The Big Sleep

The Big Sleep IMDb 

I pulled a double feature tonight.  Didn't think I was going to make it but with the help of coffee earlier in the evening, I made it through.  P.T Anderson's Inherent Vice came out today on Blu-ray and I decided to buy it for my director collection and because I love the hell out of that movie.  With a little bit of research, I found that The Big Sleep had somewhat of an influence.  So there's my double feature.  The Big Sleep was pretty good.  A good old classic with Humphrey Bogart.  Here's looking at you, kid.  Here, he plays a sharp private investigator, always smooth.  Seriously, ladies throw their arms to him almost in every moment.  Note to self: must make a career change into the private eye business.  The story was basic but for its time, pretty damn good.  A little long. A little confusing at first.  Wait, I'm still confused.  Who killed who? It doesn't matter.  I love private eye movies.

Good classic to see but not a priority.  It went good with Inherent Vice afterwards.  Inherent Vice is a trippy paranoia film, though.  I think the perfect  triple feature would be: The Long Goodbye, The Big Lebowski, and Inherent Vice.  You can also mix A Scanner Darkly and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas in there.

This is my second Howard Hawks film to see.  Last year, I saw Rio Bravo for Western Wednesday.  

Cine Las Americas: Mr. Kaplan

Mr. Kaplan IMDb

This was the closing night film for Cine Las Americas last Sunday.  This was fucking hilarious.  It's from Uruguay.  I love the pacing.  I was laughing or at least smiling throughout this film.  It's about this 80 year old guy who wants to find a purpose to go on.  Then, he finds out that there is a nazi hiding in South America.  He is convinced that this nazi is in Uruguay when he finds out that an old German guy lives near a beach.  So the mystery and private eye adventure begins.  Mr. Kaplan is a smart comedy.  I have a feeling some bastard is going to remake this here in the U.S. someday.  I nominate Christopher Walken to play Mr. Kaplan.  Anyways, I love this movie.  My favorite of the festival, for sure.

Good recommendation.  Worth buying as well.  I wish this was considered a "2015" movie on IMDb.  Good contender for Top 10 of the year.  

That concludes my short but good time at the festival this past weekend.

  

Cine Las Americas: Tres D

Tres D IMDb 

This Argentinean comedy was alright.  It had some heart.  Some.  I enjoyed it.  It's a love letter to filmmaking and film festivals.  I like the way it was done.  Part documentary style and part narrative.
Didn't get some of the characters but the scenes were beautiful to see on the big screen.

Alright to check out but nothing special. 

Cine Las Americas: Agave is Life

Agave is Life IMDb 

Saw three films yesterday at the Cine Las Americas Film Festival.  The first one was this documentary.  It's all about agave.  The title is not misleading at all.  Everything you ever wanted to know about agave is right here.  Narrated by Edward James Olmos.  This covers a lot of the history and how people today are still trying to keep the agave traditions alive. I had no interest in the subject but this screening along with the other two after were offered to me for free.  So I shouldn't complain.

 If you are a curious agave fan then check it out.  This made me want to go get a couple of tequila shots.

I went to the Cine Las Americas film festival yesterday, not only to watch films, but because I volunteered. An acquaintance I met at the Austin Film Festival last year happens to be a board member to this festival.  She asked me to be the photographer for Sunday's festivities and in exchange I can watch some movies.  Some people, know how to get me.  Okay, I'm copying of what I posted on  Facebook yesterday.  Fuck it.  I'm done.

Cine Las Americas: What's The Use? (2015)

 

What's the Use? IMDb 

  This past Saturday, I was invited to attend the premiere of a film made by my filmmaker friend, Nicole Elmer.  It premiered at the Cine Las Americas film festival.  This is her second film.  It's an over-caffeinated black comedy.  Shot mostly guerilla style.  Lots of crazy shots.  The editing must have been intense.  It felt like an experimental fim with stock footage and all.  I liked the Alice in Wonderland analogy and metaphor to the story.  Some quick cuts and sequences that reminds me of the crazy quick cuts found in movies like Natural Born Killers.  It was an okay film to see.  It was definitely a different experience.  I came here to support Nicole's film and it's mission accomplished.  I respect her efforts and her courage to make film.  It's hard to judge a film made by someone you know (at least for me).

 

Giving this one a solid 6 out of 10.

  

Here's a shot of the Q and A for the film.

Chappie (2015)

Chappie IMDb 

Fucking Chappie.  I give it props for originality.  Best "human gets beaten by a robot" scene of the year so far goes to this movie.  There were some cool action scenes.  Cute little moments with Chappie.  The gimmick got old quick, though.  It was a cool concept but the delivery wasn't there.  I got tired of "baby" Chappie.  Got tired of his maker.  I would have wanted better kills with the actual villains of the movie.  Hell, the one awesome kill with lots of blood happens to one of the guys who wasn't that bad of an asshole.  Chappie was practically a kid the whole way except for the last few minutes when all of a sudden, he became a lot smarter. I tried really hard to give it a chance with my low expectations but I now know why a lot of people didn't like it.    If I ever start a robot collection, I would get this for its originality but at a discount price.  Not a priority.  Best robot movie so far this year is Ex Machina.  Now that one is a priority for a robot collection. 

Giving Chappie a 4 out of 10.

Run All Night (2015)

Run All Night IMDb 

Best car chase of the year so far goes to this movie.  I haven't seen the new Fast and Furious yet or the last three for that matter.  Also, best stabbing scene of the year goes to this movie as well so far.  Fantastic Fest is 5 months away.  Anyways, this movie was alright to see.  There were a lot of good moments of suspense and action but the story isn't anything new.  Liam Neeson plays a washed up drunk who all of a sudden changes to a badass motherfucker due to a crazy event involving his son.   He's not close to his son.  He hasn't kept in touch with him for a lot of years but all of a sudden, he gets a change of heart and becomes the fucker from "Taken."  So the movie isn't anything special.  I kind of knew that going in.  Still, I went to the discount theatre to see this and to give it a fair chance.  I probably would have liked it a lot less if I saw it later on blu-ray.  If you're into action movies and you see most of them, like The Expendables and all the Taken movies, then you will like this one.  If not, you're only missing a good stabbing moment done by Ed Harris.  Brutal!

Giving this one a 5 out of 10.

Home Sweet Hell (2015)

Home Sweet Hell IMDb 

I saw a trailer to this the other day when I rented a new movie.  I remember liking it.
So I took a chance on the damn Redbox this morning.  Well, the movie was okay.  I guess better than expected.  A decent B-movie for sure. But nothing I would recommend or call special.  Love the dark comedy part of it.  It was missing something, though.  Some kind of spark. This goes under "the psycho wife" section next to Gone Girl (but Gone Girl is actually freaking good).

5 out of 10.

Ex Machina (2015)

Ex Machina IMDb

Man, it's been one crazy weekend.  I totally forgot to blog this movie.  Saw it Friday morning at the Alamo Drafthouse.  Man, it was awesome.  Awesome for a slow driven sci-fi.  Actually one of the best movies I've seen on artificial intelligence.  It gets a little bit suspenseful in the second half but the whole movie is pretty much a slow build up for that final scene.  This does have a fucking awesome dance sequence.  I would have wanted more awesome moments like that but for what it was, I enjoyed it a lot.  Worth checking out, especially robot movie fans.  Scary situation if this were actually true.  Mankind has no chance.

Giving this a 8 out of 10.

Hitchcock Thursday: Dial M for Murder

Dial M for Murder IMDb 

Another great Hitchcock movie.  Probably my favorite so far this year.  Saw this classic for the first time last night with my good friend, Casey.  Simple yet freaking good considering it's from the 1950's.  The ending was classy.  As a big fan of the Coen Brothers, I couldn't help but wonder if they were heavily influenced by this film.  Especially in their films, Blood Simple and Intolerable Cruelty.
Similar plot.

I would recommend this to those fans of classic cinema.  It has a little bit of suspense but it's pretty much a straightforward murder plot that goes wrong.  Next Hitchcock Thursday in May will be To Catch A Thief.

 

Dial M for M&M's.

 

The Long Goodbye

The Long Goodbye IMDb

Wowsers!  Good private eye/mystery film we have here.  Saw it last night after work.  You see, earlier in the year, I saw a film called Inherent Vice.  I plan to buy that sucker in a few weeks not only to complete my P.T Anderson collection, but because, it's one badass film.  One of the influences for Inherent Vice happens to be this movie right here.  I can tell why.  They both have the same style.  Hell, this one reminded me a lot of The Big Lebowski as well (great triple feature right here).  Unlike Inherent Vice and The Big Lebowski, our main character here is not stoned the whole time or at all.  He's simply a laid back character in L.A. smoking cigarettes non-stop.  The story is a simple one but what makes this movie are the moments.  That's the way I felt with Inherent Vice.  I love the moments.  Maybe I need to start a private eye section.  

Good recommendation if you're in the mood for a mystery movie from the 70's.  Glad I saw it.  I'll probably see another big Inherent Vice influence before the release date.  We shall see.  The Long Goodbye is directed by Robert Altman.  I've only seen one other film from this famous great filmmaker, and that film is none other than Popeye.    

The Man with the Iron Fists 2 (2015)

The Man with the Iron Fists 2 IMDb 

So this is my 5th "2015" movie to see and it sucked.  I avoided looking at reviews and scores on the internet so I can go with an open mind.  I love the first one.  This one wasn't necessary.  Or at least, change the name to something else.  RZA loves his kung fu films.  You can tell with this movie.  The fight scenes are pretty cool.  I think he should have just made another kung fu film and stayed away from the iron fists.  The story here wasn't good. I mean, it was okay to a certain point.  A lot of it has been done before.  Didn't connect with the characters.  Some of the actions were cool and the gore too but that's it.  Nothing special to this one.This is now my least favorite film of the year.  It's still early in the game, I know.  I got 95 more new films to see before the year is over.  No pressure.  Next new movie to see: Ex Machina, hopefully this weekend.

Giving this one a 3 out of 10.

Samaritan Zatoichi

Samaritan Zatoichi IMDb 

You know, the more Zatoichi films I see, the more attached I am to the character.  That's a no brainer.  Seriously, I enjoyed the hell out of this movie.  To be honest, I been enjoying these Zatoichi films more when I watch them at the last minute rather than scheduled (like last year's Zatoichi Mondays).  In this one, we have an awesome villain who happens to be as fast as Zatoichi. I was worried for a second there during their battle at the end.  Like all Zatoichi films, this one has a little bit of humor as well.  Zatoichi is a blind samurai yet he's able to do lots of things others aren't capable of doing.  So I enjoyed it.  There's one scene here where we see his weakness, which is rare.  Zatoichi cheats on a dice game and gets caught.  Just wanted to mention that because he usually cheats to teach the actual cheaters a lesson.  This time, he was cheating for his own personal gain.  Not cool, Zatoichi.  Not cool. 

This is beautfiful film to see.  The colors on the blu-ray were fucking awesome.  That usually doesn't happen when I see older films on blu-ray.  Most times, I can't tell the difference.  Then again, I don't have a tv that gives me the "home video" look to the movies.  Thank goodness for that.  6 more Zatoichi movies to go to finally finish with the Criterion box set.  I think I'm going to do an awesome sake feast for the last one.

Made stir fry this day in honor of this Zatoichi film.

Kundo: Age of the Rampant

Kundo IMDb

Fuck yeah!  This is the kind of shit I'm talking about.  I see 4 to 5 different movies a week.  Sometimes I see crap, sometimes I see "just okay" movies, and when I see a movie that makes me cheer throughout like a little fucking kid, well that's just special.  This is a badass Korean flick.  It has a semi-revenge plot. Leave it to the Koreans to do fucking great revenge flicks.  This is more than the revenge plot though.  It has the Robin Hood type story and it has the people versus the government type story.  It's got a Western feel to it as well.  Hell, the main theme song here happens to be the same theme song for a famous Spaghetti western called "Day of Anger"  (which I need to see soon).    That song also comes out in Django Unchained, which is directed by my favorite fucking director, fucking Tarantino.  Too many fucking cuss words here.  Well, here's to fucking!  This movie made me cheer, especially in the first half.  The second half pissed me off a little.  The main villain is what pissed me off.  I just wanted to kill that fucker myself but we had to wait until the end.  It was pissing me off because of all the shit he was getting away with.  It was a little too overkill, in my opinion.  Other than that, and the baby he was carrying in the last battle, the rest of the movie was fucking awesome to the max.  I'm hyping up this sucker.

Worth checking out.  Scratch that, worth buying (if you're a collector, of course).  Korean cinema at its best.  I should know, it's my specialty.  I wonder why this wasn't shown at Fantastic Fest last year. 

I didn't eat this with the movie but having this very spicy Bulgogi Burger earlier in the day, made me want to watch a Korean movie later in the night.  And the rest is history.

Beyond the Valley of the Dolls

Beyond the Valley of the Dolls IMDb

It's about time that I saw this cheesy exploitation cult classic.  It's about time.  Awesome one-liners,  awesome looking women, groovy soundtrack, cheesy plot.  Yup, I had a nice Friday morning yesterday.  This movie is referenced in a lot of music like in songs from Sublime, Nature, and I think White Zombie.  This is not a sequel to Valley of the Dolls.  They even say it in the beginning.  It's all one trippy ride in the Hollywood late 60's scene.  Lots of naked women here just for the sake of it.  Can you believe this is written and produced by legendary movie critic, Roger Ebert?  Well, believe it now, motherfucker!  

You know what you are getting yourself into with this movie.  I will definitely buy it for my grindhouse section.   Life is special little birdy.  

A Most Violent Year

A Most Violent Year IMDb 

Decent Gangster-ish movie.  Everybody knows I love my Gangster movies.  This one is a quiet, sometimes intense, but not full on Gangster movie.  The elements are there.  Our main character tries so hard not to be a gangster but sometimes you just can't help the nature of the beast.  He is married to the daughter of a big gangster in the area (who we never see).  Oscar Isaac does pretty good in his role.  He's trying to be a successful businessman and avoid trouble with the District Attorney.  Good drama.  There was one or two suspenseful scenes.  Lot of great gangster talk but not enough gangster action in my opinion. 

It was decent.  That's the right word.  Definetely worth watching.

The Great Adventure

The Great Adventure IMDb 

A few years ago, I bought a Spaghetti Western Collection set that has 12 different movies.  This is the 9th movie from the set that I've seen now. It was okay.  Nothing memorable.  Little different than the others because we're dealing with wolves almost half of the time. Jack Palance is here in his usual villain role.  It was a nice set up but nothing special overall.  Nice metaphors at the end there.  There is a little bit of revenge here so that always helps. 

All I need to see from the set are:
Jesse and Lester, Johnny Yuma, and Seven Guns for Timothy.
The set costs me a few bucks so I guess I got what I paid for.
I think so far, two or three of the movies on that set are worth watching.

Time Travel Tuesday: Time Bandits

Time Bandits IMDb 

What a bummer!  I didn't enjoy this movie.  Terry Gilliam movies are always a hit or miss.  This is a miss, obviously.  It didn't make any sense.  There was no real plot or any answers.  Hell, it didn't even feel too much like a time travel movie.  It's more fantasy like.  I have no problem with midgets.  In fact, movies get a lot of love from me if they include them.  Unfortunately, midgets did not save this movie.  What a shame.  Not sure if there are a lot of followers.  I'm an okay fan of Monty Python and the Holy Grail.  This is by the same group but I couldn't enjoy any minute of it.

Not recommended from me.  I want to go back in time and not watch this movie.  Can I do that?  Let me try.....Fuck, it didn't work.

LFO

LFO IMDb 

Woke up this morning to see this low budget Sci-fi from Sweden.  I kind of liked it a lot.  Clever way to make this movie without a big budget.  The ending was surprising.  I have to admit, for a 94 minute movie, it felt like it dragged on for a while.  Good story.  It's about this one guy who comes up with a way to hypnotize people using sounds.   He makes his neighbors do a lot of things for him and to themselves.  Then, things get a little more crazy.  I first heard about this movie when it played at Fantastic Fest.  I found it on Netflix yesterday. 

Good recommendation.  This would make a great double feature with Sound of Noise (another clever Swedish film).

Into the Woods

Into the Woods IMDb 

I went in with an open mind with this musical but I couldn't help getting annoyed by it.  I love musicals.  I learned to love them over the years.  I just didn't enjoy this one.  Maybe because I'm still in awe that I saw a sexploitation 70's musical version of Alice in Wonderland the night before that everything else seems lame for now.  I need to process what I just wrote.  (Sipping my coffee) Fuck it, it is what it is.  Into the Woods started out alright.  Interesting to see the Cinderella story mixed with all these other fairy tales.  After a while, I just didn't give a fuck. I was mad actually.  Cinderella kept going to the festival each night to dance with the prince.  And each night, she runs off like a mad woman.  The prince should've done something the second time around rather than the third time.  But, it's all part of the story.  I wanted more out of the songs too.  I wanted more out the witch character as well.  There, I don't like talking shit.  So I'm going to stop.    

Watch at your own risk.  Here's an interesting thought:  I wonder how this would be like if Tim Burton would have directed this.  The songs would've probably been better with Danny Elfman in charge.  In a perfect world.

Weird Wednesday: Alice in Wonderland: An X-Rated Musical Fantasy

Alice in Wonderland: X-Rated Musical Fantasy IMDb

Holy shit, Smalls!  What the fuck did I get myself into?  Oh yeah, Weird Wednesday.  The first Weird Wednesday I've been to that showed a sexploitation musical.  Not sure if there any others out there.  Tonight was a mystery movie for Weird Wednesday.  Meaning, nobody in the audience knew what the fuck they were going to screen.  The host went to the stage and said it was going to be the original Disney version of Alice in Wonderland.  We are thinking, April Fools, we get it.  Then they started showing trailers of other old Disney movies. Then, boom, the X-rated Musical Fantasy version of Alice in Wonderland starts playing.  The host interrupts and yells at the projectionist.  "We wanted the Disney version."  Well, we went and continued with this trippy X-rated version.  In glorious 35mm, no less.  It was.....interesting.  At first, had no idea where they were going to take this to but after about 25 minutes in or so, we get lots and lots of full frontal nudity.  And it's non-stop from there.  It's not a straight up porn at all.  It's almost a soft-core porn feel but with a big story taking place.  It did the job.  Overall, it's not so bad.  Thought it was going to suck, no pun intended.  It was a good experience, that's for sure.  Cheesy, stupid, a little funny, bad but good film.

Now, I can take off Sexploitation Musical off my list.  

I never thought I would ever see something like this and especially in the big screen.  

Now, playing the Disney's version of Alice in Wonderland might have been more weirder than this (for Weird Wednesday).