A look at what’s weird in theaters, on hot-off-the-presses DVDs, and on more distant horizons…
Trailers of new release movies are generally available on the official site links.
IN THEATERS (LIMITED RELEASE):
Micmacs (2010): A carnivalesque team of misfits defeat a gang of black market arms dealers using an arsenal of gadgets in Jean-Pierre Jeunet‘s latest slice of whimsy. This director’s work may be a little less weird and a lot less dark since breaking up with partner Marc Caro, but like a new Gilliam, a new Jeunet is always an event. Micmacs official site.
SCREENINGS (NEW YORK CITY, ANTHOLOGY FILM ARCHIVES)
Utopian Comedies: The Films of Jim Finn: An experimental mockumentarian of sorts, award winning underground director Jim Finn’s “utopian comedies” poke fun at the USSR, the Shining Path regime in Peru, and contemporary North Korea. The retrospective shows off his near-feature length films as well as some shorts. The most recent, The Juche Idea (2010), paints its picture as a series of short films made by a fictional South Korean director brought across the border to to the North to help modernize the propaganda machine of Kim Jong Il. Interkosmos (2006) was a fake Soviet sci-fi propaganda film in the mold of Aelita, Queen of Mars, and La Trinchera Luminosa del Presidente Gonzalo (2007) tracks guerrillas in a women’s prison. Hopefully someday the rest of us will get to see what all the fuss is about. Utopian Comedies: The Films of Jim Finn at Anthology Film Archives.
NEW ON DVD:
By Brakhage: An Anthology: 56 much talked about but seldom seen short films from the influential experimental director. The movies cover 5 decades, from the 1950s to the 200s, and are spread over 3 discs. This Criterion Collection adds the usual expansive extras. Buy By Brakhage: An Anthology
City of the Living Dead (1980): Another incoherent/weird Luigi Fulci zombie/gore outing rises from the out-of-print graveyard to terrify the living. In this one, a priest’s suicide causes the gates of hell to open and spew out the undead. Buy City of the Living Dead
NEW ON BLU-RAY:
By Brakhage: An Anthology: See entry in DVD above. Buy By Brakhage: An Anthology [Blu-ray]
City of the Living Dead (1980): See entry in DVD above. Buy City of the Living Dead [Blu-ray]
Class of Nuke ‘Em High (1986): This tale of high schoolers turned into mutants by nuclear waste was the first post-Toxic Avenger Troma film. The usual mix of nudity, gore, juvenile comedy, deliberately bad special effects and outrageous punk costuming, but before the formula got stale. Buy Class of Nuke ‘Em High [Blu-ray]
Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog (2008): Neil Patrick Harris stars as Dr. Horrible in this 42 minute supervillain romantic musical originally published as a free Internet series. The project was conceived by television’s Joss Whedon (“Buffy the Vampire Slayer”) to keep the creative juices flowing during the 2008 Writer’s Guild strike. Copious extras are included to induce fans into buying this formerly-free web series: two commentary tracks (in what I think may be a first, an entire commentary is sung!), a 20 minute “making of” documentary, and ten auditions by fans seeking to join the series’ “Evil League of Evil.” Buy Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog [Blu-ray]
Tromeo and Juliet (1996): Read the Certified Weird review. In our view, this punked-out version of Shakespeare is Troma’s best and weirdest movie. Buy Tromeo and Juliet [Blu-ray]
What are you looking forward to? If you have any weird movie leads that I have overlooked, feel free to leave them in the COMMENTS section.