Alien Raiders

I almost saw the world premiere of this low-budget sci-fi action film back in 2008.  When I grabbed it off Showtime this summer, I had no recollection of seeing it before, but the first few scenes brought back memories.  I wish there were more films made like this - low budget, decent story, English, enough sci fi to make the action/horror stuff worthwhile.  It's a fun, if still predictable, ride.

Alien Raiders
2008, 85 minutes, directed by Ben Rock

Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Yet another mid-trilogy bridge film with no resolution of its own.  I yearn for the day when a screenwriter can again create a second film with an ending as good as the first.

Katniss is sent back into the games as a way to shut her up, but this time she doesn't need to fight to the bitter end for survival - for the revolution has begun.

Hunger Games: Catching Fire
2013,  146 minutes, directed by Francis Lawrence

Carrie

At Fantastic Fest, I saw this film, except it ends with a man with a gun, and it was daring.  Here, it ends with a woman with telekinetic powers, and it's classic pulp.  Funny how a little sci fi bypasses the typical "this is horrible!" reaction and turns it into pop fun.

Carrie
2013, 100 minutes, directed by Kimberly Peirce

The Zero Theorem

Closing out Fantastic Fest is the latest from Terry Gilliam, another somewhat existential tale of the odd and bizarre.  Qohen is a mathematician, tasked with calculating the meaning of existence, and yet his work is constantly interrupted by Management, who just can't seem to leave him alone.  As with many films of this genre, I'm left more scratching my head than satisfied.

The Zero Theorem
2013, 107 minutes, directed by Terry Gilliam

Blue Ruin

Revenge can be sweet.  Revenge can be cold.  Revenge can be tasty.  In the case of Blue Ruin, revenge is senseless.  Dwight is a ruined man, devastated by violence against his family, wasting away his life as a drifter.  When the killer is released from prison, Dwight embarks on a homecoming of sorts for revenge.  Things immediately go awry when he neglects to consider that even the killer, too, has a family...

This film exemplarizes the pointlessness of revenge.  I appreciated it.

Blue Ruin
2013, 92 minutes, directed by Jeremy Saulnier

L'écume des jours (Mood Indigo)

A friend just walked out of a Mood Indigo screening, here in summer 2014, which led me to discover that my reviews for the last few days of Fantastic Fest 2013 were missing.  I'm trying to piece together my reviews from memory.

The thing about Mood Indigo is that it is very pretty.  The film starts in the happy, whimsical way typical of French film.  Batchelor Colin is in love, life is good, and he lives in a magical house with a mouse and live in chef.  The world is colorful and dancing as he woos Chlöe his future bride.

But a rare illness - a water lily growing in her lungs - strikes Chlöe on their honeymoon, and things begin to go awry.  The great part of this film is how the cinematography adapts to the mood.  The colorful is replaced with the grey, the animated world starts to decay, and darkness literally grows into their home and life.  The sad part of the film is just how damned depressing it is to see things go so badly for this happy young couple.  I think this film epitomizes French cinema - sentient mouse, claymation, live in chef, and horribly depressing ending of death and decay.  No thanks.

L'écume des jours (Mood Indigo)
2013, 94 minutes, directed by Michel Gondry

Gatchaman

Like other late-FF-2013 films, I'm posting this almost a year later thanks to some lost notes and bad memory.

Suited superheros ninjas fight end-of-the-world monsters, their emotions, and regret over lost love in this over-the-top Japanese adventure film, based on a 1970s television show.  Also, apparently when half the planet is in ruins, Japanese will still go shopping and to dinner parties.

I wanted a stupid action film, not a love-triangle dialog-driven drama.  Sad.

Gatchaman
2013, 113 minutes, directed by Tôya Satô

LFO

As with several other late-FF-2013 reviews, my original notes were lost and I'm writing this almost a year later.  I keep a film blog to help me remember the movies I've seen, and unfortunately without my notes I struggle for details.

I seem to recall liking this film.  Robert escapes life in his basement, experimenting with sound.  When he finds a frequency that gives him complete control over those who hear it, hilarity ensues as he lives out his fantasies, until he realizes just how far he can go.

LFO
2013,  94 minutes, directed by Antonio Tublen

The Congress

Somehow my reviews of the last days of Fantastic Fest 2013 weren't saved here.  I even recall going through my notes, determining they had all been posted, and consciously throwing them away.  C'est la vie.  This is from memory.

Anyway, The Congress started with a solid, sci-fi-worthy human dilemma.  Faced with her own aging body and marketability as an actress, Robin Wright (as a fiction version of herself) is offered one last role of a "lifetime".  She'll be digitally scanned - physically, mentally, emotionally - and "Robin Wright" the actress would officially become a separately-owned property from Robin Wright the person.  It's a dilemma to decide if one's identity, one's external "worth", should be sold at any cost, and one I thought the film would take much of its run time to explore.

Instead, faced with a sick child, Robin makes the decision relatively quickly.  Then the film devolves into an animated world, one where everyone takes pills to see the world as cartoon.  Twenty years later, as "her" star power peaks, she's invited to The Congress, a New World gathering, as a celebrity of sorts.  Not everyone desires such new world order, and the gathering devolves into anarchy and chaos.  Robin escapes, but is hurt and in a coma.

Much later, she wakes, this time to a cartoon world entirely whimsical, where everyone is whoever they want to be.  Her goal, though, is to find her son, and for that she must pierce the veil and see the world for the run-down ghettos it may actually be, and find a way to cycle around again.

As the film dove more and more into the surreal, it got harder and harder to follow.  I can picture the director of the film trying to explain his vision to a studio for funding, and everyone in the room gets so confused that they decide it must be brilliant.  I just thought it was confusing.

The Congress
2013, 122 minutes, directed by Ari Folman 

Ninja: Shadow of a Tear

An American martial arts master / idiot gives his wallet to muggers, then beats them up anyway, neglecting to get his wallet back, leaving his address with them.  Then he doesn't think they're a big deal, not bothering to call the cops, and doesn't take care when leaving his pregnant wife home alone.  When she's murdered, he starts with the muggers and advances through a increasing sequence of murderous revenge to hunt down those responsible.

Introducing the film, the director noted that "this movie is not original and not unique.  It's a ninja movie."  Indeed, the action scenes are excellent; there are no wires and no CGI, just raw emotion; as the director says, "All logic goes away."  Unfortunately it also reflects on the stupidity of the lead character, something I just can't shake.

Ninja: Shadow of a Tear
2013, 95 minutes, directed by Isaac Florentine

Gravity

I drew the short stick for this one, the third and final secret screening of the fest.  Tucked into a broom closet theater, we were relatively certain this was Gravity up to the moment when Sandra Bullock appeared on screen.  (Alas, despite being a resident Austinite, she was filming in Canada and could only send a video greeting.)  What followed was perhaps the best use of 3D imagery I've seen.  The film felt much shorter than the 90 minutes it was billed, as it drives the whole time non-stop towards the inevitable conclusion, barely slowing for a smattering of character development.

Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) is a science specialist on the latest mission of the space shuttle Explorer, when disaster strikes: a Russian missile test creates Kessler-like high-speed debris, shredding the shuttle and anything else in its path.  Ryan and shuttle commander Matt Kowalski (George Clooney) are the only survivors, tethered together in space, with the only goal to return safely to Earth.

Gravity
2013, 91 minutes, directed by Alfonso Cuarón

Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons

Tang isn't a very good hero.  He's a demon hunter, sure, and he's good at finding them, but his book of children's nursery rhymes don't seem to stop them so much as turn him into a laughingstock, especially when an action-oriented demon hunter or two show up and steal the show.  Far more, then, about his inner demons, the film shows a comedic slapstick journey to become one with Buddha.  And fight the Monkey King.  It's pretty cheesy, yeah.

Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons
2013, 110 minutes, directed by Steven Chow and Chi-kin Kwok

Confession of Murder

Five days of Fantastic Fest down, three to go, and I'm here for an improbably-plotted South Korean thriller.  With a 15-year statute of limitations on murder, a cop who lost everything chasing a notorious killer is forced to face him, free, and on tour with a new book.  It's a woven game of cat and mouse with the killer, now revealed, over the truth, and the remains of the final victim.

Confession of Murder
2012, 119 minutes, directed by Byeong-gil Jeong

Child of God

Fantastic Fest's legendary secret screenings provide opportunity to screen horrible films I'd never voluntarily walk in to see.  This time, though, it's James Franco's latest experiment, a biopic tale of a very sad, shy & mentally impaired man in the 1930s, descending into madness as the rural society of Sevier County, Tennessee, rejects him.

It's a really, really good film.  It really is.  But its also sad, creepy, and depressing, and speaks to our nation's - or species' - atrocious history of treating mental illness.  Much of the glory of this masterpiece has to be placed at the feet of Scott Haze, whose portrayal of Lester Ballard is outstanding.

Child of God
2013, 104 minutes, directed by James Franco

Coherence

I greatly enjoyed this film, despite having seeing it as a silly teen drama at SXSW a few months ago.  This time, though, the theme is wrapped into a legitimate sci-fi puzzler.  As a comet passes near Earth, reality shifts, throwing a dinner party into disarray.  That house down the block still has its light on - and wow, doesn't it look eerily familiar?

Here it is, the sci fi film of 2013.  Filmed with minimal script - just a note card with motivations - the actors didn't even know it was a sci fi film until days into shooting.  This shows what an excellent job you can do with a brilliant script, good actors, and - nothing else.

Coherence
2013, 89 minutes, directed by James Ward Byrkit

The Dirties

The director and star of the film summed it up best: "It's the story of everything leading up to the point where they're immediately and forever portrayed as monsters."

Matt and Owen are picked on.  By everyone.  They escape into the world of cinema, making films for their multimedia class.  Their latest, The Dirties, is a police drama, where they hunt down and punish bullies for their crimes.  As the bullying gets worse and their friendship suffers, Matt decides to film a remake...

The camera man is really distracting.  Someone - two people actually - follow Matt and Owen around and film everything, but these characters are never seen, never say a word, and only occasionally referenced.  In the Q&A Matthew says he originally wrote characters for them ("Jared"), but ended up cutting it as it distracted from the plot.  Meh.

The Dirties
2013, 80 minutes, directed by Matthew Johnson

Yes, this was actually filmed in a high school, using high school students as extras, and most of the time the kids didn't even know they were on film.  But it was in Canada, where they're less crazy about these sorts of things.

Kid's Police

Based on a popular TV series from the 1970-80s, the premiss for this film is simple: hit with a mystery de-aging ray, a special police squad focused on organized crime have physically reverted to children.  It's really hilarious, at first, then it's mildly humorous, then eventually it gets old.  It's a one-hit wonder - kids acting like adult, Japanese cops - and then it fades fast.  The huge holes in the plot don't help, since the action is cheesy and more appropriate for children anyway.  It's not even that weird, just kinda lame.

Kid's Police
2013, 100 minutes, directed by Yuichi Fukuda

Why do they need cover stories?  Why do they go to school?

We Gotta Get Out of This Place

I really don't like films where the action is driven by stupid people making stupid decisions.  In this installment, a small-town Texas boy sees his girl and best friend leaving for college, and steals money from his boss to fund a last weekend together.  What he doesn't realize is that his boss is a pretty awful criminal who doesn't take too kindly to being stolen from, and the consequences and subsequent choices made by the lead trio continue to stir up trouble.  As the trouble compounds, they are all drawn into an escalating situation of violence and threat.

In the end, they're smarter than I feared, but in exactly the way I predicted for an hour, making the story sadly wrote and predictable.

We Gotta Get Out of This Place
2013, 91 minutes, directed by Zeke and Simon Hawkins

The Green Inferno

I wouldn't see a cannibal horror survival film voluntarily.  No, this was of course a classical Fantastic Fest AICN secret screening.  Activist college students travel to South America to stop the destruction of native tribes, not realizing exactly what it is they were protecting.  It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be; it was clearly made for its R rating, which means that while parts were suitably disgusting, other parts of it were kind of watered down and lame.  Still, I have no interest in ever seeing it or anything else by Eli Roth ever again.

The Green Inferno
2013, 103 minutes, directed by Eli Roth

The tribe where they filmed is in Chile, and are peaceful farmers.  They'd never seen an ice cube before and didn't understand the concept of video; Eli brought in a television and a projector and showed them Cannibal Horror, which they thought was a comedy.  It might seem like exploitation, but while they were filming a particularly gruesome scene, with heads on spikes and body bits on display, a few boats of Texas Christian missionaries sailed up and were shocked with horror.  Having Eli Roth convert the natives first almost makes it worth it.  (As payment for their acting and use of their village to film, they also built metal roofs on all the huts, replacing the leaky thatch roofs the tribe had before.)

Chanthaly

This is:

• The ninth Laotian film ever made
• The first Laotian film made by a woman
• The first Laotian film that's not a musical or communist propaganda
• The first Laotian ghost story
• The first screening of a Laotian film in the United States

And I really enjoyed it.  Sure, there were some production issues - sound cutting in and out with each scene, some booms visible in mirrors, but those are somewhat to be expected given the circumstances.  The director used people she knew as the actors, filming in her house, using a beer company to fund the production.  In the Q&A she noted that $200 was "a large percentage of the budget".

Chanthaly has been raised since birth by her father, her mother having died in childbirth.  Or, at least that's what she's been told.  When, then, does she have memories of her mother?  Her father - a staunch communist (as was required to get the film production approved) has no interest in hokey religion, but Chanthaly prays to understand her mother's fate.  And, when she discovers the truth, it's not at all what she expects...

Chanthaly
2013, 98 minutes, directed by Minnie Do

O'Apostolo

Based on Spanish Catholic mythology, O'Apostolo delves into the story of a cursed village, where the dead walk the streets at night, claiming the souls of traveling pilgrims.  Ramón, an escaped prisoner, just needs to slip in, grab some stashed loot, and make his escape toward a simpler life.  It won't be that simple.  Steeped in Catholic mysticism, corruption, and occult, and wonderfully animated in clay and ink, the film hits all the right notes for an excellent story.

O'Apostolo
2012, 80 minutes, directed by Fernando Cortizo

Cheap Thrills

What series of increasingly disgusting and debasing things will two desperate people do for money?  And that's not the worst of it.  It's the concept of rich people doing this sort of thing for fun.  I really haven't been this angry with a film in a long time; what a way to ruin an otherwise good day.  This is why I don't join the Alamo Alliance; they buy bad films.

Cheap Thrills
2013, 85 minutes, directed by E.L. Katz

Man of Tai Chi

Sometimes it's genuinely difficult to separate the film from the film-watching experience.  See my disappointment with Kick-Ass.  With that in mind, consider my review of Man of Tai Chi biased in favor of awesome.  Keanu Reeves is seated just in front of me, to the right, with Alex Winter to his left and Tiger Hu Chen to his right.  I see Marco Zaror in the front row.  How awesome is that?

The film.  It's a respectable, presentable martial arts action film, but it's not about the fighting.  It's about the path a young man takes as he decides who he wants to be, how he wants to live, and what he believes.  Oh, and yeah, there's a lot of awesome fighting.  I just wish there was more meditation - the buildup for that never releases.

Don't let my opinion bias you.  See it yourself November 11.

Man of Tai Chi
2013, 105 minutes, directed by Keanu Reeves

Las Brujas de Zugarramurdi (a.k.a. Witching and Bitching)

This Spanish film really wants to stir up gender hatred.  It starts with a robbery: a group of street actors - and one young boy - steal a huge bag of old gold from a local store.  As they flee, their motivations emerge: alimony, custody, disdain.  All they need to do is make it across the border to France and they can start anew, but first they must pass through Zugarramurdi, a town known as the seat of witchcraft, occupied entirely by women with a deep-seated hatred for men.  Seems simple enough, right?

A lot of action doesn't make up for a weak plot, but it does make for an engaging midnight film.  It was fine, stupid in places, but I have no interest in seeing it again.

Las Brujas de Zugarramurdi (a.k.a. Witching and Bitching)
2013, 115 minutes, directed by Alex de la Iglesia

It's not really a comedy, but I needed something to tag it with to convey the comical nature of the plot.

Afflicted

Derek and Cliff set out on a year trip around the world, the fulfillment of a long-time dream and a chance for Derek to push aside his life-threatening medical problems.  They have everything set up to document and share their adventures with the internet and the world.  Things quickly go awry when Derek contracts a strange illness, but the filming continues, as he becomes more and more afflicted...

Holy hell, this was the first FF film that has truly come from nowhere and smacked me with awesome.  Shot on a very low budget on Canon 5Ds, with the writers and directors as the principle cast, they showed what an excellent result young talent can achieve with a story and a vision.

Afflicted
2013, 85 minutes, directed by Derek Lee and Cliff Prowse

Grand Piano

If you've ever wanted to see a suspense thriller starring Elijah Wood, set in real time during and amidst a classical orchestra concert where Elijah actually performs the works while facing off against a threatening sniper, you have oddly specific desires and prepare to be satisfied.

Grand Piano
2013, 90 minutes, directed by Eugenio Mira

I finally lucked into the correct theater.  Hooray for no simulcast!

Monshoot Shootout

Boo hoo, cops have to play by the rules.  A rookie cop chases down a man fleeing the scene of a shooting.  Is he involved or a terrified bystander?  The cop has a choice: shoot the man, arrest him, or let his escape.  Each of these is explored in sequence, showing the ramifications for his choice as they play out.  Or is this even his choice to make?  I struggle to enjoy this; it seems despite the choice his fate was sealed.

Monsoon Shootout
2013, 88 minutes, directed by Amit Kumar

Yet again, I failed on the Q&A lotto.  This sucks.

Escape from Tomorrow

At this point, Escape from Tomorrow is better known for its surreptitious production than its story.  Filmed in secret at Walt Disney World in Florida, the film is billed as a parody of the make-believe story Disney wants its customers to see.

But then, there's the film itself.  Despite being fired that morning, Jim wants to have one good final day at the parks with his family.  Instead, he and his wife bicker and argue, and they take turns with their son and daughter separately, trying to keep either of them happy.  But then there's the two Parisian girls that Jim follows.  I don't think this was supposed to be an existential journey, so I keep trying to piece the parts together to make an arcing plot.  Exactly how are the scientists under the Spaceship Earth related to the aging witch with her mesmerizing necklace?  Was Jim selected as a child for this ultimate fate, and has his son now been selected to share the fate as well?

Escape from Tomorrow
2013, 90 minutes, directed by Randy Moore

Jigoku de naze warui (Why Don't You Play in Hell)

It's hard to explain the type of crazy that only comes from Japanese film.  Laughable plots, guttural rage, inexplicable motivations, nonsensical action, all are woven together to form the core of many a weird import.

In this installment, a yakuza boss's young daughter has her toothpaste commercial torn from the air, after her mother kills several rival gangsters who invaded their home.  Ten years later, mother is about to be released from jail for her crime, and the father wants to reward his wife with a feature film starring their now-rebellious upper teen.  Meanwhile, a young group of friends want to be filmmakers, making a vow to die happily as soon as they've made a great movie.  They happen to film a yakuza  soldier fleeing the boss's home - a solder who became infatuated in a really creepy way with the rival's daughter.

It's all set up for the final, crazy encounter - the filmmakers are "hired" to stage and film a massive fight between yakuza groups, one featuring the boss and his daughter, the other now headed by the man who "loves" her.  It's hard to describe what happens next, but assume it's insane.

Why Don't You Play in Hell
2013,  126 minutes, directed by Shion Sono

Patrick

I didn't get to see You're Next at Fantastic Fest a few years ago, but really liked it during its encore screenings this spring at SXSW.  Amazingly, this is Sharni Vinson's next on-screen work, albeit in a more traditional role as a female heroine in a suspense/horror film.  Sharni is Kathy, a nurse who takes a recently-opened caregiver assignment as the mysterious Roget Clinic, where doctor Roget cares for and works to cure deep coma patients.  One particular patient is the focus of his attention - Patrick - and Kathy is drawn to his blight.  Wait, is he communicating with her?  Indeed, for Patrick is developing psychic powers, and has a secret plan that threatens Kathy, the clinic, and everyone she knows.

This is a remake of a campy 1970s horror, rewritten for modern pacing.  I probably would hate the original, but this one was pretty good.

Patrick
2013, 95 minutes, directed by Mark Hartley

Machete Kills

Robert Rodriguez has a vison.  It's called Machete Kills Again... In Space! and it's the pre-announced title for the third film in this gritty Mexican action series.  At the end of the first film, Machete (Danny Trejo, in a role he's made for) has joined the U.S. ICE with partner Sartana (Jessica Alba).  At the start of the third film, Machete is tracking down the evil silver-masked villain on a space station.  To get from A to B, they had to make a film, and Machete Kills is the result.

To say it's a bridge film is an understatement.  It's a plot conveyance.  Masked assassins kill Sartana and steal a U.S. nuclear weapon.  POTUS (Carlos Estevez, yes that one) commissions Machete as the only person able to drop into Mexico and get it back.  But when things go awry, Machete is left with a captive with a deathwish and 48 hours to get back to the United States.

The cameos are one of the strong spots, with a role specially made for Cuba Gooding Jr., Lady Gaga, and Antonio Banderas (yes, all of them).  And I swear one of the guards at Mendez the Mad's compound looked like Bruce Campbell.  But overall, it's a bridge to a contrived story, one that Robert Rodriguez would much rather tell.

Machete Kills
2013, 107 minutes, directed by Robert Rodriguez

"Machete Happens"

Impact

When this made-for-TV movie started a few nights ago, I had no idea Syfy would drag it out into a four-hour sap fest.  In this epic tale, an asteroid - a fragment of a brown dwarf star - has crashed into the moon, causing it to veer and swing towards Earth.  A team of scientists rush to find a solution before the moon impacts our planet, while meanwhile their families suffer the effects of the star's gravity and magnetism.

With a few adjustments and a different ending, I think I saw this in Melancholia a few years ago.  And I hated that film.  And this one was almost worse.

Impact
2008, 180 minutes, directed by Mike Rohl

In the Valley of Elah

Mike Deerfield is missing, and AWOL after returning home from a tour Iraq.  As his father Hank (Tommy Lee Jones), a former sergeant and MP, goes looking for his missing son, the soldier is found dead, dismembered and burnt.  Working with a local detective (Charlize Theron), Hank tried to unravel the mystery and determine why his last surviving son was murdered.

The film lacks suspense.  It lacks drama.  It's a journey of discovery and acceptance.  But most of all its sad, not just for the characters but for all the real lives pointlessly destroyed by a pointless war.

In the Valley of Elah
2007, 121 minutes, directed by Paul Haggis

Kick-Ass 2

I have mixed feelings about this franchise.  While I have nothing against the films per se, my experiences with Kick-Ass were less than idea.  Moreover, the existence of these led directly to the cancellation of Defender, the U.S. remake of the excellent Mirage Man with the same director and star.

But then, there's the badass that is Hit Girl.  Really, the series is better every minute she's on screen and in action.  In this installment, several years have passed since Dave a.k.a. Kick-Ass retired.  He's in high school now, as is Hit Girl (Mindy).  She's never given up her father's purpose, and still roams the streets, more dangerous than ever, dodging the oversight of police detective / guardian Marcus.  Other vigilante masked heros have emerged in Kick-Ass' absence, inspired to carry on his mission.  One team, which calls itself Justice Forever, is led by Colonel Stars and Stripes, a former mob enforcer cum born-again Christian.

As Dave and Mindy interact, she pulls him back into a life of crime fighting, while she eventually promises Marcus to "retire".  Kick-Ass joins Justice Forever and helps in their quests to bring down human traffickers.

Meanwhile, Chris ("Red Mist" from the first film) accidentally kills his mother, and thus becomes a multimillionaire orphan, still obsessed with Kick-Ass' identity and hope for revenge.  With Dave back on the crime-fighting scene, Chris don's his mother's old bondage gear and becomes Motherfucker, a superhero whose power is Wealth, which he immediately uses to hire a group of actual villians who wreak havoc on the town in their search of fame and Kick-Ass.  Much violence ensues, until Kick-Ass and Motherfucker must meet for a final confrontation, and Hit Girl decides if she can truly fit into society or accept her role as perpetual outsider.

There's a dearth of kick-ass heroines, and in this series the existence of Hit Girl shines as its brightest contribution.  This could easily be the end of the series, or a bridge story; it's difficult to say if it will work with them both as adults, but if it does, I'll be there to see it.

Kick-Ass 2
2013, 103 minutes, directed by Jeff Wadlow

The Wolverine

I've mostly taken a break from film this summer.  While some released have piqued my interest, there have been more important things to do with my time, or I haven't felt like going out.  Last night, though, I was free, and so I continued a series I've been following from the start.

The Wolverine is the latest film in the X-Men movie franchise, which has previously consisted of X-Men (heavily featuring Wolverine), X2 (half a Wolverine origin story), X-Men: The Last Stand (a horrible film focused on Wolverine and Phoenix), X-Men Origins: Wolverine (which burns 150 years of origins in an opening montage, then focuses on events a few years before the first film), and X-Men First Class (which only features a Wolverine cameo).

Okay, the Wolverine story is good.  But really?  This time, events take place after those of The Last Stand.  Logan has isolated himself as a virtual hermit in Alaska, promising himself (and his haunting memories of Jean Grey) to not hurt anyone ever again.  But when some stupid hunters kill a bear, he gets angry and goes into town to pick a fight.   He's stopped from killing them by Yukio, a mutant who can see their imminent death and who was tasked to find Logan.  She takes him to Japan, where he visits Yashida, the CEO of the largest corporation in Asia.  From a flashback, we learn that Yashida and Logan survived the destruction of Nagasaki, with Logan shielding the Japanese officer in a well.

Yashida is dying and says he can repay Logan for the gift of life so many years before: Yashida can transfer Logan's regeneration to himself, saving his life, and allowing Logan the relief of aging and eventual death.  Logan rejects the offer, and Yashida dies that night.  So begins a story of Japanese family drama and political intrigue, as Logan, mysteriously without his regeneration power, decides to risk everything to save Mariko, Yashida's granddaughter, whom the yakuza for some reason want to capture.

Other than him being a nice guy, or wanting some of her (which he gets), this sudden dedication never gets explained.  Indeed, the plot is driven and made "interesting" by several convoluted plot twists, unexplained motivations, and sudden allegiance shifts.  In the end Logan survives of course, though his claws are now their original bone (having been cut off, only the bone regrew).  He gives Mariko one last kiss, then departs with Yukio.  During the closing credits, there's a scene set two years later in which Logan meets Magneto and - back from the dead - Professor Xavier, who explain that there's a serious threat and he's needed again.

I can live with the plots of bridge films.  I know what they're for.  But in this case the plot is just bad, as is, sadly, some of the acting.  Plus, while the movie may have been filmed in 2D, the computer effects and camera shots were made for 3D, and some of the cinematography was therefore "wonky" on a 2D screen.  Overall, there was little to like about the story.

The Wolverine
 2013, 126 minutes, directed by James Mangold

The Town That Was

In Centralia, Pennsylvania, a fire burns.  In 1962, to clear up the smell before Memorial Day, a controlled burn was started in the garbage dump pit.  A few days later, when they noticed that the pit was still smoking, the townsfolk realized that the fire had ignited the anthracite coal that lines this part of eastern Pennsylvania.  It might have been easy to stop - at the time, a trench around the pit might have cut off the fire for a few thousand dollars.  Instead, it was mostly ignored - for 17 years - steam vents were added, and residents installed methane detectors - until the local gas station owner, wondering why he was losing gas - realized the tanks were being heated to 170 F in the ground.  Coupled with a sinkhole that nearly swallowed a small boy, the state and federal governments finally started taking action.

Unfortunately the most cost effective option at that time was to move the people out, and so the state started buying and demolishing homes and businesses, voluntarily at first, but eventually through eminent domain.

This documentary tells the story as of 2007, when some dozen or so residents remain "squatting" in their own homes, all now owned by the government.  It's a fascinating story of a city in decline, but the documentary is pretty much ruined by focusing on John Lokitis, the youngest remaining resident, who in his 30s lives in the family home and maintains several blocks of the former city.  He rambles on about how special the town is, and how it's such a shame to see it change, which may be true, but then he says that there's no danger and the government should return the land and people should move back, all while we can see the smoke rising from the ground behind him on camera.

The last remaining residents blame the government for lying to them, for in the 1980s promising that no one would be forced out, not once considering that the situation, the fire, and everyone in the government had since changed.  It should be all about the fire, and the town as it was, not about the man who stubbornly refuses to move on from the small town where he grew up, as it slowly burns from the fire started 21 years before he was born.

In Centralia, Pennsylvania, a fire burns.

The Town That Was
2007, 71 minutes, directed by Chris Perkel and Georgie Roland

Scary Movie 4

Don't ask.

Scary Movie 4
2006, 83 minutes, directed by David Zucker

Iron Man 3

Can this series wind back down after the craziness of aliens in New York?  Clearly the audience expects bigger, better, more, but that's simply not possible with just an Iron Man and friends but no gods or hulks.  To take this on, the script weaves and dodges away from New York references, but does hit dead on with Tony Stark confronting growing waves of anxiety as he suffers from PTSD, and steps out of his suit for some action scenes au naturale.

Other than that, though, the continuity falls flat.  The usual brash Tony eggs on a new badass terrorist to attack him at his home.  When it happens, his suit is damaged, Jarvis shuts down, and all the old suits are trapped in the vault.  What happened to all the suits he kept in his New York penthouse?  Doesn't he own more than one server for Jarvis to run from?  With the President in trouble, where's Captain America?

Before I saw this, I read an interview where Gwyneth Paltrow predicted the end of the series.  I didn't believe her at the time, but after seeing the film, I agree that they've burnt through Tony Stark as a character and are ready to set him aside, pulling him out for cameo roles in the next few Avengers films.

Iron Man 3
2013, 130 minutes, directed by Shane Black

Smokin' Aces

For a brief while back in 2006-07, I purchased my way to a friendship with the Leagues of Alamo Drafthouse fame.  They wanted to save their downtown theater, but their original ten-year lease was ending, the warehouse district had exploded in popularity, and the only way they could afford to stay was to become a non-profit.  They founded the Heroes of the Alamo Foundation, dedicated to preserving vintage and genre film presentation in downtown Austin - in other words, to keep the Original Alamo open.  My wife and I joined as our first big philanthropic donation.

It was a good year.  Part of our membership included free access to all Alamo Downtown events.  Despite living out in the suburbs at the time, we made great use of this perk, attending many events, hanging out with the owners and staff, and, for me, for the first time feeling part of the Austin vibe.  And when Butt-Numb-A-Thon came around, Tim held a few seats for us members and got me in, despite having never heard of the event or Ain't It Cool News.

This was the year of Octobuttnumbathon, and I was not prepared.  I do not like missing part of a film, even credits, and when Harry played a scratchy 1930s Irish gangster film in the middle of the night, or the 1980s Hanna Barbara animated adult film, I was awake through all of it.  Oh, what a fool I was.  For by the next morning, approaching the 24 hour mark of film, I lacked a changed of clothes or deodorant, and was jittery from caffeine pills.  I called my wife to pick me up, and when she arrived I had to bail.  Not only did I miss the final film in its entirety - an early screening of 300, but I left with 25 minutes to go on the previous film, Smokin' Aces.  So that gets around to the movie.

I like Guy Ritchie films.  Big ensemble British gangster just works.   Joe Carnahan apparently likes them as well, since he copied them to make this.  Except for him, gangster films are set in the Nevada, and feature a wild and improbably ensemble of characters that would otherwise never make it through the front door of any respectable establishment.  Classy, they aren't.  When Buddy "Aces" Israel decides to turn mob informer, mob boss Primo Sparazza puts a hit out on him.  As word spreads, several teams converge on Lake Tahoe to protect him, arrest him, or cut out his heart.  Violence ensues.

Clearly seeing the ending of the film was high on my list, since I managed to wait six and a half years to rent it.  Well, anyway, now I have, and I don't have to watch it again.

When the Leagues made the deal to get the Ritz location, the days of the Heroes Foundation were numbers.  We were able to attend the Last Night at the Alamo, and I took home my favorite chairs, but our year membership expired before the Ritz opened, and with it went our "in" with the clique.  Since then, neither the owners nor staff have acknowledged that they ever even knew who I was.

Smokin' Aces
2006, 107 minutes, directed by Joe Carnahan

GI Joe: Retaliation

It wouldn't take a Joe to drive a tank through the holes in Cobra's plan, making the entire story a laughable chain of improbably action sequences.

Wait, didn't Mission Impossible already use this plot?

GI Joe: Retaliation
2013,  110 minutes, directed by Jon M. Chu

The Bourne Legacy

I thought this was a sequel with a replacement lead.  Needless to say I'm surprised to instead find it's a "co-quel", taking place alongside events of the Bourne Supremacy.  This makes it somewhat disconcerting as they keep referring to things that happened in a film I saw two years ago, not in retrospect but in real-time, in a way that seems vital to the plot.  Or, to put it a different way, the plot of that other film seems so much more important to this one.  It's sort of like the Rosencrantz & Guildenstern of CIA action flicks.

It finally picks up most of the way through as the action intensifies and the film is finally allowed to chart its own course.  And then it ends, all set up for a sequel.

Having dropped from a must-see theater experience to Netflix DVD, I suppose I can't downgrade the series any further.  Overall though, I'm disappointed that they weren't able to set this up better, with more tie-ins to the previous film actually in the previous film.

The Bourne Legacy
2012, 135 minutes, directed by Tony Gilroy

Yellow

Yellow is a lost woman's spiral into depression, punctuated by the fantasies she constructs to cope.  Soaked with the hilarity of her hallucinations, the film has no real character development but leads from crazy to punchline.

Yellow
2012, 108 minutes, directed by Nick Cassavetes

You're Next

I missed this at Fantastic Fest a few years ago - it showed once and then disappeared from the schedule, one of the legendary screenings that got away.  Now it's back in all its glory.  A family gathers for reasons both complicated and unknown, while masked terror lurks.  When the horrors unleash, a family guest reveals her true nature.  It's pretty damn awesome.

You're Next
2011, 95 minutes, directed by Adam Wingard

Hours

2005.  New Orleans.  Something is wrong, and Abigail and her husband Nolan rush to the hospital.  Abigail dies in childbirth, leaving Nolan lost and barely able to relate to the premature baby in a ventilator that the nurse insists is his.

Then, Katrina.  The hospital is evacuated, except for Nolan and his baby, still attached to the ventilator that can save her life - if it keeps running when power goes out, order decays, and desperation sets in.

Maybe it's because of where I am in life, but this film moves me, in a way that few have.  It's intimate, raw emotion, and it's the first film since The Fountain that made me cry.  For me, it's the best film of the year.

Hours
2013, 97 minutes, directed by Eric Heisserer

We Cause Scenes

Charlie Todd had an idea: bring art to the masses.  Then he had a second idea: film it.  Almost a decade later, Improve Everywhere is known worldwide for its biggest scenes and continual favorites.  This is a great film about an innovative scheme.

We Cause Scenes
2013, 86 minutes, directed by Matt Adams

Reality Show

Departing sharply from my string of music docs, Reality Show is anything but real. In a fully fictional story, a reality producer decides to create a wholly-original program by centering on a family who doesn't know they are under surveillance. When the randomly-chosen family does turn out to be as boring and predictable as they appear, pressure from the network leads the show team to inject drama into the story, leading to consequences spiraling out of control.

Normally this sort of story causes my to cringe, and while parts of it are difficult to watch, overall the whole piece is incredibly funny, making it well worth the suffering. It's depression and hilarity in one.

Reality Show
2013, 92 minutes, directed by Adam Rifkin

In Your Dreams - Stevie Nicks

Having relished the snips of Stevie Nicks voice in music clips included in last night's Sound City, I decided to make this a music-doc-by-musicians trio and see Stevie Nicks' and Dave Stewart's film. Dave, half of the hit synth pop group The Eurythmics and lifelong camera buff, was drawn to Stevie due to their shared experiences (breaking up with a longtime love, then becoming famous in a band with their ex).

The film is organized by song, with minimal background and side story. In the film and Q&A, Stevie was clear to explain that the year spent making the album was the best year of her life. Indeed, each song is the most _____ of something she's ever done. They said the first cut was some ten hours long, but when finally edited the six minutes of adoration and self-reflection devoted to each song aren't enough to keep it all from sounding trite. I'll still take any opportunity I can to hear Stevie sing, but movies made when making albums struggle to work.

In Your Dreams - Stevie Nicks
2013, 100 minutes, directed by Dave Stewart and Stevie Nicks

Sound City

The Sound City recording studio saw dozens of multi-platinum albums, from Fleetwood Mac to Nirvana, all recorded and mixed in its A studio and on its infamous Neve console. Left behind by the digital age, when the studio shut down in 2011 Dave Grohl of Nirvana/Foo Fighters bought the console, moved it to his home studio, and brought together artists who had recorded on it over 40 years to create a new analog album. On the way, Dave makes a film, a story of the Sound City studio and Neve console that made him, personally, famous.

The Sound City story is fascinating from start to finish, but the film somewhat loses focus when it switches gears and styles and becomes a story of the new album. Regardless, the Sound City story, and the feelings that music invokes, are well worth the trip.

Sound City
2013, 107 minutes, directed by Dave Grohl

Pete and Toshi Get a Camera

In 1955, facing prison and banned from performing by the McCarthy witch hunt, Pete Seeger and his wife Toshi set out to make films. Eventually they decide to film their musician friends, and expand to American folk singers, the last Texas prison work crew that knew the old work songs, coal miner banjo pickers, etc.

Finally, in 1963, the McCarthy case is dropped, and Pete can again travel abroad. He and his family set out on a whirlwind 11-month tour of 28 countries around the world, recording and re-performing folk and native music while his wife filmed. This archival footage, complete with excellent audio, is coupled with modern interviews to tell the tale of their journey and the music they found and shared.

Pete and Toshi Get a Camera
2013, 88 minutes, directed by William Eigen

Kiss of the Damned

First and foremost, this is a love story. It is love at first site for Paolo when he encounters the reclusive Djuna, and not even her "condition" as a vampire keeps him away. As she relents, her destructive sister Mimi arrives, seemingly focused on destroying those around her.

The best parts of this film are the passion the young couple share, and their interaction with the local vampire community. The whole experience was pleasantly enjoyable.

Kiss of the Damned
2013, 97 minutes, directed by Xan Cassavetes

Good Ol' Freda

The Beatles were together for 10 years. Freda Kelly worked for them for 11. President of the fan club and band secretary, Freda was there from the early days at the Cavern to the final breakup. This film documents her life and experiences as a part of the band never before told.

If you like music; if you love the Beatles; if you like the voice of reserved British women, you should catch this film.

Good Ol' Freda
2013, 86 minutes, directed by Ryan White

Snap

A schizophrenic's psychotic break, set to dubstep.  What more should you want?

Snap
2013, 88 minutes, directed by Youssef Delara and Victor Teran

Hawking

Why would the world's most celebrated physicist narrate a biographical feature documentary?  To make sure it's filled with his own dry humor, of course.  Hawking is such a film, covering the highs and lows of Cambridge Professor Stephen Hawking's life, from youth through college, discoveries and marriages, and the continuing decay of his body.  "I felt like some sort of tragic character," he says, so "I took to listening to Wagner."

While clearly a person who's self ambition has been the focus of his life, he nevertheless recognizes the impact that his life and career has had on those around him, and on public culture in general.  I appreciated the opportunity to learn more about him in his own words, and in those of his friends and family.

Hawking
2013, 86 minutes, directed by Stephen Finnigan

Plus One

Just one year out of high school, Jill is diving into college life while her boyfriend David stayed behind. A stupid kiss is the impetus to tear them apart, and David thinks he has just one night - at the ultimate Spring party - to win her back. Thanks to extraterrestrial interference, though he may have more chances than he expects.

Meanwhile, Teddy is simply looking for the time of his life, and gets more than he bargains for. This is a story of understanding, of decisions, of consequences, of what it means to be you. All of which is set in the midst of young nudity and debauchery and a good bit of science fiction.

Plus One
2013, 95 minutes, directed by Dennis Iliadis

Milo

Ken has stress issues: an asshole boss, an overbearing mother with a young virile husband, a deadbeat dad, and a wife who desperately wants a family. All the stress leaves him with constant GI issues. Compounding these issues are the bloodthirsty parasite living in Ken's colon that comes out for revenge...

This is the best film I've seen so far this SXSW. I could easily see this become the Army of Darkness of the current college generation.

Milo
2013, 85 minutes, directed by Jacob Vaughan

Burma

Seven years after last abandoning his family, Christian's father shows up unexpectedly on the eve of a family weekend. None of them - Christian, his brother, or sister - particularly welcome their father's arrival, but tepidly accept him to hear his explanation for his disappearance.

A dialog-driven drama, the film explores the bonds of family and the impact when those are torn apart.

Burma
2013, 81 minutes, directed by Carlos Puga

La cinquième saison (The Fifth Season)

When I saw that Casa Kafka was a sponsor of this French-Belgian production, I knew it would be hopeless, depressing, senseless. In a small Belgian town, nature simply...stops. Chickens no longer lay eggs, cows stop producing milk, field lay fallow, trees die but won't burn. Young Alice and her friend Tom suffer and cope, with traveling beekeeper Pol and his son Octave as the only ones who maintain their senses against the seemingly global calamity. As food grows scarce and desperation grows, even they can't stop the tide of insanity.

There's seriously nothing cheerful about this film. Be warned.

La cinquième saison (The Fifth Season)
2012, 93 minutes, directed by Peter Brosens and Jessica Woodworth

Haunter

Lisa's been repeating the same day for...well, she doesn't know how long.  But now she's woken up, realizing that her life is on a cycle, and soon enough understanding that she and her family are ghosts.  As she tries to break herself and her family free, a more sinister presence reveals itself.

The story, the acting, the cinematography, all were pretty good.  This will make an excellent pre-teen slumber party movie.  (In the Q&A, the director, who's previous work was a bit more adult-oriented, said he made a point to make this film without a drop of blood onscreen.)  My only issue was with plot resolution.  Everything gets resolved, which is great, except it's done in a multi-scene twenty-minute climax that left me mentally exhausted.  I would have preferred to see the tension tweaked to turn the long plateau into a building towards the final confrontation.  But other than that, the film hits its marks.

Haunter
2013, 97 minutes, directed by Vincenzo Natali

Oh, Alamo, don't show 70s footage of a topless lady dancing in a bamboo cage while injecting herself with needles in the pre-footage before what will eventually be a PG film.  The 9-ish-year-old actress who came to the premiere of her first film should not have seen that.

Drinking Buddies

Kate is dating Chris and good friends with boss Luke, who is sort-of engaged to Jill. But maybe Kate and Luke need more from each other, and what's going on with Chris and Jill? Drinking Buddies is a will they/won't they romance, as these couples figure out what it means to commit for life.

Drinking Buddies
2013, 90 minutes, directed by Joe Swanberg

Tiny: A Story About Living Small

With no building experience, no tools, no blueprints, and no materials, Christopher Smith and his friend Merete set out to build a small little tiny (oops, must use correct term every time) house. Intermixed with their progress are interviews with others who live in and build such homes, usually 200 square feet or less. The film seems condescending at times to those who choose to live in more space - even to me in my 1000 square foot "mansion" - but I don't think that's intentional and it passes.

Meanwhile, they hope to inspire ecological- and soul-enriching movements towards living living for time rather than money, including with another kickstarter scheduled to start soon. I wish them both the best of luck.

Tiny: A Story About Living Small
2013, 62 minutes, directed by Merete Mueller

The Bounceback

Being a hopeless twenty-something, Stan hops a plane from LA to Austin to "run into" his ex, who is spending the weekend there from New York. Keeping them apart are their friends Jeff and Kara, who have both broken up with each other and desperately want them all to move on. With a backdrop of the raunchy Air Sex championships, the two former lovers have one weekend to decide if they're meant to be together or if its truly time to move on.

The Bounceback
2013, 92 minutes, directed by Brian Poyser

TPB AFK: The Pirate Bay Away from Keyboard

This "slice of life" documentary (no narration, no post-interviews, just film and a few on-screen comments and glossary) covers Peter, Fredrik, and Gottfrid, the founders of The Pirate Bay, from their 2009 trial in Sweden through the loss of their finals appeals in 2012. Told almost entirely from their perspective, it presents one view (the correct view) on the legality of the case against them. If you've ever been interested in TPB from a legal or political perspective, I encourage you to check this out.

And yes, in accordance with the wishes of the filmmakers, feel free to find, download, and share the film online.

TPB AFK: The Pirate Bay Away from Keyboard
2013, 82 minutes, directed by Simon Klose

V/H/S/2

Having acquired a heap of knowledge and a pile of leftover tapes from their first outing, this second installment of the V/H/S horror line feels more polished and... boring... than the first.  Sure, everything tied together better in a central theme: private detectives are asked to look for a college student who's been missing for a few days.  At his house, they find lots of static-y monitors and piles of VHS tapes.

This time, it all feels more predictable in its narration.  There's a story with ghosts, one with zombies, one with occult, and one with aliens.  It's all nice and tidy.  And that's what makes it boring.

V/H/S/2
2013, 95 minutes, directed by Simon Barrett, Adam Wingard, Eduardo Sanchez, Gregg Hale, Timo Tjahjanto, Gareth Huw Evans, and Jason Eisener

The Paramount was already running an hour late after their first film.  I stayed in line for Evil Dead for two hours, but when the film was supposed to have started and the previous screening was still letting out, I bailed for dinner and a sure spot at this midnight film.  Knowing now that some people made it (barely) to both thanks to V/H/S/2 also being inexplicably delayed, and knowing that I didn't care much for the midnight film, makes me angrier at the Paramount and SXSW for being unable to keep their schedules even remotely on time.

Upstream Color

Kris is kidnapped. Brainwashed. Wiped out. Left with nothing but emptiness, and a subtle link she can't explain. Jeff has the same emptiness, but he's found her. And then there's the sound. Quinoa. The connection. The hypnotic telepathic worms. Told with minimal dialog, this surreal film explores the involuntary bonds these people share with each other and their counterparts. More than that, I can't explain.

Upstream Color
2013, 96 minutes, directed by Shane Carruth

Warm Bodies

Well yeah, it's cheesy.

Zombie with an inner monologue meets cute girl, eats her boyfriend's brain to absorb his memories, and learns to love again.

But the inner monologue is pretty funny - at least for the target PG-13 crowd.  And it works.  Pretty well, even.

Warm Bodies
2013, 98 minutes, directed by Jonathan Levine

A Good Day to Die Hard

I heard bad things about this film.  Most of them were true.  Rehashed catchphrases fill 75% of the dialog.  The bad guys are stupid.  And no one that age would survive that much abuse and keep moving, ruining any suspension of disbelief.  And, worst of all, this McClane has no respect for civilians; this one would have blown the roof.  Disappointing.

A Good Day to Die Hard
2013, 98 minutes, directed by John Moore

Silver Linings Playbook

There are a lot better, more in-depth reviews of this Oscar-nominated film than I'm going to write.  Broken person meets broken person, both with past mistakes and loss, and they try to make it work.  Can they?  It's a fantastic performance by Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence, with a strong supporting cast.

Silver Linings Playbook
2012, 122 minutes, directed by David O. Russell

Django: Unchained

The Alamo's new assigned-seat process frustrates me.  They've chosen now to cater exclusively towards people who can plan to see a film 12 or more hours ahead, which is rarely possible for me, or towards people willing to sit on the front row, which I am not.  Sure, they can cater to whoever they wish, but I can still be frustrated about it.

The only film with a decent available seat today was Django: Unchained.  It's Quentin Tarantino, which means it's gross, vile, sick, base, revolting.  So, you must set this aside.  Push all of that below you, and rise up to the surface.  From there, enjoy the beauty of the waves.

Django: Unchained
2012, 165 minutes, directed by Quentin Tarantino