don’t make me sing Barry

Friday night I saw Hellboy II: the Golden Army. It was hilarious. Amply stacked with fighting, mushiness, comedy and fantasy, what more could you want? Guillermo del Toro did a fantastic job and I can’t wait to see what he does with the Hobbit. Ron Perlman as Hellboy has an uncanny resemblance to Ted Danson.

The most touching scene has to be the male bonding between HB and Abe over a few beers. When they start singing “I can’t smile without you” I couldn’t help but hum along. I didn’t want to – that’s Barry Manilow – that’s not right but the song was perfect for that moment in the film. I cringe at the thought of a Barry revival off the back of this film.

My favorite creatures? The tooth faries for sure. Instead of some sweet benevolent creatures which take fallen teeth and leave money behind these little beasties devour you from head to toe, prizing your teeth above all else.

Watch this clip if you dare.

last of the fest

Max & Co.

Okay, so I saw my last film festival movie a couple of weeks ago so this is late.  My final pick was the delightful Max & Co. This is a stop-motion puppet animation film from Switzerland which was simply delightful. It cost over 18.5 million Euros to make.

Max, a half boy half fox is searching for his dad. The journey has him experiencing the best and worst of life and love.  The feature-length animation is in French with English subtitles. A number of parents had brought quite young children to see the film, there was a visual feast to amuse even if they couldn’t understand the dialogue.

I saw the film at the Penthouse in Brooklyn and I do wonder why I don’t go there more often. It has to be one of the nicest and most comfortable theatres in Wellington.  The suburbs are well catered for between this one and Island Bay.

Overall the movies I saw at the film festival this year were good. Last year’s were spectacular and I felt there were more “must sees” last year. An enjoyable feature of winter in Wellington none-the-less.

coffee and allah

More film festival movies today.  Six NZ short films this time. Three were brilliant and three were ho-hum so I just won’t mention those. Roseanne Liang’s Take 3 sees three young Asian actresses auditioning for parts.  There are a couple of classic moments when they are asked to speak with Asian accents and perform Kung Fu moves.

This is her begins with conception and ends with childbirth. During the birth the mother to be flashes back to “that bitch” Kylie, the 6 year old who in twenty years will steal her husband. Directed by Katie Wolfe, this is a black tale of love.

Coffee & Allah

The movie I liked best is Coffee & Allah.  I’d expect to enjoy anything to do with coffee but if you’d told me I’d be raving about a movie featuring badminton, I’d have told you you were nuts. A movie where the dialogue was almost incidental and coffee forged friendships. In fact I wondered what it would be like to watch it with no dialogue and no subtitles.

a complete history of my sexual failures

There are some topics not everyone could make a movie about.  Chris Waitt reviews his past loves on a quest to find out what went wrong.  He seeks out former girlfriends to ask why they dumped him.  Not surprisingly many don’t want to revisit these parts of his life. One of the few women who will speak to him is his Mum and she manages to line up a few reunions for him. Most helpfully she’s retained the love letter he received. His Mum loves him but she’s not blind to his faults and points them out to him.

Having exhausted any avenues for insight from those in his past he sets out to gain new experiences.  It transpires he regularly fails to get an erection so pops a dozen or so viagra.  Initially he thinks they’re not working, but he should have waited. He finds himself then desperate to find anyone to have sex with.  Drunkenly and with a painful erection is lurches from street to street asking every women if they’ll sleep with him. One lass takes his number but is in a rush.  Another tell him he’ll have to buy her lots of drinks, “just like everyone else”.  Eventually he mistakenly asks a policeman.

His quest for self-realisation takes him to a Dominatrix. Chris does not enjoy the experience of having his genitals whipped. Nor did any man in the audience.  The guy before me crossed his legs and protected his own appendage with his hands.  I’m sure most men in the audience were doing the same while all around them insensitive women laughed.

The movie has a happy ending when he realises he has a text from the lass who took his number.  She doesn’t seem to find him the lazy, always late jerk which the majority of his girlfriends did. A very funny documentary, well worth seeing if you get the chance.

the world needs more hamburger phones

Tonight I saw Juno, a comedy which fits into the quirky category along with the likes of Little Miss Sunshine. When I first read the synopsis it wasn’t a movie at the top of my must see list. A sixteen year old gets pregnant, backs out of an abortion, then seeks adoptive parents for the unborn baby. Parents of the 16 year old are disappointed but not too judgemental and are ultimately supportive of her and her decision.

 A friend encouraged me to go and I’m pleased I did. Packed with witty one-liners it kept me amused from beginning to end.  Every time Juno (Ellen Page) used her hamburger phone I did have an 80s novelty phone cringe.

I’m such a West Wing fan it took me a few moments to stop seeing Alison Janney as CJ and see her as step-mom Bren. Bren’s manic obsession with dogs, cutting out pictures for her scrapbook soon gave me the mental shift I needed. While the ending was basically happy it wasn’t sugar coated and had a few moments getting there.

The indie-based soundtrack is worth a mention too. It has been a while since I’ve purchased the soundtrack for any movie but this one might just find its way onto my ipod.