Hullabaloo!

A little over a week ago (April 14th), I had the good fortune of attending the Houston Alamo Drafthouse’s fourth Hullabaloo event.  An annual movie marathon programmed by Rob Saucedo, Meredith Borders and Alan Cerny, rather than having a strong unifying theme, the programmers simply choose movies that they would like to share with an audience.  That simple guiding thought has resulted in some very eclectic lineups (see Houston Hullabaloo Lineups) over the years and, as someone who eyes the film scenes in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago with envy, I’m grateful that Houston has an event of its own like this.

As opposed to last year’s Hullabaloo, which consisted of four comedies, Hullabaloo 2018 was possibly the most diverse in terms of the genres and tones represented.   This year’s movies (all first-time watches for me) ran the gamut from science fiction and horror to comedy and animated drama.  

The event kicked off with Alan’s pick, which was 1981’s Arthur.  A really good romantic comedy, it rests to a huge extent on Dudley Moore’s performance as the charismatic drunk of the film's title.  At turns touching and hilarious, I'd definitely recommend seeking it out if you haven't seen it yet.  While this was probably my favorite film of the day, there was still a lot of great entertainment ahead.   

       

Next up was American Pop, an animated journey through the bulk of the 20^th Century seen through the eyes of multiple generations and set against the background of America’s evolving popular music scene.  I’ll be upfront here: this movie was not for me.  I think I see what director Ralph Bakshi was attempting to convey with it, but I don’t think it's successful in getting much meaning across.  I do feel the film is extremely interesting, though, and I would love to speak with more of its fans about its appeal.  Maybe I’m just missing something.

Following American Pop, we were fortunate to see the Houston premiere of Hearts Beat Loud.  A really solid movie about a father and daughter who make music together, it’s elevated by the performances of Nick Offerman and Kiersey Clemons and bolstered by supporting turns from Ted Danson and Toni Collette.  It’s rousing but real, and doesn’t go for sentiment at the expense of realism or consistency.  Look for it when it’s released in June!

Next up was Meredith Borders’ pick: David Lynch’s adaptation of Dune.  I’m wrong to like this movie, aren’t I?  It would be easy for me to nitpick the performances, the Cliff’s Notes feel of the second half of the story, or a dozen other things, but I didn’t find myself doing that.  Instead, I was impressed by this attempt at bringing Herbert’s story to the screen with 1980s technology and grateful that this blockbuster-style film feels like it was made from a very specific perspective, rather than engineered to hit all four quadrants.  It feels personal.  So, for all its weirdness, I enjoyed myself and feel blessed that something so weird can exist.

The final movie of the day was the Houston premiere of Ghost Stories.  I’m going to do my best to tiptoe around any spoilers here.  Suffice it to say that this is a well-constructed little anthology horror film with some very creepy moments and some truly excellent performances.  Martin Freeman takes to his role with relish and Alex Lawther, here playing a very disturbed young man, gives what may be my favorite supporting performance of 2018 thus far.  Seek this one out when it’s released!

I always come to Hullabaloo with high hopes and I've never been disappointed.  I'll be looking forward to next year's event with my usual enthusiasm, excited for what the organizers cook up.  In the mean time, feel free to let me know what you think of any of the movies from this year's lineup.  Was I too hard on American Pop?  Too easy on Dune?  I'm always down for good, thoughtful discussion.