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.
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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Pretty much every movie related website on the Internet has come up with some sort of Best of the Decade list over the past month. But while the majority of them focused on straight up “Best of” lists featuring relatively well known films, I figured in the spirit of this website that I would instead focus on the lesser known films that have been made over the past ten years.
But one question I had to figure out was just how should I whittle down films as “Long Tail” films. Plenty of films started out as smaller films that eventually found their audience, while there is certainly a fair share of films that were initially given a wide release. So I decided I would use two different determining factors to help figure out which films would be considered part of the long tail.
The first is the amount of screens the film was released on during its theatrical run here in the US. I decided to go with a relatively small number of screens as the ceiling (100 at the films widest release) and that any film that broke that would simply be dismissed. This number essentially acts as the films initial chance to gain potential viewers. Films eliminated by this include The Proposition (158 screens), City of God (242 screens) and The Triplets of Bellville (463 screens).
Secondly I went off of reviews on IMDb.com. Once again I selected a fairly small number of reviews as the ceiling (no more than 10K). This number reflects the film’s total audience, as the films that are more popular with mainstream audiences, or those that have rabid fan followings, typically break that number quite easily. Film eliminated by this number include such seemingly smaller films like Oldboy (28 screens, 87016 votes), Dead Man’s Shoes (2 screens, 16286 votes) and Let the Right One In (53 screens, 45413 votes).
While still far from a perfect system, this seemed to work pretty well in eliminating a fairly large chunk of lesser known films, making it a far more manageable task for me to select some of my favorites from what remained. One interesting note, this process seemed to favor documentaries as twelve ended up making the list. So while the quality of documentaries has grown throughout the decade, it still seems like the form still has a ways to go to capture the public’s attention.
And without further ado, I give you this decades 30 Best Long Tail Films.
At first glance my watching Cutthroat Island might seem a bit out of place with the purported purpose of this website. My goal was to watch lesser known films, specifically films I knew nothing about going into them, in the hopes of finding the occasional gem as well as simply taking a few risks when compared to my standard movie watching habits. I’m as guilty of being selective as anyone else and this seemed like a fun way to test the cinematic waters. And, well, watching one of the biggest financial flops in film history certainly has its own brand of appeal. How often do you get to watch a movie that killed an entire genre of film?
The pirate film, as most probably know, had a long, rich and financially successful relationship with Hollywood since Hollywood’s inception. They would have been considered the “blockbuster” films of their day, at least in comparison to modern day films. Big stars, big sets, bigger production budgets and big, big profits. While over time the popularity of pirate films, and the assured giant box office takes, fluctuated within Hollywood, their were few genres considered as sure as a thing as the pirate film.
By the time Cutthroat Island was being made the pirate film’s greatest glories had long since passed. While they were still being produced with regularity, they hadn’t dominated at the box office in years. So, as production began on Cutthroat Island, word soon began to spread that it would mark a return to Hollywood’s Golden Age, a time when people of all ages could lose themselves in the wonder of the movies. Cutthroat Island, it was promised, would mark the first step of many to a new Hollywood Golden Age.
Even years later I still remember being inundated with the marketing push for Cutthroat Island. TV spots were everywhere, and I specifically remember all the television tabloids like Inside Edition and Access Hollywood offering numerous “exclusive” behind-the-scenes looks at the film. Geena Davis, whose star had steadily risen for years, was being pushed as the next Hollywood superstar, an actress who could excel in both dramatic and action roles. Her husband, and Cutthroat Island’s director, Renny Harlin, was being touted with equal fervor. As the next “it” action director. The press simply couldn’t get enough of this husband and wife duo battling to resurrect a cherished but slightly forgotten genre. Cutthroat Island quickly became a looming juggernaut. A Christmas film that simply could not fail. Would not fail. That is, until it failed. Rather spectacularly as it turns out.
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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