UberScope

Links links links

2008-11-23T21:08:00.002+13:00

How to write every episode of Dr House, ever.
http://www.cracked.com/blog/write-your-own-house-episode/

George W Bush, movie producer. Perhaps something to fall back on now he is out of a day job.
http://www.psychotronicvideo.com/wow/bush/bush.html

Incredibly Strange Television

2008-10-18T09:03:00.001+13:00

If you are a fan of The Incredibly Strange Film Festival, Xmas is coming early this year.

The brains behind the ISFF have a midnight-madness style TV show starting November 15 on MGM on Sky New Zealand. Two movies plus bonus weirdness every Saturday. Check out the quote below.
http://www.incrediblystrange.co.nz/tv/intro/

As part of the build up, there is a call to produce on air Incredibly Strange Television bumpers. Being an Evil Genius I have gone to the extra evil genius lengths of doing a couple of these in anaglyph (red/blue) 3d!

Embiggen the images below and watch them pop off the screen!

Bumpers should be linked here:
http://www.incrediblystrange.co.nz/tv/media/

My youtube compressed video insanity should be available here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/dazzleeh

Not Quite Hollywood - 2008

2008-07-29T10:55:00.002+12:00

Incredibly Strange Film Festival

Not Quite Hollywood

One line review: The ultimate DVD extra to the ultimate never issued DVD box set of Australian exploitation films, Highly Recommended.

Look, here is the trailer. It has tits, blood, guns, car wrecks, kung fu, rock guitars and things exploding. All the stuff that makes trash cinema AWESOME. Probably not a work safe link.

www.notquitehollywood.com.au

If you liked the trailer, you will love the movie. If you don't like the trailer, there is probably entire sections of the dvd store you should just avoid.

Not Quite Hollywood is a documentary about the best of the 'worst' of Australian film making. It is authoritative, funny, exciting and will leave you with a LONG list of movies to track down and check out. From it I learned:

-Quentin Tarantino knows his exploitation movies (and he completely nails it as to why we watch these movies)
-Dennis Hopper was one psycho wing nut
-John Holmes had one monster dick
-Aussie stuntmen were gonzo
-Barry Humphries/Dame Edna has a razor sharp sense of humour
-Turkey Shoot - 1982 - is one of the greatest trash exploitation movies of all time - but probably was not worth shooting a stuntman over.
-You must be doing something right to get the Italian exploitation film industry making unauthorised spin offs of your movies
-Aussie stuntmen were REALLY gonzo (STUNT ROCK)
-Many of the behind the camera crews are still very proud of the movies they produced
-Some actresses are not so proud of the movies they stared in

Australia seems to have gone through all the same phases of establishing a film industry that other western countries did. As talent tries to step up from local TV to the big screen, there are two ways to go, 'prestige' culturally approved and state backed, and the stuff that has to make money. And making money generally means, doing something that people can't see on the TV, racy enough to draw the punters yet still able to somehow get past the censors. You know, tits, blood, guns, car wrecks, kung fu, rock guitars and things exploding.

The progression always seems to be cheap softcore smut, leads to cheap smut comedy (softcore with a script), then faked mondo, international co productions, imported faded 'names' to boost international saleability and a descent into tax write off funding and dubious backers.

If you are any fan what so ever of exploitation cinema, you must see this. Then you will need to track down dozens and dozens of titles you have not seen before.

Crazy Love - 2007

2008-07-24T11:30:00.004+12:00

New Zealand International Film Festival

Crazy Love - 2007

One line review: Jaw dropping, decades in the telling, tabloid fodder, love story documentary.

I double dog dare anyone to go to this as a first date movie. Particularly if the guy in this date scenario has a beard, thick glasses and dem crazy crazy eyes. See the picture above for reference. Things here get creepy enough as it is, but that would be icing on the cake.

This documentary certainly starts off like a conventional love story. Linda and Burt are now very much in their golden years, and recount on camera their initial courtship and subsequent relationship. But this is certainly not your grandparents love story. Unless your Grandparents have spent the last 50 years in the tabloids.

Try, well to do boy meets girl. Girl is impressed by his cars, nightclub and aircraft. Girl dumps boy when she discovers boy already has wife and child. Boy obsesses about girl. Boy hires thugs to blind girl when she gets engaged to someone else. Boy goes to jail, becomes prison house lawyer to fellow inmates. On release, boy proposes marriage in TV interview. Blinded girl eventually accepts. And things are just getting warmed up. All manner of craziness ensues.

This has just an amazing series of modern interviews with the couple and their long standing friends, combined with historical material. It is certainly an eye opener into the dating habits of New York in the 50's, if you can cope with geriatrics talking frankly about sex and romance.

Burt comes across at times as a lovable rogue, other times, an out and out psychopath. Linda comes across as pragmatic and strong willed, seemingly reconciled with being married for more than 30 years to the man who maimed her. Clearly they are complex personalities.

You could take half a hour from this documentary and make an super sweet couple in love story (beginning, end, and NONE of the middle). Or you could take a different half hour selection of clips and make a self made man fights corrupt system from within story. Or a look back at half century of fashion, as Linda was quite the clothes horse. Or you could take bits and make a documentary about the changes in tabloid journalism over half a century. The montage of news paper headlines alone is worth the price of admission. You wouldn't believe they were true, accept they are.

The end result manages to be both creepy and endearing all at the same time, and raises all manner of questions, the very least of which is what is the difference between homicidal obsession and life long love?

http://www.crazylovefilm.com/

The Escapist - 2008

2008-07-24T10:53:00.001+12:00

New Zealand International Film Festival

One line review: Clever crime caper / Brit prison escape flic, Highly recommended.

Prison lifer Frank has had bad news from outside. After years of keeping his head down and nose clean, he wants out in a hurry. As things get progressively out of control he pulls together a diverse crew of cons for a daring escape.

Top shelf actors, excellent script, fantastic execution. It feels like a cross between Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Se7en. A range of cockney crim archetypes, with an underlying grimness and quite the ending. The movie hops back and forth between two time lines, the planning for the escape, and the escape itself. This is very well done, and adds a lot as both the planning and escape escalate and spiral badly. And the ending, well, it will certainly gives a fresh perspective on the story preceding it.

Highly recommended, particularly to fans of the Brit crime genre.

Fear(s) of the Dark - 2007

2008-07-24T01:47:00.004+12:00

Incredibly Strange Film Festival
Fear(s) of the Dark - 2007
aka Peur(s) du noir

One line review: French, animated, black and white, horror anthology, if none of those words put you off, it is highly recommended.

Horror anthologies are nothing new, and done right they can be a lot of fun (Amicus, I am looking at you). On the plus side, it can be an interesting way to mount a series of thematically linked ideas, without having to stretch them out to feature length. On the negative, there will always be weaker stories that are shaded by the segments you preferred.

So, all the segments of this are animated, black and white, horror related and are in subtitled French. If you have a problem with any of those elements, you are in for a rough time. If you are intrigued by all those elements, this comes highly recommended.

From a traditional 2d, through highly abstract to new forms of cartoon rendered 3d, each segment has its own visual style. And each style is used to tell a different type of story. Luckily for me, my favourite segments were the first, with Charles Burns body horror insect story, and the last, a strong visually inventive haunted house story.

Check out the trailer link, check out the pictures, if they arouse your interest, check it out.

http://www.primalinea.com/pdn/index.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70oVIphkXcw

REC - 2008

2008-07-21T11:16:00.003+12:00

Incredibly Strange Film Festival
REC - 2007

One line review: Blair Witch with BALLS. Spanish zombie fest. Recommended to see with an audience.

Perky Spanish reporter and her cameraman are on a late night reporting fluff piece down at the local fire station. They go on a routine call out with the fire crew to help an elderly lady trapped in her apartment. The elderly lady is not so much trapped, as infected. Things go from bad to worse, to much much worse.

Yep, cinéma vérité horror has been done before, and everyone seems to have their own spin on it. Give a character a reason to have a camera with them, then put em through hell. Cannibal Holocaust was convincing and gory enough that the director had to prove in court he had not actually killed his cast. Blair Witch had atmosphere to spare and stealth marketing that convinced many of its veracity and drove it to massive profitability. Cloverfield put the mega monster spin on things. The only thing all films in this sub genre have in common is, if they are done poorly it kills the suspension of disbelief, done properly the plausibility can freak an audience out, and if you suffer from motion sickness the camera work is going to make you suffer.

REC takes a long time to get going, but when it does, things get suitably bat shit crazy. Think fast zombies in enclosed spaces. This probably wouldn't be as good at home on DVD, but in an audience with a bit of group think going on, there will be people (like the couple next to me) literally on the edge of their seat. Check it out while you have the chance on the big screen. Hollywood is already shooting a remake that will be out before the end of the year ("Quarantine - 2008")

The originals always seem to be better. Very glad I saw this in its original form with an appreciative audience.

10 Greatest Sci Fi Movies Never Made

2008-07-20T18:10:00.006+12:00

Here is a link to the Timesonline about the "10 greatest sci fi movies never made".

It is excerpted from the book, "The Greatest Sci Fi Movies Never Made".

The particularly interesting bit for me was this:

8: Alejandro Jodorowsky's Dune
“A lot of people have tried to film Dune. They all failed,” stated the opus’s author, Frank Herbert – after David Lynch’s noble effort reached the screen in 1984. A more promising adaptation was proposed in the mid seventies, with Chilean director Alejandro Jodorowsky overseeing production designs by H.R. Giger, British artist Chris Foss, and French comic book artist Jean ‘Moebius’ Giraud. Among Jodorowsky’s more outlandish ideas was offering the role of Emperor Shaddam IV to Salvador Dali, at a previously unheard-of salary of $100,000 per hour. Perhaps unsurprisingly, financing on the film fizzled. However, the two extant adaptations – Lynch’s, and a successful 2000 miniseries – will be joined, in 2010, by a third, with The Kingdom director Peter Berg at the helm.

This was put together, cast and design work started in the mid 70s. When the Hollywood end of the funding fell over, Giger and Dan O'Bannon (also on the crew) went on to do Alien, and other design work from the project popped up in Star Wars and Blade Runner. Imagine a cinematic world that Star Wars, Blade Runner and Alien were all considered derivative to a maverick European art house version of Dune that pre dated Close Encounters....

And the Dali story, apparently he was going to be paid $100k an hour, for an hours work. The rest of the movie his role of the Baron was going to be played by a plastic robot avatar (very Jodorowsky). Also David Caradine and Orson Welles had been lined up to star.

Pop Skull - 2007

2008-07-18T00:04:00.002+12:00

Incredibly Strange Film Festival
Pop Skull - 2007

One line review: Drugged up low budget mind melter. An original vision. Content may disturb.

I have left at the end of a fair few movies asking "What the hell drugs was the director on?!".

For 'Pop Skull' I can definitively tell you the director/editor and his lead actor/muse were robotriping balls out on robotussin for a chunk of the production and post production, and it shows.

I mean that in a nice way. The end result is a disturbing, unsettled look at a young man coping with his first heart break, his ever growing drugged out haze, and then there is the slight matter of the ghosts he is seeing around the house...

This has a distinctive low fi look, sound, and abrasive editing that comes with an epilepsy warning. Seriously, there are strobing sequences designed to set off viewers with altered mind states. Even with eyes closed it was still intense. There should also be an opening credit warning "content may disturb some people" because it is bleak and involving and unhinged all at the same time which would not be a good thing for a viewer already in a downer mood.

It is not really a horror, although it has some very effective J-horror creep out moments, it is not really a pretentious art wank, it is not really a true story even there there is a lot of truth to the story it tells, it is not really a psych out movie although it gets very trippy. It is very much its own thing.

I cannot say you would enjoy, or be enlightened or uplifted by this movie but you will see something challenging, interesting and different. If there were awards for 'least likely to be remade by Hollywood' or 'least likely to star Steve Carell' this is it.

www.popskullthemovie.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYYOsU5W6XQ

Rob Schrab - 4 minute film school

2008-07-17T16:28:00.002+12:00

Here is a Rob Scrab 4 minute film school lesson in "drawless animation". Rob is the creative guy behind 'Scud the Disposable Assassin', 'Monster House', 'The Sarah Silverman Show' and the super cool 'Robot Bastard'. Oh, and a TV pilot thing called 'Heat Vision and Jack' with Jack Black, Owen Wilson and Ben Stiller which takes the piss out of all those 80's action shows. It is not officially available but if you look around the interweb hard enough it is worth your time to find...

And while we are at it - here is the 4 minute film school lesson on shooting red/blue 3d. None of this convergence or synchronisation mlarky, just lo-fi how to get it done.

Sukiyaki Western Django - 2007

2008-07-17T08:32:00.004+12:00

Incredibly Strange Film Festival

Sukiyaki Western Django - 2007

One line review:Miike pulls the inverse 'Kill Bill' - a color saturated soy sauce spaghetti western. Highly Recommended.

If you are an extreme film fan, the name Takashi Miike should be enough for you to shell out to see this. His controversial, prolific and eclectic film

career covers the bases from the sadistic romance horror of 'Audition' (1999), the manga hyper violence of 'Ichi the Killer' (2001) through to the pop children's joy of 'The Great Yokai War' (2005).

So what we have here is the inverse 'Kill Bill'. 'Kill Bill' = Iconoclastic western film auteur Tarantino mashes up Eastern martial arts influences in a style overloaded revenge movie staring western actors. 'Sukiyaki Western Django' = Iconoclastic eastern film auteur Miike mashes up European spaghetti western influences in a style overloaded revenge movie staring eastern actors. Oh yeah, he has Tarantino acting in a key role, and all the Asian actors speak in phonetic English....

The big stepping off point influencing this movie is meant to be the original 'Django' (1966), considered to be a classic of the spaghetti western genre, and supposedly the origin of the ear cutting scene in 'Reservoir Dogs'. I have to admit to having never seen it, but in the best of Euro exploitation movie tradition there have been dozens of unsanctioned sequels and outright rip offs, which I have seen. Also the likes of Sergio Leone's 'A Fistful of Dollars' and 'Once Upon A Time In The West' feature as obvious influences. Take those influences, add a heap of Samurai sword play, stunning saturated colors plus gun flinging action and you have taste of where this is going.

This is something fun and spectacular and highly likely unlike anything you have seen before. How often can you say that?

Miike fans, will already be queuing to see this, Tarantino fans should be queuing to see this and I highly recommend any action movie fans with adventurous tastes go and see this.

Here is a trailer, with a very tamed down look at the style this movie contains:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYUe cko6Vd0

Bigger Stronger Faster* - 2008

2008-07-16T10:29:00.002+12:00

New Zealand International Film Festival

Bigger Stronger Faster* - 2008

One line review: A very funny, honest, heartfelt look at the hypocrisies of steroid use and the American mantra of win at all costs. Highly recommended.

Is it possible to make a populist and entertaining documentary with 'Supersize Me' antics, 'Bowling For Columbine' celebrity spokesman stalking, heartfelt family revelations, yet have authoritative insight into a controversial subject, provide a platform for those long vilified in popular culture AND expose the hypocrisy at all levels of an entire nation? That would have to be a documentary ON steroids. Heck, it is a documentary
ABOUT steroids!

Director Christopher Bell is a child of the 80's, growing up on Stallone and Schwarzenegger movies and following pro wrestling red white and blue flag waving antics of Hulk Hogan. Bell and his brothers would soon overcome their awkward slightly tubby teenage phase, to be become gym junkies, then power lifters, college football players, and eventually pro wrestlers, all at some point taking steroids.

As things kick off, the brothers have moved on with their lives to varying degree's, and we are treated to a very up close and personal look at the family politics, denial and egos in play. Dad has a good idea what is going on, Mom is having a hard time of it. This is mixed in with a veritable buffet of authoritative experts looking at the larger picture.

Band standing politicians that literally do not know what they are talking about? Check.
Well meaning but possibly misguided lobbyists? Check.
A who's who of disgraced athletes? Check.
Disgraced athletes getting to frankly state and justify their case? Check.
Frank admissions of steroid use in Olympic athletes going back 50 years? Check.
Hypocrisy in sports administration? Check.
Super sized livestock? Check.
Strong insight from doctors and psychologists that specialize in the field? Check.
Quite the payoff to trying to get self admitted former user Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on record? Oh hell yes, that is a check.

Over and above this, it is very entertaining. It is one thing to be TOLD how easy it is to get steroids, quite another to SHOW a casual trip south of the border or what to say to your doctor to get them on prescription. The whole section of setting up your own sports supplement' business is worth the price of admission alone.

The tag line to this movie is "*The Side Effects Of Being American", and that is what it boils down to in the end. In the large picture it looks at the entire American attitude to win at all costs, while still holding focus on the good, the bad and the ugly of a loving small town American family.

Very entertaining, highly recommended.

Trailer is here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8nOKJTL6Tg

King Of The Hill - 2007

2008-07-15T10:42:00.002+12:00

Incredibly Strange Film Festival
King Of The Hill - 2007
aka El Rey de la Montaña

One line review: The Spanish "Deliverance", back country cat and mouse thriller. Simple concept done well.

The plot starts out pretty simple. Spanish dude has a gas station bathroom encounter with a saucy señorita, only to find she has legged it with his
wallet. He catches sight of her down the road, follows her car up a single lane into the mountains, and stumbles his way into a back country "Most Dangerous Game" as shadowy figures with hunting rifles start hunting him down.

This reminded me a lot of 'Ils' aka 'Them' - 2006, the French horror movie, although this is much more a thriller than out right horror. You get plenty
of uncertainty, unknown killers with scope rifles and an eye full of beautiful Spanish landscape. Where this gets its entry to the 'Incredibly Strange'
part of the film festival is with a plot twist (didn't see it coming) and the commentary on modern media. The first person shooter video game POVs for the killers say a lot with more subtlety than all the attempted commentary in 'Diary of the Dead' which is also playing in the festival.

Enjoyed it.

Vexille - 2007

2008-07-14T11:30:00.005+12:00

New Zealand International Film Festival
Vexille - 2007

One line review: Big screen high gloss CGI manga, recommended if you are a fan of the form.

Okay, I loves me some Asian cinema, but I get an allergic reaction to manga. Some prior exposure to doe eyed characters with sub 60's HB animation,
bad dubbing and incomprehensible scripting has tainted me for life. So it is pretty rare that I shell out to see manga on the big screen.

When I have the experience generally is "that was pretty to look at, but was trying way too hard to be profound". Final Fantasy - 2001, pretty but
blurgh story. Vampire Hunter D - 2000, (Howling Mad Murdock dubbed version) - pretty visuals but meh story. Renaissance - 2006, (as dubbed by
James Bond), not manga, but still same ball park, pretty to look at, meh story.

True to form, Vexille is pretty to look at. Very pretty. It allows me to use pretentious terms like Non-Photorealistic-Cartoon-Render, textured,
cinematic, hyper realistic and nuanced. Seriously pretty to look at. And the bonus is, in the NZFF it is being shown from 35mm film with old school
burnt in subtitles (oh yeah baby! Burnt to celluloid). Yeah, it is already out on DVD, and dubbed, in other parts of the world, but it will not look as
cool as it does on the big screen. Things kick off with lots of funky robots and plenty of explosions, which would normally be enough for me, but later
on they have all manner of cool cityscapes and a pretty nifty big bad monster.

So color me surprised. It is pretty to look at AND story to Vexille was not complete pants. Don't expect it to win awards, but it had some cool
big ideas without completely overwhelming things with profoundness. In 2077 a militaristic Japan has spent a decade with completely closed borders and
shielded from satellite eyes. When it becomes clear they are working on illegal robot technology, the Americans send in a commando mission that finds
things are not exactly as expected.

So there is some weird psychology and politics going on with the story. I get the 50's era Japanese fantasy movies. The Americans were throwing up
proxies for the commies in their 50's sci fi, and the Japanese were getting stomped down by a nuclear created beast, while defending themselves with a
wish fulfilling noble military and world leading fantasy space program. I get it.
Vexille on the other hand has Japan as an evil empire, that the Americans need to take down. With animated Euro looking military hero's and wide eyed,
pale and skinny women of no specific ethnic group. But, of course, this is a Japanese made movie, and the good guy Americans speak fluent Japanese. Okay then.
But not to worry, latter on they do manage to work in the more usual cliches of Matrix Morpheus and brooding-floppy-haired-trenchcoated-Asian-hero-dude.

Overall - recommended for the manga and CGI heads. Everyone else, you have to ask yourself will it be worth it for pretty visuals and robot mayhem?

Dear Zachary - 2008

2008-07-13T12:58:00.004+12:00

Incredibly Strange Film Festival
Dear Zachary - 2008

One line review: True life documentary, both a love letter to a lost friend and an emotional gut punch of a crime story. Highly recommended.

Right from the onset, it is put front and center, this is both a documentary scrapbook from a film maker to his best friend, and that his friend was murdered. Film maker Kurt Kuenne literally travels the world collecting remembrances to his friend from all the people in his life, friends, family, co workers and patients. So there are two time lines running. The historical story, assembled from all manner of family photos, home video and interviews, and the developing story as much more is revealed about the murder.

So, you know, it is going to be sweet and fluffy and warm and funny on one hand, and on the other, it is not going to end well.

Things develop. The focus and entire point of the documentary changes at least twice. It is REALLY not going to end well.

And I am not going to tell you how it develops or ends. You just have to see it and take the journey.

It has to be said, it is an emotionally manipulative movie. No attempt is made to hide the film makers or interviewees emotion. Voice overs break up, subjects break down in tears. Given the subject matter, the access to the people, and the developing story, it earns the right to be very emotional. Unless you are a devoid of human empathy, you WILL have a reaction to what is presented on screen and you will have strong feelings about what went on.

All documentaries have a point of view. The very act of shooting footage and cutting it together presents a point of view. What is shown, what is cut out of frame, where people are seated, how they are lit, the questions asked, how things are cut together, all aspects of cinema convey a point of view. Even trying to film, frame and edit everything as antiseptically as possible would present a point of view, that the documentary maker wants you to have an antiseptic view of what is on show. So, yes, things shown here have a strong and personal point of view, but unlike say a Michael Moore who will aggravate and alienate those that do not share his political ideals, this documentary takes a look at a crime that most cannot disagree with.

Fundamentally this deals with the abstract constructs of justice and law. These are things that are not physically real. You can't grind up justice and sprinkle it on your omelette's, you cannot measure the volume or density of law. And this movie presents an up close and personal look at people going through the 'law' system looking for 'justice' for their loved one. And it ain't pretty.

Highly recommended. But if you tear up easily, bring a hanky and a shoulder to cry on.

TV vs Web

2008-07-13T09:16:00.001+12:00

The average American is 38 years old - the average tv viewer is now 50. Guess all those gee wiz computers are pulling young-ens away.
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117988273.html?categoryid=1275&cs=1

A web project from Mr Buffy the Vampire Slayer, who also wrote Firefly/Serenity/Toy Story/Angel etc.
http://www.vimeo.com/drhorrible
Smells a little bit like Venture Bro's, but will still be checking it out.

Not Quite Hollywood

2008-07-12T18:02:00.001+12:00

Tits, blood, violence, cars and crocs.

Not even remotely work safe
http://www.notquitehollywood.com.au/

This movie is playing as part of the ISFF. The première got rave reviews - hanging out to see this one!
(How many featured movies can you name? Turkey Shoot, Mad Max, Snapshot, Thirst, Patrick, I recognise a couple more....)

Jar City - 2006

2008-07-12T13:27:00.003+12:00

New Zealand International Film Festival
Jar City (2006) - Iceland

The one line review is: Icelandic police procedural, based on the award winning novel, the anti-CSI.

I have to admit, I have no idea why I chose this movie out of the festival guide, but I am glad I did. It has a lot to offer and is quite the antidote to all the CSI ilk crime programs on TV.

There is an extreme lack of beautiful people, glamorous locations and sexed up pseudo science presented as factual forensics. Right from the opening discovery of the murder scene, the police bypass the most obvious piece of forensic evidence on the front door that on a TV show would blow the case wide open. Instead we get dour cops complaining about another messy and meaningless murder. From here good old fashioned interviewing and investigation leads them down a the road to the Icelandic heartland. There is also a strong forensics theme that runs counter to the main story in what starts as a sub plot, bringing the relatively low tech police work into a stronger contrast.

A lazy reviewer at this point would make a comparison between the landscapes on show and the tone of the movie. Stark, barren, beautiful yet remote, lonely and icy, small weather beaten fishing villages hiding long festering grievances behind a polite veil of keeping up appearances. And I am indeed lazy enough to use all those words because they are all appropriate. It is also worth pointing out the small population of Iceland leading to quite realisticly to all the cops, crims and their families being on first name basis.

And it is not all dour and downbeat. There is a very strong humorous streak running right through. Comedy highlights include a cop vs crim foot chase that goes against just about every other chase in cinema history. Also lots (and lots) of meat including one takeaway meal that grossed the audience out more than the autopsy scene. They also achieve the near impossible comic feat of making funny rape jokes. It is a subject that really has no business being funny, but they find a way to frame it that takes the sting out of an emotive issue, and even had the grey haired women in sitting in my section tittering away.

Overall, highly recommend in a 'I have overdosed on CSI' kind of way.

As an aside. This is the first movie I have seen at the mighty Civic in many years. I think the last thing I saw there was a That's Incredible screening of Bad Santa, complete with Ant Timpson simulating an illegal sex act on someone in a school uniform. It has to be said the Civic is a stunning venue. In my travels I have stuck my nose in cinemas the world over, and nothing came close for ambience. The only thing I found that could best it was the Coliseum in London's West End, used by the English National Opera and Royal Variety Performances. That being said, by golly my Civic seat was uncomfortable and narrow. My posterior has obviously been spoiled by far too much time in cineplex wide arse seating.

Film Festivals Are Go!

2008-07-11T16:04:00.002+12:00

The New Zealand International Film Festival has now started in Auckland and the return of the Incredibly Strange Film Festival kicks off tomorrow night.

A chance to get the teeth into some cinema that might have otherwise missed the cultural backwater that is NZ.

On the viewing list thus far (and subject to many additions):

-NZFF-
Vexille
Jar City
Bigger, Stronger, Faster
Max & Co
Animation Now!
Crazy Love
Fear(s) of the Dark
The Escapist
Obscene

-ISFF-
Dear Zachary
Diary of the Dead
King of the Hill
Sukiyaki Western Django
Pop Skull
Timecrimes
(REC)
I Think We're Alone Now
Not Quite Hollywood
Frontier(s)

And in not entirely related news, apparently the new Batman is coming to Auckland at the IMAX, with six sequences that were shot on the 4 story high IMAX camera/projector system. The animated Batman anthology 'Gotham Knights' is out on DVD now as well. Looks very interesting in an 'Animatrix' kind of way. Will have to find time to check it out amongst all the festival double headers.