Tyler Cornack's BUTT BOY arrives for Easter Sunday. And, no, it's not a gay porno film.

It is, however, just about everything else you can imagine, should you decide you mash one genre into another into another into another until you've exhausted the field, yourself and perhaps your audience, as well. 

BUTT BOY, the new film directed and co-written (with Ryan Koch) by Tyler Cornack (who also co-stars) is an utterly weird combination of (all deadpan) comedy, workplace/business satire, fantasy, family movie, kidnap thriller, police procedural, and neo-noir featuring kinky-sexual-pleasure. There's no science-fiction, however (even if the publicity material suggests there is), because there's absolutely no science present here, just some bizarre fantasy.

Mr. Cornack, shown at right and in some of the stills below, has created something different, all right, and for a good portion of this 100-minute movie, his initial quiet, suggestive style -- perhaps due to a very low budget not allowing for many special effects, which he saves in any case for his finale -- keeps us guessing and often in thrall.

The story here takes us into the seemingly tired, boring workplace and marital life of a man named Chip (Cornack, below), who, during a routine visit to his urologist/proctologist. experiences something so life-changing that he discovers he is able, and so begins, to suck various items -- these grow larger and larger -- up his butt. When a local child goes missing, things come to a halt and suddenly it's nine years later, when Chip's s addiction re-surfaces.

Oddly enough, the movie Butt Boy most reminds me of is the very recent film, Swallow, in which a newly-married and wealthy housewife begins swallowing small-but-dangerous items until something needs to be done about this.  The style and theme of both films are quite different however, but the premise of a woman who inserts odd objects down her mouth and a man who does this up his butt seems bizarrely similar. (Even one or two of the swallowed/sucked-up objects are rather alike.) 

Swallow is a serious film, while Butt Boy is anything but, and so, for a while, the deadpan comedy -- as a suspicious detective (Tyler Rice, above) tracks our non-hero -- helps keep things afloat. How and why this detective has managed to put together his theory is neither intelligent nor believable (one single clue is all it takes?), but once past this point the movie opts for total fantasy and then, during the final third, the special effects kick in and the film becomes downright silly/crazy.

One must  give Butt Boy, along with Cornack, credit for doing something original, at least, even if his movie goes on for ten to twenty minutes too long. With this kind of thing, less is definitely more. And during the first half of the film, Cornack's elliptical, suggestive style works well with his deadpan humor; then the too-muchness takes over.

Those who prefer "too much" may embrace Butt Boy more easily than did TrustMovies. Either way, this is pretty much a one-off kind of film -- something you might have seen in days of yore from Troma Entertainment, but handled with more taste and subtlety (for awhile, at least.) And the film's final "they are risen!" moment makes it a shoo-in for coverage today, Easter Sunday.

From Epic Pictures and running 100 minutes, the movie makes its debut -- now that theaters seem a thing of the past -- via VOD, digital streaming and Blu-ray disc, beginning this Tuesday, April 14. Click here to learn how you can view.

Streaming possibility: Steph Green's "get well soon" family dramedy, RUN AND JUMP

My friend and occasional co-writer here, Lee Liberman, refers to certain films as "Hallmark cards" -- as in, "That was a little too Hallmark for me." I get what she means. Even in some of the films I've enjoyed -- often genre movies such as the GLBT-themed What Happens Next? and The Perfect Wedding -- I must admit that these do have their Hallmark aspect. This past week we streamed a movie I'd call the thinking person's Hallmark: RUN & JUMP, the first full-length film from Steph Green.

Ms Green -- shown at right, who earlier gave us the very charming and on-point short New Boy -- both directed and co-wrote (with Ailbhe Keogan) the movie, which tells of a period in which the father of the family (Edward MacLiam, below, center right) is recovering from a stroke he had at a very early age and is now coming home to stay with his wife (Maxine Peake, below, left, of the Brit mini-series Silk), son (Brendan Morris, below, center, left), daughter (Ciara Gallagher), at far right, being held) and a research doctor (Will Forte, below, right, doing the holding) whose grant money allows him to stay with the family (and provide them some much-needed financial aid) even as he daily videos dad's progress -- or lack of it.

Clearly, this is a fraught situation full of possibilities for drama, comedy, extra-curricular romance and much else. Ms Green generally makes the most of this without going overboard into farce or melodrama. What we think may happen often does -- but in a manner a bit different from what we initially imagine.

This is both the strength and weakness of the movie, for if the film does not go in for the heavy hand, it still makes everything a little too easy, as all falls too neatly, and finally, expectedly, into place. "All" would include the physical and mental attraction between wife and doctor, hubby's progress stroke-wise, and even the son's coming to terms with his being gay (and everyone else coming to terms with this, too).

Run & Jump is indeed a feel-good film and well-acted by all, especially Mr. Liam's dad (whose post-stroke feelings are now right on the surface) and Ms Peake's mum, a dervish of energy and appeal. Mr. Forte does a more than credible job as the doctor in the middle of it all, and the filmmaker manages to keep everything rolling for the slightly-longer-than-necessary 106 minutes.

Though not as easy a landing for all these characters as it might have been (imagine what would happen had Hollywood gotten hold of this story), it's still a bit easier than it is believable. It's Hallmark, all right, but for those who need a little edge to their "get well soon" and "ain't families grand" sentiment.

Run & Jump can be streamed now via Netlfix and elsewhere and is also available on DVD.

Avi Angel's HERE I LEARNED TO LOVE: two brothers' Holocaust history explored tardily (but this time, it'll really open here in NYC)

If the review below looks vaguely familiar to you, that's because TrustMovies first posted it at the end of last October. Hurricane Sandy hit us immediately after, and as the entire lower area of Manhattan went dark, the Quad Cinema closed, and this little movie never actually appeared. Well, it opens today -- really! -- and it deserves a look-see, so here's my original post once again, with only the opening date changed and some new personal appearances added at the close....

They're arriving weekly now, these remembrances of horror and hope. The latest is another family journey made by brothers, now in their 70s, as they track their own history in the 1940s from Poland and the Jewish ghetto through escape, fleeing through local fields, impri-sonment again, and on to Hun-gary, Germany, Switzerland and finally Israel. One brother, Izhak, is much more familiar with the tale than his younger sibling, Avner, who has long preferred humor/avoidance as a means of getting by.

As written and directed by Avi Angel, shown at left, HERE I LEARNED TO LOVE is short (just 60 minutes) and to the point. Almost at the beginning we hear someone (I am guessing it's the filmma-ker) explain, "Avner Kerem (shown below, foreground), my sister-in-law's father, never spoke about his experience in the Holocaust as a child. When he turned 70, he accepted my offer to set out with his older brother Izhak (below and behind Avner) on a journey that would trace their survival route and perhaps, on the way, important insights would be gained."

The above is pretty close to exactly what the film achieves. From an early scene in which the brothers spar lightly about their various medicines (and end up toasting by clicking their pill boxes) through the journey they take, the facts that come to light, along with the feelings they engender, turn this short film into yet another unusual and moving Holocaust story.

The film is based on a memoir written by Izhak called Three Mothers for Two Brothers, and the heart of the tale involves the three women who acted as mother and protector to the siblings: their birth mother, her sister (or perhaps sister-in-law) into whose care the children were given when their parents were taken to the concentration camp, and finally another young woman, Naomi, who became their protector in one of the camps.

The details of the story are full of the kind of specificity that startles and moves, and their effect on Avner (above, who has, up to now, kept himself from leaning of them) is major. For Izhak, who already knew all this, the goal is to finally share this with his brother.

Of all the specifics we learn, probably the most moving and awful is that of the aunt who took the children from their birth mother. Already herself pregnant, how she saves the brothers and then is herself made childless, is as horrible as it is memorable.

One thing I would have liked to know, as the film moved along, was who these brother are now -- who they had become. At movie's end, the filmmaker gives us this via still photos and written information. This is a quick and efficient way to manage it; weaving the information into the film itself would probably have increased the running time to that of a full-length documentary. (Maybe not a bad idea, either.)

Here I Learned to Love, running only 55 minutes (that title and where it comes from is probably worth an entire film unto itself), finally opens this Friday, March 1, in New York City at the Quad Cinema, where the filmmaker (and others) will be making personal appearances during the run.  See below for details....

DIRECTOR AVI ANGEL WILL BE AT SELECTED SCREENINGS  Friday 3/1 - 6:35, 8pm, Saturday 3/2 - 6:35, 8pm and Sunday 3/3 - 5:10, 6:35, 8pm evening 

Special appearances on Sunday, 3/3, as representatives from ISOPC -- INTERNATIONAL STUDY OF ORGANIZED PERSECUTION OF CHILDREN, a project on child development research -- will join director Angel in discussion: Dr. Eva Fogelman at the 5:10 pm showing, and Dr. Helene Bass-Wichelhaus at the 8 pm showing. 

The holiday onslaught begins -- with Sue Corcoran's cute ALL I WANT IS CHRISTMAS

Every year around this time, "entertainment" is seized by holiday cheer -- or something approximating same -- as movies, television, cable, DVD, and this year evidently VOD become inundated with holiday programming and/or releases. If TrustMovies, holiday curmudgeon that he is, must cover at least one of these, he's glad that it's the straight-to-VOD movie ALL I WANT IS CHRISTMAS (aka Ira Finkelstein's Christmas). If that original title lets the cat out of the bag -- yes, this will be one of those Jewish-boy-jealous-of-the-big-Christian-holiday movies -- then you are probably thinking, Oy, we're gonna get a lesson in cultural tolerance! Well, yes and no.

The film's director (as well as co-writer and -producer), Sue Corcoran (shown at left), keeps any moralizing about religion/culture to a minimum and instead concentrates on family and the importance of togetherness at holiday time. She also concentrates on a better-than-average storyline that offers some good fun.  Instead of having just one kid-with-a-problem, her movie offers two.

One boy, Ira Finkelstein (Elijah Nelson, above), lives in Los Angeles with his either sleazy or just-stupid movie producer dad (David DeLuise) and pines for cold, snow and holiday cheer; the other, Mikey Amato (played by newcomer Justin Howell), comes from cold weather and a fractured family and longs for some sun and warmth.

How each gets what he wants is part of the fun of the film, which fortunately stays with the kids more than the adults and gets good performances from all of them, including the snowy town's mean bully (another newcomer Ashton Herrild, above).

In passing, the movie manages to take in our current depressed economy, living on credit, child (and dog) abuse, and a few other timely issues without messing up the necessary feel-good finale. While some of the jokes are tired and thin -- particularly those to do with the making of a sci-fi Christmas movie by Ira's dad involving elves and ray-guns (at right) and a typical Hollywood diva with an attitude and a yappy little dog -- those that stick with the children and their situations, especially those that involve Ira's grand-dad (Elliott Gould, below right), result in some good chuckles.

Sure, the movie is no great shakes, but compared to many that squeeze every last bit of sentimentality out of things, this one seems relatively easy-going, charming, and benign. It doesn't even bother to tie up all the loose ends too neatly, and the 84-minute running time (plus end-credits) makes it an easy watch.

All I Want Is Christmas makes it VOD debut on November 1 via Amazon, Brighthouse, Charter, Comcast, Cox, Dish, iTunes (Canada and U.S.), Microsoft (Canada and U.S.), Verizon Fios, Time Warner and YouTube.

Julian Farino/Ian Helfer/Jay Reiss' THE ORANGES: so good it seems European

How do you properly market a "family" film as good, intelligent and different as is THE ORANGES? Especially when neither the movie's title (which simply tells us that part of New Jersey in which the action is said to be set) nor its poster art and copy have much to recommend them. And yet this film itself is quite wonderful.

Why? Because its attitude is so, well, European. By that I mean grown-up, as though the filmmakers (who include the director, Julian Farino, shown at right, and screen-writers Ian Helfer and Jay Reiss) have been around the humanity block a few times and know whereof they speak. Their movie has to do with two sets of families -- neighbors whose kids kids have been friends since practically birth -- and the various friendships, couplings and uncouplings that take place over a certain course of time. Their movie also has to do with happiness and how this "h" word fits into the rest of our lives (and our responsibilities).

The movie is never judgmental but it also never lets its characters off the hook. They get away with nothing and pay for everything. Actions have consequences here. The characters learn this, and we watch them do it. Best of all, the unfolding never becomes phony or full of unduly cheap laughs. Instead it is graceful and honest, alternately funny and sad, and sometimes surprising, too.

You could not ask for a better cast, with each performer used wisely and well. Beginning with Alia Shawkat (above) who plays the angriest family member, a girl just beyond her teens who has never been quite as pretty or popular...

...as her ex-best-friend from across the street (Leighton Meester, above, as a young lady who is having big trouble finding herself).

As for the two sets of parents, Meester's are played by Oliver Platt and Allison Janney (above, with Ms Janney on the right),

while Ms. Shawkat's progenitors are essayed by Hugh Laurie (at right) and Catherine Keener (below, left). Three of the above actors are always expert (not being a TV watcher, I know much less about Mr. Laurie's nine-year career on House), and they are as good here as they've ever been. (Laurie's fine, too, in a particularly tricky role.)  Mr. Platt, who last year played opposite Keener in Please Give, is wonderfully funny and always real, and Ms Janney gives us what is fast becoming her special schtick -- officious and brittle with a heart long buried -- about as well as it can be done.

Ms Keener has maybe the best role here, and she is dazzling, never more so than when she finally takes her sudden revenge. This actress has the ability to register all kinds of feelings, almost, it seems, at the same moment. In doing this, she keeps us beautifully off-balance, while giving herself quite the acting workout. And yet the work never shows. It's all part of this quite under-sung and delightful actress' repertoire.

Shawkat has a sibling, too (played by Adam Brody, below), who has a wonderful scene with Meester, early on. Brody is such a good actor (see Death in Love and Damsels in Distress for two more examples) that my one disappointment with this movie is that he was not used a bit more.

That's a minor quibble. The Oranges is finally so smart but unshowy and so much fun that I can recommend it wholeheartedly. From ATO Pictures -- this film is my favorite of everything this new distribution company has so far released -- the movie opens this Friday, October 5,  in major cities (often at several theaters in each) all across the country. To see a complete listing of cities and theaters, simply click here.

William Friedkin's back in business with the garish, ghastly -- and goofy -- KILLER JOE

After the bust that was BUG, the earlier collaboration between film director William Friedkin and adapter/writer Tracy Letts, it's nice to see this once-fabled filmmaker -- Exorcist, French Connection -- bounce back via another, much better collaboration with the award-winning screenwriter and
playwright of August: Osage County. Though almost identi-cal lengths, Bug was an overlong cornuco-pia of often crappy visual effects meant to mimic the losing of a mind, while KILLER JOE proves a slick and stripped-down machine fueled by plot and character and brought to staggering immediacy by Friedkin's crisp, no-nonsense direction; Lett's savvy, streamlined dialog; and a cast of pros who bring things to shocking life (and an awful lot of death). After viewing this movie, you'll never nibble another fried-chicken drumstick in quite the same way.

Mr. Friedkin, shown at left, begins things with combination of thunder, lightning, rain, fire, a barking dog, a black cat, and then a man -- knocking, banging, screaming for someone to open the door. (The exactly-what-is-needed cinematography is provided by -- surprise! -- Caleb Deschanel.) When someone finally does open that door, we're faced with -- ooooh, whoopie! (The full frontal in Killer Joe belongs to the ladies; the guys manage to keep things just under wraps.) From this rather delightful view, we're whisked into a plot that involves murder for hire, an insurance policy, and a family full of freakishly anti-social creeps held together, it seems, only by their anger and stupidity. Into this mix comes the contact killer of the title, whose day job is that of a local policeman. And if you didn't already know that this movie is set in a seedy, dirty-dealing Texas, would I have to tell you?

That contract killer is played by Matthew McConaughey (above), who -- after his work here and in Bernie and Magic Mike -- now seems destined for a whole new middle-aged character-actor career. He's riveting.

The family members, above, are played by -- in no particularly order, as everyone is so damned good -- Thomas Haden Church (as the father, center right) and Gina Gershon (as the stepmom (center left). Ms Gershon can, at this point, do the sleazy slut in her sleep, but this is no by-rote performance. She is, how to put this... immaculately sordid. Church is, as usual, a wonder and a delight: a big, dumb, lumbering lunk, all the sexier for his lack of brainpower, and all the sadder because it is clear that he somehow realizes it.

The film's conniving siblings are portrayed by Emile Hirch (above, left) and Britain's Juno Temple, of Dirty Girl (above, right), both of whom seem to be in their element. Hirch has never played more of a whiny, male twat (this is an accomplishment, performance-wise) while Temple, as the sweetie with maybe a few missing marbles, is aces. She's holds back just a bit (which, trust me, nobody else connected to this movie is doing) and so makes her character somehow pivotal.

It would be a crime to go into any of the many twists and turns the movie takes, but I will say that its last line is a mind-bending, flip-flopping amazement. Not that we haven't heard these exact words many times before, but, as we're often told -- where drama and comedy, tragedy and farce are concerned (and especially when they meet, as here, head-on) -- context is all.

Killer Joe, from LD Entertainment with a running time of 103 minutes, opens this Friday, July 27, in New York City at AMC'c Loews Lincoln Square and Empire 25, and at Landmark's Sunshine Cinema and in Los Angeles at The Landmark. In the weeks to come, the film will broaden its run nationwide. You can see all currently scheduled playdates by clicking here.