www.kordelski.org   HOME Page Resume Drafthouse Fan Page #1 Least Of My Brothers GEEKS Blood, Sweat and Teeth Rage in the Cage Photo Album Austin Comedy Nike Missile Base Tour

BACK to PAGE 1 of the Alamo Drafthouse Fan Page . "Butt Numb-A-Thon 2: The Other Cheek" How could it POSSIBLY be a full year since the last Numb A Thon? All the New Years Resolutions that I didn't even START on?       The Movies WERE: 1) DESTINATION MARS At Long Last! The long rumored Sci-Fi epic from the 1950's finally gets a big screen showing! They also had a great behind the scenes documentary behind this rarely seen cult classic! (cough! BULLS**T! cough!) I really enjoyed this, almost as much as I enjoyed "Spinal Tap" and "The Blair Witch Project". (hint! hint!)

2) The Hobbit (1978) Rankin Bass TV Movie special. Tolkien purists hate this movie, but it was even better than I remembered it being. Most notable for excellent background art and mostly appropriate voice casting (although they had Don Messick, voive of EVERY bad Hanna Barabera cartoon of the '70s in bit parts- yuck!). They only bad part was the ridiculous wide shot of the battlefield at the end. In hindsight, its much better than the theatrical Bakshi film.   When I read the book, the voice actors from this TV special were the ones I heard in my head, especially Gollum. " Hehehehe My Precious!" Please don't let Peter Jacksons version be another Phantom Menace!

"Windy" from Minnesota and Quint . Alamo waiter Daniel Osbourne and Harry.

The first time I've ever seen Tim League watch a movie (Snatch) in his own theater.

3) The Gift (2001) Sam Raimi. A fortune teller gets involved with a murder investigation in a rural Louisiana. Good but not great, most notable for being one of Keanu Reeves' less suckey performances. Sam! Get your fangs back! http://www.thegiftmovie.com/   4) The Sea Wolf (1941) Directed byMichael Curtiz  Writing creditsJack London  (novel)Robert Rossen  Edward G. Robinson : Captain Wolf Larsen. Ida Lupino: Ruth Webster. John Garfield : George Leach Hey now THIS is what film festivals are all about! A obscure old movie that I normally would have bypassed that is SO well directed and shot that it puts modern movies to shame. IMBD.com lists over EIGHT different versions since 1913, with another one maybe on the way from Ron Howard. Go rent THIS excellent version.   5) Wonder Bar (1934) Lloyd Bacon, Busby Berkley. Don't EVER let conservatives tell you movies were all wholesome in the "good old days." THIS is why there was a Hayes code, and THIS is what Spike Lee's Bamboozled is referring to. Homosexuality, rampant racism, sexism and double'triple/quadruple entendres abound! Its shocking but somehow not all that offensive because EVERYTHING gets targeted, that and it is SO wildly over the top your brain can't process the HOW or WHY of this movie. Everyone in the theater was howling and gasping at how risque it was. I've seen clips of some of the gay jokes on USA cables wonderful 80's show "Night Flight" but Ive never seen anything like the blackface numbers anywhere. 6) Snatch (2001) Guy Ritchie. A live action cartoon, with Brad Pitt as yet another violent Psycho. One of the bit actors showed up proclaiming "Fakk off gents, lets git the wimmin up hare!"   7) Beneath the Valley of the Ultra Vixens (1979). Russ Meyer THIS is why old movie trailers are fun to watch- because the actual movie is BORING! This is a mild porno (strong R or mild X) that has the trademark Russ Meyer sense of humor but is a half hour too long. Written by THE Roger Ebert of all people. I think the bouncy religious radio DJ looks like the step-mom in the Richard Pryor comedy "The Toy."

8) Mystery Movie I don't know WHO we're kidding here. Several narcs have already blabbed, but- hey! It won't be me. This is the clearest, crispest video Ive ever seen I must say. I really liked this, althought the sleep monster was really starting to kick my butt at this point. Where else would I EVER see this tape. 9) Shogun Assassin. I fell asleep on this one. Bring on the zappers Punks! I vaguely heard grossed out waves of "Uggghhh!" It's somehow related to the comic book "Lone Wolf and Cub." Barely awake at this point!

"Windy" from the Minnesota CONvergence gang sent me these snapshots of her with some BNAT2 props.

Wolverine's jacket and dog tags . The Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon green sword. These folks flew all the way from Minnesota to TX for BNAT2.

10) "Ed Gein"(2001) Steve Railsback as Charles Manson. Railsback as Ed Gein, and the Real Ed Gein         This is the latest of a line of movies about America's first nationally publicized serial murderer, Plainfield Wisconsin's own lovable Edward Gein (Imagine if Ed lived in SOUTH Plainfield Wisconsin!) The original Robert Bloch novel Psycho took the basic idea and cleaned it up a bit. Hitchcocks brilliant film adaptation made Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates an almost sympathetic character. Brilliant film, Bad history. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre played off on peoples fading memories of the real story and gave us Leatherface, who looked like Gein did when he was "in character" as Mother but bore no resemblance to the real story. Most horror movie history books (like "Psychotronic") point out the obscure quasi-documentary/slasher flick "DERANGED" (1974) as the most accurate of the Gein movies (until now). Lots of horror movies touched on the theme of men driven mad by over-controlling mothers ("Friday the 13th," "Mothers Day," etc..) without fulling researching the original story. Deranged was written by Alan Ormsby and directed by none other than Bob ("Porkys") Clark (imdb). It follows the real story very closely except that the names are changed and while the real Ed stalked women who reminded him of his mother, this movie has "Ezra Cobb" chasing shapley young chicks. Ezra Cobb is played to perfection by Roberts Blossom, who apparently has been playing the creepy old man in EVERY movie ever made. While being trashy, this flick is must see for slasher completists. They ran the trailer for Deranged just before the new "Ed Gein" as an intersting compare and contrast. I had read somewhere that Steve Railsback was offered lots of crazy killer roles after his memorable performance as Charles Manson in the TV miniseries Helter Skelter, and that he was frustrated by typecasting. It was surprising that he not only starred in this but was also one of the key forces behind its production. Ive read several books about Gein, and this movie got EVERYTHING right, except that they changed one of the victims names. This movie should be the "definitive" telling of the story, and be the tape you can point to when you're sick of someone saying "Isnt't Psycho a real story?" They capured the look of a rural 1950's town perfectly. Ed's house of horrors is shown technically accurate without being sensationalistic, and Railsbacks crooked schizo smile is dead on.   http://www.houseofhorrors.com/gein.htm XXXXXXXXXXXXXXhttp://www.crimelibrary.com/gein/geinmain.htm

Send me YOUR Butt Numb A Thon Photos to:

matt_k@kordelski.org

(JPG's if at possible, please...)

THANKS!