CARRIE (2002)
About as unnecessary as they come - this made-for-network-television adaption of the Steven King novel is supposed to follow the book more closely than the DePalma classic, but it doesn't. Angela Bettis is a solid choice in the title role but there is no direction to support her performance. Toothless and cringe-inducing, especially when it's making pop culture references that guarantee it's shelf life. There are gratuitous references to email and the Internet. Sue Snell is black. David Keith is a cop getting to the bottom of things in a lame framing device. The special effects are shoddy TV-budget CGI. Unbelievably, Carrie lives and gets a ride to Florida from Sue(!) Patricia Clarkson plays down the Mama White role, obviously to counter Piper Laurie's performance from the original. To its credit, the prom finale somehow manages some small pay-off in the last act but unfortunately most people won't make it that far. The Rage: Carrie 2 is actually far better. *1/2
ACE OF HEARTS
This silent Lon Chaney potboiler is based on a book. A secret society decides they must kill a man who "makes the world worse" and "has lived too long." Chaney wants to be the killer to impress the groups sole female member. His competitor wins the role and steals the girl. There's some minor twists and turns but by today's standards it's a pretty dopey premise. **
TEENAGE BAD GIRL
It might sound like a sexy 50s exploitation flick, but it's actually a very Brittish melodrama who's title star isn't nearly bad enough. Respectable-seeming actors partipate and probably are acting the hell out of the script but that doesn't save it from being boring. *
PUMPKIN (2002)
Unfairly over-looked, this winking parody of disease-of-the-week movies and TV specials is damn funny and seriously misunderstood. Christina Ricci is a sorority girl whose house volunteers with a Special Olympics-style organization. Each sister is assigned a handicapped kid and Ricci gets Pumpkin. She falls in love with him and learns through Pumpkin that there is pain in the world. (She was previously unaware.)Pumpkin's affliction is never named which is just one of the jokes that no one seemed to get. The premise is that pop culture treats the handicapped as if they are on earth to teach the rest of us life lessons. Ricci's character fucks Pumpkin (o.s.) and is disowned by her sorority and rejected by her tennis pro boyfriend (a great character, incidently). Balancing parody and a straight-faced narrative is a tall order and at times it seems like Pumpkin is trying to do too many things at once. It flies off the rails in the last half hour - but I still think it mostly works and that the rest of the world is crazy. ***
KIDS
Larry Clarke has issues and they are on colorful display in KIDS. Clarke's staple, young people in various stages of undresss, borders on tasteless in many scenes. Following the scattered story of NY teens in trouble, it touches all the bases: drugs, sex, and AIDS -- but mostly AIDS, which actually places it in the same category as sex hygiene films of old. Once I decided not to take it so seriously, I was able to appreciate KIDS as overwrought, unrealistic trash. Harmony Korin was a teenager when he wrote the screenplay, but I'm not a fan.
**
GUMMO
Talk about your style over substance, this mostly incoherent movie produces some interesting visuals but not much else. Xenia, Ohio was hit by a serious tornado in the seventies and was left economically devastated afterwards...except not really. (I grew up near Xenia and there was a tornado but it's still a nice place to live.) There's retarded suburban hookers, kids killing cats, kids killing grandma and a boy in pink bunny ears. It's gained a cult following in the vein of Eraserhead, good mostly for the shock value and gross-outs. Pssst -- Harmony Korin is a hack. **
About as unnecessary as they come - this made-for-network-television adaption of the Steven King novel is supposed to follow the book more closely than the DePalma classic, but it doesn't. Angela Bettis is a solid choice in the title role but there is no direction to support her performance. Toothless and cringe-inducing, especially when it's making pop culture references that guarantee it's shelf life. There are gratuitous references to email and the Internet. Sue Snell is black. David Keith is a cop getting to the bottom of things in a lame framing device. The special effects are shoddy TV-budget CGI. Unbelievably, Carrie lives and gets a ride to Florida from Sue(!) Patricia Clarkson plays down the Mama White role, obviously to counter Piper Laurie's performance from the original. To its credit, the prom finale somehow manages some small pay-off in the last act but unfortunately most people won't make it that far. The Rage: Carrie 2 is actually far better. *1/2
ACE OF HEARTS
This silent Lon Chaney potboiler is based on a book. A secret society decides they must kill a man who "makes the world worse" and "has lived too long." Chaney wants to be the killer to impress the groups sole female member. His competitor wins the role and steals the girl. There's some minor twists and turns but by today's standards it's a pretty dopey premise. **
TEENAGE BAD GIRL
It might sound like a sexy 50s exploitation flick, but it's actually a very Brittish melodrama who's title star isn't nearly bad enough. Respectable-seeming actors partipate and probably are acting the hell out of the script but that doesn't save it from being boring. *
PUMPKIN (2002)
Unfairly over-looked, this winking parody of disease-of-the-week movies and TV specials is damn funny and seriously misunderstood. Christina Ricci is a sorority girl whose house volunteers with a Special Olympics-style organization. Each sister is assigned a handicapped kid and Ricci gets Pumpkin. She falls in love with him and learns through Pumpkin that there is pain in the world. (She was previously unaware.)Pumpkin's affliction is never named which is just one of the jokes that no one seemed to get. The premise is that pop culture treats the handicapped as if they are on earth to teach the rest of us life lessons. Ricci's character fucks Pumpkin (o.s.) and is disowned by her sorority and rejected by her tennis pro boyfriend (a great character, incidently). Balancing parody and a straight-faced narrative is a tall order and at times it seems like Pumpkin is trying to do too many things at once. It flies off the rails in the last half hour - but I still think it mostly works and that the rest of the world is crazy. ***
KIDS
Larry Clarke has issues and they are on colorful display in KIDS. Clarke's staple, young people in various stages of undresss, borders on tasteless in many scenes. Following the scattered story of NY teens in trouble, it touches all the bases: drugs, sex, and AIDS -- but mostly AIDS, which actually places it in the same category as sex hygiene films of old. Once I decided not to take it so seriously, I was able to appreciate KIDS as overwrought, unrealistic trash. Harmony Korin was a teenager when he wrote the screenplay, but I'm not a fan.
**
GUMMO
Talk about your style over substance, this mostly incoherent movie produces some interesting visuals but not much else. Xenia, Ohio was hit by a serious tornado in the seventies and was left economically devastated afterwards...except not really. (I grew up near Xenia and there was a tornado but it's still a nice place to live.) There's retarded suburban hookers, kids killing cats, kids killing grandma and a boy in pink bunny ears. It's gained a cult following in the vein of Eraserhead, good mostly for the shock value and gross-outs. Pssst -- Harmony Korin is a hack. **
I haven't read anything other than Clowe's Ghost world and David Boring. It's hard to come across them in my area, recommend any other good titles I can perhaps get from amazon?