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Reviews
Cocaine Cowboys 2 (2008)
A fascinating, well told story
A second Cocaine Cowboys documentary. For years many fans of the crime genre have only heard stories about Pablo Escobar and the Medellin Cartel, we now get a glimpse of the Miami 1980's cocaine era. The fast-paced documentary is directed by Bill Corben (Raw Deal) and edited by David Cypkin. A lot of real life Scarface stories. The documentary actually makes Scarface look like a choir boy. Truth is sometimes stranger than fiction definitely holds merit in this case. The documentary was received well by the crowd. The rap scene particularly seems to love the documentary. Songs were recorded in dedication of Griselda Blanco. DVD's were shot in dedication of Jon Roberts and Mickey Munday. The Miami premiere of CC2 even shows a person with a tattoo of Griselda Blanco on his arm. CC1 turned into a cult. Corben decided to make a second part.
While CC1 focused on the cocaine era on a large scale, CC2 focuses more on Charles Cosby and Griselda Blanco. Cosby was a big-time cocaine distributor in the Oakland area. The documentary shows the come up of Cosby, his relationship with Griselda Blanco during her stay in prison and we get some more information on Griselda during the cocaine era.
CC2 gives us more information on Blanco's childhood. It give us insight in what made this woman so ruthless. What I noticed from watching documentaries on Escobar and this documentary is that Escobar and Blanco grew up in horrific circumstances. It's not that surprising that they hold little value for human life. Columbia was in very bad shape at that time and it left a mark on the young generation.
CC2 is slower in pace then CC1 but that doesn't mean much. CC1 was very high paced. With CC2 Corben does an excellent job of grabbing the audience by the throat and never letting them go. CC2 uses cartoons to illustrate certain events. Not only does it look impressive visually, but it also illustrated the surrealness of the CC story. Of course this style is also used because you can look at the narrators face for so long before you get bored. The music used in this documentary is rap. Rap made specially for the documentary.
The filmmaker does a good job of not only talking to the police about the Cocaine Cowboys but also talks to the Cocaine Cowboys themselves. CC2 has fewer interviews with officials. Cosby does most of the talking. This gives you insight in the cocaine business, but this is also tricky. You must remember you're dealing with big time criminals here. Cosby was head of the largest cocaine distribution network in Oakland and lover and close business partner of someone who's accused of being involved in more then 200 murders. He isn't going to give specific information about certain events, because he would be incriminating himself. Regardless of this I never really felt that I as the viewer was being lied to or was giving half truths. I think the filmmakers did the best they could to get this documentary as close to the truth as possible.
Bottom line: A fascinating, well told story. While some might enjoy it less then CC1, it's still good. With the focus on Oakland drug lord Charles Cosby and queen of cocaine Griselda Blanco.
8/10
Blackout (2008)
Didn't hold my attention
First of all this is not a horror movie! I've sat trough this entire movie waiting for the 'horror' but it never came. This movie is really, really bad. I don't mean that in a cool Michael Jackson-1987- music video type of way. This movie is more a thriller, with a lot of drama in it. The movie is one hour and ten minutes. To me it felt like it was over two hours. A terrible script made it impossible for me to like this movie.
The movie is about three people who are stuck in an elevator. As time goes by things get crazier and crazier. The plot itself is a big plothole. Without giving it away, in this day and age, it's simply not possible to get stuck in an elevator like that. The viewer will notice this along the way, and this certainly doesn't do the credibility of this movie any good.
For a movie that is straight to DVD I was pleasantly surprised with the visuals. Not once, did I get the feeling that this is a struggling movie. It's beautifully shot. The tone is dark. You could see the director put time and effort in the making of this movie.
The first minutes looked promising but then something changed. It began showing flashbacks. I was cool with this because it gave a little backstory on the characters. But the flashbacks kept going on and on in this movie. The problem with this is that it killed the pacing of this movie. It almost felt like I was watching drama. It wasn't what I expected of this movie and there was almost no real suspense till near the end.
The dialogue is cloggy a lot of the times and interesting some of the times. Acting was bad on some parts in the beginning and got better after I think 20 minutes. As a matter of fact, one character annoyed me endlessly .The movie tries to develop the characters but doesn't do a good job. Because it's so slow paced, I lost interest in the characters. The backstories just aren't interesting.
I didn't like the 'big revelation' near the end. You know the part of the movie where all the pieces of the puzzles fit together. I expected something bigger and intriguing. I was searching for some redemption, some reward for sitting trough this mess, but it was so predictable and rushed.
Bottom line: It's garbage. A big, smelly one. With a bunch of flies on it.
2/10