Guilty Pleasure No. 2: The Pit (1981)

Let me just start with the tag line: Jamie wouldn't kill anyone...unless Teddy told him to!

A weirdly wonderful and funny horror movie that is simply unpredictable. Jamie Benjamin, played by Sammy Snyders (yes that is his real name) is an autistic child who is bullied by the local community and his classmates. Whilst taking a stroll one day he comes across a pit in the forest that is filled with carnivorous creatures that feast on human flesh... Revenge ensues.

Jamie with his blonde bowl hair-cut and turtle neck sweaters stares at boobs all day and has conversations with his demonic teddy at night. The teddy does talk back. He loves boobs so much he stages an elaborate plan to get topless photos of the school librarian. When he brings back his stash of naughties teddy exclaims "I'm gonna look at these a lot" in an extremely sincere and disturbing way. Everytime Jamie talks there is "atmospheric" music piped in to accompany the close up shots of his bulging eyes - to suggest how evil he really is.

He wreaks revenge on the community that bully him by feeding them to some monsters he found in a pit. The movie is basically death scenes, boobs, bullying and Jamie staring insanely and running about in a strop if anything upsets him. A few deaths are accompanied by jolly, uplifting marching band music in a montage scene where an old lady in a wheelchair and an aspiring football player come to their grisly ends; Jamie is having the time of his life.

With DVD chapter titles such as, Disturbing Bathtime, Handicapped Accessible and Half-naked lunch there really is no level of depravity the film-makers do not touch upon. There is no give in this relentless tale of voyeuristic perversion.

I love this film for its extreme close-up nipple shots, bad acting, bad editing, red-eyed monsters and depravity. It makes me laugh like no comedy ever could. Nothing compares to it.

Guilty Pleasure No. 1: DUETS

If you LOVE Karaoke, keep reading. Duets combines two of my favourite things; Karaoke and a road trip. This is the film where I fell in love with Paul Giamatti as a man who gets sick of the American dream, flips out, takes a road trip away from his family and sings some karaoke. Giamatti knows how to do breakdown and I love a "man on the edge" performance. Watch as he duets here with Andre Braugher:

As his road trip nears the end and his wife finally tracks him down in a karaoke bar to persuade him to come home he very sincerely says: "I can't go back to who I was. I'm different now. I sing." BRILLIANT! As cheesy as the whole thing is I found it poignant and a tear or two may have been shed.
His performance is stand out in the film and I have followed his career religiously ever since.

There are two other duet performances in this film. Huey Lewis plays Gwyneth Paltrow's estranged father and they bond over, you guessed it, Karaoke. As much as I usually hate Paltrow's whiny little guts she is a pretty decent singer and I may have even liked her for the duration of this film. Lewis is just an awesome singer - this we all know.

The third duet relationship is between the wonderful Maria Bello and Scott Speedman who strike up an uneasy romance on the road. It is probably the weakest of the three storylines but Bello belts out her take on the Eurythmics Sweet Dreams and her damaged character is endearing.

This is my guilty pleasure for all the feel good Karaoke moments, the building road trip relationships and Paul Giamatti. Not sure why the haven't released it on blu-ray yet...

What I've been up to...

So, I haven't posted for a while but that doesn't mean I haven't still been busy writing. The lovely Purl About Town has suggested my blog worthy of the Liebster award which has given me a kick up the ass to update it. I will explain more about the award in my next post, but you can read all about it on Purl About Town's crafty blog here.

I have been busy reviewing films and have been posting them on the wonderful Cinetalk website. I got the opportunity to interview the acclaimed Russian Director Andrei Konchalovsky who with films like Runaway Train and Tango & Cash under his belt had a great sense of humour about the whole Hollywood Industry but took his work very seriously. I made some people angry by writing this scathing review. I indulged in some literary adaptation by watching Never Let Me Go which is one of my favourite books. I went to see  Paul with my husband Paul (and Brett). I was disappointed by the new Ivan Reitman flick, No Strings Attached and overwhelmed by the greatness of some melodramatic Japanese cinema in Confessions.

And finally, I went to see Rango, which is out in the UK today. You can read my review here.

Over the next few weeks I will be updating my blog religiously with my choice of Guilty Pleasures - both film and books. Hopefully see you soon.

E-Book Review: Benchwarmer

A poignant tale about where imaginary best friends go after we are done with them. This story focuses on, Mr Paloobi; a suited bear like figure that is conjured up from the imagination of a lonely, overlooked young boy.  They play chess and eat dinner together, but never share chocolate, and build up a very sweet and innocent relationship.  When the young boy discovers girls and finally starts growing up Mr Paloobi gets sent to “warm the bench” where he spends his time dwelling on the friendship that developed, was nurtured and then lost.  After 70yrs on the bench, he is finally called back into play. As the ageing process starts to deteriorate his long, lost friend’s mind, you are left contemplating the worries faced when getting older. The author has put a positive spin on these problems by providing a comforting idea that it may not be all that lonely when your memories start to fade.  An accessible story that touches on the uncertainties of ageing in a sensitive and thoughtful way. 

Bench Warmer is available to buy here and is published by Fortykey.

Catfish

I watched this film at the London Film Festival, and have been dying to post a review about it ever since. Now its general release date is looming in the UK, I thought it was time I gave my opinion on this fine documentary about social networking via the internet.

I have been recommending this film to nearly every person I come into contact with, for two simple reasons, it is highly entertaining and an extremely relevant, thought provoking documentary. It follows Nev Schulman's life in New York and online as he builds up a relationship with a young girl and her family via Facebook. I didn't read anything about this film before I went to see it and I am pretty grateful for that. The element of surprise and intrigue drew me into the film and kept me glued to my seat with anticipation. A light-hearted beginning that introduced you to the upbeat world of Nev and his friends and family soon took a dark turn that weaved into a story I wasn't expecting. With a whole plethora of emotions in tow, happiness, delight, fear and sadness it kept my attention throughout.

Sure, there are questions about how linear the filming process was, and I did start to question this about a week after seeing the film. But I was still thinking about the film for a long time after I actually viewed it, which speaks for itself. A good documentary should certainly get you thinking and questioning and I spent the entire train journey home talking about how I would deal with certain situations and dilemmas brought up in the film that (in my opinion) were dealt with in a graceful and sensitive nature by the filmmakers.

Facebook has quite simply changed the way my generation interact with each other and Catfish steers you to tread the path of cautiousness when starting an online relationship. I don’t want to give away anything more about this film as it may spoil your viewing pleasure. All I will say is if you use any internet social networking tools you will probably have an opinion on how and why this documentary is having such an impact on its audience.

The reason I left it a while to post my review is that this film has made it into my top ten films of 2010. A feature that will be posted in the next couple of weeks.
Catfish is on general release in the UK on 17th December 2010, let me know what you think of it...



Those LKFF reviews and Cinetalk

The festival was a great experience and the ICA hosted the event with class as always. If you fancy a break from the norm I would certainly recommend this festival, the programme was certainly diverse in its choices and I think everyone could find at least a few films here they would enjoy. You can read my reviews from the London Korean Film Festival here. The lovely people at Cinetalk have been posting them on their excellent website, so follow the link and have a gander!

The American

The American certainly is a film that transports you to another location, the Italian countryside that is. With the scenic aerial views of the landscape and intricate filming of the backstreets of an Italian village I was carried out of the cinema into the tense and muted world of an assassin undertaking his final assignment. With a beautiful snow filled and shocking opening scene I was drawn in from the start.

A captivating performance from George Clooney, with only snippets of dialogue throughout, the acting is of paramount importance as he leads you through a very lonely narrative. I am glad to say Clooney delivers. He plays a cool character with a vulnerable edge that makes him endearing and I was rooting for him to get the girl and save the day. With his brooding stare and intense gazing he leads the audience through a symphony of emotions.

This is Anton Corbijn’s second foray into feature film, the first being Control, and they are two totally different films; although the crafting of the music is tantamount in both. He builds the tension so well I was literally questioning every single person’s intentions. Considering the fact we are basically given no knowledge of Jack’s (Clooney) background, this film relies on the strength of the acting and we are given a well-crafted character piece with a European art-house ambiance.

This understated flick reminded me of the drawn out, seventies thrillers that have long since gone. A film that certainly has its place in modern cinema,  although perhaps not as fast paced an action film as you may be expecting from some of the trailers. Corbijn does deliver violence and pace, but in short bursts that pierce the otherwise uneasy silence of the bulk of the film. A handsome, suspenseful drama that had me biting my nails with suspicion.

The American is in cinemas from the 26th November.