This double feature from writer/director Michael
Legge proves that with a good script, some friends, and a little bit of
money, you can make an enjoyable, funny movie. The cast and crew are
largely the same, so it is clear that the work presented is a labor of
love. While ‘Loons’, Legge’s earlier of the two films, is far superior
to ‘Cutthroats’, the director is consistently original, inventive, and
knows comedy. ‘Loons’, Legge’s film from 1990, concerns a witch named
Hepzibah Crowley (Phyllis Weaver) and a curse she places on Judge Loon,
the man who condemns her to burn at the stake. According to the curse,
every man with Loon blood will go insane after age twenty. The hilarious
opening sequence traces the progression of the curse through the years,
using an evolution of film techniques and styles (silent, gangster,
musical, Universal horror). The film begins with Jeff Coukos (James
O’brien) coming home with his fiancée, Kerry Grant (Diane Mela) to
surprise his mother with the news of his engagement. June Coukos (Linda
Baxter Hardy) immediately tries to deter Kerry from marrying her son.
Jeff, taken aback, demands an explanation and learns of the curse. In
disbelief, Jeff learns he has an older brother in a mental institution
named Jasper Coukos (Michael Legge, hilarious), who believes he is a
marionette. The family visits him, and he goes sane soon thereafter.
However, Jeff now goes insane, and sees everyone as clowns. Jasper then
hatches a plan to raise Hepzibah from the dead to lift the curse. Will
Jasper save the day?
‘Cutthroats’, Legge’s 1993 office comedy, centers
on Don Drinkwater (Alan Kennedy), an insomniac who is up for a promotion
when Bill (B.J. McCoy), his boss, gets demoted due to poor quarterly
sales reports. Also up for the raise is the malicious, overweight Roger
(James Porter), who will do anything to get ahead of his coworkers.
Philip (Michael Legge), Bill’s replacement, instills “Office
Punishments” (rubber-band firing squad, intentional paper cuts, etc.) to
whip the slacking staff into shape. As tension comes to a head, it seems
both the management and staff are going too far to make the workplace to
their liking. Something is going to give…hopefully it won’t disappoint
you like it did me.
Also included on the DVD is Legge’s 1987 short
“Chat for Mrs. Order”, the hilarious story of an old woman’s rise to
fame and crushing fall from glory. On the whole, I would say that Legge
is an unmistakable talent. Some of his dialogue isn’t great, and sound
problems were all over the films here. However, Legge is a humorous,
smart, dedicated filmmaker who will definitely continue to make movies
whether or not they’re seen. There’s something very endearing about the
way he cares for his characters, as brainless as some of them are. It is
surprising that Legge hasn’t gotten noticed on the larger scale. This
package is deceiving, but there’s hidden treasure here. Funniest line:
“She was burned until she was dead, then turned over and burned till she
was dead on the other side.” (Kevin P. Hoffman)
To
say that ‘A Mighty Wind’ does for folk music what ‘This is Spinal Tap’ did
for heavy metal would be inaccurate. ‘Tap’ was a biting satire; ‘A Mighty
Wind’ is more like a good natured ribbing. Like Guest’s previous films
‘Waiting for Guffman’ and ‘Best in Show’, you’ll likely smile and laugh
softly but there aren’t many laugh out loud moments. Despite that fact,
the film is so well written and directed that you’ll be drawn into it
anyway. The basic plot is that folk impressario Irving Steinbloom has died
and his neat freak son Jonathan (Bob Balaban) wants to put on a concert in
his memory. To this end he gets three of his late father’s best known acts
together. The Folksmen (Spinal Tap themselves, Harry Shearer, Guest, and
Michael McKean) are sort of like Peter, Paul, and Mary (moreso by the end of
the film...you’ll just have to watch for yourself). There’s also the New
Main Street Singers (modeled on The New Christy Minstrels, I’m guessing) and
SCTV alumni Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara are Mitch and Mickey, sort of
like Simon & Garfunkel if one of them had been female and they were
romantically involved. Everyone in the movie is great, especially Levy. Of
course for a movie like this to work the song parodies have to be good, and
they’re dead on. I just think screenwriters Guest and Levy were a bit too
in love with their subject matter to really go for the big laughs. It’s
still a fun movie, just not a classic like ‘Tap’. (Bob Ignizio)
Who
would have thunk it? The director of ‘Dazed and Confused’, the writer
of ‘Chuck and Buck’, and Jack Black of Tenacious D have made a family
movie. And not a bad one, at that. Jack Black is Dewey Finn, a
guitarist in a heavy metal band called No Vacancy. He gets kicked out
of the band for taking gratuitous solos and stage diving flat on his
face at a gig. To make matters worse, his best friend substitute
teacher Ned (Mike White) and Ned’s wife Patty (Sarah Silverman) actually
expect him to pay his share of the rent for the room in their apartment
he’s been crashing in. When Dewey intercepts a phone call intended for
Ned, he winds up faking his way into a substitute teaching gig at a prep
school run by Principal Rosalie Mullins (Joan Cusack). At first Dewey
just tells the kids to take recess the whole day. When he hears them in
music class, however, Dewey hatches a plan to use the kids as his backup
band to win a $20,000 battle of the bands and show up his former
bandmates. The kids clearly have the chops, but unfortunately none of
them even know who Led Zeppelin is. Can Dewey turn this rag tag bunch
into a finely honed rock ‘n’ roll machine in time for the big show
without blowing his cover? If you’ve ever seen ‘Rocky’, ‘Sister Act’,
‘The Bad News Bears’, or any other of the numerous films that use this
same tried and true plot it shouldn’t be hard to figure out. As
predictable as ‘School of Rock’ is, it’s still a pretty entertaining
film. Black and Cusack are funny, the kids are tolerable, and there’s
no big life lessons or feel good bullshit. In the end it’s all pretty
disposable, but if you take the movie for what it is you’ll have a good
time. (Bob Ignizio)
‘The
Severed Head Network Compilation DVD’ is a collection of eight short
films and music videos. Ranging from the surreal and humorous to the
absurd and unbearable, this package is sort of hit-or-miss. Frankly,
some of it is amazing, some shows serious potential, some of it is
atrocious. I’ll do my best to be nice, but I promise nothing! By far
the best film presented here is “Sedgewick,” Directed by Stephen M.
Lashly and Quinn M. Botthof. The brilliant film tells of Sedwgewick, a
good-natured old man who suffers from nightmarish and hilarious
hallucinations, and an average day. He runs an errand for his wife,
during which he saves a woman from a coked-up rapist and eats raw meat
with a terrifying clown. “Sedgewick” has great writing, acting,
cinematography, and music. Another standout is first time director Tommy
Biondo’s “Satisfaction,” which depicts an intimate encounter that turns
deadly. The only real flaw here is the budget, which was clearly
nonexistent. Also here we have “Vomire,” directed by Chaz Eivins. This
film, subtitled “Or ‘How My Cunt Discharged Your Morals and Started
Believing in Unicorns’” (pause for Kubrick’s spinning corpse) consists
of random, video effect-laden scenes with pretty decent, Moog-driven
analogue washes accompanying the images. This one wants to shock and
offend you, but I don’t know what else it has to say. (Note to those
sensitive to animal violence: DO NOT WATCH THIS) The rest of the lot on
Severed Head isn’t too great. A few boring music videos, the
short film “Victim” (Directed by Jason Christ) which was a decent horror
tale, and a musical, “Liontown” (Directed by Aaron Croizer), the best
part of which is the song played over the end credits “Happy Birds,” by
DJ Kangaru Flamethrowa and the City of Whores, which has nothing to do
with the movie. Overall, the work on this disc is decent, not essential
viewing, but worth it for the more adventurous. With more money, though,
I believe these directors could make some serious, entertaining films.
Definitely a group of filmmakers to keep your eyes peeled for in the
coming years. (Kevin P. Hoffman)
This double feature from writer/director Michael
Legge proves that with a good script, some friends, and a little bit of
money, you can make an enjoyable, funny movie. The cast and crew are
largely the same, so it is clear that the work presented is a labor of
love. While ‘Loons’, Legge’s earlier of the two films, is far superior
to ‘Cutthroats’, the director is consistently original, inventive, and
knows comedy. ‘Loons’, Legge’s film from 1990, concerns a witch named
Hepzibah Crowley (Phyllis Weaver) and a curse she places on Judge Loon,
the man who condemns her to burn at the stake. According to the curse,
every man with Loon blood will go insane after age twenty. The hilarious
opening sequence traces the progression of the curse through the years,
using an evolution of film techniques and styles (silent, gangster,
musical, Universal horror). The film begins with Jeff Coukos (James
O’brien) coming home with his fiancée, Kerry Grant (Diane Mela) to
surprise his mother with the news of his engagement. June Coukos (Linda
Baxter Hardy) immediately tries to deter Kerry from marrying her son.
Jeff, taken aback, demands an explanation and learns of the curse. In
disbelief, Jeff learns he has an older brother in a mental institution
named Jasper Coukos (Michael Legge, hilarious), who believes he is a
marionette. The family visits him, and he goes sane soon thereafter.
However, Jeff now goes insane, and sees everyone as clowns. Jasper then
hatches a plan to raise Hepzibah from the dead to lift the curse. Will
Jasper save the day? 
To
say that ‘A Mighty Wind’ does for folk music what ‘This is Spinal Tap’ did
for heavy metal would be inaccurate. ‘Tap’ was a biting satire; ‘A Mighty
Wind’ is more like a good natured ribbing. Like Guest’s previous films
‘Waiting for Guffman’ and ‘Best in Show’, you’ll likely smile and laugh
softly but there aren’t many laugh out loud moments. Despite that fact,
the film is so well written and directed that you’ll be drawn into it
anyway. The basic plot is that folk impressario Irving Steinbloom has died
and his neat freak son Jonathan (Bob Balaban) wants to put on a concert in
his memory. To this end he gets three of his late father’s best known acts
together. The Folksmen (Spinal Tap themselves, Harry Shearer, Guest, and
Michael McKean) are sort of like Peter, Paul, and Mary (moreso by the end of
the film...you’ll just have to watch for yourself). There’s also the New
Main Street Singers (modeled on The New Christy Minstrels, I’m guessing) and
SCTV alumni Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara are Mitch and Mickey, sort of
like Simon & Garfunkel if one of them had been female and they were
romantically involved. Everyone in the movie is great, especially Levy. Of
course for a movie like this to work the song parodies have to be good, and
they’re dead on. I just think screenwriters Guest and Levy were a bit too
in love with their subject matter to really go for the big laughs. It’s
still a fun movie, just not a classic like ‘Tap’. (Bob Ignizio)
Who
would have thunk it? The director of ‘Dazed and Confused’, the writer
of ‘Chuck and Buck’, and Jack Black of Tenacious D have made a family
movie. And not a bad one, at that. Jack Black is Dewey Finn, a
guitarist in a heavy metal band called No Vacancy. He gets kicked out
of the band for taking gratuitous solos and stage diving flat on his
face at a gig. To make matters worse, his best friend substitute
teacher Ned (Mike White) and Ned’s wife Patty (Sarah Silverman) actually
expect him to pay his share of the rent for the room in their apartment
he’s been crashing in. When Dewey intercepts a phone call intended for
Ned, he winds up faking his way into a substitute teaching gig at a prep
school run by Principal Rosalie Mullins (Joan Cusack). At first Dewey
just tells the kids to take recess the whole day. When he hears them in
music class, however, Dewey hatches a plan to use the kids as his backup
band to win a $20,000 battle of the bands and show up his former
bandmates. The kids clearly have the chops, but unfortunately none of
them even know who Led Zeppelin is. Can Dewey turn this rag tag bunch
into a finely honed rock ‘n’ roll machine in time for the big show
without blowing his cover? If you’ve ever seen ‘Rocky’, ‘Sister Act’,
‘The Bad News Bears’, or any other of the numerous films that use this
same tried and true plot it shouldn’t be hard to figure out. As
predictable as ‘School of Rock’ is, it’s still a pretty entertaining
film. Black and Cusack are funny, the kids are tolerable, and there’s
no big life lessons or feel good bullshit. In the end it’s all pretty
disposable, but if you take the movie for what it is you’ll have a good
time. (Bob Ignizio) 
‘The
Severed Head Network Compilation DVD’ is a collection of eight short
films and music videos. Ranging from the surreal and humorous to the
absurd and unbearable, this package is sort of hit-or-miss. Frankly,
some of it is amazing, some shows serious potential, some of it is
atrocious. I’ll do my best to be nice, but I promise nothing! By far
the best film presented here is “Sedgewick,” Directed by Stephen M.
Lashly and Quinn M. Botthof. The brilliant film tells of Sedwgewick, a
good-natured old man who suffers from nightmarish and hilarious
hallucinations, and an average day. He runs an errand for his wife,
during which he saves a woman from a coked-up rapist and eats raw meat
with a terrifying clown. “Sedgewick” has great writing, acting,
cinematography, and music. Another standout is first time director Tommy
Biondo’s “Satisfaction,” which depicts an intimate encounter that turns
deadly. The only real flaw here is the budget, which was clearly
nonexistent. Also here we have “Vomire,” directed by Chaz Eivins. This
film, subtitled “Or ‘How My Cunt Discharged Your Morals and Started
Believing in Unicorns’” (pause for Kubrick’s spinning corpse) consists
of random, video effect-laden scenes with pretty decent, Moog-driven
analogue washes accompanying the images. This one wants to shock and
offend you, but I don’t know what else it has to say. (Note to those
sensitive to animal violence: DO NOT WATCH THIS) The rest of the lot on
Severed Head isn’t too great. A few boring music videos, the
short film “Victim” (Directed by Jason Christ) which was a decent horror
tale, and a musical, “Liontown” (Directed by Aaron Croizer), the best
part of which is the song played over the end credits “Happy Birds,” by
DJ Kangaru Flamethrowa and the City of Whores, which has nothing to do
with the movie. Overall, the work on this disc is decent, not essential
viewing, but worth it for the more adventurous. With more money, though,
I believe these directors could make some serious, entertaining films.
Definitely a group of filmmakers to keep your eyes peeled for in the
coming years. (Kevin P. Hoffman)