Doc Edge 2014

So, easy post time, in which I talk about what movies I'm interested in in the upcoming Documentary Edge film festival for 2014. Although this time around, for some reason, there was only five that got my attention. There are still films from earlier fests I haven't seen, but for now I'm just going with five.

God Loves Uganda
Gringo Trails
A Brony Tale
One Minute for Conductors
Kids For Cash

Annoyingly, it's out at the Roxy, which is in Mirimar... so, like, the ass-end of Wellington, as far as transport and such goes. And the movies I want are mostly in the evening. Yeah, I want to be travelling out there in the dark of night. Still, it is only five, so tempting...

And, because I'm a member of the Wellington Film Society, I save a couple of bucks on the tickets!

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Dr Strangeness

Catching up with some bad tv movies, we have this exciting adventure of the Sorcerer Supreme...

I wouldn't say this movie is slow, but nothing happens... and nothing more happens... and then even more nothing happens... this is a slow game of cat and mouse, and you could leave, go get a cup of tea, read a book, catch a movie... and still be back for no plot progression at all!

Nominally, an evil presence is going to get some revenge on a master magician, so sends Morgan, who gets a young woman to push the old man off a bridge. He's all right, but the woman, Clea, is a bit of a wreck, and ends up at Strange's hospital... and we're halfway through the movie already... then the second half the movie is all about how hot Strange is. Seriously, Clea falls for him, then Morgan does, and the ending is all about how she's got the hots for him and will he give up on the old man and be forever with her? Will he ever!

Throughout the movie I kept thinking one thing "this isn't very good". It wasn't that it was terrible... it certainly wasn't good, but it didn't dive into the horror of complete awfulness. No, it just isn't very good, and that's as good as it gets. Peter Hooten is just bland as Strange, and Anne-Marie Martin is on screen as Clea. Even Clyde Kusatsu doesn't get much to do with Asian Stereotype #3. And the effects are certainly nothing to be proud of.

I'm guessing, from the ending, this was intended to be a pilot? Or at least get a sequel? Can't say I'm surprised nothing came of it...

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Star of Darkness

This is one of those films that started a lot of things, pretty much all space ship movies where the ship is old and odd things start to happen. Such as Alien, eventually Red Dwarf, and the like. And it's a "comedy", in that it isn't actually funny, although it likes to think it occasionally is.

The Dark Star is a ship that goes around space and finds unstable planets that will eventually fall into their suns, and then blows them up. Along the way, the crew deals with a beachball alien, and a recalcitrant bomb. And a rather bleak and sort of uplifting ending.

I watched the 68 minute original version, but that was enough. This is very slow moving, making me glad of VLC's time play function. Nowadays I can see this being spun out to over two hours, but just over one was enough. This is mainly due to the comedy not really working, and sequences that long outstay their welcome. (The whole alien/lift sequence, which is basically the second act, for example.)

The acting is decent enough, with only four people on screen, although we don't get a lot of character depth (I see there's a little more in the theatrical version). Production is good, with large panels of flashy lights and switches despite the low budget.

So, that's another 'classic' finally seen... and I leave you with this song...

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Goodnight Sam

Goodnight Kiwi creator dies.


(Although, at this point, it would just be mean to point out that as kiwis are a nocturnal bird, Kiwi wouldn't be going to bed then but heading out for a nice meal of grubs...)

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The Connection

Now this is... slightly more like it! I want to go to the Film Society to see decent movies that I would otherwise pass by... and while I'm not saying I would even consider this, I was there, this was playing... and it was quite good!

A director wants to make a movie about junkies, and so gets himself an apartment of druggies, gives one of them money to turn up with the dope, and then films what happens... and what happens is a rather disconnected series of monologues and interplay from people who can barely communicate... and like jazz. The music track is played live, as it were, with junkie musicians laying down the tunes. And then the drugs turn up around half-way and the film takes a different turn... especially when the director, who occasionally pops onto screen to cajole them, is talked into trying it himself. And it winds down from there...

It is slow, but it draws you in, and becomes rather watchable. The cast give engaging performances, especially Warren Finnerty, Jerome Raphael and Jim Anderson. The film is shot in black and white, largely as one shot, although it's fairly clear when there's a change in shot. It was originally a play, and I can see that (although I'm not sure if it keeps the filming device?).

Yeah, okay, a thumbs up for this one.

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The Dark Crystyl

A puppet movie from Henson that isn't muppets? Is that possible?

Jen is picked to be The One who must fulfil The Prophecy, and is given the first step... fortunately he happens to lucky bump into someone who takes him to where the rest of The Prophecy is so they can find out what he's supposed to do. In the meantime the Skeksis are having an eating scene to show off different puppet effects. And then the Pod People have an eating scene to show off different puppet effects. Jan and Kira get to the castle and barely manage to save the day and have quite an emotional moment where they are surround by big cosmic events but who cares because Kira is near death! More emotional impact that most other movies out there! Woo!

One thing I happened to notice was how big the place isn't. Jen is told to go to Aughra's place, which is one day away. At the same time, the Chamberlain Skeksis follows the Garthim and turns up at her place at the same time... so the Skeksis castle is only one day away from Aughra's place. Everywhere is like two days walk from everywhere else! Makes a change from the epic distances we are supposed to believe are crossed in typical fantasy stories.

And the puppets are decent too... more or less. Whenever there was movement of the puppets in a long shot I had a hard time buying it. And I'm including when they had an actor dressed up as Jen move about. Shame as everything else about them is fine. Nice sets too.

Decent movie in many ways, just a few flaws to take me out of it.

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Lybyrynth

Ah, the movie that brings to life: be careful what you wished for. And someone apparently wished for David Bowie in tight pants.

Sarah, a selfish young girl, gets ticked off with her baby brother, and has the Goblin King take him away. Immediately she regrets this, and so sets out through a supposed labyrinth to get him back... hey, that's not a labyrinth. A labyrinth is one path that's more for contemplative walking than an actual maze... but it does make for a better title. Along the way, she meets a bunch of friends, and if it wasn't for Ludo she wouldn't win. Seriously, there are some large gates that they only get through because Ludo is the big strong one. Without him, she would have been stumped long ago. Then eventually it all comes down to remembering a speech from a play that happens to be the exact words of anti-power she needs... which basically shows this up as an entire dream sequence from the get go.

I have to say... and we are talking nearly thirty years on now... some of those puppets do look a little dated now. Hoggle definitely looks he needs another pass or two to get him working better. Ludo works, but then he's just a large puppet that only has a prosthetic face and a large fur suit. Didymus also works well, being the standard size puppet they are used to working with... but some of those other goblins look rather raw, and the knights on dragon things just look bad. I'm not surprised Toby Froud spends a lot of the movie looking like he'd rather be in another movie.

But the core of the movie is the creepy relationship between David Bowie and a young Jennifer Connelly. And David Bowie's codpiece. And extra arms that can juggle his balls. They've all got their parts to do, but that's all they do, one expression each.

With a grown up brain, this is looking old and I can see the hands behind the puppets... it works more as a nostalgia piece now, with better movies done since.

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