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Reviews
Jerkbeast (2005)
Benny, Marty and Jerkbeast strike comedic gold!
I've been a fan of these guys since their public access show came out in Seattle. My friends and I used to watch it then quote it all week. When I heard they were making a full-length Jerkbeast movie I was a tad skeptical, but this bad boy will really blow you away. I laughed my (butt) off for 83 minutes! It's very well-made and the random humor is quite original and surreal. Brady, Calvin and Brian are very talented and I hope they keep making movies (music too). The DVD comes with over an hour of highlights from the TV show, in all their venomous, adolescent glory. This was a real treat because my friend and I used to tape the show, but like most unlabeled VHS it got lost. If you've got an open mind and love to laugh, get your hands on JERKBEAST... I got mine at my favorite place on earth, Scarecrow Video in Seattle.
Munchie (1992)
Utter cinematic brilliance
This is the funniest movie I've ever seen. Get blazed with your friends at night and prepare to laugh until your spleen explodes. There's hundreds of classic, quotable moments: when the bully's head slowly turns toward the camera as he prepares to tear Gage Dobson down. Gage's constant hallucinations (a firing squad? His own funeral? Is this really a kids' movie?). Chaos in the pizza place: "let's try Chinese instead!" The constant slew of subliminal dirty jokes and cleavage shots thrown in for the dads. The bouncin' soundtrack of farting tubas and tinkling synths whenever Munchie gets into mischief. Munchie is pure, unadulterated comedic genius, perhaps only surpassed in brilliance by the 1994 sequel, Munchie Strikes Back. Where is the triple-disc Criterion Collection version?
Braindead (1992)
Just RAD!
DEAD ALIVE is the most fun and hilarious horror/zombie movie ever made.
Faster paced than most horror movies, and way funnier than many comedies,
this one's a hit. Plaid jackets, the world's most revolting zombies (the macaroni and cheese scene is DISGUSTING!), ninja priests, and buckets, no, GALLONS
OF BLOOD, this one's got it all! Just one kick-a**gory joke after another, perfect for a party or a date. (Okay, maybe not a date!) Lionel is the perfect anti horror- movie-hero. He's small, weak, bumbling and very afraid of everything that
happens. Interestingly, the romance scenes between Lionel and Paquita are
really quite doe-eyed and cute, with the lush, ethereal piano score adding an extra charm. Why can't Peter Jackson make more films like this masterpiece?
Starstruck (1982)
AWESOME!
Warning: possible minor spoilers. This may very well be THE most bizarre movie I've ever seen, and definitely the most fun! I first saw it when I was 7, then just tracked it down a couple days ago (I'm now 19). I didn't realize how much of the movie had stayed with me. From the Australian accents so thick they need subtitles to the synchronized dance number with inflatable sharks, STARSTRUCK is so blissfully over-the-top that it NEVER gets old. In fact, it just keeps getting better! The songs are so silly and ridiculous ("Temper Temper"? "The Monkey In Me"?) that you can't help but hum them all day. Obnoxious but well-intentioned Angus, and his cousin, and the completely batty yet sexy Jackie make perfect off-the-wall leads. These two do the strangest things: Jackie walks the tightrope in the middle of her mum's pub, does a striptease out of a red kangaroo suit (!?) and even surfs on the ironing board! Angus hangs from street signs, cordially throws himself into traffic and even manages to get laid before he turns 15, wearing a tacky leopard print tuxedo, no less! The real icing on the cake here are the song and dance numbers. If you enjoy having fun at all, treat yourself to the rockiest 80s new wave musical ever made! If only STARSTRUCK would be released on DVD in the states... I'd snatch it up in a second!
Stanley & Iris (1990)
Subtlety & Outstanding Acting
"Stanley & Iris" is a quietly beautiful, poignant and simple film. There's no Bree Daniels or Jimmy Conway to be found here, just two regular people dealing with life's obstacles and finding each other along the way. As one would expect, Jane Fonda and Robert De Niro are wonderful as the title characters (can you think of any two greater actors of the last thirty years?), and the script is quite affecting. If you're looking for explosions, car chases, coarse language or raunchy sex, look elsewhere. "Stanley & Iris" the polar opposite of a huge Hollywood blockbuster, and I love it for that. Pure human emotion is the core of the story. It's all here... grief, hope, shame, fear, but most of all, love. This film will stay with you long after viewing.
Klute (1971)
Breathtaking, essential, unforgettable.
This is without a doubt the most intensely atmospheric film I've ever seen, and certainly the best, tied perhaps only with Chinatown. Pakula's eye shows us the true grit and grime of the city that never sleeps. Klute was packaged as a suspense thriller, but it is so much more than that. It is also a character study (either of Bree herself, or the city itself). It is a love story. It is a study of urban stereotypes. And did I mention the music? The eerie scrapes, nervous marimba and fearsome humming will really creep you out, but the warm trumpets and delicate strings on the flipside are warm and enveloping. Anyway, back to the film. The slow scenes are equally crucial as the action scenes; the gorgeous sequence of Bree and John Klute shopping for oranges in the city market at night is a powerful statement that love can exist between opposites. Fonda's brilliantly improvised therapy scenes are explosive as they are heartrending. No actress, living or dead, can touch her. As the beautiful and confused Bree she is both vulnerable and in charge. The unraveling of her psyche is fascinating to watch, as is John Klute's repulsion and fascination with "the city folk". The final confrontation will disturb and haunt you for days. Bottom line, essential. No film will take you into its world quite like this one. They just don't make 'em like this anymore.