.....and that is kicking us right in the nuts, from the first moment on, until the credits have rolled out...and long after.
Only, this time this isn't a good thing.
From the writer of the critically acclaimed "Kids" and the director of "Gummo", you just know, that it's going to be brutal, it's going to be sadistic, and most shockingly-it's always going to be real-just as the emotional overload Chloe Sevigny was going through in "Kids".
But here-unlike his previous works-it's all to blurry and sugary and colorful, and thus Korine is unable to send us the right message about nowadays teenagers and the sheer downfall some of them are experiencing, while nobody's keeping an eye on them.And just like Franco's character Oz....ooops, i mean Alien(after all he's kinda used to the situation, where he has 3 or more (w)itches at his disposal)the movie is nothing, but an alienating attempt at hitting the right social strings and giving the American audience the punches it needs, in order to change the dystopian societies youth creates for itself.Sadly, it all looks so stylish and so outlandish in the same time, that at the end one feels like he has witnessed a low-budget sci-fi movie set in the near future after a war or a plague of some sort-that's how otherworldly it feels at times.
And that's the script to blame-Korine has done a terrible job at portraying a world, for which one needs more than just inside information to portray-it all feels overloaded with color, rap, chicks, but most importantly-this world lacks the severity and the raw, serious nature of the typical world of a "Lord of War"-something that both Franco and his friend- turned-nemesis aren't.The cold-blooded nature of a person, who's willing to do everything and anything to stay alive just isn't present.
You would say that it wasn't an attempt at a crime movie, yet all of the components are here.So, the assumption that one could make after seeing this mess is that's it's actually pretty genre-less.And that, for me, is the worst place a movie can go.
Now, on a lighter note-movie, that has teen-queens Vanessa Hudgens and Selena Gomez (albeit marketing's done a good job to cover the fact Gomez is absent for a big chunk of the movie), should be fun, right?Right?
Wrong.First of all-the likes of Disney Channel princess Selena Gomez don't have a place in such a movie-either you go all the way, showing you are no longer a 10-year old's wet teen-dream, or go home, because you take the part of a person, who's willing to do a performance of Spartacus-proportions here.I'm not saying i wish to see her naked, i'm saying it is stupid to give the role to a teen, that does not even know what she wants to be associated with-being a good girl on Disney Channel, or a bad girl in adults-oriented movies.In Spring Breakers she does neither.And that's maybe why her character looks so oddly in place-because she really just didn't want to star in this movie, just as her character Faith does not want to be around Franco and his friends, therefore in the center of the events in the movie.And she has no reason to go bad-girl-she definitely has in mind her fans.But, sadly, most of them, don't know what a quality film means yet, so they certainly don't know what a low-budget, B-grade, R-rated movie is, as they fill the PG-13 quote(let's face it-Gomez's fans are essentially low-teen teens), in the best case-scenario.So, Gomez can't get her people to the theater, her cast is totally unneeded.And i probably won't end up talking so much about her in my life...again...
The more interesting subject here is Vanessa Hudgens-she is the right Disney Channel-cast and she's definitely up for a transition to adults-oriented cinema, as she showed with films such as Sucker Punch or Beastly.I actually think she has some potential to rise above her teen-star-wet-dream-status and no 13-year old would like her in the role of the twisted devil she plays in this movie, which is-in my opinion-a good thing.It's time for her to do the leap, and so far she has been bold enough doing it.
Now, back to Alien for a moment.I don't want to discuss Franco's performance any further, 'cause i find words even harder.As a Francophile, i'll just say that in any other day, i would crucified him, but in such a blunt, blank, train wreck of a movie, he would be the only memorable thing in mind after a few hours have passed...he and the 175 pairs of boobs of all kinds and shapes we get to see, mixed with the music Korine thinks young people listen to...well, do we not?
So, a couple of nice and stylishly-shot scenes and interesting soundscape don't make for an otherwise surprisingly dull and empty- shelled movie you'll have a hard time remembering in a few days.Voiced over, designed to be repulsive and thought-provoking with a certain social element to rise awareness of the problems of the youth system as a whole, this attempt at a movie feels empty on the subject and just falls short.
My grade:5/10
Only, this time this isn't a good thing.
From the writer of the critically acclaimed "Kids" and the director of "Gummo", you just know, that it's going to be brutal, it's going to be sadistic, and most shockingly-it's always going to be real-just as the emotional overload Chloe Sevigny was going through in "Kids".
But here-unlike his previous works-it's all to blurry and sugary and colorful, and thus Korine is unable to send us the right message about nowadays teenagers and the sheer downfall some of them are experiencing, while nobody's keeping an eye on them.And just like Franco's character Oz....ooops, i mean Alien(after all he's kinda used to the situation, where he has 3 or more (w)itches at his disposal)the movie is nothing, but an alienating attempt at hitting the right social strings and giving the American audience the punches it needs, in order to change the dystopian societies youth creates for itself.Sadly, it all looks so stylish and so outlandish in the same time, that at the end one feels like he has witnessed a low-budget sci-fi movie set in the near future after a war or a plague of some sort-that's how otherworldly it feels at times.
And that's the script to blame-Korine has done a terrible job at portraying a world, for which one needs more than just inside information to portray-it all feels overloaded with color, rap, chicks, but most importantly-this world lacks the severity and the raw, serious nature of the typical world of a "Lord of War"-something that both Franco and his friend- turned-nemesis aren't.The cold-blooded nature of a person, who's willing to do everything and anything to stay alive just isn't present.
You would say that it wasn't an attempt at a crime movie, yet all of the components are here.So, the assumption that one could make after seeing this mess is that's it's actually pretty genre-less.And that, for me, is the worst place a movie can go.
Now, on a lighter note-movie, that has teen-queens Vanessa Hudgens and Selena Gomez (albeit marketing's done a good job to cover the fact Gomez is absent for a big chunk of the movie), should be fun, right?Right?
Wrong.First of all-the likes of Disney Channel princess Selena Gomez don't have a place in such a movie-either you go all the way, showing you are no longer a 10-year old's wet teen-dream, or go home, because you take the part of a person, who's willing to do a performance of Spartacus-proportions here.I'm not saying i wish to see her naked, i'm saying it is stupid to give the role to a teen, that does not even know what she wants to be associated with-being a good girl on Disney Channel, or a bad girl in adults-oriented movies.In Spring Breakers she does neither.And that's maybe why her character looks so oddly in place-because she really just didn't want to star in this movie, just as her character Faith does not want to be around Franco and his friends, therefore in the center of the events in the movie.And she has no reason to go bad-girl-she definitely has in mind her fans.But, sadly, most of them, don't know what a quality film means yet, so they certainly don't know what a low-budget, B-grade, R-rated movie is, as they fill the PG-13 quote(let's face it-Gomez's fans are essentially low-teen teens), in the best case-scenario.So, Gomez can't get her people to the theater, her cast is totally unneeded.And i probably won't end up talking so much about her in my life...again...
The more interesting subject here is Vanessa Hudgens-she is the right Disney Channel-cast and she's definitely up for a transition to adults-oriented cinema, as she showed with films such as Sucker Punch or Beastly.I actually think she has some potential to rise above her teen-star-wet-dream-status and no 13-year old would like her in the role of the twisted devil she plays in this movie, which is-in my opinion-a good thing.It's time for her to do the leap, and so far she has been bold enough doing it.
Now, back to Alien for a moment.I don't want to discuss Franco's performance any further, 'cause i find words even harder.As a Francophile, i'll just say that in any other day, i would crucified him, but in such a blunt, blank, train wreck of a movie, he would be the only memorable thing in mind after a few hours have passed...he and the 175 pairs of boobs of all kinds and shapes we get to see, mixed with the music Korine thinks young people listen to...well, do we not?
So, a couple of nice and stylishly-shot scenes and interesting soundscape don't make for an otherwise surprisingly dull and empty- shelled movie you'll have a hard time remembering in a few days.Voiced over, designed to be repulsive and thought-provoking with a certain social element to rise awareness of the problems of the youth system as a whole, this attempt at a movie feels empty on the subject and just falls short.
My grade:5/10