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

Marwencol | OFFICIAL trailer US (2010) ComicCon SXSW Silverdocs IFF Boston

This looks awesome! Great year for docs.

Movie #34 The Parking Lot Movie

I feel like and absentee landlord.  I checked and I haven't blogged in 10 days.  Not too good for a blog that started out with the concept of watching and blogging about a movie every day for a year.  Rest assured though that I have been watching films during this time.  I just haven't committed myself to blog about them.  I will try to catch up over the next few days.

I started out watching a movie I DVR'ed on PBS.  It's called The Parking Lot Movie.  It is a low budget documentary about a small pay-to-park parking lot in Charlottesville, VA.  The lot if controlled and surveyed by a rotating group of grad students, philosophy majors, snarky artists and twenty something slackers.  Many of whom move on from the parking lot to prestigious jobs in equally prestigious fields or occupations. 

Meghan Eckman is the director of the film.  She attempts to add some gravitas to a rather banal story by adding chapter titles and slow motion shots.  It makes the film come off a little self important and only makes the film look that much more amateurish.  It's visual style reminded me a little of the Canadian sketch comedy TV show "The Kids in the Hall".

This film is an interesting one for me.  It made me think about other documentaries I have seen this year.  It made me wonder what makes a good doc, or what makes a doc good?  The lines or rules that used to goveren documentaries are being blurred more now than ever.  Franqois Truffaut said that mock-umentaries were the last oridginal genre of film to be created.  Documentaries now have built in naritives.  Documentaries make you question your surrounding.  Documentaries make you question their authencity.  Movies like "I'm Not Here" and "Exit from the Gift Shop" are really pushing the boundries of what is a documentary.

The Parking Lot movie doesn't really push any buttons like the doc's mentioned above. It thrives on the characters that inhabit the colelction booth.  As a whole it is a soild character study.  I only wish the director had simpily allowed the camera to roll and not try to "pretty up" the films with visual flairs that did nothing for the story.  This film is only about 80 minutes long.  It fills the time without overstaying it's welcome.  I give the film 3/5 stars.  Check out the link below for the trailer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSvZXidLJ3U

Dogtooth - Official Trailer [HD]

This movie ranks #1 on my Netflix Queue. Check it out.

Movie #33 Children of Men

I had the great pleasure of attending a movie at a small film fest this weekend.  The fest theme was "Bad Futures".  It consisted of 15 films over the course of 3 days.  The common thread between the films was dystopia.  Films that played were Blade Runner, A Clockwork Orange, The Matrix, 2001: A Space Odyssey and a slew of others including the film I saw Children of Men.

I had seen Children of Men once before on DVD.  I remember liking it, and I remembered some of the details.  Mostly what I remembered was a long single take of a war zone being interrupted by the cries of a baby.  Why would a baby crying cause a battle to cease?  It is the first baby most of the soldiers had ever seen.  The film is set in Britain in the near future.  For some unexplained (most likely unknown) reason mankind had lost it's ability to reproduce.  The "fun" part of the movie is that it really doesn't matter why humans can't make babies, what matters is how would we cope when the youngest person on the planet is slightly over 18 years old.

Children of Men does not exist in a Blade Runner futuristic world, nor does it have the conceptual complexities  that The Matrix presents.  This is a simple story of survival in a world not unlike the one that we live in now.  The largest effect this global neutering seems to have had is a strict nationalism.  Britain has closed it's borders and any immigrants are being caged up and shipped out.

This movie rocked my world.  I was completely engulfed from the first 10 minutes.  The movie is brilliantly directed  and written by Alfonso Cuaron and stars Clive Owen, Michael Caine, Julianne Moore, and Chiwetel Ejiofor (one of my favorite working actors).  Cuaron's camera work is haunting and disturbing.  There are at least 5 scenes with a near 10 minute unbroken take.  There is one scene in particular where the group is in the car and things start to go wrong, it intimacy and shock and realism of this scene left my hands shaking.

Clive Owen gives the performance of his career in movie.  He is perfectly understated while retaining an interest that can't be avoided.  I found I was putting myself in his shoes (or flip flops) very early on in the movie.  Michale Caine pays his hippie father and allows for some great comedic moments to counterbalance the pessimistic outlook.  Owen's character in the movie, Theo, get recruited by a renegade group headed by Julianne Moore.  He is to supply traveling papers for a young black woman with a secret.  His motive is simple.  The renegades are offering money and he needs money.  As part of the arrangement he ends up having to escort this young woman.  This is where all hell breaks loose.  Cuaron allows his protagonist to make bad decisions, and fumble around.  He really is the futuristic "Joe six-pack".  You can't help but think "What would I do in that situation".  He doesn't act out of any "allegiances" or "codes" or "morals".  His actions are generated by his need to survive.  It is not until late into the movie where he really does anything that most people would consider courageous.  And even then he gets the rug pulled out from underneath him. It is the difference between "hero" and "protagonist".  Like a sci-fi Benjamin Braddock. 

I'm not sure if I simply have a better appreciation of cinema now, or if  seeing this film on the big screen made it so much more memorable.  But whatever it was I was hooked.  This will be joining my DVD collection very soon.  I give it a 5/5 stars!  Check out the link below for the trailer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NikEQy1XxDE

Restless HD 2011 Movie Trailer Gus Van Sant

I figure this one isn't on your radar yet, but you better put it on there.
In Van Sant we trust.

Movie #32 Jackass 3-D

I don't really even know where to start on this one.  I saw this in a nice theater in my girlfriends home town.  We were on a long weekend to visit her mother, sister and the rest of the family.  The was my first time meeting them.  I think things went pretty well.  I chewed my food with my mouth closed and laughed at everyone's jokes.  I thought if I typed out the activities of the weekend maybe I could find some thread of a connection to the movie.  No dice.  And now that I think of it, I am so glad there was no similarities between my weekend and the MTV wrecking crew called Jackass.

I say that I have no idea what to do with this blog mostly because Jackass has no reference points that I am aware of.  It is not a "movie".  That is to say that it is not fictional , at least not in its presentation.  Nor is it a documentary.  I would best describe it as Candid Camera meets America's Funniest Home Videos made by The 3 Stooges.

I should stop trying to wrap my mind around this film and just discuss it.  For those of you who don't know, Jackass is based off an MTV show.  It is a group of 20 something boys doing all sorts of dangerous, stupid, and disgusting "stunts" and pranks.  The film hinges on two factors:

• How much they can gross out the audience.
• How much they can make the audience laugh.

 Fortunately, they hit me hard in both categories.  This is the most visceral comedic reaction I have had to a movie since I watched Borat the first time.  I should say that these are the lowest of the low brow laughs.  Things like a man trying to hit a ping pong ball with his penis and super-gluing a midget to a fat guy.  If you laugh at videos of a man taking a wiffle ball bat to the groin (and really who doesn't) this should have you rolling in the isles.   The other reaction I had was literally trying to hold back the puke.  There is enough poop and urine in the movie to get me though for a long while.  The "scene" in the port-a-potty makes the bathroom in Trainspotting look like the bathroom in Sleeper.  If you are at all quezey about bodily functions and/or full frontal nudity I would stay away from this "film".

My biggest problem with the film is the same as the one that I had with the television show.  As long as these idiots are going to prank and torture each other I'm fine with that.  It is when they go out in public and reign their mischievousness on others that I find it mean spirited.  And I think that brings the momentum they have been generating to a halt. I didn't think the 3-D really added anything to the film.  More so I would say that the use of the high def super slow motion was very effective.  One of the goons that helped to start and direct this show is Spike Jonez of "Being John Malkovich" and "Adaptation" directorial fame.  I have seen Spike use this techunique in some music videos and skateborad videos as well.  It is very effective here.

Overall this was a nice cap to a great weekend.  I enjoyed Jackass 3-D and would give it 3/5 stars.  Check out the link below for the trailer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKwjU_pSSW4