Jason blasts off into a Vortex and lands on MISSION STARDUST

The Starship Vortex has officially launched in The Vortex Room. A month and a half of sci-fi oddities. I launched with a handful of manhattans, and they launched with MISSION STARDUST. A team of astronauts find a race of aliens on the moon who look just like humans. Their ship is so futuristic, it's made of a metal with an atomic density greater than lithium or cobalt! Their leader is suffering from leukemia, but luckily one of the astronauts knows a doctor in Africa who has developed an experimental serum that cures leukemia. And then things get pretty silly, but I didn't care because I was five manhattans to the wind. Something about an army trying to attack the aliens and the aliens using anti-gravity to throw them around (or really, the recoil of their guns pushed them away once gravity was neutralized.) Oh, and the alien chick was pretty hot, enough for there to be a silly romance plot with the astronaut captain.

Running Time: 95 minutes

My Total Minutes: 276,324

Jason watches THE RAID: REDEMPTION

Well, that was violent. Really, really violent. And Indonesia has officially made it's mark in the action genre. An elite team of police officers storm a high-rise apartment complex that's the home of a vicious crime lord. The goal is to secure it floor by floor, don't let anyone trigger an alarm, until the 15th floor where the crime lord lives. Of course, everything goes horribly wrong. Most cops die, lots of residents die (don't worry, we're set to believe the entire complex is a safe house for vicious criminals) and ass-kicking cop Rama (Iko Uwais, who's now primed for stardom) has to kill nearly everyone himself.

If you stop and think about it for too long (about three seconds) you'll realize there's a lot that doesn't make sense. Like why not have backup ready? Why waste all your ammo instead of aiming and taking a kill shot? Were these 'elite' cops really trained this poorly? And what of the melodramatic twists (no spoilers, but I will say the twists are too outrageous to be believed)? But none of that really matters, it's an excuse to throw non-stop violence and action at the screen. And on that level, it succeeds better than any movie I can think of off the top of my head.

And one final note: I saw this in digital projection on screen 4 of the Kabuki theater, San Francisco. For the most part it was fine--good resolution, brightness seemed right. But their projector has a dead pixel--a blue dot in the middle and slightly left of center. I know people who don't notice it once the action has started, but to me it was distracting almost the whole time. Perhaps I see it better sitting in the front row like I do, but I could see it probably over half the movie. It's less noticeable when the action is fast (as it often is in this movie) or when it's brightly lit (which it often isn't) but I could still see it enough to be annoyed by it. So anyway, just be forewarned that screen 4 of the Kabuki has a dead pixel in its digital projector.

Running Time: 101 minutes

My Total Minutes: 276,229

Jason watches HOUSE OF PLEASURES

Well, that was pretty.

It's the story of a house of prostitutes in turn of the century Paris, as their not-really-idyllic life slowly erodes around them until eventually the house has to close. The set design is beautiful. The costumes are beautiful when they're worn, and perhaps more beautiful when they're not. As for the story and characters...it's so-so. There is one woman--the Jewess--who has an unfortunate night with a regular client and ends up with her cheeks cut in a permanent Joker grin...so much for her career. But I think the story spreads itself too thin across all the girls for her (or anyone's) story t really resonate. Perhaps it's not about story but creating an atmosphere and evoking a certain time and place, and a business that while the external trappings have changed is still going strong and still isn't good for the girls.

Running Time: 122 minutes

My Total Minutes: 276,127

Jason previews SFIFF--GIMME THE LOOT

Hooray for press screening and no day job. I can go crazy nuts at SFIFF more than ever before!

Anyway, I caught the press screening for GIMME THE LOOT. This is a "hold review" meaning I can only post a "capsule" review, no long reviews. Well, I think nearly all my reviews are capsules, I never have enough time or anything interesting enough to say to post a "full length" review. But to be on the safe side I'll keep it really short:

Festival guide description is here. That's pretty accurate, and all I'll add is it's much funnier than I expected. So see it, and don't be afraid to laugh.

Festival showtimes are:

Friday, April 20th at 9:15 pm at the Kabuki (there's a significant amount of pot in the movie, so it's a good 4/20 movie)

Saturday, April 21st at 9:30 at the Film Society Cinema (in the New People Center)

Tuesday, April 24th at 6:30 at the Kabuki

Running Time: 85 minutes

My Total Minutes: 275,999

Jason goes to Bad Movie Night and watches ENTER THE DRAGON

More like ENTER THE DRAGGIN'...cuz this movie dragged on and on. I'd forgotten, for such a martial arts classic, this movie is like 99% dully expository dialogue. Bruce Lee enters a tournament on a secret island where the ruler is a crime lord. He's really a secret agent whose goal is to get evidence, radio for the cavalry, and send them all to jail. Instead, while he's there, he kicks literally everyone's ass. By the time the cavalry gets there, there's no one alive left to arrest. I guess they just came to give him a ride home?

Anyway, kung-fu month is officially begun. Next week, enter Jim "Dragon" Kelley in BLACK BELT JONES.

Running Time: 98 minutes

My Total Minutes: 275,917

Jason celebrates the 100th Anniversary of Broncho Billy coming to Niles

Well, there were a lot of other festivities--a train ride, costumes, a presentation in the town square, but I spent the time working in the Niles Essanay Film Museum. For those who don't know the story...come to the museum sometime. Better yet, come to the museum and buy the book our historian/projectionist David Kiehn wrote (even get it autographed by him!) But the short, short version is Gilbert "Broncho Billy" Anderson (born Max Aronson) and George Spoor formed the Essanay (S and A, for their initials) film manufacturing company in Chicago in 1908. They found success with westerns, but Chicago wasn't a good place to shoot those, so while Spoor stayed behind and ran the Chicago studio and the business side of things, Anderson took a crew and traveled all over the west for a few years making movies. In 1912 the company had grown to 52 people, and they settled in their "permanent" west coast home in Niles, CA (they left 4 years later in 1916.) Specifically, they came to town on April 1st, 1912--100 years ago last Sunday. And so Niles had a big party.

The one part of it I got to enjoy (other than working at the museum) was seeing a series of documentaries made about Broncho Billy and Niles. They all tell pretty much the same story, which is very familiar to me. But they all have their own charm.

First up was BRONCHO BILLY, THE FIRST REEL COWBOY made in 1998 for Arkansas Education Television. Broncho Billy was actually born in Arkansas, either in Pine Bluff or Little Rock (he himself was inconsistent about this) and even though his family moved away when he was 3, there's still some local pride in him. They even have a mural of him in Pine Bluff. Finally, I have a reason to visit Arkansas...hooray?

Then we saw excerpts from a 1958 interview with Gilbert Anderson himself. That year he was honored with an honorary Oscar for his pioneering work. Sadly, television audiences didn't get to see that because the show ran long and his award was cut from the broadcast. But it was cool to see him alive and getting his due. And come to think of it, it was cool to hear him for my first time!

Then we took a little intermission, and back for two more movies.

First, THE MOVIES GO WEST (1974) is a short piece that again goes over the same history. The treat here is seeing Essanay actor Hal Angus, then well in his 80's, reminiscing about the time in Niles. Also, seeing the old Essanay barn (their first studio in Niles before the bigger studio was built) before it was condemned and torn down (sadly, efforts to raise funds to restore it were unsuccessful.)

And finally, WHEN THE MOVIES CAME FROM NILES (1964) is the longest and most complete documentary of the bunch by far, nearly an hour long. The treat here is once again the voice of Gilbert Anderson reminiscing (unfortunately, he's not shown on camera) and also the voice of Bill Cato--actor, true cowboy, and Broncho Billy's (occasional) riding double. He was very kind in his words, talking about how much he liked working for Anderson and how Anderson (eventually) liked doing his own riding, except when maybe the scene was too dangerous.

And that was it, the celebration's over. Except that we keep the party going every weekend at the museum. Open with free tours Saturdy and Sunday from noon to 4:00. Silent films with live piano music every Saturday night at 7:30 (doors open at 7:00.) Popcorn, soda, candy is just a dollar, and there are plenty of friendly, colorful people.

Total Running Time (estimated): 111 minutes

My Total Minutes: 275,819

Jason watches SOUND OF NOISE

I seem to be doing a pretty good job of being just over a week late with my updates.

Anyway, this was an absolute crowd-pleaser (or would've been, had there been a crowd at the Monday matinee when I saw it.) A gang of anarchic drummers terrorize. The one man who can track them down is Amadeus Warnebring. He's the son of many generations of celebrated musicians, obviously named after Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and...he's completely tone-deaf. His brother is a famous conductor, and he's always out of place surrounded by musicians at the family parties. But he can recognize the ticking of a metronome (it haunts his memories of music lessons as a child) and he's a darn good cop. Plus he has the (dis)advantage that everything the percussionists use as instruments (including people) suddenly becomes mute to him. Add in a love interest with one of the drummers, and you've got yourself a story.

But this isn't really about the story. It's about the musical set-pieces. They invade a hospital, a bank, the concert hall (during an important concert) and finally the city's entire electric grid. And the pieces are dazzling and clever. Sure, they're also destructive, but from the safety of a movie screen they're just great escapist fun. It's sure fun to fantasize about marching into a bank and rhythmically shredding all their cash. #occupymusic

Running Time: 102 minutes

My Total Minutes: 275,705