Directors/Writers: Jay & Mark Duplass (The Intervention, The Puffy Chair)
Starring: Steve Zissis as Chad (Momma's Boy, The Intervention); Ross Partridge as Matt (Prom Night, Kuffs); Greta Gerwig as Michelle (Hannah Takes the Stairs, Nights & Weekends) & Elise Muller as Catherine (Baywatch Nights, I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant)
IMDB User Rating: 5.9 out of 10 stars.
When my friends ask me how and why I started blogging bad movies, I usually start the answer with today's movie, Baghead. I was still awake at around 3am one morning, and amazingly enough, Baghead was really the only thing that caught my eye enough to watch...I needed something mindless; something I didn't care if I fell asleep while watching...Baghead fit that bill.
I have to give the Duplass brothers credit for a somewhat original (if not completely disappointing) concept: Four morons decide to make a film at a cabin in the woods where they're stalked by a man with a bag on his head. Notice I did not call the man a killer...that's part of the disappointment. And that's it...that's the plot in a nutshell. In essence, it's really a movie about itself--a paradox. I could end this review here, and you would be completely up to speed. But then I wouldn't have the chance to go off on one of my infamous rants & slag someone else's hard work, now would I?
It starts with our four movie maker friends at a movie theater, watching another really crappy indie film at which the film maker himself (Jett Garner, played by Jett Garner) is present. One of my favorite lines in the movie comes during the Q & A with Jett, when Matt asks him how he made the movie so cheap (he claimed to have made it for less than $1,000, which was twice as much as he wanted to spend), he explains that he used his parents' camera, natural light, real people...here's the line: "Hollywood has us convinced that it takes a million dollars to make a quality piece of art--and that's a crap statement, as you just saw". Wait a minute...did this guy just call a thousand dollar home movie in which he appears naked a quality piece of art? Yes, yes he did. And it just keeps getting better from there.
Highlights: Ross Partridge's acting isn't bad, but then again, it's in comparison to the rest of the cast, so...who knows, really. There's one boob scene...not bad, but not spectacular.
Lowlights: WAY too many closeups...like, almost the whole film is shot zoomed in...I don't get why. The dialogue is so contrived, you wonder if the Duplass brothers watched too much Curb Your Enthusiasm before they wrote the screenplay and just let the actors go; I'm sure it's meant to be improved and realistic, but it comes out clumsy and embarrassing, and the characters can't seem to gel. In addition to there being way too many close ups, the camera work is shaky and confusing and looks like my dog shot it (not every movie needs a steady cam, but at least invest in a mono pod). The brainstorming sessions our four film making friends have are childish, and again, embarrassing. And there are cheap "boo" moments, and we all know how I feel about those.
You think this movie is gonna be a slasher flick...you know, some psycho out in the woods, wearing a bag on his head for some reason or another, cutting up the people unfortunate enough to be in his neck of the woods that particular weekend. That would have been a good movie.
What we get instead is a huge set-up by Matt: he has a friend of his to come out and scare the shit out of his friends so he can get their genuine reactions and use them in a screenplay. None of them is aware of what's going on until--while running away from Baghead--Chad gets hit by a car. It's all fun and games until the awkward fat guy with the fro gets hurt...I've seen it a thousand times before...
The end is just as uneventful and awkward as the beginning...Chad is lying in the hospital with a bunch of bruises and a cast or two. Matt explains the whole thing to him...and instead of being pissed, he proclaims it to be a brilliant scheme, asks to see the footage, and tells Matt all is forgiven as long as he goes and gets him some ice cream.
I'm warning you, if you decide to watch this movie, you're going to be super pissed when it's over...really. Out of all the movies I've reviewed, only Bram Stoker's Way of the Vampire is worse...IMDB users gave it an unbelievable 5.9 out of 10 stars...I give it a 3...and that's being generous.
Thanks for reading, next up is 1990's remake of Night of the Living Dead.
Baghead Movie Trailer
When my friends ask me how and why I started blogging bad movies, I usually start the answer with today's movie, Baghead. I was still awake at around 3am one morning, and amazingly enough, Baghead was really the only thing that caught my eye enough to watch...I needed something mindless; something I didn't care if I fell asleep while watching...Baghead fit that bill.
I have to give the Duplass brothers credit for a somewhat original (if not completely disappointing) concept: Four morons decide to make a film at a cabin in the woods where they're stalked by a man with a bag on his head. Notice I did not call the man a killer...that's part of the disappointment. And that's it...that's the plot in a nutshell. In essence, it's really a movie about itself--a paradox. I could end this review here, and you would be completely up to speed. But then I wouldn't have the chance to go off on one of my infamous rants & slag someone else's hard work, now would I?
It starts with our four movie maker friends at a movie theater, watching another really crappy indie film at which the film maker himself (Jett Garner, played by Jett Garner) is present. One of my favorite lines in the movie comes during the Q & A with Jett, when Matt asks him how he made the movie so cheap (he claimed to have made it for less than $1,000, which was twice as much as he wanted to spend), he explains that he used his parents' camera, natural light, real people...here's the line: "Hollywood has us convinced that it takes a million dollars to make a quality piece of art--and that's a crap statement, as you just saw". Wait a minute...did this guy just call a thousand dollar home movie in which he appears naked a quality piece of art? Yes, yes he did. And it just keeps getting better from there.
Highlights: Ross Partridge's acting isn't bad, but then again, it's in comparison to the rest of the cast, so...who knows, really. There's one boob scene...not bad, but not spectacular.
Lowlights: WAY too many closeups...like, almost the whole film is shot zoomed in...I don't get why. The dialogue is so contrived, you wonder if the Duplass brothers watched too much Curb Your Enthusiasm before they wrote the screenplay and just let the actors go; I'm sure it's meant to be improved and realistic, but it comes out clumsy and embarrassing, and the characters can't seem to gel. In addition to there being way too many close ups, the camera work is shaky and confusing and looks like my dog shot it (not every movie needs a steady cam, but at least invest in a mono pod). The brainstorming sessions our four film making friends have are childish, and again, embarrassing. And there are cheap "boo" moments, and we all know how I feel about those.
You think this movie is gonna be a slasher flick...you know, some psycho out in the woods, wearing a bag on his head for some reason or another, cutting up the people unfortunate enough to be in his neck of the woods that particular weekend. That would have been a good movie.
What we get instead is a huge set-up by Matt: he has a friend of his to come out and scare the shit out of his friends so he can get their genuine reactions and use them in a screenplay. None of them is aware of what's going on until--while running away from Baghead--Chad gets hit by a car. It's all fun and games until the awkward fat guy with the fro gets hurt...I've seen it a thousand times before...
The end is just as uneventful and awkward as the beginning...Chad is lying in the hospital with a bunch of bruises and a cast or two. Matt explains the whole thing to him...and instead of being pissed, he proclaims it to be a brilliant scheme, asks to see the footage, and tells Matt all is forgiven as long as he goes and gets him some ice cream.
I'm warning you, if you decide to watch this movie, you're going to be super pissed when it's over...really. Out of all the movies I've reviewed, only Bram Stoker's Way of the Vampire is worse...IMDB users gave it an unbelievable 5.9 out of 10 stars...I give it a 3...and that's being generous.
Thanks for reading, next up is 1990's remake of Night of the Living Dead.
Baghead Movie Trailer
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