Whiplash (2014)

As always, spoilers below.

Jesus. I watched the movie like an hour ago and I still feel uptight. That should tell you enough right there.

Whiplash is an excellent film starring Miles Teller as "Andrew Neimann", an aspiring jazz drummer and student of "Terrence Fletcher" played by J.K. Simmons. The entire film is a rollercoaster of emotions showing Andrew's attempt to become a great while simultaneously losing himself in the process.

I remember hearing in an interview somewhere that director Damien Chazelle wrote this movie as an excuse to film a ten minute drum solo. I don't know why but I found that really funny. So there's your fun fact of the article. The rest will be sad facts that will remind you of what failure tastes like.

This was seriously a great film and it really deserves all of the awards that it won. J.K. Simmons, who won the Academy Award for best supporting actor in 2014, delivered a truly terrifying performance as Fletcher. He is that asshole teacher from middle school amplified by one thousand. Miles Teller also delivered a very solid performance which I will admit surprised me. I'm used to seeing him in movies like Project X and 21 & Over; stupid but fun movies that you watch on an airplane because Schindler's List seems a little too heavy. Teller's performance as Neimann was something completely different -- an antisocial young adult obsessed with transcending greatness. Something that I could never imagine seeing him portray and even portray so well. It is worth noting that I haven't seen every film Teller has acted in so I do not have a completely accurate view on his range -- or rather I didn't before I saw this film.


Animal turned the role of "Andrew Neimann" down due to scheduling conflicts.

Let's get started.

Soundtrack/Score:

Shiiiiiiiit. Soundtrack was great. If Fletcher wasn't in the film making everyone's life hell, it would be a really nice jazz showcase film. If that's a thing (I don't think it is). 

I consider myself to be a fan of jazz. Maybe not a true connoisseur, but I have a rough idea of how jazz works and what to listen for. I took a jazz history class, I'm practically an expert.

"Fuck you'"'s and "I fucking quit"'s are generally heard in more structured pieces, often peppered in by the musician to keep their audience interested.

But on a serious note the music in this movie was on point. The movie in a way revolves around Andrew struggling to master two songs, "Whiplash" and "Caravan" while being tormented and broken by Fletcher at his inability to perfectly play them. The climax of the film I feel is at the very end, when Andrew returns to the stage to eventually play his five minute drum solo. A really beautiful part of the film I think.

Writing/Script:

I really liked the story that was told in this film. I think Chazelle did an excellent job writing this screenplay. 

This film is really like nothing else I've ever seen, structurally. As I said earlier, the climax is Andrew's drum solo, which is the last scene before the credits roll. I'm aware that this used to be the norm in the earlier days of film, but this is the first film that I personally have seen that does so. I think it makes Whiplash rather unique. It also really simulates the anxiety Fletcher's students must have felt because the movie is all uphill and it's so emotionally draining. There is no real break from the struggle of this movie. This is equal parts writing and equal parts acting I think.

On another note, Fletcher's insults to his students were very amusing. Here are some of my favorites:

• "I will gouge your fucking eyes out," as Andrew returns to the stage in the final scene to play.

• "I am not gonna have my reputation in that department tarnished by a bunch of fucking limp-dick, sour-note, flatter-than-their-girlfriends, flexible-tempo dipshits. Got it?" to his students before a competition.

• "The folder is your fucking responsibility, Tanner. Why would you give it to Neimann? Right? You give a calculator to a fucking retard he's gonna try to turn on a TV with it. Now get your sticks and get your ass on stage," after Andrew loses Tanner's folder with the music sheets for the competition.

It was at this point half of Fletcher's class decided to learn "Python" and move to San Francisco.

How Well It Holds Up:

I think next time I'm just going to call this section "visual effects" next time because I still haven't written about any movies older than 25 years. Anyways.

This was not a film that required any grand effects. All of the damage done throughout this movie is done primarily through words and is fully psychological (with a couple notable exceptions). The message of the movie is very strong and the acting is fantastic. I could watch Whiplash in twenty years and it would still be just as stunning.

I really enjoyed the camera work in Whiplash. I am slowly learning about filming practices and cutting techniques so I am unable to truly articulate what I found so interesting but I will really try.

In the final scene, it appears that Fletcher has finally begun to respect Andrew. As Andrew plays the drums, the camera switches back and forth between Fletcher and him. There is no cut, the camera just moves very quickly between the two showing the blurred faces of the rest of the band. I thought it was very visually pleasing and matched the speed of the scene quite well.

The film also uses a lot of green shift (is that a term? Probably not). It seems that many of the scenes are tinted slightly green. It gives Whiplash a very lo-fi feel which I think looks really great when pulled off right, which I think they did with this film.

Maybe I'm just colorblind.

Acting:

Again, both Miles Teller and J.K. Simmons had amazing performances in this film. J.K. Simmons' performance truly raised my blood pressure throughout the movie so effectively that I was still feeling somewhat anxious an hour later. Miles really does show us that he is losing his humanity in his quest to become "one of the greats". I felt invested the entire way through. I cared about what happened to these characters, for better or for worse.

Occasionally in films there will be two really strong actors and then their supporting cast may seem a bit flat or generic in their delivery. This is natural; some actors are better than others. I get it. Whiplash didn't really give anyone else a chance to shine or drag the film down I think. The film revolved around Teller driving himself to the brink of insanity while Fletcher cheered on from the stands. Unnecessary characters were not in scenes where they were not needed (at least not speaking/drawing attention to themselves). There is one scene however that sticks out in my mind where Fletcher is trying to get at least one of his three drummers to play on his tempo. This leads to a multiple hour session of Fletcher berating the three until Neimann finally gets the tempo right. The other drummers look absolutely defeated and exhausted. It's believable.

"Johnny Utah" or whatever his actual name was delivered a stunning performance as a spotlight stealing bastard.

What Issues It Tackles:

Mental abuse. Selfishness. Loss of one's true essence in pursuit of a goal. All are discussed in Whiplash.

I don't know if Whiplash had a happy ending or not. On the one hand Andrew proved to his tormentor that he was really great. He had his own Charlie Parker moment. Fletcher might even respect him now.

On the other hand...

The fact that Andrew went out there not to play an instrument that he loved and allow that to show through his music but instead retake the stage to say "fuck you" to Fletcher means that he has lost what made music great. Perhaps now it is passionless for Andrew. Perhaps he doesn't even like to play anymore. We see that he had his drum kit in storage, unused before his chance re-encounter with Fletcher. Maybe that means something.

Even further, He's allowed Fletcher to win. Fletcher now see this piece of coal turned into a diamond and it's all thanks to his teachings and his methods. If he weren't such a bastard, Andrew would have never pushed himself this far and would never become a great. Right? I'm not convinced.

Either way, this was truly a thrilling and entertaining film to watch and I recommend it to anyone reading. 

My rating: A strong 9.

Not my FUCKING RESOLUTION, Parker! Try again!

Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014)

As always, spoilers below.

Ya know, I really like to watch movies at least twice before I review them. It allows me to have my first reaction, take in the movie as a whole, and then go back in to pick it apart and analyze it. For Transformers: Age of Extinction, I'm not going to do that for reasons that will become obvious below. This is really just going to be me talking about how shit this movie was, not really a review.

I use the word "shit" a lot in this review. There are two reasons for this, reason number one being that I wrote the review at 2 in the morning, reason number two being that "shit" is really the best way to describe the movie.
The city of Chicago should feel lucky that so many of their residents died in the third movie lest they endure the fourth

Mark Wahlberg plays "Cade Yeager", a part-time scientist/inventor, part-time shitty father, full-time hunk. Nicola Peltz plays his 17-year-old daughter "Tessa" and Jack Reynor plays her maybe Irish, maybe just an idiot sounding boyfriend "Shane". Also Erlich from Silicon Valley is there for a minute before he just kind of dies.

I'm probably not going to be completely accurate with regards to certain points of the plot. That is partly because there wasn't really a plot. Bear with me.

Let's get this over with.

Soundtrack/Score:

I mean it had the traditional "robots beating the shit out of each other" type music. Didn't really expect much here.

There were a couple Imagine Dragons songs thrown in there. I don't really mind their music but I wouldn't call myself a fan. I will say that these songs did seem out of place though. Maybe because these songs convey more emotion than this movie was capable. Maybe because I was just looking for things to hate at minute 180. Maybe both.


I was almost disappointed that there weren't any Nickleback songs in the final cut, however.

Writing/Script:

Heh heh. Well. The writing was -- take a guess -- pretty bad! So bad in fact that I actually don't know what the fuck was going on even after going back and reading plot summaries.

Basically Mark Wahlberg is a broke inventor trying to make ends meet while also neglecting being a present father to his kid, but also being super over-protective? He accidentally buys Optimus Prime in semi-truck form and brings him back to life or some shit. After a run in with some black ops-esque military outfit, Wahlberg, his daughter, and her annoying-as-shit boyfriend agree to help Optimus and the other autobots in their corporate espionage plot which consists of the three humans breaking into an extremely secure government contractor robotics lab and then the robots blowing the shit out of said lab because at the end of the day, this is a Transformers movie after all. Then they have to go to China or some shit and fight a fake Megatron and Optimus recruits dinosaur robots (with only like 20 minutes of the movie left, huge letdown) and I don't even know what. There are other shitty subplots that I'm choosing to ignore. At least with the other movies we could all ignoring the terrible writing by staring at Megan Fox.


I'd take toe-thumbs over this crock of shit movie any day.

OH. I almost forgot this gem of a plot point. Mark Wahlberg's daughter is 17 in this movie while her boyfriend is 20 or something. Marky is obviously upset for obvious, statutory rape reasons. Shane the boyfriend then cites the relevant law stating that if both parties are consenting and had been in a relationship prior to one party turning 18 that it is perfectly legal (or something to that effect). This by itself is kind of weird; that the guy has the law completely memorized. To drive the point home, though, this creepy motherfucker pulls out a laminated card with the law written on it. How often does that come up in conversation that laminating a card with your excuse for banging a 17-year-old make sense?

How Well Does it Hold Up:

I would hope to God that a movie with such a huge budget would have exceptional visual effects, which this movie does. It's one of the few good things in Transformers. I'm not a big fan of movies that revolve around huge, computer generated characters but I can't deny that this one looks nice. Plus explosions. Those were nice too. Also there were robot dinosaurs. Everyone can appreciate that. 


I don't know why. I don't want to know why.

Acting:

Eh. It wasn't terrible I guess. The only person that stood out to me as an exceptionally shitty actor was Jack Reynor but a large portion of the blame for that could be placed on the shoulders of the writers really.


Some people have off days, some people have off movies. No hard feelings.

What Issues it Tackles:

Fuck off


My rating: A very soft 4.5. 4 of those points being awarded for the explosions.

There were plenty of things wrong with this movie. If you want to hear me bitch about it in detail feel free to talk to me in person (I'm guessing you don't). I really think it would have been much better if it weren't so god damn long, though. I can only watch robots beat the shit out of each other with forced subplots for so long and 2 hours and 45 minutes is way too fucking long.

--Mat


We're done here.

I'm back

So it's been a minute but I'm finally writing again. In February I got absolutely shit on by the flu and then school just took precedence. Hopefully you guys (yes, all three of my readers) can forgive me.

Thanks for reading, mom.

BUT while I have been away from this blog I have not been away from watching movies, well-made and terrible alike. After I finish this I'm going to review Transformers 4. Spoiler: it fucking sucked. 

I really do enjoy writing these though and I'm glad that I'm finally back to it. I've got a long list of movies to write about and I've got to try to get through them all before too long.


Piss off, Yoda.

-- Mat

Hot Fuzz (2007)

As always, spoilers below.

Hot Fuzz: the quintessential conglomeration of comedic, campy action movies past.

Also what I call my crotch.

Nick Frost reprises his role as "perpetual man-child" alongside hard-ass police officer (not policeman) Simon Pegg in what I believe is a very worthwhile movie and probably the best that the duo has starred in together.

Let's get started.

Soundtrack/Score:

The soundtrack in this film really didn't stand out for me, good or bad. The music definitely fit the mood of the movie, which was really just trying to over-emulate action movies like Lethal Weapon and Bad Boys. So yeah, the music worked but it doesn't shine for me. If I were thinking of this movie in a month, I don't really have any iconic piece of music to attach to it.

Fuck Tha Police.

Writing/Script:

The writing of Hot Fuzz was done very well. When examining just the story itself I think that it is interesting and fresh. While Hot Fuzz really does try to poke fun at other action movies, the plot is surprisingly refreshing and new. When we look at typical action movies, they generally all follow the same formula. Normal person reluctant to take action has his hand forced as bad guy threatens normal person's family/large amount of people/the world/etc. Normal person takes action to save their interests through feats of violence and/or dumb luck.

I personally have never seen a story quite like Hot Fuzz in any other action film. In an attempt to protect property values, the village people of Sanford create a cult to deal with unwanted nuisances like human statues, children wearing hooded sweatshirts, and people with big houses. Reasonable enough.

Officer Nick Angel (Simon Peg) is sent to Sanford for no other reason than that Bilbo Baggins doesn't like that Angel is doing his job.


What would Gandalf think of this corruption within the police force, Mr. Baggins?

Sanford seems to be a very quiet town until the Neighborhood Watch Alliance starts playing irl Clue and murdering townspeople. Angel eventually discovers that Sanford is being run by a shitty British version of the Illuminati and tries to take them down only to find that everyone who's anyone is actually just a murderous old hag. Huge gun fight ensues throughout the entire town. James Bond gets his face impaled by a mini church. Good triumphs over evil. 


Tis but a flesh wound.

The plot isn't crazy different than other action films admittedly but the element of mystery does add a lot to the story. The film doesn't feel flat like a lot of other action films, even though it purposefully uses action movie tropes heavily throughout.

How Well It Holds Up:

Shot in 2007. Most of the effects were fairly simple. The jaw impaling of 007 up there doesn't look too goofy. I think it'll hold up just fine in years to come. This section will make more sense/impact when I finally get around to reviewing older films.

Something I really liked about Hot Fuzz was its camera work. Staying true to the satirical nature of the film, the cuts were very bulky and heavy handed but purposefully so. The editing made use of hard cuts throughout and I really enjoyed that. The film is choppy and bulky. I like it. It's cool. The violence in the film (there's a lot of it) is also very campy which is very appealing to look at in the least weird way possible.


Scream 5: Revenge of  the Lost Ark

Acting:

Nick Frost and Simon Pegg work really well together. I can't really recall seeing anything with the two of them working together that didn't seem organic. This is, like I said, my favorite movie with the two of them in it. 


The monkey represents their undying friendship.

The supporting cast also delivered a very interesting (good interesting) and quirky performance. The police force had a very British sense of humor (no shit).

What Issues It Tackles:

Responsibility. Ethics. Property values.

I don't think this is a super meaningful movie. Sure, we can learn to find meaning no matter where we are from Nick Angel's quest for justice in Sanford. We can see that anyone can make a difference from Danny's journey from the village idiot to elite crime-stopper. But I think that this movie is best looked at as a satire of all action movies. 

My rating: A strong 7.5.

--Mat 

(Thanks so much to Melissa for the request)

 
Just a 7.5? Are you fookin' kiddin' me?

Lost In Translation (2003)

As always, spoilers below.

I really, really like slice-of-life type movies. Most of them center around fairly mundane things but as a viewer I can really become invested in seeing an old man go to work or a recent college graduate try to find herself. With that in mind, I really enjoyed Lost In Translation.

Lost In Translation follows the story of tall white man Bob (Bill Murray) and depressed white lady Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson) as their paths cross in Tokyo. They become friends and explore the city. They also pretty much hate their lives and see no real way of improving their situation.


Sunday, Monday, Happy Days!

It's a love story. Kind of. But it's really not a love story. It's a story about finding happiness in sadness. But at the same time it's a story about how fleeting happiness can be. It's a story about the flow time and how we as individuals have no choice but to move with it. It's a story about finding inner peace.

The entire film takes place over about a week. In that time I argue that there is no real character development and the characters' trajectories stay the same as if they had never met (granted they have the potential to improve themselves). I will discuss this further in due time.

Score/Soundtrack:

Lost in Translation doesn't rely on music to progress the story forward. That said, I do believe that the music for this film was chosen wisely though because it matches the film's attitude quite well. Tokyo is shown to be an overcast city and Lost In Translation's soundtrack was overcast. It was apathetic; it was numb. It just fit. We also got to see Bill Murray get drunk and sing karaoke, which I imagine is a weekly occurrence in the Murray household.


Grandpa please get off the kitchen counter.

Again, the soundtrack didn't really catch my attention but I think that's just fine. If the music was too distracting it would have taken away from the story so I'm glad that it was subdued to an extent.

Writing/Script:

The story of Lost In Translation is fairly simple in my opinion. A good kind of simple, though.

I'd like to go back to what I said earlier about the characters not really growing at all throughout the film. In the beginning of Lost In Translation, Bob and Charlotte are both lonely and unfulfilled. In the middle, they are still lonely and unfulfilled, but they are lonely and unfulfilled together. And in the end? Well Bob has a family to go back to and Charlotte has a husband. So they end up just as lonely and unfulfilled as they were in the beginning.

That is a very simplified description of the story and does not give insight to what was being portrayed to the viewers. And I understand that. But I think it is important to note that while Bob and Charlotte may have learned how to have fun again, that they may have realized that they can take stock in themselves at any age, and they may have had some insights to their own "meaning of life"; neither Bob nor Charlotte took direct action to improve their situation.  Bob is still flying home to what seems like a dying marriage and Charlotte is still hitched to the freak who tried to steal Mark Wahlberg's teddy bear.


The hips that won ScarJo's heart.

However, I think that simple fact right there shows the true story that is trying to be told here. Two people who are living kind of shitty lives have a temporary escape from reality in a foreign world. They try to take what they can from their time together and want to apply it to themselves, but that's simply not shown. 

The ending is somewhat vague. Bob runs to Charlotte at the last moment, they share one last embrace, Bob says something to Charlotte that is inaudible to the viewers and then that's it. The chances of Bob and Charlotte meeting again are slim to none. We don't know if Charlotte works with her husband to fix a marriage that is very obviously not meeting her needs. We don't know if Bob starts to value his own happiness over money. But I think that element in itself, the fact that we as viewers can only imagine what comes next, is why this movie is so great. 

Lost In Translation doesn't force a message down your throat. We don't see love triumph over all. Bob isn't going back home to make more movies. Charlotte probably won't ever be satisfied with her marriage. But that's okay because that's life. What we're seeing is life on the screen. Very few films do this well and even fewer do it as well as Lost In Translation.

How Well It Holds Up:

This was a rather low budget film ($4 million) with no crazy special effects. This is another movie that will hold up really well in years to come because of its simplicity and its sincerity.

I would like to talk about director Sofia Coppola's decision to use film rather than high definition video. It wouldn't have made a huge difference to me if Lost In Translation was filmed in high definition video but in a film about all the little details in the day, I think it really adds to the viewing experience. Sofia Coppola reportedly favored film as it was more romantic and I'm inclined to agree with her.


No funny comment, I just really love the cinematography in this movie.

Acting:

I'm a big fan of Bill Murray. Apparently the role was written specifically for Bill Murray and if he declined the offer, Sofia Coppola would have scrapped the whole project. That really shows in the film because this could just be a documentary about Bill Murray taking a trip to Japan. He plays Bob so naturally that I really couldn't imagine anyone else on the screen. Scarlett Johannson doesn't wear pants in half her scenes which is pretty great too.


I tend to have all my quarter-life crises pantsless as well.

Murray and Johansson balance each other out well. Bob as the more experienced, yet just as lost and Charlotte as the hopeful one that still has a lingering fear of dissatisfaction. It's a great pairing.

What Issues It Tackles: 

The crushing loneliness that reaches us all. Tokyo is the perfect setting for this movie because of how it depicts internal loneliness. Bob and Charlotte still feel isolated in a city home to 12 million people. Now again the film doesn't show anyone sustain happiness, but I think another big message of Lost In Translation is being okay with not being happy. Being comfortable by yourself.


Or I could just be missing the point entirely.

In the end, this is an outstanding film. This was the first film directed by Sofia Coppola that I've watched and I enjoyed it very much. Beautiful cinematography, a simple yet profound story, and two great actors. Not a whole lot more I can ask for. 

All things considered, this is a very difficult rating to place. I went back and forth for a good 30 minutes and I still might change it later.

My rating: A solid 8. I don't like going outside of even numbers and .5's, but if I did this movie would be an 8.4.

--Mat

(Thanks so much to Minh for the request.)


Many thanks for reading and blessings to you and your kin! (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ ✧ﾟ･: *ヽ(◕ヮ◕ヽ)

A Note About My Rankings

I know that 10 point scales are kind of ambiguous without reference so I wanted to show what I consider a five and a ten.

A 10 is obviously a film that I consider perfect. That goes for all aspects, acting (both main actors and supporting cast -- including minor characters and cameos), what issues it portrays and how it deals with them, how well the music fits with the picture, what the actors are saying, and of course how well it has stood up to time. For this last reason many classics do not have the potential to be a 10 for me, just because of how dated they are. I again emphasize that this is only my opinion and I realize that plenty of other people are much better qualified to rate the films I make jokes about.



With that said I'll try to give some examples of ratings.

10: Apocalypse Now
9: The Godfather, Part I
8: The Dark Knight
7: Ant-Man
6: Raising Arizona
5: This Is The End

'5' being an average film. Going below 5, it gets kind of murky. Films that I believe are below average quality I will probably try to go into greater detail on why I feel that way.

--Mat

Dazed and Confused (1993)

As always, spoilers below.

To mix it up from soul-crushingly depressing movies, it's time to talk about something fun, man.

That's exactly what Dazed and Confused is. A fun movie. I enjoy it every time I watch it. It's not complicated; it's just some kids trying to have a good time and that really resonates with me. Some good news is that there is supposedly a spiritual sequel coming out this spring by the same writer/director called Everybody Wants Some.

I think that it is an interesting movie because of the supporting cast. We get a look at McConaughey, Ben Affleck, and Milla Jovoich before they were huge stars. It's also kind of neat to see that the three actors mentioned were at least around high school age (McConaughey - 24, Affleck - 21, Jovoich - 18). 



Also a knock off Mark Hamill on the top row, second to the left.


Let's get started, dude.

Soundtrack/Score:

For a movie that hyped up Aerosmith so much, there was surprisingly little Aerosmith in the soundtrack.


Aerosmith, two weeks. Don't forget.

The soundtrack was comprised of popular music in the mid 70's which obviously fit the movie well because it also happened to be set in the mid 70's. Songs included "Livin In The USA" by Steve Miller, "Rock n' Roll All Nite" by KISS, and "Slow Ride" by Foghat. Songs that really remind you of an all American summer. The soundtrack really puts the viewer in a good mood and helps to reinforce the positive attitude of the movie. 

Writing/Script: 

Overall this is a pretty funny movie. There's a lot going on but the main story is just a bunch of kids are trying to get wasted and they need a place to do it. Sounds like a typical Monday night to me. The movie is really reminiscent of a time long passed where kids (and parents for that matter) felt safe enough to move around the town at all times and in all varying states of awareness. There isn't a scene at the Moon Tower where the cops bust the party. They just run out of beer. Everyone leaves on their own terms. If this movie was set in this decade, half of it would be about cramming into someone's shitty two bedroom apartment and paying five dollars only to find out that the beer had all ran out 20 minutes ago. The other half would consist of the host telling everyone to "shut the fuck up, the cops are outside!" and then paying a surge fee for an Uber back home.


Am I bitter? Maybe.

Other than the great times depicted, the movies has a lot of very quotable lines that have entered my vernacular and have stayed there for years. I am willing to bet money that each and everyone of you has at one point in your life said "alright, alright, alright" (mainly because I only have three readers). Basically anything Wooderson (McConaughey) said I have incorporated into my life.


I'm trying Woody, I'm trying.

"It'd be a lot cooler if you diid." Jesus I love his character. I don't even care that he's a 24 year old man schmoozing on high school girls. 

But other than just Woodersonisms, Dazed and Confused gave us gems like "oh, an observation, huh? Well who the hell are you, man? Isaac fucking Newton?", "you cool, man?", and "now me and my loser friends are gonna head out to buy Aerosmith tickets. Top priority."

Also something about the community that the writers create feels so American. It just makes you feel good that some insignificant story like this one could have happened; that these kids could have forgotten about adult responsibilities for one night and had some fun. Not all people on this Earth have that leisure. Makes you appreciative of where we were born. 

The movie also reminds me of summer and I'm all about that. Granted, the movie is about the first day of summer but it really reminds me of my group of friends trying to find something to do and somewhere to do it every summer night. I don't have a lot of summers like that left.


10 years later, Slater realizes that an internship or two during the summer might have gotten him out of retail.



How Well It Holds Up: 

The movie is set in the summer of 1976. Things were different back then. It was socially acceptable to wear overalls even if you weren't a farmer. You could buy alcohol at 18 (at least in Texas, where the film is set). Truly a glorious time to be alive. But other than that the movie doesn't have any crazy scenes that require special effects. It is a simple story and because of this I think Dazed and Confused will hold up for another 20 years (yeah, this movie came out over 20 years ago).


Make America Great Again!

Acting:

So I'm not going to say that the movie had any amazing performances because it didn't. A lot of the minor characters were very stiff in their delivery. A lot of the main characters were inexplicably cheesy. I feel like some of this is intentional though because the movie doesn't exactly take itself seriously. It's meant to be a fun movie, not a drama.

I'd like to take more time to praise how hilarious Wooderson was again. Best part of the entire movie for me.


Personal role model.

What Issues It Tackles:

Dazed and Confused is a one-part coming of age, one-part  'live for yourself' movie. It discusses things like relationships with women, the importance of fun, and again, living for yourself. Quitting the football team because you hate the person you are with the team. Going after that babe even though she's older than you. Stepping out of your comfort zone and making new friends. Plus a nerd with a mullet decks the shit out of some asshole and I'm all about that.


He may have written a check that his ass couldn't cash, but I respect him for it nonetheless.


After all is said and done, this is a great comedy and something really easy to watch. It doesn't provoke deep thought but then again it wasn't meant to. It's just trying to have a good time, man.

My rating: A soft 7.

--Mat

(Thanks so much to Julie for the request.)


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