My Amazon DVD Reviews: "Grizzly Man"

Talking about the good life in the foodchain
4 Out Of 5 Stars

Werner Herzog was given a strange mission with the film, "Grizzly Man." How do you take 100's of hours of tape made by a delusional, self-centered and mentally imbalanced man who is ultimately killed (along with the poor woman he drags along after him) by his obsession with Alaskan Grizzlies and make him someone somewhat sympathetic? The documentary manages to do just that, with Herzog inserting himslef as a conscience/narrator into the tapes of naturalist and self-described "kind warrior" Timothy Treadwell. For over a decade of summers, Treadwell would haul himself to Alaska, embed himself in a State Park and try to become one with the grizzlies.

Yes, you're right...anyone with a lick of sense would see this as a fool's errand, and the movie doesn't even bother to hide that fact by mentioning at the beginning that Treadwell and lady friend Amie Huguenard become lunch for a "bear full of people and clothes." Treadwell fails to recognize what Herzog knows by instinct and a few millenniums of evolution; nature is "chaos, hostility, and murder." Treadwell looks at nature as some sort of Disney-fied harmony, where if you just dance with the animals, they'll be your friends and all will live in the big unity of the universe. This despite ample evidence to the contrary (adult males eating cubs to foster mating with females, the killing of one of his fox pup 'friends'); Treadwell rails on about the bear world versus the people world.

Herzog keeps Treadwell from looking like a blithering idiot by balancing some of the most intimate footage you'll probably ever see of bears in the wild and commentary from both the friends and enemies of Treadwell, and ultimately sacrificing an opportunity to exploit Treadwell and Amie's death. A narcissist to the very end, Treadwell had a camera running even as he and Amie were being attacked and killed, and Herzog makes the decision to not include the audio (the lens cap was still on the camera) or include the pictures from the coroner, going as far as to implore one of Treadwell's few friends to destroy the final tape and never look back. It's Herzog's sense of compassion for his subject (aided by a terrific score by guitarist Richard Thompson), even as he understands the madness, that makes "Grizzly Man" so compelling.

     

My Amazon DVD Reviews: "The Devil's Double"

Dance With The Devil 
3 Out Of 5 Stars

Uday Saddam Hussein was the sadistic son of Saddam Hussein, and of Saddam's two sons, the craziest. Uday decides that, like his father, he needs a body double to protect himself from those who'd like to kill him. Soldier and former classmate of Uday, Latif Yahia, is picked for the job. When Latif initially declines, it is made more than clear that the offer is not a request. It's a life or death choice.

Based in the true story of Latif, "The Devil's Double" is a tale of what unchecked wealth, greed and sexual avarice can happen when the safety mechanisms are taken away. Uday had a taste for fast cars and young women, and he discarded them equally when he tired of them. Latif finds that even those close to Uday are wary and cautious of Saddam's son's appetites and savage behavior. The longer Latif remains ensnared by a man who announces at one point, "God doesn't give me anything, I take what I want," the more he falls into desperation. Which means that if Uday wants to watch videos of the men he's tortured and killed (graphically included in the film), he will and everyone around him will uneasily tolerate it. Latif knows he could be part of the next random cruelty...and likely will, eventually.

The most amazing thing about "The Devil's Double," aside from the bizarreness of the true story, is Dominic Cooper who plays Latif and Uday. Latif is troubled and fighting the person he's been forced to become, Uday is a raging id without conscious. Cooper digs into both roles with so much verve that it's tough to discern he is really playing both roles. Cooper heads up an international cast that includes Philip Quast in a surprisingly sympathetic portrayal of Saddam (and Saddam's double) and French actress Ludivine Sagnier as Sarrab, a troubled woman also caught between Uday and Latif. It's powerful and disturbing movie, and not easily forgotten.

 

My Amazon DVD Reviews: "Suck"

Tune in to KCUS
4 Out Of 4 Stars

A giddy, goofy piece of rock and roll camp that delivers on all counts, from the homages to classic rock albums and pictures to the cameos from Moby, Henry Rollins, Iggy Pop, Alice Cooper, Alex Lifeson, "Suck" makes glorious hash of the overworked vampire movie and rock band films. Dave Foley manages "The Winners," a mediocre band that travels in a hearse and can't catch a break. That is, until the sexy female bass player gets bit and becomes a goth idol. Before you know it, the band is gaining fans by the thousands, leaving a trail of groupies in their wake and Malcolm McDowell on their trail.

There is no real attempt to make this anything but a corny cult flick, even the 'animation' is hokey. Alice and Iggy are obviously having a blast chewing their parts, and there's an hysterical inside joke regarding Moby as the lead singer of a rival band. The original songs are just good enough to be Spinal Tapp-ish, but not too bad as to make you graon. The soundtrack itself contains the likes of Lou Reed, Iggy, Cooper, David Bowie and The Burning Brides, and is a true addition to the film. "Suck" is exactly the kind of film that should be on the A-List for a few decades' worth of Halloween parties.

     

My Amazon DVD Reviews: "The Company Men"

The New Normal 
3 Out of 5 Stars

Bobby (Ben Affleck) is your typical white collar success story. He has a great job at a conglomerate company, a pretty neat boss, Gene (Tommy Lee Jones), a good wife and two kids in a fabulous New England home. Then the crash of 2008 occurs and Bobby's job, despite twelve years at GTX (a transportation company of some sort), wasn't so valuable after all. Soon he has to figure out what his measure of a man truly is, and it's not pretty. "The Comapny Men" focuses mostly on Bobby's struggle, but it is an ensemble film with strong support from Chris Cooper, who struggles with the realization that a man pushing 60 in this job market is paddling upstream against younger and cheaper help, Kevin Costner, a contractor who is (IMHO) written into a cliched part, Craig T Nelson, the CEO making 22 million as he downsized left and right, and Mario Bello as the HR director who begins to doubt her ethics.

This is not an easy movie to watch, as it probably cuts a bit too close to the bone in a country facing 9% unemployment. Bobby and Phil (Cooper) soon finding that there are sacrifices both intentional and unintentional that have to be made for the sake of survival. There's also underlying messages about being prepared for the future and just how much we've thrown away for "kids working for a dollar a day" (as Costner's character unsubtly jibes Bobby incessantly). People are losing their cars, homes, families and lives in reality; "The Company Men" holds up an unflinching camera to this world. It's a good movie, just don't expect a feel-good wrap at the end.

 

My Amazon DVD Reviews: "Rubber"

Self Inflation
3 Out of 5 Stars

"Rubber" is a very funny 30 minute short horror satire expanded into an 80 minute mediocre movie. However, the brilliant premise of a tire wreaking revenge across the desert and falling in love is gutbustingly funny in short bits at a time. The Tire (listed as "Robert" in the credits) humanizes itself by wobbling, rolling, shimmying and doing unexpected things throughout, but when Robert gets mad, heads are gonna blow. They also discover a penchant for NASCAR and swimming pools.

The failure of the movie comes when a "Greek Chorus" of spectators gets added to watch "the film" via binoculars somewhere in the California desert. They get used to break the fourth wall by doing things like chastising one of the viewers for trying to videotape the movie. "That's piracy," one of them scolds"You could co to jail!" They seem to have been included mainly as padding, even if Wings Hauser does some scene stealing as one of those spectators. Meanwhile, Robert is rolling through the desert, blowing up things he can't mow down, and having a tire epiphany when he comes across a junkyard where the leftover tires are being thrown atop a blazing pile.

Soon, Robert has decided his steel belted brethren are ready to take over the world. A few times during "Rubber," I kept thinking about Stephen King's "Christine," and that perhaps Robert was that particular vehicle's last surviving member...and boy, was he mad. The final shot alone is a hoot and a half. Ignore the fact that this tire is over-stuffed and you'll enjoy the fun.

My Amazon DVD Reviews: "The Social Network"

The Rich are Just Like You and Me...Only Much Younger  
4 Out Of 5 Stars

David Fincher has a knack for seedy underbellies, and he finds a juicy one to stab in "The Social Network." Working from a wordy script from Aaron Sorkin and a bravura performance from Jesse Eisenberg (as Mark Zuckerberg), he boils the creation of the most successful internet site down to friendship, betrayal and insecurity, with side servings of jealousy and greed. It's the same old story you've heard a million times before, just updated for the 21'st century.

Eisenberg shows the kind of detached brilliance of the uber-nerd stereotype, and he makes Zuckerberg into a believably arrogant genius. His zingers are cruelly on target, even though many of them are delivered at deserving targets. (It also is worth noting that had these things been said in an actual legal deposition, the speaker would have been escorted away.) However, you see essentially a hurt young man whose brilliance doesn't impress many folks because he is an overbearing ween. This fact is set up in the brutally dark comedic exchange at the movie's opening, where Zuckerberg is trying to score points with a girl, all the while continually berating her. One drunken revenge hacking later, and the seeds of Facebook are planted.

But it is that isolated anger that fuels "The Social Network." When the spoiled rich Winklevoss twins (played with a bit of trickery by one Armie Hammer) are trying to sue on the grounds of intellectual theft, Zuckerberg snaps at the lawyer representing them that his thoughts are "back at the offices of Facebook, where my colleagues and I are doing things that no one in this room, including and especially your clients, are intellectually or creatively capable of doing." Then to drive his irritation at the attorney home, he sneers "Did I adequately answer your condescending question?"

There are snakes all over this grassy web, all trying to get to Zuckerberg's money, and at the same time, Zuckerberg stabs one of the only people to show him kindness, his co-founder (Andrew Garfield) Eduardo Saverin. It's hard to comprehend Zuckerberg's reasoning for trying to jam his one friend out of the business, although the snake oil spewed by Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake, who seems to be playing himself) seems a likely explanation. The way these three triangulate forms the emotional core of the film, with Parker playing demonic mischief maker, trying to grease his way into a spotlight that he envies Eduardo for having. The rapid-fire back and forth between all these spokes still centralize back on Zuckerberg, and "The Social Network" turns on how much you either believe the story or how much you can tolerate two hours of listening to these wealthy but morally bereft children spearing each other.

My Amazon DVD Reviews: The Runaways

Ch...Ch..Ch..Ch..Cherry...BOMB
2 Out of 5 Stars

What might have been a decent sex and drugs and rock and roll movie turns into an utter snoozeout within its first 60 minutes. "The Runaways," based on Cherie Curie's book and executive produced by Joan Jett and Kenny Laguna might as well have been called "Cherie and Joan" for all the depth it gave the rest of the band. Poor bassists Vickie Blue and Jackie Fox are replaced by "Robin." Lita Ford, who did have a successful solo career post Runaways, is portrayed minimally, and then as a shrill, jealous harpy. Like Lita, Sandy West becomes a background figure who is mentioned only when Kim Fowley introduces her to Joan near the beginning of the movie. Then, in almost insulting fashion in the movie's epilogue, only Jett, Curie and Fowley's status gets mentioned.

While "The Runaways" does feature the band's best known songs (albeit re-recorded), it really shorts the band overall. There's way too much time spent on druggy hazes and a lesbian subplot when a bit more interest in the band might have made this more entertaining. It also allows Michael Shannon, playing Kim Fowley like a glammed up Dennis Leary, to steal the show. It's curious to note that, as profane and ludicrous as Fowley is made out to be in the film, in real life he was allegedly even worse. Like most sharks, he smelled blood money in the water and exploited it at every turn.

Fortunately, in real life Joan Jett survives the band's breakup, which is where the story concludes. Which also is a highlight of the movie; Kristen Stewart does a terrific job as Joan Jett, even down to the singing. Dakota Fanning at least washes her goody-goody away as Cherie, but her part is written to poorly to allow her to stand out. Watch this (if you must) for Stewart and Shannon, and then listen to the The Best of the Runaways: 20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection. Just don't take the DVD as history.