DVD Review: Welcome To Leith

Welcome To Leith is an engaging, fascinating and frightening documentary about a very small community in North Dakota that suddenly becomes the home to white supremacists. The film opens with shots of a desolate town and the sounds of frantic calls to the police. We are given a bit of background on the area by the town’s mayor, Ryan Schock, who tells us he was on the town council since the age of sixteen, and that the town is three square miles with only twenty-four residents. “There’s only one business left here,” he says. And yes, it’s a bar.

The film introduces us to some of the town’s residents before we meet Craig Cobb, a leader in the white supremacist movement who bought several plots of land in Leith with the intention of turning the town into a haven for racists. He posted notices online urging white supremacists to move there, telling them it was a place they could quickly control politically. And already being aware of how small the population is, we know that Cobb is right, and that is frightening. The film is able to get close to Cobb as well as to the town’s other residents, which is what makes the film so fascinating. When asked where his hatred comes from, Cobb answers, “We hate that which threatens that which we love.”

Cobb donated one of the buildings he purchased to the National Socialist Movement, one of the largest neo-Nazi groups in the country. The film interviews Jeff Schoep, one of the leaders of that group (there is a shot of him and Cobb giving the Nazi salute). It’s amazing to me that there are still people who proudly call themselves Nazis. They seem like lonely, sad children who want to play dress-up, and decide specifically to play the villains. Just watch that town meeting scene, with the three NSM members standing in the front of the room. They look like ostracized, weak children posing as stronger people. It would all be laughable if these sad little losers weren’t also violent.

Kynan Dutton seems to be the most pathetic of all. Look at his sad attempt to replicate the Hitler mustache. You can tell he was a guy who was picked on in school and probably had no friends. So of course he’s going to latch onto any group that will embrace him. He and his wife and children are racists who move to Leith and live on Cobb’s property, which has no running water. Cobb encourages newly released white inmates to come to Leith, posting messages like “Come now, skins and federal prison grads!” and “The streets will run deep in the blood of our enemies, some whites among them.” And that is even scarier, because he’s deliberately reaching out to a violent segment of the population, and encouraging violence from them. So when the town’s people react in fear, you can hardly blame them.

What is also interesting is that because these days everyone has cameras, both sides of this battle are constantly filming everything. And this documentary actually includes footage shot by the racists. Particularly frightening is the footage shot by Dutton’s wife, which shows Dutton and Cobb walking down the town’s streets carrying rifles, engaging in shouting matches with other people.

Special Features

The DVD contains some bonus material, including Separatist, a short film by Michael Beach Nichols and Christopher K. Walker, presented by the New York Times Op-Docs. This focuses on Kynan Dutton, and includes some footage that made it into the feature film. He and his wife talk about why they want whites to be separate from those with other skin tones.

The special features also include an interview with Mark Potok, of the Southern Poverty Law Center. He talks about that organization, and about hate groups. There is one deleted scene which features an interview with Jeremy Kelly, who organized opposition to the white supremacists, and also an extended scene of the burning of Cobb’s wooden signs. There are also short biographies of the filmmakers.

Welcome To Leith was directed by Michael Beach Nichols and Christopher K. Walker, and was released on DVD today (February 9, 2016) through First Run Features.

DVD Review: I Can Be President: A Kid’s Eye View

I Can Be President: A Kid’s Eye View is a delightful, humorous and at times touching short film in which children give us their thoughts on what it means to be president of the United States. It opens with various kids reciting (or doing their best to recite) the pledge of allegiance. It’s definitely cute (though I am not in favor of making children memorize that). And then the kids talk about wanting to be president. One girls says: “Well, maybe I would want to be president, but if I would want to be president, I would want weird hair. Because George Washington had weird hair.” Adorable.

They talk about being inspired by President Obama. The kids list all the presidents, with one kid taking inspiration from FDR, a touching moment. One boy says “Peace Corpse” when talking about Kennedy. But the children often speak with such passion that is refreshing, especially these days with the lunacy of the new election.  One girl tell us: “Presidents know a lot, like teachers. Like a lot of math, and you have to know all your ABCs.” She’s too young to remember George W. Bush, clearly.

There are some wonderful animated segments, illustrating the children’s dreams and hopes. In another segment, the children speculate about what it would be like if a child were president. “Everybody would have free ice cream,” one kid says. Hey, not bad! You have my vote. Also adorable is the moment when two young girls speak highly of a boy in their class, saying he’d be a good president. I just hope that one other girl doesn’t get elected because she promises to outlaw spinach, and I love spinach.

Special Feature

The DVD includes Tribute To Michael Sporn. Michael Sporn was the director of animation for I Can Be President, and also one of the producers. This begins with some interviews with Heidi Stallings, Emily Hubley and John Canemaker, all of this footage actually functioning as an introduction to the documentary film Remembering Michael Sporn. If you’re a fan of animation, you will love this documentary. It includes interviews with Eric Goldberg, Gregory Perler, Maxine Fisher, among others, and provides information on Michael Sporn’s career and personality. This feature is approximately 54 minutes.

I Can Be President: A Kid’s Eye View is scheduled to be released on DVD on February 9, 2016 through First Run Features.

DVD Review: Mythica: The Darkspore

The Mythica series seems to be custom-made for people like me who played Dungeons & Dragons when growing up (and I’m talking about the real roleplaying game, not the video games). This is a series that understands the difference between clerics and wizards, a series that understands adventuring party dynamics, a series that is fun without making fun. It is about a group led by a young runaway slave named Marek, who has some magical training and some inherent abilities, and perhaps a much darker element to her powers. The first movie, Mythica: A Quest For Heroes, was really about gathering the party together and going on its initial, somewhat simple, adventure, rescuing Teela’s sister from an ogre. At the end of that movie, the sister was to take a powerful stone to a paladin.

But as the second film, Mythica: The Darkspore, opens, we learn that the sister was killed, the stone stolen. Marek (Melanie Stone) is having nightmares about a dark figure. Her magic teacher, Gojun (Kevin Sorbo), returns to tell her she’s a necromancer, and that the man in her dreams is a powerful and evil necromancer named Szorlok who is searching for the four pieces of the darkspore, the heart of a lich king, which will give him unstoppable power. Szorlok must be kept from gaining all four pieces.  For Marek, it is a journey of self-discovery as well as a quest to help save the world. Gojun tells her: “You have potential, Marek, for real good and for real evil. But you need to learn to control your power, or that choice will be made for you.”

Marek, Thane (Adam Johnson) and Dagen (Jake Stormoen) find a map which will lead to one of the four pieces of the darkspore. Teela (Nicola Posener), still grieving for the death of her sister, agrees to accompany them, but mainly to keep an eye on Marek and to make sure she doesn’t use the darkspore for evil herself. Teela senses an evil power within Marek. And the scene where she agrees to go is really good. When Teela tells her the dark power within her will eventually claim her, Marek doesn’t deny it. It’s exciting, because you sense that Marek herself is excited by this power and isn’t ready to say unequivocally that she will work for the forces of good. She’s not sure if she can control the power, a power which both frightens and thrills her.

Along the way, they encounter a dark elf named Qole (Rocky Myers) and of course a number of dangerous adversaries. There are plenty of action and fight sequences, but the film doesn’t rely on those scenes to hold your interest. There are also some nice humorous moments, like when Qole doesn’t vote for his own suggested course of action. Marek says, “This was your idea.” Qole reponds, “Yes, but it’s not a good idea.”

The only thing I was wondering at the end was how Dagen’s fingers were healed. At one point his fingers turn black, and Teela says she doesn’t have the power to heal him. Did the healing potion do the trick? Because at the end we can see in one shot that his fingers are fine. It’s a minor point, but I am curious about it. There are three more Mythica films in the works, and I am looking forward to enjoying those as well. If you’re a fan of fantasy films and of roleplaying games, you should check out this series.

Special Features

The DVD includes a behind-the-scenes featurette, which is divided into several segments. These segments feature interviews with producer/writer Jason Faller, director/writer Anne Black and producer/writer Kynan Griffin. Interestingly, the story for this second movie was written first. They talk about changes in the script. There is also material about shooting on location in Utah, and there is a section on the special effects, with interviews with a few of the special effects crew. There is also a section on the music, with an interview with composer Nathaniel Drew.

Also, the special features include a music video, as well as trailers for the first four Mythica films.

Mythica: The Darkspore was directed by Anne Black, and is scheduled to be released on DVD on February 9, 2016 through SunWorld Pictures.

DVD Review: Forbidden Zone: Special Edition

Forbidden Zone is a wild movie starring the Mystic Knights Of The Oingo Boingo, and directed by Richard Elfman. It features original music by Danny Elfman, and features Hervé Villechaize as the King and Susan Tyrrell as the Queen. The special edition DVD is a two-disc set which contains both the original black and white version and the color version, along with a lot of bonus material.

The first disc contains the black and white version. A title card at the beginning tells us that Huckleberry P. Jones, “local pimp, narcotics peddler, and slum lord,” finds a mysterious door in a vacant house he owns. What he finds beyond that door leads him to sell the place. And soon a strange family moves in, and it isn’t long before these good people discover the special door, which leads to the Forbidden Zone. “And Flash, be sure you tie your grandfather up, and check the knots real good. While he was sniffing around for food yesterday, he nearly wandered into the Forbidden Zone.” That conversation leads to the movie’s first musical number, and it’s wonderful. This film is like a twisted children’s program with decidedly fake-looking sets, animation, a dancing frog, a talking chicken and a nice dose of classroom violence. And for the adults, there is a tranny, some nudity, and intestinal travels. There are also some excellent songs (like the Queen’s song, “Because I was hatched out of a witch’s egg…”), and every once in a while a helpful title card. And there is some wonderful dialogue, like this line: “The Queen said she was gonna ream us with twenty-inch cattle prods, and I’m still waiting.”

The second disc contains the color version, which in a way makes it seem even more like a bizarre children’s program, but perhaps takes a little of its twisted edge off. It’s cool to have both versions, but I think I prefer the black and white. By the way, a door on the set says “Mystic Knights Of The Oingo Boingo,” and it leads to Satan leading that group in a music number.

Special Features

Each disc has its own special features. The first disc contains an introduction by Richard Elfman, with some silliness and some animation. There is also a documentary about the film, featuring Richard Elfman interviewing key players, such as Danny Elfman, Marie-Pascale Elfman, Matthew Bright, John Muto and Susan Tyrrell. Richard talks about the reasons for making the film, and about casting the film, most of the cast coming from the Mystic Knights shows. Danny talks about the music. John Muto talks about the animation, and yes, he does mention Terry Gilliam’s animation, an influence that is clear when watching the movie. Susan Tyrrell is completely fucking hilarious in her segment. Seriously, you should check it out. This documentary also includes some cool footage of the Mystic Knights Of The Oingo Boingo stage shows. This disc includes a commentary track by Richard Elfman and Matthew Bright, and there is also the option of watching the film with just the music, which is cool.

The second disc includes five minutes of deleted scenes, including a great scene where two of the Hercules family members pretend to join the King’s army and are told they’re not allowed to molest the female prisoners. The deleted scenes are in black and white. There are also eleven minutes of outtakes, including the Queen biting Frenchy’s breasts, and another six minutes of footage titled, “Scenes From The Hercules Family” (which is mostly silent footage of Satan, including an alternate take of the beheading scene). There is a promotional spot with Richard Elfman, as well as a little musical segment, and the film’s trailer.

This two-disc special edition of Forbidden Zone was released on November 10, 2015 through MVD Visual.

Blu-ray Review: Comin’ At Ya!

In the early and mid-1980s, we suddenly got a bunch of 3D movies – Friday The 13th Part 3, Jaws 3D, Amityville 3D (basically the third entry in any horror series had to be in 3D – that was the law), plus crap like Treasure Of The Four Crowns. Most of this stuff was awful. But the movie that really kicked off that 3D craze was actually pretty good. It was a strange western titled Comin’ At Ya! And now it has been released on Blu-ray. The case and the disc itself say that there is the option of watching it in either 3D or 2D, but there are no 3D glasses included, and the menu doesn’t provide any option on viewing. When I hit “Play,” it was the 2D version that I got to watch. So the deal is you need to have a 3D Blu-ray player and a 3D compatible television in order to watch it in 3D; from what I understand, if you have those items, then it will automatically play in 3D and you don’t have the option to watch it in 2D.

Comin’ At Ya! has a very simple story, but is an interesting film. At a small wedding ceremony, two gunmen come in and shoot the minister and groom, and kidnap the bride. The scene is in slow motion, and is set to music, without any dialogue, and is kind of beautiful. The groom survives and goes looking for his wife. That’s basically the entire plot. But the movie has an unusual vibe, which is set up right from the beginning with a creative opening title sequence and odd mix of color and black and white elements. Plus, the movie is surprisingly gritty and brutal.

Hart (Tony Anthony) learns that the group is led by two brothers, and that they kidnap women and then auction them off. He finds one of the brothers, who has paid for the time of a not-quite-willing young woman. And even after finding his wife, our hero’s troubles are far from over (mainly because at first he tried to save her without shedding too much blood). There are so many great shots and moments in this film, such as when the bad guys round up the women like cattle, and end up dragging the bride through shallow water behind a horse. There are also some wonderful landscapes, and good use of music.

Really, the weakest thing about this movie is the 3D stuff. It’s one of those movies where objects (like a wedding ring and a naked baby) are passed out toward the audience for no purpose other than to utilize the 3D effect. And things are deliberately dropped on us, like coins and bits of food and playing cards. And of course there are bats on strings flying at us. The movie is much better than this gimmick. And, perhaps because what I saw is a 2D version of a 3D film, often the things at the edges of the frame are blurry. And at times, especially near the beginning, it looks like the filmmakers neglected to clean the camera lens.

Special Features

The Blu-ray includes a five-minute promo reel of various shots from the film, as well as the movie’s trailer.

Comin’ At Ya! was directed by Ferdinando Baldi, and was released on Blu-ray on January 26, 2016 through MVD Visual.

DVD Review: The Looking Glass

The Looking Glass is a tender and often moving film about an aging woman whose granddaughter comes to live with her in the country. It stars Dorothy Tristan as Karen, a woman who was once an actor but who now lives a relatively quiet life, and Grace Tarnow as Julie, her teenage granddaughter who comes to stay with her after the death of her mother.

Julie’s mother (Karen’s daughter) has died, and her father has remarried, with Julie none-too-fond of her new stepmother. And she shuts herself off a bit from her grandmother, preferring to spend her time on her computer. But after Karen hears Julie singing one day, she takes her to an audition for a local production, encouraging her to audition (so we get a montage of people auditioning). Julie leaves, but later reconsiders, and Karen takes her to an audition for another production, this one for a musical version of Alice In Wonderland. We get a second montage of people auditioning, which seems unnecessary (especially as we get variations of this scene in so many films), and this time Julie is part of it.

Julie gets the lead in the play. Things do seem a bit too easy at times in this film. Julie begins making friends, and even becomes interested in a boy. The movie has a relaxed, easy-going tone and atmosphere, at least for the most part (though certainly things take serious turns later). When Karen asks the director if she can sit in on rehearsals, Julie doesn’t object, which is a little unbelievable, as most teenagers would not be comfortable in that situation.

We do learn a bit more about the troubles that Julie had while living with her father and stepmother, when the two arrive to see Julie’s play. It seems we’re supposed to take an immediate disliking to Sybil (Julie’s stepmother) when she opines that people should not take babies on planes, but I completely agree with her. And I don’t quite believe the relationship with Julie’s father. It doesn’t seem like they really even know each other. I don’t quite buy him as her dad, which could be intentional, but which feels weird.

There are times when I felt the scenes should be longer. Like when Julie tells a friend about her mother, we are dropped into the middle of the scene, and I wonder what led her to this sudden emotional unburdening on her part. It feels like it comes out of nowhere. This movie is best when it allows its scenes to play out. For example, I love the scene with Julie and Terry (Karen’s neighbor, who had a history with Julie’s mother), when he talks about his past. It’s wonderful, because it feels so honest, and it reveals things in a subtle way. I also really like the scene where Karen gives Julie some acting tips. It’s a very sweet scene where Karen’s past meets Julie’s possible future.

The film really hinges on the performances by Dorothy Tristan and Grace Tarnow, who are in nearly every scene, and they both do great jobs. There are many tender moments between them, and you do become emotionally involved in their stories. Even early on, there is a wonderful moment when Karen says to Julie: “But now you’re here, and you’re her little girl, and we have each other, don’t we. Don’t we?” I love her delivery of the second “Don’t we,” for she really asks the question, showing a vulnerability that you might expect from the teenager but not necessarily from her. And so it really connects the two characters in our minds immediately.

By the way, we do see parts of the production of Alice In Wonderland, and it seems like an excellent production, certainly not the typical low-budget regional show you might expect. And the song “Teach Me To Sin” is a cool tune, with some great choreography.

Special Features

The DVD includes some special features. The Town That Made A Movie is an unfinished short documentary on this film, featuring interviews with Dorothy Tristan and John Hancock.  There are two deleted scenes, one with Karen and Terry, the other with Karen and Julie, in which Karen reveals she’s working on her memoir. There is also an extended scene of the Alice In Wonderland production, and that stuff is particularly good, including a delightful variation of musical chairs, only the very end of which is seen in the film.

The Looking Glass was directed by John Hancock, who also directed Let’s Scare Jessica To Death, Bang The Drum Slowly and California Dreaming (among others), and was released on DVD on January 12, 2016 through First Run Features.

DVD Review: The Breaking Point

The Breaking Point is a crime drama about three guys who shoot a woman in a convenience store, the detectives who are investigating the murder, and a woman who is eager to be district attorney. It is a mess. It opens with the woman who wishes to be the next DA telling a friend that she is working on something special in order to get that job. He asks her about Assistant DA Thomas who is next in line, and she tells him, “I’ll give Thomas an offer than he cannot refuse.” Here are some other clichés from that first scene: “Everything worth having is worth fighting for,” “If you believe that, I have a bridge to sell you,” and “Word on the street.” The whole script is like that. It feels like a first draft. And we have to suffer through some awful and completely useless narration by a character named Shawn (played by Erik Grey).

Shawn, his brother Mike and his friend TJ enter a convenience store, and TJ decides to rob a woman in there, and ends up shooting and killing her. Another bullet injures Mike. Shawn, in his narration, tells us that this “set off a chain of events that we would all later regret.” The lighting is a major problem in this film. The actors are often in shadow, and it doesn’t seem like it’s by choice, but rather by lack of proper lighting.  When Li Ling, the Asian cashier at the store, tells the detectives, “I no see face,” it doesn’t seem like she’s lying, like she’s saying that because she’s scared to testify. I couldn’t see his face either, due to poor lighting.

The narrator introduces every character. “That’s Captain Harry Sawyer. He retired from the police department after thirty-two years. A real law and order type of dude.” Yes, that’s the kind of dialogue we have to listen to throughout the film. And watch Harry’s insane reaction when he learns his wife has been killed. Soon Harry’s granddaughters arrive (cue the terrible emotional music – the score is yet one more major problem), and one of them says, “We’ll get through this together, the way Grandma would have wanted it.” Have I mentioned how bad the dialogue is?

This movie also has several pointless flashbacks. In one of them, we see the chick that wants to be DA as a child. One of her friends says, “Come on, girls, we need to start working on our realistic career aspirations.” Really? That’s what these kids are doing? Another long, fruitless flashback involves an aborted oil change. The flashbacks become more and more risible. Check out the one after a little girl begs Harry, “Please don’t kill my mommy.” Oh, that reminds me: Harry of course starts investigating on his own, since he was a cop and it was his wife that was killed. But nothing ever comes of that. That’s the way this movie is. But in the middle of all this, there is a wonderful scene with two women named Bernadette and Yvette, who are questioned by the detectives. They are the only believable characters, and their scene is by far the most enjoyable. Bernadette is playing by Shellita Boxie, who turns in a really good performance.

The movie keeps introducing people, and you wonder briefly if they might have anything to do with the plot, if perhaps they’ll help get it going. But in most cases, no, they don’t. This movie is amateur hour through and through. It seems like there was no storyboarding or planning of any kind. I mean, who are the main characters? What is the film’s point of view? What is it trying to say? This movie pretends to be about an innocent man wrongly accused of murder. On the DVD cover it says, “Sometimes the innocent have to go beyond… The Breaking Point.” But Shawn is far from being innocent. He is a thug. Sure, he didn’t pull the trigger, but he is an accessory to murder. And then in an effort to avoid jail, he commits another crime – he breaks into the store that night in order to steal the surveillance tapes. But he can’t find them. Do the cops have them? No, apparently no one has them. It’s another element that never pays off. Why didn’t the cops ask about the tapes when they arrived on the crime scene? I don’t think it’s that the detectives are lazy; I think it’s the writers who are lazy. Yes, writers. It took two people to write this script. Wow.

The Breaking Point was released on DVD on October 27, 2015 through MVD Visual. The DVD includes five minutes of behind-the-scenes footage and the film’s trailer.