cwok
I recently watched, ' Wired ', for the first time in its entirety. This film has received some harsh criticism over the years, but I decided to see for myself.The movie begins with JB as a fresh corpse in the LA morgue, and his now disembodied soul, escaping, and roaming the earth, transported by his afterlife taxi-driver-spirit-guide, ' Angel ' (played by Ray Sharkey, in one of his last major film roles, and whose own drug use ultimately led to death himself). The two experience past & present events as observers, ala, " A Christmas Carol ", trying to make sense of the situation.While simultaneously, Journalist Bob Woodward, on whose book the film is based, is brought in to investigate the circumstances surrounding JB's demise, with hints of the future dramatic forensics of, ' CSI '.The story cuts back & forth, with shades of the flashback sequences in Milos Forman's, ' Amadeus ', another film about a self-destructive celebrity, and that also showcases performances of the subject, climaxing in a, ' face to face conversation ', between Belushi & Woodward, which is apparently a metaphor for the reporter's attempt to posthumously get inside the comic's head, in order to better understand him.I get why, ' Wired ', was largely panned, but I think I also get what the filmmakers were actually TRYING for here: Juxtaposing the surrealistic fantasy of Belushi's ghost journey through time & space, vs the reasoned objectivity of Woodward's factual reporting.And this premise MIGHT have worked, IF the creators had focused more clearly on what exactly they were trying to get across to the audience.Yet as it is, all we are left with is a series of episodes from Belushi's life, with only the bare bones of continuity; an example of why interesting ideas still need effective execution all the way through.
ironhorse_iv
Blues Brother, Musician, Confidant, and Comedic Legend, John Belushi deserves better than this tasteless movie, loosely based on the 1984 non-fiction book of the same name by American journalist, Bob Woodward. While, many friends and relatives of Belushi, including his widow Judith Belushi Pisano, Dan Aykroyd and James Belushi, agreed to be interviewed at length for the book, they later felt the final product was exploitative and not representative of the John Belushi they knew. The movie version written by screenwriter, Earl Mac Rauch only made things, worst, by taking took much liberties from the book, and turned it into a non-linear fantasy drama about torturing, berating, and ripping apart Belushi's corpse, played by Michael Chiklis like it was sushi, while showing gloom & doom flashbacks. However, the film doesn't end it there, oh no, while the soul of John is playing a fantasy game for his life with Judith (Lucinda Jenney) on a Blue's Brothers ping-ball machine with his enigmatic, guardian angel, Angel Velasquez (Ray Sharkey). The actor that plays, Bob Woodward (J. T Walsh) goes to the place that John died, Château Marmont, and has a surrealist conversation with the ghost on his death bed, belittled him. This was all, done with real-life Bob Woodward permission and none, from the friends & family of the comedian whom chose to instead, boycott the movie. Honestly, I don't blame them. Other offensive fantasy scenes like the autopsy and the airplane moment, made this movie hard to watch. It no way, matches the original request from John Belushi's family or his manager, Bernie Brillstein. They wanted a fun, but factual book about the actor to counter the speculation and rumors that had arisen after his death. Instead, the book and film spent more time, kicking the man while he's down, without a shred of dignity than praising anything about him, when he was alive. They don't show, much of anything about the guy. No scenes of Belushi upbringings, how he got into comedy, how he met his wife & friends, and most of all, his time in SNL. It only focus on the negative things about him. Hints, why the characters and events of Wired are a mixture of real-life people and obvious facsimiles. Nearly nobody wanted to their depiction or name in the film at all. They all threatened to sue the film for invasion of privacy, if they did. Even, if they could get the film rights to use all of the characters and locations that Belushi belong to, in his life. I still think this movie still would be as offensive as it was. Honestly, I really don't get, what the film's message, was besides being over sensationalized exploitation with a vast ocean of awkward humorless slapstick, and postmodern mindfuckery. I can only guess, that the film directed by Larry Peerce was going for a Frank Capra aura like 'It's a Wonderful Life', or worse, Charles Dickens reworking of 'A Christmas Carol', but they fail badly with the confusing time sequence and mystical scenes. It doesn't help, that this movie also has supporting characters appearing & disappearing, unannounced. It also jarring to see, actors like Ray Sharkey, lecturing to a dead Belushi about the dangers of drugs abuse. Does nobody else, see the weird irony of that!? Yes, I get that John Belushi was a drug addict and made a lot of bad decisions, however, that doesn't give the right for writers to over scrutiny his life like this. He was a human being with good things, about him. Just because, he did drugs, doesn't make him, the worst person in the world. It felt like a mean-spirited one-sided after school special. A miserable PSA. No wonder, why this movie had a hard time, finding a distributor for it. Nobody wanted a movie that exposed the dark side of Hollywood in the late 1980s. The only good thing to come out of this movie was Michael Chiklis. Unlike the other critics, I found his performance to be great. He really gave the role, everything, he has. You see it, with the singing and dancing scenes, the intense drug abuse moments, and the made up SNL skits. He does a bang up job of capturing John's mannerisms and deportment in any of the scenes that he's is. It's sad that he got blacklist in Hollywood for the longest time, after making this movie. It wasn't until, television shows 'The Commish' (1991-1996) & 'The Shield' (2002-2008) kinda save this career. He was a good actor. I can't say, the same with his co-stars. Gary Groomes looks and acts, nothing like Dan Aykroyd & Lucinda Jenney whom, I nearly forgot, was in this movie. For the movie about a comedian that supposed to be funny. It felt a little too dark & serious. In the end, the story of one man's excesses was just a miserable watch. I really can't recommended, watching this awful blue screen of death.
Slevin Kelevra
When I was 8 years old I remember watching a Saturday Night sketch with John in it. It was so funny I literally crapped myself, it was so funny I waited till the sketch was over before running to the bathroom. Immature way to say I thought he was funny but hey, that's a true story. And Blues Brothers is without a doubt my favorite movie, to say I like John Belushi would be as much as an understatement as saying the guy in Stan liked Eminem's music.When I started writing reviews I incorporated comedy into my articles, not funny trendy internet meme's I mean stupid crap that I found funny. It gave it a personality, and that's why I had more readers than I could ever imagine (I imagined maybe 6). John was by far my favorite comedian, can someone who may have not lead the most perfect life be a bad inspiration? No, not at all. While he didn't make good decisions he was always nice to fans and cared about his work. Doesn't make him a saint but... he was still my inspiration and a good one. Blues Brothers was actually the first movie review I ever did, I didn't actually review it I just praised it. Although breaking down every little piece of comedy, breaking down every little scene and line actually revealed interesting details I never knew before. There's so many hidden laughs to have at this movie and breaking it down only made me love it even more.So why the hell did I watch this? Well excuse me for thinking Hollywood would make a touching biography about one the greatest comedians of all time. You'd think a little, tiny sliver of respect would be in here somewhere. Somebody during the filming would say "Hey I liked John shouldn't we make him... oh I don't know, NOT look like a total druggy loser with no redeemable qualities?!" For ****s sake the man was in Blues Brothers... one of the most well know (and funniest) people on SNL.This film makes me sick to my stomach. The imagery of John screaming for help laying on an autopsy table... literally hurts me to watch. It doesn't help Michael played this role so good... too good (he's a good actor). I feel guilty for being apart of the crowd that hated Michael Chiklis but as I grew up I learned who to really point my finger to. Actually going back to this movie after all these years I realized Michael Chiklis is the best part of this movie. Not many people could... no one could fill his shoes but if there was someone who had to do his sketches Michael Chiklis would be the next best thing.Anyways, as with most people's lives which end in such tragedy it's important to take lessons learned and remember them so we don't make the same mistakes. But don't make their entire life based around those damn mistakes, he should be remembered as one of the greatest comedians of all time and a good person to his fans. Penny pinching bastards that made this piece of **** deserve to have their dead bodies paraded around on a film then shown to their family members as punishment. Oh too harsh? Well that's what they did to Belushi!
