Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with the latest from Monki and his mutant, bug-eyed sidekick Edison. They saw REEKER, a horror flick I didn't particularly care for, ROCK SCHOOL, a doco that I loved to death (I interviewed the director this morning... look for that interview in a few days) and an old, old Miike movie. Enjoy!
Monki here again with more incredibly amazing words to say about the films here at SXSW. Today was the halfway point of the festival; things are starting to wind down a little bit thanks to the music festival kicking off tomorrow night. This is great for us movie geeks who have been tired of walking out of the smaller venues and not being able to get back in for the next film. The next couple of days should be much easier to get into what we want.
Enough with the whining, onto the reviews. Edison and I started off with a kickass documentary called Rock School. Newmarket Films acquired this at Sundance which is cool because lots of people need to see this documentary. The film follows a man by the name of Paul Green who shapes the musical talents of a school of kids ages 6 to 17 or so. After coming to grips with the fact that he could never be the kind of rock and roller that he wanted to be, he decides to put forth the effort into helping these kids find their inner rock god.
Paul is freaking amazing in this film. He yells, screams, and curses at the kids and they love him every single second of it. Something about the guy makes you not hate him; somehow his passion for making great music shines through the yelling and screaming.
There is this kid C.J. who is about 12 in the film. He can make a guitar burn. This kid is going to be a force in the music world in about 5 years. Seeing him rock out to “You Really Got Me” is worth the price of admission.
Go see this film.
After that we caught Reeker.
Quint saw this a couple of days ago and didn’t like it so much. I can understand why he didn’t dig it. It is beautifully shot but ultimately some incredibly terrible lines hold it back from the coolness it could have had. Personally, any time a character uses the line “I’ll be right back!” in a horror movie, I die a little inside.
The story is, a group of college-aged kids are on their way to a rave/party out in the desert and end up at a deserted hotel being stalked by an evil character of doom. The group divides neatly into stereotypes: the hot dumb girl, the hot dumb guy, the dickhead, the smart girl and the blind guy.
The blind guy could have been a really fun character but ultimately he was left with only a few scraps to play with. This would make for a fun rental but I don’t know if I’d spend money to see it in a theatre.
Following Reeker we hung around the Drafthouse to see City of Lost Souls. This was the most sane Miike film I’ve seen so far. There was some crazy stuff in it, but nothing compared to some of his other work like Gozu.
The story goes, a gangster/assassin decides to finally give up the life and be happy with his lady friend. Of course in a plan to get money to get away and retire things get screwed up and he ends up being tracked by two different Yakuza groups.
There were a few strange scenes in this one like the cock fighting arena with claymation roosters going Matrix on each other, or the guy getting head from a pig. Ultimately though, this gangster film just didn’t get me very excited. I’d have to recommend Layer Cake for the kickass gangster film of SXSW this year. This film was alright, but nothing in particular made it stand out.
We wrapped up our movie watching with a repeat screening of The Aristocrats. The audience this time wasn’t as warm to it the first time, and there were even a few walk outs. Who cares though? This film is an amazing piece of work by Paul Provenza. It is incredibly hard to believe this is his first picture, and even harder to believe that this is the editor’s first feature. Emory Emory put forth an amazing effort to make this film great.
When you can, get out and see this film. It is freaking amazing.
So, that’s it for the first half of SXSW. The rest of the films we have lined up should be all loads of fun. Until tomorrow,
-Monki
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Edison back again saying you’re welcome for the magnetic ore separator – I invented it. There are lots of movies to review for today, so let’s begin. As a reminder, I don’t include a synopsis, just a review. Monki is good enough to give you guys a brief plot line… I’ve got things to invent.
First up today was ROCK SCHOOL. Imagine picking up where Richard Linklater’s School of Rock left off and making a sequel that is actually a documentary. Paul Green is an asshole, an ego maniac, someone who appears to never want to grow up, and also one hell of a teacher with a knack for reaching kids. While watching, it occurred to me that there’s a meeting in the middle for Paul and the students in terms of maturity. Paul communicates with the kids on their level, yelling, screaming, cursing, cardboard tube sword fights and all. At the same time, he forces the kids to constantly strive to be better, to dig deeper, and the results are remarkable. If there’s any part of you that ever had dreams of being a rock star, grow up. And then watch this film.
Edison’s score: inspiration: 83% perspiration: 80%
REEKER. Here’s my disclaimer: I’m a sucker for horror flicks. I really liked Reeker. It has a fun vibe, some cool effects, and doesn’t ever take itself too seriously. It’s not a masterpiece, but it never tries to be. It’s similar to a mixture of Final Destination, Identity, and Jeepers Creepers (thanks, Kathryn). Aside from some logic gaps and a wide range in quality of effects from fan-damn-tastic to borderline amateurish, if you like scary movies that offer some laughs with the scares, check this one out. The Reeker design is pretty cool too.
Edison’s score: inspiration: 80% perspiration: 91%
I’d recommend CITY OF LOST SOULS only to Takashi Miike’s die-hard fans. I’ve only seen one of his other films, and that I liked very much. City of Lost Souls didn’t do anything for me. It felt like a film structured around ideas for scenes that someone thought would be really cool, rather than built around an idea for a complete story. Add to that a heavy feeling of been there done that. Plus, I didn’t see any reason to care about what happened to any of these characters. It was big, slick, loud and showy, but there was no heart and soul to it. I know Monki recommends Layer Cake, but for me, Cake has many of the same problems as City.
Edison’s score: inspiration: 70% perspiration: 78%
Okay, g’night for day 5 of SXSW. I’m off. I’ve got to begin building my latest invention that I’m going to call a “pager”. It should come in handy, just you wait.
-Edison
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