Retroview: Tuff Fest I: Movie 15: A Town Called Panic

A Retroview Review. 
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Luke here, back with a new limited series where I talk about like 60 movies over the next 60 days. Click here for an explanation. Read on for the quick and dirty review!

This is another one that I'd seen before, but definitely wanted to see again, especially with a new group of people who hadn't seen it. Luckily my buddy Dana was around, so we put it on. A Town Called Panic is a motion picture adaptation of a series of 5 minute puppetoon series of the same name. The movie feels an awful lot like twenty 5 minute shorts back to back, the plot free floating and sporadic, but never to the point where it feel taxing. A pure and simple exercise in absurdity, A Town Called Panic is what I call a great, fun movie.

-Luke Hunter James-Erickson
To see all the movies written about so far, click here: Tuff Fest I
Again, for an explanation, click here: Introduction to Tuff Fest I
To suggest movies I should schedule for Get Tuff Fest II, e-mail me: TheeLuke@gmail.com

(p.s. This task has, addittedly, gotten the better of me haha. 60 movies in 60 days on top of a job and being in a band and wanting to read stuff sometimes? haha, yeah, I'm going to need to move a little faster than that. So I'll publish the reviews I've already written, and do a huge wrap up, single to two sentence wrap up of the other movies!)

Retroview: Tuff Fest I: Movie 13: The 39 Steps

A Retroview Review. 
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Luke here, back with a new limited series where I talk about like 60 movies over the next 60 days. Click here for an explanation. Read on for the quick and dirty review!

I was fortunate enough to be able to watch this movie with someone who had worked on a production of the stage version of the 39 Steps. He said that, while this version was a great drama, the stage version was more of a comedy. After looking back on the movie, I could see the points where certain elements, if played differently, could have been laugh out loud funny. That said, I was glad for the drama, as Robert Donat's sly and dry wit and humor would have felt a little dull if everything else was being played up to the nth degree. Hitchcock showcases his at this point well developed sense of pacing and camera work. There's a particularly titillating piece of camera work involving the shot starting in a car, then swinging out as the car drives away, that mirrors Fritz Lang's revolutionary window shot in M (seen here), but improves on it in ways that only Hitchcock could. Of course it's awesome, it's Hitchcock.


-Luke Hunter James-Erickson
To see all the movies written about so far, click here: Tuff Fest I
Again, for an explanation, click here: Introduction to Tuff Fest I
To suggest movies I should schedule for Get Tuff Fest II, e-mail me: TheeLuke@gmail.com

Retroview: Tuff Fest I: Movie 12: Burnt Offerings

A Retroview Review. 
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Luke here, back with a new limited series where I talk about like 60 movies over the next 60 days. Click here for an explanation. Read on for the quick and dirty review!

I put Burnt Offerings on my list primarily because John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats once mentioned it and gave it a fair amount of praise. Burnt Offerings is, first and foremost, a very long movie. It's only really 2 hours, but it feels way longer. Without giving any spoilers away really (as this is the premise of the movie), the house this family agrees to stay in for the summer appears to be draining the life from the family. Whether or not this is what is actually happening, it does appear this way, and when your movie's goal is to show the life slowly being drained from someone, you have to realize that this feeling will be experienced by your audience as well. If you're really into Dark Shadows, and love campy 70's horror, and have nothing to do, then I'd recommend that you watch Burnt Offerings. If not, then I'd heavily consider watching this one scene from it. Warning, Spoiler. That's really all you'll need.

-Luke Hunter James-Erickson
To see all the movies written about so far, click here: Tuff Fest I
Again, for an explanation, click here: Introduction to Tuff Fest I
To suggest movies I should schedule for Get Tuff Fest II, e-mail me: TheeLuke@gmail.com

Retroview: Tuff Fest I: Movie 11: Who Is Harry Nilsson?

A Retroview Review. 
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Luke here, back with a new limited series where I talk about like 60 movies over the next 60 days. Click here for an explanation. Read on for the quick and dirty review!

Everyone likes Harry Nilsson, even if you don't know who he is. I've been a fan of his since my Dad played me Son of Schmilsson when I was a kid. I particularly liked "You're Breaking My Heart." As I got older, I gathered up as much Nilsson as I could get my hands on, absorbing it like the leading brand of paper towels. Until recently I didn't look into his personal life too much, as I've never found that sort of information as interesting as the music itself. But when someone makes a doc about one of the most under-appreciated musicians of the 20th century, I figure it's my duty to find out a little about the guy. Who is Harry Nilsson? goes into immense detail about how crazy this man Harry's life really was, and how if a startling genius can also be a huge jerk, and, simultaneously, a loving man. Okay okay, that's not that startling, but still, it's a good story and a well paced documentary, so what more could you ask for?

-Luke Hunter James-Erickson
To see all the movies written about so far, click here: Tuff Fest I
Again, for an explanation, click here: Introduction to Tuff Fest I
To suggest movies I should schedule for Get Tuff Fest II, e-mail me: TheeLuke@gmail.com

SLM Mixtape #54: Fervency

Fervency from SomeLoveMusic on 8tracks Radio.

The Companion - The Mary Onettes
Hey Mama - The Motorcycle Boy
Over My Shoulder - Paul Banks
Halleluwah - Can
Anonymous - American Taboo
Lies- Big Hair
Compressor - Biting Tongues
Rage the Viking I'm Not - The Blast Conservatory