Recent Viewings, Part 2

[Rev. Powell]

DREAM TEAM (2024): Two sexy Interpol agents investigate a mystery: coral (the entire species) is the main suspect. This episodic pop-surrealism lark (literally divided into episodes with titles like "Asses to Ashes") is meant to evoke a cross between "Twin Peaks" and "Silk Stalkings" (with maybe a little Andy Sidaris thrown in); it alternates experimental film techniques with sometimes amusing, campy parody. Misses more than it hits, but when it works it's fun, and although I think most audiences will hate it, I admire the impulse. 2.5/5.

[FatFreddysCat]

"The Mentors: Kings of Sleaze Rockumentary" (2018)
The passing of Mentors guitarist Eric Carlson, aka "Sickie Wifebeater," prompted me to revisit this thoroughly entertaining trip through the long and bumpy history of the legendary porn-rock trio. Packed with tons of gross/hilarious vintage live and interview footage and testimonials from members of Raven, Exodus, Wild Dogs, and more.  Not for the easily offended!

[M.10rda]

FAR FROM HOME (1989):
I confess to a blank spot in my film knowledge when it comes to the alcoholism & substance abuse years of an adolescent Drew Barrymore - the time frame following CAT'S EYE and running up to POISON IVY. This film seems to be the notable highlight of this period, and it's completely forgotten... though not uninteresting!

Barrymore is a disaffected 13-going-on-14 year old riding around the Southwest with her divorced dad (Matt Frewer!) in his beaten-up station wagon. They break down in a desert trailer park where Drew makes hungry eyes at a hunky teenage bad boy and a serial killer may be stalking the residents. Those residents include a nice assortment of character actors, including "That Guy" Dick Miller as the local Sheriff, Richard Mazur as a weird mechanic w/ a sniper rifle, Jennifer Tilly as an underdressed bored teen, Susan Tyrrell as (what else?) a crazy b!+c#, and Anthony Rapp as a wimpy-seeming outcast who befriends Drew.

What initially looks a little like a made-for-TV movie does occasionally deliver a few arresting shots against a bombed-out looking landscape straight out of a MAD MAX movie. It also erupts now and then into R-rated prurience: at one point Drew peers into a neighboring trailer and sees a (long) insert of 80s porn stalwart Teri Weigel (who otherwise doesn't appear in the film) getting a vigorous if softcore railing. Eventually Drew almost gets sexually assaulted and ends up with a very wet (err, transparent) t-shirt for her troubles. I don't know exactly how old Drew actually was at this point and I feel creepy Googling it, but her performance oscillates between indifferent and, when her character is courting sexual danger, total conviction....... which secured her vixenish lead in POISON IVY, I imagine. For the less pervy viewer, FAR FROM HOME finally escalates into nearly a slasher/horror flick - not enough for my tastes, but better than not at all.

3/5

The screenplay is credited to two disparate characters - Theodore (Ted) Gershuny (writer/director of some weird 70s flicks including SILENT NIGHT, BLOODY NIGHT, starring his then-wife Mary Woronov (!)) and Tommy Lee Wallace, who directed the very good and offbeat HALLOWEEN III and the pretty dreadful original version of IT, as well as episodes of "Max Headroom". Max's avatar Frewer is top-billed and reasonably capable if not super-compelling as a leading man in a feature. He would give much stronger character performances in later films such as WATCHMEN, THE STAND, and DAWN OF THE DEAD 'O4. Rapp had previously co-starred with Elizabeth Shue and Vincent D'Onofrio in ADVENTURES IN BABYSITTING, later had a lot of success on Broadway, and will be forever remembered as the bespectacled nice guy tooling around with Marisa Ribisi and Adam Goldberg in the timeless DAZED AND CONFUSED. Hopefully Rapp is remembered for that and not for recently being the plaintiff in an assault case against Kevin Spacey.    Rapp is an interesting actor and, if nothing else, FAR FROM HOME gives him an opportunity to play a character that otherwise I've never seen him play...

[M.10rda]

BYE BYE BIRDIE (1963):
I started 2024 by watching three mediocre-to-terrible musicals and one ridiculous yet hilarious one (BREAKING 2: EB) so figured I'd close the year with another musical. The source material is a show I loathed in my pre-pubescence, similar to how I loathed ANNIE and GREASE. Now I'm an old man and I find GREASE more abhorrent than ever, but the small pleasures of ANNIE have grown on me and likewise BYE BYE BIRDIE (which I'd only ever seen onstage) is almost a delight in many regards. The songs remain puerile but the screenplay here almost qualifies as satire - tons of jokes at the expense of baby boomers, dumb teenagers, consumerism, pop culture, and even the Russkies! - so the simple melodies and ludicrous lyrics play into the air of parody.

Also, director George Sidney directs the hell out of the musical numbers. He also directed KISS ME KATE, the least onerous of the three early-'24 musicals mentioned above, though not nearly so well. (Perhaps Sidney watched Robert Wise's work on WEST SIDE STORY and decided he needed to up his game 10 years on from KMK.) What Sidney does best is put gifted dancers onscreen under the direction of a crackerjack choreographer and then instructs his DP to set down tracks and just follow the frenetic, sometimes outrageous dance moves. He doesn't make the mistake of so many hack musical directors (Rob Marshall comes to mind), as well as hack martial arts directors, and cut the magical performances to senseless s**t. Instead you get the best possible front row seat for these numbers, often panning and tracking and sailing around to get the best angles. When Sidney does cut, he goes full-tilt montage as in the head-spinning "Telephone" song. This is a director using the tools of cinema to optimize the musical theatre experience, not hamstring it. Some of the sequences here rank among the best musical numbers I've seen onscreen.

BBB still ain't a masterpiece. Dick Van Dyke reprises the lead role from the Broadway premiere but after his success in MARY POPPINS he's strictly on auto-pilot. Top-billed Janet Leigh looks surprisingly smokin' in several of her costumes and gives decent song-and-dance - though her role is complete retrograde sexist nonsense. There are two standout performances that would make BIRDIE an event even in the absence of Sidney's filmmaking, however, and they appeal to two perhaps diametrically opposed poles of the audience demographic...

The first is Ann-Margret in her third film, twenty-two years old playing a seventeen year old virgin who (like Drew Barrymore in FAR FROM HOME) gets the full Hollywood objectification treatment but is clearly an eager participant every step of the way. A-M is funny, a good singer, and a great dancer, but who am I kidding, I'm mentioning her here because she is pure sex in this film presumably marketed towards minors. Sidney's camera loves her and she loves to love that camera, boy... singing directly into it at several points as if she's making love to the viewer. I initially tried to avoid making eye contact with her prominent erect nipples in multiple shots, then surrendered, as they are onscreen so damn often.

Unimpressed though by Ann-Margret? I give you Paul Lynde as A-M's dad, in what was probably his biggest feature film vehicle before becoming a household name for playing himself on "Hollywood Squares" and a series of baroque, ghoulish Paul Lynde holiday specials. (I strongly recommend the "Paul Lynde Halloween".) Closeted gay actors like Rock Hudson had a tough time enough in 60s Hollywood even while acting like hetero studs onscreen; Lynde made life no easier for himself by playing all of his roles as flamboyantly as possible. Srsly, Lynde's high camp hysterics make Charles Nelson Reilly seem like a portrait of dignified masculinity. Lynde's face is locked perpetually in the agonized expression of someone violently passing an insoluble brick of brisket. His standard vocal inflection sounds like the noise one makes when one discovers they've been pooped upon by a bird or that they've dropped their cell phone in the toilet bowl. Lynde would be worth gawking at even if the screenplay didn't give him bizarre stuff to do, like bellowing "I don't want your respect!!!" at a small child. The simple premise that Paul Lynde made love to a woman and Ann-Margret was the product of that union is inherently comical. You know what, let me roll that back: "The simple premise that Paul Lynde made love to a woman" ellipses ellipses ellipses - fixed.

3.5/5

Lynde was notoriously difficult to work with but A-M must've liked him enough to appear with him again in 1979's THE VILLAIN, also starring The Ahnuld. Did I mention that BYE BYE BIRDIE features a big buffoonish Elvis character named Conrad Birdie? Apparently Elvis could take a joke and approved Sidney to direct VIVA LAS VEGAS (co-starring A-M). I've never cared for Elvis' movies but George Sidney and peak hotness A-M might compel a viewing...

[Rev. Powell]

WICKED (2024): This first installment in the two-movie adaptation of the gently subversive Oz prequel shows the future Wicked Witch of the West attending magic college, meeting her rival/frenemy Glinda, and coming to odds with the Oz government's fascistic plans. Overlong for sure, and the CGI makes Oz look fake and plastic compared to the handmade 1930s version, but the plot is engaging and the musical numbers are spectacular. 3.5/5

[FatFreddysCat]

"Neighbors" (1981)
The dreary life of a bored suburban husband (John Belushi) is turned upside down when an obnoxious new couple (Dan Aykroyd and Cathy Moriarty) move into the house next door, bringing chaos with them.
This bizarre, seemingly directionless comedy has a few random laughs, but overall it's too weird for its own good. It probably would've worked better with Belushi playing the wild-man character and Aykroyd the straight-laced guy (which apparently was the original plan until Dan & John decided to switch roles during pre-production). Sadly, this was Belushi's last movie - it was released only four months prior to his death, and it's not a great way to go out. Skip it unless you're a Belushi/Aykroyd completist.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Driving Force" (aka "Roadwars," 1989)
Set in an unspecified near future, a nice-guy single Dad takes a job as a tow truck driver on a particularly dangerous stretch of highway. The reason it's dangerous is because a rival crew of wreckers drums up business on that road by causing accidents, and naturally they don't want trespassers on "their" turf.
Soooo, it's kinda like a cheese-n-crackers "Road Warrior" ripoff, cuz everybody drives crapped out armored vehicles with chicken wire over the windows, but they're not wearing leather S&M gear or sports equipment.
A silly but watchable car-crashing action flick that was produced by Australians, filmed in the Philippines, and stars a cast of American D-listers like Sam "Flash Gordon" Jones, Catherine "Daisy Duke" Bach (still hot!) and Patrick Swayze's lookalike younger brother Don Swayze.

[indianasmith]

NO HARD FEELINGS (2023) - So, Jennifer Lawrence has the lead in this rather raunchy rom-com about a down and out Uber driver named Maddie who has lost her car and is about to lose her house due to delinquent property taxes.  But, she sees an ad offering a free car to anyone who will "date" this rich couples chronically shy, introvert son to "get him out of his shell" before he goes off to Princeton.  So the 31-year-old Maddie spends the rest of the movie trying to seduce the 19 year old nerd, leading to one madcap hijink after another.  This was a pretty fun movie, and J-Laws beach fight scene is quite the . . . eyeful, shall we say.  4/5

[zombie no.one]

SMILE (2022)

At last a new (ish) horror that actually scared me. I loved LATE NIGHT WITH THE DEVIL, but it wasn't exactly scary.

Unfortunately there's about half a dozen little things I wish this movie either hadn't done, or at least had done slightly differently, which prevents it from being a full on classic (to me), but apart from that, highly impressed... Will be checking the sequel when the blu ray's out

[M.10rda]

SMILE (2022)
Unfortunately there's about half a dozen little things I wish this movie either hadn't done, or at least had done slightly differently,

I watched the first 5 minutes and stopped, while Madame 10rda kept watching. Usually it's the other way around. There was something about the set-up that made me uneasy and not in the normal fun way per horror movies. I have very few triggers but somehow I had the sense that I wasn't going to have a good or even satisfying time w/ SMILE. Later Madame confirmed my suspicions for me, sort of. Apparently there's cat murder? Pretty much a no-no for me, the original RE-ANIMATOR notwithstanding. It wasn't what I was dreading from this one, but I didn't mind missing it. My wife sure wasn't happy about it, either. Anyway, on to happier news...

[Jim H]

Rust Creek - A girl gets kind of lost in the Appalachian roads, some guys think she sees them doing something, and they accost her.  She escapes in the woods, and ends up in an uneasy alliance with another character.  This is a pretty solid film, but I'll say if you start it and it seems dull, it gets a lot better.  The big problem is it takes way too long for her to meet the character who ends up helping her some, as the stuff with the two of them just talking and dealing with the situation is by far the strongest part of the film. 

The opening act could have, and should have, been trimmed by like 15 minutes.  The conclusion is also just alright, can't quite live up to the really good scenes just before it.  All the acting is solid, except maybe the deputy who is a little too silly.  Overall well worth watching.

[M.10rda]

RED ONE (2024):
Hey, I got on the board with the first watch of 2024 on New Year's Day! Not the best film to set the tone for the year, but mostly inoffensive and sometimes of above-average entertainment. Anyone who has watched a mainstream action-comedy in the past 10-15 years is unlikely to be too shocked. The chemistry between The Rock and Chris Evans is exactly what Hollywood thinks audiences expect from such vehicles and exactly what we get (whether we expect or want it or not) most all the time. Evans (who I often enjoy) is borderline annoying, giving an antic anti-hero performance in a weird accent that (maybe consciously) approximates Adam Sandler's nasal Eastern accent. (Did Sandler drop out of this project during development?) The Rock, on the other hand, gives a very nicely measured/understated performance, but it's a little hard to stomach his handful of sentimental soliloquies about decency and ethics and taking responsibility for your actions, all of which (alas) sit poorly w/ some of his recent public rhetoric (...such is the danger of being an actor who insists on entering politics...). Far and away the best performance comes (not surprisingly) from Oscar-winning career essayer of scary, mean men J.K. Simmons, who makes a perfectly lovable and badass Santa Claus. Regrettably he's absent from all but the first and last 15 minutes of the movie.

But, RED ONE has a number of supplemental pleasures, including meaty roles for likeable Kiernan Shipka (previously seen for about 5 minutes in the dreadful TWISTERS) and always amusing Kristofer Hivju (likewise in the risible COCAINE BEAR), both playing Christmas boogeypersons seen in other Christmas exploitation flicks; an out-of-the-blue return to the screen for Bonnie Hunt, who I cannot recall seeing in anything in nearly 30 years; a giant talking polar bear enforcer; and, not least of all, a final 5 or so minutes that briefly rises above the median quality level and almost becomes inspired and thoughtful before the credits roll.

3/5
Definitely a better holiday movie than DEAR SANTA, anyway.

Happy New Year!

[zombie no.one]

Apparently there's cat murder? Pretty much a no-no for me,

I am with you here (cat owner / ownee) however it's not killed onscreen and is not handled overly traumatically (compared to some of the no-rules 80s italian flick animal abuse stuff you get anyway) ... interesting that you bailed so early, however I have also done that occasionally when just the vibe of a film feels so wrong from the start. Like I said though, was a worthwhile watch for me, dug it overall (and I'm about as critical and unenthusiastic about post 2010 horrors as you can get.)

and will be forever remembered as the bespectacled nice guy tooling around with Marisa Ribisi and Adam Goldberg in the timeless DAZED AND CONFUSED. Hopefully Rapp is remembered for that

considering it's in my all time Top 10 movies, I don't think I've ever seen a movie featuring a DAZED & CONFUSED actor which was done before it. I guess for most of them it was possibly their first film?  interested to see that one (and it has Dick Miller as well? bonus!)

edit - yes I have... HALLOWEEN 4 and GHOULIES 2 both star Sascha Jensen aka Donny...

[Rev. Powell]

SOUNDTRACK TO A COUP D'ETAT (2024): This documentary explores Belgian attempts to meddle in the politics of newly-independent, uranium-rich Congo, with the aid of the CIA, and America's concurrent campaign to use jazz musicians as peace ambassadors to African countries (sometimes as cover for nefarious operations). A jumbled collage of a movie featuring newsreels, interviews, vintage home movies, and classic jazz performances from Max Roach and Abbey Lincoln and other luminaries--not always adhering to a linear timeline--COUP D'ETAT trusts you to put the pieces together on your own, and is absolutely fascinating if you have an interest in either the Cold War, colonialism, or jazz. (Trigger alert: Khrushchev comes off like a good guy.) It's also 2.5 hours long. 4.5/5.

[lester1/2jr]

The Black Sheepdog - Don't Look Back: The Story of John Corapi (2011) - Really low budget, self produced documentary made by former Catholic TV preacher John Corapi. I used to listen to Corapi when I delivered Amazon (I was pretty starved for variety). I'll never forget him talking about his pre priest days in LA, like when he drove to Las Vegas with a briefcase full of cocaine, got pulled over, then the police just asked him questions about the Ferrari he was driving.

He got kicked out of the church in 2011 for alleged violations of his various vows. He pretty clearly broke the poverty one by buy all kinds of real estate and boats and so forth. The accusations of drug use and breaking the celibacy oath are harder to pin down, but it is odd he made the people he worked with sign NDA's.

He does stuff like talk about his early days in Las Vegas and how it was better when the mob ran it, his current outdoorsy life in Montana, and various things he accomplished in his ministry. It was pretty late and I dozed off at one point, but I'm pretty sure he did not come clean about any of the scandal stuff. He used to have his natural grey hair, now he dies his beard black and rides a motorcycle. I wonder what really happened??

3.75 /5