Oh Poop...

Half Nelson(dir. Ryan Fleck and Anna Bodom)
The scene that really made it for me was when Dan goes to buy some crack and ends up buying it off of Drey. Its such a little scene, but seems to show the dilemma they both face in the film. The ending was very optimistic and makes the audience believe we can truly change and redeem ourselves. The most problematic scenes were the teaching scenes. Sure, you have to show his job somewhat, but overall, they really had nothing to do with the grand scheme of things. They are also portrayed in a fairly stereotypicaly cinematic way where the teachers seem to hold a discussion instead of just lecturing the kids. Sure, this style of teaching can happen, but its not very likely in a junior high setting. I liked this alot.
**** out of ****
Fast Food Nation(dir. Richard Linklater)
This movie just reminds me of Babel even though Linklater has been dealing with this type of narrative genre years before Babel, Crash, or even Magnolia came out. This movie is definately more messy than Babel, but the biggest difference is that Fast Food Nation actually has message behind. Actually, numerous messages. The border crossing aspect in both film's offers easy comparision. The border crossing in this film is much more thought-provoking than Babel's. Maybe because Babel's border crossing wasn't really about people illegally immigrating even though the nanny was in the US illegally. Babel basically throws this aspect of its narrative out there expecting audiences to think about it, but Fast Food Nation really dwells on this aspect. You watch this and you kind of say who gives a shit that these individuals are in our country illegally since they basically suffer immensely while living here. You feel sympathy for the individuals and it makes it much more thought-provoking than anything in Babel and this is just one of the stories. You got Greg Kinnear's character dealing with corporate marketing and covering up the fact that there is shit in hamburger meat. You got young people trying to make change, but basically realizing the problem is out of their hands. This story is probably the least effective because of the simple view that these young people have on the situation, but the film, thankfully, debunks their naive view. The best (and most unpleasant) in the film is when you finally see the killing floor in the meat packing factory. The scene is so effective because it not only shows what they do to the cows to make our meat, but also how it affects the individuals that have to do this work. You see a woman is just as horrified and disturbed by what she sees as the audience is. You see her cry and realize that what those people do is horrific, but almost heroic. While this movie does have its flaws, it is still one of the best movies of 2006.
**** out of ****