Thursday 18 December 2014

Tropic Thunder
(2008)

RATING:60%
FORMAT:DVD

Black Like Me

Clever (rather than funny) movie that both parodies Hollywood film clichés and satirizes Hollywood production practices. The jokes are explained rather than delivered - with numbingly-repetitive effect.

This particular parody is little better than what it parodies; revealing that this comedy is not really about anything much outside of itself and is, therefore, wholeheartedly self-indulgent and narcissistic. The satire aspect is more pointed than the parody, but never seriously criticizes the fact that Hollywood makes so few great films (nor why); save to elicit a powerhouse performance from Tom Cruise.

The other standout here is Robert Downey, Jr as an actor so neurotically-obsessed with role authenticity that he actually comes to think he is Black. The rest of the film lacks this shrewd satire (on Whites’ view of Blacks).

Copyright © 2009 Frank TALKER. Permission granted to reproduce and distribute it in any format; provided that mention of the author’s Weblog (http://franktalker5.blogspot.com) is included: E-mail notification requested. All other rights reserved.
Posted by Frank TALKER™ at 15:21
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Science:



No science is immune to the infection of politics and the corruption of power.



Jacob Bronowski… (1908 - 74), British scientist, author. Encounter (London, July 1971).


Sleep of Reason:



The dream of reason produces monsters. Imagination deserted by reason creates impossible, useless thoughts. United with reason, imagination is the mother of all art and the source of all its beauty.



Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes… (1746-1828), Spanish painter. Caption to Caprichos, number 43, a series of eighty etchings completed in 1798, satirical and grotesque in form.


Humans & Aliens:



I am human and let nothing human be alien to me.



Terence… (circa 190-159 BC), Roman dramatist. Chremes, in The Self-Tormentor [Heauton Timorumenos], act 1, scene 1.


Führerprinzip:



One leader, one people, signifies one master and millions of slaves… There is no organ of conciliation or mediation interposed between the leader and the people, nothing in fact but the apparatus - in other words, the party - which is the emanation of the leader and the tool of his will to oppress. In this way the first and sole principle of this degraded form of mysticism is born, the Führerprinzip, which restores idolatry and a debased deity to the world of nihilism.



Albert Camus… (1913-60), French-Algerian writer & philosopher. The Rebel: An Essay on Man in Revolt: New York: Vintage Books, (1984; page 182.)