Category: News/Opinion

LFM Reviews Extraterrestrial @ The 2014 Tribeca Film Festival

From "Extraterrestrial."

By Joe Bendel. Ever heard of an alien abduction in the City? No you haven’t. As Rick Blaine would say, there are some New Yorkers you wouldn’t recommend poking and prodding. However, a group of college kids planning to party away the weekend in a cabin near the lake do not stand a chance in The Vicious Brothers’ Extraterrestrial, which premiered at the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival.

Right, since Kyle is planning to pop the question to April during their romantic country getaway, he naturally invites his loud mouth buddy Seth and two generic bimbos along, without consulting her. Meanwhile, she is polishing her its-not-you-its-me script. Things get so awkward it is almost a relief when the aliens get to unleashing their standard issue strobe light effects. At least before they left, April’s newly divorced dad asked her to bring back his shotgun and fishing rod, so we know what that foreshadows—some intense fly-fishing.

Frankly, Extraterrestrial starts on a promising note, sounding a lot like an attitude-fueled Kevin Williamson take on the alien abduction genre, but halfway through it starts presenting its warmed over UFO themes with inappropriate seriousness. While the Viciouses’ cult favorite Grave Encounters tightly controlled the mood and pace, Extraterrestrial rattles all over the place. Even the big special effect sequence set inside the mothership looks nearly indistinguishable from similar scenes in films like Independence Day and the upcoming The Signal.

Still, the Brothers Vicious have an ace up their sleeve with genre legend Michael Ironside (as in Scanners, Total Recall, and V the original series) as Travis, the super-patriotic conspiracy theorist pot farmer and an old friend of April’s family. Whenever he growls and swaggers into the narrative, the energy level surges. Believe or not, Gil Bellows is also not bad as plodding Sheriff Murphy, who must have the lowest case closure rate of any law enforcement officer in the country.

From "Extraterrestrial."

You know Travis has plenty of guns, which would bode well for zombie survivability, but not so much for alien party-crashers. It makes you wonder what would happen if they abducted zombies – or better yet, zombeavers. Still, most of the cast are rather zombie-like. Daytime Emmy winner Brittany Allen has a bit of presence as April and Jesse Moss could not possibly be any more annoying as Seth, but the other kids fade so quickly from memory, it is hard to say there were ever really there in the first place.

Extraterrestrial pulls off a cool bit of business with a telephone booth, but it lacks the tension and vivid sense of place that made the original Grave such a breakneck monster. Instead, it slowly coasts downhill. Just okay for raucous midnight viewing, fans should not expect too much from Extraterrestrial, following its debut at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival.

LFM GRADE: C

Posted on April 27th, 2014 at 10:17pm.

LFM Reviews An Honest Liar @ The 2014 Tribeca Film Festival

By Joe Bendel. He has been a sworn foe of all swindlers and conmen, but James Randi had two great nemeses in his life: Uri Geller and a milk can. However, the magician, escape artist, and one man bunco squad received his own lesson regarding the relativity of truth during the course of Justin Weinstein & Tyler Measom’s documentary, An Honest Liar, which premiered at the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival.

“The Amazing” James Randi literally ran away with the circus. Learning sleight of hand and other illusionists’ secrets, Randi realized magicians could easily misapply their skills for criminal purposes. His respect for the craft kept him honest and made him resent those who used the tricks of their trade to fleece the gullible. While still a practicing illusionist, Randi set about exposing faith healers and phony psychics. In a twist of fate, a nearly fatal attempt to replicate Houdini’s milk can escape essentially forced Randi to become a full-time truth-teller.

Frankly, those unfamiliar with Randi’s greatest hits might be surprised by the time and logistical planning required by some of his operations. Yet, the media was often just as resentful of Randi’s efforts as the fraudsters he uncovered. The Carson-era Tonight Show was a notable exception. In fact, Carson’s staff dealt a seemingly fatal blow to up-and-coming psychic Uri Geller by following Randi’s prop handling instructions. It has been said before, but nobody played Johnny Carson for a fool.

Many of the intrigues Honest documents are absolutely fascinating, bringing to mind the hit-or-miss skullduggery of Rodrigo Cortés’ Red Lights, except they are considerably more interesting. They also happen to be true. The third act revelation is also a real surprise most causal viewers will not see coming. It is not exactly a focal concern, but Honest reminds the audience of the appalling state of human rights in Venezuela when that shoe finally drops.

Honest delivers plenty of magic and flim flammery, but it has a highly pronounced dramatic arc. Compared to the breezy fun of the Ricky Jay doc, Deceptive Practice, it is much more serious and sober.  Clearly, Weinstein & Measom won over Randi’s trust, capturing some truly wince-inducing long dark nights of the soul. The filmmakers also scored an on-camera with Geller, the unrepentant spoon-bender, for the sake of fairness and completeness.

Wisely, Weinstein & Measom minimize Randi’s collaborations with Richard Dawkins, instead positioning him as an intrepid debunker of those who would exploit others’ faith for financial gain. Regardless, the details of his long campaign against dangerous fakers are far more cinematic than the typical doc grist. Recommended for skeptics and magic fans, An Honest Liar will screen at Hot Docs on Wednesday (4/30), Thursday (5/1), and Saturday (5/3) following its debut at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival.

LFM GRADE: B+

Posted on April 21st, 2014 at 10:10pm.

LFM Reviews Nora Noh @ The Korean Cultural Service

By Joe Bendel. Fashion designer Nora Noh is widely credited with popularizing the mini-skirt in South Korea. Obviously, she deserves the thanks of a grateful nation, if not the entire world. Yet many younger Korean fashionistas were unaware of her trailblazing work until the opening of a special retrospective commemorating her sixty years in the business. Kim Sung-hee surveys Noh’s life and couture while chronicling the mounting of the designer’s special exhibition in Nora Noh, which screens for free this coming Tuesday in New York, courtesy of the Korean Cultural Service.

Noh could be considered the Korean Coco Chanel and Edith Head combined. She was a pioneer designing sleek, elegant “western style” business and casual wear for professional Korean women. A shrewd businesswoman, Noh launched a successful ready-to-wear line before her European colleagues. Yet, she also became the personally designer for many of Korea’s top stars, including pop idol Yoon Bok-hee, who made Korean cultural history sporting Noh’s minis.

Even viewers with little fashion sense will pick out interesting nuggets from Kim’s profile. Noh very definitely lived a feminist Horatio Alger life. Her challenges continued when she refused to kowtow to the arrogant press (likely explaining her under-representation in Korean cultural history). She had her run-ins with the secret police, yet ironically, the film indirectly suggests the liberated simplicity of Noh’s designs was rather compatible with the militarist government’s drive to industrialize (a potentially provocative point that could have been explored at greater length).

From "Nora Noh."

Perhaps the film’s greatest assets are the extensive clips from vintage Korean movies illustrating Noh’s image-making power, which will intrigue cineastes as much or perhaps more than clothes horses. While not exactly chatty, she remains a strong figure of individual stick-to-itiveness and a mostly likable screen presence.

Nora Noh is not the most dramatic film ever lensed, even though Noh’s early life was quite tumultuous. Frankly, the sentimental soundtrack does not sound very Nora Noh. Nevertheless, Kim and editor Lee Hyuk-sang keep it moving along nicely. Recommended for students of fashion as well as those fascinated by the phenomenon of global cultural modernization, Nora Noh screens (free of charge) this Tuesday (4/29) at the Tribeca Cinemas as part of the Korean Cultural Service’s regular Korean Movie Night series.

LFM GRADE: B

Posted on April 27th, 2014 at 9:52pm.

LFM Reviews The Other One: the Long, Strange Trip of Bob Weir @ The 2014 Tribeca Film Festival

From "The Other One: the Long, Strange Trip of Bob Weir."

By Joe Bendel. Bob Weir never had an ice cream named after him. He always played second banana to Jerry Garcia, but he got a disproportionate share of the perks that come to a rock band tour, if you get the drift. The dean of the jam band scene now gets his overdue ovation in Mike Fleiss’s The Other One: the Long, Strange Trip of Bob Weir, which screens during the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival.

Weir was adopted at birth by a well-to-do San Francisco couple who were not very San Francisco. He had the city in his blood anyway. An undiagnosed dyslexic, Weir underperformed academically, but found his niche in music. A fast-friendship with the somewhat older and more established Jerry Garcia led to the establishment of what was initially a jug band. After a detour with the Merry Pranksters, the Grateful Dead were on their way.

The cooperative Weir revisits all the major sites of The Dead creation story, even though most are now completely unrecognizable. He granted Fleiss extensive face time, including valuable interview segments explaining his surprising musical influences, such as the great jazz artist, McCoy Tyner. He also dispels any suspicion of a rivalry with Garcia once and for all. In fact, we get a picture of a genuinely touching friendship between the band members. Frankly, third parties suggest Garcia rather regretted his exalted position with Deadheads, whereas Weir was relieved to be spared their intense devotion.

From "The Other One: the Long, Strange Trip of Bob Weir."

Weir is about as laidback as fans would expect, but he has some thoughtful insights to offer viewers. However, Fleiss misses a conspicuous opportunity to push for some consistency on the subject of drug use. Weir might have fond (if hazy) memories of the drug-fueled early days, but Garcia’s sad drug-related end clearly still distresses him.

As a gentle exercise in Grateful Dead revisionism, Fleiss and his assembled talking heads argue Weir played a more active role as a songwriter and an architect of the group’s overall sound than many Garcia partisans realize. Without question, Fleiss and company are more concerned about giving Weir his just due than inviting messy soul searching—and so be it. Other One tells an interesting story, at a healthy pace, but it is not completely blinkered from reality. Recommended for all jam band listeners, The Other One screens again today (4/26) as part of this year’s Tribeca Film Festival.

LFM GRADE: B

Posted on April 26th, 2014 at 4:01pm.

LFM Reviews Zombeavers @ The 2014 Tribeca Film Festival

From "Zombeavers."

By Joe Bendel. This year, the road to the Academy Awards surely starts in Tribeca. Leslie Nielsen also suddenly has stiff competition for the best on-screen beaver joke. The dam-builders are indeed restive in Jordan Rubin’s Zombeavers, which screens midnight tonight during the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival.

Right, so a den of beavers get zombified just before Mary and her two sorority sisters, depressed Jenn and catty Zoe, arrive at her family cabin for a weekend getaway. Do you think they get cell service up there? Dude, please. At least their respective horny significant others crash the party, making things real awkward for Jenn and her cheating dog boyfriend. However, they will not have much time for recriminations before the zombie-beavers attack.

This year, Tribeca’s midnight programmers are determined to discourage viewers from vacationing in the woods. Whether it be the work of homicidal hunters in Preservation, alien-abductors in Extraterrestrial, or zombie-beavers, bad things just seem to happen when you try to get back to nature. Their cautionary warning is duly noted.

So seriously, Zombeavers is just a thing of beauty. It is easily the funniest zombie comedy since Red Snow: Dead vs. Red, which admittedly just screened at Sundance this January, but this is still high praise. Rubin delivers plenty of comedic gore, but rest assured, the nudity is strictly gratuitous.

From "Zombeavers."

As Mary, Jenn, and Zoe, Rachel Melvin, Lexi Atkins, and Cortney Palm are impossible long legged and admirably good sports. The corresponding guys act like they are in a competition to see who can be the biggest meathead idiot, but that is about right for the zombie-beaver sub-genre. Of course, the wildly over the top furry undead creatures are the real stars and they do not disappoint. They’re resourceful little buggers. For extra random cult movie points, Zombeavers also features CSI: Miami regular Rex Linn as Smyth, the grizzled grizzly hunter.

What more could you want from a film than hordes of zombeavers attacking bikini-clad sorority sisters? When in doubt Rubin just cranks up the blood-splattered visual gags, but there are some wickedly droll bits of dialogue scattered throughout. Highly recommended good, clean movie fun, Zombeavers screens tonight (4/26) as a midnight selection of this year’s Tribeca Film Festival.

LFM GRADE: A-

Posted on April 26th, 2014 at 3:56pm.

LFM Reviews The German Doctor

By Joe Bendel. Unfortunately, the physician in question is not Albert Schweitzer. It is the monstrous Josef Mengele who has ingratiated himself with young Lilith’s family. Living under an assumed name, the evil “Angel of Death” has resumed his eugenic research with the help of Argentina’s large German expat community. Adapting her own novel Wakolda for the screen, Lucía Puenzo offers some informed speculation about Menegele’s Argentine years in The German Doctor, which opens tomorrow in New York.

Lilith is traveling through Patagonia with her father Enzo and her very pregnant mother Eva, who happens to be carrying twins (if you know anything about Mengele, you recognize that this will become significant later). On the road, they meet a German doctor, who asks to follow them through the forbidding landscape for safety’s sake. Eva happens to be the graduate of Bariloche’s German language school, so she can converse with Mengele in his fatherland tongue. She even has old class photos generously accessorized with swastikas.

Initially, they are only too happy to have the doctor take up residency in their chalet-style hotel. Given his friendly overtures, they are also willing to allow the doctor to prescribe a growth regimen for Lilith. However, as his manipulations become more insidious, Enzo starts to suspect something is profoundly wrong about his family’s new patron. Of course, he is still a beat or two behind Nora Eldoc, a deep-cover National Socialist hunter.

While Puenzo stops short of outright conspiracy thriller territory, she paints a chilling portrait of a monolithically complicit German-Argentine community. Eldoc’s investigation also provides respectable servings of intrigue and suspense. However, the film fundamentally serves as a yin-and-yang character study of the icily fanatical Mengele and the innocent but keenly intuitive Lilith.

Catalonian actor Àlex Brendemühl is thoroughly creepy as Mengele, portraying him with quiet, precise menace. Yet, the bigger story is young Florencia Bado, whose lead performance is unusually mature and assured. Elena Roger (star of both the recent Broadway and West End revivals of Evita) also takes a smart, passionate turn as Eldoc. Unfortunately, Diego Peretti and Natalia Oreiro are standard issue dumb parents, who could have wandered in from an old John Hughes movie.

Even though Puenzo’s pacing is a bit inconsistent, she coaxes some powerful performances out of her multinational cast and convincingly indicts Argentina (and neighboring countries like Paraguay) for either knowingly sheltering war criminals like Mengele, or at least deliberately turning a blind eye to their enterprises. It is a surprisingly compelling work of docu-fiction. Recommended for those who appreciate darkly unsettling coming of age tales, The German Doctor opens Friday (4/25) in New York at the Lincoln Plaza Cinema.

LFM GRADE: B

Posted on April 25th, 2014 at 11:38pm.