Simplistic TV: HBO's VICE

NEWS

HBO's VICE - News

In my younger, retail, years, I worked at Urban Outfitters, aka, Hipster Outfitters.  When I worked there in the early 2000s it had the air of hipster while the term was still in its infancy, but I still liked, and continue to like, the store.  One of the things I liked best was the book/magazine collection.  A lot of counter-culture and obscure reading material was always available including the magazine "VICE" a Canadian-based music and news publication produced on a monthly basis.  I usually just read the music articles and left the news story most undisturbed.  Cut to nearly 10 years later and VICE has a TV show on HBO highlighting what they were trying to do ten years ago; highlight their news stories, which you might call "Investigative Journalism Gone Wild."

HBO's VICE seems like the world's dirty little secret.  The stories in the first episode essentially talked about Killer Kids in both the Philippines and in the Middle East, namely Afghanistan.  From child soldiers, to 14 year old suicide bombers that the Taliban use for their own purposes, you feel sick to your stomach seeing how backwards we are as a global society.

You can check out other VICE exposes on their YouTube page by clicking here for stories that are a little lighter with a touch of humor, but if you want your world news in your face than HBO's VICE is for you.

VICE is Executive Produced by Bill Maher, who you know from "Politically Incorrect" this stand-up, and HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher" so you know the show isn't going to pull any punches, which I think separates it from other new magazine shows like "60 Minutes" and "Dateline NBC."  I think being on HBO gives the show even more leeway and allows the show to explore the extreme of fringe news.

The show isn't going to appeal to everyone; it's stark, violent, scary, and maybe a little too real for most people, but if you're an HBO-watcher already, I'm sure it isn't something you've already seen.  Some of the more graphic content was depicted in the second story of the episode, which dealt with teenage suicide bombers in Afghanistan.  Aftermath of explosions were seen, including body parts and bloodied victims.  From a Western perspective, these scenes are rarely seen and have to be searched out to be seen under normal circumstances.  There are several haunting images throughout the story that certainly stick and you want to thank the corespondents for putting themselves into this dangerous situations.

Overall, VICE has plenty of potential, and of course people are going to say the news has a bit of a slant with Bill Maher behind the show, but watch the show, do your own research, and use the stories as a template to improve your own knowledge of world news, even if it is news on the fringe.

Fun Fact:  VICE was originally named "The Voice of Montreal" in 1994, the year it was founded by Shane Smith.

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Holiday Hangover: Gangster Squad

Gangster Squad - Bite

Its been a while since there's been a straight-up cops fighting the mob type of film.  The last one I can really think of  was "American Gangster."  The problem with this genre is that it's been done to death, and how can you really re-invent the wheel.  Sure, you can make it more modern and take it out of the 1920s or 40s, but that's half the charm of these films.  I like to see big Cadillacs, bright lights on buildings, and usually, extraordinarily bad acting.  Well guess what, "Gangster Squad" is more than happy to bite off of all these cliches, and more.

If you take "L.A Confidential," "The Untouchables," and "Dick Tracy" you pretty much have "Squad" in a nutshell.  The story follows a group of LAPD officers who are tasked by Nick Nolte's police chief to take down East Coast-turned-West Coast mobster Mickey Cohen, played by Sean Penn.  The story is basically "Hey, Cohen is a bad guy doing bad stuff.  Let's shut his operations down!"  Stock story, stock characters, and very little room for characters to develop.

I personally like the way the film was shot.  I thought it was stylish, even though it did use an obscene amount of slow-motion camera work, and the fact that nearly all the shootouts and action set-pieces were shot practically, I appreciate that even more.  Ruben Fleischer has a knack for the quirky, and has a real grip on filming practical effects, but I don't think he has a knack for filming drama.

While the action kept me in the film, the acting and writing left a lot to be desired.  Not even a cast that includes Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, and Penn can save a paper thin plot that is so predictable, it was almost laughable.  In a film that had room for a few twists here and there (one again, think "L.A Confidential") they decided to go the big budget action romp route.  While I was in the theater I started to think about the video game "L.A Noire."  They both have similarities in the time frame (Post World War II) and really harped on the fact that Los Angeles was at "war" and soldiers are needed to win wars.  I wanted to know the war storied behind John O' Mara (Josh Brolin) and Jerry Wooters (Gosling) but I got nothing of the sort.

While this movie might have been something to look forward to, it received a lot more publicity after the shooting in Aurora, CO in July 2012.  "Squad" had to go back and completely re-shoot an entire scene that featured a movie theater shooting as well.  While there are plenty of bullets flying throughout the course of the film, I'm puzzled why a re-shoot was necessary.  Whether it's a movie theater or not, shooting and killing people is still shooting and killing people, no matter the venue.

Overall, "Gangster Squad" is a movie that will come and go through the theater, and probably make it's money back, but it's not changing the genre in any way.  The cast is good, the direction is good, but the story and characters are down right criminal.

Fun Fact:  This isn't Josh Brolin, Michael Pena, or Nick Nolte's first go around as cops.  All three have played Johnny Law in "American Gangster," "End of Watch," and "48 Hours," respectively.

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