Demolition Man

Someday in the near future when we are taken over by Aliens (that is if robots don’t rise up first) and judged over what we have created as a race, we will unfortunately have to accept responsibility for Demolition Man. This 1993 Sylvester Stallone vehicle is seriously dreadful. I know that it might have a small cult following somewhere way underground, like only where Sleestacks live, but chances are slim. So here is the plot summary: Stallone blows things up, hence the title. Okay here is a little longer summary for those of you who have nothing better to do with you time.

Stallone is a super cop in the year 1996 trying to stop a super criminal played by Wesley Snipes. While apprehending Snipes, the hostages that Snipes were holding are killed and a building is destroyed. For punishment, Stallone is put in cry-freeze for the next 70 years (?) alongside his criminal counterpart (?). Snipes is released in the year 2030 (?) and wrecks havoc in this new utopia society (?). As a solution, the police thaw out Stallone to catch the barbaric criminal (?). After finally defeating Snipes, Stallone brokers a new relationship between the underground dwellers and the utopia community (?). Credits roll thankfully.

The concept is not a bad one. Your basic ‘fish out of water’ future cop story has potential to be a lot of fun and creative. The famous Marco Brambilla directed this- oh wait, he has not directed anything before this and since then! So this ‘nobody’ was given the helm to direct this huge film with, at that time, big stars. With some strong direction and a different script, this could have been a great movie. The main problem is that the vision of the future is so 2 dimensional that it’s written on the level of a 12 year old. Some of the highlights to occur in the next 20 years:

• There is no violence of any sort. So much so that the fashion police do not have any combat training
• There are no guns except the ones kept in museums (fully loaded and active btw!)
• It’s illegal to swear and you get issued with a citation from monitors placed everywhere
• Commercial jingles like the Oscar Meyer hot dogs are the popular songs on the radio. Apparently art dies in the future
• Since the ‘Franchise War’ every restaurant is a Taco Bell, which serves teeny tiny food
• Every wall is graffiti proof by erasing paint with some sort of super technology
• A whole world exists 10 feet below ground that nobody knows about
• There is no physical contact, shaking hands, high fives, or kissing. Even worst…
• There is no sex in the future, just some sort of mind connection by wearing a headset  

The world created by Brambilla is simply not believable and is actually silly. It’s like something out of the Jetsons cartoon. What’s unfortunate is that this movie clearly has a big budget. It also had big actors (of the time) starring: Stallone, Snipes, Sandra Bullock, Benjamin Bratt, Dennis Leary, and Rob Schneider. During the 90’s this was an all-star cast. Unfortunately, the acting is atrocious and all the characters are not developed beyond their function in the movie. The plot holes, oh the plot holes! At the end, after being a rogue cop and destroying half the city, Stallone is able to walk away with Bullock under arm with no repercussions.  Apparently, problems in our future society can be solved with a terrible speech from a criminal cop.

Raking in $50 million meant it did quite well back in ’93. The same can’t be said of the careers of the cast in the years to come. Demolition Man can be amusing with a group of friends with nothing to do but to ridicule this Stallone mess. Otherwise I would suggest watching Total Recall, Robocop, Aliens, or anything else made from that same time period.

I give it 1 1/2 Babble out of 5

Lessons from the Devil

While traveling, I caught The Devil Wears Prada (2006) on TV late one night in my hotel room. I have to admit, this is not my first time to see this 2006 Comedy/Drama. I have to confess it’s actually one of my favorite guilty pleasures. It’s not a particularly original story, but there were a few elements that really touched me. I know, I know, bear with me.

The plot surrounds the main character, Andy, played by the ‘doe eyed’ Anne Hathaway. She is an aspiring journalist and out of desperation settles as an intern at Runway Magazine (like Vogue). What she discovers is that she is working for the notorious Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep), the Darth Vader of the fashion world. In the first third of the film, Andy follows the predictable route as the ‘ugly duckling’ stumbling through her job and making a fool of herself while still scoffing at the superficiality of the Runway culture. The second third has her transformed into a supermodel and she starts being successful part of the Runway machine. As expected, the final chapter of the movie has Andy’s world imploding and she finally realizes she has lost herself and decides to walk away from it all. This whole movie is basically a string of Meryl Streep’s masterful performance as an overbearing, larger than life tyrant and Andy changing clothes every 2 minutes. While the movie is pretty simple, it is done very clean, with strong visuals, and an appropriate soundtrack. Overall it was very enjoyable.

There are three things that I took away from the film. The first is the question, how willing are you to compromise to succeed? Are you willing to change your looks, adjust your priorities, and sacrifice your private life? Are you willing to become another person in order to rise in the organization? This may come to a surprise but my answer would be absolutly YES!

The idea of ‘who you are’ is a very fluid concept. In your 20’s and early 30’s, you have no idea who you are and what you are capable of. It’s easier to let immaturity and inexperience define the person you are to become. The fact is we live, work, and play in a world that we do not control and sometimes we do not like. You have to learn to adopt and adapt in any environment in order to gain influence to make real change in the future. Am I suggesting like Andy that you stab your friends in the back and sleep with a stranger? No of course not. But in order to find what you want in life, you have to understand what everyone else wants first. Succeeding in an environment that you hate means you will be that much more equipped when you are in an environment that you love. But you usually have to do the first in order to have the second.

The next big lesson that I learned is that it’s not always good to be nice when you are the boss or manager. Nice let’s people off the hook, makes people feel comfortable, and creates a painless environment. As pleasant as that is, it stunts growth for others. A majority of people only grow when pushed (and sometimes threatened) by the authority. As the head of Runway, Miranda Priestly expected nothing but complete excellence and miracle producing results from her employees. Surprisingly, she usually got it. If you commit yourself to impossible standards, you will always be surprised what you can achieve. It won’t be easy and it will cause pain, but the real juicy stuff of character and leadership is worth it. So if you are a boss, crack the whip a little. If you are an employee, be grateful for a boss that pushes you to and beyond your limits.

The last lesson learned is that life is like fashion. It’s always changing, very bizarre, and never at rest. You can scoff, but you will be left behind. The sooner you embrace the ever changing tools and tactics this changing world has the offer, the farther ahead you will get.

This is not an academy award winning movie by any stretch of the imagination. It is however, a fun and fashionable way to view success and leadership. I probably got more out of this than what was intended by the director- but that’s what creative leadership is all about, finding the fashion out of any momentary fad.

Overall, I give it 3 1/2 out of 5 Babbles:

Click here to watch my favorite scene and how Merryl Streep’s performance stole the show.

That Thing You Do

Today I re-watched this little 1996 film called ‘That Thing You do’. This is one of those movies I can watch over and over again. It’s a simple story of a group of friends who start a band and make a hit song which the film is named after. They ascend to the top of the record charts only to share the destiny that so many other ‘one hit wonders’ end up. The main character realizes that the journey was more important than the destination and the discovery of love made it all worth it. It also is a cautionary tale of not depending solely on talent to get through life.

The biggest reason I wanted suggest this movie is that it not only stars Tom Hanks but he Directed and wrote it as well. He even wrote several of the songs including on the soundtrack. That’s pretty amazing. It’s one of the few movies where one actor does so much. I have always been a fan of Tom Hanks especially since he was the lead in one of my favorite movies, Saving Private Ryan. Knowing that he single handedly carried That Thing You do, makes me appreciate him even more.

That Thing You do is a ‘feel good’ movie and would highly encourage it if you are bored one night. It also has a soundtrack that you can’t help but hum along with.

I give it 4 out of 5 Babbles