Cigarettes and Alcohol

Howdy!

Late on Sunday night after the victorious Celtic beat the so called 'mighty' Gers 2-0 in the CIS Cup Final (O’Dea ad McGeady - Leg-Ends!) and finishing off a few beers, I sat down to watch "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" directed by Terry Gilliam of the Monty Python fame and adapted by the Hunter S. Thompson articles / book.  A few of the bhoys from class mentioned the film and praised how good it really is. 

The story is a twisted, bizarre venture into the mind of a warped junkie, a reporter traveling to Las Vegas, Nevada in order to cover a Mint 500 motorcycle race, along with his Samoan attorney Dr. Gonzo (Benicio Del Toro, who gained a great deal of weight for the role). "We were somewhere around Barstow when the drugs began to take hold," is the line, which opens the movie as a red convertible roars from right to left. The vehicle's trunk is packed with large quantities of deadly narcotics. "We had two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high-powered blotter acid, a salt shaker half full of cocaine, a whole galaxy of multicolored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers.  Also a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of beer, a pint of raw ether, two dozen amyls."



The narrator of the story is Raoul Duke (Johnny Depp) a balding, stumbling man, constantly smoking or inhaling drugs.  He is in a permanent daze throughout the entire film, constantly consuming drugs every time the camera pans onto him.  After the race is over and unsure of whom actually won, he begins reporting on his typewriter, desperately trying to make sense of the seemingly frantic world surrounding him.

The film is really impressive both visually and storytelling.  You immerse yourself in their world so much that you feel like you were there with them on the "trip" in both senses of the word.  Terry Gilliam vision for the film is incredible, his use of his cinematography and backgrounds - the camera essentially takes on the role of a third person as it is constantly moving, positioned at bizarre angles against dizzying backdrops with psychedelic sounds that adds to the style.  The effect of this in the movie could be equal to getting high on acid, but on a lower, less dangerous scale. The 60s/70s soundtrack is a terrific addition to ‘Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas’ as it summarises the mood of that period.  The psychedelic sounds match what is seen on screen to enhance the audience's senses.  The script has lots of memorable quotes including:

Raoul Duke: Look, there's two women fucking a polar bear

             Dr. Gonzo: Don't tell me these things. Not now man.

Raoul Duke: One toke? You poor fool! Wait till you see those goddamn bats.

The casting is superb also.  Johnny Depp and Benico Del Toro are faultless - Depp manages to keep an element of believability in even his most flamboyant performance, while Del Toro can do no wrong.  The guy is fantastic in any role.  There are also numerous cameos from Tobey McGuire, Christina Ricci and Cameron Diaz. Personally, I think the film is very entertaining and would recommend it to everyone, a cult classic, but it could be one of those love/hate film depending on the audiences taste.

Cheers 

Sunday Morning Call

‘Eagle Eye’ is the story of Jerry Shaw (Shia LeBeouf), a young, intelligent teenager who has never applied himself to anything and is scraping by in a droll existence dodging his landlady and bluffing money in poker games in the back room of his copy store job. There is also the story of Rachel Holloman (played by Michelle Monaghan), a pretty, young and bitterly divorced woman who's trying to vicariously live out her wild youth through her friends, while dedicating her only strength and passion to her young son. These two seemingly total opposites are "activated" and sent kicking and screaming through a series of dangerous events by an unknown voice on their phones, who can seemingly track them from absolutely anywhere. Jerry is forced into it because he's been framed as a terrorist, while Rachel runs the gambit to save the life of her son. Together they try to stay alive long enough to figure out what it is they are supposed to accomplish.

The major problem with the film is there is no person on the other end of the phone. It's a computer called ‘Aria’, who was designed and built by the Department of Defense and is now on the warpath to eliminate the chain of command, all the way up to the President.  Aria is basically a female version of HAL from 2001.  The film itself is just trying to make 2001 into modern day civilization, but really fails to deliver, especially when films like 2001: A Space Odyssey, Bourne Trilogy, I Robot, WarGames etc… are successful in telling the story and having a point.

The film is pretty much awful till it unravels the moment you are told everything is being run and designed by a rogue artificial intelligence system with the movie giving off a "big brother" fright tactic.  The whole thing felt unrealistic - No computer system would ever be created to plan an assassination plot on the whole US Presidential Cabinet.  This wasn’t anything new to cinema and the film is pretty unoriginal.  At least with the Bourne trilogy for example: there was pace, well-crafted dialogue and characters, decent action set pieces - here nothing seems realistic. 

Two scenes, which stick out are pretty piss-poor is the a super-computer controlling the electric cables attached to pylons so they can be used as instrument of death to an Iranian after handing over a package to Jerry and Rachel.  Zzzzzz! Then after a 10-car pile up at a crossroads, where cars pile into each other from every direction at speed, the drivers get out the cars without a single scratch.  C’mon! At least one member of the public must be in a serious condition from all that.  The film lacks originality and believability and I wouldn’t recommend it.