Thursday, December 31, 2015

CLOSING OUT 2015...

In addition to my own end of year review, I contributed to a few other "Best Of 2015" movie lists which you can check out by clicking on the images below...




*read by blurb on Sicario



Wednesday, December 23, 2015

PINK SMOKE CHRISTMAS

I'm finishing up the year with a few new pieces for The Pink Smoke. So when you have some down time over the holidays, make sure to check out my new piece on Todd Haynes' Carol, along with a new movie list I did with John & Chris.

Enjoy (click the images to read the articles)

CINE-MAS 2015: CAROL


EATING POTATO JESUS: WHEN CHRISTMAS INTERRUPTS NON-CHRISTMAS MOVIES
http://thepinksmoke.com/invadedbychristmas.html

Wednesday, December 16, 2015

THE BEST OF 2015 ACCORDING TO PINNLAND EMPIRE...



What started out as a "meh" kind of a year slowly turned in to one of my favorite movie years in a long time (for the first time ever we have a TOP 12 instead of the standard top 10!)


Gregg Turkington/"Neil Hamburger" in Entertainment

Little bits of reality seeping in to fictional stories seemed to be the theme in 2015. That was obviously something a few filmmakers touched on last year with Birdman, Boyhood, Top 5 & Chef, but it was even more prominent this year. Besides Clouds Of Sils Maria & Portrait Of The Artist (two films that featured actors pretty much playing themselves), Gerard Depardieu (Welcome To New York) & Gregg Turkington (Entertainment) put pieces of their real selves in to their respective performances. And personally, I thought Viggo Mortensen's role in Jauja was an existential look at aging as well as a callback to all the physically demanding roles that brought him to prominence in the last 12 years or so (A History Of Violence, The Road, Hidalgo, Eastern Promises, LOTR). As an actor in his mid 50's, I'm not sure how many naturally physically demanding roles he has left in him without the help of CGI, lots of editing (like in the case of The Expendables) and extensive stunt double work (not to say those things haven't already been Incorporated in Viggo's performances, but Jauja felt like it was all him).


an exhausted Viggo Mortensen in Jauja
the aging actress (Jane Fonda) in Youth

In Paolo Sorrentino's Youth Michael Caine, Harvey Keitel (who hits a home run in the final act) & Jane Fonda all play aging entertainers coming to grips with their respective careers. In one scene we watch Jane Fonda tell Keitel that television is the future and film is the past (Jane Fonda recently starred in a Netflix original television show). This ties directly in to Clouds Of Sils Maria as Juliette Binoche plays a character who has to come to grips with her career & age as well.


Juliette Binoche in The Clouds Of Sils Maria
Bertrand Bonello as "Bertrand Bonello" in Portrait Of The Artist

Michael Mann went unappreciated (once again), It Follows & The Visit both got way more credit than they deserved (read my mid-season review for a little more detail on It Follows and check out Ian's review of The Visit for a different perspective), Creed ended up being way better than it should have, and Mad Max: Fury Road provided the most fun I had all year at a movie theater.



Mad Max: Fury Road

So, like always, all the movies from this year have been broken up in to various sub-categories and groups that i saw fit. Almost all of these are either streaming on some platform (Jauja, Da Sweet Blood Of Jesus, Stretch & Bobbito), currently playing in theaters or scheduled to be released soon (Entertainment, The Lobster, Cemetery Of Splendour, Creed & Carol) or are available on DVD/Blu-Ray (Mad Max, Blackhat, Clouds Of Sils Of Maria), so I encourage all of you to seek out the movies below that you may not be familiar with.

(it should be noted that I haven't seen The Revenant yet and I have no plans of seeing Hateful 8)


Enjoy...


***CLICK THE TITLE OF EACH MOVIE TO READ THE INDIVIDUAL REVIEW***



1-4: THE EXCEPTIONAL
Bottom Row: CAROL / WELCOME TO NEW YORK



5-6: PLEASANT SURPRISES



7-8: PERSONALLY I LIKED THESE BUT I WOULDN'T RECOMMEND THEM TO JUST ANYONE...



9-12: FRUSTRATING BUT REWARDING
Bottom Row: THE LOBSTER / SICARIO






*******HONORABLE MENTION*******


1-6: SOLID EFFORTS
top row: THE REVENANT / STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS
middle row: PHOENIX / ROOM
Bottom Row: AMY / JUNUN


7: MISUNDERSTOOD


8-9: UNDER THE RADAR / UNDERRATED


10-11: FRUSTRATING BUT REWARDING


12: GUILTY PLEASURE






PINNLAND EMPIRE JURY PRIZE or: movies I genuinely liked/loved/enjoyed but have some kind of special/biased attachment to
Top row: BLACKHAT / NED RIFLE
middle row: MULIGNANS / SPIT




*HONORABLE HONORABLE MENTION*
(a few more movies from 2015 possibly worth your time)
top row: WILD CANARIESEX MACHINA
middle Row: ANT-MAN / 1,001 GRAMS
bottom row: CALL ME LUCKY / TANGERINE





NOTABLE PERFORMANCES
*Jacqueline Bisset (Welcome To New York)
Viggo Mortensen (Jauja)
*Hagen the dog (White God)
*Jason Mitchell (Straight Outta Compton)
*Sylvester Stallone (Creed)
John Ashton (Uncle John)
Leonardo Dicaprio (The Revenant)
Josh Brolin (Sicario)
Benicio Del Torro (Sicario)
Harvey Keitel (Youth)
Nina Haas (Phoenix)
Charlize Theron (Mad Max: Fury Road)
Cate Blanchett (Carol)
Ryan Gosling (The Big Short)
Bree Larson (Room)
Jacob Tremblay (Room)
Mathieu Amalric (The Forbidden Room)
Jeanne Balibar (Portrait Of The Artist)
*Juliette Binoche (Clouds Of Sils Maria)
Kristen Stewart (Clouds Of Sils Maria)
*Aggeliki Papoulia (The Lobster)
Rachel Weisz (The Lobster)
Aubrey Plaza (Ned Rifle)







ROB COTTO (PINNLAND EMPIRE)
Youth
Love & Mercy
Brooklyn
Room
45 Years
Carol
Creed

IAN LOFFILL (NOTES & SCRIBBLINGS)
Blackhat
Carol
The Case Of Hannah & Alice
Inside Out
Irrational Man
The Lobster
Miss Hokusai
Our Little Sisiter
Tomorrowland: A World Beyond
World Of Tomorrow 

MATT REDDICK (PINNLAND EMPIRE)
Theeb
The Assassin
Sicario
Phoenix
Mad Max: Fury Road
Hard To Be A God
Jauja
Wild Tales
What We Do In The Shadows
Clouds Of Sils Maria
Faults

Missed out from 2014 but were so outstanding they deserve mention:
Leviathan 
Mr. Turner
Lil Quinquin
John Wick
The Homesman

Of Note:
* I watched The Burbs three times over Labor Day weekend and after I was able to block out Tom Hanks (who I HATE) and I really enjoyed it.
* Alverson continues to make weird, interesting shit. Not sure I understand it all, but like Reygadas, I will continue to watch.
* Two great shootouts made Blackhat watchable.
* FINALLY: Two-Lane Blacktop, Those Who Love Me Can Take the Train, Apu Trilogy, Rust Never Sleeps
* NOPE: Goodbye to Language, A Most Violent Year, #Horror, The Tribe
* Gabriel Figueroa was the only thing I enjoyed at Film Forum. Anthology was my goto in 2015.
* Discoveries: Jean Rollin, Cy Endfield, Stuart Gordon, Emilio Fernandez, Aleksei German


JOHN CRIBBS (THE PINK SMOKE)
Mad Max: Fury Road
Call Me Lucky
Carol
Clouds of Sils Maria
In Jackson Heights
Mortdecai
Shaun the Sheep Movie
Slow West
What We Do in the Shadows


LEANNE KUBICZ (LMK FILM PICS)
Mad Max: Fury Road 
The color palette! The constant action! Flaming-guitar man! 

Cinderella
Kenneth Branagh directed a film that was too good for the average Disney audience. This film isn't for children; the average viewer seemed to be in their 30s or 40s. Dante Ferretti's production design yet again was all-encompassing beauty and grandeur. A film that is gentle, with the main message being “Have courage and be kind”, is rare and special in this day and age. 

Amy
In all honesty, I was never an Amy Winehouse fan; I was actually a detractor. I found her music to be derivative and her persona grating. Boy howdy, was I wrong! Just as director Asif Kapadia did with his 2010 documentary Senna(I recommend highly), personal footage of the main character was used to perfect effect. Amy Winehouse was terribly taken advantage of by many people in her life and this documentary puts it all out on the table. Her father is an utter scumbag, who left Amy as a child, screwed up her perception of how men should treat women and then only came back when she had fame and money. Her daddy issues lead her to marry a junkie loser, who used her for her fame and was highly integral in her downward spiral into drug-use. If Amy hadn't have been surrounded by such a degenerate family(her mother knew of her bulimia and did nothing to help her; pathetic 'parenting'), she may still be alive today. I left the theater in tears and put on Back to Black. Rest in peace Amy, you hyper-talented, damaged soul.

Kraftwerk: 3D Concert at the Midland Theater, Kansas City, MO on October 9, 2015
Ok, I know a concert is usually not considered a film, but this was Kraftwerk and therefore one of the greatest pieces of art I've ever seen. I had third row assigned seats and had to wear 3D glasses throughout the entire show. There was no dancing allowed! I have never wanted to dance more; so stoic and German of the band to set up the hall that way. Watching four men slightly bop their heads, standing at consoles while 3D visuals of cars, calculators, UFO's, and roadways ran behind them was entrancing. I've been to much more elaborate concerts; this was elevated to straight high art by the simplicity of the songs and the mastery of the electronic music form by the band. They are the originators of the genre and continue to hold that high honor. The fact that I was furiously clapping when robots in red shirts with black ties played the encore illustrates how spectacular Kraftwerk is. There don't even need to be people on stage; we live in the Computer World Kraftwerk predicted 34 years ago and it is glorious. 

The Leftovers: Season 2 on HBO
This season, as well as the first of The Leftovers is heartbreaking, weird, uncomfortable and one of the deepest explorations of bereavement presented in a television program ever. To see a show build a story from nothing(the first season was based on the novel and ended just as the book did) and exceed all expectations was magical. This is not an easy program to watch; you will cry at least once an episode. The show is so well made I have watched all of the episodes two or three times and would watch them again. The Leftovers explores the smashing of reality that death brings and I could not be more grateful that this exists. People find solace in many different avenues; The Leftovers assuaged my soul with it's deep understanding of the ways in which mourning changes and effects us in completely unexpected ways. My hope is that HBO renews this program and doesn't let it Depart, yet if not, at least we were gifted with these two amazing seasons.

NATHANIEL DRAKE CARLSON (PINNLAND EMPIRE)
Um Século de Energia 
La Sapienza 
Jamie Marks is Dead 
Blackhat 
Something, Anything 
Lost River 
Mad Max: Fury Road 
Southpaw 
Amour Fou 
Manglehorn 
End of the Tour 
Good Kill 
It Follows 
Tangerine
P'tit Quinquin

Best of TV: The Affair, The Leftovers, The Knick, Banshee, Game of Thrones

Overrated: Hard to Be a God, Jauja, Winter Sleep, Clouds of Sils Maria, Ex Machina 

Underrated: Chappie, The Water Diviner, The Gift

Exceptional films from 2014 that I didn't see till 2015: Inherent Vice, American Sniper, Mr. Turner, The Equalizer, Wild, Exodus, Foxcatcher, Nightcrawler, A Most Violent Year 

Discovery of the year: Catholics (Jack Gold, '73)

JASON HEDRICK (THE ECSTATIC)
Mad Max: Fury Road
Adieu au langage
Inherent Vice
Hard To Be A God
(Tie) A Pigeon Sat On a Branch Reflecting On Existence/Ex Machina 

Best Terrible Movie:
Jupiter Ascending 

Just Terrible:
Big Eyes 
Slow West
Avengers: Age of Ultron
Maggie
Mortdecai 

Better Than You Might Think: 
Chappie 

Better Than You Might Think (But Still Not Good):
Pixels 

Most Anticipated:
The Hateful Eight
The Revenant
The Look of Silence
Cemetery of Splendor
The Lobster






LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD / R.I.P: 
DANIEL VON BARGEN / CHANTAL AKERMAN / ALBERT MAYSLES

Daniel Van Bargen in Super Troopers
I don't know if it's because he costarred in one of my all time favorite comedies (Super Troopers), or the fact that he struggled with diabetes (a disease that affects me both directly & indirectly) but Daniel Von Bargen's passing really made me sad (let's also not forget he delivered one of the funniest lines in Super Troopers with his deadpan delivery of "I like you"). 
Look...diabetes affects a lot of people and his passing is no more important than any other person who passed away due to complications from the same disease. But the circumstances surrounding his battle with diabetes is pretty heartbreaking (back in 2011 he was on his way to losing a limb so he tried to take his own life).

Daniel Von Bargen might have been on "oh, that guy" status to the average person but to me he was a key (supporting) player in the films I watched as a kid appearing in everything from The Silence Of The Lambs & Basic Instinct to Thinner & Rising Sun (there were times in the early/mid 90's where it was almost a 50/50 shot that he'd show up in one of the movies my parents would rent for me at blockbuster videos). He even showed up on PINNLAND EMPIRE earlier this year in John Cribbs' Cinema Of Paul Veerhoeven.
I don't know if I should call Von Bargen a "character actor", "stock actor" or "supporting actor". Maybe he's a bit of all three which is what made his presence on film & television so unique. 

Chantal Akerman
Anyone who knows me well or frequents this site knows that I’m a Chantal Akerman fan (read my write-up of Rendezvous D’Anna and my references to her work in The Cinema Of Michael Haneke & Carlos Reygadas). I know this is petty, and I sometimes hate this mentality, but this is one of those cases where I find joy in the fact that I didn’t become an overnight fan of her work after she passed away. But at the same time I don’t want to discourage folks who want to get in to her work. Her filmography is a lot to tackle (some of her films are out of print or only on VHS), but her films on the Hulu Criterion channel is a great place to start.

Akerman’s work & style is the epitome of the “Boring Masterpiece” series that’s been a pillar of PINNLAND EMPIRE since day one. I look back on the last decade and think about how often Chantal Akerman and her work would come up in my own personal life in an organic way. A few years ago Anthology Film Archives did a boring masterpiece series (yes, that’s where I stole the name from) and I remember lightheartedly complaining to the programmer about there being no Akerman films in the program. A few years prior to that, I remember a friend texting me after they saw Jeanne Dielman for the first time and how much they loved it. And just a few months ago (about a week before her passing), I was fortunate enough to see her 1983 film Toute Une Nuit for the first time courtesy of my friends Jason Evans & Lodge Kerrigan.

Chantal’s influence is no mystery at this point (the visual comparison between Jeanne Dielman & Todd Haynes’ Safe has become a standard thing on most movie blogs). But her influence reaches beyond Safe. There are shades of Akerman in everyone from veterans like Claire Denis to younger filmmakers like Betrand Bonello & Lisandro Alonso.

Albert Maysles
Office Space is probably the #1 movie that people claim to relate to when it comes to job hatred and/or the daily grind that comes along with "adulthood". But for me it's Salesman (like a lot of people, my introduction to the Maysles brothers was Grey Gardens, but Salesman was always my personal favorite). Plus, Office Space came out when I was still a teenager. So while I always thought it was funny (and still do), I could never fully relate to the horror of working in an office cubicle during my prime Office Space viewing years because I hadn't entered the workforce yet (I certainly relate to it now given that I draw office cubicles on a computer for a living while sitting in an office cubicle). 

Given my love of film, it shouldn't come as a surprise that I relate certain things in my life to movies from time to time, and Salesman is definitely an example of this. I discovered Salesmen a few months after starting my hellish first job in my early 20's so it will always be synonymous with my hatred, anxiety & displeasure with working, paying bills and just being responsible. I don't work in sales (although I do work alongside salespeople), but my job still comes along with the same kinds of pressures & banalities that we're exposed to in Salesman
But Salesman isn't the only movie of theirs that stood out for me. Like Chantal Akerman's films, when I look back on certain aspects of my life, the films of the Maysles brothers also played a minor role in my life. I remember buying their movies from people off of craigslist back in the day and catching midnight screenings of Grey Gardens & Beales Of Grey Gardens at the IFC center.

So I'd like to take this time to say rest in piece to these talented artists for their contribution to film & television.






*Highlights, lowlights and other random movie moments from 2015*

The opening (first 10-15 minutes) of Mad Max: Fury Road

I wanted to, but I'm not sitting in Film Forum for three hours (In Jackson Heights)

Carol touches Therese's shoulder
Carol

Interviewing Samantha Fuller

Dean Stockwell's cameo in Entertainment

Seriously, we fucking get it, Greta Gerwig. You like being the "awkward girl". (Mistress America
Mistress America

Ok, in all seriousness, you guys didn't honestly like The Visit, right?

The fight scenes in Creed

Hagen gets revenge (White God)

Not to beat a dead horse but it really was that bad (Fantastic Four)

so...a plantation-themed strip club is ok? (Magic Mike XXL)

Rocky holds back tears while talking about Adrienne's battle with cancer (Creed)

Can't decide what I disliked more: Heaven Knows What, It Follows or Irrational Man

Had Lee Daniels or Ava Duvernay made Da Sweet Blood Of Jesus instead of Spike Lee it would have been the most critically praised movie of 2015
Da Sweet Blood Of Jesus

Just the right amount of John C Reilly in 2015 (The Lobster & Entertainment)

David questions his sexuality for a moment at the beginning of The Lobster

The escalator scene in Cemetery Of Splendour

The final moments of Cemetery Of Splendour

Father of the year award: Amy Winehouse's dad (Amy)

I actually went to the theater to see this...and I don't regret it: The Boy Next Door
The Boy Next Door 

"You all look so serious" - Josh Brolin (Sicario)

"You ain't a tough guy here. Stop that shit" (Welcome To New York)

"Why did Madonna feed her baby alpo brand dog food? 
...because she had no choice. It was the only thing that came out of her breasts" - Gregg Tirkington/Neil Hamburger (Entertainment)

"life goes on. even without all that cinema bullshit" - Jane Fonda (Youth)

"You would think she was about to masterbate" (Portrait Of The Artist)

"Scream! Scream like you're gettin' f*cked!" - Tim Heidecker (Entertainment)

the sky in Jauja...
Jauja

Eazy-E finds out he's HIV positive (Straight Outta Compton)

almost forgot I saw this (The Overnight)

almost forgot I saw this too (End Of The Tour)

Whoopi Golderberg begging for a role in a Wes Anderson Movie. Have some respect for yourself.

Adele Haenel's presence in The Forbidden Room

Alia Shawkat's presence in Wild Canaries
Wild Canaries

Alex Descas' surprise appearance in Portrait Of The Artist

The appreciation of art in Portrait Of The Artist

Cousin John's pointless small talk in Entertainment 

Paul Giamatti playing the same guy in two different movies in the same year (Love & Mercy & Straight Outta Compton)

Miss Universe (Youth)

Mick's career flashes before his eyes (Youth)

Jane Fonda's cameo in Youth

Devereaux (Gerard Depardieu) chats with his therapist (Welcome To New York)

can't decide if I liked these movies or not: Lost River & Dope

Meh: Avengers Age Of Ultron & A Pigeon Sat On A Branch Reflecting On Existence

Surprisingly tolerable: Love & Mercy 

Mad that I missed: Insidious 3, The Assassin & Love 

Indifferent about missing: Trainwreck & Spectre

Completely fine with missing: Hateful 8

The final moments of Mulignans
Mulignans

Notable fiilm scores: Ex Machina, Uncle John, Lost River & S.P.I.T., Sicario

The manager scene in S.P.I.T.

Filmmakers that should act more: Bertrand Bonello & Shaka King 

Is it me, or is every American indie movie starting to look like a Whit Stillman or Wes Anderson movie?

Best of 2014 that I didn't see until 2015: Wild Tales, We Are The Best & A Most Violent Year

Best new discovery: Lightning Over Braddock
Lightning Over Braddock

Can we please see more of you in 2016: Ariane Labed, Adele Haenel, Lea Seydoux, Alex Descas, Michele Williams, Tim Heidecker, Eric Weirheim, Sylvester Stallone, Vincent D'onofrio, Vincent Gallo, Tony Leung, Harvey Keitel, Willem Dafoe & Isabella Rossellini

Can we please see just as much of you in 2016 as we did in 2015: John C Reilly, Michael B. Jordan & Tom Hardy

Can we please see less of you in 2016?: Amy Schumer, Paul Giamatti, Matt Damon, Michael Fassbender, Robert Deniro, Jennifer Lawrence, Paul Giamatti, Melissa Mcarthy & Sean Penn



Wednesday, December 9, 2015

A MOVIE FOR CHRISTMAS: GO (*SPECIAL GUEST BLOGGER: LEANNE KUBICZ*)


Christmas, a time of magic and wonder for little Christian children, is just another day to hustle for rent money and rampage around Vegas for others. Go, directed by Doug Liman, traces three intersecting stories of a chaotic Christmas Eve and day. The tales do not lead to holiday redemption but to the realization that the festivities are simply a backdrop and nothing more. The stale cinematic ideal of Christmas miracles is amusingly dashed by this film of desperate situations and unforeseen calamities. The three chapters of the film follow Ronna (Sarah Polley), Sonny (Desmond Askew) and Zack and Adam (Jay Mohr and Scott Wolf) through events in which their best laid plans go completely awry.



Go was released in 1999, the turn of the 21st century, and has aged fairly well. Due to our accelerated culture, aspects of the film are dated or may seem confusing to a younger viewer, such as the reliance on beepers and pay phones, people reading and critiquing the comics page of the newspaper and calling ecstasy by it's original street name, not molly, as people seem compelled to call MDMA now. The casting of this film adds a dash of nostalgia as well. Katie Holmes and Scott Wolf were actors from popular TV dramas at the time and were cast against type. For those who watched Dawson's Creek or Party of Five, seeing these actors given a role not expected of them was cheeky fun. Other actors appear who would come to prominence later; Timothy Olyphant, Taye Diggs, Jane Krankowski and Melissa McCarthy give performances large and small which are memorable and show how bright their futures would become. The soundtrack is also very '90's, including tracks from No Doubt, Fatboy Slim, Air and everyone's favorite tune, The Macarena, dance craze of the decade.

The three stories start in a dingy LA supermarket in which Ronna, Claire (Katie Holmes), Simon, and Mannie (Nathan Bexton) work. Ronna has worked a 14 hour shift as a cashier dealing with bossy, rude customers and just wants to go home. Her home is not going to be around much longer, due to her owing back rent and facing eviction on Christmas day. Simon, her gregarious, obnoxious English co-worker offers her his shift, in order for him to take a road trip to Las Vegas with his buddies. She accepts his shift, in her desperation for money, and here is where the three stories lift off. The first chapter is titled 'Ronna' and follows her travails obtaining rent money, the second chapter is titled 'Simon' and details the lunacy of having an out-of-control Vegas night and the third chapter is titled 'Adam & Zack' delving into the consequences of the duo's lies.



Ronna's chapter presents the story of a poor young woman, using only her cunning to get by. To gain the extra rent money, Ronna decides to pull a one-off drug deal which will ensure her financial security. After much negotiation with a paranoid drug dealer Todd (Timothy Olyphant) for 20 hits of ecstasy, she tries to sell with no success. She is wary of the prospective buyers, flushes the pills and narrowly escapes being arrested in a drug deal staged by the police. Ronna is now doubly screwed, as she has no drug-deal money and also no pills; how to pay back surly Todd? The pharmacy aisle is her answer; substitute antihistamines for the lost pills, pass them off as authentic to Todd and then sell the remainder at a rave to naive attendants. Ronna is crafty; she convinces many at the rave to buy her 'ecstasy', smoke a lot of pot with the fakes to enhance their qualities and the buyers actually believe they are rolling. Ronna then feels financially secure enough to join the rave and steps in to dance the night away. Her relief is short-lived as Todd has figured out her ruse, finds her at the rave and tries to gun her down. As he gets ready to shoot, Ronna is hit buy a car in the parking lot and is propelled into a ditch. Ronna's chapter has ended, bloodied and injured at the bottom of ditch; a terrible ending to a night spent avoiding close calls.



Simon's chapter is that of a young fool who stumbles through the pleasurable absurdities of Las Vegas nightlife. Simon keeps company with Tiny (Breckin Meyer), Singh (James Duval) and Marcus (Taye Diggs who is 800 IQ points smarter than his companions; a peculiar choice of friends for sure) and they descend on a copious casino buffet to begin their wild weekend. With little surprise, Tiny and Singh are sequestered to their hotel room after indulging in too much buffet seafood and Simon and Marcus leave them to explore the city. Simon is quickly bored with gambling, crashes a Jewish wedding, picks up two bridesmaids and is invited to their hotel room for a joint and some hot sex. So hot in fact that the room is engulfed in flames(lesson: smoke pot responsibly) and Simon makes a harried escape. Simon and Marcus then travel to a strip club, via a righteously stolen* sports car, in which Simon causes easily-avoidable trouble. Simon is a walking Id, so of course he can't keep his hands off of the strippers and ultimately shoots one of the bouncers at the club. He and his buddies then make a hasty exit out of Vegas, with the injured bouncer and his boss following behind. Simon, ever the brainiac, was using Todd the surly drug dealer's credit card at the strip club, which helped the employees track him down. As Simon's chapter ends, the aggrieved men from the strip club follow him back to LA to exact revenge.



Adam and Zack's chapter finds them in need of a lot of ecstasy, yet not for a party. The closeted couple(actors on a popular TV crime drama) have struck a deal with law enforcement to wear a wire in order to assist in a drug sting. The officer in charge of the sting operation is Burke (William Fichtner), a man who is itching to bust any big drug deal and who is very off-putting in his familiarity with Adam and Zack. The drug deal to be busted, turns into a bust, as Zack warns Ronna, who is providing the ecstasy to “Go!” and extract herself from the setup. After the failed drug sting, Adam and Zack are cajoled into having Christmas Eve dinner with Burke and his wife. The reason for the overly-friendly and inappropriate manner of the hosts is slowly revealed to the couple; they have been invited to hear a pitch about Confederated Products an Amway-type pyramid scheme! After being subjected to the indignity of a multi-level marketing proposal, Adam and Zack head to the rave and the evening devolves more. Cash-strapped Ronna is in the parking lot pleading with Todd and then, slam, she is hit by Adam and Zack's car. The couple predictably freak out, retrieve Ronna's bloody body and place her on top of a car for others to find her and call an ambulance. They did the “right thing”, as in, they made sure Ronna didn't die, but they aren't going to the cops again. No one needs to be subjected to a pyramid-scheme pitch twice.



The film ends on Christmas morning, with revenge enacted and stock taken of the previous evening. So this is Christmas, working the holiday shift at a crap supermarket. No miracles occurred, only tight escapes and the smallest amount of luck surfaced. The nuanced and humorous performances of the ensemble bring depth to a story that has no rosy Christmas message. In that way Go is a very honest and funny picture of what the rest of us do during the over-hyped holiday. Though there could be one little lesson: don't ever take two hits of ecstasy, you might end up doing the Macarena in the produce section...



*Marcus steals the sports car as a matter of principle. Due to him being a black man who decided to wear a mustard-yellow blazer, he is mistaken as a casino employee by racist casino patrons. As Marcus and Simon exit the casino, a man throws Marcus his keys, assuming he is a valet attendant. That is the last straw for Marcus; he tells Simon, “Get in the car” and they ride off. Racist idiots deserve that sort of comeuppance; it's satisfying.






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