Rock Jocks

I had a chance to see this film in Denver last night. The film is laughs from beginning to end. Yes, there is quite a bit of profanity (it might not be a film for the little ones), but it works well with the plot/characters. I especially enjoyed the ensemble feel to the cast - every actor had their moment.

After the film we had a Q&A with the Director, Paul Seetachitt. How often does one get a chance to do that?! It was interesting to hear some of the stories behind the making of the movie.

I have already decided I need to see this again.

Go see Rock Jocks! It Rocks!!!

I drove to Houston last night to see the screening, and I'm going again in my hometown (Austin) tomorrow night! The movie is hilarious, and you should definitely give it a shot, as long as you don't mind profanity. Andrew Bowen was at last night's screening for a Q&A, and he said he thought the movie beat out South Park in the f-bomb total.

Profanity aside, the movie features some solid performances by Bowen and Felicia Day, as well as the one and only Doug Jones in yet another great creature role. I was a little disappointed that Jason Mewes and Robert Picardo, who were featured in the trailer, didn't play a bigger part in the movie, but they got laughs every time they were on screen. I can't wait to see what first time writer/director Paul Seetachitt does in his next movie!

It's not often that a low-budget movies manage to unironically entertain me, but Rock Jocks is the exception that proves the rule. I'll admit, I wanted to watch this because it looked cheesy, and on a few levels, it still is. There's one location, maybe about 7 people in the main cast, and the CGI isn't exactly Avatar, but this movie manages to use those limitations to its advantage. The movie takes place in an obsolete and underfunded secret bunker, and it's obvious that this overjoyed the production designer, who filled the room with all kinds of retro junk computers and panels. Since the characters never really leave the bunker, the cast size is actually perfect: everybody has their moment, and nobody is used too much. The makeup for the alien, Smoking Jesus, is amazing, and the guy who plays him is the guy who played all the monsters in Pan's Labrynth! This is how you make a low budget sci fi movie!

Not bad, not great. I laughed a few times but could have been better.

Employees for a secret organization that polices the skies for asteroids are threatened to be replaced by a computer unless they can justify the reason they are needed.

Could have been a cute little movie if Just Chon wasn't so annoying. This is another case of where a single character makes the whole move a very unpleasant experience (unless you're like five years old or something). I almost turned it off half way through.

The rest of the cast is pretty good. Its always nice to see Felicia Day. Jason Mewes seemed more like a "guest star" than anything else as his role is definitely a throw-away role and not even really needed. I think he was more or less added to have a somewhat big name on the cast.

Some of the special effects are better than average as well.

Unfortunately Justin Chon's "In-Your-Face" performance through 98% of the film makes the movie pretty much unwatchable. Did nobody on set realize he simply wasn't that funny?