Following a sumptuous breakfast break at Walker Bros., a place that really knows what they’re about (I was especially tickled by several families having brought their kiddies in their PJs. Is that a thing now?), we returned to Chez Holly and Paul to resume our cinematic activities.
First up was the Rev’s choice, Who Killed Captain Alex, an infectiously fun Ugandan action film that literally cost $200 to make. What really makes is that is the film has hilarious running commentary from VJ (Video Joker) Emmie, who constantly tells us how awesome the film is. Apparently this is a Ugandan thing, and it translates extremely well to home video. If you are ever looking for a party film, you could do far far worse. Everyone who hadn’t seen it before particularly was enchanted.
Next GalaxyJane presented the 1994 Fantastic Four, still the most faithful adaptation of the title that started Marvel Comics as force in the industry. The story behind the movie is legendary. The producer had bought the rights to the FF, but failing to get a studio interested, was in danger of losing those rights. So he paid Roger Corman’s company $1 million (not much for that time) to make a film that secretly was never met to be released. It merely had to be made to trigger a resumption of the rights. However, nobody working on the film knew this, and really poured their heart and souls into the thing. This doesn’t mean it’s great, but it’s surely better than, say, the Albert Pyun Captain America movie, made for more money but by people embarrassed to be working on a (then) lowly superhero movie. To this day the actors and behind the camera talent champion the film, and why shoudn’t they?
The two bests things are, well, the Thing, a great looking animatronic suit with a ton of facial movement, and a very accurate Doctor Doom costume, easily better than the ones that appeared in the later hundred million dollar movies.
Next was host Holly’s choice of CHUD. What a great little picture! Just a perfect B-movie. Everyone loved it, obviously. Kudos particularly to Daniel Stern, who in a film with great little performances probably has the best one. If you can find a copy of the Blu Ray or DVD, listen to the group commentary track, which is perhaps the best one I’ve ever heard, up there with the John Carpenter / Kurt Russell track for The Thing.
After that was Chad R’s choice of Champagne and Bullets. I had bought the special edition Blu Ray and this was the first time I cracked it open. There are three cuts of the film, including the infamous Geteven as was heavily featured on Red Letter Media. The whole thing is the quintessential vanity film by lawyer John DeHart, who wrote, directed and starred in the film. We watched the longest cut, which had the longest sex scenes (apparently a big part of why the film was made) and the most songs. I found those scenes hilarious, because again of the whole vanity project nature of the film. DeHart also sings like half a dozen songs, about as well as you’d expect. About the only real flaw–from an enjoyment level, obviously, the film is all flaws–is a short but tasteless rape scene. That I could have done without. The film costars a “give me my check and I’m out of here” William “Big Bill” Smith and a truly fascinating performance by Wings Hauser, who either decided to run away with the production or was having an actual psychotic break. I don’t know which, but man, he’s great to watch.
We’ll feature the last movie on Monday.
