Hey, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab.
I was wondering if anyone was going to write in with their reaction to the night of films I hosted last Friday. I’ll be including my thoughts on the evening in this weekend’s RUMBLINGS, but for now, here’s the first guy who actually mailed me a response. It was nice to meet all the great NYC readers who showed up, and I was pleased at how well attended each of the events was, all things considered.
Now that I go to Bard I realize that now I am behind what is considered “par” when it comes to being a movie person. I hadn’t even gone to a film festival, that is, until Ain’t It Cool News (a website dedicated to lengthy film reviews and dishing the dirt on whatever major script Hollywood is working on now) finally decided to come down to New York and sponsor one night of the New York International Independent Film Festival. One train ride later I was back home amongst skyscrapers, “real” pizza, and foul-mouthed geriatric grannies that will fight each other over a taxicab.
I had no idea what to expect, aside from the fact that I was going to see 3 feature length movies in a 6-hour time frame. Armed with enough Red Bull to make Robin Williams even more hyper, I ventured to the Clearview Cinemas Zeigfeld Theatre. Waiting on line for the show to start I met some of the other people who populate AICN’s Message Board. These guys are frigging obsessed, talking in detail about the personalities of the site and how AICN’s head geek Harry “Fat Bastard’s Clone” Knowles sold out to Hollywood by giving the new script for a new Superman Movie a good review. I stayed silent and waited for the film to roll.
The night’s festivities were for the most part, sparsely populated. But that didn’t stop the action, as AICN bigwig (now also a screenwriter) “Moriarty” aka Drew McWeeny thanked the audience for showing up, (I guess there was another film being screened at the moment) and gave the first movie Adam Rifkin’s “A Night At The Golden Eagle” an introduction, saying it’s a very grim and depressing movie whose few bright moments make it even better. Seeing that I was forced to watch the happy pap crap-fest known as “Crossroads” the night before, I was very, very happy.
“A Night at…” is one of the most dark and screwed up movies I have ever seen bar none. Telling the story of two life long friends who a long time ago used to be tough gangsters. Now they’re lucky if they can survive an overbearingly hot night at LA’s seedy hotel, The Golden Eagle (which, with some other factors, has turned me off from ever visiting LA). Mick (Vinny Argiro) wants to make a clean break and go legit, running the casino tables in Vegas, while Tommy (Donnie Montemarano), recently having been in jail, thinks that being clean is a waste of time seeing that crime, can really pay some times. The “we’re too old for this shit” shtick has gotten tired over the last decade but “A Night at” makes it work. Mick and Donny are in their fair share of trouble running from Vinnie Jones(Snatch)’s scary pimp character Rodan. And maneuver around the hotel where people are dropping like and have the IQ’s of, flies. A must see if you can tolerate the seedier side of life. I thought the movie was over when Drew comes out with Mr. Argiro. The group proceeded to have a Q&A session where we found out amongst other things a change in the cast that we weren’t supposed to hear about. Turning a good experience great.
Unfortunately I now had high expectations for the next film, which carried more hype than the next Eminem album. As much as I love to bash movies I’ll make this review short. “Love Her Madly”, was the directorial debut of Ray Manzarek (Keyboardist, The Doors). My screening of it was the world premiere screening, and Ray himself was there to introduce the movie, and even tell us that the idea from the movie was one from Jim Morrison himself. Due to the popularity of The Doors though, this movie had the largest audience of the night, how sad, music is rarely a reason to see a movie(Almost Famous not included). I know many people are fans of The Doors, and if you like being a fan of theirs, STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM THIS MOVIE! It was like a really bad Skin-a-Max movie with 10 times less nudity. The plot is basically about 3 shit-stains for men lusting after the same woman who is not really attractive enough (in my opinion) to inspire murder. The dialogue is horrid, the actors terrible, and the production value is awful. But the worst part of the movie is the plot itself, utterly predictable and derivative, I can even say “Crossroads” had more going on, with more surprises than Mr. Manzarek’s bastard child of a movie. Yes, there is a movie worse than “Crossroads” and even an actress worse than Britney. Never see this movie, ever.
Finally we were treated to the New York debut of Neil Burger's “Interview with an Assassin”. This hilarious, suspenseful movie is a mockumentary of all the JFK conspiracy movies and theories. The story is that of two men and their attempts to make something of their lives. It begins one day when Walter Oelhinger, goes to him neighbor a former TV cameraman and tells him he has a crime to confess. Furthermore Walter says that since he himself is now diagnosed with cancer and will die in 6 months, he is finally able to admit the truth, he killed JFK. The cameraman is skeptical of him and they go on a paranoid search to prove that Walter did kill JFK. Moriarty said that it seems somewhat like The Blair Witch Project as most of the shots are taken by the main character’s video camera, which he is always carrying and using it to film their search. This movie also works to make the viewer paranoid and question what they see and the motives of the characters. Another great ending to the screening happened when the film’s director came out to talk about the production of the movie, his inspiration and the struggle that it took to make.
So for my first film festival, I was 2-3, a good record in my opinion as such a ratio doesn’t exist in most theatres today. The only downside of the night is that now, I completely hate Ray Manzarek.
You should too.
Youch! Some harsh words from BardianRambler 37, but still, I appreciate you taking the time to write in and for being honest, man. Personally, I thought Ray's film was a mixed bag, and I'm surprised to see such venom. I’m glad to see that Nick Nunziata over at CHUD is also getting behind INTERVIEW WITH THE ASSASSIN. It’s a great little film, and the surprise appearance by Neil Burger really made the evening for me. He’s a hell of a nice guy who has made a smart, solid little thriller that is coming out on the same day as the new HARRY POTTER film. Do yourself the favor. Shake off all the hype Warner Bros. can afford and see ASSASSIN that weekend. You’ll be surprised by this little gem.
"Moriarty" out.
