Some Trashy Films and an Amazing Concert!
Wednesday night, I ended my summer of concerts with an unbelievable and quite fitting show: Grace Potter and the Nocturnals. This was the fifth time that I've seen them and by far, hands down, the best set they've ever played. They rocked hard on some songs, with incredible guitar solos that really put the dudes in the spotlight, even though Grace Potter (the lead singer and guitarist, and by all accounts and purposes down-to-earth diva of the band) is clearly the vivacious lady who gets most of the attention. I love that she makes it clear that the band would be nothing much without these guys who back her up. They also pulled out some great acoustic songs, that still sounded bombastic. Hell, they even covered Tom Petty's "Last Dance with Mary Jane" (which has been a favorite song of mine since I was a kid and saw the video with Kim Basinger. In the encore they played "Nothing But the Water" for over 15 minutes!!! It was an awesome show and I couldn't think of a better way to cap off my summer, since school is starting in about a week and a half.
Here's the setlist:
Film 237
"Playing House"
starring: Mayra Leal, Matt Lusk, Sarah Prikryl
written and directed by: Tom Vaughn
"Playing House" is like a terrible, poor-man's version of "Fatal Attraction" minus the boiled rabbit and plus a few more gruesome deaths. It stars a handful of no-name actors and actresses who definitely put their heart into the roles assigned them. It's a first-time director and writer (partner) who made their best effort.
Here's the plot in a nutshell: a newlywed couple lives in L.A. and they are very busy with their careers. Perhaps too busy to really be enjoying each other. Well, the husband, Eric (played by Alex Dorman in a rather blase way), is clearly more interested in his wife than she seems to be in him. The real problem is that he's not getting as much sex as he wants.
Enter, Eric's best friend's hot new girlfriend who oozes sexuality and flirtation. Blair (played stoically by Mayra Leal- who coincidentally was auctioned off as a date to contestants as a marketing stunt- hmm) is the young seductress who starts dating his friend and since his friend lives with the married couple, the foursome spends a lot of time together. Blair quickly moves her relationship, in order to spend more time in Eric's home. She eventually kills her boyfriend, Danny, and moves in on Eric. She makes clear her intentions, at least to the audience, because you can tell what/who she wants. And, you know she won't stop until she gets it. There's a lot of blood along her path. She does eventually get Eric, alone in the shower, but he stops himself from having sex with her, even though Blair has thrown herself at him, showing everything she's got (she does have a pretty great butt, just sayin').
Overall, the plot plays itself out like a very poor man's version of "Fatal Attraction" like I said in the beginning. There's even a rabbit substitute in the form of a cat, who is beaten to a bloody pulp.
The acting wasn't as good as it should have been, especially in an erotic, slow-building thriller. Blair clearly relies on her looks far too much, and then she doesn't even get what she wants, which pisses her off even more, but you can't really tell, because there's not much emotion conveyed by Mayra Leal. Too bad, because it could've left more of a mark.
.................................................................
Film 238
"The Collection"
starring: Josh Stewart, Emma Fitzpatrick, Christopher McDonald
I don't even know where to start with "The Collection."
I think I can sum it up rather quickly: It's a rip-off of the "Saw" franchise. Little did I know, until researching, that the film, along with its predecessor "The Collector," were meant to be prequels to the "Saw" franchise. The only trouble is, these films about a vague, ambiguous "Collector" has really nothing to do with those other films. The only connection I see is that this film has elaborate traps set in the house where the "Collector" lives and he goes on a rampage, killing and disembodying just for the fun of it. There's no moral ground for which he stands upon. No lessons to be learned. It's just a gory film for the sake of being gory. It's just nonstop and very nonsensical brutality. I can handle films like this if there are moral lessons or something a little deeper to be earned from watching it.
Total waste of time.
.............................................................................
Film 239
"The Stepdaughter"
starring: Andrea Roth
Susan Hiller (a young-looking Andrea Roth, since this film was made in 2000, a mere 13 years ago, but still, wow! I most recently saw her in the Sarah Michelle Gellar television show "Ringer") allows a cowboy to pick her up in a bar and then takes him to a motel room where she stabs him.
Next, she fakes a car accident and begs refuge at the ranch of Jessie Conner, who graciously invites her to stay the night. News comes in the morning that the cowboy, Jessie’s ranch hand, has been killed, whereupon Jessie, short-staffed, offers Susan the job after she says she has had prior experience with horses.
Susan proceeds to ingratiate herself in the household with Jessie, his intellectually handicapped son Buddy and Jessie’s crippled wife Maggie. However, Jessie’s daughter Linda remains suspicious of some of the facts in Susan’s story and uncovers increasing evidence that she has entered the household with malevolent intent.
Susan has a weighted history and there's a twist to the story, which I won't ruin for you, if you really want to watch this abominable film that seems like it would have been better made-for-TV.
This film lost my interest pretty quickly, but I still made my way through it.
...............................................................................
Film 240
"The Perfect Student" (TV Movie)
starring: Natasha Henstridge, Brea Grant, Josie Davis
College professor Nicole Johnson (Natasha Henstridge) is unnerved when her best student Jordan (Brea Grant) is arrested and charged with the murder of popular classmate Laura (Carlson Young). Nicole becomes nearly obsessed with proving Jordan’s innocence and tracking down the killer herself, in spite of objections from her husband John (Jay Pickett), her best friend Tara (Josie Davis), and the Police Detective (Michael Bowen) officially working the case.
The acting by everyone predictably flat (you know you’re in trouble when former “Charles in Charge” star Josie Davis gives the most likeable and natural performance in a film), but this also is not out of the norm for a psycho thriller cheap Lifetime made-for-TV movie. Yup, that's right, Josie Davis, the girl that played the nerdy Sarah Powell on "Charles in Charge" is in this film. When this film was made in 2011, Josie Davis was almost 40 years old and she looks damn good! Oh, and who really is going to believe that Natasha Henstridge could pass for a law professor. That's probably one of the most ridiculous castings I've seen in awhile.
Te big problem with The Perfect Student is that it is not nearly trashy enough to be fun, with little onscreen violence and surprisingly little sex. Back in the nineties a film like this would have at least provided prudent thrills by being soaked in blood and nudity, but again, this one was made-for-TV, so there's a lack of both.
................................................................................
Film 241
"The Girl From the Naked Eye"
starring: Jason Yee, Samantha Streets, Dominique Swain (briefly), Sasha Grey (cameo)
Here's a film that I thoroughly enjoyed, even though it is clearly riding the wave of the success of "Sin City" from way back in 2005. Sure, "Sin City" had several different plots that bled into one fantastic film. With this film, it's like director David Ren and his team of writers took one of the more interesting stories from the "Sin City" catalogue- namely "The Hard Goodbye" and fleshed it out a little more.
Here we have a vigilante driver who is working off a debt by driving strippers from a club to solo appointments. He takes a quick liking to one of the youngest girls (who is actually 16 years old, which means he won't pursue her, but that doesn't mean he can't fall in love with her, but at first he feels bad for her, and wants her to get out of this lifestyle and make something better of herself). She ends up dead (which is how the film starts) and so we follow this driver/vigilante (played well by Jason Yee) as he attempts to avenge this girl's death. The film is done well enough to show us this one evening that he takes justice into his own hands as he drives around and makes pit-stops in the underbelly of a nameless metropolis.
It's a film noir with a hint of comic-book retelling style, which works all the way through. There's some voice-over from Jason Yee's character as he narrates the story and his reasoning for us.
With the character being an escort/stripper, you'd expect this film to be rampant with sexuality and nudity, not to mention the violence that ensues, but it's rather tame given the plot, which I actually appreciated, because it makes you get more involved in the story. A lot of the violence comes in the act of martial arts fighting instead of a ton of bloodshed, which again was much appreciated by this viewer. I thought it was also interesting that the breadth of the story relied on a scene in which the girl (Samantha Streets, who is wonderful) recites a love poem for Jason Yee's character. It ends up playing an important role towards the end result of the film, which was nice to see.
It's a modest film that relies on it's ability to tell a story well and the actors to play their parts. Everything is a success in this probably little-seen film.
If you liked "Sin City" I really think you'll enjoy this film.
Here's the setlist:
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
(acoustic)
-
(Little Junior's Blue Flames cover) (crowd vote for one more acoustic song)
-
(Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers cover)
-
-
-
-
-
(with drum line)
- Encore:
-
(Grace solo electric slide)
-
-
(Steve Winwood cover) (audience call & response _ NBTW reprise)
- Encore 2:
-
Film 237
"Playing House"
starring: Mayra Leal, Matt Lusk, Sarah Prikryl
written and directed by: Tom Vaughn
"Playing House" is like a terrible, poor-man's version of "Fatal Attraction" minus the boiled rabbit and plus a few more gruesome deaths. It stars a handful of no-name actors and actresses who definitely put their heart into the roles assigned them. It's a first-time director and writer (partner) who made their best effort.
Here's the plot in a nutshell: a newlywed couple lives in L.A. and they are very busy with their careers. Perhaps too busy to really be enjoying each other. Well, the husband, Eric (played by Alex Dorman in a rather blase way), is clearly more interested in his wife than she seems to be in him. The real problem is that he's not getting as much sex as he wants.
Enter, Eric's best friend's hot new girlfriend who oozes sexuality and flirtation. Blair (played stoically by Mayra Leal- who coincidentally was auctioned off as a date to contestants as a marketing stunt- hmm) is the young seductress who starts dating his friend and since his friend lives with the married couple, the foursome spends a lot of time together. Blair quickly moves her relationship, in order to spend more time in Eric's home. She eventually kills her boyfriend, Danny, and moves in on Eric. She makes clear her intentions, at least to the audience, because you can tell what/who she wants. And, you know she won't stop until she gets it. There's a lot of blood along her path. She does eventually get Eric, alone in the shower, but he stops himself from having sex with her, even though Blair has thrown herself at him, showing everything she's got (she does have a pretty great butt, just sayin').
Overall, the plot plays itself out like a very poor man's version of "Fatal Attraction" like I said in the beginning. There's even a rabbit substitute in the form of a cat, who is beaten to a bloody pulp.
The acting wasn't as good as it should have been, especially in an erotic, slow-building thriller. Blair clearly relies on her looks far too much, and then she doesn't even get what she wants, which pisses her off even more, but you can't really tell, because there's not much emotion conveyed by Mayra Leal. Too bad, because it could've left more of a mark.
.................................................................
Film 238
"The Collection"
starring: Josh Stewart, Emma Fitzpatrick, Christopher McDonald
I don't even know where to start with "The Collection."
I think I can sum it up rather quickly: It's a rip-off of the "Saw" franchise. Little did I know, until researching, that the film, along with its predecessor "The Collector," were meant to be prequels to the "Saw" franchise. The only trouble is, these films about a vague, ambiguous "Collector" has really nothing to do with those other films. The only connection I see is that this film has elaborate traps set in the house where the "Collector" lives and he goes on a rampage, killing and disembodying just for the fun of it. There's no moral ground for which he stands upon. No lessons to be learned. It's just a gory film for the sake of being gory. It's just nonstop and very nonsensical brutality. I can handle films like this if there are moral lessons or something a little deeper to be earned from watching it.
Total waste of time.
.............................................................................
Film 239
"The Stepdaughter"
starring: Andrea Roth
Susan Hiller (a young-looking Andrea Roth, since this film was made in 2000, a mere 13 years ago, but still, wow! I most recently saw her in the Sarah Michelle Gellar television show "Ringer") allows a cowboy to pick her up in a bar and then takes him to a motel room where she stabs him.
Next, she fakes a car accident and begs refuge at the ranch of Jessie Conner, who graciously invites her to stay the night. News comes in the morning that the cowboy, Jessie’s ranch hand, has been killed, whereupon Jessie, short-staffed, offers Susan the job after she says she has had prior experience with horses.
Susan proceeds to ingratiate herself in the household with Jessie, his intellectually handicapped son Buddy and Jessie’s crippled wife Maggie. However, Jessie’s daughter Linda remains suspicious of some of the facts in Susan’s story and uncovers increasing evidence that she has entered the household with malevolent intent.
Susan has a weighted history and there's a twist to the story, which I won't ruin for you, if you really want to watch this abominable film that seems like it would have been better made-for-TV.
This film lost my interest pretty quickly, but I still made my way through it.
...............................................................................
Film 240
"The Perfect Student" (TV Movie)
starring: Natasha Henstridge, Brea Grant, Josie Davis
College professor Nicole Johnson (Natasha Henstridge) is unnerved when her best student Jordan (Brea Grant) is arrested and charged with the murder of popular classmate Laura (Carlson Young). Nicole becomes nearly obsessed with proving Jordan’s innocence and tracking down the killer herself, in spite of objections from her husband John (Jay Pickett), her best friend Tara (Josie Davis), and the Police Detective (Michael Bowen) officially working the case.
The acting by everyone predictably flat (you know you’re in trouble when former “Charles in Charge” star Josie Davis gives the most likeable and natural performance in a film), but this also is not out of the norm for a psycho thriller cheap Lifetime made-for-TV movie. Yup, that's right, Josie Davis, the girl that played the nerdy Sarah Powell on "Charles in Charge" is in this film. When this film was made in 2011, Josie Davis was almost 40 years old and she looks damn good! Oh, and who really is going to believe that Natasha Henstridge could pass for a law professor. That's probably one of the most ridiculous castings I've seen in awhile.
Te big problem with The Perfect Student is that it is not nearly trashy enough to be fun, with little onscreen violence and surprisingly little sex. Back in the nineties a film like this would have at least provided prudent thrills by being soaked in blood and nudity, but again, this one was made-for-TV, so there's a lack of both.
................................................................................
Film 241
"The Girl From the Naked Eye"
starring: Jason Yee, Samantha Streets, Dominique Swain (briefly), Sasha Grey (cameo)
Here's a film that I thoroughly enjoyed, even though it is clearly riding the wave of the success of "Sin City" from way back in 2005. Sure, "Sin City" had several different plots that bled into one fantastic film. With this film, it's like director David Ren and his team of writers took one of the more interesting stories from the "Sin City" catalogue- namely "The Hard Goodbye" and fleshed it out a little more.
Here we have a vigilante driver who is working off a debt by driving strippers from a club to solo appointments. He takes a quick liking to one of the youngest girls (who is actually 16 years old, which means he won't pursue her, but that doesn't mean he can't fall in love with her, but at first he feels bad for her, and wants her to get out of this lifestyle and make something better of herself). She ends up dead (which is how the film starts) and so we follow this driver/vigilante (played well by Jason Yee) as he attempts to avenge this girl's death. The film is done well enough to show us this one evening that he takes justice into his own hands as he drives around and makes pit-stops in the underbelly of a nameless metropolis.
It's a film noir with a hint of comic-book retelling style, which works all the way through. There's some voice-over from Jason Yee's character as he narrates the story and his reasoning for us.
With the character being an escort/stripper, you'd expect this film to be rampant with sexuality and nudity, not to mention the violence that ensues, but it's rather tame given the plot, which I actually appreciated, because it makes you get more involved in the story. A lot of the violence comes in the act of martial arts fighting instead of a ton of bloodshed, which again was much appreciated by this viewer. I thought it was also interesting that the breadth of the story relied on a scene in which the girl (Samantha Streets, who is wonderful) recites a love poem for Jason Yee's character. It ends up playing an important role towards the end result of the film, which was nice to see.
It's a modest film that relies on it's ability to tell a story well and the actors to play their parts. Everything is a success in this probably little-seen film.
If you liked "Sin City" I really think you'll enjoy this film.
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