OK, here is the week you missed. I’m really sorry about that. I’ll try to not let it happen again. It will. I’m just saying, I’ll do everything I can to make sure the next time is a long time from now. Here is last week. One bite. Hopefully this week will be done by the end of Monday as well. Here’s to hoping. Enjoy!

(January 16)

——Chasing Amy (1997)——

Do you remember a time when Kevin Smith said that he couldn’t direct a movie, but actually didn’t do that bad a job, when Joey Lauren Adams was the “Next Big Thing”, when Ben Affleck was actually considered to be a semi-competent actor? Yeah, neither did I. That is until I revisited Kevin Smith’s arguably best film, Chasing Amy.

It’s an age-old story. Boy meets girl. Boy falls for girl. Boy finds out girl is a lesbian. Boy manages to land girl anyway, only to freak when he hears about her sexual history. Boy tries to fix things (idiotically) by having his girlfriend sleep with him and his best friend… OK, maybe not a conventional age-old story. Kevin Smith has never been “conventional”. But behind all the weirdness that age-old story is still in there. I have to admit that when I first saw the film right after it came out I didn’t completely “get” it. Naïve as I was I didn’t get the whole “a man wants to go to bed with a whore, wake up with a virgin” concept. In the following time life caught up with me and now I get it. Guys like to think that they need to know the past sexual history of their girlfriends. They also like to think that knowing won’t freak them out. Guess what, it does. The here and now is what matters. That’s what this film is about.

What I think makes this film so good is how autobiographical it is. I didn’t realize this until after seeing the movie again, but according to Kevin Smith’s liner notes the film was inspired by Smith’s own relationship with Joey Lauren Adams. The film was a sort of apology/love letter to that relationship. That’s why it rings so true. And I think anyone who let their imagination ruin a relationship can identify.

(MUST SEE)

——42nd Street Forever: Volume 1——

This isn’t technically a movie, but a DVD compilation of weird and bizarre trailers to grind house exploitation films from around the world. And pretty much anyone who enjoys the weird and bizarre has to get this DVD. This is hilarious. From blacksploitation westerns to giant monster mushrooms to 3D porno to shockumentaries to werewolf motorcycle movies, this DVD has it all. Most show graphic violence. At least 75% of the trailers have some sort of female nudity in them. A few even have full frontal male nudity. That’s right. You could see a guy’s wang in a movie trailer. One of the trailers claims it will give your family $2,000 if you die while watching the film. Another is staged like a news broadcast outside of the theater showing the film, where a man had to be taken away for going crazy watching the movies, and everyone is given an “upchuck cup” before watching the film. This DVD isn’t for the faint of heart, but anyone who loves crazy f’d up shit will love this.

(MUST SEE)

——Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)——

For the life of me, I don’t know what happened with this film. Almost no one has seen it. After some good press and a very limited release it just kind of dropped off the earth. Thankfully Images picked it up and I got a chance to see it. This is seriously one of the best movies of the year.

Shane Black, screenwriter of Lethal Weapon, wrote and directed this modern film noir starring Robert Downey Jr. and Val Kilmer about a con (Downey) mistaken for an actor who moves from NYC to LA to live out the Hollywood dream, only to get caught in the middle of a murder mystery straight out of a pulp noir. This movie is intelligent and hilarious as it manages to both follow the traditional noir plot cliches while making fun of them at the exact same time. Downey’s very funny voice-over follows the action the entire time, letting us know that we’re not the only one in on the joke. The plot twists and turns in ways both unbelievable and totally believable at the same time. This movie is so witty and fun that it hurts the mind. Whenever the movie comes near you, see it.

(DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH)

(January 17)

——Havoc (2004)——

If you’ve heard of this movie, it’s probably because you’ve heard that Anne Hathaway gets naked in it. And does she. Not nearly enough to save the movie though, unfortunately. It starts off with an interesting premise, with these rich white kids trying to escape that meaningless identity by embracing black rap culture. Being rich though, they’ve got no idea what that culture means, exactly. After a joyride through the hood that shocks the teens, Hathaway finds something raw and real in what she sees and goes back, wanting to join a real gang. She and her friend are a little shocked to find out what that really entails though.

The problem with this movie is that it has an interesting idea, but doesn’t go far enough with it. The ending plays more like an after school TV movie than a grown up and gripping drama. It has potential but never quite makes it go.

(MISS)

——Club Dread (2003)——

I wanted to like this movie and it does have some good parts. The issue is really that the movie can’t figure out if it wants to be a comedy spoof of horror movies or if it really wants to be a slasher flick. Push far enough in either direction and the movie could be really good, but as it is it’s only a halfway decent film caught between two genres. There are some parts I liked. The life-size Pac-Man maze was hilarious. The constant (and encouraged) hornyness was pretty funny. And the spoof of the villain coming back after you think he’s dead was a good riot too. I would have liked to see the scares pushed further though. This would be a pretty good addition to the 80’s slasher genre, but after seeing Super Troopers (2002) this was definitely a step backwards for the Broken Lizard guys.

(MISS)

——Election (1999)——

Before Sideways (2004), Alexander Payne’s best movie was Election. Matthew Broderick plays Teacher of the Year, Jim McAllister, whose life just decides to crap on him one year. That damn Tracy Flick (a delightful Reese Witherspoon), high school over-achiever and then some, is running for class president, and unopposed at that. Broderick convinces the star quarterback with the busted knee (Chris Klein, playing pitch perfectly the naïve nice guy) that he has the leadership abilities that qualify him to run for class president. And that’s about when everything goes wrong.

What’s nice about Election is how Payne, like in Sideways, keeps the story focused firmly on character, even when everything starts to go crazy. We are somehow able to both loath and empathize with Jim McAllister and Tracy Flick at the same time while they slowly self-destruct. Plus, the whole thing just happens to be hilarious. Notice the little details, like how after Tracy discusses how great Coke is, Mr. McAllister is only seen with Pepsi in his hand for the rest of the film. In fact the cup that he throws at the limo carrying Tracy at the end of the film is a Pepsi cup. Things like that add up in your mind until you are laughing like crazy until the very end.

(MUST SEE)

(January 18)

——9 Songs (2005)——

I was a little surprised at how much I liked this film. On paper it sounds stupid. A young couple go to nine concerts, we hear nine songs from nine different bands, and in between they screw like rabbits. That’s it, that’s the whole plot. Oh yeah, and the whole thing is compared the male lead’s job as an ice scientist in the Antarctic. Sounds kind of lame, huh? What works is how well the film is put together. The film is really a collection of memories of a relationship from the male lead. You see the good times. You see his confusion when the relationship goes off-kilter. You also see some hardcore nudity and sex scenes. What rings true are the little moments of feeling you are in love. Everything is very artfully done and reflective, so much so that you’ll be thinking about the film for a while after it’s over.

(SEE)

(January 19)

——Jackson County Jail (1976)——

Hell, this was a surprise. One doesn’t usually expect movies this good from trash drive-in producer, Roger Corman. This movie knocked my socks off though.

It’s about a woman who is basically having the worst week ever. Her male boss tells her that she doesn’t know what women want in a tampon commercial, so she quits and goes home only to see her husband in the pool with a topless young girl. So she decides to leave LA and take a job in NYC. Instead of flying though, she wants to drive. “I’ve never seen our great country except at 30,000 feet.” Her friend says that’s how you should see it, at 30,000 feet. She should have listened to her friend. She picks up some hitchhikers who then steal her car and take her purse (lesson of the day: if you see a pregnant woman who looks like she’s strung out on drugs, don’t pick her up). She walks to a bar, where the bar owner tries to take advantage of her only to later tell the cops that she was trying to take advantage of HIM. Since she no longer has any identification on her they put her in a jail cell until they can confirm who she is.

Funny enough though, that’s when things REALLY get bad. The night watchman decides that he is going to have a little of that nice LA ass and rapes her. She then beats him to death with a stool. In the next cell is a young Tommy Lee Jones, arrested for trying to steal a melon truck, although he’s wanted all over. He’s the one who tells her the guard is dead and then drags her into his truck to make a run for it. You see, no one is going to believe her self-defense story. So they have to run from the law. Like I said, worst week ever.

Tommy Lee Jones is just brilliant in this movie. This isn’t grumpy old Tommy we’re used to, but young starving actor Tommy, and he is perfect in his role in this movie. Even though on paper he’s the worst one of all, he’s actually the only one that helps her out and treats her with any sort of respect. He’s a sort of James Dean character. By the end, he is trying to convince her to tell the authorities that he did it.

Without ruining the end, let’s just say that not all goes to plan. The ending is just perfect. Even though this is a really low budget Roger Corman picture, the story, acting and direction all shine.

(MUST SEE)

(January 20)

——Junebug (2005)——

I saw this at Images last fall and was just blown away when I saw it. On second viewing…still blown away. This is one of those movies that just sticks with you for a long time. One of the things I really noticed this time watching it was how the whole film feels exactly how you feel when visiting a relative that you see very infrequently. The weirdness of the surroundings. That feeling of knowing a relative you don’t really know anything about. The quiet periods of reflection where you have nothing to do because it is not your house.

The story is about an art dealer who goes down to North Carolina to convince a new artist to show through her gallery. The artist just happens to live nearby to where her husband’s family lives so they go to meet the family for the first time. Every character is just like someone you know. The standouts are Amy Adams and The O.C.’s Ben McKenzie, as the young couple that still live with his parents. OK, forget about everyone else. Amy Adams is the real knockout. Every time she isn’t on screen you want more.

I’ll gladly list this as one of my favorite films of the year, so go out and see it now, alright?

(MUST SEE)

——Hustle and Flow (2005)——

I didn’t really know what to think of this one. It had been getting a lot of great reviews, but somehow the pimp pulling himself out of the gutter with his rap skills plot seemed a little been there, done that to me. I guess that’s why the movie hit me like an atom bomb. This film is damn good.

I’ll start off where the movie starts off: Terrence Howard, as the middle aged pimp DJay. From the very first shot of him I was hooked. There is just something about this performance. That first shot is of DJay in his car talking to one of his tricks. The speech he is giving her is empowering, but just look at his eyes. These are the eyes of a man broke down, grasping at the end of his rope. His eyes are watery and he looks like he’s ready to cry. This is the kind of energy Terrence Howard gives to the role. He’s amazing to watch.

DJay figures the only way to get out of the pimp game is by rapping after seeing Skinny Black (Ludacris), another rapper from his hood who made it big, on TV. What really helps the film is that the songs he makes are actually really bitching, kick ass rap songs. You want him to succeed.

But then you get to that point in the movie where you just know they are going to break into some lame rise to the top, he beat all odds cliché. What’s amazing about the film is that it somehow manages to have its cake and eat it too, i.e. you get the ending you want in a completely unexpected and original way. I’ll leave you to figure out what that means.

Also good was the direction, which takes its cues from 70’s blacksploitation cinema, right down the funk and soul soundtrack, the high saturated color and even the credits, which seem transplanted straight from something like Shaft of Coffy. This is a great, extremely fun film. You’ll be pleasantly surprised.

(MUST SEE)

(January 21)

——Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (2005 Special Edition) (1973)——

(NOTE: This is a review of the 2005 Special Edition of the film, reedited using the Sam Peckinpah’s notes and the “insights of colleagues”, whatever that means. I’ve never seen the original theatrical cut (not included on the DVD) nor have I seen the 1988 Turner Preview Version.)

Having seen other Peckinpah films, I have to say that from my limited perspective this version of the film seems pretty dead on to the way Peckinpah would have liked it. This feels like a complete film, and there doesn’t really seem to be an off note in it.

Kris Kristofferson plays Billy the Kid, a cocky and cool rogue and maverick wanted by the law. James Coburn is Sheriff Pat Garrett who has sworn to bring him in and also just happens to have ridden with Billy in the past. It’s one of those Peckinpah Westerns, where there is a mutual respect between the two flawed and opposed main players. Peckinpah makes clear the point of the degeneration of society through a degeneration of a friendship, using all his trademark uses of violence. Both main characters are doomed. I’m not ruining anything here, since you’ll find this out in the very first scene. How it all happens is what’s interesting, and this is where Peckinpah is a genius, because he knows how to make the brutal elegant.

Which brings me to my final note, the Bob Dylan score and Bob Dylan the actor. Both the score and the actor shouldn’t work. And yet they do. Beautifully. I was a little dubious when I saw that Dylan would also be acting in the film. Come on, this is going to suck, right? But he’s so mysterious, so there but not there, the fact that he IS Dylan just makes his character more interesting. It’s never really explained what his motivations are. He says almost nothing. And it just sucks you all in. Much like the soundtrack, which fits the film perfectly. You all know the song, “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”? Of course you do. It was written for this movie. And every time it is used, the song gains some sort of extra meaning. I don’t think I can think of any more poignant scene than that in which Slim Pickins gets it while Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door plays in the background.

(MUST SEE)

(January 22)

——Hoodwinked (2006)——

Hoodwinked makes up for its horrible animation (this looks closer to a Playstation game than Pixar) with actual creative and imaginative storytelling, something seriously missing in almost all of the non-Pixar computer generated movies at this point. The film turns the traditional Little Red Riding Hood story on its head by starting out with a police investigation where each of the four suspects at the scene of the crime tell their story of how they got there, Rashomon-style. What follows is quirky, different, Indie-spirited and very often hilarious with throw off lines that will keep the adults in the audience constantly entertained. A few of my favorites involve a discussion of why Kyle isn’t a good name for an evil henchman and a song lyric in a music montage about how “Red is blue, even though that really doesn’t make any sense.” Go take a piss on the empty visuals of Shark Tale and Madagascar and Robots and watch this instead.

(SEE)