Random Thoughts

Another movie found on Youtube. This one is pretty funny, but the amusing script and charming actors are let down by flaccid editing: The film feels like it wants to move faster than it does.

And fortunately they only ran the blurring filter on the first flashback scene.

Voodoo Man. Fabian Guerra. 2014. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

St. Vincent Cocktail

• 2 parts Galliano
• 3 parts white rum
• 2 parts gin
• a dash of Grenadine

Shake with ice and strain into an ice-filled glass.

This post is part of the World of Films and Cocktails series. Explore the map.

Is this the first short I’ve done in this blog series? That might happen more for the remaining films as the pickings grow ever slimmer.

This one’s on Youtube, and it’s kinda interesting, but slight. And it does feel ever more churlish to throw a die on films like these. Who asked for my opinion on this no-budget short, anyway? It seems kinda beside the point.

But, anyway.

Ice Kachany

• 2 parts vodka
• 1 part peach liqueur
• 2 parts cranberry juice
• 2 parts orange juice
• lemonade

Shake everything (except the lemonade) with ice. Strain into a highball glass. Add the lemonade.

Teluki. Abdul Zainidi. 2013. Brunei Darussalam.

This post is part of the World of Films and Cocktails series. Explore the map.

Another Youtube offering. It’s shakycam, but it kinda looks like Youtube has applied its automatic stabilisation to it? So it’s doubly sickening to watch. The video is at sea.

Anyway, this is a horror/action film, and it’s OK, apart from the bit that I couldn’t really look at the screen for more than a few seconds at a time without getting nauseous (during the action scenes).

2012: Curse of the Xtabai. Matthiew Klinck. 2012. Belize.

Belize

Blue Morpho

• 2 parts coconut rum
• 2 parts dark rum
• 4 parts grapefruit juice
• 4 parts pineapple juice
• 1 part creme de cacao
• 1 part blue curacao

Run through a blender with ice. Pour into a glass and garnish with a slice of pineapple and grapefruit.

This post is part of the World of Films and Cocktails series. Explore the map.

I did DVDs and stuff last weekend, so it’s time to delve into Youtube videos again. (Because I couldn’t find any films from Barbados on DVD.)

This one can be watched here.

It’s a no-budget kind of film, but there’s definitely some talent here. The editing (for about the first half hour) is on point, the soundtrack is interesting, some of the actors (like “Cheryl”) are great and the storyline is way out there.

But it loses focus after about half an hour and we get very strange porn slo-mo shots of expensive cars and motorbikes doing burnouts.

*sucks air through teeth*

And then suddenly it turns into a comedy! It’s funny.

The Kite Flyer. Sean Russell. 2007. Barbados.

Rum Punch Recipe

• 3 parts dark rum
• 2 parts white rum
• 1 part simple syrup
• 2 parts orange juice
• 1 part grapefruit juice
• a dash of Grenadine
• a dash of Angostura bitters
• nutmeg

Stir with ice in a glass. Grate nutmeg on top.

This post is part of the World of Films and Cocktails series. Explore the map.

Man, I’m having having almost no luck with these Central American films. South America: Wonderful. Central America: Not so much. But I guess these countries are a lot smaller (and poorer), so perhaps that’s not that odd…

Anyway, this is pretty bad. And I even ended up buying the DVD twice, since it turned out that the one that said “Surviving Guazapo” didn’t have English subtitles, but the one that said “Sobreviviendo Guazapa” did.

¯_(ツ)_/¯

I just watched the “making of” film on the DVD, and it was apparently all bluescreened: Nothing actually filmed in the jungle? I had no idea. So: Kudos on the compositing.

Surviving Guazapa. Roberto d’Avila Alegria. 2008. El Salvador.

San Salvador

• 1 part lime juice
• 3 parts orange juice
• 2 parts Grand Marnier
• 3 parts dark rum

Shake with ice and strain into a glass. Garnish with an orange slace and a lime slice.

This post is part of the World of Films and Cocktails series. Explore the map.