Suburbia (1983)

Director: Penelope Spheeris

Writer: Penelope Spheeris

Composer: Alex Gibson

Starring: Chris Pedersen, Bill Coyne, Jennifer Clay, Timothy O'Brien, Wade Walston, Flea, Maggie Ehrig, Grant Miner, Christina Beck, Andrew Pece

More info: IMDb

Tagline:  The kids from ... The Wild Side ... The Side You've Never Seen.

Plot: Evan and his younger brother leave their broken home in an attempt to escape their alcoholic mother. They fall in with The Rejected (aka T.R.), a group of punks who live as squatters in an abandoned home by the side of the highway. With T.R., the boys find a new family. But their new found family will be tested when they become the target of Citizens Against Crime, a group of unhappy suburbanites.

My rating: 7/10

Will I watch it again? Maybe.

If you don't dig on punk movies you at least owe it to yourself to watch the opening 5 minutes.  A toddler gets brutally eaten by a large dog!!!  Let that digest a minute. It's fucking awesome.  If I ever make a movie I want to start it off with a bang just like this one. One thing that's interesting about this picture is that nearly the entire cast are non-actors and it works.  Doing this gives the film a different vibe than what you'd normally get.  Spheeris made an interesting film for teens during a time when most teen movies went for something a lot more clean cut and safe.  And the soundtrack is very well handled, giving me a vibe of FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH (1982)...not a bad thing at all.

Kids teaching other kids on how to blow a snot rocket.  How fucking adorable is that?

Sebastian Live (2007)

Director: ???

Writer: Sebastian Maniscalco

Composer: ???

Starring: Sebastian Maniscalco

More info: IMDb

Tagline: What were you thinking?

Plot: Filmed live at the legendary Paramount Theatre in St. Louis, comedian Sebastian Maniscalco puts on a hilarious performance as he takes a look at some of the mundane moments of everyday life from his uniquely wry perspective. Never afraid to reveal his irritation with the quirks of ordinary human behavior, Sebastian shares his observations on men who wear flip-flops, shopping at discount stores and much more.

My rating: 7.5/10

Will I watch it again? Sure.

I recently saw this cat among 13 other comedians at a The Comedy Store in L.A. and Sebastian was one of the highlights of the evening.  I've never seen someone embody Andrew "Dice" Clay better than him without doing an impression.  After that I was on Netflix looking for more of this guy.  This one hour standup concert is really funny.  It's from six years ago and he hadn't fully developed the persona he now has (which is even funnier) but he's got a lot of great bits in this special.  He's a physical comic.  He's constantly moving, walking, thrashing his hands about, making faces, etc. and his material is damn funny.  I'm really looking forward to seeing more of his and seeing him live again.  I about pee'd three drops that night.  He's THAT funny.

Popcorn (1991)

Directors: Mark Herrier, Alan Ormsby

Writers: Mitchell Smith, Alan Ormsby

Composer: Paul Zaza

Starring: Tony Roberts, Jill Schoelen, Torn Villard, Dee Wallace, Derek Rydall, Malcolm Danare, Elliott Hurst, Ivette Soler, Freddie Simpson, Kelly Jo Minter, Karen Lorre, Ray Walston

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Pay to get in, pray to get out.

Plot: A group of teenagers preparing an old horror movie show in an abandoned theatre discover a recording made by an actual murderer who died long ago. Very soon a shadowy figure resembling the killer starts stalking them one by one.

My rating: 6.5/10

Will I watch it again? No.

I really wanted to like this one.  The set-up is right up my alley and I'm a big fan of Tony Roberts.  He's great in everything.  For the most part I enjoyed it.  I dug the old movies that were created for this picture, especially the one with kick ass Bruce Glover!!!

The big reveal of who the killer is was loads of fun.  While the film moves along OK it's got some spots that felt like they should have been shorter.  It's only 90 minutes long but it felt like it should have been a few shorter or ramp up the exploitation or something.  It's not all that bad but it's not as good as I would have liked it to be.

Un Flic (1972)

Director: Jean-Pierre Melville

Writer: Jean-Pierre Melville

Composer: Michel Colombier

Starring: Alain Delon, Richard Crenna, Catherine Deneuve, Riccardo Cucciolla, Michael Conrad, Paul Crauchet, Simone Valere, Andre Pousse, Jean Desaily, Valerie Wilson

More info: IMDb

Plot: Bank robbery in small town ends with one of the robbers being wounded. The loot from the robbery is just a asset for the even more spectacular heist. Simon, gang leader and Paris night club owner, must also deal with police comissaire Edouard Colemane, who happens to be his good friend.

My rating: 8/10

Will I watch it again? Yes.

I LOVE the New Beverly Theater in L.A..  Quentin Tarantino owns the joint and it's the best revival house in town (sadly it's practically the only one in town).  I really miss the Castro Theater in San Francisco where they offer a double feature of old movies almost every night.  Anyway, I haven't seen this picture in a few years and it's always great to catch things like this on the big screen. I'm a HUGE fan of Melville having seen many of his pictures. He really knows how to construct tense crime films.  Sadly, this was his last, but it's still a good one.

The opening bank robbery during a rain storm on a sleepy coastal part of town is intense.  There's barely a word spoken for several minutes and it's a fantastic way to start the picture off.  The other heist (on a train this time) offers lots of suspense and little dialogue.  That sequence takes up a solid 20-30 minutes and it's great.  All of the actors feel reserved since there's not much need for most of them to even speak.  This works will with the film, really well.  The only thing that's likely to take you out of the picture is the obvious use of models during the train raid.  Sometimes they work but when they don't (particularly in the shots with the helicopter) they're just awful.  It's so bad at times that it's hard not to snicker but if you're really into it like me, then you'll be OK but you'll leave the film wondering if, despite the obvious budget constraints, they could have handled it in a better way.  Regardless, UN FLIC (A COP) is a damn fine film from one of the greatest European crime directors.  I strongly urge you to check out any of this crime output.  They won't disappoint.

Meet the Hollowheads (1989)

Director: Thomas R. Burman

Writers: Thomas R. Burman, Lisa Morton

Composer: Glenn A. Jordan

Starring: John Glover, Nancy Mette, Richard Portnow, Matt Shakman, Juliette Lewis, Joshua John Miller, Shnutz Burman, Anne Ramsey, Bobcat Goldthwait

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Sometime, somewhere, the Hollowhead family is having a bad day ....

Plot: The Hollowheads are a strange, futuristic family that live in a Jetsons type world complete with many cool gadgets. Henry is hoping for a promotion at the slime factory in which he works and decides to bring his boss home for dinner and to meet the family. The horny, pervert, rude boss does not know what he is up against when he begins with his advances towards Mrs. Hollowhead and his abundance of rudeness.

My rating: 3/10

Will I watch it again? Ugh.

Oh, boy.  I wanted to shut this one off but I persevered. I dig the concept, I can appreciate the attempt and it's got lots of actors I enjoy but it's just so...irritating?  I think that's it.  It didn't sit well with me and  after the first fifteen minutes I wanted off this ride.  Maybe it's because it reminded me of American sitcoms, the ones with the phony laugh tracks.  I loathe most of them.  They get on my nerves.  That's what MtH did to me.  I don't like to bash something like that because I know they were trying for something different but for me it touched a nerve that I couldn't recover from.  It bored the piss out of me.

Moonshine (2000)

Director: Kelly Riley

Writer: ???

Composer: (no score but various songs)

Starring: Jim Tom Hedrick, Gerald Hedrick, Gladys Hedrick, Pat S. Williams, Matt Williams, Gilford Williams, Randell, Red John and Linda

More info: IMDb

Plot: The legendary story of Jim Tom Hedrick and the process of distilling moonshine whiskey from corn mash. A taste of bootleg whiskey and Jesus, straight from the mountains of North Carolina.

My rating: 7/10

Will I watch it again? No.

I was in the mood for some Hicksploitation last night and this documentary, and the follow-up STILL MAKING MOONSHINE (2007), felt like a good warm up to some backwoods 70s picture I still hadn't decided on.  Jim Tom is a colorful character.  There's no doubt about that.  This film is only about twenty minutes long so you don't get much time to spend with Jim Tom and his kin, friends, etc but it's enough to whet your appetite for more.  It's an interesting introduction but it's not necessary to see this one before STILL MAKING MOONSHINE because enough of this footage ends up in the other that you wouldn't be missing much.

Bikini Pirates (2006)

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