A Few Movies From SxSW 2009 Part 2

 Splinterheads

Winnebago Man
(Documentary)

Directed by Ben Steinbauer
Starring Jack Rebney

Okay so you've seen the viral video of the man making an industrial video for Winnebago and failing with profane and hilarious results.  Or maybe you haven't.  Maybe you, like me, were raised in a cave and are completely unaware of such a video and have never seen it.  Either way, the feature length documentary about the wildly popular viral video phenomenon and the larger than life man behind it, is a hilarious ride.

The film steps back and chronicles the very filmmaker himself as he begins to dust off the history of the legendary Winnebago video in the hopes that it will lead to the foul-mouthed man behind it, Jack Rebney.

We learn that the tape started on the very lot where they were shooting the film, where allegedly angry people who were sick of putting up with Rebney made a reel of all of Rebney's fuck ups, and it spread like wildfire.  Eventually ending up on the doorstep of the Found Footage Film Festival and onto infamy, eventually becoming an online hit as well.

After contacting several people tied to the original Winnebago shoot, the director, Ben Steinbauer, is able to find Rebney living as a hermit in a remote California mountain cabin.  It is here that Rebney, a doddering old man, turns out to be kind, apologetic, and frankly... nothing like he was in the video.  Steinbauer goes home and contemplates what to do with the footage he's a massed that has no decernable climax.

A few days pass and Steinbauer gets a phone call from Rebney asking him to return.  As it turns out Rebney hasn't changed one bit and was trying to convince Steinbauer that he's just a kindly old man.  But now Steinbauer is treated to the real salty, foul-mouthed, and opinionated Rebney who hates the people of the world and isn't afraid to tell them so.

The movie then switches gears ss Steinbauer attempts to bring Rebney out of his shell and take him to the Found Footage Film Festival, Rebney treats the audience to rants about people, Wal*Mart, and Dick Cheney.

The film as a whole seems to lack focus, which is more than apparent as there are several times where the film maker asks, on camera, what's next or what's to come.  As I mentioned before I had never seen the original Winnebago Man viral video, but that didn't matter.  The movie gives you plenty to work with, and ultimately the story is about the man and not the video itself.

Although not an altogether strong documentary, the film is really terribly entertaining.  Should prove itself to be a hit among internet-phenom and viral video fans alike.  And I think it's effective because Jack Rebney is in and of himself a very entertaining and fascinating person.  This does not, however, mean that I want a documentary about all of the viral video celebrities from over the years.

Really?  Who wants a doc about the Numa Numa guy?

A Few Movies From SxSW 2009 Part 1

 I Love You Man

Starring Paul Rudd and Jason Segel

Rated: R

The latest entry from the Judd Aaptow and friends' comedy ranch finds the hilarious Paul Rudd as the type of character you'd expect to see in a drippy romantic comedy, a slightly akward, and not quite successful social retard.  However this movie picks up where most romantic comedies leave off, and as a result it becomes quite it's own monster.

Rudd's character, a less than impressive real estate agent named Peter Klaven, has already gone throught the we've-seen-it-a-million-times process of getting his hands on the pretty girl and is well on his way to getting married.  The movie picks up as it is realized that Klaven doesn't really have any friends to stand by his side at the wedding as his best man.  So his fiance and his family set him up on a series of disasterous man-dates.

In the meantime, Klaven is attempting to sell the home of Hulk the Television Series star Lou Ferrigno, an impressive Hollywood estate, that Klaven just can't seem to get a bite on.  During an open house, Klaven meets man's man Sydney Fife (played by Jason Segel).  Now Fife isn't a man's man in that he's gay, and he's not going to go out into the wilderness and kill a bear.  But this is the epitome of what every confirmed bachelor wants to be.  Laid back, streetwise, musician with an impressive man cave and seems to have the answer to everything that Klaven is lacking.

What follows is very much a standard romantic comedy, only instead of guy meets girl and they eventually fall in love... it's a question of guy meets guy and their acquaintance blossoms into best-friendship.

Proving what I've said from the begining that if people would only explore the same old tired romantic comedy story arch-types and simply put a fresh spin on them, or look at them from a new angle, they might just be entertaining.  But up until now, we've had to see the likes of Patrick Dempsey and Matthew McCognahoggie (yeah I know) go through the same boy meets girl-wins-girl-over-loses-girl-gets-girl-in-the-end bullshit over and over and over.  I Love You, Man took it in a new direction.  It was guy-meets-guy and they didn't go for the overly obvious gay angle either.  We've seen love blossom?  But what about friendship between dudes who listen to Rush?

I Love You, Man is a fresh take on the old formula that maybe a girl could take her boyfriend out to for a change. 

Maybe she pays? 

Buys popcorn? 

Drives? 

Maybe she sits through the movie hoping to get lucky and the guy gets the headache?

Well.  Better not push our luck.

Sons of a Gun
(Documentary)

Directed By Rivkah Beth Medow and Greg O'Toole

In this day and age of people discussing "non-traditional" families, you can't get more non-traditional that the family portrayed in Sons of a Gun.  The film follows the elderly  and mouthy Larry, a former police negotiator and retired social worker, who has taken in with him three schitzophrenic adult men that he considers his sons.

The film follows the four men as they attempt to find a permanent place for them to live and to deal with the problems that come with being schizophrenic in today's society.

Each time Larry goes to look at a new place, the discomfort is almost tangible as he informs the agent or the landlord that he takes care of three adult special-needs men.  Each time trying to dodge the word "schitzophrenic" but each time relenting that the men do have some mental problems.

As the film continues, Larry's drinking problems and his issues with anger begin to manifest as his drunken tantrums are taken out on his sons.

I won't call this documentary fascinating, but it cetainly was interesting.  Both a unique portrait of what it is to be schitzophrenic and a touching story about four men who desperately are trying to find their place in the world.  The movie suffers from the flaw that almost all of the major turning-points and events are told from a retrospective basis.  None of it happens on camera.  When one of the sons is allegedly hit with a bottle thrown by Larry, we get the story from both men in an interview format, but we aren't there for the act.  Only the aftermath.

During the climax of the film, one of the men is severely attacked on a bus and is left for dead.  We find out through story telling and interviews, about the next morning as the man is found in the house in a pool of blood and the desperate calls to paramedics and family members.  However none of this is conveyed visually.

Now I know that when making a slice-of-life documentary, sometimes one gets lucky and captures a major moment on film and it is a strong and moving piece of the film.  And it's all a matter of chance and luck.  However, because the major moments of Sons of a Gun happened off camera, I think it led to a story that just didn't pop as much as it could have.

Once again though.  It's a documentary and you take what you can get.  Overall though, like I said, it was definately interesting.

Spider-man 3

Starring: Tobey Macguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Cromwell, James Franco, Thomas Haden Church, Bryce Dallas Howard, J.K. Simmons, Topher Grace, and Bruce Campbell

Directed By Sam Raimi  Rated PG-13

The summer movie season kicks off today with the release of the latest chapter in the wildly popular franchise.  Expected to break several records, Spider-man 3 is only one of the heavy hitters for the summer, and even for the month of May.

The story follows Peter Parker as he, for once, is feeling upbeat, appreciated, and well balanced.  The city no longer hates him, his girlfriend loves him, and he's kicking quite a lot of ass in school.  Something which is unusual for your friendly nieghborhood web-head.  But as any Spider-man fan will attest, happy Peter Parker does not a good movie make.  So in that interest, things go downhill rather quickly.

Out to rain on Spidey's parade is his once friend and now rival, Harry Osborne, who has donned mask and flying snowboard to become the "New Goblin".  Also on deck to bind Spidey's spandex britches is Flint Marko.  A common theif who, in a lab accident, is endowed with special powers.  (Really, is there any other way to get special powers?)  Marko's power is that he is made out of sand.  Not only that he's made out of sand, he can take surrounding sand and bend it to his will.  He will often, through this route, change the size of his limbs, or even become a Kong sized sand monster thing.

In the meantime, Peter's world goes topsy turvy.  As he gluts himself on generous helpings of his own ego, his girlfriend, Mary Jane, realizes that he is like every other man and doesn't listen to or understand her.  What's more is that Spider-man rescues the Police Chief's daughter, Gwen Stacey, and gives her the trademarked upsidedown smooch during a publicity stunt.  It doesn't help that the Gwen is also, in Pete's secret identity world, his science lab partner whom he's never told Mary Jane about.

If that wasn't enough, there's a black gooey piece of tar that came from an asteroid, which has decided that Peter Parker looks like a good host to live on.  Bonding to Peter's costume, the normal blue and red becomes shades of black and grey.  The "symbiote" costume really enhances Peter's already spectacular powers.  The problem is that the costume also enhances all the negative things that Pete's been feeling lately.  So, as is mostly true in real life, when somebody starts dressing in all black, they eventually become emo.  Which I'm not kidding, I honestly think director Sam Raimi wanted to see how emo they could get Parker to look when he wasn't wearing the mask.  Right down to the hair in the face.

When the suit starts driving Peter to make mistakes that he regrets, he tears the suit off.  Smartest thing done in a Spider-man movie since Mary Jane decided not to get married in part 2.  However the suit then bonds to a disgraced photographer Eddie Brock.  By the way, Brock was disgraced by Peter Parker... right after Brock was snubbed by his crush... Gwen Stacy.  Thus the long tongued, sharp toothed, Venom is born.

There's a lot in this movie.  But where I think it excells, is that it doesn't loose it's main theme and carries off all of the plots and subplots better than I would have expected.  It does get a little disjointed in places but manages to get through.  Which is admirable.  The standard sequel review still stands on this one.  Good, but not as good as the first one.  Or in this case, the first two.

I do have to admit that the effects were really fucking neat in this.  The first time that I've actually looked at a computer effect and gone "wow" since The Matrix.  However, where it succeeds in some areas, it still fails in others, where the action doesn't quite match up with the background, or the focus is quite right between the effects and the rest of the shot.  But that's all nit-picky shit that I'm notorious for.  Honestly, it didn't take me out of the movie much.

Ultimately, a review on this isn't going to change anyone's mind.  If you want to go... do it.  If it's not your bag... don's start going to Spider-man movies now. 

It was a good time, but the casual viewer walking in from off the street who hasn't seen both movies the preceeded it, aren't going to get anything out of it.

I'll give this one a pony keg.

I should note however, that this is the last Spider-man movie that I want to see for a long time.  Let's quit before it gets lame.

Explanation of "Trevor's Cinema Beer Scale":

Can of Beer- Miss this movie.  You'll be a better person for it.

Bottle of Beer- Watch this one if someone else pays for it.  Better yet, if someone else rents it.

Six Pack of Beer- All in good fun.  This movie has some redeeming qualities, but most likely falls under "guilty pleasure".  Wait for the video and rent it yourself.

Case of Beer- Party time!  Hit the theaters for this one, 'cause everyone is going to be talking about it tomorrow.

Pony-Keg of Beer-  Hit the theater for this one then rent it periodically afterwards.  It's good, and deserves revisiting.

Keg of Beer-  See it in the theater.  Rent it when it hits video.  Own it when you can afford it.  It's that damned good.

Beer Garden- See it, rent it, own it.  Throw parties in its honor and it’s okay to hang the poster on your wall.  This one is going to be discussed (deeply or superficially) for years to come.  Simply because, it is an instant classic.

Oktoberfest- See it in the theater.  Buy a pirate copy from the guy on the street. Buy the official video whether or not you can afford it.  Buy all subsequent "special editions".  This movie is the best thing on the planet.  (I've never given a movie an Oktoberfest rating.  But it's there just in case.)

ON DEMAND:

Review of Clerks 2

Also... a word about Lady in the Water

Clerks 2

Starring: Brian O'Halloran, Jeff Anderson, Rosario Dawson, Jason Mewes, Kevin Smith, Trevor Fehrman, Jennifer Schwallbach

Directed By: Kevin Smith

The Clerks have returned, and after a fire consumes the Quick Stop and RST Video stores, they have to find new jobs.  Our intrepid heroes thus find themselves working at a forgotten branch of the Mooby's Fast Food Restaurants.  They are flippin' burgers at age 35... which I'm glad to say is a step below where I am.  And I'm unemployed.

If the Clerks are upset about working fast food, they don't let it show, at least at the beginning.  Randall (Jeff Anderson) is up to his usual hi jinks of pissing off customers and bantering about pop culture.  Dante (Brian O'Halloran) is due to get out of New Jersey in about a day's time once and for all in.  Dante is going to get married to a former high-school hottie named Emma (Jennifer Schwallbach) and take over one of her father's Car Washes in Southern Florida.

The fire has also left another dynamic duo homeless.  The perennial "favorites" Jay and Silent Bob have also relocated their drug peddling to the Mooby's parking lot.  They may be selling, but they're not using.  We're told that (in a case of art imitates life) the pair has just been let out of rehab and are no longer using the pot.  As a matter of fact it is them fighting their own boredom and thus fighting relapse that lead to a few of the movie's more memorable scenes.

Joining the cast for their second tour of duty is Becky (Rosario Dawson), who plays the Mooby's manager and who is complicating Dante's love life.  Also in the shoot is a Lord of the Rings fanboy named Elias Grover (Trevor Fehrman) whose life previous to this point has been so virginal and protected as to make the kid one of the most socially awkward people since this guy.  Although, for the record, I thought Stephen Root's turn as Office Space's Milton Waddams was a more charismatic performance.

Overall, I have to say I really enjoyed this movie.  For one, I can say that I loved the first Clerks and have been a fan of Dante and Randall since the get go.  Jay and Silent Bob on the other hand, should have been retired at the end of Dogma, however even their go around in this movie was decent.  The potty-humor continues and is even turned up to eleven, sending audiences into fits of "I can't believe their getting away with that", much like what happened 11 years ago with the first film.

But Smith did something rather surprising.  He seemed to have taken his experiences with his other films and mashed them all together.  It has the crudeness of the first Clerks, the buddy-movie chemistry of Mallrats, and the heart and soul of Chasing Amy.  Oh yeah... he had three other movies... it uh... had the testicles of Dogma... the Ben Affleck of Jersey Girl... and the...  the... okay, it left Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back the Hell alone, as well it should have.

Point being, the first Clerks was about being 25 and working in a convenience store.  In this movie, the job actually takes a back seat and is more the device for Smith to make a movie about moving on, getting married, and settling into life.  Once again, I can relate.

Not that I'm getting married, but I have made a life's plan for myself (of sorts) and most of my friends have been poisoned into the idea that marriage is a good thing, so yeah.  I can relate.

Now I can definitely see where this movie not going to appeal to some people.  If you haven't seen the first one, don't see it.  If you're not a Kevin Smith fan, you probably won't like it.  If you still think "snootchie bootchies" is funny, go to Hell and still don't see it.

I've also heard some criticism about the Disney style ending of this movie.  To that... I can only address this little anecdote:

As a kid, the Peanuts cartoon always bothered me.  I enjoyed it, I thought it was fun, but something wasn't right.  This poor little kid, Charlie Brown, couldn't catch a break.  He was always picked on, kicked around, and the victim of bad luck.  The dude never caught a break.  He was overshadowed by his sister, his dog, and a little bird thing that lived in his backyard.  I always felt bad for him.  When the Peanuts strip ended, I had one thing I wanted to happen.  I wanted Charlie Brown to walk into the sunset with the little red headed girl, and to have finally gotten the break that he had deserved for decades.  It never happened.

With Clerks.  Dante is like Charlie Brown.  I liked the ending.  He finally caught his break.

Clerks gets a Pony-Keg of Beer on the Trevor's Cinema Beer Scale.  I'd also like to go on record as saying that it's my number 2 favorite on my list of Kevin Smith movies.  Right below the original.

Lady in the Water

I listened to an interview with M. Night Shaymalan on NPR, and the guy makes a valid point.  He has been pigeon holed into one style of film and he gets shat upon for trying different things.

On that note, I'm not going to review this film.  I will say that I enjoyed it and reccomend it.  However... don't go in expecting a Shaymalan film.  Don't look for the "twist", there isn't one.  Just sit back and enjoy a bedtime tale.

I do have to say though, that out of most of the people I've talked to... I'm the only one that did enjoy it.

So, it's your choice really.

I'm out.

SUMMER OPENER IAN MCKELLAN DOUBLE WHAMMY!!!

The Da Vinci Code

Starring: Tom Hanks, Audrey Tatu, Jean Reno, Alfred Molina, and Ian McKellan

I saw this on opening night and was really disappointed to see that there were no
protesters outside.  Really, that deflated my evening right there, I wanted to see what kind
of trouble I could stir up.  I even considered joining the protesters, carrying a sign that
reading "Dogma is Dog Shit" (with the "I-T" of "shit" folded over), and seeing how
many Kevin Smith fans got the joke.  Alas no protesters were to be found.  Dammit, now
I would just have to watch the movie.

The Da Vinci Code follows the exploits of a sybologist named Robert Langdon (Hanks)
who is framed for murdering the curator of the Louvre in Paris.  As per usual in stories
like this Langdon did not actually do it.  The only person who believes that however is
French Police cryptologist Sophie Neaveu (Tatu) because the curator, in his last moments
of life, has left behind a series of clues that says otherwise.  Sophie was able to decipher
some of the clues and now believes that there is more here than a simple murder.  Using
the clues left behind by the curator, Langdon and Neaveu begin to unravel a mystery that
may lead them to the Holy Grail of Jesus Christ, but things are not as age-old beliefs
would have you… uh… believe.

The huge giant controversy behind this story (movie and book) is that, according to the
world of The Da Vinci Code, Jesus got down and dirty with Mary Magdalene which led
to Jesus having children.  This bloodline supposedly survives to this day.  However this
never really bothered me because the story is fiction.  It's made up.  It's not real.  It no
more convinces me of a surviving bloodline of Jesus Christ any more than X-Men 3
convinces me that mutants are evolving on this planet and are killing random people and
each other.  So if you are unwilling to separate the world of fact (the one you live in)
from the world of fiction  (presented on screen or in the book) kindly shut up and fuck
off.  The movie isn't worth the hassle.

Seriously I was very disappointed in this movie.  It was long, drawn out, and I question
why things were changed around.  The movie was so careful to stay locked into the book
in some places and was needlessly changed in others.  I really couldn't figure any reason
for the changes made except for a small number of things that might have been changed
for time issues.  Other than these odd details, this movie is very boring for the
demographic that they were shooting for.  If you've read the book, you know all the
answers to all the riddles, you know how it's going to end, and how the main characters
escape from their little scrapes.  It was because of this that I did something that, for me,
spells a death sentence for a movie.  I checked my watch… a lot.

I can only imagine that people who haven't read the book might enjoy this movie a great
deal more than I did, but I would hazard to guess that the book was better and probably
more worth your time.  The movie looked good, thanks to Director Ron Howard, but that
was about the only thing I could come up with that I enjoyed… well except for Audrey
Tatu's absolutely adorable little over bite… * sigh* it sets me all a quiver.  Even the
performances seemed a tiny bit wooden.  Not terribly so, but enough for me to think they
could have done better.

All in all, this one is going to get a Six Pack o' Beer on the Trevor Cinema Beer Scale. 
It'll be just as good if you read the book and then rent the movie sometime.  If nothing
else it'll save you the price of a theater ticket, which is estimated to be in contest with the
U.S. national debt as the most ridiculous number ever conceived.

X-MEN: The Last Stand

Starring: Hugh Jackman, James Marsden, Famke Jansen, Kelsey Grammar, Ian
McKellan, Patrick Stewart, and that dirty little snot-rag Oscar winner who's name I
refuse to mention (hint: she played the most recent incarnation of Catwoman)

X-Men: The Last Stand picks up a while after the second movie has left off.  Long
enough that it seems that there have been some things going on in the X-Men's world that
would probably fill another movie (major political turn around, a passing tease about the
mutant killing robot Sentinels, and a few new faces around the X-Mansion that seemed to
have made themselves more prominent.)  However, not enough time has passed for Scott
Summers (a.k.a. Cyclops) to get over the death of his sweetheart Jean Grey who died in
the last film.  Racked with grief, Cyclops returns to Jean's watery grave so he can sit,
brood, and grow more chins stubble.  All of a sudden, the lake explodes and all Hell
breaks loose.

When the enigmatic character Wolverine and his teammate Storm are sent to investigate,
they find Jean Grey alive and whisk her away to be looked after by their leader and
mentor Professor X.  It is there that Professor X reveals to Wolverine that Jean Grey had
always suffered a severe case of split personality disorder and was only able to keep
herself under control thanks to mind blocks set up with Professor X's psychic abilities. 
These barriers have been torn down since her "death" and Jean Grey is highly unstable
mentally.

Elsewhere, the U.S. government has used the biological makeup of a young mutant
(whose power is to repel other mutant's abilities thus rendering them "normal") to
formulate a "cure" for the X-factor that causes mutations in humans.  Problem being that
many mutants don't consider their mutations a disease and that they are the next step in
human evolution.  Some make this known through grass roots protests and others take a
more violent approach, mutants like the perennial X-Men villain known as Magneto.  In
order to quell the threat that Magneto poses the government begins to use the cure as a
weapon that is loaded into guns and shot like tranquilizer darts.  It is up to the X-Men
(now joined by a mutant presidential-cabinet member Hank McCoy, a.k.a. The Beast) to
stop Magneto from rallying his brotherhood of evil mutants and killing a lot of people.

Every great empire must fall and I fear that the X-Men franchise may being showing
signs of defeat.  Although this movie wasn't bad, it definitely doesn't hold a candle to the
first two chapters and I think that will leave many fans disappointed.  I've followed the
production news of this movie from very early on and I can't say that I'm surprised. 
Originally slated to direct was Bryan Singer who brought us things like the first two X-
Films and the fantastic TV show House M.D.  But when the actress whose name I shall
not mention began pissing and moaning about wanting a bigger part (and throwing her
Oscar under everyone's nose) Singer got sick of all the delays and bowed out to direct the
new Superman film.  So it was a mad dash to find a director (if memory serves they had
at least three or more different people attached to direct at different points) and to find a
script.  Finally a director was found and shooting could begin… however because of a
certain actress's hemming and hawing, there was no script when shooting began.

The script was rushed and it showed.  There are things in this movie that don't stand up
to even the lightest scrutiny.  For example: when Magneto wants to transport his band of
mutants to Alcatraz Island (where the cure is being manufactured) he uses his mutant
powers to redirect the entire Golden Gate bridge… why he simply didn't load his folks
onto a few buses and fly them over that way (which would have been stealthier and more
conducive to his desires) is not discussed.  Also, Somebody tell me why we wasted time
and money on Angel being in this one.  I really can't figure out why his part was so
important that he couldn't be cut and something else put in.

Another thing, which isn't really a complaint but just really surprising is the way that this
movie really holds nothing sacred.  I'm not being a nitpicky fanboy with continuity here,
the really hold nothing sacred.  They literally kill off several characters that are fan
favorites and pillars of the X-Men universe.  It's almost a good thing, you sit there
thinking to yourself "My God, if they killed that character off… who else dies?"  It's a
comic book strategy that has been selling books for years, and I'm happy to admit it
works here.  It helps to build suspense in a shaky story.

The saving grace of the film is there is a lot of fan service.  There are mentions, full
blown events, characters, cameos, and nods that will get many fanfolks excited in their
pants.  Fastball specials, Sentinels, Bolivar Trask, Dark Phoenix, and lines like "I'm the
Juggernaut Bitch!"  Being a fan the fan service was worth my admission price.

Essentially what's going on is that this is a sequel and it falls into the realm as "not as
good as the first", only in this case… it's the first two.  So I can't really complain too
much, and I did enjoy myself a great deal so…

X-Men: The Last Stand receives a Case O' Beer.  It's worth seeing if the subject matter
interests you.  People not familiar with the franchise may want to pass it up.

Two other quick notes:  The actress who shall not be named (because she is the reason
that this movie wasn't all that it could be) did stay with the picture and did have a bigger
part than the first two go-arounds.  However she really shot herself in the foot.  Because
the studio didn't know if she was going to drop out, the story had to be developed with
her character being interchangeable with another character.  So when the actress did stay
in we got a horribly tacked-on part.  The bad news is that this doesn't help the script at
all.  The good news is that her part, although indeed bigger, is entirely forgettable.

The second note is that this movie has a dynamite ending.  I won't spoil it but it will have
people wondering.  This is bittersweet because 20th Century Fox has hinted that this is the last X-movie that they want to do.  Rumor has it that the C.E.O. has never been enamored of the property.  This is easy to believe because this is the same company that canceled shows like The Critic, Futurama, Freaks and Geeks, Millennium, Undeclared, and once upon a time Family Guy.  However, it is imperative that you stay after the credits and see the epilogue.  After watching that, I don't think we'll be waiting too long for X-Men 4.