Idiocracy

2006 film by Mike Judge on the sad state of America 500 years in the future.


Plot Sum:

Extremely average intelligenced dude volunteers for experiment to be freeze-dried and woken up a year later, only to wake up five hundred years later. In this new world, due to government welfare and cheap fast food, the below-average proliferated while the elites merely had one or two children. The human race have devolved themselves to retardation. Its a world full of hillbilly consumerism cliches, in which Carl's Jr. is the only form of food, Costco is as big as a city, and the President is a popular wrestler. Frozen alongside our hero is a prostitute, who defroze at around the same time. In this new world they are geniuses, and together they traverse this wasteland made up of lowest common denominators and save the people from themselves.

Thoughts:


The whole thing runs like an overlong SNL skit, which means the concept is funny, but it gets stale in movie form. SNL's Maya Rudolf starring in the film doesn't help. I'm not entirely sure I approve of the message either. Dysgenics, is it called? That's also known was eugenics, what the Nazis used to justify genocide. The anti-corporate message, though overused, is much more palatable.

Notable Scene:

"Welcome to Costco, I love you."

One of the few scenes I genuinely lol'd at.

TL;DR:
In the future, the whole world becomes dumb and dumber. The end.

Human Traffic

A 1999 film written by Justin Kerrigan, directed by David Buckingham. Five friends let loose one weekend at the local club/rave scene. That's it.

This has quickly proceeded to become one of my favorite films of all time. It runs like a Friends episode, except with drugs, clubs and pubs, and illegal substances that won't go well on prime-time. Its been criticized to have no point, no plot line, no tension or conflict, but I say who cares? Why does every film about drugs need to be moralizing? The only people who don't like this film must have never experienced the unrestrained unity portrayed in it. Its a perfect, heart-felt snapshot of the best of today (or slightly yesterday's) youth subculture. That's all it is, and it doesn't pretend to be anything else. There's no before and afters, no fall-outs or long term effects. It's not an epic. Just because it's momentary doesn't make it unimportant. As Jip says "ultimately, we just want to be happy", and be it happy for a night or a moment, that's all we're chasing after, and its all worth it. Those who know it love it.
Most of all, it has a happy ending. Not all happy endings are effective, but this one is. The temporary but effective escapism is real, The music, the characters, the mood, it stays and stays, and that's an indication of a good film. The fact that what stays is positive, is good, makes it an enjoyable, rewatchable, and therefore a 'favorite' film of mine.

I can rave about it forever (pun, haha) but bottom line is: awesome film that I fell in love with. Jip! Moff! Lulu! Nina! Koop! I've only known them for two hours, seen a brief weekend of their lives, but they feel like old friends. 

So many good things, least of all JOHN SIMMS!

 Awesome Jip

 Cool Cat Koop

 Paranoid Moff

 Pretty Lulu

Sweet Nina

Oh the classic lines, I can quote this movie forever. So many great scenes, set to great music. This film is simply gorgeous!