Disc Type

I always have a significant degree of excitement when watching a film that takes place in Florida, especially when it is filmed in a place I either live or have lived. The Punisher (2004) was filmed in downtown Tampa, and Miami Connection (1987) in downtown Orlando and the University of Central Florida’s campus. To further explain this excitement, I even waited till 3 AM on a busy street in Seminole Heights, Tampa, hoping to get a chance to see a part of The Infiltrator (2016) when they began filming here. Inoperable does indeed take place in the Tampa area of Florida, but you really only come to understand that through the dialog. For all the audience knows, we could just be being told that we are in Florida, and we would be none-the-wiser. While that doesn’t take away my enjoyment from the film, it certainly would have helped if it actually looked like Tampa.

The film takes place in a hospital while a large hurricane is happening outside (so realistically, the one thing that lets us know it is Florida is the impending threat of inclement weather). While in the hospital, Amy (Danielle Harris) is plagued by a series of nurses and doctors assaulting her, the sight of grotesque surgical experiments, and of course a time loop so that her experiences are repeated, adding to the nightmare. So, imagine Groundhog Day, but with less Bill Murray and more gory scenes. While trapped in this time loop, she meets Ryan and Jen, who learn they are trapped in the loop as well. Together, the group discover clues that might help them escape.

Neo-Liberalism is a concept that was introduced to me in 2014 while I was in graduate school. In an effort not to bore the reader and save my own amateur understanding from ridicule, I will not discuss the philosophical musings at length. However, I will briefly offer what I take to be the “important things to know” for reading this review. Essentially, Neo-Liberalism began as an economic ideology favoring policies that allow private businesses to function while uninhibited by the government. Then, from about the 1970’s onward, Western scholars brought popularity back to the term, allowing it to take on the characteristics of a catch-all term that ranges from economic structure, to economic philosophy, to academic discourse.

Much more can be said about the concept, but I will leave the learning up to you. David Harvey’s A Brief History of Neoliberalism is an excellent starting point, and that is where I dove in about four years ago. However, this text is a film review, leaving me the responsibility to deliver a fair, evaluative assessment of the documentaries Encirclement and Oncle Bernard. So the question becomes: how can you make a documentary about such a complex philosophy whose very meaning has evolved over time? The short answer is, through extensive interviews with notable interdisciplinary academics about the expansive topic. Plus, the topic is still unable to be covered to completion within the two hours and forty minutes it was cut into.

Meet the most dysfunctional crime family since The Sopranos. Not quite at the same level either on-screen or in quality, but once again we're drawn toward another dangerous clan with criminal intent. I guess we could call them The Baritones. Actually, Animal Kingdom is an apt description for television's latest baddies. They've now wrapped up their second season of mayhem on TNT where the series was the network's top ratings winner. Now that second season is out from Warner Brothers, and it's another crazy ride, of that you can be certain. It's based, rather loosely by now, on an Aussie film starring Guy Pearce.

Meet Josh Cody (Cole) His mother was a junkie who died of a heroin overdose. Josh called his estranged grandmother, who goes by the name Smurf, and is played by Ellen Barkin. Smurf takes him into her home, but it's not the Waltons. Smurf is a regular Ma Barker. She organizes criminal jobs that are carried out by her four sons. She collects the money and doles it out on an allowance basis. Her right hand is adopted son Barry, who goes by Baz (Speedman). He helps plan the jobs and is the only one with a family of his own. His girlfriend has mysteriously left him alone with a young daughter. If you saw the first season, you know what happened to her, and that secret is about to come out. Brother Pope (Hatosy) has just returned home from over three years in prison. He took the fall for the entire family, but he's off his meds and is quite crazy. He's by far the quietest brother, and the most dangerous. Brothers Darren (Weary) and Craig (Robson) are pretty much interchangeable bookends. They end up doing the heavy lifting, but they also are the hardest partiers in the family. From coke to jumping out of planes, these two do everything fast and furious. His uncles are not quick to trust Josh, and he has to find a balance with very little time to breathe.