Pee-wee as Himself

There is both an immediate intimacy and sadness when a close up of Paul Reubens' face appears on screen. We lost the actor from cancer in 2023 and this posthumous documentary is like receiving a letter from a dead friend. This is a portrait of a man who kept secrets - the documentary filmmakers didn't even know he was dying. It's looking over everything, a reflection of a life lived, and laying it out warts and all. I found it to be fascinating. For example, did you know that Paul Reubens was in the same theatre group as Cassandra Peterson (Elvira) and Phil Hartman? Hartman was on Pee-wee's Playhouse before leaving for SNL. Laurence Fishburne was also a Pee-wee Playhouse regular. Like I said, fascinating. Reubens himself was as ambitious as Joan Rivers - he gave up a lot and pushed himself back into the closet for the sake of a career. He became one of the biggest and most recognizable stars of the 1980s. Pee-wee Herman was huge. Then it came all crashing down. It's an intimate portrait and as an artist and a collector of stuff, I felt I could relate to a lot of it. I found it to be very moving. Both melancholy and inspiring. One of the best celebrity documentaries I've seen. Catch it streaming on HBO.   

Gimme Shelter

Stage security at rock concerts seems to have come a long, long way since 1969. But then again, do we have outdoor concerts with 300,000 people anymore? "Gimme Shelter" is a 1970 documentary about the 1969 Rolling Stones concert at the Altamont Speedway in sunny California. It was a free concert and people thought it might be a companion bookend to Woodstock from early that year. The Hells Angels were hired as security for the show. When I was a young man, I read "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test" and Hunter Thompson's "Hell's Angels." I was fascinated with this period of American history - mostly the story of LSD and how it came to affect so much of the culture. It surprises me that I only got around to watching this documentary now. It's a fascinating time capsule. It's also a horror movie. The Rolling Stones were at the height of their popularity and fans were ravenous to see them, touch them physically if possible. The film starts with Mick Jagger watching footage of his band performing at Madison Square Garden, during which three individuals, fans, rush the stage to touch, hug, or somehow engage physically with the band - all three within minutes of each other. Mick and the boys kept playing. Scary for them. What's even scarier? Hells Angels. As I said, this is a horror movie. People tripping out of their gourds, stoned to the hilt on LSD and/or mushrooms, zombie-like march towards the stage, some of them naked. It's "It Follows" but for real. There is a terrifying scene where Mick is singing on stage and beside him is a man who looks like he is transforming into a zombie or werewolf - high as a loon. I watched in complete horror. From the start you know there is a death coming and the whole film is filled with dread. Both riveting and horrifying, one of the most fascinating rock documentaries you will see. Watch it on the Criterion Channel or go rent it in Ottawa from Movies 'N Stuff. 

A Boy and His Dog

Set in the year 2024, based on a novella by Harlan Ellison, and released in 1975, "A Boy and His Dog" has been a film on my to-watch list for many years. Alex Garland, I maintain, has a working thesis, a theme if you will, that men are violent, sex-crazed animals. Enter Don Johnson ("Miami Vice" heartthrob of the 80s) in one of his earliest roles as Vic, a violent, sex-crazed nomad living in a post-apocalyptic, post WW IV world. He has a companion, a dog, Blood (voiced by Tim McIntire) with whom with he communicates telepathically. Blood is actually smarter than Vic. Blood helps sniff out females for Vic so he can rape these women. It's dark and disturbing but the talking dog keeps it seemingly light (something out of "The Cat from Outer Space" playbook). In "A Boy and His Dog" the scavengers live in a desert wasteland, with faux generals and makeshift barter towns where guns are checked at the door. The entire look of the film is "Mad Max" four years prior to "Mad Max" and six years prior to "Mad Max 2 - The Road Warrior." The rest of the world lives underground in nuclear fallout bunkers. Jason Robards plays the leader of the clown underworld and lures Vic down for breeding purposes. Reasons to watch: 1) Don Johnson gives such a great performance you believe he is communicating with the dog. 2) Mad Max fans will be enlightened and entertained. 3) Looking at the future from the perspective of the past - what does a possible 2024 look like in 1975. 4) The Dog - he is adorable and very funny. 

Warfare

If there is one theme which seems to run throughout the films of Alex Garland ("Men," "Civil War") it is that men are overly fixated on sex, they are dangerous, and can be extremely violent. This is my own interpretation of his work and if it's an accurate one, it's a thesis I agree with. This time ,Garland's lens gives us the violence men can inflict on each other in this snapshot of modern warfare. It's an honest and brutal depiction of U.S. soldiers in Iraq in 2006. Why they are there, what the purpose of their mission is - we have no idea. We are just plopped down with these men as they suddenly find themselves in serious danger. It's based on the memories of the real soldiers who were in this fight. It's immersive, traumatizing, and important. Do we need another reminder of the horrors of war? Yes we do because we can't seem to get it through our collective heads that war is horrible. There is nothing glorified here. Gripping, realistic and devastating. It's not an easy, relaxing film, but a tense and important one. There were moments in my screening where nobody dared to munch popcorn - you could hear a pin drop as we watched these men move through their paces. I'm sure this will land on my list of top films of 2025. Catch it in theatres now. 

The Darjeeling Limited

I have a complicated relationship with Wes Anderson. I love some of his films: "Rushmore," "Isle of Dogs," "The Grand Budapest Hotel," and "The Royal Tenenbaums." However a lot of his work feels repetitious. Anderson's characters always remind me of J. D. Salinger's fictional Glass family - white, precocious, wealthy, and liberally educated in the arts. In an Anderson film, a character will read a list of things they are packing in a suitcase, or a list of things they need to do. Sometimes this can be charming or even funny, but often I find it annoying. This isn't Anderson's problem, it's mine. If I don't enjoy it, I shouldn't watch. Which is maybe why I avoided "The Darjeeling Limited" for so long. It came out in 2007 when my kids were just one and three and it quickly passed me by. Recently two of my closest film nerd friends told me I should watch it; "It's good" they said. One of them was Peter Thompson, owner and operator of Movies 'N Stuff here in Ottawa. Maybe he was telling me that at the time to make sure I purchased from him the old Blockbuster DVD I held in my hand. I bought it. Watched it. "The Darjeeling Limited" might just be my new favourite Anderson film. It's certainly his most personal film, most human. What's it all about? Three brothers (played by Owen Wilson, now two-time Academy Award winning actor, Adrien Brody, and Jason Schwartzman) travel through India after their father's untimely passing to find their mother who is at a Christian monastery. It's a road trip movie. I was delighted from the opening shots. There is a warmth and honesty these characters have which doesn't often permeate Anderson's other work, or at least not as much. I loved this film. Catch it streaming or go rent it from Peter at Movies 'N Stuff here in Ottawa. 

Inland Empire

Recently we lost filmmaker David Lynch. Here in Ottawa, the Mayfair Theatre has once again stepped up and has been putting on a David Lynch retrospective - applause, Mayfair; job well done. I had the good fortune to catch "Inland Empire," one of only two Lynch films I hadn't seen. I like weird, I like surreal. The films of Alejandro Jodorowsky for example, "The Holy Mountain" and "El Topo." And such recent wonders as, "Titane," and "Beau is Afraid." Lynch's other films, "Blue Velvet," "Wild at Heart," "Lost Highway," and "Mulholland Drive" all fall into this dreamscape world. "Inland Empire" might just be Lynch's most ambitious work. It's a movie about a dream, set inside a movie about a dream - maybe? Yes, that makes no sense, and neither does "Inland Empire." It might just be the strangest and most challenging of Lynch's works. Days later I'm still digesting it. Packed with strange situations and repeating themes, it's a mental workout in a gym where everyone suddenly breaks into dancing. Lynch is painting in dreams. As a result, sometimes it feels impenetrable, you're grasping for something to hold onto but the handrail has turned into a homeless person begging for change. This is not for you Marvel film goer. This might not be for those folks who like art films. This is for hardcore Lynch fans and people who like to sit around in coffee shops and pretentiously say, "I watched 'Inland Empire' and it was simply brilliant," (insert person sipping a cappuccino, pinky extended). I jest, although I think there might be some pretentious Criterion film nerd shit going on with anyone who says they love and/or understands this film. It's certainly a film I'm glad I saw and I think it may be Lynch's masterpiece, at least in his own mind, or did I dream that? Go rent it from Movie 'N Stuff here in Ottawa or watch it on the Criterion channel.  

The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue or Let Sleeping Corpses Lie

My zombie film education continues. "The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue" or "Let Sleeping Corpses Lie" - I don't understand the title confusion. It has a different Spanish title and a few more English ones. Whatever. I had never heard of this film in any of its multiple titled iterations. Like any great zombie film, there's a take-away lesson - this one, it's environmental: don't mess with nature or . . . you will get zombies! Of course. This came out in 1974 and apparently nobody listened. And look where we are now! Anyway, this well-shot, well-enough-acted, and coherent film is one of the best of the zombie genre. I said "coherent" because a lot of the Italian zombie pictures of this same era don't really have a good story - they are just gross-out, gore-fests with people running around doing things at random. Most are hard to follow and don't make a lot of sense. "The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue" has a plot: A young couple gets blamed for murders, murders committed by zombies! Ridiculous? Definitely. But there's some real suspense and mood here. This is a well-put-together film for a low-budget zombie movie from 1974. Some of the zombies are truly freaky - and everyone drives like lunatics through the English countryside which honestly just adds to the charm. I had a ball. If zombies aren't your thing, I get it - give this one a skip. But if you've got a taste for the undead, this is must-see stuff. It's more like a B film and normally I only write about A films here on the blog, but this is an A-level zombie flick, so it's getting a full entry here on the Marquee. You can find it streaming on Shudder.