Recently I was having a conversation with a friend about the over saturation of zombies. Just when did they suddenly become cool? You seemingly can’t go more then a few weeks nowadays without running into a new zombie film out at the theatre, and zombie themed books are cropping up all over the place. Oh sure Jane Austen could probably use a couple of brain munching ghouls to spice up the prose, but what the heck are zombies doing in my Star Wars Universe?
But sure enough, just a few days after taking this stance my opinion was shaken with news that a zombie themed bar was opening up in North Minneapolis. Not just zombie themed, but inspired by Shaun of the Dead. As if that isn’t enough, the owner of the bar is Leslie Bock, probably best known for owning Saint Sabrina’s and the outstanding biker tiki bar Psycho Suzi’s. If anyone can pull of this kind of a drinking hole, its Bock.
As noted by the Star Tribune, these are some of the more interesting “accoutrements” of the new Donny Dirk’s Zombie Den.
•The floor is covered with casino-grade tiger-striped carpeting. Ridiculous.
• The walls feature brown, custom-made smoked mirrors. “Very hard to find, I might add,” Bock said.
• All of the booths and bar stools are covered in plush Vegas-style tufted vinyl.
• There are three deer heads (one was already there; she added the others for good measure).
• Hanging above the bar is a green neon sign that reads, “Undead Frank Lives.”
• Frank’s legend also lives on in one of the “specialty” drinks, a $3.75 humdinger called R.I.P. Frank (basically a shot of liquor on ice). If you want something a little fancier, try the Donny Dirk signature cocktail, which is the bar’s version of a chocolatey Alexander.
• This week, the bartenders began offering the “Weird Science” interactive cocktail, which is a drink you design yourself. Bock compares it to raiding your parents’ liquor cabinet as a kid. You write down the liquors on a note card, the bartender mixes it, you pay for it. If you like it, they’ll keep your card on file for the next time you come in.
Now if you will excuse me, I need to grab my cricket bat, some electro and head on over to the north side.
While the debate rages on between film geeks over whether Metacritic or Rotten Tomatoes is the superior criticism aggregator, their is now a third aggregator that has entered the mix, called Movie Review Intelligence. Movie Review Intelligence plans to separate itself from the Big Two by using an even smaller group of critics (somewhere in the neighborhood of 65) and weighting their reviews based on how much “pull” they have.
So far the site seems to have some impressive metrics working behind it, making it a bit of a thrill to read for those of us who enjoy crunching numbers. And while I’m happy to see Star Tribune critic (and friend of the site) Colin Covert being included within this select group, I’m a bit at a loss on why his compatriot across the river at the Pioneer Press, Chris Hewitt, is being left out.
The other negative that I have is that I’m not exactly happy that mediocre critics with wide ranging publications like Roger Ebert, Owen Gleiberman or ugg, Peter Travers, means that they might skew the reviews simply due to their wide readership, rather then their competency. And while the limited amount of critics does reduce the number of highly questionable critics being included, a major fault of Rotten Tomatoes, the same small sample size means that the resulting aggregation might potentially be widely skewed. It will be something to keep an eye on over the coming months, and hopefully this site proves as reliable and accurate as its lofty claims.
Finally a week in which their are multiple quality selections to choose from for theatrical releases. Granted the mainstream offerings at the multiplex are awful, but between Alien Trespass, 12 and Adventureland you have plenty of quality options to choose from. Though my recommendation is for Adventureland, which is nothing like the baudy sex comedy that it is being marketed as. Rather it is a rich coming of age story that is surprisingly dark, very dense and very rich. I might even say it is the fillet of this weeks offerings.
As for DVD releases, they are almost universally crap, excepot for one lone, rogue film. You might know it as the film I used to launch a totally unprevoked, and ultimately futile, attack of Star Tribune film critic Colin Covert. That’s right, just two weeks after it was released in theaters, Shuttle is being released on DVD. So now is your chance to rent the film, and discover for yourself just how right, or wrong Colin is.
After reading a recent review of the Independent film Shuttle by Star Tribune film critic Colin Covert, I may or may not have challenged his sanity and his sobriety in this post. But in an effort to be fair I decided to attend the film anyways and see if Colin actually knew what he was talking about. The result?
I’m sorry to say that Colin Covert, film critic for the Star Tribune, and self-proclaimed “SANEST MAN ALIVEEEEE!” was right, Shuttle is a decent little thriller that does more with its premise then a certain recent big budget film that had a similar low brow concept and rode it to a $100 million American Box Office take.
It helps that Shuttle takes a truly absurd premise (an airport shuttle driver kidnaps his 5 passengers all while driving) and milks it for all it is worth and that the two primary leads, Tony Curran (Red Road) and Peyton List (Mad Men) are actually talented actors. Curran in particular is someone who really should be better known, and if you haven’t watched Red Road make sure to as soon as possible. It is a masterpiece.
Oh sure the film has plenty of holes and numerous continuity errors, but the plot whips along and the actors totally sell their roles. The film isn’t whip smart by any means, but it is performing at a level far greater then would be expected of such low grade fare. As an added bonus, the ending is fantastic and really helps drive home the film. Shuttle isn’t great art, but it is a pretty nice genre flick.
But make no mistake, even if he was correct in this instance, I’m still not sold on Colin’s sanity.
So I was supposed to attend a press screening of Shuttle last week, only thanks to the wonder of FedEx, the hard drive for the film never arrived and the screening was canceled. Now Shuttle is a low budget horror/torture porn flick, and not exactly a movie I had high expectations to begin with, but after getting word the screening was canceled I also heard from someone who had already seen it that it wasn’t good. To be a bit more fair and accurate, it was far worse then less than good. So imagine my surprise when Colin Covert, the white haired wonder of the Star Tribune, gave Shuttle 3 out of 4 stars!
The death-cab-for-cutie premise gains an added measure of impact as a blue-collar revenge fantasy, but you don’t need a sociological spin to make it work. “Shuttle” will creep the flesh right off your bones.
Now I love reading Colin’s reviews, and I find his video reviews in which he refers to himself as the royal we immensely entertaining, but I’m pretty sure he wrote this review on a dare, or drunk. Probably both. That being said I still haven’t seen the movie, and after being told how terrible the film was I was inclined to see it anyways, but now thanks to Colin I am on a quest.
I don’t have a DVD pick for this week, instead I have a homework assignment for you all. Track down a copy of Shuttle, by hook or by crook, and then respond to Colin himself about what you believe is the current state of his mental health and the quality of the film Shuttle.
Recently I was having a conversation with a friend about the over saturation of zombies. Just when did they suddenly become cool? You seemingly can’t go more then a few weeks nowadays without running into a new zombie film out at the theatre, and zombie themed books are cropping up all over the place. Oh sure Jane Austen could probably use a couple of brain munching ghouls to spice up the prose, but what the heck are zombies doing in my Star Wars Universe?
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