Man with the Screaming Brain

/ / Movie Reviews

Bruce Campbell comes through town on his book tour and brings his latest flick, and his directoral debut, for the Sci-fi Channel with him.  A great fun time, and The Man with the Screaming Brain turns out to be an interesting little film, with some very funny moments.

Man with the Screaming Brain
3 Stars

The Man with the Screaming Brain is a B movie sci-fi flick from the most recognizable B movie icon of our time—Bruce Campbell.  The movie will premiere on the Sci-fi Channel this month, but I was lucky enough to see the theatrical print that the Evil Dead star brought with him on his Make Love the Bruce Campbell Way book tour.  The movie gives us some vivid images about the fury of a scorned woman, and quite a few deliciously cheesy moments we have come to expect from a Bruce Campbell vehicle.

Snooty businessman William Cole (Bruce Campbell) and his bored trophy wife Jackie (Antoinette Byron) travel on business to Bulgaria.  Jackie quickly falls for their cab driver Yegor (Vladimir Kolev).  Unfortunately for all concerned Yegor’s spurned ex Tatoya (Tamara Gorski), who William has fallen for, has a nasty streak and ends up killing all three of these hapless characters.  Hell hath no fury…  Dr. Ivan Ivonov (Stacy Keach), a local scientist, saves our characters with the help of his assistant Pavel (Ted Raimi).  The doctor combines William and Yegor’s brains inside of William’s body saving their lives, but with some very odd, and often humorous, side effects.  The doctor also puts Jackie’s brain into Pavel’s female robot.  Our characters return to the streets of Bulgaria to try and hunt down Tatoya and get their revenge.

This is not your big budget Hollywood movie.  As Campbell himself puts it, “hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent to make this movie!”  Still, what the movie lacks in production value it more than makes up for in charm.  If you are a fan of Steve Martin you will recognize parts of All of Me and The Man with Two Brains, and if you enjoyed either of those films I would recommend you check out this one too.  Adapted from the comic book of the same name, the film takes place in Bulgaria for no other reason than the Sci-fi Channel could film cheaper there than in Hollywood.  It makes some odd changes to the story, but also gives the film a very distinct look and flavor it would not otherwise have had.  For example, the absurdity of a two-brained man driving a small motor scooter through downtown Bulgaria is just something you don’t get to see very often in film.

Campbell is wonderful in the physical humor of a man fighting the control of two separate brains.  Byron works fine as his wife, but her character becomes much more interesting after she becomes Robo-babe.  Gorski is well cast as the beautiful but deranged woman who was wronged; she strongly reminded me of Sophia Loren, and I can’t think of a better compliment to give her.  The real surprise here is Ted Raimi who is brilliantly hilarious as the idiot lab assistant Pavel.  I’ve only seen Raimi as an extra in his brother’s various projects; huge props for Campbell for casting him in such a large role.

 

I consider myself lucky to have seen this flick in a theater, but I think it will work well on television or DVD.  It’s an interesting little film that is often funny, and if nothing else it’s better than the constant retreads we seem to be getting from the major studios this summer.  Campbell’s full length feature directorial debut is definitely worth checking out; he gets the most out of the material, the cast, and the odd location of Bulgaria.  The Man with the Screaming Brain will premiere on the Sci-fi Channel at 9:00 pm Eastern time September 10 and will be available on DVD October 4.  Don’t miss it!

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Underperforming Underclassman

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A likeable Nick Cannon executive produces himself through a Summer blah-buster.

When Bob and Harvey Weinstein and their Miramax Films joined The Disney Studio family, there were gasps all around from independent film fans. Now that the companies have parted ways, with Disney owning the Miramax catalog (some 500 or more films) and the Weinstein brothers walking away with 100 million dollars (40 million less than ex-Mouse, ex-uber agent, Michael Ovitz ). With about 60 or so Miramax films in the can or in post-production, Disney has begun to dump this sometimes, un-Miramax-like product on to the screens and possibly an unsuspecting public, at a furious pace. This helps explain why the action/ comedy -light Underclassman is hitting your neighborhood Cineplex in September, instead of the height of the Summer action season.
Baby-faced (and Wayan brother look-a-like/ sound-a-like/mug-a-like), bike cop Tracy “Tre” Stokes (Nick Cannon, Drumline, Shall We Dance) can not and will not follow any of the LAPD’s rules of procedure in order to catch a criminal. His busts will no doubt wreck havoc on the force, the civil rights of the accused and innocent bystanders caught up in the chaos of this overzealous rookie.
Threats and admonishments from his father-figure, Captain Victor Delgado (Cheech Marin) goes on deaf ears. You see, Capt. Delgado worked with Tre’s deceased father, a great LAPD detective and promised to look after his boy.
Out to prove he can be an even better cop than his father, Tre accepts an undercover assignment at Westbury High, an exclusive, O.C. type of institution, to help bust up a car-theft ring and just maybe clear up a Westbury teen’s accidental death that may have been murder.
Through sheer force of will and his great athletic gifts, Tre is able to be cautiously accepted by the top tier of the school’s elite crowd, headed by cute Rob (Shawn Ashmore, X-Men 2), by helping the rich white boys win a round of the big basketball game against their arch rivals.
Tre is above his head in all his assigned classes, but, luckily, his honors Spanish teacher, Karen Lopez ( a very wooden, but gorgeous Roselyn Sanchez) is willing to spend extra time tutoring him.
Meanwhile, during each O.C., I mean Westbury High party, a bad ass ride is stolen. It takes Tre two parties to figure out who the crooks are, but, he just can’t follow procedure and blows the car-theft bust and is booted off the force by the Captain.
Not being an official member of the force does not stop Tre. With some sloppy detecting and too obvious clues, Tre solves a murder, breaks up the theft ring, busts some big bad drug dealers, helps his new friends in need and finds himself in a budding romance. Only after all of this good detecting and the breaking of many traffic and gun (and logic) laws, while technically a civilian, is Tre finally on the path of being as good of a cop as his father and making Capt. Delgado proud.

…

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Needs More Weed Killer

/ / Movie Reviews

I’m sure there are people that are going to love this film; I’m not one of them.  Even the strong pefromances from the two leads can’t quite save The Constant Gardener from being both boring and predictable – two words you don’t want to describe a dramatic thriller.

The Constant Gardener
2 Stars

Some novels can be adapted to screen successfully and some cannot.  The Constant Gardener belongs in the second category.  The structure for the movie might work in a novel but here the story just gets bogged down.  The film is oddly spliced together with flashbacks in an attempt to try and make the obvious seem murky and mysterious.  Too bad the end result just makes it look lame.  It’s sad such great leading performances were wasted on such a bad script.

The film begins with the discovery of the body of Tessa Quayle (Rachel Weisz) who has been brutally murdered in the Kenyan countryside.  From there the film moves through flashbacks of Tessa’s life mixed with her husband Justin’s (Ralph Fiennes) attempt to discover why she was killed and what became of her companion Arnold (Hubert Kounde) who has disappeared.  Unwilling to accept the official explanation of Tessa’s death being a result of an affair between Tessa and Arnold who must have killed her in a passionate rage, Justin decides to conduct his own investigation and learns that Tessa’s death wasn’t caused by anything so simple.

Let’s start out with the perfromances which are outstanding.  Fiennes is well chosen for the bitter and remorseful character who will stop at nothing to discover the truth.  Weisz who we only see in flashbacks though is the real heart of the film.  Her character is the only one from the film that is complex and three dimensional and whose feelings and actions have consequences not just to herself but to her husband and the world around her.

Aside from the acting the films problems are numerous.  First off the flashbacks reveal too much of Tessa’s character for the audience not to realize what she really died for and the cause itself can be easily deduced very early in the film.  Second the scenes involving the meeting of the two seem to suggest a relationship of convience which would hardly justify Justin’s odyssey later in the film.  Third the scenes of Tessa’s possible infedelities don’t work because the relationship with Justin isn’t developed far enough and the film is too cavalier in giving away more information than is necessary.  And finally the choice in editing makes the film too helter skielter.  It was obviously chosen to try and hide the extremely simple answer to the “mystery” of Tessa’s death, but not only does it not succeed in covering the truth it only detaches the viewer from the film.

The movie was adapted from the novel by John le Carre and I don’t doubt that the story might make a very good novel where such information and clues can be spaced out over chapters.  In a compacted theatrical version the mystery just doesn’t work.  If Justin knew anything about his wife he would be easily able to deduce what happened to her, but the film tries to make Justin totally oblivious to who his wife was and what she was up to.  The result becomes a series of flashbacks between the two where we learn everything about Tessa while Justin stands there totally oblivous.  If he’s really that dense, how’s he suppossed to solve her murder?

The film just doesn’t work as a thriller because the structure continually takes the viewer out of the story.  The film doesn’t work as a mystery because the reasons for the death can easily be deduced just by learning a fraction of who Tessa was.  The drama doesn’t work because neither the love story nor Tessa’s murder seem enough to push the action of the film that develops into a weak Bourne Identity as Justin becomes an expert on covert tatics, surveillance, and digging for the truth (none of which are needed for this very simple plot).  The film tries every trick it can using red herrings, odd editing, and plot contivances to hide what is essentially rather obvious.

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Writings of a B Movie Star

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I was lucky enough to be on a stop for the Make Love the Bruce Campbell Way book tour.  Being the naturally curious sort, I went out and grabbed both books to sneak a peek at how Bruce Campbell’s mind works.  Both are worthy of some serious, well not too serious,  readin’!

Make Love the Bruce Campbell Way / If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Star
4 Stars

I was lucky enough to be on a stop for the Make Love the Bruce Campbell Way book tour.  Being the naturally curious sort, I went out and grabbed both books to sneak a peek at how Bruce Campbell’s mind works.  His first book is the insightful autobiography If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor which tells the story of his childhood and his early work on films (Evil Dead) and television (Briscoe County, Jr.).  His new novel Make Love the Bruce Campbell Way effectively demonstrates why Campbell hasn’t worked on more A-list projects.  Both are worthy of some serious, well not too serious,  readin’!

Shhh…nobody tell Nichols, Gere or Zellweger!

Make Love the Bruce Campbell Way

Campbell’s new book is a self deprecating novel about his chance of getting out of B movies and moving onto the A-list.  Although many of the characters in the book are real this is a book of fiction, or as our author states, “everything in this book actually happened, except for all the stuff that didn’t.”  Our lead character Bruce Campbell is given an Oscar caliber supporting role in the new Mike Nichols film Let’s Make Love!  Problems start to arise on the project when despite his best efforts Campbell begins to slowly influence the movie, its director, and its stars with his B movie sensibilities.  He gets Richard Gere interested in doing his own stunt work, he gives some rather humorous suggestions to Rene Zellweger and the costume director, and turns Mike Nichols’ dramatic project into an overspending, cheesy, special effect nightmare of a movie.  The studio of course blames all of this on our hero infecting the project with a “B movie virus.”

Any book that makes me laugh out loud I have to endorse.  The most comical scenes involve Campbell’s preparation and research for his character Foyl Whipple.  A stint as a doorman (Foyl’s profession) is not only disastrous but gets the unwanted attention of the US Secret Service.  Learning about relationships and how to give advice leads him into Lester Shankwater’s van which produces some of the funniest lines of the book as we watch how not to pick up women.  We also get a look at the gentlemen of the South, a stint as a wedding planner, an attack on the movie studio, and some hilarious interaction between Campbell and his co-stars Richard Gere and Rene Zellweger.

Finally an autobiography worth reading!

If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor

Usually in biographies of actors you get tales of studying in college or with renowned theatrical types.  What makes If Chins Could Kill so unique is it’s about an average guy who grew up enjoying film and theater, found friends who had similar interests, and set out to make a career as a working actor and would eventually become the B movie king.  None of that method bullshit here.  Campbell gives us some terrific memories of growing up in Detroit and about his early attempts into the world of Super 8mm films such as It’s Murder and The Happy Valley Kid.  He also stops from time to time to allow others to share their remembrances about specific events, including Sam Raimi.  Not too much mind you, this is his book after all; let those other guys get their own book deals!

We get a look at the torturous process of making Evil Dead, which after you read you may wonder how it ever got finished, a look at the sequels and Campbell’s work since then on projects such as Brisco County, Jr. and The Hudsucker Proxy.  For me though the best parts of the book were the anecdotes about his experiences and friendships made through growing up and Detroit and his early filmmaking days.  My favorite of these has to be the gag Campbell plays on his old friend David Goodman that involves a lemon of a car, a mechanic, a few phone calls, and the US Department of Justice.  Folks, friendship can be torture as Campbell himself learned from the evil glee Sam Raimi gets putting him, his friend, in some very hazardous situations while filming.

 

I’d recommend both of these books to fans of Bruce Campbell and fans of movies in general.  The novel is a very funny take on the difference between the A-list and B movies.  The autobiography I would also recommend to anyone interested in how to raise money, make, and market a movie or just how to make some great looking fake blood.  If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor is available in trade paperback for $13.95 and Make Love the Bruce Campbell Way is available in Hardcover for $23.95.  So what are ya’ waiting for already?  Get your butts to the bookstore and pick them up, or I might have to get out my Boomstick!

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So What’s the Name of Your Act?

/ / Movie Reviews

I feel so dirty for laughing at such a perverse and morally wrong joke. There has been and will be nothing that will ever top this completely disgusting nasty 86-minute laugh off. This film tests every ounce of moral standing you may have in you. The Aristocrats pushes the envelope of dirty gross out humor and makes you want more more more, it is one filthy joke that never ends

The Aristocrats
4 Stars

I feel so dirty for laughing at such a perverse and morally wrong joke. There has been and will be nothing that will ever top this completely disgusting nasty 86-minute laugh off. This film tests every ounce of moral standing you may have in you. The Aristocrats pushes the envelope of dirty gross out humor and makes you want more more more, it is one filthy joke that never ends.

The Aristocrats documents an inside joke that has been passed down from comedian to comedian through out history, like a treasured secret. It starts the same way, “A man walks into a talent agent’s office with his family and says, have I got an act for you and the agent replies, so what do you do?” From that point on it is complete improvisation, usually soaked in shit, pee, incest, vomit, blood and any other possibly horrid thing you could imagine. Each comedian spoon-feeds his or her version of the joke and with each ending it gets funnier and funnier.

The finale, the end of the joke is the agent asking, “So what’s the name of your act?” and the comedian says, “The Aristocrats”. This film is not for the week of heart and if you have a timid demeanor then stay far away, but if you know how to take a joke, GO SEE IT, GO SEE IT NOW!

Be sure to pay close attention to a few outstanding performances by Bob Saget, Gilbert Gottfried, and Sarah Silverman.

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