August 2005

Girls, Drugs, and Guns. Now how about a point?

As a fan of 60’s and 70’s exploitation flicks, it really bums me out when a movie makes naked nubile beauties snorting coke, turning tricks, and blowing people’s brains out unappealing. 2004’s Greek powerhouse of style attempting to masquerade as substance, Hardcore, is just that film.
No really, kiddies, I’m just kidding. Sex, drugs, and violence are bad and shouldn’t be celebrated in film. Well, that is unless they are presented in a fun manner. Hardcore is not fun. It’s not really even that entertaining. And for the trench coat faction of you out there it’s not even very erotic. It just kind of sits there like a million other pretentious arty films that wallow in sensational topics just to get attention but offer little in story or substance.
Well, at least the chicks are hot.

Hardcore follows two teenage prostitutes in Athens, Nadia (Katerina Tsavalou) and Martha (Danae Skiadi), who fall in love with each other (even though they both have fellow prostitute boyfriends), kill their pimp, blame it on one of the boyfriends, and go off together as Nadia becomes a famous TV star and model. The ups and downs of their twisted relationship are explored while Nadia, who is the “bad girl” of the two, screws her way up the corporate entertainment ladder and Martha declines into a life of drug abuse and depression. Some sort of redemption supposedly takes place at the end, but it beats me what that is.

It’s kind of unfortunate that the story is so silly and pointless because the look of the film is great. Hardcore is director DennisIliadis’s first feature film and he does a great job of presenting the world these two live in as a dark, disturbing place. There are a few fantasy-type sequences in which Martha is dreaming of a better life that are really well done but are unfortunately like small diamonds periodically peeking out of a vast pool of foul, slimy, sewage.

Alright, I have another thing to get off my chest: I hated Leaving Las Vegas. That movie was, to me, a nihilistic exercise in depravity that had no point, no redeeming value, and was absolutely no fun. Hardcore seems to follow along the same lines as Leaving Las Vegas, and I enjoyed it about as much. I guess I just don’t get this kind of film-making because Leaving Las Vegas received a lot of critical acclaim when it came out and I’m sure somebody is going to think Hardcore is utterly brilliant. True, it’s visually appealing and clever at times, but it’s ultimately a waste of time.

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Universal is the real jerk on this skimpy DVD

“Whaddya mean you’ve never seen The Jerk?!?!?!?” is the usual response I got when people found out I had never seen the 1979 comedy favorite starring Steve Martin. I am slightly embarrassed that this incredibly popular movie somehow eluded me all these years and I am delighted to be reviewing Universal’s new 26th Anniversary Edition DVD for you loyal Razorfine readers.
Unfortunately, any promise the words “Anniversary Edition” might hold for this disc to be truly special are squelched when one looks at the back cover and sees the near complete lack of bonus features. Well, at least the movie is really funny.

The Jerk tells the story of a very stupid man, Navin Johnson (Steve Martin), as he leaves home for the first time and travels around the country looking for fame and fortune. Raised by a poor black family in Mississippi, Navin hears watered-down jazz music on the radio and is inspired to get out and find what life has waiting for him. On his way he works at a gas station for Jackie Mason, gets a job with a carnival, falls in love with Burnadette Peters, and invents an eyeglass apparatus that makes him a millionaire. Throughout all of this, Navin never gets any smarter, and his stupidity finally leads him to losing his entire fortune.

Martin plays the idiot brilliantly in his first starring role in a feature film. He also had a hand in the writing of the screenplay, which combined with his expert comedy timing and delivery make the film an incredibly goofy, funny viewing experience.

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