I can appreciate what the director of “The Moleman…” is going for, but with his indie horror comedy, it often felt like a misfire in every sense. The DVD cover is quick to compare this to “Shaun of the Dead,” but while they were losers, they were at least likable. It’s really tough to empathize or root for two main characters who lure an old man to dinner to have him be eaten by the mole man, or are so stupid they leave a box of kittens in the trunk of their car and accidentally suffocate them all. I should be rooting for them, the script says, but in reality I just found them to be complete morons.
Monday Movie Pause: Die Hard 12: Die Hungry
It’s hard to believe that most of us likely found humor in this sketch from “The Ben Stiller Show” because we didn’t think the “Die Hard” movie series would go beyond three parts. Oh boy how wrong we were. How wrong we were.
In either case, this hilarious spoof of the “Die Hard” movies is so accurate, it’s kind of depressing. But still so damn funny.
Revolution: The Complete First Season [Blu-ray/DVD/Ultraviolet]
It still baffles me that a show about the end of the world doesn’t focus on the obvious suspects this would affect the most. The poor. I mean the impoverished and hungry were always impoverished and hungry. Wouldn’t they perhaps become better survivors, or masters of whole villages? Wouldn’t they rule legions of nomads? No, instead our main characters are a bunch of Caucasians, with the occasional minority. And they were all filthy stinking rich. Well, middle class anyway. The characters who first knew about the black out basically had a luxurious apartment with their toddler playing on Apple technology for fun. Then suddenly everything went black.
Horny Diver: Tight Shellfish (Zetsurin ama: Shimari-gai) (1985) (DVD)
As with most Nikkatsu Roman Porno, if you’re in it for the hardcore sex, you’re likely going to be disappointed. These films are mainly for the sake of kitsch value and their rarity. “Horny Diver” is one of the many in the later Nikkatsu titles that exercises blurring with the more graphic parts of certain sex scenes.
Nurse Diary: Wicked Finger (Kangofu nikki: Itazura na yubi) (1979) (DVD)
At barely seventy minutes long, the newest Nikkatsu Erotic Films release “Nurse Diary: Wicked Finger” is less Asian erotica and more Asian melodrama. Young gorgeous Ryoko (Etsuko Hara) is having an affair with her boss at the bospital. He is next in line to become the chief of medicine, and in an effort to escape the nurses dorm she inhabits, she moves in to her own apartment.
Little Red (2012)
The tale of Little Red Riding Hood was always fraught with undertones that would be dissected and re-worked for decades. Director Tate Bunker takes the tale of Little Red Riding Hood and re-works it in to a wonderful and occasionally eerie coming of age road trip dramedy that works on many levels. It’s simple, but often times incredibly clever, realizing the symbolism of the story and integrating that in to the modern setting.
Bayo (2012)
One of the main things director Mark Brown’s music documentary has going against it is that it’s a very niche film. Even fans most open to music will find watching this documentary very polarizing in that it chronicles a world that seems very exclusive to only a select few that understand the music form. “Bayo” is set on a young reggae artist that director Mark Brown finds oddly fascinating, and true to the documentary, Bayo is the center of many people’s fascinations, and is something of a celebrity within the music circuit he’s entrenched in. While I really have nothing against this musical form, “Bayo” doesn’t do much to appeal to a broader audience curious to the music’s appeal.