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CINEMA SEEN - "Playing The War Game!" By William Margold Political correctness is a noose around the neck of creativity...and a very tight collar when it comes to expressing controversial opinions. Certain "select" people are pre-destined to say the seemingly wrong thing at the wrong time that eventually winds up being the right thing at a later time, as their life plays itself out on the roulette wheel of fate---and I take great pride (and perhaps even sardonic glee) in being one of those people who doesn’t hold anything back. My painfully honest manner in dealing with people (and situations) by any means necessary to get my point of view across can place those who are around me in a state of awkwardness---but I am duty bound to remain true to myself... and to my thoughts---and those who can’t stand the heat that I deliver are welcome to get out of my kitchen before they get cooked...or at least a little bit singed. As the issue of this installment of Cinema Seen coincides with the date of my 65th birthday (considered to be a chronological milestone), I created the preceding paragraph as a present to myself...and as an irritant to those whom I hold in contempt. Be they tragically lame adult entertainment industry columnists, unjustifiably pompous "nickel-and-dime gurus" or pathetic "practitioners" of the law---my use for them is only in the fact that I enjoy knowing that they are fully aware that they are loathe-some in my eyes. But lamentably I have no control over their hopefully sooner-than-later demises, so all I can do is derive "vicarious" pleasure from fantasizing about a world without them. And speaking of "vicarious"...it’s time to enter into a discussion of the film that gave me the most "vicarious viewing pleasure" so far in 2008---TROPIC THUNDER. Note the use of the word "vicarious" here...because I absolutely got an awful lot of bang for my buck---not once but twice---from seeing Ben Stiller’s playground war game that is painted with such broad strokes that virtually no sacred cinematic cows were left standing in the process. And if any did manage to slip through, I look forward to seeing them slaughtered when the DVD is released. And I am not the least bit ashamed to admit that I was more than a little bit jealous of those who did get to frolic around Stiller’s version of recess. (Although drastically unrelated, 25 years ago my writing partner Mark Weiss and I thought up an action/comedy storyline about a group of adult industry performers who get captured while making a movie in a miserable third world country, and since our government could care less about the fate of X-rated people, it’s left up to a collection of adult industry actors and actresses who have played heroes and heroines during their carnal cinematic careers to go rescue them. Our version, which I labeled "A Saturday Afternoon Matinee for Adults" was considerably more bittersweet with many of the characters---including mine---sacrificing themselves for the "cause.") Thankfully what Stiller delivers is nowhere near as heavy, but rather it is delightfully demented while at the same time being perceptively poignant, as Ben (who stars, directed and created the storyline) sets the viewer up in the middle of a film production about the adventures of a Vietnam War hero (Nick Nolte, at his raspy best) wherein the actors (including Robert Downey Jr. and Jack Black) find themselves up to their cell phones and lattes in modern day Southeast Asian dope dealers. Downey Jr. is achingly eloquent as a film star who becomes consumed by his role of an African-American soldier to the extent that he not only talks the talk...he literally dyes for the part. And when his moment of resolve comes, it is the stuff that Supporting Actor Oscar nominations are made of. Stiller has never been better because he doesn’t take himself seriously in the role of a screen hero whose career is on the decline. And all that controversy about his handling of retard role-playing is a perfect example of weak-minded nay-saying by those who simply have nothing better to do than protest, because their own lives are so unrewarding. Black is on hand for much of the comic relief imagery as well as one of the more insightful discussions of oral sex. And on the home front, Tom Cruise, looking an awful lot like Ron Howard’s brother Clint, plays a mega Hollywood producer in a way that should make many of that type in this town squirm as if fleas have taken up residence in their chinchilla boxer shorts. end NOTE: Originally published in LA Xpress, October 2, 2008 issue. |