festival can offer.
This is a well-written and well acted film that is further augmented by great cinematography and an excellent use of soundtrack music and sound in general. It's also possessed with a unique style that causes it to be a thoroughly modern comedy that nonetheless transmits a classic vibe. It's a film firmly rooted in the modern day, with modern characters struggling in dead-end low-paying service jobs who come up with a modern scheme to enrich themselves in the law suit lottery that passes for the civil court system in the United States, but the crispness of the dialogue delivered by the two lead characters and the rapid-fire nature of their patter--not to mention their natures and relationships--give the film an air of the best Abbott & Costello movies. (The fact the film is populated entirely by hard-luck characters that we are alternatively laughing with and laughing at also serves to strengthen the film's classic feel.)
Fist of the Vampire (2007)
What is up with the ratings on this film?!
I watched "Fist of the Vampire" last night, and it's not a 10 but it's certainly not a 1. So, I have to wonder about the ratings I'm seeing here. Were they made by people who need to watch more movies so they have something to measure against? Or were they made by users who were being disingenuous?
The screener I saw had some problems with sound mixing (much of the dialogue was muddled while the foley artist's "meaty thwacks" during the fight scenes came across with crystal clarity), the fight scenes were well filmed but under-rehearsed (they all screamed "choreographed" to me) and there were many places where just a few seconds trimmed here and would have the difference between a scene going on for too long and it being just right.
Oh, and they used that animated bullet waaaaay too much at the beginning of the film. It was a neat effect the first time, but it got less impressive as it was repeated.
However, the acting was better than what I've come to expect from films at this level, the use of CGI and blue-screen effects was also pretty decent (even if I still don't know what all those sparks during the final showdown between Reno and Lee were all about), and the story was pretty solid and flowed nicely. There were no surprises in it, but it chugged along at a good pace.
"Fist of the Vampire" is a low 5 on my scale, and I wish I could understand what inspires such love or hatred that would cause someone to rate it a 10 or a 1.
Nacho Libre (2006)
A great comedy that's apparently too smart for the critics
I'm really surprised at the way critics are mostly panning this movie. Not only is "Nacho Libre" a hilarious comedy, but it's got a script that even the most snobbish intellectual (even well-read pseudo-intellectuals!) should be able to enjoy. Pay attention while watching, and you'll see that the storyline pretty much follows to exactly "The Hero's Journey" as outlined by Joseph Campbell. How can a well-read person NOT love a movie that takes a clownish figure through the entirety of archetypal hero's tale (even giving Black's character his own Enkidu?) in the context of bush-league Mexican wrestling and a run-down orphanage.
Jack Black once again appears as his standard lovable loser character, but most of his shtick is limited to his appearances in the wrestling ring, and a disastrous attempt to show off his fighting prowess to the lovely Sister Encarnacion (de la Reguera) without revealing his secret. Because it's in small doses, it becomes some of the most hilarious part of the film.
Black is supported by an able cast, a well-paced script, and a story that's too subtly clever for the majority of American film critics. These elements all add up to a film that will end up standing as one of the best comedies of 2006.
Beyond Evil (1980)
Nifty low-budget chiller with some atrocious special effects
This is a fabulous low-budget chiller that features a great collection of energetic and enthusiastic actors--there are literally no bad performances anywhere--and showcases steady, focused direction of the kind that movies with ten times the budget are often lacking.
On the downside, the film features some rather laughable visible effects. In most cases, the filmmakers seemed to be aware that their budget limited what they could do--and they got by quite effectively with creative lighting, fog machines, jump-cuts, and other inexpensive movie gimmicks--but then they also decided to do some animation effects. These were passable when all they were used for were to illustrate whenever the ghost was up to something evil, but when they started showing laser beams shooting from the eyes of the possessed Barbara, the animation went from cheap-looking to ridiculous.
Despite the occasional special effects missteps, "Beyond Evil" is mostly a competently executed haunted house/possession flick. It sags a bit in the middle--where the voodoo queen flexes her supernatural muscle and things get a bit repetitive as Larry tries to convince the increasingly strange Barbara to seek medical help--but for the most part it remains an engrossing little movie that's worth a look.
Necrophagus (1971)
Almost as bad as it can get
What if someone made a horror movie that was completely devoid of plot?
Well, I think it would probably end up a little bit like this one. I don't think I've ever seen a move was so steady it its slide from hackneyed (at the beginning) to complete crap (by the end). I only stuck with it, because I kept thinking it couldn't possibly get worse. Well, up until the very end, "Necrophagus"/"Graveyard of Horror" proved me wrong.
Who would have suspected that a movie with an undead lizard-man, evil grave-robbing cultists, and mad scientists tossed in for no discernible reason could suck this bad? One would think there'd at least be some humor value... but not here.
Unkai no meikyû zegai (1993)
Worthwhile Japanese animation effort
"Mask of Zeguy" was originally made as a two-part animated series, although here it is contained on one disc. It features a solid storyline about Miki, a teen-aged descendant of a powerful priestess who is is drawn into the World of the Clouds, a magical realm where she becomes embroiled in a battle to save both it and Earth.
This is a cheap DVD, with good animations quality, interesting ideas, and plenty of action and twists and turns within a story that should appeal to both girls and boys.
One of the things that I found most appealing was the design of the World in the Clouds... it was a fascinating "what if Leonardo DaVinchi's more offbeat creations actually worked"/ magic steam-punk kind of place.
The only caveat to "Mask of Zeguy" is that its storyline assumes a lot of knowledge of Japanese history and classic poetry. Some of the figures that Miki meets are well-known Japanese historical/mythical figures, and some of the villains' plans are likewise probably only fully understood with some grounding in Japanese culture. That said, I don't think I have much more knowledge of Japanese history and culture than most Americans, and I enjoyed "Mask of Zeguy," so I'm sure others will, too.
On a note that isn't related so much to the cartoon as it is to its marketing, "Mask of Zeguy" was originally released in the U.S. as simply "Zeguy" (back in 1997).
That title makes a lot more sense than that given to the current edition--"Zeguy" is a Japanese word that translates, roughly, into "Wow!" or "Amazing!" There is no character in the show named Zeguy, nor is there any "Mask of Wow" anywhere in the program. It looks to me like someone in the marketing department decided the title needed to be punched up, and that he was making his decisions based solely on promo art for the product.
The Amazing Mr. X (1948)
Creators of thrillers would be well-advised to give this film a look.
This 1948 B-movie is an excellently made thriller. It is well acted, well filmed, moves briskly, and keeps the viewer engaged with clever plot-twists and a couple of nicely done double- reversals of expectations. There are films with perhaps twenty times the budget of "The Amazing Mr. X" that aren't half as successful at telling the kind of story that this film features--which, I admit, was pretty well-worn even in 1948. Modern filmmakers trying their hands at thrillers with supernatural overtones would do well to study this film, as it shows exactly how that kind of film is made.
Don't let the cheesy title fool you. This is a top-notch thriller that's well worth a look by any lover of the genre.