In honor of tonight’s premiere of a new women-in-prison masterpiece (ahem), I’m presenting some moments from exploitation classics of the past, today highlighting the work of a true exploitation master, Jack Hill. (Hill also happens to guest star in the exploitation masterwork mentioned above.) Below, the amazing credit sequence from the Pam Grier magnum opus, “Foxy Brown.” Check it out.
And here’s a brief scene with a real Jack Hill touch to it.
In which I shamelessly plug the new exploitarama from my long time friend and cohort, Cody Jarrett. “Sugar Boxx” a women-in-prison low-budget extravaganza of sex, mayhem and other tried and true filmic values premieres tomorrow night, September 5th, at midnight at the Sunset 5 Theatres on the eastern edge of West Hollywood. Those lucky enough to be in attendance will be treated to sexy nudity, a great score (by The Millionaire of Combustible Edison and Steven Adler, formerly of Guns ‘n Roses), gratuitous violence, nudielicious sex, a line of hilarious-yet-pithy dialogue 40% written by me as well as brief flashes…of me (in a nonspeaking role!), nudity, Russ Meyer superstars Tura Satana and Kitten Natividad and the smoking-hot stars of tomorrow (and reality TV), foul language, a little violence, and some more or less nude lesbian sex.
You can see just a hint of that below:
The show is likely to be crowded with famed cast members (including me!) and may well sell out, so buying your tickets early is a good thing. You may still be able to do so here. And, if you can’t make it — acceptable excuses include living thousands of miles from greater Los Angeles — the absolute least you can do is to check out the Sugar Boxx Facebook page as well as the fabulous official website which will no doubt help keep you informed as to various means of viewing this soon-to-be-enormous masterwork.
There’s a definite feeling of apathy about this week’s new box office releases, but on we go.
Topping this Labor Day weekend’s movie newbies is the Gerard Butler sci-fi action flick from the team who brought us “Crank.” “Gamer” adds a video game twist to such past violent media commentaries as “Death Race 2000” and “The Running Man.” Lionsgate isn’t screening this one for critics, so there’s no reason to assume there’s anything terribly clever or satirical about it, though a capable supporting cast led by Michael C. Hall (Showtime’s “Dexter“) as a villainous game designer as well as Ludacris and Kyra Sedgwick seem to indicate someone, at one point, hoped to do something interesting with this one. As for commercial success, it appears to all be laid at the feet of Butler. Nothing against the very capable Scottish thespian, but I just don’t see this one beating last week’s leader, the gimmick-driven 3-D horror opus, “The Final Destination.”
And that, I’m sure goes double for next of the three new major releases of the week, the Sandra Bullock headlined screwball romantic comedy, “All About Steve.” A film which the nation’s critics might well wish Fox had withheld, it has achieved the still fairly rare honor of a 00% Rotten Tomatoes “Fresh” rating (as in 100% “rotten”). Costar Bradley Cooper’s newfound recognizability via “The Hangover” probably won’t help much here, and Thomas Haden Church doubtless deserves better. Apparently the creators of this one intended Bullock’s character to be a lovable eccentric, but instead wound up with the more usual sort of eccentric — the kind who’s just weird. There’s likely a reason this one’s being dumped at the end of a long movie summer.
It’s in significantly fewer theaters than its competitors at only about 1,500, but Mike Judge’s “Extract” simply has to be better than either of them. At a 55% RT rating, the nation’s critics pretty much reflect the divided reaction of my fellow PH-er Jason Zingale, who calls it “a wildly uneven film that is deftly funny at some points, and just plain dull in others.” Still, though Jason 100% detested Judge’s earlier, barely released, “Idiocracy” that film got better reviews and the portions I’ve seen on cable certainly made me laugh — not that anyone cares what us critics think.
As the writer-director of “Office Space” and the creator of TV’s “King of the Hill” and “Beavis and Butthead,” Judge is a knotty figure when it comes to movies. His now legendary workplace comedy was pretty much dumped at the box office only to be discovered later on vide0, and “Idiocracy” got even less promotion than the original release of “Space.” (Jason would say for good reason.) “Extract” star Jason Bateman is a skilled comedian but despite important parts in numerous hits, including “Juno,” he’s a very long way from the film stardom of his onetime TV son, Michael Cera. Still, both Judge and Bateman have a lot of pent-up goodwill. Maybe there’ll be a surprise here, but don’t bet the farm, or even the garden, on it.
That leaves two 100-theater releases. The first is a horror flick being dumped after the demise of Paramount Vantage. “Carriers” seeks to milk horror from pandemic fears. Quarantined from critics, it stars the talented Lou Taylor Pucci and the new Captain Kirk, Chris Pine. Speaking of James Tiberius, the other release isn’t new at all but another chance to catch J.J. Abrams’ hugely entertaining (if oddly filmed) “Star Trek” in Imax, which has certainly lived long and prospered at the box office.
* It’s playing in relatively few theaters in the U.S., but the acclaimed documentary “The Cove” may have already saved the lives of many dolphins in Japan. The film documents a clandestine attempt to expose a regular slaughter of the highly intelligent animals thought by many to be sentient. (As in, self-aware, like humans.) H/t to Christopher Campbell who documents the blogger reaction.
* Are you excited about the Oscars already? Me neither, but those who really want to get into the weeds about the changes in the awards and possibly the ceremony will want to read Steve Pond’s interview of MPAA Executive Director Bruce Davis. It seems the Academy is worried about cash. Who isn’t?
* YouTube is reportedly negotiating with Lionsgate, Warners, and Sony for a possible pay-per-view movie service. You can already see movies on YouTube for free, in chunks of ten minutes. Even in more user-friendly form, I wouldn’t call it an ideal way to watch movies, but having more options is never a bad thing, I suppose.
* If ever there was a guy who’d love David Lynch-influenced musical comedy space westerns, I’d be that guy. But Cory McAlbee’s first entry in that sub-sub- genre, “The American Astronaut” didn’t do a whole lot for me, though he’ knows how to make things look interesting and I liked one of the numbers. Still, give indie filmmaker/musician Cory McAlbee credit for sticking to his musical comedy space western guns while also playing around with formats and self-distributing. As Anne Thompson reminds me, his new entry is a six part serial, “Stingray Sam,” which will be showing in a downtown L.A. movie theater this week and will also be viewable on cell phones.
Here’s the trailer I stole from Ms. Thompson. It works hard to be clever and funny but, except for the part about “I’m not David Hyde Pierce,” I barely cracked a smile as I watched it. Still, McAlbee knows how to create memorable imagery. Maybe you’ll like it better.
Though the people involved are not household names, this is easily the saddest post I’ve had to write here. I was going to try to blend with less somber stories, but that just seems tasteless. So, without the usual pictures or videos, here’s just the facts as I know them.
* French documentarian Christian Poveda was shot by suspected Salvadoran gang members with links running right here to Southern California. Poveda joins the very small group of directors who have been murdered because of their filmmaking and/or writings. You’ll remember the case of abrasive, iconoclastic Dutch filmmaker, Theo van Gough, murdered by an Islamic extremist with alleged ties to terrorist groups. Also, journalist Doug Ireland has pointed to a possible fascist connection to the 1975 murder of openly gay “Catholic Marxist” writer-director Pier Paolo Pasolini.
* Variety reports that Filipino-Canadian critic Alexis Tioseco and his partner, Slovenian writer Nika Bohinc, were murdered Wednesday when they surprised burglars at their home in Manila. Though I wasn’t acquainted with their work, this nevertheless hits a little closer to home for me. Fellow critic and cinephile blogger Noel Vera has a remembrance of Tioseco, who was only 28.
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