‘Butt Boy’ sucks you in to its dark world

Review by Bob Ignizio

I’ve seen a lot of weird movies in my time. Weird is kind of my thing. And I can honestly say I haven’t seen anything quite like BUTT BOY. Maybe the closest comparison would be DAVE MADE A MAZE, but even that’s a stretch. It’s perhaps a kindred spirit to Adam Rifkin’s insane cult classic THE DARK BACKWARD, but while it may be almost as bizarre, BUTT BOY is decidedly its own movie.

So now that we’ve established what it isn’t, what, exactly, is BUTT BOY?

Structurally, this film fits in the neo noir/police procedural genre, with a bit of addiction and recovery drama thrown in. Office worker and family man Chip Gutchell (Tyler Cornack) discovers during his first ever prostate exam that he really likes having things inserted in his butt. And as time goes on, the bigger the better, up to and including small pets and even babies. He tries to kill himself and fails, but eventually seems to get his strange compulsion under control through AA meetings.

A martial arts saga reaches its conclusion with 'Ip Man 4: The Finale'

[IP MAN 4: THE FINALE screens Saturday March 14^th at 9:40 pm at the Cleveland Cinematheque.]

Review by Bob Ignizio

As the title proclaims, IP MAN 4: THE FINALE brings to a conclusion the series of films based (very loosely) on the life of Chinese martial arts master Ip Man. Like all its predecessors, it stars Donnie Yen in the title role and was directed by Wilson Yip, with Edmond Wong and Chain Tai Lee once again serving as screenwriters, this time in collaboration with Dana Fukazawa and Jil Leung Lai Yin.

Set in 1964, for his final adventure in the series Ip (Yen) travels to San Francisco’s Chinatown. There he hopes to find a new school for his son Ip Ching (Jim Liu), who has been kicked out of school in Hong Kong for fighting. Ip also checks in on his former student Bruce Lee (Danny Chan), who has opened a martial arts school that teaches Wing Chun style kung fu to anyone, regardless of race. This doesn’t sit well with the Chinese Benevolent Association, headed by Wan Zong-hua (Wu Yue). Wing and his fellow board members are adamant that Chinese martial arts should only be taught to Chinese people.

A housewife finds control through a strange habit in 'Swallow'

[SWALLOW opens Friday, March 13th at the Atlas Diamond Centre Cinemas 16.]

Review by Bob Ignizio

Depicted as the stereotypical upper-class housewife, it would seem as though Hunter (Haley Bennett) has everything she could want from life. She lives in a nice house, has a good looking and seemingly considerate husband in the person of Richie (Austin Stowell), and wants for nothing material.

But in Carlo Mirabella-Davis’s SWALLOW, what some would consider the American dream is far from it. Hunter’s day to day life offers little opportunity for fulfillment beyond decorating her home. And it turns out her seemingly perfect husband is kind of a douche. He’s not physically abusive, but he has little if any interest in his wife’s thoughts and opinions.

The only other people in Hunter’s life are her in-laws, who at best see her as an extension of their son and not as a real person. Richie’s dad (David Rasche) barely acknowledges Hunter’s existence. Richie’s mother (Elizabeth Marvel), on the other hand, makes passive aggressive comments and suggestions to her daughter-in-law. Hunter’s own parents are notable by their absence, and if she has any friends, we don’t see them.

Art and politics make a potent blend in 'The Cordillera of Dreams' (March 5th and 6th at the Cleveland Cinematheque)

[THE CORDILLERA OF DREAMS screens Thursday March 5^th at 6:30 pm and Friday March 6^th at 9:40pm.]

Review by Bob Ignizio

Director Patricio Guzman fled Chile, the country of his birth, in the mid-seventies to escape the brutal Pinochet dictatorship. He remains an expatriate to this date. But although he no longer lives there, he keeps returning to make films, seeking to understand his country and the lasting impact Pinochet continues to exert even after death.

Starting with 2010’s NOSTALGIA FOR THE LIGHT, Guzman has made a series of films exploring the intersection of Chile’s past and present. He has done this by focusing on various regions, beginning with the Atacama Desert in NOSTALGIA, moving south to Patagonia in 2015’s THE PEARL BUTTON, and now focusing on the Andes mountain region in his latest film, THE CORDILLERA OF DREAMS.

A hand seeks its host in the Oscar nominated animated film 'I Lost My Body'

[I LOST MY BODY screens Thursday January 30^th at 6:45 pm and Friday January 31^st at 9:35 pm at the Cleveland Cinematheque.]

Review by Bob Ignizio

Seems like every year, the Oscars nominate one film in the Best Animated Feature category that is original, innovative, geared towards adults, and (usually) made in a non-English speaking country. If the last decade or so is any indication, it’s not going to win, but hey, at least they made one token attempt to show people animation isn’t just for kids, right?  This year, that film is I LOST MY BODY, co-written by AMELIE screenwriter Guillaume Laurant (adapted from his novel) and the film’s director, Jérémy Clapin, making his feature length debut.

Hollywood still thinks the suburbs are weird in 'Greener Grass'

[GREENER GRASS screens Saturday January 18^th at 9:50 pm at the Cleveland Cinematheque.]

Review by Bob Ignizio

Everyone in the pastel world of GREENER GRASS seems blandly happy, but (shocker) there’s a darkness underneath. Hollywood has given us similar visions of twisted suburbia in films like EDWARD SCISSORHANDS, THE BURBS, and BLUE VELVET. But writers/directors Jocelyn DeBoer and Dawn Luebbe distinguish their film with a comically surreal flavor of their own. “Jokes” like having housewife Jill (DeBoer) offer up her new baby to fellow soccer mom Lisa (Luebbe) as though it were simply good manners to do so display a level of matter of fact weirdness that recalls Luis Bunuel.

'Atlantics' is both deep and eerie

[ATLANTICS screens Thursday December 12^th at 8:35pm and Friday December 13^th at 7:00 pm at the Cleveland Cinematheque.

ATLANTICS (Atlantique) tells the story of Ada (Mame Bineta Sane), a young woman living in Dakar, Senegal. She is in love with Souleiman (Ibrahima Traoré), one of the construction workers erecting a luxury skyscraper on the seacoast, but is betrothed to the less personable but more financially stable Omar (Babacar Sylla). It would seem Ada has a decision to make, but the choice is taken out of her hands.

Soulemain and the rest of the workers haven’t been paid in 3 months. Hoping to find better prospects, they head out to sea. Ada doesn’t find out until after the fact, and is understandably upset. But with her nuptials fast approaching, she can’t exactly talk about her feelings openly, even when it begins to seem likely that Souleiman and the others have died at sea.

Errol Morris questions controversial figure Steve Bannon in 'American Dharma'

[AMERICAN DHARMA screens Friday December 6^th at 7:00 pm and Sunday December 8^th at 8:20 pm at the Cleveland Cinematheque.]

Review by Bob Ignizio

A documentary about Steve Bannon probably seems like an odd choice to review for Utter Trash. I could be snarky and justify it by saying that Steve Bannon is utter trash, but that would be beneath me. No, the real reason I’m reviewing AMERICAN DHARMA is because it was directed by Errol Morris, the filmmaker responsible for some of my favorite documentaries. And since this is my blog, I get to do what I want, dammit!

I may not care much for Bannon, but there’s no denying he’s an interesting figure. And if anyone could make a good film out of such a despicable guy, I figured it would be Morris. After all, he pulled the same thing off with such questionable individuals as Fred A. Leuchter, Jr. (MR. DEATH) and Robert S. MacNamara (THE FOG OF WAR). Both of those subjects proved to be forthcoming and open in their interviews with Morris. But Leuchter was frankly kind of naïve when it came to revealing himself, and MacNamara was looking back on his career with regrets he wanted to get off his chest. Neither of those things is true of Bannon.

It May Be 'First Love', But First They Have To Survive.

[FIRST LOVE screens Friday November 22^nd at 9:00 pm and Saturday November 23^rd at 9:25 pm at the Cleveland Cinematheque.]

Review by Bob Ignizio

As FIRST LOVE (Hatsukoi) begins, a severed head rolls into the middle of the street and blinks in shock. It’s the kind of moment one expects from prolific Japanese cult director Takashi Miike (ICHI THE KILLER, GOZU, 13 ASSASSINS, HARA-KIRI: DEATH OF A SAMURAI, and so many others).

Written by frequent Miike collaborator Masa Nakamura, FIRST LOVE crams a small army of characters and just about every noir and yakuza movie trope one can think of into its script. Double crosses and twists abound, but the complex plot of can be boiled down thusly: Leo (Masataka Kubota), a boxer told that he is dying from a brain tumor, saves Monica (Sakurako Konishi), a prostitute and drug addict, from corrupt police officer Otomo (Nao Ōmori), who is trying to kill her as part of a scheme to steal drugs from the Yakuza.

31 Days of Halloween 2019: Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark

[Once again I'm going to attempt to do a horror(ish) movie review a day for the entire month of October. I've done this the last few years on The Cleveland Movie Blog. Most of the time I succeeded. Other times I didn't. We'll see if I can pull it off this year.] 

Review by Bob Ignizio

There’s no new cemetery ground being broken in SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK, but to a degree that’s part of the appeal. The series of books of the same name by Alvin Schwartz collected various spooky stories and urban legends. The film takes those tales and incorporates them into a fairly standard issue “revenge from beyond the grave” template to deliver a film that favors thrills and chills over violence and gore. But thanks to the skillful direction of André Øvredal (TROLLHUNTER, THE AUTOPSY OF JANE DOE) and a visual aesthetic that takes its cues from the creepy illustrations in the original books, the film finds ways to be scary without being bloody.

The screenplay by brothers Dan and Kevin Hageman (with contributions by producer Guillermo del Toro, Patrick Melton, and Marcus Dunstun) centers around a group of teens in 1968. Stella (Zoe Colletti), Auggie (Gabriel Rush), and Chuck (Austin Zajur) are a trio of outsiders who plan to get revenge on bully Tommy Milner (Austin Abrams) and his toadies. Their plan works, but later they, along with teenage drifter Ramon (Michael Garza), wind up trapped in the neighborhood haunted house.

31 Days of Halloween: Willow Creek

[Once again I'm going to attempt to do a horror(ish) movie review a day for the entire month of October. I've done this the last few years on The Cleveland Movie Blog. Most of the time I succeeded. Other times I didn't. We'll see if I can pull it off this year.]

Review by Bob Ignizio

So this one has been out for a while, but I’ve held off watching it until now. I like Bobcat Goldthwait as a director, and for my money SHAKES THE CLOWN is one of the finest comedies ever made. Subsequent films like WORLD’S GREATEST DAD and GOD BLESS AMERICA were intriguing dark comedies as well, even if I didn’t love them quite as much. So I’m generally interested in seeing anything the guy makes. And yet, the idea of Goldthwait directing a found footage horror movie about Bigfoot just didn’t grab me.

Turns out, my instincts were wrong on this one, as WILLOW CREEK is one of the better found-footage horror films to come out in the wake of THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT.

31 Days of Halloween: The Head Hunter

[Once again I'm going to attempt to do a horror(ish) movie review a day for the entire month of October. I've done this the last few years on The Cleveland Movie Blog. Most of the time I succeeded. Other times I didn't. We'll see if I can pull it off this year.]

Review by Bob Ignizio

THE HEAD HUNTER pares itself down to one actor, one set (with a bit of outdoor location shooting), and a few very simple effects. To say it’s a minimalist film is perhaps an understatement, but director Jordan Downey (who also co-wrote the screenplay with Kevin Stewart) shows that limitations can be a virtue.

I was reminded of Bela Tarr’s last film, THE TURIN HORSE, in the way that much of THE HEAD HUNTER is comprised of repetition. In that film, we saw an old man and his daughter coming together at the end of each day of drudgery to eat a single baked potato in silence over and over again until it became almost hypnotic. Here we have a medieval warrior (Christopher Rygh) heeding the blow of a horn signifying that monsters are about. He then heads off to do battle with the creatures off-screen, later returning to his tiny stone hovel to heal his wounds and impale the head of his latest kill on the wall. He does this all in hopes of one day finding and killing the monster who killed his daughter.

31 Days of Halloween 2019: In The Tall Grass

[Once again I'm going to attempt to do a horror(ish) movie review a day for the entire month of October. I've done this the last few years on The Cleveland Movie Blog. Most of the time I succeeded. Other times I didn't. We'll see if I can pull it off this year.]

Review by Bob Ignizio

Becky (Laysla De Oliveira) is pregnant, and since her boyfriend Travis (Harrison Gilbertson) isn’t ready to step up and be a dad, she’s decided to give the baby up for adoption. So she and her doofus of a brother Cal (Avery Whitted) head off on a road trip so she can have the baby and give it up for adoption. Along the way, though, they become lost in a field after responding to cries for help from a young boy named Tobin (Will Buie Jr.). Also in the all-encompassing greenery are the boy’s father Ross (Patrick Wilson) and his mom Natalie (Rachel Wilson). Soon, everyone is walking about aimlessly in the field, and as night falls with seemingly no way to escape, things keep getting stranger, and more dangerous.

31 Days of Halloween 2019: Hell House LLC III: Lake of Fire

[Once again I'm going to attempt to do a horror(ish) movie review a day for the entire month of October. I've done this the last few years on The Cleveland Movie Blog. Most of the time I succeeded. Other times I didn't. We'll see if I can pull it off this year.]

Review by Bob Ignizio

First of all, I missed a day. Real life has been busy, what can I say. Hopefully I'll get caught up and still end the month with 31 reviews, but it's looking rough. Ok, on with the review.

The creepy old Abaddon Hotel that has been the site of murder, mayhem, and reported paranormal activity is saved from demolition by tech entrepreneur Russell Wynn (Gabriel Chytry) who plans on turning it into a performance space called Insomnia. His troupe of actors will be putting on an interpretation of ‘Faust’ while a camera crew from local paranormal program Morning Mysteries, including host Vanessa Shepherd (Elizabeth Vermilyea), films the events leading up to opening night.

All this is shown in past tense, along with interviews and other relevant footage, in the faux documentary and Shudder original HELL HOUSE LLC: LAKE OF FIRE. We don’t know what exactly happened on Insomnia’s opening night as the film begins. We only know it was yet another strange and terrifying event at this seemingly cursed location.

31 Days of Halloween 2019: Annabelle Comes Home

[Once again I'm going to attempt to do a horror(ish) movie review a day for the entire month of October. I've done this the last few years on The Cleveland Movie Blog. Most of the time I succeeded. Other times I didn't. We'll see if I can pull it off this year.]

Review by Bob Ignizio

Although Annabelle get’s top billing, ANNABELLE COMES HOME is more of a monster rally in the HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN or DESTROY ALL MONSTERS mold than a star vehicle for the demonic doll. Still, the title isn’t entirely misleading as the film begins with Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga) takin the titular menace away from the clueless college kids who she was last terrorizing, and tossing her in the backseat for a late night ride to their home. Once there, the terrifying toy is placed in a special locked and blessed display case in the Warren’s museum of the macabre from which she can never escape.

Sure.

31 Days of Halloween 2019: The Banana Splits

[Once again I'm going to attempt to do a horror(ish) movie review a day for the entire month of October. I've done this the last few years on The Cleveland Movie Blog. Most of the time I succeeded. Other times I didn't. We'll see if I can pull it off this year.]

Review by Bob Ignizio

I’m hardly the first person to point out that THE BANANA SPLITS movie bears a strong resemblance to the premise of horror video game/merchandising cash cow/upcoming feature film FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY’S. Nonetheless, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention it, since it’s painfully obvious that the producers were intentionally copying that premise as closely as possible.

And I’m not even bothered by that. That’s been the B-movie production model for decades. Just ask Roger Corman, whose New World Pictures did their best to crank out cheap imitations of big studio hits throughout the seventies and eighties, occasionally even beating their inspirations to the big screen just as this film has.

31 Days of Halloween 2019: Hagazussa

[Once again I'm going to attempt to do a horror(ish) movie review a day for the entire month of October. I've done this the last few years on The Cleveland Movie Blog. Most of the time I succeeded. Other times I didn't. We'll see if I can pull it off this year.] 

Review by Bob Ignizio

 

Set in 15^th century Germany, Lukas Feigelfeld’s HAGAZUSSA is a stark tale of misogyny and ostracization. After her mother, a suspected witch, dies, Albrun (Aleksandra Cwen) is largely shunned by the nearby townfolk, tending her goats and raising her infant daughter. Surprising Albrun, one of the women from town, Swinda (Tanja Petrovsky) befriends her. But that friendship takes an ugly turn, resulting in horror and tragedy.

While the film alludes to witchcraft and the supernatural, they seem to function in a more symbolic manner. One should not necessarily take them as a reality in the world of the film. This especially the case once the film takes an overtly psychedelic turn in its third act.

31 Days of Halloween 2019: The Curse of La Llorona

[Once again I'm going to attempt to do a horror(ish) movie review a day for the entire month of October. I've done this the last few years on The Cleveland Movie Blog. Most of the time I succeeded. Other times I didn't. We'll see if I can pull it off this year.] 

Review by Bob Ignizio

THE CURSE OF LA LLORONA is based on the Mexican folk legend of the crying woman, said to be the spirit of a woman who drowned her two sons and is now condemned to wander the earth looking for her children, murdering other kids along the way. Widowed social worker Anna Tate-Garcia (Linda Cardellini) doesn’t believe her client Patricia (Patricia Velásquez) when she says the reason she has locked her children in their room is to protect them from this vengeful spirit. She thinks they’re being abused, and with the help of police backup frees the kids.

Later that night, Anna gets a call that the children have died, drowned in a river. In shock, but still forcing herself to do her job, Anna heads to the crime scene with her own kids, Chris (Roman Christou) and Samantha (Jaynee-Lynne Kinchen) in tow.

31 Days of Halloween 2019: Daphne & Velma

[Once again I'm going to attempt to do a horror(ish) movie review a day for the entire month of October. I've done this the last few years on The Cleveland Movie Blog. Most of the time I succeeded. Other times I didn't. We'll see if I can pull it off this year.] 

Review by Bob Ignizio

I’m not sure if I should call it a reboot, an update, a prequel, or a spin-off. Whatever you call it, DAPHNE & VELMA is another installment of the Scooby Doo franchise, live action division. And since continuity has never really been a major component of the adventures of Scooby and his mystery solving pals whatever their format, it doesn’t make too much of a difference.

Anyway, as the title implies, DAPHNE & VELMA focuses on the ladies of the Scooby gang. The film begins with teenage Daphne (Sarah Jeffery) posting videos about aliens and the paranormal. Velma  (Sarah Gilman) has a more skeptical viewpoint, and comments on Daphne’s vids that everything has a logical explanation. Despite their different points of view, the two consider each other good friends, even if they’ve never actually met.

31 Days of Halloween 2019: Satanic Panic

[Once again I'm going to attempt to do a horror(ish) movie review a day for the entire month of October. I've done this the last few years on The Cleveland Movie Blog. Most of the time I succeeded. Other times I didn't. We'll see if I can pull it off this year.] 

Review by Bob Ignizio

The basic premise of SATANIC PANIC is that the rich are amoral devil worshipers willing to sacrifice anything, even their own children, to hold on to wealth and power. So not a whole lot of suspension of disbelief required. But before we meet the moneyed monsters, we are introduced to our protagonist, the considerably less well-off Sam (Hayley Griffith), a teenage singer/songwriter who just started her first ever job delivering pizzas.

At the end of a tipless shift, Sam agrees to take a delivery out of the pizza shop’s zone in the wealthy Mill Basin section of town. This turns out to be a very bad idea, and not just because the mansion she delivers to doesn’t tip her, either. When Sam gets mad and goes in to demand a tip, she finds herself in the midst of a Satanic ritual. The problem is, the coven’s virgin isn’t one anymore. Sam, however, is, and coven leader Danica (Rebecca Romjin) figures the pizza girl will do in a pinch.