Tropic Thunder Featurette

Tropic Thunder opens today throughout San Diego. My review will be up later today. In the meantime, enjoy this featurette about the cast. Ben Stiller serves as writer, producer, director, and star, while Robert Downey, Jr. plays a balck man. He what? That's right, Downey essentially dons "black face" to play an Austrailian actor playing an African American soldier. That's just one of the gags that push the bounds of political correctness to its possible breaking point. Take a look at the video and see if you find it funny or offensive. Featurette is courtesy of Paramount.

Hancock

Is Will Smith just another last action hero in Hancock? (Columbia)

Will Smith is a performer who's built up a lot of good will on the part of audiences. People like him, they really like him. Maybe it's all those years coming into their living rooms as the Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Or maybe it was the promise offered up by the truly fine work he did in his debut Six Degrees of Separation. Or maybe it's the blockbuster appeal of his films Independence Day and Men in Black. Well whatever it is, Smith is going to have to bank on that audience good will if he's to survive unscathed from his latest outing Hancock (opening July 2 throughout San Diego).

OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies

The name's Bond... um, I mean Hubert Bonisseur de la Bath. (Music Box Films)

OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies (opening May 16 at Landmark's Ken Cinema) is one mouthful of a title. But it does exactly what a good title should do - it conveys something about the film. In this case, it signals that you are in for a spoof on spy movies. Most Americans will assume that it's simply poking fun at James Bond but that's only part of the joke. OSS 117 also refers to a famous French spy who appeared in nearly a 100 novels beginning in 1949, and a handful of movies in the 50s and 60s. So that may explain why the film's been such a hit in France where it plays on their own pop culture. It's been such a homegrown hit that there's already talk of sequels.

Cairo, 1955. Everyone suspects everyone of something; everyone is plotting against or double crossing everyone else; nobody trusts anybody; and the British, the French, the Soviets, the family of the deposed King Farouk, and the insurgent religious sect Eagles of Kheops are all engaged in some sort of covert activity in Egypt. Into this nest of spies, the President of the French Republic, Monsieur René Coty, sends his best weapon: Hubert Bonisseur de la Bath, agent OSS 117 (Jean Dujardin). Or as one of the femme fatales he meets says, "numbered like a cow for slaughter." Any way, OSS 117 must discover who killed a fellow spy and restore order to Cairo and the world. Along the way he encounters a bevy of beauties, some with lethal intentions. (You can also listen to my Film Chat about OSS 117 and Son of Rambow.)

Son of Rambow

Guerrilla filmmakers Lee Carter and Will Proudfoot (Paramount Vantage)

I doubt that Sylvester Stallone could have ever imagined that his 1982 action film First Blood could have spawned a British charmer called Son of Rambow (opening May 16 at Landmark's Hillcrest Cinemas). But this bastard offspring displays as much feisty, fighting spirit in its scrawny pre-adolescent body as Stallone's buffed out Vietnam vet ever did. And if you think being a one-man army is hell, just try being unpopular in school. That can scar someone for life. (You can listen to my Film Chat with Dwane and Maureen, which also includes discussion of another action spoof, OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies.)

Son of Rambow presents us with two very different young boys. Will Proudfoot (Bill Milner) is the eldest child of a fatherless Plymouth Brethren family. Being part of The Brethren means following a very strict moral code and living a life very separate from the rest of the world. So that means no pop music, no TV and definitely no American movies. Will's mother (Jessica Stevenson, Simon Pegg's co-star in the fun Brit series Spaced) tries to keep her family together but Will is feeling the pull of the outside world. He has somehow managed to convince her to let him continue attending public school.

Teen Critic Reveals All (Well Almost) About Zombie Strippers

Roxy Saint offers a lap dance to Robert Englund. Oh my! Zombie Strippers (Sony)

By Tony Galindo

Having already been given a chance to review one zombie flick this year I eagerly jumped at the chance to review another. Taking a quick glance at a trailer on Youtube I would have no idea what I was in for that night, and oh boy was I in for it with this movie. Zombie Strippers (opened Aptil 18 exclusively at Pacific Gaslamp Stadium Theaters) definitely has a title to catch anyone's attention, and is a movie to maintain everyone's eye -- or at least those old enough to see it [it's rated R for obvious reasons]. Directed by Jay Lee this low budget horror film shot in a few weeks was created more out of a joke then a serious take on an old horror theme.

Set in the "near future," we find out that Bush is in his fourth presidential term and has abolished congress because they were cramping his style. We are at war with everyone including Canada and our own state of Alaska.  The America we knew is long gone. To deal with wars all over, the government's solution to the countless loss of soldiers is a new chemical virus created to reanimate the corpses of soldiers, thus creating a zombie army. As undead soldiers,  they are stronger, faster, and better at what they do, which is kill people. After dealing with a breakout of the virus at a lab, a bitten soldier runs off in fear of being found out. He stumbles into an underground strip joint. After fully turning undead, the soldier launches himself -- due to his thirst for meat and blood -- at the club's star stripper Kat, played by Jenna Jameson. It's Kat's transformation to a undead super stripper that starts controversy amongst her fellow dancers and more problems for the club.

We find the strippers are split between who wants to conform and become undead to get paid more, and the more intelligent women who decide to stay alive. In this complete satire we find many hints of racist comedy as well as the struggle with conformity and doing whatever it takes to make the crowd love you. Even if this means giving up your life to strip like an undead superstar.

Seen by friends and I as "The best piece of S&!@ this year," this movie will not only make those willing to see it laugh, but also hide their face at the more then graphic scenes of testicle chewing and face splitting action that add to the film. The seemingly bad acting and special effects helped to make this movie the cheesy crap it came out to be. I mean really, I could count several times when the gunfire ceased but actors were still pretending to shoot while the flash of the shots fired had disappeared. Who would have thought that bad acting, horrid gore, sex scenes/humor, undead strippers, and Robert Englund playing a germ-aphobic club owner would make a horribly great film.

It was so hard to describe how I felt after seeing this film Monday night -- I loved it and hated it all at the same time. This movie is not for the faint of heart and greatly deserves the R rating it has received. When I say gore I mean GORE, with scenes that will make you want to run and turn away, only to make you turn back wanting more. If you are looking forward to seeing it, watching it with a live audience definitely adds to the experience with the random clapping and "hell yeah's" being yelled as the strippers began to fight and rip skin off. Or reacting to a certain undead gal deciding to shoot ping-pong and billiard balls out of somewhere never thought possible. I recommend this movie to all those willing to watch, to those into zombie flicks, and yes to those who only noticed "stripper" in the title. Some sexual content included in viewing of course, and not all considered pleasant. With all said and done, you'll either love it or hate it. All I can say is, "make like a bread truck, and get those buns moving."

-- Tony Galindo is a senior at Mount Miguel High. He was recently accepted at the Art Institute of San Diego where he wants to major in game art design and pursue a career in environmental design. Writing is a hobby of his as well as watching movies, so he thought it would be great to be able to share his opinions on film with people.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall

Breaking up is hard to do for Jason Segel (right) in Forgetting Sarah Marshall (Universal)

In order not to shock anyone driving in their cars and listening to my radio feature on KPBS during the morning commute, I couldn't call Forgetting Sarah Marshall (opening April 18 throughout San Diego) what it really is and that's a "dick flick." It earns that title in two ways: Not only does writer and star Jason Segel bare all but he also wallows (humorously) in a male version of chick flick emotiona upheaval. The film's gender bending approach turns a romantic break up into a hilarious comedy. When I ask debuting director Nicholas Stoller about the label he laughs.

May the Farce Be With You Always, Part 2

Okay, I promise not to post any more on this subject, but I was having so much fun looking at these old Star Wars fan films than I had to highlight one more, Mindtrix. This is one of my all-time favorites and it's even better because it was made here in San Diego by then student Kirk Christiansen (Kirk if you are still out there making films let me know!). I showcased the film at my student festival Film School Confidential 2004 and it brought down the house. This just goes to prove that all you need is imagination to make a great film. (Check out the detail in this one, like a portrait of Han and Chewy in the apartment.) Once again, I hope you enjoy!

May the Farce Be With You Always

This isn't new but it's new to me and it's never to late to celebrate something funny. After suffering through the kiddie recap of Star Wars that Angela so kindly highlighted on Culture Lust, a friend sent me this Star War spoof called Store Wars. This harkens back to the old Hardware Wars and Thumb Wars, made-in-your-garage kind of filmmaking. Star Wars fans have a long history of spoofing the film they love so dearly. Check out Store Wars, I especially love the revisionist take on Stormtroppers. Plus there's a good message at the end.

May the farce be with you always.

Enchanted on DVD

Amy Adams as the formerly animated Giselle in Enchanted. (Disney)

Every time a admit to a personal bias, I get in trouble. But being a film critic does not mean that I go into every film with complete and utter objectively. That would be impossible. Just like everyone who goes to movies, I've got my own personal baggage that I carry around. But since I still believe honesty is the best policy I will confess to a general dislike of modern romantic movies. My idea of a good romance is Shaun of the Dead or The Matrix, or maybe a classic with Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn. Or something by Wong Kar Wai. But anything today that gets promoted as a romantic comedy and features oh-so-cute dimpled stars, makes me shudder in fear. I can't help it, it's just in my DNA. My dad let me watch King Kong and old Warner Brothers gangster movies when I was little and that has forever colored my taste in movies. So when Enchanted (coming out on DVD March 18) came out last year I was relieved when I couldn't fit a screening of the film in. But now it's out on DVD and I have no excuse not to see it.

Fido

You just can't keep a good zombie down. Scottish comedian Billy Connolly joins the ranks of the undead in the Canadian zom-com Fido (opening July 6 for a limited one-week run at Landmark's Ken Cinema). Essentially, it's the story of a boy and his doguhhh, I mean pet zombie.