Film 152 and More
It seems like it's been awhile since I've been able to write some reviews, but here it goes.
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Film 152
"Zoolander"
starring: Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Christine Taylor
Ben Stiller has to be one of the most over-rated actors and directors solely based on nepotism (both of his parents are comedians, both were on "Seinfeld" FYI). All right, so I'm basing this on 2 of his films which he wrote and directed and starred in. "Zoolander" is the first and "Tropic Thunder" is the other one. Both are excellent examples of why other countries might be justified in hating us, too. But for this I will speak only of "Zoolander." I will not spend too much time on it, either. The plot is ridiculous but here it goes.
Derek Zoolander is a moronic male model who's time is up, because of Owen Wilson's character (another male model who is better in all aspects of modeling). He's fresh. He's younger. But then Derek Zoolander is recruited and subsequently brainwashed by a crazy fashion dude played horribly by Will Ferrell (but I mean come on, the script is terrible in and of itself). Zoolander is brainwashed to kill the prime minister of Malaysia because he opposes child labor (which we all know is one of the main factors of the fashion industry's survival). This could have been a funnier/serious movie about child labor laws and the correlation in the fashion industry, but let's be honest, that would have been asking way too much of Stiller and his team of writers (because I'd like to think not just one person is responsible for this utter crap).
It's a pointless film that just isn't funny when it needs to be. It's also a victim of timing, although it's hard to believe this film is 12 years old, but it came out in 2001-- right around the time of September 11 (when we learned that a lot of countries may not think America is the bee's knees).
It accomplishes one thing....pointing out how stupid and pathetic the fashion industry can truly be. Exhibit A- Derek Zoolander. I think the only truly funny moment, for me, was when he gets upset about a model school building and says, "How can we expect the children to learn to read when they can't even fit inside the building!"
Now you know what kind of humor you're in for if you really want to watch this dread.
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Film 153
"Disgrace"
starring: John Malkovich (with a weird, lazy eye thing)
"Disgrace" was a book I came across written by J.M. Coetzee back in 2006 when I was auditing an AP English class. I was 6 years out of high school, when I probably should have read this book, but I'm glad I waited because I was able to comprehend it more out of high school. It's a great, moving, touching (redundant?) book that works well as a film, thanks in large part to John Malkovich and Jessican Haines (who plays his distant daughter whom he goes to live with), but also because the film takes Coetzee's words and does them complete justice, in the best way they can. His characters are flawed (tremendously, I mean, Malkovich's character is a terrible man, at the beginning of the film, he is cocky and selfish to every extent of the words), stubborn (Haines' character is very uncompromising in wanting her father to feel guilty for past mistakes, no matter how far in the past they were, he was a shitty father), but they are also vulnerable.
I love these kinds of films because they get to the heart of true people. We are all these things. All the time. Some of the time. It doesn't matter though, because ultimately we have our family and they love us. Malkovich is counting on his daughter to be as forgiving as he wants her to be, when he needs her the most. David Lurie (Malkovich) teaches Romantic poets at the University of Cape Town, in South Africa. His students don't care about poetry. Except one: A girl named Melanie. Lurie does the ultimately faux pas and takes advantage of his position of authority. He and Melanie end up having sex. Afterwards Melanie is not happy and Lurie faces the school's board and is relieved of his duty. Lurie doesn't seem to care. That's how cocky and self-assured he is. He pretty much asks to be punished. Well, he is banished to the outskirts of the town and he ends up living with his long-lost daughter (again, his fault, but he makes no attempt at remorse or renewal with her, he just expects her open arms). She's made a life for herself by farming.
There are strong racial feelings and difficult moral choices that drive the rest of the film due to some events that happen at his daughter Lucy's farm. At the center of it is an older African man named Petrus. Although, this isn't a film about what actually happens, so much as it is about the way things are (especially in South Africa), which is truly hard for David Lurie to understand, even though his daughter tries to explain it to him. He doesn't want to accept the answers laid out for him. He's stubborn.
Implied rape seems to be the center of the story. Is what David did to Melanie wrong? Is what happens to Lucy wrong? Moral ambiguity? There's no real conclusion to the story/film other than to make you wonder once it's done and perhaps open a dialogue with people. I can remember listening and participating in some great classroom discussions during my time auditing that AP English class.
This is definitely one of my favorite types of films. One where an understanding is reached, but not so much a conclusion to the "injustice." Definitely watch this film, but maybe read the book first.
.....................................................................
Film 154
"Girls Town"
starring: Lili Taylor, Anna Grace
Here is a film from the mid-90s that actually tackles some serious subject matters, but unfortunately does it in a way that comes off more like an after-school special (complete with the cheesy music/instrumentals on the soundtrack).
The film is about 4 girls who are a close-knit group, who discover quickly that they actually don't know each other as well as they thought they did when one of the girls (Nikki) commits suicide. The remaining girls: Patti, Emma, and Angela get closer (and further apart because of their futures) as they read through Nikki's journal. They find out that while Nikki was interning at a local magazine, she was raped by one of the guys that works there. She's been holding this information in until she couldn't take it anymore, and the only escape was through killing herself. Quite a serious and real situation, I am sure. Both subject points: suicide and rape should have been handled much better. And I mean, it has been. Exhibit B- watch "Kids" from the 1990s as well.
The script sets up these 4 girls (3, in the end) as tough, but not hardened by life or their circumstances (because they see different things for themselves than perhaps the reality of their situations). Just look at Patti. She has a baby girl with a terrible guy that she can't stand. All they seem to do is fight and yell at each other. She wants bigger and better things for herself. She's still naive. She's a little bit gangster, too. This is a bit harder to believe than the rest of her character, simply because she is played by Lili Taylor. She's usually in comedic roles. This is not a comedic role. She's been handed a difficult set of cards, but she's working on it. Hell, she even steals from her shitty baby's-daddy.
There's a lot of great conversation between these take-no-shit-and-handle-it-themselves girls. They sound natural and unforced, which could be due to the chemistry of these 3 girls, which I admired in the film, but it also made me wish they had something more remarkable to work from in order to get their points across. These girls are looking for closure and talking about their secrets (turns out Nikki wasn't the only one raped, in fact they have a conversation about what it means: "Guys want to have sex with you, you don't want to have sex with them, they're gonna get it. You call that rape, I've been raped by every guy I've gone out with." Is this true? Is this a little more into the psyche of girls in high school than guys are usually allowed? I can't imagine treating girls this way! So, I was a little glad when the girls decide to take "revenge" into their own hands. Emma reveals to her friends that she's been raped, so what do the girls do, they go after this rapist, by trashing his car (I think some guys love their cars more than sex). Point, girls. Then, they go after the magazine dude who raped and subsequently killed Nikki. They beat him up in the streets. A little more direct. Point, girls.
Sure, they probably feel better, but what did they get out of it. Does any of this make their lives any better? Sure, we see them in the process of growing up and discovering more about themselves, both of which are painful processes, but at least they're trying. And so does this movie. Kudos, but I want a much more serious movie. In fact, one of my favorite films is "The Virgin Suicides" during which a doctor says "What are you doing here? You're not even old enough to know how bad life gets." The girl's response... "Obviously, doctor, you've never been a 13 year old girl." Poignant. True. (I guess, because I've never been one either.)
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Film 155
"Spin"
starring: Lauren German, Katie Cassidy (David Cassidy's daughter)
"Spin" is a film that basically takes place in the memory of 6 friends as they each recount their recollections of one specific evening that seems to define them all, in different ways. Ryan is a DJ at a club in love with one of his best friends. She doesn't feel the same way about him. But her friend, Apple (played by Katie Cassidy) has unrequited love for Ryan. Ryan wakes up next to Apple in her bed and he has no idea how he got there. That's what sets up the rest of the film, in the form of retelling.
This film is just terrible from the beginning. The acting is awful. The editing is bad. The dialogue plays like an awful episode of "Gossip Girl" or so other shitty teenage show.
Sex, drugs, fun, friendship, coming of age, and searching for love. I've seen this before. The film was called "Go." And it was better. Watch that, instead.
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Film 156
"I Spit on Your Grave"
starring: Camille Keaton
This is a horror/psychological thriller sort of movie from 1979 and it is filled with so much sadism that critics at the time thought it was the most vile piece of "art" made at the time. Hmm, I wonder what they think of the shit that has come out since then? Okay I'll admit it, for the time it was made, it's rather outside-the-box and rather disturbing. But, what about "Deliverance?" What sets that movie apart? Is it because in that film guys are raped? Yes, I'll also admit that I think the fact that it's a woman in the lead role is taken advantage of quite a bit, in terms of the nudity (I mean, she spends pretty much the entire film naked). There was even a remake of this film, which was even worse than the original, made in 2008, I believe.
Here's the premise: a young girl is going off to vacation at a cabin in the woods. Along the way, she stops for gas and 3, no 4, creepy, typical horror dudes scope her out. Planning. She takes her clothes off and jumps in the water. She sunbathes by the river. She rests in a hammock. Then she spends some time in a rowboat. 2 of the same dudes from earlier come by in a speedboat and harass her. They tow her boat to the land, where the other 2 dudes are lying in wait. They strip her, beaten her and rape her. She escapes, somehow, mostly like because they let her, in a way to torture her more. They find her again, beaten her, and rape her. She escapes and crawls her way home, only to discover the foursome is waiting for her to return. They beat her and rape her yet again. Excessive? Absolutely.
Then, she gets her revenge. She lures them each one by one, about two weeks later. She uses her womanly ways to seduce them. She even has sex with the first dude, in order to hang him from a tree in the process. She castrates one of the other dudes in a bathtub in her cabin and lets him bleed to death. She kills the third with an ax and then she disembowels the last guy. End film.
It's almost a snuff film, played out to be artsy. There's little to no dialogue to drive the film from scene to scene. It's almost like the filmmakers had this sick idea for a film and just wanted to film consecutive attacks on a poor girl and then her attacks on them. It's grotesque and pointless. But, is that the only reason to not call it a film. If you can stomach it, you should watch it and tell me what you think. I watched it for what it was and nothing more, but now that I've watch over 150 films this year, I am left wondering what makes a film a true film. It's hard to believe that this is the film to make me question that. Maybe it's because I saw the remake a couple of years ago, before seeing the original, but I totally saw this story as more of a female-empowerment thing. She gets revenge in the most eye-for-an-eye way possible. She stands up to her attackers. And she wins. But, is this type of film necessary?
...............................................................
Film 152
"Zoolander"
starring: Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Christine Taylor
Ben Stiller has to be one of the most over-rated actors and directors solely based on nepotism (both of his parents are comedians, both were on "Seinfeld" FYI). All right, so I'm basing this on 2 of his films which he wrote and directed and starred in. "Zoolander" is the first and "Tropic Thunder" is the other one. Both are excellent examples of why other countries might be justified in hating us, too. But for this I will speak only of "Zoolander." I will not spend too much time on it, either. The plot is ridiculous but here it goes.
Derek Zoolander is a moronic male model who's time is up, because of Owen Wilson's character (another male model who is better in all aspects of modeling). He's fresh. He's younger. But then Derek Zoolander is recruited and subsequently brainwashed by a crazy fashion dude played horribly by Will Ferrell (but I mean come on, the script is terrible in and of itself). Zoolander is brainwashed to kill the prime minister of Malaysia because he opposes child labor (which we all know is one of the main factors of the fashion industry's survival). This could have been a funnier/serious movie about child labor laws and the correlation in the fashion industry, but let's be honest, that would have been asking way too much of Stiller and his team of writers (because I'd like to think not just one person is responsible for this utter crap).
It's a pointless film that just isn't funny when it needs to be. It's also a victim of timing, although it's hard to believe this film is 12 years old, but it came out in 2001-- right around the time of September 11 (when we learned that a lot of countries may not think America is the bee's knees).
It accomplishes one thing....pointing out how stupid and pathetic the fashion industry can truly be. Exhibit A- Derek Zoolander. I think the only truly funny moment, for me, was when he gets upset about a model school building and says, "How can we expect the children to learn to read when they can't even fit inside the building!"
Now you know what kind of humor you're in for if you really want to watch this dread.
............................................................
Film 153
"Disgrace"
starring: John Malkovich (with a weird, lazy eye thing)
"Disgrace" was a book I came across written by J.M. Coetzee back in 2006 when I was auditing an AP English class. I was 6 years out of high school, when I probably should have read this book, but I'm glad I waited because I was able to comprehend it more out of high school. It's a great, moving, touching (redundant?) book that works well as a film, thanks in large part to John Malkovich and Jessican Haines (who plays his distant daughter whom he goes to live with), but also because the film takes Coetzee's words and does them complete justice, in the best way they can. His characters are flawed (tremendously, I mean, Malkovich's character is a terrible man, at the beginning of the film, he is cocky and selfish to every extent of the words), stubborn (Haines' character is very uncompromising in wanting her father to feel guilty for past mistakes, no matter how far in the past they were, he was a shitty father), but they are also vulnerable.
I love these kinds of films because they get to the heart of true people. We are all these things. All the time. Some of the time. It doesn't matter though, because ultimately we have our family and they love us. Malkovich is counting on his daughter to be as forgiving as he wants her to be, when he needs her the most. David Lurie (Malkovich) teaches Romantic poets at the University of Cape Town, in South Africa. His students don't care about poetry. Except one: A girl named Melanie. Lurie does the ultimately faux pas and takes advantage of his position of authority. He and Melanie end up having sex. Afterwards Melanie is not happy and Lurie faces the school's board and is relieved of his duty. Lurie doesn't seem to care. That's how cocky and self-assured he is. He pretty much asks to be punished. Well, he is banished to the outskirts of the town and he ends up living with his long-lost daughter (again, his fault, but he makes no attempt at remorse or renewal with her, he just expects her open arms). She's made a life for herself by farming.
There are strong racial feelings and difficult moral choices that drive the rest of the film due to some events that happen at his daughter Lucy's farm. At the center of it is an older African man named Petrus. Although, this isn't a film about what actually happens, so much as it is about the way things are (especially in South Africa), which is truly hard for David Lurie to understand, even though his daughter tries to explain it to him. He doesn't want to accept the answers laid out for him. He's stubborn.
Implied rape seems to be the center of the story. Is what David did to Melanie wrong? Is what happens to Lucy wrong? Moral ambiguity? There's no real conclusion to the story/film other than to make you wonder once it's done and perhaps open a dialogue with people. I can remember listening and participating in some great classroom discussions during my time auditing that AP English class.
This is definitely one of my favorite types of films. One where an understanding is reached, but not so much a conclusion to the "injustice." Definitely watch this film, but maybe read the book first.
.....................................................................
Film 154
"Girls Town"
starring: Lili Taylor, Anna Grace
Here is a film from the mid-90s that actually tackles some serious subject matters, but unfortunately does it in a way that comes off more like an after-school special (complete with the cheesy music/instrumentals on the soundtrack).
The film is about 4 girls who are a close-knit group, who discover quickly that they actually don't know each other as well as they thought they did when one of the girls (Nikki) commits suicide. The remaining girls: Patti, Emma, and Angela get closer (and further apart because of their futures) as they read through Nikki's journal. They find out that while Nikki was interning at a local magazine, she was raped by one of the guys that works there. She's been holding this information in until she couldn't take it anymore, and the only escape was through killing herself. Quite a serious and real situation, I am sure. Both subject points: suicide and rape should have been handled much better. And I mean, it has been. Exhibit B- watch "Kids" from the 1990s as well.
The script sets up these 4 girls (3, in the end) as tough, but not hardened by life or their circumstances (because they see different things for themselves than perhaps the reality of their situations). Just look at Patti. She has a baby girl with a terrible guy that she can't stand. All they seem to do is fight and yell at each other. She wants bigger and better things for herself. She's still naive. She's a little bit gangster, too. This is a bit harder to believe than the rest of her character, simply because she is played by Lili Taylor. She's usually in comedic roles. This is not a comedic role. She's been handed a difficult set of cards, but she's working on it. Hell, she even steals from her shitty baby's-daddy.
There's a lot of great conversation between these take-no-shit-and-handle-it-themselves girls. They sound natural and unforced, which could be due to the chemistry of these 3 girls, which I admired in the film, but it also made me wish they had something more remarkable to work from in order to get their points across. These girls are looking for closure and talking about their secrets (turns out Nikki wasn't the only one raped, in fact they have a conversation about what it means: "Guys want to have sex with you, you don't want to have sex with them, they're gonna get it. You call that rape, I've been raped by every guy I've gone out with." Is this true? Is this a little more into the psyche of girls in high school than guys are usually allowed? I can't imagine treating girls this way! So, I was a little glad when the girls decide to take "revenge" into their own hands. Emma reveals to her friends that she's been raped, so what do the girls do, they go after this rapist, by trashing his car (I think some guys love their cars more than sex). Point, girls. Then, they go after the magazine dude who raped and subsequently killed Nikki. They beat him up in the streets. A little more direct. Point, girls.
Sure, they probably feel better, but what did they get out of it. Does any of this make their lives any better? Sure, we see them in the process of growing up and discovering more about themselves, both of which are painful processes, but at least they're trying. And so does this movie. Kudos, but I want a much more serious movie. In fact, one of my favorite films is "The Virgin Suicides" during which a doctor says "What are you doing here? You're not even old enough to know how bad life gets." The girl's response... "Obviously, doctor, you've never been a 13 year old girl." Poignant. True. (I guess, because I've never been one either.)
....................................................................
Film 155
"Spin"
starring: Lauren German, Katie Cassidy (David Cassidy's daughter)
"Spin" is a film that basically takes place in the memory of 6 friends as they each recount their recollections of one specific evening that seems to define them all, in different ways. Ryan is a DJ at a club in love with one of his best friends. She doesn't feel the same way about him. But her friend, Apple (played by Katie Cassidy) has unrequited love for Ryan. Ryan wakes up next to Apple in her bed and he has no idea how he got there. That's what sets up the rest of the film, in the form of retelling.
This film is just terrible from the beginning. The acting is awful. The editing is bad. The dialogue plays like an awful episode of "Gossip Girl" or so other shitty teenage show.
Sex, drugs, fun, friendship, coming of age, and searching for love. I've seen this before. The film was called "Go." And it was better. Watch that, instead.
..........................................................................
Film 156
"I Spit on Your Grave"
starring: Camille Keaton
This is a horror/psychological thriller sort of movie from 1979 and it is filled with so much sadism that critics at the time thought it was the most vile piece of "art" made at the time. Hmm, I wonder what they think of the shit that has come out since then? Okay I'll admit it, for the time it was made, it's rather outside-the-box and rather disturbing. But, what about "Deliverance?" What sets that movie apart? Is it because in that film guys are raped? Yes, I'll also admit that I think the fact that it's a woman in the lead role is taken advantage of quite a bit, in terms of the nudity (I mean, she spends pretty much the entire film naked). There was even a remake of this film, which was even worse than the original, made in 2008, I believe.
Here's the premise: a young girl is going off to vacation at a cabin in the woods. Along the way, she stops for gas and 3, no 4, creepy, typical horror dudes scope her out. Planning. She takes her clothes off and jumps in the water. She sunbathes by the river. She rests in a hammock. Then she spends some time in a rowboat. 2 of the same dudes from earlier come by in a speedboat and harass her. They tow her boat to the land, where the other 2 dudes are lying in wait. They strip her, beaten her and rape her. She escapes, somehow, mostly like because they let her, in a way to torture her more. They find her again, beaten her, and rape her. She escapes and crawls her way home, only to discover the foursome is waiting for her to return. They beat her and rape her yet again. Excessive? Absolutely.
Then, she gets her revenge. She lures them each one by one, about two weeks later. She uses her womanly ways to seduce them. She even has sex with the first dude, in order to hang him from a tree in the process. She castrates one of the other dudes in a bathtub in her cabin and lets him bleed to death. She kills the third with an ax and then she disembowels the last guy. End film.
It's almost a snuff film, played out to be artsy. There's little to no dialogue to drive the film from scene to scene. It's almost like the filmmakers had this sick idea for a film and just wanted to film consecutive attacks on a poor girl and then her attacks on them. It's grotesque and pointless. But, is that the only reason to not call it a film. If you can stomach it, you should watch it and tell me what you think. I watched it for what it was and nothing more, but now that I've watch over 150 films this year, I am left wondering what makes a film a true film. It's hard to believe that this is the film to make me question that. Maybe it's because I saw the remake a couple of years ago, before seeing the original, but I totally saw this story as more of a female-empowerment thing. She gets revenge in the most eye-for-an-eye way possible. She stands up to her attackers. And she wins. But, is this type of film necessary?
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