Cinequest 2008
Young People Fucking is one of those festival movies that you can’t help but enjoy. It doesn’t matter if it’s slightly flawed, or if one of the featured couples was boring, because overall it is really funny and interesting and just an enjoyable film.
The movie is divided into six chapters:
1. Prelude
2. Foreplay
3. Sex
4. Interlude
5. Orgasm
6. Afterglow
.
We are presented with five different couples:
1. The Friends
2. The Exes
3. The Couple
4. The First Date
5. The Roommates
Each of these couples ends up going through all six stages, mostly to hilarious and some unexpected results. Obviously the married couple is going to be boring – they already haven’t had sex in three weeks. Only… it turns out to be one of the most hilarious sections of the movie. I loved the twist at the end of the First Date couple (and seriously, both halves of that couple were pretty easy on the eyes). The Friends section was pretty hilarious throughout and starred Carly Pope. You may know her as Garbo from “Dirt”, but I know her best as Sam MacPherson from“Popular”. She’s grown up to be damn hot, I’ll tell you that.
I didn’t enjoy The Exes that much, but I loved the Roommates which featured the funniest threesome I’ve ever seen.
I took two friends with me and they thought it was HI-larious. One friend marked the movie as “Excellent” on his voter card before the movie even started. He said they deserved it for the name of the movie alone.
Cinequest 2008
I loved the multi-award winning The Village Barbershop. Starring John Ratzenberger from “Cheers” and Shelly Cole from “Gilmore Girls” this is a movie I think could do well in theaters – if only it had a big name star. That’s the sad demise of so many good movies: No star = no distribution. I would say I loved this one as much as Sherman’s Way and either of these movies could have replaced Eden Court as opening movie. I’m still not quite sure how that decision was made, but anyway…
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So I learned something today.
During the Q&A after The Art of Travel the director asked us to please write reviews on IMDB for these movies, that they really help in getting distribution for the film. I spoke about this with Thomas Whelan, the director, after the film. I told him that I have written an occasional review for a film on IMDB before, but had no idea it actually helped it. Actually I thought I was wasting my breath (or finger muscles?) because I knew no one would ever have a chance to actually SEE the movie, so what was the point? But he explained that filmmakers can use these reviews to convince the studios that people really DO want to see these kinds of movies, that we really do enjoy them and WILL pay money to see them.
So I promised him I would, and I’m definitely going to do it for all the other movies I enjoy at film festivals from now on. And I’m just asking you readers to please do the same. I hope he continues to tell audiences this, because I would have written IMDB reviews of some other movies long before this.
Cinequest 2008
I liked The Art of Travel, a lot. I can’t say I loved it, and it wasn’t fantastic, but everyone around me agreed: we still liked it, a lot.
Christopher Masterson plays a 19 year old who dumps his fiancee at the altar (why was he getting married at 19 anyway???) and decides to go find himself by having a wild adventure from Nicaragua all through South America. I didn’t really buy the appeal of the first adventure he embarked on: Let’s hack our way through the South American jungle all day, every day, for over a year. And I absolutely disagreed with the decision he makes towards the end of the film. But that didn’t make this a bad film – a movie is a piece of art just as much as a painting or a piece of literature. We don’t have to agree with it, but it’s good to see different ideas. And honestly, I sat there in the theater thinking: Why can’t they just put these kinds of movies in theaters?? I would much rather watch this than most of the crap they’ve been putting in theaters. Making every movie end (or follow a plot) in a way that most viewers want to see is what makes most movies these days mind-boggling boring. I love these film festival movies that make you think along with entertaining you.
And old friend and his wife sat with me in the theater. The wife couldn’t figure out what to grade the movie, a 3 or a 4. She marked down 3 just as Jim said 4. So I put 4 on mine to even it out. I really felt it was more of a 3.5. It’s a movie you wouldn’t be sorry you paid money to see, that’s for sure.
Now available on Amazon Instant Video!
Cinequest 2008
Mejor es que Gabriela no se muera
I loved it. Not the best movie of the festival, but SO very funny. In Mexico, a man gets hassled by a cop. When the cop discovers the man is a writer for his favorite telenovela, he lets him go – on the condition that the writer tells him what will happen on the show. Well, after the cop then goes and blabs to everyone he knows that the main character, Gabriela, will marry the villain – the actress who plays her quits the next day! So her character now has a terminal illness instead of a wedding, and the writer has a problem on his hands.
The movie is hilarious in parts, although there were a few times that all of us in the audience thought there may be some serious violence (the cop is not very happy to have been shamed in front of his friends, co-workers AND mother-in-law), no drastic violence occurs and the movie keeps its comedy intact. The last 20 minutes are laugh out loud hilarious, although I’m not sure of the significance of the last 5 minutes of the movie, overall I thought it was a WHOLE lot of fun. Anyone who has watched a telenovela (even if you don’t understand them!) or a soap opera will love this movie.
February 2008
Cinequest 2008 starts today.
So I have to remember to eat fresh, crunchy vegetables, drink Tang for vitamin C, try not to over-do the parmesan powder on my popcorn – and take some walks in the sunshine for Gawd’s sake.
I remember last year at Cinequest, I think it was the final weekend and I decided to finally skip a movie; the day was beautiful, we were staying downtown, and I decided to go for a walk. It’s amazing how the lack of sun can affect you, you don’t really realize it until you’re crammed into a dark theatre for all waking hours for 12 days straight.
This year, I’m going to make sure I get some walks in the sun. Because there are a lot of movies I want to see.
I was thinking this morning about why I love film festivals so much, even when I see a crappy movie, or even when I see a few crappy movies in a row. Even if only 2-3 out of the 20 I watch are good, I still feel like I had a great time, and I still want to pay the money next year. Why is that? If I go to the theater to watch a Hollywood movie and it’s crappy, I’m pissed. I want my money back and I want the hours of my life back. But it’s different with a film festival. And I think that’s because of exactly what it stands for.
The movies you see at film festivals were not funded by Hollywood studios – the filmmaker had to bust his ass raising money to make this movie, or max out the credit cards, or take out loans. All to make this movie he believed in. These filmmakers aren’t (usually) making money back on the films, and most know they never will. This is all money spent on a single love. Additionally, there is no Hollywood studio head poking their nose into the project: “Let’s take it out of Nebraska and set it in New York! And instead of farmers we’ll have… giant talking robots! That explode! And we need a love interest! Try to write in Angelina Jolie and I’ll call her agent right now!” So what you get at a film festival is the single pure essence of what the filmmaker had in his head, and not an amalgamation of what “The Industry” wants you to see.
And so when you see a movie at a festival, or when you see several (because you can’t just go see ONE), you are left with a feeling of magic. You are transported back to the very earliest time of film when it was all new, and everyone was just figuring out what you can do, and it was all done out of a love of the process itself – and getting your idea or your story out there.
And truly the process of filmmaking is again all about figuring out what we can do, because of all the many advances in technology – computers, special effects, new technologies that you or I or most of the film watching public can never even comprehend, but also the many ways of viewing the films now. We can go to the grand California Theater to watch a movie, or you can stay home and watch it on your TV or computer, or you can watch it on your iPod on the bus to work. Most of this technology wasn’t available even five years ago. Cinequest really exemplifies this and even has technology forums, writing forums, and filmmaking forums to share the new and exciting information and get it out to the public.
Magic. The pure essence of cinema. MOVIES!!
And so when I review the movies we will see, these movies I know many of you will never ever see… When I write my reviews I’m probably a little softer than I would be if I had seen them in a regular setting. It’s not because I know “they tried hard”, or “they made a good effort!” It’s because the magic and the love and the commitment of the filmmaker (and the actors and the crew and everyone else involved) all shine through these movies, even when the point or the story or the message kind of falls flat or just flies right over my head. You still get the feeling that you just watched something very special, and you still know you are one of the lucky few.
Cinequest 2008
El Camino is another movie I definitely recommend, maybe not as strongly as Sherman’s Way, but it’s definitely good. This one really is about a road trip. A young man dies of cancer and three of his friends decide to take his ashes to Mexico. It’s a bit of a depressing movie, but not in the way that makes you want to drive off a bridge after. I would say the writer/director did a great job of bringing the movie to a believable, non-depressing ending. It was just the kind of ending that life really does bring – that is to say, nothing ever ends until you die. The writer was inspired when a friend of his died and he wrote this film to kind of work his way through her death. I could definitely see this as that type of project – it’s like a way of trying to figure out what our purpose is, and sometimes that is a clear answer but sometimes it’s not. Sometimes young people create their own problems… but sometimes there are serious issues behind their sadness and depression. I liked it.
Definitely thumbs up. Go see it, but not if you’re in the mood for a happy one.
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Cinequest 2008
Awesome movie, pretty flawless, enjoyable, funny – and it should have been the Opening Night movie, for SURE.
I thoroughly enjoyed Sherman’s Way, and it seemed like the entire audience did too. Very likable characters, believable character growth, Excellent actors, Excellent writing. Again, I don’t like spoiling what movies are about so I won’t go into details. The movie description keeps referencing “road trip” but like the filmmakers said after the movie, this was more like a “treadmill trip”. I felt like it was sort of a road trip pit stop movie. Meaning… There are these two guys, see, and they go on a road trip see, but then they have to stop at a small town for a few days and that’s where the majority of the film takes place. I’m not sure why Lacy Chabert is credited so highly in the movie because she’s in it for all of 2 minutes. But Brooke Nevin is in it and she was pretty damn awesome. She was there along with all but one of the cast, also the writer and director. Also, Enrico Colantoni, from “Just Shoot Me” (and I hear also Veronica Mars, but I wouldn’t know) was a co-star AND was there, and I got pictures of him, and I probably never mentioned that when Just Shoot Me was on, I had THE BIGGEST CRUSH on him. I had no idea he was going to be in this film until the 80 year old lady sitting next to me kept arguing with her husband, then hit me on my arm and said “Hey! Did you ever watch Just Shoot Me?” Me: “Yes.” So the little old lady points three seats over and says, “Isn’t that the guy??” and I’m like “OMIGOD YES THAT’S THE GUY!!!” Heh.
He was well and truly handsome. And ya’ll can’t have him.
But you should see the movie, for SURE.
Now available on Netflix and Amazon!
Cinequest 2008
Disfigured is one of the best films I’ve seen at Cinequest, Ever. It was nothing like what I thought it was going to be, and the audience was completely wowed. To quote one of the viewers, “This is only the second movie of the festival, and I’m not sure how anything else is going to beat this.”
I took 16 year old Catalina and her friend Mark, thinking this was going to be a “comedy” (I don’t know why I thought that since the description clearly states “drama”). Once it began I thought they were going to be bored to tears – until around halfway through when the very nekkid sex scene began… I was pretty sure they were going to kill me after that, or at the very least blame me for all their future psychological problems. But at the end, as we left the theater (after Catalina took a photo of me with star Deirdra Edwards), 16 year old Mark said: “That was a really good movie. It almost got me at the end. I had a little tear. It didn’t fall though, I caught myself… but it almost got me.”
I’ve decided not to write any more about the plot of Disfigured, other than that you should all go see it, because there’s just not much to say without ruining it. When I read the blurbs about films in the Cinequest handbook I only read as far as 1) something sparks my interest or 2) I read something I definitely don’t want to see (child/animal abuse, pedophiles, dead or dying mothers). I don’t read any further because I just want to enjoy every moment of surprise when I watch it. That’s the sucky part of regular movies these days, you’ve practically seen the entire movie after watching all the trailers and tv previews.
So here is what I will say about Disfigured: It’s the kind of movie you feel very lucky to have seen because there is probably not a mass market appeal so there is no other way you could have seen it. That doesn’t mean it’s not an incredible movie – it just means that no Hollywood executive will accept that the public might want to watch a movie about a fat girl and an anorexic girl without casting Eddie Murphy in the role of the fat girl. That is what makes film festivals so awesome, because you get to see things you never would have otherwise. For instance, let’s look at two movies from past Cinequest years:
Andrew Jenks, Room 335 (2006): one of the most incredible movies I’ve ever seen, anywhere, hands down. College student Andrew Jenks decides to do a documentary from the inside of a retirement home. He really has no plan as to what his movie will be about, he just has this idea that he thinks may be interesting. The next thing you know, his life is changed, the residents’ lives are changed, and most certainly the lives of everyone who saw this film are changed. Andrew makes great friends with some of the residents who the viewer also comes to know and grows to love. There’s no explaining the power of this movie – and yet it took two years to get to HBO with no fanfare whatsoever. (Edited: Now available on DVD!)
Monster Camp: Made by my friend Cullen Hoback, it’s another unexpected documentary. Cullen falls in with a crowd of “LARPers”, Live Action Role Players, who all get together at various times to whack each other with sticks and geek out completely, and of course spend all their home time playing World of Warcraft. Losers, right? I think Cullen changed our minds about that. I mean… maybe some of them were losers… heh… but overall it made viewers realize these people were not freaks, they just had a hobby like all the rest of us do. Just because we don’t understand the appeal of their hobby, that doesn’t mean they’re weirdos. In fact, Cullen got caught up enough in it during filming that he ended up taking part in one of the “battles”. I was lucky enough to get a DVD of the movie, which we share with everyone we know. (Edited: Now available to all on the website!)
Both of these movies left everyone in the theater in tears, either from emotion or just from laughing too damn hard. But no film studio will buy either of these because they won’t be able to make $100 million on them. Lucky for you all, Monster Camp is coming out on a few Indie Theaters this spring, so hopefully you’ll get to see it, and maybe some of you saw Andrew Jenks on HBO.
Anyway, Disfigured is a movie like that. It was incredible and the writing and acting blew everyone away. It won’t change your life like Andrew Jenks, it won’t make you pee your pants laughing like Monster Camp, but it will change your thinking, about yourself and about others – fat AND skinny. So that’s all I’m going to give you about Disfigured. If you have room in your schedule to see it during Cinequest, then you should see it. If it’s scheduled for a film festival near you, then you should see it. (Edited: Now available on Netflix!!)
February 2008, Cinequest
Hangover is finally abating, so let’s get the reviews going:
Movie: Eden Court
Goodness. Why start off the festival in this way, making me go back on my word of loving all the movies when this movie really was pretty bad??? I hope this is not a sign of things to come with this year’s festival, because it certainly did not get the festival off on the right foot. Usually the opening and closing movies are the very best films of the festival, and most of them make it to the general big screen. This movie, though the writer/director seemed like a really nice guy… it is not going to make it to a theater near you, no way no how. The funniest thing about the movie was that it actually was set in Nebraska, so just like my earlier post, I sat and started thinking that maybe this movie really would be better set in New York with explosions and Angelina Jolie. Certainly couldn’t have hurt it.
I mean, the problems with this movie were countless. If you have a comedy and want to stick in a drunken best friend, you can’t make her a drunken, slutty loser friend who is also a bad mother. There’s not much comedy in that. And I don’t know if Kimberley Williams-Paisley was acting the part of the wife in the way the writer had envisioned, but if so, dude needs to go interact with more women. She constantly slipped back and forth between ditzy and intelligent, loving and hateful, irresponsible and yet the only responsible member of the family. The whole movie was all over the place, and like the character of the wife, the storyline slipped too many times between comedy and tragedy, heartwarming and disgusting.
Review: Thumbs Down.
[Edited on February 24, 2013: The imdb for this film now has it with a 2012 date… did this disaster actually get RELEASED?? I hope a lot of work went into the film in the years between 2008 and 2012… Unbelievable…]
Popcorn and Vodka 