Another Gilliam brain-fart masquerading as a deep look into the human psyche...
I struggle with liking most if not all of his films so maybe I'm just not his audience. It felt like a poor man's Fifth Element to me.
Solid cast with good cameos.
5/10
This movie was about nothing, no one, and went nowhere. It didn't even seem to finish, as it left the storylines of two of the three main characters completely unresolved. This movie was a complete disaster. If it wasn't for the solid casting, this movie would've ranked a two out of 10.
I think I saw an edit where they removed all the comedy :person_shrugging:
Trash movie about trash people with a trash ending.
What on earth did I just watch and why was it so long and why are people praising this to high heavens? Seriously, just... what? This is a 2 hour long trainwreck, with a side of junk for some reason.
Worst thing is I can almost see it as an actual documentary, and it's scary because it might well work better that way. Still too long either way though.
If you're a woman this is a good movie to test if your tinder date is a garbage person. If they say "It was a cool movie," chances are they are garbage people. It's Brown bunny for GenZ. The social equivalent of Vincent Gallo and Chloe Sevigny without Fiona Apple 10 years ago on repeat with a reality television star convincing an indie filmmaker (Sean Baker) to make a film entirely around his junk -- the whole movie resolves to SImon Rex's penis. Previous commentors who are stanning for this movie need to srsly ask themselves some hard questions. 1 mini bags of popcorn.
It may be a co-writing and co-directorial debut for Stanley Tucci, but it is a last chance for his character. Facing bankruptcy and foreclosure, two Italian brothers have one shot to save their struggling restaurant.
Shalhoub and Tucci have mediocre Italian accents which are often distracting. Tucci seems to occasionally slip out of it completely. I feel like it would have been better to just make the brothers second-generation Italian American so they wouldn't have to worry about accents.
The rest of the movie is quite good. There's cooking sections that you can taste and a fun party atmosphere during the big night. There's plenty of Italian culture and tradition.
Fascinating documentary on what was a negligible late 90s festival. The director makes the case Woodstock 99 was an expression of “white rage” and examines the musical performances as a bunch of shallow musicians egging on the primarily “frat bot” crowd to misbehave — which they did.
I remember in 99, thinking how awful music had become and witnessing every event being horrible, so I would make the case it wasn’t just Woodstock 99, but everything that year was filled with chaos. Whether its the the fault of MTV sinking backwards to pop acts, the rage of nu-metal acts or a statement on “white behaviour”, its up to you in the end. What you get out of this documentary will entirely depend on where you fall in relation to those aspects. Gen-Z respectively might not care at all and see Woodstock 99 as a primordial pig stew of their parents culture war. Gen X however, might be able to squeeze some meaning out by remembering where they stood in relation the the nonsense at the event. I know I was too busy trying to build a career and saw the burning stages on the news as a sign that American alternative music culture had completely failed to escort us into the diverse daydream of a Nirvana based early 90s promise.
Lollapalooza 1 and 2 were better than Woodstock 99 or 94 (the latter is constantly referenced as being this ideal version when in fact, the absolutely never-mentioned Beastie Boy "Tibetan Freedom Concerts" were the real evolution of the Woodstock vibe.)
So, its a good documentary, but it’s based -- because it doesn’t consider the "better festivals" I mentioned above, which require critical examination in our culture on how we do a modern peace event. For example, where's the Uygher Awareness music festival (to match the Tibetan Freedom Concerts of the 90s) or the Anti-Fascist Music Festival (to match the LiveAid Anti-Apartheid festivals of the 80s, which can be argued effectively ended apartheid in South Africa.) Right? Where's the discussion on what worked instead of documentaries on festivals that failed due to privledge and whiteness - we know about Fyre, we know about Woodstock 99. That examination is nowhere to be seen, therefore the documentary is based -- a symptom of an overwhelmingly cultural bankruptcy in American culture right now.
America had a single export in the 90s -- our music culture, an attitude of anger towards racism and white supremacy, a repulsion towards the objectification of women and the privileged materialism of the 80s, all wrapped up in our music scene (conscious hip hop included within Nirvana, RATM and even Janes Addiction/Sublime/Pixies mystiques.) All of those mystiques were systemically dismantled by a war-mongering mindset of corporate commodification of (a) our concerts and (b) the acts that played in them. By the late 90s we were back where the 80s left off, overwhelmed with contrived boy bands (Limp Bizcuit included) through various consolidations of media companies, betrayals of peace-love-unity vibe and "colonization" of a rave scene that was probably the most vital historical outgrowth of it all. The commentary by Moby in the documentary contains gems to this perspective which can be expanded on tenfold for another documentary -- we'll see. The point is that Durst did go on to run Sony Music, so his moronic display in 99 had some kind connection to what the record companies saw him as beholden to. As a kind of white-Kali destroyer to the white-Christ Moby figure.
These aspects of white-rage, the subtleties explored in Woodstock 99 are now active in US politics (down to the unironically adornments of "red hats" repeating echoes of Fred Dursts moronic manipulations of the crowd. Much like the red hats storming the capitol looking to "break stuff." In that sense, Woodstock 99 begins a conversation about the poisons in American culture actively still destroying us, that began in the late 90s. What we do know is that the exported American coolness that went out to the rest of the world — our musical diversity, our punk rock, our skate scene, our real street music, our real trauma inspired grunge scene -- have been gutted by something. The mystery of what that was will not be answered in Woodstock 99 but maybe in a future revolution we will rediscover who we are again. The central question Woodstock 99 brings up therefore is not so much how to get it back, but to ask ourselves why, in 22 years since has not a single "good cause" festival occurred.
People will look back at Southland Tales after Trump and say Richard Kelly predicted the entire decade, and them some. Those who don't get the film just have low IQ's and can't see the brilliance of it. A hitman with amnesia, a reality television president, the bs conspiracies and angry vets while Tech Companies create an elite political class existing off human capital a midst a climate apocalypse (followed by a nuclear one); welcome to 2020.
But this was made in '06. Right it was, and it belongs in the canon of "Idiocracy", almost serves as a prequel. You've got all the elements of the sh-tstorm we're in from Q-Anon to Reality Television presidents to traumatized Iraqi vets on a mission to Facebook dictatorships and mysterious foreign interference's communicated through bizarre corrupt Homeland Security type organizations.
This movie is about the overall dumbing down of America before the apocalypse but after what we thought in 2006 a post-911 world would bring us to -- Dwayne Johnson, The Rock, represent this playing a hitman with amnesia throughout the story. A guy who doesn't remember what he's fighting for. People just use the word "Freedom" to justify their neurotic sadism and greed throughout the film. Justin Timberlake, an Iraqi vet, who predicts Jaoquim Pheonixs' Joker performance, plays an insane militia vet in his self-cutting musical numbers. It's a cinematic masterpeice and Timberlakes greatest paradoxical performance.
Warning : The "conservative media" is a central character in itself this film and if you don't understand how FOX news is hate speech propaganda you will, right off the bat, not understand the premise of the movie from scene 1. Instead of seeing how each character is either being manipulated by the media or is making the media that manipulates others you will just see moving pictures you wont understand. Unfortunatley, this is because your brain doesn't understand that media is created and since Kelly doesn't spell out to the inept audience what each characters motivation is, you would have to think that out. Which for 42% of Americans is very difficult to do. If you actually believe one single solitary ounce of Q-Anon or InfoWars BS you won't see the cutting humor of this film. I feel sad for you because you are stuck in a rabbit-hole by people who watched this movie in 2006 and created their little BS cultspracies. This movie teaches you how to mess with people and how politcal sides are all horseplay. Only culture-makers understand what this film is saying because Richard Kelly, the director, thought his Donnie Darko audience was smarter. Followers of conservative media who actually see the world through FOX news absurdity are numb to the profound absurdity of SouthLand Tales -- because it's talking about you easily reactionary freaks who see the world like Dwayne's character -- paranoid, amnesiac and scare sh*tless of terrorists. Meanwhile, he's the central terrorist. It's a genius judgement of domestic militant Americans today.
The people who don't see this movie as a prophecy, including a great performance by Kathy Griffith as this muscle bound feminist liberal ripping political heads (something she ACTUALLY did in 2016 much to her professional shigrin), are blind to prophetic cinema. Then again, the word Republican/Conservative are now synonymous with Corporate Environmental and Human Right annihilation, Cult Racism, White Supremacy, Sadism and greed -- so anything against that is considered anti-fascist. Don't get me wrong, If there ever was an Antifa Manifesto that American Nazi's couldn't interpret because of their traumatic FOX induced brain injuries, this movie is it. I doubt they even understood that sentence. My only contention is if this was a prequel to Mike Judges' classic comedy"Idiocracy", where the future of American is beyond stupid, I wonder what film could END the trilogy.
Southland Tales is about the fall of America by paranoia, media manipulators and toxic masculinity (even in women), who carry out the apocalypse dictated to them by elite's, literally in a bubble. I won't give away the ending...but hint, hint -- look outside your window.
Some original good laughs. Russian women probably will hate the American relationships but if you’re a proud native non-maga normal decent human who doesnt get off traumatizing children this is a sleeper hit. Also, Mindy Kalin and Kevin Hearts cameo roles are wound in well enough they feel like the Soviet Union collapsed and never came back. If you’re reading this I have news for you - reevaluate your whole life.
You can’t have Red Dawn without Patrick Swayze. F this movie.
The Long Shot is completely opposite to feeling I had about The Dead Don’t Die insomuch as on paper it should not work. A romantic comedy in which the lead is yuk-yukking stoner Seth Rogen and long slim drink of rather attractive water Charlize Theron, meet back up after decades apart and ‘get it on’. Only in the world of Hollywood could this happen.
All told the two leads are the glue that holds this fairly flimsy story together. It is nothing you have not seen before even if you are a moderate filmgoer. There is a bit of cop-out because although Rogen’s character is a stoner and unlike a lot of his other characters he is actually very good at his job and very principled. So actually only a little bit stoner. Charlize Theron is a tough, politically minded politician who ambitious but in fact, has a conscious and goes with what she thinks is the right thing to do despite advice from her hard-nosed staffers. So not very politician-like then.
They get together and although unlikely it is the premise of the story so all is good with me. There is no doubt the Theron and Rogen have a chemistry that hauls the movie through the sticky ground and there is fun to be had and ultimately it is good entertainment.
For me the letting your hair down ‘drugging it up’ part of the movie did not work.
Nothing much really occurs as boy meets up with girl, gets with girl, breaks up, gets back with girl, realises his failings and lives happily ever after. That is it.
Supporting characters are hard-nosed, supportive and wimpy. Again nothing you haven’t seen before. The story has it’s grotesque baddy in a well covered-up Andy Serkis going full-on Rupert Murdoch and it whips along at fair old pace.
So all in all, nothing to wrong with The Long Shot, nothing too great with it and much like that candidate who did not quite elected within a month or so you will have forgotten all about it.
There's little reason to try and beat Bowies Tesla (Christopher Nolans "The Prestige" 2006) but Ethan Hawke doesn't even try. I expected better from him. This was either made by the hands of a depressed director or an unqualified producer -- or an AI deepfake movie making program. It feels like somewhere within the tesla coil of this film production schedule a major aspect got gutted from an original version and boiled down, like a transylvanian bat, to this tortured piece of crap. Think Welsch Rabbit in a Duck Soup.
One of the funniest movies of all times.
