The story can be summed up quickly. A cursed tiki makes it’s way to the Bikini A-Go-Go bikini shop. Shop hand, Brad, finds the tiki and takes it home to love-interest, Janet. (Do you see where the jokes are going?) The curse of the tiki takes hold of Janet and turns her amorous. Meanwhile, the original owner, a siliconed caucasian in chinese whore clothes, sends her terminator boytoy to retrieve the tiki trinket. Let the adventures begin!All told, the plot takes only about fifteen minutes of the entire movie to resolve. Leaving the rest of the 70 minutes of play time for various softcore porn time. The movie is completely kitsche. Occaissionaly, the movie is interrupted by a high school hygiene movie narrator who does nothing for the plot, but adds another level a levity.I wouldn’t go spending money on this piece of camp trash, but it was fun for the rental. Look for it and prepare to say “Oh! My God! This is awful. Do you feel hot? It’s getting hot in here.”

My second choice for the evening was Bad Santa. Billy Bob Thorton plays a hood that poses as shopping center Santas in order to case stores. Tony Cox is his partner and constant nag. Thorton finds sympathy for a lonely boy. Through all the over-the-top language and yelling, Thorton teaches the boy how to stand up for himself. Also appearing is Bernie Mac as the sharp store detective seeking his cut of the action and John Ritter as the PC store manager.

Both movies found sympathy in their subjects and showed appropriate humor and seriousness where it was due. It has been a while since I was so stimulated in one evening. Both are very good films. Keepers.

While these messages are delivered eloquently, the movie still has a few shortcomings. I wont expound on the technical details. These issues have more to do with the perriod that the movie was made (1986, two years before Otomo’s Akira). What I found lacking was the writing. Often depending on site gags, Miyazaki, jumps from sequence to sequence without a great deal of time to absorb the environment and its history. Besides the few weaknesses, I found myself saying “why can’t Disney do this?” and laughing out loud or oohing in awe.

Milennium Actress by Satoshi Kon, follows a documentary director and his camera man as they find themselves swept up in the stories of their subject, actress Chiyoko Fujiwara. This is the second film by Kon (Perfect Blue, 1997 and Tokyo Godfathers, 2003. Kon enjoys the theme of memory and perception. He thrusts his characters into their pasts or into the lives of others. Milennium Actress is not different. Our documentary director and his camera find themselves film the life of the actress as she recounts the events to them. Eventually the story is so compelling that the director takes part in the stories. A fantastic story unfolds around the mystery of a key that Chiyoko received as a girl from a wounded stranger.

My final film to review is Tokyo Godfathers, also by Satoshi Kon, follows a homeless trio as they try to return an infant they found garbage heap. The only clues they have are found in a station locker. Through their efforts, we learn about the past of each. All of them suffer from the same fallacy. Each continues to punish themselves for failures or acts that have long been forgiven by the loved ones they left behind. This story also explores the nature of miracles and serendipity. Often funny and very touching, I recommend this movie above all the other reviewd in this post.