moviefiend69 Reviews

The Last Minute (2001)

Norrington does it again!

[9/10 · 24 April 2020]

The Last Minute is a quirky and edgy independent film about fame and how to deal with it. It's quite the film with excellent direction by Stephen Norrington (the director of Blade and the indie under rated film Death Machine) Great acting and a lot of weird scenes for sure. It sure does hammer home the whole idea of not wasting your time or your life. Especially the scene when the guy wakes up a year later and realizes he's accomplished nothing. Plus the ending is cool how he changes his life. I also really like the fact that when he becomes famous at the start we never find out what he does (musician, writer, director, actor) a lot of people didn't like this and I thought it was genius! There's a hilarious scene when the main character gets robbed and the robber feels sorry for him and gives him taxi fare home. Good music too!

Die Spielwütigen (2004)

Saw this at the Film Festival in 2004.

[7/10 · 8 March 2011]

I saw this at the Vancouver Film Festival in Sept. 2004. I saw it a while ago, so I don't remember a lot of the film. I am surprised more people don't know about this film. It was a good and fun experience. The scene that stood out for me was when the guy went to a New York casting agents office and showed the woman his demo reel and she just rudely said "Do you think New York needs another actor, come on really? What do you have to offer?" And he just stood there saying nothing. That was a very sobering scene for me. I am not sure if this is available on DVD now or what the situation is. But if you have ever acted before or know someone who has this will definitely appeal to you.

The Lover (2004)

Saw this at the Vancouver Film Festival! Maybe spoilers!

[8/10 · 7 March 2011]

I saw this in Sept. 2004 at the film festival in Vancouver Canada. I thought I would write a positive review of this movie as there are only 3 and 2 people hated it. I actually liked the movie a lot when I saw it. I don't remember too much of it now as it was years ago. I don't know how I would come across a copy today. I would definitely like to re-watch it. There was a Q and A with the director afterwards and I asked a question about the bird or insect in the cage. What was that thing anyway? I met the director of the film afterwards and shook his hands and told him it was a good movie! The director said the old man dying was a seasoned film director and the 3 men were supposed to be his crew. Cineamatographer/Editor/Writer I believe. Yes, this is a male fantasy for sure, but I thought it was handled well.

Trash Humpers (2009)

Harmony Korine's VHS film!!

[7/10 · 16 October 2009]

Saw this at the VIFF (Vancouver Film Festival) a few days ago. It was a rare treat to see this on the BIG screen as it resembles an old crappy copy of a VHS tape from the garbage. Speaking of garbage this is about 2 guys and a girl who dress up in old people's masks and hump trash cans and trees. Harmony Korine (the director of Gummo) holds the camera and makes these annoying sounds throughout the movie. This is an insane film. Hookers appear, and the most disturbing scene was with a dead body. It had humour too with guy who tries to tell a joke and screws it up royally. And some other odd characters appear. They also tackle the old razor blade in the apple scenario for Halloween. Not as good as Gummo, but if you are a Korine fan (as I am) this should appeal to you.

Hot Tomorrows (1977)

Marty's First Movie and what a film!

[10/10 · 3 July 2009]

Wow! It took me 15 years to find a copy of this. I first heard of it in a movie guide in high school. Before IMDb we had to read these things for obscure films. Got my copy this year on DVD. And I am a happy cinema guy! What's the premise? A writer from the Bronx moves to LA to make it big. Over the XMAS holidays his buddy drives cross country to visit him. They go to the Paradise Lounge-where Danny Elfman and Oingo Boingo are playing music. They meet Victor Argo and Herve Villechaize and drink wine with them. Then head off to a mortuary to see a dead body. FYI-Orson Welles does the voice of the commercial for the mortuary. After some craziness the movie switches gears around 50 Mins and turns into a darker place. But I still loved the film and how easily it went from comedy to drama (the only other movie to accomplish this was Something Wild) it was great. Also Stuart Cornfeld (producer of The Fly and Zoolander) was a production assistant on this movie.

A quick trivia note is that a character is named Mikey Tandino. There is also a character in Beverly Hills Cop with this name. Same director small wonder. This film is now in my Top 10.

The Decline of Western Civilization (1981)

Penelope Spheeris Strikes Again!

[10/10 · 30 June 2005]

THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS! The Decline of Western Civilization......what a great title eh? And of coarse a great movie. This is the best concert film I have ever seen. A close second being the Talking Heads movie "Stop Making Sense". I first heard of this movie when Waynes World came out in 1992. I looked at the director's name Penelope Spheeris and thought cool name, what else has he directed? I thought the first name was pronounced like envelope. After some time looking in movie guides I came across the critically acclaimed Decline and realized Penelope was a woman.....my Mom corrected me. I spent 8 years of my life trying to track this down. I finally saw it on VHS in Vancouver, where I currently reside. It was worth the wait. This captures the LA punk movement very well. This is teen angst at it's best folks. My favourite is the band the Germs who need subtitles for the lyrics because Darby Crash sings so crazy, you cannot understand it. I laughed when I saw this. The band Black Flag live in an abandoned church and the band X are a very intelligent bunch. Also laughed at the letter some idiot writes in to Slash Magazine about how we do not need to save the whales, there are countless miles of ocean for us to pour toxins in! I became a huge Penelope Spheeris fan after this, and saw all her punk movies-Dudes was OK, and Suburbia is a cult classic! I own both of these on VHS. She is a true underground film maker and I love her stuff. I would have loved to have seen this movie in 1994 when grunge was so popular. I was a big Nirvana fan then, but alas I saw this in 2002 and by that point I had grown out of grunge and now I listen to Crystal Method/Fatboy Slim. Quite a change of pace, I know, but what can you do? But if you want a true depiction of the punk movement this captures it better than anything. Much better than 1991: The Year Punk Broke. This is a tough movie to track down, but if you get your hands on it, rent it, even if you don't like the music it is an excellent piece of work. Now days it might be easier to find with DVD's being so popular. By the way Penelope produced a little known Albert Brooks movie called "Real Life" which I also own. Very funny stuff in todays reality TV craptacular! Rent Decline......Highly recommended! Thanks!

Barfly (1987)

Bukowski's Only Hollywood Screenplay!

[10/10 · 28 June 2005]

What can we say about Barfly? A great picture. That's what we can say. A friend of mine recommended Barfly to me. I watched the start and it said "Some people never go crazy, what truly horrible lives they must live!" After that I was hooked, I knew this guy Bukowski wrote from the gut. I bought as many Bukowski books as possible. Pulp, Hollywood, and Women (my favourite!). I like his novels and short stories more than the poetry. But some of the poems are intense! The movie is also excellent. The two leads are great-Faye Dunaway is in high acting form here. So is Mickey Roarke who seems to have gotten under Bukowski's skin for the role......a side note he did the movie sober! This movie is directed by Barbet Schroeder who also did Reversal of Fortune. He also made the 4 hour Charles Bukowski Tapes (which I own) and it is good, but way too long! Bukowski drinks and reads poems. Back to the film-good supporting actors in this one. The beautiful Alice Krige (from Haunted Summer) is in this as well as David Lynch regular Jack Nance. Lynch was actually on set one day. Bukowski has a funny cameo a barfly in the bar where Mickey meets Faye. I heard that Dennis Hopper wanted to direct this and have Sean Penn star. Schroeder fought hard for it though. Hopper states Schroeder couldn't direct traffic! I guess he proved him wrong. Schroeder went into a production office with a power saw and threatened to cut off his pinky finger if they didn't put more funding into the film. Obviously a labour of love. So check it out if you can, the writing is top notch stuff.......Highly recommended. Thanx.

Something Wild (1986)

Excellent Road Movie By Mr. Demme.

[10/10 · 28 June 2005]

Something Wild is an excellent film. I became a big fan of Jonathan Demme after this film and saw all his other works I could scrounge. His highlights include Married to the Mob, Melvin and Howard, and the second best concert film ever-Stop Making Sense(the first is Decline of Western Civilization!) A tight script by E. Max Frye(writer/director of Amos and Andrew) and two great leads by Melanie Griffith and Jeff Daniels. I tell people this is a good movie, because I have NEVER seen a film that starts off as a crazy comedy and falls into all out terror/thriller at the end. The blending is so well done by Demme. I cannot see another director pulling this off so well. Now the music is also good too, I own the soundtrack! Great music by unknowns like Timbuk 3, David Byrne, and Oingo Boingo(I love these guys!) and all the other stuff in between! This also has some memorable lines like "It's better to be a live dog than a dead lion!"....great stuff! For trivia buffs the two older women that run the used clothing stores are the mothers of D. Byrne and J. Demme.....cool eh? And directors John Waters and John Sayles pop up in funny cameos! A highly recommended 80's American Road movie that really delivers the goods! Thanx.

Romeo Is Bleeding (1993)

My Second Favourite Movie!

[10/10 · 22 June 2005]

Romeo Is Bleeding is an excellent film. It is Number 2 on my all time favourite list. Number 1 is "Midnight Run". Why doI like it? It has a great performance by Gary Oldman, (from Sid and Nancy and Track 29). I became a big fan of Oldman and watched everything I could get my hands on by this guy! The direction is first rate by British master Peter Medak (Let Him Have It and Ponatiac Moon) and a very moody jazz score by the talented Mark Isham! I also own the soundtrack. Dariusz Wolski did amazing cinematography on this one. He would later go on to do Dark City and The Mexican. So yeah, a good crew and a great cast, what can I say? Other kudos must go out to the beautiful women in this, Lena Olen and Juliette Lewis are breathtaking in this. And the sex scenes are pretty steamy.....for me anyway. Some light B&D in this. Scrited by Hillary Henken (Roadhouse and Wag the Dog) and a nice character by Michael Wincott.....he says "HEY YOU GOTTA GIVE ME SOMETHING,....(to a stranger) WHAT THE @&^#! ARE YOU LOOKIN' AT?!" Best line hands down: Do you know what is so scary about love? It's that you don't own it. IT OWNS YOU!! That line has a lot of truth, for me. So rent it if you wanna see something dark, edgy, and independent! Thank ya!

Midnight Run (1988)

My Favourite Movie!

[10/10 · 17 June 2005]

Midnight Run is my favourite movie! I own the soundtrack, the movie poster, and the movie novelization. I first saw the movie on VHS in 1993 and I have seen it now about 300 times and can quote many lines from the film. Now I know you are thinking, What? Why an action film as your favourite movie? Because the characters are so well constructed. These two people, who seem very different at first, have a lot in common. Most people could learn a lot from that life lesson. And second it is very funny. I read that a lot of the movie was improvised and De Niro and Grodin are great together. I became a big Charles Grodin fan after this movie and saw a lot of his other movies (Beethoven/Seems Like Old Times). I really like Martin Brest too, his movies are great (Beverly Hills Cop/Scent of a Woman) even "Going in Style" was OK, a bit slow but an excellent speech at the end! And yes, I do know he made Gee Lee! I refuse to see it. Maybe if it comes on TV, but I am not paying money to see that. The script writer George Gallo is not a bad writer, he went on to direct "29th Street" and "Trapped in Paradise" all OK movies, nothing special. This is a great movie about everything going wrong and finially working out in the end.....a lot like life. And I am pleased to hear the script is taught is comedy screenplay classes (somewhere in the US I think). I also love the music score by Danny Elfman (who was in the rock band Oingo Boingo). This is my favourite score by him, more a rock/honky tonk type score, just excellent! My only regret is not seeing this on the BIG SCREEN! I would love to see a print of it sometime if that is possible. For now the widescreen DVD will have to do. This is a great comedy......Highly recommended! Thanks.