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lazersights
I likes rocks, food, and deeply introspective diatribes on social inequities; picture shows, that is.
Reviews
Dancer in the Dark (2000)
Are we here to watch?
When I'm in a position to have my thoughts and falliblities put to bear, I honestly have no means to convey the expierance without remarking on all that my small psyche was exposed to at that point. But, to grasp at a meaning towards this topic, all sides can be expressed in one individual at any given time is the general revelation in this story. To which we may never see anything but through our own eyes.
David Cross: The Pride Is Back (1999)
A far reaching diatribe on bucking empathy.
This is one of the most sinularly uncompromised performances provided by, in my hugely influential opinion, the finest orator of intellectual signifigance at this present time. And he's really goddamn funny I guess. He wields his matter-of-fact, self-rightous indiscretions like the wisened old scamp that he is. (Or scoundrel if you prefer. He would!) I would much prefer that anyone after having seen his material not make rash judgements about the nature of his lampooning, for there's far more to be gained by allowing yourself to shift your sensibilities slightly. As for anyone who finds it nessasary to censor themselves from reality, you probably wouldent have bothered reading this in the first place.
Le pacte des loups (2001)
Bloated Euro-trash
I am displeased. But if you were to glance at any of my other posts this shoulden't seem unusual. So I will first mention that I have decided to no longer pan only the most pannable flicks but instead expound upon my choicest favorites in the future as long as I see fit. It only makes sense just to balence my ki a little. Commencing with the bash-o-rama. I'm no stranger to meandering plots, theatrical swooning, and an occasional blood feast to pass the time with remote in hand, still I had yet to experience this frenzied atrocity. How on earth was this movie supposed to pace it's sorry self? It teems with dopey romantic dialog exchanged with excessive swagger from the utterly nonsensical taxidermist/forinsic B.S. artist gadabout in the lead role. He and his one note amer-indian buddy, who was entirely too Tonto-esqe for my liking, employed lethally farcical chop-suey fighting techniques to dispatch their gadally apparalled foes in brutal, unrepentant savagery. Me and my friend were reminded of the overstylized violence in the moronic Mortal Kombat movie which of course fits right in place in a movie of this setting and period...yeah right! I was uttery clueless to just what in the hell the epileptic girl with her bedraggled father were involved with in regard to the slayings. I believe the problem in following that part of the plot was some young female was always being found half dead and being brought to the castle grounds to be cared for but I simply coulden't comprehend what that or anything revealed about the damn story! I should have stopped watching after the scene where the courtasan shrieked to the madame about being afraid of the indian's tattooed snakes for which the woman replied "Okay, who will sleep with the redskin?". Utterly tastless.
TV's Most Censored Moments (2002)
Just network TV?
A rather well researched and interesting work delving sometimes into only the most obscure instances of previous iniquities committed toward an either inflammatory or unflappable viewing audiance. Only I must say that it was quite unseemly that no examination could be made into the proliferation and evolution of pay-TV,(satellite and cable as it's now known of course) and what may have incurred. I find myself slightly amused yet disconcerted by the gentle sensibilities of our past generations and their aversions to things which are now so blatantly overimmersive they verge on being unremarkable.("overimmersive" just formed out of my need to strongly convey the idea of unfettered and smug saturation from the ultimate pervayors of quile, the network producers) Myself, I could hardly feel attributed to having a prudish side, yet I often reexamine my feelings and expressions in contrast to what they could be seen through the eyes of someone with different reservations than my own. Apperantly we must make a near abberation of a subject before it can be viewed in a more unbiased and illumminated fashion, which best sums up what I took away from this program.
Saved by the Bell (1989)
Banality, thy name is ZACK MORRIS!
To be sure, I have an uncommonly insightful view of much which aired on a particular network during the 80's and into the early 90's, this debacle being of a personally heinous nature. Channel 3 WSAZ, Huntington/Charleston was usually the only channel I could watch clearly with our antenna at the time, which reveals me for the dumb hick yokel that I was.(Not entirely true) As I painfully delve into the moldering corpse of my past, I still have scalded onto my gray matter the phenomenally bland, uber-weak ditty...er, dirge that accompanied every single episode unchanged for over a decade.
This show, among others, I believe was created in order to replace the cartoons the network had been using during it's saturday morning programming. I can testify that those said toons, especially toward the end of their run were an abomination to all things imaginable in regards to kids TV. They were the equivilant of watching porn without the sex or bad language, honestly. I even remember watching an installment of Dateline where they actually admonished their own network's use of these animated shows in order to merely fill a time slot, in the expense of deteriorating children's already unformed little minds.
Now, if you've never seen the show, count yourself blessed. This show seemed to revel in the unabashed use of pointless, trite dialog, meant to express complete disassociation with anything even vaguely resembling a real expression of one's humanity or soul. The comedic situations were inscrutably bland and uninventive, unless you compare them to PBS's "Barney", perhaps. This shows how far off the writers were in trying to connect with a preteen or even slightly younger audience.
I often admonish myself for being so incomprehensively base, as to have abused my brain by continually subjecting my self to such garbage. The best answer I can muster is that clinical depression blurrs the line between inoffensive nonsense and unflinching mind torture.
I should point out that this is merely a cathartic rant meant to unburden myself of meaningless crap. In no way should it be viewed as a honest critique or be seriously compared to my other posts. I would deeply appreciate it if you could ignore that fact and post it anyway to keep me from spending too much venom on nonsense like this.
Thank You
Spanking the Monkey (1994)
Unflinching, yet compelling.
This film tends to reject the Hollywood made-for-TV oedipus complex (which is usually only expressed in undertones) scenario of a youth beset with confusion over his seemingly unhealthy relationship with his mentally ill mother, and his need to have a uncomplicated non-incestous relationship with Miss American Apple Pie. What we're presented with is a story of an independant young man who has dedicated himself to being unfettered by his emotionally distant, overzealous parents.
When his mother suffers a badly broken leg, he is called upon to take full responsibility for her care thru her entire recuperation. Very reluctantly, he is forced to acknowledge their authority yet again. He is immediately confronted with her immasculating condensations, but is unnerved by her very uninhibited demenor when under the influence of her prescribed pain-killers.
When me and my friend saw this, we were somewhat uncomfortable with the realistic candor of the actors portraying the mother and son. I can say this film, unlike any other I've seen elicits the nervous humor response far more effectively, and truly makes this worth seeing.
Pryor's Place (1984)
It's strange looking back.
I probably would have forgotten Richard Pryor's kids show if it were not for a ancient VHS tape I made when I was little. Have you ever looked at an 80's home recording of network TV? Man, That's some strange s**t! No wonder so many folks back in the day started (ahem)freebasing!
Well, I'll get to the show. Basically, you take "Fat Albert", and give it a little edge (more ethnic humor than say, "The Brown Hornet"), make it live action and throw in a couple of muppet-esque puppets, and you Pryor's Place in a nutshell. I can't believe Amazon has all the episodes on VHS!
Unbreakable (2000)
Obviously Not This Directors' Familiar Territory
To ask, just what could be more invigorating than to explore the concept of an everyman's struggle to incorporate his newly realized superhuman powers with his dysfunctional domestic lifestyle? Shamalame's(Yes, I know that's unnecessary, so sue me!) concept couldn't be more bewildering, or off the mark. But, what makes this all the more clear is the obvious way he attempted to familiarize himself with the idea of the obsessed comic book collector, Glassman.
Now, me...myself, I was not very enthralled by comics as a kid, but boy did I know some real "illustrated novella" fiends! Sam Jackson's character was so unbalanced between what would be considered an uncommonly over-analitical view of his precious "illustrations" and his genocidal obsessions it's apparent that the director is taking far too many broad exceptions's with his subjects. I will barely touch on Mr. Willis's role which, though competently done, seemed out of place with most everything else in the film, which stank a good deal.
Atmosphere! Lordy mercy! Bergman look out...Kubrick, Lynch, your number's up dudes! Give me a break. His use of what must be his patented technique of "1-2-3 Quiet Mouse!" is embarrassing and ridiculous. Far removed from his debut with "The Sixth Sense" with was intrinsicly formulated just exactly for the sustained silences which were seamlessly used.
After a while I coulden't remember what compelled me to view this unrepentantly depressing experience in futility, which hope to god I need not repeat.
Lost Souls (2000)
Winona, Good. Cliches, Bad.
I think I could see where this movie was coming from a mile away. Not to be so obvious, but this was probably released to coinside with the re-release of the Exorcist in order to cash in on public interest. I wouldent immediately peg it as a carbon copy, it definately stands on it's own for some originality.
There are a veritable rogues gallery of cohorts and conspiritors the lead character must contend with. His interaction with them is skewed and confusing. The reckless plot spares little indication of of any individual's past or the source of their convictions. Ryder's is the worst, a former demonicly possessed youth with a tramatic upbringing, her true motivations are barely addressed. The question why so many people were given advance knowledge of this prophecy or why they chose to seek it is given trivial consideration.
This is film from a first time director and a highly accomplished cinematographer, which is clearly evident from it's highly stylelized and disturbing appearance. If you're interested in that and Ryder's decent performance have a gander at it, if not don't expect much.