Change Your Image
Blind Willie McTell
Reviews
Side Effects (2005)
Timely, revealing...and ENTERTAINING!
In cinema today it is extremely rare to come across a film that can make you laugh, learn, think, and feel all at once. Side Effects accomplishes this beautifully. Kathleen Slattery-Moschkau's satirical expose of the pharmaceutical industry avoids being preachy, and depicts the based-on-reality struggle of a young woman tempted by the material trappings of a multi-billion dollar industry, and her own moral scruples. Driven by the smart and sexy performance of Katherine Heigl as Karly Hert, Side Effects offers its audience a rare look inside an industry that few of us know much about. In a time when there are more prescription drugs on the market than ever before, and advertising for these drugs blocking up our airwaves and filling our magazines, I feel it's important for the average American to have an idea what's really going on behind the scenes. Are the drug companies really concerned with helping people, or are they driven by their own bottom lines? This film confirms an answer that many of us already know in our hearts. Yet Slattery-Moschkau's non-forceful handling of the material allows the audience to come to their own conclusions. There are people like Karly in the world and there are people like her co-workers, and the film challenges viewers to decide which category they fall under, and what they would do if faced with the same choices. Side Effects is a consistently funny, and insightful film. In addition to the fine work of Ms.Heigl, the ensemble performances are note perfect and add to the overall high production value of a film that was made for a fraction of the cost of what drug companies spend on advertising every single day. Those companies will not want you to see this film, for that reason alone I recommend you see it as soon as you can.
Jackpot (2001)
Jackpot lies ahead, just a little further down the road.
Attached to every dream there is a ticking clock, an acceptable window of opportunity. When that window closes it's time for the dreamer to "Give it up", and "Get a life", or run the risk of society labeling them a pathetic loser. An unfair stigma if you ask me. Jackpot's Sunny Holiday (Jon Gries) is one such dreamer, whose dream it is to make it big as a singer. His unorthodox means to that end is to hit the road and compete in a string of Karaoke contests, which he and his manager Les (Garrett Morris) hope will bring him exposure and much needed prize money to keep the show on the road and the dream alive.
It's a seemingly harmless pursuit, but society has another label for Sunny - "deadbeat", as in "deadbeat dad". Unless slipping the odd lottery ticket into the mail from time to time is considered acceptable fulfillment of child support obligations, Sunny falls a little short in the parenting department. But he means well, dammit, and if, as they say, "the road to hell is paved with good intentions", then that must be the road that Sunny and Les travel down in their pink 80's model New Yorker, en route to Jackpot, Nevada. It's a road littered with broken dreams and broken dreamers, and paved with the cruelty of hope. The hope that lies in every new town, where there always awaits a new contest, a new chance to win and a new chance to forget the past and make everything all right.
Jackpot, the second offering from Mark and Michael Polish (Twin Falls Idaho), is a wonderful, often hilarious and oddly touching film. Driven by the inspired lead performances of Jon Gries and Garrett Morris, and deliciously peppered by a never-ending string of cameos and supporting turns by an eclectic ensemble cast that includes Daryl Hannah, Patrick Bauchau, Peggy Lipton, Crystal Bernard, Mac Davis, and Anthony Edwards, Jackpot is a refreshingly original tale full of heart and humor and told with a stunning visual style and a dreamy vibe that has the Polish Brothers' thumb prints all over it. A rare film, this is the type of movie that reminds me why movies are made. I thoroughly enjoyed Jackpot and recommend it very highly to movie audiences this summer...and beyond.
Girlfight (2000)
Gritty filmmaking at the cineplex!???
Too many times the best films are reserved for art houses and limited releases. I was happily surprised to find "Girlfight" at the General Cinema down the block.
Make no mistake, this is NOT a woman's lib film, this is NOT an equality film. "Girlfight" is a film about the human spirit. Its a film about finding something to love in an otherwise bleak world. For Diana Guzman (Michelle Rodriguez) that world is an 11th floor apartment in a Brooklyn housing project, a miserable high school experience and the knowledge that her mother killed herself to escape any further beating at the hands of her father. The thing that she comes to love...is boxing. It makes no difference to her that it's a mans sport. There isn't a punch in the world that can compare to the punch in the gut that she feels everyday. Once she has found the one thing that makes her happy, Diana goes about proving that with a lot of sacrifice, hard work and total dedication anything is possible.
Michelle Rodriguez is wonderful as Diana. Her performance is filled with an inner rage and she comes across as wise beyond her years while maintaining the frozen innocence of a girl who lost her mother at a young age. Rodriguez portrays her character with an understanding that belies her experience. Perhaps her lack of acting experience is the key to the whole turn. A true breakout performance and it's only an unfortunate matter of time before Hollywood gets their hands on her. The true star of this film though is the filmmaker, Karyn Kusama. Kusama proves that you need not use million dollar pretty faces and big Hollywood stars to make a beautiful film. In fact, this movie would have fallen flat with a star in the lead. Kusama's direction gives "Girlfight" a beautiful look, the look of reality that is so hard to find at the General Cinema. It's not an "Oscar winning" movie, it doesn't have to be. "Girlfight" is what we need more of..quite simply a good film.
Scrapple (1998)
Peace, Love and Pigs in the Mountains of Colorado
"Scrapple" is a very well done and beautifully shot indie about a small time pot dealer who finds himself in over his head while trying to finance a humble house in a small Colorado hippie town to provide a better life for himself and his brother, a Vietnam vet who lives in a veterans hospital. Set in 1978, the film provides a look into the lives of a group of transient friends who have found a home sharing each others company in the town of Ajax, population 620. Well developed characters and a steadily moving plot-line keep the story going forward. And an outstanding soundtrack that features the considerable talent of Taj Mahal, Bob Weir and Jorma Kaukonen, to name a few, adds strongly to the beautiful, melancholy vibe of the film. I dug this film. Kudos to the Hanson brothers and I hope to see more from them.