Miscellanea

ONLINE FILM CRITICS SOCIETY 2018 AWARDS (WITH OUR VOTES)

Leave a comment

The 2018 Online Film Critics Society awards are out. A few weird films garnered nominations this year—Annihilation and Suspiria for Best Picture, Sorry to Bother You for Best Original Screenplay and Best Debut Feature—but we had no winners from our genre (unless you count the marginally weird Hereditary).

The Online Film Critics society has predicted the Academy Awards Best Picture winner three out of the last seven years.

Normally I add comments on my choices, but due to a time crunch this year, I am merely listing the winners, along with my votes for posterity.

BEST PICTURE

Winner: Roma

My Vote: The Death of Stalin (not nominated); Hereditary (official vote)

 

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

Winner: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

My Vote: Night Is Short, Walk on Girl (not nominated); Incredibles 2 (official vote)

BEST DIRECTOR

Winner: Alfonso Cuarón, Roma

My vote: , Isle of Dogs (not nominated); Lynne Ramsay, You Were Never Really Here

BEST LEAD ACTOR

Winner: , First Reformed

My vote: Ethan Hawke, First Reformed

BEST LEAD ACTRESS

Winner: , Hereditary

My vote: Helena Howard, Madeline’s Madeline (not nominated); Olivia Colman, The Favourite (official vote)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Winner: Michael B. Jordan, Black Panther

My vote: Daniel Kaluuya, Widows (not nominated); , Can You Ever Forgive Me?

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Winner: Regina King, If Beale Street Could Talk

My vote: , Suspiria (not nominated); , The Favourite (official vote)

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Winner: , First Reformed

My vote: , Sorry to Bother You

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Winner: Barry Jenkins, If Beale Street Could Talk

My vote: The Death of Stalin (not nominated); Can You Ever Forgive Me? (official vote)

BEST EDITING

Winner: Eddie Hamilton, Mission: Impossible – Fallout

My vote: Mission: Impossible – Fallout

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Winner: Alfonso Cuarón, Roma

My vote: Mandy (not nominated); Roma (official vote)

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

Winner: Nicholas Britell, If Beale Street Could Talk

My vote: Mandy (not nominated), First Man (official vote)

BEST DEBUT FEATURE

Winner: , Hereditary

My vote: Hereditary

BEST FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

Winner: Roma

My Vote: Night Is Short, Walk on Girl (not nominated); Roma (official vote)

BEST DOCUMENTARY

Winner: Won’t You Be My Neighbor?

My vote: Free Solo

TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS

Winners:

Annihilation, Best Visual Effects
Black Panther, Best Costume Design
Mission: Impossible – Fallout, Best Stunt Coordination
A Quiet Place, Best Sound Design
A Star Is Born, Best Original Songs

My votes:

Border, Hair and Makeup
Mandy, Production Design
November, Production Design
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Visual Effects
Suspiria, Hair and Makeup

Top 10 Lists

TOP 10 WEIRD MOVIES OF 2018

Leave a comment

2018 was deep in weirdness. Although we deemed only a trio of movies (one of which was technically a 2017 release) as worthy of Certification as among the 366 Weirdest Films of All Time, there were a lot of hard cuts at the bottom of this year’s top 10 list. At the beginning of the year, we were confident that the homoheroic spoof Fags in the Fast Lane would remain among the ten strangest cinematic offerings by December, and yet it got lost among a multitude of odd releases. Chained for Life was a metanarrative farce starring real-life “freaks” making a movie in their off hours, but it didn’t sniff the top 10. Nor did ‘s Double Lover (despite featuring the year’s most innovative gynecological camerawork), Australia’s microbudgeted Hitler Lives! (despite depicting Nazi war criminals as marionettes), or the Suspiria remake (despite having the best avant-garde exploding-witch choreography of the year).

Poster for Mandy (2018) - weirdest movie of 2018Besides that wealth of weirdness on the big screen, we should note that the small screen brought us the second (and sadly final) season of the metaphysical comedy/mystery “Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency,” while  went miniseries mad with the Nippo-Gothic “Tokyo Vampire Hotel” (also released in a condensed and even more incoherent version as a feature film). And, on a final note, we’ll mention that we’re holding off on ranking ‘s surreal Hollywood noir Under the Silver Lake, which is going back to the editing bay for a rework after debuting to puzzled audiences at Cannes (we expect his original vision will be both better and weirder, but eventually think we’ll be able to see both side-by-side for comparison).

As for the choice of movies: as always, I personally pick them using a secret proprietary formula that accounts for cinematic craftsmanship, the degree of surrealism/weirdness, and the perceived prestige in the weird movie community based on buzz and reader feedback, then I rank them in whatever arbitrary order I momentarily feel like without regard to any of that. As always, films are listed in random Continue reading TOP 10 WEIRD MOVIES OF 2018 →

Top 10 Lists

TOP 10 MOVIES OF 2018 – MAINSTREAM EDITION

2 Comments

Here is my annual top 10 list of movies, ranked according to mainstream standards. In other words, weird movies are allowed in this list, but I attempt to rank 2018 releases according to their general merit, intended for people who don’t specialize in the genre. Provocative cults film like Sorry to Bother You and Mandy can (and did!) make this list, but they will not automatically be catapulted to the top, and when ranked by mainstream standards they may even show up in a different order. Stay tuned for the top 10 weird movies of 2018 at a later hour.

2018 Honorable mentions (in alphabetical order): BlackKklasman, Black Panther, Border [Gräns], Double Lover [L’amant double], Eighth Grade, Game Night, Madeline’s Madeline, Mission Impossible: Fallout, Night is Short, Walk on Girl, November, Paddington 2, A Quiet Place, Science Fair, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Suspiria, Thoroughbreds, Widows, Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, You Were Never Really Here

10. Free Solo: This documentary follows rock climbing legend Alex Honnold as he attempts to become the first person in history to climb Yosemite’s 3,000 foot tall El Capitan using nothing but his limbs and his wits. A fellow climber compares the feat to an Olympic competition, except that if the athlete gives anything less than a gold medal performance, he dies. My pick for doc of the year; breathtaking views, drama, and a good reminder that excellence is abnormal.

9. Incredibles 2: Mr. Incredible takes a turn as a house-husband when his wife Elastic Girl is chosen as the spokeswoman in a campaign to rehabilitate the image of surperheroes; an evil plan is afoot, and the Incredibles’ newest arrival reveals his superpowers. Superior fluff that benefits greatly from its sleek, James Bond-inspired retrofuturist design. Nice baby/raccoon battle, too. Brad Bird made this sequel an incredible(s) 14 years after the original. Don’t worry if you don’t remember the first one too well; I never even saw it, and I loved this one.

8. Mandy: Read the Certified Weird entry! A lumberjack takes revenge on the Manson-like hippie cult that killed his true love, Mandy. The prophesied Nic-Cage-kills-bikers-and-hippies-while-tripping-on-acid fantasia you’ve been waiting on is here. Somehow, the 92% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes translated into 0% consideration during awards season; horror movies are starting to break out of the critical ghetto, but sadly, midnight movies probably never will.

7. First Reformed: Counseling a troubled environmentalist parishioner slowly leads a minister at a “tourist church” (an intense Ethan Hawke) into the very depths of despair he preaches against. Challenging and thought-provoking character study aimed at cinephiles.  still has it. God’s lonely man, indeed.

Ad for First Reformed

6. Sorry to Bother You: Read the Certified Weird entry! When telemarketer Cassius Green learns to use his “white voice,” he shoots up the corporate ranks, becomes a “power caller,” and is asked to compromise his principles in a shocking way. Seemingly coming out of Continue reading TOP 10 MOVIES OF 2018 – MAINSTREAM EDITION →

Alfred Eaker's Fringe Cinema

ED WOOD’S TAKE IT OUT IN TRADE (1970) BLU-RAY

2 Comments

As we approach the New Year, it would be wise to remember the timeless words, of the great prophet: “Greetings, my friend. We are all interested in the future, for that is where you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives. And remember, my friend, future events such as these will affect you in the future.”

Isn’t it refreshing to see long-overdue appreciation of Edward D. Wood, Jr? Whoever would have guessed that his Holy Grail directorial swan song, Take it out in Trade (1970), would be  discovered, restored, and given such a gorgeous Blu-ray treatment by American Film Genre Archives (AFGA), in collaboration with Something Weird Video? May blessings eternally be bestowed upon both of them.

As this is from Wood’s later period, his budget seems to be down to about the $1.50 range. Also, like Wood’s later output, it’s a sexploitation flick, with astoundingly gratuitous nudity. Still, there’s a degree of renewed Woodian energy, which had been primarily missing since the auteur bogged down in fatigue in the late fifties. There is no mistaking that Wood here is in an advanced decline from serious alcoholism.

Trade actually has a story, such as it, and is different from his late work, too, in being an intentional comedy. Shirley (Donna Stanley) is missing, forcing her parents to hire a Private Dick named Mac McGregor (Michael Donovan O’Donnell). They must not have much of a detective budget because McGregor is totally inept. As he says, in typical Woodian narration: “Sex is where I come in. Dead or alive, sex is always in need of my services. A service to which I sincerely apply myself wholeheartedly—sometimes even in the daylight hours.” Indeed, he hardly does any detective work, being repeatedly distracted by sex.

Still from Take It out in Trade (1970)Wood himself shows up in drag, wearing… drum roll, please… a lime green angora sweater, topped by huge blue fake pearls. He looks bad—splotchy and bloated—but there’s a twinkle alive through all that self-destruction. Looking for Shirley, McGregor takes one international holiday after another, flying into wherever (cue stock plane footage), looking  for naked people (stock nudie films and new nudie footage), flying back, checking his office, getting bored, and flying to a new destination to see more naked people. Countries are represented by the barest minimum establishing shots, such as one of a continental dandy sipping wine. McGregor’s reactions are cartoonish, the jokes are groan-inducing, and the pacing is napalmed due to Wood’s padding to reach feature length. He apparently hoped against hope that it would all work, because he bragged in the trailer (included in the Blu-ray extras), “This one won’t be ignored by the box office.”  Of course, it was.

The twist is that when McGregor finally tires of bug-eyed reactions to naked people and goes to look for Shirley, it turns out that Shirley is a hooker. Cue Wood’s bizarro assessment of the sex trade. Shirley’s not in the gutter, she’s having fun, and indeed, what better way to make a living than being paid to have sex, which she enjoys?

Wood’s views of square sex are like Aunt Ida’s from Female Trouble, minus the cynicism, and with its cheapo international adventures, Take It out in Trade has an undeniable charm. With its acceptance of “deviants,” it could almost bee seen as a sequel of sorts to Glen or Glenda. It’s a shockingly progressive and nicely optimistic world view: accepting every brand of “deviants,” from trans couples to heroin addicts.

When Wood himself gets in drag, he’s enjoying the hell out of himself again, and its contagious when he does.

AFGA/Something Weird restored every minute they had access to, and although one wishes that about a half hour of footage would have remained lost, its a bona fide find and release.

The extras also include Wood’s Love Feast, which reverses the voyeurism with a Peeping Tom reaping what he sewed in a dog collar. Although both films show signs of age, the restoration job is clearly a labor of love, and who could argue with Something Weird?

Celebrating the cinematically surreal, bizarre, cult, oddball, fantastique, strange, psychedelic, and the just plain WEIRD!