Out today on VOD from Vertigo Releasing
A father needing help buys a SIM to assist around the house and with the children while his wife if in the hospital. Soon, things take a dark turn when the beautiful android gains awareness.
The Bootleg Files: The Selfish Giant
BOOTLEG FILES 878: “The Selfish Giant” (1971 Oscar-nominated animated short based on the Oscar Wilde story).
LAST SEEN: On YouTube.
AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.
REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: There might be a right issue that is unresolved.
CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Not likely at this time.
One of the most poignant animated films ever made is the 1971 adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s story “The Selfish Giant.” Directed by Peter Sander and produced on behalf of Reader’s Digest, it is a truly wonderful production that received an Academy Award nomination. However, today the film is almost completely forgotten, which is a major shame.
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All Fun and Games (2023)
It’s really too bad that directors Eren Celeboglu, and Ari Costa’s supernatural horror movie virtually came and went without much of a trace in 2023. It’s not by any metric a complete masterpiece, but it sure is a fun little horror film packed with a lot of mythos that I wanted to learn a lot more about. “All Fun and Games” is primarily about the fragility of the family unit and how this family known as the Fletchers are thrown in to disarray and pure chaos at the drop of a hat.
Monster Family (2017)
You could be forgiven for mistaking “Monster Family” as a part of the “Hotel Transylvania” movie universe, but I don’t think that’s unintentional. “Monster Family” bases itself on a lot of other better films for what amounts to such a flat affair. Despite its lively animation, everything about “Monster Family” is a messy, convoluted, and bizarre affair that never makes much sense, despite its attempts to bring itself down to Earth as a tale about family unity. Holger Tappe delivers what is just a sloppy, derivative mash-up of “Hotel Transylvania,” “The Incredibles” and “The Munsters.” And it’s never as fun as either of the aforementioned, even at its best.
Bugs’ Nemesis Daffy: Daffy Duck’s Five Best Shorts
Yankee Doodle Daffy (1943)
One of my favorites as a child, this Daffy short was featured on a VHS compilation I watched often. This is, yet again, Daffy tormenting Porky Pig; Porky is a show business agent who goes on vacation and Daffy storms his house with his client Sleepy Lagoon, desperate to convince him to represent him. Despite Porky’s protests about not working, Daffy makes it painfully clear he’s not taking no for an answer. He soon begins chasing him around, stalking him, and even engaging him in a hilarious Carmen Miranda impression. With all the antics, the short ends on a high note with Sleepy fumbling his big solo for Porky. It’s a hilarious high note to end on.
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Talk to Me (2023)
Danny and Michael Philippou’s “Talk to Me” really is one of the crowning horror achievements of 2023. It’s one of those horror movies that doesn’t just scare you, but it also leaves a stain on you. That’s because while “Talk to Me” is very much a demonic possession movie, it’s deeply rooted in the concept of the urban folklore that taps in to not only our obsession with death, but our need to know if there’s anything after we’ve died. That’s essentially what fuels pretty much everyone in “Talk to Me”; the twisted porcelain hand reaching out for a grip becomes the sort of Monkey’s Paw or Ouija Board that everyone begins to center their lives on.
It grants them an amazing ability, but one that is easily misused and one that can be exploited. It’s almost a phone extension to the other side where anyone can mine souls for some sort of contact. The problem is we’re never quite sure what kind of souls they’re conjuring up. What becomes such a fascinating drive for these characters is that the use of the film’s mysterious porcelain hand is a plot device that is powerful, but also ambiguous until the very end. Whose hand is it? How old is it? Where does the power come from? Is it meant for good or pure evil? Can it filter out demons?
A Corner in Wheat (1909)
Notable as being among D.W. Griffith’s earliest attempts to blend cinema and politics, the 1909 short film “A Corner in Wheat” depicted the rise of the “Wheat King,” a speculator who manages to corner the commodity market on wheat. His success brings him great wealth that is spent on opulent entertainment for his friends, while the farmers who grow the wheat are stuck in hardscrabble lives and the lower classes who cannot afford the price gouging by the Wheat King – the cost of bread loaves is hiked from five to ten cents, forcing many to go hungry. However, the triumph of his business ruthlessness occurs moments before a freak accident where he crushed to death in a grain silo.
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