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Reviews
Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004)
Dodgeball pokes satirical fun at the tried and true sport underdog film, but ultimately comes up a bit of an underdog itself.
Vince Vaughn, plays a benevolent easy going gym owner (Peter La Fleur) who's nemesis, played by Ben Stiller (White Goodman) is a calculating and miscreant gym owner, who through his own brand of tough-love discipline and underhanded business practices has allowed his gym to sky rocket while Peter La Fleur's (Vaughn) easy going nice attitude has pushed his under. In order to win money to save his gym from foreclosure and eventual repurchase by Stiller, Vaughn takes a band of rag-tag misfits who call his gym home and along with Patches O'Houlihan (Played by Rip Torn) whips them into champions.
On the positive side, this movie had a lot of subtle and not so subtle jabs, with many different types of humor, slap-stick, gag and other types strewn into the piece. However where this virtual cavalcade of comedy falls a bit short and only results in a bit of comedic overload, spreading a potentially good concept for a film a bit thin.
First off the main conflict is one essentially where, a harder working businessman outwitted a slacker, who for some reason has a business and doesn't collect any money from his clients. For all intensive purposes this conflict is understandable and that's when I asked myself
why should I feel sorry for these guys?
The characters are not very well developed, Ben Stiller's character (White), is a miscreant tyrant and Stiller brings a lot to this character. I however found him very similar in his stupidity to Zoolander, but with similar endearingness of that character. I didn't feel much of a connection with any of the other antagonists however. I found that they were not developed, even to comedy movie standard. For instance one of the main gym (rejects) is a pirate, a mild-mannered loser, while another just a simpleton. All these characters in turn are not given as much dimension as they could have, leaving out connection with them tenuous are best.
Like the main conflict and the main characters much of this movie is based on comedic stereotypes which work well in certain circumstances and not so well in others. As mentioned previously one of the main comedic short comings is the inundation of copious amounts of comedic events that come up a bit short.
As far as Beb Stiller movies go, this one is certainly not on part with Zoolander, which is a better buy if you haven't seen it. Although not bad it wasn't all that great.
$$$/$$$$$$$$$$
Six Degrees of Separation (1993)
A Very Well Done Adaptation
The first time I saw the play was in grade 11. My party was an hour late and only saw a little under the second half. It wasn't until many years later that I actually saw the movie and I must say it was very well done.
I personally, love movies that make you think; movies that function on multiple levels and have intricate story lines, narratives, themes, etc. I must say that I have seen this movie about 3 times and each time a new layer of meaning opens up.
Essentially this movie is about a con-man played brilliantly by Will Smith who finds his way into high society, but only for the payoff of some sort of validation. His true intentions are never revealed, which another device used in this story to make it quite appealing (not everything is closed up in a tidy little package, which IMO makes this story more realistic and believable).
In essence Will Smith is looking for an identity; for what reason we know not of. His character (whose real name is never revealed) is charismatic and brilliant in his role as a con man and it seems he could do or get almost anything he wants, by simple manipulation, his intellect, imagination and charm. However although he could through his skills nefariously obtain money, power or almost anything it seems, he is seeking (with the wrong tools), the one thing he could get through using his natural talents, that being validation.
'Paul' (Will Smith) and the audience are whisked into the world of high society. The Kitridges (sp?) are the main narrators here, but this story also unfolds through a series of shifting narratives, which function brilliantly to give us new perspectives on events, not only from the perspective of the high brows, but also from the perspective of the other characters. This shifting narrative also functions as the main device to flush out all the characters, the set and setting as well many of the themes of this movie, which range from psychological, social, emotional, philosophical and even some spiritual ones.
What I liked about this movie was it really shows us a way that movie could be done, instead of the insipid movie plots that are made almost exclusively (and I use no hyperbolae here) for people of a grade 6 education level. Nothing is fully resolved here; many complexities and themes are seamlessly fashioned here to make this story work flawlessly. This is done by fully and completely immersing the audience in two different worlds one of order and rigidity and one of chaos and free form much like the Candinsky in this movie these worlds are painted on the same canvas.
The Interview (1998)
If you are a fan the Usual Suspects you will like this one.
Basically this movie touts itself as a standard suspense thriller much in the Usual Suspects, Deceiver or Under Suspicion however this movie is as much or even in some way more of a commentary on bureaucracy getting in the way of function and justice.
There are no clear moral lines in this movie that we can see from character to character and each character is in essence trying to wade through an ethical and bureaucratic system that just seems to get in the way or is being obstructed. Each character's own ethical and moral interpretations of the rules guide their judgment and this causes great chaos.
This theme of course is layered above the standard good-guy, bad-guy... is he innocent, cop vs. crook (or is he) plot, which makes this an effective piece. These themes are ultimately tied together very flawlessly with each theme builds upon another to make by the end a fairly layered but still very succinct movie.
In the end this story is as much an effective intellectual illustration of bureaucracy and competing ethics gone awry as it is a tale of did he do it? and if so is he going to get away with it? and how.
Hoodlum (1997)
An attempt at greatness that has already been done (cough, the Godfather).
My girlfriend and I found this movie at a local video store and thought we found a diamond in the rough with Lawrence Fishbourne, Tim Roth and Andy Garcia adoring the cover. However the two hours to follow the insertion of the DVD into the player were just rough.
Although, I gave it a chance at the beginning, within the first 1/4 or 1/3 of the movie it became apparent that we were not watching Coppola, Scorsese or even what their test-tube born, genetically spliced, half aborted fetus would have came up.
In terms of flow I found there is a limited transition from complication to climax of this piece. Metaphors are overdone and almost cast in neon, like the chessboard which is used to signify Fishbourne's character's (Bumpy) strategic genius.
Scripting is perhaps the weakest part of this movie. There are scenes that function almost on a narrative level by telling us how we should feel about certain aspects of the plot, situation, setting or characters. For instance, like the evolution, so to speak, of Bumpy (Fishbourne).
A rather poignant scene takes place highlighting in two very transparent plot sequences that Bumpy has indeed changed after he became a full out gangster. These scenes are designed to let the watcher know that Bumpy has changed, instead of highlighting dramatically that he has. The conscious inclusion of a point like this, particularly as a major plot piece, shows a very poorly flushed out script that is more pieced together and edited and re-edited.
Finally, thematically and structurally this movie parallels the Godfather I and II in some very significant ways. Bumpy for instance, although a more willing participant initially within organized crime than Michael Corleone was is almost a straight copy of his character. Even major events in the plot are paralleled in Godfather I and II.
Despite all these short-coming, this is a fairly immersive piece in terms of set and setting, but with par-level cinematography, lighting and effects, the cons far outweigh to pros for this piece, I can not recommend it. Although not terrible, it's certainly not redeemable.
If you want to see a Gangster/Mob piece see the Godfather Trilogy, Goodfellas, Donnie Brasco, Casino or any other movie of this genre before seeing this one.
Spun (2002)
Character and Situations Examination
Spun has an impressive cast of recognized actors including Jason Schwartzman of Rushmore Fame, Mickey Rourke, Brittany Murphy, John Leguizamo and Mena Suvari from American Beauty, The two American pies sequals and American Virgins.
At its heart this movie attempts to do what many other films more like Requiem for a Dream or Trainspotting have done with drugs but with a more off-beat level of levity and humor. Where this movie falls short is resolution. I personally don't believe any movie needs to be explicitly resolved, but there is a level of stagnation that makes you think you have just sat in a grimy coffee shop for 2 hours watching the comings and goings of the off-beat 3-5 am crowd.
The entire host of main characters are meth addicts or involved with the drugs to some degree. This movie attempts to bring the person watching it into the sort of buck-a-day, dime-bagging life of speed freaks. As a character study this movie works examining the off-beat and sometimes almost comical characters including, the sex-alcoholic cook, the paranoid dealer, the brain-dead kid and the college drop-out trying to make his way.
Pervasively speaking all the characters have one thing in common, lifestyles and ways of life that are not going anywhere, the world that is created in this movie is surreal and the actions of these characters, although outrageous, seem perfectly at place.
The cinematography and direction on this piece are very well done. The cuts, edits and special effects certainly enhance the world created around these characters, however as previously stated the most troubling aspect, I find in this movie, is the lack of resolution, which perhaps is the point, the lack of resolution or lesson learned by us has truly allowed us to immerse ourselves in a world who's only goal is having our endorphins tweaked and looking for that next hit.
7.0/10.0