Jan 10, 2013

The one thing I have noticed about cinema today is that a lot of filmmakers have stopped taking risks on bringing there vision to screen. Tarantino took a big risk putting out this film and I for one am glad he did.

First off with Django it ticks all of my boxes, spaghetti western mixed with black exploitation, and a little bit of buddy cop story in there. When I first heard that Tarantino was tackling a western I thought he was going to make a typical Leone type film but instead he turned it on its head and made it the focus of a black man during slavery times. Everyone is going crazy over his excessive use of the N word and but I feel that it is a device used to help tell a story, not to degrade anyone and if it was used to degrade anyone it should put shame on the white man.

I feel that Django is a strong role model for all men. Standing up against adversity and doing all he can to be with the woman he loves. The scene that sticks out in my mind so clearly was when he turned the whip on one of the Brittle brothers, it was such a powerful scene and everyone in the theater cheered for Django. The film to me had such an uplifting message, and I totally agree with Tarantino on why isn’t there more films out there like this? Overall I feel Django is the movie of the year, QT hit it out of the park on this one and elevated his storytelling. Please check this film out if you haven’t already!

 

 

 

 

Aug 24, 2012

Lets forget about shitty sequels and remakes ( well, exception being TCM part two with Dennis Hopper.) Lets talk about Tobe Hooper, Marylin Burns, Ed Neal, and Gunnar Hansen. If you where like me growing up you had always heard rumors about this movie, how the family was real and still lived there, or how the real Leatherface is in some maximum security prison awaiting execution.(None of which is true.) I first watched this movie when I was about eleven or twelve years old. Believe it or not at a church youth function.

But, this film just blew me away, I was immediately drawn in by the grittiness of it. From the dead body in the beginning to the dead dog on the side of the road, this was telling me to be wary of what lies ahead. Texas was one of those films that really got me into exploitation films at a time in my life I didn’t even know what that was.

Tobe Hooper directed this film on a shoe string budget, after watching the documentary The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Family Portrait Revisited, the actors give you a real good sense of what it was like filming this movie. 100 degree weather, in Texas, shooting in a house that was boarded up most of the time to keep light out. On top of that continuous film shooting day and night just to get it right. Ed Neal mentions that sometimes they just wanted to kill Marylin just so they could be done.

The films star Gunnar Hansen, said that he based the charcater of Leatherface off of some mentally handicapped people he had visited, to study the way they moved and acted.

This film really helped break down the walls for these exploitation films. Here was one of these films that was getting mainstream attention, just on the violence it portrayed. But, it was a product of its time, look at was going on around us.  More and more press coverage was surrounding the Vietnam war, for the first time the public was really shown the gruesome horrors of war right on their televisions.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre might have spawned a slew of sequels, remakes and pretenders, but nothing beats the hard edge of this film. A film so controversial that you never really see that much gore,it really lets your mind fill in the gaps.

 

Jan 3, 2012

I had been dying to see this film, then my friend gave me a copy  and I was not dissappointed. Folks, the Big Bird Cage is a wonderful film about women held up in a prison camp out in a jungle. It stars Pam Grier and Sid Haig as the title roles of Blossom and Django. Django is the leader of  a small militia bent on having a revolution.

This film has a great mix of comedy and drama. Each girl in the camp has there own role to play. There is the oversexed prisoner, the young quirky girl,  and the tall masculine woman who picks on the quirky girl. There are times when you want to really laugh at the jokes then they can really pull you in with the drama.

The camp is ran by a group of soldiers who are not interested in the women. A gag they play through the whole film, even to the end when the head officer is forced to have sex with all the women.

Sid Haig really stands out from the rest of the cast in this film. There is nothing funnier than when he seduces the two homosexual guards while in the camp. At times it almost seems that he breaks the “fourth wall” in the film. Like he knows that we know what hes doing.

Overall a great film from New World Pictures, I highly advise you to check it out.If not for the film then for the luscious Pam Grier.

 

 

Nov 15, 2011

What can I say about this film, I am generally a sucker for anything that has to do with Paul Williams. I watched this film as a kid growing up and was just in love with it. Bugsy Malone stars a very young Scott Baio and Jodie Foster. It is a gangster movie about Bugsy and his girlfriend Blousey Brown who is trying to make it as a singer. The reason I love this film is because there is not much like it out there. All the roles are played by kids, and instead of shooting bullets they throw cream pies. And they had make shift cars that where actually bicycles.

But not only is it a gangster film it also crosses over as a musical. Paul Williams really hits it home with the score of the film. The only thing I wish they did was use the kids real voices instead of dubbing over them. But all in all I highly recommend giving this a watch its a great film for the family and has some catchy tunes.

Sep 28, 2011

I must admit I am not a huge Chuck Norris fan, though I did watch the cartoon and had the action figures when I was  kid. That being said I really only enjoyed two films of his, Breaker, Breaker and of course Forced Vengeance. With Forced Vengeance (1982) Norris plays a enforcer for a casino that hunts down the men who kills the owner of the club who is also like family to Norris.

The movie runs through the entire manly movie checklist, martial arts, Chuck Norris in a cowboy hat and boots, teaming up with his buddy  from Vietnam, and going nuts over his girlfriend being raped and killed.

The one thing I really liked about this film was the narrative by Norris. I couldn’t tell if the crew was going for a sort of noir-esque feel or this was just reading from the Chuck Norris book of bad assery. The film had a great preformance in Michael Cavanaugh, he did a really great job of sending it up over the top. So I recommend this film, if not for just pure nostalgia or if you are a Martial Arts fan you will definitely like this film.

Aug 26, 2011

I must admit, I had never heard of this movie until I discovered it on Netflix, but I am so glad I did. This movie was directed by Jack Hill (Coffey, Big Bird Cage, Foxy Brown etc.) in 1975, its an exploitation film about a gang of young girls standing up against another rival gang who has more guns and firepower than they do.

This film is definitely an over the top view of women gang members, but it does raise up some interesting ideas in the film. Here it seems the guys who are in charge are made to be seen looking like goons while the girls are always plotting away at schemes. in fact when it comes time for the men to step up and fight the women kick them out and form their own gang the Jezebels. They team up with an all black female group and take back the streets.

I must say I instantly  fell in love with Robbie Lees character Lace. She was very spunky and always looking to through down for her man. She always commanded attention from her fellow gang members. Its also good to note that the character Donut is played by Kitty Bruce, Lenny Bruce’s daughter.

 

This movie also featured Kate Murtagh, who was also in Doctor Detroit. In this film she played the lesbian warden over the juvenile detention area, that the girls are kept in. Give this film a try, it was quite entertaining. Robbie Lee pumps out a great performance,  so does Joanne Nail as Maggie. They proved they could be bad ass chicks with switchblades and chains.