Gustavlovesbeer.tumblr.com is a new blog that follows the comings and goings of my wifes stuffed animal hamster. Gustav is from the future. He loves beer. He hates Pink Lemonade.
Really that’s all you need to know to get you started.
Just one of the many reasons I love living in Southern California. Stone Cali-Belgique IPA fresh from the brewery.
So this past weekend I flew across country to join about 25 people I barely know in watching movies for 24 hours straight. My friends Mike and Lynn have put this on for 20 years now (they skipped a year early on). It’s something that once I experienced it, I just knew that I had to go back… and keep going back. I fully plan on being there for Fest #20.
For the sake of you not having to go back and read about last year’s Fest (my first) I’ll just say again that it’s like walking into a room and feeling like you just met 25 of your best friends. I felt instantly accepted last year. This year, I was pleasantly surprised that everyone remembered my name.
Mike has said, “You either get Fest, or you don’t.”
I get it. 100%. And I’m already looking forward to next year.
So without further ado, here are the films from Fest #19 along with a few words about each, because let’s face it… I can’t talk about a film without telling you what I think of it.
A perfect kick-off movie for the Fest, Megashark vs. Giant Octopus was one that I’d already seen (there were three this year). It’s pretty cheesy and stars Debbie Gibson (yes… that Debbie Gibson) but while it’s perfect to watch with a crowd, the final megashark/octopus battle leaves much to be desired.
Castaway on the Moon is a Korean film that was a big surprise for me. While not my favorite of the Fest, it was very good and one that I’m looking forward to showing Karen. It’s about a man stranded on a deserted island within sight of civilization, and the shut-in girl who begins communicating with him. That even remotely sounds interesting, you should check out this film.
Enough of the love stories. Midnight Meat Train set the tone for most of the films to follow. This was the fourth time I’ve seen it and it was just as good. Bradley Cooper stars as a photographer trying to capture the “real city” in his photographs. He develops a strange obsession with following and photographing a particularly menacing butcher. The rest is extremely bloody. The release of this film has a story of its own. The movie was never pushed to regular theaters and instead was released for one weekend to dollar/second run theaters by the studio. It was a classic case of the studio wanting changes and the producers/director standing firm behind their contract and refusing. Long story short, a very good film got pushed under the rug. If you like tense horror with little humor and some stunningly unexpected twists, you need to see this movie.
Without a doubt, Rare Exports: A Christmas Story was my favorite flm of Fest 19. A wonderful story about a town in Finland who become victims of the real Santa Claus and his helpers. I don’t want to give to much away but it’s very well done and a hell of a lot of fun. This is the kind of horror movie that’s right up my alley: something original yet not overly jokey. I loves me some monster movies and Santa makes a hell of a good monster.
Easter Bunny, Kill! Kill! is just disturbing. Seriously. There’s not much more I can say about it. It’s got a great sense of humor and the acting isn’t bad considering its budget was about $3.50 plus KFC for dinner. Disturbing kills and even more disturbing situations are what pull this up beyond low-budget joke status. Then the end comes along and you realize that it’s very close to low-budget greatness. No explanations for you… I don’t want to give too much away.
This was not my favorite move of Fest. In fact, there’s only one film I liked less but this one wasn’t horrible to watch with a bunch of people. Originally released as an X-rated title and then trimmed to “R” for release in the States, it is about “Star Whores” who come to Earth from the planet “Spermula” to drain men of their reproductive essence so that they can save Spermula from destruction. The biggest problem is that the “Star Whores” are spirit entities who find sex disgusting when they take first take human form. Well… that may not be the biggest problem. The biggest problem was that there were only about six of them and somewhere around half a billion men on the planet to conquer. Let’s just say the plan was not well thought out.
Udo Kier has a role in it. No… he does not get naked… so Spermula has that going for it.
The Giant Claw sits firmly in my top three favorites from this year. This 1957 piece of cheese is about a giant bird “made of anti-matter that can’t be seen on radar”. That quote is from the program. It’s got a ridiculous premise, even more ridiculous effects and hilariously ridiculous science and dialogue. The bird is basically a giant puppet with rolling, blinking eyes and barely visible strings. I can’t recommend this one enough. Watch it with a group of people and enjoy listening to pseudo-science that will actually hurt your brain.
I’ve been waiting a year to see this one. The day of Fest last year, Mike was showing me around Newbury Comics in Boston when we stumbled on this film. He bought it on the spot without ever having seen it and announced to me then and there that Dead Snow would be in the lineup for Fest 19. Sometimes, you just know a perfect film is in your hands. Nazi zombies come back to find the gold they looted from a small town high up in the mountains. There seemed to be a running theme of disembowelings in this year’s lineup and one of the very best is in this movie. Actually three of the very best were in this movie. Obviously I highly recommend it.
One of the best suspenseful horror movies I’ve seen in while, this entry comes from 1962 (look for it under the title Burn, Witch Burn! in the US). The story involves a university professor whose wife practices black magic to help his career. It’s full of twists, atmosphere and “Tansey!”s. If that doesn’t make sense now, it will after you’ve seen it.
This was the surprise of Fest for me. My second favorite behind Rare Exports, this is the story of a band that begins to become successful only after one of their members becomes a vampire. It’s got a great cast (Malcolm MacDowell, Dave Foley, Iggy Pop, Alice Cooper, etc.) but more importantly it’s got an insanely good script and inventive cinematography. Look for the re-creation of five landmark album covers during the film as well as a great cameo by Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson.
And then there was this movie. Do you watch South Park? If so, then you know who Terrence and Phillip are. Imagine a movie where everything jumps around like talks annoyingly just like Terrence and Phillip, only there are no fart jokes. Just annoying talking/yelling and no plot whatsoever. Seriously. No plot. Not one storyline that needs ever be resolved. Just a bunch of plastic toys freaking out for an hour and a half.
Look, I have always known I’m a jaded asshole who lost my innocence years ago, but I don’t think I have ever been innocent enough to like A Town Called Panic.
Finally, there was Altered. I first saw Altered after last year’s Fest. It’s a hell of a good thriller that proves just how good a film you can make if you invest what little budget you have in the right things. Tense, fun and with another great disemboweling scene, I highly recommend this film.
And that was basically it. Next year they’re going to be bringing back the best films of the first 19 years. I’m pretty sure that Poultrygeist will be on there. If you still haven’t seen that one, you’re truly missing a gem.
Diving today in Shaw’s Cove with my friends Donna and Josh. Everyone was afraid of the oncoming storm so we had the reef to ourselves. Toward the end of our dive, Donna spotted this octopus hiding in a hole. When she put her hand down on the sand next to him, he decided to come out and say hello. The first two images are a bit out of focus but in the third one, you can really see he’s checking her out.
We’ve lived in Southern California for 13 years now and we’ve done a lot of the “touristy” things in that time, but there are a ton of them we haven’t done with an 8-year-old in tow. Especially an 8-year-old who really digs seeing new things and learning as much as she can about each new thing she sees. So we decided last year that come January we would let our Disneyland passes expire and dig back into what makes California such a fun and interesting place to live.
Don’t get me wrong. We do a lot of activities in and around Southern California that have nothing to do with the giant mouse. However, when we have passes, we tend to go to the park twice a month on average and that’s time we could be spending hitting some of the other attractions we’re close to (like the Getty museum, the Griffith Observatory, the Wild Animal Park, etc.).
On Sunday morning, we decided to head out to Dana Point and grab a ride on the Dana Pride. They run two hour whale watching excursions down the coast. At 10:00 a.m. there were only 35 people on board (about a third of what there is normally) and while it was cold, we had a great day. We hung around with a pod of feeding dolphins for about fifteen minutes and then caught up with two migrating California Grey Whales headed to Mexico.
Chilling out on the way back in.
One of my favorite things about California is seeing snow on the mountains while you’re hanging at the beach (or just offshore).
We got some decent video as well. I’ll try to post some up later in the week.
If the weather holds out, then next week we’re going to hike the trails at the Wild Animal Park in San Diego.
Twenty years ago today, I was stationed on a ship in the port of Long Beach. Every day I was on it, I was counting down until I was finally getting out of the Navy. It had been four years and eight months of conforming and doing what I was told so that I could have the money I needed to go to college. It was an experience. It was fun in some regards. Mostly though, I was thinking about what I was going to do once I got out.
All of that to say this. Saturday, Karen, Lily and I got the opportunity to tour the USS Peleliu (LHA-5), the very ship where 20 years ago I was counting down to my honorable discharge. In some ways, it was a flashback. Mostly though, I just had this overwhelming feeling that I’d won. The “me” of 20 years ago would never have guessed I’d be where I am now, back in California with a beautiful, wonderful wife and a gorgeous daughter who both mean the world to me. At the time, all I could think was that I’d hopefully be in college soon and maybe I’d be able to keep a steady girlfriend.
Maybe that’s why I couldn’t stop smiling.
Lily and Cary under the “Big 5”
Lily on the Flight Deck. Helicopters in the background are from the air show.
Lily getting ready for jump school.
The USS Peleliu (LHA-5) lit up at night.
