Film and Book Tally 2024

Another year down the drain. And this time, I followed through on my resolution to watch and read more!...for once. Anyway, the list of titles starts after the jump:

Something Wild

Right off the bat, Jonathan Demme's Something Wild fires off on all pistons. (Then again, what else would you expect from a Roger Corman protege?) But like many titles from this period in time, not everything is what it seems.

The second Charlie Driggs (Jeff Daniels) crosses paths with Lulu (Melanie Griffith), nothing would be the same for him. With her black bobbed hair and assortment of jewelry, Lulu is a wild card and a half. But the things she drags Charlie through are certainly nothing the yuppie was ever expecting.

Like Demme's later film Married to the Mob, Something Wild takes the 1980s image of everyday life and flips it on its head. Amid the pastels and loud patterns associated with the decade lies something far darker. (This was the last decade of the Cold War, after all.) Looks can be deceiving.

And much like other titles of the time, Something Wild takes a potshot at the so-called "American Dream". Released during Reagan's second term, it takes that ideal cultivated after World War II and thoroughly smashes it to bits, using the debris to make the real American Dream: a little jagged, very sharp, and of many facets. (And it's no less true now than it was then.)

Something Wild most definitely lives up to its title. With Griffith embodying the title, Daniels trying to keep up with her, and Ray Liotta stealing the entire show the second he shows up, it's the kind of picture that easily upends your preconceived notions. And Demme does it without any problem.

My Rating: ****1/2

Bob Roberts

As is often the case with the passage of time, the perception of certain things is bound to alter. What was once taboo is now commonplace, and vice versa. And what was once satire is now an unfortunate reality.

Such is the case with Tim Robbins' Bob Roberts. Originally a mere mockumentary following the titular senatorial hopeful's (Robbins) campaign trail, in the thirty-plus years since its release, it now serves as an uneasy foreshadowing of what was to come following the Obama administration. As such, what Robbins intended as satire becomes far more scathing in hindsight.

Released the same year Clinton was elected, Bob Roberts takes a look at the behind-the-scenes business of a political campaign. Sounds cut and dry, right? Well, it would be were Roberts not the smooth-talking sleazebag of a right-winger (or your standard right-winger, really). And boy, does he know how to play an audience. (Ring any bells?)

Similar to what Robbins did in The Player that same year, Bob Roberts takes a hard look at an otherwise ruthless field to show the depths of how low someone will stoop to in order to get what they want. That's what satire is, after all -- it makes you realize the failings of life; the problem is when you should stop laughing.

Bob Roberts, all these years later, has become less of a mockery of politics and more of a warning for them. There are people who work exactly the way Roberts does, using jargon to thinly veil their true intentions without anyone catching on. And they will vote for them all the same. (And yes, Robbins himself is dismayed that his directing debut "came true".)

My Rating: ****1/2