Scotch and a Sofa

After last night, I can now finally check off yet another elusive little film off of my list. One film that for some reason never crossed paths with me...CRIMEWAVE(aka The XYZ Murders)! I first learned about this movie when I read Bruce Campbell's "If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B-Movie Actor about 5 or 6 years ago. Being an Evil Dead fan, naturally, I devoured that book and my quest began. The "quest" was really not a "quest" per se, but I was pretty driven to see this damned movie. Why? Well, how can I put it? Basically, it's like the cinematic equivalent to The Justice League. Well, not as many superheroes, but really really important ones.

Crimewave marks the first collaboration between a few of my favorite filmmakers of all time; Sam Raimi, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen. Who would not froth at the mouth at the mere mention of this team? Along with a screenplay written by this awesome trio and directed by Mr. Raimi, you can also add a bit part for Bruce Campbell as well and this sounds like something a little too good too be true. So that was it, I needed to see this movie! The only problem? It was out of print. I would only find bootleg vhs copies on ebay (which I refused to watch)for years to come, so I was relegated to sadly checkng imdb.com every month or so looking for any signs of dvd release. Eventually, I gave up and decided that it was one that got away. Until recently. I was casually searching through Netflix's catalog when I ran across it, there it was. It was there and I couldn't believe it. Crime-fucking-wave, directed by Sam fucking Raimi, 1980-fucking-5. Holy shit. click. This title has been added to your dvd queue. Availability: LONG WAIT. Really?! The 5 plus years that have gone by meant nothing to you? Why must I be tortured?

Fast forward a couple of months and my mail box smiles and spits out the dvd into my anxious palm (cue Bruce Springsteen's "Glory Days") and I set into motion an event that has been years overdue: my viewing of Crimewave!

So was it epic? What the fuck was it about this movie that I felt the need to waste so much of your precious time building it up? NOT MUCH. Don't get me wrong, it's an awesome movie and I loved it, but is it important? Yes and no. It's important in the way that you can see early habits starting to form, habits that would become key signatures for these filmmakers who would go on to be considered by some to be a major force in keeping film original and extremely entertaining for us today. First and foremost, it's a fun, goofy dark comedy written by the Coens, so the dialog is totally off the charts and hilarious, even for an eighties comedy, and that says a lot, based on my belief that comedy is the genre that suffers the most with age. Some shit you saw 10 or 15 years ago just isn't that funny anymore, we all know that. What keeps Crimewave funny? I don't know, I think it's the over-the-top film noir delivery combined with cheesy(but totally effective)sound effects and cartoon-like situations. It almost seems as if after Evil Dead, Raimi wanted to amp up the silliness that was just an effective background tool for Ash and company and just went totally balls out and made a cross between The Three Stooges, "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" and a live action Tom & Jerry episode. Watching this you can't help but imagine just how much fun Raimi had throwing every classic slapstick gag into this movie. You name it, it's in here.

The storyline is insanely surreal but simple. Two business partners are dead and an employee is framed for the murder. Through flashbacks, we get thrown into a plot that involves Bruce Campbell as a scumbag (or "Heel", as he is constantly referred to) that utters lines like "Hey baby, why don't ya come on over to my pad. We'll have a scotch and sofa", a sorry ass nerd (who is also the "hero" played by Reed Birney, whoever the hell he is) who is in love with the wrong girl and best of all, there are two "exterminators" that kill people with an electrocution device that has 3 hilarious settings: "RAT", "MAN" & "HERO". The movie is a blast and you'll love it if you love campy, goofy cult classics. The Budget wasn't the best, the acting is not top notch, but the talent is there and the fun is in your face, just stop being a tight ass and enjoy the damn movie.

Check out the clips below!

 

And here's the trailer (shitty quality)

Trivia:
-The name of the prison in this movie is "Hudsucker", a name they would reuse for the Coens' "The Hudsucker Proxy", a film where the trio would collaborate on screenwriting duties yet again.

-The Oldsmobile Delta that is featured prominently in the Evil Dead trilogy which also makes an appearance in this film (and many of Raimi's films to come, including Spider-Man), was Sam's actual car for quite some time.

Losing the Kung-Fu Grip

Dang! It's been almost three months since my last post...what the shit? I've been a little sidetracked friends, sidetracked by my vices, and for this...I apologize.

I have a couple of good movies at home that I gotta sit down and chew on, however, I can tell you this:

- District 9 was a really great surprise, I love those "Focking Prones" (fucking prawns)!!

- Of course Inglourious Basterds was a great time, but that goes without saying.

- Tokyo Zombie is a hilariously entertaining Japanese Zombie/Jiu-Jitsu/Stoner comedy that you should DEFINITELY check out.

- Z Channel was interesting but a little too California-centric for me to really feel the need to grab you by the shirt and tell you about it.

I will make up for my slacking ways and try to post up some good fresh reviews for you very soon, sorry to keep you hanging (as if anyone is really "hanging" on this blog anyway, lol).

OH WOW it's Real!

Light has shined on the art house scene in South Florida! Miami has really and truly been a wasteland for foreign and independent cinema for quite some time now. Not since the glory days of Lion Video, New Concept Video and the random art house theaters on the beach of yesteryear have I seen anything worth frothing at the mouth for. The excitement of seeing something new and exciting has officially left the building. I have heard great things of Miami Beach's Cinematheque, but unfortunately I have not heard of anything playing there to really make me want to jump out of my seat. Cinema Paradiso in Ft. Lauderdale is a great venue with a great eye for film, but it's just not Miami. So for a while now I have shaken my fists and ranted my hater rants about the lack of great cinema in Miami but all that has changed as of last week. Filling the void in the halls of celluloid relevancy, the OH-WOW Gallery has chosen to open its doors, kick back, slip on some chancletas and sit back while you invade their house, drink their free beer and eat their free popcorn. Amazingly, someone in Miami is showing you a great movie at no charge and feeding you booze...and they don't want to sleep with you, well they do, but not like that.
 

I have been to art shows at OH-WOW (including the amazing Scott Campbell show) and had heard about secret ambitious rumblings at the gallery, but this leap of good faith made me call up my good bud Luke for an outing. We arrived, got some beers, plopped our asses down, and escaped. What I'm talking about is the OH-WOW Gallery's movie screening series, which rocks. For the month of July, they will be screening art related documentaries at no charge, and their selection is not too shabby. I missed the first one (a screening of "The Cool School") but made it a point to check out their second screening last Thursday, which was a beautiful gem ."Captured" is a film about Clayton Patterson, a man that has photographed, lived, breathed, ate and shat the Lower East Side since 1979. The movie itself was an absolute testament to what was and always will be the blood and balls of what we know of the L.E.S., which is to always represent the lowest common denominator. For decades, the Lower East Side was a haven for the dirty, grimy, scary and the always interesting. Clayton Patterson made it his home, and one day decided to photograph it. Over, and over, and over. This eccentric photographer's eye scanned over the decades that defined this neighborhood magnifying it to reveal that and so much more. A true reflection of a scene that was really not a "scene" as defined by todays social cliques, but rather a refuge for the junkies, the homeless and the revolutionary minds of the eighties, this film penetrates. It puts the ugly scars, the bloody track marks and the dirty fingernails of Manhattan on display, but also puts the heart and soul of a city on a pedestal. Whether you've lived in New York or not, the Lower East Side matters. If the Statue of Liberty had a middle finger, it would be the L.E.S. From junkies to drag queens, Bad Brains and the Thompson Square Park Riots, Clayton was there, with his fucking camera, getting arrested (and selling his baseball caps) and in the muthafucking potaje of things.

All in all,a great film and a great place to see it at, I hope the OH-WOW gallery makes it a habit to do cool things like this more often (and I did hear of some very cool plans for future screenings, but I'm not going to ruin their surprise). The way it went down was like this; I knew (A) a good movie was playing (Captured), I knew (B) I hadn't hung out with my homeboy Luke in a while, and (C) I knew the cost was ZERO, so (D) I knew that shit would be dope...and I was muthafuckin' RIGHT!!! Check out "Captured" ASAP and do yourself a favor and go catch a flick at OH-WOW, you will not hate me, you will high five me and buy me beers.

OH-WOW is located at:

3100 NW 7 Avenue
Miami, Florida, 33127
305-633-9345


EARLY WARNING: Begin sharpening your claws now for the crudefest that will be: Neckface's first Miami solo show ever...at OH-WOW...on Halloween night, 2009. start. drooling.