I’ve made it relatively clear that I am a fan of genre films, up to and including exploitation films. I grew up on these movies and they have helped shape my future movie watching habits, so I have enjoyed quite a bit the recent bit of mainstream love for grindhouse films.
Now, coming on the heels of the outstanding Ozploitation documentary Not Quite Hollywood, comes a film devoted to the American exploitation films of the same time. Now the film does not look to have quite the same level of frenzied adoration as its Australian counterpart, but with its massive cast of interviewees it should prove to be a fascinating look at one of my favorite parts of cinema history.
Special thanks to The Documentary Blog for the heads up on this film.
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Thanks to word that Minneapolis based distributor Apparition is going to distribute the Australian neo-noir The Square here in North America I finally found an excuse to watch director Nash Edgerton’s short film Spider. I had heard good things about The Square, and I figured that his short might help give me an idea of what type of filmmaker Edgerton is.
Well, if The Square has as much malicious glee as Spider I could be in for a real treat.
Jack and Jill are always hurting each others feelings. But like Mum said, Its all fun and games until someone loses an eye.
Over the past few years I’ve become quite the fan of Ozploitation films, and I’ve quite enjoyed the recent resurgence of Australian genre filmmaking. One of my more recent finds was the flawwed, yet still enjoyable, Australian zombie film Undead. And while it was a decent enough independent horror comedy, I must say I found it a bit surprising that the director’s of that film, The Spierig Brothers, were able to secure over $20 million to film their next project. The Australian vampire film Daybreakers.
I’m a bit at a loss on just what kind of film this will be, as the trailers seem to be pushing a glossy action pic, but judging by Undead I wouldn’t be surprised if Daybreakers ends up being a relatively decent budget schlock film. Complete with ridiculous effects, gaping plot holes and over zealous acting. Willem Dafoe is in it after all. And if its a good one, man do I hope it makes it to the multiplex.
I don’t put forth much effort to hide the fact that I love genre films. I do this for several reasons, though primarily it is simply to weed out those who do not like them. I have no problem personally if someone doesn’t enjoy them, far too frequently genre films rarely attempt to cross over and gain new fans, but if someone doesn’t like genre fare I immediately know whether or not we will have somewhat comparable taste in movies. Genre films are the anchor in which all of my film interests are held together by, and I am rather proud of that.
Now my particular kryptonite of which I am powerless to resist are science fiction films. While Star Wars is probably primarily to blame, their certainly were plenty of other science fiction franchises indoctrinating my toddler brain. Since that time, if your film had a hint of futuristic technology, machines dealing with their own developing Artificial Intelligence, or even alien populated cantina bands I have probably already watched the film at one point or another.
Being a child of the 1980’s meant I was able to gorge on these types of films on a weekly basis, as the only genre seemingly more numerous was the one involving one or both of the two Coreys. But as I watched these movies, it became increasingly easy to forget just which movies I had watched as I rocketed through the genre. And all too often, I would watch a film I loved and then lose it to antiquity because I wasn’t making any effort to record which films I loved and which I didn’t.
This is the tale of one such relic, lost to the celluloid aisles, seemingly, forevermore.
A few updates this week. Management mysteriously falls off the booking sheet one week before its scheduled release, replaced by Tyson!, a rather lethargic documentary on enigmatic boxing star Mike Tyson. Summer Hours gets bumped up two weeks, and Whatever Works one week.
Their are some exciting new additions though. First is the documentary Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg which is about television pioneer Gertrude Berg. Still Walking is an acclaimed Japanese drama that is slated for a September release, while $9.99 is an Australian stop-motion film that looks very promising. But the biggest addition is the film Cold Souls, which has an absolute monster cast and a killer premise in the vein of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I can’t wait for a trailer for it to finally be released.
*** – Denotes recommended viewing
All dates subject to change
05/15 The Limits of Control Uptown***
05/15 Angels and Demons Lagoon
05/15 Tyson! Lagoon (tentative) (NEW)
05/15 Tokyo Sonata Edina***
05/22 Brothers Bloom Uptown
05/22 Adoration Edina (tentative)
05/22 Gigantic Lagoon/Edina
05/22 Every Little Step Edina
05/22 The Girlfriend Experience Edina ***
05/29 Rudo Y Cursi Uptown
05/29 The Song of Sparrows Lagoon
06/05 Revanche Lagoon
06/05 Little Ashes Lagoon (tentative)
06/05 Summer Hours Edina (NEW DATE)
06/05 Easy Virtue Edina (tentative)
06/12 Away We Go Uptown/Lagoon ***
06/12 Enlighten Up! Lagoon
06/12 Departures Edina
06/19 Food Inc. Uptown
06/19 O’Horten Lagoon
06/26 Cheri Uptown/Edina
06/26 MOON Lagoon***
06/26 The Country Teacher Lagoon
06/26 The Stoning of Soraya M. Edina
07/03 The Girl From Monaco Uptown/Edina
07/03 Whatever Works Lagoon (NEW DATE)
07/10 Seraphine Edina (tentative)
07/17 The Hurt Locker Uptown (tentative)
07/24 500 Days of Summer Uptown/Lagoon 07/24 Betty Blue: The Director’s Cut Lagoon ***
07/31 In the Loop Uptown
07/31 $9.99 Lagoon (NEW)***
07/31 Shrink Edina (tentative)
08/07 The Cove Uptown***
08/14 Cold Souls Uptown (tentative) (NEW)***
08/14 Not Quite Hollywood Lagoon***
08/14 Adam Lagoon/Edina (tentative)
08/21 Lorna’s Silence Edina
08/28 Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg Edina (NEW)
08/30 The Bride of Frankenstein Edina (One Night Only) *** 08/30 It Happened One Night Edina (One Night Only) ***
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