Mofo Rising
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Frightening Fanatic of Horrible Cinema
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My cat can eat a whole watermelon!
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« on: September 18, 2011, 02:18:44 AM » |
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This is an oddball little film, and a good example of a sort of movie that enjoyed a pseudo-popularity in the early '90s. Like its cousins HIGHWAY TO HELL, RUBIN & ED, and THE DARK BACKWARD, MOTORAMA is a genre of film looking for an audience. Well, that audience was me, it was forgotten by everybody else.
MOTORAMA is the story of a 10-year-old kid who heads out on the road to play the contest "Motorama." Basically, every gas station would give out Motorama cards when you bought gas. If you manage to put all of the letters together you win 500 million dollars!
Basically, what we've got here is a little parable about chasing a manufactured idea of American success. We follow our young hero, not the greatest child actor you've ever seen, as he chases his sweepstakes phantom. As he crosses the country, a fake stand-in for America with different money and states, he meets a variety of oddball characters, almost all of which are actively hostile. He slowly becomes more debauched and wounded, and the landscape around him becomes darker and darker as he pursues his spiritual quest. By the end, this kid has been beaten, tattooed, and at one inexplicable point his hair turns completely white.
I like this film, but it's pretty far from successful. For the most part it's slow, and it shows its budget.
This film is also loaded with cameos. For some reason, every release of this film has tried to capitalize on Drew Barrymore, who appears in the film for some 30 odd seconds. But there are some genuinely good cult actors who appear in this film. D**k Miller (c'mon filter, that's his name), Mary Woronov, Jack Nance, Robert Picardo. There's also some less than inspiring appearances. Flea, Martha Quinn (whose nerdy bank teller I find super hot).
I can't really recommend the film, but it's part and parcel of exactly the sort of weird little film I was looking for back in my high school days, all pre-internet, mind you. 4 out of 5 stars for me, but your mileage will probably vary considerably.
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