KABOOM (2010) ROB

I've been on a big Gregg Araki kick lately. The first thing I saw by him was the fantastic Mysterious Skin and though I had no idea what other works the director had done back when I saw it but it doesn't really matter because NOTHING he has done is anything like Mysterious Skin, a serious contemplative indie with heart. Fast forward 3 years and Araki pretty much shits out the borderline mainstream stoner comedy, Smiley Face, which was god damn awful and I actually turned off mid way through (which I never do). It had no trademark Araki style or common plot points that all of his previous films contained (I don't remember one homosexual moment in Smiley Face).

Now fast forward another 3 years to KABOOM, where Araki is back to his same ol' tricks and all that he does best. This guy bleeds the 90's like no other director still working today and to me that's a good thing, a nostalgic thing. I grew up in the 90's watching all the greats like Can't Hardly Wait and Clueless and more recently visited his "Doom Trilogy" with The Living End, The Doom Generation and Nowhere. Hell, even Smiley Face felt like a 90's movie, still sucked ass. though.

Kaboom starts with our main character Smith describing a strange reoccurring dream he's been having which starts out the strange, off kilter vibe that seethes under skin of an otherwise run of the mill teen sex comedy. The characters are introduced very similarly to previously mentioned 90's films with an ADD style pace not wasting anytime in introducing as many characters possible within the first 20 minutes and while this sounds like a brain buster it's nothing overtly complex. Smith is a bi-sexual, he doesn't believe in putting a title on his sexuality, but when it comes down to it that is essentially what he is, which introduces some fun plot points. Oh yeah, there's also another plot about a group of cultists in animal masks that appear randomly throughout pushing along the sci-fi part of the story.

If you haven't realized, there is a lot going on in this film. It's not overtly complex, in fact you don't need too much a brain at all to enjoy this and that's not necessarily always a bad thing. To me, KABOOM came off as a mix between Araki's Doom Trilogy and some of the modern television shows dealing with supernatural plot points. In fact, throughout its running time, I felt like in a world where Araki were invited to make television show he could have made a full season out of what they explore here. The movie tries to cover a lot of ground and it's done well, but given more time and a less frenetic pace it could have been a lot more fun and not seem so rushed. In the end, when all the ends are tied together, it just seems rushed, when it could have been an hour long series finale gut punch tying together all the mystery of the previous hypothetical episodes.

Regardless of the what if's, I really enjoyed KABOOM. It isn't my favorite Araki, not even close, but it is great to see a director doing what he knows and enjoys with all the sex filled, violent and funny antics of attractive straight and gay youth (not fully differentiating the two in classic Araki style) and it's fun. Entertainment is the bottom line when I see a film and I was entertained the entire time.

3.5/5

I would have loved to see some of the weaker plots thin out and the better ones beefed up/further explained. Oh yeah! It was great to see Araki mainstay James Duval with a seemingly small part, I don't know why he doesn't get more work..

HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN (2010) ROB

I love when a movie I'm looking forward to actually lives up to the hype. I love when a movie I'm looking forward to is so obscure, so ridiculous that it's impossible not to catch wind and be picked up into the mainstream. Hobo With a Shotgun has done both of these things, surpassing my expectations and being seen by some friends that I would have never expected it'd find it's way to and it makes complete sense..

We start with an obvious, albeit awesome homage to the exploitation films of the 70's and 80's in the form of a title sequence where we meet our hobo (Rutger Hauer) as he rides in on a train to "Scum Town"(formerly Hope Town, but crossed out with spray paint and modified) and stares into the sky. The score immediately reminded me of the old 70's Japanese action flicks ie Lady Snowblood and Shogun Assassin and it sets the mood perfectly. Anyway, Hobo makes his way into Scum Town and is immediately met with images of prostitution, violence and enough bizarre debauchery to make a Detroit ghost shudder in his sheets. Through a series of fucked occurrences and a barrage of strange character introductions hobo makes friends with a kindly prostitute and comes to the decision that he's going to clean up the town and wipe the scum off the streets with a pump-action shotgun.

So, yeah, the plot has been done before and it's nothing near complex, but what it lacks in complexity it makes up for in heart and a very ambitious set of characters. Through the course of the running time I couldn't help but think this would have been an awesome comic book; The characters are animated and bat shit crazy, good or bad, and it screams all the characteristics of a great, dark adult comic. There is a pair of "bad guys" in the film that goes by the name The Plague, they're armored in strange metal suits and they call what looks like an abandoned, modified mental hospital home. I'd have to say they were my favorite part of the hour and a half running time, when they come on screen they emanate this 80's vibe that I haven't seen captured in any modern film since that decade, they're just so fucking cool.

I don't know what else to say about this film. It's got A LOT going on and I haven't even began to touch all the bases. It does have some pacing issues that to be honest added to the vibe of an exploitation film (There is always that slow, recuperating point where they try to add a heart and some exposition to the main character), but it just didn't really work for me. Director Jason Eisener directed, edited and took part in the writing of this film and it carries a style unmatched by even Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino's Grindhouse features, but I think he could have trimmed this down with the more frenetic style of editing that we see only in small moments throughout the film, but that is my only problem with the film.

Hobo With a Shotgun is an over the top gory homage to trash film. It's beautiful and charming in it's own weird little way and with only one minor complaint it will have a place in my collection as soon as it's released on DVD.

4.5/5

Please expand on THE PLAGUE......