Movies

STRAIGHT UP WITH A TWIST:
Nixing the Twist shows the way for local film

H it man and all-American boy Jimmy Johansson has a theory. It's about drinking. You see, every time you take a shot, a soul is released from Hell. If it's a shot of tequila, it's the soul of a Mexican bandito. If it's a shot of scotch, you've freed a brave Highlander. It was in this spirit that Denver film lovers came together, mostly drunk, to celebrate the release of Nixing The Twist from the hell of unwatched cinema.

Written and directed by ex-Modern Drunkard editor Frank Rich, Nixing The Twist is a slick cross between Tarantino and Rodriguez, a classic crime script that takes advantage of its Spartan $14,000 budget.

Jimmy (Luke Schmaltz) and Happy (David Gayman) are partners in crime, literally. They are syndicate enforcers, running down a laundry list of hits and leans that arrives every day from the mysterious Dragunov. Jimmy and Happy refer to themselves as U. N. Peacekeepers, taking out the more dangerous elements in an escalating fight between the Russians and Greeks in Denver before all-out war erupts. Happy is the more experienced hit man, the one with a wife and kids and suburban home, the mentor. Jimmy is a former pro wrestler whose volatile past has molded him into the (almost) perfect killer. Things start breaking down when Jimmy has doubts about the listÑ in two days the pair is ordered to take out a harmless gay accountant, a clown, and an elderly woman. Also complicating things is a femme fatale (the titular "twist") named Medina The Shark, who tempts Jimmy like Satan's snake into a drop scheme that may or may not be part of Dragunov's plans.

Shot on grainy black-and-white film, the movie betrays, but never succumbs to, its low budget. The sound was created entirely in post-production, which creates some moments of not-so-good dubbing and baffling sound effect mixing, but as with a good kung fu movie, you get used to it. Rich's script is tighter than an enforcer's schedule, but his directing could use schooling, as he makes several amateur mistakes in axis crossing and poorly planned angles -- and that, folks, is all the bad things I can think to say about this movie.

I had the giddy feeling that Nixing The Twist is the start of a real film explosion here in Denver. Rich's High Crime Films is poised to make another movie in the near future, and I'll be shocked if Nixing doesn't hit the festival circuit and do very well. Schmaltz in particular is a breakout star, playing Jimmy with enough head-twitching, over-confident fury to make him the most likeable criminal this side of Elmore Leonard. His line deliveries, facial expressions, and crazy-with-a-purpose movements all add up to a natural actor hiding in a punk singer's body. (Schmaltz is also the front man for local rockers King Rat). One of the many scenes that burned into my memory was Jimmy's absurd mating dance he uses to initially approach The Shark. It's better, way better, than Travolta's famous dance in Pulp Fiction.

Gayman also brings a fresh wind to Happy. Despite Schmaltz's ingenious interpretation of Jimmy, Happy is obviously the best-written character in Rich's script. Gayman takes full advantage of this, slipping easily from hard-ass killer to maternal affection for Jimmy. When Happy's character takes a turn at the end, it's truly gut-wrenching É even though you still like the big lug. It's hard to hate a guy who takes such pride in his work.

The location work is great, with several familiar haunts making appearances, most notably Cricket On The Hill. The biggest coup for Rich was figuring out how to film interesting and well-shot car scenes, where most of the action takes place. Audiences often don't realize how difficult it is to film scenes in a moving car -- it was this technical and creative dexterity that leads me to believe Rich will be a very good writer-director as soon as he gets two more films under his belt.

If we're lucky, Nixing The Twist will find some investors or a small studio to pick it up for distribution. Not only will that allow the rest of the country to see this gem of crime cinema, but it will drop a few reels in local theaters and let us all show up, night after night, week after week, to give this wonderful movie the backing it deserves. For now, the best thing we can do to help is take a shot of -- well, only Jimmy knows what kind of shot releases a movie into the world. As for me, I'm going to hedge my bets and just drink them all. Cheers.

A- Chris J. Magyar

For more information about the movie, check out the website at surf.to/nixing

ILLEGAL LIVING THROUGH TECHNOLOGY

How certain products accidentally make the world a better place I can remember going to my friend Dave's house when I was about thirteen to watch the Playboy Channel. No, his parents didn't have it, but a glitch in the old style cable boxes-- with the dials that you actually flipped-- allowed you to get it in. If you carefully pressed three or four buttons at once and manipulated the control thingy on the side you could get the sound first and, like at Dave's, the picture next. Oh, how grand those fuzzy breasts were. How titillating the somewhat distorted moans and gasps. And no incriminating evidence to leave lying around. Times have changed but, of course, still stay the same. Techniques for illegal transfer of copyrighted material are still around. Technology has also brought new joys and toys for our pleasureÑ voyeur dorms, DVD players and high quality movie making from your PC. But like those heady days of juvenile antics, it's the illicit ones that excite the most. Here are two.

The Sony Handycam with the NightShot function (including models CCR-TRV9, CCD-TRV95K, TRV-86K and TRV-45K) make possible that Supermanesque, childhood dream: "x-ray vision." Yes, with the right combination of light and filter you can actually see through clothing. First brought to light (so to speak) by a Japanese men's magazine, the NightShot feature was designed to work for recording at night but had amazing powers when used during the day. Just attach an infrared filter on the camera to see physics at work. The sun emits infrared along with visible light but you cannot normally see the effects because of the visible-light spectrum interference. Using the NightShot allows you to see the infrared instead of the normal spectrum. Sounds technical but looks cool. Now, this is not high-quality stuff we're talking here in terms of the picture, but if you've ever wanted to see that certain someone in their underwear-- or less-- then now's your chance. For examples of the camera in action, go to billywildhack.com/swimming/09071998.shtml. Or you can hit www.xraycams.com for a full service explanation and purchase site.

The Apex AD600-A DVD player is the all purpose, stick-it-to-the-man (or woman) machine. It single-handedly allows you to watch DVDs made in other countries, record from a DVD and record MP3s. Okay, so one at a time. Usually it is impossible to watch a DVD created for viewing in a country other than the one you live in. The U. S. is designated "region 1" so you must have a player encoded for region one to play American DVDs. Not so with the Apex. Call up a secret menu (see below) and it's a regional free-for-all. As for recording DVDs, the Apex handy secret menu allows you to do that too. It also allows you to turn off the CSS (or Content Scramble System) encryption for further copying purposes. As if that wasn't enough, they also popped in a handy little MP3 player and recorder for all your music copying needs. Have questions or ready to create your own little illegal music and video library? Check out www. nerd-out. com/ apexold/ Secret_ Menu/ secret_ menu. html for complete step-by-step instructions.

--Bryce Edmonds

DVD Report

Apocalypse Now

When Saving Private Ryan was released, many touted it as the best war movie ever made. Although the first thirty minutes were gut wrenching, the rest of the film was typical post-E.T. Spielbergian emotional manipulation. You can't award a film the title of "best war movie ever made" based solely on the first thirty minutes.

A better contender for the title, I think, is Apocalypse Now. I watched it, truthfully, because I'd never seen it and I thought I should. It's like reading War and Peace: Nobody likes it, even if they appreciate it, but they read it because they should.

The main appeal of the movie is Kurtz. I'm not a big fan of Marlon Brando. At. All. I can't begin to describe, though, what he brings to his portrayal of Kurtz. When you get down to it, it's not a very big role. I think that all that precedes our introduction to the Colonel would have been for nothing if any other actor had played the role. Amazing since Brando showed up late to the set, not having read either Conrad's book or Coppola's script.

There are very few extras with the disc. The film was originally presented in 70mm without credit sequences. The audience was presented with a printed program containing credits information, which is reproduced here as an extra. There's also the footage from the burning of the Kurtz compound, both with and without Coppola's commentary. When the film was released in 35mm, the footage was used as a background for the closing credits, which some took to be a continuation of the story. It's actually just really cool footage that Coppola tacked on. Interpreting it as the outcome of the narrative completely changes what the director intended. Why he didn't realize this to begin with is quite a mystery.

Lisa McInnis

SHORT TAKES

102 Dalmations [G] We didn't really need the liveaction update of 101 Dalmations, so why must we suffer through a sequel? Starring: Glenn Close, Gerard Depardieu. Directed by: Kevin Lima.

The 6th Day [PG-13] Ahnold in da future as a clone of Ahnold. Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Robert Duvall, Tony Goldwyn, Michael Rapaport. Directed by: Roger Spottiswoode.

Almost Famous [R] Instead of going to summer camp, a young boy goes on tour with a rock band. Starring: Billy Crudup, Kate Hudson, Patrick Fugit, Frances McDormand. Directed by: Cameron Crowe.

Bedazzled [PG-13] Remake involving a sexy devil and dumb geek. Starring: Elizabeth Hurley, Brenden Fraser. Directed by: Harold Ramis.

Best In Show [PG-13 1h 30m] Spinal Tap for dog shows. Starring: Christopher Guest, Catherine O'Hara, Eugene Levy, Fred Willard. Directed by: Christopher Guest.

Billy Elliot [R 1h 40m] Coal miner's son takes ballet lessons. Starring: Jamie Bell. Directed by: Stephen Daldry.

Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 [R] More woods, less shaky camera stuff. Starring: Erica Leerhsen, Jeff Donovan, Tristen Skyler, Stephen Turner. Directed by: Joe Berlinger.

Bounce [PG-13] Is this a movie about Affleck and Paltrow's life? Starring: Ben Affleck, Gwyneth Paltrow, Natasha Henstridge, Jennifer Grey. Directed by: Don Roos.

Bring It On [PG-13 1h 32m] Cheerleaders fight to the death in biki-nis! Only without the death. Starring: Kirsten Dunst, Gabrielle Union, Jesse Bradford. Directed by: Peyton Reed.

Broken Hearts Club [R 1h 34m] A chick flick for gay men. Starring: Dean Cain, Timothy Olyphant. Directed by: Greg Berianti.

Butterfly [R 1h 35m] It's one of those foreign movies that starts on the cusp of civil war with an old man and a young boy. Starring: Uxia Blanco, Manuel Lozano, Fernando Fernan Gomez. Directed by: Jose Luis Cuerda

The Cell [R 1h 47m] When you get into a serial killer's head, it's like What Dreams May Come, if that movie was made by Satan. Starring: Jennifer Lopez, Vince Vaughan. Directed by: Tarsem.

Charlie's Angels [PG-13] One big tease -- you mean they can't use guns and don't get naked? Puh-leeze. Starring: Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz, Lucy Liu, Bill Murray. Directed by: McG.

Chicken Run [PG 1h 25m] I'll never order my breaded grilled chicken sandwich again without thinking of little hunks of clay with British accents. Starring: Mel Gibson, Julia Sawahla and Miranda Richardson. Directed by: Nick Park and Peter Lord.

Contender [R 2h 6m] A chick wants to be vice-president, but she's had too much sex. Starring: Joan Allen, Gary Oldman. Directed by: Rod Lurie.

Dancer in the Dark [R 2h 20m] Bjork goes blind and crazy all at once, but she still sings. Starring: Bjork, Catherine Deneuve, David Morse, Peter Stormare. Directed by: Lars von Trier.

Digimon: The Movie [G 1h 30m] Do they even bother translating these into English anymore? Starring: Bad Drawings. Directed by: Bad Cartoonist.

Dinosaur [PG 1h 22m] The dialogue in this movie is about as good as a super-serious Saved By the Bell episode. Directed by: Eric Leighton and Ralph Zondag.

Dr. T & the Women [R 2h 1m] Richard Gere plays a gynecologist É insert hamster joke here. Starring: Richard Gere, Helen Hunt, Liv Tyler. Directed by: Robert Altman.

The Exorcist-- The Version You've Never Seen [R] Don't be fooled by the long title-- it's just the original with eleven more minutes added on. Starring: Linda Blair. Directed by: William Friedkin.

Get Carter [R 2h 27m] Remake of the classic British heist movie starringÉ wellÉ Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Michael Caine, Rachael Leigh Cook, Alan Cumming. Directed by: Stephen Kay.

Girl on the Bridge [R 1h 30m] French love stories go over so much better when there are knives being thrown around. Starring: Daniel Auteuil, Vanessa Paradis. Directed by: Patrice Leconte.

Gladiator [R 2h 30m] Romans, Christians, lions, thumbs, little metal skirts. Starring: Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Richard Harris and Djimon Hounsou. Directed by: Ridley Scott.

Goya in Bordeaux [R 1h 42m] A biopic on a 19th century artist nobody cares about. Starring: Francisco Rabal, Jose Coronado. Directed by: Carlos Saura.

Hollow Man [R 1h 45m] An invisible man goes crazy just because he can. Starring: Kevin Bacon, Elizabeth Shue. Directed by: Paul Verhoeven

How the Grinch Stole Christmas [PG] I wouldn't touch it with a 39 1/ 2 foot pole. Starring: Jim Carrey, Molly Shannon, Christine Baranski, Jeffrey Tambor. Directed by: Ron Howard.

Just Looking [R 1h 37m] Teens in the '50s like to peek at adults getting it on. Starring: Ryan Merriman, Joey Franquinha. Directed by: Jason Alexander.

The Kid [PG 1h 44m] Bruce Willis has an inner child that's fat and annoying. Starring: Bruce Willis, Lily Tomlin and Spencer Breslin. Directed by: Jon Turteltaub.

Ladies Man [R] I repeat, there should be a law against big-screen adaptations of "Saturday Night Live" skits. Starring: Tim Meadows, Will Ferrell, Tiffani-Amber Theissen, Billy Dee Williams. Directed by: Reginald Hudlin.

The Legend of Bagger Vance [PG-13] Supernatural golf caddie-- every Republican's wet dream (except he's black). Starring: Matt Damon, Will Smith, Charlize Theron, Bruce McGill. Directed by: Robert Redford. Directed by: Reginald Hudlin.

Legend of Drunken Master [R 1h 42m] Yet another Jackie Chan import. Starring: Jackie Chan, Ti Lung. Directed by: Lau Ka Leung.

Little Nicky [PG-13] Adam Sandler is the son of Satan. That's the plot, not an opinion. Starring: Adam Sandler, Patricia Arquette, Harvey Keitel, Rhys Ifans. Directed by: Steven Brill.

Little Vampire [PG] Kids can suck blood too. Starring: Jonathan Lipnicki, Richard E. Grant. Directed by: Uli Edel.

Lost Souls [R] Winona Ryder keeps seeing the devil everywhere like a big Tootsie Roll. Starring: Winona Ryder. Directed by: Janusz Kaminski.

Loving Jezebel [R 1h 25m] Poor guy keeps falling in love with the wrong women. Starring: Hill Harper, Andrew B. Blake, Laurel Holloman, Elisa Donovan. Directed by: Kwyn Bader.

Lucky Numbers [R] Who knew the state lottery could be rigged? Starring: John Travolta, Lisa Kudrow. Directed by: Nora Ephron.

Meet the Parents [PG-13 1h 47m] Never marry a woman whose father is Robert DeNiro. Starring: Robert DeNiro, Ben Stiller, Teri Polo, Blythe Danner. Directed by: Jay Roach.

Men of Honor [R 2h 9m] The Navy's first black master diver has to put up with DeNiro. Starring: Robert DeNiro, Cuba Gooding Jr., Charlize Theron, Aunjanue Ellis. Directed by: George Tillman Jr.

MVP: Most Valuable Primate [PG 1h 33m] A chimp that plays hockey. Starring: Kevin Zegers, Jaimee Renee Smith, Hairy Primate. Directed by: Robert Vince.

The Nutty Professor II: The Klumps [PG13 1h 45m] Contrary to all common sense and logic, it's only the poopoo that really shines. Starring: Eddie Murphy, Janet Jackson. Directed by: Peter Segal.

The Original Kings of Comedy [R 2h] Comedians give white people a long overdue tongue lashing. Starring: D. L. Hughley, Cedric the Entertainer, Steve Harvey. Directed by: Spike Lee.

The Patriot [R 2h 47m] Mel Gibson is the only American with the balls to stand up to the wigwearing British. Starring: Mel Gibson and Heath Ledger. Directed by: Roland Emmerich.

Pay it Forward [PG-13 2h 4m] A whole slew of Oscar winners learn to love. Starring: Kevin Spacey, Helen Hunt, Haley Joel Osment, Jay Mohr. Directed by: Mimi Leder.

The Perfect Storm [PG13 2h 12m] My first reaction to the movie was, "you dopes, just move and stop fishing before you die." Starring: George Clooney, John C. Reilly and Mark Wahlberg. Directed by: Wolfgang Petersen.

Red Planet [PG-13] NASA disapproves of this mission to Mars, which probably means it's more fun than that dreadful summer movie. Starring: Val Kilmer, Carrie-Anne Moss, Tom Sizemore, Benjamin Bratt. Directed by: Antony Hoffman.

Remember the Titans [PG 1h 53m] A football team asks, "Can't we just all get along?" Starring: Denzel Washington, Will Patton, Wood Harris, Kip Pardue. Directed by: Boaz Yakin.

The Replacements [PG13] A football strike means the NFL is taken over by Keanu Reeves and his evil band of strippers. Starring: Gene Hackman, Keanu Reeves. Directed by: Howard Deutch.

Rocky Horror Picture Show [R] Let's do the time warp again-- and again -- and again --

Rugrats in Paris: The Movie [G] If the title doesn't explain the movie, nothing will. Starring: John Lithgow, Susan Sarandon. Directed by: Stig Bergguist, Paul Demeyer.

Space Cowboys [PG13] Fogeys in space! Starring: Clint Eastwood, Tommy Lee Jones, Donald Sutherland, James Garner. Directed by: Clint Eastwood.

Stardom [R 1h 42m] A model turns famous, which somehow sucks. Starring: Jessica Pare, Dan Aykroyd, Frank Langella. Directed by: Denys Arcand.

The Tao of Steve [R 1h 28m] A guy who did all for the nookie, and who tells you where you can take that cookie. Starring: Donal Logue, Greer Goodman. Directed by: Jenniphr Goodman.

Time fo Drunken Horses [NR 1h 20m] Sick kid screws up the plans of Iranian smugglers. Starring: Ayoub Ahmadi, Rojin Younessi. Directed by: Bahman Ghobadi.

Two Family House [R 1h 44m] A how-to guide for those who want the cabaret in the privacy of their own home. Starring: Michael Rispoli, Kelly MacDonald. Directed by: Raymond De Felitta.

Unbreakable [PG-13] Bruce Willis is indestructible, as anyone who has sat through the Die Hard trilogy already knows. Starring: Bruce Willis, Samuel L. Jackson, Robin Wright Penn, Spencer Treat Clark. Directed by: M. Night Shyamalan.

Urbania [R 1h 43m] A gay New Yorker becomes obsessed with urban legends. Starring: Dan Futterman. Directed by: Jon Shear.

What Lies Beneath [PG-13 2h 6m] Your partner is guaranteed to jump into your lap at least four or five times. Starring: Harrison Ford, Michelle Pfeiffer. Directed by: Robert Zemeckis

X-Men [PG13 1h 36m] This is a film that was made with a sequel in mind, if not already written. Starring: Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellan, Famke Janssen and Halle Berry. Directed by: Bryan Singer.

The Yards [R 1h 45m] Double-crossing and intrigue in the subways. Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Joaquin Phoenix, James Caan, Faye Dunaway. Directed by: James Gray.