Celluloid Dreams

Wednesday 7:00pm - 7:30pm

Some people like the great outdoors, others prefer to sit in a dark, air-conditioned room..

Celluloid Dreams is a program for cinephiles, filmmakers and cultural-plebs alike.

Each week the "Dreams Team" (how Anthony Robbins does that sound?!) delivers 30 minutes of alternative film wank - encompassing soundtrack, film & game reviews, interviews, industry news and blatant stupidity.

Tune in Wednesdays at 6:00pm or watch David and Marge.

*Need a hand working out what DVD to see? Or, how 'bout what game to play?? Scroll down for reviews of new releases!!

 Transamerica reviewed by Daz

  It's not often that you get to see a serious film about transgender issues. And, it's even more unusual to see an actress from a popular television drama starring as a pre-op man. However, in Duncan Tucker's new film, Transamerica Desperate Housewives' Felicity Hoffman appears in a role significantly more "desperate" than the one she's used to in the HBO series.

Hoffman plays the transsexual Bree, refreshingly a character far more reminiscent of an independently minded and educated forty something woman than an eccentric lip-synching starlet who obsesses about Judy Garland (or needs a break in acting). Bree is an everyday person working several jobs to be able to afford a surgical procedure that just so happens to involve gender reassignment.

On the verge of becoming a "real" woman or as she explains when pressed, "getting the bits turned inside out," she learns that the one heterosexual experience of her life had produced a son and that she is, infact, a father. This understandably distresses her deeply, serves to postpone her operation and make acquaintances of the unlikely twosome. It is at this point in the storyline that Tucker decides to collect this relationship and drive it in to a road movie which sadly changes the tone of the film and steers an extremely fascinating scenario into little more than a comedy act.  On the road, the pair engage in a series of classic road movie experiences; they get conned, robbed, take drugs, learn about each other's dark secrets and finally arrive at the "desirable" schmaltzy destination.

Much has been said about Hoffman's performance which is, quite simply remarkable. She had me looking for an Adam's apple and in many ways, is the saving grace of a film that could have been so much more.

Although this is not the serious film about intersex issues the world has been waiting for, Tucker manages to weave some elements of emotional complexity around a bundle of predictable gags aimed at procuring a main-stream chuckle.

Destroy All Humans *Computer Game* reviewed by Evan

From Pandemic Studios, comes the latest hit game for xBox and Playstation...Introducing Destroy All Humans, based on the B-Classic Plan 9 From Outer Space and Tim Burton's Mars Attacks, this game puts you in the forefront of the battle to invade planet Earth.

You are "Crytosperidium," an alien clone who talks like Jack Nicholson (of course) and is the biggest misanthrope the galaxy has ever seen...So fly your saucer and destroy buildings with your nifty heat ray and sonic boom and then, when you're ready, unleash the destructive force of your "Quantum Destructor"...(this game is worth it for the names alone!).

When you're on the ground you're fully equipped with your very own "Zap-o-Matic", "Destructor Ray" and "Ion Blaster" but it none of those devices are doing it for ya, you can always employ your advanced tele-kinetic powers to pick up cows, people, tanks, giant robots etc. etc. etc. and hurl them into oblivion. Oh, and I almost forgot, there's lots of fun to be had with your jetpack!!!

Midway through your mission, you begin to realise that there's a whole lot more to 1950's Earth than you first thought...Just when you're busy scanning puny human minds or collecting brainstems for genetic research you uncover your one true enemy, oh shit, it's the men in black known in this world as the "Majestic Agents"...

This is first rate game-play!!! On completion of missions, you gain access to better weapons, stronger tele-kinetic powers and go head-to-head with ever-greater threats to your plan to enslave the earth and humanity. This is a brilliant first player/singler player experience. The missions are both challenging and entertaining. The developers have beautifully captured 1950's America complete with arhitecture, fashion and communist propaganda.

On DVD

Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! reviewed by James

There are some directors that when you mention their names, it summons up a particular idea or thing associated with them. Think of Alfred Hitchcock, and you think of a particular type of thriller. Woody Allen—neurotic New Yorkers. George Romero—zombies. Stanley Kubrick—detachment and dehumanisation. Cecil B. DeMille—over the top historical extravaganzas.

Think of the late Russ Meyer, and you think of gigantic breasts.

Meyer began his filmmaking career as a combat cameraman during WW2, before graduating to shooting centrefolds for Playboy, and finally revolutionising the American exploitation film sector at the end of the 1950s with The Immoral Mr Teas. From there he progressed through a series of films with titles like Motorpsycho, Common Law Cabin, Mondo Topless, Vixen and Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! He dallied with a major studio for Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, and was even tipped in the late 1970s to direct a film starring the Sex Pistols. In short, Meyer was a legendary figure in cult cinema, with films full of sex and violence, not to mention gigantic breasts.

Madman have picked up the Australian rights to a number of Meyer’s films, and are starting with their new DVD of his 1965 epic Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!, released through their Director’s Suite imprint. John Waters reckons that Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! is the best film ever made, and it’s one of Meyer’s better-known films, described as his ode to the violence in women. Unusually for a Meyer film, there’s no frontal nudity in this one, but there are a trio of ball-bustin’ chicks on a rampage.

Our three anti-heroines are go-go dancers who quit work in search of thrills, encounter a young couple while drag-racing in the desert, kill the boy and kidnap the girl. In the course of their getaway, they decide to hole up at an isolated ranch owned by a crippled old man and his two sons, one of whom is a hulking retard called Vegetable, and there they scheme to rob the old man of his apparently considerable wealth. But the old bugger has ideas of his own...

Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! is the sort of film that is probably best watched as part of a good-sized crowd with a supply of alcohol at hand. It’s a riotously over-the-top exercise in politically unreconstructed exploitation, full of excessive acting and gratuitous violence, not to mention gigantic breasts. Madman’s DVD of the film includes not one but two audio commentaries, one from the three pussycats (Tura Satana, Haji and Lori Williams) and one from Meyer himself, obviously recorded some time before his death last year. There’s also a retrospective featurette, Go Pussycat Go, which demonstrates how the girls have got, shall we say, a bit more cuddly in the four decades since the film was made.

In short, if you’re a collector of exploitation and trash cinema, this is a disc you can’t go too far wrong with. And after all, how can you resist a film that begins with this narration:

"Ladies and gentlemen... welcome to violence. The word and the act. While violence cloaks itself in a plethora of disguises, its favourite mantle still remains... sex. Violence devours all it touches, its voracious appetite rarely fulfilled, yet violence doesn't only destroy... it creates and moulds as well. Let's examine closely, then, this dangerously evil creation, this new breed encased and contained within the supple skin of woman..."

Faster Pussycat Kill Kill is out now on DVD through Madman Director’s Suite, with more of the Russ Meyer catalogue to follow in 2006.

The Yes Men Reviewed by Daz

In a climate where the colour beige is the new black, I welcome silliness. In fact, I pray for it. I blow out those birthday candles year after year and wish for it. Any brand is fine. Random or organised - it don't matter to me. As long as it's out and proud, straight faced and wearing a bright pink inflatable phallus. Well, you know...Something like that. It doesn't have to be pink.

In The Yes Men, the new documentary directed by American Movie's Chris Smith & Sarah Price, we get to follow the weird and wonderful adventures (and misadventures) of Andy & Mike - two gutsy, lefty performance artists who entered into the celebrated realm of professional silliness through a brilliant parody World Trade Organisation website. The website was so authentic & convincing that the crafty pair began to receive invitations to actual seminars and press conferences where the WTO perspective was desired.

For many, knowing that your website had fooled a few corporate giants and a couple of media institutions would be enough; something fabulous to talk about at dinner parties, an effective anecdote perhaps to use on chicks at a protest rally. But, for Andy and Mike this was just the beginning. The duo quite happily masqueraded as WTO spokesmen, delivering deadpan addresses that took the soullessness of free-market economics to its logical extreme.

Then, the pair of tricksters (with the help of a designer mate) embarked on one of the silliest, but strangely enough most effective stunts ever. They made an inflatable phallus into serious, state-of-the-art corporate attire for the modern day employer AND succeeded in presenting it to a caucous of humourless suit-wearing individuals who didn't find anything remotely odd or comical (not to mention satirical) about wearing a gigantic dong in order to increase work place productivity!!

Then came stunt number two...Andy & Mike were asked to speak to a lecture theatre of university students about future WTO policies. Needless to say they accepted the invitation with gusto, delivering a power-point presentation (complete with illustrations, sound effects and diagrams) about a two-in-one approach to waste and poverty elimination. According to the diagrams it can all be easily eradicated via turning human sewerage into fast-food hamburgers. Thankfully, several students were outraged by these preposterous ideas.

So, if you like ya satire dry and enjoy taking the mickey out of the powerful west, you'll find The Yes Men thoroughly entertaining. But, if you like an incredibly well-constructed doco above all else, this might not be quite your cup of tea. Knowing that there are fish like Andy & Mike in the sea makes me feel a whole lot happier about life (& helps me get up for a corporate job in the morning). The Yes Men paint a world that is swiftly becoming grey with splotches of big, phat, colour.

 Land of the Dead reviewed by Anthony

Over the past few years, "zombie films" have been enjoying something of a renaissance with the release of movies like Shaun of the Dead and the recent re-make of the classic, Dawn of the Dead. But, thankfully for all of us hard-core zombie fans, the godfather of the zombie flick, AKA George A. Romero is back on our screens once again with the fourth installment in his dead series, Land of the Dead.

Romero started his film career and apparent zombie love affair  back in 1968 with the cult zombie classic, Night of the Living Dead. Since then, he has made two others, namely Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead. His zombie films have always stood out as a result of his deep understanding and appreciation of horror but also because of his knack of loading his pictures with layer upon layer of subtext  - giving latte drinking film snobs an excuse to watch one of his genre flicks guilt-free.

Land of the Dead is set in the not too distant future, where the world as we know it has been taken over by zombies and only isolated groups of humans remain...Riley, played by our very own Simon Baker (don't ya love patriotic writing like this!) heads a group of professional scavengers who strive to find food and other useful items and bring it all back to a small (but heavily fortified) city. Dennis Hoffer plays Kaufman - the ruler of the city who lives alongside the district's elite in a luxurious skyscraper that overlooks the poor and the destitute.

Direct references to the so-called "war on terror" and American imperialism in general, are not difficult to spot. Many people have already likened Hopper's character to George W. Bush and Donald Rumsfeld. Hopper is on the record for dismissing this link but he is now a hardcore Republican so... well, he would.  Land of the Dead is certainly not going to be remembered as a classic like Night of the Dead or Dawn of the Dead but, having said that, this is a solid gore fest with the same tactile layers of subtext found in Dawn of the Dead - even if it lacks the subtlety of the second film.

Ultimately, what we have here is one of the goriest films I have ever seen and one that entertains with all of Romero's trademarks of humour and pathos. In this film, there is no shortage of blood and guts and surprisingly it all comes delivered in unbelievably inventive packages. It would be no boast to say that Romero has used more blood in this one film that Sam Peckinpah used in his entire career.

If Land of the Dead teaches us anything, it's that shock and awe belong at the cinema and not on the small screen of our television during the nightly news.

Land of the Dead, although not a classic, is an absolute must for  lovers of horror and zombie flicks.

Tell Them Who You Are Reviewed by Evan  

Tell Them Who You Are is an unusual documentary portrait of  renowned Hollywood cinematographer, Haskell Wexler (One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest / In The Heat of the Night). Made by Haskell's son Mark, the film is as much an exploration of their relationship as it is a celebration of the maverick's life and career.

It's clear from the outset, that father and son have never quite seen eye to eye - Wexler senior is rather aloof and thus the two appear quite estranged. But dad is getting old and while he is experiencing the rub that comes with old age, feels it is important to reach out to his son. Depite all junior's complaints about his father, Mark remains incapable of responding to his Haskell's advances.

Details of the cinematographer's career are lovingly interwoven with insightful interviews with Hollywood legends. Of particular note, is the revealing visit with Jane Fonda, who talks more about the father-son relationship than anything else (!) and Michael Douglas who sheds some light on behind the scenes production details of One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest.

Haskell is clearly a frustrated director and during the course of the documentary, father and son prey on each other like duelling cameras - the seasoned professional constantly questions his son's ability as a filmmaker. To make matters worse, the pair hold what seems to be diametrically opposing political views, with Haskell senior leaning  to the left while Mark proudly sports pics of himself photographed with George Bush Senior.

This film will appeal strongly to cinephiles interested in the career of Haskell Wexler. It's a shame Mark Wexler lacks the insight to see his own role in the movie and thus its potential for wider appeal. His lack of understanding was painfully obvious during the film as well as when he was questioned following the feature at this year's Sydney Film Festival.

The end product would have undoubtebly been more satisfying had Mark been more aware of the strength of the emotional dialogue occuring between them. Regardless of this however, Wexler junior has suceeded in producing a fascinating and thoroughly entertaining documentary that captures the life and career of his father in a way that is ruthlessly unsentimental and (perhaps accidentally) honest.

Sin City Reviewed by Daz

Lots of people read comics. And lately, it seems that lots of comics are being made into films. So, I guess I could say that lots of people watch comics. I've seen my fair share of them - Ghost World, Hell Boy, Spider Man, Bat Man etc. but really, none of these graphic-novel-turned-films has looked much more than a standard flick with comic book elements sprinkled on top...That all changed when I saw Sin City.

This is the new film by Robert Rodriguez who made the impressive El Mariachi and its sequels and more recently the forgettable Spy Kids movies. Perhaps what makes his comic book to cinema transition more authentic, is that he directed the film alongside Sin City's original creator, graphic artist Frank Miller.

Unlike other comic book movies, Sin City is like a comic book with moving, talking, living pictures. Totally organic and different to anything you've seen before, every line on Frank Miller's page is presented on screen through meticulously styled digital technology. This film takes the story board and injects it with urban life so alive and crazy that it's reminiscent of dream you might have the day after your pet penguin gets shot.

Aesthetically exciting and unbelievably sick and twisted, this is not a film for the faint-hearted. Bible bashers - you have been warned! Every type of depraved vulgarity imaginable is explored in larger than life form and then some! But, with all this considered, Sin City is wrapped in a cellophane type innocence. The city has its own brand of morality which is respected, or else!

The world of Sin City is patrolled tirelessly by characters like Hartigan (Bruce Willis) - the last honest cop in town and an unrecognisable Mickey Rourke in the heaviest prosthetics you've ever seen (Nicole's shnoz pales in comparison) who plays Marv - a tough, square-jawed hulk who would never hit a woman and does everything in his power to avenge the death of the love of his life - a hooker named 'Goldie' (Jaime King).

There are also amazing performances from Elijah Wood (who does scary all too well) and Jessica Alba who in my estimation happens to be one of the sexiest blondes in screen history.

Tarnation reviewed by Anthony

We have all at some point, played a bit-part or intern-directed the great home movie.  And, with the passing of time and the ever-incredible advances in technology, it now seems that one can't break wind without the event being captured and lovingly burnt on to DVD by some super keen family member. Like the photo, the home movie is an attempt to document stuff that is intrinsic to whom we are but also, a doomed attempt to capture something transitory and fleeting about the life we live.

Writer/Director Jonathon Cauette's documentary, Tarnation is a home movie unlike any you would have seen before. The film documents (in a moving and frankly unconventional way) his relationship with his mother Renee. Renee's story is one of the most heart-breaking stories you will see this year - we watch as she passes through a precocious but troubled childhood into the form of a broken adult, suffering from acute mental illness which may or may not have been triggered as a result of countless electric shock therapy in the 1970's. Shot over 19 years and comprised of 8mm and video footage, photos and voice recordings, Cauette has constructed a documentary free of the normal limitations of narrative-based documentary. He never tries to hide his closeness to his subject or restrain his affection or outrage at certain events that have shaped Renee's life.

Tarnation is a film that will infuriate as many people as it entertains.  Is it simply an undisciplined exercise in narcissism? Or, is Tarnation a unique portrait of family life? I believe Tarnation is both - and to my mind, that's what makes it interesting!