Adjust Your Tracking: The Untold Story of the VHS Collector

Dir: Dan M. Kinem, Levi Peretic

2013

*****

There is something quite glorious about Adjust Your Tracking: The Untold Story of the VHS Collector even though I don't think there is anything glorious about VHS tapes. I do get it though, as up until a couple of years ago I still had a collection of around 2000 tapes myself. I treasured these tapes but once DVDs became more affordable I, like most people, simply updated my collection. I actually collected way more DVDs than VHS but have got rid of most of these too, keeping only the rare and special films. I have a new rule now that I only watch films once as there are so many I want to watch and I now only collect comics because they go up in value, although it seems certain VHS tapes are now worth something. I still buy CDs though for the same reason as many of the VHS collectors featured in the documentary, and that is because there is something enormously satisfying about cataloguing, organizing and simply admiring one's own collection. That and because I like the artwork. It's a collector thing and it's a nerd thing. One collector refers to himself and his kind as 'archaeologists of low brow pleasure', as teams of VHS enthusiasts scour car boot sales, house clearances and old rental stores that are going out of business for a rare horror, bizarre porno or underground cult classic. The films aren't generally all that good, the reason most of them never made it to DVD, but it's not just about the stories but the artwork and the titles. I remember visiting my local rental store as a child and looking up at the amazing artwork of the horror films. I swore I would go back to the store on my 18th birthday and rent the lot but by that point many had disappeared. These guys felt the same way but unlike me, they went out and found those lost gems and formed an obsession. Some buy the same film several times over just because the artwork is slightly different on different releases and if you have 'Something something 1 & 2, then you really need to have something something 3-9 to complete the collection, even if you have no interest in the films themselves.  It's really not a new phenomenon, Vinyl collectors have been doing the same for years, as have comic, stamp and all sorts of collectors. It's all based on nostalgia and quality. That's where VHS is slightly different. Vinyl fans will argue that the audio quality is better than CD or MP3. Comic collectors have to have comics that are in perfect condition and stamp collectors like stamps that have slight imperfections as it makes them rare, therefore more collectible/valuable. VHS collectors like the imperfections of VHS tapes for what they are, they like the pause lines, the fizzing at the top and bottom of the screen and the general poor quality. They see character in it sure but it all stems purely from nostalgia. There is something rather poetic about that. It's not about the money either as these vast collection will only appeal to a select few who probably already have said collections anyway. The nearest comparison I can think of is classic game collectors but again, there is far more to that than just one technology. One of my favourite things about Dan M. Kinem and Levi Peretic's loving tribute is that it is filmed on low quality VHS cameras. It's very much for the fans and everyone else is welcome to join in should they want but I would argue that when a documentary is this good the subject matter really isn't important, it is the enthusiasm that is infectious and fascinating and what makes the film a success. Nerds rule!

Trainwreck

Dir: Judd Apatow

2015

*

It seems that Amy Schumer's main intention with her 2015 comedy Trainwreck was to reinvent a tired genre by reversing the gender of the main characters. Unfortunately, she, Apatow and everyone involved, misses the point. The problem with the crude romantic comedy that deals with infidelity, monogamy and basic maturity isn't with the character's sex, the problem is that they have been done to death and were never very funny in the first place. Dick jokes were never clever or particularly funny to those above the age twelve, so vagina jokes aren't either. The idea that Schumer has somehow reinvented or pushed certain boundaries is ridiculous to me. The film is far too long considering most of the script is ab-libbed, especially as very few of the cast are actually any good at it. It's been done a hundred times before but it's never quite been as poor as this. Many of the jokes are aimed at blacks, gays and the homeless. I'm quite surprised by this, clearly meant to be satirical (but it's not) and I don't think the film or Schumer is racist or homophobic, I just don't think she's got much of an imagination or indeed, a funny bone. Seriously, black jokes in 2015? It's rather telling when the funniest person in your 'comedy' is John Cena. The writing is fairly haphazard too, with the film having very little structure to it. There is a running sub-scene throughout the film of a movie playing in the background which stars Daniel Radcliffe as a dog-walker and Marisa Tomei as a dog-owner. It's a black and white spoof of either a Woody Allen type film or a Noah Baumbach romance, it's not really clear and I'm amazed it made the final cut. In time-honoured tradition in such overlong and boring 'comedies' as this, several celebrity cameos are introduced (I understand the relevance of the sports-stars but I have no idea why Matthew Broderick appeared?). This provides familiarity, it's a cheap trick, because the sort of people who enjoy this kind of film are generally the sort of people who will laugh when someone tells them something is funny, rather than actually finding it funny themselves, or people that still think rude words and genitals are the route of all comedy. Even these people would have tired before the end and so familiar faces are brought in to attract their attention. It's like a catchy song, you may really really hate it but it's still catchy. Before anyone points out that I must be sexist or that I must have a problem with female-lead films or female comedians, I would like to point out that this is far from being the case. The truth is I think there needs to be far more women in film and comedy of all shapes, sizes and ages, but a poorly written and terribly unfunny film isn't really going to help that happen. The finale is a puzzling anti-climax of colour/movement/titillation that was pretty far from being the fairy-tale ending Schumer had hoped for. Somehow all is forgiven when Schumer dresses and dances like a cheerleader, like that's an acceptable form of apology for cheating on someone, with someone underage no less, and generally being a horrible person to everyone. The relationship was never even remotely convincing in the first place. Reverse the gender again and see how acceptable people find it, either way, it’s bad writing and not particularly funny (or shocking). I think women and cinema-lovers deserve better personally.

Florence Foster Jenkins

Dir: Stephen Frears

2016

****

Stephen Frears' 2016 comedy focusing on the life of Florence Foster Jenkins, the worlds most loved but worst singer of all time, is a witty delight from start to finish. It has to be said that this is loosely based on Jenkins' later life but much of it - the important bits - are true. Florence Foster Jenkins inherited a small fortune from her father and syphilis from her first husband. She never once let her illness get the better of her and lived far longer than expected, claiming that music had kept her alive. Florence Foster Jenkins had a passion of music and spent her wealth on funding New York's musical scene. She opened her own club, the Verdi, and supported struggling composers and musicians. Unfortunately, Jenkins' talent never matched her passion and she became famous for her high-pitch and rather flat singing, it was said that after a taxicab crash in 1943 she found she could sing a higher F then ever before. Instead of a lawsuit against the taxicab company, she sent the driver a box of expensive cigars. She was aware that she may not have been the best singer in the world but her second husband, Shakespearean actor St. Clair Bayfield took control of her management and was selective of her audience. Her following soon consisted of elderly friends, composers in need of money, those whom were bribed to attend her shows and, most of all, those that saw her innocence but also a bold women who would be damned if anyone told her she couldn't sing. People are attracted to colourful eccentrics and soon enough, those that initially mocked her would go on to defend and support her. Her only recording, which she pressed herself, was a very limited pressing and sold for a considerable amount of money then and still does now, if you can find a copy. Meryl Streep plays Jenkins beautifully with respect and admiration and gets her unique style of singing down perfectly. Hugh Grant plays her second husband St. Clair Bayfield just as well, their relationship playing a huge part of the film's story. Their relationship was rather unorthodox, with Jenkins residing in her lavish apartment and St. Clair living in his own apartment with his 'girlfriend'. At first this seems like a real shame, like his and Jenkins life was all just an illusion but as the film progresses we see that their love for each other is actually quite lovely. As St. Clair says to Cosme McMoon (played by the brilliant Simon Helberg) "Our's is a happy world' and as the film transpires, it's hard to argue that it isn't. Simon Helberg's inclusion in the film is the cherry on the cake, the three actors are wonderful together and the highlight of the film and indeed, the highlight for all three characters in real life, was playing New York's famous Carnegie Hall. Jenkins' performance for the returning WW2 troops is now legendary and it is reconstructed beautifully by Frears. The conclusion to the film is tender, respectful and really quite wonderful with Jenkins' famous quote that "People may say I can't sing, but no one can ever say I didn't sing" resounding beautifully. A hilarious and touching celebration of eccentricity and overcoming adversity.

Atari: Game Over

Dir: Zak Penn

2014

*****

Zak Penn's 2014 documentary Atari: Game Over covers one of the biggest events of the last century. One of the biggest events if you're a nerd that is. Forget the lost City of Atlantis, Bigfoot, the search for intelligent life on Mars and the Loch Ness Monster, the big discovery of the century happened on 26th April 2014 in Mexico at a land-fill site. The nerds Holy Grail was found. Atari was founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. Together with a small team of computer geniuses, they pioneered the creation of the arcade machine and the video game. By the early eighties the company had grown significantly, the games designers and programmers were living like rock stars and earning just as much money. One such designer/programmer was Howard Scott Warshaw. Revered by his colleagues, Warshaw was seen as one of the best in the business with several of the companies big sellers to his credit. Steven Spielberg's classic E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial was released in June 1982, it's initial reception was huge and the studio was keen to build on its success and approached Atari to make what would be the first game based on a motion picture. The only catch was that they needed the game almost immediately while the film was still relevant and popular. Warshaw was the only man who could design, program and finish a game under the near impossible circumstances. His colleagues still praise him for what he achieved in such a small amount of time, Atari were happy, the studio was happy and Steven Spielberg's himself declared how great it was. The big problem was that it wasn't. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial the game has been voted the worst game of all time. Some argue that there are far worse games but E.T.s reputation is famous as being one of the simplest, most boring and impossible games to play of all time. Everyone hated it, no one bought it and the computer game industry collapsed soon after. Every existing copy of E.T. was said to have been buried by the studios in an undisclosed grave, never to be seen again. The legend grew and so did the amount of classic games collectors. Soon enough, E.T. was sought after as a real rarity. The story entered into pop-culture, no one was sure if the story was true or just an urban myth, indeed, no one really knew if it was true or not until Fuel Industries, a Canadian entertainment company, sought and acquired access to the supposed land-fill site did the truth come out. Zak Penn, screenwriter, director, mega-nerd, explores the myth and legend of this obscure and geeky quest quite beautifully. The documentary is full of the history of Atari, the people who created it, the fans and games creators they influenced. He brings everyone together, puts many misconceptions to rest and puts across a good argument for the case that E.T. wasn't really all that bad anyway. It is brilliant. I can only imagine that it's probably what it was like to watch the moon landings live. Kick back and geek out.

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The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters

Dir: Seth Gordon

2007

*****

Seth Gordon's The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters has absolutely everything you could ever want from a feature-length film. It's politics, it's religion, it's society, it's the human spirit and it's the history of cinema, all in one 79 minute long documentary that is essentially about a guy who plays an arcade game in his garage. Down on his luck and recently laid-off, Steve Wiebe decided one day to purchase an old Donkey Kong arcade machine to cheer himself up with and to play on when not working. Wiebes cuts an unfortunate figure of a man, a clearly intelligent and talented guy and would-be professional baseball player cut down in his prime by injury, unlucky in life and somewhat held-back due to suffering severe OCD. Donkey Kong offered unexpected hope to him in the form of a challenge and what would emerge as his ultimate ambition. Since 1981, the Twin Galaxies organisation has kept track of every high-score achieved on an arcade machine and Wiebes decided that he was going to be the new high-scoring record holder for Donkey Kong to become the ultimate, King of Kong. Enter one of cinema's greatest ever villains. Billy Mitchell is a legend in the world of classic arcades. He had held the record for Kong, Ms. Pac-Man and Centipede since the early eighties and is one of only a handful of people who had reached the mythical 'split-screen' level of Pac-Man, as well as reaching the games perfect score. Known for his cocky attitude, spectacular mullet hair-cut and shameless self-promotion, Mitchell (or 'The Sauce King' as he is also known as due to his special range of hot sauces) was the player to beat. This is when the film really takes off, Wiebes beats Mitchell's score of 874,300 with an amazing 1,006,600 points. However, after submitting video evidence of him doing this Mitchell sends one of his minions (self-styled protégé Brian Kuh) to investigate. It's like the Wicked Witch of the West sending out one of her flying monkeys out to complete his dastardly plan. The plot thickens when Kuh discovers that Wiebes arcade machine's circuit board was provided by Mitchell's arch-rival, fitness guru and pickup artist Roy Shildt. Mitchell reports Wiebes and Twin Galaxies denounce his high-score claiming that the evidence was of poor quality. When Wiebes then goes on to beat the high-score live to board members of Twin Galaxies, Mitchell submits a highly suspicious and 'poor quality' VHS tape that he had been saving for such an event, showing him beating both scores with a spectacular 1,047,200. It's so good you couldn't make it up. It's the classic tale of good vs. evil, the little guy taking on the big guy, a modern day (and rather nerdy) David and Goliath if you will. It's a geek epic, absolutely hilarious but never forced and one of the best documentaries of all time.

Sicario

Dir: Denis Villeneuve

2015

*****

Conceived in 2010 during the height of the violence seen in Juárez, Sicario (Hitman) explores the often unorthodox tactics used by American and South American governments in combating the Cartel-run drug trade. The audience is kept in the dark for the best part of the film as is the film's protagonist, FBI Agent Kate Macer (played by Emily Blunt). After Macer and her team make a gruesome discovery at a Cartel address in Arizona that cost the lives of two officers, she and her right-hand man Reggie Wayne (Daniel Kaluuya) are recruited to a mysterious CIA task-force who ask them to help them catch the men responsible for their team-mates murder. They are teamed up with U.S. Marsials and a Delta Force squad lead by Matt Graver (Josh Brolin) and his partner, the mysterious Alejandro Gillick (played by Benicio del Toro). After an nail-biting first mission to recover a prisoner from Mexico across the boarder to the US, Macer starts to wonder if everything they are doing is entirely above board. As the film progresses, more and more is revealed about what it is the team hopes to achieve, how they intend to achieve it and who they really are. While Macer and Wayne understand the idea of fighting fire with fire but the ethics of the situation, morals and the threat to their own safety weighs heavy. The answer to their questions and the reason behind all the secrecy is eventually revealed in an intense and fairly devastating manner. What follows is even more shocking and then the final conclusion is nothing short of chilling, especially when you think of the validity of the situation. Just when you think there is a reprieve, you realize that you've just been set up for another startling revelation. Sicario is a non-stop thriller that is consistently intriguing and almost painfully intense - it's what director Denis Villeneuve does best. The performances are impressive, particularly from Emily Blunt and Benicio del Toro, with Josh Brolin and Daniel Kaluuya in strong supporting roles. The brilliant score adds even more tension to the story and the direction and cinematography is exquisite, with every frame thought-out and composed beautifully. It's the ultimate crime-thriller/special-ops action film, with a little bit of politics thrown in for good measure. I can't fault it and I don't want to, one of 2015's best.