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Corporate Affairs
(2008 - a straight-to-DVD that streets in
about a month)
Ted begins the film as an eraserhead - the pejorative term used by
corporate hot-shots for their techies - but his dedication and proficiency are
at such a remarkable level that the company's senior managers choose him to
head the IT department, effectively doubling his salary. In his former life as
an eraserhead, despite his tendency to be a workaholic, he had been able to
balance work with ethics, friendships, marriage, and fatherhood. That balance
is not so simple to achieve in his life as an executive. The pressure of
competition steers him into compromises with his company's product, and the
pressure to fit in to the executive set leads him into a life on the road
filled with high-priced call girls. He must ultimately face a choice between
his big promotion and his conscience.
This is a classic case of a film which simply couldn't decide on a
direction. Is it a satire of corporate life? Is it a cautionary drama? Is it a
sexy exploitation film? It has elements of all three, but couldn't seem to
commit, so one side of its mouth preaches moral lessons which would be
appropriate for the Hallmark Network, while the other side offers a little
sleazy softcore in the form of girl-on-girl action.
Ultimately it is not a satisfying film. Only one character is explored in
depth, and he narrates, so the film neither breaks from his perspective nor
shows anything he cannot see. Breckin Meyer and the rest of the cast do a
reasonably good job of delivering the material, but ultimately the story is
too lightweight to be a drama and too coy to be an exploitation film. It's
just a moral tale which offers truisms as lessons. You learn, for example,
that the connection you might feel to expensive prostitutes is not real, and
that continuous daily consorting with prostitutes may have untoward
consequences for your marital and legal status. Gee, really? Who could have
dreamed?
Film clips:
There are two showgirls
performing lesbian sex in this clip, but three are listed in the cast.
This must be two of those three, but I don't know which two. My guess would be
the last two since the cast is supposedly listed in order of appearance, and
no other possible showgirls appear in subsequent scenes. But that's just a
guess. The three women are Lisa Winner, Jennie Sprohmeier and Christina
Storino.
Melinda Page Hamilton
Trish Cleveland. The
credits are not completely clear on this ID, but I Googled her and that's
definitely Trish. Here
is her C.V.
Senior Skip Day
(2008 - straight to DVD, streets in May)
Senior Skip Day is a high school comedy. Our hero is a nice kid, a
low-profile senior who has no problem fitting in, but inadvertently makes
himself a pariah when he accidentally blabs the time and location of senior
skip day to the principal. The only way he can make up for it is to hold the
event at his own house and make it the best gosh-darn party in the history of
the universe. He's an enterprising kid, so he finally figures out how to prime
the party pump with booze, music and beautiful babes, thanks to his friends, a
helpful convict (Clint Howard), a cool mom (Leah Thompson), and some
sympathetic professional escorts. While he works to build up the party's
momentum, the villainous principal (Larry Miller) will stop at nothing to find
the missing seniors and make their lives miserable.
There is a crazy sub-plot about a young cancer victim who died in one of
those make-a-wish projects, his final dream being to parachute from an
airplane. The sub-plot is integral to the main plot in that the seniors use
the boy's funeral as an excuse to leave school. Needless to say, by the time
the martinet of a principal has tracked them down, they really are at the
funeral. I mention this because the victim was a black kid and the film
devotes considerable running time to the funeral, including a gangsta rapper
who performs a truly obscene lament for the dead boy, while the audience
grooves along. I did laugh at several of the lines in his rap, but I have to
admit it that some of the funeral scenes made me a little uncomfortable. The
screenwriter tried to walk a fine line between "edgy" and "racist," and I'm
not sure he always managed to stay on that line.
Setting that aside, I enjoyed this film. The script is fairly witty, but
not so original. As you can see from the description, it is basically a hybrid
of Ferris Bueller's Day Off and Superbad. Not everything in the film works,
but the thing that pulls it all together is the lead, Gary Lundy, who pulls
off a perfect Matthew Broderick style performance. He was cast perfectly as a kid
who is neither an outsider not a member of the in crowd, but simply a
resourceful and likeable guy who wants to fit in fairly well without
compromising who he really is. He's everyman. He's us. Lundy spends the entire
film making asides to the audience which cannot be heard by cast members who
are obviously within hearing distance. It's the same sort of convention one might see in
an Elizabethan play. He
breaks down the fourth wall in more ways than that. During his asides he
actually comments on the film itself, explaining for example that his high
school has the same stock characters and situations as all the other movie
high schools: he has secretly been in love since middle school with the
prettiest girl in school, who is currently dating the quarterback, and the
school is filled with iconoclastic teachers (Norm MacDonald), stoners, vegan
activists who secretly crave meat, and a principal cut from the same cloth as
Dean Wormer. The film goes so far across the fourth wall that the lead actor
and actress talk in one scene as Gary Lundy and Kayla Ewell rather than as
their characters, and they spat a bit about the kissing they did in rehearsal.
You know what? As clumsy as that sounds on paper, that Lundy kid is so perfect
in the role that he manages to make that scene and all of his Shakespearian
asides completely charming.
Film clips:
Unknown girl at the pool party
Dita De Leon
Jessica Morris
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OTHER CRAP:
Catch the deluxe
version of Other Crap in real time, with all the bells and whistles,
here.
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The Quest of the Sex: a Holly Hole
(2003)
The Quest of the Sex: a Holly Hole is a sequel to a popular Hong
Kong category III comedy named The Quest of the Sex: a Rumble in the Women's Empire.
A Princess/fairy and her two students, played by comedians Mathew Ng Ting and Chan Chung Wai, are continuing their quest for the Sex, whatever that might be, but
sisters Carmen Yeung Ga-Man and Hoh Kan-Yee have a different idea, They want
to drink her pussy water, which will supposedly make them immortal. To help
them in this task, they recruit Nipple Eye (Le Rong-Rong), Airplane Hitter and
Mouth of Ice and Fire to distract the two students from their duty. One of
them handles Airplane Hitter effortlessly, but is stopped cold by Nipple Eye.
To defeat her, he must obtain the hairy needle from Goo Wai-Jan, which
requires sleeping with the elderly goddess.
This entire film was delivered with the filmakers' tongues in deep within
their cheeks, and the amazingly bad subtitles just add to the hilarity. This,
like many of its ilk, is a terrific entertainment bargain in the
bad movie category, with many laugh out loud moments
Hoh Kan-Yee
Le Rong-Rong
unknown
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Notes and collages
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The collages below have appeared on the page previously with the original file
names. They are repeated here only to assist you in determining whether you want
to view the film clips, which are new.
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