So I haven’t updated in a few months, and all of these reviews have just been sitting on my hard drive for a few months. Anyway, an update’s an update I guess…
Observe and Report (imdb)
I’ve been a fan of Jody Hill since I first saw The Foot Fist Way, and while TFFW was rough around the edges, it was refreshing to see a film focus on a character that was such a bastard, but a bastard who is just charming and falsely confident enough to remain sympathetic. With Observe and Report, Hill focuses on a head of mall security played by Seth Rogen, a character who is even more obnoxious than Danny McBride’s Tae Kwon Do instructor, and not nearly as sympathetic (if, in fact, you likely won’t find him sympathetic at all). When a mall flasher terrorizes the mall-going populace, head of security Ronnie sees it as his chance to shine, and spends much of the rest of the runtime clashing with both the police and other employees at the mall in his quest to both nab the flasher and impress vapid makeup counter bimbo Brandi. There’s a psychosis to Ronnie’s character that wasn’t present in Fred from the Foot Fist Way, and it works well in providing a greater shock as Ronnie sinks further into violent delusions of grandeur. Stylistically this is much more polished than the admittedly low-budget Foot Fist Way, and while it isn’t the source of quotes and in-jokes that TFFW was, I would say that even as a fan of Hill’s first movie, Observe & Report is a much better film.
Timecrimes (imdb)
There’s a strong Primer influence on Timecrimes, but that’s mostly due to the fact that both are intelligent, taut thrillers that use time travel and the complications that it causes to tell a fairly simple story that unravels to become more complicated. It’s difficult to provide a synopsis for Timecrimes without giving too much away, but it’s a very satisfying film that shows great promise for director Nacho Vigalondo.
Dancing Outlaw (imdb)
Jesco White is a legendary figure, and this is the documentary that first introduced the world to the “dancing outlaw” and his way of life. It’s pretty short at just under 30 minutes, but it manages to briefly encapsulate the world of the mountain dancing, Elvis-impersonating cult figure from Boone County, as well as shedding some light on the poverty and dire straits that seem to be so common off the beaten path in Appalachia. It’s pretty clear that much of Jesco’s mind didn’t make it through all of the gasoline and lighter fluid he sniffed through his teenage years, let alone the alcohol that plagued his twenties, but that makes it all the more entertaining from the perspective of the ogler.
Dancing Outlaw II: Jesco Goes to Hollywood (imdb)
The unnecessary sequel is always a hard thing to recommend, even when it initially seems to be more of a good thing. The problem with Dancing Outlaw II is that it take an interesting character and places him in a vapid atmosphere like Hollywood, which seems more like bonus feature material rather than another documentary unto itself. This one chronicles Jesco as he goes to Hollywood to appear as a guest star on an episode of Roseanne at the request of Tom Arnold. There are a few interesting bits, particularly the scene where Tom Arnold notices Jesco’s swastika tattoo and pays for him to have it removed, but ultimately it strays too far from Jesco himself to remain anywhere near as interesting as the first film. The director doesn’t distance himself or hide behind the camera this time around, and while that’s all fine and good if need be, he’s mostly in front of the camera in brief and awkward “smile and give a thumbs-up” sorts of ways that detract from the doc. It’s worth seeing, but the first is infinitely more rewarding.
Gumby Dharma (imdb)
Art Clokey is a genius, and as a fan of his creations, I was eager to learn more about him via this recent documentary produced by one of his former assistants. While the hour-long doc won’t likely appeal to anyone who doesn’t already have a soft spot for Gumby, fans will find it entertaining and informative to learn about the hard and dark times in Clokey’s past and how he dealt with them and turned them into works that have been enjoyed by children all around the world.
Joe (imdb)
Six years before appearing in Taxi Driver, Peter Boyle played an unbalanced character similar to Travis Bickle in Joe, an odd little film that definitely feels like a product of its time. After his daughter is sent on a drug trip that lands her in the hospital, ad executive Bill Compton kills her junkie-dealer boyfriend in a brawl. While cooling down at a bar not far from the scene of the crime he encounters Joe, who apparently makes a habit of getting drunk and going off on racist, anti-counterculture diatribes. In a moment of confusion Bill ends up confessing to Joe, who contacts him later in an attempt to learn more about how such an unseeming character was able to pull off the type of crime that Joe had only thought and spoken about. What follows is an awkward but fascinating study of the relationship between two men of completely different worlds, both professionally and domestically, and how they view and deal with the counterculture they both very much hate. It’s a very interesting, if not completely great movie that is definitely unique and unsettling, topped off with a twist ending that you don’t see coming until seconds before it actually happens.
Lady Vengeance (imdb)
Lady Vengeance is a fine way to close out Chan-wook Park’s ‘revenge trilogy’, but at the same time it’s very easily the least impressive film of the trilogy, but that may be more due to the fact that Oldboy and Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance are great films that entered the scene at a time when there was a significant resurgence of interest in Asian cinema. There are shades of the previous entries, but this time around it just feels a little more routine and ‘weird for the sake of weird’ than the others.
Night of the Hunter (imdb)
I won’t argue with Night of the Hunter’s “classic” status, but I will say that it definitely peters out towards the end. After a brief and seemingly nonsensical intro, it starts out and stays fairly dour throughout the majority of its running time, but towards the end it feels like the producers shoehorned the ending from a tacky holiday movie onto the film and do a lot to undermine the vibe and message they seemed to be going for. Robert Mitchum gets most of the credit in what I’ve heard about the film for his portrayal of a corrupt holy man, and rightly so, as he’s pretty terrifying in parts. I think it’s ultimately a good movie that could have been a great one were it not for some bizarre stylistic choices and the horrible last twenty minutes. Having Mrs. Cooper speak directly to the audience obliterates the fourth wall and is sure to induce groans among those who were enjoying what was an above-average thriller. It may be a sign of the times, but outside of Mrs. Cooper, the rest of the women in the film were idiotic and/or bitchy nags who either couldn’t see through the preachers facade, much to the chagrin of the children he is after.
