Movies, both somewhat good and somewhat bad
So I (re)saw V for Vendetta this weekend. The good points and bad points of it were more striking this time around. Anyway, some associates of mine have been very insistant on the idea that it raises a lot of interesting questions. With that in mind, I have a few questions of my own. Cinecast brought a lot of them up in words that I couldn't quite find to describe the complete and total lack of doom that the evil government represented.
1. What the hell is so oppressive about this regime? Okay, yes, there's curfew, and they all have TVs in their houses. Other than that, they seemed to, you know, kind of live normally. I'm sure some people will insist that this is to show the people's complacency, but I just can't shake the feeling that they just didn't have the balls (or brains) to make the society seem as oppressive or threatening as 1984. Apparently the oppressive governments of the future keep the working man down by installing large flat-screen TVs in everyone's homes that will turn on, from time to time, with the High Chancellor spewing crap. I think I could live with that for the flat-screen.
2. Why the hell would Deitrich tempt fate? Okay, so we have Deitrich, a fairly likeable character. He has a Qu'ran in his house, and some softcore gay porn, both of which would get him locked away. He's also housing the second-most wanted fugitive in all of England. So what does he do to keep a low-profile? Why, make an inflammatory broadcast for no good reason. And rather than defend it on principle, this deluded ass says "what are they going to do, we have the highest rated show on the tele!" To me, it seems like if this regime was all that oppressive, he would know better, or at least show a little more fear when he did something so monumentally stupid at a monumentally stupid time for the expressed purpose of getting Evey caught so that the plot had somewhere to go.
3. What, are all those audience members morons? And speaking of his little show, the audience and actors played along. I could maybe, maybe swallow that Deitrich was an idiot and underestimated the offense of his show, but how could that many people randomly get together and be that dumb?
4. "Resignation?" So here we have V. He's avoided capture for nearly a year. He's made the government a laughing stock. He's created strife and upheaval and may disrupt the delicate balance of the oppressive (ha ha!) regime. So in his rage, what does the High Chancellor threaten? Well, he'll force you to resign, apparently. He won't even fire you, but you had better get those resignation papers done within 48 hours to put in your two weeks notice, or oh man, you are so screwed. C'mon people! This is what's done in medium to large sized corporations to let an inept manager save face, not oppressive regimes! The word "obituary" would've been a tad more effective.
But my minor gripes aside, it still got a B+, and was no where nearly as bad as...
The Ice Harvest (2005)
An attempted dark comedy that fails on nearly every level. Doesn't sustain interest, doesn't sustain laughs, seems to have no point, no direction, no plot, and no script. The part of me that loves John Cusack's performances makes me wonder why he keeps signing up for this stuff, but his charm kept me from giving it a rating below 6 (which would officially be called "shittacular"). He saves it from this fate and settles it in a nice, solid point of "mediocre."
Score: **
I'll be reserving KH2, probably sometime tomorrow. No, I did not escape the hype machine.
1. What the hell is so oppressive about this regime? Okay, yes, there's curfew, and they all have TVs in their houses. Other than that, they seemed to, you know, kind of live normally. I'm sure some people will insist that this is to show the people's complacency, but I just can't shake the feeling that they just didn't have the balls (or brains) to make the society seem as oppressive or threatening as 1984. Apparently the oppressive governments of the future keep the working man down by installing large flat-screen TVs in everyone's homes that will turn on, from time to time, with the High Chancellor spewing crap. I think I could live with that for the flat-screen.
2. Why the hell would Deitrich tempt fate? Okay, so we have Deitrich, a fairly likeable character. He has a Qu'ran in his house, and some softcore gay porn, both of which would get him locked away. He's also housing the second-most wanted fugitive in all of England. So what does he do to keep a low-profile? Why, make an inflammatory broadcast for no good reason. And rather than defend it on principle, this deluded ass says "what are they going to do, we have the highest rated show on the tele!" To me, it seems like if this regime was all that oppressive, he would know better, or at least show a little more fear when he did something so monumentally stupid at a monumentally stupid time for the expressed purpose of getting Evey caught so that the plot had somewhere to go.
3. What, are all those audience members morons? And speaking of his little show, the audience and actors played along. I could maybe, maybe swallow that Deitrich was an idiot and underestimated the offense of his show, but how could that many people randomly get together and be that dumb?
4. "Resignation?" So here we have V. He's avoided capture for nearly a year. He's made the government a laughing stock. He's created strife and upheaval and may disrupt the delicate balance of the oppressive (ha ha!) regime. So in his rage, what does the High Chancellor threaten? Well, he'll force you to resign, apparently. He won't even fire you, but you had better get those resignation papers done within 48 hours to put in your two weeks notice, or oh man, you are so screwed. C'mon people! This is what's done in medium to large sized corporations to let an inept manager save face, not oppressive regimes! The word "obituary" would've been a tad more effective.
But my minor gripes aside, it still got a B+, and was no where nearly as bad as...
The Ice Harvest (2005)
An attempted dark comedy that fails on nearly every level. Doesn't sustain interest, doesn't sustain laughs, seems to have no point, no direction, no plot, and no script. The part of me that loves John Cusack's performances makes me wonder why he keeps signing up for this stuff, but his charm kept me from giving it a rating below 6 (which would officially be called "shittacular"). He saves it from this fate and settles it in a nice, solid point of "mediocre."
Score: **
I'll be reserving KH2, probably sometime tomorrow. No, I did not escape the hype machine.