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“The Frozen Ground” got me burning mad. Nicolas Cage as cop. John Cusack
as serial killer. Shot and chopped up young women. Alaska. True story. 1980s.
The whole murky grisly movie works OT to condemn violence against and the
objectification of women ... And yet writer/director Scott Walker’s camera
stares nose close at Disney Princess Vanessa Hudgen’s stripper ass as she stage
grinds. Because one can’t make a film about strippers and hookers being
slaughtered by a loser kook without a little T&A stage action. At least if
everyone behind the camera is male. Maybe only women should make films about
cruel ways men treat women. Especially talking fact. Plot: Cusack’s
Robert Hansen has 20 girls in the grave, but Hudgens’ (“Spring Breakers”)
prostitute/stripper has escaped and can ID him. Her lone hero is Cage’s cop,
who works so hard on the job, his family is neglected. Nothing on screen
differs from an episode of “Law & Order: SVU,” so we only have stunt
casting to cheer. Cusack underplays. So
does Cage. The less said about 50 Cent’s pimp, the better. Recalling the victims to pop music: Ugly bad move. D+
Harmony
Korine’s purposefully delirious drama/horror/satire “Spring Breakers” is
shocking, but not for any onscreen debauchery, but how bright and shiny, and dull
it is, and how much it strives to be “Girls Gone Wild” meets “Natural Born
Killers.” Circa 1994. The story: Four college girls (led by Disney princesses Vanessa Hudgens and Selena Gomez, plus Ashley Benson and Rachel Korine) head to Florida and plunge into binge drinking, drugs, sex acts, and scooter racing without
helmets. When they land in jail, a redneck drug dealer (James Franco) “saves” and
woos the group with guns, piano skills, and love of “Scarface.” After Gomez as
a Christian named “Faith” (fancy that, eh?) bolts for home, the other
three turn pink-masked gangbanger. Really. Korine spills ironic observations
about youth obsessions with sex, gun culture, and celebrity, and our affinity
to get bored, no matter where or what we are. But he’s working from a sketchy 30-page culture thesis triple spaced to 90, with scenes and sounds (guns!) repeated
without end. Boiled down: Korine’s only real trick is getting two Mickey Mouse
stars to go Mickey and Mallory for faux shock value. To break taboos?
Or filmgoers’ patience? Franco, btw, is madly genius. C+
