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artstar04
Genres (1 being fav.)
1. Mystery/Triller
2. Spoof (Mystery-Comedy mix)
3. Horror/Suspence (
AND I LOVE INDEPENDENT FILMS!
Actors/Actresses
1. Eileen Brennan
2. Natasha Lyonne
3. Dom DeLuise
4. Joan Cusack
5. Amy Sedaris
6. Woody Allen
Books/Writers/so on...
1. Agatha Christie
2. Neil Simon
3. Michael Moore
4. Amy Sedaris
5. David Sedaris
6. Charles Busch
Reviews
Starsky & Hutch (2004)
I just hit the idiot quota on this movie
In the same fashion as the Charlie's Angels movie franchise, Starsky & Hutch takes a dramatic crime show of the 70's and makes a half witted comedy out of it.
Staring Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson as the comedic duo, the movie tries to deliver laughs but manages to do very little. Though Owen Wilson and Snoop Dog, who also stars in the movie, are funny the real laughs come from watching Stiller, who plays David Starsky, make a fool of himself with farsy acting and the very nerotic behavior we saw him portray in the short lived Duplex.
Though the movie is not the best movie of the year it still manages to do a better job than 2003's Charlie's Angels: Full Throtle.
The DVD's Special Features aren't very extensive but a gag real, deleted scenes and commentary are included. If you enjoy half slap stick humor and half down and out humor you'll enjoy this movie.
3/10 ---- It could have been better but the original S&H do make a small cameo with the infamous car.
White Chicks (2004)
White Chicks = Bad Flick
White Chicks = Bad Flick
After seeing previews for this movie for the first time a few weeks back I had no intention of seeing this movie but did hold some hope that it just might be good. Well, as irony and karma would have it I did see this movie and let me tell you, Sandra Bullock was wrong when she said "Hope Floats" because my hopes sunk quicker than Jack on the Titanic.
Though Shawn and Marlon Wayans portrayal of Mexican shop owners in the movies first few minutes was rather funny (especially when they tried on their Groucho Marx impersonation) the rest fell fast.
In the opening scene they attack the wrong men who are supposed to be drug dealers using Ice Cream as a code name for crack and only get Vanilla ice cream instead of missing the real dealers. This describes their choice in movie plot "a hit and miss" which should have become a "hit and run"
And though the comedy of the movie was supposed to come from the brothers dressing as women and barley being passable, with some nose reduction and less facial expressions they could have made it into the women's bathroom unsuspected. Unlike "Tootsie" or "Big Mamma's House" these men actually could pass as women.
A white flag shows vibrantly to those of pure sanity when there is an M.C. Hammer joke in the first few minutes and is only proved to be more apparent when it is repeated in the finale.
The script is very unoriginal and seemed rushed and lazy. The idea is borrowed from so many movies including "Some Like It Hot," "Tootsie," "Nuns on the Run" and is almost pitch perfect to Martin Lawrence's "Big Momma's House." With the starting within the first 10 minutes, lagging on for a good hour and the only to be wrapped up within a matter of minutes.
Along with many of the movies in which a man dresses as a woman, love hops in for the ride and causes trouble. Marlon Wayans's character Marcus must hide from his lovely and annoying wife that he is playing dress up as an obvious one half of a Hilton Sister spoof. It is during this time that a black football player with a taste for white women gets caught in the tangles of the wo(mans) heart. Shawn Wayans however falls in love with a reporter, which I thought would be hell bent on exposing them because of a sneaking suspicion but does not.
The two "girls" look like Collagen/ Botox addicts with steroid problems as they over shadow the other girls.
My suggestion- if you want to see black men dressed as white women; go to downtown Detroit around the Fox Theater during Twilight hours and you're sure to some.
Attack of the Flesh Devouring Space Worms from Outer Space (1998)
Space Worms, Zombies and A-Bombs OH MY!!!
Space Worms, Zombies and A-Bombs
OH MY!!!
I'm not entirely sure how I came upon this little low-brow film on IMDb but I did. For about a month now I've been madly intrigued by midnight movies and the title caught my eye. Two weeks later I had a DVD copy of the film in my b-movie-loving hands. I placed into the DVD player and let the good times role. I wasn't sure what I was in store for as I watched it and I'm still quite not sure upon finishing it. It was obviously made by teens but since I do the same thing, I understood their motivations easily. I'd like to call this movie Golden Sh*t, and I mean that with the utmost respect. I loved every minute. From the space worms (a.k.a. kids in sleeping bags) to the zombies (I loved the Nirvana hat) to the clips from cult classic horror films. Above all the cheesiness was great. I thought it was very clever to put space worms and zombies in the same movie. When I heard that there were zombies as well I thought it was probably just a "hey, lets put zombies in here too!" but the space worms inhabiting the bodies of the dead and using them to attack was very, very clever. Some of the acting is flat but I run into that in my films all the time. Some of the editing is flawed but it adds to the cheesy greatness. Overall an 8/10. The camera quality at times was low but at the same time good. I loved this film and would totally recommend it to anyone who loves midnight cinema. The ending is a bang!
Vampire Clan (2002)
This movie sucked massive culo
Alright. SO it sounded good. It started to look good, while we watched it it seemed good and then it ended. It ended and the story didn't even really start. So i guess the massive problem with this movie is that of Terror Toons... the camera lense was off and the sound was on. Who in their right minds would read the script for this movie and say "oh gosh! I love it!" and then have the balls to go and actually film it?!?!? This movie sucked. Stay AWAY FROM IT!!!!!!!! IF you see this in the video store and say that it looks interesting run... run before its toooooooo late! GO NOW! Don't SEE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! its not worth your time or your money. even if its free to rent... don't GET THIS FILM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IT SUCKED MASSIVE CULO!!!!!!
Lost in Translation (2003)
A great must see movie!
This too was a hard movie to figure out. It's not quite a comedy but it's not quite dramatic either. It lies comfortably in between the two.
Though the plot, Bill Murray's career slump and Scarlet Johansson's marriage, are somewhat dramatic, there are some great hysterics. Whether it is Murray trying to master the treadmill or understand what the photographers are attempting at saying or Johansson's cynicism with listening to self help CDs or discovering cross-gender pseudonym and making sarcastic attempts at revitalizing her fresh and failing marriage to a photographer.
The movie starts with Scarlet Johansson laying on a sheet less bed with nearly see-through underwear.
The movie starts (some may say at a slow pace) when Bill Murray is shooting a commercial for Japanese liquor after establishing the fact that he is a now failing action actor.
Down the hall, Charlotte (played by Johansson) struggles with her marriage. After only graduating last spring from Yale for psychology, Charlotte seems to be looking forward to wait for her husband to return in the dark of night after numerous photo-shoots.
As luck, and irony, would have it the two meet while Murray drinks the alcohol he is promoting. They form an odd friendship when Charlotte takes Bob (played by Murray) to a hip Tokyo club-party.
After other adventures into strip clubs and bad karaoke parties the two have their first fight in a sushi restaurant. The character development is wonderful and their relationships shine with a country of extras and two shining stars.
Sophia Coppola, who also directed the 2000 instant indie hit The Virgin Suicides (based off of the best selling novel by Jeffery Eugenides), establishes herself not only as a great indie film writer/director but an all around great film maker. Coppola's writing is wonderful with a satirical plot and funny scenes. She has great character development and takes on writing an uncommon and simple friendship between the two characters that seems so right.
The movie is something to see and should not be missed. It is a movie for not only independent film goers but major film goers as well. The movie hits ultimate status and can dance on your heartstrings and in your inner most emotions. This movie also establishes Scarlet Johansson at a higher status than she was before and she is one of the most beautiful actresses of our time.
The final scene is nothing that you would expect from a romantic comedy/drama but that is because it isn't a romantic comedy/drama. It isn't a romance movie at all in the sort of accepts that we are used to. When we hear 'Romantic movie' we think of a sensual love between to people sexually attracted to one another. But in this movie the romance aspects is above that and is a link between two unlikely friends with a friendly love between one another.
Grade: A : This movie is a touching movie with the 'Long ways from home' feel. Of course, with Bill Murray as one of its stars, the movie has to have some mild, inner laughter comedy. The movie is a must see and should not be missed by anyone.
Die, Mommie, Die! (2003)
A great camp classic from a brilliant Busch
A very 'hard-to-figure' movie. This movie is a comedy but it has a heart. The movie half spoofs and half pays homage to Women's film noir, melodramas and grand dame guignol (which is a famed actress, i.e. Bette Davis, making their last attempt to touch the lime light). Movies such as What Ever Happened To Baby Jane? and Hush, Hush
Sweet Charlotte are spoofed at times in a frequent theme.
The movie's star and writer Charles Busch (pronounced Bush) is not a spelling error or a woman named with a man's name. Charles is a man and his character Angela is a woman. Charles is a famed playwright of gay-interest and campy plays that are tend to focus on the era this movie is base on. It seemed only fitting that the Die Mommie Die (originally a play for LA) that was based off of movies should only make it to the movies.
In Die Mommie Die! Charles Busch portrays Angela Arden, a failed 40's pop diva, is in the midst of a come back
or so she says. It is at this point when her husband, famous movie producer Sol Sussman, decides to put his cheating wife under house arrest after he discovers her affair with Tony Perkins (played by Jason Priestley), failed TV actor and tennis player.
Sol suffers from constipation and must take a medication (placed up the rectum) to help the process along. It is during this time that Angela hatches her plan to murder her husband by poisoning the anal medication with rat poisoning.
Sol dies instantly and so the story begins. Bootsy, played by Francis Conroy of 6 Feet Under, suspects Angela's foul play as does her daughter Edid, played by Natasha Lyonne, who had an almost best-friend-like relationship with her father. It is only her son, Lance (played by silver-screen first comer Stark Sands), who has only recently come out of the closet after being kicked out of college for being 'spun naked on a lazy Susan', who takes her side.
That is until his sister convinces him other wise in the men's bathroom at a coffee house. And so the on going and intertwining events of the pop diva and her family continues. We discover shocking things from Mrs. Arden's past (such as her duo with not so famous sister Barbara).
This movie truly is truly a great independent marvel. The camera shots are great and the film is made up of a great cast with A-B class acting. The director is also a first comer but this is no where near apparent. The writing is also very solid and has a great twist just before the ending of the film.
Though the sexual content of the movie is strong, sex is not the theme of the movie. This movie is a comedy with a heart of solid and pure gold and Sundance was not lying when they said that it was 'the strangest film to hit Sundance in years!'
Some seem to over shadow this movie with the fact that Busch plays a woman and that a gay-interest is the theme of the movie. But this movie is more than a gay/sex romp. The movie gives you a heartfelt look at how the actor pays respect to the movies he loves so much.
Grade: A- : The movie had a great start with a great middle and a great ending. The ending truly embodies the classic movie endings you would expect from a Bette Davis or Joan Crawford movie with self-sacrifice.
If you enjoy women's film noir, melodrama or a good comedic/drama with some thriller like twists this movie is for you.
Spider-Man 2 (2004)
Much better than the first!
Holding no hopes what so ever for this movie, I walked into the theaters. I did not enjoy the first one at all in the least bit and would rather watch evolution take place or see water evaporate. But this was NOT the case with this movie.
Though there are some scenes are a bit on the slow side they are redeemed by GREAT action sequences.
The movie revolves around Peter Parker trying not only to deal with juggling a friend/family relationship, job and school but also with being Spider-Man. He looses his job, can't pay the rent and is only more discouraged when Mary Jane Watson, the love of his life, agrees to marry another man.
The intertwining theme of Doctor Otto Octavius comes into play as well. During a demonstration of his latest work, everything goes wrong and the mechanical arms are fused onto him.
As the movie opens, Peter looses his job, can't pay the rent and realizes that his spider powers are fleeting. When the Doc Ock situation occurs and MJ marrying another man, Peter decides to through in the towel
or the suit, rather.
Doc Ock decides to recreate his experiment to make him stronger and to level half of New York. But in order to do so he must go back to the company that funded the original experiment to obtain a compound to run the machine
Oz Corp.
Harry, still raw from his father's murder, decides to give the compound to the insane villain but only if he brings Harry Spider-Man
Alive.
Spider-Man soon swings back into action when MJ is kidnapped by the Doctor, bribing Peter into bringing Spider-Man to him.
Sam Raimi lets his inner horror movie maker show in the operation scene. Raimi, who wrote and directed the Evil Dead series, gives frequent camera shots and odd angles to give you that horror movie feel when the surgeons try to remove the mechanical arms only to be slaughtered.
The movies peek is truly a triumph for Raimi. The scene really out did what could be expected for most movies. The train scene manages to throw so many different elements at you. With not only stylized action but also Spider-Man's facial exposure to those on the train.
Though at times the movie's dialogue and scenes lag and acting is dry the movie is all around a great film. It may not be Hollywood gold but it sure is a precious gem.
A- : The movie was great and had many twists in its end.
Terror Toons (2002)
Completely and utterubly...
Unbearable. I don't even know where to begin on this other than saying that this was, by far, the worst movie I personally have ever seen.
For one, it was obvious that Candy was supposed to be around the age of 7 or 8, but was played by a porn star of about 25. What made this even worse was the fact that the camera shot on her obviously fake breasts was too long to even allow the viewer to even consider her being under the age of 10.
The rest of the cast, characters probably set around the age of anywhere from 17 - 19, should either be preparing for their first cooperate job or an early pre-metapause.
Before I even watched the film, I watched the trailer for Terror Toons, behind the scenes of Terror Toons and Interviews with the cast and crew.
From the trailer, I was disappointed the minute the cartoonish villains made their appearance. I had seen the case to this 'movie' in my local Blockbuster and from reading the information I imagined the 'house party' being a large group of 15 or more people being terrorized by creatures the size of your standard puppet. When I saw the life-sized insult to horror that was Doctor Carnage and Max Assassin and the four person party I was shocked at how wrong I was.
During the interviews with the actors and crew members, I could come to the conclusion that this movie would be filth. When interviewing the actor who played Eddie on what his most memorable scene was for him he couldn't even remember the two monsters who not only terrorized the four-some of 'teens' but the viewers as well. Then when the actress who played Amy was asked what she thought when she was told the movie would be shot in 3 days (God Save Us!) she said 'I'm not very good at memorizing lines and saying them so I was shocked!' all I could think was, 'So, she's basically telling us she's a terrible actress then?' And you don't know how right I was.
And, what was up with the random animated animals just popping up from the corner of the screen through out the movie? Not to mention the super hero! My god and what was with the ending?
I think that the house, though very cool, only added to the monstrosity of the movie. The vibrantly colored walls, covered in flames or stars, just made it look like a cheap movie that was shot to serve as a movie a character would watch in a major budget movie.
The only thing that was even remotely amusing about his movie was the mother of the two girls played by a man in drag.
From start to finish, this so called film was filled with bad acting, bad directing, bad writing and all around just a bad movie. At one point in the movie I was hoping that Max Assassin and Doctor Carnage would break into a mad, 'comedic' way and do away with me.
I let four weeks and four trips to Blockbuster go by before I decided on renting this movie and wish I would have forgotten all about it.
I can sum up everything wrong with this movie in one simple phrase. 'There were only two things wrong with this movie
The camera lens was off and the sound was on'
Having said all of this I am going to allow myself to be an immensely huge walking contradiction. Despite Terror Toons', and it REALLY was a terror, horrid EVERYTHING, if I do see that my local Blockbuster does have a copy of Terror Toons: The Sick And Silly Show (the highly unanticipated sequel) I just might rent it. I do believe that people can learn from their mistakes and not hire porn stars or 30 year olds to play teenagers in a horror movie.
Though the movie did do a number on my mind and eyes (God, I hope I can forget about this movie someday) I think it did even more of a number on the actors and crew members even more. Just think
these poor people with have to live with the fact that this movie is on the resumes
forever.
2/10 --- The drag queen really saved them on this one.