PinkTank

The trailer for cult director Takashi Miike’s new film is up.
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Some long-awaited films are finally being released with English subs. Of course, you’ll still need a region 3 DVD player, but I’m sure all the cool people own all region DVD players. Now don’t you?

The Host
Hailed as the number one Korean film of all time, you definitely don’t want to miss out on this contemporary monster film.
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Invisible Waves
From the same director of Last Life in the Universe, Tadanobu Asano returns in this tale of revenge and guilt.
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The odd couple

Lately, it seems a lot of movies have been taking advantage of our generation’s short attention span. There have been a lot of movies (for example, “Survive Style 5+”) that rely on fast cuts, cartoonish characters and over the top colors and physical action. It’s like the equivalent of watching a two hour Fanta commercial. While many might find this distracting, it has a weird allure that makes the film more interesting than it really is. Even though the audience can predict what happens next, it is the strange characters and titillating eye candy that keeps them watching.
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Welcome to suburbia…again

Oh, these youth today. With their strange music, questionable behavior and disregard for rules and organization. Thank goodness grownups can pop them with pills so they can shut up and stop acting like kids for once. Then the adults can dwell on their mundane cocktail parties and neighborhood get-togethers, all while secretly envying the youth they pretend to hate.

Of course, the paragraph above is only true if you’re a fan of sweeping generalizations. But this is the typical life depicted in “The Chumscrubber,” a film that takes a dark and sarcastic look at youth relations in suburbia. In their world, all kids are unhappy, pill popping misunderstood rebels, while the adults are social climbing, unhappy soul suckers. Think you heard this before? You’re right, you have. But let’s move on anyway.

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Beauty in the ordinary

Visual artist and musician Takagi Masakatsu has been gaining tons quiet notoriety lately. First there was his video profile posted on Apple’s web site, which drove enough traffic to his site to shut it down. Then there was the typical legion of Internet promoters (for example, YouTube) that further spread his name and converted the heathens. And, of course, the fans of bedroom pop electronic music have probably seen his name pop up sporadically on the occasional message board.

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Care for a light?

Regardless of what its overbearing satirical title wants you to believe, there is no smoking in Thank You For Smoking. This might seem odd at first and might let the film appear less satirical than it could be, but director Jason Reitman doesn’t want to teach you a lesson about smoking. If viewers left this film thinking, “Wow, smoking is awesome,” the real meaning unfortunately went spiraling over their heads.

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We’re the kids of America

Writing about children is hard. Sure we’ve all been kids before, but our memories are skewed to fit our personal notions. We like to assume we were smart, cute kids, which is why most child actors are smartass precocious doucebags. But what are kids really like?

Director Michael Cuesta is familiar with the “coming of age” story. His past film, “L.I.E,” explored the disturbing realm of man/boy relationships; a move that could’ve easily pushed a film into exploitation territory. But Cuesta was able to tell the story with realness and honesty. “Twelve and Holding” is in the same boat, portraying a group of kids where society forces them to grow too fast.

The film follows three middle school kids who all begin to change when a close friend dies in a treehouse fire set by bullies. Jacob, the twin brother of the boy who died, feels responsible for his brother’s death and vows revenge on the bullies. Malee, another one of the kids, develops a crush on an older man and seeks him. And Leonard, an overweight kid with overweight parents, takes it upon himself to lose weight and influence his parents to do the same.

Cuesta is good at blending the three stories and making them fit. A scene of Jacob taunting bullies at prison easily blends into a shot of Malee putting on makeup. None of it seems jarring or out of place. Probably one of the biggest critiques is how the film esculates during its final act and becomes a bit over the top. I’m assuming some might find these scenes out of place and this might ruin their experience with this film. On the other hand, I think the theatrics aids in the film’s favor. When things spiral out of control, people are at their most vulnerable. They are also in their most reflective state; in other words, it’s easier for them to grasp a lesson or theme.

“Twelve and Holding” isn’t a kid’s flick, and thank Jeebus for that. Hollywood doesn’t need anymore wise cracking, over-directed stage children. Cuesta knows how to keep it real.

When horror films go stale

Whoever decided to create Black Night knew they could make a quick buck. These PanAsian films are all the rage, don’t you know? Movies like Three, Three…Extremes and, uh, Three…Extremes. It was only time until a new one emerged and here it is, featuring acclaimed directors like, uh, Takahiko Akiyama, um, Tanit Jitnukul and…Patrick Leung. Wait a minute, who the hell are these people? (more…)

It’s what’s for dinner

Americans are fat.

Fat people are gross.

This about sums up Feed. Of course there are explorations of topics such as fetishes, the Internet and society’s take on beauty, but all that stuff is secondary because fat people are gross. Watch them eat. Gross.
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From the director of Oldboy and Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance comes the last and final film of his “revenge” trilogy. The DVD has been available since Tuesday. Here’s a low down of current prices:

Dvd Pacific - $15.94

Amazon - $15.99

Deep Discount DVD - $18.61

And of course, there’s always Netflix!

Welcome to the movement

Director James Spooner was on shaky ground when he decided to make a documentary about black punk rockers. If in the wrong hands, a topic like this might have easily done the opposite of what it intended to do. Instead of portraying black punks as a group of struggling outsiders, they might have come across as poseurs, or even worse—self-haters.

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