August is upon us already (wtf, wasn't it just MARCH?!), and that means I've officially resided in the City of Angels for the past eleven years. It seems like it's only been about 10 minutes...Some days I feel like I live in the most unjustifiably maligned city in the world, and then other days I agree with all the shit talk. Thing is, I think it's pretty weak when folks 'authoritatively' talk trash about Los Angeles, regardless of whether or not they've been here and experienced more than the teeming tourism of the Mann's Chinese and the gloss of what E! News tells them to think about our town. No one talks trash about my city but ME, dammit! However I come not to bury this burgh, but praise it! And that's what we're gonna do alllllll month here. All the stuff that totally rules about life in the 213/323/310 trifecta. (and a few things that could stand to be kicked to the curb, like a burnt out old couch in K-town.)So let's start at the beginning, shall we? Film school is what moved me here, but music is what kept me. And it should come as no surprise that I still hold a special place in my heart for the wonderful subgenre of "L.A. movies." As is often the case, the cheesier and more over the top, the better. Joel Schumacher's Falling Down is a campy paean to the (rarely) simple conundrum of getting from downtown to the beach without going fucking bonkers. It's not even creative license to presuppose that it could Michael Douglas nearly all day to get to Venice. Seriously. Released in 1993, with the memory of the L.A. riots still fresh in everyone's mind, it is supposed to be a tense and gritty look at how a man can go off his hinges when faced with the perfect storm of racial tension, societal marginalization, suffocating heat and shitty traffic on the Northbound 110/101/5 interchange. This movie may have hit theatres in February, but it was made for the dripping hot misery of August. Think of it as the Los Angeles equivalent of Dog Day Afternoon or Summer of Sam, minus the auteur theory. When it's hot, people go fucking nuts. And in Falling Down's L.A., they do so whilst chewing massive amounts of scenery, giving in to cartoony racial and societal stereotypes and following a paint-by-numbers plot. Hmm... Robert Duvall's grizzled LAPD detective is retiring today -- do you think he will SOMEHOW GET INVOLVED WITH THIS SEEMINGLY UNRELATED STRING OF VIGILANTE CRIMES?! Will Michael Douglass make it to Venice for his ESTRANGED DAUGHTER'S BIRTHDAY PARTY?!Michael Douglas's daughter has a squirt gun in the very beginning of the film and baby mama Barbara Hershey tells her not to play with it in the house. Meanwhile most children in movies like this merely exist as plot devices and therefore do nothing without some kind of purpose.Do you think the aforementioned prop will in any way turn out to be THE SQUIRTGUN OF MUCH CLIMACTIC PORTENT?!If you answered those questions with anything other than "duh!" you haven't been paying attention.Here Michael Douglas and his haircut encounter MOVIE HISPANIC THUG #1 and MOVIE HISPANIC THUG #2.add it to your netflix queue and fire up a pitcher of margaritas while you wait. Better yet, do a double feature with 1997's "Volcano," in which Tommy Lee Jones endeavors to battle a creeping lava flow down Wilshire Blvd. It also rules, though employs far less usage of the word 'magma' than i would like to hear in a MOVIE ABOUT VOLCANOS.i'm just sayin'...Meanwhile here's some 'Cube to keep you cool.
Kate says
Your post initially drew me in because the photo you led with is pretty much the view from my parents house in Echo Park. I love L.A. Living in the bay area, I find it hilarious that people up here hate L.A., because it is such a one-sided rivalry. I will always defend my hometown!.
Speaking of movies, what did you think of "Crash"? I though it portrayed the most stereotyped "L.A." characters ever. Oh, look, there's the homie with the heart of gold! And the super depressed rich bitch. Yawn. That's a hateable L.A.
chickhabit says
SF rules, but it is definitely funny to feel the anti-l.a. sentiments that abound any time i travel up north. What's the point?! Just cause our Amoeba is bigger than yours... don't be hatin! ;)
I did not actually get around to seeing Crash, though I may just have to pick it up next time I pop into Cinefile. I loves me some stereotypin'. Sounds like an 00's analogue to Grand Canyon, which my 13 year old self probably had no business seeing in the theatre in 1991.
contrabandwidth says
Hear Hear Kate! (or is it here here?), anyway I felt the same way about crash, a lot of back patting. May be a good movie for teaching points of a tollerance class or something, but they could have flashed "message" across the screen during the little latin girl runs in front of gunmen scene.
Chickhabbit - Those palms look sick. Smog? Nice post though, haven't seen the film in years, but I do recall a lot of those character driven plot moments.
kristiana says
Haha, nice!
I like LA, but then again, I don't live there. I've had swell times though.
I do think the traffic would make me insane though.
August is upon us already (wtf, wasn't it just MARCH?!), and that means I've officially resided in the City of Angels for the past eleven years. It seems like it's only been about 10 minutes...Some days I feel like I live in the most unjustifiably maligned city in the world, and then other days I agree with all the shit talk. Thing is, I think it's pretty weak when folks 'authoritatively' talk trash about Los Angeles, regardless of whether or not they've been here and experienced more than the teeming tourism of the Mann's Chinese and the gloss of what E! News tells them to think about our town. No one talks trash about my city but ME, dammit! However I come not to bury this burgh, but praise it! And that's what we're gonna do alllllll month here. All the stuff that totally rules about life in the 213/323/310 trifecta. (and a few things that could stand to be kicked to the curb, like a burnt out old couch in K-town.)So let's start at the beginning, shall we? Film school is what moved me here, but music is what kept me. And it should come as no surprise that I still hold a special place in my heart for the wonderful subgenre of "L.A. movies." As is often the case, the cheesier and more over the top, the better. Joel Schumacher's Falling Down is a campy paean to the (rarely) simple conundrum of getting from downtown to the beach without going fucking bonkers. It's not even creative license to presuppose that it could Michael Douglas nearly all day to get to Venice. Seriously. Released in 1993, with the memory of the L.A. riots still fresh in everyone's mind, it is supposed to be a tense and gritty look at how a man can go off his hinges when faced with the perfect storm of racial tension, societal marginalization, suffocating heat and shitty traffic on the Northbound 110/101/5 interchange. This movie may have hit theatres in February, but it was made for the dripping hot misery of August. Think of it as the Los Angeles equivalent of Dog Day Afternoon or Summer of Sam, minus the auteur theory. When it's hot, people go fucking nuts. And in Falling Down's L.A., they do so whilst chewing massive amounts of scenery, giving in to cartoony racial and societal stereotypes and following a paint-by-numbers plot. Hmm... Robert Duvall's grizzled LAPD detective is retiring today -- do you think he will SOMEHOW GET INVOLVED WITH THIS SEEMINGLY UNRELATED STRING OF VIGILANTE CRIMES?! Will Michael Douglass make it to Venice for his ESTRANGED DAUGHTER'S BIRTHDAY PARTY?!Michael Douglas's daughter has a squirt gun in the very beginning of the film and baby mama Barbara Hershey tells her not to play with it in the house. Meanwhile most children in movies like this merely exist as plot devices and therefore do nothing without some kind of purpose.Do you think the aforementioned prop will in any way turn out to be THE SQUIRTGUN OF MUCH CLIMACTIC PORTENT?!If you answered those questions with anything other than "duh!" you haven't been paying attention.Here Michael Douglas and his haircut encounter MOVIE HISPANIC THUG #1 and MOVIE HISPANIC THUG #2.add it to your netflix queue and fire up a pitcher of margaritas while you wait. Better yet, do a double feature with 1997's "Volcano," in which Tommy Lee Jones endeavors to battle a creeping lava flow down Wilshire Blvd. It also rules, though employs far less usage of the word 'magma' than i would like to hear in a MOVIE ABOUT VOLCANOS.i'm just sayin'...Meanwhile here's some 'Cube to keep you cool.
Locating MOG account...
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