Fight Club review by Kid Ego

Fight Club. Such a simplistic name for a film, and a book upon which it is based. On the surface, Fight Club is a story about a bunch of n’er do wells, has beens, and never was’ who congregate to beat the crap out of one another and commiserate about their sorry lives. Sounds like a good reason for anyone to want to fight? People will do many a varied thing to escape the life they currently live. That these men, seemingly with an over-active Y chromosome and an under-active sense of self esteem, are engaging in an activity not unlike “cutting” seems fairly natural. But that’s not what they’re doing at all.


Edward Norton plays the Narrator, who is never properly named. He is called Jack by some devotees of the film due to first-person medical articles he reads in the film. They say an unexamined life is not one worth living. The narrator’s problem is that he has thoroughly examined his life. It’s nice. He has a lovely apartment, and a fairly successful job, which presumably pays him medical benefits as well. But he cannot sleep. He can’t sleep partially due to the stress of his job that keeps him flying around inspecting recall possibilities on cars. The other reason is that hates himself and everything about his life. But why? He has most things the American Dream and marketing tell him he should have. That’s precisely his problem. Fight Club was made at a time, and the book written at a time, of incredible prosperity in this country. Prosperity which bred malaise. Due to the changing role of men in society, men no longer felt like men. No longer knew where they fit and what was accepted behavior. Their Fight Club is a catharsis. The film makes this point when Brad Pitt’s character says “We are the middle children of history, with no purpose or place”. He is describing that his generation, now all over 30 and some nearing 40 or so, had no mountain to climb. The film came out on the heels of relentless praise of the World War 2 crowd being called The Greatest Generation. Praise they deserved. But in the face of zero hardship, there was to be no triumph over adversity resulting in a thousand yard stare. This generation’s greatest triumph is saving 60% by purchasing things on Ebay.

This is a motif explored in some regard by the recent release The Expendables. A bunch of guys doing guy things, for the first time in what seems like ages. And the box office showed there was interest in such activity. So many of the activities of these men are a allegory to their lost masculinity. From the Testicular Cancer support group to the making of soap. Not just as a means of making money by actually producing something, but as to provide a means of literally washing off the stink of consumerism and complacency they feel they have on them.

So once the narrator begins visiting support groups he feels better about himself and can once again sleep, though he still feels like a fake. Once confronted on this fact by Marla (Helena Bonham-Carter) he once again cannot sleep. A meeting with a stranger on a plane named Tyler Durden leads to the formation of Fight Club and eventually Project Mayhem. Dozens of displaced rejects from the Burning Man festival flock to this leadership under the promise of relief from this mostly imagined misery.

Eventually things get out of hand and the narrator calls a stop to the action, only to find that he can’t. The project has become a Frankenstein’s Monster of sorts and not even the realization that Tyler Durden is his own imagined, idealized version of himself, can stop it. So he loses control over everything he ever made to compensate for not having control of his life. But in the end, he’s ok with that.

Fight Club succeeds in nearly everything it sets out to do. It is tense, surprising, funny, poignant, gory, violent, and most importantly reflective of the society that produced it. The film may be a thing of the past, but its themes are not. Indeed they only grow larger today. Solution anyone? Maybe it will be better if we don’t talk about it. 9.5/10

The Count of Monte Cristo

Jim Caviezel and Richard Harris in Kevin Reynolds' take on "The Count of Monte Cristo"

 "It is difficult to fight against anger, for a man will buy revenge with his soul"-Heraclites, 500 B.C.

    That is perhaps the most apt summation of The Count of Monte Cristo. Not simply a study in revenge, but in revenge for perhaps the most profound of betrayals.

    Edmond Dantès (Jim Caviezel) has been betrayed by his lifelong friend Fernand Mondego (Guy Pearce). Mondego took the whole of the life that was to belong to Dantès. He is understandably upset. Imprisoned in the Château d'If for a good many years for unfounded treason charges, it is a wonder he did not give in to total madness before Abbé Faria (Richard Harris) appears suddenly through the stone floor. He is granted not just a new opportunity at life though tunneling under the wall, but a chance at a greater life once out, with the knowledge the priest provides him.

    The film does not really begin to hit its stride till Dantès has escaped and found the company of some sea-bound smugglers. After winning a knife fight with the equally downtrodden Jacopo (Luis Guzmán), Jacopo swears an allegiance to Dantès that will come in handy if he is to carry out his plot of revenge. Seizing the treasure of Monte Cristo and positioning himself within Parisian aristocracy as a count, Dantès sets his pieces and then puts them in motion with the expertise of Gary Kasparov. Even unexpected developments like the realization that he has a son with his former beloved, do nothing to stray his determination.

    In the end his ultimate revenge is complete, though for my observation, a little unfulfilling. True, he took his former friend's life, his money, and took back all that had been taken from him. He took the full measure of Mondego when he took his life. He took all that he is, was, and ever will be. What was missing was the suffering. His agony, I feel, was not comparable to Dantès'. But the revenge was Dantès', not mine after all. If he was satisfied with it, that alone is enough. He bought his revenge, but his soul he kept.

8/10

"For the Bible Tells Me So", 2007

Bishop Gene Robinson during his consecration, as shown in "For the Bible Tells Me So"

    “For the Bible Tells Me So” is a documentary that explores homosexuality and the way it’s viewed on a Christian level through various interpretations of the Bible. The film is powerful, moving and intelligent. It never speaks down to those with conflicting views, but rather, seeks to educate not only them but anyone willing to sit down for the movie’s 99 minutes.

    Among those interviewed for the film are former politician Dick Gephardt and his daughter, Chrissy, Rev. Dr. Desmond Tutu and Bishop V. Gene Robinson, the first openly gay non-celibate ordained minister, and his parents. Some tell their stories and first-hand accounts of homosexuality and the church. Others give their interpretations of the Bible. Interspersed among the interviews are clips of rallies and speeches condemning the LGBT community. Rarely are these not hate-filled rhetoric that prey upon the easily-fooled. There are, however, conflicting viewpoints given by some of the interviewees, who rather than coming across as ill-informed or ignorant, speak intelligently about their personal beliefs with passion and conviction and about how they have to resolve this with the fact that they have a loved one who is gay.

    The film (through both interviews and an animated segment) dissects passages of the Bible that are commonly believed to demonize homosexuality, as well as what it means to be homosexual. The camera never flinches, even through some of the more heartbreaking footage and stories and we are shown, at times, very graphic depictions of the violence that can invade these people’s lives. Through news footage and the documentary’s own filming we are shown brave families who stick together through the most troubling times, and in one case, what can happen when they don’t.

    I highly suggest this documentary to anyone willing to sit down and watch it with not only an open mind, but also an open heart. This is a very relevant in America today. The hatred towards another person for their sexuality, whether you believe it is a choice or not, is a very real thing. Just looking through the message boards for this film on IMDb.com will reveal the hatred and persecution that still exists for this segment of the population. It’s a shame, really, and if this film can help at least one person to not view the LGBT community as not better or worse than anyone else, but as just people worthy of the same rights and privileges that are afforded to anyone else in this nation, then the time and effort, I would say, would have to have been worth it.

9.5/10

The Rocky Horror Picture Show

The famous lips from "The Rocky Horror Picture Show"

    What can one say about what may be the most influential motion picture of the later half of the 20th century? What’s that? Not something by Hitchcock, Kubrick, Scorcese, Coppola, or even James Cameron? Certainly not. And I’m referring to a cultural impact that stretches far beyond the boundaries of the midnight movie faithful that still pack themselves into the theater for the live show/audience participation love fest that is "The Rocky Horror Picture Show", some 35 years after its initial release.

    "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" is a film that has become greater than the sum of its parts, and greater even than the sum of the counter-culture it spawned. There are no groundbreaking special effects, even for the period, no too-amazing-to-be-true choreography, the color scheme is flat at times, and the acting/singing while good, is not Astaire and Rogers in their prime. "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" is enjoyable on every level it sets out to be. The songs, "The Time Warp" in particular, work both as songs and to covey emotion from the characters, a window into their thoughts. But what "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" has done is as much as that other famous Rocky from the mid-70’s did. It shone a light on a segment of society that never fit anywhere but with one another. Previously, such a group of misfits would have been confined to trading Ed Wood films between one another in someone’s basement. But what liberated them was a facet of the technology they likely helped create.

    Thanks to Comicon and conventions like it and the internet, "The Rocky Horror Picture Show's" reach was permitted a far greater span than was ever intended or dreamed. The appeal of the film is in the idea that no matter how out of sorts and out of step you feel with the rest of the world, there are people like you somewhere in the universe and they are ready to accept you. The effect on gay rights, alternative lifestyle acceptance, and the public’s craving for Meat Loaf albums were changed forever by this little film that could. More than a generation has come past since those ruby lips first appeared on a screen, but the essential themes of the film still ring true. The affirmation of “Don’t Dream It, Be It”, and the prevailing theme of truly accepting yourself, no matter how strange you are, sent a ripple through millions of viewers and became a behind the scenes game changer in society, if you ask me.

    As to the content of the actual film, Brad Majors (Barry Bostwick) and Janet Weiss (Susan Sarandon) are on their way to see their college mentor and announce their engagement, when a blown tire sidetracks them at the castle/spaceship of Dr. Frank N. Furter (Tim Curry), a transvestite, from planet Transsexual, in the galaxy of Transylvania. Frank has created a Frankenstein monster of sorts named Rocky Horror and a convention has gathered to celebrate his bizarre creation. As a result, there are betrayals, infidelities, odd sexual dalliances, and an assassination after a show-stopping set of production numbers. After that, Brad and Janet left behind as the castle blasts away home. Quite the ride is had, and lots of fun for all. 8.5/10.

The Hunger

Catherine Deneuve and Susan Sarandon (seated) in "The Hunger"

    In celebration of Halloween, and for those of us 1/4 hispanic, the Day of the Dead, I decided to review a horror movie. Too bad I did not decide to review a good one. "The Hunger" is an extremely dated, extremely slow moving 1983 vampire film, notable perhaps for a single characteristic. Catherine Deneuve and Susan Sarandon's lesbianic tryst 3/4 of the way through the film.

    The premise itself is not without promise. David Bowie's character John is a vampire somehow afflicted with Progeria. A disease usually striking children, that accelerates the aging process. An innovative malady for the undead. However, there is never adequate exposition as to why he is stricken with this disease, nor why any of his lover's former flames have met the same fate. We simply know they just have. So, the couple seek out Sarah Roberts (Sarandon) a doctor who does studies on the aging process and in particular progeria. Sarah is unable to help John in time and he withers away, depressing he vampiric lady love. So, she seduces Sarah in a scene quite daring for 1983, and brings her into the fold as a vampire. The rest is very old, tired "But I don't want to be a vampire, I won't feed on humans" stuff. It ends, mercifully after 96 minutes.

    All in all, a vampire film without much vampire action. But certainly more teeth than "Twilight", any day. 4/10

Pirate Radio

The cast of "Pirate Radio"

    "Pirate Radio" is a movie about music. More specifically, about what may be the greatest era for popular music in recorded human history, and it plays live a letter of love and undying devotion to that time.

    It needs to be noted, that while many of the incidents in "Pirate Radio" actually took place in any one of many offshore pirate stations in the mid-60's, there never was a specific ship called 'Radio Rock' nor did any of these characters actually live. They scurry and careen about on the boat, occaisionally visited by a gaggle of ladies, and I'm guessing supply boats, but there seems to be no real point to any of it.

    The film concerns a character known as Young Carl, sent by his mum to live and work amongst the Radio Rock scoundrels as penance of sorts for being expelled from school. Young Carl aside, the movie has a who's who of uber-talented British cinema and television actors. Chris O'Dowd and Katherine Parkinson from The IT Crowd are present, as is Edgar Wright stalwart Nick Frost. Emma Thomson drops in for an uncredited appearance, and Kenneth Branagh is the main antagonist. It seems that in the mid-60's, the BBC refused to play rock music, even though half the British population were devoted rock fans, or so the film says. So Branagh makes it his mission to ban pirate radio. There's the plot. There is a small amount of posturing toward Young Carl becoming a man by losing his virginity, and getting closer to the father he has never met who works at Radio Rock. But as for depth, there is none.

    In spite of all of that, I LOVE THIS MOVIE! It has such an affection for 60's era rock that it is purely infectious. The film knows what it is and never tries to surpass its abilities. Philip Seymour Hoffman shines in bright neon colors as The Count of Cool, an American DJ. Who would have guessed that the nervous, fidgity, pudgy guy from "Scent of a Woman" who was practically buried by Pacino and Chris O'Donnell by that script, has to be one of the best American actors working today, and O'Donnell is on NCIS: Los Angeles? Hoffman does some of his most electric work since "Almost Famous" here, and it genuinely seems as if he has a love affair with rock music, judging by his passion for it in these two roles.

    In the end, not much happens. The boat sinks, pirate radio is banned, and everyone on board has to find a new life they are almost certain to enjoy less than the one they are leaving. But that is the point of the film, and of rock music, I guess. We come and we go, but the music WILL go on no matter what. Somewhere in the world, a kid will hear a Ray Davies or Pete Townshend song, will turn to playing guitar, and devote his or her life to evoking a bombastic noise the eminates from deep down inside of them. Great rock music not only describes our lives, but reminds us why we like being alive. This film does the same.

7.0 out of 10.

Jackass 3D

Johnny Knoxville in "Jackass 3D"

      If you are not an admirer of the flaccid male sex organ, but merely a 3D movie enthusiast; Jackass 3D is not a movie worth your time. As a man with a taste for both, onward to the theater I marched. The movie met one expectation while falling short on the latter. This is not much of a 3D movie, (I really only felt i was watching 3D technology during the intro and outro) but it is definitely a Jackass movie.

     All of your favorite Jackasses are back, some in smaller roles than before, some more prominent. Preston Lacy takes on a larger role (no pun intended) as he fills the screeen (pun intended) more often than in the previous films. But this whale of a man (no pun intended) isn't the only cast member whose screen time has changed. A sober Steveo is seen less frequently than we are used to and even subdued and dare we think, cautious? I am referring to one stunt where Steveo discusses his fears prior to soldiering on. He is still Steveo, after all.

     Fans of the two previous Jackass films and the television series should enjoy the third installment just as much, if not more. It was just as shocking, raunchy and laugh out loud hilarious as anything they have submitted. I felt maybe this one cranked the raunch-o-meter a little higher. There were more penises, I would guess, than in the past and a girl in the theater I was in vomited. The vomit was induced by her watching a man play a trumpet with his ass hole. At least that was my guess. I suppose it could be true that she were merely emulating her heroes on screen, as they threw up many times themselves from various other "stunts".

     In my humble opinion, Jackass 3D was a great time if you are a Jackass fan. I also would say Jackass 2 remains maybe their strongest offering to date. That would be the one I descibe as the most "epic" of the 3. And I don't mean epic like the "WoW" playing fag way, or the beer chugging frat boy way. I mean it the way it is supposed to mean in the fucking english language! I felt they were most conscious of making a "big" movie in the 2nd one. Back to the 3rd movie though, since thats what I am supposed to be writing about. I think the first 20 minutes were non stop laughs, if you're a fan, definitely give it a chance. Don't watch it at midnight in Brooklyn, New York though, that was "epically" annoying. HA.

8/10

* I borrowed from the great David Cross with the "pun intendeds".