BITS 2019 Shorts: Giltrude’s Dwelling/EXT/The Remnant

The final batch of pre-feature short films are coming up with the last three! This time, its still some horror but a lot more fantasy and science fiction elements in the first two. The trio in review here is: Giltrude’s Dwelling, EXT, and The Remnant.

Giltrude’s Dwelling (2019)

Director: Jeremy Lutter

Cast: Kacey Rohl, Liam Hughes, Priscilla Faia, Jesse Hutch, Kennedi Clements

Orphaned at the age of 11, Giltrude, an interdimensional shut-in, has waited 15 years for her parents to come home. When a life or death dilemma comes knocking, Giltrude must look beyond her front door and face the outside universe. – IMDB

Giltrude’s Dwelling is a fantasy science fiction short. It is shot beautifully in different locations that centers around a home that literally disappears from a location every night. The color palette in each scene and each location makes the scene very atmospheric. It creates mystery by the unexplored grounds especially the ominous place that the house disapparates to every night, leaving a lot of questions as to what lurks outside or what is the evil that Giltrude’s parents talk about as well as what attacks the boy that shows up at her door. There are a lot of questions and not a lot of answers but perhaps, this story isn’t really about that so much as a story about Giltrude who must find a means to stop her routine and waiting game for her parents but find the courage to step outside to seek her path, despite the possibility of it being dangerous outside in the big unknown world.

*Giltrude’s Dwelling screens with Deep Six on November 25th at 9:30pm in the Blood in the Snow Festival*

EXT (2019)

Director (and writer): Adrian Bobb

Cast: Cara Gee, Zoe Doyle

200 years after humanity has abandoned the real world for a digital one, the system’s most talented security agent is forced out of retirement to recruit and lead a team of talented warriors to eliminate a threat from a world no one has seen for centuries. The real world. – IMDB

EXT is a futuristic science fiction action short. There’s a beautiful cinematography of this machine-filled world that has now entered into a battle. The visuals of the character and costume design as well as the mechanical designs are done very well. There is a wonderful control on usage of color as well as the snow-covered landscape that the fight is going on that adds a certain mood and tone that matches to its whole atmosphere. The dialogue exchange also is done well, however the story does get a little confusing. The premise though if given more time probably could give a lot of space of development for both the characters and the entire world building. There are already some creative ideas floating around here.

*EXT screens with Deep Six on November 25th at 9:30pm in the Blood in the Snow Festival*

The Remnant (2019)

Director: Navin Ramaswaran

Cast: Peter Keleghan, Kaniehtilo Horn, Grace Lynn Kung, Michael James Regan, Jill Frappier, Jennifer Dale, Joyce Rivera

A team of con artists posing as paranormal investigators steal from the home of an affluent elderly woman, only to find themselves unleashing a dormant malevolent spirit. – IMDB

The Remnant is rather interesting short with a nice twist of using its paranormal investigators as a front for their own business. It adds in how they make the little tricks and effects happen to make it convincing. Of course, the short goes for something with a more sinister turn of events. The reality of the smokes and mirrors that the team puts up gets a little mixed up with what could be happening as part of the actual paranormal ongoings. The characters are rather entertaining to watch and the whole set-up while the winning element is how it wraps up the whole story. Its a fun little short with a little bit of tension and some creepy elements to it.

*The Remnant screens with Z on November 26 at 7pm in Blood in the Snow Festival*

TADFF 2019 Shorts #1: We Three Queens/Eyes Open/Make Me A Sandwich

Much to our surprise, we are going to be covering Toronto After Dark Film Festival remotely for its short films selections. The festival itself runs from October 17 to 25th this year at the Scotiabank Theatre. If you happen to be in Toronto, do head over to check out this festival with its great line-up of feature films. You can find all the info HERE.

Over the next few days throughout the duration of TADFF, I will be looking at these in various categories and pre-feature shorts will be batched in 3 (or 4) films. Most of these will be paired with their screening times. These three to kick-off the first batch of pre-feature shorts are paired with screenings from October 17th and 18th.

We Three Queens (2018)

Director: Chris Agoston

Cast: Erin Margurite Carter, Soma Chhaya, Emma Hunter, Rachel Wilson

*Screens with Extra Ordinary at TADFF 2019*

Beard (Erin Margurite Carter), Charlotte (Soma Chhaya) and Janet (Emma Hunter) are an all-star carolling group called We Three Queens. As they go to pick up their vests from their seamstress, they end up waking up kidnapped in her basement. With Christmas just around the corner, they need to find a way to convince Shelly (Rachel Wilson) to release them before midnight so that they can finish their carolling.

Christmas horror is always a welcome idea. Carolling has probably (at least to my knowledge) never been used in the context of a horror film. In a premise like this one, carolling definitely seems like quite the competitive world although who doesn’t want to be a part of something important or get noticed by the people that they enjoy watching, right? Running at almost 9 minutes, We Three Queens is a fun little Christmas horror short that adds a little comedy to the situation. Its not hard to see where the story goes as there is some foreshadowing but the actresses here are also quite entertaining to watch especially with their dialogue. Something about having a lot of red on screen not only makes it have the feeling of holiday but also have this more troubling situation at hand that we never know how Shelly would react to their responses to her requests.

Straight-forward and fairly unique in its premise of carollers being the central focus, We Three Queens is a fun Christmas horror short to check out.

Eyes Open (2019)

Director (and writer): Jawed J.S.

Cast: Angela Bell

*Screens with Witches in the Woods*

Eyes Open is a 2019 horror short about a girl who goes for a walk in the woods to soon find out that she is haunted by an unseen presence both physically and psychologically.

Horror set in the woods has become increasingly used. Its a great choice for a setting because of its emptiness and isolation. With Eyes Open, its (almost) 6 minutes is a huge difference from where it starts to where it ends. The horror actually builds in its moments. While there were some oddities to this one, it still works overall especially as the unseen presence that haunts the single character in Eyes Open shows what it is doing: attacking when she closes her eyes. There are some odd low-budget effects but still, for its progression of horror, it does a pretty decent job at making it intriguing.

Make Me A Sandwich (2019)

Director: Denman Hatch

Cast: Anne Shepherd, Peter Hodgins

*Screens with James vs. His Future Self*

Make Me  A Sandwich is a 2019 horror short (and its very short) about a wife who is constantly being asked by her husband to make him a sandwich.

Nothing is quite defining of a short film than one that runs for 3 minutes and keeps things as simple as a wife constantly being asked to make her husband a sandwich. And yet, those 3 minutes say a lot with just the wife’s reaction to each aggressive demand. Anne Shepherd as the wife does a great job at using those little facial expressions to show her lack of patience each time and how she retaliates. At the same time, what seems simple and straight forward as this story has a very startling twist at the end. Deranged might be the way to say that twist ending and actually makes you think a little more about the whole situation here and what we just watched. Its rather unsettling to watch and yet its hard to not laugh at a little of the dark humor here (perhaps its dark humor..I’m not sure anymore). If satisfying unsettling is a term that works, then this might apply to Make Me  A Sandwich.

 

Double Feature: #RealityHigh (2017) & Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond… (2017)

Welcome back to another double feature!

Today’s two films have only two things in common: Netflix Originals and 2017 releases. The first is the teen coming of age romantic comedy movie called #RealityHigh. To be honest, I only put this on because I wanted to have something simple to watch in the background. The second is the new documentary that recently landed on Netflix called Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond – Featuring a Very Special, Contractually Obligated Mention of Tony Clifton. The title is so freaking long! Aside from that, the only reason for this was because I like Jim Carrey and this is based on his behind the scenes process and persona he took when he was filming Man on the Moon (which I haven’t seen). We’ll see if that affected my experience of it.

I guess the third common factor here is that they are both impulse viewings off the whole new system I had set to catch up on the Netflix List.  Let’s check these out!

#RealityHigh (2017)

Director: Fernando Lebrija

Cast: Nesta Cooper, Keith Powers, Alicia Sanz, Jake Borelli, Anne Winters, Patrick Davis, Michael Provost, Ryan Malaty, Kate Walsh, John Michael Higgins

High-achieving high-school senior Dani Barnes dreams of getting into UC Davis, the world’s top veterinary school. Then a glamorous new friend draws her into a Southern California scene that threatens everything she’s worked for. – IMDB

A lot of you who stop by here know that I’m a huge fan of these kinds of teenage movies. In fact, I’m downright forgiving of them. I’ve liked and loved a lot of them spanning from the 80s John Hughes to the recent The DUFF or Edge of Seventeen and the likes. #RealityHigh should be right up my alley. Except, even in my most forgiving mindset, it wasn’t. The story itself was generic and offered nothing new. The characters themselves seemed wooden as they acted out their roles. Maybe you can argue with me that its them having the teenage awkwardness but it felt so scripted and so unenthusiastic that it just was uninspiring to watch.

However, there are some high points here and there. One of the big ones is having Kate Walsh here. She’s fantastic as always. I’ve loved her since Grey’s Anatomy and in her veterinarian role here, she plays the guidance for our main character really well. It was always fun to see her on screen. Second, there was John Michael Higgins. He was doing a little of the same silly stuff just like the random bits he had in Pitch Perfect however, he somehow did become the highlight here. Another point here does go that one of the characters here called Shannon who is the main guy’s friend breaks out of the norm a little from the typical role and actually takes on the non-cliche path where he seems like he’s much deeper than he appears to be and gives insightful advice.

#RealityHigh is pretty dull. It follows the motion and lacks originality and engaging characters for us to actually care for remotely. While there are some flashes of okay moments, its one that I honestly can’t recommend.

Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond –
Featuring a Very Special, Contractually Obligated Mention of Tony Clifton (2017)

Director: Chris Smith

A behind-the-scenes look at how Jim Carrey adopted the persona of idiosyncratic comedian Andy Kaufman on the set of Man on the Moon (1999). –IMDB

Documentaries aren’t exactly my favorite genre to jump into. I like to watch this to escape from the realities of life but every once in a while, something clicks and the topic interests me. In this case, its Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond. The main reason is that (other than Stephen Chow and Robin Williams), I grew up with a lot of comedy of Jim Carrey. The Mask was the first movie I watched of his then Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, both of which I’d like to visit soon. Unfortunately, as mentioned before, I’ve never seen Man on the Moon and I don’t know much about Andy Kaufman other than from this documentary. As much as its about Andy Kaufman, this documentary is truly about Jim Carrey and the process he went through or even struggled through as he took the persona almost completely of Andy Kaufman. Why almost? Because sometimes he’d take on the persona of Tony Clifton and that was Andy Kaufman’s other persona. And when he was particularly in those Tony Clifton moments, he was pretty much absolutely ridiculously annoying and hard to handle. The documentary took a good angle of taking only Jim Carrey sharing his thoughts between the behind the scene footage that followed him around while shooting Man on the Moon. The hook of this was seeing how falling into the persona of Andy Kaufman in some ways changed the way of how he viewed his career and the path he chooses afterwards plus the struggle of whether he had gone too far and simply making peace with the choices he made.

Even without having seen Man on the Moon (and I’m sure it means even more if you had seen it), the journey that Jim Carrey takes for this role is an intriguing topic to dive into. Its a little controversial because he does show a very unlikable side of him in many extreme ways however it is also these type of conflicts that warrant a documentary and makes what he says make sense and pulls it all together. Well-executed and a nice look into what acting and taking on a role is all about, albeit its extreme choices, Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond has some deep thoughts and a lot of entertaining behind the scene moments. It also gives you the benefit of the doubt of knowing who Andy Kaufman is by explaining the type of comedian he is and comparing to his works.

This wraps up the double feature! One meh and one really good one. Call this the unexpected turnout, right?
I ended not liking the genre I normally would like and loving the one that I normally don’t. 

Have you seen either of these Netflix Originals?

Short Films: Latched (2017) & Goodnight, Gracie (2017)

Today, we’re venturing into a look at two 2017 horror short films, Latched and Goodnight, Gracie.

Latched (2017)

Director: Justin Harding

Cast: Alana Elmer, Bowen Harding, Peter Higginson, Jarrett Siddall

An obsessive choreographer on a creative retreat with her toddler awakens a fairy corpse with disturbing intentions – IMDB

Latched is an interesting concept. Running at around 17 minutes, it is definitely one if the longer short films I have encountered. Its a little more predictable as to where the film wants to go however if anything, it is a disturbing thought when we learn the true intentions. Playing on concepts of mandrakes and fairies in the wood and a mother’s instinct to protect her child, Latched takes us on a rather thrilling ride with some genuinely creepy moments. While the plot itself falls into familiar themes, the standout of this piece is in fact the beautiful and haunting score accompanying it and the isolated location.

In all its beauty, Latched is a little predictable but also quite odd. However, there is a charm to this one perhaps in its attempt to let us understand our characters slightly while letting the horror aspects play out in a few jump scares after building the atmosphere. Its a creepy idea and one that is fairly well executed.

Goodnight, Gracie (2017)

Director (and writer): Stellan Kendrick

Cast: Caige Coulter, Courtney Gains, Zoe Simpson Dean, Brad Goodman

After mom gets hacked to pieces by her latest lover, a devout child fights to escape the same fate. – IMDB

 Goodnight Gracie makes a very good statement in how a very well executed film can have its moment just by well timed cues despite its length. Running at 4 minutes, Goodnight Gracie is truly feels like a scene of a film that has a deeper meaning of faith and perhaps the naivety of children. In the face of danger and witnessing something horrifying, Gracie chooses to lock herself in her room, go under the covers and read texts of the bible in seek of comfort or a miracle. There is terrifying moments best brought out with films that work on child endangerment themes from the close-ups of the killer to the quick mumbles of words as Gracie hides under the covers. It brings out the familiar of hiding away from the world and its problems to seek refuge. Its a great premise and the director writes a great script that is executed well with shots that shy away from revealing too much while still building tension and making us for that brief few minutes care for Gracie. And when the film ended, I wanted more.

Luckily, after some research, it seems they are looking to expand this idea into a feature film, which I’m definitely going to keep an eye out for it.

Fantasia Festival 2017: Short Films Roundup

Fantasia Festival 2017 is full of short films. They may appear paired up with a feature film or maybe in a themed collection of films. There are so many great themes this year however, we only managed to catch these four. Let’s take a break from the full length features to take a look at these four short films: Breaker, For A Good Time, Call…, Sleazy Pete and The Naughty List.

Breaker (2017)

Director & writer: Philippe McKie

Cast: Arisa Hanzawa, Kazuya Shimizu, Yuka Tomatsu

In tomorrow’s Tokyo, the technologically-enhanced body of a young mercenary hacker is overrun by a sentient data weapon. Wanted, the parasitic A.I becomes her only ally as she is chased across the city by those seeking to salvage it. – IMDB

Colorful, electric, creepy underground, pumping music and a future world that technology is so advanced that your brain is the main computer via a chip. Breaker shows what it is like to be hacked. Curiosity killed the cat or in this case, leads this breaker into a danger as she is hacked in a chase. With likes of upcoming games of Observer releasing with what seems like a similar idea and Illuminae and the idea that technology really has no borders, but is that a good or a bad thing? Breaker is eleven minutes of chase that somehow manages to use that short screen time to show us this future and successfully engage us into the A.I. and the hacker’s relationship for the few minutes that is reliant on an instant trust to hopefully make their escape.

One of the earlier short films to screen before Vampire Cleanup Department and it works so well to create a quirky yet intense and engaging chase that takes a few minutes to make us question the A.I.’s intentions and how it will all end.

For a Good Time, Call… (2017)

Director: Izzy Lee

Cast: Sean Carmichael, Diana Porter, Tristan Risk

A man who uploads a homemade sex video taken in secret gets more than he bargained for when he makes a pit stop. – Fantasia Festival

For A Good Time, Call… is an interesting short film. Running at 11 minutes, the short takes us into a place that we know our main character here is a scumbag. Maybe a lot of people do shoot homemade sex videos for fun however he did do it without consent and this causes a fallout with the girl unsurprisingly who wishes him to have something bad. Suffice to say that, as he walks into a bathroom at his pit stop, we can wonder whether he is high and imagining things or if there is something that is there. Here’s where the film picks up its pace with creepy noises and a secluded feeling as wonder what will happen. There’s something more this man and he’s definitely not a good person but what is lurking in the bathroom and what does it want from him? For a Good Time, Call… has its creepy moments and much of it happens off screen as we always see the reaction first before the actual thing, utilizing the fact that our imagination is always more powerful than what the object of fear usually is.

Sleazy Pete (2017)

Director and writer: Frank Appache

A proto-apocalyptic tale where crime, sleaze and violence are king: we spend a night with sleazy Pete, and his new sidekick. – Fantasia Festival

There aren’t really lot of words to describe Sleazy Pete. For those that love 80s gory horror, this one is definitely for you. There’s a deliberate feeling to every action, some cheesy fakenss to the practical effects and oh so much blood. In fact, in the eleven minutes of runtime, its said that they used 55 gallons of fake blood. In true 80’s B-movie, this one ticks all the boxes you love. As well as character like Sleazy Pete who is a priest that twists the meaning of “Love Thy Neighbor” a little and in turns uses this as a means to kill the homeless while having a lot of other acts that fit right in with this new world that is full of crime, sleaze and violence. Sleazy Pete is one to check out for a quick 80’s B-horror fun time.

The Naughty List (2016)

Director and writer: Paul Campion

Cast: Mac Elsey, Sebastian Knapp, Vincenzo Nicoli

On Christmas Eve, two American mobsters come face to face with Santa Claus, and discover what it really takes to get on the Naughty or Nice list. – IMDB

Paired perfectly with Better Watch Out, The Naughty List is a Christmas short film where two mobsters are in hiding. One believes in Santa and one doesn’t. When Santa shows up, the question is whether this man in a furry red and white suit is the real deal. The Naughty List is a really great time. Its all about laughs from the moment we see these silly mobsters till when Santa enters and how he does and the entire conversation. Everything is comedic and done so well. Its all about the laugh out loud moments and this one has so many of them.

Double Feature: Wait Till Helen Comes (2016) & Final Girl (2015)

Another double feature has arrived.

We have a mix of horror and thriller (?). The first one is one that I rented on Google Play store and the other was on Netflix, a new addition of sorts. Two more obscure titles, I would imagine. And no, this is Final Girl and not Final Girls.

Lets check it out!

Wait Till Helen Comes (2016)

Director: Dominic James

Cast: Sophie Nelisse, Maria Bello, Isabelle Nelisse, Callum Keith Rennie, Abigail Pniowsky, William Dickinson

When a reconstructed family moves to a converted church in the country, 14-year-old Molly, must save her new troubled step-sister from a dangerous relationship with the desperate ghost of a young girl. –IMDB

Wait Till Helen Comes is an indie horror. There are quite a few charms to it such as some scenes are directed really well and the set was suitable and worked to give an isolated/secluded perhaps abandoned area. That is always good for horror. Moving to a new home and families coming together also gives a lot of mystery to the characters and gives them a chance to develop. In concept, Wait Till Helen Comes has all the typical ingredients to make it work fine as a horror however perhaps because it uses such normally seen pieces that it becomes slightly more predictable. For the record, this is based on a novel however I have not read it so for myself this is a standalone piece with nothing to compare to.

Wait Till Helen Comes has some decent performances. Maria Bello is there as the mother and an artist. Her character works hard to create a balance in the new family put together because of her marriage. In many ways, she fits a mold also because while she starts off thinking her daughter is making up things and suspecting she went off her medication, she does come around. As for her teenage daughter Molly, a young actress Sophie Nelisse, does a convincing job of learning how to be a bigger sister. Although subtle, the change in her character happens gradually throughout the story as she tries to protect (in her own way) her younger sister Heather , who is the daughter of her stepfather recently picked up from a home to hopefully rehabilitate her after her mother’s death. Heather, played by Isabelle Nelisse, is rather unsettling to watch as well.

While the story does have a decent turn of events in the final act and some well-executed scenes to build up the atmosphere, it is hard to not completely feel involved because it lacks a bit of originality as it falls into a lot of horror troupes from moving into a run-down home to a rather typical ghost story. However, this one is still alright.

Final Girl (2015)

Director: Tyler Shields

Cast: Abigail Breslin, Wes Bentley, Logan Huffman, Cameron Bright, Alexander Ludwig, Reece Thompson

A man teaches a young woman how to become a complete weapon. Later she is approached by a group of sadistic teens who kill blonde women for unknown reasons. The hunting season begins. – IMDB

I like Abigail Breslin a lot. I probably talked about it when I wrote up my TV Binge for Scream Queens Season 1 and probably for The Call recently. I love a ton of her movies when she was younger: Nim’s Island, Zombieland, Little Miss Sunshine, etc. Then she makes these really odd choices in movies now. Final Girl is a thriller that falls apart so fast that it never really creates any fun. Its tacky and pretty stupid. It tries really hard to be stylish with these cool scenes as they present each of the guys in the rich kids that have secret killing fetish in the woods to hunt down defenseless girls, particularly blondes. Abigail Breslin for some odd reason is trained as a child by a man who lost his daughter tragically on a journey to revenge. What does these two things have in common: nothing much from what I saw. I can’t say that the performances are bad because I feel that the story is the main problem. Its just so poorly constructed. Its disjointed and pointless and in the end, we really don’t care too much about any of these characters.

There’s some stylish shots and perhaps in a biased way, Abigail Breslin does okay. But seriously, nothing saves a movie with a story that takes itself far too seriously in light of some bad dialogue and poor story. Unfortunately, this one didn’t have any thrills.

This wraps up the Double Feature!
Have you seen these two movies? What did you think of them?

Double Feature: Violet & Daisy (2011) & The Gift (2015)

Welcome to another Double Feature!

Before we start, I’d like to apologize if things are and will be sporadic, they probably will still be for the next week. Real life work that pays the bills is taking a front seat right now and I foresee lots of overtime this week. However, if all goes as planned, there should be an unboxing this week some time and probably some reviews or TV Binge. The material is there, its just finding time and energy to write it up.

Today’s double feature is for Violet and Daisy & The Gift. Thrillers and a little odd. Probably The Gift deserves its own post but its a thriller and I don’t want to spoil it so just keeping it to myself although I’m fairly certain at this point, a ton of you have already seen it since a ton of people praised it when it was first released. Anyways, I finally got around to watching it. Violet and Daisy however is way overdue as I watched that on the train to Toronto for ComiCon so its over a month that I’ve seen it at this point.

Let’s check it out! 🙂

Violet & Daisy (2011)

Director (and writer): Geoffrey Fletcher

Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Alexis Bledel, James Gandolfini, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Danny Trejo

Two teenage assassins accept what they think will be a quick-and-easy job, until an unexpected target throws them off their plan. – IMDB

Violet & Daisy is one odd and quirky movie. The reason for my choosing this movie is completely because I love Alexis Bledel (because of The Sisterhood of Travelling Pants and recently Gilmore Girls) and even more so, Saoirse Ronan who has never disappointed me even if the movie itself is not fascinating. Violet & Daisy may seem disjointed and way too weird for its own good but somehow it works and it has to do with the small but charming cast. Violet & Daisy are young teenage assassins out on a mission. They are each other’s best friends and have each other’s back especially as they fangirl and look forward to the newest fashion line by their favorite designer. It feels like they are everyday teenage girls except when a mission is given, they can also be incredibly brutal and efficient to get rid of their target. Their next mission is sent to kill a man who surprisingly seems like he wants to die and has someone else on his tail. This man who we never learn the name of is played by James Gandolfini and he delivered a wonderful performance as he changes what typically happens in these assassinations situation and in turn, open up Violet & Daisy and as we learn more about his story, we also learn more about Violet and Daisy’s which also puts their friendship or partnership in a dilemma.

Surprises and a pretty clever script gives these characters a lot of life. Even if it is weird and odd at times, there are some great moments and character development here that work really well. Not to mention, some really convincing performances in general. I liked this one a lot.

The Gift (2015)

Director (and writer): Joel Edgerton

Cast: Jason Bateman, Rebecca Hall, Joel Edgerton, Allison Tolman

A young married couple’s lives are thrown into a harrowing tailspin when an acquaintance from the husband’s past brings mysterious gifts and a horrifying secret to light after more than 20 years. – IMDB

The Gift is a tense thriller however, perhaps the best part of it is the way it builds its characters up and fleshes them through with their secrets as the finale unfolds and leaves us cleverly wondering what it all means. The Gift is smart. And yet, because it is best seen with the least amount of knowledge possible, it is very hard to write about.

I can say that The Gift is pretty great. Its a little slow at parts and really dives into building the tension with a lot of quiet moments as we suspect about this suspicious high school friend and re-enters their life and slowly reveals the true nature of these characters and why they are there and how certain things happen for whatever reason. Jason Bateman pulls off a fantastic performance, probably one of my faves. Joel Edgerton does a great role as well.

Its well-planned and executed effectively with some great character development and a finale that will kind of blow your mind and make you think about what it all means.

That’s it for the double feature!
Sorry for the delay!
I’d say to expect this for this week mostly because I don’t have the time I usually would to put these together. 
Things will be back to normal next week!

Have you seen these two movies before?

Ultimate 90’s Blogathon: Pump Up The Volume (1990) by OC Movie Reviews

Our first participant of Ultimate 90’s Blogathon is Mark over at OC Movie Reviews. If you don’t know him, OC stands for Operation Condor and over on his site, you can find tons of fantastic movie reviews. He starts us with a movie that just steps in the very beginning of the decade, Pump Up The Volume! If you don’t follow OC Movie Reviews, you should head over there and give him a follow.

Let’s hand it over to Mark!

Pump Up The Volume Review – Talk Hard. So Be It.

“Do you ever get the feeling that everything in America is completely f*cked up? You know that feeling? The whole country is like one inch away from saying ‘that’s it, forget it!’. Think about it, everything’s polluted: the environment, the government, the schools – you name it.”

That is Happy Harry Hard-On’s opening line from the 1990 sleeper hit Pump Up The Volume. As opening lines go it’s pretty cool, it’s also quite apt for now or pretty much any decade you choose. You could even change America for your own country.

Hard Harry is played by Christian Slater, who had already enjoyed some success with Heathers in 1988 and would go on to star in Young Guns II, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, True Romance a host of other film and TV series and most recently Mr. Robot.

Slater plays Mark Hunter, a new student at Hubert H. Humphrey High School – hence the name of his alter-ego – in Phoenix, Arizona. Having moved with his parents from ‘out-East’ he is now a loner, struggling to make friends. His parents buy him a short-wave radio to talk to his friends back home (before the days of the internet) but he can’t reach them and so, instead, he begins broadcasting his teenage angst on the pirate airways.

What he doesn’t realise at first, is just how many people this angst is resonating with and more and more teens begin tuning in and hanging off his every word. He almost brings things to a halt when one student kills himself after speaking with Hard Harry on-air. Instead, he tells his listeners that suicide is not the answer and to rebel instead. Rebel they do, spraying graffiti over the school, microwaving possessions and more.

As the trouble reaches a crescendo the FCC are brought in to pin-point the radio broadcast and put an end to it. At the same time, it’s revealed that the school’s principal, played by Annie Ross (Superman III, Throw Momma From The Train) has been expelling problem kids but keeping their names on the books to get money from the government and make the school look better.

Despite not doing that well at the box office in the US, it has gone on to be a cult classic. Perhaps because its message that, if things aren’t ok, change them, speaks to people young and old. It’s also a message that doesn’t age, unlike some of the outfits and hairstyles in the movie!

Slater is brilliant in the DJ chair. He seems genuinely excited to be talking to whoever is listening and makes you believe in what he’s saying. The juxtaposition between that and this nerdy, awkward teenager in school, is a wonderful transformation (although physically it’s a bit Superman – just wear glasses) and another reason why it resonates so well; a lot of us can related to being different people at different times, whether that’s home and work or home and school.

Being a pirate DJ you’d expect the music of the film to be good. As an opening song, Hard Harry uses Everybody Knows by Leonard Cohen but other than it’s more talking than music. Having said that we do get glimpses of cassettes (remember them?) of: The Jesus and Mary Chain, Primal Scream, Soundgarden and many more.

Although supposed to be teenagers Slater was actually 21 when he filmed the movie whilst his female accomplice who discovers his true identity was actress Samantha Mathis (Buried, Broken Arrow, The Strain, Under The Dome) and she was 20.

Quite a few people in the film went on to have careers within the Hollywood machine. The guidance councillor who takes quite a bit of stick from Hard Harry is played Robert Schenkkan, you’ll probably know him as the writer of Hacksaw Ridge and The Quiet American. Ellen Greene plays English teacher Jan Emerson. Green is probably best known for her role as Audrey in Little Shop of Horrors and was also in Naked Gun 33 1/3, Leon, The Cooler, Pushing Daisies, Heroes and many more.

A ‘blink and you’ll miss her’ role is also had for Holly Sampson who, well, she, erm, that is, well she went into the adult entertainment industry, where she has certainly been busy, according to IMDB. Star Trek fans can catch sight of Alexander Enberg, best known for Ensign Vorik in Voyager, Gregg Daniel from True Blood and Nigel Gibbs whose been in everything from Breaking Bad, House, Veep, The Shield and practically any other cop-based TV show you can think of, also show up.

Perhaps the best ‘look who it is’ moment is saved for Seth Green. You’ll know Seth Green from his voice work these days on Family Guy, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Robot Chicken to name but three. Prior to this he did used to show his face and was in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Sh*gged me and Buffy The Vampire Slayer amongst others. In Pump Up The Volume he sports the most magnificent red haired mullet you will ever see, truly glorious!

Writer and director Allan Moyle went on to direct Empire Records and Man in the Mirror: The Michael Jackson Story. Perhaps all his angst was used up on Pump Up The Volume? Who knows.

Whilst Pump Up The Volume isn’t perfect, and is often overlooked in 90’s films, for me, and anyone I know who’s seen it, it remains a true great. Whilst the technology may have changed, the angst felt by those young and old hasn’t: we want to be heard, we want to talk hard. But if Pump Up The Volume remains a great film under the radar, so be it.

Thanks to Mark for putting together this fantastic review on Pump Up The Volume! 🙂
Remember to head over to Drew’s Movie Reviews tomorrow for the next Ultimate 90’s Blogathon review!

Announcement: Ultimate 90s Blogathon

Hello my lovely friends!

I’m extremely excited to announce that Drew at Drew’s Movie Reviews and I are working together to host our next blogathon. It is kind of a follow-up from last year’s Ultimate 80s except we’ve moving to the next decade and its the Ultimate 90s Blogathon!

The 90s had so many great movies. There were fantastic Disney movies, like Beauty and the Beast or The Lion King. Some fantastic chick flicks and teen comedies also made their appearances, like Clueless. It was the decade that some amazing directors had brilliant additions to their works like James Cameron and the box office hit Titanic (not to mention a young Leonardo diCaprio); Tarantino and Pulp Fiction; Spielberg and his amazing dinosaurs in Jurassic Park took over. How can we forget the chilling Seven by David Fincher? The list just doesn’t stop because we know there’s also comedies and family movies like Mrs. Doubtfire. Just listing off these titles makes me excited to talk about them. Here’s our question to you: What 90s film did you love? Which film started your love of the 90s flicks? What movie would you suggest as a starter for jumping back in time to the 90s?

Ultimate 90s Blogathon has the same guidelines as last year. For those just dropping by, let me explain. Ultimate 90s Blogathon celebrates the iconic films of the 90s to you. It can be a movie you love, or a movie you grew up with, or one of your favorites that you watch over and over again. The only rule is that it has to be in the 90s. We like to keep things simple! The blogathon will start on February 20th, kicked off by myself and Drew. We will have three weeks for everyone to sign up and send us your reviews by February 13th. However, we do know that everyone is also very busy so the deadline can be extended as long as you tell us in advance so we can plan accordingly. Please remember to submit the reviews to us so that we post it on our respective blogs. If you intend to post it on your site also, we can match up our dates and schedule and work it out.

We really hope that you can participate! You can tell us whether you’d be joining in in the comments below or drop us an email at kim.tranquildreams@gmail.com or to Drew at drewt510@gmail.com. We’d love for your choice to be a surprise if you participate so you can email us your movie selection. Also, we do say reviews but if you’d like to do something else, feel free to do that as well.

We’re excited to see all of your submissions and be surprised by your chocies! Feel free to use the banner up there to show off on your sites! If you know anyone that might be interested, pass along the message! The more the merrier! 🙂

Guest Podcast: MBDS Showcase (Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist/Little Miss Sunshine)

Who knew that I’d be back doing movie podcasting as a guest, right?

I love video game podcasting. Its been a fun, new and great adventure. For this episode, my Game Warp co-host Elwood Jones, who is also the host of his own podcast, Mad Bad and Downright Strange Showcase asked me on a second time to talk about a pair of movies in his 1001 cult film list that he aims to work through. The first time is this one HERE, and it was actually how we ended up meeting up and then soon after, started up Game Warp. A nice little story of how friendships happen on blogging and also why I love doing this so much.

On that note, last time we picked a pair of Hong Kong action films. This time around, I wanted something I was familiar with and remained slightly light so we went with a pair of movies that I love to absolute bits, which also gave me the excuse to watch them again and they are Nick and Nora’s Infinite Playlist and Little Miss Sunshine! Who knew that I missed movie podcasting so much, right? With that said, it was a fun episode to record.

Here it is! (I can’t embed the player for Podomatic somehow so please click on the link to open up the player.)

https://podomatic.com/embed/html5/episode/8280642?autoplay=false

Hope you enjoyed it!
Remember to check out MBDS Showcase if you enjoyed!