Short Takes

While not typical CineSchlocker fare, no other group of moviegoers has a fuller appreciation for the rich variety of freakazoids, homicidal and otherwise, who populate the celluloidial pantheon. So when a choice cut of fresh meat manifests, even in an arty, earnest effort such as this, it's incumbent on yours truly to make proper mention. Mork from Ork positively SMOLDERS as a weenie photo clerk whose 10-year psychotic obsession with his picture of suburban bliss slowly splinters, then ERUPTS in an unexpected and highly heebie-jeebie inducing way. Before introducing newfound suspicion that every smiling, courteous clerk behind a counter just MAY actually be masking sociopathic tendencies, writer/director Mark Romanek was MTV's best answer to a young Orsen Welles with his visually arresting music videos, such as when he turned Fiona Apple's debut into a salacious '70s stag reel. CineSchlockers will quickly spot Gary Cole who's made a cottage industry as a big screen hardass -- even going so far as to hassle Sy the Photo Guy over Sav-Mart's answer to TPS reports. SHAZBOT!!! Four breasts. Untethered wangdoodle. Scads of elevator music. Gratuitous defecation. Knife wielding. "Good Thought" beaming. Fortuitous Day the Earth Stood Still clip. Robin apes Seymour Butts on the set, "Now, put his thing in your mouth!" (2002, 96 mins, 1.85:1 anam, DD 5.1, Romanek/Williams commentary, Charlie Rose interview, Sundance Channel and Cinemax featurettes, Trailers.)