This was a pretty depressing film. You have Jimmy O'Brien who by all accounts is a loser. He works at a Supermarket where he is eventually fired for stealing cases of beer. He lives with his invalid grandmother whom he cusses out on occaision, he marries his highschool sweetheart, they have a daugther and they all live in that small house that's constantly falling prey to termites. On top of this he is a terrible stand up comic who talks about his problems, his trials and tribulations but it never seems to amuse his audience, it's stand up tradegy and not stand up comedy. For some reason I liked this movie. Jimmy's life never gets any better, in fact it gets progressively worse to point where you think he'll snap but the movie leaves off there. There is really no happy resolution. Hmm seems like reality or an anti-film much in the vein of I SHOT ANDY WARHOL.
The Family Center Cannot Hold
I'm not surprised to be the "first to review this DVD" not because the film is bad--on the contrary, it's very good, but because it's tough getting films like this across to a conformist audience anymore. Show me a Hollywood film released in the last five years that ISN'T about keeping the family unit intact and I'll stop doing Amazon reviews.My brother in law asked me "is this because Hollywood is giving people exactly what they want; or is it because Hollywood as part of some disiplinary matrix is keeping the populace pacified by films like this-- making them believe that BEING is all that matters because BECOMING is to dangerous and threatening to EMPIRE?"
For instance,everyone raved about how great and gritty and real "Narc" was, but reduce it down to its esccence and what do you get? Answer: a flawed but good cop just trying to keep his dead partners family together via benifits from the PD. Check out "Gladiator" ('Just wanna get back to my wife and kid') or "Master and Commander" ("This [the ship] is your home!)etc, etc.
My answer was, "we, as a society, have pretty much internalized the lust for being over becoming and don't need anyone to remind us. But we don't need to be reminded that Coke exists either and yet...[to clarify my terms: BEING is holding on to the status quo no matter the cost. Becoming is being willing to risk holding on to the status quo--even family-- in order to effect real and lasting change.]
And I'm not talking about becoming a rock star or a pro athlete or some other celeb or becoming an accountant or lawyer or any number of the socialy acceptable (read: harmless) roles we're allowed to strive and struggle for. I'm talking about becoming a changed society--a society that doesn't sit back and passively watch Arnold get thirty million dollars to do "Terminator Three" while there are millions who can barely lift their hands from weakness to accept a crumb. A society that revolts against them telling us: "hey you can just be you and we'll put YOU on TV! because what's really important is what regular guy this regular chick picks to marry in a million dollar wedding so they can go on their millon dollar honeymoon. And don't concern yourself with the fact that while you watch, another half a dozen civillians just bought it in Bagdad joining the ten thousand we already killed over there..." Alas, we're far from being that kind of society, so films like the "Jimmy Show" are marginalized or simply ignored.
Jimmy seems to make his decision to be a stand up comedian based on not much of anything. It's sort of a knee jerk reaction to not wanting to be like the rest but made by a guy ill-equipped to seek original options. His tragedy is NOT like the Amazon synopsis says--driving home my rambling point--that "what is important[family]has been there all along"; but that Jimmy knows there is something wrong but unlike Neo in the "Matrix" doesn't have the imaginaion or the energy to do anything about it. The result is, he loses his family. Whaley isn't trying to tell us :Gee, if this guy only knew that his family was all that really mattered he'd happily live out a dull existence." He's telling us: "look, here's a guy that knows there's something wrong with the dreary consumer existance everyone around him is living but he's so mired in it himself, he can't think beyond being a stand up comedian as an attempt at escaping it all. In the end he fails to escape and loses his wife and kid in the process."
See this movie and also Whaley's first: "Joe The King"
Wow. Ok, so that is a pathetic way to start a movie review. But my god, what a movie.
Tape is directed by Richard Linklater (Before Sunrise, Waking Life) and stars Ethan Hawke, Robert Sean Leonard, and Uma Thurman. They are the only cast members of the film and the entire feature takes place in a single motel room.
The film was shot on digital and the opening sequences had me dreading yet another movie that is to showcase the direction and film quality with no real plot. I could not have been more wrong.
There are very few films that can be carried merely by the dialogue of the actors. Tape is one of them. As the credits started rolling, both my husband and I were sitting in awe with our mouths hanging open. And the amazing thing is, while I knew what was happening and even... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Ethan Hawke - Robert Sean Leonard Director(s): Richard Linklater DVD Release Date: Released the 20 July 2004 Usually ships within 24 hours
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The cover, the nudity, the use of the "f" word, and the R rating may make you think this is an exploitation movie but actually director and co-writer Caryn Krooth's psychological drama is full of surprises. It begins with Meg Harris (Carla Gugino) claiming to have been raped by two women. Rape is apparently legally defined as a male crime only so, in order that the assailants are prosecuted to the full extent of the law, Meg must have them charged with sodomy which is defined in terms of subjugation and force. The rape is shown in flashbacks but Krooth suggests rather than makes the acts explicit. This strategy probably goes one better than the scene in The Accused since here, in spite of featuring 3 naked females, the sex is de-eroticised and marginalised. The narrative follows the... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Caryn Krooth DVD Release Date: Released the 18 January 2000 Usually ships within 24 hours
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This romantic, witty, and ultimately poignant glimpse at two strangers (Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy) who share thoughts, affections, and past experiences during one 14-hour tryst in Vienna somehow remains writer/director Richard Linklater's (Dazed and Confused, Slacker) most overlooked gem. Delpy, a stunning, low-key Parisian, meets the stammering American Hawke, as the two share a Eurorail seat--she's starting school in Paris, he's finishing a vacation. Their mutual attraction leads to an awkward meeting (beautifully played by each performer), and Hawke suggests that Delpy spend his remaining 14 hours in Vienna with him.
Typically, this skeleton is as much plot as Linklater provides; as usual, he's more interested in concentrating his talents on observing the casual,... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Ethan Hawke - Julie Delpy Director(s): Richard Linklater DVD Release Date: Released the 06 November 2001 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Ethan Hawke directs this starving-artist mood piece set in a famous New York hotel. A loose collection of artists and lonely souls waft in and out of the Chelsea in what is more a slice-of-life mood piece than a drama. The film (shot entirely on digital video) is best recommended for those who still subscribe to the notion that all artists are emotional wrecks with substance-abuse problems and that this is somehow romantic. The characters speak in poetry as often as not. If you are of a poetic bent, you may find this quirk beautiful, but more prosaic souls will find it embarrassing at best. The cast, however, is excellent. Kris Kristofferson, Vincent D'Onofrio, Rosario Dawson, Robert Sean Leonard, and Steve Zahn all do fine work, especially given the difficult dialogue and frequently... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Paz de la Huerta - Vincent D'Onofrio Director(s): Ethan Hawke DVD Release Date: Released the 20 July 2004 Usually ships within 24 hours
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This surprisingly satisfying horror movie centers on a mermaid--but it's hardly one of the giggly types from Peter Pan. Rufus Sewell and Carla Gugino play a couple of small-time circus people who discover that an eccentric old man keeps a genuine mermaid in a water-filled tank. Dreaming of an invitation from Ringling Bros., Sewell steals the mermaid and loads her on a ship for America. But in the middle of the Atlantic, the hungry mermaid shows her darker side--and Gugino learns that she may be linked to the mermaid in unexpected ways. She Creature was no doubt made on a low budget, but it looks excellent and the above-average script gives the strong cast firm ground to stand on. The mermaid herself (Rya Kihlsted) is both lovely and eerie. All in all, an enjoyable... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Sebastian Gutierrez DVD Release Date: Released the 02 April 2002 Usually ships within 24 hours
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