And the most unnecessary sequel of 2013 IS…
300: Rise of an Empire AND Texas Chainsaw 3D!
Unless I’m mistaken, I’m pretty sure this is the very first time we’ve had a tie in one of these here polls, and I certainly can’t think of a more fitting occasion. Then again, 300 really left a lot of things unsaid, and boy, if isn’t high time Leatherface transitioned over to the third dimension.
Right, guys?
Can I get an “Amen?”
No?
Serenity now, folks. The things we have to put up with in this industry…
At any rate, mighty swell voting all around! Be strong, boys and girls, we’ll get through this together.
RESULTS:
– 300: Rise of an Empire: 7 votes
– Texas Chainsaw 3D: 7 votes
– The Hangover: Part III: 6 votes
– The Last Exorcism 2: 5 votes (the writing’s on the wall with a title like that)
– The Smurfs 2: 5 votes (kind of surprised that this didn’t win by a mile)
– Paranormal Activity 5: 4 votes
– Grown Ups 2: 4 votes (nevermind, this should have won by a mile)
– Scary Movie 5: 3 votes
– Red 2: 3 votes
– Monsters University: 2 votes (does it bum anyone else out that Pixar is now a part of this conversation?)
– Fast and Furious 6: 1 vote
– Insidious: Chapter 2: 1 vote
– Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2: 0 votes
– Despicable Me 2: 0 votes
– G.I. Joe: Retaliation: 0 votes (color me surprised)
– Riddick: 0 votes (like I said)
– Ghostbusters 3: 1 write-in vote (is that actually happening now?)
– “All of them”: 2 write-in votes
– “All of the above”: 1 write-in vote
– “Jesus Christ, every single one”: 1 write-in vote (preaching to the choir, homey)
And apologies for the lack of reviews around these parts as of late, but what can I say, there just hasn’t been a single movie worth spending my time or money on in over a month now. Luckily, all that’s starting to change, so stay tuned this week at the same Bat time, same Bat channel as things get back to their normal routine. Y’all are troopers.
Best Movie Ever: Episode 10 – “Mock!” “YE-AH!”
Well hello there, boys and girls!
Welcome back to another fun-filled episode of Best Movie Ever! For the first time in ages, we actually got one of these suckers up when we said we would (and no, we can’t believe it either). In honor of The Incredible Burt Wonderstone – the only semi-noteworthy wide release this week – we’re taking a walk down memory lane with a look back at a legend of our time, the one and only Jim Carrey. Not only that, but we finish things off by running down our picks for the Best Funniest Scene Ever in a movie (to hell with grammar!). A tall order indeed, but we rose to the occasion like men…nay, like gods!
So without further ado, go right ahead and click that sweet, sweet banner to hear us giggle like straight up idiots.
Best Movie Ever – Episode 9: Haters Gonna Hate
Hey, everybody!
Welcome back to another glorious episode of Best Movie Ever. In honor of John McClane’s hot mess of a comeback last month, we run down our picks for the Best One-Man-Army Ever. And in the spirit of being random, we take a life-altering trip down memory lane, all the way back to the first movies we ever hated. Things just weren’t the same after that…
Anyway, click on the banner up there to listen, hope you enjoy, and apologies for the occasional audio drop-out. We’re pointing the finger at Skype on this one.
And the best movie of 2012 is…
DJANGO UNCHAINED!
Nothing quite like a good old Southern, huh? Swell voting, folks. Worth it for that Brunhilda speech alone.
RESULTS:
– Django Unchained: 21 votes
– Moonrise Kingdom: 12 votes
– The Dark Knight Rises: 11 votes
– Argo: 10 votes
– The Avengers: 9 votes
– Life of Pi: 8 votes
– Skyfall: 7 votes
– Silver Linings Playbook: 6 votes
– Lincoln: 6 votes
– Beasts of the Southern Wild: 5 votes
– Les Miserables: 5 votes
– Looper: 5 votes
– The Master: 4 votes
– Cloud Atlas: 3 votes
– The Grey: 3 votes
– Zero Dark Thirty: 1 vote
– Amour: 1 vote (nice!)
– Bad Ass: 0 vote (y’all are missing out, gang)
– Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close: 1 write-in vote
– Cosmopolis: 1 write-in vote
– The Perks of Being a Wallflower: 1 write-in vote
– Contraband: 1 write-in vote
– Barber of Siberia: 1 write-in vote (never heard of it, but boy, do I love me a Siberian barber)
– “Ur mom”: 1 write-in vote (well played)
– Seven Psychopaths: 1 write-in vote
– Oslo, August 31st: 1 write-in vote
– Prometheus: 1 write-in vote
– The Hobbit: 1 write-in vote
Welcome to Pine Hill (2013)
VERDICT:
7/10 Last Days
Might not be for everyone, but it’s as real as anything I’ve seen in ages.
Welcome to Pine Hill is about a young man making a life for himself in New York City after spending most of his life off the straight and narrow. He’s got a good job at an insurance agency, he bounces on the side, and keeps in touch with his old friends who are still on the block, wheeling and dealing. But then one day, tragedy enters into this young man’s life and his world is turned upside-down. So he starts repaying old debts, revisits his old stomping grounds, and tries to figure out what to do next before time runs out.
Folks, there’s really something to be said for movies that cast first-time actors in leading roles. I can’t remember the last time I saw a movie that felt so natural it could pass for a documentary, so it’s always nice to report back on one that does. For everything there is to dwell on about this movie, I figured this was as good a place to start as any because not only was it the first thing that grabbed my attention, but it ties into a lot of things that have made this movie linger with me since.
Now, the cast is led by one Shannon Harper who plays our man of the hour, Abu. Legend has it that he landed this part after getting into a confrontation of sorts with director after the former lost his dog and the latter ended up adopting it. It’s a meeting that’s actually depicted in the first scene of the movie, a scene that does a great job of staging the scene and setting the tone for what follows. And right off the bat, the kid is fantastic.
His is a performance that’s as understated as it is genuine, one that’s almost hard to even call a “performance” since it’s clear that Harper is just being himself the whole time. The only catch is that there a couple times where his authentic nature just makes other performances look like what we’d expect from first-time actors, like they’re just reading off a script instead of doing what comes natural. Not that hardest thing to overlook, but when those characters are being ignorant-ass fools, it does make them seem ignorant to a fault at times. And that’s no bueno when you’re going for realism.
But like I said, the upside is that these are just a couple instances in a movie that’s chock full of authentic moments and performances. I’m talking about a movie where it often doesn’t feel like the cameras are even there, where it often doesn’t seem like there’s even a script for this cast to work with. And those are all good things, and more than anything else, it’s that atypical realism that’s so special and refreshing about this movie.
Still, it’s a deceptively simple and slowly paced movie, and I can see how some might be turned off by how it plays out as such. But at the end of the day, the truth is that life itself tends to be deceptively simple and carefully paced. And while there’s some really heavy stuff going on this movie, stuff that would lead most characters to break down and lash out at the unjust world around them, Welcome to Pine Hill is devoid of all that melodrama and there’s a lot to take away from it in turn.
It’s a movie about living; about dying; about ignorance; about understanding. With that being said, it’s very open-ended and leaves a whole lot of room for interpretation, especially when you’re spending so much time just trying to read what’s going through Abu’s head. It’s also a movie that will resound quite differently with everyone who sees it because how one reads into it is very much a result of one’s life experiences. But even if it is unfamiliar, even if Abu’s life is nothing like your own, his struggles and how he copes with them are unquestionably universal.
Welcome to Pine Hill is a quiet, fascinating character study that I’m still trying to fully unravel, which is also why I don’t have more to say about it at the moment. But even if I did, it’s nevertheless a story that’s better suited for a discussion than a review. Unfortunately, for all the people that will be as intrigued by it as I was, I can’t help but feel like it will border on “boring” for others. Because, yes, the pacing is slow, and no, not much happens; but by the same token, those are some of the things that struck me about it most.
These days, we are flat-out inundated with movies that beat us over the head with the harsh realities of life and how we come to terms. So to have something like this come along to remind us what it’s really like to be human, what it’s really like to deal, now that’s the kind of movies we could use more of, the kind of movie worth seeking out. And for those who do, let’s the discussion begin.
The Bitter Buddha (2013)
VERDICT:
6/10 Walking Contradictions
Could have been something with a little more focus.
The Bitter Buddha is a documentary about Eddie Pepitone. If you haven’t heard of Eddie Pepitone, that’s okay, you’re not alone. He’s 54-years-old, he’s a stand-up comedian, and he’s been working the comedy club circuit for over 30 years now. Despite his notoriety as a “comedian’s comedian,” his success among his peers never quite led to success among the masses. But if you asked Eddie, he’s still working for that day to arrive. So he keeps writing his jokes, keeps doing this thing, and keeps making the rounds to make us all laugh.
As for me, never heard of the guy. Granted, I’m not exactly holing up at the Laugh Shack and scoping out new talent on the weekends, but that’s more a result of my fickle feelings towards the medium. When it comes stand-up, it’s rare that I find someone who I’ll actively YouTube at length just to see if there’s any material I might have missed. Rodney Dangerfield, Dave Chappelle, Norm MacDonald – that’s the kind of stuff that murders my productivity in a given day, the kind of stuff that I hold as the standard by which all others are judged.
But for a good little while there, Eddie Pepitone was meeting that standard.
Without question, I laughed more at the first half-hour of The Bitter Buddha than I probably did in the entirety of any movie I saw last year. Part of that’s because the pickin’s were awfully slim in the comedy department last year, but mostly it’s because Pepitone’s good at what he does. He’s got a style all his own, he knows how to work a crowd, and while laughing out loud isn’t my usual reaction to these kinds of things, damn if he didn’t have me doing just that.
Which leads us to the big question driving this whole biopic, “Why, after three decades of making people laugh, isn’t Eddie Pepitone a household name?”
And it’s a good question. It’d be one thing if he sucked, but since that isn’t the case, one can’t help but wonder why there are so many unfunny people out there gaining overnight fame when there are people like Eddie still trying to get there. To think that Whitney Cummings has multiple shows and Eddie Pepitone is struggling to land a bit part on How I Met Your Mother is enough to convince someone that we’re living in Bizarro World. And it’s not like you can blame good looks either, because if that were the case, Rodney never would have hit the big time. But yet, that’s the way it is, and it’s especially interesting given the career path of someone like Louis C.K.
Now, before Louie, before he became generally regarded as the funniest mother-effer on planet Earth, Louis C.K. was a stand-up comedian struggling for decades to make a name for himself. Not only that, but he was funny as hell. These days, you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who hasn’t heard of him, but the fact remains that it took a long-ass time for him to get his proper due. So with Louie’s recent fame as a late bloomer fresh in our minds, the thinking behind this doc is that maybe, just maybe, the same thing’s gonna happen to Eddie, and that somewhere down the line, we’ll be able to say we were first on the bandwagon.
And for that first half-hour, it’s almost hard to imagine that not happening to Eddie. At the very least, it’s hard not to hope for that to happen to him. But as the movie continued, my enthusiasm started to wane.
As for what makes up the bulk of the movie, I’d say a third of it is Eddie doing stand-up. As for what makes up an Eddie Pepitone set, you can pretty much boil it down to yelling and anger. It’s not quite Sam Kinison, but if Sam Kinison were alive today as a blue-collar Yankees fan from Staten Island, it’d be close. And for a while there, when he’s turning his traumatic childhood into self-depraving comedy gold, it works. But after a while, it seemed like he kept raging about a lot of the same things, and what can I say, yelling is a novelty that tends to wear off pretty quick with me.
As for what makes up the other two-thirds of the movie, you’ve got Eddie off the stage, going about his life and talking to the cameras about anything that comes to mind. It’s interesting for what it is, but to be honest, it just wasn’t interesting enough to keep me interested. And truth be told, that sucks. I’ve only seen one other documentary in my life where I just didn’t care about the guy in front the camera, and while Eddie isn’t intolerable by any means, I really wish I had cared more about him at the end as much as I had at the start.
The long and short of it is that by the time this was all over, I just didn’t feel like I knew who Eddie was. Maybe he really is this “Bitter Buddha” that he’s introduced to us as, this guy who meditates in the mountains and feeds squirrels in the park when he’s not ripping Twitter a new asshole. And I’d like to believe that’s who Eddie really is, but there were too many instances that made me suspect otherwise, like when his friend Marc Maron keeps calling him out on hamming for the camera and Eddie responds by trying to play dumb. As a portrait of the artist, I can’t shake this nagging feeling that we’ve been presented with a forgery, that the Eddie we’re seeing is just the guy Eddie wants us to see, and in a movie like this, that can be a dealbreaker.
Now, if that had been a focal point of the movie, like how Exit Through the Gift Shop painted Banksy and Thierry Guetta, then we’d have something to work with. But unfortunately, there’s just nothing all that raw about this doc or its subject, and with each new hypocritical or conflicting thing that I learned about this guy, the less interesting I found him.
But it’s not all his fault either. This here is a very unfocused movie, to the point where it’s hard to even tell what the point is at times. Because rather than try to tell a story that naturally progresses from one aspect of his life to the next, it functions more as an excuse to just follow Eddie around, documenting everything that comes out of his mouth. The one bit of structure it has going for it is this big lead-up to Eddie’s first time headlining a show at the Gotham Comedy Club, but even that seems out of place. It’s not like in Anvil! The Story of Anvil where the main characters have been working their entire lives to get to this moment and their entire future rests on its success; this just feels like another one of Eddie’s shows, not a make-it-or-break-it kinda situation in the slightest. The only remotely high-stakes thing about it is whether or not his estranged father will show up, and even that one goes out with a whimper.
It just baffles me why director Steven Feinartz went for this approach of all things, because climaxes don’t get much more anticlimactic. Man, if Feinartz had managed to capture in 90 minutes what Julien Nitzburg captured about Patton Oswalt in just 10 minutes, we’d have much more enthusiastic review on our hands. Seriously, hit up that link, you’ll be better off for it.
At any rate, I hate to be taking such a hardass tone with this review, because for everything that struck me as so suspect about it, it’s ultimately a harmless, semi-insightful movie about a guy and a profession that I can’t even pretend to really know about. Sure, I wasn’t left wondering “Why the hell isn’t Eddie famous?” like I was when this all started, and it’s also one of the more forgettable docs I’ve seen in quite a while. But if nothing else, it’s good for some laughs, and while I’d be surprised if this led to Eddie’s big break, more power to him if it does.
After all, if Whitney can get renewed for a second season, anything is possible in this crazy, crazy world.
Side Effects (2013)
VERDICT:
8/10 Shrink Traps
Man, am I gonna miss Steven Soderbergh.
Side Effects is about a young woman who’s living the good life until the day her husband goes to jail for insider trading. Five years later, her husband gets out, and as they try to pick up the pieces, she slowly starts losing her grip. Next thing you know, she’s driving her car into a wall, and when she wakes up in a hospital, she’s introduced to a psychiatrist. Rather than commit her, the psychiatrist tries to help this poor girl by writing her prescriptions in the hope of finding the right fit. So after several failed attempts, a miracle drug is found, and with the occasional sleepwalk being the only real drawback, life starts returning to normal. Her marriage gets better, the psychiatrist gets more work, and everything is just grand until tragedy suddenly strikes.
If it weren’t for Steven Soderbergh, this here would have been completely off my radar. Not only was I jaded by its unfortunate February release date – one of the worst moviegoing months there is – but I can’t be the only one who could barely even tell what this movie was about from the trailer. It just looked like the kind of movie that would come out in February, and that, dear readers, is just no bueno. But even if it had come out ten months from now, I wasn’t exactly a Jude Law fan to begin with, and I was still pretty skeptical that Channing Tatum could maintain this miraculous reinvention of his from last year into this one. And how about that boring-ass title and glaring contest of a poster? Certainly not helping matters any.
What can I say, movies where pharmaceutical companies are the “bad guy” have never really done it for me. But like I said, Steven Soderbergh was directing it, and at the end of the day, that was all the convincing I needed.
I don’t care if it’s porn stars playing call girls or male strippers on parade, Steven Soderbergh will make it work; and if there was anyone who could assure me that this snafu of a marketing campaign was not to be trusted, it was him. The good news is that Soderbergh doesn’t disappoint, so much so that I’m really struggling over whether I should just get it over with and bump that Verdict up to a 9. Not to mention that the said shitty marketing job actually wound up working in this movie’s favor. The excruciatingly bad news, on the other hand, is that this is apparently Steven Soderbegh’s last movie.
Really hope I’m not bursting anyone’s bubble with that last sentence, but alas, that is the word on the street. I’m praying to all that’s good and just in this world that I’m dead wrong about it, because if this is the kind of quality we’re going to be deprived of, it’s enough to make a movie nerd weep. Just think of what you’re doing to poor Channing, Steve! Pray for Channing, people.
So with that being said, what is it about the way Soderbergh handles this that has me so goddamn uppity about the guy? Well as much as I’m making it sound like he deserves all the freaking credit, the success of Side Effects is the result of a team effort.
As for the first Act, it’s interesting enough. It sets the stage, it’s occasionally surprising, and it’s hard to tell what direction we’re being taken in as the plot just initially revolves around Mara Rooney reacting to prescriptions. The first Act isn’t the best Act, but it does give Mara Rooney a whole lot of leeway to do her thing. Like most folks, I only really know her from The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and while her character’s demeanor here wasn’t much of a stretch in comparison, damn, if she doesn’t know how to pull it off. As a girl who’s being hopped up on one experimental drug after another, Rooney knows how to sell it. She really seems straight-up medicated, like she really is wandering around in this “poisonous fog bank” she keeps talking about, and it’s certainly something to watch.
But as good as Rooney is, it’s not until the second Act that her already-convincing performance starts operating on a new level and things in general get really, really interesting. But unfortunately, these said developments are so damn interesting that to discuss them in detail would be spoiling all the fun. As a result, this is the part of the review where, for reasons you can thank me for later, things are gonna get vague. Bear with me though.
Once the second Act kicks off with a proper kick to the brain, I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that most people watching will start raising logical suspicions. They immediately came to mind for yours truly, and I couldn’t help but worry that I had the rest of the plot pegged. The funny thing is that, in a sense, my concerns weren’t contradicted, but the way it all plays out from that point forward is just so unusually smart and compelling that I shortly forgot whatever it was I had been worrying about. And this is where the script by Scott Z. Burns comes into play.
Now, this is the third movie that Burns and Soderbergh have joined forces on, and you can chalk that up as casualty No. 2 as a result of Soderbergh’s early retirement. If Contagion alone was any indicator, Burns knows the drill when it comes to moving a story along and intelligently steering a plot. He’s good when it comes to dialogue, he’s good when it comes to coming up with premises that sound like they’re ripped right out of the hot sheets, but character development, now that’s his bread and butter.
The more we get to know these characters and the more we’re preparing ourselves for their next move, Burns keeps throwing unforeseen wrenches in the works, time and again concealing their true colors with each inspired encounter. Folks, this here is a cinematic game of chess, the kind of which would make Deep Blue nod its processor in surprised approval. And while it never hurts when such a well-written and well-plotted script is completely unexpected to begin with, exceeding expectations is just a bonus in this case. And while there is a bit at the end that felt a tad redundant when it comes to putting all the cards on the table, it’s a minor complaint that redeems itself rather quickly.
And did I mention that this now marks the second time I’ve really liked Jude Law in a movie (the first being Contagion)? For god’s sake, Steven, think of the repercussions!
Anyhow, I’d really be interested to hear what someone in the medical/pharmaceutical field thought about this movie, because my expertise on this stuff is laughable at best. But by the same token, I’d be somewhat puzzled if someone wrote this movie off for its portrayal of medicine, treatment, or even mental illness. Ultimately, the meds and their prescribers come secondary to the characters and their motivations, and it’s hard to imagine someone viewing this as an attack of sorts on the medical field in turn. So in case you were wondering, there you go.
Well, boys and girls, if this is in fact Steven Soderbergh’s swan song, then this review is as bittersweet as they come. By no means is Side Effects a career-defining opus, and to be honest, it is a bit strange that he decided to go out on this of all notes. But then again, it’s a damn good movie, a movie that many a film maker would be proud to have on their resume, and there’s a lot about it that’s unmistakably Soderbergh at that. It wasn’t the movie I was expecting, and it wasn’t the swan song I was expecting either, but hey, if he was gonna go out on any kind of note, at least he went and made it a high one.
Never forget, kids. Never forget.
Sound City (2013)
VERDICT:
8/10 Past Masters
Kids, listen to uncle Dave and go learn an instrument.
Sound City is a rockumentary (see what I did there?) about a recording studio in Van Nuys, CA that was the birthing ground for some of rock’s greatest contributions. With walls made of shag carpet, a parking lot with a penchant for flooding, and a prime location nestled directly downwind from the Budweiser factory (which on a good day “smelled like someone burping directly into your face”), Sound City certainly didn’t look like much at first glance. But once you walked inside, saw the platinum records on the walls and started jamming out with the aid of their one-of-a-kind Neeve soundboard, that’s when you knew there was magic in those walls. From Fleetwood Mac to Arctic Monkeys, Sound City changed the face of music forever and in turn became a martyr of sorts for what music would eventually become.
So if you haven’t watched the trailer yet, this here is the directorial debut by the living god that is Dave Grohl. If that name isn’t ringing any bells, well it is high time you got introduced, son. Back in the early ’90s, Dave Grohl was the drummer for a little band called Nirvana. They had some hits, perhaps you’ve heard them, but tragedy eventually struck and the band was no more. A few years later, Dave went and started a band called Foo Fighters. They also had some hits, perhaps you’ve heard them, and they’re still going strong all these years later.
As to what makes him a living god? Well having been nursed on the waters of Nirvana and Foo Fighters, having seen the latter in concert (which was also headlined by Weezer, might I add), and having grown a beard in college because of Dave’s luscious pelt (a beard I still brandish to this day), I certainly like to think that he meets the minimum requirements.
Nevertheless, and despite his many talents, some may be wondering what it was that sparked Dave’s sudden interest in directing films? Well it all goes back to the day fate led him and his buddies, Kurt and Krist, to the Sound City studio in 1991 to record a little number called Nevermind. Much like the experience described in the synopsis up yonder, Dave was skeptical at first, but once he started laying down tracks in the very studio once graced by his musical heroes of yore, he soon came to regard Sound City as a mecca of the medium.
Initially, this is what his movie was about: a passion project and a tribute to the greatest studios there ever was. And initially, that was more than enough to keep me interested.
Now, from the outset, one could very well argue that this sound like one big glorified episode of Behind the Music. And while I don’t have much to refute that assumption, all I can say is that it was an episode I was interested in and one I’d never heard before (and likely one that most outside the recording industry haven’t heard either). But the more I kept watching, the more I realized that this wasn’t just a history lesson about Dave’s favorite place. It’s a testament to the magic of making music, and even though there were times when my studiophobe self had no idea what Dave and Co. were talking about, it was hard not to appreciate their enthusiasm for everything about Sound City. Yes, the start of Dave’s story is a familiar one in structure, but what makes it something special are the personalities and stories involved.
To be honest, I would have been fine if that was how the rest of his story played out, but before I knew it, his tribute evolved into a eulogy.
Fast-forward to the ’80s (of course it was the ’80s) and recording programs like ProTools come along, making the editing process easier than ever and recording a cinch for even the most novice of musicians. The era of reel-to-reel recording, of gifted musicians getting together in a studio to record an album live, of “people relating to each other and doing something that’s really from the soul,” as Neil Young would put it – all of it was on the outs, replaced by an era of digitized perfection.
At first, it’s a conversation that makes you want to hunt down the sick bastard who invented auto-tuning, and for a minute there, it felt really damn good. I mean, I can’t be the only one who doesn’t understand the success of certain musicians who don’t write their own music or play their own instruments? Did we learn nothing from a decade of keytars and synthesizers, people? Because unless I’m missing something, perfection blows if the end result is to be reminded thirty times in three minutes that Rihanna found love in a hopeless place. I didn’t need a movie to tell me this, but music isn’t supposed to be perfect, it’s supposed to be real, and as Dave would put it, “Those imperfections – that’s cool, and it makes [music] sound like people.”
All of it is enough to make one want to gather up a posse and march on into town, but before I could so much as light up my first torch, the tone shifts.
Be it Betamax or floppy disks, the fact of the matter is that it was only a matter of time before analog made way for digital. And since Sound City wasn’t having any of that noise, it was only a matter of time before they became another victim. So instead of settling on an “Eff you, ProTools!” platform, the discussion broadens. See, folks, the obstacle we face today isn’t a matter of trying to turn back time or how to best hate the game, but rather keeping the spirit of Sound City alive in a world driven by technology. And when you’ve got someone like Trent Reznor to show us the way, you’ll believe that it can be done. And even with a modicum of personal experience to draw from, I can wholeheartedly attest to what Dave and Co. are getting at.
Back in high school, I started playing the drums. Not counting air drums, I haven’t really kept up with it since (part laziness, part noise complaint clauses on rental property agreements), but the reason I bring this all up is because for a couple glorious hours in my life, I got to the chance play in a recording studio with the band that would become The World War I’s. Sure, they were way more musically gifted than I was, and their current drummer makes me look like an inebriated toddler banging pans together, but it was one of the greatest musical experience I’ve ever been a part of.
It’s an experience that’s hard to explain because there’s nothing quite like it. It’s an experience that everyone ought to have at some point in their lives; an experience that I’m still longing to repeat. And even if you haven’t experienced what it’s like to get together with other people and just play music, the fact that that’s the lasting impression Dave is trying to leave us with is enough to make you want to start a band.
As a nitpicky movie geek, there are parts where it does feel like a directorial debut, and the transition from Sound City to Dave’s studio in the final Act didn’t strike me as the next logical step for this doc to go in, but as a unabashed music geek, it’s hard to imagine this being directed by anyone else. For chrissakes, if it weren’t for Dave, Sound City would have shut down 20 years ago, and if it weren’t for Dave, I don’t even want to think about what my taste in music would be like.
So whether you’re just getting clued in or if you’re Rick-effing-Springfield, Sound City works on a lot levels and drops a whole lotta knowledge in the process. It works as an introduction; it works as a much-needed discussion; it works because it simply fucking rocks. I wasn’t expecting this story to keep changing colors the way it did, but the fact that it ultimately becomes so much more than just reminiscing on the past is what elevates it to a level of real importance. As Dave so eloquently puts it, “In this age of music where you can simulate anything, how do you retain that human element?” And as someone who digs what that element can bring, it’s great to see that it’s far from gone and it’s great to see my musical heroes embracing it.
Time for the masses to jump on the bandwagon.
And keep an eye out for the effing hilarious portrait that Dave has of himself in his recording studio. Too-freaking-good, man.
Warm Bodies (2013)
VERDICT:
7/10 Love Bites
Oh, the power the love.
Warm Bodies is about a young zombie named R who spends his days walking around an abandoned airport, searching for brains and listening to vinyls in his airplane-turned-apartment. Though he looks and acts like your everyday walker, R’s actually a pretty thoughtful fellow, one that longs to remember the life he once lived. Then one day, on a routine brain-hunt in the city, he and his zombie buddies run into a group of survivors who happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. The survivors fight back, it’s not much use, and while R’s busy eating some guy, he suddenly finds himself utterly smitten when he catches a glimpse of his dinner’s main squeeze. Rather than let his buddies have at her, he wipes some zombie stink on her like the smooth operator he is and takes her back to the safety of his 747. The more time they spend together, the more R starts to change, and more Julie gets to know her captor/savior, the more she realizes that there’s more to this zombie than meets the eye.
Did I mention that she’s also the daughter of the guy who’s trying to wipe out every zombie on Earth? Yeah, that kinda complicates things.
Fittingly enough, the first time I saw the trailer for this movie was right after seeing the trailer for World War Z. Naturally, I was a whole lot more excited to see the World War Z trailer because, come on, it’s World War Z, and not to mention I’d never heard of Warm Bodies. But then I actually watched the two trailers, and then I forgot about World War Z as I started counting own the days until Warm Bodies hit theaters. The fact of the matter is that World War Z looked like just another zombie apocalypse movie, only this time with zombie flash mobs. Whereas Warm Bodies looked different, it looked fun, and it was oh so very refreshing.
And while originality isn’t the only thing Warm Bodies has going for it, it’s without a doubt the best thing it has going for it.
For starters, I can’t think of any other story that’s treated a zombie diagnosis as anything other than a dead-end street. You get bit, your ass is turning into a zombie. A rogue drop of blood got into your eye because you tried to show a crow who’s boss? Tough cookies, son, but it’s time we blew your brains out. Even though movies have tried to reverse the itis, and even there’s such a gray area when it comes to how people get turned (not to mention the best ways to prevent infection), it’s weird that in all this time I’ve never heard a zombie story that actually showed the plague was reversible. After all, it’s not like this stuff was taken from medical journals or anything.
But then along comes Warm Bodies, and just like that, it becomes a two-way street. I wouldn’t be surprised if there are purists out there crying “Horseshit!” over this turn of events, but as much as I respect that opinion and as much as I’m aware that different strokes are for different folks, it’s about damn time someone started thinking outside the box with this genre. Not to mention that the zombie “cure” is this kid’s crush over a girl. Not a blood transfusion, not a breakthrough in science, but the world-shaking power of love is the thing that’s going to save us. How awesome is that? The last time we got a re-up like this was when zombies started running, and that was over a decade ago, and we have moved on.
So call it a gimmick, call it a novelty, or help yourself to the Kool-Aid. I’ll be over here giving Isaac Marion a high thirty for finally giving zombies the brains they’ve been so desperately needing. And that, dear readers, is what’s so wonderful about our living dead boy, R.
Though I wish he’d been given the better sense of humor, something closer to what Rob Corddry is given, it’s R’s narration that makes all the difference with this movie. For the first time in the history of zombies, he not only has a voice, but he’s surprisingly relatable in turn. Thanks to the clarity and humanity of his thoughts, you can’t help but feel for the kid. Sure, he kills dudes and eats their brains every once in a while, but he can’t help it, he’s a zombie with needs, dammit! But the fact that he’s a living, breathing kid trapped in a dead, cold body isn’t even the best thing about R. The best thing about R is that he sets the tone.
Even during the most lighthearted of zombie apocalypses, like Shaun of the Dead or Zombieland for instance, the stakes are still awfully high. But when your protagonist’s already dead, he’s not exactly worried about getting deader, now is he? Sure, the stakes get raised once Julie walks into R’s life, but all in all, it’s a welcome and playful change of pace that carries throughout the movie. People really need to quit taking the apocalypse so seriously, man. Bumming me out over here.
Now, I realize there’s a good deal of high praise going on this review, but like I said, originality goes a long way. However, I do wish I had more love to give to writer/director Jonathan Levine. As far as context goes, it’s almost apples and oranges to compare this to his last go behind the camera, 50/50. Granted, there are rom-com elements to both, but he gave us some really special moments in that movie that only added to the strengths of Will Reiser’s special script, moments that’s weren’t really there this time even though they could have been. Not to say that they’re non-existent, but when all is said done, his effort is sufficient, not quite up to the special moments that his source material provides.
Although he does know how to put a soundtrack together, and that at least calls for some bonus points.
The cast is also fine, but nothing worth writing home about…except for the shocking fact that Nicholas Hoult somehow blossomed out of his days before puberty. Not like this is the first time I’m seeing him lately, because the kid done blossomed like a mofo back in A Single Man, but I just don’t think I’ll ever get over this adolescent change of changes. As to what the hell he’s doing in Jack the Giant Slayer? Your guess is as good as mine.
It’s been a bit strange telling folks what I thought about this movie, because the answers I keep giving are the ones they’re not expecting. It’s not scary, it’s not gory, and when I keep telling people what a sweet little thing it is, they can’t help but wonder if we’re still talking about the same movie. But as hard as a sell as it may be for some who aren’t already interested, those unexpected answers are why Warm Bodies works. For chrissakes, I said the same thing about The Cabin in the Woods last year, and that was in my Top Five. Who knows, folks, this may just be the future of horror.
Nevertheless, if the whole had been greater than the sum of its parts, I might be so bold as to call this a game changer. But even though it isn’t, it succeeds for what it is. And for a horror genre that was starting to get stale, consider this is a welcome addition.
Best Movie Ever – Episode 8: The Oscars Episode
Hey, everybody! With the Oscars less than two weeks away, Sean and I thought we’d go ahead and run down our picks and predictions for who’s gonna walk away winners this year. Throw in some witty banter about the second coming of Arnold and the movies we’re most look forward to this year, and you’ve got one pants-crapper of an episode, yo. So quit working so damn hard on a Monday and click on that banner up yonder to listen!
Cut The Crap Movie Reviews 