the life and times of endenizen » Movie

The San Francisco Independent Film Festival started on Thursday. Today I saw two movies, the first of which was “Beach Party at the Threshold of Hell” (the second was Mojave Phone Booth which I may write about later). It’s a dark comedy about America near the end of the 21st century after nuclear bombs have destroyed many of the largest cities. One brave man (Tex Kennedy) goes on a journey to find the forefathers of the new nation, including robot bodyguards, a cannibal, and a blind king. The violence in the film resembles Quentin Tarantino in gore and comic effect. With great acting from the whole cast and a great story to boot, this is a great first film from writer/director/star Kevin Wheatley. Recommended for fans of apocalyptic comedies, or films like Evil Dead or Mad Max.

Transformers the Movie!

Transformers, as a toy and a TV series, have been around since 1984. As such, geeks born in the early 80s will be very excited about the upcoming live-action movie featuring those “Robots in Disguise.” I was never “in” to Transformers if only because I didn’t watch a lot of TV. Perhaps if there were a live-action movie featuring them in my youth (I wasn’t too interested in the animated movie of the animated series I had never seen) I would have been as excited as I was about toys from Ghostbusters and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Alas, my kids-toy buying days are all but over so I have merely the movie itself to be excited about.* And quite excited I am, from what I’ve seen so far. The guys making this movie are not regular old hollywood-types**… they’re mega-geeks.

Watch the Transformers trailer

*Unless, of course, they make some of those “executive” toys out of shiny metal and sell them in small, silk-lined robot coffins. Maybe I’d even put a couple on my desk.

**Not that so-called “hollywood-types” are inherently bad. I’m referring to the countless failed movie adaptations as a result of very little experience with what they’re adapting.