The Title Doesn't Do the Film Justice

A Boy and His Dog (1975)
Director- L.Q. Jones
Starring- Don Johnson, Susanne Benton, Tim McIntire

Vic (Johnson) and his dog Blood (voiced by McIntire) roam the postapocalyptic countryside on the lookout for food. Vic somehow has the power to communicate with Blood via telepathy, and any novelty he may have felt in the beginning has appeared to have worn off, as the two constantly bicker during their journey. Despite the gnawing hunger, as well as Vic's "man needs", the pair stick together through good and bad.

Along the way, they rescue a girl who had been kidnapped and intended to use as a sex slave. Finding himself in love, Vic follows her deep into the earth, where an underground community dwells in perfect old-fashioned civility. Vic is recruited to help repopulate, but is disappointed to find out it's not nearly as fun as it originally sounded.

"What the fuck?!" ran through my head throughout this whole movie, but I have to admit, I loved it! There was very little attempt to explain why Vic had the telepathic power to hear Blood's thoughts, which is fine because it's annoying when movies try to conveniently explain every little aspect of a character that isn't immediately understood. I also loved Vic's far-from-gentlemanly attitude toward women--even the protagonist can be starved for sex, apparently.
What really brings the strange element home for this movie is the ending, which I won't give away, except to say I was very amused by the little turn of events.

Rating: 4/5 Bonedaddies.

Oddly Not So Boring For the Thin Plot

Two-Lane Blacktop (1971)
Director- Monty Hellman
Starring- James Taylor, Warren Oates, Dennis Wilson

A couple drifting gearheads driving a '55 Chevy get themselves into a cross-country race with "pink slips" on the line against a GTO driver (Oates) who likes fibbing about his life to hitchhikers he picks up along the way. Speaking of hitchhikers, the duo find themselves with a female stowaway/possible love interest who looks like a minor.

The film does little to explain itself; rather than give the two gearheads names, they are simply listed as Driver (Taylor) and Mechanic (Wilson). The plot is as mentioned above, but the whole "pink slip" thing is kind of forgotten early on, and we're made to feel more like we're watching a simple anti-climactic road trip--especially when we see it all peter out at the end.

Ironically, that's what makes this movie good. There aren't a bunch of short attention-span cutaways and action shots, and at times it feels like we're sitting in the car along with the characters. The acting is a teeny bit flat, but again, given the fairly unexciting nature of the race, that style seems to fit right into it.

Rating: 3.5/5 Bonedaddies.

Not So Fabulous Lifestyles...

Ladies and Gentlemen: The Fabulous Stains (1981)
Director- Lou Adler
Starring- Diane Lane, Ray Winstone, Laura Dern

Corinne Burns (Lane), an orphaned, angst-ridden teen living in a washed-up town forms a band with two of her cousins and strikes a chord with other disillusioned youth. Soon the band finds themselves headlining with the Looters, and Burns sees all the good and bad sides to touring.
Her fans imitate her, seeing in her that part of them that wanted to scream out all their lives and thinking themselves unique, when the Looters' frontman Billy (Winstone) gives them--and Corinne--a rude awakening.

It was cool to see some vastly different personalities in these bands. Billy and Corinne are both brooding and insecure, trying to give the audiences something different while keeping their integrity somewhat intact. Corinne's cousins act and feel as if they're simply along for the ride--which they are. They can barely play any instruments, have little money, and soon miss their home lives as the road becomes longer.

There are also some interesting personalities in the Metal Corpses, essentially a has-been band trying to keep itself alive with a strange frontman who managed to so far stave off STD's and a drugged addled guitarist who probably never knew where he was.

All roles were played very well, very convincingly. The advice from the "has-beens" goes unheeded, and ironically makes sense. It's a good depiction of band relations/tensions, broken families, and also kids coming to the realization that for all the bad in their lives, they are in fact still kids.

Rating: 4/5 Bonedaddies.

Nachooooooo!

Nacho Libre (2006)
Director- Jared Hess
Starring- Jack Black, Ana de la Reguera, Hector Jimenez

Brother Ignacio (Black), an orphan-turned-monastery cook has big dreams of becoming a luchador. Unfortunately, the order considers it sinful, so Ignacio hides his identity and becomes Nacho. He and his partner, Esquelito (Jimenez) jump into the Mexican wrestling world, trying to win money to improve the food at the monastery, as well as the respect of the orphans living there and the love of Sister Encarnacion (Reguera).

For the most part, this isn't a bad movie. It has a lot of great elements to it--the most obvious being that it's about lucha libre! It also has good supporting cast. Reguera is subdued, but never overdramatizes the piety of her character. Jimenez is a personal favorite. His sidekick performance is so dedicated it reminds me of the caddy from Happy Gilmore, or Cornfed from Duckman.

Unfortunately, it has Jack Black. This is not an attack on his acting--he is actually quite capable of pulling off convincing and funny roles. It's just that after 10 minutes of Jack doing his routine, I had enough. I might not be sick of it, except that he does it in every movie he's ever starred in--the wild gesticulating while singing, the mouthed solos, it just doesn't do much for me. It worked better in movies like High Fidelity, School of Rock, and Pick of Destiny. Again, the performance that really stood out as funny was that done by Jimenez.

Rating: 3.5/5 Bonedaddies.