Spitting Bullets with Director Alex Ferrari

Fuck off Michael Bay, there’s someone better in town who has the potential to be an in-demand director, and his name is Alex Ferrari. I was first introduced to Alex when Cinema Crazed was in the early stages of accepting screeners for independent filmmakers. Alex sent along “Broken,” and we were interested to see what he had in store for us. And much to our surprise, “Broken” was absolutely great. Ferrari went onto acclaim for “Broken,” a film about a young girl kidnapped by a small group of hit men who assure her she’s not who she thinks she is. Later, Ferrari went on to send more of his features to us, and we were hooked. “Cyn” only proved that Ferrari has the bonafide chops to display good old fashioned film entertainment, without any of the clichés, and sheer idiocy big budget directors often drop into.

Ferrari directs films that look shockingly high budget, even though most of his films only have a budget of a little over a thousand bucks, and is one of the many indie directors providing a slow and steady revival of the Grind House genre, and he’s not stopping at mere low budget action fare. The man has big plans, and he’s getting there and bringing his fan base with him.

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Christmas with the Kranks (2004)

Krank-christmas

I used to say that I’ve yet to see a film with Tim Allen that I found to be really bad. And somehow he rises to the occasion and stars in this. I should have kept my creed to myself. I got a big mouth. Either way, if you haven’t caught on by now, “Christmas with the Kranks” is yet another really shitty “holiday” film that’s a mere vehicle that delights in being idiotic, moronic, and shamelessly flaunts its inherent lapses in logic peppered throughout the story.

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Amateur Porn Star Killer (2005)

gzj00KlIn the opening of “Amateur Porn Star Killer”, the character Brandon travels around the dark streets looking and searching. For what? Well, it’s not that difficult to figure out. Upon his searching, in the lower right hand corner, in a small window box, a young blonde girl silently undresses and parades herself around. By this simple scene of our killer driving through the murky streets, and this young woman, we’re able to fully comprehend the extent of this man’s lunacy. The flesh is something many men crave. And the flesh is something many men would admittedly kill for.

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Team America: World Police (2004)

team-america-world-police-1168-16x9-largeTrey Parker and Matt Stone once explained in an episode of Charlie Rose that they’d never reveal their religious or political affiliations, because they didn’t want to alienate their audience. But “Team America” is an indictment of literally every issue under the sun, from Hollywood, to the government, to Bruckheimer films, right down to crappy shows like RENT. “Team America” is at its best though when it spoofs not only Bruckheimer’s insanely over the top films, but when it spoofs blind patriotism.

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Flightplan (2005)

flightplan-screenThese days I don’t expect masterpieces anymore. I just don’t. Film has progressed to the point where you just can’t expect greatness no matter how much you doubt yourself, and I rarely see films these days that I can say with all honesty was flawless. Of course, that’s almost impossible. With “Flightplan” I didn’t expect it to be a masterpiece, nor did I expect it to be a great film, but I wanted pretty damn good. And they couldn’t even serve me up that. Since when does ninety-three minutes of “Where’s my daughter?! I want to find my daughter!” qualify as a good movie these days? I want to know. Because, I can’t muster up the logic in the success of this film, this mediocre piece of crap.

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Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist (2005)

dominion_prequel_to_the_exoAll horror fans are familiar with the bumbling of Morgan Creek and their insistence on kicking out experienced director and screenwriter Paul Schrader in exchange for the hack Renny Harlin to direct the prequel to “The Exorcist”. We didn’t need a prequel, but if the studios felt that they could have drained one more film from this franchise, then they could have and should have done it right in the first place. After all the problems, “Dominion” was finally released, and while it will never win any awards, I enjoyed it more, not to mention I found it to be more consistent in quality. “Dominion” is basically the same deal. Father Merrin, disenchanted with the church, goes out on archaeological expeditions, finds an underground church, and faces against the demon. Except, Schrader’s film is much more coherent and cohesive.

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Match Point (2005)

Match_Point-(7)

I wish I can say that Woody Allen’s venture in to new territory was great—had he actually explored new territory, mind you. And I wish I could proclaim this a giant rip-off of Allen’s style, had Allen not directed it. Fact is, though, Allen’s involvement in the film doesn’t deter the idea that “Match Point” feels like imitation Woody Allen. It’s often been described as “the serious sub-plot of “Crimes and Misdemeanors” extended in to a film”, and that’s an apt description. However, when all is said and done, I’d describe this as a remake of “Crimes and MisDemeanors” with footnotes of “A Place in the Sun” thrown in for good measure.

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