Change Your Image
dryden_96
Reviews
Bamboozled (2000)
Trust No One
Spike Lee's films (excepting his brilliant documentary, "Four Little Girls" and "Do the Right Thing") have always revealed an essential distrust of his audience and/or his abilities as a storyteller. Rather than reveal his themes through his plots, he prefers to present his stories and then, at some point, tell you what they mean. His movies, and Bamboozled is no exception, is the cinematic equivalent of Aesop's fables. I personally object to films which lecture, especially when the points being made are so obvious to begin with. The reason I so enjoyed "Do the Right Thing" was not that it lacked an obvious message but that story contradicted the message. It said more than what it thought it was saying. I think it high time that Mr. Lee put away the soapbox and told stories the mirrored the complexities, contradictions, and moral ambiguities of life as we actually know it.
The Paint Job (1992)
An underrated Independent
I saw The Paint Job on HBO at two in the morning and was both pleased and surprised. I liked the film; it was alternately absurd, funny, scary, and tender. Also, rather than being a mere exercise in absurdity (i.e Being John Malkovich), it was actually about something. What surprised me was that I never knew this film existed. I doubt if it was ever released and wonder why, when it is clearly more surprising, original and well-performed than most of the movies I pay $9 to see.