Duff-man Saves Television

I really hate (not dislike...hate) reality shows. Perhaps I should embrace them as the greatest exploitive medium to date, but in reality I just find them hard to watch. Ace of Cakes is the exception to this rule. This show is about as real as reality can be on television. There are no challenges or games, there are no eliminations, there are no sob stories, nor are there great makeovers, and most importantly you never watch this show to see people fail. Nay, Ace of Cakes is simply about brilliant, everday people being themselves. The basic story is simple...busy, extremely creative staff of "Charm City Cakes" makes cakes that blow your mind. That is it...you watch to see this group suceed, and you revel in the fact that you get a half hour to hang with this most excellent group from Baltimore.

Duff, the head chef, exudes the best kind of responsible immaturity: he tells the kind of jokes that you tell with your best friends when you are 30 or you are 13. Geoff, the chief sous chef, has a comedic billiance that stems from the mystery of whether he is purposely trying to make you laugh or just being himself. Mary Alice Fallon Yesky, the receptionist and overall organizers for this crew...I cannot say enough about her, this woman has found her calling. Her humor and charm alone make the show worth watching.

The first time I watched this show I wanted to see impressive cakes shaped like King Kong, the Taj Mahal, a Seussian-style wedding cake or... a beaver. While the cakes are amazing to look at, most of the time I am not really paying attention to what they are doing anymore; by now I have seen them laying fondant, or beading with frosting, or using dowels to support the ungainly weight of some pieces. Nope, I am watching because they are letting me sit in on their conversations and just be one of the gang.

Same to Same,

P. H.

Fantasia: Weekend Three

This weekend brought to a close what has been a great month of Fantasia. My most abitious year yet, I attended eight different screening and this coming Friday will be the first this month that I have not spent in Montreal.

The first film I watched this weekend was a Korean martial arts film called The City of Violence. It was a crime drama about a group of high school friends who find themselves becoming divided by the law and the death of their friend. This film had the best trailer I watched in preparation for Fantasia; in fact, the trailer had such an andrenaline saturation, that I couldn't imagine not trying to see it. As a 90 minute film, it naturally had to take a breath once in a while to establish plot points, and I feel like the first fight showed up later than I anticipated, but overall a great time.

What I liked the most about this film was how real the martial arts performances were. The was no significant CGI f/x that I can remember, and the wire work (that creates the kind of super kung fu that you see in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) was used with restraint. The choreography was superb as well, with many scenes shot in a manner that allowed the audince to view contact between fighters. There is also something about the style of Korean martial arts that involves a lot of spin kicks and quick feints, and it films in a manner that is breathtaking and beautiful. Again, check the trailer and you'll see what I mean.

The only real problem with this film was that during the middle of the most climatic battle the screen froze and the theater was evacuated by Concordia University for about an hour with no explanation (not even after we were allowed back in). Milling around outside, in the cool Montreal air, with hundreds of other Fantasia festival attendees really emphasized the enjoyable sense of community that I love about this festival. It also gave me a chance to listen in on Richard Gale, the director of the short I saw later that evening.

That short, Criticized, has apparantly won the title of "scariest movie" at the DC independent film festival, which no matter how you slice it means that in some circles this is considered the scariest film of the year. Almost this entire short about a kidnapped critic takes place in the claustraphobic setting of a shower stall, and there is an eyeball scene! Still, what makes this film scary is the way it makes the everyday man suddenly feel very vulnerable.

The feature that followed was the midnight showing...nay, now one AM showing...of the remade The Wizard of Gore. Let me just start by saying I loved this film. A great melding of film noir and gore driven horror, this film uses rakish angles and bizarre sets to create a surrealistic thriller. While the gore is pretty fantastic, there is also a pleasant sense of restraint, which allows the mysterious plot to drive the film rather than the effects. The acting by Crispin Glover (George McFly of Back to the Future) as the charismatic magician in superb, and he is supported by a great cast, including Brad Dourif (Lord of the Rings, Deadwood). And if you were looking for one more reason to watch this film, most of the victims are the scantily (if at all) clad Suicide Girls. Not only is this film a great ride, but in the midst of a rash of PG-13 horror releases, I felt like I was finally watching a more mainstream horror film for adults: smart, sexy and scary.

The experience watching The Wizard of Gore was a great finish for my time at Fantasia this year. Even though it started late, and I was deliriously exhausted the next day, the energy of a late night premiere showing and the great Q&A with director Jeremy Kasten and producer Dan Griffiths made it all worthwhile. Now it will be another eleven months until Fantasia starts up again, wich will hopefully be enough time to catch the other one hundred or so films I wasn't able to see.

Same to same,

Capt. Patrick Hendry

Fantasia: Weekend Two

The two films I caught this weekend we're The Fox Family and End of the Line. Before I dive into the reviews, two notes about the wonders of Canadian culture. I was accompanied by a friend of mine this weekend who loves to stop and shop at the local convenience/grocery stores to fully enjoy the differences between the Canadian and American culture. The hunt this weekend was on for a couple of unique potato chips not available in the United States. We came out with Lay's Curry flavored chips and Doritos Tandoori Spice tortilla chips. In a direct taste off, I prefered the Tandoori Spice, which reminded me of the classic (and I think discontinued) Taco Doritos, but for a guy who really can dislike the taste of curry, I loved the heat and taste of the Lay's chips as well. The big find that myself and another buddy made was the Labatt Dry Extra Strong Beer...a malty 10.1%, and available as a 1.8 litre (commonly known in the states as a "40").

To the films!

End of the Line was a local film making its local premiere. After playing at the Toronto Film Festival, this gore f/x gem from Montreal came home to play for the people who so often ride the subways that they turn into tunnels of carnage. The basic plot revolves around a group of born again Christians whose cultish leader has decided that it is time to trigger the great Apocalypse. Our protagonists are average citizens caught on the public subway system when beepers begin resounding from each car, and our conservatively dressed fundamentalists begin to "save" souls, which of course calls for the destruction of the corporeal shells. As I said, the gore is terrific in this film, and I am sure that there was not much of a budget, making them all the more impressive. The settings are poorly lit subway tunnels, which coupled with the director's use of quick in your face visuals and loud audio strikes, set up an edge of your seat situation. This sort of intesity however is in constant struggle with the dialogue, especially early on, which is poor enough to be hampering to both the mood and character development. Still, End of the Line is a fine film that ranks above the average rental fare, but does not quite stand toe to toe with the better theatrical horror releases.

What really made viewing End of the Line a great cinematic experience was, of course, the Fantasia atmosphere. I have already praised the Fantasia audience for being a very active one, but the fact that this was a hometown film multiplied the energy in the auditorium. At the end there was also a great Q&A session with the director and several actors, not to mention that the audience was peppered with people involved in the production of this film. All in all a great time was had.

The second feature, The Fox Family, was a delightful zany musical/comedy/fantasy from Korea. The plot is simple: a family of foxes turned human for 1,000 years have 30 minutes during an eclipse to eat a fresh human liver in order to become true humans. In the meantime, they run a circus and find themselves prime suspects in a murder investigation. While the plot may seem a bit farfetched, the music, colors, costumes and overall composition of this film are elements that any viewer can appreciate. Bizarre and beautiful at once, this film was a unique treat.

This is the final weekend of the festival coming up and I'll be hitting two final shows this Friday night, so please come back for the big wrap-up.

Same to Same,

Capt. Hendry

Fantasia: Weekend One

This weekend marked the opening of the 11th annual Fantasia Film Festival in Montreal. Chock full of horror, kung-fu, science fiction, fantasy and other films of similar genres from around the world; this is always the film highlight of my year. Forget the summer blockbusters...over the next few weeks I'll see more movies in Montreal than I will the rest of the year most likely.

That being said, I caught four different screenings this weekend. The first was a collection of six Korean short films. Unfortunately traffic was brutal and we missed the beginning of the first film (The Hell (Two Kinds of Life...a cool rotoscoped examination of death), but the rest were mostly good. I did not like The Forest that much, but the two films by the Park Brothers (Mighty Man and The Freaking Family) were awesome.

The second film, which we decided to catch at the last minute, turned out to be the best one of the weekend. The Signal was a very smart and well shot film. Even though there were three sections to the story shot be three different directors, the style and pacing felt consistent enough that it was not at all distracting, nor did this make the film feel segmented. The successful blend of humor and suspense made this film extremely enjoyable...oh, and it was plenty rough. I hope that this film goes on to find a large audience, because I am looking forward to the next project these directors work on.

The last feature on Friday was the midnight showing of Flight of the Living Dead which was like watching Snakes on a Plane with zombies substituted for the snakes. Honestly, in about six months, I will probably confusing the two films when I try to think about different scenes from either one. Still, it was a lot of fun and reveled in its own cheese.

Friday also threw two shorts my way preceding the features. Before The Signal was a pleasant little escapade called The Morning After (click on the title to watch now!) which brought to life the expression coyote arm/coyote ugly. And preceding Flight... was The Fifth, a lighthearted look at a poker group having a hard time keeping a fifth player, which I couldn't find anywhere online, but you should keep you eye out for.

Saturday night I caught Hell's Ground , which is the first Pakistani horror film that I have ever heard of, much less seen, and is considered the first Pakistani gore film to date. All in all it was pretty good. I felt a little bit led awry by the more polished trailer, but this extremely low budget film was still a great experience in cultural exposure...with zombies. My original complaint for this film would be that halfway through the story it inexplicably drops the zombie plotline that it had been nourishing with lost tourists and suddenly morphs into a slasher film with a sexually confused, mace-wielding maniac chasing the teens through the woods. While I felt initially put off by this unconventional movie-making decision, I now feel that perhaps the point wasn't to resolve that the zombie crisis is at heart a pollution problem and our heroes will fix it (as would have happened in the Hollywood version), instead the point might simply be that bad shit goes down in these woods...so stay away!

The best parts of the Hell's Ground experience were the surrounding elements. The film was presented by the founders of the great "Mondo Macabro" DVD label, who had also put together a 20 minute clip reel of earlier "Lollylwood" horror films. Please do yourself a favor and do a YouTube search for Lollywood; some of the clips from the reel seem to be posted there. Also, the presentation before and Q & A session afterwards with director Omar Ali Khan was wonderful. He is very down to earth and has a fantastic sense of humor.

So it was a stellar opening weekend with everything I have come to expect from Fantasia: exposure to films that I would never catch on the big screen domestically, entertaining presenters talking about their work, and most importantly, an audience built entirely of people with the same questionable tastes. You gotta love an audience that cheers loudly when a man's forearm is screwed into the wall with a drill, or when a woman's throat is sliced open with a pair of pruning shears.

Same to same,

Capt. Hendry

Don't Seal the Deal Early

Last night I finally got around to watching the Ingmar Bergman classic The Seventh Seal. The basic plot of this film is often described as a Knight of the Crusade's search for the answers to life's larger questions (is there a God. etc.) whilst playing a game of chess with Death. The dreary synopsis of the film is only enhanced when one considers that the outbreak of bubonic plague in Europe is the backdrop for this tale. That being said, I pretty much had my mind made up that this film was going to be dark and dreary, beautiful and haunting, and not really that much fun.

In actuality, it was a delightful film. While a major plot point is the chess match between the grim reaper and the grim knight, Antonius Block, nobody really mentions that there are many other light and enjoyable characters throughout the film. The knight's squire, Jöns (who has at least an equal amount of screen time and dialogue as our protagonist) is the kind of guy you would want to be hanging around with at any given time: he is worldwise, cynical and funny. The advice he gives throughout the film to the other minor characters is enough to make you laugh out loud, just check out some of his quotes here. Even the chess match itself is a rare occurrence throughout the film; revisited only as you are just starting to forget it is still in play.

Watching this film I found myself not only exercised philosophically, but also I learned a lesson that I don't often apply to films: don't judge a book by its cover. This is the second time this year that I have been intimidated by what I had already deemed a depressing film (the other being The Last King of Scotland) only to be pleasantly surprised by the varying range of emotions and moods. Point is, you really haven't seen a film until you have seen it.

Same to same,

Pat