James Nguyen | |||||
10 April 2013 | |||||
90 minutes | |||||
1.14 / 5.0 0.5 from 126 ratings | |||||
#1,077 for 2013 | |||||
English | |||||
You are watching: Birdemic 2 the resurrection sam hyde Details
deafponyKall Feb 07 2016 See more: Season 5 Episode 19 Of Brooklyn Nine-Nine Season 5 Episode 19 Of Brooklyn Nine lordkrondor Sep 09 2013 See more: 2/$25 Dose Of Colors Knock On Wood By Dose Of Colors, Dose Of Colors Matte Lipstick Birdemic 2: The Resurrection, the long-awaited sequel to the nightmare that was Birdemic: Shock and Terror, is a shamelessly autobiographical film in which the audience is subjected to director/writer/legend James Nguyen's fantasies of being a good-looking, successful white male. With this film Nguyen has established himself as a true auteur with the likes of Hitchcock, Meyer, Wilder, and Wiseau, one who's principal themes are white envy, slut-shaming, exploitation, and liberal capitalism. The mode in which he explores these topics is not so much natural horror, which generally only serves as a thin exoskeleton of allegory and impotent attempts to raise blood pressure, but one more of the American dream and entrepreneurship, in which good looks and patriarchy can boost you right up to the top, provided you show a whole lotta gumption. “Starbright, starbright, my life, so bright, going far, gonna be a star!”I will now summarize the plot of both films, as they are basically one and the same. White people, preferably rich ones, are the supreme race. With a bit of shallow, liberal morality they can live out beautiful, safe lives full of true love, hot sex, parties (with minstrel-y undertones), and above all, hard-earned success. But when the sins against science are committed our heroes are condemned by Mother Earth to wander what is now suddenly Babylon under the constant threat of a biblical plague (an epidemic of clip art eagles) to spread good intentions and soak in liberal dogma while paradoxically extolling the virtues of lax gun control. In between shooting their guns in random directions like they were playing Duck Hunt in the midst of a seizure, they meet environmentally conscious sages, naturalists, “green” zoo keepers, and other less pure fellow travelers such as an Asian obsessed with Jaws, rednecks, ugly overweight men, and skanky strippers, who without fail meet an untimely demise; only Adam and Eve, our beautiful Aryan couple(s) make it out alive. While the ending of Shock and Terror was positive and cleansing (sort of an inversion of The Birds), it is no coincidence that Resurrection ends with the Asian character dying.“Bill, do you want to see more?”Here Nguyen is embodied in the momentarily washed up director Bill, played by blocky, talentless, Johnny Depp lookalike Thomas Favaloro. This is his projection, a 90210 cast-off who mischievously plays the casting couch trick on struggling actresses under the guise of being a “good-guy” and makes under-appreciated genre movies. As evidenced in his cameo as “Auteur Walking out of Vietnamese Restaurant” and his self-anointed placement as “Among the new generation of auteurs in the 21st Century” (1), Nguyen has made a big deal of his efforts to fit into the auteur canon, and frankly, if the future of film criticism continues to grapple with paracinema (2), his efforts are not wasted. What we have through his films is a very clear image of the middle-aged, professional white male with a petit-bourgeois attitude, who’s primary concern is to make a (mostly) superficially positive impact on the world around him while maintaining a normalcy centered around patriarchy and other forms of culturally acceptable subjugation. Nguyen is a subservient masochist. Not only in his manifestation of the “peeled banana” slur, but in his very Democratic leanings. The real foes are unseen, but their identity is clear: the neo-conservative oil barons responsible for global warming. Anyone who does not aspire to be Sean Penn, Yoko Ono, and/or Al Gore in his films are wicked and ignorant. Stupid. But this not to say that he loathes the 1%. No, in fact he panders to them relentlessly, consistently begging for their scraps. The pattern of the generous financiers illustrates this clearly: a bit of money is donated to the protagonist’s project out of the kindness of the bourgeoisie's heart and as a sign of indebtedness he and his friends clap and shout like an excited chimp or Michael Phelps. Elsewhere we have stuttering, prophet-like authority figures who babble pseudo-scientific nonsense at convenient times. This is, like the first, a film steeped in dogma.“We need ambulance now….PLEASE WE NEED AMBULANCE NOW!”Another essay could be written about how Whitney Moore’s character, Nathalie, the heroine of the first film, is mercilessly slut-shamed through the sequel. Chelsea Turnbo, who plays this film’s aspiring actress Gloria, is in effect her successor as the young sex toy for Favaloro, and by extension, Nguyen, to flaunt. Throughout the movie, Turnbo, who is a Tor Johnson to Moore’s Gregory Peck, is treated with special attention, given more lines, and trotted out instead of the incumbent, the older, apparently barren Nathalie. I do not mean to give credit where credit is certainly not due, but Turnbo lacks the “warmth” Moore gave in the first film; Turnbo bitchly Barbie dolls her way through the entire film with a very knowingly favored/spoilt arrogance. A depth to be expected by someone who’s previous roles were “Party Attendee” and “Hot Chick #2” in other obscure independent features (3), of course, but it is hilarious nonetheless. Much can be said from the look of irritation on Moore’s face in her scenes with her, in particular when she, an actress with much more experience previous to this film, is made to tell Hot Chick #2 that she needs acting advice.The references to other films are interesting if only because they are handled with kid gloves, and give the impression of a medium literacy not much higher than the high school stoner that knew about the difference between Derek and the Dominos and Cream. While the first film was all about The Birds, to the point of dragging Tippi Hedren out of retirement to play the screen of a motel television, the sequel spends a lot of effort referencing films that outside of reinforcing the meta-aspects of making a movie about a movie, have absolutely zero relevance. At least I cannot say that I cannot find a connection between this film’s themes and Rebel Without a Cause, which is inexplicably discussed by way of Marilyn Monroe trivia for thirty seconds in the exact middle of the film’s running length. But aside from the nods to canon Golden Age things like A Star is Born and Laurel and Hardy, there are also extended connections to recent zombie films and pop abortions like Disaster Movie and Asylum giant monster films (“giant jumbo jellyfish!”). This may connote some sort of awareness that the film is indisputably paracinematic, but it is more likely, due to the formal illiteracy of his work, that it is pure naivite.It is hard to say how much of Birdemic 2 (and the original for that matter) is satire. If it were to be satire it would be among the most self-aware and brutal self-flagellations in cinema history. If it is in earnest it is horrifically inept. Either way it is immediately one of my favorite “bad movies”, up there with the first Birdemic, The Room, Ben & Arthur, and Manos. Highly, highly recommended. (4)“She’s dead.” “She’s dead. They’re all dead. She’s dead.” “They’re all dead.” “She’s dead.” “Dead!” “Dead.” “Dead!” “Alright, let’s get out of here. Let’s go!”“She’s dead. She’s dead.” “Another one?” “Shoulda helped her.”1.http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1343100/bio2.Jeffery Sconce, “‘Trashing’ the Academy: Taste, Excess, and an Emerging Politics of Cinematic Style”3.http://www.imdb.com/name/nm4925682/?ref_=tt_cl_t54.http://3shiftcommand.tumblr.com/post/60734494603/james-nguyen http://3shiftcommand.tumblr.com/post/60734572431/james-nguyensorry |