God Bless America (2011)

Back again. To get back in the swing of things I chose God Bless America. There are spoilers in this post and I'm sure it's going to be a little rough around the edges as it's been awhile.

On a mission to rid society of its most repellent citizens, terminally ill Frank makes an unlikely accomplice in 16-year-old Roxy.

Synopsis

This movie starts with a series of sad and unfortunate moments. Frank (Joel Murray) lays awake at night because his noisy neighbors and their kid keep him up, which spirals into him watching bad reality T.V. and cable "news" shows with idiotic commentary. He then goes to work in the morning, where everyone is discussing the bad singer on the notable singing show (modeled after American Idol). "Bro, you think you're too good to watch it?". Frank then gets fired from work because he sent flowers to a co-worker in an attempt to be nice, that came off as harassment. Things only get better when he finds out he has a brain tumor. 

Frank hits a wall, when watching something similar to "My Super Sweet 16" and seeing a girl break down because she got a Bentley instead of an Escalade; which then parallels his own life when his 10 year calls him screaming because she got a Blackberry instead of an iPhone. 

So he steals his neighbors car and drives down to where the brat who just turned 16 lives and kills her. This is where he meets Roxy (Tara Lynne Barr). Roxy is another girl at the school and believes things might be interesting if Frank is really committed to cleaning up the filth in society. She talks him out of killing himself and instead  going on a killing spree to set the world right. Given Roxy is from a trailer park family, where her step-dad abuses her Frank figures taking her along wouldn't be the worst thing she's been through.

Things proceed as planned.

They kill a high-profile figures that spread stupidity across America. Everything is very chaste though. Frank makes it very clear that he has no interest in Roxy. She's 16 and that would be inappropriate.

While stopped at a motel for the night, Frank is half watching the news, when he sees something that changes everything. Roxy's parents are trailer park trash, but a boring middle-class family, that wants their daughter back. Frank sends her packing. After he sends Roxy on, his doctor calls, only to tell him, he was looking at the wrong MRI and that he doesn't have a tumor. 

Frank then makes the decision to finish big.

Spoiler
The American-Idol-type show is having their finale and they singer that they made fun of in the auditions -- the one who can't sing, probably has a mental disability, and now has an album -- is suppose to perform. Frank sees this as intolerable. American making fun of the disabled; a guy who tried to kill himself a few weeks prior. 

So he heads to the arena where the show is, with a bomb and guns and takes the building hostage. He believes he is getting justice for the man they had teased, but comes to find out, he tried to kill himself, not because they were making fun of him, but because they hadn't initially invited him to perform at the finale. 

This is too much. Roxy's there and joins him in this final moment. Police surround the stage, but Frank and Roxy manage to kill the judges, the disabled guy and members of the audience before being brought down themselves.

Thoughts

Frank isn't wrong about the world, but perhaps it has  as much to do with entertainment, as the company he decides to keep. You don't have to be inflicted with bullshit. He choose to. He could have easily immersed himself into quality books, movies, and podcasts. Buck the trends that annoy you, but he didn't. 

Everything about Frank says repressed white guy who can't get it together. 

I have a hard time with people who romanticize American when people lived in the moment and we weren't hammered by what is considered "trash" media. They are partically asking for the world to regress back to virtually no rights for anyone, but straight white males. Sorry, but I find the premise of this troubling. 

All in all, this wasn't a favorite of mine. Bobcat Goldthwait wrote and directed it, I wish he had just made it bigger. Gone further with idea of ridding society of trash, as opposed to focusing of this relationship between 40-something Frank and 16-year-old Roxy. I just found the two kind of boring

Repeaters (2010)

So, the last two movies were "comedies", I thought I'd switch it up and do something a little darker, so I went for a sci-fi thriller. Repeaters. It wasn't a wholly bad movie. I actually recommend this to people interested in the genre. Although, let me say it's more thriller/drama than sci-fi. So, the plot according to IMDb:

A gritty mind-bending thriller about three twenty-somethings who find themselves in an impossible time labyrinth, where each day they awaken to the same terrifying day as the preceding one.

The three twenty-somethings are Kyle Halsted (Dustin Milligan), Sonia Logan (Amanda Crew), and Michael Weeks (Richard de Klerk). They're in a rehab center, counting the days until they get out. It seems to be a fairly large center but these three in particular have gotten close. They are in their third month at the the facility and in a group therapy session, the counselor is telling them that it's time to start making amends. While they live on the grounds, they are granted day passes to see family.  Making amends is a new policy required by the facility they attend.

Kyle is the main protagonist. We watch his little sister shun him in front of her friends at the school he use to attend.  A school administrator obviously aware of his troubled past, threatens to call the police. We see Sonia unable to talk to dying relative.  Lastly, Michael visits his father who is in prison for something Michael did because of the drugs.

After their first unsuccessful day, they gather for another group session to talk about the process. Everyone is stoic and Michael lashes out and leaves the meeting. The three gather outside and bemoan the life they currently lead. They recognize the harm they done to themselves and their families, but have yet confront the damage. 

Night falls and during a rain storm there appears to be a power surge.  All three are shocked in some way.  It takes a few hours but it starts to become apparent they are caught in some kind of loop where the day keeps repeating.  Resetting itself each night.  

Because I do recommend this, I am going to avoid as many spoilers as possible.  What I will say is that because the day repeats they begin to get reckless.  No thought is given as to why the day repeats, just that it will and that fact allows them to live without consequence.  Following back into old habits that got them there in the first place we start to see a different side.  

Michael, while his styling is slightly rougher, in the first ten minutes it's easy to seem he's a user confronting his demons and fully intends to get better. Instead he lets his deviant side ring. Kyle, clearly positioned to be the more sympathetic character tries to hold him back, but has already crossed the line himself.  And there's Sonia. Sonia's character bothered me a little. She advanced the movie, but not as a character, but simply as an object.  We get to see her have some kind of closure at the end, but the reality is that she has no evolution.  She is Kyle's "damsel in distress".  

I'm going to avoid going on a feminist rant since I enjoy the "damsel in distress" troupe in most movies.  I really do.  It's just, usually there's more substance to the damsel and in this instance, the character of Sonia fell flat for me.  It's probably worth noting, there's a far amount of violence in this movie. 

All in all I really enjoyed the movie.  I needed something a little deeper and darker than some of the other stuff I watch.  I know the idea of repeating days is not new, but I enjoyed how it's framed in drug addicted.  Often times movies about repeating are shlocky comedies, but I like that this is more a movie about redemption.  And I don't feel like it hit me over the head with the message either.  

You have to fall before you an rise and sometimes that means falling multiple times.