Sunset Strip (2000)

I have been watching so many horror movies lately that I felt it was time to move on and start watching some other genres and nothing interests me more than music and the Sunset Strip. It is for that very reason when I saw the title Sunset Strip on HULU, I had to check out this 2000 film that was directed by Adam Collis (Car Dogs) and the film follows a group of people (a song writer, a photographer, musicians, and a stylist) that all live in the Los Angeles area and congregate to the world famous strip as the camera follows them and what happens to them in a 24 hour period of time. The film stars Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club) as Glen Walker, Simon Baker (The Devil Wears Prada) as Michael Scott, Anna Friel (Limitless) as Tammy Franklin, Nick Stahl (Bully) as Zach, Rory Cochrane (Dazed And Confused) as Felix, Adam Goldberg (Dazed And Confused) as Marty Shapiro, Tommy Flanagan (Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2) as Duncan, Darren E. Burrows (Causalities Of War) as Bobby, John Randolph (Escape From The Planet Of The Apes) as Mr. Niederhaus, Mary Lynn Rajskub (Little Miss Sunshine) as Eileen, Stephanie Romanov (The Final Cut) as Christine, Judy Greer (Buffaloed) as young waitress, and Mike Rad (It's In The Kitchen) as Badger. 

Adam Collis and the writers of the film obviously went to the school of Richard Linklater and have shown their love of his classic set in the 70's look at teens in Dazed And Confused. Now the overall concept of the film may be different as one looks at teens in Texas over a 24 hour period while this film looks at musicians and various other industry people over a 24 hour period besides the only other similarity being the two actors from Dazed (Cochrane and Goldberg) also being in this one. The story technically evolves more around three characters as Stahl's character feels that it's his destiny to be in LA while Baker's character is trying to balance his photography business while dealing with a depressed friend and the fact that he can't muster up the courage to ask out Tammy who is the last character we follow as she balances her personal life with his business life. I found these personal journeys not as interesting as some of the performances in the film especially coming from Jared Leto who acted the part of a rockstar who is just so full of himself to a T. There were three sides of the spectrum with this film as far as the musicians were concerned and Leto's was the type of musician who made it for the excesses that come with the job rather than Stahl's character who still has love for the craft. Meanwhile, Flanagan's character is the embodiment of what a British rock star is and that is complete coolness like they've been there before and love is what they are missing. If I had to pick an MVP for the film though it would definitely go to Leto and Anna Friel who was just superb. You also have to check out the interactions between Goldberg and Cochrane in this film cause that is Gold. One of the other highlights is the sets that they use like the world famous Whiskey A Go-Go. Check out the film for yourself, but I am giving it an B for a final grade. 

Buffaloed (2020)

In this world there is nothing worse than being victim of falling into debt that you never can seem to pay off and so it gets worse and worse. Eventually, you end up falling behind because sometimes life is all about making hard choices and then come the vultures known as Debt Collectors. No this is not a public service announcement, but I am setting up today's film which is called Buffaloed and it was directed by Tanya Wexler (Girl With No Name). The film stars my latest celebrity crush Zoey Deutch (The Year Of Spectacular Men) as Ped Dahl, a homegrown Buffalo hustler who will try to do whatever it takes to get out of Buffalo since her father passed away. The only problem is that she gets involved in the underworlds of debt collecting and all hell breaks loose as she tries to stay afloat in the dirty game and avoid jail time again. The film also stars Jai Courtney (Suicide Squad) as Wizz, Judy Greer (Halloween 2018) as Kathy, Jermaine Fowler (BoJack Horseman) as Graham, Noah Reid (Schitt's Creek) as JJ, Lusia Strus (Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide) as Frances, Lorrie Odom (Isn't It Romantic) as Backer, Raymond Ablack (Degrassi: The Next Generation) as Prakash, James M. Connor (Brooklyn Nine-Nine) as Clip, and  Brian Sacca (The Wolf Of Wall Street) as Sal.

Spoiler Alert: There may be sensitive information in this paragraph that could spoil parts of the film so proceed with caution. This was a different kind of role for Zoey while also being one that seems familiar and that is because she nailed her performance in the film. She was definitely the star of the film as the overall performance and flow of the film lied on her shoulders and for the most part she had me glued to see what happened next. The one thing that worked is that Jai Courtney played the perfect villain for her as he escalated things to a different level. The one character that annoyed me was the character of Graham who I didn't understand why he was still there. He is the reason she goes to jail on so many occasions even though he wants to be her boyfriend. It was like he put her in jail every time because she wouldn't quit the business thinking that she would afterwards, but I can definitely see why she kept him around. I liked the story because it showed how debt collectors could be scumbags if they chose to be and how annoying they can make your life if you don't pay them. I don't know if this is my favorite Zoey film, but she earned some respect from me here because besides her performance, I definitely liked the cinematography and the tone of the film. The overall tone of the film was gray because it seemed like Buffalo was a dead end for her so they didn't use bright colors or effects for the city and that was effective. So, with all that being said, I am going to give the album an B+ for a final grade.