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Reviews
Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County (2004)
What did you expect?
Look, if you turn to MTV for insightful, revealing programming (save, perhaps, True Life) you need to take a better look at what you're watching. Getting progressively worse, MTV's shows are shallow, materialistic and idiotic. That's not to say shows like this don't have their place (who hasn't siphoned some entertainment at such pitiful classics as Date My Mom, Parental Control or Next?) but my God, you really need to understand what it is you're watching. Laguna Beach is by far the worst excuse for reality television I have ever seen, and I'm not a fan of reality TV to begin with.
One: this is not a likely reality in that way that you know it (based on simple economical statistics). These are the airy and hollow social interactions of a bunch of spoiled teenagers who live in their own secluded little world, have everything handed to them on a silver platter, and, out of sheer boredom and listlessness, blow common social problems so far out of proportion that it takes all the will power of the viewer not to pull an Elvis and unload a round into the television. Two: this is not their reality in anyway either since there is an insane amount of editing that takes place between what actually goes on and what you end up seeing.
If you're a fan of reality TV and are willing to suspend disbelief for an agonizing half an hour, then you might enjoy this. Otherwise, you'll see this show for what it is- a bunch of snobby brats advertised as genuine everyman/woman characters that most people can relate to and generally pathetic entertainment. Watch at your own risk.
Layer Cake (2004)
XXXX the Anti-Chazzer
A nameless coke dealer, who has made his fortunes in the London drug game as cautiously and quietly as he possibly could, has his eyes set upon an early retirement. Yet, as is usually the case with the 'one-last-job' style crime movies, he is halted in the midst of this quiet exit by, you guessed it, one last job. The maelstrom that ensues is everything XXXX has worked to avoid over the course of his career.
Our nameless narrator is everything that most people would least come to expect from a typical gangster. He is not loud, he is not avaricious, he sees the drug game as a business and nothing more, "I'm not a gangster. I'm a businessman whose commodity happens to be cocaine." However the last job he takes sees him dealing with his polar-opposites, those who are in the business for, as he sees it, the wrong reasons. Their desires extend well beyond what anyone can consider cautious and they are involved "to be a face, a name." As one might remember, Frank Lopez in Scarface had a word for these kind of people, 'chazzers.' Those who want more than they need. And, as one might remember, Tony Montana did not heed Lopez's advice and it ultimately led to his downfall. XXXX, however, does follow the drug-dealing codes. Yet, will he be able to keep his human flaws in check? And even if he does, will he still see his own downfall before he is able to leave the drug business? Layer Cake is the directorial debut of Matthew Vaughn (of Snatch and Lock, Stock fame). Based on the book by J.J. Connolly, it is a sleek, well-acted British gangster flick.