Tribeca Film Festival Review- “Kalevet” (“Rabies”)

Movie Review by Matthew Schuchman- One and a Half out of Five ‘Staches.

You can say I was intrigued from the start. Israel’s first horror/slasher film; as it is being billed. Finally, someone will provide a fresh take on an overdone genre that is in need or a real gem. Unfortunately, “Kalevet” (“Rabies”), is just convoluted mess of poor story telling and characters that are hard not to despise.

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Sneak Peek Review- “Rango”

Movie Review by Matthew Schuchman- One and a Half out of Five ‘Staches.

If you cannot tell already, I am not really the biggest fan of big budget animated films.  There are things out there I like, no doubt about it, but really nothing has knocked my socks off.  It feels like all of these companies are trying too hard to put out a story that would appeal to kids and adults, alike.  “Rango” is no different, and besides the  spectacular animation, it does not have much to offer.

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Review- “The Dilemma”

Movie Review by Matthew Schuchman- One and a Half out of Five ‘Staches.

While I’m not a massive Ron Howard fanatic, the man does have a gift for producing what would be described as uncomfortable comedies.  “Parenthood,” to this day is still one of the best movies of its kind and “Arrested Development” is one of the biggest underground hits in T.V. history.  So while the trailer and premise for “The Dilemma” didn’t thrill me, I thought maybe Howard would work some magic and pull out something surprising.  That did not happen.

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Sneak Peek Review- “How Do You Know”

Movie Review by Matthew Schuchman- One and a Half out of Five ‘Staches.

How do you know when you are really  in love?  This is the question the film makers behind “How Do You Know” are trying to explore.  Instead, the end result is a messy farce about people too wrapped up in their own problems stumbling into awkward relationships.

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Sneak Peek Review-”Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole”

Movie Review by Matthew Schuchman- One and a Half out of Five ‘Staches.

Information about owls that I learned from watching, “Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole: Owls use snakes as wet nurses.  Owls can be rendered not only flightless, but completely immobile by a pile of tiny pieces of metal.  A flight that takes two or more days by an owl, can be made in twenty minutes by the same owl, if said owl is trying to save its friends.  Owls with no beak can speak just like any other owl (given that they can speak at all).  If you are a bad owl, bats will do your bidding.

Yes, I know this is a kids movie, but even a five-year old could point out all the problems with this film.  They can also point out all the drivel that is wholly unoriginal about “Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole”.  Of course, I hope no one minds from this point forward, if I only call this movie by a truncated name, since the real one is too long for its own good.  Maybe I am off base and children will love this film.  In fact, I know they will because kids love anything that is marketed to them.  But “Legend of the Guardians” is very violent and very dark and I am amazed it gets away with a PG rating.  There were a few kids crying during the screening and one was taken out about thirty minutes in; possibly murdered. There is no reason to be surprised over how violent some of the visuals are as the film was directed by Zack Snyder.  If you don’t know, Zack Snyder is the man behind the remake of “Dawn of the Dead” (his only decent film), the  sweaty man fest “300” and the film adaptation of “The Watchmen”.  Besides the fact that the film was violent beyond necessity, it should be obvious that if Snyder couldn’t turn in a three-hour long film that made any sense, then why should one believe this  hour and a half misfire could have a nice bow tied around it.  I mean, the man can’t even make an animated kids film without turning everything into a slow motion bash fest.

This film is just a mess.  It starts off promising.  The characters are super adorable, there are some decent laughs and it looks pretty.  All in all, “Legend of the Guardians” turns into a massive comedy of errs that makes absolutely no sense.  As far as I can tell, there is a slight mention of bad owls wanting to be the rulers of the world, but in actuality, there is no real reason given as to the motives of either side of the conflict.  The bad guy ends up really just wanting revenge because the good guys kicked his butt in the past.  Like a James Bond villain, he just gives everyone too much time to mess up his plans.

It is sad when a film gets one and a half ‘staches based purely on the fact that the characters are cute.  There is nothing else worth mentioning about “Legend of the Guardians” except that is it unintentionally one of the funniest movies I have seen since “Star Wars: Episode III”.  I could not stop laughing on the way home about how ridiculous this movie is.  The saddest fact is though, the movie will bring in a decent box office, where good films like, “Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World” get passed over in the mind of the ticket buyer.

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Festival Review- “The Vinyl Frontier”

Movie Review by Matthew Schuchman- One and a half out of Five ‘Staches.

When I was young, I had every toy on the market.  Between my brother and I, we had every single “Star Wars” toy, the complete “Transformers” collection and even had whatever “He-Man” paraphernalia was out there.  Those were all toys.  We spent about 2 hours setting up a massive battle of the good guys from all the sets of figures we had against all the baddies. These types of toys still exist for the youngster out there, but there is a wave of other toys, figures and collectibles out there, that everyone may not be aware of; the world of vinyl figurines.

The documentary, “The Vinyl Frontier” is now making its rounds through festivals and industry functions trying to not only bring this highly popular subculture to light, but also to try to bring to light that while these objects may be sold as toys, they are also art.  It is undeniable that some if not a lot of the pieces the film highlights are works of art, but the premise is nothing new to any medium out there.  There are people who will argue that a piece of art that hangs in a gallery is not art.  Film has been put through the ringer with this argument as have video games, graffiti and basically anything that bends one small rule from a previous paradigm.   There is a lot behind the world of vinyl toys that I do not know about and would love to learn, but this documentary cannot deliver on what is a very flat and flawed piece of filmmaking.

Amongst the overwhelming amount of talking heads and repetitive shots of some of the toys being discussed, the filmmakers decided to follow the creation of a new character named “Sharky” as its main centerpiece along with the history of the business.  The big problem with using this character as the centerpiece of the film is that it is a boring and un-inventive subject.  “Sharky” is the real world equivalent of a shark walking into Times Square and sitting down to have its caricature drawn by a guy sitting in front of the “Dave and Buster’s”.  On top of the underwhelming nature of the figure itself, the big payoff of the reception it gets when unveiled at the San Diego Comic Con is boiled down to a thirty-second thank you from the artist.  Now, I am not a great artist in any way and can’t draw a straight line without a ruler, but if you are going to make a film with a point of trying to say these figures are art and not just a toy, pick something to follow that has a lot more artistic value to it.

Beyond the inherent flaw of not having a fascinating enough subject to follow, the film’s editing technique lends to an overlap of information where as you feel you should be moving on to a new section of the film, but you are stuck listening to the same rhetoric and information that was being spewed out at the beginning of the film.  There is also a complete lack of inclusion of any views from the type of person who buys these figurines.  We are only given the thoughts of the artist and creators and not of the avid consumer.  As I stated when I started this review, the ultimate subject of this film is one of interest to me and will be to others and I wished for a better experience into a world that speaks to a group of hobbyists that I am not a part of, but the film making aspect of this venture is a failure.  But, just like some people may look at “Sharky” and see art and others will see a toy, some people will see “The Vinyl Frontier” and agree with me, while others may get just what they were looking for.

This film was viewed at the 4th annual ACEFEST Film Festival in Tribeca, NY.

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