YourFace Picks Movies (Nick): Tokyo Godfathers

Film: Tokyo Godfathers (Tokyo Goddofazazu)
Format: Streaming video from Crackle on rockin’ flatscreen.

This is the twelfth in a series of twelve movies selected by the guys at YouFace. This is Nick’s fourth and final pick.

When Nick gave me Tokyo Godfathers (Tokyo Goddofazazu) to watch this year, he suggested that I save it until December since it takes place at Christmas. Make no mistake—this isn’t really a Christmas movie even if it has something like a Christmas miracle in it. It’s just something that takes place around Christmas. Nick likes making me watch anime because he knows that it’s an area of film where I am less familiar. I tend not to like fantasy and sci-fi-based anime because I always feel lost in it. Tokyo Godfathers features astonishing coincidences and strange events, but it’s based in the real world. It’s got that going for it.

Three homeless people, the drunk Gin (Toru Imori), the former female impersonator Hana (Yoshiaki Umegaki) and young runaway Miyuki (Aya Okamoto) discover an infant abandoned in a dumpster on Christmas Eve. The baby comes with a note that instructs the finder to take care of the child. There are also a few photographs that serve as clues to the child’s parents. While Hana immediately decides to raise the child, Gin and Miyuki want to turn the child over to the police. Hana eventually agrees, but instead decides to reunite the child (dubbed Kiyoko) to her parents. Thus sets off the chain of events that lead on a very circuitous route to the film’s resolution.

Your Face Picks Movies (Nolahn): The World's End

Film: The World’s End
Format: DVD from Rockford Public Library on laptop.

This is the eleventh in a series of twelve movies selected by the guys at YourFace. This is Nolahn’s fourth and final pick.

Third movies in a trilogy are often a disappointment. Think of all the trilogies where things punk out in the third film: X-Men, Spider-Man, Alien, The Godfather…the list goes on. So it is that I avoided The World’s End, the third film of Edgar Wright’s unofficial Cornetto Trilogy, for fear that it wouldn’t live up to the cinematic joys of Shaun of the Dead or Hot Fuzz. Nolahn wouldn’t let me get away with that, though, so here we are.

Gary King (Simon Pegg) is working on a career as a wastrel and alcoholic finishes what looks like a 12-step meeting where he relates the story of the best night of his life—an attempt to have a pint at all 12 pubs in his home town. This feat, known as the Golden Mile, was abandoned. In an attempt to reclaim that past glory, Gary decides to track down his four estranged high school friends and reattempt the feat.

Your Face Picks Movies (Jason): Blood Feast

Film: Blood Feast
Format: Internet video on laptop.

This is the tenth in a series of twelve films suggested by the guys at YourFace. This is Jason’s fourth and final pick.

When I agreed to take on the task of watching 12 movies from Jason, Nolahn, and Nick, I kind of expected to be at least partially buried in low-budget oddities and schlock. I was willing to do exactly that. I also expected a good deal of horror, but only Jason gave me straight horror movies in The Signal and today’s movie, gore “classic” Blood Feast. The minute I got everyone’s list, I knew that Blood Feast would be the October movie. I mean, how could it not be?

Blood Feast is famous, or perhaps infamous, for its lack of budget, terrible acting, and extreme gore. In fact, it’s the gore that’s really the only reason for the film. The goal of Blood Feast was to put as much violence on the screen as possible with as much artificial blood (and it really does look like Italian horror film red paint) as could be used. That is literally the only thing the movie has going for it. This is a master class in bad acting, non-existent direction, sloppy camera work, moronic characters, bad plotting, and oppressive music that consists of little more than tympani, massive organ chords, and brass instruments playing the same two notes over and over. There are moments of someone sawing a cello as well.

Your Face Picks Movies (Nolahn): Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris

Film: Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris
Format: Blu-ray from personal collection on rockin’ flatscreen.

This is the eighth in a series of twelve films suggested by the guys at YourFace. This is Nolahn’s third pick.

So I’ve been gone for more than a week on a family vacation. The reviews from last week were pre-written to keep the blog running while I was gone and had less access to the internet. It feels like ages since I’ve sat down and watched a movie, let alone reviewed one. But it’s that time of the month when I need to get through something not of my own choosing. I bought Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris months ago because the Blu-ray was only a couple of bucks and Nolahn had assigned it to me. Also because this wasn’t available to me any other way. I can’t determine if it’s kind of sad or kind of awesome that Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris is one of less than a dozen Blu-rays that I own.

Anyway, this is another film in the series of Gamera movies, featuring the giant atomic flying turtle of the title. Anyone who has watched one of the old Gamera movies knows that Gamera is a friend to children, but this incarnation, evidently the third of the most modern trilogy of Gamera films, is much more violent and destructive. The giant turtle might well be trying to protect Japan, but his protection causes thousands of casualties every time he shows up.

Your Face Picks Movies (Nick): Aladdin

Film: Aladdin
Format: DVD from Reddick Library through interlibrary loan on laptop.

This is the sixth in a series of twelve films suggested by the guys at YourFace. This is Nick’s second pick.

Everyone has a couple of movies they’ve somehow missed. I’m sure there’s a blogger out there who hasn’t seen Jurassic Park or Fight Club. For me, one of those movies is Aladdin, which is a generation-defining movie. The truth is, though, that it defines the generation before mine. When this was released, I was in my mid-20s and didn’t have any kids. So you can give me grief about not having seen Aladdin until now, but was there really a reason for me to have seen it when it was new?

Since I’m probably the last person in the free world to see Aladdin I’ll be quick with the summary. Jafar (Jonathan Freeman), Grand Vizier to the Sultan of Agrabah (Douglas Seale) has been searching desperately for the fabled magical lamp that contains a magical genie capable of granting three wishes to whomever owns the lamp. Through some magic, he locates the “diamond in the rough,” the only person capable of collecting the lamp. This turns out to be the titular Aladdin (Scott Weinger), a street rat who lives by stealing food for himself and his pet monkey Abu (Frank Welker).

Your Face Picks Movies (Nolahn): Deathstalker II

Film: Deathstalker II
Format: DVD from personal collection (no, really) on laptop.

This is the fifth in a series of twelve films suggested by the guys at YourFace. This is Nolahn’s second pick.

I knew a few things about Deathstalker II going into it. First, I knew that this movie was particularly special to Nolahn. When I first envisioned this monthly project, I was warned that he’d assign this movie to me. As it happens, this was on the top of his list. I also knew this was going to be a really, really bad movie. The guys at Your Face revel in the cinematic sewer, as it were. What I didn’t know was how to find this movie. Ultimately, I bought the damn thing in a Roger Corman four-pack. So now I own Deathstalker II for good or ill.

Roger Corman is a unique case when it comes to movies. For the most part, his movies are shit, and low-budget shit, but he’s made a few good ones here and there. He’s also responsible for starting the careers of directors like Francis Ford Coppola, Jonathan Demme, Martin Scorsese, James Cameron, and Ron Howard. So there was at least a little bit of hope going into this that maybe, just maybe there was something here.

Your Face Picks Movies (Jason): The Signal

Film: The Signal
Format: Streaming video from Hoopla Digital on The Nook.

This is the fourth in a series of monthly reviews suggested by the guys at Your Face. This is Jason’s second pick.

There are two movies called The Signal released in the last ten years, both of which seem to have horror elements. I confirmed with Jason that this was the one I was supposed to watch, and I needn’t have worried. A couple of minutes in, I was pretty sure that picked the right one. It wasn’t too hard to figure out that this was the sort of film that Jason would not only watch and love, but would also want to share with other people.

Evidently, The Signal borrows pretty heavily from Stephen King’s book Cell, but never acknowledges this. My guess is that since this was made with a budget of about $50,000, they couldn’t even afford the meeting. Essentially, all of humanity’s electronic media, at least in the city of Terminus, have simultaneously begun broadcasting a signal that intensifies the negative emotions of whomever encounters it. Since it comes through the television, the radio, and cell phones, this means pretty much everybody.

Your Face Picks Movies (Nick): The Castle of Cagliostro

Film: The Castle of Cagliostro (Rupan Sansei: Kariosutoro no Shiro)
Format: Turner Classic Movies on rockin’ flatscreen.

This is the third in a series of monthly reviews suggested by the guys at Your Face. This is Nick’s first pick.

Nick Jobe loves to make me watch animated films. At the very least, he likes to talk about making me watch animated films, and his list for this year demonstrates that. The Castle of Cagliostro (Rupan Sansei: Kariosutoro no Shiro) is Nick’s first push into anime this year, chosen I’m sure in part because it’s also the first feature film credited to Hayao Miyazaki as the director. So I went into this a little leery of how a less seasoned Miyazaki would fare, but also confident that this was a film made by a man with miles of talent.

The biggest strike against the film for me becomes evident right off the bat—this is a film that is in the middle of a series of films. While we get some backstory on the characters, there are a number of things that simply aren’t explained. This is different from my typical anime complaint of a lack of exposition. I’m guessing that if I went back and watched all of the previous films and the television show, or read the manga, I wouldn’t have a single issue with knowing who the characters were and all of the relationships. This is key with a couple of characters in this film. It’s not a huge issue, but it did bother me a little.

Your Face Picks Movies (Nolahn): The Time Machine (1960)

Film: The Time Machine (1960)
Format: Turner Classic Movies on rockin’ flatscreen.

This is the second in a series of monthly reviews suggested by the guys at Your Face. This is Nolahn’s first pick.

Once upon a time when the world was new and my age could be counted on my fingers, I saw a part of The Time Machine, one of the films Nolahn has challenged me to watch. It might feel like a cheat, since I know I’ve seen at least part of this, but I’m also fairly sure I never saw the whole thing. I’d remember the Morlocks if nothing else and I don’t remember them much at all. But I’ve definitely seen a part of it, but it was also at a time when I was still struggling with learning to make a cursive capital S and the president was either Ford or Carter. When it’s been multiple decades, I think it’s fair to call this a first watch.

The Time Machine is the first big-screen adaptation of the classic H.G. Wells story of the same name. A scientist named H. George Wells (Rod Taylor) has invited some friends over for dinner, but he’s late. The men are frustrated and hungry, but allowed to sit at the table when Wells bursts into the room, dirty, clothing torn, and raving like a madman. Naturally, the men are curious, so Wells goes into his tale about where he has been and the things he has seen.

Your Face Picks Movies (Jason): Three the Hard Way

Film: Three the Hard Way
Format: DVD from Somonauk Public Library through interlibrary loan on laptop.

This is the first in a series of monthly reviews suggested by the guys at Your Face. This is Jason Soto’s first pick.

If you read Jason Soto’s reviews over at Your Face, you’ll find that the sort of movies Jason tends to review are substantially different from the sort of movies I tend to review. In truth, that’s one of the reasons I agreed to have him pick some movies for me. It’s too easy to get into a rut, and I need to be broken out of that. What better way to get away from a long string of Oscar movies than a little Blaxploitation? And so, Three the Hard Way, a film featuring three of the biggest African-American action stars of the period seemed like just the ticket.

Like a lot of films in this genre, Three the Hard Way offers up an extreme plot without much exposition. The plot isn’t really the point here. What is the point is a boatload of action, cars exploding, gun battles, martial arts fights, and a touch of gratuitous nudity. All of this is packed into 90 minutes, so such niceties as plot are secondary considerations at best.