Wednesday, 3-28-7
Today was a travel day so I spent the morning in bed watching a movie with Teresa. We watched "Man of the Year". Ehhh, it should have been better.
Political comic has a large following for his television show. He is jokingly asked to run for President. The idea gains momentum and he decides to grab some headlines and run. As the election gets closer he becomes serious and drops the comedy for a more serious 'issues related' approach. He gains the attention of everyone now, not just his followers. At the last debate, he breaks out and can't hold the frustration anymore. He comes unglued and lashes out at both "legitimate" candidates. The press is distraught but also refreshed by his honesty. Through a computer error, the comic wins the election.
Now we have the computer programmer who knows something is wrong. She confronts her boss and is told to shut up or we'll end up going out of business. She backs off but the boss has her set up on drug charges to discredit and fire her. Somehow she still maintains her computer access and finally discovers the glitch. The comic did not really win the election. She gets to the new President-elect and eventually tells him the truth (but only after they are starting to fall in love). The company is stalking and attacking the woman making her appear crazier and crazier. The big moment comes when he is meeting with the out-going President and sitting behind the desk. He realizes he has made a mockery of the office and he gets another call from the programmer chick telling him they are still after her, trying to kill her. There is a ring of truth is what she says and he believes her. He goes on SNL as planned but he uses the opportunity to announce that the election results were flawed and that he will not be involved in the re-election. The current president is re-elected and the comedian returns to his show, more popular than ever and the company thugs go to jail.
It was alright. Lewis Black, Jon Stewart, Jay Leno, whoever... It could have been any of them. There have been many times when I've thought that any one of these guys would be better in the role of President than the actual President. Lewis Black dropped the greatest line of the movie. When talking about how television makes everything seem credible but also makes everything seem bland. He says about the comic, "Yeah, they can hear him because he sounds different". Yeah, anyone loud enough and different enough will get all the attention, deservedly so or not. The movie starts with Christopher Walken in a wheelchair narrating the story. When we start the movie proper, Walken's character hasn't had the heart-attack yet so I was watching for him to do his dance (Christopher Walken dances in every movie he's in) before he ends up in the chair. So the heart attack happens and now I'm upset because I must have missed the dance. During the 'wrap up' scene it shows him tapping his feet and dancing while sitting in the chair. I was so happy to see that. I was afraid I missed it; it became the whole reason I watched the rest of the movie.
I normally love "average guy gets political power" type movies like "Dave" and "Mr. Smith" but this movie wasn't enough to carry my attention through it. It felt like I was watching a comedy about a comic becoming president while simultaneously watching a suspense thriller like "The Net" or "Enemy of the State". Neither of these story lines was advanced enough to really make them good. First, a major electronics company setting up and firing a person but forgetting to terminate their access to their internal network!? Shit, when I was laid off from WorldCom, I lost my access before I was told I was laid off. I tried to check my e-mail and couldn't hit the servers. That's when I knew I had been cut. Don't tell me this company went through all the trouble of injecting this woman with a drug cocktail and chasing her across the country but never turned off her access. It's just too unbelievable. More unbelievable than Jon Stewart being President.
Thursday, 3-29-7
I hung out and crashed at Heffner's place last night. He had rented "Hustle & Flow" and thought I would want to see it so we watched it last night.
It was good/borderline alright. I liked it but it had all been done before. It was like John Singleton redoing "8-Mile".
A Memphis pimp is having a midlife crisis. He is tired of his scene and wants to get out of the life. He buys a keyboard off of a crackhead and later bumps into an old friend in a store. This rekindles his love of music (rapping) and he decides he wants to get out of the life through his music. His friend lives a very 'legitimate' life doing recordings for church choirs and lawyer depositions. The pimp talks him into trying to make a successful rap tape by pretending to know a big famous rap star from Memphis who is coming back into town in a few weeks. They go through all of the difficulties and eventually come up with the great track and the pimp goes in to try to get the big rap star to listen to it. He uses all of his pimp skills and talks his way into the big star's good graces. When he finds the big star threw his tape in the toilet, he beats the crap out of him and ends up shooting a few of his entourage. In jail, the song gets radio airplay because of the determined skill of one of his whores. Happy ending, pimp is now a star, Ho #1 is his girlfriend and Ho #2 is his business manager.
If this movie doesn't sound impressive, it really wasn't. The movie was kind of a lame duck. The acting saved it though. The main character was a pimp but not the 1970's flashy fur and cane type of pimp. This guy was low-rent pimp. He wore shorts and a tank top hustling his wares from the window of a beat up car. (He called it a Chevy but Heffner and I remember seeing 'Cutlass' on the rear.) His only working ho is a scraggly, skinny white girl that is just butt-ugly. His other ho is pregnant and he kicks out the third ho half way through the movie. In the midst of al of this, he proceeds to give a great performance full of quotable lines. The whole idea is that if he has the skills to pimp these girls, he has the skills to pimp people into giving him the break he needs. I have to say it was the actor that made this a good movie. He really made me feel for this lowly character. The other two guys involved with making the music were funny. Anthony Anderson is funny in almost everything he does. Small doses but it appears he knows that because he hasn't tried to carry any movie that I know about. The other guy was that skinny white nerd from "Road Trip" that slept with the fat chick and held up these gigantic panties. I don't even remember any of his lines in this movie, I just remember him being funny looking and maybe that was enough. Anyway, if you can suspend disbelief enough to want to see a movie about a street hustler making it big in the rap world, it's worth seeing. (You also have to suspend disbelief during a scene where any man, especially a pimp should have slapped the crap right out of one of the hoes.) If gritty hood films aren't your thing, you probably won't see this but you will be missing a great performance by Terrence Howard.
Saturday, 3-31-7
I finally tried Netflix's 'Watch it now" feature. It's free and doesn't count against your movies you have sent out. I figured it would be crappy quality but I'd try it anyway. I was impressed with it. The movie looked and sounded as good as if I were watching a DVD on the computer. No lag, no stutter at all.
So I've seen this movie many times but always in pieces. I always seem to miss the beginning or the end and most often, both. I love De Niro as Al Capone giving the "Enthusiasm" speech. With work and all of the rogue techs that don't seem to give a shit about the rest of the team, I've been using that speech a lot recently.
The story is about Elliot Ness and his drive to enforce prohibition even under threat from Capone. Not really much more to describe on the plot other than it was good. He has a small band of men. An old, honest beat-cop, an idealistic recruit and an accountant. Together they stand up against corruption on the force as against Capone, breaking every law in order to uphold the law. It was like an old western but set in the 1920's mob war era. I liked it, even if it was Kevin Costner. Sean Connery was terrific. I just heard about him retiring and saying he'd only come back as a supporting role in a Bond film. Screw that, I think he'd make an incredible Bond villain!
There was another example of non-gun-Hollywood types being in charge of continuity. I can't count how many times these guys cocked their shotguns and nothing came out! That kind of stuff drives me nuts! Like a digital timer on a bomb. It's counting down and the good guy always clips the right wire (Blue! Cut the blue wire!) just in time, leaving 00:03 seconds on the clock or something like that. NO! The clock would either go dark or it would keep counting down to zero even if the explosive was cut. I can't imagine a crazed bomber building a hold circuit into the clock just for visual effect! Ok, no digital bombs in this movie, just another rant...
The Untouchables was good. I liked it. It has a lot of cliches in it and is often over played but I was glad to see it in full and even happier to know that the Netflix Watch It Now feature works just fine on my computer. Now I wonder if it works on my laptop...
Monday, 4-16-7
A quick message: After reading this I realize I strayed from the movie quite a bit. I edited down another version of this where I only discuss the film but decided to go with this one. I watched this at the end of an already emotional day so I really went all over the place on this movie. It's long and full of non-movie stuff so be warned. But then again, I'm not a 'real' critic so I can get away with a little self-indulgence from time to time and in the end, that's why you come here in the first place...
I really didn't want to see this movie when it came out. Same with Nick Cage in "World Trade Center". I had no inclination to see either of these. Not that I didn't care, I was as shocked as any of you on that day. I was as horrified as the rest of you, but my brain works differently. I'm not still lingering on that event. It changed the world as we know it (if you are an American) but it was not a life changing event in me. I'm middle of the road when I think back on Sept, 11. I don't go all misty eyed, nor do I get the steel of anger. I just see it as a devastating event that we should learn from, one that we should attempt to take something positive from. Not something that we need to mourn forever. Remember? Yes. Mourn? Not so much. Now before I come across as an uncaring, heartless bastard, I'll qualify those statements with the following; I did not lose anyone close to me in those events and I did feel sorrow at the intense loss of human lives. I can not imagine what it would be like to lose a family member or close friend from such a faceless attacker. My outlook would be different if I did. But that is precisely my point. People who had nothing to do with it are still mourning the deaths of people they never met. Politicians are playing this for all it is worth. And people like me that say we are neither the doe-eyed mourners of strangers nor hardened vigilantes bent of revenge; well we're labeled uncaring, un-American and inhuman.
That just might be the longest non-movie intro I've written for a review. It might be the longest but it had to be said. Once it was said, it had to be defended and explained. People are very sensitive when it comes to this topic and you don't want to be misunderstood and thought of as a terrorist sympathizer.
So I get back to the hotel and attempt to do a little work. Stupidly, I turn on the dreaded television (It's just so pretty, I've got to get me one of these!) Just as I was coming to the realization that nothing was on, the HBO intro played, signifying the start of a movie. I stayed to see what it was. Sure, I didn't want to be part of the herd flocking to the theatre to pay homage to the dead but I was interested to see how they portrayed the events of the day. Especially now that I have intimate knowledge and back-stage stories of the FAA. What went on behind the scenes that day? What didn't we see from behind our fog of anxious fears?
The movie plays out the events and seems to focus on the bumbling of the different government agencies involved. The FAA bitching about why they didn't have fighters in the air, yet the same FAA (different people?) refused to give clearance for them to take off. Once they do take off, they are going the wrong direction but they can't turn around because of other FAA restrictions. I've never been to ZDC or ZNY but I recognize the main FAA guy. Not physically. I mean I've never met him but I recognize the personality. I see people like him every day and let me tell you, you don't want to get on the wrong side of them. They ask the impossible and then get indignant when you deliver the impossible but without any mustard. I know that a lot of the controllers played themselves but I don't know if this guy did or not but whoever was the guy in the suit was perfect.
There was really no plot to speak of, it was simply a re-creation of the day's events. Tommy Lee Jones didn't have his daughter along, Dennis Quaid didn't have to find his son. "No plot to develop, just the facts ma'am".
Watching the plane hit the building again was devastating to me. Six months later, well into 2002, we all saw it replayed a million times and it lost all its punch with me. But seeing it again, and through the ATCT point of view, it brought it back to me like the first time I saw it and it hurt.
I try to live my life without using the "regret" word but there is one moment I wish I could take back. One moment I am embarrassed over to the point of being ashamed of myself. Teresa called me at work to tell me what was happening. She and her mom were driving to work and the radio said a plane hit the tower. "No big deal" I thought, "It's happened before". Then she said that a second one hit and I originally said "bullshit". No way would an accident like that ever happen twice at the same time. At that point we realized something bad was going on and everyone at work went into the break room and watched the news. (Here's the bad part, for those of you who wish to hold me in high regard, skip the next few lines) When CNN showed the plane flying into the building and the explosion afterward, my first reaction was jumping up and down saying, "That is so freaking cool!" I immediately corrected myself but it was too late the damage was done; everyone I worked with knew I was an asshole. But it wasn't real yet. No one had died, the towers hadn't fallen, and we didn't go to war yet. All that screen showed me was a spectacular special effect. My child-like brain wasn't working fast enough to put it all together. I put it all together just a split second after my outburst but like I said, too late.
And where are the acronyms? They kept referring to "Boston". I wanted to throw a huge bullshit flag at that but, I couldn't. I don't really get to see the controllers that often. Knowing our side of the house, we might call it "Logan" but more probable, we'd call it BOS. But we try to avoid the scopes as much as possible because they hate us techie-types. But, I believe I should have heard an abbreviation at some point. Everything is a three letter abbreviation and that is part of the language around here. I felt lost until I learned how to speak it. There are a few exceptions, ZNY-ARTCC was called "New York Center" and that's what they would call it. Here at home the ZJX-ARTCC is called "Jax Center". When the guy was trying to decipher what the hijacker said, he went back and listened to the "tape" on a reel to reel tape recorder. Now I didn't come into the FAA until 2004 but there is no trace of the reel to reels anywhere I can see. As I write this I have two controllers over my right shoulder running the "tape" back over and over to hear what a pilot said. All they are doing is pushing the "play" button on the computer screen. These guys are doing it to clear up a bet but so it's not so critical.
The movie was strong in its imagery and didn't really make you think because you already know the facts. The only thing I took from the movie was that it only solidified my previous feelings that UAL093 was shot down by our own fighters. It just happened to be in the safest place to do it, a field in the middle of nowhere. Even the title cards reinforced it by stating the closing facts, "the closest fighter jets were 100 miles away". Why did they feel the need to restate that unless maybe it wasn't true? And if that was the case, I wish they would have the guts to admit it. I say it's the right decision to make, even if I were on that plane. No, that's too easy. Even if my wife and daughter were on that plane, the right decision is to take it down. Everyone on that plane was already going to die. The question is, how many are we going to let them take with them? Shoot it down. And maybe it happened just the way they said it did. Maybe it's true and the closest fighters were 100 miles away. If that's true then I'm even more scared of my government. Incompetence and inaction is so much scarier than making an unpopular decision.
So in the end, what did I think of the movie? It sucked bad! The acting, the cinematography, even the lighting. The camera work was shoddy, there were enough anachronisms to fill an entire book and the hype surrounding it was disgusting. It was a waste of film. Generations from now when Becca's children watch "United 93" will they be moved? No, probably not. This movie is more a lousy documentary rather than a moving tribute. They wanted to cash in while our painful memories and our feelings of guilt for merely being alive were still profitable. They wanted to rush this thing to the screen to be the first, and it shows. As a movie, it sucked. As a cathartic work, I hope it made some people feel better. As a trigger for fading memories, it worked great. I almost cried. But it wasn't the movie that did it though. It was the memories. A movie crew shouldn't get credit as a 'good movie' just because I was moved by my own memories. If I were Jewish (I'm not a full-blooded Jew, I'm Jew-ish) and I lived through the death camps of WWII, should "Shindler's List" win another Oscar every time I look down at the fading grayish-blue numbers on my arm and weep for my lost family? No! Should "Titanic" get praise every time a survivor wakes up in a cold sweat shouting, "Get the kids into the lifeboats!"? No! But one difference is, these movies have a plot and tell a story around the historical events. The girl with the pink coat and Leonardo DeCrapio, they were characters in historical tragedy films. The art of a movie is to make us care about the characters, not to just re-create the scene. Another reason these movies don't get credit for touching these people is that these people lived through that trauma. You and I lived through 9-11. From great distances and (gods be willing) without losing someone that day. But we lived it true enough. The shock of watching the planes hit the buildings, the tears when the towers collapsed and we all knew people were still inside. The quiet wonder later that day as you went on with your life but couldn't understand why it was different. The amazement at how beautiful and quiet the sky is without thousands of planes in it. We lived it, and no movie is ever going to capture that feeling.
To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything, Julie Newmar
Saturday, 4-21-7
I put this one in my Netflix queue the same day we got back from Atlanta. Teresa hadn't seen it and I haven't seen the whole thing. We sat down to watch it and Becca wanted to watch it too. She hadn't seen any of the shows in Atlanta so this was a whole new thing to her.
She enjoyed the movie but the shock was lost on her. She had no idea who Wesley Snipes was and barely knew who Patrick Swayze was. John Leguizamo is in it too but it's not unusual to see him in drag... Teresa and I had a good time seeing these two tough guys all dolled up and even recognized a lot of the people we know in their characters. Becca just saw three guys, she didn't have the whole, "I can't believe they got him to do that" thing going on.
The basic premise of the story is an old one. It's an old equation that has worked well over the years. Culture clash. Take city-folk, drop them in the middle of country-folk, bigotry will give way to acceptance, both sides will learn lessons. Of course, they exaggerated a bit on both sides. These guys are abnormal even for the "big city" type and the "country" types were so stupid and overtly redneck, I think you'd be hard pressed to find a real community of losers all packed into one space.
Snipes and Swayze tie for first place in the big New York drag show. They are to fly out to California where they will compete in the nationwide drag show. Before they leave, they befriend Leguizamo who is just beginning his drag career. They decide to cash in their tickets and all drive to California together. They have a nasty run-in with a local bigoted sheriff and then of course the car breaks down in the middle of nowhere and they have to wait for parts over the weekend. They proceed to "pretty up" the town and right all the wrongs associated with rednecks. They doll up the women, they teach the young men in the town how to treat a lady, they beat up an abusive husband and they fill the young women in the town with confidence. When the sheriff finds out where they are and comes for them, the locals all come out and stand up for their new friends. The three guys learn something too, external acceptance is not necessary to be happy in who you are.
It was alright for an afternoon movie. I needed to spend some time sitting and relaxing with Teresa. She's been so busy recently that she needed to take some time to sit down. She started the movie by saying that she probably wouldn't watch the whole thing, she had stuff to do. She was still there at the end of the movie. We laughed and had fun so it worked as far as that goes. It's not a movie I'd ever buy or anything but it was alright.
Friday, 4-20-7
We had some rare "free" time Friday morning. Teresa was working for a few hours at the home daycare. I finally dragged my tubby ass out of bed and unloaded and returned the trailer from festival (thanks Thom!!!) We both finished up around 10:30 and decided to go see a movie. Teresa loves scary movies but won't watch them after dark. She picked this one because she thought it looked decent from the previews and it was safe to watch at 11 in the morning.
I'll be honest, I didn't think much of this movie from the previews and wasn't planning to see it, especially in the theatres but whenever Teresa wants to see any action, thriller or horror movie, I'm there! I have to admit, it was better than I thought it would be.
Two scientists who specialize in debunking "modern miracle" claims are called in to a small town to see if they can identify why the river has turned blood red. The locals claim it is a sign from God. Both of these scientists have had bad things happen to them in their pasts. One lost her faith in God because of the past, the other found faith in God because of the past. Interesting setup, that's about as far as they get. For a woman who says she wants to get as far away as she can from religion and the supernatural, Southern Louisiana might not be the best spot to settle down. And a job debunking miracles might not be the best vocation either.
So they travel to the swamps and investigate the red water. While there, it rains frogs. The scientist says the water has some kind of poisonous algae and that is also the reason the frogs are dying and falling out of the trees. We meet a little girl that is living in the woods/swamp and find out that she is the center of attention. The townspeople say she killed her brother and that is why God is sending plagues. The want the little girl killed. After a few more plagues, it is getting harder for the scientist to explain it all away due to the poisonous algae blooms. The movie leads you up to where the scientist is finally getting to believe the townspeople (and a phone conversation with her priest friend) and she is going to sacrifice the child to appease God. Of course, if you were paying attention anywhere along the way, you saw all of the signs that told you the townspeople are acting like a cult and in the end, they were. They were a cult of people that protected their first-born and sacrificed their second-born when they hit puberty. All of this in the hopes of conceiving the Antichrist. The little girl was protected by God and that is why her older brother died and the signs from God began. It takes a swarm of locusts to hip the scientist to the twist but all of us in the theatre saw it in the first twenty minutes. There was a scene where the scientist has a dream-turned-nightmare straight out of "Rosemary's Baby" where she has dream-sex with the town emissary who turns out to be in on the cult. Wow, big twist there. The scientist with faith dies and the faithless scientist gets her faith back. After a decent climatic scene (decent, not great) the scientist and the little girl are driving away promising to take care of each other when the little girl tells the scientist she is pregnant with the Antichrist. This sets up the inevitable "Reaping Part 2", straight to a Wal-Mart DVD cut-out bin near you.
That's about it for the movie. It was very forgettable but I applaud it for being the first believable biblical horror movie I've seen in a long time. It tried real hard and maybe it was lame to begin with but it was alright for a matinee. I wouldn't ever see it again and I'd never own it but I didn't hate it. I don't know enough about the behind the scene Hollywood stuff but I'd have to think that if this movie had gotten something different, it could have been much better. Producer, director, budget, stars, I don't know but if something was different, this movie could have been good.
Thursday, 4-19-20
Another of the "bits and pieces" movies for me. I have never sat and watched the whole thing straight through. Instead of renting this one I went out and bought it because I knew I liked it. And even if I didn't like it, it's a classic and something to reference back to.
Anyway, I did like it. I am out of its target audience but I can still relate enough to it that I really enjoyed the movie. The whole point of the movie is old friends having one last night before they leave for college in the morning. One is having doubts and the other is adamant about getting out of this small, hick town. By the end of the night the roles are reversed and the doubter flies out to college while the previously sure one stays in town because he's in love with a girl.
Another of the friends is the tough drag racer. He's coming to terms with being the biggest fish in a very small pond.
The movie was a lot better living in the bits and pieces in my head. Not that I don't like it but it always claimed some imaginary title of a "must see" film. And now tat I've seen it all the way through, it doesn't live up to that title anymore. The soundtrack was the greatest part. I'm not sure if there is even one second that doesn't have cool 50's/early 60's rock n' roll playing in the background. Wolfman Jack is the DJ and the tunes rock! A lot of the movie takes place cruising the strip, listening to the radio and hanging out with friends.
Somehow in the midst of this very long night, each of the characters have adventures outside of just hanging out. I don't see how they had the time to get all of that done in just one night. When they start out, it is already dark. There is a dance at school, dinner at home, buying liquor, parking and making out, getting your car stolen, walking back to town, finding the car, robbing an arcade with a gang, ripping the rear axle off of a cop car, drag racing, moping in the diner, finding and talking to Wolfman Jack, a LOT of cruising and making it to the airport at dawn. There were four people doing all of this, some alone, some together but I just don't believe that all of this could be done in the span of dusk to dawn. I wasn't around in 1962, but did cruising go on all night? Ok, yeah, I fully believe 2am but were the streets full of teenagers at 5 and 6am?
I just think they tried to put too much nostalgia into a small timeline. Did the movie about one last night have to have every single element of 1962 teenage life? He tried too hard. And that is forgivable. It's better than not trying at all.
So I fully admit that I am out of the film's demographic and I don't hold anything against it but it just fell a little flat for me. Another reason I'm not so impressed as I wanted to be is that it was first. Every movie that I like in that genre, came out after this one and borrowed heavily from it. I've grown up on all of the movies that were inspired by this one. So, I'll leave it in its "classic" status but for me it didn't live up to the hype I built up for it in my head.
Sunday, 4-29-7
Everyone was telling me that I had to see this one. I don't remember why I didn't see it in theatres but I never did. Scorcese, Nicholson, mobsters... Oh HELL yeah!
I have come to terms with the fact that, even though I don't like the "pretty-boy" actors, they are in some great movies. This movie had two strikes against it to begin with. Matt Damon and Leonardo DeCaprio. I don't like either of them. But, I have seen some good movies with them in it and I have even seen them put in good performances. I just can't get past them. I include Brad Pitt and Keanu Reeves in this list. Even though they are in great movies and they can occasionally impress me, all I see is the tabloid covers and hype, and I just can't watch them.
So, trying to put that aside here, it happened in this one too. DeCaprio was really good, made me believe the character but every once in a while I'd just look up and go, "Oh fuck I'm watching Leonardo DeCrapio!" So he wasn't able to really pull me in, even though I think his performance was better than Damon's. Much better.
Two cadets go off into the Massachusetts State Police. One of the kids (Damon) was befriended by the local mob boss when he was a child. He quickly climbs the ladder and becomes the mob's inside man. The other kid (DeCaprio) grew up with a rough life and after his new boss grills him and he never cracks, he is given an undercover job. For a cover story, he is kicked off the force, arrested for some petty crime and does 6 months in jail. He joins up with the mob and quickly becomes one of the boss's most trusted men. The movie is all about how these two interact with the boss (Nicholson). One is a big time cop, quietly feeding his mob friend information to keep him out of trouble. The other is a big time gangster, quietly feeding the cops information to bring him down. But only one of the characters is conflicted. Damon is reveling in his position as top cop and has no issues with his ties to the mob. DeCaprio is agonizing with the stress of being the mob mole and wants the cops to bring down Nicholson so that he can return to being a cop again. It turns out that the reason Nicholson was never arrested was because he was an FBI informant.
In the end, Damon is given full authority to find out who is the leak in the force. As he tries to figure out how to make progress without ratting himself out, Nicholson is convinced he has a mole in his organization too. He becomes increasingly paranoid and hard to deal with. After the police chief is killed and his assistant is put on leave for fighting with Damon, it all comes to a head. In a big action arrest scene, most of the mob dies off. Nicholson is killed and Damon takes the credit. When DeCaprio comes in to report, he catches on that Damon is the crooked cop. He runs out and Damon counters with deleting every file that says he is actually a cop. DeCaprio compiles all of his evidence and gives a copy to Damon's girlfriend (with whom he is also acquainted) and calls Damon to a meeting where he is immediately arrested. When they get downstairs, DeCaprio is killed by another cop that has mob ties. He destroys the evidence and gives DeCaprio a cop funeral. Just when he thinks he got away with it all, he arrives home to find the chief's assistant who kills him and walks out. And just incase you didn't catch the whole "rat" theme, the closing shot is a rat that crawls out on the balcony railing.
Phew! That was a lot to write. It really was a good flick. I would rank this one up there among "Goodfellas" and "Casino". Below them both but still, up there. The only thing that killed me was the song. They kept playing a version of Dropkick Murphy's "Shipping Up To Boston" that I can not find anywhere. I have the album it was originally on and it is not the same as the one in the movie. The movie soundtrack has a third version on it but I STILL can't find the one from the movie.
Thursday, 5-3-7
This was a waste of my time. I kind of knew it going into it but I didn't know it was going to be this bad. I had a few hours to spend in front of the computer again so I decided to use the "Watch Now" feature on NetFlix. I knew I was going to be interrupted a lot so I didn't want to watch anything heavy. "Watch Now" doesn't have all of the new releases on it. Just the older movies and a lot of "B" and "indi" movies. I put this one in the queue because it sounded interesting.
"A group of Anarchists and Hippies are introduced to Nihilism and trouble follows."
Could be cool. It wasn't. They start it all off with dictionary readings of Anarchy and Nihilism. Then they proceeded to water down the meanings with labeling the wrong people under these words. The anarchists were just bored kids. Nothing about them was deep or interesting. They were the typical college drop outs and burners that are common just about anywhere you look. Labeling them "Anarchists" is a HUGE stretch. Their new friend, the nihilist, is even less of a fit into his label. He believes in power and in hurting anyone he needs to in order to get that power. He moves in and takes control of the commune. He teams up with Nazis and rednecks to assault a factory. The hero of the story is only a hero because he's the only one capable of learning and changing. He is doubting his place in the commune and escapes. After being set up, he is arrested and turns in the bad guys. He gets a reward and ends up moving to California to become a Republican with his closet fetishist girlfriend.
If you want to see a movie with something a little more true to itself, save yourself the pain of sitting through this and go rent "SLC Punk". It has the same plotline but it also has a little more integrity. Rebelling youth sees the hypocrisy in his chosen stand; grows up."
The only redeeming quality also happens to be to only line in the movie related to the book for which it was named. The old hippy says something like, "The book's not the problem. The problem is the kind of people that look to it for answers". I liked that line. The book had absolutely nothing to do with the movie. I remember having a second-hand (third or possibly even fourth-hand) tattered copy of that book and I remember thinking that trying anything in this book is a sure way to get yourself killed! This was about the same time I realized that "High Times" was about the worst idea for a magazine ever, but an excellent marketing ploy. Same with the book. Useless on the inside but everyone wants one. That is the only reason this movie took the name. It knew it was empty inside, it just wanted to sucker a few people (like me) into watching. If anyone involved with making the movie had even half an idea what a true anarchist is about, they left that knowledge at the door and proceeded to make this "very special episode of the Brady Bunch; Bobby Joins the Anarchists". It came across like an after-school special.
Friday, 5-4-7
You all know I don't like the big "blockbuster" types. Once a movie is all hyped up, I don't want to see it. BUT, this one had one of my all time favorite comic characters in it so I had to go see it. (This may not always be true, they are going into production on "Death: The High Cost of Living" a film about Neil Gaiman's "Death" character from the "Sandman: Endless". I am VERY scared because it seems out of sequence and the Endless are my absolute favorite comics!)
For those of you not familiar with comics, Spiderman has encountered an alien symbiote and multiple characters have been created from this. Among them are Venom, Carnage, Toxin, Doppelganger and Poison. This movie introduces Venom. Venom is an alien parasite that comes to earth and attaches itself to Peter Parker. I'm not going to describe the hows or whens of the comics because I'd be wrong. There are multiple universes and timelines involved and to be honest, my comic geek credentials are limited to hanging out with Freddy at James' comic shop.
I don't know enough but I do know that a comic geek will get into a fist fight over the discrepancies in different story-lines and scripts.
So, sticking just to the movie; The alien suit amplifies internal feelings and attributes. Black-suited Spiderman becomes vindictive and violent because Parker is going through a lot of conflicts inside himself. He is enjoying the success of being Spiderman but isn't sure why Mary Jane is being such a bitch. She is exposed as a mediocre singer and fired from her first Broadway gig. He wants to ask her to marry him, she wants to sleep with his friend/enemy Harry. Oh she never says it and when the opportunity comes up, she doesn't actually do it, but the moment she started acting funny, everyone knew what she wanted.
There is another villain, "Sandman" (Unrelated to my earlier mention of Gaiman's Sandman). He is an escaped convict that stumbles into a science facility where he is turned into a living sand sculpture. His motivation for his criminal activities is his sick little girl needs money. Aww, ain't that sad? I'm so tired of the "villain with a heart of gold" characters. I think they could have had a lot more fun with just about any other villain. The Sandman was lame and useless for me. Plus he was involved with one of the elements of the movie that bugged me. If you have a secret (or even not-so-secret) science facility, and you have a fence all around your compound, how likely is it that your "Keep out" signs will actually say what it is you are testing in the facility? As the escaped convict climbs the fence, there is a sign on the fence that says, "Particle Physics testing facility" Really? Even in a superhero world, would the sign really say that? Or would it more likely say "Keep out" "No Trespassing" "Private Property" "Government Facility" or any other number of things? Plus, the locket? Why didn't it turn to dust/sand?
So, a new psycho is gunning for Peter Parker's job at the newspaper. Eddie Brock is obnoxious and obsessive. He fakes a photo to get the job and when Parker exposes him, Brock sets his obsession on destroying Parker.
The alien has hitched a ride to earth on a meteorite. How boring. What, the special effects guys were on lunch break? They didn't want to deal with crashing the space shuttle in New York? Or even having Jamison's son bring it back with him? Or have it hitch back with Parker from the "Secret Wars"? The best you could come up with is a meteorite? Fuck! They are really trying to kill this series. So anyway, Peter is aware that the new suit is enhancing his anger and darker feelings. He hides the suit until he finds out that the Sandman is actually the guy that killed his Uncle Ben. From out of nowhere, we re-open the Uncle Ben cycle. Why? So, Peter puts the suit back on and goes out to kill The Sandman. He turns him into mud and washes him down the sewer.
Harry, the son of the Green Goblin is out to kill Peter because he knows he is Spiderman and Spiderman killed his dad. After an early battle scene, he ends up with amnesia and forgets all of that. Soon after he (almost) hooks up with Mary Jane, he has total recall and plots to hurt Peter as much as possible.
At a church (where Brock has just humbly and politely asked God to kill Peter Parker for exposing him as a fraud), Peter is able to remove the alien suit with the help of the church's bell tower. He accidentally discovers the alien's weakness is sonic in nature. I guess bringing in Mr. Fantastic wasn't within the budget because he was the one who discovered the alien's sensitivity to sonic weapons. I guess if they ever bring in Carnage, they won't be doing a Silver Surfer cross over either huh? Didn't Carnage and the Silver Surfer tango because Galactus destroyed Carnage's home world? I know too much, yet no where near enough. Damn!
So, as he removes the alien, it falls on Brock. Because the alien enhances its host's attributes and knows everything about its previous hosts, Brock becomes a whole new evil creature, Venom. Venom teams up with Sandman and captures Mary Jane, holding her hostage high above the city. Spiderman can't beat them alone so he goes to the New Green Goblin (Harry) who, lucky for Spiderman, was just told by the butler that Spiderman/Peter did not kill the Green Goblin, he ended up killing himself trying to kill Spiderman. His best friend in the world tells him it wasn't his fault and Harry believes him but the butler waits a whole movie and a half to mention it and suddenly, Harry believes it. Ok. The two team up to save MJ and win the day. Harry dies in the process. No one saw this one coming did they? I mean they telegraphed this one almost from the opening scenes! Harry says, "They are the best friends in the world, I'd give my life for them". Later on, MJ tells Peter something like, "No one can fight the world by themselves; everyone needs help once in a while, even Spiderman". Add those two comments and you have the typical Marvel superhero tag-team action.
It was a long synopsis so I'll keep my opinions short: There was too much crying in the movie. Everyone cried all the time and it just sucked to have a crying Spiderman. Hey, you know what? I just thought of another problem. What happened to the famous "Spidey-sense"? Everything took Spiderman by surprise, he kept getting knocked on his ass but the spidey-sense should have at least warned him right?
There were a few really comical scenes. The Boss, JJ Jamison was funny as always. The vibrating desk just added to it. Bruce Campbell as the Maitre D was brilliant! I laughed so hard.
Everyone is making a big deal about the big scene with the American flag. The second I saw it (and it was only just a second or two) I knew it was going to be a big scene. Some people (mostly foreign) are complaining about the flag being too overt in the scene. Other people are countering with the VERY tired and played out, "If it weren't for that flag, all of Europe would be speaking German right now!" I'll counter that with, "If it weren't for Europe, you'd be reading this in Cherokee right now!" While I agree that the "flag scene" was a bit blatant, the story takes place in New York City which, last I checked, was in the USA. With the original Spiderman movie planning to show a web shot between the two towers of the WTC, I think they can put in a flag or two without being accused of anything subversive. I still don't see what is so inappropriate about it. If I remember correctly, Superman is always doing the "pose in front of the flag" thing and hell, Captain America? What, do we have to change his name to appease everyone now? Bottom line, if you didn't like it, don't buy it on DVD. The only real problem I had with the scene was that it was an interruption. In the middle of an action scene it came across for exactly what it was, a movie poster shot. It was a mild distraction and recognizable as such the very moment it happened.
What was really sad was Peter Parker's "Dark" side. It was laughable. All of the footage they wasted in trying to show him as brooding and dark, they could have just told a good knock-knock joke. I would have laughed at that too.
It was the weakest of the three and obviously a set-up for a new Spiderman series if the stars walk away. Kirsten Dunst? Who gives a shit? She hasn't acted in any of the three movies yet. You can just lift MJ out and replace her with Gwen. Toby McGuire? He's not a commanding enough actor to keep the part. Especially with a character that SHOULD wear a damn mask! He's taking that thing off left and right without anyone noticing! "Hey Toby, I'm not paying $9 to see your mug, put the mask back on and swing around the city some more!" Toby can be replaced as easily as Batman. It was alright. It sucked as a comic book movie. It was alright as a kid's movie. It was a good one to see on the screen but in a day and age where most of you (not me YET) have surround sound and HD TVs, rent this on DVD and watch it on your own home theatre. If, like me, you haven't got the cool home set-up, hit the matinee, it's worth seeing it on a full screen. I didn't really like or dislike it. It just made me want to dig out my old trade paperbacks and read up on the old Venom and Carnage stories.
Last Updated: 05/14/07 08:48 p