Party Monster
|
Our Price: $23.78 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $4.40 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Canada
Movie Reviews of Party Monster
Movie Review: Next on Fox ... When Club Kids ATTACK!
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a true story about Michael Alig and the Club Kids that ruled the NYC scene of the 90s. Until he brutally killed and disposed of a drug dealer in his apartment. Gross, twisted, and sick! But it has been made more fabulous to become a movie!
PARTY MONSTER the movie is a great cast, stylishly shot, but ultimately a little hollow movie. It was made by the gay couple who brought you brilliant documentaries such as THE EYES OF TAMMY FAYE and ... well ... PARTY MONSTER THE SHOCKUMENTARY! It's a fun ride, but if you want answers check into the documentary where you get to see the real people and their real clothes and such.
Why oh why is everyone so convinced this is an 80s era movie?!? It really happened in the late 80s, and early to mid 90s. Alig probably never listened to TWO OF HEARTS or YOU SPIN ME ROUND. I would peg his scene with much more KMFDM and Thrill Kill Kult. I blame the soundtrack producers for this glaring error of eras! NYC is always on the cutting edge - not too much into the retro thing unless it's a theme night.
But the acting is very good. MacCaulay Culkin and Seth Green do a fab and fine job playing egotistical scenesters who fall into their own darksides. And a surprisingly great cameo by Marilyn Manson threatens to steal the movie! The cast is first rate -- Dylan McDermott, Mia Kirshner, Wilmer from 70s SHOW, and Diana Scarwid all give strong performances. Not to mention indie power chicks Chloe Sevigny and Natasha Lyonne!
Sort of a LESS THAN ZERO for the 90s if you will! Except the big difference is instead of killing themselves these kids kill each other. Well ... at least one drug dealer. The movie gives the victim, Angel Menendez, short shrift. He was brutally killed by Michael Alig and possibly a whole cross section of his posse! And that's the real horror. That someone thought they were so cool that they could get away with murder.
Movie Review: Like it or hate it... it's realistic
Summary: 4 Stars
I'm no expert on Micheal Alig, James St. James, DJ Keoki, etc. so I can't really comment on how accurate of a portrayal this is of their lives.
But I will say this...
Having written electronic music since the age of 12, and working as a club and event promoter in Denver for the past year, I can say with certainty that there are thousands, even MILLIONS of people that frequent the "underground" worldwide whom live extremely comparable lives to the ones depicted in this movie. There are people just as eccentric and flamboyant, if not way more so. There is definitely just as much substance abuse. And if the only things that turn you off from this movie are seeing an ex-child star experiment with a controversial role, or flashing lights accompanied by pounding techno and extreme wardrobes, I hate to break it to you, but it's happening right under your nose, everywhere you go.
The party scene and the club scene are something you have to just click with. I've loved electronic music since before I even knew there was anything "illicit" associated with it, and that shouldn't say I have bad taste... it should say that people will take anything and turn it into a self-destructive moral debauchery. Though the music, the substances, the clothes and the performances between rap, dance and rock are different, the people, their willingness to habituate, and their conformity have remained the same.
This movie shouldn't have to hit close to home to be respected, or at least acknowledged as an accurate portrayal of youthful spontaneity, promiscuity and overall experimentation... and the sheer consequences that often result.
Just a thought.
Movie Review: Smiling with lipstick stained teeth
Summary: 4 Stars
How much was I hedging that Macaulay Culkin was going to be rubbish! A lot. And was he? Not really. Damn.
Screamers, dreamers, you name it, they inhabited the neon world of New York and its sweatbox clubs. Was it all dancing cheek to cheek and overpriced cocktails? No way, baby! It was sex! Drugs! Death! Panstick! And James St James and Michael Alig were up there with the best.
Party Monster is the 'no holds barred' look at how the Club Kids came and went. With plenty of limp wrists, crack pipes and affected pretty boys going 'ooooh, Michael, that's my look', it could easily grate on someone whose idea of a top film is Rambo. But for those that were there, the curious and the Disco Bloodbath readers, there's plenty to get into.
Seth Green is cracking. He maybe the size of a gherkin, but he does vacuous party boy like he was born to it. Macaulay looks awkward at times (you would too in hotpants!), but his acting is decent and there's not a face-clapping shriek in sight. Marilyn Manson is hilarious, but that could be down to a non-speaking role. The costumes are eye popping, the music suitably catchy and the frisson between Mac's Alig and Wilmer-whatshisface from That 70s Show is quite touching.
The film is disposable, definitely. The characters are generally not ones you really care about, though Green's St James is certainly endearing in a bitchy way. But it's candy coloured good fun and the murder seems to be just a hook to hang one and half hours of partying on. Nevertheless, it's a great film for a Saturday night. Not high concept, but definitely 'popcorn indie'!
Movie Review: The best bad movie since The Rocky Horror Picture Show
Summary: 4 Stars
A friend of mine, after watching this movie, commented that this would be a great movie to receive the Rocky Horror treatment--meaning that the possibilities for call-back lines, character costumes, throwing things at the screen, and other rituals, are endless. This movie can and should achieve a cult following, because that is the only way it can be appreciated. You really have to have a certain sense of humor and frame of mind in order to like Party Monster. It doesn't always make sense or have a definite plot. The characters often break out of the story and start talking to the camera about the movie itself, and the parts that are supposed to be emotional often come across as contrived. These things may turn off a lot of viewers but make it more endearing to others.Seth Green, as the club kid James St. James, gives what is definitely the best performance of his career. I honestly wish he could have won an Oscar for this. He has all the best lines in the movie and somehow manages to be the sane one in the picture. Macuhlay (obviously not spelled right) Culkin seems to be a terrible actor unless you keep in mind that the real Michael Alig was, in fact, monotone and nasal. Marilyn Manson gives a showstopping cameo as the hilarious drag queen Christina Superstar. If nothing else, the novelty of seeing these three parade in over-the-top club outfits is entertaining in itself.
So don't expect much while watching Party Monster for the first time, and I guarantee that it will only get better the more you watch it. Unless, of course, campy schlock movies don't appeal to you.
Movie Review: PARTY MURDER!!!
Summary: 4 Stars
THERE ARE MANY THINGS I LIKE ABOUT THIS MOVIE AND SEVERAL THINGS I DON'T LIKE. FIRST OFF, THE ACTING (BY BOTH SETH GREEN AND MACK CULKIN) WAS ABSOLUTELY HORRENDOUS. THEY LOOKED GREAT, JUST LIKE THE CHARACTERS THEY PORTRAYED (AS SEEN IN THE FILM "PARTY MONSTER: THE SHOCKUMENTARY"), BUT THEY JUST COULDN'T PULL OFF THAT ELUSIVE "SOMETHING" THAT MADE THE CLUB KIDS INTO "STARS." THE ACTORS WERE STIFF AND AWKWARD. EVEN MARILYN MANSON'S ACTING, WHO MADE A SOMEWHAT LONG CAMEO APPEARANCE AS CHRISTINA, A DRUG-ADDLED DRAG QUEEN, WAS BETTER THAN THE MAIN CHARACTERS'.CULKIN, AS MICHAEL ALIG, THE SELF-CONFESSED MURDERER OF HIS DRUG DEALER, ANGEL, WAS FUN TO WATCH--HIS COSTUMES, HIS GORY PARTIES, HIS STRANGE, SEEMINGLY BISEXUAL RELATIONSHIPS WITH HIS "FRIENDS"..... BUT IN THE END, AFTER HE COMMITS THE MURDER, APPARENTLY UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF MIND-ALTERING DRUGS, HE IS JUST PLAIN SCARY.
THERE ARE SOME PRETTY GORY SCENES IN THE FILM, PARTICULARLY THE MURDER ITSELF, WITH MICHAEL'S ROOMMATE BASHING ANGEL'S HEAD IN WITH A HAMMER SEVERAL TIMES. AND THEN, FOR A HANDFUL OF DRUGS, MICHAEL ALIG AGREES TO CUT THE BODY UP INTO LITTLE PIECES AND DISPOSE OF IT. IT WAS REALLY VERY GROSS AND DISTURBING TO WATCH AND TO THINK ABOUT AFTERWARDS. FORTUNATELY, THEY KEPT THE DISMEMBERMENT MINIMAL.
OVERALL, I ENJOYED WATCHING THIS MOVIE. FOR SOME REASON, IT IS FRIGHTENINGLY FUN TO WATCH BEAUTIFUL, "FABULOUS," DRUG ADDICTS/DRAG QUEENS COMMIT MURDERS AND THEN JOKE ABOUT IT. (AND THEN THEY TURN AROUND AND MAKE MONEY OFF THE MOVIE, THE DOCUMENTARY AND THE BOOKS.)