The story of T.R. can be angry, humorous, depressing, and cynical. T.R. stands for "The Rejected" and the group of kids portrayed in this movie are rejected by pretty much everyone other than themselves. They are a group of punks who are squatting in a run down house in an abandoned area of the city that was meant to be a pretty little suburban community. Now, the T.R. punks are the only people who live there along with a group of wild dogs. Writer/director Penelope Spheeris shows their daily life in a believable light from partying at night to love among punks. There is also the threat of some redneck good ol' boys who are determined to "evict" the T.R. kids and shoot all the wild dogs for fun. I thought this one was better than great. Skeptics may tell me that the acting sucks but I felt that it was acted beautifully. I may be wrong but it seemed that many of the actors actually live the lives they are playing in the movie. The accepted leader of T.R. named Jack is played by Chris Pederson who gives a great performance and plays the leader role without coming off as a power monger. He is simply the guy who holds the group together and makes the important decisions but he doesn't play it like a dictator (or "hero"). If you are into punk rock or urban legends, check this out. With Flea (The Red Hot Chili Peppers) as a T.R. kid named Razzle. Live music performances by DI, T.S.O.L., and The Vandals.
This could very well be the most stylish gangster movie I have ever seen. The story of two female lovers named Corky and Violet who come up with a plan to steal over two million dollars from Violet's gangster boyfriend, Caesar. The acting is phenomenal with performances from Jennifer Tilly as Violet and Gina Gershon as Corky that should have been Oscar contenders. Joe Pantoliano plays the role of Caesar to the hilt with an almost campy feel that makes him comical at times and extremely threatening at other times. Pantoliano was last seen in the wonderful television series "EZ Streets" that was cancelled for reasons beyond my comprehension as it was on of the best shows I have seen on TV in the last ten years. The writing and directing by the Wachowski brothers was so interesting and well thought out that I could not take my eyes off the screen for the duration of the film. It is obvious that these guys love movies as you can see a number of influences including some shots that are reminiscent of Italian maestro Dario Argento and plot twists like Alfred Hitchcock. This movie has some incredibly effective moments of suspense and you truly cannot tell what will happen until it happens.
I saw this years ago and I decided to watch it again as I recently read the book by Bret Easton Ellis. I was a little disappointed this time around as the movie strays quite far from the book and leaves out a lot of many important images and plot points. From an objective point of view, however, this story of Beverly Hills brats who have it all and piss it away on drugs and parties is quite the flick nonetheless. Andrew McCarthy plays Clay, a rich kid who goes away to school and returns at Christmas to find his girlfriend, Blair, and his best friend, Julian, on a one way path to destruction. Blair is a hopeless girl who has no real motivation for anything other than partying and getting high. Julian is a hundred times more hopeless than Blair as he has lost everything and is now a junkie whose life consists of getting high and trying to pay off drug debts. Jami Gertz ("The Lost Boys") plays Blair and Robert Downey Jr. plays Julian. It is rumored that Downey was actually playing the part in reality and with his recent arrests, it could very well be true. He is still a great actor, though, and you really feel sorry for him in the film. James Spader ("Crash") appears as Rip, a drug dealer that helps Julian hit rock bottom by constantly providing him with dope. My only complaint with this film is that Andrew McCarthy is too wimpy and I found it hard to believe that he could be surrounded by all this decadence without once participating.
It was fun to watch this as it has a number of players who are either popular now or have siblings who were popular then. George Clooney plays Remar, a surfer who is into selling drugs to make ends meet. Remar and his best friend, Attila (Doug Savant from "Melrose Place"), decide to make one last score so they can get out of the business. That is until their friend True Blue (Doug McKeon) gets arrested and gives up the name of the local drug lord Calavera. Calavera is very angry about this and plans to do away with Remar and his buddies because they have betrayed him. I know the story is not the most original idea but it was still interesting to see all of these actors in a low budget action movie from almost ten years ago. Dedee Pfeiffer plays Remar's girlfriend and Gene Simmons from Kiss plays the father figure of the surfers who helps them with advice and supplies for their drug runs.
This is the John Waters movie that precedes the infamous "Pink Flamingos". They both contain many of the same lovable bunch of cast members including Divine, David Lochary, Mary Vivian Pearce, Mink Stole, and Cookie Mueller. This was also the first appearance of Waters regular Edith Massey. I liked this film a lot as Waters comes up with the strangest stories that are so fun to follow. Divine plays a ringleader of the Carnival of Perversions which contains a traveling sideshow group that enjoy murdering their audiences. Soon, jealousy plays a part when Divine's lover, Mr. David, runs off with a girl named Bonnie (Mary Vivian Pearce) and Divine is hell bent on revenge. Divine then proceeds to get a rosary job (?) at a church from Mink Stole and together they hunt down Mr. David and Bonnie. This movie is not the most technically proficient film as the sound quality is poor at times and the camera is all over the place but this is part of the charm of Waters' early work as you can see it was done with love.
This is a low budget shocker from the folks who bring us Scream Queens Illustrated. Debbie Rochon stars as Raven Quinn, a famous scream queen who is making a Christmas nudie pic. She is unaware that her next store neighbor, Wayne, is an obsessed nutbar who plans to rid the world of everyone he thinks is holding Raven back and making her take her clothes off. He dresses up like Santa Claus and has a hook that he kills people with. I liked this movie although almost everything about it is as low budget as it gets. They could have tried a little harder on the make-up effects but I guess it is all in good fun. I also must say that Debbie Rochon is one of the most beautiful women in film these days. This was written and directed by "Night Of The Living Dead" author John Russo. Cinematography and a small part from Bill Hinzman. Marilyn Eastman (Barbara from "Night") appears as Raven's mother in law.
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