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Reviews
V for Vendetta (2005)
From Strangelove to Vendetta: The journey from Lincoln/Douglas to Sharpton/Kucinic.
If you haven't advanced beyond the second grade, and therefore require that your vilification of the Bush administration be bereft of the slightest modicum of subtlety, then "Vendetta" is your cup of tea. Its message hits you over the head like a billy club, and no surprise, the message is pure Hollywood propaganda.
John Hurt (the protagonist from Orwell's movie version of "1984", no coincidence) is the head of a police state that ruthlessly exploits public safety fears to implement totalitarian measures. We learn Hurt's character started out as a "religious conservative" who rose to power in the wake of public safety concerns over supposed terrorist attacks (no, I am not making this up).
Big brother is evidenced in force as government trucks roam through the city randomly eavesdropping on citizens' conversations (gee, no intended Bush administration parallel there).
Citizens are constantly assured that heightened security / diminished civil liberties are for their own protection, as they are surrounded by peril at every turn around the globe. But have no fear, "England Prevails" is the mantra people are taught to repeat. Gee, Bush has never said anything like that either.
The "regime" has eerie parallels to what else, Nazi Germany. We know from the beginning that people whom the state deems "undesirable" have been imprisoned, and the movie's own Joseph Mengela has performed unspeakable experiments on the prisoners - all for the supposed greater good of the state, of course. Homosexuals (who else?) are prime targets of the state. Soldiers/stormtroopers goose-step down a main street as their leader/Fuhrer pounds on a rostrum in the background. There is even a Swastika substitute.
Enemies of the state are imprisoned, re-educated, or in the case of a subversive element found with a Koran, shot dead (Nope, not making that up either).
So in case you didn't get it (as I will concede it is never written in boldface across the screen), the Bush Administration is exploiting your fears (and perhaps even manufacturing events to put you in fear), and is taking your beloved country down a road towards becoming a ruthless, police state where dissent equals death.
This movie isn't a poor man's Dr. Strangelove. This move is a 1st grade imbecil's Dr. Strangelove. This Cinematic polemic is the equivalent of a political cartoon with all the subtlety of a picture of Adolph Hitler superimposed on George Bush. The far left can, and HAS, done a HECK of a lot better than this. It is a woeful sign of the times that more than 40 years after the release of a great movie like Dr. Strangelove THIS is what ranks as compelling political cinema. Cinematic social commentary has made a sad reverse evolution - from Lincoln/Douglas 160 years ago to Sharpton/Kucinic today.
Personal Best (1982)
An outstanding movie
Personal Best is a gripping film about competition and pushing oneself to the absolute limit - what you leave behind in the process and what you build. Mariel Hemingway's character Chris is blessed with natural talent but initially lacks the drive and motivation that has taken her soon-to-be lover Tori to a higher level in women's track and field. When Chris begins training with Tori and Tori's coach takes her under his wing, Chris moves to the next level.
As Chris' and Tori's romantic relationship begins and then evolves, the competition between them intensifies. Chris' coach Scott Glen remarks to Chris, "I don't know which scares you more, beating Tori Skinner or losing to her." Her quandary culminates at the Olympic Trials where Chris and Tori compete for 2 of the 3 spots on the US Women's Pentathalon Team. And the result is unpredictable yet makes perfect sense - and it was even more meaningful given that the competition was for spots non an Olympic team that wasn't going anywhere, as the Moscow Olypics would take place without the US athletes.
The Sting (1973)
There have been dozens of imitators, and none has come close,..
The Sting is the pre-eminent con-man film. One of those movies that you can watch again and again. Paul Newman's scene early in the movie playing a drunken, boorish card player deliberately provoking Robert Shaw is the stuff of screen lore. The interplay between Newman and Redford is brilliant. A couple of mediocre stage actors could have looked great with the story and dialogue these two has to work with - but handing it to Newman and Redford is like asking Michael Jordan to dunk on an 8 foot rim. There are numerous sub-plots that don't get unwound until the very end of the film, and you see the con within a con, within a con.
The score is an excellent adaptation, and fits about as well as Simon and Garfunkel's music fit with the graduate. Since The Sting's release Hollywood has repeatedly tried to re-invent The Sting. They haven't come close. If you find movies like "The Grifters", or "House of Games" even watchable, The Sting will be your Bible.
Weird Science (1985)
An unpretentious, hilarious romp
If you insist on having movies provide you with a substantial theme, intricate sub-plots, and well developed deep characters then this movie is not for you.
However, if you belong to a slightly less snobbish school of thought that believes that the salient purpose of any movie is to entertain, then you will love "Weird Science".
"Weird Science" is also one of two movies ("16 Candles" is the other)that feature Anthony Michael Hall at a point in his career when he was far and away the funniest thing on the screen. All you need to do is see him hold up Molly Ringwald's underwear to a bathroom mobbed with nerds in "16 Candles", or hear him deliver the classic line "The chicks can't hold the smoke, that's what it is,." in "Weird Science" to appreciate his natural hilarity.
The plot is way out there. Two teenage misfits create a woman using a computer. She prods them to improve their teenage lives and shows them how to have fun. The humor is often slapstick schtick. Many of the jokes are obvious. The popular kid/nerdy kid clash has been done to death, but this movie still works big time!
Priceless scenes include a scene in a downtown bar where Gary gets drunk and Gary's and Wyatt's run-ins with Wyatt's older brother Chet.
Do the Right Thing (1989)
Spike Lee's contempt for white America on display
I would not go so far to say this movie is terrible. I would say it is self-important, immature, obvious, and overwhelmingly one-sided. it seems Spike Lee does not believe there are any white people alive who are not either stupid, racist, phony, or downright evil. The movie chronicles a hot summer day in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn. It's actually remarkably easy to be robbed, beaten within an inch of your life, and left for dead in that area. But you would never guess it to watch this movie. The residents are all merely misunderstood, mistreated and put upon. The only crime that exists is "phony crime",...crime that the white man forces the inhabitants to commit. The police are corrupt racists. A riot may occur, people may be beaten, stores may be burned - but that's only because this is such a horrible racist society. There's a white character (Danny Aiello) who one might think at first is a decent person, but don't be fooled - he's just a closet racist. He patronizes blacks and has desires for Spike Lee's teenage sister. One of his sons is a weak simpleton, the other is the "evil" brand of white racist. It is such a tragedy that good and evil, black and white, must exist side by side in an environment where the evil is empowered (the police, the storeowner with money/capital/power) to make the lives of the good (the black) so much worse. But c'est la vie,..Spike doesn't mess with fantasy, only with reality. And his reality is black and white. It is in fact fantasy, and pure propaganda, but Hollywood loves it.
12 Monkeys (1995)
2nd worst movie of all time
After Pleasantville, this is the worst movie I have ever seen. It is entirely pretentious, dull and stupid. The movie proceeds at a snails pace leading towards an absurdly obvious climax that has been telegraphed for the entire movie utilizing a flash back/flash forward technique copied from other movies. We get to see snippets of something that hasn't yet happened, or perhaps it has, and we are supposed to play the art of dutiful detective and figure out what it all means. The creators of the film would have you believe this is a cerebral tour de force, an intellectual masterpiece, a thinking man's buck rogers. And they try desperately to make it a smart movie. A cryptic plot can be interesting. But this movie is deliberately cryptic and convoluted - it tries to elevate itself to an intellectual plane far out of it's reach. This movie is not another 2001,...it's a 2001 minus 2001.