Jozlyn Recommends 20: I'm Not High Enough for This
I feel like the Criterion Blu-ray should include a sheet of blotter acid, no? It's like a crime against nature to watch this without the aid of mind-altering substances.
This film has always sat just at the periphery of my awareness. I knew it existed but it never quite worked its way onto my watchlist. I would hear things about it from time to time, but I always just kind of…
Ranking the King (Kong, that is)
Movie Magic!
The aspect of filmmaking that most captured my imagination, at a very early age, was the capacity for pure invention. Sure, the motion picture in and of itself is a magical thing. Edison and the Lumière brothers forever changed the world. But changing the world is mere child's play compared to creating entirely new worlds whole cloth. The invention of special effects has always been, to me, where the real magic lies.…
If you're the kind of person who still has a soul, stop reading here. This is for my fellow jaded nutbags.
Damn! This random slice of nihilistic exploitation sleaze (selected by Jozlyn) blew our friggin' minds. It looks like it was shot on a potato, by a cameraman having a seizure, with the resulting footage edited by a coked-up lunatic. But it's one of those things where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. It's filled with…
Deodato cranks the sleaze knob to eleven and David Hess is such a lovable psychopath. The whole thing is weirdly tame, given the premise, but Hess' performance is so much fun to watch that you can't help but have a good time. I mean, this is way better than The Last House on the Left. However...
***** SPOILERS INCOMING *****
I need to talk about the plot, cuz it's kinda nuts.
First, these rich assholes are absolutely garbage when it…
So, I'm not entirely surprised that this is getting mixed reviews. I think it's something that afflicts the Godzilla franchise as a whole, rather than just this latest film. In my opinion, there are two main reasons why people dislike certain Godzilla films.
First, we must consider the fact that Godzilla is just not for everyone. It's a very niche franchise that began as a series of sci-fi B-movies, featuring actors in rubber monster suits wrestling amongst, or demolishing, miniature…
In 1990, Sion Sono traveled to the US to study at UC Berkeley. He claims to have spent the entire time he was there (around 15 months) watching B-movies and porno films, at a rate of about 5 films a day. He decided, during this period, that he would return to Japan and make the kinds of films that Japan would hate. And so he did. From what I've heard, most Japanese people hate Suicide Club. Well, that's their loss…
