This is your brain on drugs!: A Scanner Darkly review

This is your brain on drugs!: A Scanner Darkly review

Richard Linklater's 2006 film A Scanner Darkly-- one of many many film adaptations of visionary Phillip K. Dick's many novels-- follows a drug agent named "Fred" whose brain is literally split, like Siamese twins, by a psychedelic drug known as Substance D (for Death). Through this disruption we see the symbiotic relationship between the cops and criminals as Fred, who's identity is obscured by a "scramble suit," does electronic surveillance on himself as a drug dealer named Bob Arctor.

This is a very faithful adaptation to Dick's novel, one of the best I've read on drug abuse and without a doubt, the most creative on the subject. Like Waking Life, Linklater chose to animate this film in that floating style of his that is essentially rotoscoping or tracing over live action elements and combining them with composite imagery. The effect of this style decision pays off by augmenting the drug induced reality of the world in which this story takes place. An example of this is when an addict attempts to O.D. on psychedelics but instead winds up face to face with a weird-looking creature from another dimension.

I believe that A Scanner Darkly snuck under the radar, mostly because of the fact that it is an animated film aimed at adults. The addition of Robert Downey Jr. as one of the paranoid addicts (Barris)who himself was a drug user was probably not a coincidence. Keanu Reeves is convincingly "dirty" and tacky-looking as drug dealer and user Bob Arctor. Woody Harrelson is also grimy as Luckman, Reeve's long-haired roommate in this film.

This is definitely one of those "you'll either like it, or you won't" films. Not that it's all that hard or graphic, it's the way it's presented. I try to tell people I know about this movie and they really want to see it, then once they discover that it's animated, they're turned off like that. This is a shame because this film's up there with the best, including Trainspotting, Requiem for a Dream, The Lost Weekend, Man With the Golden Arm, etc, imo. If you like entertaining films that are also deep you should try this.

Take a hit of this and Enter The Void: a review of Gaspar Noe's film

Take a hit of this and Enter The Void: a review of Gaspar Noe's film

Irreversible Director Gaspar Noe's 2009 film Enter The Void is an acid trip set in Tokyo about a drug dealer named Oscar (Nathaniel Brown) whose immortal soul reviews all of his decisions prior to being set up by his best friend and killed by the cops in a drug sting.  This is one of those movies you have to see twice-- once to let it dazzle you, and a second time to think about it. The plot is somewhat based on The Tibetan Book of the Dead which the main character references in the film. This film assaults you from the ferociously colorful title sequence and all throughout.  This is the ugliest, most depressing, saddest, and yet the most beautiful film I've seen. Paz de la Huerta as Oscar's little sister Linda gives a skin-peeling performance as a stripper who's manipulated for sex by an emotionally detached pimp. This is a love or hate film but Noe really outdid himself. This film will be talked about for years to come and I rank it up there, visually, with Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. Not for the squeamish, though.

FDA Approved!: Dallas Buyer's Club review

FDA Approved!: Dallas Buyer's Club review

Woke up in a cold sweat. Had a fever of 101. Went by my doctor. They drew some blood and told me I'd contracted a raging case of Dallas Buyer's Club. This 2013 film by Jean-Marc Vallée starring Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto is 1 of those films that made me wonder what was shakier, me or the camera movements. It is based on the true story of Ron Woodroof, a heterosexual male who contracts Aids and, after being given a month to live, survives thanks to his savvy in self-medicating with natural low to non-toxic alternative drugs and no thanks to the FDA who is miffed that he is hipping as many people as possible to AZT, an FDA approved drug that does more harm than good. The performances in this film from the top down starting with Matthew, to Jennifer Garner, to Jared Leto. Jared Leto, lol, whooee! Let's just say that he was VERY convincing, effective, and endearing as Ron's right-hand queen, Rayon. This film deals with an array of issues besides homophobia including racism through McConaughey's character. Hard to believe this is based on a true story and that it took me so long to check it out. But that's me, first to hate and the last to love. Few films come to mind where performances are this great, DeNiro in Raging Bull, Stallone in Rocky, Rourke in The Wrestler, Masina in Nights of Cabiria, and Brad Davis in Midnight Express are a few. Put McConaughey in this film up there. Terrific entertaining film.

"Soylent Green is people!!!" a review of Soylent Green

"Soylent Green is people!!!" a review of Soylent Green

The 1973 science fiction film Soylent Green takes place in a bleak future where man's abuse of the planet has reached critical mass. Greenhouse emissions have turned the atmosphere into a swamp; 50 million people carpet the streets and sidewalks of New York. Against this backdrop, a New York detective named Frank Thorn (Charlton Heston) investigates the murder of a public official that leads him to a processing plant that makes a food product called Soylent Green. 

Soylent Green is 1 of those films that has aged well thanks to the masterful direction of Richard Fleischer and its 2 stars, Charlton Heston and the great Edward G. Robinson in his final role as Thorn's wistful roommate Sol Roth who can remember the good ol' days when you could buy real meat, real fruits and vegetables, and real butter. Mr. Robinson plays 2nd to Heston in this film, but his performance is the lightning rod through which I could identify with the story emotionally. Definitely, his best performance. 

As for Charlton, his penchant for playing the reluctant champion of the people continues in this film. Politics aside, there's no denying the fact that Heston had the 'it' factor that put him in the elite class of Hollywood actors. In his role as detective Frank Thorn, you get an everyman skimming where he can here and there who, despite his flaws, is mixed up in a mystery where he ends up defending the people. Sounds a lot like Moses in The Ten Commandments or Ben Hur, right? Except that there's no happy ending in this film.

Because of the commentary it makes on urban overcrowding, Soylent Green is in my top 5 of the greatest science fiction films ever, right up there with the likes of 2001: A Space Odyssey and Blade Runner. The film won the Nebula Award for Best Drama and The Saturn Award for best science fiction film. The stirring opening montage showing America evolving from its pastoral and dignified beginnings to today's urban, overcrowded, poisoned industrial dystopia is up there with the The Road Warrior opening. Terrific film and a revelation for those who've yet to discover it. This should definitely be in the Criterion collection.