Friday 12 December 2014

Free The Nipple (2014)

Not a scene from Spring Breakers (2012).
At a glance:
It's one thing to demand for the right to breastfeed in public. It's quite another to run topless across New York City just because men can do it. Free The Nipple (2014) is every bit as incendiary and silly as it sounds. If you could dignify it as an equality movement, they say they're standing against oppression and censorship.
Bad news on the doorstep:
Low self esteems and masturbatory egos jump at the chance of becoming activists. The movie becomes a natural descent into the depths of unwatchability somewhere near the fifth minute when the main character actually concedes that she does it because "it makes her feel good".
Perennial wonderment:
Updates in progress...
Reminds me of:
Everyone has that one friend who turned vegan just because it's the in-thing, don't they? Once I knew a scrawny bird, who was rather fun to hang around. Then she picked up a book one day and before you know it, she became a Facebook activist against everythin from child labour to sharksfin soup.
I can't remember if I cried:
Updates in progress...
Most memorable line:
Updates in progress...
Amacam joker, berapa bintang lu mau kasi?
Go on. Pick a cause. Do you really have the time? 1/2

Tuesday 17 June 2014

Jimmy (2013)

JIMMY movie
Ian Colletti never goes full retard in the Christian family flick Jimmy (2013).
At a glance:
Mark Freiburger's family drama Jimmy (2013) is an adaptation of Robert Whitlow's 2006 book about an autistic kid (Ian Colletti) with an issue or two, like acute aquaphobia and the leisurely propensity to see and talk to angels. He doesn't always understand what he sees and hears, but he remembers it all with uncanny accuracy, which is why his lawyer father asks him to testify in a crucial trial in defence of a ne'er-do-well who happens to be a victim of procedural improprieties by the police. Jimmy's testimony saves the man from jail but the consequences play out as a moral fable of sorts.
Bad news on the doorstep:
While definitely sidestepping the heavy-handed approach so often the bane of most faith-based North American family flicks, Jimmy is structurally a telemovie and would make for bible study group screenings faster than it would commission an okay from someone who paid full price for the DVD looking for a family feature. The voluminous events in the book don't always get the proper pacing or focus that would make the narrative more sprightly. If this fell to more ambitious hands, we could feel like we did in K-Pax (2001) or Powder (1995). As it is, we simply have to respect it as a product that's marketed to the religious.
Ted Levine has a decent run-out as an ailing granddad.
Reminds me of:
Oh I can't think of some right now but they all have a kid with a terminal disease.
I can't remember if I cried:
The disappointing stock music doesn't allow it.
Amacam joker, berapa bintang lu mau kasi?
I appreciate and the titular performance and I like the message. Gary Wheeler and Robert Whitlow can carry on with more collaborations.★★1/2
Bonus material:
Whoever supplied this as a movie still needs to be sacked.