donny darko director's new weird movie
Mar. 25th, 2008 11:32 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lauralhI'm sure that there are lots of SF books about the end of the world via a rewrite of Revelations, but there are very few movies that do it. And I'm sure even fewer do it by having telepathic veterans and porn stars in the mix. But Southland Tales has it all, including a plot that only makes sense with supplemental material. Disregarding that it's still an enjoyable epic, but if you're one of those people that needs movies to make sense this probably isn't for you.
To be perfectly clear, I really really liked this movie. The actual premise is that in 2005, nuclear bombs were smuggled in across the Texas/Mexican border, and this led to some serious Patriot Act shit (USIdent for everyone), along with "World War 3" (there is no evidence that anyone but the USA is involved). The draft is reinstated, and by 2008 only CA, aka "Southland", is a swing state. Rising oil costs have pushed up interest in alternative fuels, and Wallace Shawn is the main man in this battle, which he appears to have won by this point. He sets up a "perpetual motion machine" off the coast of Santa Monica to demonstrate this new energy source, and gets in bed with Senator Bobby Frost (figuratively), who looks to be the VP.
But looks can be deceiving, and his son-in-law, a famous actor played by Dwayne Johnson/The Rock, has apparently been kidnapped by Neo-Marxists (the main faction opposing USIdent and all that fascist shit). Those guys have their own ideas about what they want to happen, although they appear to be aimless. And porn star Krysta Now (Sarah Michelle Gellar) is in the process of rebranding herself with the money she can get blackmailing the Senator, but she's just a pawn too. Meanwhile a bunch of these characters seem to have amnesia for no good reason.
Oh yeah and Justin Timberlake plays one of the telepathic veterans who can see into the future and tries to get everything to happen properly.
To be perfectly clear, I really really liked this movie. The actual premise is that in 2005, nuclear bombs were smuggled in across the Texas/Mexican border, and this led to some serious Patriot Act shit (USIdent for everyone), along with "World War 3" (there is no evidence that anyone but the USA is involved). The draft is reinstated, and by 2008 only CA, aka "Southland", is a swing state. Rising oil costs have pushed up interest in alternative fuels, and Wallace Shawn is the main man in this battle, which he appears to have won by this point. He sets up a "perpetual motion machine" off the coast of Santa Monica to demonstrate this new energy source, and gets in bed with Senator Bobby Frost (figuratively), who looks to be the VP.
But looks can be deceiving, and his son-in-law, a famous actor played by Dwayne Johnson/The Rock, has apparently been kidnapped by Neo-Marxists (the main faction opposing USIdent and all that fascist shit). Those guys have their own ideas about what they want to happen, although they appear to be aimless. And porn star Krysta Now (Sarah Michelle Gellar) is in the process of rebranding herself with the money she can get blackmailing the Senator, but she's just a pawn too. Meanwhile a bunch of these characters seem to have amnesia for no good reason.
Oh yeah and Justin Timberlake plays one of the telepathic veterans who can see into the future and tries to get everything to happen properly.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2008-03-25 07:45 pm (UTC)Sounds interesting!