Random Film of the Week(end): Sleeper

Posted on March 16, 2013 by geelw

sleeper If you stripped away the comedic elements and rewrote a few scenes, Woody Allen’s classic 1973 film Sleeper would actually make a pretty solid futuristic drama about a man wakened from a long cryo-sleep who ends up becoming part of a revolution against a totalitarian government. Fortunately, the film never even tries to be that serious and you end up laughing your ass off at its near-flawless writing acting and overall pacing. Granted, the film actually won a Hugo Award for “Best Dramatic Presentation” in 1974 (beating out the deadly serious Soylent Green, the mostly serious Westworld and two so-so fan favorite TV melodramas, Genesis II and The Six Million Dollar Man), so I’d gather there’s a pretty solid futuristic drama underneath all that slapstick after all…

Continue reading →

Drunk of the Dead: Zombeer Now Set to Creep Onto PS3 (& YOU Can Be In It… Sort Of)

Posted on March 12, 2013 by geelw

Annnnd, Speaking of nights gone to hell, folks…

zombeer OK, for a while I thought this in development PC and Mac game was a very well-done Internet joke, but it seems to exist and is now also headed to the PS3 soon. Zombeer: Zombies & Beer, a “first-person-survival-horror-comedy-shooter made BY fans of the zombie genre FOR fans of the zombie genre”, according to the press release. Spain’s Moonbite Studios is cranking away on this and it does look pretty wild in a retro sort of way. The developer is also doing something special for Steam Greenlight supporters in creating a hidden Easter Egg scenario (one of many planned for the game) and putting all those names into the game’s extended credit sequence, which they say will be “the looooooooooongest and BIGGEST end titles of history of videogames”. Eeek. I can think of a few games that had insanely long credits (Super Burnout on the Atari Jaguar springs to mind, as do a few RPGs with massive staffing across many studios). Click HERE if you want to be a part of the madness. And absolutely read that Greenlight page, as the game description is hellishly priceless…

Random Film of the Week: STARCRASH (The Adventures of Stella Star)

Posted on March 7, 2013 by geelw

Italian cinema has brought forth plenty of classic films and directors of assorted skill levels from Fellini to Leone, Argento, Bava and more, but Luigi Cozzi (or Lewis Coates, his “Americanized” name) deserves a special place in the hearts of a certain group of cinema fans. Known for doing relatively quick and cheap knock-offs of popular sci-fi and fantasy films, there’s a certain bizarre charm to his “major” genre works that demands repeat viewings. That and hell, if you ever have a toothache and want to forget all about the pain, you can count on a few of Cozzi’s films to make you do just that. Then again, you may just injure some other body part when you roll off a couch or chair laughing. STARCRASH is one such film and for some, the movie they saw in theaters when Star Wars seating was unavailable during that film’s long run (I recall it playing for about a year in some spots) or 1978 reissue. I was one of those people and I don’t think I’ve ever recovered from the experience… but I have gained a bit more appreciation for this offbeat mess over the decades. Continue reading →

OK, If You Want A 16-Bit Cliff Notes Version of Game of Thrones, Here You Go…

Posted on March 3, 2013 by geelw

Amusingly enough, I’m sitting here and listening to some people talk about the new season, all guessing and overspeculating their hipster glasses and skinny jeans off when one of them mentions the good Doctor Octoroc and his amazingly funny GoT mock video game video he cooked up for Collegehumor.com from about a year or so ago. In case you haven’t seen it yet, the edited version is above. If you want to see it as intended, just clicky-click HERE, sit back and prepare to fall off something onto something (preferably soft). I’d post the video directly, but like the books and show, it’s kinda ranuchy (well, in a Super Nintendo kind of way). You’ve been warned (but you’ll laugh yourself silly anyway)…

Random Film of the Week(end), Too*: Juan of the Dead

Posted on March 2, 2013 by geelw

*Hey! You get an extra RFotW column because I usually do two or so a week and I’ve been a bit too busy to watch as many movies as I’d like. Lucky you!

As we’re near completely brainwashed here in America that anything related to Cuba is bad or will turn you into a flag-waving, manifesto carrying Commie if you so much breathe in its general direction (save for stuff that can really kill us if over-consumed like Cuban cigars, Cuban sandwiches, or a fatal clot in the ass or legs from that 48-hour I Love Lucy marathon because you wanted to catch that ONE episode you missed), seeing a great indie zombie flick pop up out of that country is a nicely reaffirming sign that people are indeed alike all over. Juan of the Dead, despite the knockoff title and low budget, is a really fine addition to the crowded zombie flick genre thanks to plenty of gore and decent FX work, a load of humor targeted at current and past political policies and a solid cast that’s just fantastic throughout.

Continue reading →

Random Film of the Week(end): Rubber

Posted on February 24, 2013 by geelw

I absolutely love that some horror fans HATE Quentin Dupiex’ Rubber (or as it’s called in France, Rubber) for a few reasons. I’m betting he knew that’s just what would happen when the jaded but none too bright gore fanatics out there rolled into theaters or caught this on cable thinking they’d be getting a relentlessly violent and gory flick that just so happened to be non-stop hilarious. Well, it IS indeed gory and often quite funny… but it’s also a one or two gag film that works it hard by going in many directions (often at once) as well as one of the more absurdly meta movies you’ll ever see. You know you’re in for a weird time when a movie starts off with two characters on a desert road talking about how things happen for “no reason” before an audience in the distance waiting around is handed binoculars in order to watch what happens next. That’s probably the most normal thing you’ll see for the next 80+ minutes, by the way…

Continue reading →

Random Film of the Week(end): Bath Salt Zombies

Posted on February 17, 2013 by geelw

As far as low-budget horror flicks go in this day and age, MVD Entertainment Group’s latest DVD release, Bath Salt Zombies is a gory wonder of economy that’s an intentionally cheesy, but wickedly fun time. Packing in plenty of blood, twisted humor, skin-ripping gore, a couple of sexy ladies, more gore, a few crazily creative fight scenes, cheap backdrops (did I mention gore?), and a leading man with quite the knack for freaky rubber-faced expressions. It’s Type AB-solutely NOT for the kiddies, so go roll them into the closet with a box of eBay Ho-Ho’s (or substitute those nastier Little Debbie rip-offs that taste like sugar dipped chocolate rolled sponges – they won’t know the diff), kick back and definitely catch this flick if you’re into the hot and heavy cult horror thing it’s got going on… Continue reading →

Film Review: A Ghost of A Chance (Once Upon A Blue Moon)

Posted on June 21, 2012 by geelw

One of the best films I saw in 2011 wasn’t the usual big-budget Hollywood ego piece cooked up to win award after award, but a great and often laugh out loud funny comedy from Japan that’s worth tracking down even if it’s never released in English. That said, I’ll bet writer/director Koki Mitani wants a time machine for his next birthday. I know one of the first things he’d probably do is go back and meet Billy Wilder, Michael Powell and Frank Capra for dinner somewhere expensive where they’d smoke cigars, drink good whiskey and talk movies until the sun popped up like a fresh piece of perfect toast.

I say this because Mitani’s latest film, A Ghost Of A Chance (or Once Upon a Blue Moon if you happen to live in Japan) manages to get in nods to Wilder, Powell, Capra and a few other famous directors while also being as fresh and funny as Mitani’s other inspired comedy work. While a bit overlong, the film is funny (often hilariously so), touching (you’ll probably shed a few tears at some point) and despite a few flaws, is well worth watching a few times. With a plot that’s part crime story, ghost story, courtroom intrigue and romance (for starters), there’s a lot here to keep cinema buffs happy.

. Continue reading →

Curb Your Enthusiasm May Have Explained George Lucas’ REAL Issues (But Probably Not)…

Posted on September 5, 2011 by geelw

http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/fyX6yx_HVKY?version=3&hl=en_US&rel=0

Tinkering with film history thanks to a possible OCD and making longtime fans dislike all that futzing around isn’t Lucas’ ONLY worry according to last night’s episode of Larry David’s brutally hilarious HBO comedy. In the episode titled Mr. Softee, Larry’s psychologist name drops a wee bit to much info about the director’s addiction to prostitutes and his er, shortcomings in those encounters. All more than likely not true at all, but I was laughing so hard that I can only hope to hell that David let George in on the joke before the episode was shot. If not, I’ll expect the more irate Star Wars fans will use that not so true info as yet another reason to hate him. Hey, when you have that much money lying around, I guess everyone needs a hobby. His is “updating” his movies until he thinks they’re perfect… then updating them some more until the nostalgic factor vanishes under a heap of spectacular CG effects (and soon to be 3D effects). As to the title of the episode, well it has nothing to do with Lucas, but once you see it, it’ll make you laugh and/or cringe when you see and hear that familiarly annoying tune warbling from one of those white trucks…