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2008 Fall Video Roundup, Vol. II

11/4/08

"Cocaine Cowboys"

Uhh, wow!  If you were in Miami from 1970 until about 1984, you saw some shit that will simply never, ever, ever happen again when it comes to the drug trade.  Wow!  This documentary, running in heavy rotation on Showtime right now, is hilarious because it profiles a time when a lot of people were doing dope and pot and NO ONE was trafficking the shit.  That meant a lot of people were in Miami, on the beach, doing drugs in the wide open public, and then going to clubs to dance the night away.  And a lot of people in this film were making $10,000 a week dealing.  The result of this period was "Miami Vice", but now I realize that the TV show wasn't even close to what was reality back then.

Rating: $9.50 Show

"Spartan"

David Mamet.  If the man who wrote "Glengarry Glen Ross" makes a movie, I feel somehow required to see it, just to make sure I don't miss the second coming of "Glengarry Glen Ross"...luckily, "Spartan" is not that film.  It does star Val Kilmer as a Secret Service agent (or maybe, former Secret Service...either way, he's an Army Ranger with "a past") on the trail of kidnappers who have taken the daughter of the President...but, there's more to it than that.  A couple of nice action sequences and Mamet's traditionally colorful stylings and man-heavy scripts make this film watchable, even if it is ultimately average.  Ed O'Neill, acting?  Somehow, it works in a Mamet movie.

Rating:  Matinee

"Sophie Scholl: The Final Days"

I think I added this to my Netflix queue to make sure I saw the other films nominated for the 2005 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film; as such, I thought that it was a little blah for the first hour, which is essentially the interrogation of 20-year-old German resistance recruit Sophie Scholl (Julia Jentsch), who is being interrogated for distributing leaflets at a local university.  The Gestapo agent doing the questioning, Mohr (Alexander Held), is tough, but in a way that allows for Sophie to delay the inevitable...and, that wasn't appealing to me, mainly because we know that she's guilty, he knows she's guilty, and then even after admitting to her guilt, she finds ways to keep Mohr from giving her the guillotine right away.  Blah.  But, the film's second hour gets much more interesting, as Sophie begins to realize the trouble she and her brother are really in for, as well as the "trial" they are given to state their claims of guilt.  Finishes strong, but you just have to stick around long enough (and, stay awake, since this is 100% subtitled, baby!) to make it work.

Rating:  $9.50 Show

"Joyeux Noël (Merry Christmas)"

This movie was also nominated for Best Foreign Language Film in '05, and I liked this film a bit more because it is also based on a true story, but from World War I (not II) and you almost can't believe that this would happen:  after fierce fighting between English/French and German forces up through Christmas Eve 1914, the two sides call a truce on Christmas Day to walk across a battlefield littered with bodies to learn more about each other, chat about their wives, play soccer and drink wine.  But, how do you go back the next day to fight against those who suddenly are not just faceless, nameless grunts?  Very intriguing proposition, and the film plays it out well.  A great wartime story as well as being grounded in the truth.

Rating:  $9.50 Show

"White Light/Black Rain"

It's pretty hard to gross me out, if you will..."White Light/Black Rain" is a former Sundance doc that details the story of a number of survivors from Hiroshima and Nagasaki who were interviewed a couple of years ago.  This is one tough film.  The horrors of being nuked are obvious from afar, but the film does a great job telling the stories of those who lived it, as well as interviews with the team that did the actual bombing run on the Enola Gay in 1945 as well as snippets of news coverage in the U.S. after the war.  But, to me, the stories of people walking around with eyeballs hanging out of sockets, flesh burned off from 9000° F heat (literally), irradiated skin cooked to a crisp that would rip off if bandaged...210,000 people dead over four days from two bombs.  Incredibly powerful documentary.

Rating:  Opening Weekend

"I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry"

The first 30 minutes are mainly unfunny, gratuitously sexist and one-note, slow and not worth mentioning...but, the film that follows after this start was actually pretty funny.  I know this because I am not a Sandler fan and sometimes I can go out of my way to not like him and his cadre of cannibals (yep, Rob Schneider and David Spade show up here), but I was still laughing all the way to the end of the film.  It's not "Happy Madison", but it's still not bad.  Jessica Biel doesn't hurt, and Ving Rhames has a great bit in a shower sequence that still has me laughing.  (Random note: Sandler is 42 years old.  He'll probably do the dumb schtick until he falls into a grave, and bless him for sticking to what he knows best.)

Rating:  Matinee

"Across the Universe"

I'll give this movie credit--it's a wacky, wild musical ride, but it is saved by performances of Songs You Know, so using a soundtrack of the catalogue of The Beatles, "Across the Universe" is a fairly entertaining ride.  Sure, it's hurt by predictable plot changes--it's boy meets girl in the 60s, and we follow them over a number of years as they grow with, and without, each other--but the dance bits early are great, and the more somber pieces are so-so in the film's final 45 minutes.  But, Evan Rachel Wood and Jim Sturgess are solid, very watchable lead performers who sing well, all this musical needs to launch.

Rating:  $9.50 Show

 

Comments?  Drop me a line at justin@bellviewmovies.com.

 

Bellview Rating System:

"Opening Weekend":  This is the highest rating a movie can receive.  Reserved for movies that exhibit the highest level of acting, plot, character development, setting...or Salma Hayek.  Not necessarily in that order. 

"$X.XX Show":  This price changes each year due to the inflation of movie prices; currently, it is the $9.50 Show.  While not technically perfect, this is a movie that will still entertain you at a very high level.  "Undercover Brother" falls into this category; it's no "Casablanca", but you'll have a great time watching.  The $9.50 Show won't win any Oscars, but you'll be quoting lines from the thing for ages (see "Office Space"). 

"Matinee":  An average movie that merits no more than a $6.50 viewing at your local theater.  Seeing it for less than $9.50 will make you feel a lot better about yourself.  A movie like "Blue Crush" fits this category; you leave the theater saying "That wasn't too bad...man, did you see that Lakers game last night?" 

"Rental":  This rating indicates a movie that you see in the previews and say to your friend, "I'll be sure to miss that one."  Mostly forgettable, you couldn't lose too much by going to Hollywood Video and paying $3 to watch it with your sig other, but you would only do that if the video store was out of copies of "Ronin."  If you can, see this movie for free.  This is what your TV Guide would give "one and a half stars." 

"Hard Vice":  This rating is the bottom of the barrel.  A movie that only six other human beings have witnessed, this is the worst movie I have ever seen.  A Shannon Tweed "thriller," it is so bad as to be funny during almost every one of its 84 minutes, and includes the worst ending ever put into a movie.  Marginally worse than "Cabin Boy", "The Avengers" or "Leonard, Part 6", this rating means that you should avoid this movie at all costs, or no costs, EVEN IF YOU CAN SEE IT FOR FREE!  (Warning:  strong profanity will be used in all reviews of "Hard Vice"-rated movies.)