When the Levees Broke (2006)
VERDICT:
10/10 Required Viewings
Doesn’t matter if you were too young to remember Hurricane Katrina, too far-removed to have it hit close to home, or were right there in the thick of things, you owe it to yourself to watch this movie, especially if you’re an American.
When The Levees Broke is documentary about the city of New Orleans, its citizens, and the utter destruction of them both as a result of Hurricane Katrina and the American government’s lack of preparation, response, and overall reaction to what was arguably the worst natural disaster in the nation’s history.
This was shown as a four-hour event on HBO back in 2006, and if you’re like me and can’t afford HBO, there’s a good chance you might have missed this one. Even more reason to go seek it out, it’s worth every minute you put into it.
It’s directed by Spike Lee, and in this case, that’s a very good thing. Anyone who’s ever seen a Spike Lee joint knows that his movies are aimed to open your eyes, make you angry, and pose a lot of hard questions without giving you easy answers. Considering the subject material at hand, this is exactly the kind of person who should be in charge of shedding light on one of the most horrendous and shameful periods in American history that was in part fostered by race and social class differences amongst the powerfully wealthy in Washington and the victimized poor in Louisiana. It’s not like Mookie and the garbage can at the end of Do the Right Thing, but damn will this movie shake you up.
And while I know Kanye West isn’t exactly in the greatest of lights right now (I’m gonna let you finish), this movie doesn’t make his “George Bush doesn’t care about Black people” comment seem all that crazy after all.
But the reason Lee makes it work is because he doesn’t get involved, he’s just there behind the camera. This isn’t a Michael Moore documentary, Lee knows he’s not the subject here. So instead, he lets New Orleans tell the story of what happened; the rubble of the city nearly six months after Katrina hit, the victims whose lives and families were lost in the hurricane and the ensuing FEMA fiasco (understatement of the millennium), the complete and utter lack of a response from those who could have helped, who were supposed to help, and a multitude of many other factors that all added to up to what the history books will someday qualify as nothing short of one of the U.S.A.’s most disgraceful, embarrassing moments.
It almost made me tempted to go into a tirade against the Bush administration in this review, but thanks to this movie, I don’t have to. The evidence is all right there for everyone to see, for our children’s children to see, and so is everyone who fucked up big time. I’m a big believer in karma, and though the white collar criminals responsible for everything that went wrong might not have gotten the comeuppance they deserved, I think one of the Katrina victims put it best when he said, “There’s a special circle in Hell reserved for these people, a circle Dante doesn’t even know about.”
I remember watching the news and hearing stories about everything that was happening in New Orleans back when this all happened, but after sitting through When the Levees Broke, I was in disbelief as to how little I actually knew, about how little the general public was being told by the media. To say that the citizens of New Orleans were ignored by their own government is in no way a satisfactory evaluation of what happened, and that’s why this movie needs to be seen.
All racial, social, and political corruption aside, the Hurricane Katrina disaster was more than anything a corruption of human nature, one that no one should be misled upon, nor forgotten. One of the best things Spike Lee has ever done.
Dirty Dancing (1987)
VERDICT:
7/10 Hero Tributes
An ’80s classic showcasing what is arguably Patrick Swayze’s most heartthrob-esque qualities as a human being.
Dirty Dancing is about a rebellious girl named Baby that takes a walk on the wild side when she discovers the world of dancing dirtily while on vacation at a Catskills country club with her uptight, overprotective parents. When one of the other dancers has to bow out of an upcoming dance competition because she’s pregnant and has to get a back-alley abortion, Baby breaks away from her corner and, despite having the dancing abilities of a cross-eyed penguin, steps up to the plate, all the while falling in love with her new dance partner/instructor, Johnny. Freakin’. Castle.
Chances are, if you’re a girl, you’ll like this movie if you haven’t already seen it. Or, you’re already in love with it and drop the remote without thinking twice when you catch this on TBS while channel surfing, finding yourself instantly deprived of oxygen upon witnessing Swayze’s stunning, magestic beauty, and most definitely prompting you to don a face that is frighteningly similar to this.
And for the guys who haven’t seen this, it’s actually not that bad. If anything, it’s some guaranteed “good boyfriend points”, and those, my friends, are priceless.
The dialogue can be as corny as…’80s movie dialogue, there’s lots of dancing, and the entire plot more or less revolves around Jennifer Grey falling for Swayze – who can blame her. And while this movie most definitely appeals to one gender more than the other, there’s definitely something endearing about it. Maybe it’s the epic dancing montages, maybe it’s the Oscar-winning ditty “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life), or maybe it’s the image in your head of Swayze’s hair flowing in the wind like the mane of a mighty steed as he croons “She’s Like the Wind” to you while riding a unicorn at sunset. It really could be any one of those things, but there is a definite charm to Dirty Dancing that’s easy to see despite the ’80s conventions it falls into. Those damn ’80s conventions…
But if you haven’t picked up on it already, the reason to see this movie, or any movie for that matter, is Patrick Swayze. Not to steal the thunder away from Jennifer Grey, but Swayze’s the man and everyone’s always known it. He steals the show as Johnny Castle (coolest name for a dance instructor, ever) and reminds all us men that we can still be badass and sensitive in equal measure.
I’ve been a big Swayze fan for a long time now and I, along with a lot of other people out there, have been truly saddened by his passing. I don’t even remember how it started, but back in High School I started using “Swayze” as an adjective in everyday speech, as in, “The moon landing was totally Swayze,” or, “That was freakin’ Swayze when I made the game-winning touch down…with my feet.” It wasn’t long before someone asked me what “Swayze” meant and it didn’t take long for me to come up with the definition: “The essence of cool.” I know Urban Dictionary has other definitions for “Swayze” (which were unknown to me when I first started saying it), but I’ve always like my definition, and just because he’s gone doesn’t mean it’s going to change any time soon.
I wish there were a more fitting way to go about making a tribute to him than with a movie review, but for such an icon of cinema with so many memorable roles to his name, I think the tribute is already there in celluloid for generations to admire. So follow my lead and remember Swayze as we knew him best, as Bodhi in Point Break, as Jed Eckert in Red Dawn, as Sam in Ghost, and, of course, as Johnny Castle.
Patrick, I don’t think you have any idea how much you’ll be missed, but you’ll always be remembered. The essence of cool, indeed.
Be Kind Rewind (2008)
VERDICT:
8/10 Homemade Remakes
One of my favorite movies of ’08. Might not be for everyone, but it’s worth the payoff for those who stick with it.
Be Kind Rewind is about two endearing simpletons in a downbeat area of New Jersey that are put in charge of what might be the last mom-and-pop video store on Earth that only rents out VHS tapes. But as is usually the case when simpletons are placed in seats of power, one of them turns into a human magnet due to a freak encounter with a power transformer and he unintentionally erases all the VHS movies in the store. Their solution: Swede the erased movies.
What?
Right. Instead of re-buying all the VHS tapes, they decide to “Swede” all the movies that people want to see, an inverted term which means they grab a video camera and film themselves re-enacting the best parts of some of history’s greatest movies like Ghost Busters, Robocop, and Boyz ‘N the Hood among others. The finished product looks something like a CliffsNotes version of a fourth-grader’s extra credit project, but it’s absolutely hilarious.
It goes from being a movie with a weird premise to a story about community and the power of film in bringing people together. The Sweding stint goes from a temporary solution to a town-wide phenomenon that brings everyone together to tell each others’ stories and marvel in each others’ lives.
The first half-hour is pretty slow and kinda strange, but once the Sweding starts up, I couldn’t wipe the ear-to-ear grin off my face. And that’s the great thing about Michel Gondry movies, I feel like they’re always aimed at celebrating the extraordinary in everyday life and making our wildest imaginations a physical reality. It actually reminds me a lot of Dave Chappelle’s Block Party which he directed a while back, and even though it doesn’t feel like a Gondry movie from a visual standpoint, it also captures this overwhelming notion that life is good and everyone in the theater, everyone on screen, and everyone behind the camera are all here to enjoy it.
As you watch everyone on-screen get involved, you can’t help but feel involved yourself. It makes you want to go pick up that video camera that’s been collecting dust in your closet, call up your friends, and Swede your own movie that you can laugh your ass off to.
And as for the acting, Jack Black and Mos Def are solid choices. I feel like Mos Def has yet to really make a name for himself, but when it comes to rappers turned legitimate actors, he might be at the top of a very short list. And I think Jack Black is just a funny bastard in general. I’m sure some people will disagree with me, but whatever, dude’s a riot; there’s a guy I’d love to hang out with. Danny Glover, Mia Farrow, and Sigourney Weaver also have bit roles and they’re all good, too. So that’s cool.
But going back to my previous point, Be Kind Rewind is just one of those movies that reminds you of the magic of going to the movies. It’s one hell of a feel-good movie and I highly recommend it, especially if you dig Gondry’s other works.
There’s a great quote by Quentin Tarantino that came about when someone asked him what his advice was to people who wanted to break into film making like he did, and his response was something along the lines of, “Go. Make. Movies. Don’t wait for someone to come along and pay you to do it, just grab a camera and make the movie you want to make, and if it’s good, people will notice.”
Good advice. I think Gondry and Tarantino are on to something here.
SIDE NOTE:
This site‘s got some pretty awesome fan-made Sweded movies, you know, to give you an idea of what this whole Sweding thing’s all about.
And the best James Bond is…
SEAN CONNERY!
No idea what you’re up to now, Sean, but whatever it is, you can sleep soundly knowing that you’re still the man. Well done.
RESULTS:
Sean Connery: 7 votes
George Lazenby: 1 vote (proving that someone else out there has actually seen the underrated On Her Majesty’s Secret Service)
Roger Moore: 0 votes (Octupussy? Oh no, sir. I think not.)
Timothy Dalton: 0 votes
Pierce Brosnan: 3 votes
Daniel Craig: 4 votes
Now could you please explain what this is about?
Caddyshack (1980)
VERDICT:
10/10 Baby Ruths
One of the funniest movies ever made. Simple as that.
Caddyshack has two main storylines. The first revolves around a teenage caddy working at a snooty country club who’s trying to pay his way through law school by winning the annual caddy golf tournament. The other deals with a brash real estate mogul that’s aiming to buy out the country club so that he can pave over the course and turn it into condos. The former storylines has it’s moments, but latter is the reason this movie gets a 10.
Just giving you the heads up, this won’t be a long review. Here’s why:
1) Bill Murray. One of the funniest men alive.
2) Bill Murray in one of his funniest roles of his career.
3) Chevy Chase in one of the funniest roles of his career back when he was putting out classic comedy after classic comedy; Vacation, Fletch, and Three Amigos! followed soon after.
4) Ted Knight in one of the last roles of his career, also freakin’ hilarious.
5) And Rodney Dangerfield in the greatest role of his career, arguably one of the funniest performances of all time.
6) (Honorable Mention) It’s also Harold Ramis’ directorial debut. A pretty kickass start for one hell of a career.
Those six bullet points should be enough to justify its legendary reputation.
But the great thing about Caddyshack is that no matter how much you hype it up and no matter how many times you see it, it remains freakin’ hilarious. And, yeah, the story’s there, but this is really just an excuse for some of history’s funniest guys to get together and just fuck around on a golf course for an hour and a half. It’s also one of the most quotable movies of all time, so for the sake of not being “that guy” who doesn’t get it when someone makes a “Billy Barou” joke at the company meeting, do yourself a favor and go watch this.
Look, just go and watch Caddyshack. Gettin’ tired of repeating myself. It’s a top 3 comedy for me, for a lot of people actually, and there’s always a good reason to go back and see this again even if you’ve seen it before.
So it’s got that going for it.
Synecdoche, New York (2008)
VERDICT:
3/10 Brain Aneurysms
Saw this after reading an article in the New York Times about how this movie put Benjamin Button to shame in regards to being 2008’s profound meditation on life and death. My ass it did.
Synecdoche, New York is about a small-time playwright going through a mid-life crisis as his marriage and his health begin deteriorating at an alarm rate with each passing day. Then one day, he gets a Genius Grant from the MacArthur Foundation (real thing) which provides him the funds to stage his grand opus that kinda sorta boils down to an epic, seemingly never-ending re-creation of his entire life. Sure, why not.
Two things to point out about this movie. First is that it’s written by Charlie Kaufman, and if you’ve ever seen anything written by Kaufman (like the brilliant, yet totally out there Being John Malkovich and Adaptation), then my plot synopsis really should be of no surprise. Guy likes to think outside the box.
The second thing to point out is that there is no place in New York called “Synecdoche”. And no, it’s not about Schenectady, New York either, which is a real place. The title actually serves as a kind of wildly confusing metaphor for the play the main character’s life, along with the play he stages. Kind of like the title on Pi, only Pi was awesome. Either way, I think we can all agree that it’s a crap title.
And in case your wondering, the definition of “synecdoche” is: A figure of speech in which a part is used for the whole or the whole for a part, the special for the general or the general for the special. I didn’t get it either until my good buddy Fred explained it as, “Like calling your car your ‘wheels’ rather than just calling it your ‘car’, because the wheels are part of the car as a whole.” Fred is smart.
I can understand if some of you out there reading this are already scratching your heads as to what the hell is going on with this movie, and while I’m really trying to make it as clear as possible, imagine if you will what it was like trying to watch this movie. My good buddy Fred lasted a good half-hour or so before giving up, and I don’t blame him.
The things Synecdoche, New York has going for it are that it’s very original, it’s jam packed with a cast of some of today’s best actors, all of whom are quite nice in their respective roles, and this beautiful little song plays at various times throughout the movie. But unfortunately, it just doesn’t come together the way I wanted it to. I love Charlie Kaufman and I love what he was trying to go for here, but god damn does it turn into one outrageously muddled mess. I was paying attention really hard, but I still have no idea what happened during the last half hour of this movie.
So for those of you who heard the same thing about this movie that I did but still haven’t taken the plunge, save yourself the trouble. This is one dark and bizarre movie that’s got too much going on for its own good, not to mention that it’s nowhere near as insightful as Benjamin Button.
Maybe next time, Charlie. Maybe next time.
Sicko (2007)
VERDICT:
8/10 Copayments
Now, I’m not gonna use this as a soap box on health care reform, but after watching Obama’s speech to congress the other night, can’t say it didn’t get me a little inspired.
Sicko is a Michael Moore documentary aimed at exposing the many flaws in the U.S.A.’s health care system, not so much for those of us who don’t have health insurance, but for those us who do have health insurance and are getting royally screwed, and at times victimized, by the companies behind it all.
You’ve probably formed your own opinions of Moore by now, so you probably already know whether you’re going to see this or not regardless of my review. But since I think he’s a kickass filmmaker and this whole health care thing is a pretty hot issue at the moment, I’m just gonna keep on going.
The thing that works about this movie more than, say, Fahrenheit 9/11, is that its subject matter is very much bipartisan. Doesn’t matter if you vote on the left or the right, everyone gets sick and no one should have to stay sick just because they can’t afford to get better. Sure, this leads back into politics at times, but I don’t think it’ll stop anyone from getting nothing short of fucking furious at the Democratic or Republican higher-ups in office who think it’s cool to make a profit out of your ill-being.
And like a lot of Michael Moore movies, this one will make you angry. It’ll open your eyes, and it’s pretty damn funny, but lord will it make you angry. It only really takes one story of someone getting their life ruined by the American health care system to get you worked up, let alone story…after story…after story. But it’s good that it gets you angry, you should get angry if it relates back to your own life. If this thing was aimed at making you feel lukewarm, this movie wouldn’t be good for jack shit.
Now, I’m not saying that Moore’s interviewing techniques here are flawless and that everything he presents to his audience should be taken at face value, but this is also something you could say for Bill O’Reilly. With that said, the movie is at its best when Moore just shuts up and lets the evidence at hand speak for itself; people who have died unnecessarily because of our health care system, testimonials from people who consciously benefited from ensuring that others did not receive the care they needed in order to live, and how we’re the only country on the planet that doesn’t have universal health care for its citizens.
It’s interesting to me when some people might watch this movie and call it un-American or as a PSA to get the hell out of here and move up to Canada. I try to be all ears on the subject, but, man, I just don’t get it. The thing is, it’s criminal that someone can put a price on a human life, and Sicko is Michael Moore’s way of saying that we as Americans, as human beings, deserve better and that things can be better. They guy’s not running for President, he’s just trying to give us what we’ve earned from birth.
For anyone that has a good health care plan or for anyone who doesn’t have health care at all, Sicko is a movie worth seeing because it’s one of those issues that keeps us all in check. You might not be sick now, but someday, God forbid, you might be put in a situation where you can’t get better because your life might mean someone else’s Christmas bonus. And that, dear readers, is some fucked up shit.
World Trade Center (2006)
VERDICT:
7/10 Timely Reminders
A pretty risky movie to make five years after 9/11, but a good movie all the same.
World Trade Center is the true story of two Port Authority police officers in New York City who were sent in to the twin towers after the planes hit, were trapped in the ensuing rubble when the towers fell, and lived to tell about it.
The movie’s directed by Oliver Stone, which is something that could go either way considering the source material. But for a director who’s crazy for making movies about conspiracy theories in American history, he does well to steer clear of that here. This isn’t a story about what really happened behind the scenes in the Bush administration or who was really responsible for the attacks, it’s about the human will to survive and persevere in the wake of overwhelming despair and tragedy.
But even if the story wasn’t anything special, you walk into a movie called World Trade Center, it’s guaranteed to yank some heartstrings.
The most impressive part of this movie outside of the story itself is they way Stone utterly immerses his audience into the beyond dire circumstances of two said policemen. A good deal of the movie is filmed in complete darkness, with the screams of victims and survivors serving as the only indication of what’s happening on a darkened screen, and all of which are drowned out drowned by the deafening fall of the towers overhead. It makes you claustrophobic and turns you dumbfounded as to how these two individuals managed to survive long enough to be rescued at all.
Nicolas Cage gives one of his better performances here as the lead cop who gets trapped under the rubble, but then again, I think it would be pretty hard for him to blow this one by overacting considering that this movie is about so much more than just the stories of these two policemen. He gets the cop’s story across, no more, no less, and that’s probably the most appropriate way to go about it.
The other big aspect of the movie deals with the families of the two cops who are all struggling to come to terms with the deaths of their loved ones, still clinging to the hope that they made it out alive. Chances are that anyone who was old enough to really remember where they were and what they were doing when they first heard about the towers being hit can relate to this sentiment all too well in some way. It’s also something that a lot people can relate to across the board, even outside of 9/11.
Needless to say, this was a difficult and powerful movie to watch when it first came out and I’m sure the sentiment hasn’t wavered since. It’s worth seeing, but you really need to be in the right mood and you need to see it with the right people. Even so, World Trade Center is a very well-handled movie about an extremely sensitive subject. It doesn’t really bring anything new to the table in regards to Americans finding the will to move on that the last eight years of American history hasn’t already shown, nor will anyone ever need to watch a movie to remind them of the unforgettable immensity of 9/11, but as a story of survival in the face of one of America’s darkest moments, it achieves its aims.
I definitely haven’t forgotten and I know that no one else has either. Hard to believe that it was eight years ago; really doesn’t seem that long.
A Woman Under the Influence (1974)
VERDICT:
8/10 Questionable Babysitters
The first John Cassavetes movie I’ve ever seen, and man, what a freakin’ powerhouse.
A Woman Under The Influence follows the life of a husband struggling to keep his family and marriage together as his mentally unstable wife slowly declines from socially awkward to borderline insane.
The movie doesn’t really follow a normal plot structure, but rather creates the drama by more or less dropping the audience into the middle of this harrowing crisis as we witness a day in the life of a family coming apart. Now, I’ve never been mentally ill (as far as I know), nor have I ever had to live with someone mentally ill, but I can only imagine that this movie gets pretty damn close to what it must be like. It doesn’t take long before you’re invested in this family and want to see things return to normalcy for them, and as a result it often times becomes an experience that’s nothing short of painful to watch; painful in a good way.
Being that this movie isn’t very complicated in its execution and feels like it could pass for a stage play, the two deal breakers that make this movie stand out are its acting and writing. The mentally sound husband here is played by Peter Falk – the guy who played Columbo, for anyone out there who watched Columbo – and, boy, does he nail it. All the emotions that would come with watching the person you love, the mother to your children, transform into a stranger before your eyes – all the anger, the guilt, the confusion – all of it comes nothing short of naturally to Falk as he makes this tough role his own.
But the scene stealer in A Woman Under The Influence is the said woman, clearly influenced by her craziness, played by Gena Rowlands. I can’t say that I’ve seen Gena Rowlands in anything other than her bit role in The Notebook, but holy hell, this is arguably some of the best acting I’ve ever seen in my life. It’s as though Cassavetes went out to the local mental ward, pulled Gena Rowlands out of her straitjacket, stood her in front a camera, convinced her that everything written inside the script she was gnawing on is actually her real life, and then said, “Action!“. What Rowlands brings to the screen in this movie is something that really can’t be justified in text, but there’s something to be said about taking something manufactured like a movie script and turn it into something that feels overwhelmingly genuine. Rowlands and Falk accomplish this together in such a profound and convincing way that it makes me cringe even further when I think back to how Revolutionary Road tried to go about capturing this sentiment.
And the great thing about the writing here is that it almost feels non-existent. I’m sure a great script existed, but the dialogue doesn’t feel rehearsed, it feels like it’s spoken from the heart. It’s as though the actors were given an idea of what to say and how to act/react in various situations but were told to improvise accordingly rather than recite their lines. And it totally works in everyone’s favor.
I really didn’t know what to expect going into this movie, only that I’d heard it was a Cassavetes classic and that it compelled the guy who writes the descriptions on the Netflix DVD sheafs to completely disregard detailing what the movie is about in lieu of going on a tirade about how this revolutionized the way he viewed movies. It’s a bit on the long side and you probably need to be in the mood for a talking heads movie to be totally into it, but A Woman Under the Influence is easily one of the more satisfying movie discoveries I’ve come across as of late. I can only hope that the rest of Cassavetes’ movies are this good.
So thank your lucky stars and give your significant other a big kiss and a bearhug, because, Sugar, things could be a whole lot worse.
Cut The Crap Movie Reviews 
