Sit Down and Shut Up: Southland Tales
On these very special episodes of Sit Down and Shut Up, I'll explore some of the year's hot new cult(ure) items. Everything from music, movies, websites and other misc. worth your attention span. However much attention span you give is, of course (since this is Eugene), on a sliding scale. Let's kick this off with Richard Kelly's apocalyptic satire SOUTHLAND TALES, now out on DVD.
Justin Timberlake plays a minor role and narrates Southland Tales.
What the critics thought: Booed at Cannes ; Secret Pleasure for 2nd-String Film Critics in NY & LA
B.O.: Hardly 1/80th what it cost to make.
Precedents/Influences: Donnie Darko (Richard Kelly's first film), Mulholland Drive, Idiocracy, Training Day, The Book of Revelation, T.S. Eliot, porn, the PATRIOT Act, SoCal lifestyles, quantum physics, Justin Timberlake.
What It Will Be Remembered For: Its prescience. That, and a movie about the end of the world as narrated by Justin Timberlake and starring The Rock.
Quote That Pretty Much Sums Up The Film: "The rotation of the earth is slowing down at a rate of point zero,
zero, zero, zero, zero, zero, zero six miles per hour each day
disrupting the chemical equilibrium in the human brain causing very
irrational criminal behavior." — Boxer Santaros (Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson)
Quote That Pretty Much Sums Up The Film's Tone: "The fourth dimension will collapse upon itself... you stupid bitch." — Boxer Santaros
Requisite Quirky Cast: Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Jon Lovitz, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Wallace Shawn (of The Princess Bride fame), Bai Ling, Amy Poehler, Mandy Moore, Cheri Oteri, Justin Timberlake.
Movie Prediction We Hope Is Not True: In the film, set in 2008, the presidential election is being decided by California (kinda like the 2000 election was decided by Florida). The Dems' ticket is Clinton/Lieberman. Huh?
Oh Yeah, Other Movie Prediction We Hope Is Not True: Nuclear war breaks out and, because of a nefarious plot involving the fourth dimension, the world comes to an end. Literally. And no, that's not a spoiler. The movie's tagline is: "This is the way the world ends."
Minutes You Must Devote To Watching: 145.
Hours You Will Devote Discussing and Reviewing: 146.
Trailer:
Sample Clip:
I LOVE Idiocracy. My friend SB came to visit a while back bearing a copy of it on DVD; she'd been driving cross-country and, just for kicks, making her hosts watch it wherever she went. Best Luke Wilson movie EVER. (OK, maybe second best.)
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Submitted by Molly Templeton on Wed, 03/26/2008 - 14:40.Post new comment