Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999)

RATING:	60%
FORMAT:	DVD

(https://popbabble.wordpress.com)

Both the strength and the weakness of this movie lies in it being very easy to parody Whites - because of their superficial culture - and the fact that this provides very large and conspicuous targets for satire.

This makes the humor here rather broad and obvious (a White mother tries to ensure her daughter a beauty contest wins by murdering her opponents) because the creators are being a bit lazy in attacking someone so obviously ludicrous as White beauty pageants. Lacking the wit and insight of movies like Smile or Miss Congeniality, the film lounges around taking potshots at something even those involved in it often feel is somewhat tacky; leading to their defensiveness in defending such spectacles.

A very talented and sexy cast (especially Amy ADAMS, Kirstie ALLEY, Ellen BARKIN & Denise RICHARDS) is wasted in this mediocre flick because their characters lack depth. One is thankful that many of them went on to bigger and better things.

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Copyright © 2014 Frank TALKER. Permission granted to reproduce and distribute it in any format; provided that mention of the author’s Weblog (http://franktalker5.blogspot.co.uk) is included: E-mail notification requested. All other rights reserved.

Bound (1996)

RATING:	80%
FORMAT:	DVD

(www.cinemagia.ro)

Stylish Hitchcock pastiche with the unusual twist of openly-lesbian protagonists. Their mannered performances make the central couple’s relationship compelling although not entirely convincing.

However, here the accent is on subverting sexual-stereotypes for the heterosexual viewer – along with psychological plot twists-and-turns that make this thriller sexy, unpredictable and suspenseful.

That said, attempts at gallows humour fail to raise a laugh amid the deft and technically-accomplished direction. Nevertheless, this is an entertaining exploration of betrayal in sexual affairs and how they can become problematic when mediated by US$2,000,000 of Mafia money! The essential theme of loyalty in a world of Mafiosi – presents virtues that cannot possibly exist, of course, for such people. Thus, the movie quickly becomes a treatise on false loyalty and false trust with sex and violence as neurotic replacements for these things.

This is a good effort at something different albeit with an uncertain tone between comedy, suspense thrills and pornography. This jack of all trades sensibility demonstrates a lack of awareness of what the filmmakers are trying to achieve other than to prove that they can actually make a reasonably entertaining film.

Although the leading actresses are good, they are unable to get under the skin of their characters – presumably because they, themselves, are not homosexual. This is good fun and technically adept, but the script contains no insights into the sexuality on show.

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Copyright © 2014 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.

Hunky Dory (2011)

(www.teleman.pl)

Rating:

40%

Format:

DVD

Year:

2011

Predominant Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

White schoolchildren put on a musical at their school.

Themes:

Self-expression | Compassion | Totalitarianism

Similar Titles:

Unknown

Best Performances:

None

White film - ostensibly about self-expression - but really about psychological sublimation. This explains the passionless nature of the exclusively White music utilized on the soundtrack and by the characters.

White teenagers having to negotiate the politics of the move from White childhood to White (limited) adulthood – via adolescence - to the preferred state of emotional repression is never dramatically explored. Instead, points are scored about the White desire for “social alcoholism” (eg, social crutches like consuming alcohol to make others seem more likable) the resultant morbid dread of personal loneliness and the endemic hatred of soi-disant middle-class teachers for the lower-class charges. Nor is the fact that White psychological ontogeny is such a political minefield for Whites that emotional repression (eg, Political Correctness) becomes a simpler and inevitable alternative to objective reality.

If Whites are serious about self-expression - and the evidence of this movie is that they are not - then they have no choice but to finally abandon White music in favor of anything else.

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Copyright © 2014 Frank TALKER. Permission granted to reproduce and distribute it in any format; provided that mention of the author’s Weblog (http://franktalker5.blogspot.co.uk) is included: E-mail notification requested. All other rights reserved.

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009)

Rating: 60%



(www.fanpop.com)

Also Known As:

Unknown

Year:

2009

Country:

Predominant Genre:

Fantasy

Directors:

Outstanding Performances:

None

Premiss:

A town where food falls from the sky like rain.

Themes:

Emotional repression | Family | Identity | Narcissism | Personal change | Self-belief | Self-expression | Solipsism | White culture

Similar (in Plot, Theme or Style) to:

Review Format:

DVD

Yet another tail-wagging-the-dog CGI animation that is, nevertheless, rather good fun.

Because the technical wizardry is what this film is really all about, dramatic gimmicks are used to tell a story of inexpressive fathers and overcompensating sons. These issues are not resolved by emotional means, but by technology acting as a kind of deus ex machina.

The plotting is unintegrated into the drama and is simply designed to show off the special effects, as well as the superficial contrast between affectionate and emotionally-expressive parents and those who bottle-up their emotions - if indeed the latter possess any positive ones to begin with. Basic family issues remain totally unexplored because of the poor characterization; leading to the inevitable conclusion that strong, silent types remain silent for a reason: They have little to say. Much like the film itself.

Nevertheless, the movie is genuinely funny - with puns that children will love - as it focuses on the kinds of foods children want most: Chocolate, jelly, ice cream, cheeseburgers, etc. This Charlie & the Chocolate Factory sensibility is accompanied by the visual warning that if you eat too much you will either get fat, sick or both – much like the affect of watching too many movies like this.

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Copyright © 2014 Frank TALKER. Permission granted to reproduce and distribute this posting in any format; provided mention of the author’s Weblog (Esthetics) is included: E-mail notification requested. All other rights reserved.

Graine et le Mulet (2007)

Rating: 80%

(www.belbios.nl)

Also known as:

Secret of the Grain; Couscous

Year:

2007

Country:

Predominant Genre:

Drama

Director:

Best Performances:

Everyone

Plot:

At the port of Sète, a tired 60-year-old drags himself toward a shipyard job that has become more and more difficult to cope with as the years go by.

Themes:

Personal change | Self-expression | Compassion | Totalitarianism | Political Correctness | White supremacy

Similar To (in Plot, Theme or Style):

Unknown

Review Format:

DVD

Caucasian Fear of Assimilation & Integration

If overlong, this superb movie is about an assimilated culture struggling in a hostile environment against all the odds.

Food serves as a means of communicating that culture down the generations as if the very preparation, the food itself and its consumption transmitted civilization. (The cuisine is also an excellent specific for homesickness.)

(www.belbios.nl)

The ciné vérité style elicits naturalistic performances from all the performers and slowly draws you into their sometimes-fractious world. For these migrants, the restaurant business is not only a means of livelihood but also a way of keeping the links with their own culture very much open. This avoids the rootlessness of those tempted to fully embrace the indigenous culture.

(www.belbios.nl)

The themes of family, love and work provide enough nourishment for everyone with at least one of those things.

(www.belbios.nl)

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Copyright © 2014 Frank TALKER. Permission granted to reproduce and distribute this posting in any format; provided mention of the author’s Weblog (http://franktalker5.blogspot.co.uk) is included: E-mail notification requested. All other rights reserved.