Star Wars Holiday Special (1978)

The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978)

Director: Steve Binder, David Acomba

Cast: Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew, Kenny Baker, James Earl Jones, Bea Aurthur, Art Cagney, Diahann Carroll, Harvey Korman

The Star Wars Holiday Special, which aired on American television during Christmas Season way back in 1978 is a page of Star Wars history that a lot of fans, including George Lucas himself, prefer you’d pass on and not even look at, which of course will make you want to watch this “forbidden fruit” even more. It’s hatred is evident by the fact that it’s never been released on VHS, DVD or Blueray. Hell, this thing didn’t even make to Betamax! There’s no love from George Lucas for this thing. I decided to give it a proper chance once again, because I was going to conduct a screening of it for a Star Wars Parody Night thing I did. The screening consisted on the mother of all Star Wars parodies: Spaceballs (1986), followed by some funny Star War themed short films and finally the Star Wars Holiday Special (1978). Half way through the screening of the Star Wars Holiday Special, I was strangely hypnotized by it and so was the rest of the audience! I guess, when watched under the right mood, this thing isn’t as bad as everyone paints it to be. Plus there's the nostalgia factor and the fact that its like a time capsule from the 1970's. But it’s still bad, there’s no way around it. It’s an odd bird.

The story takes place as Han and Chewie are on their way to Kashyyyk (that’s Chewies home planet for you non Star Wars fans) but on the way there, they get attacked by a couple of imperial spaceships, which sets their journey to Kashyyyk back a bit. So Chewie’s family is worried because he hasn’t returned. Chewie’s wife Malla is all sad and impatient so she decides to give good old Luke Skywalker a call. Luke tries to calm her down by telling her not to worry, that everything will be alright. To top things off Chewie is trying to make it back home before a Wookie holiday called ‘Life Day’, which is the Wookie equivalent of Christmas. Will Chewie make it back to Kashyyyk for Life Day? Sure it’s weird seeing Chewbacca being a family man, with a kid, a wife and a grandpa waiting for him back home. At the same time, within the context of a holiday movie, it complies with the requirement of being endearing and family oriented, which means it has a lot of crying, singing and hugging.  Strange part is that all these tender moments clash with the weird ass what the hell moments, all of which I will go into right now for your reading pleasure.

Chewie's kid, Lumpy

First up, we get introduced to Chewbacca’s family composed of Malla, Chewie's wife, Chewie's kid is a little Wookie kid who goes by the name of Lumpy. Lumpy likes to play with his wookie toys and eats his wookie moms cookies. Then we have Itchy, the grumpy Wookie grandpa. The whole idea is just hilarious to me. We get about a whole half hour of the three Wookies just talking in grunts the way Chewbacca does. Ever wanted to see Chewbacca’s wife watching a weird ass cooking show, so she can cook her holiday meal? Look no further, it’s here! The thing about this holiday special is that it has a lot of comedians and acts that are no longer relevant today, so new watchers will be totally lost as to who Harvey Korman was and the fact that it’s supposed to be a ‘funny’ moment in the show, but it’s cool because the funny catches you by surprise. I must admit the whole bit with the cooking ‘lady’ who has four arms got a couple of giggles from me, ultimately, it feels kind of pointless! What the hell does this have to do with Star Wars or anything? Absolutely nothing! It’s just filler, something funny to put on the screen, like most of the things you’ll see on this special.

There are a lot of moments on this Holiday Special in which characters sit down to look at something on a screen and then we get to watch what they are watching, this happens all the time and its where the entertaining side of this Holiday Special comes in. We have a moment in which Lumpy, Chewie’s kid, looks at holographic images of circus performers who look like something out of Cirque du Soleil. It looks cool and all, and the music is trippy, but again, it goes on and on and then goes nowhere. Actually, this Holiday Special is made of a lot of trippy, sort of surreal moments strung up together. You might feel like you’re under the influence of mind altering drugs. I’m not the first to suggest that this whole special might have been made by a sentient bag of cocaine.

There’s no trippier what the hell moment than the one in which Itchy, Chewie’s dad opens up his holiday gift and it’s this virtual reality disk that contains a performance by 70’s singer/actress Diahann Carroll. The holographic entity called ‘Mermeia Holographic Wow’ is sort of a holographic projection of all of grandpa Wookie’s sexual desires; I’m not making this shit up! The hologram tells grandpa Itchy: “I am your fantasy. I am your experience. So experience me. I am your pleasure. Enjoy me. This is our moment together in time that we may turn this moment into an eternity. ” She then proceeds to sing and dance a sexy song, which I must admit was alluring in a 70’ sort of way. Her performance is filled with all these old school television level visual effects, hypnotizing in a way; certainly one of the best things about this Holiday Special. The problem is that immediately after watching this scene, you realize this show is supposed to be for kids?!  It also makes you think of why would an aging Wookie have sexual fantasies with a human female and not a Wookie female! But whatever. No logic on this thing whatsoever.

Then Lumpy, the Wookie kid, starts watching cartoons and we are treated to an animated segment that I didn’t understand very well because it’s not very well written, but it amazed me from an animation stand point. It included all the major Star Wars characters battling monsters in an alien planet called Panna. They were after some sort of magical talisman. This animated segment is valuable within the Star Wars cannon because it’s the first appearance of Bobba Fett in the Star Wars universe. That’s right my friends, the first time Bobba Fett popped up in Star Wars, was in animated form! Anyways, the drawings were sort of like something out of a Moebius comic book, at least in style. Which I dug a lot. I wonder how psyched little Lumpy must be to see his own father in a cartoon show?! After that we jump into a scene in which imperial guards enter Chewie’s house and start harassing the family, looking for rebels. One of the guards asks about an apparatus that on the table. When they show him what it is, it’s basically a television, when they turn it on, the Imperial Guard literally becomes hypnotized by a Jefferson Starship performance! Picture the lead singers microphone looking like a lightsaber with a bunch of purple, throbbing circular lights emanating throughout the performance and you’ll get a gist of what to expect!

Then we have another comedic relief moment that takes place in the Mos Eisley Cantina, with one of the Golden Girls (Bea Arthur) singing a sad song about the Empire closing down her bar. Who would’ve thought that one of the Golden Girls is the owner of the Mos Eisley Cantina?! Anyhow, the whole scene involves her trying to get rid of the last customers as they drink their last drink. More padding, but I guess it shows the oppressive arm of the Empire, pressing down on the people. Also, we see a lot of the aliens we saw in Star Wars: A New Hope (1977) making a cameo, we gotta remember that this came out only a year after Star Wars was released, what they did for this scene was simply re-use the monsters leftover from the first movie. Then we get more funny stuff with Harvey Korman performing as a robot instructor giving Lumpy instructions on how to build one of his toys? Totally pointless, but again, kind of trippy because the malfunctioning robot starts to talk really slow and then they make it look like his malfunctioning by rewinding and fast forwarding the footage. It certainly makes you think “what the hell were they thinking?!” 

Then we go back to the whole story about Chewie returning and we get the whole gang back together celebrating Earth Day with Chewie and his family and a bunch of Wookies all dressed in Red Gowns.  If that isn’t weird enough, then Princess Leia starts singing a song to the Wookies. Just imagine the Star Wars theme song, but with lyrics about Life Day! Sang by Carrie Fisher. At the end of the day, this movie is all about Chewie, who ends up looking like the hero of the show, protecting his family from Imperial Trooper by throwing them down the balcony of his home. Chewie is a hero of the rebels and a good husband and father! Wow, what an over achiever!  After that, it’s all party and surrealism as we are shown a series of montage of Chewies best moments from Star Wars: A New Hope (1977). Then Chewie and his family eat dinner together and then disappear into some sort of magical trippy star…or something. It looks like they are walking to heaven or something, walking into the light.  So yeah, that’s the whole thing. Lucas didn’t have much to do with this, obviously. He hates it. The special has never been rebroadcast or released on any sort of media. But thank god for the internet, now you can watch it on YouTube and marvel at its awfulness. Or trippiness? You be the judge. Someone sitting next to me during the screening said that they made this Holiday Special for potheads. I’m thinking I agree entirely.

Rating: 2 out of 5 

Inherent Vice (2014)

Title: Inherent Vice (2014)

Director: Paul Thomas Anderson

Cast: Joaquin Phoenix , Josh Brolin, Benicio del Toro, Martin Short, Owen Wilson, Reese Witherspoon, Katherine Waterston, Eric Roberts, Maya Rudolph

Paul Thomas Anderson is one of those film directors who never miss; he’s on my “pitch perfect directors” list, right next to Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu and Stanley Kubrick. These are directors who never disappoint me, even when they’re making one of their lesser films. Boogie Nights (1997)? There Will Be Blood (2007)? Punch Drunk Love (2002)? All amazing and engrossing Paul Thomas Anderson films; interesting part is that they are all vastly different films thematically and tone wise, yet one thing brings them together: they all have strong main characters, which I think is what Anderson specializes in, making films with strong, driven characters who will leave a lasting impression on you. He distills the most amazing performances from his actors, and he’s done it yet again in Inherent Vice. Anderson has created yet another memorable character in the form of ‘Doc Larry Sportello’. Inherent Vice gives us an amazing collaboration between actor, author and filmmaker, the result is a film with the makings of a bona fide cult classic.

Now I haven’t read Pynchon’s Inherent Vice (I’ll be correcting that soon) so I literally didn't know what to expect from this film. I’d read a few reviews that said that the film has an incomprehensible story,  others said it was their least favorite Paul Thomas Anderson film, others would praise it as the next Fear andLoathing in Las Vegas (1998), all these opposing views got me all fired up to see Inherent Vice. On which side would I fall on? Something told me I’d love it, it had all the indicators of awesomeness.  I was expecting a convoluted lovable mess, which is I think a good way to describe this film. So yeah, this is a polarizing film, it will divide audiences, some will love it to death (like me) some will leave the film feeling like they just smoked a doobie. While I watched it, a woman behind me said “I don’t get it”, the visceral reply in my mind was “you idiot!”, in the real world, I couldn’t help letting out an involuntary giggle. This personal anecdote best exemplifies what will surely happen in any given theater with this movie.   

I don’t blame anybody for not “getting it”, this movie can be confusing. Characters keep popping up and the story seems to twist and twist with every coming scene, which is the way it’s supposed to be. I think the best way I can describe the experience of watching this film is like reading a Chuck Palahniuk novel. Excuse me for my literary comparison, but it’s the first thing that popped into my mind while watching this movie. You see, in my experience, when I start reading a Chuck Palahniuk book (he’s the author of Fight Club and Choke) I always feel a little lost. Each chapter starts a little incomprehensible, but as you read on things get clearer and clearer, by the ending of the chapter, poof, everything makes perfect sense. This is how Inherent Vice unfolds. When the film ends you’ll feel that it really wasn't as confusing as you had thought, suddenly everything clicks! But ultimately, I guess what this film must really capture is the experience of reading Thomas Pynchon's book, which I haven't done yet. I guess Palahniuk and Pynchon come from the similar literary universe. But here’s a trick to enjoying this movie, don’t try to follow it so much, simply enjoy the crazy characters and situations, because I think that’s really what this movie is about, experiencing the crazy ass moments that unfold and the visuals, which are entertaining and beautiful to look at.

Paul Thomas Anderson drew inspiration from many places to make this film, aside from Thomas Pynchon's novel, Anderson has stated that Inherent Vice has a little bit of Gilbert Shelton’s ‘The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers’ an underground comic from the 70’s and the Cheech and Chong movies. Inherent Vice can be categorized as a Stoner Film, though I wouldn't recommend watching it stoned, it will only mess with your chances of “getting it”, the movie is already trippy enough as it is! With the character of Doc Sportello, we get yet another memorable cinematic stoner, ranking right up there with Cheech and Chong, ‘The Dude’ and Jeff Spicoli. Doc Sportello is smoking weed literally throughout the entire film, and you’ll feel that haziness, you’ll feel that care free who gives a shit vibe in Inherent Vice. In many ways, this is the ultimate stoner film. But like some of the Cheech and Chong movies, cocaine use also works its way into the story. In fact, if there are two movies that Inherent Vice shares its DNA with it’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998) and The Big Lebowski (1998). Fear and Loathing because of its constant drug use and overall trippy vibe and The Big Lebowski because Doc Sportello feels like The Dudes long lost brother. 

A distinctive quality of Inherent Vice is how accurately Paul Thomas Anderson managed to capture that counter culture vibe from the 70’s where everyone was always high, had long hair, wore shades at all times, a time when everyone gathered around to philosophize, everyone believed in “good vibes” and in Ouija boards. I loved that whole relaxed breezy vibe the film elicits. There are scenes that take place in beach side communities filled with hippies and beautiful sunsets…loved that whole sit back and relax vibe that is a constant throughout the whole film. You will be transported to the 70’s, an era that Paul Thomas Anderson is apparently obsessed with; he also brought it to life to perfection in Boogie Nights (1997), one of Anderson’s best films. In fact, Anderson is so 70’s he even shot Inherent Vice on film! Personally, I immediately noticed the difference in look, there’s something about films shot on film. The images look so much better, the colors have richness; the definition is far superior than anything shot on digital. I am forever in love with films shot on actual film. Tarantino and Anderson are both on my good side for still doing it. 

  

Anderson is one of those “serious” directors, even when he’s films are funny, they are somehow disturbing. I mean, look at Punch Drunk Love (2002). There’s no doubt the film is hilarious, but it’s not slapstick, har har har slap on your knees funny, it’s dark, twisted funny. The main character is a complete anti-social nut job! The same can be said of Inherent Vice, it’s a dark sort of funny. You see this movie is about sex, drugs and hedonism. The movie will be hilarious, but only to those who enjoy black, acid comedies that are funny because of how fucked up the situations are. What type of comedy am I talking about here? Well, for example, there’s this moment in which Doc Sportello visits a spiritual retreat in which everyone's tripping out on some sort of high; a commune for spiritual trippers. At one point, someone orders a bunch of pizaas and as the camera pans back we start seeing how the scene resembles Davinci’s ‘The Last Supper’ with Sportello as Jesus, and pizzas instead of bread and wine and it's just hilarious! Again, this scene will probably be hilarious to a select few. Side note, I’m going to give this movie the award for “sexiest scene of the year” and the scene I’m referring to is a scene with the beautiful Katherine Waterston seducing Doc Sportello, holy moly, what an erotic scene. Made me shiver with antici…pation! So anyhow, final words are this movie is awesome for the many reasons stated above, the awesome cast, which peppers the film with awesome little moments acted out by great actors. Keep your eyes open for Martin Short. But again, this film is made for a select audience, it will not appeal to everyone. Which group will you fall under?

Rating: 5 out of 5 

This Is The End (2013)

Title: This Is The End (2013)

Director: Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg

Cast: James Franco, Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel, Jonah Hill, Danny McBride, Craig Robinson

Review:

You all know Seth Rogen as the actor behind such films as Knocked Up (2007) and Superbad (2007). He’s currently enjoying a high point in his career working alongside people like Joseph Gordon Levitt, Michelle Williams, Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Cameron Diaz, Christoph Waltz and even Barbara Streisand. Rogen has also worked with many renowned filmmakers and directors; but one thing you may not know about Rogen is that he himself writes and produces films. He is as active behind the camera as he is in front of it. Often times, Rogen collaborates with his writing buddy Evan Goldberg, with whom he has collaborated in writing films like Superbad (2007). Each of them has branched into the entertainment business in their own way, Rogen in the writing acting department, while Goldberg more on the writing producing department, but they always end up working together again. When they wrote Superbad, a teenage comedy which went on to become a smash hit, they decided their next film was going to be called Jay and Seth vs. the Apocalypse. This film would be about two friends who end up locked up inside of an apartment as the apocalypse is occurring outside, the two guys end up hating each other. They wrote it, shot a little trailer for it and then put it on You Tube. As of today, it’s been viewed by more than 630,000 people! So anyhow, they shopped their project around, found someone to back it up and voila! We have This Is The End, a film both written and directed by Seth Rogen and his pal Evan Goldberg. It’s obvious this was a dream project of theirs, so, how was it?

The interesting part about This Is The End is that all the actors that appear in it are playing themselves. So Seth Rogen is Seth Rogen, James Franco is James Franco and so forth. This of course isn’t entirely true because these actors are playing exaggerated or even alternate versions of themselves. But still, I gotta say it’s a fun gimmick imagining that Danny McBride is that much of an asshole. So anyways, the idea is that James Franco is putting on this party of the century type of deal where all these famous actors and performers are attending. So you’ll see Michael Cera doing lines of coke and slapping Rihanna’s ass! There’s Christopher Mintz-Plasse! There’s Paul Rudd! There’s Aziz Ansari and so forth. This part of the film is jam packed with cameos, which is fun. Even Jason Segel shows up at one point. So there’s a moment in the night where Rogen and Baruchel decide to go out to buy a pack of cigarettes when suddenly, the end of the world begins. What is triggering the end of the world? Why is blue light sucking people up to the heavens? Why is the earth opening and swallowing people up? Could this be the ‘judgment day’ that the bible talks so much about?

So yeah, the concept is that God has finally brought the end of the world upon humanity, so it’s up to these guys to figure out how they can get into heaven because apparently god didn’t think they were worthy. This is an awesome concept because I’ve always wondered how the biblical end of the world would look like. In my mind it was way more epic then what we see in This Is The End, but that has to do with the fact that This Is The End takes place almost entirely inside of James Franco’s house! This to me is one of the elements that makes this film so much fun because you hear these guys saying things like “Let’s make a sequel to Pineapple Express” and then they go on about what they actually want to do with that sequel, while smoking a joint! “We should make sequels to all our movies!” Funny, funny stuff. I loved how each of the characters takes on a persona, McBride is the hateful asshole, James Franco hates McBride, but loves Rogen. Jay Baruchel is the anti-social dude, Michael Cera is the out of line coke head. So it’s fun having all these guys partying their brains out, and then having to deal with surviving the apocalypse. That’s a double dose of funny situations.

Many will find this film extremely offensive, and it’s mostly to do with the fact that the film makes fun of all sorts of Christian beliefs. It’s the kind of film that takes all that mythology from the bible and turns it into one big fat joke, kind of like Paul (2011) did. In my opinion, this serves as a way to show just how ridiculous some of these ideas presented in the bible can get. For example, the film plays with this whole notion of ‘the rapture’. This is the event in which supposedly god takes the good people of the earth up to heaven with him while leaving the sinners down here to rot in a hell on earth. In the film, a blue beam of light sort of beams you up to heaven, kind of the way they beam you up in a Star Trek movie. Watching all this I was thinking how silly and hilarious it all is! But then you realize this isn’t so far from what the bible actually teaches! I mean all of the animals in the world fit into one boat? So you go up to heaven and you get a halo on top of your head? Come on! Eve actually talks to a snake! What? And let’s not forget the dragons with seven heads! If all these ideas sound fantastic to you, then you should know they all come out of the bible! Rogen and Goldberg take these ideas and put them in their movie and make you realize damn, this stuff’s actually funny! When James Franco is being beamed up to heaven is one of the most hilarious things in the movie, you gotta see it, I dare you not to laugh. While watching This Is The End I got a Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey (1990) vibe from it because same as that movie, the main characters go both to heaven and hell and they both offer us hilarious versions of these mythical places. In This Is The End heaven is one big ass party, but I ain’t gonna spoil it for you.

Aside from having fun with Christian beliefs, the film is also extremely graphic in nature. Not just with its jokes, but with its depiction of gore. For example, there’s only one porno mag in the whole house, and these five dudes have to survive the apocalypse with it, so I guess they take turns using it? Point is at one point a fight breaks out between Franco and McBride because McBride jizzed all over the magazine! This is just an example of how crazy the jokes can get, if you like your comedy cute and cuddly don’t go see this movie. If on the other hand you like your comedy raunchy, then you’re in for a treat. I read that while making this film, almost every actor (except James Franco) at one point said they wouldn’t do something because it was too crazy. I mean, Emma Watson herself stepped out of the movie half way because she thought the ideas were too crazy. She was actually supposed to be in the movie a lot more, but bowed out because she couldn’t take it. Hey, if you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen! So that lets you know this one will test your limits of good taste. And then there’s the gore, which is plentiful and hilarious! Ever wanted to see someone play football with some dudes decapitated head? Then this is the movie for you!

How cool was it to have all these funny guys together on the same film? I mean, this is the kind of comedy I love, where they put a bunch of funny dudes together in one movie and see what happens. Obviously there was a lot of improvisation on this film, its part of what I love about movies like this one. I mean, you can tell these were really just a bunch of friends getting together having fun making a movie. I’m sure it must have been pretty difficult to keep a straight face while shooting some of these scenes. One idea did pop into my head; maybe it should be this team of comedians that takes a stab at a Ghostbusters reboot? It would be hilarious to seethese dudes playing Peter, Eagon, Ray and Winston, but alas, that’s just me pipe dreaming. But you gotta admit it would be cool wouldn’t it?

So yeah my friends, this movie is all over the place! It’s extreme, it’s funny, it’s gory, and these characters curse like sailors even when in heaven! “Welcome to heaven motherfuckers!” Yes, this film is rated ‘R’ and don’t you forget it! I was surprised there weren’t any topless girls in this movie; it was all that was missing really. When I went to see this one, half of the theater was laughing, the other half was sitting uncomfortable in their chairs, so it’s a divisive movie. My guess is that the conservative half, the half that goes to church every Sunday was about ready to leave the theater, while the other half were laughing their asses off, I was of course laughing my ass off. After all, if there is a God, he’s gotta have a sense of humor right? I mean, he created George W. Bush didn’t he? So my advice is just go see this one with an open mind, ready to be offended, you just might find yourself having a good time.

Rating: 4 out of 5 

Ted (2012)

Title: Ted (2012)

Director: Seth McFarlane

Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis, Seth McFarlane, Giovanni Ribisi, Sam J. Jones  

                                              

Review:

When Ted was first released in theaters, I totally ignored it because I thought it was going to be a stupid movie, a one trick pony about a Teddy bear doing all sorts of obscene stuff. And while it was that, it was also much more than that and I’m sorry I missed this super funny movie in theaters, I totally underestimated, my bad.  Still, I managed to laugh just as much in the comfort of my home and so I’m here to say that if like me you thought Ted was going to be a sucky movie and haven’t seen it yet, then give it a chance, you’re missing out on a truly funny movie.

Story is all about this kid named John who is a social outcast; his class mates make fun of him and he is lonely most of the time, which is why he ends up talking to his teddy bear. Like many kids at that age, when they got no friends, they make up one. One night, John wishes upon a star. His wish is that Teddy would be real, so he could talk to him like a real person. To his surprise, his wish comes true; his Teddy bear has come to life! Fast forward thirty years and John is now an adult and his Teddy bear still talks! In fact, John and Ted are best buds, they smoke weed, drink and party together. They are inseparable.  Problem is that John’s girlfriend Lori (Mila Kunis) wants’ more out of their relationship and gives John and ultimatum: her or Ted.

The most relevant thing about Ted are the themes it plays with. Yeah we have a little Teddy smoking weed and cursing like a sailor, but at its core Ted is a movie about growing up, leaving behind childish comfort zones and facing responsibilities head on. Sometimes, people don’t want to face the often times overbearing responsibilities of adult hood. Some would just rather party all the time, like that stupid ass  Eddie Murphy song. To some, responsibilities loom heavily on the horizon, threatening to end all their fun in life, so they ignore them and party as much as they can. Problem is that, if you don’t face these responsibilities and ignore them instead, then you’re hiding away from growing up, you remain a child forever, hence the term “Peter Pan Syndrome” a term commonly used in the world of psychiatry for people who just don’t want to grow up. These are people who are afraid to face anything that threatens their comfort zone. They don’t want to hear their parents, girlfriend, or friends telling them to “do something with your life”. Basically, people like this shun away anything that questions or threatens anything in their comfort zone. People who suffer from this state of mind, shun the rest of the world because they don’t want to face it, they feel inadequate facing others who have moved on with their lives.

John, the character played by Mark Wahlberg isn’t so far down the rabbit whole, he’s at least managed to get himself a beautiful girlfriend played by Mila Kunis, and he wants to become an adult even though he is already 35 years old. He has fallen into that gutter where your life is essentially going nowhere. But his girl is willing to give him a chance, and John at least demonstrates a desire to stand up for himself and become a man; which of course includes one of the biggest responsibilities imposed by society on any human being: marriage! The ultimate compromise! Can John grow up, get married and become a man? That all depends on him leaving his child like things behind, his comfort zones which include smoking weed, drinking like a mad man and watching movies. The problem with these things is not that John does them, it’s that they are the only things he does with his life. It’s all about that delicate balancing act, work hard and then you can party hard. But it can’t all be party! John at least admits that he is 35 and “going nowhere”. So this is a movie about a man who has to stop wasting his life away. The problem is Ted the talking Teddy bear. This little talking Teddy represents that friend that doesn’t want to stop partying, the facilitator of mirth, the one that always calls you up to hang out and party like there’s no tomorrow. According to the film, this type of friend can be detrimental to a person, because they are the kind of friends who won’t let you move on with their lives, who will drag you down with them into their own neverland.  

   

But you have to admit; sometimes a good party has a strong pull! And in this film the party is not only filled with babes, drugs and alcohol, it also counts with the presence of Sam J. Jones, the actor who played Flash Gordon ("Quarter Back, New York Jets!") in Mike Hodges’s Flash Gordon (1980)! This was the coolest joke in the movie for me because I am a fan of that particular Flash Gordon film, it’s so campy, so flashy, so cheesy, but oh so very fun! Thing is that this Flash Gordon joke is a running gag throughout the whole freaking movie so I was laughing like a mad man every step of the way. Take it from me; if you’re a fan of that Flash Gordon film, with Queen singing “Flash! AaaAaaaaa he’ll save everyone one of us!” then you are in for a special treat with Ted.

"Look Flash, there's Tim Burton blast him away with your laser cannon!"

Ted can be categorized as a “guy’s film” which is basically the kind of movie a guy will want to play for all his buds in his man cave, drinking beers and eating pizza, though woman can also identify with the film since it is a woman that is pushing John to make all these changes in his life. The theme of commitment in a relationship is also one that women will find interesting. Though if they want to see the female verison of this film, then I urge them to check out Young Adult (2011) starring Charleze Theron which plays with similar themes but from a females point of view. Word of warning to those who can’t take a raunchy jokes, the film does indulge into its fare share of vulgar jokes that I’m sure many will find offensive, but again, Gene Simmons definition of success shines through:  “offend as many people as possible”.  This film might have had a Teddy Bear smoking weed, drinking beers and attempting to have sex (even though he has no penis!), yet still, the film went on to make more than 500 million dollars at the box office! So a ‘congratulations’ is in order for first time director Seth McFarlane. Making such a huge hit his first time out is always something good, let’s see if he can duplicate it with his next one, which no doubt we will be seeing sometime soon. I’m sure the success of Ted has Hollywood knocking on his door as I type this.

Rating:  5 out of 5 

The original 'Flash Jump'! 

Class of Nuke 'Em High (1986)

Title: Class of Nuke ‘Em High (1986)

Directors: Richard W. Haines, Lloyd Kaufman

Review:

Class of Nuke ‘Em High is a film that exists in the same universe as the Toxic Avenger films, it takes place in the fictional town of Tromaville, which by the way is right next to a nuclear power plant. Nobody seems to give a rats ass about this, as they go about their every day lives with the nuclear plant looming in the background. The nuclear plant isn’t the safest one either, it is run by this self absorbed fat bastard who doesn’t give a damn if the plant is leaking nuclear waste into the soil, as long as there’s no big media event. He tells his employees to cover it all up, as if nothing had ever happened. When questioned by the media, he tells them that everything is all right, everything is under control; which of course is total bull crap. At the same time, the students of Tromaville High are acting mighty peculiar! Once they were grade A students, and now they are a gang of hoodlums who call themselves ‘The Cretins’, what gives? What is happening to the kids of Tromaville High? 

Well, what’s happening is that The Cretins are buying weed from this guy who works at the nuclear power plant; weirdest part of the story is that the guy grows his weed right next to the power plant itself! So The Cretins are buying nuclear powered weed and selling it the rest of the students at Tromaville High, they like to call it an ‘Atomic High’. Problem is that this toxic weed has major repercussions for whoever smokes it! And so, this is the premise of the film, what happens to those who smoke the nuclear weed. So in a way, this is a stoner flick, because characters are constantly smoking weed getting high and making out, but at the same time it serves as a cautionary tale? Don't smoke weed cause its bad for ya? 

Class of Nuke 'Em High is similar to Kaufman’s own Toxic Avenger because it shares ideas and premises. For example, the film is all about this nerdy goody little two shoes type of guy who on a dare smokes some of the toxic weed with his girlfriend, days later he turns into a Toxic Avenger type of character who goes around teaching bad guys a lesson. In this film toxic waste has various results on people.  For example it can a) turn people into super powered monsters or b) melt away the skin from your body and turn you into a green puddle of puss, take your pic. So in a way, this is a reworking of the ideas presented on The Toxic Avenger (1984), but it has it’s own twisted vibe going for it. I mean, the whole element of it taking place in a high school is what sets it apart. This film was made during the 80’s, so the students portrayed on this film go to the extremes with their fashion and behaviour. They go from cartoony looking nerds, to nightmarish punk rockers straight out of Blade Runner or Mad Max. Yes sir, heavy metal was king back in those days, and so, a lot of the teenagers on this film are dressed in the heavy metal/punk fashion, which the film exploits to full extent.

I enjoyed the films rebellious nature. Toxic Waste changes the students of Tromaville Highschool and turns them into violent psychopaths hellbent on destroying everything in their town and their school. They are the anarchic youth, the punk rockers, the rebels, the wastoids, smoking their lives away. In many ways, the film can be seen as a way of criticizing the state of American education, students cant connect with the drivel they are taught so they rebel. The school personel is constantly portrayed as incompetent or gloriously outdated;  not in touch at all with the youth they attempt to teach. There is this one scene that stood out for me in which The Cretins are taken to the principals office but they dont care, they defy authority and start singing the American National Anthem. It felt as if they were saying we are todays youth, this is the new America, deal with it! The film can also be seen as a direct result of peoples fears during the 80's of a nuclear meltdown. For a while there during the 80's it felt like the 50's all over again with everyone being ultra paranoid about being blow away by nuclear weapons. Films such as Class of Nuke 'Em High are a result of that nuclear fear, same way Godzilla (1954) was back in it's day.

Aside from all of this, the film offers up some really cool gory moments. It's that kind of 80's movie that was filled with gooey, gory images, something we don't see a hell of a lot of anymore. The students of Tromaville High turn into deformed humanoids, others melt away when they drink from the polluted water of the water fountain. There's this monster that stalks the schools hallways that was a pretty cool achievement for such a low budget film. Weirdest part of the tale is that it's a mutated sperm! This element of the story immediately brought to mind the  'Wadzilla' story from the recent horror anthology film Chillerama (2011), which featured a story about a giant mutated sperm destroying New York City. In Class of Nuke 'Em High we get a mutated sperm monster terrorizing the students! So rest assured, there's gooey fun  to be had with this flick. This was actually one of the coolest Troma films I've seen to date in terms of comedy and over all silliness, it's offensive, but not nearly as offensive as other Troma films I've seen. It's still very much an ultra cheap production and cheesy to the max, but that's exactly what I enjoyed about it. The acting is beyond terrible no doubts about it, but I enjoyed how the characters in the film behave like these exagerated cartoon characters, they were entertaining in that way. So in conclusion, this is very much a Troma movie, it takes place in Tromaville and has toxic waste infused into it's story line and it has  every bit the craziness and irreverence you'd expect from a film co-directed by Lloyd Kaufman. Two sequels followed: Class of Nuke 'Em High 2: Subhumanoid Meltdown (1991) and Class of Nuke 'Em High 3: The Good, The Bad and the Subhumanoid (1994), I don't know if they are any good, but I will most likely check them out at some point, the second one looks fun. Also, as I write this review Kaufman himself is putting the last finishing  touches on Return to the Class of Nuke 'Em High, I'm looking forward to that one simply because it's Kaufman himself directing. So, I recommend this one if you want to take a ride to Tromaville High, where the gags, the gore and the silliness never end.

Rating 2 1/2 out of 5

Fritz the Cat (1972) and The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat (1974)

Fritz the Cat, the comic strip character about a hip cat who comments on society and life, first came to life in the mind of famed underground comic book artist Robert R. Crumb when he was just a kid way back in 1959 in the pages of a little home made comic strip called “Cat Life”. Later, when Crumbs career grew in the underground comic scene of the 60’s and 70’s Fritz the Cat became known to the world as the anthropomorphic cat who represented the counter culture and had all sorts of crazy adventures, including many sexual ones. Crumb by the way is a genius of the comic book art form in my book, his style is one that I personally love and admire and actually kind of emulate in my own stuff, so this review comes from a genuine Robert Crumb admirer. Ultimately Crumb completely disassociated himself from this film project, going as far as getting his name legally removed from anything related to the film. The fact that Crumb cut himself out of the project doesn’t mean that Fritz the Cat is a bad film, because it isn’t. I actually think the film effectively captured what Crumb’s strip was all about but at the same time it has a lot of Bakshi’s own mentality in it as well. It’s the joining of these two genius minds that makes Fritz the Cat such a unique film.  I have to admit that I am disappointed at the fact that Crumb didn’t participate in the development of the film, still, I have to give props to Ralph Bakshi and his achievements with it; it is a special film in many ways.  

Way back in the early 70’s when famed animator Ralph Bakshi was looking for the right project with which to launch his career, he stumbled upon a Fritz the Cat strip and got the idea in his mind that he could make a film about these horny pot smoking animals. He’d been looking for the right film with which to start off his animation studio; a studio that Bakshi wanted to use to produce animated films for adults. But Crumb wasn’t budging; he didn’t want to give the rights to Bakshi, he didn’t want to do the project. Bakshi himself has gone down as saying that Crumb wanted all the credit for himself and making  film, by definition isn’t all about one person. It’s a collaborative medium, many people help a film happen. But the story doesn’t stop there. Crumb’s wife wanted the money that the project was offering and since she had a power of attorney over Crumbs work, she signed over the rights to Bakshi anyways. According to Crumb, they only got 7,000 for the rights! Fritz the Cat cost 850,000 to produce but went on to make almost 2 million dollars world wide, making it a bonafide success.

What was the big deal with Fritz the Cat? Why did an independent animated film suddenly make so much dough? Well, various factors helped this groundbreaking animated film get noticed, first of them is the fact that it was the first animated film to get the dreaded X-rating. Normally, getting an X-rating means economic death for any film; it means your film won’t get played in as many theaters and that the grand majority of conservatives in the world won’t go see your film. And while that might have been so at the time that Fritz the Cat was released, it still went on to make a hefty amount of money at the box office and it is still the single most successful independent animated film in history. Bakshi and crew intelligently used the X-rating to their advantage pasting the phrase “He's X-rated and animated” and “We’re not rated X for nothin', baby!” on their posters. The most controversial aspect of the film is seeing these cute little cartoon animals smoking weed, shooting up heroin, participating in orgies and murdering people. Never before Fritz the Cat had an animated film been aimed at an adult audience, so this film was ground breaking in that way. Fritz’s sexual exploits are pretty nuts as well, they include him picking up three chicks by impressing them with his philosophical ideas, and then getting them to participate in a massive orgy at a house where these beatniks are all having a major smoke out. Then Fritz goes and has sex with this huge black chick called ‘Bertha’. It’s hilarious seeing Fritz squeezing his face into a huge pair of breasts with such reckless abandon.

Fritz the Cat is most certainly a stoner flick; it glorifies pot smoking like very few movies do. Fritz tokes it up and shares the ganja with his girlfriends to get them in the mood. He smokes and goes on these hallucinatory head trips which offer up some of the craziest visuals in the film. I guess every single pot smoking, tripped out hippy went to see this one. Once word of mouth gets out that a film is ‘trippy’ well, acid heads and tripsters go in droves. Same thing happened with Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) a film which acid heads went to see not only because it was a great cinematic experience, but because it also offered trippy visuals to augment their drug trips, and this most certainly is the case with Fritz the Cat, though the animation can be crude by today’s standards (as are most of Bakshi’s films) when you get used to it, the visuals can be quite the trip.

The film goes by pretty quickly from sketch to sketch, it can be a bit hard to follow because Fritz the Cat is a film that does not unfold in you’re a-typical linear fashion; it actually plays out a lot like a series of sketches commenting on socio-political problems. But when you finish watching it, you’ll feel that the film is just as chaotic, frenetic and sour sweet as life itself; which is something I enjoyed. I loved how both films serve as a time capsule of the late 60’s and early 70’s, it shows us the way people thought, what they were going through. Race issues pop up constantly, for example, Fritz hates the way white people have abused blacks through out history, so he goes hangs out with black people and plays pool with them, strikes up philosophical conversations about racism. These conversations sparked up quite the controversy; but Bakshi has always been a guy who doesn’t shy away from controversy. Controversy is something that Bakshi films were always about, for example Coonskin (1975) Bakshi’s racially charged feature film, flared up a whole lot of controversy, it was accused for being racist, when in fact it was the complete opposite. It is now considered by Bakshi and his fans, as his masterpiece. Bakshi did always make an effort on his films to comment on racism, for example, there’s something about the way Bakshi made these scenes that take place at an all black bar in Fritz the Cat. The scene has a bunch of black people hanging out, drinking booze, and talking bull. The conversations in these scenes come off as very realistic because Bakshi actually picked up a bunch of black people and brought them to the studio and just let them talk, he later animated the scenes in accordance to the dialog he recorded, as a result the dialog comes off as vibrant and full of life.  

Another controversial moment in the film has Fritz joining this group of revolutionaries who want to blow up some kind of factory, these guys are unsavory types only looking to do some damage, they are just violent for the sake of being violent and so Fritz ends up joining them and participating, not realizing his getting into a heap of trouble. This segment is obviously meant to send a warning. You might be counter culture and you might hate the system, but you have to choose your partners carefully. Ultimately, Fritz the Cat is a strange film to take in, it’s amusing and has tons of shock value, but it’s not easy to digest. At times the film goes on these tangents with Fritz philosophizing about life; you'll feel like you're in a beatnik bar philosophizing and criticizing everything that moves, which is basically the kind of film Fritz the Cat is. Fritz embodies the state of mind and frustrations of the 60’s generation, it’s awesome to look at it just for that.

The sequel, The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat was not directed by Ralph Bakshi because Bakshi had said all he wanted to say with Fritz the Cat, he was ready to move on to something else, which would end up being his next animated feature film, Heavy Traffic (1973) a film about a cartoonist/animator who wants to make an animated film, but is finding it difficult to produce, like most of his films Bakshi was venting some personal demons with that one. The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat went on to be directed by a guy called Robert Taylor and had nothing to do with either Bakshi or Crumb. It is seen by many as simply a cash-in, a film made to capitalize on the success of the first. And though I kind of agree with that sentiment, this sequel is not without its merits.

This time around Fritz has gotten married; he lives with his fat wife and child in a cramped apartment in the slums. All Fritz does these days is sit around smoking weed and waiting for his next welfare check; unfortunately the people at the welfare office are calling him up, questioning him as to why he hasn’t found a job yet. At the same time,  his wife is screaming at him at the top of her lungs about being a good father and getting a job, two things that Fritz does not seem to be too good at. So as he takes a puff of smoke, all of his nine lives take an astral trip, each life a different version of Fritz. Each life a different sketch; a different comment on society.

In one life Fritz goes off and screws a young Puerto Rican girl, making her smoke weed so that she gets all horny. After they smoke, they go on this hallucinatory surreal trip, which if you ask me, looks and feels more like an acid trip than anything. In another life Fritz is off to Mars on a spaceship with a news reporter he manages to seduce minutes before take off. In another life, he meets a bum on the streets who says he is God. On another he ends up being Hitler’s right hand man; this  segment of the film aims it’s guns at the fascist movement, making fun of Hitler and the Nazi’s every chance it gets. For example, they go on and on about how Hitler is actually a very frustrated cat because he has only one testicle, and is secretly gay. Hitler actually tries to screw Fritz! Then, we get the most controversial of all the segments, the one in which Fritz has to enter New Jersey, which has now been dubbed “New Africa” because according to the movie, the white men in power gave New Jersey to the blacks! So anyhows, Fritz ends up getting blamed for the assassination of the president of New Africa! Fritz even meets Satan on this one. At the end of the day though, the second Fritz movie isn’t as shocking as the first, but it’s still extremely satirical of the times it was made, the 70’s.

Bakshi himself is not very fond of The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat; he considers it a lesser film and so does Crumb, to whom the film does not exist. If you ask me, I’d say that both films are more or less the same, they both comment on society, shock with their vulgarity and violence (for animated films anyways) and both have that sketchy vibe to them; but Fritz the Cat does have more of an edge to it. It is more graphic in nature, which is the reason why Fritz the Cat garnered an X-Rating while The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat got a ‘R’, this immediately let’s us know that Nine Lives is softer and sort of playing by the rules. The sequel wasn’t as successful with critics and audiences as the first film, but in my opinion, it’s not totally unwatchable. They are both very representative of the times they were made and comment on a lot of relevant issues. They don’t necessarily give any answers, but they sure do plant the questions. Both films have that rough Ralph Bakshi style of animation which can take a while to get adjusted to, but even though both films are rough around the edges, and suffer from imperfect sketchy animation, both films more than make up for it with their content and attitude.

Rating for Fritz the Cat (1972): 4 out of 5

Rating for The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat (1974): 3

Savages (2012)

Title: Savages (2012)

Director: Oliver Stone

Cast: Benicio del Toro, Salma Hayek, John Travolta, Aaron Johnson, Blake Lively, Taylor Kitsch

I enjoyed Oliver Stone's Any Given Sunday (1999), it had a lot of his kinetic energy, a lot of his love for Americana, and I loved how he filmed football like it was a war, but I'm not a huge fan of football, so that film wasn't really big on my Oliver Stone-o-meter; yes I have one of those. In reality, the last Oliver Stone movie that I really enjoyed was U-Turn (1997), I believe that was Stone's last truly edgy film. It wasn't based on any real life events, it wasn't making any political statements or trying to uncover some age old conspiracy like a lot of Oliver Stone's films do, no, U-Turn was Oliver Stone simply having some fun telling a story about this shitty day Sean Penn has when he falls, like a fly into a fly trap, into this hell hole of a town, straight out of a Twilight Zone episode. It was kinetic, it was weird, it was offbeat, it was dark and funny...and it had that great Billy Bob Thornton performance. Sadly, every other film Stone has made after that one has missed that Oliver Stone kineticness we all came to love. Actually, the title U-Turn was so symbolic because from there on in, Stone's films just haven't been the same. 

Oliver Stone, working out a scene with Travolta and Kitsch

Take World Trade Center (2006) for example. What a boring film! Had that been a true Oliver Stone film it would have focused on the terrorists on the plane or on the conspiracy theory that maybe it was the Americans who blew themselves up to have an excuse to invade Iraq or something like that. But no, since World Trade Center was made by the "neutured by Hollywood" Oliver Stone, well, it was about these heroic firemen; a noble and sentimental approach to the whole World Trade Center tragedy, but not in my opinion the kind of story that the old Oliver Stone would have told. Same goes for W (2008), a film that was "soft" when compared to similar Stone films like the mindblowingly good JFK (1991) or NIXON (1995). So now, here comes Savages, and judging by the looks of the previews, it seemed like this is Stone's attempt to grow some balls back and have some fun while doing it. Not a bad combination in my book. It seemed to me like Savages was going to show us Stone's still got it in him to make a film with an edge to it. It looked like he was ready to give us another jolt of shock to the system. Did Stone deliver the goods?

On Savages we meet two California weed dealers, Ben and Chon; two friends who have decided to use their capabilities to produced and sell some of the finest weed ever smoked by man. One graduated from college and has extensive knowledge on botany and chemistry, the other is an ex military who offers his military know-how and is the muscles of the operation. The two of them are in love with the same woman, Opehelia, and they all live in beach side mansion in California. Their lives are like a dream, selling and smoking weed, making tons of dough, they are  living the life so to speak. But Ben wants a normal life and wants out of the weed selling business, he convinces Chon and Ophelia to do  the same. In their minds they can effectively run off to Indonesia and live a luxurious life over there, far away from all the drug dealing. But what happens when the bigger drug dealers don't want them to go? 

First the good news: this isn't a completely unwatchable Oliver Stone film; it has many of the things we've come to expect from the legendary filmmaker, albeit with less intensity. It's got violence, drugs, sex and controversial ideas, but it just doesn't  get too intense, not like old Stone films would. One of the most controversial ideas the film puts across is that marijuana should be legalized; that it's only a matter of time before this happens. And herein lies the surprise for me with this movie: I wasn't expecting for the film to be a Stoner Flick. This movie is really, really about weed; actually it borders on glorifying or even glamorizing it. There are these scenes where the main characters are just smoking away, 'chillaxing'; that's chilling and relaxing all roled up into one in case you're wondering. It really captures what it means to smoke weed, to be in that totally chilled, spaced out moment, we even get one of these scenes that we saw before in Stones own The Doors (1991), where characters are high, looking out at the stars, loosing themselves in the vastness of space. The names of the main characters in the film: 'Ben and Chon' are enough of an indication to tell us that this film will be all about weed, the names of course remind us of those perennial pot heads from the 70's Cheech and Chong. So a big theme here is marijuana, and how if it was legalized, a lot of unnecesary crap could be avoided. 

The glamorizing aspect of the film comes when we see the kind of life that these two guys and their girlfriend  live. They make the finest pot ever, they are drug dealers yet they live in these beautiful homes, have these cool cars, and share the hottest girlfriend, which by the way is another controversial aspect of the film, the depiction of a threesome. It doesn't really go too deeply into the whole threesome thing like the way Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008) did, but it does make a point to tell us that this kind of thing just doesn't work out. Bottom line though is that these guys are drug dealers, but they are depicted as the nicest drug dealers ever. They dress like surfers, and drive these expensive sports cars and what have you, but come on, these guys are supposed to be drug dealers! To me they just didn't look the part, they didn't convince me they were dealers. They came off as too nice for drug dealers. They looked more like surfer dudes who would be smoking the pot rather then making it and sell it. And here for me is where the film has a few faults. 

Stone's cinematic characters were never beatuftiful people, they were always caricatures of what humans are like. With  emotions augmented and personafied. I'm thinking of James Wood's in Salvador (1986), Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis in Natural Born Killers (1994), not the best looking peole, but boy could they act the hell out of their characters. They had such intensity to them.  His characters were always rough looking, ugly in a way, disturbed, and sometimes even cartoonish somehow.  Take Tom Cruise for example -the sex symbol of his day- he starred in Born on the Fourth of July (1989), but even then, Stone turned Cruise into a demented freak in a wheel chair, with long hair and a mustachio, trying to screw Mexican whores with a limp dick. Point is, only recently did he start this thing about putting beautiful people in his films, this probably is at the request of Hollywood producers. Stone seems to be aware of this himself, because even though he's got young, good looking protagonists on his film, he places them in juxtaposition to,Benicio del Toro as the villain called 'Lado'. Now Benicio is the kind of character you'd expect to see in an Oliver Stone film, he fits the bill perfectly. Benicio is a fantastic actor, and in this film he even comes off as frightening and scary in his violent ways. The character of Lado gives us a small glimmer of what Stone's characters used to be like. Scary, ugly, dangerous, edgy kind of characters. I loved  how Stone addresses the issue of beautiful protagonists by having 'Lado' make fun of  Ben by telling him that he's "cute"; in this scene, Stone is making fun of the fact that he has these two Calvin Klein models as protagonists on his film.

Other than that, this is pretty much an Oliver Stone film, but light. He still uses the change in film stock, sometimes the film goes to black and white, sometimes we see over saturated images...but at the same times the camera stays still a lot. It's missing that frenetic pacing we used to have in Stone's films, where we felt as if a coked up dude was telling us the story. I guess Stone is getting old, and it doesn't surprise me that his films keep getting softer the older he gets; this happens to many filmmakers as they start getting older, they kind of loose what made them cool when they were young. Kind of like aging rock stars, some don't loose it, but most do. I don't think Stone has totally lost his cool yet, he might have an awesomely dark film up his sleeve yet, but this one just ain't it. I'm not saying it's a bad film, because it has a lot of cool stuff going for it. It's fun, it's fast paced. But for an Oliver Stone film, it's just too bright, too colorful, too beautiful..too perfect in a way. I liked the chaotic nature of previous Stone films. But then again, the way this film was made was  probably done intentionally. It looks to me like Stone was going for a film with beautiful people, lots of colors  and a happy kind of vibe going for it, this is a film about smoking weed after all. Savages is a film where even the villains where kind of likable, as is the case with Salma Hayek's 'Elena'; a villain who comes off as a mother figure of sorts. Even though the film does have decaptations and bloodshed, it felt like a milder kind of film from and old marketer of 'Gloom and Doom'; which of course is why it feels so strange. Not bad, just different, definetly not what you'd expect from Stone. Savages is the kind of film where everything goes smoothly for the pot heads; but in the end, it left me longing for the old war horse that Stone was. 

Rating 3 1/2 out of 5