Southland Tales - 2006 *

Have a nice Apocalypse.

There have been people who have criticised viewers who didn't enjoy this movie as not wanting to use their brains or not 'understanding film making at it's best.' I did not enjoy this movie and to be honest it's nothing to do with using your brain or not; I wouldn't even want to use my brain over this mess of a film. If this film had been half the length then I still wouldn't have understood it anymore. Random plot put aside, the characters were even weirder - an actor turned amnesiac, a porn star/ tv presenter and a police man, and his twin brother.... Confused? Yes, you will be for the whole film. From what I could make out the film was supposed to be a rather disjointed attempt at showing us what the end of the world would be like, and how totally random it would be. The actors were all wrong for the parts and I'm not going to credit the director for coming up with an 'original' idea - even original ideas don't have to be so confusing and mixed up. By the time I was over half way of watching this it felt like a chore to have to sit through until the end and that's not how I perceive film-watching to be; it should be an enjoyable experience. Granted though I have not seen such a bizarre and surreal movie in a long time but even knowing it was this odd didn't make me like it anymore. I felt the same way I did when I'd finished 'Blue Velvet' - like I'd literally wasted 2 hours of my life on something I was trying to force myself to understand and like. I am not one normaly to give up on movies but if film continue to be churned out in this disturbing and idiotic manner then I may as well just stop after the first 10 minutes.