Nothing but Trouble

Nothing but Trouble is a movie I love telling friends about if they've never heard of it. I always preface my description by asking them to consider what kind of movie they would expect with that title and a cast headlined by Chevy Chase, Dan Aykoyd, Demi Moore, and John Candy.

Invariably, when I tell them what the actual movie is like and how it unfolds, my friends go wide-eyed, their mouths hang open, and they look at me like me like I'm completely crazy.

New York financial advisor Chris Thorne (Chase), to impress his new neighbor Diane (Moore), agrees to drive her to Atlantic City, along with a pair of obnoxious clients. Taking the "scenic" route through the village of Valkenvania, Chris unknowingly runs a stop sign, and the village constable Dennis (Candy) takes the foursome to the local courthouse, presided over by the 106-year-old Justice of the Peace, Alvin Valkenheiser (Aykroyd, who also wrote and directed). The Judge and his family have a habit murdering passing travelers who violated even the most minor of traffic laws, and they have no plans of letting Chris, Diane, and the others go free.

Season of the Witch (1972)

Among other things it's capable of, art can do two things: it can be a statement by the artist about the world, and it can be a revealing look about the artist themselves. Season of the Witch, written and directed by George A. Romero, does both.

Season of the Witch is about Joan Mitchell (Jan White), a housewife approaching middle age. Her 19-year-old daughter is on the verge of moving out, and her husband Jack all but ignores her. When she learns a new neighbor is a practicing witch, Joan is intrigued and seeks to learn more about witchcraft and magic. She casts a spell to seduce her daughter's boyfriend, but as the line between fantasy and reality blurs, she becomes plagued by nightmares of a dark figure attacking her in her home.

Hardware

The future in the world of Hardware is metal and not just because the film features cameos by Iggy Pop as a radio D.J. named Angry Bob and Lemmy as a taximan who plays Motorhead for his passengers. 

Cities have been reduced to rusting wastelands of decaying buildings and infrastructure, mechanicals limbs are common enough to go unmentioned, and government-built robots with a mission to sterilize the human race will soon be deployed en masse. 

Meanwhile, the desert now called Earth shows few signs of life. Humans struggle to survive this harsh, unforgiving planet, everything looks dirty and crowded, and fragile flesh is prone to disease, disfigurement, and genetic malformities. In the looming battle between man and machines, the machines hold all the advantage.

Sinners

Sinners shares similar DNA to From Dusk Till Dawn. Both begin as slow-burn crime stories about a pair of brothers with a scheme before shifting gears to become violent, gory horror stories in which our main characters end up trapped in a bar, fighting for their lives as besieging vampires want in.

There are plenty of differences. From Dusk Till Dawn's big twist came out of nowhere - no buildup, no foreshadowing, etc. - and that was the movie's big joke. Plenty of people were disappointed a character-driven story about kidnappers and their hostages became a wild, campy action flick, but if you roll with it, it's a fun, cool exercise in style for its own sake.

Sinners has greater ambitions. The vampiric threat is suggested sooner and built up, so it doesn't come out of nowhere. More significantly, the movie makes a more concerted effort to thread its halves together, so the character work and thematic elements don't fall by the wayside. Instead, the vampire angle enriches rather than detracts from the serious drama of the earlier scenes.

The result is one of the best horror movies in recent years, one that makes me hope writer-director Ryan Coogler spends more time in the genre.

Lessons from seeing your play performed

On May 31, I attended Theatre Reset's Short Play Festival #5, which featured a performance of my play, "Water to Whine," and I had an absolute blast. I loved everything they did, the performances were great, and I was happily surprised, in more ways than one. All the plays were great, and I'm so happy I got to see them.

The experience reminded me of a few important lessons about writing scripts, whether for stage or film, and I feel like sharing them here.

Theatre Reset picks up 'Water to Whine'

Theatre Reset, a Columbus-based and a women and nonbinary owned and operated theatre company, has selected my play, "Water to Whine," to be part of its fifth short play festival.

The company has previously produced two other plays I wrote - "Your Child, The Devil, and You" and "George of the Dead" - and I am excited to see what they do with "Water to Whine."

The festival will be held May 30 and 31 at Shedd Theater, 540 Franklin Ave., Columbus, OH 43215. Auditions are mid-March.

For more information about the festival, visit Theatre Reset's website.

The Ascent

Two Soviet partisans during World War II become cut off from their unit, struggle to survive the winter Belarusian countryside, and end up captured by the Germans.

That is the entire plot of The Ascent (1977), the final film of director Larisa Shepitko, who died two years later in a car accident. Like Wings, it is a stark, black-and-white drama, but instead of nestled twenty years after the Great Patriotic War, The Ascent is buried face first in the grueling conflict and misery of fighting and marching.