 | |
List Price: $14.94 | | Label: Sony Pictures
Salesrank: 10850
Released: March 18, 2008 |
| Our Price: $3.91 |
| Used Price: $1.26 |
|
MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD |
|
Editorial Review:
Southland Tales is an ensemble piece set in the futuristic landscape of Los Angeles as it stands on the brink of social, economic and environmental disaster. Boxer Santaros is an action star who's stricken with amnesia. His life intertwines with Krysta Now, an adult film star developing her own reality television project, and David Clark, a Hermosa Beach police officer who holds the key to a vast conspiracy.
Description of Southland Tales:
Well, filmmakers should aim high, they say. And Richard Kelly shot the moon on his highly-anticipated follow-up to cult sensation Donnie Darko, which expands the apocalyptic mood of that movie and blows it up tenfold. Set during the election season of 2008, Southland Tales proposes a series of apparently linked events: the reappearance of a vanished movie star (Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson), now an amnesiac; the bizarre doubling of a policeman (Seann William Scott in two roles); the development of an energy source from ocean waves; and the presence of an Iraq War veteran (Justin Timberlake) who seems to be watching everything, and narrating some of it. Not that the narration helps; even with voice-over (reportedly added after the film's disastrous debut at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival), Southland Tales doesn't come close to making sense, let alone at the minimum level of dangling a carrot to lead the audience along (even Mulholland Drive had a semblance of murder mystery to be solved, or not). The cast is loaded with Saturday Night Live cut-ups, but only Jon Lovitz connects, and in other roles people like Sarah Michelle Gellar, Christopher Lambert, Bai Ling, and John Larroquette are utterly mystifying, by no fault of their own. In some of the musical sequences Kelly gets in stride, but it's easy to create drama in a three-minute music video, and harder to do over two and a half hours. Some top critics rushed to champion the movie, as though flying in the face of philistinism, so feel free to try out this incoherent pastiche for yourself. --Robert Horton
Southland Tales Reviews:
Aweso-terrible 
2009-12-09 - This is a bad movie. Its like someone made a zoo for bad, awkward actors. It is disjointed, chaotic, inexplicable. It is the Flash Gordon of our generation. It will someday rise to its rightful place as a midnight movie staple. "Daddy? Why is The Rock talking to the Inconceivable guy from the princess bride, the weird old lady from Poltergeist?" "Because it was 2006 honey. Eat your popcorn."
Waste of time... 
2009-11-21 - Has quite a few interesting innovation, but it is so stupid, I had to force myself to watch it and I could not even finish it.
The Truth Will Set You Free
2009-11-13 - You know a movie's bad when the soundtrack sells better than the movie... But for real, it's a tight flick, but it isn't easy to follow. Not for the faint of thought or brain capacity.
A real attention grabber
2009-10-16 - I'd caught parts of this film on cable, but never managed to catch the whole thing. I was intrigued, and just couldn't get it out of my mind. Having finally managed to see the entire film from beginning to end, I can highly recommend it. If you liked Donnie Darko, you will love Southland Tales (especially since the same mastermind is behind both)! A great addition to your collection of films that make you think.
Can we please get "propaganda" included in the rating system? 
2009-09-30 - Seriously.... Can we please get some kind of "Propagana Warning" incorporated into the rating system, please.......
All the other positive ratings are going to result in me trying this thing again, (right now, in fact), but I'm not holding out much hope.
When the opening sequence is talking about "republicans" and features a video shot of an elephant boffing another .... can it really go anywhere but down from there?????
I'll try... but I'm not expecting much...
