The Rum Diaries- Starring Johnny Deep - Yeah he's still Rock

The Rum Diaries

This movie is hands down my favorite movie

off the year and one of my all time 

favorites. Starring the newly divorced 

Johnny Deep as a Hunter S. Thompson alias 

and Giovanni Rebisi "that guy" off friends 

who famously dumped singer "Cat Power" for 

a hot super-model. With such a high 

calibre of actors on board this film hauls 

serious crankability. Theres also a fat 

guy who's a follower reporter off the two 

mentioned who rounds out the posse all of 

which work at a falling newspaper in 

Puerto-Rico. With all the trashy columns 

that this trio writes it's worth noting 

that Giovanni doesn't write one article 

throughout the film. As the papers 

religious reporter he takes it upon 

himself to experiment in black magic 

subsequently becoming infatuated with Nazi 

extremism that seems him constantly scream 

his head off and never bath, ever.

The movies name sums up this film in it's 

entirety as there is almost no one who 

stays sober for any amount of time. But 

can you really blame there lack of 

sobriety because hard working reporters 

get seriously hot on a tropical island 

it's a well known phenomena that results 

in excessive rum drinking constantly. I 

know i'd personally prefer to die drunk as 

well because if I'm going to be killed by 

the poverty ridden inhabitants by their 

much loved machetes i'm gonna need a few 

drinks before hopping into the void. Most 

of the drama of this film unfolds in a 

"slum village" apartment in a horrendously 

poor area. The classic "cock fights" in 

their neighborhood also portray the simple 

things in life. For instance like making a 

slick grand or two off a stupid rooster 

that has been breed to be twice the size 

of any dog.  

To all the mainstream movie lovers this 

film isn't a trashy film so if your the 

person who doesn't know who Charles 

Bukowski is I'd insist that you avoid this 

film. It would just be wasted on you. 

Hell, It might even keep you up at night 

because you know what you might actually 

have to think for yourself after watching 

this film. Remember this isn't some 

sanitized Spiderman 8 3d epic that cost 

500 million dollars to make. Instead this 

is a real film shock horror and its about 

real life and how one man triumph over all 

the sober highly strung academics that 

infest journalism. It's important to 

remember Hunter S. Thompson is a man that 

aimed to destroy corruption with a pen. 

One mans fight against societies shadowy 

ideals was always doomed to drunken 

failure, nevertheless he did remarkable 

well. The subtext of this film could be 

summarized in Camus sense of the absurd. 

But for the more adventurous folk out 

there aka Auckland Uni -- Arts Students, 

this ones for you. Sorry, Engineering 

school you have about as much chance 

making sense of this film as describing 

the intricacies of Hydraulic dump truck 

levers in an interesting fashion. But then 

again you might rise to the occasion and 

comprehend the clearly insane nonsense 

that is this stunning film.

Moss Bioletti

Jack Black as Funny as Ever in Bernie: A seriously class act from the fatty

Bernie

Bernie is a tragic comedy about a likable push over. The undertaker of a small town  Bernie is known to almost all Catheridges inhabitants as the most popular man in anyones books. When it comes to helping people no problem is to small for Bernie that he wont help. Whether it's your overdue tax returns your dead husbands corpse or upgrading your coffin to the top of the line model he's your man.

The lead actor who plays Bernie is Jack Black so if you aren't a fan this is probably not a film for you .Having said this I would advise anyone that missing this movie is a terrible blunder as it is a moving, seriously funny and excitingly stressful. I would go so far as to urge even the most adamant Jack Black hater to dis-regard there contempt of him and give it a chance, even if its a slim one. I say this not to cause such person to have a terrible time but to try and open people to a person who is an extremely talented human being. I stress this as I have come across a lot of people who do not care for Jack Black in the extreme some insisting he is only good for eating mac donalds and being used as a speed bump. I strongly disagree with such a diagnosis of Jack Black because in my eyes he symbolizes a dead end loser making a go off what life has to offer him. After all he did have a huge house in the Beverly Hills in his early twenties and that success demands some respect. I believe the underground meets the mainstream dialectic is best summed up in someone like Black because in all honest how many people do you that can play the guitar gaining a number one hit in the U.S, act like he was born to do it and tell hilliarous jokes with eye catching facial gestures that would make Jack Nicholson weep. 

Furthermore if your a fan of Tenacious D this movie will rock your socks off  because Bernie is a man that likes to sing in the severe extremes. He's a person known to all the village as a man that will sing any song at a funeral no matter how obscure. From the chart topping Guns and Rose's "Sweet Child of Mine" to Leonard Cohen's sucky songs he has it on lock. In my view Bernie is man made of the rarest calibre as he's the sort of person that would learn the whole guitar solo from "Stairway to Heaven" just to play for your dead ass.

Finally the plot of this film is hard to scratch at without giving to much action away so i've purposefully avoided it. But I'll give you a brief guide of events . Bless Bernie's heart he gets in trouble with the law and everyone has to rally around him and fight for his freedom. But enough of that see this movie and have a fantastic time. 

Moss B