Review: L.A. Twister (2004)

Name: L.A. Twister
Director: Sven Pape
Year: 2004
Official Site: http://www.latwistermovie.com

Those of you that frequent the forums and irc will know how much i've been crazing to see this movie. Well, finally i saw it today. And what should happen? All my dreams and hopes for this movie came true....

IT FUCKING ROCKS!!!

Let's just get the formalities out of the way first. L.A. Twister is the story of two guys, one a failing wannabe actor (Lenny), one a down and out plumber (Ethan) that's just split from his girl. When Ethan moves to Los Angeles to live with Lenny after the split, his observations of Lenny and his lifestyle finally win him round to an idea they both share that, if you can't beat the Hollywood system and make it as an actor....make a movie!

L.A. Twister documents the duo's charismatic, often funny, sometimes sad but always deeply entertaining journey in to the world of movie-making, fucking back the system, the assholes, the leechers, the fakes and finally putting their damn movie out there. While at the same time dealing with real life issues of love, life and friendship.

For a movie made with next to no money and little chance for exposure, i am so glad i got to see this (even if it was in it's WP form). What is served up is a beautifully made movie. Exquisitely shot and pieced together and topped off with a brilliant cast that all work excellently with each other, especially the buddy factor between Ethan, Jake and Mindy.

I laughed, i nearly cried, i laughed some more. This movie fills the void that modern day Hollywood (and modern filmaking in general) has left out. This movie is 100% unadulterated, no strings, no hold barred, no bullshit PURE ENTERTAINMENT. This, my friends, is what is known as a perfectly balanced, well rounded and brilliantly crafted movie.

I cannot fault it. Anywhere. At all. Whatsoever.

It will do nothing at the box office because no fucker knows about it. A crying shame really. Fuck you all though. I'll buy the DVD for myself.

This is, without a doubt, the best movie of 2004. Period.*

FINAL SCORE: 10/10

*until i've seen Planet Of The Pitts.

Mystic Slippers has attached this image:

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kool, i should check this out. you saw the wp version? i thought the dvdscr is out

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saw the tralier...looks ok...

quote:

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Originally posted by Mystic Slippers


This is, without a doubt, the best movie of 2004. Period.*

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best movie of 2004?..no way!

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is...

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How do you know? You haven't seen it yet.

As for my fave movies of 2004. So far they stand as:

1. LA Twister
2. Napoleon Dynamite
3. Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind

Haven't seen Planet Of The Pitts yet, but that could top LA Twister. It's gonna have a big hurdle to climb though to beat it.

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Couldn't agree more, the Lenny guy is the red-haired bully kid from "A Christmas Story" and he is awesome in this.

By the way, when you go on the L.A. Twister website try the backdoor. Not every day, but every other day it actually opens up and you can see the movie. Cool!! That is if you know the password, which is the answer to a scene in the movie...

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Anyone got any info on a DVD release date for this movie? I need to pre-order this asap!

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I enjoyed LA Twister.

Would be in my top 3.

Football Factory is my fave of 2004

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go to http://latwistermovie.com/home.shtml and look at the scrolling marquee.. What does it say?? "....................L.A. TWISTER named "Best Movie of 2004" by Blogger Mystic Slippers Read the review here.................." And it links to this page..

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quote:

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Originally posted by Mr_Toxic
go to http://latwistermovie.com/home.shtml and look at the scrolling marquee.. What does it say?? "....................L.A. TWISTER named "Best Movie of 2004" by Blogger Mystic Slippers Read the review here.................." And it links to this page..

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this is actually true...

THATS FUCKING HILARIOUS!!!
HAHAHAHAHA
MYSTIC THE BLOGGAR!#$!%# :|

Hokay.. Um.. I wonder how many fans clicked that :>
PLUS: He's in the reviews section of the page, well.. a snippet really..

http://latwistermovie.com/dev/reviews.htm

Notice how they dropped the asterisk ("until i've seen planet of the pitts") hoho

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Last edited by Dwaggy on 10-18-2004 at 05:11 PM

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bahahah, good work slippers

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Your extra special everywhere you go M$.....giegh.

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That's just....awesome.

Now we know Sven Pape and co. puh-rooze the fine pages of this forum, if your reading this, allow me to respond here:

As i've said a trillion times till i'm blue in the face. Movie piracy can be an incredibly beneficial thing to a low budget or strictly limited release movie.

In the case of LA Twister, to the best of my knowledge, getting to see this movie would have proven VERY difficult if a pirate copy had not been released. But thanks to this, i will now be buying the DVD (when it is made available to buy).

Personally i think it's great that the folks behind this movie have used my review on their website, knowing full well that the copy reviewed was pirate material. Being quoted on the official site is not only humbling for me, but also great to see a team of moviemakers (as such) embracing movie piracy in this way. Turning an often seen-as negative practice in to something good and something useful.

It's a shame the MPAA and the other pathetic gulls of this world can't see at least one ounce of good that piracy can do. There's not even the slimmest of chances i would have gotten to see this had it not been for the pirate copy put online. So MPAA, don't even fucking start to climb your moral high horse.

I hope LA Twister is a success on DVD, i for one am backing this baby by buying my copy, just like i do with the other movies i love.

And to Sven and co. thanks for using my review as promotion material for your movie. I'm rather stunned at the moment, but also very pleased that it was of some use not just to the forum users, but to the actual people that made this movie. Thanks.

Now excuse me while i go deflate my head.

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man they are all over this place, lol.

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Sven here, director of L.A. Twister. Just came across your discussion about L.A. TWISTER and piracy and cannot resist to chime in.

First of all, thank you to Mystic for the great review. When I first read it, I was in heaven. As a filmmaker there is nothing more rewarding than to see someone like your film. Of course we are delighted to reference your review on our site. How can we not?

Now to the piracy issue: It's all good. If you are in possession of a pirate copy of L.A. TWISTER, feel free to pass it around. I don't care. Actually I do. Obviously I'd love for you to see it in the theater and not as a crappy work print. But the fact that you are seeing it and you care enough to tell your friends, is what makes me smile.

Good Times,

Sven
www.snowdogfilms.com

P.S. Can't wait to see "Planet of the Pitts" myself. It's been quite some time for them to get it off the ground.

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L.A. TWISTER SCENE EDITION DVD

Last edited by Sven on 02-23-2007 at 05:00 PM

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A warm welcome to our Special Guest, Sven Pape (yes, I checked the verified email address in his profile - it's him. Or a damned good fake!).

Rest assured Sven, despite the nature of this website we're not all dirty pirates and we do appreciate and pay for good movies. Most of us simply object to the endless flood of detritus that Hollywood normally subjects us to, limited release movies tend to get a pretty good reception here... We're "proper" movie fans!

Personally I haven't had the opportunity to see the movie as it's not getting a UK release as far as I can tell, so I have to confess - I'll be downloading the Workprint at some point. If Mystic is right (and his taste in films is normally impeccable) I'll be handing over some hard-earn cash for the DVD in a few months time though

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Couldn't have put it better myself NS. It's great to see a director that actually gives a shit about what his/her audience feels about his/her work. Nice to see one of the Hollywood masses posting on VCDQ aswell, a site that is normally frowned upon by the movie industry!

As for Planet Of The Pitts, yeps, just ask anyone here or in the irc channel how much i want to see it. Just like LA Twister, i've been eager to see the movie since the year dot. Looks like it's shaping up to be amazing, from what i heard, test audiences went crazy for it.

Actually, if you are reading this and feel like making another post, i do have one question to ask you in regards to the version of LA Twister i watched.

A couple of times in the movie, a scene would end and a clapperboard scene would start with what looked like a blooper or a rough addition to a scene that looked like it had been cut out, due to the lack of mastering.

Also, in the 'hanging scene' there's a shot of the crew behind the wall in the room of the hanging. Was that intentional? Or part of the rough workprint cut?

If it was intentional, i think it was genius, as for a while i was thinking it was a play on the movie itself. As in the movie Lenny and co are making is that movie, the movie you see, yet cuts out in to real life.

Hope that made sense lol.

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Good on you Sven. I can appreciate your angle on piracy. Good to see your head is not too inflated with hollywood steam.

Will be sure to grab a decent copy of what sounds like a great film.

Welcome.

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Wow this is uber, a real life director on VCDQ

I thought this film was very cool as well, especially Zach Ward, he was hilarious! I thought his chemistry with Mindy was good as well, and that last bit with her hard-man boyfriend got me laughing a fair bit.

quote:

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Originally posted by Mystic Slippers
Also, in the 'hanging scene' there's a shot of the crew behind the wall in the room of the hanging. Was that intentional? Or part of the rough workprint cut?

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Looked intentional to me, and I have to add I thought it was a very nice touch, especially because I was shitting my pants that he had actually hanged himself. I loved the way that scene was done as well, It really strained the old emotions, and visually it looked very cool when it flickered and you could just see the harness and the film crew standing there, and then flickered back to him hanging there from the rope.

Great Job Sven.

Last edited by Mean Machine on 10-21-2004 at 12:05 PM

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I shall be purchasing the DVD soon as its available!

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Pretty awesome. Great having you here, Sven. It's good to see that people of such a high profile come and check this stuff out, and it really is pretty cool to know that not every film-maker has a "burn them all!" take on The Scene.

I saw the film and was impressed by the unique prespective it delivers to Hollywood.

I hope you enjoy your browsing here, and welcome to the boards.

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