Movie #273 The Big Lebowski *1998*

I think I have said enough about this movie.  I think that this was my fifth viewing of this movie this year.

Movie #257 The Big Lebowski *1998*

This is a review of my latest exodus to another Lebowskifest.  I have at least 3 other reviews of The Big Lebowski somewhere in the last 10 months of blogs.

This festival took place in the birthplace of the Lebowskifest, Louisville Kentucky.  This year's fest was a special one.  It is the 10th anniversary of the festival dedicated to all things Lebowski.  Drinking, cursing, quoting, bowling and basic hanging out.   This was my 6th fest.  4 in Louisville and 2 in Chicago.  I enjoy the Louisville fests better as a whole.  There seems to be a stronger base of hard core fans at the Louisville events. 

After a long day of  90 degree temperatures and walking around Bardstown Road my special lady friend and I made our way to the parking lot of the bowling alley where these events take place.  We met up with a couple that we met at the last Chicago fest.  They made the 5 hour drive down from near Detroit for the weekend.  They had some sweet Lebowski themed corn hole boxes and we indulged in a fevered game (both due to the competition and the temperature).

Once the sun had set and the ice had melted we made our way onto the lawn.  We set up camp early in order to get good seats for the show.  We pre-gamed for a couple of hours listening to a few different bands.  None of them blew my socks off but all of them sounded pretty good.  Louisville has a booming indy rock scene.

Around midnight the bands cleared off the stage and they raised a large screen to project a DVD copy of the film onto.  I would guess that there were around 500 people in attendance.  That would be the largest group of people that I have seen at the fest.

I feel that The Lebowskifest is benefiting greatly from the "hipster" craze that is sweeping college campus' around the nation.  I saw a lot of plaid shorts, suspenders and straw fedoras this year.  Another thing that I noticed right away was the quantity of females in attendance.  5 years ago when I attended my first fest (the 5th fest in Louisville) I would say that 85% of the people there were males 21-39, 10% were men 40 and up and 5% were women dragged by there idiot boyfriends.  This year I would put the ratio at near 1:1 male to female.  Many females were with their significant other, but there was a large percent that showed up on their own free will.  

I of course spent the next two hours reciting nearly every word of dialogue.  Breaking only to laugh out loud several times.  Have I mentioned how wonderful my girlfriend is.  Not only does she tolerate my addiction, she has found a way to enjoy it in her own way.

One of my favorite things about the evening was when a young couple sat down down beside us on the lawn.  Both of them had their septum pierced and multiple visible tattoos.  It was midnight and they arrived with their (I'm guessing) 3 year old daughter and 6 year old son.  If you are unfamiliar with Lebowski, the F word is said 292 times withing the 90 minute running time.  You are permitted if not encouraged to shout out lines to the movie whenever you feel like it.  There is one scene where John Goodman as Walter is shouting (and I am as well) "Do you see what happens when you fu*k a stranger in the a$s!".  I am sure the kids learned a life lesson that night.

Once the show was over I again was overwhelmed with nostalgia and an inner peace.  As ridiculous and crude as the movie can, the Coen Brothers wrap it all up in a very touching and sincere way that gets me every time.  Good news was there was still another evening of Lebowski fun to be had and God willing another 10 years of festivals to come.

Movie #223 The Big Lebowski *1998*

Wow!  I was just checking my past blogs and I couldn't find my Lebowski review.  Well, I will be attending another Lebowskifest in mid July and I will be writing about the movie again then so for the time being I will give my readers (both of you) a 3 Reasons to watch my 2nd favorite film of all time.

Reason #1 - The Dude.  Jeff Bridges plays the character of a lifetime in Jeffery Lebowski.  He is a burnt out bum that stummbles and falls face first into a mystery movie.

Reason #2 - Walter Sobchak.  If I was making a list of my all time 10 favorite movie characters, John Goodman would make the list.  He plays a overly self confident Vietnam vet with a penchant for getting him self into other peoples business. 

Reason #3 - The plot.  Or lack of a plot.  I tell people that have never seen the movie that it is a story about a rug.  It is that simple.  I was talking with another aficienado of all things Lebowski and we were saying that if you cut everything out of the movie that didn't directly impact the plot, the film would be about 20 minutes long.  However the Coen's managed to fill this story with tons of quirk without making it quirky.

This is a film that pays off with repeat viewings.  I have easily seen it 100 times and I still laugh every time.  And some of the laughs only grow stronger every time I see it.  Lebowski is nearly a perfect movie.  I give it ★★★★★.

Movie #35 The Rocky Horror Picture Show

This past Saturday night I got to mark another thing off my bucket list.  I attended a midnight showing of the cult classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show.  For some bonus points I went on the night before Halloween.  In attendance was my girlfriend, an good friend, his girlfriend, and about 200 other freaks. 

We waited in line for about an hour in the freezing cold.  The line wrapped around an old dilapidated theater that looks like it should have been condemned years ago.  The line was populated with people dressed as characters from the film and if you have ever seen the movie you can imagine what a sight that was.

If you haven't seen the movie allow me to attempt to summarize it.  Two virginal newlyweds get stranded roadside and make their way to a castle in the woods in an attempt to get help.  To their surprise the master of the house is a flaming transvestite mad scientist in drag creating male lovers to fulfill his sexual desires.  There seems to be a party going on consisting of bizarre onlookers and perverts.  The party is seemingly to celebrate his (Dr. Frank N Furter) newest creation "Rocky", a muscle bound Aryen dream that is replacing his past creation "Eddie" played as a cryogenicly frozen rock star by Meatloaf.  Did I mention that the house is a space ship and that the inhabitants are aliens?  Did I mention that it is a musical?  Sound like a cult classic huh?

Needless to say the movie sucks.  Tim Curry is brilliant as the good Dr. and the music is cheesy and insane but definitely catchy.  The most recognizable of the songs is "Let's do the Time Warp Again".  What really makes showings of Rocky Horror famous is an entire second script that is yelled out by the viewers.  Along with shouting at the screen those in attendance are encouraged to use props to enhance the experience.  Things like rice, toilet paper, flashlights, news paper, noise makers, and toast are all part of the fun.  It is different than the Lebowskifest in a big way though.  While watching The Big Lebowski with a group of "Achievers", it is common place to shout out lines from the movie.  In RHPS participants shout out and entirely different script.  Also Lebowski is a lighter, laid back atmoshpere.  Rocky Horror is a sex filled seemingly angry crowd.  Many of the things shouted during RHPS are insulting to the characters.

This was my second venture to a RHPS viewing.  I have to say that the first time was better.  It was in a much nicer theater.  Most of the people there didn't know all the alternate lines so when they shouted the lines out it was more clear.  At this viewing everyone was yelling different things at different times.  It was very difficult to understand the dialogue.  The building was filled with a loud white noise.

The cool thing about this viewing was that there was a local acting troupe actually performing the film below the screen.  I was in the back of the room and couldn't see or hear if they were reciting lines or not, but they had the pantomime down pat.  It was very cool to watch.

Ranking this movie is somewhat irrelevant.  People don't go to Rocky Horror to see a great movie.  They go for the experience.  The movie is a 2/5 stars.  This experience is one that I will remember for years to come.  Check out the link below for a trailer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHNFkqPFBko