killingjoke_89 Reviews

The Blob (1988)

Enjoyable popcorn horror ( may have a *SPOILER*)

[5 September 2001]

Very good, fun, cheesy, enjoyable horror romp. The Blob is a great special effect, and the Blob Attacks scenes are really great (the Blob is like something from a Tool Video, but larger and more deadly).Very fun, thrilling, enjoyable, cheesy great. Nothing special in the character departments, but I did like the plot, which had several great scenes (the best was a really clever, well-constructed, weird scene in a movie theater were they're showing a slasher movie that resembles a Freddy or Jason movie, during which the Blob attacks in many surprising ways, and the climax, which involves a blob and a sewer, thats all I'll say) and a clever aspect involving the Blob as a Biological Warfare weapon. Well directed (by Chuck Russel, of Dream Warriors fame), fun, cheesy, crazy sci-fi horror remake classic.

SLC Punk! (1998)

Punkkomania!!<

[3 August 2001]

A speeding super-in-your-face, forcefully hyperstyled document of the life of SLC Punk. It's edited sort of like an action-packed, forceful, ranting, manic, colorful, partying, angry montaged portrait of a wasteland, a punk wasteland. Fast, manic, quick-cutting, freezing, switching, electrifyingly in-your-face painting of real punk, the philosophy and lifestyle of punk, criticizing poseurs, and angry punk attitudes in Salt Lake City, and the fed-up wasteland it is for true punks. Hilarious too, but in a wierd way. Great!!! I love Matthew Lilly here too.

The Crow (1994)

Haunting Gothic Action (perhaps *SPOILER*)

[3 August 2001]

A very enjoyable, haunting movie with surreal and dark design, atmosphere, and camerawork. It's gritty, it's gothic, it's dark, and it's ominous. It takes place in a dark, foreboding urban hell somewhere, with Brandon Lee avenging the death of his fiancee by a crew of criminals. The shadowy, haunting, and surreally gothic imagery that is the most interesting part of the film includes blood running through pipes, broken down urban turrets, gray skies, small, desecated flats, circular windows, and cemetaries. A slightly surreal gothic action, ominous and shadowy atmosphere, and Brandon Lee's great performance as the Crow. The basic plot is that a group of criminals kill Brandon Lee and his fiancee on Devil's Night, and Brandon Lee rises from the grave to avenge her death. Also, a crow sees for him. The action scenes in which he kills the criminals are super cool and filmed fantastically. It has a lot of great dialogue. A truly great movie.

The Alternative Miss World (1980)

Interesting but drags

[2 August 2001]

A film on the Alternative Miss World beauty pageant, with both male and female contestants dressing in outrageous, erotic, unusual, elaborate, and futuristic outfits. Divine has a fabulous little cameo. Documentary type, with Little Nell singing the theme song. The contestants are fabulosuly interesting, but the film drags alot. Obscure and enjoyable, but dragging and sometimes the film quality is poor, and the film goes on forever.

Polyester (1981)

Not a huge amount of punch, but funny.

[2 August 2001]

This later John Water's flick didn't have the same effect, grossness, punch, and ultimate filth of his earlier work, but it still is funny and suitable entertainment. The story of the Fishpaw family is a funny, polished satire of the corrupted and degenerately hypocritical world of the U.S suburb, but it's a mainstream movie, and a comedy, not a cult. The Fishpaws consist of Francine(christian mother and alcoholic, palyed by Divine), Dexter (shoe fetish and glue sniffer), cheating husband Elmer (runs a porn theater and cheats on Francine with Mink Stole, playing his cheap secretary Sandra) and slut daughter Lulu. Edith Massey is fabulous as Cuddles, she's better than Divine. Divine still is campy here, but not the godess of filth. A funny story of the Fishpaw family, centered around Francine, for whom nothing can go right and whose life is a tragedy. John Waters wrote and directed this mainstream, cleaned-up satire of the filthy suburbs supremely, but it lacks punch. Divine is too Christian and slapsticky, as the film is in general. This film was done with the Odorama process, in which when a number flashed on the screen you scratched your Odorams card on the matching number and a disgusting or beautiful scent would emit from the card. This is an interesting gimmick, and even though it's not reproduced on home video, you can tell what the smell would be because of the numbers still on the film and the imagery on screen at the time. An interesting but mainstream John Waters movie, which he wrote superbly.

Pink Flamingos (1972)

DIVINITY EMBODIED (possible *SPOILER*)

[2 August 2001]

This was the second John Waters film I've seen, and it was energetic, digusting, enjoyable, and made me dance and dance and whoop and holler. This film is filth and kitsch and sex and America in one package of inspired and degenerate film. Divine's performance as the overblown and degenerately inspiring QUEEN OF FILTH is the trash!!!! Divine is the QUEEN!!! of trash and trash and smut, filth, degeneracy, and unconventional lewdness and elegant perversion. Divine here is larger than life, stunning, and inspiring in filthiness, particularly in the scenes where she is wearing her hair big and orange, her eye make-up stunning, and glamour in her clothes. Here she is the larger-than-life symbol of filth and beauty. Her glamorous-kitsch clothes are great, big colorful outfits, and DIviNe's makeup is decorative and bet in her mosautiful. The screen effect of Divine simply when sauntering down the street in most outrageous dresses, furs, hair, pants,and makeup to 50's rock and roll songs with a brash effects makes you swoon and energizes you with the divine power of DIvINe.

Pink Flamingos is famous for its disgusting perversions and live sexual acts, violence, and bodily functions, which include Danny Mills having sex with chickens, DIvInE eating and recieving turds, castration, masturbation, artificial insemination, vomit,murder, cannibalism, oral sex, incest, torture, voyeurism, various other sexual fetishes and perversions, murder, live sex, defecation, using meat for intimate purposes, foot fetishes,violence as a cause for sexual arousement, bondage, and blood. That's about it, and very little of the perversion/sex/violence is clinical, except when you are with the Marbles. The basic plot of the film is that Divine is living with her mother (Edith Massey, with a hilarious obsession with eggs), her friend, traveling companion, faux- daughter, lesbian lover and apprentice Cotton (Mary Vivian Pearce, looking like Jean Harlow), and of course, Danny Mills as mentally certifiable son CraCkers. They trademark themselves as the filthiest people in America, but the Marbles and their poor hilarious butler Channing believe they have that title. The Marbles are angry, hollow, pretentious criminals with died hair, who operate a baby ring, and sell heroin. They battle with Divine for her title, but the true queen Divine wins in one of the great scenes of history, the Marbles live homicide in front of reporters. Divine proclaims that she is God, the Queen of Filth, blood turns her on and makes her cum, she is never wrong, and in a few words is GOD. John Water's directs this peice of filthy, degenerate, and hypocritical America with the grace of a sophistacated satirist and bordello madame. The film is about the filthy underbelly of American Culture, it's degenerate perversion, America's desperately glamourous and self-admiring, vain perversity, and ultimately, America's gross and desperate filth and corrupted and hypocritical, over-cradled and varied self-image. Edith Massey and her Eggman boyfriend are great, and I love Edith Massey as the egg obsessive. Connie and Raymond Marble, contesters for filth, are cruel and degenerate, hollow petty criminals who operate a cruel and horrible baby ring and employ the perverse butler Channing. They are not filthy, just criminals. The pure energy of Divine's birthday party and it's cannibalism are great. John Water's created a satire of America's perverse and bloated self-image and twisted glamorous aspirations and the perverse energies of America, it's gods of filth (Divine)and pure filth and kitsch energy itself. John Water's gross, filthy brilliance shines here like an American fresh cut lawn with Divine defecating on it. I have not yet mentioned her ingestion of dog turd, but it is a great and filthy closer to a film only a God of John Water's brilliance and degeneracy could make. The definitive image of the film is the Godess of Filth, Divine, in full regalia in front of the American Flag. Divine is America, the American Flag is Divine. America needs a God, why didn't we crown Divine God when she/he was still alive?

Goodfellas (1990)

Thirty years in the life of a gangster (may contain a *SPOILER*)

[16 July 2001]

This great films editing and style is vignetted together like a visual and story machine gun. This is even better than Godfather in many, many ways, going deeper into a gangsters typical life and the psyche of the mobster, their reasons for involvement in the business, and why women are attracted to them. An unusually personal film, it personalizes the characters lives and idiosyncrasies (Tommy's mother who paints, Jimmy's money habit, Henry's mistresses) to an extent of reality. The way a mobster lives, the insurance scams, the crime, the terrorizing, the money, and the death, and the way it is directed as a reality film incorporates the life of a gangster in many, many ways. Lorraine Bracco gives an unusually good performance as Henry Hill's wife, full of intensity and revelations on being a gangsters wife ("I always asked them for coffee, but they never wanted any"), and this film has a supreme cast. Robert DeNiro gives a great performance, and Joe Pesci's mad and reckless performance typecasted him for his career. Now, Ray Liotta was supreme, no question about it. This film engrosses you every minute with it's cutthroat fast-paced style, full of freeze-frames and catchy imagery, and it's detailed picture of mob life, both crime and non-crime, from not spending money to not taking phone calls to dumping trucks to burning buildings to hi-jacking trucks to pulling heists to getting a table at a restaurant free to inevitable death and destruction. Every minute I loved it, and it completely engrossed me in its detailed epic portrait of mob life. Director Martin Scorsese uses narraration, pacing, freeze-frames, text, and color well to show a scene's mood. His ability to dissect a scene into parts with narration and brilliant pacing is shown here. Also, it has great death scenes and violence scenes, a staple of the Mafia movie. Some of these are the man in the freezer and the telephone scene. This is different from the baroque Godfather opera epics in that it is faster paced and not as dark. And in the end of course, being a mobster is bad......