james-obeirne Reviews

W. (I) (2008)

Oh give me a break

[3/10 · 22 October 2008]

You know, I was going to preface this comment with a statement intended for full disclosure, telling you what I think about Bush, his policies, his administration, his principles (or lack thereof), etc. But the fact is, considering what an insult this movie is to its audience's intelligence, none of that really matters.

This movie shouldn't have been printed on celluloid, but pulp. Between the overly nasally voice of whoever I had to endure as Condi Rice, the myriad incidences of butchering Brolin, as Bush, unleashes on the English language, and the obviously satirical soundtrack that permeates the film, this piece is a second-rate political cartoon that pats itself on the back the whole way through.

This movie condenses all the leftist stereotypes of the characters involved and injects them into situations where subjectivity and speculation can reign free for those reenacting (think "in a dimly lit room in some secret bunker 30 stories below the surface of the earth..."). But that's not even my real beef. Sure, I can deal with an outright smear flick, but at least make the characters interesting, dynamic, real! The constructs in this movie made me feel as though I was watching a live-action Tex Avery cartoon.

The movie also trivializes all of the relationships involved; dialog reads like a Cliff's Notes.

Bush: Tony, we've gotta go into Iraq somehow. We're going to lure Saddam into attacking a UN plane. Blair: Oh, that's quite awful! I dunno about all this... Bush: Are you with us? Blair: Well... Uh, okay.

That scene sounded like it came out of a f*cking cereal box.

The most infuriating thing about this movie is that it attempts to run under a neutral guise by making half the film a melodrama sympathizing with Bush's Oedipal daddy-troubles. Otherwise, it simply encapsulates every scene that anyone who's got an axe to grind with the Bush administration would have a wet dream over and passes it off as a "biopic".

The only vaguely interesting characters were Bush, Sr. and Laura. Although the focal point of the movie (Sr. vs. Jr.) is reductionist and over-simplistic, which wears badly on the former.

The acting wasn't bad, spare Rice, Powell, and Rove, however it was overshadowed by an idiotic script that makes everyone feel like they're on a bad SNL bender.

This film is trash that's designed to play into the hearts of the masses by way of half-knowledge and arrogance. It's so fun to hate blindly when Weiser and Stone wrap things up in a neat, fictionalized package, isn't it?

Blue Gender (1999–2000)

Emotionally Driven Cartoon

[8/10 · 3 August 2008]

I'm not really a big anime guy; in fact, the genre as a whole sort of repulses me. Blue Gender really only piqued my interest because it was on Adult Swim's lineup around two, three years ago (back when AS was worth watching) and I caught a couple episodes. I'm a total sucker for post-apocalyptic scenarios, and giant, mutilating bugs never hurt anything, so I recently got hold of the series in complete. 36 hours later, I'd watched the series from beginning to end; not so much because it was gripping (that's only partially true), but more because I'm a maniac.

Blue Gender is driven not by the prototypical giant robot action Japan is (in)famous for, nor the horrendous monsters, nor even, for that matter, the dialog. The viewer is compelled through Blue Gender by the characters and their subsequent emotional arrangements, more specifically the leads, Yugi and Marlene. It's basically an epic, sci-fi soap opera with heavy metal and big bugs.

Marlene is the ideal woman. (Yeah yeah, she's a cartoon, "ew gross", get over it: that's not the point. The point is the idea being conveyed by whatever layered ink it travels through:) Marlene portrays the aesthetic of an ideal woman: strong, self-sufficient, but irrevocably feminine. I'd argue that she's more of a focal point for the viewer than Yugi, but Yugi is also a necessary component.

Yugi is a bumbling, sometimes whiny character that often accomplishes incredible things. This the viewer can appreciate and identify with; his relationship with Marlene, because of the viewer's identification with him, is the key in the ignition for this work. The audience is propelled through the series hoping intensely he'll get himself together and snag this pristine idol of a woman.

The interactions that follow the setup between these two are worth the 500-whatever minutes of moderate quality animation and dialog.

The other characters, for the most part, are semi-interesting. Some, however, are notable (eg, Dice). The atmosphere and setting are kind of cool; the creators do a pretty good job of portraying an insect infested planet Earth, but again, this is mostly beside the point.

In this ultimately lonely life, people often underwhelm us. I'm constantly disappointed by the trite selection of people placed before me. Fiction provides a remedy to this, allowing us to construct a composite ideal of characters we'd like to know within the stage of our minds. After all, the only difference between memory and reality is the level of detail.

Anyways, philosophic drooling out of the way, I'm glad to say that this series instilled in me memories of a character I appreciate, and I'd endure double the length of these episodes, spotty details and all, just to glean what I have.

On an end, this series has softened my harsh glare towards cartoons. While I doubt I'll be browsing the Anime section anytime soon, I'm a bit more open to taking animation for the ideas it's portraying as opposed to the raw, intrinsic value of the animation itself.

Oh, also, keep a keen eye out for the hilarious Engrish used in the animated computer interfaces... "Meesuement Impossibility!".

Hackers (1995)

The Film Counterpart to 'Neuromancer'

[10/10 · 21 July 2008]

In general, the movie's atmosphere is a granular, electronic shade of absolute cool. The characters, though arguably thin, are larger than life, heroic, admirable, and extremely likable. You want to be Dade Murphy (Miller). You want to flirt with Kate Libby (Jolie). You want to know everyone else in the film. The story is linear; but thing is, that serves to aid the movie in a multitude of ways. The non-complex plot acts as a vehicle for character development, style, and a great soundtrack.

I'm a student of computer science, so obviously I can see how shoddy the technical underpinnings of some of the material are, but honestly, that has no effect on my enjoyment of this movie. The film almost acknowledges its unrealistic use of special effects with various hints dropped throughout the movie that would be lost on laymen, like the Metropolis poster in Kate's bedroom, the mention of various (in)famous pieces of technical literature, "hacking a Gibson", and Plague's use of the alias "Babbage". Where it can afford to, this movie has a pretty good grasp on hacker culture, so don't crap a bird and check your petty skepticism at the door; the movie is using visual metaphors to depict the intricacies of "hacking" to people who wouldn't be able to understand them otherwise, and it does it in a fun, stylistic way.

I have no doubt that seeing this movie at a young age cultivated my admiration for not only computing (and Angelina Jolie), but New York City as well. The film portrays the island of Manhattan as a sprawling, wired playground that never sleeps, rife with energy; a breathing invitation to stay out all night, win the girl, and hack the world around you.

The DVD cover sure as hell doesn't make it apparent, but this film is about the closest (and likely best) adaptation of William Gibson's cultural fission, Neuromancer, that you'll ever find. If you enjoyed this book, seek this movie immediately, and vice versa.

From the minute the flick starts, it yanks you in. Every time. You can't take Hackers completely seriously, and it knows that, so just have a good time and let the movie inspire you to question the rules and emerge a hero.

The Ninth Configuration (1980)

Entrancing and Enigmatic

[9/10 · 15 July 2008]

William Peter Blatty wasn't fooling around with this number. From open to close, this is a fascinating and gently creepy depiction of psychotics in an atmosphere very conducive to philosophical wandering. Some reviewers call this a B-grade flick, and while it's apparent that this wasn't at the forefront of Hollywood budget in its day, the movie is anything but campy.

The Ninth Configuration is a rolling puzzle. It was engineered to question the audience about the basic assumptions of the story and deeper religious, psychological explorations, which makes it a stimulating watch.

Stacy Keach gives a harrowing performance as Colonel Kane, and the genius, lunatic inmates give an excellent and sometimes hilarious show, although the context is such that you'd never laugh. The interchanges between Keach, Ed Flanders, and Scott Wilson are worth the price of admission alone.

This movie is surprisingly lean considering the thick nature of its subject matter. It never seems to meander for long, and I ended the movie feeling as though I had started it fifteen minutes ago. This kept the movie continuously entertaining, but on the other hand, it definitely could've been longer.

This is a very heavy movie, and it's worth (re)watching.

Vision Quest (1985)

Likable '80s Flick

[7/10 · 15 July 2008]

Don't let the title, or the fact that this movie is about wrestling, deter you as it almost did me. Vision Quest is not a campy sci-fi flick, nor is it about a sweaty muscle head frolicking around in a leotard to Cyndi Lauper; it's an entertaining tale with hints of the irreplaceable 1980's luster that most of the great films from that era provide.

Louden Swain is sort of a goofy character, but he's authentic and ironclad. Louden drives through the experiences of youth with all the wonder and ferocity anyone could hope for. A combination of solid writing and acting render him a palpable character who's easy to empathize with. The northwestern city atmosphere helps.

Linda Fiorentino puts out a relatively deep character, and her looks don't hurt anything. There are some good performances elsewhere; happily, there really aren't many two dimensional characters to speak of.

Initially, the movie feels a little kitsch, but if you stick with it, you'll find it's more about coming of age and romance than sports. Not really a mind-blowing script or anything too memorable, but not at all a bad way to blow ninety minutes.

Wanted (2008)

Thought Provoking... In the Wrong Way

[6/10 · 13 July 2008]

Wanted is a fairly entertaining action flick that tries to make up for its lack of heart with excessive cosmetic surgery. From the very beginning, it's evident that the makers of the film basically took Fight Club, The Matrix, and various elements of about every successful American action movie ever, threw them in a blender, and tried to make a jagged, gripping concoction. It just ends up being borderline silly, contrived, and very apparently the piece-meal, Frankenstein of action prototypes that it is. It's nowhere near the bar that its predecessors set.

From the beginning, the script plays down to you in a "yeah, I'm Joe Everyguy, the downtrodden anti-hero; you could be me!" sorta way. Most action movies do this subtly and aptly, coaxing the audience into empathy, but with self-pitying lines spouted out of the narrator like "I don't care about anything... The only thing I DO care about is the fact that I don't care about anything," you can't help but shoot the screen a cockeyed look and shake your head.

Atrocious script aside, the well done action sequences do the viewer good. Sure, they're far-fetched, but look, it's a movie. Surely, if any of our favorite action flicks have taught us anything, it's that we should check reality at the door and just let the 90 minutes we pay 10 bucks for provide a single-serving escape from the repetitive drudge that everyday life (and its accompanying laws of physics) enforce. So, I'll let the gratuitous action slide. Some scenes, however, do get a little stupid (ahem, the rooftop scene).

The acting was, on the whole, okay. A little cut and dry; half the cast was under-utilized. I've got a weakness for Jolie, so I'll let the fact that she spoke maybe 6 lines throughout the movie slide. The romance between the lead and Jolie feels underdeveloped and undeserved. You'll say to yourself "you're telling me she fell for THAT dude?" Character development was weak, because it was all focused on the lead, and he's either screaming or whimpering throughout the movie. The plot twists are way guessable, but still welcome.

What really boggles my mind about this movie is how Styrofoam the theme is. Throughout the film, I couldn't ignore the thoughts I had about its superficial message, the implications this movie exposes about our modern culture, and how cheaply the makers try to exploit it. The movie asserts that people will be miserable, dribbling, broken creatures with no sense of ego until some kind of cathartic, surreal cast of characters comes and swoops them away into the fairytale life that they were engineered for; they just didn't know it until a series of remarkable events entirely based around them unfolded. In addition, the point at which the lead really rolls up his sleeves and gets to work is when he fully realizes that his old man was the top assassin in the crew. What? You're telling me that the kid was waiting for a precedent to be set by his father before he could do the work necessary to become successful human being? That doesn't sound like much of a hero, anti- or otherwise, to me.

This theme just plays to people's common expectation of entitlement. "Yeah, I'll just lead a meaningless and trite life until an attractive broad in a Viper abducts me at gunpoint to reveal my true purpose." My advice? Don't hold your breath.

The film ends with the lead breaking the fourth wall and asking the audience, "what the **** have you done lately?" No, no, no, what the **** have YOU done lately, Wesley? So Morgan Freeman and his cast of cronies show up and beat some superpower into you, and then you make the "tough" decision of turning against them to avenge your dad. BFD. A quarter of the audience would have no problem doing that, except with 75% less sap and better one liners.

The most frustrating thing about this movie is that it could've been excellent with a couple of well thought out modifications.