Totally Inappropriate

We'll need to search you  - Pic courtesy of Magnolia Pictures

by blogSpotter

In the past 3 weeks I’ve been truly entertained by my movie choices -- each movie evoking greater heights of shock, outrage and yes -- titillation.  None of these 3 movies are Oscar caliber in any conventional sense but they all sent me to imdb.com and web discussion boards to glean more information about the actors and surrounding events.  Let me give a brief synopsis of each one.

COMPLIANCE - 2012

This is a small, independent movie -- Craig Zobel’s disturbing, painstakingly accurate retelling of an actual event.   A “police detective” calls the lady manager (a 50ish frump played by Ann Dowd) of a ChichWich fast food restaurant to inform her that a 19 year old girl cashier has been caught stealing in a sting operation.  The manager is to detain the cashier and search her for money in the back of the store.  What follows is a jaw-dropping escalation of invasive acts -- a strip search and next a body cavity search.  The acts are performed by a different series of employees to the instructions of a yet unidentified stranger on the phone. The movie shows in painful detail what horrifically stupid things people will do when directed by authority.   It is said that 25% of movie audiences walked out of the theater in initial viewings, and much anger was directed at Craig Zobel for showing what happened.  Sometimes, it hurts to think and it hurts to reconsider our own density.

WAKE IN FRIGHT - 1971  (Australian)

This movie stars Gary Bond as a public grade school teacher John Grant, working in the remote Outback.  The handsome, blond 30ish gent has to travel by train to Sydney across the holidays and stops in the rough-neck mining town of Bundanyabba along the way.   The town has a 10-to-1 ratio of men to women; the men spit, swagger, gamble, box kangaroos and drink alcohol every waking hour.   The town’s sheriff befriends John and tells him ambiguously that “Some chaps come here and they decide to never leave”.   John is at first aghast by the low-class ways of the townspeople but gets drawn in … He drinks himself senseless and then gambles away his paltry cash.   From here, John becomes indebted to a local middle-aged business owner and his band of odd yokel friends (and one nymphomaniac daughter).   The movie has a couple of climaxes if you will.   It shows an extremely brutal kangaroo hunt where these beautiful creatures are slaughtered.  That is a 10 minute segment that I would advise people to fast-forward past.   The Australian film registry has left the sequence in for its shock value, to enlighten people about the plight of kangaroos.  The last few scenes “go there” if you will to a place you knew it might be going.  I can actually see this movie remade in 2013 as a dark comedy.   Points of despair (as seen in 1971) would be points of extreme levity in my proposed 2013 redo.  I won’t give away the plot because this movie is a treasure that should be seen, not read about in a synopsis.

THE PAPERBOY - 2012

This movie, written and directed by Lee Daniels, is a southern gothic on steroids.  It’s a fast, furious collision of Mississippi Burning, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Night of the Hunter.  Set in the 1960’s, it’s the story of two liberal reporters trying to free a wrongly convicted death row inmate in Lately, Florida.  The movie has bondage, nymphomania, racism and homosexuality -- probably all within the first 10 minutes.  It has an all-star cast;  the stand-out performances are probably Nicole Kidman as the insatiable Charlotte and John Cusack as the horny and somewhat nasty Hillary Van Wetter.   But we really shouldn’t minimize the performance of Matthew McConaughey as the closeted sadomasochist and and Zac Efron as the sweet, sensible, heart-broken Jack Jansen.   

IN SUM

These, to me, are what movies are about. They grip and they entertain you.  They also slap, tease and possibly enrage you.  Without trying to deliver any “deep serious” message in a sealed envelope, they raise all manner of questions and points of discussion.  The Paperboy was dissed as a trashy melodrama but I beg to differ.   I’ve seen trashy, shallow flicks and this was something else. In these last few years, Netflix and Apple TV have given me a pass away from mainstream gloss, and into a cinematic land of thought-provoking magic.
        

© 2013 blogSpotter

Hourglass

Bethany and Chip  - Pic courtesy of Sassy Pictures

by blogSpotter

Welcome to my first blog of 2013... it’s been awhile since my last entry.  New Years is almost as painful now as a birthday -- a reminder that (to quote a soap opera intro) the days of our lives are like grains of sand in an hourglass.  With that happy observation, I’ll proceed.. Today’s entry is a mixed bag of retrospectives and a movie review.  

FACEBOOK SPAM
Retirees, housewives and the self-employed -- you know who you are. You’re on my friend list because I like you and want your unique viewpoints.  However I didn’t expect you to post an update every 3 minutes, all the livelong day.  I have 100+ FB friends and 5 of those dominate my news feed.. they have plastered my news feed with news about waking from a nap, making soup or walking a dog.  Another two feel the urgency to repost every YouTube cat video or Obama cartoon.   Please give it a rest!  If you can dial it back to one a day it gives someone else a chance to shine.  I’ll leave it at that.. don’t want to be “unfriended” after all  :-).

NAMES AND PLACES
Getting back to the age thing, I start to worry.  I have a boss from 20 years ago, and I can’t recall his last name.    Then there’s the branch manager who used to sit across from me until 6 months ago... Can’t remember his last name.   Alas, there is the project leader I had for 3 months in 2011 -- I have her last name but not the first.  It starts with a “P” I’m pretty sure.  It’s as if my brain has done a data purge on any name not in current use.   I’ll have a problem if I can’t remember my catch-all password or where I put my spare key. As my dentist would say, “Let’s put a watch on it”.   I don’t think I’m losing it, but we have that in my family history.

SASSY PANTS
I just watched a hilarious indie comedy titled Sassy Pants on Netflix.  It tells the story of Bethany, an 18 year old girl who’s effectively under house arrest by her recently divorced, domineering mother.   The mother, June Pruitt, is played by Anna Gunn (of Breaking Bad fame); her portrayal of an obsessive control-freak is extremely convincing.   Bethany “runs away” to her father who is newly out of the closet and living with his much younger boyfriend.  I won’t do a whole synopsis of the movie, but it has several twists and turns.  Bethany must navigate a brave new terrain of self-centered adults, mean girls, horny dudes and career upsets.  She happens to be a centered, honest, sweet person whose determination gets her through all the ups and downs. If you haven’t seen Haley Joel Osment in a while, he’ll be unrecognizable in this movie.   His portrayal of Chip is amazing and I’ll leave it at that.

STARBUCKS @ LEMON AND KNIGHT AND ELEANOR RIGBY
I’m in a crowded, wet Starbucks on a Saturday night.  The USA is having “freak show” weather this week -- San Diego is having ice storms while Washington DC is having short-sleeve, balmy weather.   Dallas is on the dividing line -- we had 72 degrees yesterday and it’s a blustery wet 40 degrees today.  I get an Arctic blast with each customer coming in.  Am now scanning across the crowd ..I see a few students, but mostly disheveled middle aged geeks such as myself reading, blogging or checking emails on social network sites.  Most fall into that last category. All the lonely people, where do they all come from.          

CHROMEBOOK DOWNSIDE
For some reason, blog2print couldn’t correctly format the two blogs I did using Chromebook. I know there’s a connection but I’ll investigate it later.   The Chromebook couldn’t find Starbuck’s attwifi network without a lot of cajoling and rebooting.   That’s a little jarring since it doesn't even function without a wifi connection.  I finally got it to connect but am not liking what it took. I guess my dour, chilly wet observations tonight are enough to suffice as a kickoff to 2013.   Hoping you and yours have a drier, more comfy year than I’m experiencing on this winter’s eve.

© 2013 blogSpotter