A huge amount of new additions this week, with the headliner clearly being Michael Haneke’s newest film, and the most recent Golden Palm winner, White Ribbon. And while that is my most anticipated, I am also eagerly awaiting Men Who Stare at Goats, Ong Bak 2 (I don’t care what you say Joe), Up in the Air and The Fantastic Mr Fox.

In other news, I have left Landmark for Kerasotes. Thursday was my final day with Landmark, and I made sure to have a nice break in between the two jobs by having Friday be my first day with Kerasotes. I had a blast working at Landmark, but Kerasotes offered me an opportunity that I simply couldn’t let pass by. I’ll still be doing the Coming Soon announcements for Landmark, as several of the managers have been nice enough to keep sending me the lists so I can post them, but don’t be surprised if more Kerasotes information starts to creep in the occassional post.

*** – Denotes recommended viewing
All dates subject to change

11/06 Antichrist Uptown ***
11/06 Men Who Stare At Goats Lagoon (NEW) ***
11/06 Flame & Citron Edina (NEW DATE)

11/13 Ong Bak 2: The Beginning Uptown (NEW)***
11/13 Crude Lagoon
11/13 Gentlemen Broncos Lagoon ***
11/13 Skin Edina (tentative)

11/20 (Untitled) Uptown/Lagoon (NEW DATE)
11/20 We Live in Public Lagoon
11/20 Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire Lagoon
11/20 The Messenger Edina

11/25 Red Cliff Uptown (NEW DATE)
11/25 The Road Edina ***
11/25 The Fantastic Mr Fox Lagoon (NEW) ***

11/27 Oh My God? Lagoon

12/04 Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans Uptown ***

12/11 Up in the Air Lagoon (NEW) ***
12/11 The Strip Lagoon
12/11 Me and Orson Welles Edina (NEW)

12/18 William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe Lagoon (NEW DATE)
12/18 The Maid Lagoon/Edina
12/18 Young Victoria Edina

12/25 Broken Embraces Uptown
12/25 Nine Lagoon
12/25 A Single Man Lagoon/Edina

1/08 The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus Lagoon ***

1/22 White Ribbon Uptown/Lagoon (NEW) ***

2/12 Rashomon Lagoon ***
2/12 The Station Edina (NEW)

2/19 Oscar Nominated Shorts Lagoon (NEW) ***

2/26 44 Inch Chest Lagoon

3/12 A Prophet Uptown (NEW)
3/12 A Town Called Panic Lagoon (NEW)

No not the new American horror remake, but rather I will be watching the original 1965 film starring Terence Stamp as a butterfly collector whose hobby takes a sinister twist when he decides to “collect” a beautiful woman for his collection.

The Collector (Amazon)

As a youth I used to live in the shelves of my local video store. Most summers I would spend my days down at the local strip mall (a scant 1.3 miles away) bowling for hours, reading comics off the rack at the drug store, picking out the most essential candy at the grocery store and finally wandering in the stacks, searching for the perfect movie to watch that weekend. All this time spent in the stacks lead to a curious skill of recognizing films based solely by their cover art, and I’d often know the plot of the films based off of the descriptions on the back. Soon it became a bit of a game for my friends to quiz me on what the films were about, but only the films I’d never actually seen and using simply the cover as a hint.

Of course, back then I was still very young and simply didn’t have the time nor the resources to watch every film I wanted to. So I would pick and choose which I would watch, often leaning heavily towards science fiction and fantasy films (my horror obsession didn’t really kick in until my early twenties). So how is it that I never watched a post-apocalyptic film about a nomadic swordsman? Simple, I hated the cover.

After the fallout of World War III the world’s water has become contaminated, leading to sparse populations of humans fighting over what little supplies remain. When a local baron (Anthony Zerbe) seizes the town of Meridian’s only supply of water, they fight back the only way they know how, by hiring a former soldier named Nomad (Patrick Swayze). But Nomad has another reason for being in Meridian, that of finding the assassin who killed his mentor, and who seems to now be making his living as the baron’s resident enforcer.

To say Steel Dawn starts with a bang and ends with a whimper is a bit of a misnomer. Steel Dawn opens with a face melter. That’s right, a scene so amazing that it will melt your face right off. The problem is, the scene achieves such great heights that the rest of the film pales in comparison. Which is a shame, as Steel Dawn is a damn solid, if a bit predictable, movie.

For those at home wondering just what occurs in the opening minutes allow me to indulge you. The film opens with Patrick Swayze standing on his head. Let me repeat, the film opens with Patrick Swayze standing on his head. Why? I have no idea, as the film never even attempts to answer it, but one can only imagine that he does it as some sort of calming technique. Now as he is standing on his head, he just so happens to be in the middle of a desert. A desert teaming with Sand People.

Now by Sand People I do mean people who literally live in the sand, for as our capsized hero coyly looks on, we see the sand begin to move and within a few seconds people begin to emerge. Unlike in modern day films when this would have been done with CGI this was all done wit practical effects. Meaning, they drove out to the middle of some desert, covered two dozen people in rags and then buried them alive. How freaking awesome is that?

But that alone isn’t the reason why the scene works as well, its that once Swayze chooses to engage these Tusken Raiders (Don’t believe me? Check out those Gaffe sticks they’re wielding.) the film totally goes for broke. Swayze breaks out karate, and what appears to be some sort of pirouette, and when the Tusken Raiders try to steal his backpack he sprints down the dune, dives and in midair does a somersault quite possibly just because it looks cool. But once he reaches his pack he draws a sword and promptly hacks his underground assailant’s arm clean off.

But that’s not all. After slaughtering a dozen of these would be thieves one finally tries to burrow underneath him and drag Nomad below the sand, to which he counters by jamming his sword into the sand, killing the raider and causing blood to spurt out as if it were Texas tea. It truly is an outstanding ten minute action sequence and one hell of a way to open a film, especially considering that I expected Steel Dawn to be more of a slow burn dramatic film rather then the action film it now appeared to be.

The problem is that Steel Dawn is a slow burn styled dramatic film. Point of fact, Steel Dawn is actually a remake of Shane, which becomes quite evident when Swayze makes it to a small settlement, where he finds it is being dominated by a rather nefarious rancher who wishes to control the only water supply in the entire valley. Now Shane is a fine film, one I’ve grown to enjoy more and more over the years, but Steel Dawn is a surprisingly faithful adaptation of this beloved source material. Outside of the futuristic setting, Steel Dawn stays close to the original film.

A similar concept was used with Outland, which was a remake of High Noon but set in space. And while it also stayed close to the original film it works much better for Outland. I suppose you could argue that Outland was working with better source material, but that would be a hard argument to win as both films are considered classics of the Western genre. And while any ambiguity in Shane’s ending has been scrubbed out of Steel Dawn, the new ending still works quite well and certainly isn’t an issue that hampers the film. So I am left with only one conclusion on why Steel Dawn wasn’t as successful as it should have been; the opening scene should have been cut.

The most obvious problem with the opening sequence is that it potentially misrepresents the film by leading the uninitiated into believing that they are about to witness a rip-roaring sci-fi action film rather than the drama it truly is. Because of this rapid change in style and pace it gives viewers the false impression that there are pacing issues with Steel Dawn and this can lead directly to impatience while people view the film. It pains me to say this, but the opening scene to Steel Dawn should have been cut for two reasons:

First, the obvious uneven and disjointed feel between the opening scene and the rest of the film. While the first scene is fantastic, it simply doesn’t fit stylistically with the rest of the movie. So even though it is a great scene, it harms the overall presentation. Which brings me to my second point. Despite it being the best scene in the film, Steel Dawn would be a better film without it.

But how is that possible? Well, besides clearing up the botched transition, by removing the initial scene it gives Nomad an air of mystery. You would have no knowledge of who he is, how skilled he is or even if he is a decent person. The obvious parallel would be Sanjuro (Toshiro Mifune) in Yojimbo. And while Steel Dawn never attempts to play two sides against the middle, the film would be aided by the extra layer of complexity and ambiguity. Of course, they could always go the other way and just cut everything else out and follow the lead of the opening scene. But I’ve already got plenty of fantasy epics to choose from, so I’d rather that Steel Dawn try to be the best post-apocalyptic Western that it can be.

But wait? What does the cover have to do with any of this? Well that’s simple enough. The cover/poster of Steel Dawn was quite clearly a shameless rip-off of The Running Man. Both used head shots of their stars in a rather distinct sepia tone, and both used giant red script to advertise their star’s last names and the title of the film. Now, to be fair, I have absolutely no idea which film came out first or who stole from whom. But I had seen The Running Man, and it was awesome. And my twelve year old brain put things pretty simply, why would I watch a rip-off of The Running Man when I could just watch The Running Man? For years I thought that way, and it wasn’t until Sawyze’s death that I finally decided to take the plunge and watch Steel Dawn. By last count I think I’ve watched The Running Man 438 times. But now, after finally taking the time to evaluate Steel Dawn, that gap just might be closed a bit.

Just let me watch The Running Man one more time. Then, I promise to even the odds a bit.

Time to confess, even before arriving at the Flyway Film Festival I had been interested in watching Milking the Rhino. So much so that I requested a screener of it so I could review it for this website. But do to circumstances beyond my control (laziness) I simply never found the time to watch it before the festival.

So armed with just a trailer and a severely lacking working knowledge of African animal husbandry I do my best, along with Andrew from Row Three, to talk with Xan Aranda about her documentary Milking the Rhino. You’ll be happy to know that I avoided making a fool out of myself by asking if their truly was any rhino milking in the film. And thanks entirely to the efforts of Xan, the interview turns out incredibly well.

Milking the Rhino (Website)
Kartemquin Films (Website)

Ink is one of those rare small Independent films that has garnered quite a bit of attention and a fan following from just some impressive word-of-mouth and a dynamite trailer. Building on the buzz, director Jamin Winans has been touring with his film along with his wife (Producer and Art Director Kiowa Winans) along with several of the actors, turning the film into a bonafide grass roots phenomenon.

Andrew and I are both fans of the film, so it was a pleasure to sit down with Jamin and Chris Kelly as they talk about the film and the difficulties in making a big budget action/fantasy epic for pennies on the dollar and trying to get their film out to the masses.

Ink (Website)
Double Edge Films (Facebook)
Double Edge Films (Twitter)

Pontypool is a bit of a favorite both here and at Row Three, so the chance for Andrew and i to sit down with producer Jeff Coghlan and ask him some questions about the film was a real treat. Is the trilogy still in the works? How awesome is Stephen McHattie? And just what is up with the final scene in the movie? All those questions and more are answered, and listen up for a rare podcast cameo from Film Junk’s Jay Cheel as well.

Pontypool (Website)
Pontypool (Amazon Pre-Order)

Some quick backstory before the interview, Craig and his recording partner Phil Harrell were roommates during the Flyway Film Festival with Film Junk’s Jay Cheel. We ended up having dinner together on Friday night before the screenings of the opening night films. So it should come as no surprise that the four of us spent the dinner talking about horror films. After that evening, I knew I wanted to get an interview with Craig so he could talk about his rather fascinating concept album Tonight of the Living Dead.

Using only a public domain copy of the film Night of the Living Dead that he downloaded from Archive.org he remixed the score of the film into a wholly new album. Then, he collaborated with Phil to do the same with the visuals of the film. What’s fascinating is that Craig and Phil did this entirely online. Even more amazing? That they had never met in person until they both attended the Flyway Film Festival.

Hope you enjoy both the music and the interview!

400 Lonely Things (Website)
400 Lonely Things (MySpace)
Tonight of the Living Dead (Website)

Joining Row Three’s Andrew James and I in the pub for this podcast is New York Lately director Gary King. New York Lately has a bit of a following over at Row Three, and since I haven’t had a chance to watch the film yet Andrew makes sure to take the reigns on this interview. Besides New York Lately Gary tells us a little about some of his future projects like What’s Up Lovely? and another film that immediately piqued my interest. Hope you enjoy the interview!

Gary King (Twitter)
Gary King (Facebook)

And now for the continuing adventures of Andrew and, well, me. This time Andrew and I try out pubcasting, which for the uninitiated is when you sit down in a bar and record a podcast. Our first victims/subjects are writer/director Pericles Lewnes and Executive Producer Ed Bishop who are responsible for Redneck Zombies, which as part of its 20th Anniversary is playing as part of the International Zombie Summit here at the Flyway Film Festival.

Redneck Zombies
Loop
Pretentious Film Society

Straight from Pepin, WI, Andrew from Row Three and I sit down and record a quick review of the Flyway Film Festival’s opening night Film, Ink. A fantasy epic sure sounds great, but will it hold up under an Indie budget? Survey says ….

Andrew and I hope to get a couple more micro-podcasts recorded throughout the Festival, either reviewing films or pulling aside some of the directors in attendance and having them talk about their films and the Festival itself. And if we are lucky, perhaps the enigmatic Jay Cheel of the illustrious Film Junk will join us for some of these as well. That is, if we can get some poutine in him before he goes into withdrawl.

Thanks for listening and hope you enjoy the show!

Growing up I was always a huge fan of short stories. I was a voracious reader and they helped make me feel like I was getting more bang for my buck (or my parent’s buck as it were) when I read compilations. But even besides the fact that I could read more stories, and thus go on more adventures, I loved how they provided small snap shots into the character’s lives. They allowed me more freedom to come up with a continuation on the narrative, allowing me to fill in the gaps and construct worlds that only I would experience.

But while short stories have allowed authors to flourish, short films seem to be a slightly different animal. Too often festivals focus only on the ultra short films that have to rely on ironic or O’Henry style endings to drive the film, resulting in an all to often seemingly manufactured and formulaic genre.

Thankfully, the Flyway Film Festival cares not about running times, preferring instead unique tales and wondrous characters regardless of if the film is three or thirty minutes. Because of this, it is the audiences who benefit if they decide to attend this festival.

The Fridge
Director: Allison Orr
United States | 7 min | 2008

The first short I had the privilege of watching, The Fridge has set an incredibly high bar for the other shorts to follow. The Fridge takes the challenging and complicated topic of climate change and brilliantly illustrates it in seven glorious stop-motion minutes. Using a refrigerator as the setting, The Fridge explores what happens to the food when someone accidentally leaves the door open and the culinary delights within thaw out and begin to explore their new world. Will the now booming micro-ecosystem manage to survive when malfunctions?

Fledgling
Director: Tony Gauly
United States | 7 min | 2009

Fledgling is a fascinating micro documentary about Kevin and the baby crow he finds on the street one stormy evening. Shot in an archival fashion, it is both compelling and alluring as you watch Kevin struggle with his desire to help the crow and his fear that by doing so he will ruin any chance that it might live a more “natural” life.

Alex’s Halloween
Director: Daniel Persitz
United States | 15 min | 2008

Alex’s Halloween has something you won’t see often at Flyway, star power in the form of one Jane Lynch. And while Lynch is great as the fanatic health foodie she’s hardly the focus of this tale. Rather we follow the adventures of Alex as he recreates the wondrous tales of the various Halloween costumes he is try to choose from. Its fantastical fun for the whole family. Well, as long as you prefer Three Musketeers to granola that is.

Penny
Director: Mary Cates
United States | 6 min | 2009

Penny follows the travels of a long forgotten and often ignored Penny. And while the short may follow the standard plot conventions of most short films, its twist on the old rhyme “Find a penny, pick it up. All day long you’ll have good luck!” makes for a sweet and amusing tale.

Calendar Confloption
Director: Andrew Jiminez
United States | 24 min | 2009

Calendar Confloption is the story of a twelve year old girl who is so scared of her upcoming New’s Year Day birthday that she attempts to stop time and prevent it from every happening. But when the year’s Holidays begin appearing in her bedroom wondering what is going on, things start to really get strange.

A narrative short after my adolescent heart, Calendar Confloption immediately reminded me of fantastical fairy tales of my youth like Labyrinth and The Neverending Story. So to say this film appealed to me is quite the understatement, as I could scarcely contain my grinning throughout the film. Bring your kids and your inner-child and prepare for a magical one-room adventure.

Cheese Wars
Director: Taylor Pipes
United States | 24 min | 2008

Moving to Wisconsin when I was eleven, I was forced to learn two important rules. The first is that a drinking fountain is not a drinking fountain. It is a bubbler. (Do not ask why, it is a rabbit hole you will never escape.) The second is that Wisconsin is cheese country. Both of these facts are irrefutable. But i the twenty years since I moved to Wisconsin something changed, California decided that it wanted to challenge for cheese supremacy, and with its massive corporate and high-tech farms, it looks like it will happen sooner rather than later.Cheese Wars documents this “friendly rivalry”, and while it does its best to remain objective despite its director’s Wisconsin ties, it can’t help but lean in one direction.

Its easy to see why this film is being so well received, as its neither mean nor intent on making one side look bad, but rather it attempts to show two sides of an industry and the passions of the people who drive each side. These people are proud of what they make, they simply focus on different things to define their success. And while its easy to say that because I’m from Wisconsin that I will gravitate to their way of making cheese, but I feel safe in saying that I gravitate to the side that makes cheese in a way that I feel is right. And hopefully, I actually am.

Colore Non Vedenti
Director: Jay Cheel
Canada | 29 min | 2009

It should be noted that know Jay. I wouldn’t say we are close, but we have bought poutine together. That’s practically second base in Canada. So feel free to cry “Biased!” when I say this; Colore Non Vedentirocks. If you’re a genre film fan you are in for a treat, as its a film that carefully balances humor and horror, while still managing to tell an interesting and complex science fiction yarn. As an added bonus you’ll get to see some fascinating and inventive visuals (think Giallo), making the film easy to sum up as thus: its like Mario Bava directing an episode of The Outer Limits. Yes, its that freaking good.

And we’re back! This time on High and Low (Brow) James and I are joined by a live studio audience named Kevin who was invited because he offered us pizza and bread sticks. Delicious bread sticks. Buttery foodstuffs aside, this episode’s theme is HP Lovecraft, an author both of us enjoy, but who’s works have struggled to gain mainstream acceptance and have had even worse results in finding capable, or even enjoyable, versions brought to the silver screen.

For this episode we watch The Curse of the Crimson Altar, a 1968 film starring Christopher Lee, Boris Karloff and Barbara Steele, an impressive pedigree to be sure, but will the film live up to the expectations that such a monstrous (pun intended) cast brings? The second film we watch is the 1992 film The Resurrected, directed by Dan O’Bannon and starring Prince Humperdinck, Ross’ lesbian ex-wife Carol, Mike Damone and some guy from Lost. Sure the bar is set low, but can it be cleared? And out of these two films will we finally stumble across a good adaptation of Lovecraft’s work?

Rounding out the show we have our selection process for the next episode, and once again we provide a twist on it to help keep things fresh and exciting. If you have any recommendations for films we could watch for the podcast, or want to suggest a potential theme for us to use, feel free to email us and tell us your ideas. If you enjoy the show make sure to subscribe through iTunes or our RSS feed so you can catch every new episode. Also, please friend James on Facebook. Because it will frighten and confuse him.

One more thing, if you enjoy the show feel free to donate to it through PayPal in either a single installment or as a recurring donor. We’d love to upgrade some of our equipment and anything you donate will go directly towards us getting some decent mics and perhaps even pop screens that aren’t made out of cotton balls.

As always, thanks for listening!

Opening Music – Mother Made Me Do It by Mark Mallman
Closing Music – Okey Dokey by The Incredible Bongo Band

Donate via PayPal

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Well James and I got together over the weekend to record the latest episode of High and Low (Brow). We once again had a change in format (as is quickly becoming our format), but nonetheless we had a good time with our theme of HP Lovecraft. Haven’t done much with the audio file yet, but expect the episode to be up sometime this week.

Also, make sure to swing by RowThree.com next week to check out the newest episode of the Cinecast. We’ll be recording it on Monday night and the film we will be reviewing will of course be Where the Wild Things Are. But, unlike most episodes where it is just me, Kurt and Andrew, we will be joined by a special guest, Rian Johnson, director of Brick and The Brothers Bloom. Should be an interesting and fun discussion.

And once both those episodes are posted, make sure to keep an eye out for my reviews of several of the films that will be playing at next weekend’s Flyway Film Festival. I should be attendance for most of, if not the entire, festival and I hope to have reviews and some commentary from the event. And if things go really well, hopefully some audio interviews with several of the various directors, actors, producers and other luminaries in attendance.

Just look for this banner for any reviews of films that will be playing at this year’s Flyway Film Festival.

__________________________________________________________________________________

My math might be a bit off on the title statement, but I stand by my current dilemma’s level of difficulty. Over the next two days I have to find a way to watch three movies (The Return of the Living Dead, Scanners and Hausu) with the distinct possibility that I can only make one of them do to my work schedule.

So the question becomes, if I can only watch one of these movies, which one do I choose?

Not much has changed with the films being released over the next couple of weeks, and most of the changes to the list seem to be films shuffling around rather than being dropped completely, which is always a welcome sight. That being said, their are a few big changes and additions.

An Education was bumped a week, but will still be opening at The Uptown, as it looks like they think Coco Before Chanel will have a good run their, of which I am less optimistic about. It looks like a decent enough film, but I think it would do better at The Edina then The Uptown, but I digress.

The other big move is pushing the relase of Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, though that is so it can have an exclusive opening at The Uptown, which is fantastic news. I’ve heard good things about Werner Herzog’s latest, and I hope it lives up to the early praise.

As for new additions, their are a few films that I know next to nothing being added to the booking sheet, which include A Single Man, 44 Inch Chest and A Town Called Panic. Hopefully over the coming months I’ll find out a few more details about them. But the big additions are easily Nine and The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus. Both look like potential Oscar contenders, and Imaginarium is one I am in particular coveting the chance to finally see.

*** – Denotes recommended viewing
All dates subject to change

10/23 The Horse Boy Lagoon
10/23 The Damned United Edina/Lagoon
10/23 Amelia Lagoon
10/23 Flame & Citron Edina

10/30 An Education Uptown (NEW DATE)
10/30 New York, I Love You Lagoon
10/30 Canyon Lagoon

11/06 Antichrist Uptown ***
11/06 Skin Edina (tentative)

11/13 Crude Lagoon
11/13 Gentlemen Broncos Lagoon ***
11/13 (Untitled) Lagoon/Edina

11/20 We Live in Public Lagoon
11/20 Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire Lagoon
11/20 The Messenger Edina

11/25 The Road Edina ***

11/27 Red Cliff Uptown
11/27 Oh My God? Lagoon

12/04 Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans Uptown (NEW DATE) ***

12/11 The Strip Lagoon (NEW DATE)
12/11 William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe Lagoon

12/18 The Maid Lagoon/Edina
12/18 Young Victoria Edina

12/25 Broken Embraces Uptown
12/25 Nine Lagoon (NEW)
12/25 A Single Man Lagoon/Edina (NEW)

1/08 The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus Lagoon (NEW) ***

2/12 Rashomon Lagoon ***

2/26 44 Inch Chest Lagoon (NEW)

3/12 A Town Called Panic Lagoon (NEW)

Just in time for our upcoming High & Low (Brow) podcast that will focus on two HP Lovecraft film adaptations, there is a new documentary devoted to him being released this week. While I am a fan of Lovecraft I’ve always felt he never has seemed to have received the amount of mainstream popularity he deserves, especially compared to other horror writers. He’s always seemed to be a bit more respected by horror nerds then general audiences, which is a shame.

Part of the reason might be that his stories tend to be a bit cumbersome to the uninitiated, with their flowery prose that is not often seen, especially from more modern authors like himself. His stories have also become rather notorious in Hollywood for how difficult they are to adapt, resulting in people being less impressed with his work by proxy and with a general reluctance from the studios to adapt his works.

Lovecraft: Spreading the Madness looks to correct these oversights and misconceptions on the man and his mythos, and they do so by rolling out an impressive group purveyors of the weird and wonderous like Neil Gaiman, John Carpenter, Guillermo del Toro, Peter Straub, Stuart Gordon, Ramsey Campbell, S.T. Joshi, Caitlin R. Kiernan, Andrew Migliore and Robert M. Price to talk about Lovecraft and his influence on horror as well as their own lives. Its an impressive group, to be sure, and I can barely contain my excitement at getting a chance to watch this film. While I won’t have time to watch this before James and I record, you can be sure within the next few weeks I will make sure to get my hands on a copy of this potentially fabulous documentary.

Lovecraft: Fear of the Unknown (Official Website)

While my last entry for The Crazies was a fairly mainstream film that should be easy for people to see, this next choice is one I’ve been keeping an eye on for a few months now. As an added bonus, this film was made here in Minneapolis, Minnesota, making it extra easy for me to keep tabs on it.

The film I am speaking of is Phasma Ex Machina, which essentially means Ghost from the Machine. Based on the trailer I’ve heard people compare it to Primer, but with that title the film seems to have more of an existential bent in mind and honestly the first film that comes to me is Ghost, which may or may not be a bad thing. Phasma Ex Machina doesn’t seem to be planning to layer on the sappy love story, but rather delve potentially into more of an eerie ghost tale, which would be a welcome sight.

The good news is that it looks like post-production is almost wrapped up, and the film should start being screened around town and festivals. Be sure to check out their website where you can follow the film on Twitter and Facebook, read their production blog and sign up for the newsletter to keep up to date on any potential screenings in your area.

Title: Phasma Ex Machina (Official Website)
Director: Matt Osterman
Starring: Sasha Andreev, Matthew Feeney
Release Date: TBD

I’m not anti-remake by any means, in fact I rather enjoy them quite a bit, but it would be nice if Hollywood took a bit more care in just which films they chose to remake. Texas Chainsaw Massacre is one that comes easily to mind, as the original is perhaps a perfect film, and the remake doesn’t seemingly intend to do anything other then tone down the weirdness and ramp up the gore.

I also don’t mind if people take a signature film and attempt to re-imagine it or put their own spin on the material. Take iconic fare like The Wizard of Oz, which has been remade at least 5 times by my count. Even the Judy Garland version was at least 4 tries in. Making it a bit difficult for purists to make a decent argument for one and done film making.

But what I enjoy most are when Hollywood takes lesser known films, or even films that were high on ideas but low on quality production and pump some much needed money and exposure towards them as they come up with a new take on the film. George Romero might have come up with a pretty nifty concept for the original The Crazies, but the film is far from perfect, and not much closer to even being decent. The remake looks like a hop, skip and a jump in the right direction, and it looks like it might be one of the rare recent Hollywood horror films to squarely hit its mark.

Title: The Crazies
Director: Breck Eisner
Starring: Timothy Olyphant, Radha Mitchell, Danielle Panabaker
Release Date: Feb 26, 2010 (USA)

for very long, but ever since I first saw the trailer for it I knew this was a film that I had to watch. By hook or by crook if need be. Sure the trailer doesn’t explain single thing, or seem coherent in the slightest, but the visuals are so compelling that I knew at the very least it would be a visual marvel. Then when you toss in the fact that this is an Independent film, and clearly a low budget one as well, makes the effects even more stunning.

Now lets focus on the effects for a paragraph or 100 words, whichever comes first. They most certainly are eye catching, what makes them even more spectacular is that they are so obviously working with limited means. But rather then use that fact to limit the creativity of the special effects, director Jamin Winans has turned it into a creative boon that is fascinating to witness. The fight sequences in particular are stunningly impressive as Winans uses darkened hallways and spotlights to cover the potential weaknesses of the choreography by simultaneously highlighting the visual stylization.

But Winans doesn’t stop there. The visual look of the film is hard wired into the story, thus providing an easy explanation for the seemingly odd look. These characters exist in a dream world that parallels our own, so it makes perfect sense that the world these dream warriors live in would be slightly off center from our own. Because of this brilliant story point, any visual flaws or quirks that might be caught by the viewer during the course of the film are easily accounted for by this story element.

But before you start thinking that the visual effects don’t hold up well outside of the three minute trailers, let me make some thing clear, the visuals in this film are truly outstanding and gloriously innovative. In particular I’d like to highlight the Incubus, who are truly one of the most disturbingly inventive villains ever captured on film. You’ll be hard pressed to scrape them out of your brain anytime soon. And just when you think they can’t get any creepier, Winans cranks them up to eleven in an all out effort to scare the socks off his audience. And to bring this whole thing full circle, the Incubus are bringers of darkness, which explains why the fight sequences are in total darkness, except for the glowing eyes of the Incubus. All this simply reinforces the fact that Ink is brilliant not for how complicated or technically innovative it is, but because of its relative simplicity.

But while the visuals are so eloquently connected, the story is a vastly different matter. Normally I do a short summary of the films I review but have decided to slightly alter from that because Ink is a difficult film to sum up. But if you really want it I’ll do my best. Ahem! A young girl is kidnapped from the really real world by what appears to be a human Skeksie called Ink who has plans to sell the girl to a group called the Incubus, who are the bringers of nightmares, for the return of his soul. The forces of good, powerless to prevent the kidnapping, are hurriedly tracking Ink in the hopes of saving Ink from his own demons, and the girl from the clutches of the Incubus.

That actually turned out much more coherent than I thought it would.

But what does complicate the narrative is that there are multiple stories being told that exist in multiple timelines. It doesn’t so much complicate the story as it attempts to confuse the viewer, and not nearly to the effect that Winans is probably hoping for. The true narrative is fairly obvious, and while this form of trickeration doesn’t harm the film, it doesn’t help it either. There is enough story elements in the film that it doesn’t need to rely on an overly complicated narrative flow to keep the audiences interest.

But while I my not like the flourishes in the narrative, I have nothing but praise for the world that Winans has created. This world is compelling, fascinating and aching for more stories to be told about it due to its rich atmosphere. I want to know more about the Incubus, the storytellers and the souls they are fighting over. These creatures are fascinating and I know I would be in Heaven if this world is revisited by Winans at another date. While the trailers for Ink wet my appetite, the film itself is both a meal and a first course in a singular expressive and beautiful package.

Ink will play as the Opening Night film for the upcoming Flyway Film Festival on October 23rd. Tickets are available for purchase here.

Jeffrey Goodman’s 2008 film The Last Lullaby is a subtle and riveting tale of betrayal and revenge. Jack Price, a retired hitman, is drawn into a web of deceit when he stumbles upon a kidnap victim at a run-down house in the woods. As a consequence of his actions he appears on the radar of Martin Lennox — a brutal and aloof millionaire in a jam. Drawn out of retirement by Lennox, Price is put on the trail of the beautiful Sarah, but he soon finds there is more to his quarry than first meets the eye. Of course, things turn out to be not at all what they seem, and Price finds himself in hot water with a number of different players in this suspenseful drama.

The oft seen scenario of the helpless victim and duped would-be assassin is given a refreshing treatment in this lean production. Neither a thriller nor an action film, this one is best described as a grim and suspenseful character study that nonetheless features moments of action, mystery, and intrigue. Penned by Max Allan Collins — well-known mystery novelist, author of the graphic novel Road to Perdition, and former writer of the comic strip Dick Tracy — and Peter Biegen, The Last Lullaby will keep even the most jaded video viewer guessing until the end. It effects a mounting tension from its brutal beginning to its suprise conclusion, and even then leaves the viewer wondering what will come next.

Tom Sizemore portrays retired hitman Jack Price with a cold brilliance that assures this performance a place alongside his other celebrated performances. And Sasha Alexander, as the mysterious Sarah, proves that she doesn’t have to be playing a member of naval intelligence to turn in a convincing and effective performance. Bill Smitrovich and Jerry Hardin round out this cast of familiar faces, and Ray McKinnon’s performance (billed only as ‘Ominous Man’) is eerie and memorable. Especially observant reviewers will recognize him from another of his memorable performances in the Coen brother’s film O Brother, Where Art Thou?

The Last Lullaby is well worth your time, and fans of Road to Perdition will especially enjoy it. It was recognized at the Brooklyn International Film Festival and the Cedar Rapids Independent Film Festival, among others. You can visit the filmmaker’s blog to check out other reviews and read about the project. The DVD will be available for purchase through the film’s official website beginning October 19th, and you can save it for future addition to your Netflix queue now.