Blow

This is the latest movie scribe chose for us to review. Its been a while since we've posted anything and I felt we needed to post something so here's my part of it. Hopefully my blog partner will own up and post his half soon. Until then, people...

GREEN’S “I CAN’T FEEL MY FACE” REVIEW”

“Blow” is the true story of the rise and fall of George Jung (Johnny Depp) and his friends. If you smoked cocaine in the late 70’s or early 80’s chances are, George Jung had a part in getting it to you. The story starts with George’s humble beginnings in Weymouth, Massachusetts as a kid who idolized his father amid a troubled family life. George’s life irreversibly changes when he moves to southern California and gets himself involved in importing and selling marijuana. He eventually gets arrested for smuggling but skips bail to be with his dying girlfriend Barbara, (Franka Potente). On a visit back home to his family, he is arrested and sentenced to federal prison. There he meets Diego, his cellmate, who gets George involved in the Colombian cocaine cartel once they get out of jail. The story goes on to relate events of George‘s dealings with Pablo Escobar and the relationship he forms with the beautiful Mirtha (Penelope Cruz), who becomes his wife. Together they have a daughter, Kristina (Emma Roberts and James King). Eventually Mirtha files for divorce and puts a strain on his relationship with his daughter. As the movie ends, George is in jail once again and imagines a visit from his daughter who he loves dearly, despite all of his drug related problems.

I had bought this DVD some time ago (from the $5 DVD bin at Wal-Mart) based on the hype I think I remembered during its theatrical run and on the reputation of Johnny Depp, one of the best contemporary actors in the business today. For whatever reason I had never gotten around to watching it until Scribe-o named it on his latest list of movie choices.

Suffice to say I was impressed by Depp in the title role. Arguably, this might be Depp’s career best performance in a career with many outstanding performances. Amazingly, this movie received no Academy Award nominations, not even one. The supporting cast is strong, including Paul (Pee-Wee Herman) Rubens, whom I have never considered more than a marginal talent. Ray Liotta and Australian actress Rachel Griffiths give strong performances as George’s parents. I find it interesting that Penelope Cruz was nominated for a Breakthrough Female Performance (2002 MTV Movie Award) and a Razzie for Worst Actress for the same role in this movie, though she won neither award, (personally I tend to lean toward the Razzie nomination over the Breakthrough Performance Award for Cruz.)

I had never really heard of director Ted Demme, who did a fabulous job directing the film, based on a book by Bruce Porter and screenplay by Nick Cassavetes and David McKenna. Demme, ironically, died about nine months after the release of this drug themed film from what IMDb calls an ’accidental cocaine induced thrombotic heart attack.’ You'd think Demme would have learned that cocaine is baaaad for you after filming this movie. Some folks never learn, I guess. Sad.

The extras on the infinifilm DVD are very well done, including a gripping, English subtitled documentary on the impact of the cocaine trade on the country of Columbia, its people and economy. A must see extra is Demme’s interview of the real life George Jung, from Otisville Correctional Facility in upstate New York, where he is currently serving a 60-year sentence. In this question and answer interview, among other things, we learn that Jung himself was impressed with Depp’s portrayal of himself and of the events depicted in the film. If the real life subject of your movie wholeheartedly endorses it, it has to be good.

**** out of *****



Blow (2001, R, 124 minutes), starring Johnny Depp, Penelope Cruz, Paul Rubens, Jordi Molla, Rachel Griffiths, Ray Liotta, Franka Potente, Cliff Curtis and Miguel Sandoval. The screenplay was written by Nick Cassavetes and David McKenna. Based on the book by Bruce Porter. The film was directed by Ted Demme.

Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (1979-1981)

While the Scribester is off dealing with whatever issues he has to deal with, I'm left to post whatever I want. I do apologize that its been so long in between posts. It's never my intention to leave you all hanging so long with nothing new to read. I had an urge to watch some of this recently and thought it'd be cool to review here, just because I can. Of course, Sir Scribe-a-lot is always welcome to add his take if he wants to.

GREEN'S OH, WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN REVIEW:


"The year is 1987, and NASA launches the last of America's deep space probes. In a freak mishap, Ranger Three and its pilot, Captain William "Buck" Rogers, are blown out of their trajectory into an orbit which freezes his life support systems, and returns Buck Rogers to Earth, 500 years later."

With that great weekly narration by William Conrad, we were launched into the week's adventure as Buck (Gil Gerard), Wilma (Erin Grey) and friends were off to save Earth from would be conquerors, ultimate destruction and various bad guys. The best villain was Ardala, the Draconian Princess, sexily played by Pamela Hensley, as evidenced by her appearance in six episodes.

The opening narration changed slightly for the abbreviated second season as did the weekly format of the show. This season took on a more hybrid Battlestar Galactica and Star Trek-ish feel as Buck and Wilma were part of the Earth ship Searcher crew, looking for the "lost tribes of Earth" scattered across the galaxy in the aftermath of the Nuclear War which occurred after Buck's Ranger 3 mission took off.

Since I initially posted this review I've thought about the second season's premise. The exploration format actually makes no sense at all when you consider that, according to the story, Buck's 1987 mission was as a deep space probe. Space flight was still in its infancy back then as it still is now, despite advances made. Travel between planets outside the solar system remains impossible, given the host of technological problems, the least of which is knowing where hospitible planets to earth life are located, never mind getting to them. So leaving earth to find lost colonies scatterd from the nuclear war would be a useless gesture.

This show first aired the year I turned 10 and I absolutely loved it. As a young boy the futuristic plots captured my imagination in more ways than one. Back then the campiness of it all didn't even bother me.

Both Buck Rogers and the original Battlestar Galactica television show (another personal fave of mine) were produced by Glen A. Larson, so its not surprising that some of the props and costumes were used in both shows. One of my favorite elements of this show is the look of the Earth Defense Directorate star-fighters. They are so cool looking and I often wished as a youngster that I could own and fly one.

Buck Rogers featured some excellent guest stars including: Roddy McDowall, Jack Palance, Jerry Orbach, Jamie Lee Curtis, Peter Graves, Gary Coleman, Julie Newmar, Frank Gorshin, Marc Lenard, Markie Post, Buster Crabbe, Anne Lockhart and Dennis Haysbert.

Looking back on this series as an adult, I see that the acting was generally bad with paper thin plots and cheesy special effects. In the second season, the acting wasn't any better but the characters and plots became more serious. As a result, the show lost some of its campiness and, frankly, most of its appeal. Now the appeal is purely nostalgic. I've watched all 37 episodes multiple times and love every minute of them.

I used to think that the network cancelled the show midway through the second season due to low ratings but, according to wikipedia.org, the year was marred by a writers strike which shortened the season. NBC then cancelled the series due to "cost concerns." I'd like to think that if the show hadn't been canceled, season three would have blended the first season's campiness with the second season's more serious themes and it might have lasted a few more seasons.

The only complaints I have are centered around the DVD set itself. It contains five discs with programming on both sides of each disc, which I don't like at all. The set also contains zero special features, which as a fan of the show I would love to see. The enclosed booklet has nice episode summaries but as you unfold the pages knowing what episodes are on each disc becomes unnecessarily confusing.

The price for the complete series is very reasonable. I've seen it as low as $14.99 on amazon.com.

For all its flaws, this is an excellent television show that was cancelled way too soon.

**** out of *****

Buck Rogers in the 25^th Century" (1979-1981, 37 episodes total) starring Gil Gerard, Erin Grey, Tim O'Connor, Felix Silla, Mel Blanc (voice), Eric Server (voice), and William Conrad (narrator).