Area 52 - Southland Tales Reviews: 46 of 52... A Family Viewing Of The Theatrical Release!!!

It's New Year’s Eve, and as the clock strikes midnight thewickerbreaker.com website will officially become one year old!!! 

I should also have this, my 46th review of Southland Tales, posted by the time any a-hole on this coast starts to count down that amazing moment where today becomes tomorrow and I forget to write a new number on any form that asks me to document what year it is.

YIPPEE!

I'm currently in San Diego, visiting my family and hiding out from the rookies who forget that we have the freedom to get offensively drunk whenever we want and not just on those dates that stand out on the calendar because the clip art features either fireworks, champagne bottles or both.

If you can't tell I'm not a big fan of celebratory holidays, but I love visiting my family this time of year.

I have a couple of Southland Tales reviews that are due while I'm here so I figured why not get everyone involved. On Saturday… December 28th at 2:30 in the PM I forced my mom and two little sisters to join me and watch the theatrical release of Southland Tales for my 46th viewing and their firsts.

First off my family is like me in that they like movies but no one is a cinephile and none of them have any ambition in becoming an actual movie reviewer but I'm making them do it anyway.

That said their guest reviews:

Bunker (aka me) - Not a guest, a lackadaisical movie viewer, will chime in with jokes while watching a movie yet hates when others turn the quick (and sometimes frequent) joke into full-on conversations even if he is to blame.

"This was my first time watching Southland Tales with anyone else. It was weird but I felt a little bit of pressure watching the movie with a group, almost as if I had made the movie myself.

I'm committing a year of my life to this movie after all, so I wanted them to like it at least enough to understand this time commitment. For whatever reason people don't accept the answer, 'I don't know, just because I want to see if I can do it,' as an answer to why I am doing this.

I kept my chatter to a minimum and feel I did good at avoiding explaining scenes or saying the ever obnoxious,'Watch, watch watch,' or,'Oh this part is awesome.'

I was trying to avoid influencing their experience with the movie in anyway other than forcing them to watch it and then making them write a review. I think everyone did a good job of treating it like any other movie that we watch together."

Rini (aka mom) - serious movie watcher, gives the rest of us the sink eye whenever anyone makes a peep, prefers more mainstream/Oscar-contending movies but will watch whatever nonsense I bring down during my visits and usually likes these movies as well but won't seek them out.

"I tried really hard at the beginning of the film to pay close attention to everything so I would understand it throughout, however after the initial bombing and world war 3 references I started to get lost.

There were many stories within the whole story. I found it interesting to watch each individual story and try to figure out where I had seen that actor before and was surprised as to how many I knew.

There were protesters, Nazi-type people - all kinds of sub stories but I had a hard time piecing it all together. The Rock is hot and then there is Justin Timberlake. Not sure who the hell he was but liked his little dance scene.

I think it was the end of the world when the blimp thing crashed at the end but not sure. In summary I did like all the individual stories but will probably need to watch it a few more times to connect the dots.

After my first viewing, on a scale from 1-10 I would give it a 7."

Sarah (aka older of the younger sisters) also a lackadaisical movie viewer, seems to know most of the comedy films that are out there, known to fall asleep during most movies no matter what time it is.

"I was pretty confused during this entire movie. I enjoyed watching the Rock and Justin Timberlake, even tho I'm not entirely sure what Justin's role in the movie was, he did have a cool dancing part towards the end...

I was slightly hung over when I tried to watch the movie which made it difficult to focus and stay awake, I ended up falling asleep for some of the middle part. Which made it very confusing when I woke up to a man standing on a flying ice cream truck shooting a huge bazooka gun at some building.

I would probably have to watch the movie a few more times to have any idea of what the movie is actually about. All in all it was interesting and very different from any other movie I have ever seen."

Rachael (aka youngest sister) new mom, falls somewhere between a lackadaisical and a focused viewer depending on whether or not the movie hooks her in, known to wander off if not hooked and tell you not to pause the movie while she disappears from time to time (and this is before she had the kid.) 

• "I would definitely need to watch Southland Tales again to get a better understanding of the movie not because l was completely lost but I had to leave the room a couple of times because the baby was crying. What I did see however was intriguing and next time we watch I think I'll be able to work it out a little better and also see the parts I missed. :)"

There you have it, all in all… I think this week’s viewing was a success, mainly because I won them over enough to agree to watch the Cannes Cut next week to see what they think of the difference.

See you then!

Oh and though I'm not a fan of the celebratory aspect of New Year’s Eve, I do appreciate the reflective aspect to this day that leads to the hopeful plotting to move forward into the future.

Happy New Year everyone!!!