Idiocracy (2006)

This is supposed to be a weekly blog but I've decided to bend the rules today and write about a film that was virtually unnoticed when it was released but has now achieved cult status all while re-defining the term. Today's film is Mike Judge's Idiocracy.

Back in 2006, this film was virtually non-existent; no one knew what it was, who had done it or what it was about. Now, I can't lie and say that I was a fan from the beginning but I can say that I was hooked on it pretty early on and it still holds up as a great comedy, but it is already losing its appeal due to its saturation as a cult film as many great cult films unfortunately fall victim to. Now that Hollywood is running out of fresh ideas, cult films are being remade into feature films with bigger budgets, bigger stars and bigger marketing campaigns that the term cult doesn't seem to apply to the original film any more. To some people like myself, this makes us ashamed to say we loved the original in the first place. It isn't like me to review a film like this on this blog, but it still is a good film, despite all of the hype.

The plot is simple: Joe Bauers, played by Luke Wilson is an "Average Joe" who works for the military, sitting on his ass, defending the library - How novel. Because Joe is very average, he is called in for a secret black ops mission to become cryogenically (cryo·gen·i·cal·ly) frozen for a year, along with a female, Rita (Maya Rudolph) who is also considered average, although she is a prostitute. The hibernation chambers become neglected when the army base is destroyed and Joe and Rita sleep for five-hundred (500) years and awaken to see that in the year 2505, people are ridiculously (ri·dic·u·lous·ly) stupid.

Joe becomes arrested and looked down upon by everyone because he is of average intelligence and "talks like a fag" (speaks normally). Due to his above average scores on an "intelligence test" Joe is recruited by the President Commacho (A WWF-style "President" played brilliantly by the awesome Terry Crews) to fix society's problems including the food shortage, a dust bowl and everything else that can go wrong when society is too stupid or lazy to fix their problems. The dust bowl has occurred due to the watering of crops with Brawndo (Gatorade) because it has replaced water thanks to Brawndo purchasing the Food and Drug Administration as well as the FCC. Because the TV told them so, the idiots believe Brawndo has to work better than water because "it's got electrolytes" while water is looked down upon as being for the toilet only. Joe deals with trying to persuade the people that using water will work on crops and that being smart is not bad. Of course, no one believes him and he is sentenced to rehabilitation which is very reminiscent (rem·i·nis·cent) of the Roman gladiators fighting off the impossible for others' enjoyment.

The film's opening prologue breaks everything down ever so humorously while the frightening social commentary on current American society make this feel like it could really happen. A husband and wife with high I.Q.'s talk to the viewer documentary-style about how they want children and how things like their work schedules and the state of the market prevent them from doing so. Contrasted with this is a man with limited intelligence named Clevon who impregnates anything with a vagina and has dozens of kids, making his family tree that of a willow. Now, of course, the professional couple end up not having any kids and the male ends up dead due to a heart attack while masturbating to provide sperm for artificial insemination, proving that intelligence is no longer a factor in natural selection any more.

As usual, this is as far as I am willing to go with the plot because first of all, it's not my style to give spoil the whole movie by writing the synopsis, and secondly, while Idiocracy doesn't have the best plot from here on, it does have a damn good message in it: Don't be afraid to be smart (and don't let stupid win). The first time I saw this film, it was good for a bunch of laughs and the laughs still work on repeat viewings, but after a second viewing, I saw the true terror of this film. I had been working in retail for about ten (10) years and I quickly identified with Joe's frustrations with trying to reason with these kind of people; however, since then, I have realized that society is becoming more and more stupid and that the events of this film are not only plausible, they are seemingly impossible to avoid, thus making Idiocracy a sort of apocalyptic horror film.

Now, I suppose I should comment on the cult status that Idiocracy has obtained in the last few years. Given that it didn't receive a proper theatrical release, the film went unnoticed until it hit DVD. I think a lot of people found the dark humor to be spot on with society's present trajectory (tra·jec·to·ry - a path, progression, or line of development resembling a physical trajectory) and identified with it. Sadly, I do see a lot of the average binge-drinking college kids quoting this movie and while I'm glad it's finally getting the exposure it deserves, it can only seem like a paradox to me that gives the film more of a validation of things to come.

If you think I'm being too negative about our society's current state, I just heard that Rebecca Black just got a record deal. Case closed.

What day is it today, Rebecca? Oh, yeah, the apocalypse!

3 1/2 Carl's Jr. Stars (Out of 5)

Brought to you by Carl's Jr. - "Carl's Jr...FUCK YOU, I'm eating!"

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Blow Out (1981)

Today's movie is the 1981 Brian DePalma thriller, Blow Out.

This is such an underrated gem and something I watch once or twice a year with a bud (Most DePalma films are like that). DePalma's style is definitely recognizable in this film by it's long tracking shots, eerie atmosphere and his use of every inch of the frame (mis en scene) to create a film that is enjoyable to film buffs and the casual viewer.

A movie sound effects technician, Jack Terry (John Travolta – In one of his best performances) is out recording sounds for a piece of shit horror film when he captures sound evidence of a plotted political assassination – A car has an apparent “blow out” and crashes into a nearby lake. Jack sees this and jumps in, hoping to find someone alive. He finds and rescues Sally – a prostitute “connected to” the presidential candidate played by Brian DePalma's ex wife, Nancy Allen. Soon enough, Jack is involved in the mystery and tries to prove that nothing that night happened by accident. The film has some expected and unexpected twists and turns and there are great tense moments, not to mention insights into the film and audio recording world.

Here's the thing about Nancy Allen: The first time I watched this film I was annoyed by her performance, simply putting it off as another DePalma film with his wife in the supporting role. A funny thing happens as the story progresses: you begin to realize that her character is supposed to have the quirks and off-putting dumb personality and after repeat viewings, you may even sympathize with her and like her.

John Lithgow is in Blow Out and is fantastic as always as an assassin involved in the political plot whose one loose end is Nancy Allen’s character. As always, Lithgow is fantastic and menacing as a man posing as a serial killer to cover his tracks. Dennis Franz is also in this movie as another man who witnessed the “accident” and whether you like him or not, in this film, he does what he is supposed to do very well - playing a man trying to profit from the tragedy while having a “connection” to Sally.

I don’t want to say anything more about the plot because it is too good to ruin, not to mention it has one of the most dramatic endings in film history. Over time, I have become fonder of this film and consider it one of the best in the thriller genre and one of DePalma’s very best. Quentin Tarantino ranks this film among his top three all-time favorite films, and while I wouldn’t place it among my top three, I can definitely see why he likes it and why you should too.

"That's a good scream."

It is being re-released on Criterion DVD and Blu-Ray on April 26. There is a bare bones MGM DVD version out as well. Highly recommended – GO GET IT!

4 1/2 Microphones (Out of 5)

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Criterion Blu-ray

Criterion DVD

Out of Print DVD

Breakdown (1997)

This week’s movie review is the 1997 thriller, Breakdown starring Kurt Russell.

Russell plays Jeff Taylor who is driving across country with his wife, Amy, played by Kathleen Quinlan (Event Horizon, The Doors and The Hills Have Eyes remake). Their car ends up broken down in the middle of the desert and a passing trucker stops to help. Jeff stays with the car while Amy hitches a ride with the trucker to a diner twenty miles down the road so she can call a tow truck. Jeff finds some lose cables and fixes the car and drives to the diner to meet his wife; she is nowhere to be found and the hillbilly locals say they never saw her.

What follows is an intense search for his wife accompanied by some really good twists and turns in a very basic but moving plot. J.T. Walsh, (‘The Negotiator’) MC Gainey (TV’s Justified and as Swamp Thing in Con Air) and Jack Noseworthy (a fantastic character actor – Google him and I bet you can’t say you haven’t seen him in something) play great supporting roles and really make you believe their characters. You may love them as actors, but you will hate their characters in this movie. As usual, I don’t want to give much away but these guys really make you hate them and that’s what acting is all about.

Everyone knows how much of a badass Kurt Russell can be but in the beginning of this film, he doesn’t come off that way. He plays a “normal” family guy trying to start a new career in a different part of the country. Over the course of time, his desperation and anger take a hold of him and it does him well as a character because you really see how far he will go to get to his wife. All of the characters in this film, including Russell and Quinlan’s give you enough character development to care about them as they go through the mental breakdown (pun intended) involved with a situation such as theirs. There are even times where you sympathize with the villain characters, if only for a brief moment or two.

Although well received by critics, this film came and went under the radar back in 1997 but has found a nice niche on DVD. It works as a great edge-of-your-seat-thriller with enough twists and turns to keep even the most jaded thriller aficionado interested. While watching this film, I kept thinking how easily it could have been made in the late 1970s or 1980s due to its style, simple plot and search and revenge themes. I then realized that the reason it probably didn’t fare well with audiences at the time was due to the new wave of CGI-laden films being released beginning in the early 1990s. If it was released in the late 1980s, this film might have a better chance.

I found myself yelling at the screen a couple of times (proof positive that I am very involved in a film) due to a character’s actions, lack of actions or the always popular good (dumb) idea. The action/thriller elements are intense and there are enough dramatic elements to keep you invested and going. It does a good job of making you think about how far you would go to rescue a loved one, and what you would do in real-life situations and as the film’s tagline suggests: “It Could Happen To You!”

4 Mack Trucks (Out of 5)

Breakdown Already and Check Out the Trailer!

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Thursday (1998)

This week's review is on a fantastic indie black comedy that is really hard to find on DVD (even VHS for that matter). Skip Woods' Thursday, starring Thomas Jane, Aaron Eckhart, James LeGros, Paulina Porizkova and Mickey-Fucking-Rourke! Before Skip Woods became a screenwriter for Swordfish, X-Men Origins: Wolverine and G.I. Joe - The Rise of Cobra he made this terrific little flick and if you ask me, he should have stuck to making movies like this instead of those other two winners (Swordfish wasn't that bad and it deserves another chance!) but I digress. Thomas Jane plays Casey Wells, an ex drug dealer from Los Angeles who has recently moved to Texas to clean up his act, start a family and become an architect. He has met and married a woman he loves, they own a house together, plan to adopt a child and have the every day problems married people have like scheduling conflicts and arguments that really don't mean anything. Life is good for Casey...until one Thursday when Nick arrives at his doorstep.

Casey's old drug-dealing partner, Nick (Aaron Eckhart) shows up at his house with a couple of suitcases (uh-oh!). The two friends remember the old days and Nick is amazed at how domesticated Casey has become. Nick asks to borrow Casey's car for a few hours ("A fucking station wagon!") and leaves Casey alone. Casey discovers one of Nick's suitcases in one of his bedrooms and finds it filled with heroin. Fearing the worst, Casey dumps it all down the sink drain and breathes a sigh of relief, that is until he receives another visitor at his doorstep.

A Rastafarian pizza man shows up and turns out to be a hit man, looking for the heroin that Casey just destroyed. When the Rastafarian is about to kill Casey, his last request is for a little ganja and what Rastafarian can resist that? They smoke together and when Casey gets a chance he incapacitates the Rastafarian and holds him captive in his garage. Not a minute after he has secured the Rastafarian, Casey receives visits from a representative from the adoption agency and another one of Nick's acquaintances, a hot little spit-fire of a woman named, Dallas (Paulina Porizkova) who scares away the adoption agent with a "Casey Wells Story" from the past seen in flashback. Once alone with Dallas, Casey is tied to a chair and what follows is one of the hottest rape sequences committed by a female committed to film.

Billy Hill (James LeGros) shows up looking for the heroin and doesn't care that it is gone because he plans on torturing Casey for the sheer fun of it. James LeGros make you laugh with his portrayal of a sadistic hillbilly and will make you think twice about the way you say "cauterize" in the future. Mickey Rourke comes into play as a corrupt cop (as if there were any other kind of cop these days) who wants Nick and a large sum of money that was in suitcase number two. Rourke isn't in the film too long (most of Casey's visitors aren't) but as always he plays a great bad-ass.

Now it would be evil of me to reveal the rest of the movie for you (I feel I've already said too much as it is) but when you watch it you may be thinking that it's a Pulp Fiction imitation, which it is, but it happens to be one of the better Pulp imitators by blending black comedy elements with jokes about suburbia along with a few hit man/drug dealing movie cliches that don't leave a bad taste in your mouth. The beginning sequence is about the only thing that I have a problem with and once you watch this, you'll know what I mean. It is funny and suspenseful at first but if viewed a second or third time, it comes off as annoying and cliched.



It's great to see two of my favorite actors (Jane and Eckhart) in a movie that really shows off their acting chops, not to mention good performances by other lesser-known actors in supporting roles (James LeGros as Billy Hill, Michael Jeter as the adoption agent and of course, Mickey-Fucking-Rourke!) Like I said before, this movie is a Pulp Fiction imitator and while it isn't perfect, it's not terrible either; it fits into a small niche of films that I like to revisit every once in a while when I need solid gold entertainment and a few good laughs.

The rest of the movie is great and worth the DVD (needle) in the hay hunt, that is if you are lucky enough to come across a copy. The unrated DVD has been out of print (OOP) for a while now due to the bankruptcy it's distributor, Polygram/USA films and apparently only 1,000 copies were produced. Other films injured by the bankruptcy were, Topsy-Turvey, The Last Days of Disco and some movie called, No Looking Back (which stars Lauren Holly and Edward Burns so who cares?) The Big Lebowski and Being John Malkovich were also originally released under the Polygram/USA banner but weren't affected and remain in print.



4 Drug-Filled Briefcases (Out of 5)

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The DVD pictured above is a nice alternate to the official USA Films version. The only drawback is that the few title cards in the movie are in a language different than English.

USA Films Official DVD:

UPDATE!

Thursday has now been added to Netflix Instant Queue!

Switchblade Sisters (1975)

This week’s movie review is the 1975 classic girl gang flick, Switchblade Sisters.

 

This gem of an exploitation film was directed by Jack Hill (Coffy, Foxey Brown, Spider Baby) under the title The Jezebels and then changed to Switchblade Sisters because the film did poorly under the first title. It doesn’t matter what title you prefer, if you love exploitation films, then this movie is for you! It has everything you could want from an exploitation film: Girl on girl fights, “women in prison” elements, blaxploitation elements, Shakespeare, sex, switchblades, gunfights, cheesy 70’s music and not to mention some of the best bad acting ever. It also has a young Don Stark (Bob Pinciotti) from That 70’s Show!

The Silver Daggers is the male gang that runs a portion of town run by Dominic; the Dagger Debs are their girls, run by Lace. The plot begins with a normal day for the Dagger Debs: Taking care of a crooked repo man and ending up in a fight at the local burger joint. The Debs come across a girl who challenges them at the burger joint: Maggie. Maggie shows the Debs she can fight and as the cops come to arrest them all, Maggie ends up in juvenile hall with them. Once there, a fight with the female wardens creates a bond between Lace and Maggie. When the Debs get out of juvie, they decide to initiate Maggie by having her get a medallion from the rival men’s gang leader, affectionately called Crabs. The actor portraying Crabs does a perfect job of helping you laugh at him, with him, love him and hate him all at the same time.

Maggie returns with the medallion and is now a new member, gaining more interest from Dominic, making Lace jealous. Lace’s sidekick is a one-eyed tornado of instigation, affectionately named Patch. Patch never liked Maggie from the beginning and now that Dominic is giving Maggie more attention than Lace, she tries to sway Lace into getting rid of Maggie for good. They go through with their plan and of course, things go wrong and the film takes a new path and the girls break free from their male counterparts and become their own girl gang named, The Jezebels.

As usual, I don’t want to give away any more but the plot has a few more twists and turns that you should enjoy on your own, not to mention more of the great schlock you went into this movie expecting. All in all, this is one fun flick that will have you laughing at things that are funny as well as things that you may question yourself as to why you’re laughing at it. The characters in Switchblade Sisters seem very campy and one dimensional at first, but a little before the half-way mark, you end up liking them and sympathizing with them at times. The ending is over the top, but by this point, would you expect anything less? In my opinion, the movie itself serves as a great time capsule to mid 1970s pop culture, in the same way that Saturday Night Fever immortalized the disco era on film.

I highly recommend Switchblade Sisters!




5 Switchblades (Out of 5)

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