Archive for the 'Drugs' Category

Spun

Published
by
Chalupa
on July 27, 2008
in Comedy, Crime, Drama and Drugs
. 0 Comments

For some reason I’m always intrigued by drug movies.  Maybe it’s because it’s something I know nothing about.  I couldn’t quite put my finger on what they were going for in Spun though.  It almost had an MTV, jazzed-up feel to it.  At times I think the film was trying to accurately portray what it’s like to be on crystal meth, but all the while being hip and cool about it.  Everything was shot with a lot of close-up lenses.  I know some would argue this really gets you in there, but I really prefer the wide-angle any day.  It gives you a feel for the scene and its surroundings.  There was also a lot of camera movement and jiggling along with some varying camera speeds with time lapse photography.  I think this is what may have confused me on the level of seriousness.

At times things were from almost a first person view.  Not like a first person video game, but from the viewpoint that you were in the group.  At other times the camera was pulled back a bit and I felt much like an outside observer.  This combined with some of the camera tricks are what made me feel like the film was “jazzed-up” to seem more hip and cool.  The main pair of cops trying to catch everyone also seemed like they might have been more at home as the two detectives from Hot Fuzz.  While most drug-centered films I’ve seen are trying to show how drugs are bad (Blow, Trainspotting, etc), this one almost made it seem maybe a little cool.  I felt the comedy aspects were counteracting the seriousness of the drugs.

One other aspect I really didn’t understand was the bleeping of some dialog and the blurring out of some nudity.  The reason this seemed weird is because they sometimes allowed you to hear the same word in an earlier scene.  Now not all nudity was blurred out, just some.  I could kind of see some consistency in the blurring, but it still didn’t make sense.  Maybe they were trying to avoid an NC-17 rating?

Even though I wasn’t completely on board with everything, this film did bring out an reaction and that is a sign of good art.  Who can say no to a movie starring Jason Schwartzman, Mickey Rourke, Brittany Murphy, John Leguizamo, Patrick Fugit, Mena Suvari, Deborah Harry?  Who’s Deborah Harry you ask?  Well you might also recognize her as the front woman for a band called Blondie.  Jason Schwartzman never ceases to amaze me and Rourke has been awesome in everything I’ve seen him in.  It was also cool watching Blondie kick the crap out of a punk in a convenient store.

I’m not really sure how to recommend this.  Some will be offended by the content and others will just get bored with the feel of it.  I’m glad I stuck through and watched it all.  Something to check out if you have Netflix.  It’s on the Watch Instantly list.

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story

Published
by
Chalupa
on June 2, 2008
in Comedy, Drugs, Music and Satire
. 2 Comments

When I heard that Judd Apatow was involved in writing this script, I was immediately interested. Another selling point for me was Will Ferrell was not starring as the lead. It’s not that I don’t like the man’s work, it’s just that I’ve reached my limit of seeing him play the ridiculous roles for a while. Stranger than Fiction was definitely a breath of fresh air, however, for some reason I’m really looking forward to Step Brothers. Which leads me to John C. Reilly, who starred as Dewey Cox.

If you didn’t already know, this movie is somewhat a parody of Walk the Line, the story of Johnny Cash, with plenty of extra things thrown in. There are also a slew of cameos by many, many actors playing famous musicians and whatnot. I’m pretty sure Reilly did his singing. I can’t vouch for that, but if anybody knows anything about that I’d love to know. I thought he did a fine job in the role.

While I can’t say I fell in love with this film, I can definitely say that I loved many small parts. The Beetles scene was one of my favorites, along with the running sink joke. Jack White was also hilarious as Elvis. Other than that, I’m not sure I have much more to say about this film. It kind of falls into the category of fluff entertainment for me, yet not quite good enough to inspire multiple, future watchings. I’d love to hear what you thought of it.

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Dark Days

Published
by
Chalupa
on February 21, 2008
in Documentary, Drugs, Homeless, Independent and New York
. 2 Comments

I heard about this movie a few years ago and added it to my Netflix list.  Had almost forgotten about it, but just watch it through the “on demand” feature.  Dark Days is a documentary about squatters living in the Amtrak tunnels near Penn Station in New York City.  Marc Singer, the director and creator of this film, decides to go live with them and film their stories.

A lot of the people living down there are or where crack addicts.  Some of them have realized what it’s doing to them though and have kicked the habit.   They actually weren’t living too poorly down there.  They had built pretty sturdy one-room houses with scrap lumber and other materials.  They had electricity, lamps, TVs, beds, couches, hot plates, etc.  Most of them scavenged for things people threw out in the trash to re-sell.  Some of them had even been living down there for 20 years.

Eventually Amtrak had enough or found out about it.  During the filming they gave the residents a 30 day eviction notice.  A group of advocates for homeless people were going to try and fight for the squatters’ rights to live there, but, in cooperation with the government, they were able to provide housing for these people and help them find jobs.

I’ve always heard horror stories about handouts and everybody’s hear about “the projects.”  I think these people were different though.  They were so grateful for what they were given.  There was some footage at the end of these people in their new apartments and they were some of the cleanest, neatest places I’ve seen in a long time.  I think some good was done here.  It seems like Singer was able to bring some attention to and get help for this underground community.

Rating: ★★★★☆

No Country for Old Men

Published
by
Chalupa
on February 5, 2008
in Based on a novel, Crime, Drama, Drugs, Graphic Violence, Neo Noir and Thriller
. 2 Comments

First off, I must apologize for not having a review of the latest Coen Brother film. We talked about this so much on the Lebowski Podcast, I just plain forgot to put anything over here. Secondly, if you haven’t seen it already I highly suggest you do. I thought it was going to be my favorite movie for 2007, but then I saw There Will Be Blood, which is probably bumping No Country to #2.

If you’re not already familiar with the Coens, they are a force of nature in the world of writing and directing. Ethan and Joel are brothers who have been working together since the 80s. They write their own scripts, storyboard every scene beforehand, make heavy use of wide-angle lenses and shots, favor melding Film Noir with other genres, reuse many actors in their films, often edit their own films under the fake name Roderick Jaynes, and happen to be my favorite directors.

The Coens usually only make movies from their own scripts. This is true in this film, but it is heavily based of the novel of same name by Cormac McCarthy. This film has both Noir and Western elements and is set in the state of Texas. It starts off with Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) finding the gruesome remains of a drug deal gone wrong and takes off with a briefcase full of money. Naturally, somebody notices $2 million is missing and Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem), a psychopathic killer with a strange sense of morals and a strong commitment to standing by his word, is sent after Moss to retrieve the cash.

Trying to understand and discern all this is the local sheriff, Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones), along with his motor-mouthed and somewhat dimwitted Deputy, Wendell (Garret Dillahunt). Llewelyn’s wife, Carla Jean (Kelly Macdonald), and other innocent and not-so-innocent people are also caught in the middle of all this as the story unfolds.

The character of Anton Chigurh is particularly interesting. He’s pretty much the ultimate badass. In fact, at one point two other characters are talking about him and one asks, “just how bad is this guy?” The other responds with, “Compared to what? The bubonic plague?” Anton pretty much kills everybody that bothers him or does something he considers worthy of death. We even find out he plans to kill Llewelyn no matter what. Even if the money is returned, Llewelyn wasted Anton’s time and that’s an offense that warrants death in Chigurh’s mind.

A buddy of mine sent me this link to a blog of sorts in which a couple of friends are discussing the movie. These two guys happen to be big Coen fans and they compare the movie to both The Big Lebowski and Raising Arizona. One of them compares Anton to The Dude saying they are the exact opposites of each other. Something really interesting to think about.

I know I’ve been desensitized big time with all the movies I’ve seen. Yes, there is violence in the film, and no I didn’t find it in any way excessive. This may not be the case for some of you though. Something to keep in mind. I would say the swearing is minimal compared to some of the Coens’ other works and even though the story is quite dark, I still enjoyed it….excessively. This is a must-see for any Coen fan.

Rating: ★★★★★

Tarnation

Published
by
Chalupa
on December 31, 2007
in Documentary, Drugs, Dysfunctional and Independent
. 2 Comments

I’m guessing a lot of you have never heard of this one. It was written and directed by Jonathan Caouette. He was slotted to be in Shortbus, but had to bow out. John Cameron Mitchell, director of Shortbus, agreed to help out Caouette make this documentary about his mother. That’s how I found out about it. It was mentioned in some of the extras of Shortbus.

This documentary is about Cauoette’s life and his mother. It’s definitely a sad story. Renee, Jonathan’s mother, started receiving electroshock therapy as a child and eventually became just a shell of her former self. This film actually reminded me a lot of The Devil and Daniel Johnston because of all the mixed media involved. In both films, many home recordings, both audio and video, were used along with modern footage to tell the story of someone’s life. Also, the subjects of both documentaries were a bit crazy.

Jonathan’s mother is suffering from schizophrenia and several other things. She also has a questionable past with her parents, who also raised Jonathan as a child. Caouette really went out on a limb here showing a lot of very unflattering footage of himself both as an adult and as a child. I’m not exactly sure what all to believe with things his mother was saying. Either way, it’s a sad story.

I really don’t know how many would really enjoy this. It took me a little bit to even get into the film. It starts off by jumping in headfirst and I really had no idea what was going on at first. Maybe if you were a fan of The Devil and Daniel Johnston, you’ll like this one too.

American Gangster

Published
by
Chalupa
on November 13, 2007
in Based on a true story, Corruption, Crime, Drama, Drugs, Dysfunctional, Family, Investigation, Mob, Racism and Thriller
. 0 Comments

Starring Denzel Washington as Frank Lucas, a real-life American gangster, I feeling like I was watching Training Day, only this movie was much cooler, much classier, and just better all around. According to the film, which was based on claims by Frank Lucas, Frank Lucas was the driver/bodyguard that stepped in after his boss died of a heart attack. What’s different about this mob story is that Frank Lucas is black; he’s not Italian, Sicilian or Russian. He brings in his brothers to help run the business and runs shop like the Italians. He makes sure the public and everyone around him loves him. People even love him when Frank beats the crap out of them for making mistakes.

On one hand, Lucas was kind of like Robin Hood. He took from the rich and gave to the poor. Frank also cut out all the middle-men and worked for himself. He dealt in narcotics and got his good directly from Southeast Asia. He bribed a lot of people to make his operations work and brought a lot of them down with him.

This movie is definite Oscar material. Denzel has been nominated several times for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor. He has won two Oscars already and I wouldn’t be surprised if he won again for this film. Some other talented performances would include Russell Crowe, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Josh Brolin, Ruby Dee, Cuba Gooding Jr. and Jon Polito.

I really enjoyed the cinematography. Lately in films we’ve been seeing the wild camera shots and angles. The Bourne series would be an example of this, even though I like it there, and it just wouldn’t work in this film. I didn’t really pay attention to the ASL (average shot length), but it was very easy to follow and the timing and flow of the film went very well.

I think Ridley Scott did quite well directing. You might recognize that name from his previous works such as Alien, Thelma & Louise, Gladiator, Black Hawk Down, Matchstick Men and who could forget Blade Runner? He’s also produced a long list of movies. One that I’ve been wanting to see in particular would be The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.

Even though this is a mob/gangster movie, it also shows a peek into the lives of these people. It’s not just extortion, lies, decent and people getting knocked off in casinos and dark alleys. Definitely a good drama as well as a crime and thriller. I highly recommend this one.

Hurlyburly

Published
by
Chalupa
on July 20, 2007
in Based on a play, Drama, Drugs and Independent
. 1 Comment

If you look up hurly burly you’ll find the definition: noisy disorder and confusion; commotion; uproar; tumult. That pretty much describes this movie. You have a core group of three friends, Eddie (Sean Penn), Mickey (Kevin Spacey) and Phil (Chaz Palminteri), who are somewhat monetarily successful and living in L.A., yet have the mentality of disturbed teenagers. Along with this core group are Artie (Gary Shandling), Darlene (Robin Wright Penn), Bonnie (Meg Ryan) and Donna (Anna Paquin).

The four guys are pretty much constantly taking drugs of some sort or another. Eddie is stuck on one long diatribe about this, that and everything else; he’s like a skipping record. Phil is prone to frequent, violent outbursts. Mickey seems to somewhat have it together, but it’s almost like he’s lowered himself to the level of his other friends. I could be totally wrong on this. If I had to make a pecking order Eddie would be in the middle with Phil on the bottom and Mickey on top. Phil has it the least together and Mickey has it the most, which isn’t saying much.

This was almost like watching a whole movie Derek Zoolander and his idiotic friends, only it wasn’t funny and it was much darker. At one point Bonnie, after getting thrown out of her moving car by Phil, tells Eddie, “If your manner of speech is in any way a reflection of what goes on inside your head, you are lucky you can tie your shoes.” That pretty much backs up my second observation that everybody in this film was so dumb at life they almost seemed retarded. My first observation being these 30-40 year old men were still living like they’re in college.

The whole quality of the dialog seemed quite lacking to me too. Maybe that’s because it just wasn’t very intellectual…or funny. That’s one reason why I absolutely love Kevin Smith movies. Yeah his Jersey series is all about a couple of stoners and their adventures, but there’s a lot of heart and soul put into them. It’s the same reason why I love Judd Apatow’s work. These are characters that just seem real to me in one way or another.

I’m not quite sure if the whole point of this film was to poke fun at some of the absurdity of Hollywood or not. If that’s the case, then this movie would be very similar to Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. I really couldn’t stand that movie…even though I realized it was satirical. It was just a bit too much for me. Everybody in this film was so selfish and narrow-minded. It was pretty crazy. Made me glad I don’t live that way. Some of the discussions and arguments reminded me of watching kids in high school all hyped up on hormones and emotions getting worked up about who-knows-what.

You might discern from my tone that I wasn’t a huge fan. That’s pretty much true, however, I’m not dismissing this film as crap or worthless. Any good work of art produces a reaction. Movies that are really just terrible aren’t even worth talking or writing about. Afterwards, it really hit me that this would make a much better play than film. I was checking out IMDB and saw that this was a play by David Rabe, who also wrote the screenplay. I don’t know if I’d necessarily recommend this or not, unless you’re really into movies.

Knocked Up

Published
by
Chalupa
on June 11, 2007
in Based on a book, Based on a novel, Comedy, Coming of age, Drama, Drugs and Romance
. 0 Comments

Yet another amazing creation from Judd Apatow. If you’re a fan of Freaks and Geeks, Undeclared or 40 Year Old Virgin, you’re sure to love this one as well. It’s full of faces you’ll remember along with more side-splitting comedy.

In this film Ben, played by Seth Rogen, meets Alison, played by Katherine Heigl, at a bar and she gets “knocked up”. The story then unfolds as Ben tries to do the right thing and be a responsible father while Alison is trying to deal with an unplanned pregnancy and living with her sister who’s having some marital problems of her own. Mixed in are Ben’s stoner buddies and all kinds of hilarious one-liners that will probably have you laughing out loud. Most of this humor is pretty crude though so it’s something to keep in mind before going to see it. There’s a good chance you could be offended.

One thing I love about Apatow’s projects is they just seem so real and down-to-earth to me. I see these characters and I can relate to them, or they embody someone I know. I see realistic conversations and situations being played out that I could see happening or have heard similar stories about. I think this is why I like it much more than your run-of-the-mill comedy/romantic-comedy that creates impossible situations with unbelievable outcomes.

This has to be right up there with Hot Fuzz being some of the funniest movies of the year. I highly recommend seeing this one.

The Devil and Daniel Johnston

Published
by
Chalupa
on March 15, 2007
in Biography, Documentary, Drugs and Music
. 0 Comments

I didn’t really know much about Daniel Johnston at all before seeing this documentary. The first time I saw posters for it I didn’t really know what to think. However, after hearing a rave review from Shorb, I knew I had to check it out and was so glad I did.

You probably haven’t heard of Johnston either, but I bet you’d recognize some of his influences. Daniel Johnston is a musician, performer and song writer that was a very famous nobody. I say ‘famous nobody’ because while so many knew and adored his music, he never really made it big. He’s definitely what they call a cult-classic.

One aspect I was really impressed with is how they incorporated home recordings, both audio and video, into the modern footage shot for the movie. Daniel had been documenting his own life never thinking some of it could be used later on. It’s really cool to see him in action and also hear what friends and family have to say about certain events/times. Everything blended together quite well.

I’m sure this movie would bore a lot of people, but I found it quite fascinating. Personally, I try to appreciate the arts and sometimes it’s really hard to know what to appreciate until you find out a little history behind it all.

Blood Diamond

Published
by
Chalupa
on December 31, 2006
in Adventure, Africa, Drama, Drugs, Kidnapping, Thriller and War
. 0 Comments

Liz and I finally got out to see a movie! We also got to hang out with Matt and Liz so I’d call that a double bonus. I wasn’t really sure if I really wanted to go see this in the theater or not just from watching the preview. I’m really glad I finally saw it though. This is a quality film. It reminded me a lot of Tears of the Sun and Saving Private Ryan, only this movie was a lot more meaningful and worthwhile.

If you’ve never heard of blood diamonds, you’ve might have heard of conflict diamonds…no? Ok, I’ll start at the beginning. A lot of violence has, is and will continue to happen in Africa over the control of valuable natural resources. Diamonds are just one of those resources that governments and warlords are trying to control. Many innocent people lose their lives over these resources and some of the larger nations in the world have been trying to do something about it. This movie is a story about some people who are affected by this situation.

For starters this was directed by Edward Zwick. He has directed films such as The Last Samurai and Legends of the Fall. He’s also produced I Am Sam and Traffic. For actors we have Leonardo DiCaprio, Djimon Hounsou and Jennifer Connelly. One person that immediately stuck out to me was Arnold Vosloo. You might recognize him as the mummy from The Mummy. Caprio is probably best known for his role in Titanic, a movie I still haven’t watched, but I like to remember him for other roles such as “Growing Pains”, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, Romeo + Juliet, Gangs of New York, Catch Me If You Can and The Aviator. I still haven’t seen The Departed. Hounsou is an amazing actor and has done an amazing job in films such as Stargate, Amistad, Gladiator, The Four Feathers and In America to name a few. Connelly has definitely been around the block. She started her career out early in classics like Once Upon a Time in America and Labyrinth. She’s also been in other films such as A Beautiful Mind, House of Sand and Fog, and Requiem for a Dream. If you’ve seen some/all of these films you’ll know that the cast is pretty good. I used to not really like DiCaprio all that much and I wasn’t sure why. This guy is a great actor though. He’s done a wide variety of films with a wide variety of characters. I’m always impressed.

I really liked how they shot some of the different scenes with different colors. I’m not talking about colors like Hero but more along the lines of shading things from browns to blues to vibrant colors depending on the location. It’s little things like that, combined with music and the score that can really set a mood for a film.

Even though I loved this movie I’m sure there will be some that won’t for various reasons. There is a bit of violence in here. A lot of running through jungles and people being shot and killed. There’s even a scene where you see captured villagers getting hands chopped off. This might be a bit much for some, but at least it’s meaningful and not a Gibson film, right? Ok, I’ll just stop right there. I highly recommend this one. Check it out.