The Filmcake

June 23rd – June 29th

The Mist – This one finally trickled up to the top of my Netflix queue. After the initial reviews, I wasn’t all that interested in checking out. But since then, I’ve heard several positive to raving reviews of the film. As a result, it percolated all the way to the top of my list and landed in my DVD player this weekend. I was enjoying it in the beginning. The claustrophobia of the grocery store shrouded in the mist was palpable. But then I was turned off by the sight of the “monster,” or rather an appendage of said monster. Only for a moment though. I was initially turned off by the extreme artificiality of the CG appendage. It really took me out of the suspense of the movie. But then very quickly I realized that the monsters are secondary. They’re almost MacGuffins Monsters. The real horror, the real monsters are very much human in nature. The Food House transformed from a grocery store to something much more terrifying–Oklahoma. Well, not really, but it did have it’s share of smitten sheep to scare the shit out of you. When you have someone raving about Biblical End Times there’s not much more need for monsters.

Still, the monsters weren’t all that bad. Most of the time, they lurked in darkness or the mist so that the artificiality was kept at bay. And when you did see of them, they looked half-alien and half-prehistoric, a nice touch. Given the ending, I’d still take the rational path over the superstitious one, even if it sometimes leads to more morbid outcomes.

RiffTrax’s of The X-Files: Fight the Future and Raiders of the Lost Ark – This was my first foray into the post-MST3K commentaries from Mike Nelson and crew over at RiffTrax. I was not disappointed. Sure, I miss the silhouettes of Tom Servo & Crow and singing along to the theme song (…”if you’re wondering how he eats and breaths, and other science facts, la-la-la…“). But the funny was certainly still there even if there was no theme song. I haven’t laughed that much in a single evening in quite a while. It was therapeutic. The margaritas should probably get some of the credit, too. I can’t wait to check out some of the other commentaries, with or without a pitcher of delicious goodness.

The Savages – I loved, loved, loved this movie. Sure, it’s not the feel good movie of the year. But something–the tone perhaps–was right up my alley. It was brilliant. Maybe it was the wonderful duo of Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Maybe it was the dog. Or the cat. Maybe it was the subject matter–dealing with life’s real problems. And what a damn good screenplay.

It’s not something that I want to revisit anytime soon. I mean, I don’t really want to confront end-of-life issues for myself or my parents. But sometimes a little cry with a little laugh is exactly what I want out of a movie. I don’t know. Writer-director Tamara Jenkins got this just right. She got at the subtleties of life where things are sad and funny and gross and embarrassing and disappointing but still so worth the trouble.

June 17th – June 22nd

Disaster Zone: Volcano in New York, Mansquito, and Wraiths of Roanoke – Ouch. Sure, our COLON: A Sci-Fi Channel Original Pictures Production Triple Feature was a lot of fun. But it was a little painful as well. Disaster Zone was seemingly shot by someone suffering from Parkinsons–all shaky cam for no apparent reason. And using stock footage of the Twin Towers smoldering from 9/11 was certainly film making at its finest. TOO SOON!!! Still, I love me a disaster movie. And this one was a disaster. Mansquito, thankfully, lacked the off-putting camera work. But that’s about the best I can say. It was pretty bad. As for Wraiths, I’m not even sure. It was late and I was tired. I frankly don’t remember much of it. It looked like somebody had watched Terrence Malick’s The New World and thought that maybe the fortress and the costumes in that movie would make for a good idea for a much worse movie. Setting and costume are important. But you also need a writer and director, too.

You know, I’d much rather be making horribly bad movies for a living than working at my current job. But man, it’s sometimes hard to comprehend how this crap gets made. Sure they’re made cheaply and quickly for an audience that is pretty much expecting badly made fare. But this same audience would very much appreciate a smartly executed horror or sci-fi film as well. I don’t know. I sure enjoyed it though.  I kinda want more.

Funny Games (2008) & Diary of the Dead – These two made for an interesting double feature. In their different ways, they were both kind of looking through the camera at the audience (more or less overtly) to see how complicit the viewers were/are in violence. Funny Games played like a psychology experiment. As George (Tim Roth) says: I get it. How must we feel about ourselves when we enjoy such violence on screen? Good? Horrible? Should we walk out? Vomit? I actually enjoyed the film. But I don’t enjoy violence. I do wonder what the experience would have been like having seen it at the theater. Would that crowded public setting disarm people enough so that they laugh even in inappropriate places? Or take it more or less seriously? For that matter, I wonder how I would view a movie like Hostel if I saw it at the theater, surrounded by a bunch of frat boys who don’t look much different from the victims up on the screen (dumb Americans). I’ll admit I’m a bit of a film snob–the megaplexes around here aren’t exactly teeming with a sophisticated audience. Then again who am I to say that some level of sophistication is required to enjoy any movie?

Diary didn’t take itself quite that seriously. Still it was trying to say something about how we hide behind our technology in a way that removes us from the reality of violence. I could have done without the figurative hammer to the head at the very end (“Are we worth saving?”). Still it was a lot of fun. Romero’s zombie movies may come with a message, but you can always count on having a lot of fun along the way.

Soldiers in the Army of God – Another look at the pro-life terrorist movement. Scary, scary stuff. This was a 2000 HBO documentary about the radical elements in the pro-life movement. The documentary itself was reactionary. I think Lake of Fire takes a fuller look at the issue–approaching terrorist Paul Hill before he murders and illustrating a variety of outlooks on abortion. Lord I hope Obama wins in November.

June 9th – June 16th

deadCENTER films – See my previous posts for thoughts on those films.

The Man Who Fell to Earth – This one concludes the 70s Sci-Fi marathon (from the Filmspotting podcast). I think I was distracted by the fact that David Bowie reminded me too much of that “Leave Britney Alone!” guy. Otherwise, he makes a good alien. The film was certainly a little strange, and cult-friendly. And in places, even a bit sexy.

Charlie Wilson’s War – I was impressed with this script (by Aaron Sorkin). Not Earth shattering or anything, but still a lot of fun. I found myself rooting for the mujahideen even knowing how it would all turn out later.

Here are the popcorn box and ticket we received at the Christmas on Mars screening at deadCENTER:

Super cool.

Remember…anything is possible.

The Flaming Lips encourage you to create your own happiness.

Indeed.

Once again, deadCENTER was beyond great. I can never get enough. And when that Sunday rolls around, the depression of the real world sinks in. And still the whole thing always manages to inspire me. The city and the food and the booze and the discussions and the filmmakers and the film lovers and of course the films always reignite a spark within me. I want to enjoy life and art. I want to watch great films. And perhaps–just maybe–go to a future deadCENTER as a filmmaker myself. For once, I want to answer the oft asked question–Are you a filmmaker?–with a resounding “yes” instead of just a “no, just a film lover.”

The films were great. They always seem to keep getting better. The venues were great. The parties were great. I loved that they seemed to be featuring food from a wide array of local restaurants. It was an impressive undertaking and the organizers deserve much, much praise. Thank you guys.

For next year, I’d love to get a hotel room for the entire weekend. Make a vacation out of the thing. Then, I wouldn’t have to worry about running home and back in order to take care of the dogs (and to sleep).

The standouts for me this year were Damn the Past!, Gustav Braustache and the Auto-Debilitator, A Beautiful Day, The Aviatrix, disFIGURED, Year at Danger and American Teen.

The official deadCENTER winners were:

Narrative Feature – The New Year Parade
Documentary Feature – Greensboro: Closer to the Truth
Narrative Short – Damn the Past!
Documentary Short – The Jump
Animation – A Faery’s Tale
Student Film – The Aviatrix
Oklahoma Film – Rainbow Around the Sun
Grand Jury Narrative Feature – disFIGURED
Grand Jury Documentary Feature – A Year at Danger

Check out Kathryn Jenson White’s take on the festival over at OFCC.

And, check out reviews of these deadCENTER films over at Film Threat:

OKIE NOODLING II
YEAR AT DANGER
THE VAULT
PRIMITIVE TECHNOLOGY
BARK OR BITE
THREE LITTLE WORDS
THE STANTON FAMILY GRAVE ROBBERY

This recap is brief and likely unintelligible…and lacking hyperlinks. I need sleep. It’s been a long weekend. Next year, I need to do this blogging from a laptop. After I sleep, perhaps there will be a final retrospective post. We’ll see…

After boarding the dogs Saturday morning, Sarah and I headed back downtown. We were looking forward to our room at the Colcord Saturday night. The room did not disappoint. Red & black & white. Simple and modern. And, after calling downstairs for an iPod docking station alarm radio, our room was complete. But, alas, we didn’t just come back downtown for the hotel room:

SATURDAY

2:30PM | Screenplay Table Read @ OKCMOA

5:30PM | Unsolved | @ OKCMOA

While I had a few minor problems with it, overall this Oklahoma City University debut feature was very solid. As a university project, it was quite good. I thought it lacked a bit of passion and style that could have made it an exceptional film. But, I was impressed and really look forward to what comes out of OCU in the future.

9:30PM | American Teen | @ Harkins

I really loved this. And, walking through Bricktown on the way back to our hotel room that night, it was evident that things don’t really change. The people I hated in high school grow up to be the people I hate now. Still, there are people like Hannah that make life worth living…they just seem to be unseen minority around these parts.

11:30PM | Awards After Party @ Nonnas

We just stopped in to check out and have a few bites of the food. Neither of us was really in the mood to party or mingle. We really just had our minds set on some of Nonna’s butterscotch cream pie. So, we grabbed one on the way out and headed back to the hotel room. We unwound there with some wine and the pie.

SUNDAY

12:00PM | Brunch @ Soleil

Since we were staying at the Colcord, we decided to just go ahead and have brunch early before all the deadCENTER people had arrived. I had their Hollandaise (one ham, one smoked salmon) and a bloody mary. Sarah had the Poached Eggs with Braised Endive and a couple of mimosas. It was all delicious.

2:00PM | Best of Fest Shorts @ OKCMOA

Best Animated Short – A Faery’s Tale

Okie Short – A Beautiful Day

Okie Short – The Pink Shorts

Best Student Short – The Aviatrix

Best Documentary Short – The Jump

Best Narrative Short – Damn the Past!

OFCC’s Kathryn Jenson White saw American Teen Thursday night and wonders:

Where does it fit into the documentary genre, I ask with pleasure and excitement? Are there Errol Morris recreations within it but without the change in film style to signal them? Do the clever and very, very good animated sequences for each character signal, too, that the lines between fact and fiction/documentary and narrative feature are blurring, blurring, blurred?

Ooh, I love a film that sparks questions. And, I can’t wait to catch this one. It’s playing again tonight at Harkins. And I also kind of wish I was still in school and could enroll in her documentary film class. Oh, well…

3:00PM | Year At Danger | Steve Metze & Don Swaynos @ Kerr Auditorium

I was kind of hesitant going into this one. I was half expecting for it to just be one of those “Let the Bodies Hit the Floor” military porn videos that pop up on YouTube. I was presently surprised. It was a nicely balanced look at what it is to be away from your family while dodging mortar rockets, and IEDs, and VBIEDs, and fraggers. It wasn’t making any sort of judgment on the war or the administration. It was just telling the story of a soldier–Steve Metze–who happens to also be a filmmaker, a father, a son, and a husband. In the Q&A that followed, I was surprised to hear co-director/editor Don Swaynos who was in attendance say that the filmmakers didn’t have to get the final film approved and/or reviewed by the US Army. For some reason, that sort of surprised me. At any rate, I’d really like to see/hear the stories of some other filmmaker soldiers over there. And I think these stories are something that the American public in general should be exposed to. So, hopefully this and similar documentaries make their way onto TV at some point.

5:00PM | Oklahoma Film & Music Reception @ XO Lounge

Our schedule took a turn towards the booze (and food) once again. (One of these days I’m going to see Rainbow Around the Sun, I promise.) This party was thrown by the Oklahoma Film & Music Commission. We hung out for a while–drank a couple of beers and ate a few snacks–while we discussed Year at Danger and planned out the rest of the evening. We talked to Eric Rasmussen who was there with his short film S & M Queen for a Day and also to promote his web series The Retributioners.

In the end, we decided to just go and grab a bite to eat and hold out for IAO. We ended up at Gaijin Sushi (at the Park Harvey). It was great. We ate our delicious roll and sashimi while fantasizing about ditching our suburban home and moving into an apartment downtown. It was the best meal I’ve had in some time. I cannot wait to recreate it sometime soon.

9:00PM | Friday Night Frolic @ IAO

Normally, I’m no so much into this event. Last year was cool because they had a whole tattoo fashion show going on. This year’s event was much tamer by comparison. They had some decent food from a variety of places–all of which beat the salsa poured over a block of cream cheese from a few years back. There was food from La Baguette, Hideaway, Rococo, Bin 73, and The Prohibition Room. Mostly we were there so we could score decent seats for the upcoming shorts programs.

10:00PM | Horror Shorts @ IAO

A Beautiful Day | Adam Hampton

This was better than expected. Maybe just a bit too long. But, it had a Night of the Living Dead creepy vibe to it. Not bad.

For Annie | Andy Collen

A nice little animated short to go along with the Edgar Allen Poe poem.

Dusk | Krystian Lagowski & Ian McCain

Honestly, I don’t remember much of this one. I don’t think it excited me all that much.

Night of the Hell-Hamsters | Paul Campion

This one was pretty funny. My favorite of the night. Plenty of blood, plenty of camp. An all-around fun film.

Itsy Bitsy | David May

Spiders are creepy. Real or not. Just plain creepy.

Bark or Bite | Suzie Bohannon

A group of vegetarians have to decide whether or not to eat the dog. Nice.

The Vault | Justin Owensby

Kind of strange. In a poetically creepy sort of way.

11:55PM | Midnight Shorts @ IAO

The Return of Sergeant Pecker | Pierre Delarue

He may have returned. However, his return may have been a bit premature.

S&M Queen For a Day | Eric Rasmussen

This one was pretty good. The title alone says “watch me.” I’ll definitely have to check out The Retributioners.

The Stewardess | Marcin Glowacki

I don’t know if it’s because I still had disFIGURED in my head, but I didn’t like this film one bit. It was basically a “let’s make fun of fat people” film. And, of course, the audience ate it up. I don’t know. Maybe I was hyper-sensitive or something. But, I don’t think a film that put an actor in black face and then proceeded to both make fun of his color and try to change him would be all that funny either. I still don’t know why it’s okay to make fun of fat people.

Hombre Kabuki | Leo Age

Coming after The Stewardess, I was apprehensive about this one as well. I thought it was going to piss me off in a similar way…only in a mysognist pig way this time. But, this film–unlike the previous one–had a lot more nuance and a lot more balance. It was certainly a much better film.

Rebus Riot! | Robert Dohrmann

I really liked this one. I’m not sure how to describe it. You might just have to check it out yourself (at the link above).

Deus Ex Machina | Royce Sharp & Walker Robins

Again, this was better than expected. That gyrating body is going to haunt me for at least the rest of the weekend.

At any rate, we decided to skip out on the rest of the Midnight shorts and head on over to Rocktown. We were warned to get there early because the tickets would probably go pretty fast.

1:00AM | Christmas on Mars @ Rocktown Gym

After making our way through the mysterious maze and flooded roads to Rocktown, we slopped through the mud past Wayne Coyne and into the tent to find the movie just getting underway. I guess they started the first two screenings early…and canceled the third. At any rate, we got to see most of the movie. The movie, the tent, the popcorn boxes…it was all so Flaming Lips. Just plain fun.

Here’s a video from newsok.tv from Wednesday night’s Kick Off party. Co-host Angi interviews the filmmakers behind Rainbow Around the Sun, Three Little Words, The Stanton Family Grave Robbery, and Don’t Lose Your Marbles:

Today’s schedule looks something like this. It’s going to be a long day…and I assume we’ll have to cross some things out and move some others around. But, I know it’s going to be another fun one. And at any rate, we don’t have to go into work today. Woohoo!!!

3:00PM | Year At Danger | Steve Metze & Don Swaynos @ Kerr Auditorium

5:30PM | Rainbow Around the Sun | Kevin Ely, Beau J. Leland @ OKCMOA

8:00PM | Half-Empty | Robert Peters @ OKCMOA

10:00PM | Horror Shorts @ IAO
For Annie | Andy Collen
Itsy Bitsy | David May
A Beautiful Day | Adam Hampton
This is the one that got the Muskogee Police Department all in a tiff with their YouTube trailer.
The Vault | Justin Owensby
Dusk | Krystian Lagowski & Ian McCain
Night Of The Hell-Hamsters | Paul Campion
Bark or Bite | Suzie Bohannon

11:55PM | Midnight Shorts @ IAO
Simulacra | Tatchapon Lertwirojkul
The Stewardess | Marcin Glowacki
S&M Queen For a Day | Eric Rasmussen
Hombre Kabuki | Leo Age
Rebus Riot! | Robert Dohrmann
Deus Ex Machina | Royce Sharp & Walker Robins
Happily Ever After | Lidia Sheinin
Drag King | Don Lewis
The Return of Sergeant Pecker | Pierre Delarue

2:00AM | Christmas on Mars @ Rocktown Gym