The Filmcake

August 17th – August 23rd

Plan 9 From Outer Space (RiffTrax Live) - This was pretty cool. The RiffTrax guys (formerly of Mystery Science Theater 3000) did a live Riffing of Plan 9 that was broadcast in theaters throughout the country. I wasn’t super blown away with it. It was funny enough. But I’ve seen funnier MST3K’s. That being said, I hope this becomes a regular occurrence (with a different movie getting Riffed). It was well worth the $12.

The Room – A movie so hilarious it doesn’t even need to be Riffed (though it was; slightly better but still not great upon a second listening). This time, we had the pleasure of introducing The Room to my brother-in-law who absolutely loved it. It just doesn’t get old. I think the thing that sets it apart from other horribly bad movies is that it’s very well paced. There aren’t too many boring stretches, which can make a good or bad movie go south quickly.

Inglourious Basterds - Tarantino’s latest. Don’t know if it’s his greatest. And saying it’s “up there” isn’t saying much because he’s only directed 6 films (and they’re all great). It’s offensive, sure. But it’s delightful. It’s a QT classic.

Grindhouse – After Inglourious Basterds, we all needed some more QT brilliance (w/ Robert Rodriguez). And since my DVD Tarantino collection is lacking (I have 2 copies of Reservoir Dogs on DVD, but nothing else), we went with a copy of Grindhouse I’d DVR’ed a few weeks back. This is the first time I’ve revisited the movies in their original Grindhouse format since the movie opened. I like all of the trailers and the back-to-back movies, but I do miss Vanessa Ferlito’s dancing (which appears on the DVD).

The Gore Gore Girls - The last of Herschell Gordon Lewis’s films until (30 years later) 2002′s Blood Feast 2: All U Can Eat. It’s offensive and gross and disgusting. But its so offensive and gross and disgusting that it’s kind of wonderful. For me, the offensiveness of a movie like this (or even Inglourious Basterds) is something completely different than the offensiveness of a movie without a brain for people without brains. The clueless violence and misogyny of mainstream fare approaches a level of offensiveness that truly repulses me. This movie is particularly notable for the bizarre chocolate milk scene and the appearance of Henny Youngman, the rapid-fire comedian most famous for the classic “Take my wife–please” joke.