Flavours of the Month: April 2015...

There's been a pervasive amount of Rob Zombie scattered throughout my April 2015, from his music (solo efforts and early White Zombie) to some of his cinematic outings such as "House of 1000 Corpses" and "The Devil's Rejects" ... but that's just a little of what's been tickling my fancy for entertainment.

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Triple Bill Mini Musings: Bling, Deja-vu, and Clanging Metal...

The Bling Ring:
What's it about?
Based on a true story. A gang of self-involved, celebrity-obsessed teenage Californian materialists fulfil their narcissistic urges by stalking the Internet to find out which celebs are out of town and then - after Googling their home addresses - robbing them.
Who would I recognise in it?
Emma Watson, Leslie Mann, Taissa Farmiga, Gavin Rossdale, Paris Hilton.
Great/Good/Alright/Shite?
Sofia Coppola was starting to drift into slightly pompous territory with the sedated and meandering likes of Somewhere (melancholy movie star mopes around The Chateau Marmont for 90 minutes), but thankfully The Bling Ring injects a boost of glitzy, glamorous energy. Comment is rarely made in a direct manner, instead Coppola observes her protagonists without explicit judgement. Their actions are clearly wrong; their lives are founded on parental disinterest, prescription pills, and TMZ. The word "love" is reduced to a cheap affectation drizzled over the nearest object that briefly catches their eye, as they lazily chase dreams of reaching grandiose levels of self-worship. There is a bizarre thrill afforded to the wide-eyed raids on the unlocked (!!!) homes of the (absent) rich and famous, and a simultaneous sense of chic-revulsion. As grotesque as these people's lives are (vapid, soul-less, blissfully ignorant), the performances are universally strong and the pacing is brisk. The film is a little lacking in drama, but ultimately it's satisfyingly damning (from a distance) about the vulgarity of celebrity lifestyle obsession gone mad. Good.

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Fly Me (Cirio Santiago, 1973) Review

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“My daughter, she isn't happy unless she sees everything.” Roger Corman: a name synonymous with low budget exploitation cinema, a man who has brought his audiences cobbled-together spectacles for decades. He's taken us from gun-slinging actioners to monster cheapies, low-fi sci-fi to kung-fu kicking stewardesses – and it's that last little one we're focusing on here: Cirio Santiago's Fly Me...

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Interstellar: Mini Review...

What's it about?
The earth is dying and it's up to test-pilot-turned-single-father/farmer Cooper to pilot one last mission through a black hole to search for a new home for mankind.
Who would I recognise in it?
Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, Michael Caine, Casey Affleck, Topher Grace, and others.
Great/Good/Alright/Shite?
Christopher Nolan is big on ideas and even bigger on presentation, and his science-packed sci-fi is no different. The most common criticism levelled at Nolan has often been the apparent 'coldness' of his films, the extent of which is debatable, but Interstellar undoubtedly ups the heart factor - prepare to have your heartstrings plucked a few times (and wail "Murph!" like it was karaoke). Indeed, its this wrestling between the scientific head and the lovesick heart that provides much of the films dramatic backbone - at times a rocky relationship, but one which pays off when all is said and done. Set in a semi-dystopian future, the world still looks beautiful - aside from the 1930s-alike dust storms, and the inevitable selfishness of mankind that seeks to sleepwalk everyone into oblivion...

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Barbed Wire Dolls (Jess Franco, 1975) DVD Review

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“I'm the Warden of this prison, you're lucky to have been put in my care.” Teaming up with the 'European Roger Corman' Erwin C. Dietrich, on what would be the first of fifteen pairings, Jess Franco was up to his typically mucky-minded antics with the inventively titled Barbed Wire Dolls. Classed by the Catholic Church as a “most dangerous film maker”, Franco's fast and loose style pre-dated the infamous and short-lived Dogme '95 movement – a venture that the mammary-mad auteur dismissed as “a very good publicity thing for a moment”. The use of natural light, a hand-held and self-operated camera, and other things may have been cheap, but it also added a twisted sense of reality to his films, and Barbed Wire Dolls is certainly one of Franco's more warped efforts...

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