Review is now posted and update

It's been a long and fun week for me. It's been a week since I saw my first film as a critic, Grindhouse, and since then I have been busy writing up on it as well as other stuff that deals with the film.

It's also been a week since I have seen a movie. This whole thing took more time that I thought it would but I hope to get better at it with time.

So, here is the official review. My first review as a critic and my first wide publication. This is just the review for the film, the interview/article type of thing that I wrote should be up in the upcoming days. Enjoy it and pass it along to anyone who cares to read it.

http://www.bazuca.net/2007/03/31/cine-a-loving-trubute-to-the-70s.html

Thanks once again to everyone who has been reading this blog and giving me feedback. I don't know what exactly is up with transferring over this blog. I hope it happens someday soon.

The Best Short Film I have ever seen.

This is the best short film I have ever seen. Period.

I urge you to watch it. Seriously. Watch this masterpiece.

Best Short Film you've never heard of.

I was talking to some hardcore film buffs and they told me to check out this short film named Kitchen Sink. I was about to get it through my main connect and instead was shocked to find it on youtube.

It's some brilliant stuff for sure. Here is the film broken into 2 parts. Please watch this and enjoy.

Sleeping Dogs Lie (2006, Bobcat Goldthwait)

"A romantic comedy in which a girl's relationships are destroyed when she reluctantly reveals a past indiscretion."

The past indiscretion is that she blew a dog in college. This is very important to the film. In case if you forget this fact the film will remind you at least 40 times before the hour and 20 minutes are up.

There is a reason I put both covers up. It turns out that the dvd will have two different covers. The top one is the "comedy cover" and the bottom one is the "romantic cover". This is a prime example of why Sleeping Dogs Lie is a bad film. It just can't decide what exactly it wants to be. There is not enough comedy to call it a comedy and there is not enough genuine romance to call it a romance. When they mix together the film seems extremely forced and cliched. That's right, a film that deals with a girl who blew her dog comes out cliched. I thought it could never happen and it did.

I had heard a lot about this film since it went into competition at Sundance. How this film got into competition and how why some people liked it is beyond me. It's everything that is wrong with indies at times. It tries to be creative. It's not. It tries to be cute. It's not. It tries to be very daring. It's not. It tries to be something great. It's not.

The acting ranges from horrible to pretty good and the actors never seem that comfortable. When they are forced to interact with eachother for dramatic scenes the feelings come off as fake and very rough. It feels like people just reading a script. The story/plot seems to be a great launching point for an original raunchy film. With an odd mind like Bobcat behind everything it seems that it would come off as either a very off the wall comedy or a surprisingly good and sweet film. It doesn't.

This is my main problem with the film. At times we are seeing a very random off the wall comedy scene and then out of nowhere we get some very dramatic scenes, that don't come off as dramatic as the film wants to. and then we are back to comedy. The jumping between the two comes off,once again, seems very forced.

The comedy is another huge problem. Once again, with a plot like this we should have gotten some brilliant dark comedy scenes but we don't. The comedy results in dogs coming out every 2 minutes and the characters looking at the dog and doing a ": /" type of face. It's funny the first time but this gag keeps on going and going and going and going. The film even ends with this gag.

All the characters are so cliched and the story begins original and within the first 10 minutes turns into a cliche fest. Sleeping Dogs Lie tries really hard to be something good. Instead, the film comes off as a film that is just really trying hard but never succeeds.

- *

Spanking the Monkey (1994, David O. Russel)

"Raymond Aibelli is a promising medical student ready to begin a prestigious summer internship. But Susan, his mother, is immobilized by a broken leg, and his father Tom, a travelling salesman, makes Raymond stay home and take care of his mother, an attractive though unhappy woman. His mother's condition leads them to a degree of immediate physical contact which Raymond finds disturbing."

This is the feature debut from David O. Russel. This is the man who would later on make some of the most original and odd films out there. This however, his first film, is his most original,odd, and maybe even his best film yet.

I first heard about Spanking the Monkey when I heard it mentioned on an IFC original documentary about sex on film. They kept on mentioning and referencing it as a prime example of how sex can be treated on film. I forgot to mention, the mother and son have sex. Yeah, it's more uncomfortable than it sounds. The whole film is driven through it's second half because of this and because of it Spanking the Monkey has become one of those films that you can debate and talk about for a long time. Sadly, or not sadly (I don't know), it will be hard to find one person who has watched or will watch it.

There is more to this film than "the mother has sex with the son. Ewwww!!" There are layers of psychology going on in this film. It's not surprising since it's David O. Russel and this seems to be an ongoing theme with him. I Heart Huckabees might be the best example of this. Other than the ongoing theme of psychology we are treated to some true dark comedy. By dark I mean pitch black. The comedy ranges everywhere from dialogue driven gags to slapstick but most all we are treated to some very awkward and uncomfortable comedy.

O. Russel is somehow able to make a scene go from uncomfortable to funny in a matter of seconds and this is why I liked the film so much. It's a very brave and bold film that takes more chances than it should and ends up working. Whats even more impressing is that this is the first film from him. I can't figure out how he was even able to make this film and get people to watch it. It seems like an impossible sell and an even more impossible thing to pull off.

The reason the film works is do to a lot of raw talent. The performances are just right and perfectly played out. Jeremy Davies, who was a scene stealer in Saving Private Ryan, turns in a brilliant very intense and often funny performance as the troubled son. The script is smart and well written and everything comes off natural. The direction, although simple, suits the film perfectly as well. The only flaw the film has is some secondary characters that pop up every now and then and just annoy the viewer since they don't influence the plot that much

Spanking the Monkey may not be for everyone. It's a film that has to be seen to be believed and few people will take the chance. It's a shame because there is much more to the film than the controversy it provokes and still keeps provoking.

- ***

Spanking the monkey and blowing the dog

Every film buff loves making their own double features. There is just something about choosing two films to watch back to back that share a theme,actor,director, etc.. It's just something that makes the nerd inside smile. It's also great when the films compliment eachother and make eachother better.

:Last night I decided to do a double feature. The theme was "controversail indies that deal with a certain taboo" The films were going to be Spanking the Monkey and Sleeping Dogs Lie. The first deal with incest and the other with a girl who blows her dog. They were both also widely liked by most people who gave them a chance.

I decided to give them both a chance and see what all the fuss was about. It turned out to be an intteresting double feature and seemed to prove what can become of an indie. Some turn out original and great meanwhile others become a parody of themselves.

Eyeball (1975, Umberto Lenzi)

"Killer in red cape and hood is killing off tourists on a tour bus by gouging out their eyeballs."

Unlike Autopsy, this description does the film justice. It's one hour and 20 minutes of people on a tour bus getting killed one by one and them trying to find out who the killer is. It's got plenty of cheese and it's silly at times but it's always fast and a lot of fun. Plus, the film has one of the coolest posters ever.

There really is not much more to say. There is nothing out of this world in the film. There is no super cool style in the film. No great direction. no great acting. The twist ending is not that great either. It's just a fun film, plain and simple. I wish I could write more but the first paragraph sums up everything the film has got going for it.

- *1/2