Double Feature: Rocky Horror Picture Show and Red State

Well, I've been away for a few days and missed a couple days of movies; crazy weekend, going to Colorado Springs (which I will give a summary too as soon as I'm not pulling my hair out busy) and writing midterms. But I managed to squeeze in a film yesterday and today, so not too far behind. In the next week I'll try to double up for the days I've missed but time will tell. The reviews...

10/23: For Sunday's horror film I went to a local small theater The Guild and saw the cult classic "The Rocky Horror Picture Show." Really, what needs to be said about this movie that hasn't already been said? I had seen it once before and really the experience makes the movie-- live actors, hilarious lines, crowd participation, it's just a blast. The movie itself makes no damn sense but that's all part of the fun and the music is awesome. I had a great time, even if it led to me only getting 3 hours of sleep. This movie really needs no rating as if I did I would inevitably be rating the experience instead of the film. If you haven't seen this in a live setting yet, GO.

10/24: For tonight's film I watched Kevin Smith's new film "Red State." This is arguably a horror film (really only the first half is) but it does have elements of the genre. The plot revolves around three young men who answer a Craigslist ad by a woman looking for sex and end up inadvertently becoming captives of an incredibly conservative preacher loosely based on Fred Phelps and his following. I am a pretty big Kevin Smith fan (yeah, shoot me, the guy's funny and writes stellar dialogue) and appreciate his attempt to go outside his cinematic comfort zone but "Red State" ends up a mixed bag of results. The film has a good message to give on the nature of religion taken to it's most radical even if it is sometimes heavy handed. The movie does come off preachy at times, but mostly it does keep itself under control. Probably the biggest weakness in the movie is character development save for the conservative preacher, as even the main protagonists of the movie seem unrefined and even forgotten about half way through the movie. Because of this I felt I had no one to relate to for the second half and felt lost amongst a sea of "happenings" so to speak. John Goodman is, as always, amazing, and Michael Parks is stellar as the preacher. "Red State" is far from being a bad film but also isn't near as engaging as it should have been either. 

7.5/10