Party Monster
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Movie Reviews of Party Monster
Movie Review: Party Monster (2002)
Summary: 5 Stars
PLOT-Based on a true story. Young Michael Alig (Macaulay Culkin) has dreams of moving to New York City and becoming famous, so naturally, he moves there. Immediately upon entering, he meets the famous party-goer James St. James (Seth Green), who shows him the ways of night clubbing. Michael soon becomes an extremely well known party promoter. His life becomes all fun and games....that is, until drugs come into the scene.
REVIEW-I remember the first time I read "Disco Bloodbath", the book based on the life and times of Michael Alig. It was, and still is, the best book I've ever read. Then, I saw this film on the shelves at my local Blockbuster. I rented it and ran home, screaming girlishly. I popped into my DVD player, but nothing could prepare me for what I was about to see. First of all, there is an incredible amount of detail. Even former Club Kids appear as themselves throughout. The costuming was perfect, I would even go as far as saying that this has the best costumes ever in film history. The acting is dead on, especially Macaulay Culkin as the killer Michael, and Seth Green as celebutante James St. James. Much like the book, it starts out all fun and innocent. But by the end, it becomes incredibly depressing and dramatic. The sad thing is, the Club Kids were just trying to find friends who wouldn't persecute them for being themselves. I think they represented a really positive message, and this movie really fleshes out that aspect of the club scene. There is no way I can tell you how truly great this masterpiece is to me. If you're interested in the 80's club scene, or who Michael Alig was, this is a must see. If you liked this, also check out Party Monster:The Shockumentary.
ACTING-There are a lot of people who say Macaulay's performance here is too plastic and hollow. Well, they fail to realize that that is what Micahel really is like. Macaulay plays the part perfectly, and rivals Seth for the best acting on display. Seth Green really gives a sympathetic, yet extremely fabulous and in-depth performance. You could tell he and Macaulay really studied the voices of James and Michael. Wilmer Valdaramma gave a controlled, solid portrayal as Michael's boyfriend, Keoki. Wilson Cruz nailed the part as Michael's drug dealer, and victim, Angel Melendez.
GORE-hardly none, but disturbing none-the-less. Angel's murder is quite bloody, yet directed so masterfully. Also, some of the costumes worn by the Club Kids are bloody, but it's supposed to be fake.
SOUNDTRACK-This is also the reason this movie is so special to me. We get a bunch of 80's disco, some oldies dance music, and a great musical score. The score really described the Club Kids and Michael, just by hearing it. Definetely worth checking out on CD.
OVERALL-Though not a film for everyone, it's still a low-budget masterpiece. 5/5
Movie Review: You Know The Party's Over When The Drano Comes Out
Summary: 5 Stars
There really is a Michael Alig and he really is doing time for beating his boyfriend's brains out with a hammer and then, just for good measure, injecting Drano into his veins. (Note that the folks at Drano claim it won't hurt your pipes but say nothing about your circulatory system.)
Though this nightmarish tale is based on a true story, the thrust of it is a surreal view of human emptiness and superficiality, a point most reviewers seem to miss. The Andy Warhol "Factory" set the stage for manufactured people who looked like they might be interesting but were in fact fabricated non-entities, ciphers. That was Warhol's genius, making nothing look like something. The wave of club kids depicted in this movie are just the next generation of thoroughly empty thrill-seekers, gripping onto instant pleasure and making sure to stay one step ahead of fashion. That there is no character insight IS the character insight, that is the point of these little monsters. They are the most extreme manifestation of our hedonism and shallowness.
All of this is revealed by Macaulay Culkin as Alig, who gives a performance that is heroic, fearless, mesmerizing, and chilling all at once. Culkin inhabits Alig, which must have been haunting and sad. He plays Alig as a staggeringly insecure hayseed whose determination to get "inside" is awe-inspiring. Once inside, he becomes grandiose, cruel, and mad, peddling ever faster to maintain the manic illusion of happiness. Culkin's performance could not have soared so high without Seth Green next to him. Green, first in the role of mentor, presents a scaled down version of the same obsession with superficiality, but, amusingly, seems to know it. Increasingly bitter because of Alig's ascent, he nonetheless maintains a certain amount of concern. This is the closest you will come to a human emotion in the film.
On its face one would say that this movie had nothing going for it. The people are repulsive, one must contain one's glee when they self-destruct. The protagonist has absolutely no redeeming qualities. The side of society it illuminates is miserably sad and important only to the extent that it illustrates the illnesses of society at large. And yet, with all that, it is spellbinding viewing. Certainly Culkin's powerhouse performance explains some of it, maybe the rest is attributable to our sheer amazement that such people exist. Be warned, you'll need a strong stomach for this, we're talking Drano, not Pepto.
Movie Review: Parties, fantasy and shock value of indeterminate gender
Summary: 5 Stars
It looks like the lovable little boy from "Home Alone" has grown up. Macaulay Culkin is now in his early 20s and stars in this outrageous and rather sick story of Michael Alig, a real-life club kid of the early 1990s, who is now serving a long prison term for murder. This 2003 film is not only his story, it is also the story of a time and a place and a world that it no more. It's about parties and fantasy outfits and the shock value of indeterminate gender.. But mostly, it's about a drug culture that catered to these party people, and how it destroyed Alig's life. Culkin does an outstanding acting job in the role, bringing a touch of humanity to the character as well as a great deal of ego and evil.
Based on a book entitled "Disco Bloodbath" by James St. James, who actually lived through these years, the author is a major character in the story. Seth Green is cast in this role and plays it to the hilt, a party person who likes to play but stops short of the excesses that push Alig over the edge. The rest of the cast is full of some of real party people, with Marilyn Manson playing a drag queen.
One of the scary things about this film is how real it feels. The small subculture of partygoers search for thrills, their makeup and clothing screaming for attention. Their brains are addled with drugs and their purpose in life is only to draw attention to themselves. It's fame without substance or meaning and its all mindless. But, with the exception of the Culkin character, their carryings on doesn't really harm anyone but themselves.
I didn't expect to like this film. I almost shut it off after the first 15 minutes. However, it was so intense that I just kept watching. And I was eventually swept into the story and the people and the world that it depicted, a colorful bubble world which inevitably burst and is no more. This film recalls that bubble, including all the horror as well as the fun. Recommended.
Movie Review: Sick, Twisted and....Fabulous!
Summary: 5 Stars
Well, now that this film is out on DVD, I finally got the chance to see it. I must have missed its showing in Philadelphia. I had heard so much about it and rented the DVD with much anticipation. I wasn't let down at all! After viewing, I purchased my own copy right away to add to my collection.I was in college in the mid-late 1980's in North Jersey not far from NYC so I was at least familiar with the setting, Reagonomics and the ME decade of the 80s. It is very easy to see just how this all happened.
Now, on to the film itself. I watched with trepidation to see "little" Mac (that adorable little boy from Home Alone) in his comeback role as an adult actor. Could he pull it off? YOU BET! With beads and feathers to boot! He really prepared well for the film and did an awesome job recreating the now infamous Michael Alig. He's a long way from Home Alone now and I'm so glad. Give a real actor a meaty role and just watch him sink his teeth into it...and that is just what Mac does...over and over again.
Seth Green, playing James St. James, the author of the book on which the film is based is also a hoot! I have never quite seen him like this. He truly WAS a queen in this film...so convincing in his role.
And finally, Marilyn Manson. Well, I really didn't know WHAT to expect from him, this being his first film. What can I say about his performance as Christina, a trangendered Niko-influenced party girl? Brilliant! And WAY too short. I would have loved to have seen more of him. Perhaps he can write and produce HER story to bring to the screen next? I'd love it!
See this film...but when you do, fasten your seatbelts because you are in for a ride that is....well...sick, twisted and....FABULOUS!
Movie Review: Better than it had any right to be
Summary: 5 Stars
The movie is fun, the music is great, the costumes are genuinely mind boggling. The World of Wonder boys have outdone themselves on this one, a superb achivement all the way around. Oh, it's easy to nitpick--so let me indulge myself. How is it for example that in other movies and shows Seth Green looks like a normal human being and here he looks so short? Surely the real James St. James is bigger than a
Mia Kirshner is beautiful, plus, but what is she doing in this movie, has her career sunk this low? She had a good gig on TV's 24 playing the airborne terrorist Mandy, and here she's just slumming. Man is that also true of John Stamos! Call your agent immediately and fire his ass! He's the one who got you this one-minute part in a ten thousand dollars movie where nobody can recognize you anyhow and you don't even have a name to your character.
Dylan McDermott, as Kirshner's husband, does a fine job in a very different kind of part for him. And Wilmer is very good, awfully cute. I did think that Seth Green and Macaulay Culkin, playing gay, are both very appealing but they're also indicating all over the place, as though to say in every frame, "I'm just acting, I'm not really gay." And so through the whole movie, it's played so stylized that in the end, we don't really care about any of the characters. Except maybe for the mother of Michael Alig who's played here by Christina Crawford herself--Diana Scarwid--once a sort of big name in the movies--remember her in RUMBLE FISH for example? And now, what does she do except appear vacant and messed up and tired?