Fool's Views (6/1 – 6/30)

Howdy, folks!

Been a fair spell since I’ve done the full Fool’s treatment, mostly due to the fact that Cinepocalypse 2019 took up a large chunk of time and energy, but also I’ve been teaching more self-defense workshops both with IMPACT Chicago and through my home base of Lincoln Square Athletic Club, and have been subsequently spending less time in front of screens large or small. That said, it’s been a great year for movies thus far at the Doc’s office, averaging around 40 flicks a month for the first six months – it will be interesting to see how the rest of the year plays out!

Kicked off a couple new movie projects in June as well. My pal Daniel and I decided that, in anticipation of Daniel Craig’s final outing as 007 in Bond 25 (as it’s currently being called in the trades), we would start at the beginning and wend our way through the famed British secret service agent’s film exploits over the past five and a half decades. As it turns out, I haven’t seen most of these in well over 20 years, so in many ways it’s like seeing them for the first time.

Similarly, I stumbled across one of Chuck Norris’ early films, The Octagon, while over at my other pal Dan’s house and realized I hadn’t seen most of his flicks since they came out in the 1980s. So in a fit of Amazon retail therapy, I ended up buying about 17 movies starring His Beardness and will be picking my way through them as time allows. (I’m contemplating keeping them on the shelf until October and having the Chucktober Film Festival, but I’ve already got the October Horror Move Challenge/Scare-A-Thon on the books, so we’ll have to see if my penchant for puns rules the day.)

As always, feel free to leave your two cents worth – we’ll make sure you get some change back.

Enjoy!

CINEPOCALYPSE 2019 RECAP (One Link to Bind Them All)

CINEPOCALYPSE 2019

CINEPOCALYPSE 2019 RECAP!!! (Part 4 of 4)

As we headed into the final stretch, the giddy boost added by the previous evening’s screening of Tammy and the T-Rex was still lingering in the air, with people finally talking about something other than Glenn Danzig and VEROTIKA. Tuesday got rolling with the second block of short films, listed below in alphabetical order:

CINEPOCALYPSE 2019 RECAP!!! (Part 3 of 4)

Ah, the late nights and early mornings that accompany festival life were starting to take their toll at this point, but knowing we only had one more long day to survive, we strapped on our Big Doc Pants and soldiered forward, fortified by good company in the form of The Blonde in Front herself, Cati Glidewell, (and good snacks in the form of the chocolate croissants she brought along in exchange for me holding a seat for her).

THE BLONDE IN FRONT INSTAGRAM
THE BLONDE IN FRONT YOUTUBE

CINEPOCALYPSE 2019 RECAP!!! (Part 2 of 4)

This summer in Chicago has been exceedingly damp, with thunderstorms nearly every single day. Saturday proved to be no exception and while the forecast stated that morning skies would be clear, I was not five minutes into my 15-minute bike ride to the Music Box Theatre before the clouds opened up and dumped about 9,000 gallons of water onto your humble narrator. While it was a soggy and chilly (the air conditioning was turned way up, although they managed to make things slightly less meat locker-ish for the remainder of the festival) day of viewing, spirits were high and the programming was tight.

CINEPOCALYPSE 2019 RECAP!!! (Part 1 of 4)

Following its successful maiden voyage in November 2017, Cinepocalypse (formerly the Bruce Campbell Horror Film Festival) made a shift to a summer time slot the following year. Due to pre-existing obligations, I was unable to attend any of the 2018 festivities (with the exception of popping in for the final reel of GAGS), but this year the Doc’s slate was free and clear; as such, we were able to partake in nearly all the feature film offerings, including numerous world premieres (Glenn Danzig’s Verotika, Lucky McKee’s Kindred Spirits, Deadcon, The Swerve, Attack of the Demons, and the Chicago-set slasher The Lurker), special retro screenings (Rock 'n' Roll Nightmare, Total Recall, Flatliners, Tammy and the T-Rex (in its never-screened before R-rated "Gore Cut"), Hot Dog...The Movie, and Airheads), and oodles of special guests, including GWAR, Joe Bob Briggs, Michael Lehman, and Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Michael Ironside (Scanners, Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II, Top Gun).

VEROTIKA (2019) Movie Review - CINEPOCALYPSE 2019

Verotika (2019) d. Glenn Danzig (USA) (90 min)

Festival filmgoers are adventurous by their very nature, oftentimes experiencing movies that have never screened before (or for very limited audiences). As such, it’s not buzz or marketing driving butts into these particular seats. Viewers are instead choosing to experience a particular film based purely on the director, star, plot description, or because they are excited to see which features the programmers have chosen to populate the festival, assuming that – in order to have been selected – said features must be something special indeed.

Never has that last statement been truer.

Prepare for the coming CINEPOCALYPSE!!!

Cinepocalypse, Chicago’s premiere festival for electrifying and provocative genre cinema, returns to the Music Box Theatre June 13th for eight days of features, shorts, events and surprises, including eight fantastic break-out world premieres!

We didn't get to partake in much of last year's installment due to theatrical obligations (other than showing up for the Q&A of the world premiere of GAGS), but 2019's schedule is looking bright and we're ready and raring to go. Just in time to start the summer horror season off right, the Music Box Theatre hosts the festival's third go-round under the Cinepocalypse moniker (formerly the Bruce Campbell Horror Film Festival, and all the better for disassociating itself from the Great Chin, in my humble opinion).

Fool's Views (11/1 – 11/30)

Hello, my friends!

Running out of 2017! Keeping it short this time around, both in terms of write-ups and intros, but happy to report that I got a ton of flicks in – the same number as I did for the October Challenge, as fate would have it. Thanks to the packed schedules that comprised the inaugural voyage of Cinepocalypse at the Music Box and the 15th annual Gobblerfest known as Turkey Day, as well as an impromptu Michael Haneke film festival (inspired by a short film I recently shot called So I Watch You from Afar, which was itself inspired by Haneke’s Cache), the numbers tallied up to a respectable monthly tally in a year that has seen precious few of them.

As always, feel free to leave your two cents worth – we’ll make sure you get some change back.

Enjoy!

VERONICA (2017) movie review - Cinepocalypse 2017

Veronica (2017) d. Plaza, Paco (Spain) (1st viewing)

Our titular teen protagonist (Sandra Escacena) does not have what many would consider an easy life. Her father recently died in a tragic accident, her mother works all hours to keep a roof above their heads, and she is tasked with caring for her three younger siblings, everything from breakfast to homework to bedtime baths. One day, knowing that the rest of the class will be outside observing a solar eclipse, she and two friends sneak downstairs to the school’s basement to try to contact her passed-on papa via a Ouija board; predictably, things do not go as planned and dark spirits begin to slip into every darkened corner of Veronica’s life, threatening her and everyone close to her.

CINEPOCALYSE Film Festival 2017 wrap-up!!!

It was never my intention to dive back into the movie watching fray with such gusto following the madness that was the October Horror Movie Challenge and Scare-A-Thon 2017. Not because I watched so many titles (the final total of 31 was the bare minimum; in years past, I’ve watched over 100), but because it was a jam-packed month what with First Folio’s The Man-Beast and doing full-length DVD/Blu-ray reviews at the same time that I was holding down my personal training practice. In short, it was a full plate, and I was looking forward to chilling out come November. But all that changed with an email from our very own Music Box Theatre, informing us that Cinepocalypse was upon us!

SUSPIRIA (1977) movie review - Cinepocalypse 2017

Suspiria (1977) d. Argento, Dario (Italy) (4th viewing)

Considered by many to be Il Maestro’s masterwork, this fiercely original tale of an exclusive (and haunted) German ballet school exhibits more personal style and verve in its opening ten minutes than many directors demonstrate in a lifetime. The arrival of American dance student Suzy Bannion (Jessica Harper) coincides with a series of bizarre, violent deaths within the academy, and while the film’s coven-of-witches storyline is tenuous at best, Argento’s striking camerawork and audacious colored lighting more than compensate.

DEAD SHACK (2017) movie review - Cinepocalypse 2017

Dead Shack (2017) d. Ricq, Peter (Canada) (1st viewing)

An amusing diversion that mashes up a few well-worn tropes (cabin in the woods, psycho killer, cannibals, zombies) and assembles an amiable and game cast to play them out. In this case, it’s a single dad (Donavon Stinson) toting his boozy gal pal (Valerie Tian), his bratty teens (Lizzie Boys, Gabriel LaBelle), and their wallflower (Matthew Nelson-Mahood) friend out to the boonies for a little chilltime. Upon reaching their remote cabin location, they discover that their nearest neighbor is a hot cougar number (Lauren Holly) with a penchant for dressing up in skin-tight leather and luring the local frat bros back to her domicile to serve as the family meal.