DVD/Stream of the Week: Troll 2 and Best Worst Movie

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I love movies that are unintentionally hilarious – at once both undeniably bad and entertaining.  Troll 2 has recently gotten some buzz as the worst movie of all time”, largely because of Best Worst Movie, a 2009 documentary about how horrible and funny Troll 2 is.  It may not be the worst, but Troll 2 belongs in the conversation and has earned a place in my Bad Movie Festival.

A white bread suburban family vacations in the mountain village of Nilbog (“Goblin” spelled backwards, get it?) in which all the locals are vegetarian predator goblins who can take the form of regular humans.  The goblins are able to turn humans into vegetative matter (a green slime) that the goblins can ingest.

The movie was made with very primitive production values by a non-English speaking Italian crew and a non-Italian speaking Z-list American cast.  Inept acting and directing aside, the screenplay is probably the source of the most laughs.  There’s the dead grandpa Seth who keeps appearing to the boy, the boy’s saving his family by urinating on the family dinner, the make out scene so “hot” that it pops popcorn and so much more. Another of the funny aspects of Troll 2 is that it is completely unrelated to the movie Troll and has no trolls in it.

Troll 2 is available on Netflix Streaming.  You can see some of the finer bits of Troll 2 by doing a YouTube search for “You can’t piss on hospitality” and “Troll 2 O my God”.  Here’s the trailer.

 

As to Best Worst Movie, it’s very entertaining.  There are some squirmy scenes with cast members whose mental health issues have since worsened.  The Italian director is a jerk who, although happy to bask in Troll 2‘s new found cult status,  is narcissistically unwilling to acknowledge its badness.  But the goodhearted goofiness of star George Hardy, a cast of good sports and Troll 2‘s cult following dominates, and Best Worst Movie is fun to watch.  Best Worst Move is available on DVD.

The hilariously bad movie Troll 2 is available streaming on Amazon, iTunes and Vudu.  The documentary Best Worst Movie is available on DVD from Netflix and streaming on Amazon, iTunes and Vudu.

The Way, Way Back: when parents are no help whatsoever

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THE WAY WAY BACK

In the appealing coming of age story The Way, Way Back,  a betrodden teen (Liam James) gains confidence when mentored at his summer job by a lowlife (Sam Rockwell).  The kid’s mom (Toni Collette) has been rocked by a divorce (hubby found a young thing), and has rediscovered some self esteem in the attentions of a creep (Steve Carrell).  Now the kid, his mom, her insufferable boyfriend and the boyfriend’s bratty daughter are off to his summer home on the Atlantic shore.  The kid finds a job at a cheesy local water park, and funny stuff happens.

In depicting the ways that parents make their teen kids miserable, The Way, Way Back is spot on.  I’m not talking about the uncool cluelessness that makes all teens embarrassed about the even most perfect parents.  The Way, Way Back focuses on children from broken marriages who are made to feel unvalued or whose weaknesses are picked at or whose parents become too involved with their own issues.  Indeed all the kids in The Way, Way Back come from divorced families.  Even one childless marriage (Rob Corddry from Warm Bodies and Amanda Peet) is very imperfect.

Collette’s performance nails the desperation of a woman, once abandoned, for a relationship that will meet at least some of her needs.  Alison Janney is hilarious as the neighboring divorcee who is embracing her alcoholism.  The rest of the cast, including Maya Rudolph, is good, too.  Give credit to Carrell for taking on a very unsympathetic role, something not every bankable star will do.

It may not be a Must See, but The Way, Way Back is sweet, perceptive and pretty funny.

DVD/Stream of the Week: Four Lions

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FOUR LIONS

A terrorist comedy, anyone?  This couldn’t have been made in the US, but fortunately the British have made the terrorist equivalent of Waiting for Guffman.   A group of homegrown Brits of Pakistani heritage decide to join the jihad and try to organize a terror mission.  Fortunately, the smartest one is both inept and unlucky, and each of the others is dumber than the last.   The cell’s intramural competition reminds me of the hilarious People’s Liberation Front scene in Monty Python’s Life of Python.

Four Lions stars Riz Ahmed, the charismatic star of The Reluctant Fundamentalist, who will appear in the upcoming thriller Closed Circuit.

Four Lions is available on DVD from Netflix and streaming on Netflix, Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, Google Play and other VOD outlets.

Bert and Arnie’s Guide to Friendship: why watch these guys?

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BERT AND ARNIE'S GUIDE TO FRIENDSHIP

Now out on VOD, Bert and Arnie’s Guide to Friendship is an odd couple comedy with the promising premise that the two main characters become entangled when one has an affair with the other’s wife. The good news is that the comedy is driven by the characters, one an abrasive womanizer and the other a pretentious and self-involved minor novelist.  The bad news is that the broad characters are neither textured or interesting or sympathetic enough to sustain a movie of longer than 49 minutes (which is when I stopped watching).  And worse, Bert and Arnie wastes a supporting performance by the delightful Anna Chlumsky.

Bert and Arnie’s Guide to Friendship is available  streaming from Amazon and iTunes.

Dead Man’s Burden: times are hard and the women are harder

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DEAD MAN'S BURDEN

I always welcome a new Western, and writer-director Jared Moshe’s impressive debut Dead Man’s Burden takes us to a darkly realistic Old West.  The dry New Mexico landscape is beautiful but unforgiving, and the law is three days ride away.  The times are hard and the women are harder.  The Civil War ended five years before, but families are still reeling from losing a generation of young men.

As the film opens, a man rides away on horseback.  A petite woman, young but worn, hoists an 1853 Enfield rifle to her shoulder, takes aim and fires.  We later learn the identity of the man, his relationship to the woman and her reason for firing.  It’s not what you might guess.  And the villain is not who you expect it to be.

Moshe’s story reveals some characters to be bound by duty and others to be opportunistic.  They are caught in the same web of circumstance, which funnels inevitably them to conflict.  The movie’s final two shots echo an earlier moment, and neatly (if grimly) wrap up the tale.

The cast – Barlow Jacobs, Clare Bowen (Scarlet in ABC’s Nashville), David Call and veteran Richard Riehle – is uniformly good.  Jacobs (Kid in Shotgun Stories) is especially well suited for a Western hero, with expressive eyes that narrow like Eastwood’s or Van Cleef’s.

There’s a gunfight that is more historically typical than the usual cinematic facedown in the street.  These men, hunters and former soldiers, chase each other through the brush, firing from cover.  It ain’t heroic.  And Dead Man’s Burden is remarkably unsentimental.

DEAD MAN'S BURDEN

Dead Man’s Burden was shot on 35mm by Robert Hauer, and the look of the film brings out the isolating vastness of the land.  Sadly, the sound is substandard, and I had difficulty comprehending some of the dialogue.

Dead Man’s Burden is available on DVD from Netflix and streaming from Amazon, Vudu and other VOD outlets.

Movies to See Right Now

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THE HEAT

This week’s top choice is the cop buddy comedy The Heat – the best showcase so far for Melissa McCarthy’s comic genius.

My other recommendations:

Also out right now:

I haven’t yet seen the promising coming of age comedy The Way, Way Back or the Pedro Almodovar rauchfest I’m So Excited.  Both open this weekend.  You can read descriptions and view trailers of upcoming films at Movies I’m Looking Forward To.

For the second week in a row, my DVD/Stream of the Week is the jaw dropping documentary The Imposter. You must see it to believe it. The Imposter is available on DVD from Netflix and streaming from Netflix, Amazon, iTunes and many other VOD providers.

Deceptive Practice: The Mysteries and Mentors of Ricky Jay

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DECEPTIVE PRACTICE: THE MYSTERIES AMD MENTORS OF RICKY JAY

In tracing the development of the great magician Ricky Jay,  the documentary Deceptive Practice:  The Mysteries and Mentors of Ricky Jay explores the fascinating history of 20th century American magic.  We get to see performances by Jay and his mentors, with comments by Jay himself.  Ricky Jay’s mysteries are the secrets of 1) his illusions and 2) his family – both unrevealed.  Whether expansive about his mentors and his passion for magic, or tight-mouthed about his relationship with his parents, Jay is a fascinating character.

Because the audience gets to see lots of amazing magic, Deceptive Practice is attractive as a performance film.  But Jay is an unsurpassed raconteur, one of my favorites, and when he holds forth, it’s as entertaining as any of his illusions.

(I was fortunate to see Deceptive Practice at the San Francisco International Film Festival sitting next to bunch of real magicians.)

Gideon’s Army: Sisyphus goes to court

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GIDEON'S ARMY

Gideon’s Army, another gem from HBO’s fine summer documentary series, explores the work of public defenders in the South.  By defending indigent criminal defendants, these lawyers preserve the American legal principles of fair trials and the presumption of innocence.   But the game is rigged against them – they are starkly under-resourced and, in the South, face shockingly high bail requirements and extremely severe mandatory sentencing laws.  Each responsible for 120-150 cases at a time, they suffer long hours and low pay, defending the mostly guilty – a recipe for burnout.  One PD even has had one client who planned to murder her in open court.

To tell this Sisyphean story, Gideon’s Army focuses on a handful of public defenders and their cases.  There’s probably more optimism in the film than in real life (which is necessary, because a more realistic depiction would probably be depressingly unwatchable).    It’s an important subject and a good watch.  Gideon’s Army is currently playing on HBO.

DVD/Stream: you gotta see The Imposter

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The Imposter

I’m repeating last week’s DVD/Stream of the Week because you just shouldn’t miss The Imposter.  Life is at times stranger than fiction, and The Imposter is one of the most jaw-dropping documentaries I have seen. Nicholas Barclay, a 13-year-old Texas boy, vanished in 1994. Three years later, a young man surfaced in Spain, claiming to be an American boy kidnapped for sexual exploitation; he was identified by Spanish police as Nicholas Barclay. In fact, he was a serial impersonator named Frédéric Bourdin who had contrived the ruse to escape getting busted for his own petty misdeeds.

That’s not a spoiler, because The Imposter’s audience learns this framework right away. Here’s the first real shocker: the imposter is accepted by Nicholas’ family. This is more amazing because Frédéric is seven years older than Nicholas, is not a native English speaker and looks nothing like him. Of course, Frédéric is surprised that the family is embracing him as Nicholas – and then he begins to suspect why…

Filmmaker Bart Layton expertly spins the story, We meet the actual Frédéric Bourdin, members of the Barclay family, and the detectives who broke the case.

The Imposter is available on DVD from Netflix and streaming from Netflix, Amazon, iTunes and many other VOD providers.

The Heat: worth seeing for Melissa McCarthy

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THE HEAT

We’ve all seen cop buddy comedies before (Lethal Weapon, 48 Hours and scores of copycats).   In the The Heat, the odd couple is Sandra Bullock (as the arrogant and fastidious FBI agent) and Melissa McCarthy (as the earthy and streetwise Boston cop).  There are some especially well-written bits in The Heat, especially when Bullock’s prig finally explodes into a completely inept torrent of profanity and when McCarthy’s cop belittles her commander’s manhood for what must be the zillionth time.

But here’s why you will enjoy The Heat.  Melissa McCarthy’s line readings are brilliantly hilarious.  Her gift for dialogue makes everything and everyone in this movie much funnier.  Her performance elevates the entire movie.  In fact, every person who has talked to me about The Heat has laughed when describing it.  It may not be that original, but it’s sufficiently well made and McCarthy is sublime.