It takes a hell of a gimmick to make me sit through a horror film these days and Film Movement/RAM Releasing’s latest indie shocker MOEBIUS certainly has a really sharp one working quite well in its favor. Director Kim Ki-Duk’s unsettling, darkly comic chiller packs in just under 125 minutes of edge of your seat nastiness thanks to a rather disturbed family unit with a few nastier (and literal) twists of the knife along the way to a nicely weird (and a bit ambiguous, perhaps?) finale.
You want somewhat inappropriate sex, bits of nudity, violence, blood (but not too much of it), leg-closing moments galore and a good reason to curl up into a ball under the covers? Well, you’ve got that here and then some. Oh, by the way… that gimmick I mentioned? The entire film has not a single line of dialog…
Sooo, Creighton Tull Chaney fancied himself a crooner, huh? That’s a clip from the 1934 movie, “Girl O’ My Dreams” in case your interested. He even rhymes “akimbo”, “bimbo” and “limbo” here before he gets laughed back into his seat! Hmmmm. It seems the old prof thought his warbling was quite monstrous indeed and his disapproval sent the young mister off his would be singing career and down a darker path. Well, at least we got some good monster movies out of that rejection, hmmm? That, and the later know as Lon Chaney Jr. got his revenge of sorts by warbling the theme song to Spider Baby over 30 years later. Revenge can be sweet once in a while, but here it’s got the aftertaste of old booze and pancake makeup left on for too many hours.
Well, other than the alcoholism and other negatives, one could say the direction his career took was a more interesting life choice. I just couldn’t imagine From Mice & Men as a musical (and yeah, it would HAVE to have a Tom & Jerry cameo!)…
A few years back, I once had to “explain” who Lauren Bacall was to a friend thanks to (of all things) a rather hilarious episode of The Sopranos where she was unceremoniously mugged by one of the main characters after an awards show:
When I said “explain” above, I didn’t do much in the way of talking at all other than to point him in the direction of Howard Hawks’ brilliant To Have and Have Not so he could see one tiny reason why she was so important. I’d say she got a lot more respect after that. And a whistle, most likely. This is turning into a kind of rotten week for falling stars, isn’t it? Still, while I’m not a believer in the afterlife, I’d bet that right about now, Bogie is sitting on a bar stool about to have a round when the doors swing open, a certain someone walks in with a cool breeze blowing behind her and without turning around, he lifts up his left hand which has two unlit cigarettes in it and says “What kept you, doll? I was getting bored here”, to which he’ll hear a smoky, purred “You were getting lonely here, you mean…”, as the lady takes both smokes and lights them then passes one back to him as he’s turning around.
If you’ve never been exposed to the entertaining wonder that is Classic Arts Showcase, it’s time to upgrade your television viewing experience. I could bore you with a retelling of the history of this fully funded highbrow clip show that runs seemingly endlessly in eight hour blocks on cable networks across the country (and is now online for even more people to check out), but that’s what the link to the official site is for. Actually, CAS is rarely “boring” unless you COMPLETELY hate the arts and don’t want to see some of the most unique and completely RANDOM performances from stage, screen and even TV, many of which are unavailable elsewhere.
In case you’re THAT lazy, here’s what the CAS site says about their programming:
Expect the Unexpected
There is no program guide for CAS, because the beauty of CAS is that you’ll never know what to expect. One moment you might be watching a rare film of George Gershwin performing one of his own compositions on the piano, and less than five minutes later you might see Beverly Sills in a great moment from a classic opera. Each weekly eight-hour show is downlinked by hundreds of channels across the country at different times, with different schedules. The element of surprise — not knowing exactly what’s coming up next — is part of what CAS is all about. The goal is to generate excitement and build a new audience for the wide range of performances presented through the arts.
And I can VERY safely say that the randomness indeed makes CAS so much fun to watch. Yesterday I happened to flip by the channel here with about 45 minutes of free time floating about and caught a long clip from a Hitchcock film, a bit of Swan Lake, an aria or two, a clip from the film Aria, a fun bit of an old TV show that had a waltz turning into a sort of sock hop and back again, and part of a Nat King Cole TV performance before I had to head out the door. How cool is that? Sometimes you’ll see old animation, sometimes a musical performance or super-arty film segment, an brief interview with a long dead genius and more. This fragmented presentation recalls MTV in its early days when it played stuff seemingly at will, although if you watch CAS long enough, you’ll see there’s a method to the non-madness.
Anyway, if you’re bored this summer thanks to the TV dry spell, give Classic Arts Showcase a look-see and if you find yourself strangely addicted to it, well… my work here is done.
Yeah, I figured that would work. Actually, I’d bet that watch this under any stressful situation, you’ll just feel less stressed. Maybe. Unless you’re actually sitting in that dentist’s chair, he strolls up as you’re grinning like a loon, is NO fan of old musical numbers and thinks you’re making fun of his profession. You’d better hope that he doesn’t “accidentally” extract the good teeth you have left and leave the bad ones is all I’m saying…
Chris Nolan’s upcoming sci-fi drama Interstellar certainly looks as if will be quite the ride, but not of the many explosions per second and impossible close calls galore variety. Although, amusingly enough some of that stuff seems to be in this new trailer (out of proper context, I’m gathering). Already, some of the film is telegraphing itself (this looks like a one way trip and the fate of humanity depends on this mission’s success), but par for the course here, I’m not going to let a trailer decide whether or not I like an entire film. I’m kind of immune to most trailers these days, no matter how cool they look or sound thanks to some films being less enjoyable to sit through for longer than the running time of the average trailer. Or am I just being a cranky cynic here? Again.
Anyway, November will tell all about this one and I can certainly wait until then. Heck, my plate is pretty full as it is, so a little suspense will do me good.
Holy Swag, Batman! Oops, wrong comics company, but you’ll forgive my transgression if you happen to enter this awesome Funko contest and win ALL THIS STUFF:
Technically, this contest isn’t “free” to enter, as you need to have a ticket to see Guardians of the Galaxy in order to enter:
HOW TO ENTER
Post a picture with your Guardians of the Galaxy movie ticket and tag us on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.
@OriginalFunko
Use the caption “I want to win the Guardians of the Galaxy Prize Pack from @OriginalFunko! #FunkoGuardians”
The giveaway starts NOW and runs through Friday 8/8 at 12am PST!
Good luck!
Ah, the always interesting “Red Band” trailer. Want to see stuff that’s kind of NSFW but not spoiling the film much if at all? Hey, I say you SHOULD watch this just to see if this sequel is as rough and tough as the original just so you can see that you have nothing to worry about at all. Well, here you go. Below are some new posters for the film, which is set for an August 25, 2014 release at a theater near you. I don’t expect much of anything “happy” happening here at all (I’ve read the comics already), but I know the film will be funny in spots in that “Hmmm, I shouldn’t be laughing but I can’t help myself!” manner parts of the first Sin City nailed so well…
Ach! I was up way too late this morning watching TCM and as I was fading away into sleep-land, I saw that today the channel was paying homage to James Garner. Oops. Well, I’d be camped out at home watching all of these films if I didn’t need to get some work done, but I think I’ll be back around 8-ish and ready to reminisce for a bit.
Here’s what’s on the menu this Monday:
Toward the Unknown Shoot-Out at Medicine Bend Grand Prix Cash McCall The Wheeler Dealers Darby’s Rangers Mister Buddwing The Thrill of It All The Americanization of Emily The Children’s Hour Victor/Victoria Marlowe
The third part of Peter Jackson’s busy amusement park version of Middle-earth is on the way to theaters in December and as you can see from this teaser trailer, you’ll be getting pretty much what you expected if you liked the other two parts of this two part film expanded into three. I’m actually a film behind in this saga (I need to see The Desolation of Smaug at some point), so I’m not in a tearing hurry to rush out to a theater 11+ miles away and see this one. Heck, given the extended, special, collectors and other edition home video versions that are BOUND to surface in 2015 and onward, I may as well wait until the DEFINITIVE version of this trilogy rolls out just so I can see every bit of film as it was intended to be seen (er, as far as home versions go). I should probably just follow a friend’s advice and get a nice HD projector to make that one big white wall in the living room a mini movie palace, but we’ll see what happens financially over the next few months or so.
Oh, and you can actually WIN a nice trip to New Zealand to poke around some of the actual locations from the film (minus the green screen effects, of course). That video above will clue you into how to enter and such. Good Luck!
It takes a hell of a gimmick to make me sit through a horror film these days and Film Movement/RAM Releasing’s latest indie shocker MOEBIUS certainly has a really sharp one working quite well in its favor. Director Kim Ki-Duk’s unsettling, darkly comic chiller packs in just under 125 minutes of edge of your seat nastiness thanks to a rather disturbed family unit with a few nastier (and literal) twists of the knife along the way to a nicely weird (and a bit ambiguous, perhaps?) finale.
"DESTROY ALL FANBOYS!" 