CHICAGO – Excelsior! Comic book legend Stan Lee’s famous exclamation puts a fine point on the third and final play of Mark Pracht’s FOUR COLOR TRILOGY, “The House of Ideas,” presented by and staged at City Lit Theater in Chicago’s Edgewater neighborhood. For tickets/details, click HOUSE OF IDEAS.
17th-Annual Chicago Underground Film Festival, Day Two: ‘Modus Operandi’
CHICAGO – Day Two of the Chicago Underground Film Festival saves one of its most underground features for the appropriately late 10:30pm time slot. “Modus Operandi” is an indescribable James Bondage spoof (pun intended) that puts the “Be-Be-Be” in the bonnet of an underground B-Movie blast.
Part intentional grindhouse parody, part little-boys-playing-with-special-effects-toys, Modus Operandi has more quality kills and women willing to get nekkid than most Friday nights switching between the Chiller Network and Cinemax.
Photo credit: Frankie Latina Motion Pictures |
Presidential candidate Squire Parks (Michael Sottile) has two important briefcases stolen from him at a key moment in the campaign. Only one man can retrieve such sensitive and potential blackmailing material, and that is Stanley Cashay (Randy Russell). Cashay is Black Ops, but has been underground since the murder of his wife.
When Cashay does get involved, it unleashes a bizarre assortment of operatives, both for and against the candidate, and willing to do anything to get the secret briefcase. Cashay and these forces ally and clash with each other over the course of the film, with ultimate revenge the lethal prize.
Get yourself properly lubricated and get over to see Modus Operandi. It is the jewel of this year’s festival, intentionally or unintentionally. It even includes a cameo by the Godfather of the post modern grind, Mark Borcardt (”American Movie”). Good times.
Chicago Underground Film Festival: Schedule for Friday June 25th –
All Films at the Gene Siskel Film Center
6:00pm: “World’s Largest” and “Guided Tour”
8:15pm: “Visionaries: Jonas Mekas and the (Mostly) American Avant-Garde”
9:15pm: “Shorts Program One: School of Velocity”
10:15pm: “Modus Operandi”
11:00pm: CUFF Friday Night Party, Beauty Bar, 1444 W. Chicago Ave., Chicago
By PATRICK McDONALD |