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SeanHooks
Reviews
Wake Up and Smell the Coffee (2001)
Excellent theater piece put on DVD
Yeah, I saw the IMDb review and wondered why it was so low also. Bogosian is one of the most important playwrights of his generation, a NY fixture in the off-Broadway theater scene, a Guggenheim fellowship guy, and a multi-talented individual. The modern-day Lenny Bruce, or as close as we're gonna get anyway. I highly recommend checking out "Wake Up and Smell the Coffee." It's an acerbic and accurate portrayal of modern society and post-consumerism humanity in general. It was originally performed during the last years of the Clinton administration, and thus obviously pre-9/11, but most of it is not dated at all. Bogosian's satire remains topical and dead-on most of the time. His riffs on religion, fame, materialism, psychotherapy etc. are definitely an example of someone who is trying to "keep it real" while conscious of his own limitations and susceptibility to frauds like Deepak Chopra. This DVD is basically a filmed version of the play, filmed during what seems like a regular everyday performance at the Jane Street Theatre in Manhattan's meat-packing district. So it's not really a "film" per se. But if you like theater that is thought-provoking, definitely check this out. And it's only an hour and 15 minutes, so it's not like it's taking a large part of your day.
Sean
Dead Man (1995)
God awful
Quite simply one of the worst films I have ever seen, and I've seen A LOT. I cannot believe some critics actually liked this dreck (Greil Marcus what the hell is wrong with you?). I enjoyed Stranger Than Paradise and after seeing Coffee and Cigarettes in the theaters recently I figured I'd check out another Jarmusch film and I'd been meaning to see Dead Man for a while. This is one of the most pretentious, boring and ridiculous films ever made. There's maybe a minute and a half of actual quality in a LONG two hours. I never saw Ghost Dog because the trailer simply make it LOOK like one of the worst movies ever made; Dead Man, unfortunately, is one of the worst. Honestly, I rent from Netflix, multiple films a week, I watch movies on cable, I go to the theaters, and I haven't been subjected to anything this pathetically bad in years. I honestly cannot recall the last time I saw a film this bad. Sometimes I see a film and say, OK, it's overrated, I don't know why people think this is such a great film, but with Dead Man, I felt like shutting it off 15 minutes in and I have a lot of patience and am almost never tempted to actually stop watching a film. Hell, I never even post stuff on IMDb, but this was so bad that it motivated me to.
Sean Hooks