$9.99 is the latest film based on the short stories of Etgar Keret, the previous being the solid Wristcutters: A Love Story. Rather then examining the afterlife, $9.99 focuses instead on the meaning of life, as the film focuses on a booklet that promises to answer all of life’s questions, all for the bargain basement price of $9.99. Complete with a solid cast (Joel Edgerton, Claudia Karvan, Anthony LaPaglia, Geoffrey Rush) and the nice twist of using stop-motion claymation makes $9.99 one of the more eye catching and potentially original films to be released this year.
Interest level: Pliable $9.99 opens exclusively at the Lagoon Theatre on July 31st.
During the course of our relationship I have “forced” Anna to watch several movies that she had absolutely no interest in, thus resulting in several treacherous crossroads for us to navigate. And even with huge successes like The Descent, Fight Club and American Movie, it has still proven to be quite the struggle to convince her that my love of a particular film might actually translate into being worth her time to view it. Recently such an event happened involving Slither.
Now when Slither was released about 2 years ago we had been dating for several months and my birthday was fast approaching. I had gotten some passes to an advance screening of the film that was to occur on my birthday. Now, with a March birthday it can be a bit of a struggle to find even a competent birthday film, so I was quite excited at the prospect of watching a halfway decent horror comedy as my own personal birthday present to myself. (more…)
Next week I review yet another hard to find independent film. That is until its recent release on DVD. Now everyone will have the chance o watch and marvel over the combination of claymation and Edgar Allen Poe in a most perfect union. That’s because next week’s film is Ray Harryhausen Presents: The Pit and the Pendulum.
When I was growing up in Wisconsin I would often times kill time at my local video store. I would roam through the aisles, looking at the VHS boxes, searching for something interesting to watch. I was fascinated with genre mash-ups and Ralph Bakshi’s films and quickly immersed myself in them. But Waukesha wasn’t exactly stationed along the cutting edge of pop culture, so I had some rather sizable gaps in both my film knowledge and exposure.
It wasn’t until college that I began meeting people who were giving enough to introduce me to German Expressionism, Italian neorealism, and Turner Classic Movies. From then on I always have had great respect for people who introduce me to new and exciting things, especially when it comes to films.
Which brings me to my girlfriend, Anna. I found my first excuse to talk to her when she was reading Watership Down, which was one of my favorite books (as well as animated films) as a child. Much to my delight she had never read it before so it afforded me the perfect opportunity to lay down some serious knowledge, and from there we soon began introducing each other to all sorts of of new experiences. One interesting thing to note is she was far more open to trying out my recommendations early on then I was with hers. This is quite simply explained. She likes Bjork, Dogville, and Ayn Rand. I like cool crap.
It is always tough to decide which film to review. I like to try and bounce between genres and styles as much as possible, thus making it ever more difficult for a readership to grow. But this week’s course correction is particularly challenging what with it following up an semi-pornographic documentary that just so happens is illegal to watch. How does one follow up contraband like that?
Why with a children’s movie! But I can’t just make it any children’s movie. I mean I do have some standards here. But what about a British stop-motion film that meshes live action with claymation? Doesn’t that sound tasty? Oh it is, and The Secret Adventures of Tom Thumb is next week’s film.
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