Movie Doc's Friday and Saturday

Running on fumes, I managed to watch four more movies on Friday and Saturday. Friday afternoon, I watched 3 back to back films. I began with BOB AND THE MONSTER, an interesting and well done documentary on rock singer Bob Forrest of the band Thelonious Monster and his battles with drug abuse and his eventual recovery and new calling as a drug counselor. I followed this film with the winner of the best narrative feature in both the Jury and Audience categories, NATURAL SELECTION. Writer/director Robbie Pikering presents a dark comedy which tells the story of Linda White, a barren, devout Christian housewife who discovers an ugly truth about her husband when he suffers a stroke. Pikering does a wonderful job with this film and Rachael Harris offers an amazing performance as Linda White. The film also earned awards for best breakthrough performances (Rachael Harris and Matt O'Leary), best screenplay (Robbie Pikering), best editing (Michelle Tesoro), and best score/music (iZLER, Curt Schneider). My last film on Friday was another dark comedy about a dysfunctional family. ANOTHER HAPPY DAY by writer/director Sam Levinson boasts an excellent cast of talented actors including Ellen Barkin, Kate Bosworth, Demi Moore, Thomas Haden Church, George Kennedy, Ellen Burstyn, and relative newcomers Ezra Miller, and Daniel Yelsky. Perhaps dysfunctional is an understatement when describing the family in this movie. This family has some serious deep seeded problems which Levinson presents with an unusual, but effective mix of humor and drama. This is one movie that should not be overlooked when released in theaters and hopefully come awards season. Saturday, because I had some family matters to attend to, I only made one movie. I finally got to see the movie which won the audience award in the Midnight Feature category. I say finally because when first considering which films I wanted to see this one was high on my list, but because of schedule conflicts, I missed all the previous screenings. From executive producer Edgar Wright (SHAUN OF THE DEAD, SCOTT PILGRIM) and director Joe Cornish, ATTACK THE BLOCK combines horror, humor, and non stop thrills is a film which deserves its audience award. Fans of Edgar Wright and horror/comedies with a small dose of sci-fi should take notice of this excitingly fun motion picture. A South London street gang is forced to stop terrorizing their neighborhood and defend it when a new terror in the form of space aliens attacks. Be sure to look for this film in theaters when it arrives. I get the feeling that this one might fly below the radar and could be easily missed. Mark Saldana The Movie Doc