I’ve been updating my list of twenty gaps on DVD to note which ones will be released soon. If you subscribe to my RSS feed (on Bloglines or elsewhere), you probably have noticed whenever I update the page. But if you’re not into the whole RSS thing, I have posted the link in the right-hand sidebar along with the date I last updated the list.
Check out the list, because you would not believe the number of times I’ve updated it recently with all kinds of goodies scheduled for DVD release: Unfaithfully Yours, Matilda, five Astaire-Rogers films, and most recently Ninotchka. And keep an eye on the sidebar, because you never know what someone might decide to release next. (Holiday? A Foreign Affair? A girl can dream.)
Author: jette
Jette: returning to the Forbidden Zone
When I heard that Alamo Drafthouse was not only showing Forbidden Zone at a non-midnight time on April 30, but that director Richard Elfman would be there, I couldn’t resist. I had to go. I wanted to see the movie one more time.
I first saw Forbidden Zone in college, on a videotape from a Baton Rouge video rental store. I don’t remember which store, or how we found out about the movie, or exactly when we started watching it. My guess would be that my friend Lara knew about it and found it. Lara knew about all kinds of weird and obscure movies, like Russ Meyer and Herschell Gordon Lewis films and the Cinderella porn film with the snapping pussy. We probably saw the movie some time in late 1988 or early 1989.
How and why a Baton Rouge video store managed to get and keep a videotape of an obscure 1980 underground cult film is something I suppose we will never know.
I didn’t have a lot of experience of low-budget or independent movies in 1988. Forbidden Zone was the strangest movie I’d ever seen. It looked like it had been filmed in someone’s basement, but it had Herve Villechaize in it, and Viva, and what seemed like the entire Elfman family, including Danny Elfman of Oingo Boingo, who had done music for a movie I really liked, Beetlejuice. It was filmed in stark and less-than-glorious black-and-white.
The Beau: a night in the Forbidden Zone
“I’m sorry,” Jette said for perhaps the third or fourth time that day. “If you don’t like the movie, I apologize in advance.”
I once went to a movie Jette recommended and thoroughly hated it. It was a traumatic experience neither of us wants to repeat. Especially Jette.
That evening, we were going to see Forbidden Zone on her recommendation. She was taking a risk, but hedging her bets.
Jette had been telling me about Forbidden Zone for the longest time. At first, it was stories about this bizarre movie made by the Elfman family. Then, once she discovered the DVD was available, it was about how we should have a watching party and freak out all of our friends. Finally, when the Alamo Drafthouse announced they were going to show it with director Richard Elfman in attendance, she announced she was going and gave me the hard-sell pitch to go with her. I agreed, but as the date got closer she was getting anxious. Was our relationship strong enough to survive this twisted little movie?
She needn’t have worried. I had a great time.
Kung Fu Hustle (2004)
Kung Fu Hustle: 2004, dir. Stephen Chow. Seen at Alamo Village (May 5).
Now, Kung Fu Hustle was not disappointing. I don’t think I read a single negative review of this movie beforehand. Admittedly, I tend to read reviews on small weblogs rather than mainstream newspapers or magazines, so my sample of reviewers may have been skewed in some way. But I was looking forward to a lively, funny film and Kung Fu Hustle exceeded my expectations.
Kung Fu Hustle was a gigantic hit in Hong Kong, where it was filmed, although it didn’t do as well in the US. Perhaps American audiences didn’t know what they were getting into. My sister thought it was going to be a straightforward kung-fu action movie, wasn’t all that thrilled that her boyfriend and my brother dragged her to see it, and then loved it. My mom was surprised to hear that I talked my boyfriend into going, rather than the other way around. I don’t think people realized that Kung Fu Hustle is a comedy.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (2005)
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: 2005, dir. Garth Jennings. Seen at Galaxy Highland (May 15).
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is the most disappointing movie I’ve seen so far this year. I didn’t expect it to be wonderful, but I thought it would be enjoyable in a fluffy summer-movie sort of way. But the movie didn’t work for me on any level.
I think the problem with The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is the same problem I encountered with the first two Harry Potter movies. The filmmakers try to be faithful to the books in appearance, but not in spirit. I remember being impressed with some of the visual aspects of the first two Harry Potter movies—the way Diagon Alley looked, for example—but there wasn’t much underneath. The characters were not portrayed with any depth and the director had a tendency to rely on annoying stereotypes. (The third Harry Potter movie was a great improvement.)
Continue reading The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (2005)
movies this week: paging Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle
I am looking for Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle. Has anyone seen her lately? I need her to cure my case of the Don’t-Wannas.
I don’t know how many of you have ever read the Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle books by Betty MacDonald (who also wrote The Egg and I), but they are delightful children’s books. Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle lived alone in an upside-down house and she understood children perfectly. In fact, the neighborhood parents were always calling her to ask for help with their children, and Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle had wonderful and sometimes magical cures for kids who didn’t take baths, or refused to pick up their toys, or had terrible table manners.
I am sure that Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle would have an effective cure for the Don’t-Wannas. I don’t wanna go to work. I don’t wanna write my grandparents. I don’t wanna change the cat’s litter box. I don’t wanna write movie reviews. And I don’t wanna write Movies This Week.
Perhaps she would provide some sort of magic powder that kept me stuck in bed for awhile. At first it would be lovely to not have to get out of bed and do anything. Later, I would get so bored and restless that I would jump at the chance to go to the office or clean the kitchen or see a Jennifer Lopez movie.
Without Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, I cannot overcome my apathy for the movies opening this week. I don’t wanna write about them and I don’t wanna see them. Can’t I go somewhere else for a little rest and recreation? I hear the south of France is lovely at this time of year.
Continue reading movies this week: paging Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle
movies this week: inconceivable, dude
“Snakes. Why’d it have to be snakes.”
“I need a baby, Hi. They got more than they can handle.”
“That rug really tied the room together.”
“You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”
“Hey, careful, man, there’s a beverage here!”
“I want my two hundred dollars!”
“Son, you got a panty on your head.”
“I’m not left-handed either.”
I bet everyone reading this can recognize at least one of the above quotes. Who the hell cares which new movies are opening in Austin this week, when you can hear those lovely lines in theaters all around town? And by “theaters” I also mean the Rolling Roadshow setup at Republic Square Park and the Dart Bowl.
You’ve got your Coen brothers, The Princess Bride, some of the very best Bogdanovich movies, and a good movie involving George Lucas. Can’t ask for much more, but if you did, there’s also Ingmar Bergman and Audrey Hepburn (not in the same movie).
Viva Les Amis (2005)
Viva Les Amis: 2005, dir. Nancy Higgins. Seen at Alamo Downtown (May 4).
Hey, did you know that Austin was a haven of peace and love and groovy local hangouts and wonderfulness until 1990 when bam! overnight, it became an Evil Corporate Monstrosity?
If you saw Viva Les Amis, that’s what you might think.
Since I moved to Austin in 1991, I guess I missed all the good stuff. Maybe I should just leave for Dallas or Houston and get it over with.
All right, all right. I did like Viva Les Amis, a documentary about the crazy little cafe near the UT campus that was open from 1970-1997. Les Amis Cafe is one of the settings featured in the movie Slacker. The documentary was less than an hour long and it was a lot of fun at times. I wish it had been less heavy-handed with its anti-development message, though.
The Interpreter (2005)
The Interpreter: 2005, dir. Sydney Pollack. Seen at Alamo Lake Creek (April 23).
I wasn’t all that wild to see The Interpreter. I’d read reviews that were lukewarm at best about it. I heard that it was disappointing, slow, predictable, badly cast, and silly.
I was pleasantly surprised. The Interpreter is a solidly entertaining little thriller with a good cast, well-paced and not at all dull or irritating.
It is true that there are no major surprises, and that the movie adds nothing new or innovative to the action/suspense genre, but that’s all right. Every film cannot be innovative. The Interpreter still provided us with a good afternoon’s enjoyment.
movies this week: so tempting
This week’s crop of movies looks very tempting. I wish I could skip work and sit in the theater catching up on Kung Fu Hustle, seeing the new releases (to Austin) of Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room and ,em>the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and finally seeing Inside Deep Throat and Imelda and Downfalland then getting to catch some obscure new movies like Viva Les Amis.
“Hi, Ms. Boss? I won’t be in today. I’m sorry. I’m suffering from cinematic withdrawal disorder.”
No, I guess that won’t fly.