hdoggrafix Reviews

Be Cool (2005)

Disappointing

[2/10 · 19 November 2005]

"Self-indulgent" is most fitting. The film "likes" itself too much. Instead of coming up with the further antics of Chili Palmer, it was a rehash of "Get Shorty." They essential stole from the original, and badly. Russian character, battered & bruised = Harry Ziv, battered & bruised. James Wood punches Russian = Chili punches Ray Bones. Roc is bodyguard/actor = Bear (James Gandolfini) is bodyguard/stuntman. Cadillac of hybrids = Cadillac of mini vans. ... And on and on. Some small, some big. Lesson here is if you're going to steal, steal it right. F. Gary is clearly a fan of Get Shorty. So much so, that he re-shot some of his favorite scenes. The problem is he forgot that he forgot to steal the clever story part.

Plus, I'm thinking that F. Gary is severely lacking a sense of humor. The gags were obvious, easy, cliché. I think further evidence of his lack of a funny bone is his DVD introduction to the fake music video featuring the Roc's character. He actually explains to us viewers that the video is "supposed to be bad. That's the point." Duh. That's the gag, dude. A funnier intro would have been to say that he has hopes for an MTV award for this video gem. (That's what comedy writers like to call "irony," Gary.) I suspect that Gary was concerned that us viewers would think he's a hack based upon this video. In that light, perhaps he should have given us the same kind of lead in to the movie. Something like: "This movie is supposed to be funny."

Big City Blues (1997)

A story would be nice.

[10 September 2004]

I bought this DVD for $5.99... A Big Mac meal would have been more satisfying, and I'd have change coming. Much too dark... Although the trailer on the DVD looked like it was timed right. For some reason, and it seems to be a recurring theme here in the comments section, 80% of this movie is almost black. The story was a Pulp Fiction-esque wanna be, missing that all important "story" element. These characters are flat and manufactured with no real goal. Or if they had a goal, it wasn't shared with the audience. The tie in at the end was too "hand of god." I know that movies need convenience as a device, but this was just too coincidental. Not that these characters were destined to come together, but the scene that was written solely for the purpose of coming together. "Hey, look at me, I'm Tarantino!" says the director. "No, you're not," says the box office.