The Filmcake

August 18th – August 24th

I Bury the Living – Basically this Albert Band film plays like a slightly longer Twilight Zone episode. But we get a pretty lame ending here rather than what might be expected. Some commenters on other sites suggest that the original ending was changed by the “studio” and that’s why we get the lame ending. Or maybe the filmmakers just miscalculated. Still it has a pre-technology J-Horror feel to it that I kind of like. It plays on larger themes of playing God and the clash between reality and the supernatural. But, really, it just needs more zombies. Like the cowbell, the walking dead make just about everything better.

Rainbow Around the Sun - Well, finally we got around to seeing this one. We missed it at deadCENTER, but luckily it was playing as part of the OKC Museum of Art’s Bumper Crop series this past weekend. The concept of a rock opera can come off as bit gimmicky. My god, you think you can sing and strum a guitar!? Now you think you can do all that in front of a camera for 80 minutes!?

I had to see it, of course, because it is quintessential OKC film. It’s the deadCENTER film festival–perhaps the best long weekend of my year–encapsulated in a narrative film. The footprints of OKC and deadCENTER are all over this movie. But to be honest, a lot of the time when you see a “local” film, it’s just not really all that good. You might admire the filmmakers’ passion, or at the least you might just hope that everybody had a lot of fun making it. Hell, I’m impressed that people actually put stuff on film or DV that never makes its way out of the recesses of my own head.

So that’s where I was going into this one. I was skeptical. Unfortunately, one of the touchstones I have in my head for a locally made film is the horribly awful Sam & Janet (possibly the only movie I’ve ever walked out on…at deadCENTER or elsewhere). Anyway, it took me a while to warm up to it. I thought it was going to be more of the same. As it got going, I fell in love with the music (I have to buy the album now), but wasn’t convinced that it translated well to the screen. But gradually I warmed to it and ended up really liking it.

For one, there was actual talent behind the camera. Directors Beau Leland and Kevin Ely gave us some actual style for once. And Matt Brown is just fine behind a guitar and mic or in front of a camera. Also, the filmmakers used the city (Oklahoma City) in a way that was recognizable to me. It’s the city I know. Is that Sidecar? I think that may be Saturn Grill. Is that the bathroom at The Conservatory? There were none of the stupid establishing shots that so often pop up in local projects. We don’t have to linger on outdoor signage to know that the next scene takes place in a bar. Finally, I appreciate so much that the movie was ultimately about a guy and his dad. Normally filmmakers move past the dad (even if he’s central) and rush right over to the blonde to make it a movie about a guy and his girl. A guy chasing his dad to get him back is almost always more compelling than a guy chasing the girl.

There were a couple of dialogue scenes that ran a bit too long (the phone conversation and the cupcake scene) and could have been edited down just a little bit to keep them from seeming so akward. But, aside from that, I was really impressed with Leland and Ely at the helm and Brown everywhere else.

Monster Ark- What do we do now? Well, if you unleash a Biblical monster that is hell-bent on starting Armageddon, then you better bring out the big guns. I just don’t know if you should give those big guns to Tiny Lister, who uses his blind right eye to line up the sights. No wonder he couldn’t ever take down the creature. Luckily Tim Dekay (Jonesy, from the short lived HBO series Carnivàle) was able to regain his faith (ugh) in order to disable the monster. This Sci-Fi Channel Original Movie was the equivalent of a classic tomb raider, unapologetically stealing  treasures from Indiana Jones and The Da Vinci Code. For shame…

The Tracey Fragments- This film, starring Ellen Page, literally unfolds in fragments. The screen isn’t just split in two, it is fragmented into numerous pieces depicting different scenes, different angles, and different perspectives. This, too, can come off as a bit gimmicky. But as this film progresses, this technique becomes more and more effective. At times it can be a little heavy handed–ooh, her life is falling apart, and so is the screen. But ultimately it works. Memories, especially those of youth and those formed out of traumatic experiences, are very fragile and malleable. We alter those memories so much that they look little like the actual experiences. We create lies–in a way, semi-autobiographical biopics–of ourselves which become the new truth. In a way, this film is a sort of “What If?” What if Juno made a different sort of mistake and didn’t have parents who really loved her?

The Candidate – For the political junkie I am, I can’t believe this is the first time I’ve seen this one. Although it was made in 1972, this one rings so true in today’s political climate. Idealism can only take you so far. You still have to answer to the pimp that is the political process. No matter how much hope you have, you’re still his whore. And the last line–What do we do now?–is just classic.

August 11th – August 17th

Tropic Thunder – Robert Downey Jr. is great as Kirk Lazaraus as Lincoln Osiris. It’s worth the price of admission just to watch what he does on screen. It would be a crazy year in movies indeed–come awards season–if acting nominations went to one guy in clownface and another guy in blackface. Finally, it should go without saying that this is an R-rated comedy with satirical elements. It makes fun of things. That’s why they call it comedy.

The Jane Austen Book Club – Answer: What you’d get if the Sex and the City girls liked books half as much as they like shoes (and were more interesting to boot). Don’t get me wrong. Girls can love shoes. And some shoes are worth loving. But shoes aren’t books. They never will be. It also doesn’t hurt that this book club includes Maria Bello, Emily Blunt, and Amy Brenneman. Instantly, these characters are smarter and sexier than the SATC girls could ever dream of being.

July 28th – August 4th

Wall-E – I really enjoyed this one. I don’t see that many G Rated movies. It was hell getting through a behind-the-scenes featurette and eventually a trailer for the upcoming Beverly Hills Chihuahua. Eck! But Wall-E was good enough that I’m looking forward to rewatching this one on DVD. There seemed to be a lot of little references that will make additional viewings enjoyable. I was most impressed with the portions that took place on Earth. Earth looked so dusty and grimy. And I could have watched Wall-E roaming around by himself all day. And while EVE and the Axiom are slick and futuristic, they lack the realism and individuality that a little dirt and rust add.

Stop-Loss – The second film (9 years after Boys Don’t Cry) from director Kimberly Peirce. I haven’t seen many of the narrative films that have come out of the Iraq war. But this one wasn’t horrible. Some of the video segments–meant to imitate the type of videos shot by soldiers–seemed quite authentic. The battle scenes were convincing. It wasn’t overly political yet still not timid either. And I’ll even admit that I was a bit smitten by Abbie Cornish. But it seemed to miss the mark on a few points. First, it seemed like a bit of a stretch that this guy would be stop-lossed as he was essentially walking out the door. It also seemed strange that he had to be told what stop-loss was (as it is spelled out for the audience as well). Second, the whole underground changing your identity thing and going to Canada seemed a bit contrived. Is the military really going to let you just slip away? Then again, they still haven’t found Bin Laden… Third, I think it presses its case a little too far by suggesting that every soldier is going to go through some sort of freakout (digging a foxhole in your girlfriend’s front yard, assaulting the MP and going AWOL, or committing suicide). It just seemed a bit over the top in that regard. Not everybody is going to suffer from PTSD.

Chop Shop – Ramin Bahrani’s follow up to 2005′s Man Push Cart. Like the previous film, this one is small, dark & dirty, and sympathetic towards those who don’t get to live the American Dream. It’s strange to realize–in this country where a man named Barack Obama is possibly 3 months from the Presidency–that this is an American film. Like Obama, Bahrani has a non-typical name, yet he was born in North Carolina. Bahrani’s films are shot in a style, with mostly non-actors, and in locations that seem more like foreign films than typical domestic films. And yet both of Bahrani’s films are very American. They are both about working to struggle to stay afloat in the dingy background of everything America has to offer. It is so important to remember–and easy to want to forget–that despair exists not only in the slums of Rio de Janeiro and other far away places but also right here at home.