It Came From Kuchar

According to wikipedia, which we all know is never wrong, an underground film is a film "that is out of the mainstream either in its style, genre, or financing." George and Mike Kuchar certainly made films fitting that description, not to mention experimental and exploitative in the extreme.

I love documentaries about filmmakers, and this one is particularly interesting because these brothers are some of the weirdest looking guys I have seen who enjoy making pictures that are some of the weirdest looking films I have ever seen. As the documentary shows clips of the Kuchar films, all of them seem to be made on micro budgets (Roger Corman would be proud), concentrate on the vile and disgusting, and usually deal with some strange sexual perversions. I'm not sure if George Kuchar was high throughout his filmmaking career or if he was simply channeling Corman, Ed Wood and Herschell Gordon Lewis. Most of these films I would probably hate and walk out of if shown in a theater, but the fact that the Kuchars are willing to show films with feces, vomit and men in love with gorillas makes them stand out as filmmakers who took film to places you never thought it went, but did.

Shutter Island

While I'm not ready to say that Leonardo DiCaprio is the best male actor of his generation, it is becoming obvious at least to me that each year he is offered some of the most choice pictures in Hollywood. 2010 is no exception for DiCaprio, although Shutter Island was originally scheduled to be released in 2009 before being pushed forward to its current year.

The film follows U.S. Marshal Edward Daniels, as he and new partner Chuck Aule arrive at the Ashecliff Hospital for the criminally insane on Shutter Island. They are there, Daniels believes, to investigate the disappearance of Rachel Solando, a patient who has unexplainably vanished.

Then the film takes several turns into the unexpected and the bizarre. Is Rachel really missing? Does she really exist? Why is Daniels really at Shutter Island? Is he even who he thinks he is? These questions and their answers are mused over and hinted at throughout the film and will have viewers wondering even after the credits role what the truth really is. This is not Martin Scorsese's best film, but this psychological thriller is ground he hasn't covered quite in this way before. In any case, this movie still stacks up as a noteworthy film and one I dare you not to see more than once. This is good stuff.

On Best Buy's Minion Mode app for translating what the minions say at the end of Despicable Me.

Reverse thank you Best Buy for encouraging even more people to use their phones during the movies.

Leap Year or Undistracted by what is going on on the screen, Jason has time to wax philosophical.

1. Did I enjoy it? NO
Spraining my knee has given me time to catch up on my film reviews. But the question that keeps coming back to me is why did I ever get behind in the first place. Really great films, and even really bad films for that matter, generate conversation. You can't wait to tell your friends about what excited or outraged you. You quote the movie. The movie shows things about yourself you did not know.

Then there's mediocre movies. They just slip out of thoughts after you leave the theatre. Leaving you with nothing to talk about or be excited about. Or maybe the problem is not the movie but me.

Many my modern American lifestyle has blinded me to the subtleties of cinema. (The fact I enjoyed Furry Vengeance may be a supporting factor in that argument.) Has the dichotomy of great indie films versus big blockbusters blinded me to the charms of simple middle of the road film making. Amy Adams was cute. Matthew Goode was charming. The Irish countryside was beautiful. Shouldn't that be enough. Unfortunately it isn't. Perhaps if it was I'd be a happier person.

2. Would I watch the movie again? NO
One time is enough thank you.

Furry Venegence or My two year old son tried to walk out of this film then came back and grabbed my hand so I could help him walk down the stairs so he could leave.

1. Did I enjoy the movie? YES
I don't normally find myself contemplating bear rape when I look at movie poster, but when I do a few thoughts run through my mind. Does the bear represent the wilderness "coming" into the hero and changing him from a city-boy to a feral-child. Is the bear rape symbolic of the character's mental disturbance that finally comes to the surface? Or, maybe, the scriptwriters drew words at random during a moment of writer's block.  Furry Vengeance let me down.

Let it be known: If like me, you looked at the movie poster and thought to yourself that bear looks like he's going to rape Brendan Frasier, know no bear raping occurs in this movie. The bear merely steals Brendan Frazier's pants. Steals them in a way that seems physically impossible, even if said bear was propelled from the doomed planet krypton and upon arriving at earth found he had superpowers from earth's yellow sunlight.

The bear's superpowers or lack of superpowers aside, the bear and Brandon Frazier share a scene that defies description in it's awfulness. Watching Furry Vengeance, I found myself in a two part viscous cycle. First I would watch a scene and think how the movie has set a new low in every one's career. Then the next scene would lower the bar even more.
But through it all there was Brandon Frazier. For me it was method acting taking to the next level. The actor becomes the character in that moment so thoroughly that it transcends the medium and starts to work voodoo magic on the audience.

Then Felix, my two-year old son, had enough and wanted to leave. Guess the kid has no taste for camp.

2. Would I watch it again? MAYBE
When I first saw this movie, I thought it was so campy I could watch it again and again. Bring all my friends over and laugh at how ridiculous and awful the movie is. Then I watched it a second time for work, and well, no. I never want to watch this film again. Each scene of this movie is like a clip from a future retrospective on Brendan Frazier's career. The low points. It only gets the Maybe because I actually did see it again, but not from choice.

On the dancing dog segemnt at the end of Marmaduke

Why?