Most viewers, even those who eventually became its biggest fans, initially found Richard Kelly‘s debut feature, Donnie Darko, to be strange, convoluted and challenging to fully comprehend on a single viewing. However, compared to his 2006 follow-up, Southland Tales, Darko now seems like Where’s Waldo? Perhaps the absolute craziest film ever made, Southland Tales is a wild ride through pre-apocalyptic paranoia, fevered hallucinations and madness that really defies any kind of classification. It is pulpy, surreal, funny, political and, above all, very weird. I won’t try to convince anyone that this film is a success, per se, but its wild ambition and complete originality make it well worth a look.
Tag: Kevin Smith (Page 1 of 5)
I am always excited to see my favorite filmmakers stretch beyond what they normally produce and explore other genres. For that reason, I applaud Kevin Smith for stepping away from the talky, visually underwhelming comedies for which he is known with his latest film, Red State, a nasty, tense, visceral thriller that, while satirical and occasionally funny, is miles away from a comedy.
Red State is a cinematic middle finger to the vicious, hateful Fred Phelps and his Westboro Baptist Church, an organization best known for the highly tasteful and respectable practice of protesting funerals in order to garner controversy. Though Phelps is eventually mentioned by name in the film’s narrative, his overt fictional surrogate is one Abin Cooper (Michael Parks), a malevolent, fire-and-brimstone preacher who looks a bit like a more diminutive Kris Kristofferson with eyeglasses. Cooper and his followers regularly hold demonstrations in which they hold up signs offering such charming sentiments as “Anal Penetration = Eternal Damnation.”
Kevin Smith’s first foray into the horror genre has been a long time in the making, but after finally watching “Red State” (which could have been titled “Why You Shouldn’t Troll for Sex on the Internet”), it’s easy to see why he had so much trouble securing financing in the first place. And no, it’s not because the film is especially violent or controversial – it’s just not very good. The whole thing is a half-baked idea at best, filled with characters so inconsequential that they don’t even deserve to be given names. Though the film starts out with a fairly promising setup – three teenagers are lured to the small town of Cooper’s Dell with the promise of sex, only to become the latest victims of a crazy religious cult – it quickly abandons the horror angle and devolves into a more generic action-thriller.
The fact that Smith promoted “Red State” as a horror movie may reek of false advertising to some, but it’s hardly the only sting of disappointment that you’ll experience from the film. The unpredictable detour that takes place at the end of the first act isn’t necessarily bad, but it’s very poorly executed, due in large part to the paper-thin story. There’s just not a whole lot to the movie apart from the initial setup, an unnecessarily long sermon delivered by Michael Parks’ zealous cult leader, and an even longer climactic shootout that might have seemed ridiculous if the film hadn’t already lost all credibility. The only saving grace is John Goodman as an ATF agent assigned to bring down the cult, but that’s mostly because he gets all the good lines. If there’s one thing to be grateful for, it’s that the movie clocks in at a brisk 88 minutes, because there aren’t many other reasons why you’d want to subject yourself to “Red State” beyond sheer curiosity.
As I write this the announcement of the 2010 Academy Award nominations is literally only a few hours away — and I’ll most certainly be discussing them tomorrow — but this late bird has some other worms to catch, starting with goings on up in Park City.
* Yes, Kevin Smith and the premiere of his long planned “Red State” is the talk of the geek movie blogosphere today. Sundance can be a real circus and Smith was, I gather, both ringmaster and clown as he jokingly joined the protest staged by the detestable, publicity loving, Westboro Baptist Church who apparently noticed that Smith was attacking them. That was followed by a 26 minute pre-screening talkathon — which I’ve yet to bring myself to watch, though I’ve read the highlights — in which he announced his plans to distribute the film himself.
As for the response to the movie goes, the reviews have been extremely interesting. The fact of the matter is that Smith has so gone on out of his way to attack film critics, it’s kind of hard for any of us to have an opinion of one of his films that isn’t colored by the silliness at this point. No surprise, then, that reaction has been dramatically mixed. Not everyone even agrees if it’s actually a horror film or a religious-themed thriller. Sort of a more violent and bloody, less musical, version of the 1973 “The Wicker Man.”
* Speaking of talented makers of entertaining but highly imperfect films whose need to communicate can often place them at cross-purposes with themselves, James Cameron has told Entertainment Weekly that he’s working on the screenplays for two “Avatar” sequels with the intent of releasing them over Christmas of 2014 and 2015. To his credit, I think, Cameron says he’ll donate some portion of films’ grosses to environmental charities, who can use all the help they can get, considering our planet seems to be melting right at the moment.
* And speaking of directors who at times have worked at cross-purposes with themselves, no one has ever done so in grander fashion than the late Orson Welles. It’s starting to look like his legendary unfinished 1970s project, “The Other Side of the Wind,” may finally get a release of some sort. Because Welles never edited most of it, there’s a school of thought that the film should be released only in unedited form. This is one of the more stupid schools of thought I’ve encountered. Thank goodness, DVDs can make the unedited rushes available to anyone who wants to imagine how the man might have edited the film itself, but rushes are not a movie.
As far as other “lost” Welles films, Kevin Jagernauth mentions a miraculous restoration of his badly truncated, “The Magnificent Ambersons.” I’d settle for a decent restoration/re-release of his Shakespearian opus, “Chimes at Midnight.”
* Chris Hemsworth — aka Mighty Thor, God of Thunder — has seen the Avengers script by Joss Whedon and, guess what, he thinks its “incredible.” Ordinarily, I’d be skeptical of a star’s good opinion of his own movie, but this Browncoat needs it to be incredible. It better be incredible. No pressure, though.
* Another Sundance sale. For what sounds like a small but intense love story, “Like Crazy” fetched a relatively big price.
* Sam Raimi is still chatting up the possibility of some kind “Evil Dead” reboot.
* An item left over from last week relating to another kind of evil dead: Sacha Baron Cohen and Larry Charles’ “The Dictator” based on a novel claimed by an obscure author you might have heard named Saddam Hussein. This is one movie I really have to see.
* I really enjoyed interviewing Morgan Spurlock and he was as nice as could be, but he failed to mention anything about his latest, very clever sounding stunt-documentary “The Greatest Movie Ever Sold,” which has been getting great press at Sundance. Jerkface.
We’re deep, deep, deep, in the holiday doldrums as far as movie news and trailers go. Since I don’t feel like paying any attention whatsoever to Kevin Smith’s latest answer to the question “What is the stupidest possible way to react to some bad reviews?” that really leaves nothing to do but present Bruce Lee playing a game of death with Kareem Abdul Jabbar.
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