Butt-Numb-A-Thon Reviews.

So, I was one of the attendees of Harry Knowles' yearly 24 hour (this year? try 27 hour) film festival, Butt Numb A Thon (otherwise known as BNAT) and I have finally gotten home, and now I can share with you my take on the movies.
I won't go over the trailers, cause I sure can't remember all of them, and other people will be far more in depth than I will.

First movie of the evening was the 1926 silent version of "Faust" and it was just bloody incredible. The print was gorgeous, and it reminded me of much of what we have lost in cinema since then. In the push to make things hyper-realistic, we have lost the ability to envision film as not just an art unto itself but also as a visual art. That things don't have to look 'real' to look amazing and to get the idea across. The special effects were great not because they blended seamlessly, but because they always got the visual point across in a striking, effective way. I could not get enough of the fabulousness of Mephistopheles.

Second movie, and our first premier was Peter Jacksons "The Lovely Bones" from Alice Sebold's novel of the same name. I had read about 3/4 of the novel earlier this year, and though I liked it, well, I didn't finish it. I don't think I'd have seen this movie in the theaters and I still don't think I'll see it again, but that isn't to say that it's a bad movie. It made me cry, and on occasion even made me laugh, and it's truly gorgeous but.. it's too melodramatic for me, I have to admit. Stanley Tucci was amazing as the creepy neighbor though, and the girl who played Susie Salmon will go far and is a joy to watch on the screen.

"Girl Crazy" was next, and for me it was a very mixed bag. Yay Busby Berkely setpieces! Yay Tommy Dorsey and his orchestra! Yay screwball comedy! But then also? Realizing that I never liked Mickey Rooney, and that Judy Garland and he have no chemistry together, and the feeling of not understanding the humor of previous generations. However, also amusement at how the world has changed because... a young girl singing "Embraceable You" to a room full of college boys? Really? Who thought that was a good idea? I have to admit, I actually fell asleep during a couple of scenes of this movie. But I didn't miss much plotwise by doing so.

"The Red Shoes" was Martin Scorcese's pick for this slot on the program, and it was so, so very gorgous. I'm not a fan of abstract dance scenes generally (I fast forward through the Broadway Melody section of Singin' in the Rain whenever I watch it without my Cyd Charisse loving husband) but the way that these were filmed was just so stunning and the colors. My god, the colors. Why did Moira Shearer never do anything else? She was so, so amazingly gorgeous.

The reason Scorcese got to pick a movie? Was because his "Shutter Island" was next. I was interested in seeing this movie, so was very happy to be there for what amounted to its premiere. It was beautifully filmed, well acted, suspenseful. Claustrophobic. Cerebral. I really enjoyed it quite a lot, but won't say much more due to possible spoilers. I am so glad that they do not give too much away in the trailers. So very glad.

Wacky French comedies were up next on the list, first with a 1970's movie "Le Magnifique" which I made the mistake of thinking I wasn't going to like, thus disappearing out to the lobby for the first fifteen minutes or so. Huuuuuuge mistake. What I thought was a bad madcap detective movie was actually a very funny film about an author writing a bad, madcap detective novel through a string of misfortunes and annoyances. Very amusing, very well done, and yes, Jacqueline Bisset was effing gorgeous.

Next was "MicMacs" by the same director as Amelie. I will have to see this one again, because while it was very interesting and entertaining, I was so tired by this point that I kept nodding off and couldn't follow the rather complex plot and multitude of characters. Plot would advance when I'd nodded off and eventually, nothing made much sense anymore, though still managing to be funny and entertaining and beautiful.

Having gotten a little rest in, we got our first 'horror' film of the program, Adam Green's "Frozen". A lot of people thought this movie was fantastic. A number of people thought that it was so ridiculous as to be unwatchable. This line was drawn somewhere around the Mason-Dixon line, as anyone who lives in a cold climate voted for 'ridiculous'. The acting was good, the effects (non CGI, all of them) were great. The tension was very well done and the storyline was pretty well paced. But it suffered from a number of major plot glitches that made it difficult to embrace. Namely:
1) People who know the cold have better survival instincts than to leave their hoods off/down. Yes, it was probably done that way so that we could see the actors faces, but the fact that they had hoods and either didn't zip them up or put them on was annoyingly wrong. This could have been fixed simply by giving them jackets without hoods.
2) Wolves don't effing act like that.
3) Ski slopes don't effing act like that.

Next up was the Punishment Film slot, the sort of thing usually taken up by "Tiptoes" or "Toys Are Not For Children". This year it was "Centipede Horror" and the talking up it got before it started ensured that this would be the movie I would sleep through. My husband and another friend both decamped to the lobby for the duration, so I took over their seats and my own, stuffed my neck roll under my head and caught a few Z's.

So I was awake for "The Candysnatchers" (at least mostly) which was a 70's exploitation flick. It was heavily faded, and there was a metric assload of misogyny but it maintained at least a level of entertainment by the ineptitude of the eponymous snatchers and the weird autistic kid. At least it was better than last years exploitation flick, insofar as it had a followable plot and quite a few laugh out loud moments.

Then there was the glory of the whole night. Morning was rearing it's ugly, sun-bleached head and we rolled into a film that had barely entered into my consciousness, "Kick-Ass". And much ass it did kick indeed. Basic starting plot is a high school boy who's pretty much the geeky everyman who no one really see's decides to become a super hero by buying a custom wetsuit and proceeding to tell people not to be bad guys. This leads to a massive beat-down and his gaining both a somewhat stronger skeleton (from all the pins and metal joints) and a screwed up nervous system which means he doesn't feel pain as much as he should. That's it for super powers. More on the plot itself I should not say, but there is an 11 year old girl super hero who just, rocks beyond all words. We were a room full of very picky, very tired cinema fans, and this one brought us to our feet, laughing and hooting and hollering and clapping along with fight scenes. It was an adrenaline rush of a thing, and everyone, I mean everyone, should see this movie. But no one will ever get to see it the way we did, and for that, I am sad for all of you.

Finally, and most predictably, we got James Cameron's "Avatar". I liked it, even though it did suck my adrenaline away and I did nod off a couple of times. That was more due to the tired than the quality of the movie. On one hand, it's extremely predictable. If, after the first 20 minutes you don't know how this is all going to play out, then you just haven't been paying attention. Still, for all that you know where the ride is going, getting there is so damn beautiful it's difficult to relate. The CGI manages to avoid the uncanny valley more skillfully than anything else I've seen. The acting wen it's live is great, and even when it's through CGI characters, it's really damn good. And it's beautiful. It's just so. damn. beautiful. This had better come out in IMAX, and if/when it does, I will be there.

Anyway, so that's it. There was more of course, meeting new people, eating new food, coming home with a massive stomach ache. But I'm tired, and my wad is blown, and so I leave you all with this one last thought.

"Kick-Ass", you must see it.