Wednesday, December 23, 2009

#29 Choke: Oi with the poodles already

Director: Clark Gregg
Genre: Comedy/Drama
Key Players: Sam Rockwell (great), Heather Burns

Sam Rockwell portrays Victor Mancini, a medicine drop-out and sex addict who pretends to choke on food in restaurants to earn money on people's sympathies. But when faced with boredom of regular copulation, he goes further and beyond. He sets up a meeting with a woman he found on the Internet (where else?) who gets off on "simulated rape" and some of the rougher stuff. Even though rape is not a funny thing to joke about, this particular meeting does set up a good premise for absurd comedy. "Whatever you do, do not rape me on the bedspread, its silk, it will spot, so rape me on the floor. But not on the floor itself, on a towel on the floor, but on the wood part, not the rug". When said "raping" (it's pretty awkward) does begin and things turns even weirder, frustration builds when he manage to break all the above rules concerning floors, bedspreads and so forth, "Why don't you shut up, and let me rape you my way?!" he exclaims. The whole ordeal climaxes with them taking care of their own business: she's on the floor with an electrical buzzing contraption. He the old-fashioned way. On her bed. Not on the towel, as instructed. It's a pretty bizarre moment as well as the only funny one. Disappointing.

#28 Being John Malkovich: Total Malkovich

Director: Spike Jonze
Genre: Comedy/Weirdo
Key Players: John Malkovich, John Malkovich, John Malkovich

Being John Malkovich is a meeting of sheer genius and pure lunacy (would you expect anything else from the creative madman who came up with Adaptation and The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind?). The story: John Cusack finds a hidden door into the mind/head of actor John Malkovich. Literally. Despite the weird premise you are overtaken by it's ideas, charm and excellent acting from Cusack, wife Cameron Diaz and of course the man himself, John Malkovich. But when Malkovich enters Malkovich, it just goes off the charts bonkers. Everywhere he looks, there's Malkovich. Speaking nothing else than Malkovich. It's a high concept movie, but it's insanely good and a definite must see.

#27 Zack And Miri Make A Porno: Shitfaced

Director: Kevin Smith
Genre: Comedy
Key Players: Jason Mewes, Katie Morgan, Jeff Anderson

Following the shitty footsteps of Black Book, here's some more. In Kevin Smith's mildly fun gross-out comedy Zack And Miri Make A Porno, best friends Zack And Miri (Seth Rogen & Elizabeth Banks) decides to make a porno in order to pay rent. A pretty cheap setup for nasty jokes about cum, dicks and vagina's, even for a man like Smith, who's made a name for himself as a smart and witty man while making crude jokes about sex. But I guess extreme situations demand extreme solutions. In Clerks II they put on a donkey show inside of a fast food restaurant. So how do you top that? Here's how! While shooting a scene for their movie, leading fuck-man Jason Mewes, well, to put it as simple as possible, pulls out of "backed up" Katie Morgan perhaps a little too fast ("Anal's great when you're constipated" she enthuses, but don't worry, you don't actually see anything, it's not real porn you see). Cue close-up of poor cameraman Jeff Anderson, lying on his back, taking it all in from down under (a very important angle I might add), when it all backfires and he's hit by a cascade of stark brown poo on his face (you can even spot pieces of corn in there). It's gross as well as funny. Avoid chocolate pudding while watching.

Splash!

#26 Zwartboek (Black Book) - Lots and lots of shit

Director: Paul Verhoeven
Genre: War/Thriller
Key Players: Carice Van Houten

The third (and hopefully final) mention of something that has Paul Verhoeven's named attached to it's title (previous posts include Starship Troopers and Basic Instinct). In Black Book, Paul, as I like to call him, returns to his roots, with this dutch World War II spy-thriller, re-living some memories (and some made up) as a youngster growing up in occupied Holland. And as with most of Paul's work, you'll find not so subtle undertones of eroticism and sex - Black Book is no exception. But unlike the glossy sweaty sex between Sharon Stone and Michael Douglas, here he uses it almost as a reverse effect, keeping it nasty and clinical. Almost business like. Because that's what it is: an undercover operation that makes the heroine go through all possible ordeals. And with pretty devastating results. When put in jail for empathizing with the enemy, Carice Van Houten's underground spy is stripped to her bones and gets an entire dumpster filled with crap (and I mean crap in the true meaning of the word: shit, poo, ass cream) released on top of her. It's gross, humiliating and pure nasty. Black Book shines on occasion, but is really just a watered down mix between Inglorious Basterds and Lust, Caution. Make up your own mind.