Shakes the Clown

I was never a fan of the comedy "Stylings" of Bobcat Goldthwait. His killing a rooster vocal delivery just made my head ache. Didn't help that he was a part of the Police Academy series which surely must have scarred a generation of film goers. Will the horror never end?

Then I saw "Shakes the Clown." I can now say that there is indeed a thinking, creative person named Bobcat Goldthwait and I very much like this Bobcat. Some critic called Shakes "The Citizen Kane of drunken clown movies." While that's a bit of an overstatement what we have here is a truly mature work of art that marries comedy with a rough down and out edge reality not out of step with Bukowski.

Shakes is a clown and he's an alcoholic. No, Shakes is an alcoholic and a clown. As a clown he's actually pretty good, even when half crocked he can do amazing clown things. As an alcoholic though Shakes is a shambling failure of a human. He's destroying his relationships specially with his Elmira Fuddite girlfriend and bowler played by Julie Brown. His friends can't trust him. His work is slipping and he faces firing. Oh and he lost his chance for TV to the town's most unfunniest clown Binkie the coke head.

Binkie though couldn't leave well enough alone and when he kills Shakes boss he sets Shakes up to take the fall. Shakes now is truly motivated to stop drinking and find out just what is going on. It leads to the underworld of clown culture. It seems there is a distinct pecking order. Party clowns beat up on mimes and rodeo clowns beat up on everyone. Shakes has to take responsiblity. He has to take control. He has to stop waking up in strange ladies homes being peed on by little kids. It shows how good a film this is that you are really drawn into his plight even as you savor the absurdity of Shake's world.



Here's one of the songs on the soundtrack here

Detention

Ok, sometimes you just have to get slapped in the face with the proverbial fish to get out of a funk.  This month has been rather lacking in films of the OMG variety.  There's been some nice films to be sure, but sometimes you aren't in the mood for nice.  You want the extreme, you want the crazy, you want a film that will fish slap you silly.

Ladies and gentlemen I give you..... "Detention."

This is just brilliant.  The creators must have watched every teen film from "The Breakfast Club," to "Heathers."  Then they watched every slasher film, and then topped it off with "The Back to the Future" films.  Then I am fairly sure they took more than their share of drugs and probably my share and the state of Kansas' as well.  Then after they woke up from their coma they went and made this film.

To talk about the plot really wouldn't convey just how crazed this film is.  Let's just say it does involve the following:  detention, prom, slasher, explosions, datings dos and don't, and a stuffed time travelling bear.  Every film should have one of those.  The amazing thing is that they managed to be so original while uprooting whole scenes from other films.  You will be watching and you'll just about say "Hey that's from "The Breakfast Club."  Before you can finish your thought though you get fish slapped with something just from the left field of absurdia.

Definitely go see this, and bring friends.  Bring strangers.  Bring strange friends!

Burke and Hare

John Landis used to be hot shit. Remember that? "American Werewolf in London?" "The Blues Brothers?" So what happened? Well, sometimes talent just burns out. By the time of "Beverly Hills Cop 3" it was apparent that whatever genius juice John had was gone or gone rancid.

Well he's back, so the question is obviously is he back on form. Honestly, no. But the film "Burke and Hare," isn't bad we just aren't talking four stars here. This film feels more like a lifetime network film, or a BBC film done with a left over budget.

The story is interesting enough and based on real life. Simon Pegg is Burke and Andy "Hi I'm Gollum" Serkis is Hare and they are two Neer'do'wells who are hanging around looking for a scam for some easy money. Luckily, the law has suddenly made it difficult for doctors to get bodies that they need to dissect so they at least know what not to cut in their living patients. This creates a demand and an instant black market. A black market that isn't asking too many questions of where all these fresh bodies are coming from. Of course such an economic paradise can't last long as soon as the law comes sniffing along. Can our heroes (???) keep their necks out of the noose? The answer might actually surprise even my ever watchful readers.

Pegg and Serkis do most of the work of this movie. They keep two sociopaths if not exactly loveable at least empathetic. Serkis is the more slimey of the two always pushing Burke into deeper and deeper decadence. The movie tries to make a point that it is economics that drove these two to crime, but if true it was only a drive around the block. In the end, money or not, it was an evil act to kill. The hangman agrees with me as he collects his fee for his services.

ExTerminators

Heather Graham looks so frail at first in this film it's hard to believe when after a nasty break up she beats up a total stranger for being a jerk.  That hidden hostility is what ExTerminators is about.  She's sent to an anger management class and there she meets women who are also carrying a lot of rage in their cages.  One of  them,Jennifer Coolidge, runs a pest control business.  Soon she starts expanding her business to the two legged variety of pests.  Will Heather help her, or will she fall for the nice cop who's on the case?

It's not quite a female "Fight Club," but it moves fast enough and light enough to be engaging viewing.  I really do like Heather Graham and I enjoyed this film.