Rodriguez, a talented musician whose two albums from the early '70s flopped bigtime, something that was a source of bemusement to music industry insiders (I imagine his Latino heritage probably didn't help), with comparisons being made of his songwriting abilities to the likes of Bob Dylan. Two South African fans, realising that no-one appears top know anything about the elusive Rodriguez, decide to try and track down what happened to him. The resulting investigation turns up more twists and intrigue than most fictional films can muster. Well worth seeing when it hits cinemas on 27th July.
Searching for Sugarman is the latest movie from producer Simon Chinn, the guy that brought us the amazing documentaries Man on Wire and Project Nim. Those that have seen his previous efforts will know to expect a fascinating story, and whilst Searching for Sugarman is perhaps not quite as good a film as those, it does possibly have the most astonishing story. Rodriguez, a talented musician whose two albums from the early '70s flopped bigtime, something that was a source of bemusement to music industry insiders (I imagine his Latino heritage probably didn't help), with comparisons being made of his songwriting abilities to the likes of Bob Dylan. Two South African fans, realising that no-one appears top know anything about the elusive Rodriguez, decide to try and track down what happened to him. The resulting investigation turns up more twists and intrigue than most fictional films can muster. Well worth seeing when it hits cinemas on 27th July.
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Delinquent Schoolgirls is hardly a remarkable film but if you like scuzzy exploitation films, there's enough going on to keep fans of the depraved happy. Predictably, given the title, it is wrong on many levels. Today, unless it was a) produced by three men with a video camera, or b) put into somekind of justifiable context, you just wouldn't get a film about three escaped mental patients raping their way through a girls' school. Back in the 1970s there certainly weren't any qualms about making such a sensationalist picture. In fact, before the profitable formula for the 1980s sex comedy had gained roots, films like this one were ten a penny. Just like the over appreciated The Last House on the Left, innapropriately flippant comedic music is played over scenes of savagery and it shares a similarly squalid outlook. To be fair, unlike The Last House on the Left, at least Delinquent Schoolgirls doesn't make any pretence to deliver somekind of social statement. Kick back and delight in the misogyny, see-through swimsuits and bra sizes to put Russ Meyer to shame, and soak up the general leering nature. At the end you'll be rewarded with a striptease audition for the most suitable hostage, followed by a Kung-Fu showdown in the gymnasium. Ladies and gentlemen, this is one fucked up movie. Watching this shit can't be good for the soul... Having been unimpressed with Katy Perry's military propaganda music video Part of Me, I wasn't exactly over the Moon to be going to see the feature film Part of Me, but my niece, being a fan of her work, was keen to go. So, putting my uncley duty above common sense, I took her along. The film is fucking terrible; I don't think even my niece was massively impressed despite saying she "liked it". Katy comes across as a deeply irritating, kooky, vain and self important bore. Her break-up with Russell Brand occurred towards the end of her year long Californian Dreams Tour, presumably the year apart allowed him the time to come to his senses and realise that his life would be much improved without a zany annoyance for a wife. Also, I appreciate that Katy Perry has a hugely successful music career and countless fans but it does seem a little arrogant to make such a self serving music biopic about yourself. Another film with a music theme running through it, that just about stays on the right side of kooky retro, is Electrick Children. A couple of teenagers leave their repressive Mormon community and hook up with a group of Las Vegas skate punks. It's an agreeable if forgettable coming of age drama, that is perhaps a little too understated and slow for its own good. Katy Perry: Part of Me is out in cinemas now; Electrick Children can be seen from Friday 13th July. Hell Camp is a shoddy, if fairly enjoyable, 1980s action romp. A group of Air Force pilots join a military exercise that has got a bit out of hand, a little like the Stanford Prison Experiment. One of the pilots is a woman, presumably for no other reason than to have her scantily clad in a bondage pose on the movie poster (The Exorcist style head turn is particularly alluring). Casey and the other pilots, despite employing their best skills in stealth (such as wandering around in the middle of a beach), soon find themselves captured and the victims of unexpected mistreatment. The longer I watched Hell Camp, the more I started to think that it was actually the inspiration for Guantanamo Bay. The inmates of Hell Camp are held in a barbed wire fenced compound in a remote location, periodically isolated in cramped individual cages, humiliated and subjected to psychological and physical brutality and mock executions. When the orange robed, black hooded and shackled prisoners were exposed to abuses such as disorientating white noise and waterboarding, I couldn't believe my eyes. Could the Bush Administration really have based aspects of their foreign policy on a shit 1980s war film? Does someone at The Pentagon just have a sick sense of humour? It's the kind of moronic macho bullshit I could imagine some of them watching, so who knows. Will our heroine Casey suck up the various hardships like Katy Perry in her music video Part of Me, or will she emerge from her ordeal realising the military are a bunch of dicks? Well, you'll just have to watch this mediocre, potentially world changing, film to find out. Office Space is a firm favourite in the Wilson household, no matter how many times we watch it, we never get bored with the disgruntled employees of Initech and their fight to regain some control over their miserable lives. As far as I'm concerned it's the best of Mike Judge's creations, and who knows, perhaps it helped influence The Office, after all it predates it by 2 years and it certainly covers much of the same ground. Amongst the many great characters is Milton Waddams, who has already featured in a series of cartoons on Saturday Night Live. However, my favourite is Lawrence, an awesome guy played by Diedrich Bader, who not only has a foam beer cooler but also sports a bottle opener on his key chain. What a dude. Throw in a great gangsta rap soundtrack, combined with laughs that come thick and fast, and you've got a movie that shouldn't disappoint. |
Tug Wilson
The editor of Now or Never! mulls over a selection on cinematic oddities for your amusement. More about Tug Archives
October 2012
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