Drive-In Monster-rama SILENT NIGHT DEADLY NIGHT (1984)

One of the many Santa Claus centered horror films, this was the one that acted as a lighting rod for those who hate horror. I can kind of understand it owing to the plot, but at the same time it’s nothing to get too upset about.

The plot of the film has a young boy going to visit his grandfather in a mental hospital on Christmas Eve. Grandpa it seems it catatonic, and his kids want to be good and visit. While the kids parents go off with a doctor, Grandpa shows he is only faking and tells the young boy that Santa doesn’t just bring presents but kills anyone who wasn’t good the previous year. The kid is freaked out, more so when grandpa goes back to pretending to be zoned out and refuses to confirm the terrible things he told his offspring. Things go completely off the rails on the ride home their car is stopped by a bad guy dressed as santa who kills the parents and tries to kill the kid.

Years after living in a Catholic orphanage where he is psychologically abused by the mother superior, the little kid gets a job at a toy store, where on Christmas eve he is forced to play Santa. Going off the rails he kills his co-workers and then goes to the orphanage to get the nuns.

If the film wasn’t just a bleak Santa killer film it’s also an violent anti Catholic screed.

Mean nasty and ugly, this film is just incredibly unpleasant in the extreme. Cops are killers, nuns are evil and children are to be abused. No one is nice. There is no one to root for.

Illogical in the extreme everything is plotted for maximum nastiness.

It’s funny for all the wrong reasons.

I hadn’t seen this in years when I saw it at Monsterama and I don’t know if I ever need to see it again.

Angkor (2022)

Your reaction to this IMAX exploration of the lost Cambodian city/temple will depend on whether you see the film in 2D or 3D.  While there is difference between the two films other than the glasses, they are actually what hakes the film work since the glasses gives the illusion of being in the temple itself.

The film itself is a look at the discovery and restoration of the whole area. It’s brief look at the history of the complex and of how it was swallowed up by the jungle before “rediscovery”. Actually the temple was known to various pilgrims who were followed by an archaeologist who then brought word back to the rest of the world. It has then been slowly restored over the last century plus with only some breaks for the wars that have ravaged the country.

To be perfectly honest while the film gives us a nice cursory history of Angkor, the film is rather dry and not as informative as it should have been. There is so much to this story that the film barely touches on in favor of giving us visual delights that you really have to wonder why they bothered. This should have been a feature not a 40 minute travelogue.  And while the film leans heavily on the visuals they aren’t always what they should be, unless you have the glasses on since you get the added depth that make the film come alive.

Is the film worth seeing? As an IMAX 3D film yes. As 2D and non IMAX  it can be skipped

It Ain't Over (2022) opens Friday 5/12

When Major League Baseball had the four greatest living baseball players show up at the  All Star Game, they made a major mistake in forgetting Yogi Berra. While he is best known for his Yogi-isms, most people forget how good a player he really was. How good was he? He has 13 World Series rings, 10 as a player, which is more than the  the four players the shuttled out combined. When Berra's granddaughter saw the "mistake" she took steps to correct it.

Containing a who's who of admirers, both in baseball and out, IT' AIN'T OVER is a moving film that fixes the record regarding Yogi Berra. One of the greatest that ever played, this film makes it clear that he was in many ways was more amazing than Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle. The trouble is he was a lovable guy who said things that sounded goofy (When you see a fork in the road take it).  He let the media create a character for him and he went with it, which endeared him to generations while hiding his real achievements.

Everything seems to be here, from his friendship with Jackie Robinson, to his support of LGBT rights to a long laundry list of amazing things. Berra never stopped doing and doing the right thing.

I really liked this film a great deal. This is a super film that is full of laughs and tears and more nostalgia than you can shake a stick at.

That said the film has one big problem and that is the film relies a bit too much on Berra's granddaughter. While what she tells us is golden, having so much come from her and not other baseball players kind of lessens things. Why is she telling us this and not some of the other people who are interviewed? While I'm a long time Berra fan and understand how good he was, I know people coming in blind may not be convinced.

Slight reservation aside, this film is an absolute must, more so if you love baseball.

Nightcap 5/7/23- May Update and short reviews

Just a quick update for May.

First I’m still trying to do some coasting this month. While I am aiming to see more than I did last month when I was taking the month off until Hot Docs, I’m actually looking to do more but I’m still aiming to chill until the Tribeca wave really hits.

As it stands now I will have coverage of Cabane A Sange, Human Rights Watch, NYC, Cannes, as well as a couple of other fests. I will be posting reviews this week of the films I saw last weekend at April Ghouls Drive-in Monster-ama (except CHOPPING MALL, which is a Turkey for Thanksgiving Week). I’m going to have lots of reposts this month and a bunch of new releases, though not as much as I'd like.

I am triaging what I’m seeing and not trying to do everything that was just sent to me.

I will say I did see the following films and while I’m not going to do full reviews I find I would like to mention them

I'LL BE WATCHING is a good home invasion/stalker film. I tend not to like these films because there is a sameness to them, but as these films go it was pretty good.

SPACE WAR is a really nice throwback to scifi films of old. It has a nice retro feel to it and if I had seen it when I wasn’t burned out I would have really been singing its praises.

UNCONDITIONAL is floating around PBS. It’s a really good look at the way families support each other in illness and when there are mental issues. Its definitely worth a look.

ANXIOUS NATION is a good look at mental health issues in America. I liked it but I won’t do a full review because my quibbles with the film will make it seem like I’m savaging the film which isn’t the case.

HELL’S HALF ACRE is about a bunch of a group of urban explorers with a You Tube channel who go into a prison and find that there are dark forces lurking. Yes we’ve been here any number of time before so this seems old hat, but allowing for the familiarity this time out of the box is pretty good. To be certain it doesn’t reinvent the sub-genre but it does entertain, which in my book is enough.

Woman Alive (2021) Cinejoy 2021

This is one of several reviews I've been sitting on for several year because  I was asked to hold the review until the film was picked up for the impending release. I was told I would be informed when the releases happened. 

I'm still waiting a couple of  years on.(several are from the 2020 and 2021 covid days)

Because I am trying to clean out my draft folders I've made the executive decision to start posting the reviews because I am tired of looking at the pieces and because no one is getting back to me about the status (several have been released but because PR people shifted, or titles changed I was never told)

A wife and mother leaves her husband and daughter in Jerusalem and then begins to wander through the slums of the city on a journey of self discovery.

This is an art house film that is a mixed bag. While the performances are good the film never really generates much feeling for it being in any sort of reality. 

Blame the fact that everything looks perfect at all times. Shlomit, the woman at the center of the story never seems to get dirty despite sleeping on the street, or sleeping with her face pressed into the painting she had just completed. Her clothes are impeccable no matter hat she is doing. As a result she never feels part of the action but rather she feels as though she has been pushed into the scene to interact with the people on screen.  We can feel the camera crew just out of frame instead of feeling as though we are looking at real life.

Its a shame because the film had the film had tried to connect to reality just a bit more the various sequences, which are very well written and possessing some wisdom about following your own path might have hit home with more force. As it is this is an okay film that has some good things to day but which tries a bit too hard to get them across.

Silent Madness (1984) Drive In Monster-rama

 

Closing film of the April Ghouls Drive In Monsterama in Vandergrift Pa. is a mad man on the loose tale about a computer/clerical error that puts a mad killer back on the streets. When a new psychiatrist realizes the mistake her bosses deny it, saying he actually died. But he went back to his old home and once more begins stalking the sorority girls he once targeted.

Surprisingly good horror film has unfairly been lost to most horror movie fans. Well done on pretty much every level the film starts and then just goes straight on too the end. The film is suspenseful in all the right ways with the kills being occasionally atypical.

What I like about the film is that unlike many slasher films there is not an effort to make he killer into a super human machine. He is ultimately just a guy so there is no gotcha ending .

Because this was going to be the final film at Monster-rama I actually watched the film on Tubi since I know that there was no way I was going to make the screening at the drive -in, or at least be awake for it. Had I seen it at 3 am I probably would have fallen asleep during some of the exposition scenes.  That’s not a knock on the film, which I like and which I’m going to get a copy of, rather it’s a statement that the film should not be seen in the wee hours after two days of films.

Recommended

Chile 76 (2023) Opens today

 

In the early days of the Pinochet regime a well to do older woman is asked by the local priest to help him with a criminal he is hiding. He tells her that he is nobody important, however she soon learns that he is a wanted member of the opposition.

This is a very good film that ponders how people who aren't paying attention to what is happening in their country can be shocked awake when reality comes to call.  Director  Manuela Martelli's first feature is a film that dazzles the soul. It is a film that is not only a killer political drama but also a beautifully made film.

I suspect all the other reviews will talk about the politics and the drama so I'm going to talk about the filmmaking. Martelli's shifts the look of the film as we go from real to a more fractured and surreal look as the film goes on. The camera becomes unsteady as our heroine's world fragments. Late in the film when some bad things happen she has a conversation  framed in mirrors so that in the center we have the people talking and in side mirrors there are singular versions of each person as if they are outside themselves.

Colors reinforce everything that is going on. Drops of paint appear like blood droplets on a shoe. The mixing of red icing makes the skin crawl as it becomes a sea of blood. All through the film color quietly and not so quietly underlines the emotion.

This film is a that gets under your skin and makes you feel uneasy. It is a dire warning to what may happen in country if fascists are allowed to seize control.

Land of Gold (2022) opens tomorrow

This is the story of a Punjabi truck driver who is trying to come to terms with life. His wife is pregnant and he isn’t certain how he feels. He is also not certain about where he stands in America. While he is making a delivery he hears banging inside the container. Discovering an undocumented girl from Mexico in the container he is pressed into helping the girl try and find her parents.

This is a solid little drama about two people trying to find their place in the world and in America. That last point becomes clear early on when we realize that the two people we are following have the wrong skin color not to be viewed with suspicion by authority. It’s a beautifully made film about what it’s like to be in America and not be the poster children for the country.:

To be perfectly honest most of this film is truly great. It’s a film that for most of its running time quietly tells its story and makes heart felt points along the way. The film only wobbles a couple of times when it decides to either up the ante dramatically or to push the point its trying to make a little to hard. There is a difference between leaning into a point and hammering it home, especially when the film is so carefully modulated emotionally that the pushed moments seem out of place.

Slight reservations aside this is a must see film and is highly recommended.

Unsyncable (2023) Hot Docs 2023

This is good time with good people.

This is a portrait of a group of senior citizens who remain active and engaged by spending time performing synchronized swimming. While it’s not a late in life choice many thought they would be making, the reality is that it is something that has  brought them great delight.

I just loved this film. It is a film that made me smile from start to finish. As I said at the start its good time with great people, while that may not sound like much, it is actually everything since is showing us these wonderful people we see that there is hope for our own golden years, that we don’t have to sit and be alone, but that we can strive and thrive.

See this film and feel good

Unseen (2023) Hot Doc 2023

 

This is a portrait of Pedro. A undocumented man working on his degree in social work he is struggling to come to terms with the limitations of being undocumented has on his ability to get a degree. He als has to deal with having limitations on his ability to see.

Blood relative to the narrative film THE MAN WHO DID NOT WANT TO SEE TITANIC, UNSEEN is a film that uses its visuals to put us in the shoes of it's subject. Everything is not always clear so as a result we truly come to understand the daily battle of Pedro.

I really liked this film a great deal. It's one of the best films I have seen that is playing at Hot Docs this year. What makes the film so great is the choice to put us in Pedro's shoes. To be certain it could be just a cheap ploy to get attention for the film, but the use here lifts the film up. Since it is not a constant thing we get moments to reflect on what we are experiencing. We are never overwhelmed and instead allowed to process the deeper implications. The film stops being a film and instead becomes something we have to experience.

It's the experience that also makes this film hard to write on. The act of seeing it doesn't just give us information that we can take in, but instead it gives us something we have to sit with and ponder. Its something we can't fully write on because much of my reaction is visceral, something somewhere beyond words.

You need to sit and see this film, not on TV in your living room where you can get distracted. Instead you need to see this in a theater where you can't look away, at your phone or out the window. You need to do this so that you can fully understand what this film is telling us.

Recommended.

THE THIRD SATURDAY IN OCTOBER PART V and THE THIRD SATURDAY IN OCTOBER hits digital Friday

There are a couple of tricks to watching these films.

Watch V first then 1. Try and watch them together. Also remember that the films are send ups of long running series from the 1980’s and 90’s.

The idea behind the films was that V was the only surviving film in a series that spun off from a 1980’s horror film about a serial killer who survived his execution and then sought to get revenge.  The film is a note perfect comedy horror film in the style of  series like Friday the 13th or Slumber Party Massacre. Watching it it feels like coin into the middle of series. After the filmmakers finished the film they went back and made what the first film would have been if had actually existed.

I liked these films, but to be perfectly honest these are not films to sit at home and watch. The two THIRD SATURDAY films should be seen in a theater with like mined people who get the jokes and the references. Sitting at home watching this for the review my thoughts constantly shifted to how much greater this would have been being able to listen to everyone around me react and comment on the film. Sure I could have invited friends over, but at the same time a living room full of people is not the same as being in a darkened theater.

If you are a horror movie fan these films are recommended, If you are at a festival or some place where they are playing together with a real live audience they are a must.

THE MELT GOES ON FOREVER: THE ART & TIMES OF DAVID HAMMONS (2022) opens Friday at the Film Forum

The film begins with a recounting of one of the talking heads talking about walking down the street when she was a girl and finding a man who was selling snowballs of various sizes on the street. She ended up buying one and saving it in her freezer. It was only years later that she discovered who the man was, artist David Hammons

THE MELT GOES ON FOREVER is the look at  artist via interviews with Hammonds and the people he know him. Its an intriguing  film that had me spending a couple of hours after the screening looking up more information on Hammons and his art. The work Hammons has produced over the years truly is wonderful.  It also crosses different media in ways that most artists never attempt. I came out of the film as a fan.

As much as I love Hammons art ant the stories told about him I’m not as big a fan of the film. I blame the way of how Hammons story is told with any real sense of who he is held off for about a quarter of the film. We get the stories of the work but not the man so there is a kind of hole in the film at times. It kept me from fully giving myself over to the film.

That said, there is some great art here and some greater stories, so I just want to say- if you think you might like this go see it.

Robots at Carnegie Science Center

 

Drive In Monster-ama April Ghouls 2023

This springs Drive-In Monster-ama  April Ghouls was subtitles Stalk and Slash focusing on 1980’s style stalker films. As usual I went with my brother Joe. Unusually  we both were slightly under the weather and we were less social than usual largely because we didn’t want to really infect anyone with our colds.

The whole trip was one of constant motion. We only stopped moving to eat, sleep or watch movies.

We left home at 4am the day before because we were going to go to Pirates baseball game. While I’m a dyed in the wool Mets fan, the Pirates stadium and the welcoming nature of the Pirate fans would have me switch sides if it wouldn’t entail rearranging my soul.

After an early dinner we did a little shopping just to kill some time before going to the hotel and crashing for the night.

We were up early of Friday so we could go to G & G in Vandergrift for breakfast. Usually it’s packed but since it was raining we think the crowds were kept away.

After that we went back into Pittsburgh for a trip to the Carnegie Science Center where we saw the exhibit on the Vikings

Enjoyed the movie robot exhibit out side the IMAX theater where we saw the IMAX 3D film ANGKOR (you need to see it in 3D- a full review of it and all the other films this weekend are coming) and we wandered around the other exhibits.

We then wandered to the Riverside for a rainy evening of movies.

After some confusion about who I am (there was a suspicion I was named Bob) and some further confusion Joe and I talked to the infamous Jake and Mike for a bit before sitting down for a couple of films.

Jake and Mike

The first film was the legendary SILENT NIGHT DEADLY NIGHT which managed to make a chunk of change and spawn sequels thanks to wild protests about the film being about a man dressed as Santa killing people. I hadn’t seen it in years and while it’s not a bad family it is a rather hateful and bleak film that hates pretty much everyone.

The second film was CHOPPING MALL, which I have been avoiding the last few months since it’s been heavily promoted on several of the streaming services. A truly bad film with a great cast, it’s a film that sucked the fun out of the evening despite the constant riffing between my brother and myself.

We were so burnt by the film we headed home.

Saturday  was a pick up day.  More shopping involved a trip to Legends Games and Hobbies and lunch at Kelly O’s, a breakfast and lunch place that was featured on Diners,Drive-ins & Dives. The food was so good we look to be making a trip there on our next trips to the Monster-amas.

More chilling at the drive-in as the forecast of no rain proved to be wrong,

We spent a chunk of the prefest listening to movie podcasts before settling in for the evenings films

MANIAC was a film I saw opening night four decades ago. I hadn’t really seen it in years so I was looking forward to seeing the groundbreaking film. Sadly, seeing the film for the first time in probably 15 years I found it’s more of interest historically than as a good film. Yes Spinell is excellent. It’s a great performance and the dialog is spot on. The trouble is the narrative is nonexistent with the film being more random scenes than anything. Nothing makes sense because we know nothing, I mean why does Caroline Munroe spend so much time with him? Additionally the effects, which we used to spend hours watching and trying to replicate have dated badly. It was a disappointing experience.

The film was followed by MANIAC COP which is a pure popcorn delight. William Lustig directs a Larry Cohen script and its just crazy exploitation madness. It makes no sense and LA is not NYC but it works.

After the films Joe and I headed home. I had seen TOOLBOX MURDERS way too many times over the years and I recently had seen SILENT MADNESS so there was no reason to stay.

As it is we got back  to the hotel close to two.

Over all we had a blast and we're looking forward until next year.

Razing Liberty Square (2023) Hot Docs 2023

The problem the poor, the minorities and the disenfranchised have had over the years is that even when they have been shunted to certain areas over the years, the rich and powerful will eventually come and try to take their land and their homes. In many cases the rich want to add to their territory (See RACIST TREES) and just want the poor out of their way. In the case of Miami Florida, they know the sea levels are rising and they want the high ground for themselves.

RAISING LIBERTY SQUARE is the story of global warming and how the high ground near Miami Beach has suddenly become valuable because at some point it will be the beach. This means everyone who has ocean front property now will have to move. The film follows how plans to up grade the the Liberty Square area which are supposed to be a boon for everyone turned into a boondoggle and nightmare for the people being displaced.

This film is going to make you shake your head and get angry. This is a film that clearly shows you should never trust rich people when there is something at stake that they actually want. Following the lives of residents and people involved with the plans it becomes clear that many people have an agenda beyond the good of the community. 

While it's a story we've kind of heard before the fact that rich people and cities are going to be coming for people's land because it's not going to be underwater is  something new. This film is a dire warning about what the future is going to hold for millions of people across the globe.

Recommended

Ariela Rubin on You Can Live Forever (2022) which opens Friday

 

In You Can Live Forever, Jamie is temporarily living with her aunt and uncle who are devout Jehovah's Witnesses. They make her go to church(or meetings as they call it) where she befriends Marika. Jamie and Marika wind up spending a lot of time together which gradually turns into them being more than just friends. Of course, because of religion, they have to be together in secret.

I was very unfamiliar/really knew nothing about Jehovah's Witnesses prior to watching this, and it made me wonder; are all Jehovah's Witnesses really strange in real life, like the people in the movie were?  Maybe that comment is ignorant, but they really seemed peculiar. Or maybe I just view them as strange because of how removed I am from it and any religion in general. (I read that the director was raised in a Jehovah's Witness community, so I assume the characters are an accurate portrayal) 

I really liked Jamie's character, but Marika was a bit off for me, but it can just be because of her family and the way she was raised. I really loved the friendship between Jamie and Nathan. I was happy she had a nice and "normal" friend who supported her and who she could be herself with and talk to. 

This movie was good! I found it educational, moving, and also heartbreaking. Definitely made me cry. A good coming-of-age movie that I would love a sequel to!

Eurodonbas (2022) Hot Docs 2023

 

Eurodonbas is one of the best films playing at Hot Docs and one of the most important films you will see all year.  The film is the story of the Donbas region of Ukraine which has been invaded and occupied by the Russian army. It’s the story of a region that was developed by foreigners for  old Imperial Russia and then claimed by the Soviets as an example of their greatness.

I was floored by EURODONBAS. I say that as someone who did a side study of Russian History in college. Some how the fact that the whole region was essentially developed by the Belgians, The English, The Americans and others was left out of the histories that I read. As such the stories of the ever changing tales of the history of the region were left out.  I never heard of how the Soviets would show the factories and building say they were made by Soviets while all the writing was in the language of whatever country that has built it.

What makes the film so important is that in revealing the history of the region it links up the past to the present. We see why the region is so important to Russian and why everyone living in it views their history as they do.  The film puts the current events into a historical context so we understand things better.

But don’t let that scare you off because this film is a great deal of fun. There are a lot of good stories that are just really damn interesting to hear, regardless of how they connect to current world events.

Put this film on your must see list.

Highly recommended.

WHO’S AFRAID OF NATHAN LAW? (2023) Hot Docs 2023

The answer to the title question is the government of China. They fear the young man and his friends as if he were the boogeyman. There is a very good chance that if the Chinese could remove him and other pro-democracy protesters with out it causing an uproar, they would do so in an instant. 

This is the story of Law and his fellow protesters who decided to fight the Chinese draconian rule of Hong Kong.  They didn't want to live in a city where dictators ruled with an iron hand.

This is one of the best docs I've seen on the uprising in Hong Kong. While there have been many others, some being biographies of people involved, some filled with on the ground footage, this is the first one that I've run across that has managed to be both in the moment and a step back. Its a film that puts us in the fight and gives us a bit of context so that we can understand what happened and what is happening and why. 

This film is so good that even if you've seen other films on the Hong Kong Uprising you need to see this one.

Recommended.

BLUSH (2022) and ANHELL69 (2022) Hot Docs 2023

BLUSH
An audio recording of two friends making their first trip a a K-Market totally glammed up is turned into an animated film of two astronauts traveling the universe to go shopping.

Seemingly out of place film for Hot Docs is turns out to be a delight. What the hell is this doing at a doc fest- this should be playing every fest.

This is a small joy of a film.

ANHELL69
Essay/documentary about the LBGT community in Columbia. It is one part a celebration of the people it profiles and one part a look remembrance of people lost.

ANHELL69 is a one of a kind film. It is a mix of straight documentary interviews of people in the LGBT community in Columbia mixed with hypnotic essay sequences about death, ghosts, and related things that put us into a headspace that is unlike any other.  This is a trip inside the mind and body of director --- that has a tactile quality to it. We aren’t in a theater watching this film but in a city, or in the rooms where the interviews are happening.  I was transported to another place which looks like a city somewhere but in reality has the feel of being somewhere else.

I’m kind of in love with ANHELL69 simply because it made me feel and experience things in a completely new way. Watching several of the sequences I wasn’t sure where I was or what I was seeing. Not because it was alien but because the way that – was process the sound and images was somehow different. The way music and image and dialog and image and narration and image and silence and image mixed created a visceral reaction that opened up my mind and senses

While not for all audiences, ANHELL69 is a singular cinematic vision and recommended.

Revir Everything You Hold Dear (2023) Hot Docs 2023

A document of the dysfunctional relationship between a brother and sister who make a living doing taxidermy.

Watching REVIR I was pondering how it was that the filmmakers came upon the brother and sister at the heart of the film and how it was that they  agreed to let their lives be filmed.  It’s not that there is anything wrong or bad in what we see except their damaged psyches,  but more that they are very open and what we see is really raw. It’s clear through everything we see that there is a lot of baggage and it’s kind of uncomfortable seeing it unpacked before us. Kudos to director Peter Hammer for making this happen because it gives us an insight into two damaged individuals.

As much as I am in awe of how this film gets into the head and hearts of its subject, I find that I like the film more than loved it. It’s not that there is anything wrong, actually the filmmaking is top shelf, rather this is not my type of film.

My feelings aside this is really good and recommended.