Review of Citizen X (1995) by Todd P — 22 Jul 2007

Not in the database is Bombay Calling (6), a Canada National Film Board documentary of the call center boom in India, creating a new class of young workers suddenly faced with independence and realtive wealth beyond that of evenly highly educated professionals in other fields.

At first the managers are beaming as they credit the cultish mindset of the call center workers, not hard to imagine when you drop new industry into a poor area of the world.

Utopia soon disappears in a wave of competition. The market becomes saturated. Jobs are lost. The young lions, thinking they'd prosper for life, suddenly find the pickings slim, and realized they've been duped by their own dreams.

Not covered was a consideration of how the situation could worsen when another country keen on quick development then undercuts the undercutting Indian work force. has it happened yet? I don't follow call center politics...

Interesting for a single view, it is a presentation of discomfort with a globalized capitalization model.

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Downloaded on a whim, or taken from some of my tomatoes top ratings, it doesn't seem to matter as I continue to be unentertained....

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Pathfinder is another "argh, fuck, kill" flick that doesn't offend me for its violence as much as it bores me for its repetitive, sleep inducing, plotless ineptitude.

Slay the Viking! Stab! Jump! Run! Stab! Hack!

Next.

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Shooter, despite terrible cliches (government men bad, only one FBI agent sees the truth, familiar love interest/save the female victim angle), was passably watchable, but fails because I just couldn't recommend it to anybody. It's one of those things you watch when you are flipping channels at 4AM. Everybody does that sometimes, no?

Wahlberg looks constipated throughout, which added an unintentionally comedic angle. The "science" of shooting was of some interest, even as glossed and glitzy as it was presented.

A slight deviation from the expected plot turns does not save the day.

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Manic is a droning mewl about troubled teens locked together in a mental health facility that seemingly was designed by and maintained as an MTV subsidiary corporation. MANIC DEP, YO!

What was intended as shockingly dramatic played out as maudlin strains from an out of tune violin.

Our violent and troubled teens sure have a lot of freedom to fuss, fuck, and fight. Open doors to patients rooms, easy access to pot, no problem ditching your meds, hold an impromptu circle pit to Soulfly, punch anybody when ya feel like it, smuggle in knives, HELL, IT'S PARTY TIME, YA SICK MOTHERFUCKERS!!! WOOOO!!!

A hymn to the numb, and a lesson in emotional apathy that nobody needs.

On a good note, Sara Rivas was hot in the role of a suicide queen.

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Off I go to watch more useless shit...I am at fault for my pain, but some of you tomatoes aren't helping me out here...