I hope you all had a good weekend. To help close it out, I'm giving you three reviews. In addition to all those films I mentioned last time that'll be coming your way soon, also expect reviews for Melinda and Melinda as well as Kung Fu Hustle. You don't want to miss it.



The Girl From Monday
Review by Jon Waterman

**

Welcome to the future. You will witness an existence where a revolution has put corporations in charge of everything, where people are bar coded, and where having sex increases your personal worth and buying power. Of course, not everyone likes this system. A group of counter-revolutionaries have formed to disrupt the conglomeration’s plans. The scheme goes awry and things get even more complicated when a visitor from outer space comes down to bring a fellow “immigrant” back home. Got all that?

Director and writer and composer Hal Hartley brings a vision of the future that's slightly reminiscent of Brave New World. All of the societal differences seen here are quite viable, and maybe even too scary to think about. So, that aspect of the story and the writing I enjoyed. However, the subplot with the aliens and them adjusting to the new culture, etc. could have been left out or made into a separate movie. The woman from outer space doesn’t contrast this world with our own or provide any sort of perspective on the problem at hand. Instead, she sits in this guy’s apartment learning how to live on the world, soaking in knowledge like Johnny 5 from “Short Circuit.” Visually the movie isn’t very appealing either.

This is an example of digital video movie making gone awry. Cinematographer Sarah Cawley provided some of the most amateurish camerawork I’ve seen in a professional production. I can only assume there is some reasoning behind using what appears to be auto exposure (where the backgrounds are drowned out in a sea of white) and for staying handheld. The canted angles were such a regular feature that they hardly seemed representative of any type of mood or emotion conveyed in the scene, but rather what looked cool. The frame rate wasn’t even consistent with the film print, so the video looked grainier and slowed down so that the soundtrack would match up. It’s very shoddy production value, but maybe there’s a reason I just don’t understand (besides keeping the budget low – please tell me it’s something other than that).

I would say that the acting kinda sucks, too, but I actually see a bit of purpose behind that (which leads me to think I’m missing something about the rest of it). The delivery is robotic and wooden most of the time. However, if you look at their facial expressions, you’ll see what the characters are really trying to say. You have Hartley regular Bill Self (playing the lead character/counter revolutionary boss Jack) with his bouncy eyes contradicting his stone face. And you have Sabrina Lloyd as the corporate woman who buys into everything sold to her that speaks rigidly, yet obviously shows pain in her eyebrows.

The dry dialogue and interactions create this interesting noir feeling, which would be helped with a more intriguing or (necessarily) complex storyline. The science fiction isn’t as intense or as central to the plot as it could have been, either. A simple current tale about corporations trying to take over some aspect of human nature would work just as well. Yet, it’s still an interesting satirical look at where our society could be heading that provides some good lines, but mostly it’s forgettable.


+++++++++


Krush Groove
Review by Jon Waterman

***

Russell and Rick are running an independent rap music record label out of their small apartment. They just broke with their first major radio hit, thanks to Russell’s brother’s group Run DMC. Everyone’s clamoring to buy it, and it sells out instantly. The problem is that they still don’t have enough cash to print the records needed to meet the high demand. The banks won’t give them a loan, because they’re a rap label, so Russell resorts to getting involved with a loan shark. He needs to find a way to pay him back before the deadline or else.

Okay, the story is actually pretty lame. Even though it’s based on the early days of Def Jam Records, some of the elements just don’t make sense to me. For instance, why wouldn’t the bank give them a loan with all those promised sales? But more importantly, why couldn’t Russell pay the loan off once he sold all the new records? Where did that money go? Besides that the writing by Ralph Farquhar (the TV series “Fame” and “Happy Days”) is rather standard fare.

It’s hindered even more by the lead actors giving their best efforts at speaking slang. It especially doesn’t work for Sheila “Why are you tripping?” E. And this is one of the problems with using musicians/singers/rappers as actors. Surprisingly, most of them do a pretty good job. The Fat Boys provide some good comic relief and Run (aka Joseph Simmons) legitimately holds his own. But don’t expect magic from most of the rappers. Just enjoy the music coming from the likes of the Beastie Boys, LL Cool J, New Edition and Kurtis Blow. With an old school lineup like that, you don’t mind breaks in the plot for a few musical numbers.


The movie isn’t as lame as you might think. Even though the plot suffers from some problems and the acting isn’t the most authentic, the whole thing runs surprisingly smoothly and looks pretty good. Director Michael Schultz (“Cooley High,” “Car Wash”) holds the picture together very well and provides a very visually interesting backdrop. Unlike movies such as “Breakin’,” “Krush Groove” looks and acts like a film. There’s a sense of realism and professionalism that comes across to the audience. And, although that doesn’t make up for the shortcomings, it definitely enhances the strengths. There’s some great music in here and if you let the lame plot slide past you, it’ll be pretty enjoyable to watch.


++++++++++


Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo
Review by Jon Waterman

1/2 star

Turbo and Ozone are back and dancy-er than ever! This time, they are in danger of losing a youth center that they renovated and currently teach break dancing in. Some fat cat is looking to tear it down so that he can build a mall or something more profitable in it’s place. He convinces the government that the building is not up to code and should be demolished. The only hope of saving it is to put on a break dancing show in the community so that they can raise the money necessary to make the repairs. Under such rigorous time constraints, can dancing really save the day?

Director Sam Firstenberg takes over where Joel Silberg left off. Except Sam dropped the simple hand-off. Paired with cinematographer Hanania Baer, he tries too hard to be cool and trendy. The first clue is the overabundance of fish-eye lens shots (complete with characters purposefully looking into the camera, making it seem like a documentary crew should have been incorporated into the plot). There’s also the rotating room sequence. These splashes of pizzazz can only cover up the movie’s otherwise lack of ability to entertain. And the lack of story.

There are probably only about twenty pages of actual scripted dialogue in the film. It’s complete with standard villains, predictable jokes and situations and an awkward, unfruitful (and un-understandable) love triangle subplot. Written by first and last timers Jan Ventura and Julie Reichert, it reaches the length of a feature film only by incorporating the strangest and most out of place song and dance sequences imaginable. Like a virus, break dancing infects everyone that is unfortunate to come across its path. The kids take to the streets and take with it cops, firemen, old people and other passersby. When they aren’t randomly assembling for a constantly moving party, they’ll abandon the plot for some spur of the moment dancing.

The sad part of it is that the dancing isn’t as good as in the first film. The little kids, who are more prominent this time around, are still awesome and a lot of fun to watch, but most of the stuff is rather tame. It’s hard to imagine that this sequel can be any lamer than “Breakin’” yet here we are. The directing is worse, the dancing isn’t as cool, the story is rather crappy and the acting…. The saying goes, you can only go up from here, but whoever said that forgot about staying at the same sub-par level. Actually, it probably did get worse, because we take away the helpful agent character and add a non-English speaking love interest for Turbo. I hope they got some draft picks with that trade. Simply put, the boogaloo wasn’t electric enough for my taste. Now, who wants to run into the street and have a roaming dance party?!