Saturday, January 4, 2014

WHORES' GLORY (2011)

"Why do women have to suffer this much?  Isn't there another path for us?"

WHORES' GLORY is the kind of documentary that sticks with you for a very long time.  Honestly, I'll probably remember this film for the rest of my days.  Told without any narration or voice over WHORES' GLORY gives the viewer an intimate look at the lives of prostitutes in three different locations: Bangkok, Thailand, Faridpur, Bangladesh and a Reynosa, Mexico.

The first episode takes place in Thailand at a brothel called Fish Tank where the girls (nearly all of them in their late teens and 20's) sit in a brightly lit room behind a glass wall.  Men pick who they want, pay and then go upstairs for a roll in the hay.  All of the girls seemed pretty happy and upbeat, some even spent their hard earned money on local "bar boys" that as far as I can are just pretty dudes that get paid to party with lonely women.  Very strange.  I wish it had gone further into this cause it whole thing didn't make much sense to me.  I guess they just really like to party.

Next is a very, very depressing brothel in Bangladesh that could double as a set for a horror movie.  Made nearly entirely of concrete and metal doors, the hallways are narrow and labyrinthine filled with sad looking prostitutes (some of them very young and at least one very old), animals, random children and johns.  Most of the prostitutes seem to only be there because there is literally no other place else to go.  Uneducated and penniless they waste their youth spreading their legs for a roof over their heads and food.  Very depressing.

The third and final episode is an enclosed drive through area called La Zona in Mexico where dudes drive around dodging potholes and checking out hookers.  The prostitutes here seem pretty businesslike and generally in a good mood.  A lot of them seem to be older professional whores that go into it like any other job.  With individual living areas, a steady clientele and easy access crack they appear to be happy.

Happy on the outside or not, I did feel sorry for these women.  Most of them seem to have never been given a fair chance in life and ended up as a prostitute solely for the money...although there was that one Mexican chick who seemed to be all about the dick and truly happy.  The majority though, especially in the Bangladesh portion, seemed to have their souls ripped out.

Despite the depressing subject matter, WHORES' GLORY is a beautifully photographed and edited film.  I wasn't too hot over the music, but it was easy enough to ignore.

ROCKY BALBOA (2006)

After the awesome Part IV, the Rocky series lost a lot of steam with that Part V misfire, (sixteen years worth of steam to be exact), but don't worry cause Rocky is back!  Yeah, he might be old as fuck and scruffy as fuck, but when ESPN runs a computer simulation of him in his prime defeating the current boxing champion by a KO, it creates a media buzz and really gets under the skin of the champ.  He ends up setting up a charity exhibition match between him and ancient ass Rocky.

The story sounds crazy, but the film has a sad tone to it right from the beginning when we learn that Adrian died years earlier and Rocky has been in mourning ever since.  Personally, I would liked to have seen a quiet Bergman-ish film that simply focuses on Adrian and Rocky as normal older people enjoying their retirement, instead of ancient Rocky lurching around the boxing ring.  With the history already created around these characters, I think ending the series on a quiet, thoughtful and fight-less note would have been extremely touching if done correctly.

As it is though ROCKY BALBOA is still more of a fitting ending to the Rocky series than ROCKY V...if it truly is the end to the Rocky series.  Unbelievable, but entertaining.

Part 1 - Rocky (1976)
Part 2 - Rocky II (1979)
Part 3 - Rocky III (1982)
Part 4 - Rocky IV (1985)
Part 5 - Rocky V (1990)
Part 7 - Creed (2015)
Part 8 - Creed II (2018)
Part 9 - Creed III

Thursday, January 2, 2014

ROCKY V (1990)

Maybe going over to Russia to fight Ivan Drago wasn't such a good idea after all.  Yeah, he avenged Apollo's death, ushered in world peace and probably cured terminal butt cancer, but he got the daylights knocked out of him to the point that now he's pretty much intellectually disabled and while he was out of the country his accountant ran off with all his money!  That's right.  Rocky is flat broke!  So now without two wooden nickels to rub together between his chiseled buttcheeks he has to move back to the 'hood and Adrian has to get her old job back at the pet store!  This doesn't make any sense to me.  You're telling me that the recently retired World Champion is so broke that he has to go live in Paulie's old rundown house and live off what his wife makes working minimum wage at a pet store!  Jesus Christ, can't the guy find somebody to ghostwrite a autobiography for him or something?

Rocky starts up Mickey's old gym again.  Most of the people that come to train are deadbeats, but this one dude Tommy has the eye of the tiger!  Grrrrr.  Meow!!!  Under Rocky's tutelage, Tommy makes his boxing debut (at the same boxing joint we first saw Rocky boxing at back in ye olde 1976) and then works his way up the ranks into the big leagues...but yet somehow no money is made and Rocky still lives in the ghetto.  Blinded by the bright lights of stardom, Tommy leaves Rocky and signs up with a Don King-style manager who promises him a big payday and a shot at the title.  Stuff happens and Tommy ends up in a street fight with Rocky.  What the hell?

I understand Stallone was going for a more realistic feel when he wrote this story, but whatever he had envisioned didn't end up on the screen...or maybe it did and what he envisioned was just shit.  Either way, ROCKY V is a disappointing film.  Stallone's acting isn't very good, the story is rubbish, the secondary story about his kid is boring, the big fight at the end was meh.  Required viewing if you wanna keep up with the story, but honestly it's barely even worth the effort to watch it.

Part 1 - Rocky (1976)
Part 2 - Rocky II (1979)
Part 3 - Rocky III (1982)
Part 4 - Rocky IV (1985)
Part 6 - Rocky Balboa (2006)
Part 7 - Creed (2015)
Part 8 - Creed II (2018)
Part 9 - Creed III