Showing posts with label 2000s. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2000s. Show all posts

Monday, July 24, 2023

Musical Monday with Bamble B.


In my opinion, Mike Oldfield is one of greatest composers and musicians of the late 20th Century. He has yet to get the full credit and recognition he is due, but that will come some day, I hope.

In the meantime, we can enjoy his highly underrated music, as well as what few interesting covers that have been of it over the years. One of the most interesting ones is from 2000 and was recorded by Italian synthpop/dance outfit Bamble B. It was promoted with a black-and-white video that put me in mind of early Mario Bava films... which makes it a perfect choice for a Musical Monday and the ongoing string of cover tunes.



Crime of Passion (2000)
Starring: Marta Randon
Director: Dario Barezzi
Rating: Nine of Ten Stars


Tuesday, July 11, 2023

Violins and Violence


 
Here's another neat student film that has been recovered from the distant, abandoned corners of YouTube! Made by Indonesian college students, but with English dialog. It has a 1970s slasher or proto-slasher film, and I might have given it an Eight-star rating if there'd been some well-executed gore or stabbings instead of a symbolic graphic. Still, the general atmosphere of the film--powered by great lighting and camera work, and the chilling, detached demeanor of the lead actress--coupled with the story twists make this a fine way to spend a few minutes if you like horror flicks. (The color tints also add to the mood and mystery of the picture.)


The Violin Player (aka "The Violent Player") (2006)
Starring: Silena Cheung, Andra Fembriarto, Maggie Leung, and Tim Powers
Director: Andra Fembriarto
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

Tuesday, June 20, 2023

Two guys have coffee

Coffee (2002)
Starring: Eric Bosse and Paul Vaughn
Director: Robert Vaughn
Rating: Six of Ten Stars

Two men (Bosse and Vaughn) have some coffee and conversation over breakfast.

Eric Bosse and Paul Vaughn in 'Coffee"

"Coffee" is a short film that is more artsy than artsy. It is so coy (and yet so heavyhanded) in its references, double-entendres and symbolism that it's easy to mistake it for a sincerely "intellectual" and "deep" effort instead of a film poking fun at those sorts of efforts.

I don't know anything about the film or those who made it. My half-assed attempts at research have all failed to give me clear verification that this is the same One-Eyed Films that produced these films as this one, because it's not listed there... but neither are any of the people involved with said company. It's not the way I would design a website intended to promote my film, but then what do I know? Also, the YouTube channel upon which I found this short has'nt been updated in about a decade, links to a blog that's marked private, and contains no information about the who or why of the page. (Since Eric Bosse was involved in several of the shorts found there, I imagine that it might have been his channel, but I can't find any information that lets me know for certain. I similarly can't pin down either actor featured in "Coffee".

So, while I think this is a fun little satire on artsy dramas/slice-of-life films, I could be wrong. You can watch it and let me know what YOU think in the comments below!


Monday, February 13, 2023

Musical Monday with Mariah Carey

Mariah Carey as a Vegas Showgirl

 
With Valentine's Day coming up, we thought we'd bring you a romantic song... well, a sort-of romantic song. It's more of a break-up-and-moving-on song, especially when taken in context of the mini-movie music video that goes with it. (And we really like this music video, because we like the ones that tell stories rather than just show musicians standing around playing instruments and singing.)

Plus, it's always good to be reminded that it's okay to play Mariah Carey songs when it's not Christmas time.


I Stay in Love (2008)
Starring: Mariah Carey and Andrew Karelis
Director: Nick Cannon
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

Thursday, September 8, 2022

It's About the Eye of the Beholder

Tania Paleologou in "Camera Obscura" (2008)

Today's post features something which is more of a vignette rather than an actual film. I found it fascinating, but it's one those works that I feel need to be watched cold lest its impact be ruined.

With the that said, I encourage you to take 90 seconds out of your day to check out "Camera Obscura". I think you'll find it as interesting an effort as I did.


Camera Obscura (2008)
Starring: Tania Paleologou and Cristos Leriadis
Director: Eirini Steirou
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars


Thursday, September 1, 2022

'Run' is a nifty mini-thriller

Run (2000)
Starring: Sarah Kruger
Director: James Ivey Carter
Rating: Six of Ten Stars

A captive (Kruger) makes a run for freedom.


"Run" is another student film that we retrieved from the depths of YouTube. It's a suspenseful little effort, but what REALLY impressed us was the artificial aging the film was subjected to. So many of the films we come across that try to mimic worn-out films that are copies of copies are done with lazy digital templates that are obvious a few seconds in. Real effort was put into "aging" this picture, and it shows.



Also, no matter what some might say, this is NOT a documentary. While it stars Sarah Kruger, a one-time ballerina and current dance instructor, we DID NOT prevent any dancers from escaping into the wild on International Dance Day!

Tuesday, July 12, 2022

'Ripped' is strong

Ripped (2007)
Starring: Paul Gray and Freda Evans
Director: Christian Linke
Rating: Six of Ten Stars

A artist (Gray) finds a mysterious sketchbook that gives him the power to eradicate what he draws from existence.

Paul Gray in "Ripped" (2007)

"Ripped" is another excellent film that I found while wandering through the deep recesses of Facebook. I thought I recognized the filmmaker's name, but I can't find anything else that's done that I might have reviewed, nor can I find him anywhere on my contact lists. I hope he's done other things since leaving film school, because this is a really neat film.

Writer/director Christian Linke says he was inspired to make this film by episodes of the original "Twilight Zone" series. He's done a great job capturing the look and mood of some of the most iconic episodes of that show while also bringing an appropriate silent movie aesthetic to the actors' performances that echo the best of what that era had to offer. The storytelling is fast-paced, the camera- and lighting-work is creative, and the special effects are simple and effective. Linke did a fine job in general.

There are only two things that dragged the film down from the Seven Rating I was thinking about to the Six Rating that I ultimately gave it. 

First, I found some of the stock music that Linke used distracting. One bit featured a motif that I knew from somewhere, so I found myself thinking more about where from than what was happening on screen. Once I placed the music, I began to wonder why he chose that particular piece; was he trying to evoke the very famous films and even more famous character that it's associated with, or was it just coincidental? (This could just be a "me" issue--I have the same problem when Chinese films lift famous film scores and use them for scenes and genres that have nothing to do with where it was taken from. It could be I notice these things more because I'm a nexus point for film-buffery and music criticism, so this might be a non-complaint complaint as far as most viewers are concerned.)

Second, I kept wanting the stakes to be a little higher, especially in light of the ending. When the Arist realized he could make things vanish via the magic sketch pad, he should have moved onto things far more impactful than just nick-nacks, escalating past annoying pets and to people in quick succession. The film is so well-made that this isn't a huge problem, but it still something I had to "ding" it for.

All that said, I think if you enjoy things like "The Twilight Zone" and "Tales From the Crypt" or classic short-form horror comics, I think you'll get a kick out of "Ripped". Take a few minutes to check it out... and perhaps even let me know in the comments if you could tell what music I found distracting.


Monday, May 30, 2022

Musical Monday with Bright Eyes

Indie Rock Band Bright Eyes

The indie rock band Bright Eyes has been around since the mid-1990s (although they took a break during most of the 2010s as members pursued solo projects. I didn't know they existed until last week when I came across a news story about lead-singer Conor Oberst walking off stage during a concert after just two songs. This appears to be the latest incident of many during which appears to be a troubled 2022 tour.

While doing a little research on the band, I came across the video for their 2007 song "Four Winds". I love how brilliantly the lyrics are mismatched with the style of the music. And I think you'll appreciate the video as much as I did.

 

If you liked that song, and if you're an Amazon Prime subscriber, you can listen to one of their albums here.

Tuesday, April 5, 2022

'Validation' is fun, sweet, and entertaining

Validation (2007)
Starring: TJ Thyne and Vicki Davis
Director: Kurt Kuenne
Rating: Ten of Ten Stars

A parking attendant (Thyne) with a gift for lifting people's spirits falls in love with the one person he can't make smile (Davis).


If you're feeling down and/or are in the mood for a romantic comedy, you need to watch "Validation". Even if you're happy and just want to watch something really fun and entertaining, you need to watch "Validation".  Go ahead and click on the embedded video below! I guarantee you will have a smile on your face at the end of its 15-minutes run-time... and I likewise feel you'll find yourself adding this to your lists of favorite romantic comedies and urban fantasy films. You'll also find yourself humming the theme song, "Smile".

I probably already gave too much away about the film between the teaser summary at the top and the paragraph above, so I'll just add that if liked T.J. Thynes on the long-running Fox series "Bones" (2005 - 2017), you'll love him after seeing his performance here.

I love everything about this short film. It's among the most solid Ten of Ten Stars I've awarded since I began writing reviews again in 2003. If I could, I'd give it Eleven Stars, because it deserves a Star for the punnish title alone. (If you've spent any time on my Facebook page, you know how much I love puns.)



Tuesday, March 22, 2022

The feeling of 'love at first sight' captured on film

Nuit Blanche (2009)
Starring: Michael Coughlan and Megan Lindley
Director: Arev Manoukian
Rating: Nine of Ten Stars

Stray glances during a chance encounter leads to love at first sight between a man (Coughlan) and a woman (Lindley) in the Big City.

Megan Lindsey and Michael Coughlan in "Nuit Blanche"

"Nuit Blanche" is a film that's equal parts romantic, spooky, and startling. It's also the most beautiful and moving short film you're likely to see today, this week, or perhaps even the rest of this year. The music, the cinematography, and the astonishing amounts of visual effects are all perfect... and the only reason I'm not giving this great film a rating of Ten is that I feel like they didn't quite pull off the ending. Still--I am giving it the highest Nine Rating possible.

Click below to watch this mini masterpiece... and feel free to sound off in the comments if you think I steered you wrong. (Or, better yet, add your own praise for the film)


Trivia: The film's title is a French idiom that means "Sleepless Night", although a literal translation is "White Night" so the title could also be a pun on this being a black and white film.

Monday, February 28, 2022

The greatest terrible mini-musical you'll ever see!

Rent-a-Person (2004)
Starring: James Haven, Jennifer Haworth, Oscar Torres, and JoJo Henrickson
Director: Kurt Kuenne
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

A lonely bathroom attendant (Haven) gains fame and fortune when he starts a business that pairs single drivers with a second person so they can use the carpool lane. But will he ever find love?
 

You've heard the phrase "so bad it's good"? It applies to film so ineptly made they become fun despite themselves... but it can also be applied to films like "Rent-a-Person" that take tropes and turn them upside down, take jokes to ridiculous extremes, or are such self-aware spoofs that they not only poke fun at their subject matter but end up making fun of themselves. And what we have here is not just good... it's GREAT!

Whether you love the movie musicals from the 1940s through the early 1960s, or hate them, I think you're going to get a big kick out of "Rent-a-Person". The same is true if you're just in the mood for an off-center comedy. 

Click below and sit back and enjoy the product of writer/director/songwriter Kurt Kuenne. If nothing else, you owe yourself the joy of experiencing the most inappropriate opening number of any musical you're ever likely to see anywhere.


Trivia: Jon Bokenkamp, the creator of "The Blacklist" and "Blacklist Redemption" television series, is featured in the opening scene of this film and credited as "Pooper". Kurt Kuenne has also directed a number of episodes of "The Blacklist." Click here to visit Kuenne's website.

Tuesday, February 22, 2022

2/22/22 -- Return of the Doppelgangers

Sean Dory in "Doppelganger" (2007)

It's another Day of Twos... so it's time for another short film around the theme of doppelgangers! (And remember... if you see yourself today, run the other way!)


Doppleganger (2007)
Starring: Sean Dory and Meghan Lees
Director: John Hollinger
Rating: Six of Ten Stars

Monday, November 29, 2021

Musical Monday with Sinead O'Connor

Please enjoy Sinead O'Connor performing "You Do Something to Me" at what may or may not be one of the many holiday parties we've held for the Shades of Gray staff and luminaries over the years.

Monday, September 13, 2021

Musical Monday with Amy Winehouse

Singer/Songwriter Amy WineHouse

Tuesday, September 14, would have been singer/songwriter Amy Winehouse's 37th birthday. Sadly, she passed away in July of 2011 after losing a years-long struggle with drug addiction and alcoholism. Today, we remember her and her art with "Back to Black".

Thursday, May 20, 2021

A great homage to silent comedies

Late to Lunch (1987, with general release in 2009)
Starring: John Carpenter, Donna Fox, and Michael Schwendamen
Director: John Carpenter
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

Our hero (Carpenter) must overcome overzealous police officers, judgmental relatives, a romantic rival (Schendamen) and his own tendency to oversleep if he is to finally win the hand of the woman he loves (Fox).


"Late to Lunch" is film history lecturer and preservationist John Carpenter's love letter to the silent comedies of the 1920s--with those starring and/or written by Charley Chase being an especially large degree of affection.

Although Charley Chase doesn't have the name recognition of Charlie Chaplin or Buster Keaton, he should. Chase's comedies--whether they were silent films or talkies--were almost always tightly plotted and precisely executed affairs. A Chase comedy is a like a superbly engineered and well-oiled machine with gags feeding into other gags and if a story element appears somewhere in the film, it will be incorporated into either a joke or dramatic twist before the film's over. Chase's films are also very much front-runners to the modern-day sit-com, with a misunderstanding or minor cultural misstep that spirals into a big deal and expanding chaos. A Chase character is usually trying to solve problems and just get along with his everyday life rather than cause them, and his characters are almost always charming, Jazz Age Everymen. They may sometimes be upper class, but more often than not, they are just white collar workers... but they are always charming and goodhearted.

It's in this mold that John Carpenter created "Late to Lunch". He portrays an Everyman character who wants to have a happy life with his girlfriend, but circumstances are getting in the way. Hilariously so... at least for the viewers! Things keep going from bad to worse for our hero, as situations keep compounding each other, and it's all very enjoyable and logically within the film's world.

One great thing about this film is that Carpenter and his cast and crew avoid some of the most common pitfalls that often plague films that try to emulate works from the silent era. 

First, Carpenter puts as much emphasis on story as one would in a modern film, and just as the creators did Back in the Day. Nothing happens just because it's goofy and all characters behave in a fashion that makes sense within the context of what's going on. 

Second, while period costumes and vehicles are used, it's all consistent. Nothing is over-the-top ridiculous for its own sake, be it costumes, make-up, or performances. (Yes, there are times when actors are hamming it up, but when they do, it's either in dream sequences or in keeping with stylistic flourishes from the emulated period. In fact, everyone performing in this film both encourage viewers to buy into the illusion that they're actually performing in a 100-year-old movie, while at the same time projected the fun they're having while making it through the screen.) 

Finally, there's the music. Carpenter chose to score his film with vintage recordings that were actually used in theaters that didn't feature live musicians. While I have said in numerous reviews that I prefer the silent films with custom scores instead of stock music, but what Carpenter did here--using vintage stock music to score a modern silent film--made his homage feel quite authentic.

Speaking of authentic, Carpenter took steps to "age" "Late to Lunch", giving this 1987 film a feel similar to those surviving, beat-up movies from the 1920s. I'd even say that Carpenter did a better job at this than I recall seeing anywhere else--and those digital aging templates I've come across look downright pathetic to what was done with this film.

There are many other great touches in "Late to Lunch" that I am loathe to talk about, because I don't want to spoil the film for when you watch it, but I will say that some of my favorite parts of the film I were playfulness with the intertitles; the extended chase scene and the mugging talking place during it; the romantic scene by the reflecting pool; and the dream sequences and their gentle spoofing of silent era melodramas. All of these sequences are extremely well-done, with an execution that felt exactly like an old silent movie yet with a polish that showed it was made by someone who had the benefit of having studied them and who also had a talent for filmmaking.

There are one or two things I could complain about in "Late to Lunch", but they feel like I'd just be nitpicking. I'm just going to wrap up by stating that if you like silent comedies, you're going to appreciate John Carpenter's tribute to them. 

"Late to Lunch" is available on DVD in the "Silent Comedy Classics: 12 Classic Shorts" set from Alpha Video. It's a collection of some of the great movies Carpenter pays tribute to, half of them being Charley Chase vehicles. To say this collection is a bargain is an understatement... and I think it's a great purchase whether you've been watching old movies for a long time or if you've just discovered the joys they offer.


Monday, March 1, 2021

No Doubt it's Hella Good on this Musical Monday

Gwen Stefani and the rest of No Doubt

No Doubt is a band that's broken up, reformed, and then broken up again. Fronted by Gwen Stefani, their style has primarily been punk rock with a heavy ska vibe... but here they are doing a more pop-ish tune in and around a decommissioned ship. (Well... I hope it's decommissioned. I'd hate to put on aboard that thing!


Hella Good (2002)
Starring: Gwen Stefani and Adrian Young
Director: Mark Romanek
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

(Trivia: The masters for the albums and singles of the early incarnations of No Doubt were destroyed along with those of hundreds of other musicians by a fire at Universal Studios in 2008.)


Monday, February 8, 2021

Musical Monday with Oasis

Oasis in "The Importance of Being Idle"

It may be the start to a new work week, but we want to remind our readers and visitors that there is MUCH more to a rewarding life than just whatever you do to put a roof over your head and food on the table. That's the case even if you enjoy what you do for a living.

Here's a nifty reminder of that fact with the 2005 music video for "The Importance of Being Idle", featuring Oasis along with singing and dancing undertakers.

The Importance of Being Idle (2005)
Starring: Liam Gallagher and the rest of Oasis
Director: Dawn Shadforth
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

Thursday, October 8, 2020

If you like old vampire movies and great comics, you're going to love this book!

Peculia and the Groon Grove Vampires (2005. Fantagraphics)
Story and Art: Richard Sala
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

When a member of the Baby Sitters Club mysteriously disappears, Peculia is recruited by the remaining three girls to help with a special assignment that required all four members: The new family in Groon Grove have needs that require special attention... 


Richard Sala's reluctant monster-fighter returns for a full-length adventure in "Peculia and the Groon Grove Vampires", and she once again find herself under threat when all she wanted to do was hang out with other teen girls and do some babysitting/caregiving. While Peculia may not have the fun experience she was hoping for, I think readers of this book who enjoy classic horror films and well-crafted comics will have a great time reading it. Sala once again delivers a deftly told tale that delivers chills and chuckles in equal measure.

"Peculia and the Groon Grove Vampires" is a fun tribute to classic horror and vampire films, with nods to the greats from Universal Pictures during the 1940s and Hammer Films during the 1960s, as well as some familiar elements from 1980s slasher flicks. Sala had a love of and respect for these films, and it shows in his work. He was also one of an ever-diminishing crop of writers/artists who understood and had fully mastered the art of the comic book medium, knowing how to lay out a page to keep the reader's eye moving to what's important; knowing when to use a long shot, medium shot, or close up; and knowing how to pace a story one page at a time to encourage the reader to keep turning them to see what happens next. I feel like Sala did some of his best work on the Peculia stories in general and this book in particular. He uses a starker style than in many of his other works, with lots of contrasting solid whites and blacks that sometimes feel like woodcuts; and his scripts are more economical and done in style that harkens back to old-time newspaper comic strips where, supported by traditional visual cues that were also originated in the newspaper strips. While this is true of much of Sala's work from the early 1990s onward, it is most evident in the Peculia stories, I feel.

This approach--of letting the art speak for itself--heightens both the humor and horror in this book, making its best moments even better. And there are some really good moments in this book. 


Sala has some wonderful, wordless scenes featuring George, a young boy who is being baby-sat by one of the soon-to-be-vampire-victims. George fills the role of a comic relief character who spends the story running from horror scene to horror scene, but, who in the end plays a pivotal role in the success of the hero--a kind of character that was a mainstay of the 1940s horror films that served as part of Sala's inspiration here. Sala, however, does a much better job with George than many of the screenwriters did with such characters Back in the Day; George is cute and funny where the old-time comic relief characters were oftentimes more annoying than anything else.

Other highlights are Peculia's mostly silent fights against the vampires; she's always been a girl of few words, but this is more true here than in almost any of her previous appearances. Her silence alternatively makes the horror and humor of her various scenes far greater than it would have been if Sala had caused a quip or a cry to issue forth from her.

Few books are perfect, but the only major flaw I find with this the presentation of how Peculia dispatches two of the vampires. Sala plays a similar gag back-to-back, and I would have preferred a little more variety, or at least a little more distance between the two. (The first time he plays it, it unfolds over what are two of the very best pages in the book.. which could also be why it doesn't work as well the second time around.)

In balance, however, "Peculia and the Groon Grove Vampires" is an excellent read that I highly recommend to anyone who enjoys classic vampire movies and well-done graphic novels/comic books.




Thursday, April 23, 2020

'The Other Gods' is a worthy Lovecraft adaption

The Other Gods (2006)
Director: "Peter Rhodes"
Rating: Six of Ten Stars

Barzai the Wise and his young apprentice set out to visit the gods of earth, who dwell atop Mount Hatheg-Kla deep in the desert wastelands of Ulthar. Barzai, however, comes face to face with far more terrible entities.


"The Other Gods" is a 2005 animated short film that, in the introduction, is claimed to have been made in 1924 by Peter Rhodes and which until its recent restoration was believed lost. In truth, it is the clever work of modern animators, working in the paper-cutout silhouette style of 1920s animator Lotte Reiniger.

This 5-minute film is a brief, solid adaptation of Lovecraft's story "The Other Gods" and it's bound to entertain fans of his work. I personally found it a little too brief, but I forgive the shortfalls in the face of this fairly faithful recreation of an old silent movie animation style, complete with the inclusion of intertitles. Keith Handy's musical score is also very well done.

"The Other Gods" can be viewed for free by Amazon Prime subscribers. (Even if you don't subscribe to Amazon Prime, you might wish to click on the link below to read the viewer comments. Some of them are as entertaining as the film itself.)

Monday, April 6, 2020

Musical Monday with Fever Ray



Everything from the name of the performer, to the subject of the song, to the scenery in the video seems a reflection of the events currently unfolding around the world. We hope all visitors to Shades of Gray are keeping themselves healthy and safe!



Fever Ray is the stage name of Swedish singer/songwriter Karin Dreijer. She adopted the name Fever Ray when she launched her solo career in 2009, and has performed under it (and released four albums) in the decade since. Or maybe she just did one album solo ("Fever Ray" in 2009, and every thing else has been with her brother as The Knife. I can't tell because this Wikipedia page is such a mess because of the stupid notion that there's no difference between plural and singular pronouns.)