McG, Charlie's Angels & Terminator Salvation

When it was first announced the internet fanboys went balistic that McG was directing a film in this beloved series. With everybody getting a chance to see Terminator Salvation today, I believe that everybody will be singing McG's praises tomorrow. He got written off early because of his goofy name and the cheesiness of his first film Charlie's Angels. But I'd like to be on the record to say that I've been down with the man since day one. I saw the potential in him as a director with Charlie's Angels and I've got the review to prove it. Here's my original review from 2000:

A producer's recipe for a Big Dumb Hollywood movie: Start by coating the pan liberally with a stale TV show. Drop in 1 over-written screenplay, add 3 parts sex-appeal, 2 parts of-the-moment trend, 1 part platinum selling soundtrack and 1 part top-notch special effects, then mix together with the latest video music / commercial director, and bake at 400 for 98 minutes. Finish it off with a nice glaze of high budget ad campaign. End product should yield an average opening gross of 25 million dollars. (Results may vary on subsequent weekends.)

A funny thing happened on the way to the box office for Charlie's Angels, this recipe for usually bland entertainment, turned out to be a delectable treat. Thank you's belong to director McG (short for Joseph McGinty Nichol), who actually knew exactly what kind of movie he was making. McG knew that he wasn't working on the next "Citizen Kane", that he was in-fact making a high budget remake of a cheesy 70's TV show. The movie equally spoofs and celebrates the show it was based on.

Charlie's Angels opens like a new age Scorsese film, with a tracking shot through the Colombia logo, into a jet, up and back down the aisles, then staying with a conversation for a moment, before finally jumping out of the plane with the talkers. Although broken up with camera tricks, it creates quite an impressive opening scene. McG manages to keep up this pace for most of the film. Each scene is a completely different world, we may be in a 50's musical or a back alley kung-fu fight, but we're almost guaranteed to be shown a good time. McG knows the rules of each of these genre's and shoots them accordingly. Unlike so many of the new wave of directors, he knows when to use funky camera angles and slow-motion shots, he doesn't abuse these tricks of the trade.

We're introduced to the Angels via a fun split-screen montage. Natalie (Cameron Diaz) is the fun, girl-next-door type, who kicks butt in an athletic manner. Alex (Lucy Liu) is the refined one, with an elegant fighting style. Dylan (Drew Barymore) is the smokin' in the bathroom, street fightin' babe. Every single scene they are in different clothes or costume. Each girl has their own scenes to shine in; Natalie on stage at Soul Train, Alex as a dominatrix / office efficiency expert, Dylan fights five guys with her hands tied behind her back, the film just goes on like this.

Another major bonus this movie has going for it, is that the important supporting roles are filled by great actors. Bill Murray, who has gone from leading man to character actor in the past few years, turns in a great comedic performance as Bosley, the middle-man between Charlie and the Angels. Alex Knox, the Angels' client is played by Sam Rockwell ("The Green Mile"), he's another character actor who has turned into a scene stealer, with great charisma that jumps off the screen. And without even saying a word Crispin Glover is the creepiest villain of the year, as "The Thin Man".

Story? What story? This film is an excuse to showcase the over-the-top action sequences with the gorgeous girls in their pretty clothes. Haven't you gotten that yet? If you haven't, then you probably won't enjoy this movie.

I've already said it, but I'll say it again, the real star of this film is director McG. Without him, Charlie's Angels would have been another bad TV show remake. He turns what appears to be a pretty weak screenplay, into one fun scene after another. Coming from a music video background, he knows how to set action to music, and the soundtrack turns into another wonderful character. It takes some kind of demented genius to be able to fit Baby Got Back and Turning Japanese into your film perfectly. I look forward with great anticipation to his next film. - Grade: B+

Slaughter

As a huge horror fan, I've been really underwhelmed by the 8 Films to Die For series. When I first heard about it, I thought it was a wonderful idea. Then when I got a chance to actually watch the films themselves, I was very disappointed. I think that The Abandoned was the only film that was really worthwhile out of the first set of 8. When the second set of films came out, the first film I got a chance to see was Crazy Eights, which is easily one of the worst horror films I've ever seen in my life. It left me with such a bad taste in my mouth that I didn't bother to check out any of the other films from that year's crop. And I'd completely stopped keeping track of they were up to.

When I ran across Slaughter at a Redbox, I kind of balked because it was from the latest set of 8 Films to Die For. But nothing else jumped out at me, and I vaguely remembered reading somewhere that Slaughter was a good film. I didn't know anything about it and often that's the best way to go into a movie, without any expectations what-so-ever. At the very beginning of the film we see a girl tied-up, dragged through the woods, and finally dropped into a lake by a creepy looking farmer. Then we're introduced to a couple of young girls, who are out just to have fun. A typical beginning to a horror-flick. The photography and editing were done pretty well though, so I thought I might be in for another decent take on the slasher genre, something along the lines of Hatchet. Boy was I wrong.

We're introduced to Faith and Lola, two girls who've just met in a bar and are becoming fast friends. Faith is new to town, she's trying to escape from an abusive boyfriend. When he manages to track her down, Lola asks Faith to move in with her. She lives in a rustic farmhouse with her unseen father and her mostly unseen brothers. It seemed like only a matter of time until dear-old-dad or Lola's pig bullying brother, would decide to torture Faith to death. But this film really takes it's time to develop, they let us get to know these girls. We learn about their hopes and dreams and they're becoming great friends along the way. I was actually starting to dread the moment when the killer would reveal himself, because I was starting to care about these characters.

At this point I think the typical horror fan would be getting bored, because up to this point, there is really no horror to speak of. I was beginning to ask myself what was going on, did I pick up the wrong movie? But I appreciated what they were doing, because so often we're introduced to a slew of young clichéd characters that you don't give a shit whether they die or not, you only want to be entertained by how they're killed. Slaughter is a very different kind of horror film for this reason. There's only two real characters in the film, they're written and acted well enough that we actually care about what happens to them. The film is structured more like a drama than a horror film, until the last act when things start to go wrong and the film hits you on a whole other level.

I'll try not to give anything away, because I think this is a film that needs to be discovered. I don't believe I've ever seen a horror film built quite like this, where you're not totally sure who to root for. The ending is at the same time, extremely dark and very satisfying. It's not nearly as gory or brutal as most horror films these days, but it hits you harder because you care about these girls. You'll be very surprised by this ending. I do think that this is a film that will rub a lot of people the wrong way, because it starts so slowly and ends in an atypical fashion. But for those it works for, this film will be a brand new experience.

First time writer/director Stewart Hopewell has created a really nice piece of cinema, I'm looking forward to seeing what he does next. I think that Lucy Holt who plays Lola has a wonderful career ahead of her, if she can land some plum roles along the way. She's gorgeous and talented, and I don't think this film would have worked without her. So, 8 Films to Die For has me back for now, this is the kind of film that I was hoping to see from the label. A different breed of horror film that might not get a chance to be seen otherwise. - Grade: B+

Alien Trespass Trailer

I hadn't heard anything about Alien Trespass, until I ran across a small review in Entertainment Weekly. Looks like something right up my alley, a smartly done spoof of sci-fi films from the 50's. It's not exactly the most original idea, with Monsters vs. Aliens out at the moment. And I've seen a few films like this before, Strange Invaders comes to mind, among a few others whose titles escape me at the moment. But the trailer makes it look like fun. Thought I'd do my small part in getting the word out.

Man Maid

Without doing any research I'm guessing that writer/director Chris Lusvardi is a child of the 80's. Man Maid an independent film made in 2008, feels exactly like a stereotypical 80's comedy. There's the so-called weak and/or nerdy lead male character, this time personified by Vincent, a cleaning man who works in a small town hotel. At the beginning of the film we see him taunted and teased by the hotel's customers. There's Chloe the beautiful girl he desires, who doesn't notice him for who he is, because of her no-good boyfriend. There's his stud best friend who can get any girl he wants. And finally there's the good girl Torry, who nobody pays attention too because she's boring and "plain" looking. Although obviously beautiful, outside the film. Then there's the array of goofy side characters who show up in the lead character's life to either help or hinder him along his hero's path.

With the help of one of those kooky side characters, here portrayed by a gum smacking maid and hotel prostitute, Vincent comes up with a plan to win the beautiful girl's heart by dating the plain girl. Of course he starts to fall for Torry, but doesn't want to admit it, only does so when his plan explodes in his face. He then comes up with a gigantic 80's movie plan to get her back; he's going to produce a benefit concert to raise $40,000 and save the hotel from evil developers. Don't think that I'm giving away anything with this review, if you've seen more than five movies, you know exactly where this story is going the whole time. This film might as well have been set in a high school and produced by John Hughes.

Being a huge fan of 80's comedies, I wouldn't have had a problem with Man Maid if they'd used a few of these old plot devices to bring us into the film, then turn them on their head and created something new. But this script was written long before the filmmakers ever picked up their first camera. There are the music montages; one showing us the love growing between Vincent and Torry and a couple more reminding us of what happened in the last thirty minutes, with inspirational quotes and all. We instantly know who the bad guy is because he wears a suit and hits on Torry in obnoxious ways. We're given Vincent's backstory about why he wants to be a maid, through cheesy soft-focus flashbacks. The film goes from A to B to C with nothing new in between.

I'll admit I was enjoying the movie for the first act. Most of the actors all do a decent job with their cliché roles, they keep it fun for a while. (The film won best ensemble cast at the Ashland Independent Film Festival, where I saw it.) But once they get to the third act, and they're posting concert fliers around town and building a stage on Vincent's property, even they seem to get bored with the story, and the film ends with a thud. It's all put together with as little panache as possible. There's one moment where Vincent floats down the halls of the hotel behind his maid's cart, but beyond that, the camera angles are as plain as possible. The lighting of the film is too bright and flat, the editing as standard as possible. Man Maid is a film produced two decades too late. - Grade: C+

Happy Birthday, Harris Malden

I decided to see Happy Birthday Harris, Malden because it was one of the few comedies playing at my local fest, the Ashland Independent Film Festival. My main reason for seeing it was the trailer below, which I thought made the film look funny in an offbeat way. With the idea of a guy who's psychologically compelled to draw on a mustache every day being something I hadn't seen before. I'm always looking for anything new in film.

The film started off promising, with some fun credits created by animated cardboard cutouts, that tells us Harris's back-story. Unfortunately that proved to be the highlight of the film. I was into Harris for about 10 minutes, they quickly introduce us to the cast of characters; Harris, his brother Melvin, best friend Paul and Paul's girlfriend Susan. Each of their introductions made them seem like interesting characters that would be fun to follow for the next 90 minutes, but unfortunately none of them really grew beyond their first impression. With all of them suffering from major cases of arrested development.

Harris is supposed to be the most messed up because he wears a fake mustache, which his friends and family have been letting him live with, because they believe it helps him deal with the death of his father. Beyond that, he may be the most steady man in the group. (Which now that I'm thinking about it, may have been the point of the film.) Paul is a 25-year-old, somewhat successful architect, who still lives with his grandmother, and is scared of moving in with his girlfriend. When he and Susan get in a fight, he acts like a toddler throwing a fit. Harris's brother Melvin lives in a completely delusional world, which is made worse when a commercial director "discovers" him and constantly refers to him as a future superstar. The scene where they're shooting a commercial in front of a green screen, with imaginary dragons attacking Melvin and two scantily-clad girls, is one of the funniest in the film. Susan plays the stick-in-the-mud girlfriend who wants to pull Paul into the adult world, she causes a major rift in the boys world when she tells Harris his mustache is fake. Paul's grandma, who everybody calls Grams, is also a significant character, she's the kooky voice of reason.

The main problem with the film is that is floats somewhere between a realistic drama and a quirky other-world comedy like Napoleon Dynamite. None of the characters rings true as a real person, and while the acting is universally poor, a lot of the fault falls on the dialog. I'm not sure if this film was badly written or badly improvised, either way, the characters often seem to be having their own conversations, with nobody addressing each other in a real world fashion. Their acting style suggests that they're not trying to create realistic characters, but their actions aren't out-there enough to create an alternate universe.

I really don't like bad-mouthing independent films, there is so much love and work that go into making a film, even more so when budgets are extremely low. So I applaud them for putting this film together, unfortunately it is a jumbled mess. One example of this is Harris's mustache, which constantly fluctuates between being drawn-on and a glued-on felt one, which I'm guessing the filmmakers are hoping we wouldn't notice. Happy Birthday, Harris Malden was written, directed and stars a group that calls themselves Sweaty Robot. Although they went down swinging with this film, there's enough here to suggest that they possibly have a good film in their future. There are a few good moments peaking through, a flash of true comedy here, a dash of real drama there, and I also thought that the film was nicely shot and edited for such a low budget feature. Sweaty Robot, I promise to watch your next film, but if it falls as flat as Harris, I'll probably give up. - Grade: C-