Another Crazy Pull Quote!

So another review I wrote is being used in the advertising of a film. This time it's Montreal indie Who Is KK Downey, which opens this Friday at the AMC Forum. And you should totally go see it if you get the chance, it is hilarious!

Holy Crap - Insane Pull-Quote

Being essentially a freelance film critic (read: unpaid), I'm never really sure if anyone ever actually reads the reviews that I write and I don't really have any control over how those reviews are used.

So, when two people on Facebook got in touch with me recently to let me know they saw my review of Takashi Miike's Sukiyaki Western Django, I decided to look into it a little more. Apparently a pull-quote from my Film Threat review is being used in the American advertising campaign for the film, meaning my name is all over a bunch of NY papers right now.

Which is pretty crazy, to me.

Although, according to this website (about 3/4 of the way down) it sounds like I was kind of totally misquoted.

Investigating further, I found the American website for the film, including a larger pull-quote right on the friggin' home page! The only other people quoted on the site are Guillermo del Toro, Eli Roth and Quentin Tarantino. Bizarre...

Not sure that this really actually means anything, but it is pretty cool to be associated with such a cool movie. And it makes me sound vastly more important than I actually am, which I suppose isn't really that bad.

Film Threat
Gelf Magazine
Sukiyaki Western Django Official Site

Fantasia Fallout

So, Fantasia officially wrapped up on Tuesday and I've only just managed to find time to write about it. Not much to say really. Things went out on kind of a whimper with closing film Dying Breed, a fairly standard inbred cannibals in the woods terrorize naive city folk flick that gets points only for properly taking advantage of their Tasmanian location.

Movies I did get to were kind of hit and miss. Sadly going to Vancouver in the middle of the fest really screwed with my momentum and I only got to 21 of the 25+ I was planning on seeing.

Really enjoyed Sukiyaki Western Django, [REC] and Ex Drummer. Didn't like Let the Right One In as much as I thought I would, probably because I was so fekkin' tired. Remind me to rewatch it after I get some sleep... I've already forgotten Truffe. Both docs I saw (Second Skin & I Think We're Alone Now) were surprisingly great, very eye opening. Who Is KK Downey? managed to live up to expectations. Le tueur & La creme were sort of disappointing despite having some really good performances. Sparrow was fun and light. Sasori was ridiculous, but fun. Timecrimes was fun and smart. Before the Fall was very disappointing. The Echo & Midnight Meat Train were underwhelming, but not terrible. REPO was fascinating, but not for the right reasons. I remember really liking What We Do is Secret, but I was still kinda drunk and ended up vomiting after the film... And the less we say about Mother of Tears the better.

I guess the biggest thing I'll take away this year is the people I met, being that it's the first year I've actually had the time to try to network. In some ways it was a great event for me to take part in being new to a city because I met a lot of like-minded people in a very short amount of time, and it was the sort of ego boost I needed to get back into the film writing thing.

Which reminds me. Film Threat finally got around to posting six more of my reviews, which I have linked to for you:

Who Is KK Downey
The Echo
Sparrow
La creme
I Think We're Alone Now
After the Fall

I've got three more I'm working on and two that are pending. I'll post links as soon as they go up.

A Tale of Two Musicals...

Or Why You Should Ignore REPO! and Watch Dr. Horrible Instead.

So, like I told you on Thursday, I got into a press screening of REPO! The Genetic Opera since a) the official Fantasia world premiere screening on Friday night was TOTALLY sold out and b) L and I went to George Michael on Friday.

When I first heard about the project I have to say I had my doubts, but coverage on io9 and in Rue Morgue had piqued my interest. Also, the wacky casting was intriguing and I love me some Anthony Stewart Head. Let's just say that I wasn't entirely surprised with what I saw, just a little disappointed. Which isn't to say it's terrible, it just isn't very good. You can read what I have to say in more detail on Film Threat whenever they post my review.

However, on Friday I also discovered that Joss Whedon's writer's strike project, Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog, was in full swing with two of the three acts already available online (click the pic below to watch). Part three went up on Saturday and all three parts still seem to be available on iTunes and streaming on www.drhorrible.com.

I had some time to kill at work so I watched the first two parts and it was very interesting to compare the two projects. While REPO! is more of a full fledged opera, Dr. Horrible is definitely the stronger of the two lyrically and even possibly musically. And this despite Dr. Horrible being a comedy and REPO! aiming for tragedy. Of course it helps that I love all three of the leads (Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Fillion & The Guild's Felicia Day) almost equally (although I think Neil Patrick Harris wins, but only because of that scene in Harold & Kumar where he does blow off a stripper's ass).

Or maybe I'm just more of a closet comic book nerd than I am a closet goth?
What do you think?

Back to the Grind

Okay, so I survived my visit to Vancouver and I'm back at work and reviewing for Fantasia (a.k.a. the film festival that never ends). Only made it to one film yesterday, a press screening of REPO! The Genetic Opera, before meeting L for dinner and almost passing out in my Pho. I'm pretty happy with the review for that one, so I'll be linking to it as soon as it goes up later this week.

Also, thanks to everybody who caught my first movie night column in three years (yikes). If you didn't see it I've linked to it here.

And because I mentioned it earlier, I did managed to record a commentary for Purple Rain with BJ and Damon (no Robin) during my marathon visit to VanCity. If and when it gets posted on the internet I will let you know.

Fantasia: Day 5

Reviewing and working a day job is definitely starting to take a toll on me. I've been averaging two movies a day, but I think I'm only going to make it to The Sparrow tonight, being that I still need to get a hold of people out West and pack for my trip on Wednesday.

Films so far have been more hit than miss, with the biggest miss of all being Mother of Tears on Saturday. Actually, it almost qualifies as so bad it's good, which I'm sure isn't much consolation to Argento fans. L remarked on the fact that everyone who was leaving the theater had the same stricken look like their dad had just died. It really is saying something that the best part of the film, and everyone seemed to agree with me on this one, is the monkey. If you have a chance to see this movie, do yourself a favour and skip it, lest you break your heart. Or at least make sure you've got one hell of a buzz going on.

The other miss was opening film Truffe, which despite some cool visuals and uniformly good performances wasn't quite weird enough for me to recommend. It's unusual for a Quebecois film, but the thin story probably would have worked better as a short.

Surprises so far were MMORPG documentary Second Skin and Miike Takashi's Sukiyaki Western Django, which is way more entertaining than it had any business being. Strange? You bet, but rather accessible by Miike standards. Still, I'd be damned if I could have understood the English dialogue without the English subtitles.

Three of the stronger films I've seen so far were all Spanish: indie horror [REC], which is far more effective than it could have been (I screamed out loud more than once), sci-fi who done it Timecrimes and apocalyptic crime thriller Before the Fall (3 Dias). Out of the three, Before the Fall was my least favourite, due largely to an over reliance on cliche and Hollywood style plotting and character development.

Also good were Who's that Knocking on My Door, a quiet revenge film from Korea and Germ's biopic What We Do is Secret, although I'm going to have to meditate a bit more on this last one. Parts of it reminded me of 24 Hour Party People it the way it captured the energy and excitement of a scene, but some parts were playing it a little safer than maybe they should have.

Another highlight was watching Gordon Liu tear up during the multiple standing ovations he received before and after the screening of Disciples of the 36th Chamber, an airy and infectiously fun Shaw bros kung-fu pic.

I've got to hang out with a bunch of cool people so far, including festival programmers Mitch, Simon, Mi-jeong and King-wei, Simon and Rick from The Naked Lunch radio show and Jason and Rob of Hobo with a Shotgun fame.

And for those who are interested, Film Threat has already posted some of my reviews:

Truffe
Sukiyaki Western Django
[REC]
Who's that Knocking at My Door

And Jeremy and I also collaborated on a pre-festival piece.

My new movie night column, Meeko's Movie Night Massacre will go online tomorrow.

Ooh, and if you wanna check out the Fantasia Trailers, go here. And there are video recaps of each day of the fest on YouTube.

Update

Sorry for the lack of posting lately. Things have been hella busy with Kat & Doug in town last week and my impending trip to Vancouver.

And Fantasia is in full swing and I'm going to be reviewing for two sites: Film Threat and Oddity Cinema.

Also, I started a new movie night column with Film Threat which should be posted to the site early next week.

Upcoming: Commentary for Purple Rain with BJ, Robin and Damon.

Stay tuned.

Movies I Watched Instead of Writing: Apocalypse Edition

Last weekend we watched three movies with apocalyptic overtones, but luckily it is sunny and warm and the Habs are winning so my outlook is still pretty positive.

First up, Right at Your Door (2006): This one screened at Fantasia last year as part of a series on Urban Apocalypses that included Mulberry Street (see below) and the excellent The Signal. The premise is straight forward enough: after seeing his wife, Lexi (Mary McCormack) off to work, Brad (Rory Cochrane, best known as Slater from Dazed and Confused) is shaken from his lazy morning routine by a series of explosions in downtown L.A. Being the good husband he is, his first instinct is to hit the road and rescue his wife who is stuck in traffic with a dead cell phone, but panicking cops and fellow motorists mean that he can't get past the L.A. suburb where there new house is located. He returns home to plot his next move and is startled to find the gardener from next door in his house. The gardener convinces Brad to seal up his house from the inside as the radio instructs as it now seems the explosions were "dirty" in nature and toxic ash is showering down on most of the Los Angeles area.

The real drama starts when Lexi returns, having walked home after abandoning her car on the freeway. Being that Brad isn't the only one in the house now, he makes the agonizing decision to leave Lexi outside since she is covered in ash and therefore "contaminated". Will she survive long enough for help to find them, and when help does arrive, will it be enough?

While certainly far from perfect, Right At Your Door does an excellent job of ratcheting up the tension with limited funds and locations. Writer/Director Chris Gorak wisely puts the focus on the actors, making the film more about Brad and Lexi's relationship than about the citywide meltdown happening around them. The result is a film that is instantly relevant to the viewer, unlike other overblown apocalyptic films like Deep Impact, for example. The film is as much about whether Lexi will survive her toxic exposure as whether Lexi and Brad's relationship will survive this incredible strain on their relationship.

Where the film starts to break down is after the introduction of new characters and locations. Lexi strays multiple times from the back porch, sneaking through neighbors yards and even rescues a young boy she finds wandering around. The introduction of the child does add a nice moment where Brad ponders about the children they never had, but the forays ultimately slow down the momentum that has been building and dilutes the feeling or claustrophobia that drives much of the tension in the film.

However, these nitpicks are minor in light of the excellent performances provided by both Cochrane and McCormack. The chemistry between the two actors is very good and it is easy to believe that they are a married couple in their 30's full of love and frustrations. Where the film really breaks down is the Twilight Zone-ish twist ending, but everything else up to that point is good enough to still recommend the film highly as a well written, intelligent and nuanced portrait of urban paranoia.

Later that same day we indulged our curiosity and rented Southland Tales (2006), Richard Kelly's long shelved follow up to Donnie Darko. Remember how I was talking about overblown crap? This is pretty much the definition. While I'm sure Kelly and his buddies in the movie (including Kevin Smith) will get a kick out of watching the movie together and reminiscing about the fun they had shooting it, I cannot figure out for the life of me how it got made in the first place. It is confusing, poorly constructed, wildly self-indulgent and ultimately, largely boring.

Somehow, there is still a certain charm to it that I can't quite place my finger on. Maybe it's the fact that it's so clearly the bizarre vision of one person, even if that vision isn't really that interesting. Maybe it's the fact that the best performances in the thing come from Seann William Scott and Sarah Michelle Geller. Maybe it's to do with the rampant stunt casting: Christopher Lambert as an underground militant, Wallace Shawn in lipstick, Kevin Smith in old-man make-up... Maybe it has to do with Kelly's choice to cast the comedians in the dramatic roles (Cheri Oteri, Will Sasso, Jon Lovitz, Amy Poeler, etc.) with mixed results. However, whatever it is it is not enough to recommend the film. It is just too long and too weird and too all over the place to justify sacrificing 2 and a half hours of your life to watch it. Oh, did I mention it's narrated by Justin Timberlake?

Normally I revel in the "so bad it's good", but Southland Tales feels more misguided than anything else. It clearly wants to be funny and wacky, but is instead tacky and forced. The script feels mainly like an excuse to get famous people to say really dirty things. The construction of this post-apocalyptic world wants to be nuanced and political, but is instead juvenile and half-baked. I can't call it a disappointment because my expectations going in were very low, but it will undoubtedly go down in history as one of the greatest miscalculations a major studio has ever made. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention: it's also a musical. Drugs might have helped, but I kinda doubt it.

Luckily, the third film of the day washed away the stale taste. Mulberry Street is similar to Right at Your Door in that they are both low budget, limited location horror flicks with a very simple premise. This time the setting is New York and the premise is this: the rats have started attacking people who then turn into ferocious, man-eating "rat people". Sounds pretty stupid, right? Well it isn't. It's actually really, really good and the perfect antidote to overblown crap.

Like Right at Your Door, Mulberry Street focuses on characters to make the outlandish events accessible to the viewer. The setting is a tenement on Mulberry Street which has recently been purchased for development with the tenants facing imminent eviction. The first character we are introduced to is Clutch (Nick Damici), a retired boxer awaiting the return of his daughter, Casey (Kim Blair), who has just been released from the veteran's hospital after a stint in Iraq. Clutch is a good guy, shy when it comes to women (specifically his neighbor Kay (Bo Corre)), and always willing to help out the elderly or less fortunate. Damici, who also co-wrote the script, gives an excellent and nuanced performance, really adding to the film's effectiveness.

The rest of the plot is fairly formulaic: rats attack people, people attack people, everybody freaks out, citizens of tenement fight back; but what makes it work is what director Jim Mickle left out. First off, there are no guns & no clever kills. Clutch and Casey fight back with what they've got: fists and heavy things. Second, there are no clever one liners. which isn't to say there aren't moments of humour, but it's the kind of dark, deadpan humour that suits the story and the characters. And most importantly, the film is not a cliche laden, movie referencing comedy. Everything is played deadly straight, resulting in real empathy, real tension and real suspense.

Shot for about $30,000 in the director's apartment, Mulberry Street is the kind of serious, thoughtful indie horror that deserves to be celebrated. Highly recommended.