24/48 Hours -- The Half-time Report

Mikaela says:
Saw some movies last night. Did you?

All in all, not a total waste of $7 bucks. The atmosphere was great (minus the loud drunk guy who was only occasionally funny yelling at the screen during the movies); the movies were ... not too painful.

Right off the bat, you gotta give slack for the unbelievable pressure of high-speed turnover. This thing starts and finishes before you can blink.

That said, a lot of the movies start with stereotype and cliches; the good ones move beyond them. It's not a bad move. Cliches are short-hand for stories, fleshing out a plot without you having to do a lot of work, and they do it quickly. The problem is that they are big, black holes for talent, and only the speediest and mightiest escape their dark energy. The rest just ... suck.

Here were last night's films, in order of viewing:

Movie	Team	Genre
"Debloked"	Digital Pirates	Comedy
"Stare Down"	There is no I in Team	Mockumentary
"Dreams and Memories"	All the Elf-King's Men	Drama
"myPod"	Lost Puppy Productions	Romance
"Spiral"	Sofa King We Todd Ed	Silent
"Blood Line"	Eye Candy	Detective/Cop
"Crazy White People"	Rosebud	Family
"A Step Outside"	CSF	Fantasy
"Red Meat"	Twenty Eight 80	Horror

My favorite by far: "Stare Down," a mockumentary about a cut-throat competition of staring in which the yogi won. Hilarious. Great production values. Playful. Intelligent. Surprising. Just great.

Second in my esteem: "Red Meat," by m-favorite Gene Grant (among others). I'd spare you from ruining the ending, but ... when are you ever going to see this now that you MISSED IT??? You think this mass murderer is about to take out 2 pretty little blonde girls. Instead, they lure him into the trap and kill him for dinner. The mom, in pleasantville kitchen, slaps a big ole slab o' meat onto the counter and purrs at the good job they've done. It's somehow creepy yet totally normal without being after-school special. A dangerous tightrope, indeed.

A distant and vaguely disappointing third: "Spiral," which starts off with a twisted visual joke that gets a real laugh before you can stop yourself, then just gets weird twice, without an ending or resolution. I wanted to like it more; the ending just wouldn't let me.

Another I thought interesting but ... not compelling was the fantasy movie "A Step Outside." Some good dialogue (but uneven for sure), great production values, a strong woman character (although too ... Platonic forms for my taste), and then ... a whole lotta nothin'. Or, a hole-lotta somethin'. Don't really care which.

And you, dear reader? What did you like?

Don't know cause you didn't go? Uh-huh. So you're going tonight, right?

Guild Cinema
7 or 9 pm.

Come to the 9 pm and fight me for rightness!