You know, I have to admit I went into Repo Men with low expectations, the trailer is downright terrible and looks completely unsure of what kind of movie it is marketing, and for an hour and a half Repo Men did nothing to convince me that this film was worth my time. In fact, the film was so dull, listless and obvious that I found myself quoting dialogue before the characters could utter it. Yeah, its one of those. But then something magical happened.
The final reel began and everything changed for the better. The pace quickened, and the film finally shook off its rust and began to fly loose with all sense of reality and good taste. Soon eye popping set pieces were in play, an Oldboy style hammer fight smacked me in the face with a freaking hacksaw, and the most disturbing organ transplant/sex scene cropped up out of left field and skull fucked me into sheer cinematic bliss. Oh that’s right, Repo Men skull fucked me.
And it hurt. So. Good.
And that’s right before the film grabbed its balls and swung for the fences with an ending that’s bound to piss off as many people as it pleases. And that’s when I realized, “Holy shit?! I think I love this movie!”
And we’re back! Due to some slight technical difficulties (James seems to think a 5.25 floppy disk can hold an entire movie) we ran afoul of our proposed release schedule for the year. But pay no attention to the machinations behind the curtain, as we race through this episode of High and Low (Brow) in record time, due probably to the fact that one of the movies we viewed is abysmal.
But of Berkeley Square (1933) and World Without End (1956) your guess is as good as mine as to which of the films is the true stinker of the bunch. Thankfully, we don’t linger on this spoiler too long, and simply call a pile of crap a pile of crap right off the bat. That being said, while both of these films are quite hard to track down, one of these films truly deserves to be seen by as many people as possible.
Make sure to stick around for our selection process, as we have chosen a far simpler group of films for us to find and watch, which means you should expect to see another episode of High and Low (Brow) by the end of the month, thus getting us right back on schedule for the year. Big thanks to loyal reader Robert R for his help in determining the films for the selection process.
If you have any recommendations for films we could watch for the podcast, or want to suggest a potential theme for us to use, or simply want to tell James how awesome he is, feel free to email us and tell us your ideas. If you enjoy the show make sure to subscribe through iTunes or our RSS feed so you can catch every new episode. Also, please friend James on Facebook. Because it will frighten and confuse him. And while you’re there be sure to join our relatively new Facebook group devoted to Where the Long Tail Ends.
One more thing, if you enjoy the show feel free to donate to it through PayPal in either a single installment or as a recurring donor. We’d love to upgrade some of our equipment and anything you donate will go directly towards us getting some decent mics and perhaps even pop screens that aren’t made out of cotton balls.
While I’m not exactly a fan of Zack Snyder’s films, his personal brand of razor thin plotting and fast-paced action just might make for a stellar children’s film, which is exactly what Legend of the Guardians looks like it might be.
I know next to nothing about the series of books it was based on, or what the heck the film is about, but I must admit, I’m a sucker for epic fantasy films starring animals. Dare I dream that this will be as good as Watership Down?
Recently I’ve been tossing around the idea of starting up a regular feature that would highlight some of the films that I’ve run across in my film watching career that I adore for no discernible explanation. That is, no explanation until now.
For now I will highlight the competently ridiculous, the oddly perverse and hopefully the drug-addled genius of some truly awful movies that hurt so good. For these movies truly represent the greatest moments in cinema history.
Our inaugural edition highlights one of the most bizarre and possibly frightening films you are bound to encounter. A film so vile, so lewd and so inspired that it could only come from a man who was destined to become one of the biggest director’s in Hollywood, that being Peter Jackson. This movie marks both his creative peak AND nadir, resulting in a movie that is bound to fell anyone without the strongest of stomachs, though a complete lack of morals can only improve your viewing experience.
For those unaware of Meet the Feebles, the plot is rather simple, a troupe of Muppets is trying to put together one big television broadcast special, in the hopes of landing a syndicated series. But as the big day approaches a series of disasters threaten to ruin everything they’ve worked so hard for. Of course that also leaves out the sex addicted rabbit dying from AIDS, the massive drug ring that the show’s producer runs in the theatre’s back alley, or nasal sex, which sounds almost as disgusting as it actually is.
But the highlight of the film is the pinnacle song and dance number as a homosexual fox sings about his love for, you guessed it, sodomy, all while a manic depressive hippopotamus attempts to murder every performer with a machine gun, thus marking this as one of the Greatest Moments in Cinema History with a bullet.
Just in time for the upcoming Oscars, shocking I know, several theatres here in the Twin Cities have decided to host some movie marathons of films nominated for this year’s Oscars, from Live Action and Animated short films, to Documentary to every Best Picture nominee, you can find them somewhere in the Cities this weekend and next.
Live Action and Animated Short Films The Lagoon Cinema
Animated – 2:50 & 7:15 (Daily)
Live Action – 5:10 & 9:30 (Daily)
Matinee $7 | General $9
Twin Cities Gold Film Festival Woodbury 10 Theatre
The Most Dangerous Man in America – Sat @ 7:00 (Twin Cities Premiere)
Food Inc – Fri @ 1:00 | Sat @ 5:00 | Sun @ 3:00
Burma VJ – Fri @ 3:00 & 9:00 | Sat @ 3:00 | Sun @ 1:00
Which Way Home – Fri @ 7:00 | Sat @ 9:00 | Sun @ 5:00 (Twin Cities Premiere)
The Cove – Fri @ 5:00 | Sat @ 1:00 | Sun @ 7:00
Tickets $6 | Festival Pass $25
Best Picture Marathon Day 1 (Feb 27th)
AMC Eden Prairie 18
10:30 – Avatar
1:45 – Up
3:45 – A Serious Man
6:30 – Precious
8:45 – District 9
AMC Arbor Lakes 16 & AMC Rosedale 14
10:30 – Avatar
1:45 – Up in the Air
4:00 – Precious
6:45 – The Blind Side
9:15 – Inglourious Basterds
Day 2 (March 6)
AMC Eden Prairie 18
10:30 – An Education
12:45 – The Hurt Locker
3:25 – Up in the Air
6:00 – The Blind Side
8:30 – Inglourious Basterds
AMC Arbor Lakes 16 & AMC Rosedale 14
10:30 – Up
12:45 – A Serious Man
2:45 – The Hurt Locker
6:00 – An Education
8:00 – District 9
You know, I have to admit I went into Repo Men with low expectations, the trailer is downright terrible and looks completely unsure of what kind of movie it is marketing, and for an hour and a half Repo Men did nothing to convince me that this film was worth my time. In fact, the film was so dull, listless and obvious that I found myself quoting dialogue before the characters could utter it. Yeah, its one of those. But then something magical happened. 
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