Saint John of Las VegasQuirky indie comedy starring Steve Buscemi as a compulsive gambler who must confront the question of whether or not he is cursed with bad luck or if we make our own? This road trip film might be paired with Wristcutters: A Love Story or even the true Odyssey adaption O Brother Where Art Thou? (it even co-stars Tim Blake Nelson) for an interesting double-feature. Though it's not as good as either, it's filled with offbeat characters and interesting jaunts into the underworld of Vegas and the surrounding Southwest. Also co-starring Romany Malco in the largest role I've seen him get yet, the always refreshing Peter Dinklage, and a tame, attractive (yet kooky) Sarah Silverman. Go in with a clear head willing to be taken anywhere and you just might like it.
Fletch's Film Rating:
 | "You seem a decent fellow. I hate to kill you." |
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MacGruberI'd never seen the sketches (only the Super Bowl commercials), had little-to-no-interest in the movie, and wondered what had happened to Val Kilmer that had led him to this point. So, of course, I walked away pleased with MacGruber. Far from the success of the Wayne's Worlds of the, er, world, but also far from the depths of It's Pat, Grubes relies a bit too heavily on toilet humor, but featured more than a handful of gags (sight or otherwise) that had me giggling incessantly, and an overall irreverence and absurdist mentality that worked well to endear the film to me. Kilmer, as it turns out, was completely game for a comedy such as this, and made for a solid villain. Knowledge of MacGyver helpful but not necessary.
Fletch's Film Rating:
| "You seem a decent fellow. I hate to kill you." |
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Casino Jack and the United States of MoneyI never quite know how to review a documentary. Fiction is fiction - I don't have to worry about its accuracy to rate it, and with a doc, who's to say what's accurate, what's misleading, what's an outright lie? Certainly not me.
So I end up basing my opinion on some combination of how pissed off and/or entertained the film makes me feel...and Casino Jack succeeds on both counts. For the uninitiated, it tells the story of uber-lobbyist and milker of our government's teat Jack Abramoff, a man who gamed the system too well, drawing too much attention to himself and, in the end, causing his demise.
It's almost a shame that Abramoff was entrenched in prison for the making of this film (and remains there), since it seems as though all the players in his life for the last 25 years are represented, and yet Jack is given not only no rebuttal, but only a whisker of dialogue - he's seen plenty in photographs, but we hear his voice for no more than 20 seconds of the entire run time. That said, it's hard to level a complaint of one-sidedness at filmmaker Alex Gibney (Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room) when he's compiled nearly all of Jack's co-conspirators over the years to speak on theirs' or Jack's behalf, from Tom DeLay and Bob Ney on down the line. Most entertaining/sad is the bit in which we learn that David Grosh, a childhood friend of Michael Scanlon, was hired to front a "think tank" that was little more than a money-laundering operation. From Wiki: "Grosh recounted Scanlon's phone call to him at the hearing:
Want to be head of an international corporation?' I was like, sure. It was a hard one to turn down. I asked him what I had to do, and he said 'Nothing'. So that sounded pretty good to me."If you're in the mood for hating capitalism - even more than Michael Moore's Love Story - this is the film to watch. Interestingly, the Hollywood version, starring Kevin Spacey, Kelly Preston, Barry Pepper and Jon Lovitz (?) will be released soon, under the title Bagman.
Fletch's Film Rating:
 | "Darn tootin!" |
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Hey Hey, It's Esther BluebergerCharming. Quirky. Indie. Aussie.
Now that I have those keywords out of the way, I can focus on the film more. But seriously, this coming-of-age film about a 13-year old Jewish girl in Southern Australia endears you quickly to its odd duck protagonist - literally, there's an adorable duck following her around. Esther is like most teenagers, unhappy with her place in the social hierarchy of junior high/high school (or its Aussie equivalent), the object of mocking at her private school.
A few emotional instances begin a cycle of change for Esther, not the least of which is her budding friendship with Sunni, a Chris Chambers-like (Stand By Me) "cool girl" character who has come from what might be deemed as the wrong side of the tracks, but is no less wise for it. To the contrary, it's Sonny's home life that Esther envies. In time, Esther comes to learn what's most important to her in her crazy life.
Though I'm not sure if the filmmakers knew exactly where to go with the story, it's certainly an enjoyable trip, in the vein of other oddball films such as Amelie, Rocket Science and Rushmore (I swear, it even copped some of the music from the former). Keisha Castle-Hughes (Whale Rider) co-stars as the punky Sunni and Toni Collette as her mother. Newcomer Danielle Catanzariti was plucked from over 3,000 girls to play the eponymous lead, and delivers a complete, robust performance.
Fletch's Film Rating:
| "Darn tootin!" |
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