About Elwood Jones

A life long obsessive of Cult, Foreign and Obscure cinema having grown up on a diet of Godzilla and Kung Fu movies, Elwood continues to build on this obsession with all things film related, aswell as collecting Hack / Slash comics and trying to teach his son the names of all the Toho monsters amongst other nerdy pursuits.

Cinema Obscura: The Science of Sleep

Posted on February 21, 2012 by Elwood Jones

Cinema Obscura – a weekly trek through the darker and frequently more random and forgotten regions of Cult, Foreign and Obsure cinema and pretty much everything in between. Each week highlighting a film worth hunting down, for those who like to wander away from the more traveled roads of Mainstream cinema

This last week, despite my best efforts I have been suffering from the darn flu that is currently going around and in between amassing a small pharmacy of flu remedies and looking for some suitable viewing while I was refusing to get out of bed, I rediscovered this film in my collection and knew that I had found my choice for this week. This weeks choice is a film which was pretty much ignored on it’s release despite receiving a lot of positive press from critics, which is only the more surprising at the time with Director Michel Gondry coming in hot after the phenomenal success of “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” and memorable in the conscious of the movie going public, an advantage which allowed Gondry seemingly unlimited creative freedom for this project, which would also be the first film written by him, with his previous films both being scripted by the equally visionary screenwriter Charlie Kaufman probably best known for writing “Being John Malkovich” and while “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” might have been trippy, this film would be turn out to be on a whole new surreal level.

Set around Stephane (Gael Garcia Bernal) a frequent lucid dreamer, who seemingly spends as much time in his own personal dream world as he does in the real world. Having returned from Mexico to his childhood home in Paris, following the death of his father, he takes up a job at a Calendar Company believing that it will provide the outlet for his creativity he craves, while also forming a relationship with Stephanie (Charlotte Gainsbourg) who shares Stephane’s overactive sense of creativity.

Meanwhile Stephane finds himself frequently frustrated by the lack of creativity his work provides, aswell as from having to deal with his eccentric work colleagues which only further his jaunts into his personal dream world, as he now finds the line between the two only becoming all the more blurred.

Coming from a background in commercials and Music videos, much like equally visual directors such as David Fincher and Spike Jonze who bizarly also made the transition to feature films around the same time as Gondry did, though while they may have expanded on their earlier styles, Gondry has reminded determinedly set in his own surreal world of DIY props and dream like imagery, while frequently drawing inspiration from his own dreams and has frequently used this imagery as part of his work, which makes it only all the more sense that he would eventually make a film about dreams.

The casting is nothing short of bold, with the two leads being realativly unknowns to most movie goers, bar those with a taste for Foreign and independent cinema. Having made the pitch black “The King” a year earlier this film would be Bernal’s second film to be shot in English, having previously only being known to fans of foreign cinema for his roles in “Y tu mamá también” and the fantastic “Amores perros” this film would continue his trend for fearlessly choosing his roles, especially with a character as frenzied as Stephane. Equally inspired is the casting of the little known Gainsbourg who is equally believable as Stephanie while seemingly to genuinely believe and buy into the world which Stephane lives inside, while also being shown as the stereotypical hot art student with her personal styling and room layout, which also is hinted with the intoxicating essence of Parisian flair.

Split down the middle, the film frequently switches between two worlds, the real one and the world of Stephane’s dream and more precisely “Stephane TV” his own TV show in his mind were he frequently reflects on current events happening around him, while providing the gateway into the even more surreal parts of his mind, with Gondry frequently choosing to switch between these two worlds frequently without warning, which can be a disorientating experience upon your first viewing and it’s really only on the second viewing that it becomes easier to identify the boundary lines between these two worlds, even when those lines frequently become all the more blurred as the film goes on, especially as Stephane’s dreams only grow in intensity.

This constant disorientation is only furthered by the frequent switches in the characters speaking French and English, also like the switches in reality with little or no warning, only making it more the appropriate when this is picked up by Stephane, who complains that it is making him feel “Schizophrenic”. Still Gondry somehow manages to get the audience to buy into this style of storytelling, which is highly reminiscent of French New Wave directors such as Jean-Luc Godard and from the retro opening titles onwards I found myself frequently comparing the work of the two directors, especially with both being key in furthering the progression of visionary cinema, it was interesting to see Gondry seemingly referencing Godard’s work, while also drawing inspiration from the more established visionaries like Terry Gilliam and David Cronenberg whose Spider like Typewriter from “Naked Lunch” making a surprise appearance here.

The dream sequences are truly the main selling point of this film, as Gondry lets loose with some of his most ambitious imagery to date, as he constructs elaborate sets from cardboard and polystyrene combined with heavy use of stop motion animation, while for those familiar with Gondry’s work will recognise the now all familiar giant hands which have frequently appeared at various points in his previous music videos and films to the point were they are almost as established as his other trademarks, despite having originally been born out of a frequent childhood nightmares about his hands growing to gigantic size, to the point were his mother would have to continuously rubs his hands to assure him that it was nothing more than a dream, though for such an unpleasant childhood memory it bizarre that it would feature so frequently in his work. Still frequently these sequences often do feel like an excuse for Gondry to pull out his film making bag of tricks, especially when so many scenes seem reminiscent of his earlier work.

Ultimately this would be his most ambitious film to date and also prove to be the zenith of his creativity, as the films which followed would see him gradually toning down his vision with his follow up “Be Kind Rewind” being firmly set in reality despite the heavy use of DIY props to now an almost mainstream style of film making seen with “The Green Hornet” which lacked any of Gondry’s trademark touches, though it remains to be seen how mainstream he has become as fan’s now egerly await the forthcoming “The We and the I”.

Ultimately though this is a tale of doomed love and it’s sudden and abrasive ending will no doubt only further exclude it from the tastes of your average movie goer, while for those of you who like to be visually inspired by your film, there is much to enjoy, even if it does require your full attention to keep up with it’s continual switches, while only making you hope that Gondry returns to this style of film making soon.

Movie Review: Carnage

Posted on February 11, 2012 by Elwood Jones

There is always a mild sense of controversy in admitting that you’re a fan of Roman Polanski, especially considering his conviction for the statutory rape of a 13 year old girl, which caused him to flee the United States were he had at the time begun the founding of a promising career on the back of Horror classic “Rosemary’s Baby” as well as the equally classic “Chinatown”. Due to this he frequently remains a director both admired for his directorial skills, but also approached with caution, especially when expressing any kind of admiration for his work and because of his current fugitive status, which has meant that he has not returned to the United States since 1978, despite an attempt by U.S. Authorities to extradite him back to the states in 2010, which eventually saw him being released by the Swiss after they rejected the U.S. request.

Still as a director I will admit I do list several of his films including “The Pianist” amongst my favourites and as such try to keep the man’s talent and person life separate, which is the stance that I carry across into this review as well.

Set in the aftermath of a dispute between two young boys Ethan and Zachary, which ended with one hitting the other in the face with a stick. Believing the issue can be resolved without the lawyers getting involved, the boys parents decide to hold a meeting to try and resolve the issue themselves. In this spirit of co-operation Zachary’s parents Alan and Nancy Cowan (Christoph Waltz & Kate Winslet) visit the home of Ethan’s parents Michael and Penelope Longstreet (John C. Reilly & Jodie Foster), but soon things start to go astray as personality differences come to a head and the meeting slowly degenerates.

Based on play “God of Carnage” by Yasmina Reza for which she won both the Olivier and Tony award for and despite the closest I have come to seeing being via a Wikipedia breakdown, it’s still clear that the framework has essentially been retained here, despite the names of the two mothers baffling being changed. Still Polanski has seemingly set out to shoot the film from essentially the same view point as if the audience was watch it as a play, which still allowing himself the freedom of close ups and multiple angles, rather than restraining himself by shooting from a fixed stand point and it feels like great care has been taken with each of the shots, to find those exact angles in which to shoot, while the backgrounds are so packed with interesting items and intricate details it frequently makes you want to crawl inside the film so that you might get to look around the Longstreet’s apartment better, while the claustrophobic setting perfectly cranks up the pressure as the tensions between them grow.

Despite being set in Brooklyn, New York, it’s actually Paris were the film was shot thanks to Polanski’s aforementioned status, not that it really matters as the film unfolds in a grand total of four sets, as the action moves between the Longstreet’s Living Room, Kitchen, Hallway and Bathroom with only the ending and opening shot as exterior shots, which Polanski shows the original incident happening, yet teasingly doesn’t allow us to hear what causes the fight in the first place, something which is frustratingly never really explored with the boys behaviour discussed really in snippets of conversation, while the main focus is put on finding a resolution, a topic which soon also gets lost in the upheaval of personal opinions and loosening of tongues thanks to the lashing of scotch later consumed, leading to levels of unexpected carnage from when we first meet the couple exchanging polite conversation over espresso and homemade cobbler.

The two couples differences are set to consume them and eventually each other essentially from the start, with the Cowan’s being decidedly upper class, with Nancy being an investment banker, while her husband is an investment banker, whose continuous breaks from the discussion to answer his mobile and discuss his current case were he is defending a questionable Pharmaceutical company facing a class action. Meanwhile the Longstreet’s are less grand in their pursuits with Michael working as a salesman of kitchen ware and sanitary equipment, while his wife Penelope seems almost mismatched to him in comparison, especially with her stance as the concerned liberal and writer of books about Africa’s problems, while extending her desire for chance to her husband, who she is constantly trying to improve. Still she is very much the kind of woman who wears her heart on her sleeve and displays her cultural side on the coffee table, in what would seem to be many of her attempts to social climb and escape the current preconceptions of her current position.

Polanski here has assembled here a truly fantastic cast with Three Oscar winners in his cast and his sole non winner (yet still nominated) Reilly certainly looking like a much stronger contender for one after this one, as he adds yet another great performance to his resume, especially as it’s a performance which emphasis’s his natural warmth and humour, rather than his more forced attempts at comedy he has largely now become associated with thanks to the likes of “Step Brothers” and “Walk Hard: The Dewy Cox Story” which thankfully this is a hundred miles away from. Waltz meanwhile is on his usual top form, with the script perfectly suiting his ability of elevating even the simplest of monologues into a treat for the ears, as he plays and teases out each of the words with the utmost ease. Foster once again gives us her usual sniper esq style of projection, largely being softly spoken throughout and proving truly devastation the further she is pushed as the afternoon rolls on and each attempt to end the meeting fails as the couple return to the living room once more. Winslet is the more emotional of the foursome and produces many of the surprise moments throughout including a vomit sequence which seemingly comes from nowhere and producing a similar level of shock to that of the chest burster in “Alien”.

“Carnage” is the sort of film that will appeal largely to fans of “Lost In Translation” who don’t need frequent scene changes, gratuitous nudity and expensive looking explosions to make their moving going experience a fun one, more so with the action here being a largely dialogue driven look at what happens when the manners start to fade and people let their true side show and while hardly the easiest of sells, it’s one which is certainly worth giving a look and made all the more enjoyable by it’s capable cast who share some real chemisty, helped further by a fantastic script co-written by original playwright Reza and ensuring that it perfectly transfers from the stage to the screen.

Cinema Obscura: Dark City

Posted on February 7, 2012 by Elwood Jones

For some reason Alex Proyas seems to constantly be just below the public conscious, which is only all the more strange when you consider the fact that he is not making cult or indie films, but mainly big budget mainstream productions, despite some of these films such as “The Crow” and this film later gaining cult status, even though they were never intentionally being made for such an audience. Still despite his success he still remains largely under the radar, with his films being better known than the man calling the shots, sadly meaning that frequently little comparison is drawn between his films.

Okay before I go any further, this is a film which I would recommend going into blind, to make the most of it’s highly surreal atmosphere and clever plotting which takes the viewer on a gripping ride through the kafka-esq world which Proyas has crafted with this film, which blends elements of Noir with shade of sci-fi to a create a truly potent blend, while this world he has crafted in many ways feels similar to the one seen in “The Crow” it also has definite shades of Terry Gilliam’s “Brazil” and Fritz Lang’s “Metropolis” also though to say anymore would risk giving the game away, which I will no doubt do throughout this article so treat this as your step off point, as there is a high risk of spoilers ahead!

Opening like a great thriller with John (Rufus Sewell) waking up naked in a hotel bathtub, his memories erased and a mutilated prostitute on the bed. Soon John finds himself framed for a string of brutal and bizarre murders and on the run from not only the police, but also the strange trench coat clad men known only as “The Strangers” as he tries to piece together his missing memories.

Hitting the ground running Proyas gives his audience little time to adapt to the situation being presented to them, as within minutes of John waking up in the bathtub he is receiving a phone call consisting of the possibly insane ramblings of the psychologist Dr. Schreber (Keifer Sutherland) who seemingly knows what has happened to John, but Proyas like Dr. Schreber refuses to give the game away this early and instead drip feeds the clues, allowing the audience to only discover things as John does, as he makes his way through Dark City, a city named after the fact that it constantly shrouded in darkness, with none of the residents remembering the last time it was daytime, while movie theatre fronts advertise movies with titles like “The Evil” and “Nightmare” hinting that nothing is quite what it seems.

While John runs around the city piecing together his past and evading the Strangers, whose arrival is normally accompanied with the chattering of their teeth, while they also have the ability to seemingly change the city at will, unaware that his is also being sought by Police inspector Burnstead (William Hurt), who is investigating the string of mutilated prostitutes whose murders John is currently being linked to, picking the case up from another cop who seemingly has been driven mad by his investigation into the murders with Burnstead’s investigation only providing further pieces of the puzzle, while also creating a whole bunch of new question, such as what is the significance of the Spirals which the now insane cop obsessively draws, why does John keep being plagued by memories of shell beach or Dr. Schrebers maze experiments? Questions all answered in time but Proyas happily teases out the answers, but certainly to the point of frustrating his audience, a crime that “Lost” was certainly more than a little guilty of.

“Dark City” is packed with colourful and interesting characters, with Proyas assembling a more than capable cast to portray them, with each character introduced seemingly more unique than the last, with this even stretching to the strangers, who although they are uniformed by their flowing dark trench coats, chattering teeth and bald heads, still are easy to distinguish between, with “Rocky Horror” Alumni Richard O’ Brian continuing his habit of turning up in the most interesting of places by appearing here as Mr Hand, while proving a truly chilling voice for the strangers until the later introduction of their leader Mr. Book (Ian Richardson), but even then his presence in none the less unnerving whenever he is onscreen.

The art direction throughout is stunning with Proyas using the sprawling cityscape to powerful effect, while pulling the focus in closer to revel the “Brazil” Esq set design with the city designed to appear as a sprawl of concrete and steel, with the sole source of light this city sees coming from the streetlights and strip lights, which only adds to the feeling that this film is essentially a spiritual sequel to it, while also coming across like a forerunner to the “The Matrix” which was released a year later and would also use some of the same sets, while the constantly changing cityscape can be found as an equal inspiration for “Inception”. Proyas throughout the film constantly seems to be looking for ways to add surreal layers, while the decision to shoot the film in constant darkness, is nothing short of ballsy, especially as it’s far from the easiest conditions to shoot under and Proyas avoids the usual pitfalls this setting creates were usually the audience usually struggles to see what is happening on screen. Proyas also makes the most of the strangers ability to change things within the city, as buildings side into position or rise seemingly from nowhere, as he treats his setting like a giant building set, with the moving building shot like the majority of the film using old school effects and bringing back fond memories for myself of the Pirate Accountants in “Monty Python’s: The Meaning of Life”, while the constantly changing landscape frequently happening shortly after the audience has grown accustomed to the latest layout, while the ability to change the city on whim is also used to hint at hidden powers which John may process himself, yet another intriguing piece of this elaborate puzzle.

“Dark City” is the kind of film designed to inspire much like the films which paved the way to it creating and yet for some reason remains like Proyas under the radar for the majority of movie goers and it’s only more of a shame that we are willing to heap praise upon films such as “The Matrix” and “Inception” for their originality of vision, when they clearly seem to be taking cues from this film, not that the Wachowski’s are going to admit it anytime soon, unlike Nolan who modestly admitted to finding inspiration from this film and its own sources of inspiration while writing “Inception”. Still I’m not sure that I can truly describe this movie, which is a work of such creativity and vision that I’m more than sure that i’m not doing it justice, especially when it is a film best experienced first and then discussed and dissected at length preferably over some really good coffee and that’s what I’m going to now urge you all to do and uncover the secrets of “Dark City” for yourself.

Movie Review: A Dangerous Method

Posted on February 4, 2012 by Elwood Jones

David Cronenberg has always remained abit of an oddity to most film fans, especially with his films largely exploring body horror, with a particular interest toward bodily mutation and infection, with his films usually not being as straightforward as the plots many of his fellow horror directors.

Still with his last two films “A History of Violence” and “Eastern Promises” he had begun to move away from horror and instead changing his interest to that of the human psyche, a theme now carried across into his latest film, as he attempts to tell the story of the turbulent relationship between Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender) and Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortensen), aswell as Jung’s relationship with his patient Sabina Speilrein (Keira Knightly), who would later become one of the first female psychoanalysts.

Now I should start by pointing out that I am no Psychology student and really entered into this film, with only the minimal amount of knowledge of either Jung or Freud, so I’ll apologise if this review makes any mistakes regarding them or their theories, as it was more my love of Cronenberg which lead me to this film more than anything else, but I entered willing to learn and this is a film which is rewarding for those of us willing to do just that.

Opening in Jung’s Burgholzi clinic in Zurich in 1904, were he first meets Speilrein as a patient, were she is shown as a feral and convulsive wreck, with Cronenberg strangely opting to skirt around her obsessions with masturbation and defecation, only briefly brings it up in a later case review and here is shown as a considerable success to methods pioneered by Freud who is hero worshiped at this point by Jung which develops later into an uneasy friendship, when two years later he meets Freud in Vienna.

It is the scenes were these two characters are the main focus are largely the most enjoyable of the film, with both Mortensen and Fassbender embodying their roles, with Mortensen in his what is now his third Cronenberg collaboration in a row, portraying Freud as a cigar loving sinister character, who rarely raises his voice above a velvety smooth purr, while Fassbender portrays Jung as a much more Naive and constantly seemingly in a mind of quite contemplation, while he is also seen as highly suggestible especially when it comes to blurring the lines between doctor and patient. Both of these performances perfectly play off each other, with their passionate discussions easily the most riveting parts of the film, especially with Jung growing ever more impatient with Freud’s insistence on every neurosis being underlined by some sexual component attached to it. Meanwhile Freud is equally frustrated that Jung will discredit their psychoanalysis cause, with his frequently pushing past experimental boundaries.

The weak performance here though is with Knightly, who not only confusingly gets top billing on the poster, but also gives an unfocused depiction of hysteria frequently raises more than a few intentional giggles, much like her handling of Speilrein’s affair with Jung which is peppered with the occasional spanking scene, which thanks to Knightly becomes little more than a cheap thrill and the less said about her supposedly Russian accent, which switches from stereotypical Russian to what sounded almost American, made it hard to really enjoy her performance, which ironically had been written for Julia Roberts who dropped out due to scheduling conflicts and is hardly a better option. Personally for myself after seeing “Restless” it’s a role I would have love to have seen tackled by Mia Wasikowska, but alas it was sadly not to be.

What is most surprising about this film is how straightforward Cronenberg has chosen to shoot the film, opting for a Bio-pic method rather than any of his usual mind bending methods, as he works from a script adapted from the play “The Talking Cure” aswell as John Kerr’s book “A Most Dangerous Method” with the story unfolding through the conversations between Jung and Freud, aswell as letters exchanged and Jung’s frequently unorthodox treatment sessions with not only Speilrein but also with referred patient and psychiatrist Otto Gross (Vincent Cassel), whose own influence on Jung allows him to cross the lines of acceptable practice.

Although perhaps not the most action packed of films, this was still a fascinating film to watch and one certainly helped by the performances of it’s two leading men, both sadly missing out on an nomination in this years Oscar nominations, but then it has been a year were the academy has certainly dropped the ball, as further proved by both Mortensen and Fassbender being snubbed. Still if you feel like working your grey matter then this is a suitable work out, while giving new comers to the field of Psychology alittle more of an insight into two of its most important pioneers.

Cinema Obscura: The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters

Posted on February 1, 2012 by Elwood Jones

It is a well established fact that to be the best at something, that it requires sacrifice and the men who the focus of this documentary are no stranger to sacrifice with many giving up hundreds of hours of their life, as well as time with their friends and family, with many clearly looking like their have also sacrificed several other things such as taking showers and the generally any form of human contact…..ladies and gentlemen please allow me to welcome you to the world of competitive classic video gaming!

At the centre of this documentary is the rivalry between two champion gamers and their battle to hold the world record score on “Donkey Kong”. On one side we have self proclaimed “Sauce King” of Florida Billy Mitchell, the current reigning champion whose score of 874,300 has remained unbeaten since he first set it back in the 80’s and who has on the back of this celebrity for this score build a successful line of homemade sauces. Now stepping up to the challenge we have high school science teacher Steve Wiebe and manages to beat Billy’s high score with a new record of 1,006,600 points unwittingly sparking a rivalry between the two men as they now battle to be the King of Kong.

Inspired by a Time Magazine article featuring the top players of the early 80’s and their scores on 12 of the top arcade games at the time, which included such classic games as Missile Command, Pac Man and the all important Donkey Kong, games which were never designed to be beaten and unlike games today required piles of quarters and countless hours of practice to master, as these were games without the unlimited lives and replays of modern games, especially as many never even had ending screens, but rather “Kill Screens” instead were the game either appears as random computer code or even more randomly just kills your character. When director Seth Gordon set out to make this documentary he had originally intended to make it about the holders of these top scores, only to disregard the idea when he met Billy Mitchell and Steve Wiebe, to men who play “Donkey Kong” at the highest level, knowing that he had found his story.

The two men at the heart of the documentary are almost polar opposites to each other with Steve Wiebe shown as the everyman who after being laid off from what should have been a lifelong career at Boeing had set himself a goal of beating the top “Donkey Kong” score after randomly stumbling across “Twin Galaxies” website which is recognised as the official scorekeepers for Classic Video Game High scores. Wiebe here is shown as a figure of continuous misfortune with friends noting several occasions in the past where he has come up short, from his childhood as a Star Baseball pitcher who failed to pitch at the State Championships due to injury and a talent drummer in an early grunge band who failed to get any recognition with every accomplishment his has had always taken from him at the key moment.

Billy Mitchell on the other hand is shown as unashamedly arrogant and cocky without an ounce of self doubt, as he continually peddles his own personal life philosophies and willing to do anything he can to retain his championship title, while frequently coming across like a bad villain from an 80’s action movie, which is ironic seeing how this is a documentary about video games from the same period and while it could be argued that this persona is the result of how the film is edited, despite Gordon going on record to say that Mitchell was “so much worse than we painted him out to be,” and that he only included scenes necessary to tell the story as well as stating that the film would have been much darker if he hadn’t, which is only made more believable when fellow documentary film maker Morgan Spurlock, caught up with Mitchell several years after the films release for a follow up interview for the “50 Documentaries To See Before You Die” countdown were the film charted at #41. In this interview Mitchell almost seemed to not really care what he did as long as he was able to retain his legacy, while frequently seeming aloof during the interview especially when he was questioned about various parts of the documentary.

Mainly following Wiebe as he sets about beating the score only to soon find himself battling more than Mitchell and his score, as he finds his own score under scrutiny from members of the “Twin Galaxies” officials board, which Mitchell is more baffling a member of, while also being the realm of Chief Referee Robert Mruczek and Mitchells self styled protégé Brian Kuh who are both unscrupulous in theirs bids to discredit Wiebe’s scores, even at one point breaking into Wiebe’s garage to examine his “Donkey Kong” machine. Still despite this opposition Wiebe continues to fight to get his scores recognised, while trying to arrange a live battle against Mitchell to find out who truly is the champion.

Although it’s a documentary about Classic Video Games and their more obsessed fans, the documentary still also has a lot of heart and manages to rise way about what could have been a clip show of your stereotypical nerdy gamers, but here they are shown on the same level as Olympian athletes as Gordon attempts to understand what it is about these games and more importantly the World Record Donkey Kong score, a battle which has all the feeling of a heavy weight title fight at these two titans battle to claim the top spot. Aswell as this main title fight we also get to meet a lot of interesting characters from the Classic Video Game scene, such the world’s oldest video game player Doris Self and “Twin Galaxies” founder Walter Day who frequently finds himself in the crossfire throughout the film especially as the battle lines are drawn. We also get to meet the equally colourful Roy Shildt a self styled fitness guru and pickup artist who high score on “Missile Command” has frequently brought him into conflict with several of the “Twin Galaxies” officials in particular Billy Mitchell, with Shildt’s scenes in the film being amongst my favourites, much like one gamer taking his frustration out on his car. Shildt’s scenes are also especially interesting as he frequently provides the sole counter argument to how “Twin Galaxies” is run.

Since the films release the record has since been broken again by Plastic surgeon Dr. Hank Chein with a record score of 1,090,400 points, while “Twin Galaxies” have continued to hold Video Game contests including their Iron Man contest to see if any game could be played for 100 hours straight, a challenge which remained unbeaten despite gamer James Vollandt playing “Joust” for 67½ hours frequently using dangerous techniques to stay awake including blasting himself in the face with Freon and all subject matter which would make for a great follow up documentary, even though Director Gordon seems currently set on making the follow up as a feature film focusing on how the documentary changed their lives and how the rivalry has continued, which personally I would love to see, but for now it’s fun to get lost in the nostalgia this film provides, while being one of the most surprisingly entertaining documentaries ever made.

Got an obscure movie or cult classic you’d like to see me review? Post your recommendations below or drop me a line on the profile page

Movie Review: The Sitter

Posted on January 28, 2012 by Elwood Jones

So the Oscar nominations for 2012 have finally been announced, with some heavy weight contenders such as Hugo, The Artist, The Descendents aswell…..errr Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, which also currently has the distinction of being the lowest rated film to ever receive an Oscar nomination and somehow beating out one of my favourite films from last year “Drive” to an Oscar nod!

So with all this excitement being generated around the Oscar nominations, I instead decided to go and watch this week’s film selection instead, if only to avoid the art house crowd who tend to flock out on mass to see whatever the academy says they should be watching and are almost as irritating as those folks who pop up in TV spots for films with their little one sentence opinions on the film, something which is usually the quickest way to make me not want to see your movie. Still this latest film of the former portly funny man Jonah Hill, who has since the films release slimmed down dramatically and now seems to have the appearance of a Willy Wonka’s Augustus Gloop after he got sucked through the pipes, which being a seemingly constant source of fascination for some members of the critical community, as every interview I have seen with him as of late seems frequently more focused on his weight loss than the film he is promoting.

Following in the long standing tradition of questionable babysitters, a genre long having been run into the ground and having first started back in the 80’s with “Adventures in Babysitting” and “Uncle Buck”, with the years following providing a number of questionable attempts to capture the fun of these early misadventures from “Don’t Tell Mom The Babysitters Dead” through to more recent efforts like “Just Go With It” and “The Pacifier”. Now Jonah Hill steps up to the babysitting challenge as slacker Noah, a college dropout whose only goal in life it would seem is trying to get into his continually demanding girlfriend of sorts Marissa (Ari Graynor) knickers. Still having been guilt tripped by his dotting mother into babysitting for her friend’s kids it’s only a matter of time before things start to go wrong, especially when Noah sets off on a quest in the city to score cocaine for Marissa (Ari Graynor).

As to be expected the terrible trio of kids, Noah finds in his care are the usual bunch of child crazies, comprising of neurotic 13 year old Slater (Max Records), his adopted brother Rodrigo (Kevin Hernandez) whose sole loves in life are playing with explosives and his frequent attempts at running away, the latter causing him to now be tagged permanently with a GPS tracker, while the youngest Blithe (Landry Bender) is a celebrity obsessed poppet, an obsession which causes her to cake herself in make up while developing some serious delusions on what celebrity really is.

So having introduced Noah to the trio, it’s really only a matter of time before things start to go wrong, for we are only just past the individual kids taking their shots at Noah, before his supposed girlfriend is phoning him up to score cocaine for her, a plot device I really had to question in terms of taste. I mean when did it become so socially acceptable for characters to be snorting cocaine? Has pot become so mainstream and socially acceptable that it has bumped cocaine into the spot of acceptable party drug of choice? What I guess is more concerning is were this leads things next. Are we going to soon see characters shooting up heroin or whipping out crack pipes?

Still having set this questionable quest for Noah, he is soon packing the kids into the family minivan and heading for the city, were we are soon introduced to possibly the most fun character in the film with Sam Rockwell’s drug dealer Karl, who clearly can’t decide between dealing in steroids or cocaine especially as he surrounds himself with muscle bound goliaths who when not preparing the product are seen frequently working out and while it is setup that Karl is gay, the film never actually bothers to clarify is persuasion, though it is Rockwell’s performance here which provides the majority of the laughs in the film, especially when his mood swings frequently take him from being your best friend to a complete psycho only add to his frequently unpredictable presence which makes you never sure if he’s going to hug you or shoot you and surprisingly makes for a more than suitable antagonist.

Hill here is not exactly branching out with his performance as this once again sees him brings his usual slacker chic to the role, giving it an overwhelming feeling of familiarity, which will be either a good thing or a bad one, depending on what you made of his earlier appearances as this is essentially giving more of the same Jonah which we saw in “Superbad” and “Get Him To The Greek” with only the surroundings and situation being really the only things which have changed. Overall he brings his usual fun energy to the role, though for the detractors it is doubtful that they will be changing their opinion of him with this film, or will it make it any the more clearer on how he managed to pick up his Oscar nomination (much less why both Tilda Swindon and Ryan Gosling missed out on nominations), especially when the film opens with him going down on Marissa while bringing a whole new spin to the plot of “ET” and essentially setting the tone for the rest of the film.

Still despite the slightly dubious message that doing cocaine is a perfectly cool thing to be doing, Hill still manages to bring a lot of heart to the character of Noah, as he helps guides each of their kids through their various issues be it the falseness of celebrity or that blowing up bathrooms is probably not the best vocation in life. Yet more surprisingly heart warming is the scene in which *SPOILER ALERT* Noah helps Slater deal with his neuroticism and surprisingly makes the ballsy decision to have Noah assuring him that there is no shame in being gay, something which really came as a shock for a mainstream movie and while this was perhaps not the best film to tackle the image, especially when Noah is listing the benefits as stereotypically smelling nice and having great fashion sense, but it’s still miles ahead of other mainstream movies which tend to skirt around such issues, let alone openly say “You know what, there is no shame in being gay!” *SPOILER ALERT OVER*.

Were the film really suffers though is with how ludicrous it frequently becomes in places with some of the situations being blown completely out of proportion, especially when Noah is never seen having to pay for any of his transgressions which include trashing the family minivan and ripping off his absent fathers diamond store. Meanwhile attempts to add emotional depth to the film frequently fail, much like a much discussed geo-magnetic storm which ultimately comes to nothing. Still this heavy mixture of violence, profanity and smoltz makes for frequently uneven viewing at best and while it has it’s moments it is probably one left for a night of dumb movie viewing, which is how it’s best enjoyed and as such probably best waiting for the DVD release rather than paying out the over inflated price of a cinema ticket.

Cinema Obscura: Splice

Posted on January 24, 2012 by Elwood Jones

I have only now for some unknown reason finally gotten around to watching this weeks film choice, which surprised myself especially as I’ve always been a big fan of its director Vincenzo Natali, who despite writing and directing some incredible sci-fi films including my personal favourites “Cube” and “Cypher” has still remained largely on the indie film making scene, only recently has begun the move towards mainstream film making with his future announced projects including the 3D remake of “Swamp Thing” as well the long awaited adaptation of William Gibson’s cyber punk classic “Neuromancer”.

Having arranged a film evening with my friend Zoe last weekend and wanting to find something less run of the mill to watch, I thought it was time I finally got around to watching this film, especially since it’s release it had been much the source of much discussion amongst the cult film lover community, with my critic rival Bryce over at the fantastic “Things That Don’t Suck” who not only noted in his review the fact that at one point “Spice” had been given the catchy working title of “Men Will Fuck Anything” but also humorously refers to this film as “Poor Decision Making: The Movie” which honestly I think really captures the gist of what this movie is about.

The plot is the usual cautionary tale of why man should not attempt to play god, as the hip scientist couple and workaholic genetic engineers Clive (Adrien Brody) and Elsa (Sarah Polley) continue to push the moral boundaries cloning hybrid creatures using the DNA of various animals in the pursuit of creating new compounds needed for the creation of new medicines. Drunk on their success and recent rejection of pushing their experiments further, they go against their superior’s orders and set about trying to splice human DNA into one of their hybrid clones, creating a new humanoid hybrid named Dren. Despite their better judgement they raise the hybrid, knowing that with her accelerated growth rate that she will die in a few days, unaware of exactly what they have really created.

Original envisioned as his follow up to “Cube”, Director Natali put the script for “Splice” aside for another twelve years to allow for the CGI effect to reach a level which would allow him to make the film he envisioned, much like James Cameron did with “Avatar” which also suffered from an equally drawn out development period for the same reasons. Still it ultimately pays off as Dren is a fantastic creation with KNB EFX taking Natali’s notes on her design and crafting a truly memorable creature who is alien in appearance yet still retains the hint of humanity which not only provides a strange familiarity, but also invokes some real emotion from the audience especially with her timid child form, which is only added to by the believable Mother Daughter relationship which develops been Elsa and Dren, with Polley incredibly convincing the role of Elsa who longs for a child of her own, yet is not willing to sacrifice her work and research with Dren seemingly being a halfway point between the two.

While the plot may be the stuff of numerous 1950’s B-movies and were it is heading is pretty much predictable from the get go, but by shifting the focus onto genetic splicing Natali attempts to bring something new to the table, while crafting a story packed with enough bodily mutation and weird hybrid creatures aswell as other general randomnessto help this film stand out on it’s own, such as the fact that their creations are grown in what would by all appearances seem to be a womb in a box, while their first creations affectionately named Fred and Ginger, look like gelatinous komodo dragons which also engage in weird tongue sex. Still the real fun comes with the ever evolving form of Dren who frequently pulls out a number of surprises as she grows into a full formed adult with the biggest surprises saved for the end, while Natali frequently finds ways to draw back on earlier mentioned theories, so that no information is every just clumsily thrown out there.

What is frustrating here though is the seemingly constant desire that Natali feels to bring a hip edge to everything, for he’s not happy to just have his lead character be genetic engineers, but that they also have to be young hip genetic engineers who crave the covers of popular science magazines like “Wired” rather than “Time” or that Clive wears military stripes on his lab coat while they work in a lab full of equally hip young scientists who rock out death metal and eat pizza while creating strange hybrid creatures, hell even Dren’s name is just “Nerd” spelt backwards! It’s all really minor complaints and in some way distracts from the fact that Clive and Elsa manage to create a human hybrid on their own, while working with a full team and expensive looking lab equipment the best they can seeming create is a couple of gelatinous komodo dragons or the fact that they always seem to have a handy supply of cardboard boxes of just the right size to move Dren out of the labs.

Surprisingly for a film so focus on genetic mutation, the film is a largely goo free affair with Natali seemingly more keen to focus on the danger of the unknown, yet still allowing himself some sporadic splatter including possibly the first scientific unveiling to come with it’s own unintentional splash zone. Also on offer are a couple of questionable sex scenes, including one between Clive and Dren which questionable was the part of the rental disc which decided to freeze up, so god knows who had been wearing that part out!

Ultimately “Splice” is a fun movie which despite losing some of it’s initial pace and enthusiasm still makes for an interesting watch, with the surprises coming right until the end, witth Natali once again seemingly leaving things open for a sequel, while continuing his ongoing theme of leaving the audience with something to ponder and especially in my case eager to see what he comes up with next!

Got an obscure movie or cult classic you’d like to see me review? Post your recommendations below or drop me a line on the profile page

Five Films To Watch Out For In 2012

Posted on January 17, 2012 by Elwood Jones

So we are only weeks into the new year and excitedly the official release schedule for 2012 has now been confirmed, with it already looking like another exciting year for cinema releases and while the focus might be this year strongly on it being a summer of Superhero movies with “The Dark Knight Rises” and “The Avengers” being eagerly awaited while we also have the Superman reboot “Man of Steel” and more importantly the perhaps unneeded reboot of ”Spider-man” all looming large on the horizon.

Still with so many good films being released in 2012 it’s easy to miss some of the smaller and low key releases. So ignoring the films currently generating masses of hype already, here are my Five Five Films To Watch Out For In 2012

Title: Iron Sky

Director: Timo Vuorensola

Release date: April 4

Plot: In 1945, on a secret base built in the Antarctic, Nazi’s launched spaceships to establish a military base on the dark side of the moon. Now having amassed a powerful invasion fleet in 2018 they set a course for Earth.

Why To Be Excited: Reeking of 1950’s B Movie goodness and seemingly shot in the same style of fellow B-movie homage “Sky Captain & The World of Tomorrow”, this tale of Space Nazi’s has been low on the radar for most critics, giving their picks of the 2012 releases, but staring cult favourite Udo Kier and currently producing some fun teaser trailers, this has all the potential of being a big cult hit.

Title: Chronicle

Director: Josh Trank

Release date: Febuary 3

Plot: Three high school friends gain superpowers of Telekinesis, Flight and Invulnerability after making a discovery in a mysterious crater and soon set about making the most of their new found powers, while one of the friends is fighting the allure of the darker side of his powers.

Why To Be Excited: Another film in the ever growing genre of real world superheroes and following eagerly on the heels of the likes of Kick-Ass, Super and Defender, by once again putting super heroes in a real world setting, with this film being interesting shot on a hand held camera, but unlike other films shot like this such as Cloverfield, it promises to have less shaky camera movements as the boys use their powers to steady the camera. Already from the trailer this looks amazing and with the prospect of the boys happily abusing their powers, it an interesting enough angle to help it stand out in a summer which already has it’s fair share of established Superheroes making their return.

Title: Norwegian Wood

Director: Tran Anh Hung

Release date: Out Now

Plot: Toru Watanabe recalls his days as a college student living in Tokyo and the relationships he forms with two very different women, The beautiful yet troubled Naoko and the lively and outgoing Midori.

Why To Be Excited: Okay honestly I added this largely due to it being based on one of my all time favourite books by Haruki Murakami, who is an author whose books I would urge you all to check out and as soon as I heard about the film adaptation of this book I have been eagerly awaiting it’s release while already picking up a Golden Lion nomination at the Venice film festival, though probably destined like so many foreign language releases for a limited cinema release but certainly one to hunt down.

Title: Frankenweenie

Director: Tim Burton

Release date: October 5

Plot: After being hit by a car, a pet dog Sparky is brought back to life by his young owner Victor.

Why To Be Excited: First off it’s a Tim Burton film which doesn’t feature his wife Helena Bonham Carter or more shocking Johnny Depp (OMG) as well as rather excitedly marking his return to stop motion animation. Based on his original short 1984 film of the same name which you can find in the bonus features of the Nightmare Before Christmas DVD (aswell as no doubt on YouTube) which was originally a live action feature, which only make the fact he has chosen stop motion animation as the format in which to remake it. As with the original this film is a homage to the 1931 film version of Frankenstein, but with the extension on the original film promising more ghoulish creations, when others learn of Victors secret experiment and set out to make their own creatures based on their own pets.

Seeing how his last venture into stop motion was the hit and miss Corpse Bride, a disappointing follow up for most to A Nightmare Before Christmas, it will be interesting to see how this one plays out especially with none of his regular cast currently making an appearance here, though most irritating is the insistence of Disney (who are also re-releasing Finding Nemo) to shoot it in sodding 3D!!

Title: The Hunger Games

Director: Gary Ross

Release date: March 23

Plot: In the ruins of what was once North America, the nation Panem randomly chooses one boy and girl, ages 12-18, from each of the 12 districts to risk their lives in the Hunger Games, a ruthless competition in which each contestant, or tribute, tries to kill the others until only one remains. The winner receives honor, gifts, and enough food and supplies to never worry for anything material again. The Games, while entertainment for the Capitol’s citizens, are a yearly reminder to the 12 districts of their unsuccessful rebellion 74 years ago, during which District 13 was completely destroyed.

Why To Be Excited: It’s “Battle Royale” but you know for kids despite the books author Suzanne Collins has repeatedly claimed to have never heard off until she submitted the book for publication. Unsuprisingly for this reason the book has been savagely attacked by the Battle Royale fans since it’s release, but when faced with a film adaptation of this book series or a clumsy remake of “Battle Royale” honestly this is the lesser of two evils.

With the studios hot to pick up the next teen saga, with both “Twilight” and “Harry Potter” coming to their conclusions, it was unsurprising that this series was picked up and with a strong first book to be adapted this has every potential of being good, though it will be interesting to see how the more violent and frequently shocking moments of the book are handled, while the follow up books are sadly rehashes of the first book, with the second half of the sequel being simply a rerun of the events of the first book just in a different setting as well as featuring an unforgivable clumsy cliffhanger, it may not potentially be the new hit series the studios are looking for.

Still with Woody Harrelson appearing as the drunk mentor Haymitch and Lenny Kravitz appearing as stylist Cinna, it good to see that atleast some thought has gone into the casting, rather than the usual bombardment of big named actors.

So there you have it five films all worth giving a look, but with such a jam packed release list of films coming in 2012 and more films still being announced, don’t be surprised if you see another list from myself soon.

But what film are you most looking forward to seeing in 2012??

Post your own picks in the comments section below.

Movie Review: The Muppets

Posted on January 14, 2012 by Elwood Jones

While for those you based Stateside, this might not be exactly a new movie, but here in the UK we are actually still waiting for it to be released, which currently would currently be sometime in February at the earliest, that UK Muppet fans will get to finally see this latest caper which is not only made all the more infuriating by the soundtrack being readily available over here, but also the fact that while flying over to the States they actually had this film on the plane as the in-flight movie!

What is it about this film which has caused so much delay, especially when films are now opened world wide? Is this the studio’s way of given permission for folks to pirate their film, rather than wait a whole two months later than everyone else, while personally I’ve ranked this slap in the face on pretty much the same level as the UK never getting to see “Grindhouse” in it’s beautiful double feature format, a decision which upon finding out that this was to be it’s fate for the UK release, saw me leaving work getting on a plane and flying to LA, to then go straight to a movie theatre before heading back to the airport and flying back in time for work the next day…. but alas I digress.

Following a young Muppet called Walter, who has grown up with his brother Gary (Jason Segal) obsessed with the Muppets and is over joyed when he is given a chance to go to the Muppet Studio’s when Gary plans to propose to his girlfriend Mary (Amy Adams) on a trip to Hollywood. Still it would seem that the Muppets have fallen on hard times as of late, having slipped from the public conscious and all having gone their separate ways, leaving the studio to fall into disrepair, while a greedy oil tycoon Tex Richman (Chris Cooper) is now plotting to demolish the studios to drill for oil, meaning that they must track down and reunite the Muppets to put on a telethon to raise the $10 million required to save the studios.

Coming a whole six years after their last movie “Muppets’ Wizard of Oz”, this film is very much a return to the same basics of the original Muppet movies, especially with the Muppet studios having spent the last few years concentrating on kids TV productions, this film marks a welcome return to the original Muppets which started the whole craze in the first place, while also being strangely self referential as the Muppets are not shown here as the huge global superstars that most of us see them as, but rather faded showbiz stars and it’s almost fitting, especially with these iconic creationswww.you after having been out of the mainstream (bar the occasional appearance) for the last few years and this film in a way almost feels like an attempt to reintroduce them to a new generation, as well as bringing back a lot of memories for the established fan base, as the Muppets are left to pull off a lot of their usual trademarks, rather than trying to work them into an adaptation of an established classic, as has more recently been seen with the aforementioned “Muppets’ Wizard of Oz” and my personal favourite “Muppets’ Treasure Island” and has the lets just put on a fun show feeling of the original Muppet Shows.

In the lead up to the films release the Muppets, choose a slightly different promotional route of rather than showing the best bits of the film, choose instead to release a bombardment of spoof trailers of that summers big releases starting with “Green With Envy” and soon being followed with parodies of “The Hangover Part 2” (The Fuzzy Pack), “Green Lantern” (Being Green), “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” (The Pig with the Froggy Tattoo), “Paranormal Activity” (Abnormal Activity), Puss in Boots (Fuss in Boots) and “Breaking Dawn – Part 1” (Breaking Prawn)….phew! Needless to say it worked, with each new trailer being greeted with frenzied excitement by the Muppet fans, so thankfully after all the hype they actually remembered to make a decent movie!

Still despite the gap between Muppet movies, it would seem that the Muppets have lost none of their appeal or star drawing power, with casting rumours for the film throwing up a whole phone book worth of possible celebrity appearances, with many of final confirmed celebrities having to be omitted due to time restraints, making the DVD release only all the more eagerly awaited as hopefully these missing cameos will show up in the bonus features, especially with Lady Gaga and everyone’s favourite Mexican badass Danny Trejo being amongst these cameo’s, only makes it all the more of an exciting prospect, even though it is doubtful that any will be able to compare to Quentin Tarantino’s amazing surprise cameo in “Muppets’ Wizard of Oz”

This however doesn’t mean that this film doesn’t feature its fair share of memorable celebrity cameos with Segal, Adams and Cooper left to handle the brunt of the human acting, while Jack Black brings his usual frantic energy playing himself while providing memorable scenes in anger management class with Animal who it would seem has spent the last few years trying to control his trademark wild ways.

While the focus is largely on the original characters meaning that newer favourites such as Rizzo are noticeably reduced to a brief appearance in the finale, the film still manages to introduce several new characters such as “80’s robot” and Walter who manage to hold their own with established favourites, which is no small feat for Walter seeing how this is the first time a new Muppet has been given a lead role on their first appearance and thankfully he captures the right balance of Muppet humor and childlike innocence to be an adorable new addition to the cast, while bizarrely Gary never seems to question why his brother would seemingly be made out of felt!?! Meanwhile classic characters such as Rowlf the Dog and Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem who have been pushed to the background in recent films and it was great to see them once again brought to the forefront.

Despite having a bizarrely 50’s styling to the film, the film’s soundtrack doesn’t reflect this theme, as the film switches effortlessly between instantly classic new Muppet songs such as the catchy “Life’s a Happy Song” and classic rock, while also throwing in the occasional surprise such as the all clucking chicken cover of Cee Lo Green’s “Forget You” by Camilla and the Chickens, creating yet another great Muppet soundtrack.

“The Muppets” marks a triumphant return to form for the Muppets and it’s good to see them back doing what they do best, even if it’s doubtful that they will be back on our TV screens in the near future, we can at least hope that the gap between this film and the next won’t be so long or at least not have it’s UK release so delayed that I have to take a plane to see the darn thing!

Movie Review: Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey

Posted on January 7, 2012 by Elwood Jones

Recently my son William has become obsessed with Elmo causing him to try and hug the TV when he is on, which ironically it was also this same time that they decided to not show any more episodes of “Elmo’s World”, leaving me stuck with the same two episodes I had taped for him on the SKY+ box now on seemingly constant repeat.

Still the appeal of the fuzzy red monster is a powerful thing, as a few years back there were riots and people queuing outside of toy stores all trying get their hands on a “tickle me Elmo”, while “Sesame Street” also failed to get picked up by nearly every Network until one Network head caught her Granddaughter trying to hug Elmo through the TV screen though perhaps even she wouldn’t predict what a monster hit the show would go on to become. So perhaps it was the desire to try and figure out the appeal of Elmo, especially when the Muppets universe is filled with so many memorable and colourful characters, what is it that makes him so special, all answers I was hoping to find with this documentary.

“Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey” tells the story of Kevin Clash the man best known as being the puppeteer behind Elmo, following him from his early years as an aspiring puppeteer from Baltimore, to eventually meeting legendry puppet maker Kermit Love and Muppets creator Jim Henson and finally in what would possibly be the most significant moment of his career, finding a way to bring Elmo to life.

Kevin Clash might not be aswell known as some of the puppeteers, especially when it comes to the Jim Henderson Workshop which includes such legends as Frank Oz, Bill Barretta and Carroll Spinney amongst it’s ranks, yet he is arguably just as important, especially seeing how he is the creative force behind Sesame St working as producer, director aswell being the head trainer for other puppeteers, let alone the man responsible for one the biggest cash cows of the Muppet franchise, while perhaps at the same time sacrificing other parts of his life for his love of puppets and it’s his story the documentary sets out to tell.

For someone who has achieved so much Kevin Clash comes across surprisingly humble especially considering how much he has achieved throughout his career, yet he still comes across like a guy who still can’t believe that he is getting to do the job he does, while at the same time clearly having a passion for his art, which this documentary frequently shows it is a lot more than funny voices and exaggerated movements, as he is shown demonstrating a fierce attention to even the most minute of details somthing especially seen during his training session held with the French cast of Sesame Street, while later scenes show that he is equally passionate with training the next generation of puppeteers when he takes a break from his busy schedule to meet with a young puppeteer.

Starting with Clash as a young boy, being inspired by the puppets he saw on TV, to the point were he ransacked his parents closest for a fur coat which would soon become his first creation, with his talent soon landing his parts on “Captain Kangaroo” and “The Great Space Coaster” while gaining a mentor in Kermit Love.

Luckily for director Constance Marks, Clashes life it would seem has been extensively documented on film so rather than the usual collection of snapshots of her subject’s early years, we get to bare witness to Clash learning his craft and seeing the development as the years pass, with a video camera seemingly always on hand for all of his key moments from performing for the kids his mother looked after with only a bed sheet hung over a washing line as backdrop to his first meeting with Kermit Love, while the extensive amount of footage here frequently provides a deeper insight into the backstage workings of not only the making of Sesame St but also the Muppet movies aswell, with Clash unknown to myself before watching this documentary has worked on nearly all of them with cult classic “The Dark Crystal” getting particular focus as a missed opportunity which Clash elaborates on his regret at missing due to his filming commitments on “Captain Kangaroo” and “The Great Space Coaster” both of which would ironically be axed shortly after and his excitement at getting a second shot at working with Jim Henderson on the equally cult “Labyrinth”.

Narration of Clash’s story is given to Whoopi Goldberg though apart from appearing throughout the early scenes, this commentary mysterious disappears until almost the end, making me wonder why they even bothered to include it in the first place, especially when Clash seems more than happy to tell his own story. Meanwhile the soundtrack feels frequently to be trying to retch the emotion from the audience, giving things at time a real false sense of sentimentality, while director Marks is happy to cut out parts of Clash’s life such as his ex-wife who only gets mention in passing by Clash, with her focus seemingly more on his journey as a puppeteer than anything resembling a full picture of his life.

While Clash might be the star of the show, his story is frequently focused on how it intertwines with the lives of the most famous puppeteers with Jim Henderson, Frank Oz and Kermit Love’s stories frequently appearing alongside Clash’s and how they worked to further what the Muppets had established while how Clash came to become Elmo’s sole puppeteer seems almost accidental, seeing how it was only after one frustrated puppeteer challenged him to make the puppet’s character work, that the Elmo we now love was born, with rare stock footage showing the caveman Esq. persona had before, showing just how one lucky break can really change a persons fortunes.

The problem that this documentary suffers from though is that Clash is not the most interesting of documentary subjects, with Marks seemingly being so determined to cut around any darker parts of Clash’s life outside of the sudden death of Jim Henderson, you can’t help but feel that the documentary would have worked better had it focused on Henderson’s Workshop as a whole rather than focusing on just one puppeteer, even though he undeniably an important and highly talented member of the company, but as a documentary subject it would have worked as an hour long special, but as a feature it feels far too ponderous in places, even though it does provide at times a fascinating insight into what it takes to truly be a master puppeteer, aswell as going some way to explain the world’s obsession with an adorable furry red monster named Elmo.

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