Review of "God Bless America"

The superficiality of modern society has become too much for middle aged Frank. When he discovers that he is terminally ill due to a tumor in his brain, he decides to take out his frustrations on the rude, inconsiderate and worthless people around him, with the help of his accomplice: a quirky, teenaged loner named Roxy.

God Bless America
Starring: Joel Murray, Tara Lynne Barr
Directed by Bobcat Goldthwait
My Opinion: A fun, but fanciful ride

This movie is not unlike a comedic, action- driven version of Saw with grindhouse-y undertones. However, instead of immoral acts feeding the Jigsaw in this metaphor, it's reality television. The movie presents spoofs of much-loved reality classics such as My Super Sweet Sixteen, Bad Girls Club and American Idol. The events in the fake shows are incredibly accurate. For example, on Tuff Gurls a girl plucks a tampon out of her vagina and throws the bloody cotton in the face of her housemate. I will admit that I really wish this happened on the actual Bad Girls Club, but the film makes a pungent point with this wildly entertaining moment: a television show on a network that claims itself as "for women" is doing a whole lot of damage to the feminist movement. This is what drives Frank crazy.
The story is framed by the season of American Superstars, the alias for Idol. When we are first introduced to Frank, he is in an insomniac state partly brought on by his incredibly immature and inconsiderate neighbors. He habitually alleviates the sleeplessness with television where he watches the auditions for Superstarz, which, like its real-life counterpart, resembles a freak show. Rather than William Hung, Steven Clark is the grossly incompetent singer who becomes both ridiculed and glamorized. Steven occasionally haunts the screen, reminding us of the driving force behind the terror Frank wreaks.
God Bless America holds a lot of water in its criticisms of our nation. We are superficial and filled with mind-numbing pop culture talks about LiLo and TomKat, but Frank's interpretation of the world is what's killing him. The film does a decent job of connoting that as well, especially in regards to his broken family and disjointed life in Syracuse. However, the film lacks some solidity in its story. What turns Frank from suicidal to homicidal is merely a redundancy. Furthermore, the film sheds only a dim light on what drives his partner in crime, Roxy. Other than the fact that she feels like an outsider, we don't know what makes this young girl hate the world so much. She's incredibly intelligent, very opinionated and a wonderful character, but she comes close to the cookie-cutter angsty teen that is so lovable in comedies of today.
My final criticism is the believability. Normally, I don't consider this, but for a film that maintains such stark criticism and wit, I think it matters that the law enforcement was all but absent. Roxy and Frank kill four different people in a movie theater, and they walk out easily. Their faces are on the news, yet there is never a chase. The media would be an even better antagonist had it provided more conflict for the heroines of the tale. Had it been an entire character, one that was pursuing the protagonists' demise, the stakes would have been higher and any of the dragging present in the film, no matter how slight, would have vanished. The film donated its final moment to a respectful homage to the classic Bonnie and Clyde, but it would have worked better modeling its plot after the film also.
Over all, this is a pretty good film. It's hilarious and highly entertaining with golden dialogue and a fun premise. Yet, in the end, it's another black comedy that just doesn't aspire to greatness. Whatever, I liked it.

Review of "A Separation"

If you're looking to watch a movie that will provide an enigmatic glimpse into another culture all while utterly deflating any happiness that you were feeling, stop by your local RedBox today and pick up A Separation. This academy award winning film is rich, fulfilling and completely melancholic.

A Separation
Starring: Peyman Moadi, Leila Hatami, Sareh Bayat
Directed by Asghar Farhadi
My Opinion: Absolutely excellant. 

The story focuses entirely on the religion-fueled culture of Iran. The actual plot is very simple: A woman leaves her family out of her own best interest and her husband must find day help to care for his father, who is in a very late stage of alzheimer's disease. The woman he hires is pregnant and working without the knowledge or consent of her husband. Eventually, a dispute between employer and employee grows heated and the man tosses the woman from his home. Her unborn child is later found dead. As the movie runs on, details surface that change everything. There is no clear cut answer in this situation, but the cause of the conflict continually boils back down to the separation.
I got the feeling that this movie was for those outside of the culture. It seemed that an Iranian would see this film with some disinterest, as it was centered around how religion intersects with the judicial system. However, the cyclone of emotion and morality in the story was harrowing. True human turmoil is depicted in this film with some of the most honest acting I've ever seen. The children in the film deserve a special mention for making their eyes look so pitiful and evoking so much with what few years they had. The cinematography was grim but exhaustingly beautiful. The direction was perfect, so much so that I have very little to say about it. I felt as if I had been drawn into the situation, as if I had to testify in court. If you have the attention span for 123 minutes of subtitles, I'd say this is a must-see.

Review of "The Dictator"

When I found out that Sacha Baron Cohen was no longer making his disarmingly improvisational films, I was moderately disappointed. The vulgarity and shock value of his previous endeavors were entertaining, both in the actually humor contained in the films and the controversy they stirred up. So, yes, his newest addition to his collage of characters couldn't have been more than a relative letdown. In fact, I found it astonishingly tame and very mediocre.

The Dictator
Starring: Sacha Baron Cohen, Anna Faris, Alec Berg
Directed by Larry Charles
My Opinion: You'll get some laughs out, but that's about it.

The plot line was promising: Aladeen, the goofy dictator of the Republic of Wadiya, comes to America to ensure that Democracy doesn't spread to his oppressed nation. His body double is mistaken for himself, and Aladeen is forced to make it in the big apple. He gets a job at an organic food market that employs refugees and even gets a lesbian to fall in love with him.
The culture clash lent itself to plentiful humor, most of which was predictable but still worth it. The rest of the laughs stem from Aladeen's eccentricity and utter boldness: shooting competitors to win a race and changing words in the dictionary to his name. However, as the film wore on I found myself losing sight of Aladeen's character. I felt that the vegan culture he had surrounded himself with had tamed too quickly. It didn't seem that Aladeen was strong enough to withstand the demands of a structured plot and he fell flat, into a predictable, sympathetic human. This was fine for the plot and perhaps necessary, but I have to admit it was kind of .
Had it been an unscripted film, the impact would have been heavier and the laughs riskier, but more pungent. Naturally, the plentiful famous faces would have been absent and the safety of the entire cast and crew would be in danger. I'm not saying it would have been a better choice, but it would have made a better movie. It was still really funny at points, but the truth is we'll only remember Cohen's crazy promotional hijinks rather than the film itself.