Director: Giorgos Lanthimos (Dogtooth)
Writers: Giorgos Lanthimos, Efthymis Filippou
Producers: Giorgos Lanthimos, Athina Rachel Tsangari
Starring: Aris Servetalis, Johnny Vekris
Country of Origin: Greece
MPAA Rating: R
Running time: 93 min.

“There are many types of lighting receptacles, that come in both professional and consumer grades.”

“Cold is a word that winter swimmers do not know.”

This is the icy-precise line-reading one comes to expect from writer-director Yorgos Lanthimos. Those who got an offbeat intellectual charge out of his weird fable Dogtooth or simply enjoyed the alien-dance moves of actress Aggeliki Papoulia are in for more of the same with ALPS, perhaps a spiritual sequel which features similar visuals and narrative beats. Things are taken out of a singular location of the Greek director’s previous film, and the insular family dynamic is scaled up to a group of people who form the eponymous organization. The business concept behind ALPS is one of role-playing and empathy. People who recently lost of a loved one can hire an ALPS employee to impersonate the deceased for a few days or weeks to ease through the grief process. As the film demonstrates exceptionally well, the barrier between indulging a client’s grief and devolving into a form of prostitution is a rather thin and permeable one. The domineering boss of ALPS, a gymnastics coach who does not indulge his star pupil (also an ALPS employee) in song choices for her routines. Instead he makes unexplained demands: “You are not ready for pop music.” As CEO of ALPS he is more like a pimp. When his star employee (Papoulia), a nurse who spots potential clients from the pool she encounters – families attending to their dying loved ones at the hospital – decides to go rogue and take on a customer outside of ALPS, justice is swift and bloody, an arbitrary. It takes the form of a chastising game which obfuscates the use of naked power and authority.

Of the many sights and sounds on display for our amusement and consideration are the book-end displays of gymnastics. The first scored, as an act of counterpoint foreshadowing, to Carl Orff’s “O Fortuna” (is there a more overused piece of ‘epic music’ in cinema?) and slyly puntastic use of pop-electro hit from the 60s “Popcorn.” A game of charades to keep the ALPS rank-and-file in good form. A few client visits and other mini-set-pieces all serve to underscore the fusion of high and low culture; the earnest and ironic execution is how it goes in this new wave of Weird Greek Cinema of which Lanthimos is the undeniable star.
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Until a few weeks ago, the only Harold Lloyd films I’d seen were his signature Safety Last with its famous building-climbing set-piece, and The Freshman, which I cannot, at this point, separate in my mind from Keaton’s College. Lloyd is one of the Big Three when it comes to silent comedians, but in terms of the popular consciousness, he still falls well below Chaplin and Keaton, and I was content with his third-wheel position based on what I’d seen. After a recent double-feature at Cinefamily, I was primed to change my view on that, and Girl Shy clenched it. Lloyd is every bit as worthy a giant of silent comedy as either of his rivals. They’re all in a dead heat as far as I’m concerned.

Lloyd’s essential persona is a normal, slightly nerdy guy who deals with problems as they come along, usually involved with trying to get a girl. He has neither Chaplin’s downtrodden acceptance nor Keaton’s stoic stubbornness in the face of the outrageous situations that befall him, but instead shows his exasperation and yet continues to push through toward his goal. In Girl Shy, his own worst enemy for much of the film is himself, and his irrational fear of women that causes him to be flustered and stutter uncontrollably whenever a girl comes near him. It doesn’t help matters that he’s adorable and girls tend to flirt with him, even to the point of tearing their stockings so he can fix them (he’s the tailor’s son in a small town).

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Director: Bobcat Goldthwait
Writer: Bobcat Goldthwait
Producers: Jeff Culotta, Sarah de Sa Rego, Richard Kelly, Sean McKittrick
Starring: Joel Murray, Tara Lynne Barr
Country of Origin: USA
MPAA Rating: R
Running time: 99 min.

(3.5/5)

While a couple on the run setting fires to America’s citizens and their warped sense of “good” isn’t really anything all that new, Bobcat Goldthwaite is able to take the idea and add some twists to the idea; while more importantly stirring in some pretty clever and funny dialogue to boot.

Frank is a slave to the everyday corporate grind (in a cube). His family life is gone, everyone surrounding him is an over-the-top caricature of a pop media drone and society as a whole seems hell bent on almost purposefully dumbing itself down into an “Idiocracy.” Rather than offing himself, Frank decides that maybe in the interest of preserving or “fixing” society as he knows it, it would be better to get his hands dirty and start taking care of business. Which would entail exterminating those responsible for such abhorrent behavior and their mentalities. Along the way he picks up an admiring high school girls who sees the world as just as “dead” as Frank does. Together they’re on the run, eliminating all those that “deserve to die.”

The bullets and violence that one expects from this sort of fare is fun for a while, but slowly loses its impact and sick fun fairly quickly. Especially since the movie can never elevate itself beyond the awesome depravity of the opening scene in Frank’s neighbor’s house, with whom he shares a wall. What works surprisingly well however and keeps the movie chugging along at a pretty even pace, are the two lead performances in Joel Murray and Tara Lynne Barr; the former ironically appearing only in Disney related projects previously. The two play their parts with gusto and their moments of “extreme dialogue” are moments not to be scoffed at. Skewering of everyone from the obvious (Fox News, American Idol, Westboro Church, etc.) to the more fun and obscure (Diablo Cody, cinema texters, or people who give high fives and misuse the word “literally” [YES!]).
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For reasons I can’t entirely explain (but I’ll probably try anyway), the prospect of seeing vintage 3D films fascinates me, even as I do my best to avoid current 3D as much as possible. Part of it is simply a the ability to see something in a form that we usually can’t anymore (because 3D films from the 1950s and before are usually seen only in 2D now), part of it is an interest in the more experimental shorts included in the program, part of it is an illogical preference for old things, part of it is mere curiosity about whether it would be better or worse or different than modern 3D, and part of it is just perversity. In any case, I knew from the moment this program was announced that I would try to go see it, and I’m very glad I did, for all the reasons I just mentioned, and because Serge Bromberg, the French film historian who curated and presented the program, is an absolute delight, as well as being extremely knowledgable and able to accompany the silents himself on the piano. If scheduling had permitted, I would’ve gone to his Trip to the Moon program as well.

The program had everything from Disney cartoons from the 1950s 3D boom to Pierre Lumiere remaking his own turn-of-the-century films in 3D in the 1930s to experiments as old as 1900 to Russian nature films, and even a couple of modern CG cartoons. Pretty much everything was delightful in one way or another, and I’m just going to go through the program short by short, mostly in the same order Bromberg did. One note: we were given two pairs of glasses at the beginning, both red/green anaglyph paper glasses and modern RealD polarized glasses. We only used the anaglyph glasses on one film, which surprised me. Somehow I thought all the 1950s films were done with that technique, but actually, it seems very similar to current 3D, and the RealD glasses worked perfectly for them all. I know very little about the technical side of these things, so I apologize in advance for any errors I make on that front, and please correct me.

Three Dimensional Murder, aka Murder in 3-D (1941)

This was the one film that used the anaglyph glasses, and it was basically a tech demo for 3D, albeit directed by George Sidney. Part of the Pete Smith series of shorts, this one has Smith (first-person camera pspective) heading into a creepy house and being attacked by all sorts of things – a mummy with a spear, a witch’s hand, and Frankenstein’s monster throwing or dropping everything in sight directly toward the camera. All the stereotypes of 3D being about hurling or thrusting things at the camera, yeah…they’re all here. With the glasses on, the red and green tints combined to make a black and white image – to do color, they had to go to a different technique, much closer to what is done today. This short was ridiculous, but fun, until it wore out its welcome about halfway through. The anaglyph process is not that great, either, and was easily the most eye-straining part of the program, with the colors flashing annoyingly on the screen and a lot of ghosting effects.

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The ultimate filmmaking chameleon, in the past five years alone Steven Soderbergh has directed an action infused spy thriller, a globespanning medical disaster movie, a seventies-set comedy about corporate corruption, an experimental drama starring a hard-core pornstar, a four hour Che Guevara biopic, and a documentary about Spalding Gray. What’s the next logical step in that sequence, you ask? Clearly, it’s a comedy about male strippers starring Channing Tatum, Matthew McConaughey and that awful actor from Stormbreaker and I Am Number Four:

Okay so the trailer’s not great…in fact it’s pretty abysmal. Hopefully it goes without saying that I would have no interest in this film if it weren’t for Soderbergh’s involvement. Still, after Haywire and 21 Jump Street, I will admit that I’m starting to find Channing Tatum’s awkward mumbliness kind of endearing. And in Steven we trust…

Thoughts?

Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Screenplay: John Steinbeck, Jo Swerling & Ben Hecht (uncredited)
Based on a story idea by: Alfred Hitchcock
Starring: Tallulah Bankhead, John Hodiak, Walter Slezak, Mary Anderson
Producers: Alfred Hitchcock & Kenneth Macgowan
Country: USA
Running Time: 98 min
Year: 1944
BBFC Certificate: U

(4.5/5)

When I was first getting into films as a young teenager, Lifeboat was always one of my ‘go to’ titles when I wanted to impress people with my knowledge and appreciation of film. Back then I only tended to watch the Casablancas and Gone With the Winds of the film world, I rarely ventured beyond ‘the canon’, so I felt like I was unlocking some hidden gem when I discovered the relatively unappreciated Lifeboat. I can remember liking the film a lot and for the decade or two that followed I’ve always brought it up in Hitchcock conversations as his ‘underrated classic’. Of course it’s not actually the most rare of films, but it does tend to get pushed aside in favour of titles like Psycho, Rear Window and Vertigo. These and many other of Hitchcock’s bonafide classics are rightly worthy of their status, but I always felt this needed a little more recognition. Well, I haven’t actually seen the film since those early days, until the fine people at Eureka offered me the chance to review their meticulously restored Masters of Cinema edition. Of course I jumped at the chance and have finally settled down with the film that had stuck with me for over half of my life, so what do I think of it now?

For those of you that haven’t heard of Lifeboat, it’s a film that Hitchcock produced for 20th Century Fox during the Second World War in the first few years of his move to the USA. With David O. Selznick leaving producing duties to help with the war effort, Hitchcock saw his chance to make a picture on his own terms, so he came up with the story behind Lifeboat. This idea was then brought to John Steinbeck to produce a script, which was later adapted by Jo Swerling & Ben Hecht (uncredited). The film is about the rag-tag group of survivors of a ship torpedoed by the Germans during the war and how they cope together on a lifeboat as it drifts across the ocean, hopefully towards rescue. The waters are further muddied however by the arrival of one last survivor, a German from aboard the very submarine that put them in this situation.

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If you haven’t already seen this yet, it continues the trend of Ridley Scott’s Prometheus doing some of the best viral-style marketing in years. This one likely does not contain any spoilers; although, who knows, really. Perhaps even knowing that the ubiquitous Michael Fassbender is playing the android in this film is a spoiler. The Irish actor will join *ALIEN FRANCHISE SPOILER ALERT* Ian Holm, Lance Henrikson, and Winona Ryder in the franchise’s long standing tradition of having a non-human crew member on ride. Judging by this promotional video, it looks like he will do nicely.

Below is a faux-advertisement paid for by the Weyland Corporation for their version of Nexus 6 android. Meet David 8 the robot hates poverty and war and who can cry upon command. He is here to help and do the things that real people may find (*beat*) distressing. He just wants to help out.

New Release Picks of the Week

Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol
This film got much better reviews than I ever expected it to, and that’s after I was already interested due to Brad Bird and Jeremy Renner (sorry, Tom). Busy holidays kept me from it, though, so I’ll have to catch it on DVD…which is sadly not IMAX-sized.
2011 USA. Director: Brad Bird. Starring: Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner.

Shame
A divisive film in many ways, with some praising Fassbender and the film’s style, while other were put off by its lack of depth. I didn’t manage to get out to see it in theatres, but I definitely want to catch up with it before too long.
2011 UK. Director: Steve McQueen. Starring: Michael Fassbender, Carey Mulligan.

Other New Releases

After the Banquet (2009 South Korea, dir Kim Yoon-cheol, stars Sin Seong-woo)
American Dad!: Volume 7 (2011 USA, creator Seth MacFarlane)
Bob’s Burgers: Season 1 (2011 USA, stars H. Jon Benjamin)
The Divide (2012 USA, dir Xavier Gens, stars Lauren German, Michael Biehn)
Garbo: The Spy (2009 UK, dir Edmon Roch, stars Nigel West)
Girlfight (2011 USA, dir Stephen Gyllenhaal, stars Anne Heche)
A Heavenly Vintage (2009 New Zealand, dir Niki Caro, stars Keisha Castle-Hughes)
Hell’s Labyrinth (2011 USA, dir Drew Maxwell, stars Leah Rose)
The Last Rites of Joe May (2010 USA, dir Joe Maggio, stars Dennis Farina)
Man on the Train (2011 USA, dir Mary McGuickian, stars Donald Sutherland)
7 Below (2012 USA, dir Kevin Carraway, stars Val Kilmer)
Up from Slavery (2011 USA, dir Kevin R. Hershberger)

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So here it is: your smackdown in the Cabin in the Woods. Andrew sits a little further from the fire this week as to not get burned too much by the Kurt vs. Gamble nerd-a-thon. Check your watch, Necronomicon and your Lemarchand’s box at the door; it’ll be a bit of a bumpy ride. Soon after we have a bunch of old school teaser trailers to talk about; courtesy of the Cinecast listeners. We get a full ActionFest! recap including an encounter with one Ms. Gina Carrano… and a guy who lights himself on fire. Matt brings back the love to Jump Street, plays some video games and gives us a sneak review of Five Year Engagement. Lastly Andrew buzzes through as much stuff as he can including the entire Bourne trilogy, some more Tarsem, rock stars, nerds, activists, magical swords and death smugglers. Let’s just say the show is well rounded. But hey, we kept it under four hours… barely.

As always, please join the conversation by leaving your own thoughts in the comment section below and again, thanks for listening!

Cinecast Episode 255 [ 3:43:36 | 153.53 MB ] Play Now | Play in Popup

 
 
Full show notes are under the seats…
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Directed By: John D. Lamond
Starring: Gina Allen, Count Copernicus, Hayes Gordon

Tag line: “At Last! The Australia you’ve always wanted to see but until now … have never DARED!”
Trivia: This film was heavily censored upon its release in the UK, running 12 minutes shorter than the R-rated Australian version

For more Cinematic oddities and reviews, head over to dvdinfatuation.com

Featured in 2008′s Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation!, Australia After Dark is a documentary that occasionally devolves into an exposé of sex, masochism and oddities galore. It’s an eccentric motion picture, but boy, did I enjoy it!

Narrated by Hayes Gordon, Australia After Dark takes us on a whirlwind tour of Australia, journeying from one end of the continent to the other and exploring the customs, beliefs, and, unusual “practices” of its native population. Australia After Dark has it all, from exotic restaurants and outdoor festivals to strip clubs and fetish palaces, revealing a side of Australia I guarantee you’ve never seen before.

How strange is Australia After Dark? Well, here’s a summation of the first dozen or so minutes of the film: We open with a picturesque shot of the Outback, over which Mr. Gordon, the narrator, warns us that what we’re about to see “won’t be all beautiful, but it will be true”. After about 30 seconds spent discussing the plight of the Aborigines, we’re whisked to King’s Cross in Sydney, a “sleazy, grubby, neon-lit” section of town filled to the breaking point with prostitutes, pimps and strippers. There’s a brief scene of a naked woman lying on a bed, then it’s right back to the streets and into an S&M “salon” where we watch two leather-bound men wrestle around a bit before one is led upstairs and tied to a rack (“look at that rack”, Hayes Gordon says, “you don’t see craftsmanship like that these days”). Cut to a riverboat restaurant, where the chef is preparing such tasty morsels as shrimp, snake, and fried grubs. Then, it’s off to an art studio of some sort, where, for a small fee, you too can “decorate” the body of a naked woman. But we’re not done yet. We still have ancient cave drawings to examine, and three nude ladies to watch rolling around on the floor before we’ve hit the 12-minute mark. Seriously, I don’t think “bizarre” is a strong enough word to describe Australia After Dark

There are smatterings of a legitimate documentary (we visit a museum in Melbourne that was once a gallows, and now features a variety of death masks molded from those who were executed there) tossed together with straight-up exploitation (by way of nude beaches on the Barrier Reef and a behind-the-scenes look at the making of a porn film) before Australia After Dark finally succumbs to temptation, and concludes amid gobs of nudity and the ravings of a sexual prophet (and sometimes drag queen) named Count Copernicus.

Trust me…this is one movie you won’t want to miss!

When we think of film noir as a concept, we often describe it as a B movie phenomenon, a look and feel associated with low budget crime dramas. But a lot of the big names we immediately think of as noir films are actually higher-budget A pictures with top stars and name directors – Double Indemnity, The Big Sleep, Sunset Blvd, etc. This year TCM (and Noir City Foundation programmer Eddie Muller) has done a great job of programming actual B-level films in the noir sidebar, intentionally choosing independently produced films that are clearly low budget programmers, which Raw Deal definitely is, despite being directed by Anthony Mann (before he got big) and starring recognizable but often B or second-lead actors like Claire Trevor and Marsha Hunt.

Unusually, this film has a voiceover from a female perspective, with Claire Trevor narrating some, but not all, of the film. She play Pat, who is planning to break her man Joe (Dennis O’Keefe) out of prison, where he’s been taking the rap for his boss Rick (the inimitable Raymond Burr, consistently shot from the most imposing angle possible). Meanwhile, Joe’s lawyer’s assistant Ann (Marsha Hunt) is trying to convince Joe to hold out for a couple of years until he gets parole. Thinking he has Rick’s support, he opts to stick with the prison break plan. Unfortunately, Joe’s just a loose end to Rick, who expects and intends for the police to do his dirty work for him and eliminate Joe during his escape.

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I know the discussion on Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard’s Cabin in the Woods in these parts has been fast and furious, but I think I shall take a post to organize my thoughts before we record the Cinecast. Why did the film leave me so cold and indifferent? A note to the internet, this lack of engagement with the film is a different animal than ‘hate,’ even though the text-based comment format and rarefied aether some netizens breathe will no doubt lump me in that camp. Onward. It was an equal combination of expectations and execution and perhaps, it all boils down to the white-board up there in the still shot. Did we get a movie, or did we get an adaptation of a writers meeting? Should this matter? I think so.

In the interest of *SPOILERS* the rest of the post is below the jump.

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