1980 was a remarkable year for movies: “Ordinary People” and “Raging Bull” slugged it out for the awards, comedy cult classics “The Blues Brothers,” “Caddyshack” and “Airplane!” left audiences in hysterics, “The Empire Strikes Back” rewrote the “Star Wars” saga, “Heaven’s Gate” nearly destroyed United Artists and an obscure Soviet film trumped great works by Kurosawa and Truffaut for the Foreign Film Oscar.
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Writer/Director Brandon Cronenberg’s horror film promises to be one of the most polarizing, if not the most polarizing, film of the year. It’s a grotesque, beautiful, nauseating depiction of sickening hedonism and amorality in its seductive and repelling. It’s a kaleidoscopic orgy of sex and violence and pure blood thirst that, as art often does, comfort the disturbed, and disturb the comfortable. “Infinity Pool” is the very definition of body horror, a movie that both celebrates and abhors everything about the body.
BOOTLEG FILES 826: “The River” (1937 documentary produced by FDR’s Farm Security Administration).
LAST SEEN: On various Internet sites.
AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: In collections of public domain documentaries.
REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: A lapsed copyright.
CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: A 4K restored version would be wonderful.
In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal policies brought forth the Resettlement Administration, a federal agency designed to assist the nation’s financially struggling rural communities. By this point in the Roosevelt presidency, there were a growing number of critics who argued the New Deal programs were using taxpayer funds to finance lofty socialist endeavors.
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Dave Parker’s sequel/spin off from the “Puppet Master” movie series is probably one of the most undercooked movies to come from the “Puppet Master” movie series, to date. In a time where Full Moon seems to be celebrating the flagship series, it’s sad to see movies like “Doktor Death” simply come out of the gates not trying to tell a story at all, or even respect the mythology of its predecessors.
UNSTOPPABLE SHORTS BLOCK 2
If you’re looking for a break from the heavier and political fare at “Slamdance,” Jenn Shaw’s “Charlie and the Hunt” is the perfect antidote. It’s rare that there are such wholesome shorts featured and it’s nice to see something a lot more about whimsy and the relationships that we hold near and dear to our hearts.
DOCUMENTARY SHORTS BLOCK
Emily Morus-Jones’ documentary short is an absurdist and colorful look at a subset of society that is often misunderstood and demonized by the public. She emphasizes the inherent prejudice of said subset by exploring their world through mice. Mice are some of the more misunderstood animals and through great puppetry, we learn about the lifestyles of the polyamorous.
“When they get to heaven they’ll be forgiven. God will forgive them and let them in. And I can’t live with that.”
I’ve been a fan of Paddy Considine’s since I saw him in his utterly frightening performance as a mentally imbalanced recluse in “A Room for Romeo Brass.” I also loved him in the schmaltzy albeit well-intentioned family drama in “In America,” and he flexes his keen ability to be both menacing and vulnerable with Shane Meadows’ “Dead Man’s Shoes”. Meadows’ revenge thriller is a very visceral revenge film that delves in the fall out from the breaking of a cardinal rule: Don’t ever fuck with a man’s family.