FAST FOOD NATION

Starring: Wilmer Valderrama, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Greg Kinnear, Ethan Hawke, Avril Lavigne and Juan Carlos Serran

Directed by Richard Linklater

Based on the non-fiction book by Eric Schlosser

Blacking Out The Fiction Rating: ** out of *****

Had the chance to see Richard Linklater's new film, Fast Food Nation last night at a preview screening at the Cumberland. Linklater, best known for his theatrical snapshots of youth culture (Dazed and Confused, Slacker, SubUrbia) attempts to pull a Michael Moore and educate the world on the dark side of the fast food market. He fails miserably.

There was so much wrong about this film, I don't know where to begin. First off, who ever decided to take Eric Schlosser's fantastic book and make it into a fictional story needs to be shot. The subject matter would have lent itself much better to a documentary style film. The subject matter has already been covered ad nasuea by many films including Supersize Me, The Corporation and on Michael Moore's television program The Awful Truth. Nothing new was revealed (maybe except for the fact that cow manure has been known to show up in fast food burgers...but if you had read Schlosser's book, you would have already known this) and it was kind of like watching someone beat a dead horse (or in this case, a dead cow) for 2 hours.

But back to the movie itself. The plot follows three different stories, a small group of Mexican migrant workers, a marketing executive employed by the fictional fast food chain Mickey's, and a high school employee of Mickey's. The migrant workers flee Mexico to work in a meat packing plant that supplies patties to Mickey's. They are paid in cash under the table and risk their lives so North Americans can eat 99 cent burgers. One of them gets hurt, the other loses his legs. The one highlight to this aspect of the storyline was Catalina Sandino Moreno's performance. Wilmer looks lost without his buddies from that 70s show (or Lindsay Lohan on his arm for that matter). Greg Kinnear turns out a decent performance as a conflicted marketing exec. He's sent to investigate fecal matter that is consistently turning up in Mickey's beef patties. He's torn between reporting the truth and saving his job and inevitably chooses to ignore the truth and let the public eat shit. The third story line follows a high school student that works at Mickey's to help pay the bills at home. She meets some Eco-friendly activists (one of them being Avril Lavigne, who does a terrible acting job and looks like she's reading off cue cards the entire time, stick to the poppy mall punk music please) who educate her on the evils of the fast food industry. There are a ton of cameo performances (Bruce Willis, Ethan Hawke, Kris Kristoffesen) that add nothing to the plot. There is a comical scene midway through the film where Ethan Hawke spouts verbal diarrhea about the importance of escaping life in small towns (again, does nothing to advance the plot, and is in typical Linklater "I'm soooo smart" dialogue).

All in all, a pretty crap film. Skip it and spend the $20 instead on the book. You'll get a lot more out of it.

Watch the film trailer here.

Read Slant Magazine's review here.

Read Eye Weekly's review here.

Read Now Magazine's review here.

Zodiac, the new film directed by David Fincher is based on the books by Robert Graysmith about the serial killer by the same name that terrorized San Francisco in the 60s and 70s. The film stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Robert Downey Jr. , Mark Ruffalo and Chloë Sevigny. Let's hope that this film redeems Fincher as a director. His last film, Panic Room was horrendus! The film opens in March 2007.

Watch the trailer here.

LIKE EATING GLASS


As reported by multiple blogs and Pitchfork, Bloc Party drummer Matt Tong has suffered a collapsed lung and the band has had to pull out of a few dates of their tour with Panic At The Disco and Jack's Mannequin. He's in the hospital and is in doing well. In anticipation for the Toronto show (if they make it) here are two demos floating around from their new LP, A Weekend in the City, due out in February.

Bloc Party - Hunting For Witches (demo)

Bloc Party - Song For Clay (studio)

A MELODY SOFTLY SOARING THROUGH MY ATMOSPHERE

Death Cab For Cutie
w Ted Leo and the Pharmacists
Massey Hall
October 30, 2006

As usual, I'm a tad behind in posting. Monday night Shauna, Sara, John and I took in DCFC's 1st of 2 shows at Massey Hall. This was my third time seeing the band on the Plans tour, a bit silly but I couldn't pass up the chance to see them at my favourite venue, and I didn't pay for my ticket for the last show at Ricoh.

Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins, OK Go are opening shows in the south and west U.S.

DCFC hit the stage early (when does this happen?) at 8:50pm and began their set with an old crowd favourite, 405. From the get go I could tell that the show was going to be great, Ben was in really high spirits and full of energy, I've never seen him like that. The setlist was a lot better than the other Plans shows I attended, much more varied and songs dervived from all albums were played. I especially loved that they played A Movie Script Ending, a song I have never seen them play and one that I have always loved. Highlight of the set was We Looked Like Giants, Ben and Jason did an incredible joint drum solo, Ben on a small drum set at the front of the stage. Sooo great.

Set list (via DCFC message board):
405
Your Heart Is An Empty Room
The New Year
Why You'd Want To Live Here
Title and Registration
Crooked Teeth
Summer Skin
President of What?
Photobooth
Movie Script Ending
Company Calls
What Sara Said
I Will Follow You In To The Dark
Soul Meets Body
We Looked Like Giants
Sound of Settling

Encore
Marching Bands of Manhattan
Expo 86
Transatlanticism

I was surprised that I Will Follow You Into The Dark was played mid-set, they have been playing it during the encore. This made me excited because I was hoping that Ben would come out at the beginning of the encore and do A Lack Of Colour solo. Alas, he did not.

Pictures to come from the show, I forgot my camera in Mark's bag at dinner before the show, but Shauna snapped some good fotos.

Janice was at the Halloween show. Read her review here. Go DEVO!
Read my review of their 1st stop in Toronto for Plans.
Read my review of their 2nd stop in Toronto for Plans.