Micahs Movie Calendar

Cinemapocalypse 2009 (08.15.09 - 08.16.09, 6 movies)

Date Viewed	Movie	Director	Notes
08.15.09	Inglorious Basterds	Quentin Tarantino	It is 4:40 Sunday afternoon right now and I've been up since ~10 Saturday morning. If I take a nap now it'll just make things worse tomorrow, so how about I just type up these Cinemapocalypse notes! I've got a sixer of Lone Star that I'll be working my way though as I type, so chalk up any typos to that and the lack of sleep. I'm not proofing this bad boy. For those who've never read my write-up of a festival in general and a QT fest in specific, these write-ups generally tend to be more detailed about the events of the festival and less about the films themselves. I'll warn you if there are any spoilers. Ok... so I left Dallas around 2 Saturday afternoon and made it to Austin just before 6. I went over to the Drafthouse, got my wristband, and found out that they weren't going to be seating until some time after 8. The cool thing about this event (or, to be more specific, one of the cool things about this event) is that the seats were assigned, which means you were free to wonder around the lobby (or sixth street) without having to worry about lining up to get a great seat. I was hungry, so I went across the street to a place called Paradise where I had a pretty excellent teriyaki chicken. Then it was back across to the Ritz, where I ran into plenty of people that I hadn't seen since the last time I was in Austin for a Drafthouse event. It was great catching up with everyone and meeting new fellow film geeks, and before I knew it, they were letting us into the theater. I ended up being assigned a seat next to Blake, who runs cinemaisdope.com and who I knew from past QT Fests, among other things. We even split a hotel room the weekend Eli Wallach came into town for The Good, The Bad, The Ugly, if memory serves right. So that was cool. Plus there were plenty of other people sitting on my row that I knew. I was two or three rows from the back of the theater (or 11 rows from the front if you want to count that way) and right in the middle of the row. Pretty excellent seats. Quentin was there before the posted starting time of 9 p.m., so I think he took the stage pretty close to when they'd estimated he would. Actually, before he got up, Eli Roth introduced him and pre-introduced the film by saying it was "for cinema lovers and Nazi haters." He also said that this movie was impossible to describe in a commercial/trailer (a sentiment Blake echoed... he'd seen this at Cannes and said it wasn't at all what he was expecting (i.e., a men-on-a-mission movie)), so we should "let you expectations go and hang on for the ride of your fucking life." He concluded by saying that the movie "isn't history, but I'm pretty sure it's historic." Then QT took the stage and asked how many people were planning on staying the entire night. Every cheered, of course, to which he just laughed and replied "you fucking pussies... you're all lying." (In total, I'd say about half the theater stayed until the end of the last film... QT and Eli Roth were not among them). He then asked who'd been to a QT fest before, and said that with Inglorious Basterds he'd tried to squeeze "a whole QT fest into one movie." There was a little more intro chatter about how he'd programmed the two films following this one, and that if we didn't like IB we could by tomatoes in the lobby by the bushel for the post-film Q&A, then he said "Are you ready to see some Basterds!" and slammed the mic into the ground, as he does for each and every QT Fest intro I've ever been to. Trailers: Operation Eichmann, Ski Troop Attack (featuring pre-Bond skiing GIs!... "They turned a white hell red... with enemy blood), 36 Hours ("See it from the beginning... every second counts"), & Operation Amsterdam. Film: Well hell... I really liked this. I was never interested in revisiting Death Proof, but I think I'll actually go see this again in the theater next week. Kill Bill was the only other QT movie I saw first run in a theater, and I remember that it took a few on-DVD viewings to fully warm up to it. I actively enjoyed this movie the entire time I was watching it (with the exception of the three things below I didn't like), but I'm guessing that some of the drawn-out relationshipy stuff with Shosanna isn't going to age as well as Kill Bill. But then last 30-60 minutes... man... it just builds and builds and builds and goes batshit crazy and never hits a wrong note. And the final shot?... perfect. Is it bad to admit that as the credits started rolling I thought.. hmmm... "QT could die now and it'd be OK"? Yeah, that's bad. I thought it though... of course, I don't want him to die. I'm just saying if he did... nevermind. I'm going to be talking in general terms about the movie, so if you haven't read the script or anything, I'd recommend just skipping to the next entry until you watch the movie. I'd consider the rest of this entry to be mild spoilers. This movie actually features a lot of non-Basterds time. And of the Basterds group (of which there are just 10, counting Pitt), very few other than Pitt get much screen time. I think there are a few who don't ever even talk. The only non-Pitt one who does get a full backstory is Hugo Stiglitz, and he's in the film for way too short of a time. He's one of my favorite things about the movie, and I'd love to see a comic or animation with more of his backstory. I've been trying to put my finger on where most of the film's non-Basterds runtime goes, and I'm having a hard time isolating it right now. There's a lot with Shosanna, and although she's wonderful, I think most of the interest with her role was not knowing where her character was heading. Now that I know how it ends up, I don't know that I'd be that interested in her the next time around. Christoph Waltz as Hans Landa is a shitload of fun, though he borders on self-hysterical parody the last half of the film. If SNL was in season right now we could be a skit away from having "It's a bingooooo!" be the new "I drink your milkshake." But... yeah... it's an incredibly fun (and often scary) performance. Kudos to the milk-farmer at the beginning as well... it's an amazing opening sequence. Here's the three things I didn't like, all of which took me out of the movie. 1: Mike Myers. I have no idea what he was doing here, but it seemed he was playing a character from Austin Powers. I mentioned in an earlier writeup this week that it'd be funny if QT put in an old-fashioned "chip-chip-cheerio" brit in this movie. He did, and it's this part. It doesn't work. Luckily it is brief. 2: There is an 80's style montage with Shosanna putting on make-up that is uber-cheesy. 3: Eli Roth has this vacant look for most of the movie that I never got a bead on. Next time around I've concocted a backstory that I think will make it work a bit more. But first time around... pretty distracting. But the bottom line is that I really enjoyed this. It feels like junk food pop-culture cinema, but then again, I think Pulp Fiction is junk food pop-culture cinema too. Oh... haven't mentioned Pitt yet... his jaw-jutting performance was classic. I really liked it, and if I wasn't so beat, I'd talk about it more. Last thing... there's a moment during the film when the Nazis take over a Paris cinema. In the film, they hang giant Nazi banners in the cinema entryway. Just when they do, Tim rigged four massive Nazi banners to drop from the ceiling, two on each wall. It was a great interactive-cinema moment, but it was very weird to be flanked by the flags for the next two hours. Ok... enough about IB. During the Q&A Quentin talked about how he'd originally worked this story out as a 12-hour miniseries, and that he was going to do it on TV. "The first for an auteur in that medium," he said. Only... he mentioned it to Luc Besson, who said that QT was one of the only directors who made him want to go to the cinema, so he'd be bummed if he had to wait 5 years for another QT movie. "And there's some shit... once you hear it, it can't be unheard... this was one of those things." There was a lot of other Q&A (including questions about his favorite of his films and what was in the briefcase (ugh) and a massive rambling question about propaganda that had the whole audience getting antsy) but I'm thinking it'll get posted online at some point. The last thing I'll mention here is that QT teased a QT fest in April. Fingers crossed.
08.16.09	The Losers	Jack Starrett	The next film was Jack Starret's The Losers, a film I could have sworn I'd seen before, but it turns out I haven't. During the intro, QT talked about the Italian genre called Macaroni Combat, and how Italy was the only country who made movies where the German WWII soldiers were easy to root for. He mentioned Umberto Lenzi's Desert Commando in particular ("You don't want them to kill Churchill and Eisenhower, but they've gone through such hell to get there... you kinda do, alright?"). Trailers: The Naked Brigade, Merrill's Marauders, The Dirty Dozen (a faded-to-hell print), Casualties of War (Fox vs Penn!), POW - The Rescue, & First Blood. Film: Tim joked before the screening that they'd specially aged this print to make it look like it'd come from the 70's, and he wasn't kidding. This thing was almost completely drained of color. And... I've tried all the classics, and biker movies just aren't for me. Even when they cross biker movies with other genres, like they do here, they just aren't for me. I mean... how can I not like a movie where a biker gang gets sent to Nam to rescue a POW? Especially when it stars William Smith. I'll tell you how... the pacing in this (and every other biker movie) is horribly slow. Right after the bikers get to 'Nam, they're supposed to drive to the town where they're getting their bikes suped up (by Vic Diaz, natch). But on they way they take a sidetrip through several fields and dusty roads just so we can watch them ride, man while whiny 70's drivel-rock plays. You know what would have made sense in this movie? They show up to 'Nam and the Army has kickass bikes ready for them. Instead, we get an hour (or close too it) of them prepping their bike, interspersed with scenes establishing that the bikers hate authority, enjoy broads, and love beer. Over and over. You know what could have made Shogun Assassain a boring movie? 60 minutes of him pimping his babycart. We don't need that shit... just give us an hour of them using their kickass bikes instead! Anyway, I digress. Smith was cool here, but I just can't take all the talking and moralizing. Plus I was confused as hell about who everybody was and what everyone's relationship was (not to mention why the bikers were needed in the first place). Luckily Tim came up after the movie and said "Is anyone else fucking confused? I've seen this movie more than once, and I tried really hard this time, but I still have no idea what they were doing there." QT had a pseudo-explanation that I didn't really get either (and admitted that he had no idea how Chet and Link knew each other), then commended us for being a cool enough crowd to cheer the appearance of Diaz, who he referred to as "the Filipino Peter Lorre." It was around 2 at that point, so Tim warned us "There's frat boys pissing everywhere outside, so if you need to go out to smoke or something, go in packs and watch your back."
08.16.09	The Siege of Firebase Gloria	Brian Trenchard-Smith	Next up is a Brian Trenchard-Smith movie I've never seen, or even heard of: The Siege of Firebase Gloria. Plus it stars R. Lee Ermy and Wings Hauser. Hot shit! I was super pumped for this. I'm a big fan of Wings and Trenchard-Smith, and QT described the movie as one of the few big-battle-'nam movies. He also professed his love for BTS (who he lovingly referred to during the last QT fest as a "great Australian hack.. and I truly mean that in the best possible way"), and said that he'd been churning out good movies "during the 70's, the 80's, and even today into the 90's... 90's?... what am I talking about?... 2000's... I guess you can see where I'm hung up..." You can tell that QT really has a true love for BTS's work, and it is easy to see why that is. Even more than Fernando di Leo, this is the director who I am most glad that QT turned me on to. Trailers: Up From the Beach (a war movie with Red Buttons and Slim Pickens), Andre de Toth's Play Dirty, Von Ryan's Express (with Sinatra), Eye of the Eagle 2: Inside the Enemy (man, this trailer looked deathly serious), Uncommon Valor, and Callipoli Film: Well... this ended up being tied for my favorite non-IB movie of the night (not that IB was my favorite overall, I'm just not counting it in my ranking). Ermy and Hauser have a relationship that reminded me of what Devane's and Jones' characters must have had during the war in Rolling Thunder. They lead a dogged unit in 'nam and end up taking shelter in a super-lax US base (Firebase Gloria) in the middle of VC territory. They have a very short amount of time to get things into shape if they want to survive the oncoming onslaught. Or, as Ermy puts it to one of his subordinates "We're going to reinforce this piece of shit then protect it like it's your daughter's cherry." There were dozens of lines like that from Ermy, who was in hypermode Full Metal Jacket (which had come out 2 years prior) territory here. Best line of the film (and almost of the night: "It's time to sprinkle some shit on Charlie's rice.") As I said, I really liked this movie. The two leads were excellent, and Trenchard-Smith's relentless depiction of the VC attack was overwhelming and ofter wincingly-brutal. The siege lasts several days, and it was physically exhausting to me just watching Ermy's men defend (barely) their base one day, only to have to refortify to do it again the next day. Those scenes were balanced, however, by an interesting look at the VC leaders, who were equally uncertain of their battle prowess. It made a nice comparison. And hey... this was the second movie of the night that made me think of Shogun Assassain. Like that movie, this featured a shitty synth score (that actually ended up working despite itself) and narration that - if we're to be honest - is completely lazy storytelling. In fact, if you'd told me that this movie, like SA, was patched together from two separate films, I wouldn't have a hard time believing you. Track this one down. I'm going to start digging through the rest of BTS's filmography. I've never seen a movie of his that I disliked.
08.16.09	Vigilante	William Lustig	Ok... it is now 4:48 a.m., and we have reached the halfway point. QT is long gone, and we are entering the territory programmed by Zack, Lars, and Tim. Up first is Vigilante, intro'd by Zack. Zack points out that'd we'd watched violence all over the world so far tonight, but that it was time to watch some violence right here at home. He then tells us that this movie was directed by a man who made 4 movies starting with the word "maniac," William Lustig. He promises that after watching this film, "you will know what true justice and true violence is, and how important it is to our lives." More importantly, he called onto the stage "the working-class blue-collar hero," Robert Forrester. Kickass. Forrester was a real sport staying this late through the festival. He took the stage to a huge round of applause, to which he responded "Thank you, it's great to be overrated." He started by telling us that he'd just narrated a movie called American Grindhouse (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1307861/), which starts with the FREAKS era and goes through the 70's. The IMDB page shows an impressive lineup, and I'm looking forward to checking it out. He also mentions that he was in a small movie called Hollywood Harry that "isn't great, but isn't junk," and that he was in a movie with Wings called In Between, both of which he liked, and both of which I need to check out. He then took one question from the audience ("Tell us about working with John Huston"), to which he gave us an incredible 10-15 minute answer starting from how he got into acting (it was because of a girl) and ending with a life lesson (always do your best... although he was more eloquent about it). Robert is a great storyteller, and Zack recognized the excellence of his answer by saying "that was the best one-question Q&A in the history of the world." Before he left the stage, Zack promised the uninitiated that "everything is good here, a lot... it's one of the greatest underrated action flicks of the 80's." Apparently this was the first film they programmed for this festival. Trailers (All Robert Forrester): Alligator (Teaser), The Black Hole, Delta Force Film: This was the only film of the night I'd seen before. I remember liking it then, and I liked it now. Woody Strode is great (and Forrester says he's as good a man in real life as he seems he'd be from the movies), as is Fred Williamson. It's basically a massive vehicle for badassery, and was a highlight of the night. I kept flashing back to stories Lustig, Forster, and Williamson told on the commentary I'd listened to a few years ago, and it heightened my enjoyment of the movie. If you haven't seen this, you really should. It is excellent.
08.16.09	The Black Gestapo	Lee Frost	The next film was introduced by Lars. We were all at that pseudo-delirium stage that comes from massive cinematic indulgence and sleep deprivation, and he pointed out "doesn't it seem like forever ago that we watched the first movie... what was it called? Ingloooreeous Bowastards? And fuck... there's fucking Nazi banners on the wall! That's some surreal shit, right there." Lars then explained that all night we'd been watching shit that could've happened. "But this shit in the next movie? This is shit that could never happen." The next title? Black Gestapo! Trailers: Black Samurai (featuring Jim Kelly in a jet pack!), Black Godfather ("The foxiest chicks in town are standing in line."), & The Klansman (featuring the great line from a KKK leader about black insurgeance: "Of course I know about it... Hell! I'm the damn exhaulted cyclops!") Film: Ok... this is the other movie of the night (along with Firebase Gloria) that I absolutely fell in love with. Like The Losers, I could have sworn that I'd seen this before. But man... I was wrong. Lars intelligently described this movie by quoting some philosopher that I can't recall right now, but the bottom line is that it's a meet-the-old-boss-same-as-the-new-boss flick. Think a blaxploitation version of Animal Farm. I really don't want to say much more about the plot of this movie other than that. If you're a fan of exploitation cinema at all, you really should see this movie. It has one of blaxploitation's best white villains... a fey, balding godfather who is pure gold in every scene he's in. It could easily be a one-note mincing-gay performance, but it isn't... the guy delivers the weak-white-authority bits, but also has a few honestly terrifying moments, as well as the funniest lines of the night. I'm particularly fond of him telling one of his henchmen (who'd just screwed up) "I don't want you to think that I don't like you [perfect comedic pause] it's just that I think you're the dumbest fuck in the world." He also has an equally-perfect second-in-command that makes me wish I had the chance in real life - just once - to say with great gusto and aplomb "Afternoooon, black gentlemen!" He's also got an amazingly funny make-a-deal sequence in an overturned car. So... yeah... see this movie.
08.16.09	Ip Man	Wilson Yip	Ok.... last movie of the night! It's around 9 a.m. and I've had a small popcorn (or at least part of it... the smalls at the Drafthouse are impossible to finish by yourself even over the course of 14 hours), several doctor peppers, 3 or 4 sticks of Jolt caffeine gum, 2 caffeine pills, lots of water, and most of a bag of peppered jerky. No meal per se since my chicken at 7 p.m. the previous night, but I'm oddly not hungry (in fact, as I'm typing this, it is 6 p.m. Sunday night and all I've had since then (other than Lone Star and Schlitz) is a string cheese, more Jolt gum, and a bag of cashews... that can't be good, right?) Tim gets on the stage and announces that this is a new movie that isn't going to play Fantastic Fest for a variety of reasons. It is Donnie Yen's IP MAN. I'll admit to recognizing both Yen's and the film's name, but not having a frame of reference for either. Other people seemed excited though. So... Trailers: Master of Zen (this, along with the other trailers in this batch were mostly in not-English... this looked really good though... I want to watch it: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109521/), Fist of Dragon, and Karate' Fists & Beans (a Trinity-sploitation flick that includes the apostrophe-as-comma in the title... it also features one of my all-time favorite underheralded Italian actors: Sal Borgese... based on the trailer, this movie is 100% brawling and bean eating... I want to see it) Film: This movie has some great fighting sequences (choreographed by Sammo Hung), but I found the story to be tedious and repetitious. Here's the entire plot of the movie (all I'm revealing is the identity of the villains, which is akin to revealing the identity bosses at the end of each level of a video game): Ip Man doesn't want to fight a fellow master, but after some urging, he fights him. Ip Man doesn't want to fight an outsider gang's leader, but after some urging, he fights him. Ip Man doesn't want to fight a Japanese gang, but after some urging, he fights them. Ip Man doesn't want to fight the outside gang in its entirety, but after some urging, he fights them. Ip Man doesn't want to fight the Japanese gang leader, but after some urging, he fights him. And that's it... this movie doesn't have a plot so much as it has a series of (admittedly cool) fights that punctuate a series of Things That Happen. If I'd seen this movie on it's own, I think I could have enjoyed it more. As it was... I still liked it better than Ong Bak 2 or Chocolate, if only because there was more fighting and the fighting choreography featured several hits in a row as opposed to those two films' hit-cut-hit-cut-hit-cut methodology. But... not a bad movie at all... I liked it better than The Losers! And that was that. Kinda. Tim took the stage and said that he meant to have told us two things: the movie was based on a true story about a folk hero in China, and "the Chinese for the most part don't care for the Japanese... I mean... there's exceptions, but..." Tim then thanked us for coming and for staying, then teased another one of these in April. I can only hope. He then offered to buy us all a Schlitz breakfast. I left the theater and headed to the lobby, where I mean @Jenn_Brown and @moiseschiu for the first time (looking forward to getting to know both better during Fantastic Fest 2009), then cracked a Schlitz and talked with Tim League, who complimented by Clockwork Orange Kit shirt by noting that it was "nerdy on many different levels." After the beer was done the lobby was mostly empty. So I hit the road back to Dallas, but before I went home, I hit up the Dallas Comicon and - among other things - met Dean Stockwell and bought a pack of MAVERICK trading cards. Sweet. Then I came home, (finally) showered, and did these writeups. It took just under 2 hours (and 4 beers), and Pizza Hut will be here soon. If you've got any comments or questions, please let me know. Otherwise, thanks for reading, and see you next time.