Repo Man (Collector's Edition) (1984) Review

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(More customer reviews)Repo Man is completely unclassifiable. Funny, dark, biting, thrilling, confusing, action, adventure, it's all there. Emilio Estevez plays Otto, a "white suburban punk" living in LA's sprawl, with a nowhere job that he loses in the film's second scene. When his hippie parents admit they sent his college fund to a TV preacher (We're sending Bibles to El Salvador!), Otto meets Bud (Harry Dean Stanton), a cocaine-driven Repo Man who needs an extra driver. Otto joins the firm and soon learns the Repo Code; Bud's version (You see, a Repo Man gets himself INTO tense situations), and the other regulars at Helping Hand Auto share their philosophies too. Light finds Bud's view tedious but is willing to handle shoot-outs when he's not reading parodies of Scientology (Diuretix), Miller seems completely neuron-fried (The more you drive, the less intelligent you are), and Oly is along to make a four-pack. (Did you notice the four experienced Repo Men are named after beers?) Let's go get a drink, kid!
Multiple plot strands at first seem unrelated, but bind together closer and tighter as the film moves along. Otto and the other Repo Men are on the lookout for a 1964 Chevy Malibu, with a $25,000 bounty. So are some creepy FBI agents, who stalk and kidnap Otto. And so are Helping Hand's arch-rivals, who careen into the plot whenever things are getting dull. The car's driven by a nuclear physicist in from Los Alamos, who warned a CHP officer not to look in the trunk (with deadly results). Otto's punk friends find the car while breaking into a pharmaceutical factory, but they're too stupid to keep it. (These three are some of the dumbest criminals ever shown in film, including Kevin Kline's Otto in _A Fish Called Wanda_) Otto finds love, after a fashion, but since this is Reaganesque LA, even his girlfriend has her own motives. ("Otto! What about our relationship?" Otto's reply is a brilliant retort to Cary Grant's last line in Gone with the Wind.)
The film abounds with hilarious throw-away lines, signs, and labels. Several scenes take place in food stores, and all the food is generically labeled. Multiple viewings are required to catch them all; be sure to read all the signs in the windows. Even the TV preacher shows up on several television sets. Repo Man takes its structure from Miller's bizarre rant about the cosmic latticework of interconnectedness, because everything is interconnected, and Miller turns out to be right about all of it by the end. "And flying saucers are... You got it. Time Machines."
Top it off with a TERRIFIC sound track by Iggy Pop, Black Flag, The Circle Jerks, and a host of others from the punk scene and this is one of the best movies ever made.

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Strange Brew (1983) Review

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(More customer reviews)Canadians always seem funnier than us uptight Americans because they can laugh at themselves and their idiosyncracies without offending any interest group other than uptight Canadians. They have Mike Meyers and the timeless Kids in the Hall for comedy; we have Carrot Top and "Family Guy." That being said, this film is utterly sophomoric. Almost twenty years later, it still keeps me laughing out loud at its absurd plot, silly jokes and barrage of references and inside jokes about Canadian culture. I went into this film already knowing a bit of Canada (I am a big hockey fan) and came out of this thinking that most NHL players like beer, back bacon & donuts as much as Bob & Doug McKenzie. And I loved every minute of it.
Hats off to the disc's producers for making the audio and video quality superior to the faded-out versions I've seen on cable TV and VHS. They also did an admirable job of including lots of extras on the disc. I've never seen SCTV, but a classic McKenzie Bros. sketch from the legendary show is included on this disc, as well as the film's trailer and a new animated short that includes Canada's favorite siblings since the Dionne quintuplets.
Perhaps this film rivals Caddyshack in having the greatest number of one-liners repeated over beers by white thirtysomethings. That alone should make it a cult classic of Canada you knobs!

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What matters most in life, eh? Hockey, donuts and beer? A slab of back bacon? And did we mention beer? At least, that's what matters most to Bob (Rick Moranis) and Doug (Dave Thomas) McKenzie when they bring the goofy lunacy of SCTV's "The Great White North" to the great wide movie indoors.

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Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Widescreen Edition) (2005) Review

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(More customer reviews)I once made the comment that most of the entertainment today is in very bad shape. The industries are trying to relive past glories, especially music and movies. Most of the money being made in the music industry is reissues, HDCD releases of well-known titles, delux reissues, legacy reissues, offical releases of bootlegs, greatest hits, and any and all repackaging of classic albums. And they all use well known, classic, big name artists, because they know people will buy it. Because the majority of new CDs, and new artists aren't of any real quality, they have to rely on the old stuff to make money. The same can be said of the movies. It's all sequels, prequels, remakes, and remodels.
Accordingly, I was not thrilled when I heard a new version of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" was coming out. When I learned it was a Tim Burton/Danny Elfman/Johnny Depp production, I was less skeptical. When I saw a trailer, I was interested. When I heard Danny Elfman was writing/composing the music AND doing the vocals, I was excited. The collaboration is great, almost to the point of excusing all their pretensiousness and self-absorbtion... enough quibbling. On to the movie!
It holds many of Tim Burton's staples; it is dark, stark, eerie, and filled with the regular unnamable props, but he has allowed joy into the equation. The movie is much better for it. There is rich color, specifically in the factory, to match the rich imagery and funny comparisons of Willy Wonka. Depp is cast perfectly in this role, which is not really apparent unless you see the movie. He is funny, quirky, confused, and innocent; much different than the brilliant, strong character played by Gene Wilder in the original. The children who find the golden tickets and their parents do a great job too. Perhaps my favorite part is the wild card, Danny Elfman. If you don't know WHO Elfman is, you're sure to have heard his music whether in any number of cult classic 80's films (Pee Wee's Big Adventure, Beetlejuice, Batman 1 & 2), his TV themes (The Simpsons), his musical-esque movies featuring his vocals (Nightmare Before Christmas-- an absolute classic soundtrack), or his 15-plus years of work as the vocalist/writer/guitarist for 80's heavyweight Oingo Boingo. "Charlie" is the 11th time Tim Burton has used Elfman as his composer, and this is arguably their greatest work together (though I prefer "Nightmare Before Christmas").
The movie itself is quite interesting, moving into parts of the Willy Wonka story the orignal movie didn't, relying more on the Ron Dahl book. Note: even the lyrics to the four Oompa-Loompa songs are the lyrics from the novel. We learn that Willy became a chocolateer to spite his father and is forever haunted by this falling out. An eventual redemtion of their relationship serves as a very positive pro-family element. Best of all, it's clean. Nothing negative, offensive, or disturbing is presented, meaning a green light for families and kids; a HUGE plus. The problem of lacking special features is corrected here, but you can save a few dollars if you don't mind a slimmer package. A great, big, fun movie.
Overall: 9 out of 10.

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Fantasy Adventure. Acclaimed director Tim Burton brings his vividly imaginative style to the beloved Roald Dahl classic Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, about eccentric chocolatier Willy Wonka (Depp) and Charlie, a good-hearted boy from a poor family who lives in the shadow of Wonka's extraordinary factory. Long isolated from his own family, Wonka launches a worldwide contest to select an heir to his candy empire. Five lucky children, including Charlie, draw golden tickets from Wonka chocolate bars and win a guided tour of the legendary candy-making facility that no outsider has seen in 15 years. Dazzled by one amazing sight after another, Charlie is drawn into Wonka's fantastic world in this astonishing andenduring story.

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