SCORCHER (2002) * Just for the record: all B-movies aren't created equal. These people apparently believe that all you need to do is make a film that is stupid, atrociously acted, simplistically unrealistic, and overtly strange. No! You need at least some element of charm, or humor, or creative special effects, or a physically or spiritually appealing member of the cast, or a twist in the hint of a plot, all of which are absent here. The premise, that Los Angeles must be nuked in order to save the world, is native to everyone from Armageddon conspiracists to evangelical moralists to frustrated actors and guitarists to environmentally conscious surfers. So it should have been easy to rally a large crowd for this one-there may in fact be no more common belief among Los Angelenos themselves than that their fair city should be destroyed. But instead of working the stereotypes that make it so uniquely offensive-symbiotically shyster real estate agents and their lawyers, wannabe record execs, crooked cops, zero dimensional politicians, toadying film functionaries, stupidly arrogant waitresses, vomitous gang members, etc...instead of that the film concentrates on...nothing. It concentrates on nothing. It urges us to give ourselves over to concentrated nothing. And, surprise, none of it works. In the wake of earthquakes and an accelerated Greenhouse Effect L.A. looks little different than it did during the Rodney King riots. But don't try telling me that this is a metaphor, or even that the principals know what a metaphor is.
back to Brilliant Observations on 1776 Films home
go back home, or send me email
no more reviews! I want to buy your novel!