Well, Optimus Prime just sent Father Geek his second report on what's happening on the screens up at Seattle's Film Festival thats going on right now in the great American Northwest. Great Music, Good Films, gentle Rain, and the Cascades... can't get a whole lot better than that.
Optimus Prime here in wonderful Seattle, Washington just watching flicks...
But I'm a Cheerleader
This is a great film, hilarious, the best I've seen at the festival so far. Natasha Lyonne is Megan, a pretty typical teenage girl. She's a cheerleader, with cheerleader friends, and a jock boyfriend, her parents are conservative Christians. There's something strange about her though, she hangs a bikini clad girl picture in her locker, a Melissa Etheridge poster on her bedroom wall, and she really doesn't enjoy kissing her boyfriend. She thinks this is all normal, her parents and friends do not. They realize the truth. She's a lesbian, what a shock, what horror! Soon a van shows up at her door, with an "ex-gay" wearing a "Straight is Great!" t-shirt, played very well by Rupaul. He drags her off to True Directions, too straighten her out.
True Directions is rehab for gay people. Run by a crazy, overbearing, Christian mother, who's stuck with 1940's ideals. Her own son is obviously gay, but she denies it. Her large ranch house trimmed in pink, a white picket fence, and fake flowers, serves as rehab central. The girls are forced to wear all pink, the boys all light blue. The girls include, Clea Duvall (The Faculty), Melanie Lynskey (Heavenly Creatures), the rest are unknowns or have had small roles in various teen flicks. The performances are all very good.
Becoming an "ex-gay" consists of 5 steps. #1: Admit your gay. This is a pretty funny scene as Megan goes through intervention with the others. Natasha Lyonne has these great eye expressions, that can just be hilarious. #2: Rediscover your gender identity. This consists of the girls vacuuming, washing the dishes, etc. The boys play sports, work on a car, and chop wood. These are some of the funniest scenes in the film, as everyone is pretty confused as to what to do. The three more steps each result with funny situations. Of course none of this stuff works. It ends up just being a place to hook up. They all try to lie their way through it, just to please their parents.
This is a great debut film from Jamie Babbit. She had Q&A after the movie. She talked about meeting film financiers, by having short films in assorted festivals. Talked about her experience with the MPAA. The first cut of this film received a NC-17. This is just unbelievable, as it contains no nudity, no gross-out humor, and not an excessive amount of swearing. This is just pure censorship, presumably because of the homosexual theme. I felt this film should have received a PG-13. I highly recommend this film to comedy and teen movie fans, if you happen to live in or near a major city it's getting released in July. She also said it would appear on DVD in with it's original cut.
The Mission
I don't have that much experience with Hong Kong action films outside of John Woo. It's a genre that I just really haven't sought out yet. However, after seeing this film, I think I'll have to. Johnny To, the director of this film, has been making movies since the early 80's I think I'll start with some of his past films.
From the opening titles, set to rapid gun-shots, you know what your into with this film. Mr Lung, a mob boss in Hong Kong has a price on his head. He brings in five extreme bad-asses for some extra protection. That's all you need to know. The rest of the film is filled with some great gun-play. This isn't the ballet of fire, like John Woo is so great with. The guys are actually in firing stance, aiming, and then firing one shot at a time. The action is very static, but very cool. It actually makes the guns seem much more dangerous. Highly recommended.
The Convent
I don't think horror films often get play at the various film festivals. It's just not a very respected genre. With this film we can see why. The same set up as a thousand previous horror films. 1960; a convent is raided by a young girl, she shoots the nuns down, and sets the place a fire. A decent beginning. The present; surprise, surprise some frat boys and their girlfriends decide to check out whether the place is haunted. And what the heck lets have sex and do drugs while we're there. What could possibly happen? There just happens to be some Satan worshipers present, their ceremony releases the evil spirits.
Much like Evil Dead, any time somebody dies, they turn into a demon. That's this films problem, it just tries to hard to be Evil Dead, extreme camera angles, speeding up the film, over-the-top gore, and really bad attempts at humor. The acting is atrocious, with a cameo from Coolio (who seems to think he's funny), and another cameo from Adrienne Barbeau who's stuck in her Escape from New York role. A bad film, that's not even fun in that it's so bad it's funny way, because it just takes itself to seriously.
Psycho Beach Party
This is a fun little film, that spoofs horror and beach films. Set in the 50's, the film opens a drive-in, with a girl getting her throat slashed. The main suspect is Florence, who's suffering from a split personality. She's kind of a square, but becomes a sex-pot type when she turns. Soon she's at the beach with her friends, where she is impressed by a bunch of surfers, including Nicholas Brendon aka Xander. She decides she wants to learn to surf, but she must consult with the Great Kanaka, Thomas Gibson aka Greg of Dharma &. He's a beatnik/surfer who talks in mostly rhymes, attracted to her split personality he decides to teach her to surf. She is renamed Chicklet, and tries to live up to her new moniker, by going to beach parties, slumber parties and acting hip.
This film has a great sense of humor towards itself, and should not be taken seriously at all. It's filled with cheesy dialogue, bad sexual puns, a transexual cop (who nobody ever makes mention of), purposely bad blue screen, a horrible Swedish accent, and even a beach dance off. Depending on your mood, this could be a hilarious film, or just plain bad.
Optimus Prime signing off for now.
