Saturday, January 19, 2008

Viewing...

Fast Food Nation (2006), based on a non-fiction book by Eric Schlosser (who also co-wrote) reminds me of the documentary Super Size Me, in the fact it's aimed at the fast food industry (duh, obviously Rob!) but to use a food pun both lack the proper bite. Director Richard Linklater's (also the other writer) career as seemed to be pretty much based on average to good films (he's made excellent work aswell) which is a shame because I always have interest in his movies. There's a good cast in this movie, Linklater pal Ethan Hawke stands out in his few scenes and shares good moments with Patricia Arquette (as his sister) and Ashley Johnson (as his niece) and BruceWillis pops briefly aswell, it's a good movie with the final scene shown in a real slaughter the only true lingering memory. Recommended if hardly essential.

Welcome to the Dollhouse (1995) is the latest DVD to arrive from a recent batch that I ordered of British R2 DVDs, that have been impossible to find in the local shops. This is something I first saw probably about 9/10 years ago late night when I was still a teenager. Heather Matarazzo is excellent as Dawn Weiner, a young girl at Junior High who gets called ugly to her face (and one student tells her he's going to rape her) and is probably the ultimate outcast, I've heard a lot of people say they identify with this character and I guess I do too a point at that age, the idea of feeling and outsider and all that. Brendan Sexton III plays another student (the rape one in fact), and he's great here, he's an actor I wish had more success but for some unexplained reason hasn't. This film made me a fan of director Todd Solondz work and it is certainly his best film alongside Happiness. Highly recommended for the low budget indie fans.

No comments: