Steven Soderbergh’s Schizopolis (1996)

Schizopolis is bizarre but it
is a very artistic comedy worth viewing. This 1996 experimental comedy by
writer/director Steven Soderbergh tells many plots but the main ones in the
entire flick are: the first one which is about Fletcher Munson (played by
Soderbergh) an office employee who is currently working for Theodore Azimuth
Schwitters, leader of self- help philosophy/religion; the second one is about
Dr. Jeffrey Korchek a dentist who seems to be having an affair with Munson’s
wife; and the third and last one is about Elmo Oxygen a local exterminator who
has sex with most of his clients, including Schwitters’s wife, and at the end
of the movie it can be seen that he tries to kill Schwitters.

This 1996 picture is highly
imaginative, philosophical, goofy, fresh, creative and very unexpected. But
even though the flick brings all of this to the table the audience may have a
hard time understanding what the heck is going on in the entire feature.
However it seems that the film was a deep investigation of Soderbergh’s artistic
influences and views. The things that kept me distracted a bit throughout the
movie were the cinematography and sound which were a bit off. Also the vast
variety of sub-plots can be a bit troubling if one is trying to concentrate on
the three main stories that are going within the picture. Overall the feature
is a good film but it can be a bit difficult to understand.

Rating:
3 stars out of 5.

And the Award for Creepiest Kid in a Movie Goes To…The Baby from David Lynch’s Eraserhead

Okay so I have seen all the movies in The Omen series, I did see The Exorcist and I have seen Samara from The Ring many, many times. But I had never seen the baby from Eraserhead because I had never seen the flick. Now that I have seen this 1977 surreal film I can say that this baby, or whatever you think it is, is without a doubt the creepiest and nastiest child I have seen in a horror movie. The things that David Lynch did with this character in his film debut are some of the most twisted and imaginative things I have ever seen in cinema. I mean the scene where the baby pops out Henry Spencer’s head and he comes out as the new head for Henry’s body is just amazing. And the way this creature moves its eyes and when it gets sick, oh my god it is just excellence. With this creation David Lynch truly proved, at least to me, that he can make some really scary stuff and he has the potential to be a master of horror like John Carpenter and Wes Craven. So my award, even though I don’t really have anything to give, for the creepiest kid in a movie goes to the baby from David Lynch’s Eraserhead.

El Altar de los Condenados

El Altar de los Condenados is a short film I made for my ESPA 3305: Cine y Literatura course from college. The movie took me about three days to shoot, one day to write and approximately
an entire day of editing. I am highly satisfied with the result I got but I would have liked to shoot the final scene once again because the lighting sucks. But sadly I couldn’t because I had to hand the flick. El Alatar de los Condenados, which is based on “Tales of the Zombie” from MARVEL Comics, tells the story of Simon Garth a wealthy man who his kidnapped by his gardener so he can be turned into a zombie by some voodooists. The picture is almost ten minutes long and it stars my dear friends Ricardo Rivera as Simon Garth, Vale Ann Almodovar as Donna Garth (Simon’s daughter), Emilio Ortiz as Gyps the vengeful gardener and Deddie Almodovar Ojeda as Layla (Simon’s secretary and the voodoo queen).