Cult Movies

It’s always been entertaining to see Sacha Baron Cohen disappear into an overly eccentric character and the surrounding “real” world attempt to adapt to his presence. In The Dictator, the approach differs greatly from both Borat and Bruno in that Aladeen is displayed as a hokey mockery – and an equally farcical host of caricatures encircles him. The whole affair is presented as a parody and not reality, and worse yet Aladeen feels utterly fictitious. No longer does a documentarian follow around an uncontrollable social misfit who might just be real – now a filmmaker blandly captures a comedian portraying a movie character.

Ever since inheriting the dictatorship of the North African country of Wadiya, egomaniacal self-proclaimed Admiral General Aladeen (Sacha Baron Cohen) has ruled with an iron fist and a complete disregard for the needs of his people. When his corrupted Uncle Tamir (Ben Kingsley) attempts to have him executed in order to sell off the rights to Wadiya’s oil supply, Aladeen escapes only to find himself exiled and in the streets of New York City. Going to work for Zoey (Anna Faris), the owner of an organic grocery market, the disgraced dictator hatches a plan with his former nuclear physicist Nadal (Jason Mantzoukas) to regain his throne (which is about to be democratically constitutionalized). But when the supreme ruler unexpectedly falls in love, the fate of Wadiya and its notorious commander hangs in the balance.

The Dictator employs a screenplay so flummoxing it’s tricky to put derision into words. Less than three mildly intelligent (yet always offensive) political railleries sneak their way into a script (one being the events of Munich turned into a first-person-shooter Wii game) so stuffed with verbal violation it rarely gives audiences a chance to be shocked at the poor taste. None of it is the smarter satire, spoofing of relevant current events, or commentary on political and social arenas that frequent Cohen’s other works, or even the pure outrageousness of foreign miscommunications and rampant nudity. This is no Borat. Instead, we’re given either the extremely detestable jokes on terrorism, 9/11, bin Laden, abduction, rape, and torture, or visual yucks from childbirth, masturbating, and other bodily excretions. It’s rarely as much of an exhibition as it is plainly ridiculous.

Perhaps the greatest fault with the presentation is the decision to remove the pseudo-documentary style of Cohen’s previous efforts in favor of a traditional narrative. The Dictator has a story. And it’s a weak, silly, nonsensical, and pointless one. If the filmmakers had continued with the “reality TV” method in which cameramen follow around Aladeen as he misconducts himself in all sorts of awkward, professional scenarios (like the first 10 minutes do to introduce the role), this entire ordeal could have had some genuine laughs. Casting well-known actors and including a love theme do little more than make Aladeen’s tale entirely unbelievable and unconvincing. It’s abrasive and unmemorable – a sad change from the caustic ridicule he so brilliantly devised with Borat (and even Bruno).

Some of the most addictive TV shows ever seen on television are actually HBO mini series. Popular shows tend to grab a hold of the viewer’s attention immediately, keep them engaged for the entire episode, and then leave them hanging until the next episode in the series airs. Back in the early 1980′s when HBO first started, they’ve been known as a leader in the TV industry. These top three mini series provide a glimpse of the high quality entertainment you can enjoy and are just a few reasons why it’s smart to have access to HBO in your home.

1. V. “V&” isn’t the Roman numeral five, it stands for “Visitors” and not the cute and cuddly kind. This popular mini series on HBO tells the story of aliens who come to earth to make a trade with humans that should prove to be beneficial to both sides. But it seems the aliens are hiding some secrets and, along with their ability to shape-shift, have caught the attention of a scientist played by Faye Grant and the roving reporter played by Marc Singer. The series’ heavy-handed allegory of fascism had critics and viewers alike riveted through to the end. The mini series was later picked up for a regular season spinoff that lasted only one season.

2. Band of Brothers. You don’t have to be a history buff to get hooked on this magnificent series. Band of Brothers is a show that tells about several Easy Company soldiers that fought in World War II. This honest look at life during and after the war shows the fears they faced, their prejudices and personalities, and the overall humanity of each soldier interviewed for the series. Their battles and what they faced trying to stay alive definitely makes this a favorite.

3. From the Earth to the Moon. At some point or another, we all wish to explore other realms. From the Earth to the Moon tells the behind-the-scenes tales of those who have prepared for travel into space and experienced failure and success. The stories of the families who support the astronauts are as interesting as those about the men who paved the way for space travel in our generation.

Between the sports shows, movies, first run series as well as ground breaking HBO mini series, there is no question HBO is an industry leader. At the end of a long work day, nothing is more relaxing than your favorite beverage and an HD or On-Demand mini series on HBO. Who knows…maybe your current favorite could end up being one of the top three mini series of all time.

Marvel Studios released a new super hero movie “The Avengers” into theaters. I checked it out, and I thought it was quite fun to watch because it served up major action right from the start, and never stopped.

In fact, the action and tensions got even more scorching hot as the movie progressed along. In the new film, Thor’s evil, really crazy, brother Loki came flying through a dimensional portal that was produced by an energy source that Nick Fury and the SHIELD group was playing around with, known as the Tesseract.

As soon as Loki arrived, he began a mad tare, murdering a lot of people, and used his energy staff to get certain people to perform his bidding, including Hawkeye and physicist consultant Dr. Erik Selvig.

This swiftly prompted Nick Fury to resurrect the old “Avengers” strategy, that was previously deactivated, in an attempt to deal with the dangers Loki posed on the earth. Once all the heroes were recruited into action, they were able to obtain Loki and imprison him. Unfortunately, it was too late, since he already set an operation in gear to open a portal with the Tesseract that would let his evil army to enter the world.

At some point, Loki’s men attacked the SHIELD ship, allowing Loki to get free, and that’s when the real madness commenced. Bruce transformed into the Hulk, and started tearing up the ship they were on, a huge gunfight broke out, and it turned into total Chaos in the sky.

Towards the end of the film, Loki used physicist consultant Dr. Erik Selvig, with mind control, to open the portal, which let in all of Loki’s evil, monster army, and they totally began killing off almost everything. The Avengers teamed up to ward them off as best they could, however, unless they sealed the portal, the drama would continue.

At some point, they were able to discover a remedy, and blow up the source of the monsters’ power. However, it truly was anything but uncomplicated. The movie was fantastic to view, because it served up a great deal of elements, including some excellent humor with Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark aka Ironman. It also provided some hardcore showdown, fight, scenes, and extreme explosions. It was very wicked.

I also liked how they gave, almost, similar screen time to all the heroes, and genuinely displayed their strengths. It really served up a fascinating dynamic, especially between Bruce Banner and Tony Stark as they are both extremely smart.