ACID HOUSE PROFILE
MOVIE: Brokedown Palace
DIRECTOR: Jonathan Kaplan
YEAR: 1999
DRUG INVOLVED: Cocaine
Alice and Darlene are best friends and could not be more different. Darlene comes from a wealthy family and is on the road to great things after she finishes high school while Alice comes from a neglectful family and is a "bad egg" with no aspirations for the future. When Alice convinces Darlene to lie to her parents about summer vacation in Hawaii and instead go to Thailand it is one of the last mistakes the pair will make. They meet up with the handsome and urbane Nick who offers to pay for the girls to visit him in Hong Kong while he is there on business. At the airport they are arrested with bags of cocaine on them, and not speaking the language or knowing the justice system in Thailand they are quickly thrown into a harsh prison and sentenced to 40 years. With the help of Hank Green, an American who takes cases for other American nationals attempts to help the girls out but even this ends up proving difficult.
With a regularly played out storyline and poor execution this film falls flat very quickly. Two hotties Clare Danes (Alice) and Kate Beckinsale (Darlene) take point on this one but I have seen much better work from both of them and the writers only decided to keep them in bikinis for a very short time. By the end of the movie when the inevitable tough decision comes you really don't care what happens to who. The sequences in jail at times were intense but those moments are few and far between. After the girls get put into jail, for me at least, the story just kind of sits and eventually rots and by the end of the film just plain stinks. What is worse is that this is more of a stereotypical POW type prison story which had very little to do with the drugs. I did manage to get a snapshot of the one section with a shot of drugs in them however this was the only real fun I had while watching this movie... and seeing the part with Clare and Kate in bikinis.
SUMMARY
ACID HOUSE APPROVED: No way
WHY WAS APPROVAL DENIED: Not a drug film in any way
FAVORITE SCENE: Read the last sentence of the review
ACID SCORE: A pathetic 4 out of 10
ACID HOUSE PROFILE
MOVIE: Buffalo Soldiers
DIRECTOR: Gregor Jordan
YEAR: 2001
DRUGS INVOLVED: Heroin and MDMA
Ray Elwood is brought up on drug dealing charges and was given a choice, 6 years in prison or 3 years in the army and he chose the army. After going through basic training he is placed in an army base out of West Germany and goes right back to his old tricks selling everything from mop and glo to Heroin. When a fellow officer and junkie dies his tox panel brings up a few questions about what is going on inside the base and a new commanding officer is assigned to look into the problems and becomes a thorn in Elwood's side. All of this happens in the midst of Elwood stealing millions of dollars in army weapons from a neglected supply transport.
This is for one thing an interesting spin on the old drug dealer plots that I have been seeing recently. Putting a drug dealer in the army out in West Germany made things very interesting indeed. The plots main idea isn't the only thing that is good about it, the writing and the minutia of the story are also pretty solid. The movie is funny, exciting, and kind of makes you think what soldiers do when you are bored. Another appearance by Anna Paquin taking x was a nice tough as was the always calm, cool, and collected Joaquin Pheonix who played his part well. Add in a few explosions, fire fights, and dream sequences and what we have is a great acid house film.
SUMMARY
ACID HOUSE APPROVED: Yes
WHEN WAS APPROVAL CONFIRMED: When a group of high tank operators blow up a gas station by driving the wrong way to their contact point
FAVORITE SCENE: I would say the end of the film was a great way to go and gave a nice final chuckle
ACID SCORE: a solid 8 hits out of 10
Tomorrow the end is nigh as the letter B wraps up.
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