Day: May 17, 2013

American Master: LFM Reviews Mel Brooks: Make a Noise; Premieres on PBS Monday, 5/20

By Joe Bendel. He has only helmed eleven feature films, but he defines the art of tasteless comedy. Mel Brooks more or less invented the movie spoof genre, before the Wayanses thoroughly discredited it. Now the Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony Award winner gets the American Masters treatment in Robert Trachtenberg’s Mel Brooks: Make a Noise, which airs this Monday on PBS stations nationwide.

As the 2,000 Year Old Man, Brooks has quite a career to look back on. His first big break came on television as a writer for Sid Caesar’s Your Show of Shows, the classic sketch comedy showcase that would later serve as a model for the nostalgic Peter O’Toole dramedy My Favorite Year, which Brooks’ company produced. He subsequently made a name for himself with the aforementioned comedy act he developed with Carl Reiner, but a handful of classic movies would establish Brooks as a brand name.

Logically, Trachtenberg devotes considerable time to The Producers, Blazing Saddles, and Young Frankenstein, adding reminiscences from Brooks regulars like Gene Wilder and Cloris Leachman. He also includes some fitting archival footage of Marty Feldman, Madeline Kahn, and of course Anne Bancroft. Clearly, they shared one of the few true show business romances. Yet, to his credit, Brooks sounds quite gracious when discussing his first wife.

A young Mel Brooks.

Brooks must be an exceedingly difficult interview subject, but Trachtenberg’s persistence is impressive. From time to time, he also surprises Brooks with the insight of his questions, as when he asks the writer-director when he first became aware of Hitler (who plays such an unusual role in Brooks films like The Producers).

There are not a lot of surprises in Noise, nor does Trachtenberg delve shockingly deeply into Brooks’ psyche. Nonetheless, he nicely captures the comedy giant’s dichotomies. Viewers see a smart, thoughtful man with a talent for fart jokes. We understand he is a private individual by temperament, but has a healthy disregard for his own public image. Overall, it is a highly watchable profile that should entertain Brooks’ many fans when it airs this coming Monday (5/20) as part of the current season of American Masters on PBS.

LFM GRADE: B

Posted on May 17th, 2013 at 11:09am.

This Trip is No Fun: LFM Reviews Black Rock

By Joe Bendel. Who goes camping on a remote coastal Maine isle during the off-season? Psycho killers and their made-to-order victims, that’s who. There is nothing inherently wrong with a traditional slasher movie set-up, but the execution is decidedly problematic throughout Katie Aselton’s Black Rock, which opens today in New York.

Sarah has tricked her childhood friends Abby and Lou into joining her on a camping trip, in hopes that they will bury the hatchet. Years ago, Lou bedded Abby’s boyfriend. Still nurturing her resentment, the soon-to-be divorced Abby is not ready to forgive and forget. When they run into three hunters, the thoroughly annoyed Abby gets sloppy drunk and flirty with Derek, the alpha male, who rather misconstrues her attentions. This leads to all kinds of trouble.

When one of the sullen hunters tells the women what a hero Derek was in Iraq, no matter what they said at the court martial, we know what kind of movie we’re in for. Yes, that’s right, they are unhinged veterans. You might have thought the sleazy psycho Vietnam Vet exploitation film was an embarrassing relic of the 1970’s, but evidently Aselton and her husband-screenwriter Mark Duplass are determined to revive it. Yes, this is how the Duplass household would like to thank all our men and women in uniform: by suggesting they are an inch removed from Richard Speck. Really, you shouldn’t have.

Oddly, the first ten minutes or so show a flash of promise thanks to some caustically catty dialogue. That promise is short lived. By the time the bound women goad the craziest of the crazies into letting them go so they can hunt them down like real men, audience emotional detachment should reach one hundred percent. Nor does Rock have the guts to go all in with its gender-based victimization and retribution themes, a la I Spit on Your Grave. Instead, Aselton and Duplass basically follow the Most Dangerous Game template, chapter and uninspired verse.

To be fair, Kate Bosworth has some nice moments as the somewhat likably goofy Sarah. However, Aselton and Lake Bell largely blend together as Abby and Lou (or Lou and Abby). As their three antagonists, Jay Poulson, Will Bouvier, and Anselm Richardson never transcend their characters’ cookie-cutter stereotypes. Of course, they are not supposed to.

As a horror film, Black Rock is a bore. Yet, it has the potential to be something far worse. It is easy to see unsavory elements repurposing the exploitation flick to demonize American servicemen. After all, we know the Frankfurt terror attack was inspired by Brian De Palma’s Redacted and for weeks the administration blamed Benghazi on a YouTube video. A disappointment on every level, Black Rock is not recommended for anyone under any circumstances when it opens today (5/17) at the Village East.

LFM GRADE: F

Posted on May 17th, 2013 at 11:08am.