My Movie Journal is Better Than Yours

Other Movies Seen By This Director (2)
- Cooley High
- Krush Groove

Notes History

Date Viewed	Venue	Note
02.10.08	Netflix	I kind of let the first half of this month slip by without going on a blaxploitation bender but watching Human Tornado the other night really put me in the mood to explore more of the genre. Unfortunately I don't have much of a backlog readily available but I do have a handful on the netflix queue coming my way so let's get funky! First up is this movie more famous for its theme song than anything else. OK some Joel Schumacher fans may know it because he wrote the script (!) and people like George Carlin and Richard Pryor have cameos in it but it's not really a classic of the genre ya know? It's a day-in-the-life structure with a bunch of cool people working at a car wash with amusing anecdotes, mini-adventures, and lots of minor plot arcs scattergunned across 100 minutes. I had a good time with this but did find the lack of central plot or conflict a bit distracting. Although I like all the characters and the soundtrack supplied by an everpresent radio bullhorn sho is funky, I didn't find the pacing and overall effect great enough to make it one of the classic just-hanging-out movies like Dazed and Confused and American Graffiti. Still, I loved The Fly and Ivan Dixon and Antonio Fargas as a transvestite and it was weird to see Bill Duke still young before his Schwarzeneggar action 80s days. Like most movies of the genre, this was a fun time, but still kind of shallow and empty and maybe forgettable. We'll see with time.