Monday, September 30, 2019

Detroit Rock City

Time is flying before my eyes, I cannot believe one of my favorite high-school era movies is now 20 years old with today’s entry for 1999’s Detroit Rock City (trailer). 1999 was an influential year for then-16-year old Dale with fond memories at the theater that year like The Matrix, Fight Club, Office Space, South Park, Payback and yes, even Go! I vividly remember my high school friend Rich and I being the sole people in the theater for Detroit Rock City and once we realized that a few minutes into the film, we then jumped at the opportunity to snag the pair of the far more comfortable handicap seats in the theater.

Rich and I were somehow tamer version of the four high-school rebels who will overcome all odds put in their path to see their favorite band KISS, circa 1978 when KISS fever was running wild! Hawk (Edward Furlong), Jam (Sam Huntington), Trip (James DeBallo) and Lex (Giuseppe Andrews) are ardent KISS fans and even do routine garage-band jam sessions under the moniker, ‘Mystery.’ The opening features a fantastic Mystery rock session of them butchering I Wanna Rock N Roll All Night and setting the stage for all four being hyped to finally see KISS in concert. Obstacles are in their way however as Jam’s super-Christian mother (Lin Shaye) finds and burns their tickets and now the four must persevere on a road trip to Detroit and promise each other that no matter what they will find a way into that KISS concert.

I forgot how fast Detroit Rock City moved, it is only a 90 minute film and nearly the entire back half is the four arriving in Detroit and agreeing to split up with each Mystery-member going on their own mini-adventure to find a way at scoring KISS tickets. There is a lot of fun setup in the opening half, especially a couple fun high school hallway chase scenes and a delightful encounter with a pair of disco thugs, but the back half where the four split up is where the film shines. Jam bumps into an old classmate Beth (Melanie Lynskey), but not before bumping into his protesting mother. Lex gets into all kinds of mischief trying to sneak in backstage, Trip lives up to his name by attempting to beat up a little kid for tickets while Hawk enters a strip-dance contest in hopes of winning enough cash to get tickets from a scalper. All four paths go wildly off course, and when the four reconvene for one last ditch plan of scoring tickets I nearly lost it all over again watching the resulting plan unfold.

I feel obligated to give props to the 70s rock tribute soundtrack. This can easily be a substitute for the next Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack, and this is one of only several movie soundtracks I own, but for good reason! Rest assured, it is not a slapped together best of KISS album, as the film’s featured band only has three songs in the soundtrack. The other 12 songs are a nice variety of classic rock jams and all-new covers. Everclear covers The Boys are Back in Town while Thin Lizzy themselves have Jailbreak included. Pantera has an awesome rendition of Cat Scratch Fever while Marilyn Manson reels in his own take on Highway to Hell. Black Sabbath’s Iron Man kicks in at one of my favorite scenes in the movie, and yes KISS’s Detroit Rock City is here in all its glory.

The original DVD release of this was one of several DVDs I purchased while eagerly awaiting the months leading up to the PS2 launch. It and the Fight Club DVDs were what turned me into a bonus features junkie with both having slick menus and loaded with extras. I am glad all the original DVD extras were carried onto the BluRay, but a little bummed at the lack of any BluRay exclusives. A quick thrown together panel with the cast and crew looking back many years later on the film I would have loved. As it stands, the returning extras are not slim picking by any means. There are 18 minutes of deleted scenes worth diving into to see interesting extended takes on several scenes and the only scene to a super-secret second movie they were going to make during downtime, but never panned out. Other bonus features highlights include an instructor teaching how to play I Wanna Rock N Roll All Night in under 10 minutes, alternate angles of the opening and closing scenes, a pair of music videos and two unique behind-the-scenes videos.

Looking into the Sun features some wild editing as the four main cast members borrows a camera and films them goofing off intermittently throughout the production. Misc Shit is a longer, 37 minute all-encompassing making of feature interviewing the cast, crew and Gene Simmons too! Topping it off is three feature-length audio commentaries. Director Adam Rifkin is solely on one, several cast and crew members are stitched together from several recorded interviews in another, and all four members of KISS are interviewed separately in 15-20 minute chunks for the final commentary. I bounced between all three on my second viewing which was a fascinating experience, especially the way the interviews were kind of pasted together in some of the commentary tracks. Highlights from the commentaries include displeasure of not landing Jonathon Taylor Thomas in the lead role, KISS members reflecting back on their first film from 1978 and Rifkin fighting against the studio’s orders to edit down the film to a PG-13 rating. Despite lack of new extras, the recycled bonuses are well worth checking out again.

This movie hit at the perfect time for me which is why I have been raving about it throughout this whole entry. After seeing it initially with Rich, I watched my DVD copy several times in the following years after turning my brother onto the film. I am not a diehard KISS fan by any means, but you do not have to be to enjoy this film. I resonate with it on many levels because I can relate to the fandom of doing anything to see some of my favorite bands in my teenage years and how those first concerts I saw felt like mind-blowing experiences. Detroit Rock City nails that feeling to a T and the whole trek to get there is a journey as riveting as the final destination, and because of that I can only give Detroit Rock City my highest recommendation!

Other Random Backlog Movie Blogs

3
12 Angry Men (1957)
12 Rounds 3: Lockdown
21 Jump Street
The Accountant
Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie
Atari: Game Over
The Avengers: Age of Ultron
The Avengers: Infinity War
Batman: The Killing Joke
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice
Bounty Hunters
Cabin in the Woods
Captain America: Civil War
Captain America: The First Avenger
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Christmas Eve
Clash of the Titans (1981)
Clint Eastwood 11-pack Special
The Condemned 2
Countdown
Creed
Deck the Halls
Die Hard
Dredd
The Eliminators
The Equalizer
Dirty Work
Faster
Fast and Furious I-VIII
Field of Dreams
Fight Club
The Fighter
For Love of the Game
Good Will Hunting
Gravity
Guardians of the Galaxy
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2
Hercules: Reborn
Hitman
Indiana Jones 1-4
Ink
The Interrogation
Interstellar
Jobs
Joy Ride 1-3
Major League
Man of Steel
Man on the Moon
Man vs Snake
Marine 3-6
Metallica: Some Kind of Monster
Mortal Kombat
National Treasure
National Treasure: Book of Secrets
The Replacements
Reservoir Dogs
Rocky I-VII
Running Films Part 1
Running Films Part 2
San Andreas
ScoobyDoo Wrestlemania Mystery
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Shoot em Up
Skyscraper
Small Town Santa
Steve Jobs
Source Code
Star Trek I-XIII
Take Me Home Tonight
TMNT
The Tooth Fairy 1 & 2
UHF
Veronica Mars
Vision Quest
The War
Wild
Wonder Woman
The Wrestler (2008)
X-Men: Apocalypse
X-Men: Days of Future Past

Wednesday, September 11, 2019

Man vs. Snake: The Long and Twisted Tale of Nibbler

I am a huge fan of the classic 2007 documentary, King of Kong, that saw two arcade players vying for the all-time Donkey Kong high score. Last year I was visiting a bunch of friends at a retro gaming convention and while hanging out after the con, one of them suggested to throw on today’s entry, 2015’s Man vs. Snake: The Long and Twisted Tale of Nibbler (trailer) on in the background. I had no idea what it was and immediately focused all attention upon it once I realized it focused on the same premise of two old-school arcade players chasing down the top score for another 80’s arcade game, Nibbler. It is not from the same directorial crew of King of Kong, but is shot in a similar style and shares a few supporting cast interviewees from King of Kong such as videogame high-score gatekeeper Walter Day and the controversial Billy Mitchell.

Being a huge fan of King of Kong I was stunned Man vs. Snake went three years going off my radar. I listen to several videogame podcasts and keep up with the gaming press online and on social media seemingly daily and somehow this one slipped by me for three years. Upon getting minutes into the documentary I was doubly stunned that I had never once heard of or seen footage before of the 1982 arcade game, Nibbler this documentary is centering its high score chase on. The two creators of Nibbler, Joseph Ulowetz & John Jaugilas, are interviewed and explained how the game essentially came and went with middling sales and no real lasting power in the arcade scene at the time. If you are in my age range in your 30s you likely first experienced a variant of Nibbler more commonly known as Snake in the late 90s on either flash-based gaming websites, TI graphic calculators or simple black-and-green Nokia cell phones of that timeframe. I never recalled once seeing this in arcades and much-appreciated the history lesson. The two creators are only shown briefly in several excerpts, but they have an uncut 15 minute interview in the bonus material worth seeing because both of them go in-depth about how Nibbler came to be, crazy office stories and revealing the reason behind some of its gameplay secrets.

The two high score-chasers Man vs. Snake is centered around is Tim McVey (no, not the one you are thinking of) and Dwayne Richard. The documentary kicks off with exquisite animation sequences reminiscent of the style in Bob’s Burgers detailing how McVey originally posted the first official billion point game in Nibbler and procured the world record. Billy Mitchell is interviewed here elucidating the story because he is a real-life friend of Tim’s and witnessed him post that original record score. McVey was dethroned not too long later by an Italian, Enrico Zanetti, who is also interviewed and has his own unique tale on how his record stood for over 25 years. The animation featured in the opening and in a handful of other sporadic scenes throughout the film is incredibly impressive and is a worthy substitute for a lack of TV footage from that time.

Flash forward to the late 2000s and the doc does a great job at detailing the impetus for what drove Tim and Dwayne to start competing against each other to set a new world record. A standout scene is showing clips and recapping how Dwayne & Tim compete against each other at MAGfest one year and the highs and lows of that public event. Later the focus switches to Dwayne & Tim’s own personal livestream attempts to try and break the world record and the stress of being filmed throughout the whole ordeal. McVey is featured more prominently throughout along with his wife and the film reeled me in for the agony of defeat as Tim went through all kinds of failed attempts due to several different type of circumstances. Both McVey and Richard have their feel good moments, and like King of Kong their successes did not go without controversy. Walter Day is the ever-present authoritative figure throughout with his trademark referee shirt just like we remember him from King of Kong. For fans of that documentary, you may recall it shares a couple glimpses of Walter’s unique personal life, and just some forewarning that Man vs. Snake dives a little deeper into Day’s lifestyle in a couple of scenes and it goes places I did not expect.

Also worth noting is that the DVD has both a censored and uncensored version available. I watched the uncensored version and what stood out from that is a couple of interview subjects being unfiltered at times and a couple graphic blister scenes due to playing Nibbler nonstop for over a day. For other extra features there are a total of 50 minutes of bonus scenes and that is where you can find the aforementioned interview with the two creators of the game. Other recommended cutting room floor scenes are more in-depth recaps of a couple of McVey’s failed attempts that did not get highlighted in the feature and a interview with another arcade score-chaser, Rick Carter, on his memories of trying to dethrone the Nibbler world record. There is also an audio commentary with directors Andrew Seklir and Tim Kinzy which is worth checking out because they have nonstop insight and facts on tracking down interview subjects, acquiring archival footage and discovering which interviewees they have fond and/or disdainful memories of throughout the production process.

Man vs. Snake reminded a lot of why I loved King of Kong. I would rank it a notch or two under King of Kong because Man vs. Snake does not have the convenient hero/villain dynamic of Wiebe and Mitchell as McVey and Richard are both affable and positive figures to root for throughout. It also does not helps that King of Kong is based on one of the most popular arcade games of that era while Man vs. Snake focuses on one that I had no idea existed until I saw the film. Do not let that sway you from avoiding Man vs. Snake because it is still a vastly fascinating and entertaining documentary worth going out of your way to see.

Other Random Backlog Movie Blogs

3
12 Angry Men (1957)
12 Rounds 3: Lockdown
21 Jump Street
The Accountant
Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie
Atari: Game Over
The Avengers: Age of Ultron
The Avengers: Infinity War
Batman: The Killing Joke
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice
Bounty Hunters
Cabin in the Woods
Captain America: Civil War
Captain America: The First Avenger
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Christmas Eve
Clash of the Titans (1981)
Clint Eastwood 11-pack Special
The Condemned 2
Countdown
Creed
Deck the Halls
Die Hard
Dredd
The Eliminators
The Equalizer
Dirty Work
Faster
Fast and Furious I-VIII
Field of Dreams
Fight Club
The Fighter
For Love of the Game
Good Will Hunting
Gravity
Guardians of the Galaxy
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2
Hercules: Reborn
Hitman
Indiana Jones 1-4
Ink
The Interrogation
Interstellar
Jobs
Joy Ride 1-3
Major League
Man of Steel
Man on the Moon
Marine 3-6
Metallica: Some Kind of Monster
Mortal Kombat
National Treasure
National Treasure: Book of Secrets
The Replacements
Reservoir Dogs
Rocky I-VII
Running Films Part 1
Running Films Part 2
San Andreas
ScoobyDoo Wrestlemania Mystery
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Shoot em Up
Skyscraper
Small Town Santa
Steve Jobs
Source Code
Star Trek I-XIII
Take Me Home Tonight
TMNT
The Tooth Fairy 1 & 2
UHF
Veronica Mars
Vision Quest
The War
Wild
Wonder Woman
The Wrestler (2008)
X-Men: Apocalypse
X-Men: Days of Future Past

Tuesday, September 3, 2019

2019 Summer TV Season Recap


Previous TV Season Recaps - (2013-14 | 2014-15 | 2015-16 | 2016-17 | 2017-18 | 2018-19)

Hello everybody and thank you for joining me once again for my annual trek through binging a few summer TV seasons that conveniently drop on streaming services throughout the season to tide me by until the annual fall season kicks in later this month. I seem to average about three shows each summer these past few years, and that has transpired once again! Let us get on with the recaps!

Jessica Jones - The final season from Netflix’s original lineup of Marvel TV series came to an end with the third season of Jessica Jones. The second season was a major step down from the excellent debut season, but luckily things step back up again for the final season, however it is not quite a redemption season as was Daredevil’s third season. The final season sees Trish gain new powers after the experiments she put herself though in season two, it was also fascinating watching her and Jess try and bury the hatchet after what happened between them in the final scenes of season two.

I dug the primary antagonist for season three in the form of a serial killer going by Sallinger. How we find out about him by new unwilling Jess sidekick Erik was fascinating to watch unravel as I got a kick out of Erik’s lame superpower ultimately being an ‘Asshole Radar.’ Ultimately Trish cannot control her powers and desperate measures causes Trish to break away from Jess and Erik to get things done on her own. The first half of the season outshines the second half, but the second half is not bad by any means, it is simply a couple notches under the strong buildup of the first half. Watching struggling lawyer Jeri Hogarth come to terms with her developing ALS kept me interested in her arc this season, and even Malcolm losing control of his sex drive was another silly side-arc that kept me intrigued and built on the hints alluded to it in the prior season. It was still a gratifying conclusion to show, but a hair too predictable, and it is a shame Marvel and Netflix could not come to terms to keep Jessica Jones going. Grade: B

Veronica Mars - I have raved on here before about my fanfare for Veronica Mars. I loved the original TV run and the movie from several years back, but never kept up with any of the cast or crew’s social media. Somehow for the presumably year or two back the new season was announced and in development I honestly had no idea about it so several weeks back I did a double take when booting up Hulu and saw how Hulu had the exclusive for a new season of Veronica Mars! It is a super quick watch at only eight episodes, and it means no episode overstays its welcome and minus a couple exceptions it was fun to see almost the entire cast return in noteworthy roles.
A bomb blowing up a hotel during spring break in Neptune has Veronica and her father on the case. Taking in Veronica and her dad piecing together the clues and interview countless suspects and witnesses was the usual fun jaunt to follow along with. Kristen Bell did not miss a beat with her excellent on-screen chemistry with her father played by Enrico Colantoni. The two have countless witty exchanges that continue the show’s pedigree of having dialogue being far too smart and clever to be genuine, but remains incredibly entertaining in its own right.

Most of the supporting cast old and new has their own mini-arcs throughout the season. Logan is the bodyguard for a controversial senator candidate, Keith is on edge awaiting CTE test results, Wallace now has a family and is a teacher and JK Simmons is a terrific addition to the cast and is another actor that has A+ chemistry with Colantoni. It was fun anticipating which of my favorite supporting actors would show up and for how big or minor a part they played. Some long last favorites caught me off guard and the couple major names that did not return were at least referenced a couple of times. I had to put my Patton Oswalt tolerance hat on for him being the conspiracy theorist pizza delivery man this season has a big emphasis on, but Oswalt is admittedly a pro in the role and I can at least take solace in Veronica having a fitting final line for him in, “What a dick!” Wonderful final words Veronica! Minus one bummer moment in the final episode, this was a fantastic return season of Veronica Mars and I hope to see Hulu keep more coming! Grade: A

GLOW - GLOW has become a summer ritual I anticipate for a third straight season. This year sees GLOW’s management take the promotion to be a regular act in Las Vegas. The premiere episode has a awfully entertaining exchange with Ruth Wilder’s evil Russian persona ‘Zoya’ being a guest on a morning TV news station during a historic moment in the 80s that goes all kinds of wrong. Seeing GLOW in Vegas was a fresh and fun twist on the show (and accurate to what happened to the legit GLOW promotion). The wrestling takes a bit of a backdrop this season minus a couple episodes, but that is fine because by this point most of the cast is fairly developed and most of the supporting cast got an episode or two of their own to shine in. Marc Maron delivers another five star performance once again as the affable scumbag promoter, and I could not help but root for him to get his daughter’s screenplay green-lit.

There are too many plot lines to cover here for the supporting cast, but most of them I was won over by. There is a great camping trip episode this season that is probably my favorite episode this season where the ladies all come together, get wasted and bond over personal moments. Only qualms I had with this season were a couple of heavy-handed political themes that seemed unavoidable due to a couple of episode’s plots, yet still gratingly preachy nevertheless. The season finale Christmas-themed episode was also a riot and left some interesting cliffhangers on the future for the show with Debbie getting a new big-time TV station deal. The actual GLOW promotion in the 80s only lasted four TV seasons, so if this GLOW presumably returns again next season I hope it will not be the last because it seems like it still has at least another few seasons of life left in it. Grade: A-

Past TV/Web Series Blogs

2013-14 TV Season Recap
2014-15 TV Season Recap
2015-16 TV Season Recap
2016-17 TV Season Recap
2017-18 TV Season Recap
2018-19 TV Season Recap
Adventures of Briscoe County Jr: The Complete Series
Baseball: A Ken Burns series
Angry Videogame Nerd Home Video Collections
Mortal Kombat: Legacy - Season 1 | Season 2
OJ: Made in America: 30 for 30
RedvsBlue - Seasons 1-13
Roseanne – Seasons 1-9
Seinfeld Final Season
Star Trek: Next Generation – Seasons 1-7
Superheroes: A Never-Ending Battle
Superheroes: Pioneers of Television
The Vietnam War: A Ken Burns series
X-Men – The Animated Series: Volumes 4-5