The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari + The Cabin in the Woods

Posted on October 4, 2012 by Alice Thirteen
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari + The Cabin in the Woods

Double Feature barley makes it. Last minute from a tiny closet in the historic Edgewater Beach Hotel. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, a silent film. German Expressionism through the eyes of Time Buton. Surreal, gravity defying sets. Explaining the Mystery Spot. An asylum for the cartoonishly insane. The origins of the twist, and the lesser cited origins of bookends. The mundane work environment of Cabin in the Woods. The physical layers of the film and what they represent. Dark art wolf make out party games. Mythology and roles. Joss Whedon’s refusal to throw away characters. Playing What-If. The bike looks like something it’s not. Commenting on the cynicism. Breaking the perfect ten, over and over. Nine Inch Nails’ Last. Continue reading →

Spy Kids + Honey I Shrunk the Kids

Posted on September 27, 2012 by Alice Thirteen
Spy Kids + Honey I Shrunk the Kids

Film makers who you would think have no business making children’s films. The insane amount of star power in the original Spy Kids. Robert Rodriguez writing children’s movies for children. How to create an abundance of new sub-genres in a single stroke. Computer animation! Why a children’s film? A new Danny Elfman / Oingo Boingo song! The message of spy kids. Evil in disagreement: a fresh antagonist dynamic. Uncle Machete? How do you convince your friends to watch Spy Kids? Honey, I Shrunk the Kids! What ever happened to mad science? What the change in sci-fi and fantasy films tells us about science literacy. The terror in the backyard. Suspension of disbelief and the audience member that can’t play along. Rick Moranis as Wayne Szalinski. Honey I Blew Up the Kid. Honey We Shrunk Ourselves. The Honey I Shrunk the Audience. Premarital sex! Continue reading →

Irreversible + The Woman

Posted on September 20, 2012 by Alice Thirteen
Irreversible + The Woman

Ladies night. Gaspar Noe’s Placebo video. The enthusiasm in eccentric filmmaking. Michael’s theory of self-indulgent French movies. Realizations in reverse. Cinematic mechanics in backwards storytelling. French extremism and, as always, brutality. Commentary on homophobia. When you know what’s coming.The last good thing you will ever know. Teaching the audience a humanistic lesson about murder. It’s so very good to have Lucky McKee back. Tension already. The Woman and the family. Where you don’t belong. Rooting for someone you’re afraid of. Finally, a case of justified violence? Forced alignment with uncomfortably terrible characters. Sexually shaming an audience. Bad gets worse, again. After the credits. The Woman’s a sequel?! Continue reading →

Real Steel + World’s Greatest Dad

Posted on September 13, 2012 by Alice Thirteen
Real Steel + World’s Greatest Dad

Terrible dads. Two adults have a vulgar conversation about Real Steel. Characters and Lost reunions. A showcase of well used cliches. Misleading marketing. Down and out underdogs among underdogs. Some answers: what the fuck is going on with the “secret” in Real Steel. Late 90s soundtrack. Robot design. Who is Bobcat Goldthwait? World’s Greatest Dad. Writing to the lowest common denominator. Michael really hates Kyle. Bad made worse as a dark humor tactic. An audience’s sadomasochism. Smaller films filmed within the larger film. Vignettes and musical type videos. The return of MANDY LANE. A skeptically infused rant about Oprah, enabler of all terrible things. Where are the moral boundaries? The hard in justifying the means. Continue reading →

Killapalooza 17: Piranha

Posted on September 6, 2012 by Alice Thirteen
Killapalooza 17: Piranha

Piranha films 1-5. Killer fish! An announcement that changes Double Feature forever. Another announcement that’s even more important than that. Double Feature: The longest running consecutive week-after-week show on the internet. The Edgewater Beach Hotel (is not haunted). The Double Feature lexicon goes online! The original Joe Dante Piranha. Eighties horror in the seventies. Nudity in the Piranha franchise. Joe Dante at the Music Box. The alternate takes on science in 80s science fiction films. Piranha, from lady parts to kiddie parts. James Cameron’s Piranha 2: The Spawning. Characters? Characters! Raising the stakes. The hokiest scene in the entire franchise. Recreating Piranha as a made for TV movie. Roger Corman making his own remake. Splat splat splat. Alexander Aja takes you from zero to bro in Piranha 3D. Alice reconsiders 3D. The flower duet. Love to hate. Girls Gone Wild. Christopher Lloyd! Piranha massacre. Immediate deaths and comedic timing. Water certified strippers in Piranha 3DD. Terrible sinful dirty. This misunderstood John Gulager. TV relics. Continue reading →

The Iron Giant + My Neighbor Totoro

Posted on August 30, 2012 by Alice Thirteen
The Iron Giant + My Neighbor Totoro

Fantasy worlds that use giant friends to different means. Brad Bird and The Iron Giant. Trends in animation over time. A call for more interesting animation. Alice somehow thinks it’s a good idea to credit David Fincher for all 2:35:1 movies. Why you always end up following the Hogarth character. The family unit. Not just a stand-in for dad. The government doesn’t know everything. Alarmism throughout the decades. The lessons from a terrifying death robot. Rallying behind Vin Disel. Studio Ghibli, Hayao Miyazaki, and Toho films. Tromo’s involvement in My Neighbor Totoro. Revisiting dubbing. What makes Totoro Alice’s favorite Miyazaki. Sickness in animation. The girls’ reality. Conventions of escapism. A fantasy world without conflict. Totoros, the Catbus, and various other creatures. Deconstructing the allure of the King Totoro. Continue reading →

Bound + Strangers on a Train

Posted on August 23, 2012 by Alice Thirteen
Bound + Strangers on a Train

Symbiotic murder and crime. Murder, mystery and intrigue in noirland. More information about Larry Wachowski becoming Lana Wachowski. Why Double Feature is interested in Lana Wachowski. Bound contains the shortest Flying Tom Tom yet. Bound is goddamn sexy, and that’s awesome. Commendable boundary pushing. Voluntary sadomasochism, both metaphorical and literal. The afterglow. Do characters have to be realistic? Using sex to define a relationship. Montages in heist films. The Wachowski attention to detail. Object oriented filmmaking. Parallels with The Matrix. What’s Raymond Chandler doing on Strangers on a Train? Femme fatales in a movie that may not have femme fatales. Finding Hitcock’s signature. Humanism: why the wrongly accused works so well. What Alfred Hitchcock’s success says about the good in humanity. Thought experiments at parties. Twins, doubles, and dopple-gangers. Moral obligations. When do you call the police? Continue reading →

Dark Star + Sunshine

Posted on August 16, 2012 by Alice Thirteen
Dark Star + Sunshine

Celestial bodies that aren’t Jane Fonda. Double Feature in space! John Carpenter’s first film, Dark Star. Who knows Dark Star is supposed to be funny? Carpenter and comedy. Making a film out of your trash can. Remembering the flower children. What if we sent spaced-out hippies into space? What Star Trek took from Dark Star. The director’s cut. Methodological skepticism. Skepticism vs paradoxes. Journeyman filmmaking. How Sunshine makes space feel massive. Giving life back to space. The living components of dying space. Overwhelming, inspiring awe. Democracy isn’t always the right answer. A breakdown of decisions and consequences. In defense of Trey. Suicide or murder? Sunshine’s Bear or No Bear moment that transition in to all anyone remembers about the film. Pinback and Pinbacker. Let’s talk about the core problems of a religious mindset! Is God really the problem? Why things are blurry. What created Pinbacker and what he represents. Continue reading →

Rogue + The Innkeepers

Posted on August 9, 2012 by Alice Thirteen
Rogue + The Innkeepers

Splat time at Graceland Cemetery. Greg Mclean, Dimension Extreme. Movies in the cloud! Giant crocodile as the slasher. Television and horror. Adam Green and Rob Zombie have TV shows. Creating red herrings through overwhelming exposition. An unexpected cast has something unexpected happen to it. Coming up with your own problems when the killer won’t do it for you. Getting to know your characters as they make life harder for each other. Trigonomical death. Who is Ti West, really? The Innkeepers alongside The House of the Devil. What actually happened after Cabin Fever? The worst kind of horror movie. Alice and Michael have this skill. The 90’s aesthetic. Another use for humor. Oh hey skepticism! The unfalsifiable. Doing something different in the context of doing the same old thing. So glad to have that Ti West back. Continue reading →

Cry-Baby + Roadracers

Posted on August 2, 2012 by Alice Thirteen
Cry-Baby + Roadracers

50’s throw-back films! Greasers. John Waters after Devine. A bit on Iggy Pop. Who is Traci Lords? A confused opinion on hatchet-face. Johnny Depp?! Entire budget of Cry-Baby: $12 Million. Depp’s average Pirates salary: $88 Million per film. Faux jazz lounge scene! Coupling and single characters. Drapes and squares. Bases and religious tattoos. The alphabet bomber movie. Is Cry-Baby a musical? Adaptations of adaptations. Courtroom scenes. Use the manhole! Roadracers: The Making of a Degenerate Hot Rod Flick. Showtime’s Rebel Highway series. An Invasion of the Body Snatchers metaphor. John Hawkes’ character. Building around icons. The long-awaited Roadracers DVD release! Continue reading →