Hey, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab.
Man, I wish I had been in Austin this past week. I'm jealous of guys like GoonLord, who got to soak up a ton of films. Thankfully, he sent us a breakdown of what he saw and what he thought. Check it out!!
Hola AICN,
Managed to catch a few films during my brief 3-day stay at SXSW 2002 before having to return to work (and stop spending money). Also, it was nice to meet you during your book signing after the Kaufman interview Harry (I was the 2nd one in line), wish I could've stuck around and met a few more of y'all and had a few more beers but had to run.
Anyway, on to the reviews if y'all want 'em...hell, saw some of the AICN crew at most of these...
The Scoundrel's Wife
This is a period film about the lives of citizens in a Louisiana shrimp boat town during the early years of World War II. The story mainly revolves around a woman (Tatum O'Neil) and her family that the town has shunned for
years because of smuggling that she and her husband did in the past. However, you'll also see quite a bit of the hilarious town priest/drunk (Tim Curry) and the refugee German doctor (Julian Sands) who soon becomes the woman's lover. So in other words, pretty much your usual period drama based on historical events. The best thing I took away from it was the knowledge that German U-boats were sinking ships just off the American coastline from the northern states all the way down to Galveston. This is something I never read about or heard about in any of the history classes out of all my years of education (K-12, college). I couldn't get over that, the fact that most of these GOVERNMENT sponsored history texts didn't ever reference this info in all those years. Otherwise, it wasn't necessarily a bad movie and received a good response from the audience overall, but I just can't shake the feeling that it was like some sort of HBO filler flick. Decent acting, some great locations, some known names, but nothing in the story that really holds your attention well enough to make it anything better than some sort of 2 a.m. time killer when the insomnia strikes. But maybe that's just me. I didn't hear much commentary walking out of the theater, perhaps because the director had some fans or family there. We sat two rows back and a couple seats over behind him during the screening, and overall, I'm sure he felt good about the response his film received (aside from the guy sitting directly behind him who kept sleeping and snoring--there always has to be one doesn't there?). It was pretty funny to get to see the director have to turn around and tell the guy behind him to wake the hell up.
Master of the Game
A film shot entirely on high definition video at the Austin Studios, it caught my interest enough to check it out. It is the story of a handful of Jewish prisoners who escape on their way to a Nazi death camp, only to end up seeking shelter from a storm in a cabin where four Nazi soldiers are waiting out the storm. Then as the story progresses, we find one of the Jewish men is an American soldier who was captured and placed with the other men. He is tortured by the Nazis until he challenges them to a game. He believes that he can make them believe that he is their superior by the time the storm passes. From there it goes into some amazing argumental dialogue that was really enjoyable as he works like a virus to set their weaknesses
against themselves and each other. I also really enjoyed the acting, especially if some of these guys were locals. I thought they did a great job. Even the high-def video looked quite good. Dark, but good. Overall it was an enjoyable movie, but it did have one major problem that I found and heard others stating as we walked out of the theater: the situation is just not believable. No way something like that would ever happen in any reality I know. The terms just are right. Otherwise, everything was great for a little movie like this one.
Home Movie
Oh wow was this was a great and often hilarious documentary. I'll be praying to the gods that this one is picked up and played often on Discovery or some other similar channel. It is a look into the lives of five ordinary people and the places they live. Five houses influenced by the personality of their owners: a bizarre automated house of robotics, a converted underground missile silo and launch center (I want one of these!), a floating house in Louisiana (no, not a house boat, a house that floats), a house built to entertain 12 house cats and their cat crazy owners (I can only imagine the smell 12 cats would produce...yikes), and an actual large scale tree house built in a remote Hawaiian valley. The life of the owners and their homes are explored well enough to give us a general idea of their lives and all of them manage to lend themselves to humor without any help from the filmmakers. I want to see this one again soon. It was just a great dose of the bizarre reality that exists all over the country.
ZigZag
This is based on a book of the same name that is the first directorial effort of one of my personal favorites, David Goyer, the screenwriter of Dark City, Blade, and Blade II. The story of an autistic boy and those that are part of his life, it definitely isn't of the usual material he works with, but it still has his touch and was really enjoyable for a small drama. I hope he manages to get distribution for a wide release with this one, but there's no telling where that'll end up. We saw it as yet another premiere in front of a general audience and it got a great response from the crowd for both the dramatic elements and the moments of humor. Also, again I noticed that Goyer was sitting across the aisle from us in the theater and looked like he really got a boost from the audience response. He deserved it. The acting was as good as his writing and John Leguizamo, Wesley Snipes, Sam Jones III, and Oliver Platt played their parts to perfection. I just wish I could've seen Goyer's work on Blade II before leaving Austin. I'm sure it'll be another well crafted and adrenaline packed winner like the first one. Also, I didn't think I'd run into anyone else who enjoyed using the F word as much as I do, but after seeing him in a screenwriting panel and sticking around for the Q&A after the movie, I know when I've been beat.
Class of Nuke'em High
Man, if you haven't seen a Troma movie, then you just don't know what you're missing. Perhaps the cheesiest, low budgeted, gore, and sex filled movies ever made, they are just a guaranteed entertaining experience. Top that off with Lloyd Kaufman, president/co-founder of Troma studios, introducing the film and you've got something special on your hands. This is the first Troma movie I've seen on the big screen, and it was probably the second Troma movie I ever saw, back in the days of my childhood and the lost independent video stores of old (sometime in the mid to late 80's, when video stores had everything you could ever want). The first being The Toxic Avenger, back when you could find all the horror and gore classics on the shelves, be them cult classics or trashy gems. Before the corporate bastards and the moral brigade came in and took most of them away. Anyway, this one deals with teens in a high school next to a nuclear facility. Of course there is a leak, which leads to honor students turning into criminals,
people melting, teens smoking atomic pot and having contaminated sexual encounters that lead to monstrous behavior and spawn, and of course you can't leave out the random old-lady-beating or gory death. Truly a classic, especially in a theater with others who get it. I missed my chance to see the original Toxic Avenger on the big screen due to extreme exhaustion after too little sleep (read: nodding off in previous theater), and I got down to Austin too late to get through registration to hit the newest Troma film, Citizen Toxie (Toxic Avenger pt. 4), and couldn't stay all week to see them on their second screenings, but I did manage to chat with Kaufman and saw him in several panels so therefore got a good helping of Troma goodness. Now, I'm just going to have to try and get a chance to check out Cornman, a film by a local Texas Troma team member who was also present each time I listened to good ole uncle Lloyd.
Short Films from the Midnight Shorts at the Alamo Drafthouse (thank god for the Leagues...wish we had a place with this kind of attitude up here in Ft. Worth)
Nougat
Quite the hilarious and twisted little tale of an elementary school play and the depressed and dissatisfied Nougat, third member of the candy bar trio. We first see Nougat in the Easter play after Choklit [sic] and Caramel do their little song and dance and we see how depressed and left out he feels by having to depend on Choklit and Caramel, but Nougat makes quite the change into empowerment by the time the Halloween play rolls around and he gets his revenge. I hope this one is online or shows up online because I'll be trying to show everyone I can. Hopefully it'll show up in some of the animation fests as well or on video with something. The animation is excellent and you'll never expect what's coming. Dark, twisted, and positively funny as hell. I hope these guys turn out some more material and I get to see it.
Hillbilly Robot
Flashback: put-a-gun-in-my-mouth-and-pull-the-trigger! [repeat] That is what was running through my mind while this short ran. I didn't think this damned short would ever end. I don't know if you'd call this experimental or not, but while I did manage to 'get it' well enough by the end and even get a couple of chuckles out of it, all I could really think of was how it gave me
the sudden urge to inflict physical damage on everything around me until it stopped. Top that off with sound problems that were amazingly loud, offsetting, and painful (I suppose it wasn't just mixed into the flick to piss more of us off) and I'm surprised there wasn't about to be a riot. Its basically about three 'robots' in a society where everyone seems to hate robots. If you happen to have to be forced through this thing, the redneck at the dinosaur park, the kid at the card table, and a lot of the bizarre Russian guy is funny and you'll have to laugh (at least until the whole dead raccoon flying around chasing him thing), but otherwise I think you'll just end up wanting to punch someone in the face. Perhaps that is exactly their point. The thought had occurred to me. I mean I don't know how you could purposefully make anything like this without thinking of that side effect.
Morto the Magician
A really quick, funny, and well put together animated short that I was written by Steve Martin. Basically, it's about a magician that can't seem to do a trick without killing something, be it a bird, or all of his stage hands. The pacing and music is perfect and there is just enough animated gore and morbid humor to make it worth seeing again. Hopefully, it'll be available online or in a collection, if it isn't already.
Never Date an Actress
A great little satire about the seemingly insane personality of an actress (Naomi Watts) as seen through her boyfriends eyes. He tries and he tries, but he just can't win. The best example is when they are out in the country
and she sees a herd of cows, then notices a slaughterhouse nearby. After an explanation of what happens, she decides she must be the champion of the cows and after realizing that she can't just take them all home, she decides she could really help out by joining PETA. At least until she finds out she can't wear any of her favorite leather clothing or boots. This one had the audience roaring with laughter and if you ever get the chance to see it, make sure and sit through all of it. The ending has some of the best material.
Crank Calls
Oh man this one was great, so great. If it wasn't for the devil that is star 69, things like this would actually be possible outside of rural towns. It is about a guy who gets crapped on daily in his life and work, and one day after receiving rude comments for accidentally calling a wrong number, he decides to keep the number and continue calling and harassing the guy to make himself feel better. Eventually, he finds a new number to begin calling when the other gets old. Then one day when things have been really bad, he decides to pull a hilarious trick on everyone involved in the story. It moves along smoothly and had a great response from the audience. I could swear I've seen this one before, but I'm not sure. Wait and see the final sequence. Hilarious.
My Interview with Spike Jonze
This had a really simple yet effective idea that had everyone laughing. A young filmmaker or wannabe-filmmaker manages to get an interview with director Spike Jonze, but he really doesn't know how to operate his camera very well and he really doesn't know that much about his subject either. This one builds well and ends with a bang.
Christmas on Mars
More of a making of or preview of sorts for the upcoming indie movie Christmas on Mars being made by Wayne Coyne of the band Flaming Lips. Or I guess it was. It ran a bit long and while it had a few worthwhile aspects, I didn't think it fit in well with the rest of the shorts. However, it wasn't anything bad like Hillbilly Robot. I can say that the movie looks like it might be interestingly campy low-budget fun and after seeing the filmmaker several times in and out of panels, it sounds like they are shooting to release the movie by next xmas. Looks like they are putting something decent and cheesily entertaining together, but I'd rather have seen the feature than the featurette.
Lunch
This one is a fast and funny take on a man who goes to extremes in his working place cafeteria to get what he wants. They really did a great job capturing food, sex, and motivation to escape. The end had a perfect payoff. There were quite a few laughs attached to this one and hopefully you'll be able to see it online at some point if you never can see it anywhere else. It'd be the perfect one to pass around the workplace.
A Stoner's Life
Two minutes, an old man, his wife, and some grass. Pretty self explanatory, and yes, there were plenty of laughs at his attitude towards life. Makes me wonder if there are really just a bunch of stoned old geezers out there and if that is why they all drive so damned slow.
Glaadiator
My food or my bill showed up during this one, so I didn't get to see all of it. But it was really just a trailer for the filmmakers reimagining of a humorously gay Gladiator. They did a great job from what I did see and what I gauged of the audience reaction.
Jackie Pepper
This Behind the Music styled mockumentary really made the crowd happy. How about getting to see a real life version of a man taking all he can get out of being a star. Even if he is just a lounge lizard of a star. The acting was spot on perfect for this short, or so I think because I liked the explosive nature of the character. I want this one around to watch again.
Well, thats all I managed to take in during my stay. Although, I'm highly tempted to make the three hour drive for Blade II. However, the thought of sitting in the beautiful yet fairly-uncomfortable-for-tall-people Paramount theater kind of hinders the temptation.
Keep up the great work!
GoonLord
