Tag: south by southwest

KICK-ASS Hyperbole to Spill Over Into a Sequel

Some people can’t get enough Ass-Kick.  Cue Nic Cage’s giggly hiccup here.

The highly anticipated KICK-ASS has debuted at SXSW.  You can check out our very own, Travis’, review right here.  But, it’s not so much KICK-ASS premiering to hundreds of adoring fans (most of whom, I’m sure, were saying the film “kicks ass” all throughout the Texas night) that is causing buzz now some 48 hours later.  What is getting the buzz are the reports coming from the red carpet, wherein just about everyone involved in the film was talking sequel.

As evidenced by red carpet reports from Coming Soon.net and Film School Rejects, Mark Millar, John Romita, Jr., Aaron Johnson, and Christopher Mintz-Plasse all confirmed a KICK-ASS 2 is coming, and it could be coming soon.  How soon we can only assume at this point, but, once the film is released on April 16th, we may have a better idea just how quickly Lionsgate will want a sequel served up.  I’m sure, as soon as it is announced, it will already be dubbed as the “greatest superhero sequel in the history of the world.”

…or something like that.

SXSW Review: CRYING WITH LAUGHTER

Movies of all kinds have entered into my own personal pantheon of favorites, for various different reasons. All of them are great, but there are some that are successful due in part to how well they’re constructed, utilizing the film’s time and pacing in such an efficient manner that I lose track of time and am thoroughly immersed in the story.

CRYING WITH LAUGHTER is one of these films. Written and directed by Justin Molotnikov, this film took hold of my reigns right from the beginning and drove me hard straight through to the end of the trail, before I even knew the ride was done. My blinders were on and the world outside of this film no longer existed.

Enough of the horse metaphors, I promise. CRYING WITH LAUGHTER is a story about Joey Frisk, one of the top stand-up comics in Scotland. Joey Frisk, played by Stephen McCole, can really make his audience laugh. They love his comedy, but when Joey isn’t on stage he’s not as chipper about life. Separated from 6-year old daughter, drunk, dealing with a coke problem and financially strapped, Joey needs a big break in his career.

Joey’s manager Dee (Laura Keenan) has pulled off a major opportunity for him to perform in a showcase and a representative for a major American opportunity will be in attendance. This is just what Joey needed, except this entire opportunity becomes seriously compromised.

Frank Archer, played by Malcolm Shields, is an old schoolmate of Joey’s that shows up trying to reconnect with him after not seeing each other since they were kids. Joey is slow to recall his relationship with Frank, but eventually lightens up with Frank after he offers to help Joey when he’s down and out.

CRYING WITH LAUGHTER is a fresh film, taking a typical genre such as the suspense thriller and applying a different edge. Joey is a comic, so this plays a significant role in the storytelling process. Interspersed within the action of the story, the audience is given short clips of Joey giving a funny and very compelling performance on stage.

As the story progresses, we begin to realize Joey uses anything and everything from his life as potential material. This works marvelously for Joey, but as the performance draws on the material gradually gets darker and more shocking. In this way, the film sort of jumps back and forth in time, just slightly, which creates an intriguing mystery to follow as it unfolds.

If you could imagine taking an Alfred Hitchcock mystery and applying it to a stand-up comic, you may have something very close to CRYING WITH LAUGHTER. The film has some humor, but it’s primarily when Joey is on stage. This film is not intended to be comical, but is actually quite powerful, revealing some heavy tragedy by the film’s close.

Two performances stand out in this film. Stephen McCole, perhaps best known for his role on the RABS series and also his role in BAND OF BROTHERS, delivers convincingly as a stand-up comic, but even more convincing is his portrayal of a man struggling with so much crap in his life, but a man who is somehow able to turn that crap inside-out and make a career of comedy out of all the bad things in his life. Despite the fact that Joey is often a lousy asshole, McCole draws a deeper sense of empathy from the audience. He’s the loser we want to hate but can’t help but connect with and pull for in the end.

The other amazing performance in CRYING WITH LAUGHTER is from Malcolm Shields, who plants that little bug of uneasiness into the audience’s ear right from the beginning, but doesn’t lay out all his cards on the table at once. Shields allows Frank to unfold slowly, gradually pulling Joey and the audience into his web until the truth is finally revealed and Shields performance really stands up.

CRYING WITH LAUGHTER is nothing fancy, nothing extravagantly complicated or pretentious. Instead, Molotnikov’s film is a highly crafted and honed example of suspenseful storytelling. It’s a film with a solid story that had the audience wondering and then after the wondering is over, maintains interest until the very end as we witness Joey come full circle in his life.

Overall Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

CRYING WITH LAUGHTER is currently available on iTunes and Amazon, soon to be available on cable video-on-demand beginning April 1, 2010. Visit FilmBuff.com for further details.

SXSW (Short) Review: JUNKO’S SHAMISEN

There are few topics as old and time-tested for endurance as the revenge story. JUNKO’S SHAMISEN is yet another case of how such a common story concept can repeatedly be used and kept fresh and entertaining. Filmmaker Sol Friedman has managed to effectively evoke a multitude of cinematic influences into roughly 10 minutes of highly stylized coolness, while avoiding any inkling of excess.

This short film draws upon a number of influential films and other cultural mediums, including anime and comic books. There is a flavor of KILL BILL in the cinematography and visual design, which is in turn to suggest a flavor of various old school films of the samurai/martial arts genre.

Written, designed and directed by Sol Friedman, he flawlessly integrates traditional cell animation, 2D “cut out” style set animation, comic book dialogue bubbles and even a bit of stop-motion to round things out. All of this is woven into the live action base of the film, which leaps off the screen with vivid color, depth and texture. A nod also goes out to Vinit Borrison for the film’s cinematography.

JUNKO’S SHAMISEN is a quiet story about a young girl named Junko (Clemence Wong) and her blind grandfather. They live a quiet, simple life. Junko’s grandfather plays a three-stringed instrument called a shamisen, but when the ruthless Lord Yamamura (Benny Min) shows up to collect his tax, Junko’s grandfather (David Fujino) pays the ultimate price. Junko comes out of her shell and embarks on a vengeance mission, deceptively contradicting her petite and unthreatening visage.

To say this is a quiet story is not to suggest boredom and a lack of intensity. JUNKO’S SHAMISEN packs a wallop without forcing it upon the audience, which says a great deal about Sol Friedman’s mastery of his craft. Shots are carefully planned, pacing and the edits are meticulously calculated. The story of Junko’s revenge is simple and sweet, but also brief and beautifully brutal.

The best part of the whole film is the ending, whereas the story leads up to and hints subtly toward, nailing the tenderly twisted essence of JUNKO’S SHAMISEN one final, glorious time. Yes, a film can be both sick and sweet at the same time, and this film is the proof.

As satisfying as this short film is, I see Sol Friedman getting the attention of some very high heads in the biz and if he doesn’t, well… that’s really a shame! JUNKO’S SHAMISEN serves as the calling card of a talented filmmaker with a keen sense of cinematic style and craft.

SXSW Review: JIMMY TUPPER VS. THE GOATMAN OF BOWIE

“Jimmy fucking Tupper is not crazy!”

Or, is he? Jimmy Tupper is your run-of-the-mill loser, living in Bowie, Maryland. He’s a young man that spends his time drinking, getting high and screwing around, wasting his life. One night of pursuing said recreational activities with some friends leads Jimmy to pass out on the floor.

Being the kind-hearted and trustworthy friends that they are, the limp and unconscious Jimmy is driven out into the woods at night and left to awake discombobulated with no bearing on his location. The next morning, his friends set out to retrieve Jimmy, only to discover him making frantic claims of being attacked by some mysterious creature known locally as the Goatman.

Jimmy’s easy-going, fun-loving friends immediately write off his encounter as a booze and drug induced hallucination, but Jimmy knows it was real and set out with his friend’s camcorder to capture the creature and prove he’s not insane. Camping outdoors for the first time, Jimmy sets out upon a solitary test of his courage in an effort to prove his friends wrong.

JIMMY TUPPER VS. THE GOATMEN OF BOWIE (pronounced “boo-wee”) was written, directed, edited and stars Andrew Bowser. This is a micro-budget film, lasts a mere 70 minutes in length and is shot almost entirely on a handheld camcorder… however; the film is surprisingly entertaining and clever.

The initial establishing scenes of Jimmy and his friends partying, drinking and getting high, are a test of the viewer’s patience and of their gastrointestinal fortitude. A word of warning — if you have even a mild case of motion sickness, watch this movie at your own risk! With that said, those of us who can hold our late night pizza and beer should venture willingly into this strange little film.

While much of the shaky, unstable and grainy handheld footage is utilized intentionally to create the sense of reality — that these are not actors but actually stupid kids – there are occasional scenes when the observant eye will notice some interesting creative manipulation. In particular, notice the effect the sloppy handheld camerawork has when the characters balance upon a steel beam to cross a deep creek bed.

JIMMY TUPPER VS. THE GOATMAN OF BOWIE is a movie that pays a somewhat satirical homage to THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, with Jimmy Tupper becoming something of a dim-witted Survivor Man, setting out on his outdoor excursion into the woods to acquire proof of his alleged Goatman, all while trying to survive the experience. At a very specific point, the film leaves its established first person perspective and the finale takes on a more old school, horror film feel, complete with creepy mood music, makeup effects and genre-appropriate filmmaking style.

Amidst the more entertaining portions of the film are the scenes of the lonesome Jimmy Tupper, camped out in his tent in the dark of night, frightened and warming himself with his beer and whiskey. Ad-libbed or not, these scenes paint a colorful picture of the character and give the performance an unexpected inkling of emotional depth, even if they are rooted primarily in paranoia and psychotic ramblings. The audience does actually risk growing to feel empathy for Jimmy, even if they are laughing the whole time… its still there.

Does the Goatman really exist? Has this all just been one big joke? Is Jimmy Tupper insane, or is he right? If he is right, will he survive? There is a reason this film is playing the midnight show and its because it has a high fun factor… and, I suppose having an increased blood alcohol level would likely make JIMMY TUPPER VS. THE GOATMAN OF BOWIE even more enjoyable, but I’ll leave that up to you to decide.

Overall Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

SXSW (Short) Review: EQUESTRIAN SEXUAL RESPONSE

When do children really take that first step towards understanding human sexuality? Love and sexuality must be a confusing thing to a kid, especially in today’s society where they’re inundated with images and language and ideas pertaining to the topic more than ever before. While this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, one question emerges… from where and how will children attain their initial understanding of these ideas and human emotions?

EQUESTRIAN SEXUAL RESPONSE addresses some of these general themes, written by Courtney Stephens and directed by Zeke Hawkins. The story is of a young pre-teen girl named Alice (Christina Robinson) who lives with her father (Scott Roberts) on their horse farm. Alice’s mother has left, leaving her father to raise Alice on his own, uncertain of exactly how to connect with his daughter and understand what she is going through as she grows up and begins to experience new things.

Aside from being a self-proclaimed vegetarian, misunderstood by her father, Alice holds great love for the horses. In particular, Alice finds herself fascinated by the relationship of mutual love she perceives between the mare named Molly and the steed named Red. She maintains a romantic interpretation of their love for each other, but when Red’s weak heart leads Alice’s father to breed Molly with another steed, her world is suddenly rocked and her perfect equestrian example of love is shattered.

Alice sees a parallel between her parents’ failed relationship and her father’s interference with Red and Molly’s relationship. Alice feels like an outsider, both at home and at school, uncomfortable with the other students’ increasing, albeit immature, exploration of sexuality. Christina Robinson’s performance is compellingly realistic, poignant and heartbreaking. She connection to the horses is evident by the way she naturally interacts with them.

The most successful element of EQUESTRIAN SEXUAL RESPONSE is how the filmmakers approached the subject matter indirectly. This isn’t a film about a girl talking to her father about the “birds and the bees” but rather a film about a girl discovering many of the realities of life on her own, while her father watches over her, struggling to understand what she is going through. Scott Roberts also gives a heartfelt performance, often relying effectively on non-verbal queues to convey his inability to fully empathize with Alice and help her through this difficult time in her life.

EQUESTRIAN SEXUAL RESPONSE is a product of the American Film Institute Conservatory, so it’s almost a given that the cinematography is sublime, provided by Martim Vian. The warmth of the natural sunlight is captured and utilized wonderfully while Alice is fully given over to her equestrian infatuation. Evan Scot Hornsby, provoking an additional layer of thoughtful depth to the viewing experience, provided the original music.

While the story leads the viewer to believe Alice’s heart is growing bitter, she witnesses a life-changing event that ultimately helps her to understand and move forward. EQUESTRIAN SEXUAL RESPONSE is a sweet and tender film that handles the subject matter of sexual discovery with tact and respectful insight, friendly as much to younger contemporary audiences as it is intelligent and original enough to satisfy adult audiences.

SXSW (Short) Review: NOT INTERESTED

Driving down any typical American suburban street — passing one front door after another, all lined up in perfect geometric harmony – a question crosses my mind… What exactly goes on beyond that door? Who are these people? What are their lives really like? Not the performances they put on for the rest of us to see, but their “real” lives.

My apologies, as I got off on a bit of a tangent, but this question resurfaced as I watched D.W. Young’s newest short film NOT INTERESTED. There’s an element of this curiosity that seeps through the surface of the story. D.W. Young is probably best known for his 2008 award-winning documentary A HOLE IN THE FENCE and his last short film AMI UNDERGROUND.

NOT INTERESTED is a fairly straightforward story about a clueless slacker who sells… no, sorry… he “demonstrates” a fabulous line of high-end cutlery, door to door. The Salesman (Khan Baykal) arrives at his appointment’s nice suburban home in a pathetic jalopy, finishing his joint before approaching the client’s door. Half-stoned and oblivious to his surroundings, The Salesman knocks diligently until Ms. Samuels (Leslie Hendrix) answers the door. The Salesman proceeds with his pitch and Ms. Samuels proceeds with a persistent, yet awkward, string of repetitive answers.

“Not interested!”

The meat and potatoes of NOT INTERESTED, which runs a mere 8 ½ minutes in length, is the interaction between The Salesman and Ms. Samuels. Something about this encounter just isn’t quite right. There’s a bit of a mystery for the audience to sort out, but once they do its all about witnessing the event unfold and waiting for the outcome.

NOT INTERESTED has a touch of dark humor, but its primarily a subtle venture into the comedy of the absurd. The Salesman is something of a stereotype, as is Ms. Samuels, but she’s got an intensity to her that makes the audience suspect something is off. The Salesman presents more of a frustrating annoyance, completely unaware of the heroism that is implied upon him.

This is a short film that truly takes a tiny moment, a microscopic sliver of life, and dissects it so that the audience has the pleasure of fully digesting the intricacies of the moment these two characters share. That’s what makes NOT INTERESTED such a cool piece of cinema. Not a big budget, special effects or some elaborately complex and impossible puzzle story for the audience to try and piece together before it ends… its just a moment in time between two people, albeit a very strange and ultimately life-altering moment.

SXSW (Short) Review: TUB

I suppose it all sort of started in 1968 with Roman Polanski’s ROSEMARY’S BABY, then taken to the next level of weird in 1979 by David Cronenberg with THE BROOD and most recently twisted in a wholly new way in 2009 with GRACE. If you haven’t figured out the trend by now, you’re clearly not a fan of quality horror. So, let me spell it out for you and say the trend is horror movies about babies and pregnancy.

Exactly. The concept alone is twisted enough for most people to shy away at the mere thought of cute, innocent little babies being associated with movies intended to scare or repulse the audience on some level. For those people, Bobby Miller’s short TUB is not immediately recommended, but… I still dare you to give it a try.

Written and directed by Bobby Miller, TUB is not his first short film and it shows. TUB is a well-crafted piece of shock cinema. This is a dark and to some, possibly controversial comedy. It’s a film that, intentionally or not, draws upon the unmistakable influence of David Cronenberg. Miller adds his own touch, creating that delicate mix of repulsion and rubbernecking interest that holds the viewer’s attention as we watch the character’s ordeal unfold on film.

Paul (Eric M. Levy) fails at seducing his live-in girlfriend Emily (Megan Raye Manzi) so, he does the obvious… after Paul finishes taking care of business in the shower he cleans up and goes to bed. The next morning begins on the wrong foot and progressively gets worse as Paul realizes he has impregnated his bathtub.

Late for work, Paul rushes to leave his apartment but is distracted by what appears to be a clogged drain in his bathtub. What he finds instead is the aftermath of his one-night-stand with the porcelain seductress. Paul now must figure out what is to be done with his grotesque little love child.

TUB is a story that will have a strong niche audience of fans, with its popularity encouraged by those who find the film offensive. That’s the beauty of movies like TUB, whereas the controversial aspects of the film ultimately increase its exposure through failed attempts at discouraging others. It’s a strange but ironic dynamic that often assists the filmmaker in achieving notoriety.

Paul is a nervous wreck, always stressed by his job, so this new chapter in his life only makes things worse. Paul’s little bathtub bambino begins to grow on him, as he forms an unlikely bond, no different than a mother with her newborn human child. The tension works well in TUB as Paul stumbles through fatherhood. He juggles hiding the truth from his girlfriend Emily as she questions Paul about avoiding her.

The special effects within TUB are very admirable, given the scale of the project. The bathtub baby somehow manages to be both cute and grotesque at the same time. The morbid humor of the film in enhanced with wonderful mood-inducing songs from Sam Cooke and Conway Twitty.

TUB is a film that aims for the viewer’s heart, either to capture it or cause it to abruptly fail, the outcome is up to the individual.

SXSW Review: ERASING DAVID

Right now, this very moment, do you feel like you’re having a “private” moment? If you’re on the Internet, a cell phone or even walking down a public street… then, don’t count on it. In fact, award-winning filmmaker David Bond literally goes out of his way to show just how unlikely it is to have a truly private life in the documentary ERASING DAVID.

After receiving a notice in the mail from a major corporation, apologizing for a breach of private digital information, David Bond decided he would try and disappear for 30 days. He became fascinated with the idea that every detail of his life was being tracked, recorded and stored in databases.

David’s plan was not to erase himself from the system, but rather to escape the system and see if the system could find him. He challenged a pair of successful UK private investigators to track him down, using any and all legal means to track his whereabouts. Meanwhile, his wife is seven months pregnant and proves to be the overly trusting, shall I say slightly naïve opposite of David’s increasingly concerned and suspicious character.

At first, David’s fascination is an intellectual curiosity, but his ambiguous approach quickly spirals into a state of self-induced paranoia and fear. David moves from one place to another, in and out of the UK as he meets with various experts on privacy in the modern world.

Co-directed by David Bond and Melinda McDougall, ERASING DAVID uses David’s first-person experience (a la filmmakers like Morgan Spurlock and Michael Moore) to unravel the surprising truth about how vulnerable our information is to the world. Combined with expert meetings on the nature of privacy and how to maintain it and a few traditional interviews spliced in from other experts on the subject matter, be prepared for a beginner’s course in how the government and private corporations keep tabs on public citizens.

Amongst the most shocking bits of information gleaned from ERASING DAVID is that the UK has some 5 million closed caption cameras watching and recording the public’s every move and that the UK is the nation with the third most surveillance in the world, right behind China and Russia. The relatively frightening facts presented add their own sense of uneasiness, but the film is enhanced in this respect by composer Michael Nyman’s (RAVENOUS) original score, which is almost enough reason on its own to see this film.

ERASING DAVID is more than just a documentary, documenting David’s experiment and informing the public of the very public nature of their private lives, it is also an entertaining narrative. David Bond attempts to maintain a loose, casual personality at first before slowly drifting into the more paranoid side of himself that has him hiding in more rural regions.

There is occasionally a quirky, playful element to Bond’s film. In particular, David spends some time in a rural region and this scene has an odd feel of Jason Bourne spy conspiracy meets the lurking unknown sensation of THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT. The scene is meant to evoke a sense of fear and the point gets across, but ultimately comes across in a humorous tongue-in-cheek fashion.

The film is in black and white, but bits of color occasionally bleed through, which suggests the film was converted for effect. It’s an interesting, moody touch, giving the film a bit of the film noir, gritty private detective atmosphere.

For the same reason SUPER SIZE ME and BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE received flack from some critics, similar questions regarding the “authenticity” and “spontaneity” of ERASING DAVID occasionally surface. This doesn’t really pull away from the effectiveness much, as this element sort of comes with the territory when making this type of documentary film. ERASING DAVID is still a fresh, engaging and relevant work.

Overall Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

ERASING DAVID is currently available on iTunes and Amazon, soon to be available on cable video-on-demand beginning April 1, 2010. Visit FilmBuff.com for further details.

SXSW Preview: ELEKTRA LUXX

During the week or so leading up to the start of SXSW 2010, I’ll be providing a glimpse into some of the films I am looking forward to at the festival. SXSW will feature many great films, many more than I can cover, ranging from narrative fiction to documentary, comedy to horror, foreign to animation, independent to studio films.

SYNOPSIS: Pregnant porn star Electra Luxx (Carla Gugino) is trying to make a living teaching sex classes to housewives. But her life is thrown into disarray when a flight attendant (Marley Shelton) with ties to Electra’s past approaches her for a favor. Chaos ensues as fiancees, private investigators, a twin sister and even the Virgin Mary force her to face up to an unexpected series of decisions and revelations.

SXSW Preview: MARS

During the week or so leading up to the start of SXSW 2010, I’ll be providing a glimpse into some of the films I am looking forward to at the festival. SXSW will feature many great films, many more than I can cover, ranging from narrative fiction to documentary, comedy to horror, foreign to animation, independent to studio films.

SYNOPSIS: A new space race is born between NASA and the ESA when Charlie Brownsville, Hank Morrison, and Dr. Casey Cook compete against an artificially intelligent robot to find out what’s up there on the red planet. MARS follows these three astronauts on the first manned mission to our galactic neighbor. On the way they face adventure, self doubts, obnoxious reporters, and the boredom of extended space travel. This romantic comedy is told in the playful style of a graphic novel – using an animation process that director Geoff Marslett developed specifically for MARS. Underneath the silliness it is an exploration of exploration. Why do we want to know whatÕs out there? How do we react when we find it? Is it really that important? And where does love fit into the whole thing?

Official Website of MARS