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  • National Lampoon’s Dirty Movie – DVD Review

    National Lampoon’s Dirty Movie – DVD Review

    “National Lampoon’s…” used to be a prefix that carried weight, with Animal House in 1978 and a string of comedy movies throughout the 1980s including the John Hughs penned Vacation the brand was responsible for some of the funnier movies of the time. Flash forward 30 years to 2011’s Dirty Movie and it’s clear to see that the humour has long been beaten out of a brand that’s as a stale as the mattress in a middle aged hookers bedroom, with originality, and any sense of dignity, having been slung out the window long ago.

    National Lampoon’s Dirty Movie is a contradiction in terms; it’s not actually a movie, it’s a series of unconnected jokes reusing the same cheap acting ‘talent’ loosely strung together by the idea of trying to make a movie that is purely jokes. From the outset it is a mind numbingly banal and relentless rotation of horrible cliches, racist stereotypes, offensive generalisations, poorly acted insults delivered with the comic timing of a bucket of vomit. It’s unfair to call it a movie, to do so would cheapen the idea of the cinema in general, there are documentaries about soap factories that are funnier than this ball of tiresome clap trap. After about 30 minutes it descends into simply flashing boobs at the screen in a vague attempt to maintain your attention, at which it fails.

    Somehow the production value manages to feel even cheaper than the jokes, it has the look of a budget TV episode and it would have worked much better as a half hour comedy show, it still wouldn’t have been funny but there we are. Terrible green screen backdrops, awful digital filters, and a series of useless props contribute to an experience that defies the very idea of comedy. There was always an element of tack to the National Lampoon movies, an inherent cheapness, but this was just part of those movies’s charm and they had a story or a concept to back them up, something woefully lacking here. Cyndi Lauper turns up in a cameo that is truly baffling, why she thought it was a worthwhile project to put her name to is deeply troubling.

    Overall there really isn’t much to be said about National Lampoon’s Dirty Movie other than to suggest not to watch it, it is offensively puerile nonsense that wouldn’t even be worth your time if it was in a £1 bargain bin. The only thing to say in it’s favour is that it pretty much manages to equally offend every person, gender, race, religion, and sexuality going – a veritable carpet bombing of abuse. Dirty Movie is like a compendium of tasteless jokes, eventually one might make you laugh but 99% of the movie is filler, tumbleweed inducing, cringeworthy, humourless filler.

  • 9 Graphic Novels That Revolutionised The Comic Industry

    9 Graphic Novels That Revolutionised The Comic Industry

    Here’s one…

    Persepolis

    Rivaling Maus in global cultural importance, Persepolis is a female-written triumph of monochromatic art and an exposé on the importance of cultural communication. This graphic novel, a French language autobiographical work by Marjane Satrapi, is one of the most important graphic novels ever published. It revolves around the story of Satrapi’s childhood, growing up in Iran during the lead-up to the Islamic Revolution. A fantastic feminist graphic novel and a greatly humanizing picture of an often conflict-ridden, willfully misunderstood region, Persepolis has been rightly translated into several languages. It’s a truly global world, and it’s a big win for Satrapi and those who come after: some stories just need to be told.

    The rest are here.

  • Supermen Of Malegaon

    Supermen Of Malegaon

    After successful screenings at festivals across the globe, Supermen of Malegaon is slated for theatrical release in India on June 29, 2012. The film has had an extraordinary journey since the idea was first mooted but its biggest hurdle was securing a theatrical release in India, which has now been achieved.

    Supermen of Malegaon is a documentary that captures a motley bunch of cinema fanatics in Malegaon, Maharashtra who remake Bollywood and Hollywood films on miniscule budgets, which they shoot, star in and screen for their local audience in Malegaon. This time, they take on the challenge of making Superman. The film follows them on this journey-at times funny, tragic and contemplative.

    Supermen of Malegaon took off when Director Faiza Ahmad Khan, along with co-producer Gargey Trivedi & Siddharth Thakur, won the Asian Pitch in Singapore. The Asian Pitch is organised by Mediacorp in Singapore, NHK in Japan and KBS in South Korea. Several directors were invited to pitch their subjects, and Supermen of Malegaon was one of the three films that won the Fund. The film was made over seven months.

    It picked up its first award in Rome, at the Asiatica Film Mediale, where it won the Jury Prize for Best Documentary. Subsequently it has been screened at over thirty prestigious international film festivals including Silverdocs and Full Frame Documentary Festivals in the US, the Karlovy Vary in Czech Republic and IFFI in India, and has won 15 awards for its crew.

    On the occasion of the release, Director Faiza Khan said, “The film has had an extraordinary journey so far and we’re sure that will continue with its run at the cinemas. Every single screening that we’ve had has been tremendous in terms of the audience engaging with the film -from a screening under the stars in the Narmada Valley for over a thousand to the most recent ‘house full’ Vikalp screening at Prithvi. There is an audience for these films. So what if it is small as compared to an audience for a Bollywood film? We’re not even looking to compete. What we need is many spaces within this larger space for many kinds of films- documentaries, regional, experimental, to exist. There is huge appreciation for our films abroad, and we’re hoping that the audiences here will respond is the same way”.

    The film was crafted by an immensely talented group of people, some of whom are rising stars in the industry in their own right. Sneha Khanwalkar and Hitesh Sonik, who did the musical score for the film, have projects like ‘Oye Lucky, Lucky Oye’, ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’, ‘Kaminey’ and ‘Omkara’ to their credit. Shweta Venkat, the editor, has edited ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’ and ‘That Girl in Yellow Boots’. Gargey Trivedi who co-produced Supermen… and was the cinematographer, shot ‘My Friend Pinto’. Niraj Gera, Sound Designer for other award winning films like Valu has been a part of Supermen of Malegaon as well.

    Malegaon, a small town tucked away near the heart of India geographically, is fraught with communal tension and under economic depression. To escape the harsh reality of their world, its people seek refuge in the fantastical world of cinema.

    This passion for cinema has spurred a group of cinema enthusiasts to make their own films-quirky, low budget, socially aware and notoriously funny spoofs of Bollywood films. Their ambition has grown and now they are ready to take on Hollywood and Superman.

    We follow them on this journey. At times funny, tragic, contemplative. Always warm and engaging. And as the film begins to take shape, through schemes and approaches that are sublimely ingenious, simply bizarre and purely hysterical, we also slowly discover Malegaon itself. The film is a tribute to a spirit that can never be vanquished, the spirit that enables the Supermen of Malegaon to make Malegaon’s Superman.

  • Logan’s Power Trailer

    Logan’s Power Trailer

    We reviewed the film HERE, but check out the trailer below for Michael Lamarra’s funny short film Logan’s Power.

  • Dying, And Other Superpowers – Short

    Dying, And Other Superpowers – Short

    Continuing our series focusing on LGBT and superhero themes comes short film Dying, And Other Superpowers from Director Elias Ribeiro and based on the short story by Kristian Johns. This fantastic short follows Josh on his 18th birthday as he is confronted not only with finding out that he has HIV but also that he has superpowers.

    Josh is a typical 18 year old, he hangs out with his best friend Ellie, plays computer games, and reaps the benefits of the tenacious, and confused, sexual proclivities of his Mum’s boyfriend Stuart. But following a spontaneous, and unprotected, bathroom stall sexual encounter Josh is told he is HIV positive and his world is irrevocably changed. The confusion, panic, and fear surging through his body manifest, causing a mug on the nearby desk to explode all over the unwelcoming hospital room.

    Josh’s narration guides us in breaking the news of his status to Ellie and Lorraine, coming to terms with the magnitude of his risky sexcapade, and in beginning to gain control over his health and his newly empowered abilities. Excitedly he embarks on an exploration of his new reality complete with superpowers. Following Stuart’s less than stellar reaction Josh’s unstable equilibrium is threatened by confrontation that results in a frenzied outburst of telekinetic powers, bringing with it the realisation that these powers come with startling consequences. Realising the extent of his new abilities, Josh faces the question: if you had superpowers, what would you do?

    Kristian Johns’s original short story is split into two chapters, one from Josh’s point of view and one from Ellie’s, and is darker in tone with a more final ending where Josh used his powers to save a tube train full of people at the cost of his own life. Ribeiro’s short focuses more on the emotional and familial relationship between the characters and plots a more positive outlook for Josh’s future, ending on an optimistic high note. As the movies log line states Dying, And Other Superpowers is about “accepting things you wouldn’t wish on anyone and most importantly: moving on!”

    Tom Stanley provides a great performance as Josh and is backed up by an equally great supporting cast in Rebecca Pitkin (Ellie), Lorraine Hodgson (his Mum, Lorraine), and Adrian Bouchet (Stuart). Pitkin’s performance is especially poignant in her reaction to Josh’s status, and Bouchet is a mixture of hilarious, hot, and sexually rapacious as he lures Josh into the shower in one of the shorts stand out scenes. Equal parts humour and drama this short is well photographed, engagingly edited, with a fast pace that makes good use of special effects to enhance the narrative. The focus really is on the characters; their humanity is what makes this story really stand out, it’s believable given the fantastical element because of this grounding – as with any decent superpower story the reality of the situation allows you to suspend disbelief in the supernatural abilities.

    Dying, And Other Superpowers doesn’t shy away from, or desexualise, homosexual relationships as is often the case with mainstream films and is frank and honest in discussing the reality of HIV. As with anything discussed in this series of articles – graphic novels, TV shows, and movies – the most successful narratives hold a mirror up to reality and explore real world issues, even if they do so in an escapist or fantastically divergent manner. Josh’s superpowers become an analogy for his HIV status, an exaggerated metaphor for being different, he must accept this and learn how it effects his life and act responsibly. His powers, just like his status, make him vulnerable but by taking ownership of them, facing reality, and refusing to be defined by one thing he can find that the real power lies in the choices he makes.

    Johns is turning the universe into a full length novel, a prequel titled The Beginners Guide to Saving the World, that will be released in 2013. Also Ribeiro and Johns are hard at work on a feature length movie that is to expand upon the short and deliver a bigger and even better story.

    Dying, And Other Superpowers is currently showing on the festival circuit and is screening in competition as part of the Soho Rushes International Film Festival at 18:30 on July 14, you can find out more information about that and book tickets HERE. You can also check out the trailer for the movie HERE.

    Look out for the final post in this series, a chat with writer Kristian Johns and director Elias Ribeiro coming soon.

     

    Related:

    “Holy Homosexual Innuendo, Batman”

    Spandex Fast and Hard – Review 

    Martin Eden – Interview