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Wendell Walker
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The Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls (2009)
An Exemplary Documentary with a Great Subject
The older I get, the more moved I am by people who perfectly express who they are. The Topp Twins are "New Zealand icons": yodelling lesbian comic singers with (as one show-biz type acknowledges) zero commercial prospects but who are nonetheless approaching three decades into a career as peerless audience-pleasers with perfect entertainment pitch. This film tells the story (including the Topps' key role in the repeal of sodomy laws in NZ just by being more fun than the opposition) with no frills but enormous heart.
But wait! You also get: the funniest lesbian joke I've ever heard. (Hope that's not a spoiler)
X: The Unheard Music (1986)
Not up to the music
I love X, I love seeing them live, but this movie added very little to the music. The band seems kind of halfhearted about doing the film, their stories are not that interesting. When they go out on tour trying to get their music heard, there's not a single foot of film from the tour; instead, there's a cutesy montage of postcards.
As for the live footage, a good portion of it is from a shoot made expressly for the film, and to judge by the credits, at least half the songs are either videos or lip- synched.
On the whole, the live X in Decline of Western Civilization is far more compelling than the whole of The Unheard Music.
Double Team (1997)
Gloriously unrestrained slab o' cheese
One of the masters of Hong Kong-fu, Tsui Hark, made his American debut with this wonderfully over-the-top action pic. See Dennis Rodman look tacky (and big!). See Mickey Rourke see the menacingly. See Jean-Claude Van Damme look stony. If you like tacky action, this is your scene