Escape to the Movies: "The Rite"

Intermission: Oscar Noms.

BMC MOVIE OF THE WEEK: SURF NAZIS MUST DIE

Surf Nazis Must Die (1987)

• 

• Barry Brenner,
• Gail Neely,
• Michael Sonya

An earthquake leaves the California coastline in ruins and reduces the beaches to a state of chaos. A group of Neo-Nazis led by Adolf (Brenner), the self-proclaimed "Führer of the new beach," take advantage of the resulting chaos by fighting off several rival surfer gangs to seize control of the beaches. Meanwhile, an African American oil well worker named Leroy (Harden) is killed by the Nazis while jogging on the beach. Leroy's mother "Mama" Washington (Neely), devastated by the loss of her son, vows revenge. After arming herself with a handgun and grenades, she breaks out of her retirement home and sets out to exact bloody vengeance on the Surf Nazis. – Wikipedia

34% liked it

R, 1 hr. 23 min.

Director: Peter George

 

January 23, 2011: Third Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A)

There’s basically two kinds of movies you get from Troma. There’s the ones they make themselves that are chock full of unappealing nudity (yes, such a thing exists), cartoonish violence & gore, and more detailed depictions of gross bodily functions than you probably ever wanted to see (or hear) in your lifetime. And then there’s the other kind, the independently made oddities which Troma occasionally picks up and distributes. Mercifully, for my tastes anyway, Surf Nazis Must Die is one of the latter.

Which isn’t to say it’s a good movie. It’s so poorly paced, oddly edited, and awfully acted that it couldn’t be considered a good movie even if it were the only movie ever made and there was nothing else to compare it to. But at least it’s not vomitus. And, believe it or not, if you catch Surf Nazis Must Die in just the right mood, it’s got a couple of things that make it kind of interesting and (almost) enjoyable to watch. For one thing, there’s the throbbing electronic score by Jon McCallum (who, in a telltale sign of just how low budget this movie is, also did the special effects makeup) which manages to create a singular cohesive atmosphere for the film (which is good, because the script sure doesn’t). So if you’re a fan of all those old John Carpenter inspired synthesizer soundtracks, then this one isn’t to be missed. (Of course, if you don’t care for the bloop-bloop bleep-bleep school of scoring, this one will surely make you jam pencils into your ears.)

And then there’s the strange comic book universe the movie creates for itself, sort of like the one you find in Walter Hill’s The Warriors, although admittedly not depicted quite as successfully. As in The Warriors, the back alleys of Surf Nazis Must Die are populated not with Bloods, Crips, Latin Kings or other such real world gangs, but rather with outlandish bands of costumed cretins. There’s The Pipeliners, The all-Japanese Samurai Surfers, and the fashionably attired Designer Waves. And, of course, there’s the Surf Nazis themselves, all adorned with face paint and swastikas and driving around in their shark mouthed van. It’s funny goofy and all the better because the cast plays it dead serious.

Also like in The Warriors, the catalyst for everything that happens in Surf Nazis Must Die is the attempt by one guy to unite the various factions into one undefeatable army. And just like in The Warriors, there’s simply too much distrust and egoism and personal agendas spread amongst the individual gangs for the plan to ever reach fruition. Which works out well for everyone in post-big one California because, after all, who wants to be ruled over by guys with names like Adolph, Mengele, Brutus, Hook, and Smeg? But such internal bickering can be disastrous for groups where unity is considered a fundamental requirement, like say the Body of Christ which is the Church. That’s why Paul scolds the Corinthians in this week’s second reading. “For it has been reported to me about you…” he writes, “that there are rivalries among you. I mean that each of you is saying, “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to Cephas,” or “I belong to Christ.” Is Christ divided?”

During a 2009 address for the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, Pope Benedict XVI explained that the “greatest danger” to the Church is not external persecution, but the “negative attitudes” of the world that can pollute and “infect the Christian community” from within.” Among the specific dangers he pointed out were selfishness, vanity, pride, and love of money, all things which can lead to disharmony. That’s why the Catechism warns us, “Christ always gives his Church the gift of unity, but the Church must always pray and work to maintain, reinforce, and perfect the unity that Christ wills for her.” We must always be vigilant about our own hang-ups when we assemble, lest we go the way of the Surf Nazis.

Not literally, of course, as in the Church being taken down by a plus sized African American grandma armed with more firepower than Rambo, but you know what I mean.

Killers

Oscar Nominations

So, "the narrative" of this year's Oscar race - because there always is one - is Young vs. Old or, rather, Analog vs. Digital: "The King's Speech," a solid but utterly unremarkable film you could none the less sell, unedited, as the ultimate parody of formula Oscar Bait vs. "The Social Network," a film whose subject matter, editing/directing style and even principal-cast may as well have just stepped out of a flying-saucer as far as much of The Academy is concerned.



That's not to say that it's ONLY between those two films, at least not yet, but that's The Narrative. See also: Christopher Nolan snubbed for Best Director (EASILY the biggest outrage of the year - "Inception" DEFINES "director's movie" the same way "Speech" does "actor's movie") and Daft Punk being shut out of a Best Score nod for "Tron: Legacy" - thus denying TV audiences worldwide the fun of seeing two guys in Power Rangers helmets sitting among the swells in crowd-shots... although it's not entirely surprising, can you imagine The Academy's half-mummified voter-base listening to the tracks, futzing with their player and wondering where all that electronic-distortion is coming from and where the "music" is? Honestly, "Tron" being shut-out of the art and FX categories in general is pretty glaring no matter what you think of the overall film.

Also snubbed: Edgar Wright, Mila Kunis, and probably some more I'll think of later.

Big Picture: Fair Game

2011 Academy Awards Nominations – Ranking

As I like to play with numbers here is a tally of what the nominations tells us about films and how many nods each got. List is in alphabetical order according to the rank each film achieved.

Summary

As expected the top ten films with most nominations are the ten nominated movies for the Best Picture category; but what’s interesting is the ranking that suggests how ‘likeable’ film was for academy members. The ‘likeable’ index tells us that IF Best Picture category had only five slots (as was before) nominated films will probably have been the top five: The King’s Speech, True Grit, Inception, The Social Network and The Fighter.

IF the number of honors each film got could tell us how much ‘likeable’ each film was for Academy members, then those Guilds/groups with the most members could be voting for the film as their most ‘likeable’; consequently, it is possible that race for the top award could be between: The King’s Speech, The Social Network AND True Grit. Race has become a bit more interesting for me.

Now who wins in each of the upcoming awards becomes key to not only predict winners in each category but also probable winner in the top award.

Here is the Ranking.

The King’s Speech – 12 (Actor leading role, actress supporting role, actor supporting role, art direction, cinematography, costume design, directing, film editing, original score, sound mixing, original screenplay, Best Picture)

True Grit – 10 (Actress supporting role, actor leading role, art direction, cinematography, costume design, directing, sound editing, sound mixing, adapted screenplay, Best Picture)

Inception – 8 (Art direction, cinematography, original score, sound editing, sound mixing, visual effects, original screenplay, and Best Picture)
The Social Network – 8 (Actor leading role, cinematography, directing, film editing, original score, sound mixing, adapted screenplay, Best Picture)

The Fighter – 7 (Actor supporting role, actress supporting role-2-, directing, film editing, original screenplay, Best Picture)

127 Hours – 6 (Actor leading role, film editing, original score, original song, adapted screenplay, Best Picture)

Black Swan – 5 (Actress Leading role, cinematography, directing, Film editing, Best Picture)
Toy Story 3 – 5 (Original song, sound editing, adapted screenplay, animated feature, Best Picture)

The Kids Are All Right – 4 (Actress leading role, actor supporting role, original screenplay, Best Picture)
Winter’s Bone – 4 (Actress leading role, actor supporting role, adapted screenplay, Best Picture)

Alice in Wonderland – 3 (Art direction, Costume design, Visual effects)

Biutiful – 2 (Actor leading role, Foreign Language)
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 – 2 (Art direction, visual effects)

Animal Kingdom – 1 (Actress supporting role)
Another Year – 1 (Original screenplay
Barney’s Version – 1 (Makeup)
Blue Valentine – 1 (Actress leading role)
Country Strong – 1 (Original song)
Dogtooth – 1 (Foreign Language)
Gasland – 1 (Documentary Feature)
How to Train Your Dragon – 2 (Animated feature, original score)
I Am Love – 1 (Costume design)
The Illusionist – 1 (Animated feature)
In a Better World – 1 (Foreign Language)
Incendies – 1 (Foreign Language)
Inside Job – 1 (Documentary feature)
Iron Man 2 – 1 (Visual Effects)
Outside the Law – 1 (Foreign language)
Rabbit Hole – 1 (Actress leading role)
Restrepo – 1 (Documentary Feature)
Salt – 1 (Sound mixing)
Tangled – 1 (Original song)
The Tempest – 1 (Costume design)
The Town – 1 (Actor supporting role)
Unstoppable – 1 (Sound editing)
Waste Land – 1 (Documentary feature)
The Way Back – 1 (Makeup)
The Wolfman – 1 (Makeup)

FINAL 2011 OSCAR NOMINATION PREDICTIONS

Live from Sundance for the record...

BEST PICTURE

127 Hours
Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The Kids Are All Right
The King's Speech
The Social Network
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter's Bone

ALT: Blue Valentine

BEST DIRECTOR

Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan
David Fincher, The Social Network
Tom Hooper, The King's Speech
Christopher Nolan, Inception
David O. Russell, The Fighter

ALT: Joel & Ethan Coen, True Grit

BEST ACTOR

Javier Bardem, Biutiful
Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network
Colin Firth, The King's Speech
James Franco, 127 Hours
Ryan Gosling, Blue Valentine

ALT: Jeff Bridges, True Grit

BEST ACTRESS

Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right
Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole
Jennifer Lawrence, Winter's Bone
Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine

ALT: Julianne Moore, The Kids Are All Right

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Christian Bale, The Fighter
Andrew Garfield, The Social Network
Jeremy Renner, The Town
Mark Ruffalo, The Kids Are All Right
Geoffrey Rush, The King's Speech

ALT: John Hawkes, Winter's Bone

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Amy Adams, The Fighter
Helena Bonham Carter, The King's Speech
Melissa Leo, The Fighter
Lesley Manville, Another Year
Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit

ALT: Barbara Hershey, Black Swan

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The Kids Are All Right
The King's Speech

ALT: Blue Valentine

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

127 Hours
The Social Network
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter's Bone

ALT: Rabbit Hole

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

Despicable Me
How to Train Your Dragon
Toy Story 3

ALT: The Illusionist

BEST DOCUMENTARY

Client 9
Exit Through the Gift Shop
Inside Job
The Tillman Story
Waiting for Superman

ALT: Waste Land

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Black Swan
Inception
The King's Speech
The Social Network
True Grit

ALT: 127 Hours

BEST EDITING

127 Hours
Black Swan
Inception
The King's Speech
The Social Network

ALT: Blue Valentine

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

127 Hours
Inception
The King's Speech
The Social Network
Tron: Legacy

ALT: How to Train Your Dragon