Month: January 2013

LFM Reviews Virtually Heroes @ The 2013 Sundance Film Festival

Robert Baker and Mark Hamill in "Virtually Heroes."

By Joe Bendel. There was one film at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival 100% guaranteed to turn a profit. We can tell this by the fact Roger Corman serves as its executive producer. Although Corman was the subject of Corman’s World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel which was a selection the 2011 edition of the festival, director G.J. Echternkamp’s Virtually Heroes marked Corman’s Sundance debut as a filmmaker this year in Park City.

Sgt. Books is a fully aware character in a Rambo style video game, who is getting increasingly frustrated with the futility of his existence. His sidekick, Sgt. Nova, is far less so; the impulsive Nova still enjoys the in-game killing as well as the post-fight preening.Books is only interested in Jennifer, the “sexy lady reporter” who has been captured by the Viet Cong, or whoever. Unfortunately, she is always plunged back into jeopardy right every time she and Books start to share a moment.

From "Virtually Heroes."

VH largely repeats the same one-joke premise over and over, as Books and Nova work their way through successive levels of the video game. Still, it is rather clever to have Mark Hamill, Mr. Videogame Voice-Over, appear as the mysterious Buddhist Monk. And from Corman’s perspective, it was a brilliant opportunity to re-use his old jungle exploitation action footage, with no need to worry about pesky continuity issues.

Obviously Corman was not about to fritter away good money on name actors, either. At least Robert Baker looks the part of the brooding, square jawed Books. And for his part, Brent Chase earns a lot of points as the over-the-top testosterone-charged Nova, understanding full well his role in the mayhem. Katie Savoy’s reporter is about as down-to-earth as is possible in a film like this, while Kiana Kim, the future Mrs. Pete Rose, adds further cult-camp appeal as a sleazy stripper (believe it or not).

This is definitely a meathead movie, but it tries hard. Screenwriter Matt Yamashita clearly gets the gaming mentality, but too often VH resembles the first-person shooters it is lampooning. While the film maintains it energy, the wit and originality flag over time. A so-so midnight offering, Virtually Heroes still holds the distinction of bringing the Corman brand to Sundance. Expect to find it coming soon to a Syfy Channel near you.

LFM GRADE: C-

Posted on January 29th, 2012 at 8:25pm.

LFM Reviews Hell Baby @ The 2013 Sundance Film Festival

By Joe Bendel. To this day, French is still more widely spoken in New Orleans than people realize. Unfortunately, an expecting married couple is not fluent. If they were, they might have picked up on the neighborhood’s macabre names for the fixer-upper they just purchased. They soon learn just how grossly they overpaid in Robert Ben Garant & Thomas Lennon’s Hell Baby, which was a Park City at Midnight selection during the 2013 Sundance Film Festival.

Vanessa is pregnant, so we know what that means. As soon as she and Jack move into the House of Blood, she starts to act like Signourney Weaver in Ghostbusters. Not yet panicking, Jack takes her to see her psychiatrist, who is brutally murdered and crucified shortly thereafter. This is certainly a suspicious turn of events, but Jack is preoccupied by the house’s supernatural box stacking, a desiccated old lady who will not stay dead, and F’Resnel, the friendly derelict crashing in their crawlspace. Help, dubious as it might be, is on the way. Vanessa’s Wiccan sister Marjorie is determined to perform a cleansing ritual and the Vatican has dispatched two investigators.

Veterans of MTV’s The State, Garant & Lennon recently exposed a bit of the Hollywood system’s sausage-making in their bestseller How to Write Movies for Fun & Profit, so they might be doing some short-term indie-genre penance. While Hell Baby primarily goes for dumb gory laughs and is hardly shy about returning to the gag-well over and over again, it is safe to assume it is funnier, smarter, and more aesthetically rewarding than the latest Wayans’ horror “spoof,” sight unseen.

Indeed, Hell Baby’s comedy scatter gun is loaded with blood, vomit, nudity (both the hot and gross varieties) and the violent deaths of a fair number of major characters. Still, Garant & Lennon find clever ways to poke fun at genre conventions, such as the practice of compulsively startling the protagonists.

As hapless Jack, Rob Corddry is very funny while venting and whining. He was also a joy to work with, according to Hell Baby’s impish Sundance junket send-up. Garant & Lennon are strictly shticky as the Italian priests, but Keegan Michael Key has some amusing moments as the ever present F’Resnel. However, Riki Lindhome probably deserves the most credit for being a good sport during her scenes as Marjorie, which must have been chilly – even in New Orleans.

Almost entirely shot in NOLA, Hell Baby’s demonic story might not sound like the best advertisement for the city, but Garant & Lennon compensate with some big time Po’ Boy love. Hearing a bit more from the local music scene would have been even better, but so be it. Its broad comedy hits the target more often than it falls flat and the wild exorcism scene should satisfy horror fans. Sure to find a theatrical afterlife given the names attached, Hell Baby delivered what midnight patrons expect at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.

LFM GRADE: B

Posted on January 29th, 2012 at 8:22pm.

LFM Reviews Padak

By Joe Bendel. Even in a restaurant aquarium, the law of the jungle still holds. However, one mackerel has different ideas, preferring the hope of freedom to a life playing dead. Obviously riffing on Pixar’s fish story, Lee Dae-hee’s Padak (trailer here) is surprisingly serious stuff that might be better suited to older animation fans when it screens tomorrow as part of the Korean Cultural Service’s regular free movie night.

Even before she reached the restaurant (more of a coastal greasy spoon), the young mackerel did her best to flip and flop back to the ocean. In the tank, she compulsively darts and dives, trying to break through the invisible walls. Somewhat amused at the futility of her efforts, the other fish dub her Padak (meaning “flappy”). They have adopted the survival tactics of the old flatfish, playing dead whenever humans approach the tank and cannibalizing their sickly neighbors.

Padak refuses to follow this strategy. She would rather take her chances with a desperate escape attempt than the cringy existence proscribed by the flatfish. In fact, Padak rather powerfully suggests the ultimate price of freedom is still favorable to an undignified security. That is a laudable message, but it might be a bit much for some youngsters to handle. Parents should note, there is also a fair amount of filleting and gutting in the film. Clearly, those tanks are not in front of the restaurant for decorative purposes.

Padak’s animation is very strong, approaching the level of recent Dreamworks Animation releases. The fish are quite expressive and the scenes with humans have a dark, almost expressionistic flavor. However, the strongest, most complicated character is the hard-bitten old flatfish rather than the plucky but not particularly well fleshed out Padak.

Given its anthropomorphic fish, viewers will probably come into Padak with a certain set of expectations. However, the film works towards a bittersweet and somewhat tragic ending that is quite mature and thoughtful. For grown-ups, it pays off handsomely. While there is absolutely nothing in Padak that could be considered objectionable, it is still recommended as an adult fable for older animation fans. It screens—for free—tomorrow (1/29) at the Tribeca Cinemas, courtesy of the Korean Cultural Service in New York.

LFM GRADE: B

Posted on January 29th, 2012 at 8:22pm.

LFM Reviews Pandora’s Promise @ The 2013 Sundance Film Festival

By Joe Bendel. Nuclear energy does not burn fossil fuels, nor is it intermittent. Appreciation of these obvious, incontrovertible facts led documentarian Robert Stone and five well known environmental activists to reverse their longstanding opposition to nuclear power. Stone convincingly lays out their green case for nuclear in Pandora’s Promise (see clip above), which screens during the 2013 Sundance Film Festival in Park City.

Stone made his name with the anti-nuclear doc Radio Bikini and would further burnish his green credentials with Earth Days. Very concerned about global warming, Stone could no longer accept the environmental movement’s unrealistic claims about solar and wind power. As his primary POV experts argue, any power plan with a significant wind or solar component will by necessity be heavily dependent on big, dirty fossil fuel plants as a back-up. The simple truth is that the sun does not always shine and the wind does not always blow, but coal burns 24-7.

To his credit, Stone tackles the Fukushima disaster right up front, rather than let it fester in the minds of skeptical audience members. While the devastation of the area gives pause to noted British environmental author and nuclear convert Mark Lynas, the background radiation levels they record are considerably less than what anyone flying on a transatlantic commercial flight would be exposed to.

Building a nuclear power plant in France.

Stone’s battery of experts cogently explains the safety benefits and relative cleanliness of nuclear. Yes, radioactive waste is a potentially inconvenient by-product, but the volume is a fraction of what the public widely assumes. Furthermore, next generation reactors will increasingly be able to recycle the existing nuclear waste, as is already happening in France. Of course, there have been disasters, but Chernobyl was the worst by far. A sterling example of Soviet safety engineering, the Pripyat plant completely lacked any basic containment dome, whereas Western reactors have multiple domes with elaborate, built-in contingency systems.

Surely some will try, but it is impossible to dismiss Stone as a right-of-center partisan. Clearly the Pandora contributors are entirely satisfied global warming is a very real and alarming phenomenon. Indeed, that is largely the impetus for their nuclear apostasy. Considering how many cold shoulders Stone, Lynas, and company are likely to get from former comrades at cocktail parties, their conviction cannot be questioned. Their logic is also sound and consistent. Highly recommended for anyone with an open mind who self-identifies with the environmental cause (broadly defined), Pandora’s Promise screens again on Saturday (1/26) in Salt Lake as a Doc Premiere at this year’s Sundance.

LFM GRADE: A

Posted on January 24th, 2012 at 11:07pm.

LFM Reviews Charlie Victor Romeo @ The 2013 Sundance Film Festival

By Joe Bendel. This is a rather bold programming choice, considering how many attending Sundance have flown in from New York and Los Angeles. Originally, it started as an Off-Broadway theater production, based on the real life transcripts of black boxes recovered from plane crashes. Though it retains the potentially stagey single cockpit set and the revolving ensemble, Robert Berger & Karlyn Michelson’s Charlie Victor Romeo holds the distinction of being Sundance’s first 3D film, screening as part of the New Frontiers track.

For a film entirely depicting systems failures, it is ironically fitting that CVR’s Monday night screening had to be presented in 2D due to technical difficulties. While some of the schematics incorporated into the film might look cool in 3D, it is hard to see how the film lends itself to the process. The real story is the impressively realistic sound, designed by Jamies Mereness, recorded and edited by Kevin Reilly, and mixed by Joel Hamilton. The theatrical nature of the solitary set also becomes quite cinematic, thanks to the eerie lighting.

The constituent stories of CVR are a bit bracing, since in each case a plane is going down. The only question is how bad will it be? In general, the short ones are more disturbing. However, the clear dramatic highpoint of the film recreates efforts to save a Peruvian flight that lost all instrumentation, including velocity and altitude, soon after take-off.

The cast-members are all quite strong in their various roles, particularly Patrick Daniels (the director and co-writer of the original stage version) in the Lima installment. They quickly create convincing working relationships amongst the flight crews, which are almost immediately tested in crisis situations.

CVR is kind of like the parts of Zemeckis’s Flight audiences really want to see, played repeatedly with key variations each time. An intriguing application of technology to film (which is why it is a New Frontiers selection), but also an unusually faithful adaptation of a stage piece for the big screen, Charlie Victor Romeo is recommended for fearless flyers when it screens again Monday (1/28) at Park City’s Prospector Square Theatre (the designated 3D venue) as part of this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Travel safe everyone.

LFM GRADE: B

Posted on January 24th, 2012 at 11:06pm.

LFM Reviews Jug Face @ The 2013 Slamdance Film Festival

By Joe Bendel. Moonshine and pottery are a wicked combination. One young woman living in a hillbilly cult understands that only too well. She knows the kiln tolls for her in Chad Crawford Kinkle’s Jug Face (trailer here), a Modernciné production which premiered last night at the 2013 Slamdance Film Festival.

“The pit wants what it wants.” In return, it cures members of the hardscrabble hill country community. That was how their grandpappies survived the great cholera outbreak. All that is required is a periodic sacrifice. They will know who has been chosen from the special jugs the designated potter casts in a state of paranormal ecstasy. Ada was supposed to be next, but she chanced upon her jug face before Dawai came out of his pit-induced stupor. Stashing it in the woods, Ada is determined live—not just for herself, but also for her unborn child.

Whose child would that be? Take a lurid guess. It is not Dawai’s, unfortunately, since he’s not a bad chap, really. Nor is the boy to whom she is to be “joined” the father (a term that sounds uncomfortably Human Centipede like). The answer will be pretty easy to guess, given general filmmaker attitudes towards rural border state residents. Ada is definitely in for a hard go of things, and the deadly visions she gets from the pit will not help.

Basically, Jug Face is southern gothic exploitation fare, which co-star and Glass Eye Pix producer Larry Fessenden certainly understands. As Ada’s cult leader father Sustin, he is not nearly as loathsome or malevolent as one might expect. He might even be half-human. In the lead, Lauren Ashley Carter’s eyes are almost supernaturally wide. Her Ada is also reasonably down to earth for a sheltered cult-child. Looking not unlike Will Ferrell on a below average morning, Sean Bridgers finds surprising pathos in Dawai. In fact, if it really were Will Ferrell, it would probably be his best performance ever. It is hard to recognize Sean Young as mother dearest, but at least her off-screen persona does not distract from the on-screen action.

From "Jug Face."

Evoking the spirit of outsider art, Jug Face’s opening credits effectively set an unsettling tone right from the start. However, the pit is a little underwhelming. It just gurgles a little and turns red from time to time. Regardless, Kinkle really knows how to tap into coastal dwellers’ hillbilly phobias, without going the full Deliverance route. Unfortunately, the climax is more of a deflation than a conflagration. Still, those looking to shudder at ritual murder and Appalachian inequities will find plenty of fodder in Jug Face. Recommended for Fessenden fans with a taste for hicksploitation, Jug Face should have many midnight screenings ahead of it after its Slamdance premiere last night in Park City.

LFM GRADE: B-

Posted on January 24th, 2012 at 11:05pm.