Tag Archives: 2018

Drive-In Friday: Documentaries About Directors Night

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“Documentaries are boring. Who wants to watch a bunch of talking heads bragging about themselves?”
—Eric, purveyor of film quality and all things Sein(feld)suck.

And to a degree, I agree with my running-bud Eric: unless you have an interest in the subject matter at hand. As someone who’s spent his life in radio broadcasting and enamored with the craft of filmmaking, I’ve watched more than my fair share documentaries on the subjects of broadcasting and radio personalities, and film with its related actors and directors. And, even in person, those creative individuals can push self-aggrandizing into the new limits of boredom.

Don’t believe me?

The Snack Bar is Open! Free Dove Bars if you buy a hotdog. Darn freezer’s broke again!

Go to a party or any social gathering. Find yourself an actor or director. And I am not talking about running into a well-rounded, educated fellow like Werner Herzog with whom you can have a meaningful conversation about anything from soup to nuts. I am talking about the (always) one-the-way-up-and-after-one-film-they-think-they’re-Elvis types. But since this is in reference to film: Steven Spielberg. And actors are worse than directors. Christian Bale and Klaus Kinski earned the right to set-rant. You, Mr. DeMille and Ms. Desmond, do not.

Don’t believe me?

Watch The Disaster Artist, the (excellent) dramedy about the making of Tommy Wiseau’s The Room. There’s a telling scene in the film where actor Greg Sestero confides his career frustrations to a fellow thespian—and all the other actor can do is drone on and on about how great his career is going. And as someone with lots of “under the tent” experience in holding areas, I’ve seen and heard it all, ad nauseam. Sestero tells it true.

And screenwriters? Well, I’ll spare you that paragraph, but here’s the equation: Director ego x Actor oneselfness = the greatest screenwriter in the world, aka “Listen to me, for I am the lord god of all scribes surveyed.”

And heaven forbid if you don’t like that up-and-coming Elvis-Spielberg’s latest entry to their no-one-has-ever-heard-of-or-seen oeuvre, aka a celluloid nobody and never will be: be prepared for the bowels of hell to rip open and for the lathes of heaven to crash into the fiery abyss and scorch to embers. Yeah, sometimes (almost always) the auteur is just another egomaniacal Billy Walsh (know your Entourage trivia) who blesses you with the distinct privilege of viewing their master(shite)piece—just because it received a set of “Official Selection” leaves from some obscure, off-the-circuit, emo-haughty film festival that won’t be in business next year and mainstream Hollywood doesn’t acknowledge because, well, Hollywood is already full up with more talented haughties than yourself. But thanks for asking! We’ll be looking for that star on the walk of fame, DeMille.

But even the established directors can be a handful, as evidenced in The Man You Love to Hate (1979), about the uncompromising director of silent films, Erich von Stroheim (acted in Sunset Boulevard). There’s Luchino Visconti (1999), about the iconic neorealist behind (the incredible, must watches) The Leopard, Death in Venice and Ludwig. There’s Felini: I’m a Born Liar (2002), Carl Th. Dreyer: My Métier (1995), about the director behind the seminal vampire flick, 1932’s Vampyr, and Pier Paolo Pasolini: A Film Maker’s Life (1971). And you can go on and on . . . with docs about Robert Altman, a couple regarding Woody Allen and Roman Polanksi, along with Orson Wells, Howard Hawks, Bergman, Kurosawa, Kurbick, and even producer Robert Evans. The documentary Easy Riders, Raging Bulls examines the industry and careers of ‘60s “bulls” Martin Scorsese, Dennis Hopper, Peter Bogdanovich, and Sam Peckinpah. And, speaking of Werner Herzog: Burden of Dreams (1982) follows the German (deserving of the noun spoken in the same sentence as his name) auteur as he deals with difficult actors, bad weather and getting a boat over a mountain during Fitzcarraldo.

But this is B&S About Movies . . . and you know us crazy, frolicking lads in the wilds of Allegheny County. We’ve got to go just a little bit deeper into the films—the realm of documentaries about directors. You may not know them. You may know them and hate them. But you know what: they don’t care. They, with a Kurt Vonnegut tenacity, just keep on creating. And that’s cool with me.

Image available across multiple sites; source unknown

Movie 1: The Insufferable Groo (2018)

At the time of the filming of this documentary by Scott Christopherson, Provo, Utah, resident Steven Groo’s resume encompassed 166 films—after its release, his resume grew to 200 films. A lesser documentarian would most likely—as so many internet warriors—slag Groo’s ultra-low-budget tales. Instead—what makes this film so lovely and tragic at the same time—is that Christopherson focuses on Groo’s determination to tell his stories. While Groo can be admittedly abrasive, his tenacity paid off with the patronages of actor Jack Black and director Jared Hess of Napoleon Dynamite and Nacho Libre fame. And Jack Black starred in Goo’s Unexpected Race (2018). In the end, you root for Groo.

You can watch The Insufferable Groo as a free-with-ads stream on TubiTv. You can also watch Unexpected Race on the platform, as well. Since Groo participated in its making and approves of the film, you can still find this document out in the Internet ethers. The same can’t be said for our next feature. . . .

Movie 2: Neil Breen Movie Magic (2020)

When Tommy Wiseau’s name drops, the name of ultra-independent filmmaker Neil Breen follows. And if you’re a hardcore fan of ultra-low budget films, Cybela Clare—with her equally incompetent-to-obsessive films about humanity, animals, and aliens rife with awful CGI set design—name drops after Breen’s. To say Breen is a film cult icon is an understatement. Plug Breen’s name into You Tube or Google and you’ll discover the rabid fandom of his works. His films couldn’t be more polarizing: they’re either IMDb-rated as 1-star or 10-star . . . although it’s obvious the 10-starrers are pure parody-sarcasm, at best.

Anyways . . . a licensed architect by trade who made his money in real estate, Breen self-financed/produced, directed and starred in his debut feature, Double Down (2005). As of 2018, he completed five films and has since launched pre-production on his sixth film: Cade: The Tortured Crossing (2023).

You may love ‘em. You may hate ‘em. You may say they suck—and they ultimately do—but courtesy of an underground fan base cultivated via social media, Breen’s films—in a Wiseauian twist—have been picked up by arthouse theatres and film festivals around the world.

Sadly, you can no longer watch Neil Breen Movie Magic on You Tube. Yeah, it seems ol’ Neil can’t take criticism: the film wasn’t favorable to his works, so he’s since had the film pulled; however, to Neil’s credit: it did use his intellectual property without his approval.

So, as any narcissist would: Breen released his own documentary in response: Neil Breen’s 5 Film Retrospective, in May 2020. As with Neil Breen’s Movie Magic: it is another must-watch for Breen fans. You can watch Breen’s insights on himself on You Tube.

Needless to say: The trailers for Neil’s movies are as bloated as his films . . . so strap in for a 9-minute trailer to Neil’s self aggrandizing documentary. A nine-minute trailer? I guess it’s justified, considering the movie itself is five-hours long. For reals.

Don’t worry. Neil’s not offended. He’s gone on record to say he doesn’t read his reviews (but had Movie Magic pulled, so . . . okay) a few which this Las Vegas Weekly article features.

Intermission!

Back to the show!

Movie 3: Will Work for Views: The Lo-Fi Life of Weird Paul (2019)

Say what you will about Pittsburgh You Tube star Weird Paul—but the dude has 34,000-plus subscribers. People love him. You can’t help but dig him and his unique brand of retro-‘80s video productions, which he’s been posting since signing onto You Tube on Feb 4, 2007. I’ve been a fan of Paul’s ever since. And so should you. He’d make Kurt Vonnegut proud.

You can watch Will Work for Views as a free-with-ads stream on TubiTV.

Movie 4: Overnight (2003)

It amazes me that for as many people that have watched Boondock Saints—and quote the film, wear the t-shirts, and even have Boondock Saints “double gun” lamps on their end tables in their media room—have no knowledge of this documentary shot by writer-director Troy Duffy’s former friends.

You may have heard the stories about Duffy’s meteoric rise and even quicker fall, but here’s your chance to see it all up close and personal. Even if you aren’t a fan of documentaries or have not the need-to-know about what goes on behind a camera, you’ll be fascinated by this document that tells us the story of a (film and music) career that might have been. For bless the “Holy Fool.”

You can watch Overnight as a free with-ads-stream on TubiTv. Unlike Breen: Since Duffy authorized the cameras filming his every move during the making of his film, he couldn’t stop this film from being seen.

“Documentaries suck and are made by people who can’t make a real movie. I’d rather sit through a TBS Seinsuck marathon.”
—Eric

Indeed, Eric. Indeed.

Like I always say: Friends and film, huh? But chicks and film is (always) worse. (A woman who digs Klaus Kinski and knows Paul Naschy’s works is out there, somewhere! I can hope.)

Again, in the eyes of the many: documentaries just aren’t their canister of celluloid. Yes, documentaries—if you’re not into the subject at hand—can be as pedestrian as a CBS-TV 48 Hours segment or as bone-dust dry as a PBS-TV chronicle. But that’s not the case with these four heartfelt, well-made documents of their equally talented, intriguing subjects—each who make Vonnegut proud.

Hey, Eric, be sure to check out all of the films reviewed during our “Documentary Week” feature.

“Fuck off, R.D!”
—Eric

About the Author: You can learn more about the writings of R.D Francis on Facebook. He also writes for B&S About Movies.

Deany Bean is Dead (2018)

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Deanna Locke (Allison Marie Volk, who also wrote and produced this) has lost her fiancee and is dealing with a boss who abuses her. She feels like no one loves her, so she ends up offing her boss and showing up at her ex’s engagement party with the body in the trunk in an effort to win him back. After all, her goal was originally to bury that boss in the yard. Whatever happens next, well…that’s up to the whims of destiny.

Of course, Maxine isn’t all that dead. And the podcasts in our heroine’s brain aren’t helping her at all. This is a surprising film filled with humor and some good emotion, too. Mikael Kreuzriegler shows skill as a director and Volk has delivered an interesting script.

You can watch this on Tubi.

Parts Unknown (2018)

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After putting their bodies on the line for countless years, the Van Strasser family of professional wrestlers is looking for a brand new way to satisfy an impeccable bloodlust. And that way involves demons and quite possibly the end of the world.

This film is the sequel of sorts to 2016’s Witch Hunters and if you love pro wrestling, you’ll enjoy how crazy this all gets.

An entity known as The Holiness (voiced by Jake “The Snake” Roberts) is speaking to the father of the clan, leading him to greater heights of mayhem.

There’s plenty of violence on hand, with nipples being sliced off and devoured, as well as a razor blade dildo being used exactly how you always hoped that it wouldn’t.

There are more ideas than budget on screen here, but I walked away admiring director Richard Chandler for how much he tried to get out there. This is a movie that starts small and ends huge. It’s ridiculous, but that’s part of the charm.

Parts Unknown is available on demand and on DVD from Wild Eye Releasing, who were kind enough to send us a copy.

The Mentors: Kings of Sleaze Rockumentary (2018)

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The Mentors started in Seattle but moved to Australia, where its three original members — Edon “El Duce” Hoke, Eric “Sickie Wifebeater” Carlson (guitar) and Steve “Dr. Heathen Scum” Broy — turned their garage punk metal into its own genre called rape rock. They were pretty much unknown until the PMRC hearings exposed America to the lyrics of their song “Golden Showers,” which features the line “Bend up and smell my anal vapor / Your face is my toilet paper.”

Depending on how seriously you took The Mentors, that pretty much determines how much they upset you.

This documentary covers their career — warts and, well, all warts really — including the claim that Courtney Love paid El Duce $50,000 to kill her husband Kurt Cobain, which led to Hoke telling this story on the Jerry Springer Show and in The National Enquirer and the movie Kurt & Courtney, even naming the person who did kill Cobain (who also shows up in this movie!). El Duce passed a lie detector test, despite the theory that Mentors pal Rev. Bud Green invented this story to sell to supermarket tabloids and get more publicity for the band. Further adding to conspiracy is that Duce died soon after, the victim of a train, murder or just suicide.

The Mentors wear their executioner hoods in honor of Mark of the Devil and Duce appeared in Du-beat-e-o and the the adult film Backstage Sluts alongside Motörhead, Korn and Limp Bizkit members, all telling their best groupie stories while porn stars act them out.

Obviously, while The Mentors still tour, their willingness to offend and pretty much be drunken and drugged manaics don’t really hit into today’s world. That said, at least they woule always keep their masks on.

While I was fascinated by this movie, if you are easily — or even not so easily — offended, perhaps you should skip this one.

You can watch this on Amazon Prime and Tubi.

Heavy Trip (2018)

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EDITOR’S NOTE: Thanks to Paul Andolina for being part of our music week. Paul writes often on our site, most often about Nicolas Cage and pro wrestling movies. Now, he’s back to talk about Heavy Trip, a heavy metal movie from Finland. To read more of his work, check out his sites Wrestling with Film and Is the Dad Alive?

Leave it to the Finns to make one of the best movies about heavy metal that I’ve ever seen. Granted I haven’t seen a ton of films about heavy metal but I have been a metalhead for a long time. The store that I used to frequent and buy used metal cds no longer exists but this film certainly brought back the magic of discovering a new band.

Heavy Trip is about a group of guys who have a black metal band that mostly plays covers. They long for a gig but refuse to get one until they have written an original song. They play in a basement space below a reindeer slaughterhouse that is owned and operated by their guitarist Lotvonen’s dad. Rounding out the band is the ever shy Turo, the vocalist, Pasi, the living metal encyclopedia that is the bassist, and Jynnky, who has been dead twice, their drummer. After some failed original riff attempts, Lotvonen is inspired by a reindeer carcass caught in the processor, and the boys finally have their sound. They are really pleased with their song, Flooding Secretions. 

They happen to have a chance encounter with Frank Massegrav, the promoter of Northern Damnation, a huge metal festival in Norway, when he comes to the slaughterhouse to buy blood. He is accidentally doused in the blood and pissed, storms off but not before Jynnky chases down his truck and hands him their demo. Turo goes on to tell the local florist, Miia, about meeting Frank, and says that he has a gig in Norway. Things get totally out of hand when news of this spreads across their small town. Suddenly the band is no longer ridiculed and is openly praised by all the residents. Things end up going tits up at a local gig when it is revealed they don’t actually have a gig in Norway. 

This movie has some absolutely nutters scenes, including the band taking their promo shot by speed camera, a mental patient that turns violent when met by sudden movements who can only be calmed by metal, a fight with a wolverine, Turo puking on the town’s mayor while performing the first time in front of a live audience, and the entire third act of the film is bar none the greatest road trip segment put to film.

This movie is not only a great comedy but probably one of the funnest movies I’ve seen that involves metal in any capacity. I would highly encourage anyone who is a fan of metal to check it out. It’s irreverent, it’s heartfelt, and it is entirely metal. You can check it out on Amazon Prime.

Why Don’t You Just Die! (2018)

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Andrei is a detective and the world’s most horrible father. He has brought together a group of people who all want revenge on him, including his angry daughter, a brutal criminal and a cheated cop. They all want revenge. So who is gonna get it?

Kirill Sokolov’s debut film calls to mind the cinematic styles of those he refers to as his favorite directors: Sergio Leone, Martin McDonagh, Park Chan-wook, Martin Scorsese, and, foremost amongst these greats, Quentin Tarantino.

Somehow, this movie takes a Russian spin on a Western action film, which gives it the signposts that will be able to guide audiences through it, but allows those looking for something unique their own avenues to travel throughout the film.

Matvey has a mission. His girlfriend feels that her father — the aforementioned Andrei — has shamed her. So he must kill the old man with a hammer. Easier said than done.

Andrei has a lot of fight in him. Matvey can take an inordinate amount of damage before dying. This “meet the parents” tale is filled with an overwhelming amount of violence, blood and gore. Which is a long way to say that this is awesome.

The Arrow release also includes four short films by the director: Could Be Worse, The Outcome, The Flame and Sisyphus is Happy. It also has the trailer, behind the scenes footage and even the storyboards used to make this.

I had no idea what to expect from this film and ended up really enjoying it. Consider this a recommendation for you to grab this for yourself. You can get it from Arrow Video, who was kind enough to send us a copy.

Wrestlemassacre (2018)

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I’ve spent around half my life as a pro wrestler. So when a movie comes out about a man who takes his wrestling knowledge and becomes a killer comes around, I’m going to do what i can to find it and watch it and share it with you.

Randy (Bruiser Brody lookalike Richie “The Cuban Assassin” Acevedo) is a groundskeeper who is obsessed with being a pro wrestler like his father (who is played by Nikolai Volkoff). When he decides to try out at “Boogie Woogie Man” Jimmy Valiant’s wrestling school, he gets treated like a green boy and goes off the deep end, wiping out anyone he can get his hands on and making a belt out of human faces to defend against all manner of scum.

This movie is packed with real wrestlers, like The Sandman and Tony Atlas as mob goons, Manny Fernandez as one of Randy’s lawn technician friends, NOAH Global Tag League co-winner Rene Dupree and more.

What I loved about this movie was that all of the fights have completely worked wrestling punches and holds, yet body parts fly through the air, blood gets sprayed non-stop and people still sell damage like a comedy match.

Sure, this is a digitally shot low budget movie, but it has plenty of charm and a completely out of nowhere ending that amused me way more than I thought possible. As the dirtsheets say, ****.

Our friend Paul Andolina watched this as well, so you can check out his thoughts on his site.

You can learn more at the official Facebook page. Wrestlemassacre is now available on DVD and on demand from Wild Eye Releasing.

DISCLAIMER: This movie was sent to us by its PR company.

Accommodations (2018)

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Edie Somner (Kat Foster) is married with children yet on the edge of divorce and dealing with the ups and downs of her husband’s career when she decides to stop accommodating everyone else and bring some type of meaning to ger life. That’s the story behind the first movie from writer, director and producer Amy Miller Gross.

The need for Edie to get more out of her life may be lost on me, as I’ve never made $275,000 a year, much less run up a decorating bill like that. As a result, her issues — she never gets to write what she wants and gives up so much of her life to everyone else — is lost on me. Wake up at 3 AM and write about movies all night like I do, I guess.

I really shouldn’t put my mindset into this film. So how about this: there are some pretty funny moments in this film, including a scene where the AirBNB guests that the Somners have staying in their home are staging a large orgy when Edie comes home blasted on NYC’s finest cannabis and her husband does Molly with his potential new boss.

Larisa Oleynik (10 Things I Hate About You, The Secret World of Alex Magic, The Baby-Sitters Club) is in this, as is Mark Linn-Baker (yes, Cousin Larry from Perfect Strangers).

If you know want to know what it was like to be rich and dealing with issues in New York before the tribulations of 2020, this movie has you covered.

Accommodations is now streaming Amazon, Fandango Now, GooglePlay, iTunes and MovieSpree.

DISCLAIMER: We were sent this movie by its PR company. That has no bearing on this review.

This Life, I am a flower pot (2018)

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If there was ever a film that definitively proves film is a universal art form that defies the roughly 6,500 languages in our world, it is this 38th directing effort from Chun-Ku Lu: This Life, I am a flower pot.

Unknown in the United States, outside of the most discriminating martial arts connoisseur, director Chun-Ku Lu is a respected, major star in China and the Pacific Rim territories with 80-odd combined credits as a writer, actor, and director. He’s best known to U.S audiences for his work during the martial arts heyday of ‘70s cinema for The Black Dragon’s Revenge, along with the popular ‘80s video rentals Bastard Swordsman (1983) and its sequel: Return of the Bastard Swordsman (1984).

After a 20-year retirement from the business in the late ‘90s, Chun-Ku Lu returns with this touching, beautifully-shot drama about a single mother and her portly, young son who leave Taiwan to live in the U.S. The title of this Mandarin language short out of Taiwan is pronounced Zhè bèizi, wǒ shì huā pén, which is also understood as: This world is a small bonsai.

Even without subtitles, this voiceover-related story is easy to digest by understanding the universal symbolism of the art of bonsai: a minimalist approach practiced in Zen Buddhism where one strives for peace, harmony, and balance; a maintaining and ordering of thoughts, so as to remove clutter from one’s life; an art that teaches man—like trees—must fight against the elements of nature (and his unbalanced fellow man).

The voiceover is provided—it seems—by Jimmy, who tells the story of how he and his mother left Taiwan for a better life in the United States. Of course, in their new land, they are “Guizi”: a xenophobic slang in their language to describe a foreigner. Jimmy quickly becomes the target of bullies; his mother is also a “ghost man”: one who lives an invisible existence, in her case, as a janitor, to provide for Jimmy; she can provide him only the simplest of birthdays (in Buddhism the candle represents the aware, enlightened mind). The receipt of a small wooden box—with three gold symbols—for his birthday from a relative in Taiwan becomes the catalyst for the next phase of young Jimmy’s life.

The Canadian cinematographer behind this stunner is Jimmy Wu. Relatively new to the film world, Wu made his debut three years ago with the 2017 Canadian-Chinese language short, The Molecule. He’s since shot seven shorts, served as an Assistant Camera and 2nd Assistant Camera on eight more, produced two, and has also composed music for the 2017 surrealistic, animated comedy, Love Ninja. You can view Wu’s superb reel featuring scenes from those projects on his You Tube page.

The bright lights of Hollywood aren’t far behind for Wu: we’ll be seeing more from him very soon. You can watch his and Chun-Ku Lu’s This Life, I am a flower pot in its entirety on You Tube (also embedded below).

Disclaimer: This movie wasn’t sent to us by its production company or PR department. We discovered the movie all on our own—courtesy of its Chun-Ku Lu connection—and genuinely enjoyed the movie.

About the Author: You can read the music and film reviews of R.D Francis on Medium and learn more about his work on Facebook. He also writes for B&S About Movies.

The Spy Who Dumped Me (2018)

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Susanna Fogel wrote and directed this film. She also was the writer of Booksmart, which is a movie I recommend you check out.

It’s all about Audrey Stockman (Mila Kunis), who is dumped by her boyfriend Drew (Justin Theroux) via text. Her best friend Morgan (Kate McKinnon) convinces her to burn all of his stuff, but she soon learns that he was a spy. Now, she’s thrust into the world of espionage.

This is a fun movie, filled with everything I love from spy movies. I really liked Ivanna Sakhno, who played Nadejda, a gymnastic hitwoman. There’s a great fight between her and McKinnon that was a blast.

There are also some great cameos, like Gillian Anderson as the spy boss Wendy and McKinnon’s parents, played by Jane Curtin and Paul Reiser. Working in Edward Snowden was also pretty fun, too.

You can watch this on Amazon Prime, where it offers a bubbly and goofy break to the hardcore spy action that we’ve been watching this month.