Jordandchan

Once again I was laid up for a few days after having half my wisdom teeth taken out last wednesday. So what better time than to hire a bunch of $1 DVDs and watch them. I only watched a handful of those I borrowed, but for your reading pleasure, here they are.

Stick it:
A gymnastics movie “from the people that brought you Bring it On” should give you a pretty fair indication of what to expect. Slightly rebellious, but talented, teenager is forced to compete in a sport they don’t really want to. Have trouble fitting in, and have problems with the whole system of the sport. Under the wing of a washed out ex gymnast (Jeff Bridges) can she have the best of both worlds, and compete properly while also pushing the boundaries?
The characters were pretty light on, and not really fleshed out too much, although you could understand the frustrations of gymnastics being scored on perfection (on an easier trick) rather than the excitement and innovation of something new and difficult. The concept of being subversive, but being more powerful as a group was an interesting one, but not really investigated very far.
There were occasional visual aspects that saved this film. The grace of the gymnasts was used to full effect in shots where their tricks were overlayed on top of each other, or shot from directly above, resulting in an almost kaleidoscope effect onscreen. On a stark red background (the gym mats) this was remarkably effective and, for me, the highlight of the film.
2 teeth.

Natural Born Killers:
This was a psychedelic, jumpy, and quite bizarre film. We follow the 28 day killing spree, and eventual aftermath of redneck mass-murderers Micky and Mallory Knox. Oliver Stone draws attention to the desensitisation of a generation of people through tv and media through the way see this murderous couple as almost heroes.
Most of the action in the films is seen either through hallucination, or broadcast through a tv screen. Scenes go from black and white to animation to an old western style through to scenes shot entirely in green or red. The result is a chaotic schizophrenic ride that seems to go at breakneck speed. We are shown the way the media portrays these people, the fascination of the general public with violence and the criminal side of the world, and the circus it all gets turned into.
I’m not sure what to think of it all. You can understand what Oliver Stone was thinking, but is producing a violent film the best way to make commentary on violence in film and media?
3 and a half teeth

Thumbsucker:
A quirky coming of age film trying to be in the vein of Garden State or Donnie Darko, but never quite rises to that standard of those two. Justin is a teenager, who for one reason or another, never stopped sucking his thumb. This has detrimental effects on everything from his schoolwork to his home life and love life. Enter Keanu Reeves as his zen-master-holistic-neo-like orthodontist who hypnotises him to rid him of his pre-adolescent habit.
He then proceeds todabble in everything from sex to alcohol and drugs to debating, all in a sort of inquisitive manner, rather than throwing himself wholly into it. The gist of the whole story is that “normal” is what you make of it, especially seeing as though he was on a search to become normal, as opposed to being a strange thumbsucking teenager. But you come out od the film feeling as though all these changes/experimentation during highschool seem to have not made any difference, becasue as he heads to college there is this feeling of starting all over again anyhow. Is life just an experiment to see what works for us? Or do the things we do influence us later on in life?
3 teeth

The Office (US Series):
I didn’t have particularly high expectation of this, having been a massive fan of the original British series, and expected most of it to be butchered for an American audience. While comparisons betweens jokes, characters and actors are always going to be inevitable, there series holds up alright on its own, but never reaches the heights of the original.
3 and a half teeth

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang:
I really really enjoyed this film. Robert Downey Jnr (who is actually really good) plays a criminal turned actor and Val Kilmer (also surprisingly good) plays a “Gay” Perry, a private eye and consultant on detective related information to the film world. without giving too much away, the two get caught up in a very 1960’s style detective story played out in modern day New York.
The entire way through, the film is very self aware, including narration from Downey Jnr’s character of plot jumps, and holes in the story. It never takes itself too seriously, and that is exactly what makes it a load of fun. Kilmer and Downey Jnr play the roles of mismatched partners wonderfully and the whole thing was a pleasure to watch.
4 and a half teeth