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Outtakes

Asia Extreme! House

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House (Hausu) (1977)

by Hope Madden

For a weirdly Japanese take on haunted houses, sneak a gander at Hausu. Think of it as something like Pee-wee’s Playhouse of Carnage.

A spoof of sorts, Hausu tells the story of six uniform-clad high school girls named Gorgeous, Fantasy, Sweet, Melody, Kung Fu, and Mac. The nomenclature alone should clue you in on the film’s lunacy.

The giggling sextet spend spring break at an aunt’s spooky house – or, in fact, a cheaply made set of an aunt’s spooky house. Not a single thing that follows makes sense, nor is it really meant to.

Expect puppets, random musical sequences, remarkably bad backdrops, slapstick humor, a demonic cat, a man-eating piano, and an amazingly sunny disposition given the sheer volume of human dismemberment.

The trippy nonsense wears a bit thin eventually. Luckily director Nobuhiko Obayashi’s film clocks in at under 90 minutes, so the screen goes dark before the novelty wears off.

 

 

Hausu screens at midnight Thursday (8/8). You can also see:

7:30 PM: Blood C: The Last Dark

10:30 PM: Battle Royale

Outtakes

Countdown: Saving Your Summer

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After Earth, The Lone Ranger, Pacific Rim – it’s hard not to see the summer of 2013 as a moviegoing bust. But if you think it’s been a weak season, it probably just means you missed the shiniest gems of the year.  Voila: The countdown meant to save your summer movie experience. Here are the top 5 best of the season’s movies. You may have missed these, but you might still have time to catch them.

5. Crystal Fairy & the Magical Cactus

A mind expanding road trip works better than expected, as does this mostly improvised, funny and insightful flick.

4. The Way, Way Back

Sam Rockwell steals this one as the Bill Murray-esque role model to an awkward teen going through a tough time. Smart, uproariously funny and brimming with excellent performances, this is a true summer movie, and one not to be missed.

 

3. Much Ado about Nothing

Joss Whedon gives another reason for nerds to rejoice. He mines the Bard for the humor he intended, and puts together a house party that looks like an absolute blasts.

2. Stories We Tell

Sarah Polley directs a documentary that unveils a family secret, and in doing so provides fascinating insights into how families work, and how we all – including filmmakers – rework reality to suit our needs.

1. Fruitvale Station

Newcomer Ryan Coogler astonishes with his feature directorial debut, witnessing the devastating true story of Oscar Grant. We predict Oscars.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtBPTARJcLo

New In Theaters

A Powerful Kick in the Gut

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by George Wolf

 

If you don’t already know the true story behind Fruitvale Station, just make it a point to see this touching, powerful, superbly acted film, and read no further.

It concerns the tragic death of Oscar Grant, shot dead at the age of 22 by Bay Area transit police on the first day of 2009. A sad and needless incident, it arrives on the screen as a remarkably assured feature debut from writer/director Ryan Coogler.

Himself a native of the Bay Area, Coogler strikes the perfect tone to tell Grant’s story, eschewing easy grandstanding in favor of a personal, intensely intimate approach. Shot on location in Oakland, much of the film has a verite feel, presenting Grant as a flawed, dimensional character, a real human being living a life we just happen to drop into.

Coogler’s storytelling is so casual and free of pretension that it could have backfired, failing to hold an audience’s attention. His genius move is to open the film with (be warned) the shocking cell phone video of Grant’s actual shooting, thus giving the dramatic narrative that follows it a quiet sense of foreboding, as each minute takes us closer to the unfortunate turn of events that took Grant’s life.

In the lead role, Michael B. Jordan (The Wire) is simply a revelation. His nuanced performance shows us Grant’s soul, making it nearly impossible not to be moved by his fate. The supporting cast, most notably Melonie Diaz as Grant’s girlfriend and Oscar-winner Octavia Spencer (The Help) as his mother, matches Jordan in equally heartbreaking fashion. The entire ensemble, top to bottom, is first rate.

A sure contender this upcoming awards season, Fruitvale Station becomes so eloquently universal precisely by remaining so personal. Though indeed an account of a young black man gunned down by a white security officer, the film’s only agenda is to tell Grant’s story, not manufacture a martyr.

In doing so, an impressive new filmmaker has delivered an important kick to the gut that you won’t shake for days.

 

Verdict-4-5-Stars

 

 

 

 

New In Theaters

Michael Cera Says No to Dirty Hippies, Yes to Drugs

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Crystal Fairy & The Magic Cactus

by Hope Madden

One of this summer’s brightest surprises comes by way of Michael Cera’s drug-fueled road trip picture Crystal Fairy & The Magical Cactus.  Loosely scripted and casually filmed, the flick follows the journey of a group of youngsters in search of some mind expansion in Chile. What evolves is a quietly, subversively brilliant character study.

Cera plays Jamie, a displaced American anxious for the experiences available in drug use. He’s insecure, adopts a handful of pseudo-hippie-isms, and looks to really experience life through mind alteration. He meets his match in Crystal Fairy – a modern day freak Jamie invites on the trip.

Crystal Fairy is played by a positively fearless Gaby Hoffman. “Fearless” being the film critic vernacular for “willing to do full frontal.” There is a true fearlessness in that act, particularly if the shocking display of vulnerability it is used properly, as it so definitely is in this work.

Road trips offer such undiluted community experiences that we all want to mock, smack, maybe even abandon one or two co-travelers every now and then. At least that’s the memory I have of Madden family trips.

A little mescaline might have helped, actually.

Regardless, writer/director Sebastian Silva plumbs the situation for touching, comic, and strangely familiar moments. Those who saw his magnificently naturalistic The Maid will recognize the filmmaker’s contagious fascination with common moments. Silva’s screenplay – handled with grace and humanity by the ensemble – never stoops to easy jokes, although the entire picture beams with humor. Characters develop multiple dimensions, and the mostly improvised conversations take charmingly human paths.

The portrayal is deceptively well structured, though. It may feel for all the world like one profoundly uncomfortable journey meandering for a couple of hours, showcasing two pushy Americans who embarrass themselves in front of three lovely Chilean brothers. But Silva has a more satisfying and definite aim than that.

You should give it a try.

I mean the movie, not the mescaline.

Verdict-3-5-Stars

Outtakes

Asia Extreme! Ju-on

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Ju-on (2002)

by Hope Madden

Before cashing in on Hollywood’s J-horror remake madness, Japanese writer/director Takashi Shimizu captured his own nation’s imagination with this low-budget tale of one tough to rent house. Its previous tenants don’t just scare you away, they follow you home. Ghosts never die, you see, but apparently interlopers do. Just visiting the house once is enough to saddle you with tag along spirits who will kill you and then stack you up in the attic.

Shimizu’s first effort in the series that spawned the American remake The Grudge and sequels on both sides of the Pacific is basically just a story about some nice people trying to do the right thing. Idiots!

The picture does not rely on sustained suspense, or even the hope of escape or salvation. The narrative is simply a non-sequential look at a handful of lives irreversibly damaged by contact with the house. There may be a total of half a dozen scenes in the entire film without a specific shock or scare. And most of the scares are pretty creepy.

The bigger budget of the Hollywood counterpart helped Shimizu create a richer, more atmospheric nightmare, but the limited funds of the original effort required more strategizing. With his unique pacing, inventive sound editing and use of shadow he creates a sense of something always on the periphery.

 

Ju-On: The Grudge screens at 4:30 PM on Saturday (8/10). You can also see:

1:30 PM: Ringu

7:30 PM: Horror Stories

10:30 PM: IP Man: The Final Fight

12:0 AM: The Slit Mouthed Woman

Outtakes

Asia Extreme! A Tale of Two Sisters

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A Tale of Two Sisters (2003)

by Hope Madden

A lurid Korean fairy tale of sorts – replete with dreamy cottage and evil stepmother – Kim Jee-Woon‘s A Tale of Two Sisters is saturated with bold colors and family troubles.

Kim would go on to direct the also outstanding, although entirely different, I Saw the Devil, but where Devil breathes masculinity, Tale of Two Sisters is a deep, murky, and intensely female horror.

A tight-lipped father returns home with his daughter after her prolonged hospital stay. Her sister has missed her; her stepmother has not. Or so it all would seem, although jealousy, dream sequences, ghosts, a nonlinear timeframe, and confused identity keep you from ever fully articulating what is going on. The film takes on an unreliable point of view, subverting expectations and keeping the audience off balance. But that’s just one of the reasons it works.

The director’s use of space, the composition of his frame, the set decoration, and the disturbing and constant anxiety he creates about what’s just beyond the edge of the frame wrings tensions and heightens chills. The composite effect disturbs more then it horrifies, but it stays with you either way.

Tale masters the slow reveal in large and small ways. Whether you’ve begun to unravel the big mystery or not, Tale always has something else up its sleeve. Or, under its table.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQV7ejqpbPc

 

A Tale of Two Sisters screens Friday, (8/9) at 10:30 PM. You can also see:

1:30 PM: Mother

4:30 PM: I Saw the Devil

7:30 PM Doomsday Book

12:00 AM: The Host

Outtakes

Asia Extreme! The Host

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The Host (2006)

by Hope Madden

Japan may have left its monster movie past behind it, preferring circuitous tales where ghosts and technology intertwine, but in 2006, Korea took its own shot at the Godzilla fable. The sci-fi import The Host, which tells the tale of a giant mutant monster terrorizing Seoul, has all the thumbprints of the old Godzilla movies: military blunder, resultant angry monster, terrorized metropolis. Writer/director Joon-ho Bong updates the idea, though, and not solely with CGI.

The film opens in a military lab hospital in 2000. A clearly insane American doctor, repulsed by the dust coating formaldehyde bottles, orders a Korean subordinate to empty it all into the sink. Soon the contents of hundreds of bottles of formaldehyde find its way through the Korean sewer system and into the Han River. This event – allegedly based on fact – eventually leads, not surprisingly, to some pretty gamey drinking water.  And also a 25 foot cross between Alien and a giant squid.

Said monster – let’s call him Paul – exits the river one bright afternoon in 2006 to run amuck in a very impressive outdoor-chaos-and-bloodshed scene. A dimwitted foodstand clerk witnesses his daughter’s abduction by the beast, and the stage is set.

What follows, rather than a military attack on a marauding Paul, is actually one small, unhappy, bickering family’s quest to find and save the little girl. Their journey takes them to poorly organized quarantines, botched security check points, misguided military/Red Cross posts, and through Seoul’s sewer system, all leading to a climactic battle even more impressive than the earlier scene of afternoon chaos.

The film’s decidedly comedic tone gives the film a quirky charm, but seriously diminishes its ability to frighten. Host does generate real, claustrophobic dread when it focuses on the missing child, though. Along with its endearing characters, well-paced plot, and excellent climax, it makes for a film that may be no Alien, but it’s a hell of a lot better than Godzilla.

 

 

The Host screens midnight Friday (8/9). You can also see:

1:30 PM: Mother

4:30 PM: I Saw the Devil

7:30 PM: Doomsday Book

10:30 PM: A Tale of two Sisters

New In Theaters, Slider

2 Cool

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by George Wolf

 

Last year, director Baltasar Kormakur and star Mark Wahlberg managed to make the heist thriller Contraband a good bit better than it probably should have been.

This year they up the ante, utilizing a snappy script, one Mr. Denzel Washington and a solid ensemble cast to make 2 Guns one of the most entertaining films of the summer.

Granted, it may be forgotten by fall, but right now, as a weak film season winds down, this type of stylish fun is welcome. And it’s all rooted in the undeniable chemistry of the two leads.

Wahlberg is “Stig,” an undercover naval intelligence officer, and Denzel is Bobby, an undercover DEA agent. Though they’re working together to infiltrate a drug cartel, neither knows the other is one of the good guys.

A few double crosses later, and they’ve got a ruthless drug lord (Edward James Olmos), a sleazy CIA boss (Bill Paxton, gleefully over the top) and a crooked navy officer (James Marsden)  threatening to kill them both unless they can hand over a massive load of stolen cash.

Kormakur sets the hook with a taut, mysterious opening, then maintains a crisp pace full of flashbacks, callbacks, and impressively staged action. Based on a series of graphic novels, the script from Blake Masters is witty but not overly comedic, and elaborate but not convoluted, while also managing to land a few jabs on U.S.- Mexican relations.  Nicely done.

Wahlberg’s performances always seem to reflect the level of talent around him, and he is very effective here, relishing the chance to be the comic relief side of a badass duo. Washington seems equally engaged, letting you feel the wheels turning as Bobby coolly  figures out what’s what. Their fun is contagious, to the audience as well as their fellow actors.

An engaging mix of buddy cop caper, spy thriller and Wild West shoot em up, 2 Guns is just the kick in the pants this movie summer needs.

 

Verdict-3-5-Stars

 

 

Outtakes

It’s Asia – to the Extreme!

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It’s coming!!

What’s coming? The coolest thing ever – a film festival Hope got to help program. And it is too nutty!

Asia Extreme opens at the Gateway Film Center next Thursday, August 8 and runs through the following Tuesday (8/13). Expect showers of blood, technology ghosts, regular ghosts, ass kicking, face kicking, face sliting, demonic cats, and vengeance. Oh, so much vengeance.

Some highlights include the Park Chan-wook’s full Vengeance Trilogy, in one location for one low price. See Oldboy as it was meant to be seen before the American version potentially ruins it. Truth be told, Spike Lee’s trailer looks pretty good. Still, the original’s a surefire weirdfest that may kill your soul just a little.

Another insane set of three: Kim Jee-Woon’s I Saw the Devil, Doomsday Book (in its Midwest premier) and A Tale of Two Sisters. A punishing director with tremendous visual flair and subversive humor, Jee-Woon work is meant to be enjoyed on a big screen.

Another two from Joon-ho Bong – the riveting drama of Mother (voted Best Foreign Language Film by the Central Ohio Film Critics Association in 2011), and the spectacular creature feature The Host – will keep you wildly entertained.

There’s more, including the Asian originals of Hollywood flicks you know and may love: Ringu, Shutter, Ju-On: The Grudge, and Pulse. Plus action and Sci-Fi to rip your flesh off, like the infamous Battle Royale, Election, BKO: Bangkok Knockout, and the fascinatingly titled This Girl Is Bad-Ass (in its Ohio premier, no less).

And more! Seriously, there are like another dozen movies I haven’t even mentioned! Who’s geeked?!

So, obviously, go. Do it! How could you not?!!

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQV7ejqpbPc

 

Thursday, August 8

7:30 PM             BLOOD C: THE LAST DARK (2012) – US Theatrical Premiere!

10:30 PM          BATTLE ROYALE (2000)

12:00 AM          HOUSE (1977)

Friday, August 9       

1:30 PM             MOTHER (2009)

Three films from legendary director Kim Jee-Woon:

4:30 PM             I SAW THE DEVIL (2010)

7:30 PM             DOOMSDAY BOOK (2012) – Midwest Premiere!

10:30 PM          A TALE OF TWO SISTERS (2003) – First Ohio Theatrical Screening!

12:00 AM          THE HOST (2006)

Saturday, August 10             

1:30 PM             RINGU (1998)

4:30 PM             JU-ON: THE GRUDGE (2002)

7:30 PM             HORROR STORIES (2013) – US Theatrical Premiere!

10:30 PM          IP MAN: THE FINAL FIGHT (2013)

12:00 AM          THE SLIT MOUTHED WOMAN (2006)

Sunday, August 11  

The Vengeance Trilogy – First combined theatrical screening in Columbus! Patrons can see SYMPATHY FOR MR. VENGEANCE, OLDBOY, and LADY VENGEANCE at normal prices or all three for $15!

1:30 PM             SYMPATHY FOR MR. VENGEANCE (2002)

4:30 PM             OLDBOY (2003)

7:30 PM             LADY VENGEANCE (2006)

10:30 PM          THE RED SHOES (2006) – Columbus Premiere Screening!

Monday, August 12 

1:30 PM             PULSE (2001)

4:30 PM             SHUTTER (2004)

7:30 PM             BKO: BANGKOK KNOCKOUT (2010) – Ohio Premiere!

10:30 PM          THIS GIRL IS BAD-ASS!! (2012) – Ohio Premiere!

Tuesday, August 13              

1:30 PM             ELECTION (2005)

The Ghost School Trilogy – First combined screening in the Midwest! Patrons can see WHISPERING CORRIDORS, MEMENTO MORI, and WISHING STAIRS at normal prices or all three for $15!

4:30 PM             WHISPERING CORRIDORS (1998)

7:30 PM             MEMENTO MORI (1999)

10:30 PM          WISHING STAIRS (2003) – Closing Night Screening!

 

So that happened...

So That Happened… Chirpers, Episode 3

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I realize that I have neglected to keep you up to date on the breathlessly fascinating world of the young telephone sales folk in the pod outside my office door, affectionately known by me as The Chirpers. The negligence! So, rather than work five full days last week, I spent most of one day eavesdropping. Before you  judge remember– they sit right outside my door and talk incessant inanities. I’m not made of stone.

Anyway, here’s the blow by blow.

 

9:40 am:

Chirper #1: I’m really trying to lose three pounds.

Three pounds. A conversation about three pounds. Hey, I know! Maybe walk away from my office to burn off those lbs!

Chirper #2: No you don’t!

Chirper #1: I’m really super stoked about it. Look! It’s a power hot yoga.

Chirper #2: Let me have that website!

This looks to be a productive day all around.

 

10:20 am:

Chirper #2: I got home last night and everything was gone. Every cup, every bowl. I mean, the china bowls, but even the plastic. I mean, it was hers, but she just got married and she got all this free stuff. She doesn’t need it. I was such a good friend to her. I did so much for her. And now she does this.

Oh my God, the tragedy! After getting all that free stuff for getting married, she pulls something as heinous as packing her own belongings and leaving the chirper without plasticware! Honestly, how did she even manage to face the day? The courage…

 

11:00 am:

Chirper #3: The stuff is so cute. Aqua, purple…

C#1: My gosh, look at this…

C#3: The dresses are so darling!

C#1: Uch, an hour and a half of shopping. I just don’t really get anything done before noon

I’d insert a snide comment, but I have also gotten nothing done. Damn their fascinating idiocy! 

 

11:15 am:

C#1: Wait, do you have nuts over here?

C#2: Yep. In those clear drawers there’s walnuts and almonds.

C#1: Thanks, babe.

Forgot those three pounds already? Oh, well, hot power yoga and all, babe.

 

1:10 pm:

C#1: Three of her kids’ birthdays are today.

C#2: How many does she have?

C#1: Five

C#2: And wait, three have the same birthday? I didn’t know that.

C#1: Yep.

Wait, I hear something in that “yep.” This is going somewhere.

C#2: So, what is nine months before that that they always do it?

C#1: Let’s look. So it would be nine months to the day, right?

Mischievous AND biologically unaware. These two are hot today.

C#2: Ha ha ha ha. The guarantee day.

Those imps!

 

2:40 pm:

C#3: What is it you say, it’s like pushing a watermelon through something? It’s a saying. People say it. It’s like pushing a watermelon through something. It’s like an analogy or something. I can’t think of it. I’m bored.

You tell me, how am I expected to concentrate with monologues like this one unraveling outside my door?

 

3:30 pm:

C#2: No. They’re doing it wrong. Your leg should be level. You’re doing it the right way. I have to say, this is very cheerleaderesque.

C#1: I cannot even deal with you. You are the skinniest little….

C#3: I know. You are.

The three of them were looking at images online and physically mimicking whatever it was they were seeing, striking poses (hot yoga?) and congratulating each other for looking better than the image. During the work day. Within eyeshot of everyone in the office. You have to almost admire them. 

 

4:20 pm:

C#1: Oh my God, I have been literally on the phone all day!

C#2: I know!

I’m sorry – what? Do you mean that you were sitting on top of the phone itself? Because that is actually possible, given the amount of work you’ve accomplished, but it is not what you mean, given that you do not understand the definition of the word “literally”.