Cinevegas: Day #3 – The best so far

I don’t know if it was an unconscious choice or purely coincidence, but today I wound up attending three comedies. Perhaps I got my fix of dramas and thrillers after watching “The Square” yesterday. Or maybe “Black Dynamite” left such a good taste in my mouth I was hungry for more laughs. Have I mentioned how much I loved that movie?

For whatever reason, the trilogy of comedies began with the world premiere of the new Justin Long film, “Patriotville.” Which also happened to be the weakest of the three.

“Patriotville” was introduced by one of the festival directors as a “smart” comedy, claiming they’re the hardest type of comedy to find. Normally I would agree with that statement.

But “Patriotville” didn’t feel that “smart” to me. Sure, its plot revolves around American history and patriotism, but most of the laughs came from the most likely improvised banter between Justin Long and his best friend in the film.  And by the way, is it just me or has Justin Long become one the most solid funnymen working today? Even in a film like “Drag Me to Hell” he was still spittin’ out snide zingers as if he were starring opposite Will Ferrell. But I digress.

Despite Long’s usual funny dialogue, “Patriotville” still manages to be an overall not-so-funny movie. Even the hilarious Rob Cordry, playing the town’s sinister mayor, fails to deliver his normal share of laughs – though I will say, his scenes were probably the only that saved it from being a complete clunker.

Overall, “Patriotville” fails to be as hilarious as it could have been. It gets a solid “meh” rating.

Next was “Stingray Sam,” a western/space/musical/comedy/several-more-genres-I’m-probably-forgetting epic. A movie just as hilarious as it was innovative.

Utilizing a serial narrative format (a la “Buck Rogers”) “Stingray Sam” is told in six different chapters, each one ending in a cliffhanger leading up to “next week’s” episode.

Director Cory McAbee plays the title role of Stingray Sam, a former outlaw turned lounge singer. The film’s theme sums up his character perfectly – “He does the things that folks don’t do that need to be done.”

David Hyde Pierce lends some credibility to the garage band feel of the project as the film’s hilarious narrator. The narration serves as delivery for most of the film’s exposition, which visually presented through comically animated still images, each one a beautiful piece of art in itself.

The highlight of the film is its ingenious musical numbers – my personal favorite being the lullaby song. Hopefully a soundtrack is also in the near future. (A free song from the film is available for download at StingRaySam.com)

After the screening, Cory McAbee hobbled to the front of the theater, with the aid of a cane, to answer questions from the audience, citing his injury to a “skateboarding accident.”

During his Q&A, it became quite obvious that McAbee is a very funny man who truly loves making off-beat films. I have not seen any of his previous work, but if it’s anything like “Stingray Sam,” it’s sure to be pure gold.

“Stingray Sam” gets a solid ‘A.’

The night ended with a late showing of “Winnebago Man.” A documentary about Jack Rebney – a man you may not know by name, but I’m sure you’re familiar with his famous viral internet video.

Rebney was deemed the angriest man alive after a compilation of outrageous, R-rated outtakes from a Winnebago sales video began circulating on VHS and eventually onto Youtube, featuring Rebney blowing take after take and shouting out some of the most colorful profanity ever spoken by man.

Documentary filmmaker Ben Steinbauer became fascinated with the clips years back when he got a VHS bootleg and began sharing it with friends. After years of being a fan, he began to wonder, “Where is Jack today?”

“Winnebago Man” follows Ben on his journey to track down Rebney, now living a secluded life in the woods, to find out whether or not he is, in fact, the angriest man alive. Throughout the course of the film we find out the answer is both yes and no.

Though Rebney is very opinionated (especially when it comes to politics, or more specifically, Dick Cheney) and not afraid to use profanity, the film shows a pleasant, even lovable, side to the man. And though he still doesn’t quite understand why his clip has grown to such popularity, it seems he has come to embrace it, realizing we’re not laughing at him, but along with him.

Hilarious and heartwarming, “Winnebago Man” is an absolutely remarkable documentary, and definitely one of the most quotable films in recent history.

Following the film, Steinbauer fielded a few questions. It wasn’t long before an audience member asked what Jack thought of the movie, to which he replied, “We could call him.”

With his cell phone held to a microphone, Rebney answered the audience’s questions from his home in California with Steinbauer moderating.

The audience laughed along with Rebney as he pleasantly answered their questions. Of course, someone had to bring up Dick Cheney, to which Rebney replied, “You can’t open that door without letting me have just a minute.” He then gave a brief and pleasant diatribe about our nation’s current political state.

“Winnebago Man” gets an ‘A+.’

And on a final, totally un-related note, I coincidentally wound up sitting right behind Bobcat Goldthwait (who directed the festival’s closing film “World’s Greatest Dad”) during the last two screenings I attended. So now I can cross “Sit next to Bobcat Goldthwait during a movie” off my list of things to do before I die.

Cinevegas: Day #2 – Bugs, Squares and Dynamite?

Thursday afternoon at CineVegas began with “Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo,” a documentary about Japan’s obsession with bugs.

The movie didn’t exactly move a mile a minute, however I found myself quite interested by the film’s subject matter. Which in itself is a success. I don’t usually find bugs interesting – they’re icky.

But that’s not how the people of Japan feel. In the film we see it’s not uncommon for the kids of Japan to keep large-horned, devil-resembling beetles as pets, playing with and petting them as if they were adorable, fluffy Guinea Pigs.

The highlight of the film are the scenes following the “bug hunters” who set out into the woods to capture the beetles to sell in their markets. One man, while speeding down the road in his Ferrari, says he bought the car from the money he made selling bugs in his store.

Even if you’re grossed out by bugs, you’re bound to enjoy scenes featuring beautiful Japanese landscapes accompanied by traditional music. (But hey, if I, Mr. Squeamish, can handle watching those bugs up-close for 90 minutes, so can you.)

During a Q&A after the film, director Jessica Oreck admitted she’s had a life-long fascination with insects, and her inspiration for making the film came from when she learned of the Japanese cultures similar fondness.

She noted that during the shooting of the film, a lot of the Japanese folks in the film didn’t understand why she was making a film on something of such commonality, and they were shocked to hear beetles weren’t sold in American stores.

Hear that, Wal-Mart? We need ourselves a beetle-aisle, pronto!

For having such a gross subject “Battle Queen Conquers Tokyo” still managed to be a beautiful and fascinating film.

Next up was the Australian-made “The Square,” a top-notch thriller about a man and his mistress who plan to run away and start a new life together with a bag of money she found hidden in her home by her husband.

Twists and turns abound as the body count rises and the two lovers fall deeper into a world of lies, crime and murder. Taut and gripping from the very first frame, and kept the entire audience gasping on the edge of their seat until the film’s shocking conclusion.

Actress Clair van der Boom was in attendance and handled some questions following the screening.

The final film of the night came highly anticipated. I had seen the trailers on-line for “Black Dynamite” a few weeks before the festival started. Not only did it star one of my favorite martial-arts stars, Michael Jai White, but it looked to be a pretty funny comedy.

It far exceeded “pretty funny.”

The screening started with Director Scott Sanders warming up the crowd by revealing he was originally going to the narration for the film’s trailer, but wound up stepping out. So he decided to share a couple hilarious lines from the trailer with us in his pseudo movie-trailer voice. (“Sign on the dotted line, and he will deliver you your ass.”)

The film is obviously a parody of blaxploitation films of the 70′s, and is all done tongue-in-cheek. But never has an era or genre of film been more perfectly satirized than it is here. “Austin Powers” wishes it were as funny as “Black Dynamite.”

The theater was constantly erupting in laughter, starting with the opening scene where we meet our hero, Black Dynamite, as he is getting dressed after an evening of love-making with three beautiful ladies. From the covers, the women begin telling him how wonderful he was, but he quickly silences them so they don’t wake up the other three girls who are revealed lying at the other end of the bed.

Cheesy dialogue, bad camera work, visible boom-mics, and low-brow sex jokes have never been this fun.

The film was recently picked up by Sony, so be on the look-out for a (hopefully) theatrical release. If not, definitely pick up a copy when it hits DVD. I know this is likely to join my DVD collection for repeated viewings once it’s available (I missed out on lots of one-liners because I hadn’t finished laughing at the previous gag).

During the Q&A following the film, it was asked if there were any desires to continue on with the character. Black Dynamite himself, star Michael Jai White responded, “That’s the plan.”

Now there’s a sequel actually worth making.

Cinevegas: Day #1

The 11th Annual CineVegas Film Festival kicked off at Planet Hollywood tonight, beginning with a red carpet ceremony featuring dozens of celebrities, filmmakers, and local Las Vegas icons.

It wasn’t long before a large crowd gathered, everyone desperately trying to catch a glimpse or snapshot of the stars making their way down the carpet. Names including festival Chairman Dennis Hopper, Sarah Silverman, Carrot Top, and – perhaps the most popular attractor of camera flashes – Holly Madison.

The red carpet ceremony was a lead-in to the festival’s opening film, the world premiere of “Saint John of Las Vegas,” starring Steve Buscemi and Sarah Silverman.

As a film fan living in Las Vegas, I must say I’m quite disappointed in myself for having never attended the festival before this year. For a while now, I’ve wandered into my local theater on a weekly basis, watching the same repackaged junk Hollywood keeps tossing into the multiplexes each weekend, and rarely is my cinematic palate satisfied.

And though my ticket stubs state otherwise, it feels like I’m watching the same movie week after week.

The cure for this ailment (‘Crappy-Hollywood-Film-itus’ sounds like a good name for it) just may be taking in an independent feature. Independent filmmaking proves there’s an entirely different world of movies out there… you just have to find them.

However, it’s more likely one to catch a glimpse of a swine in flight than a local theater showing an independent film, or even a (gasp!) documentary – one not made by Michael Moore or starring a bunch of penguins, that is.

What’s missing for me is variety.

And CineVegas appears to have a film line-up that will deliver just that – comedy, drama, films with big names, films with no names, documentaries, experimental pieces, short films… there’s even a drive-in-style showing of the classic 1958 b-movie “Attack of the 50-foot Woman.”

I am so there.

Stay tuned for updates.

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