THE ARTIST

Giddy. Giddy is a simple description (but not the manliest) of how the Oscar contending film, The Artist made me feel inside, when seeing it last night. The film takes the traditional tropes of the silent film era and makes them fresh, introducing them to the 21^st century (sometimes even a new audience, like my wife). “Mugging” for the camera, outrageous Hollywood plot, and even a cute dog, all this movie needed was a cute orphan and racial insensitivity, I would swear it was actually made in the era the film depicts.

The film is written and directed by Michel Hazanavicius with a keen eye for detail. French actor Jean Dujardin, who collaborated with Hazanavicius on two OSS 117 spy satires (which if you haven’t seen, are ready for your viewing pleasure on Netflix), is brilliant as George Valentin, the  star of countless silent-movie epics. George resists the efforts of studio chief Al Zimmer (scene-stealer John Goodman) to try talkies. George is sparked by Peppy Miller (the breath-taking beauty Bérénice Bejo), a bit player who hits it big in the sound era while George's career crumbles. Only Clifton ( James Cromwell), his driver, and the star's dog Uggy, his Jack Russell terrier( Thin Man fans UNITE!) stick with George through his fall. It takes Peppy, to save the man she loves.

Gorgeous ,and obviously, painstakingly shot by cinematographer Guillaume Schiffman, with a  score by Ludovic Bource that is still ringing in my ears, The Artist is every reason I ever went to the movies: bawdy humor, over-the-top action, impossible romance, and the always awesome happy ending. I was really glad I got to share this with my wife (her first silent film), hope this opens others minds up to an older, gentler era of film-making. 4 star flick for me.

WHAT THE HELL?!?...wait I really liked this movie. "POPCORN" review

So what happens when you intend to write a review of a bad slasher flick that actually turns out to be, at the very least fun, you get Popcorn. 

Popcorn was a slasher flick made at the end of the era, 1991. These movies seemed to have played themselves out at the time, and the low budget ones were heading straight to VHS. This was no exception.

The basic plot runs like this: while trying to raise money for their film school projects, a group of very annoying college film students fix up an old movie theater for an all-night horror festival.  The festival includes three flicks from the 50s and 60s using gimmicks of the William Castle tradition (3-D, a giant insect on a wire, electrically buzzed seats, and "aroma-rama"). In the meantime, in a box of old props, they discover a disturbing reel of film featuring a Manson look-alike chanting the word "possessor." This is the same character that one of the students (the excruciatingly bad Jill Schoelen) has recurring nightmares about. On the night of the festival, the killer returns….blah, blah, blah. You get the gist. What makes this movie great is its sthe "film-within-a-film" segments that pay clever homage to horror and sci-fi films of this bygone era. "Mosquito”, is a 50s era giant bug movie, complete with a handsome general, his goofy adolescent sidekick, and an attractive female scientist/love interest; The Incredible Electrifying Man" is a direct spoof of the Lon Chaney 50s favorite, THE INDESTRUCTIBLE MAN. The last (and only color) of these segments is "The Stench," a late 60s era Japanese Toho spoof (complete with bad dubbing and beehive hairdos). “The Stench” segment is sadly, all too brief, but oh so funny. Guest stars include: Dee Wallace as Schoelen's mom, Tony Roberts as the film school instructor and also a bit by Ray Walston as an old-time showman that was also way too brief. The rest of the actors are serviceable chattel for our killer, the kills are pretty PG-13, but at least fairly inventive.

My intent for Popcorn was to be my first written, “What the Hell?!?” movie segment, but I found myself really into this movie. I discovered it solely based on the awesome box cover and I am really glad I did. I give it 2.5 stars.

Boys Nite Will return!!!!

The Boys Nite blog will be back up and running soon. Hopefully we can get this thing flying in 2012. I really enjoy writing on this page, but commitments have kept me and the guys away. I hope in the next week or so we will all get our fingers flying. Until then you can check out:

James Woolverton here: http://jamesmusicreview.blogspot.com/

My movie reviews here: http://lexcessmagazine.com/

As always you can follow us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#!/groups/297496610227/