DVR recorded movie ratings #20

Once again, it has been quite a while since the last review. I didn't have much time to watch movies and write reviews since starting a new job. But, here I am once again, ready to go for it and see how much can be done.

• People Like Us: When I saw the previews for this movie, I could have cared less to watch it. Even as I saw it constantly being played on cable, then I read the synopsis and it seemed pretty interesting. It even had a 3 star rating, so I decided to give this movie a chance. It was pretty good actually. Stars Chris Pine, Elizabeth Banks, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Michael Hall D' Addario. Chris' dad dies and he returns home for a while. When he is told about the will, he learns that he has a sister. Instead of either forgetting about it and keeping the money to himself (cause he needs it), he goes and stalks his sister. He goes to her recovery meetings and befriends his nephew. Soon, all 3 of them become buddies and star hanging out and having a good time. Until the sister tries to make a move and he stops her and tells her he is her brother. She beats the shit out of him and kicks him out of the apartment. He decides to go back to New York until the nephew goes to his uncle's house and meets step-grandma. He writes the guy a note saying they moved and gives him the new address. After the guy talks to mom, she gives him a movie reel and tells him he needs to watch this. As he does, he is surprised at what he sees and goes over to his sister's house. She wants nothing to do with him and drives off, but then comes back. She said that although she didn't want anything to do with the now deceased dad (he abandoned her and her mom), she decided to keep the money and make a better life for her kid (who sure likes to get in trouble and has anger issues). The guy tells her if he can show her something and she finally agrees. In the old footage, there we see a young dad who is sitting in his car and video taping the guy (young boy) at a park. Then dad pans over to a girl and a lady sitting down having a picnic. It turns out the lady is his first wife and the little girl is the sister of the guy. Thing is, dad had the guy and the girl both at the park and at some time, you can see both siblings playing together on the jungle jim. They had met each other once before when they were small, but never realized it because they thought they were just kids at a playground playing together. It's a bit of a sappy story towards the end, but I liked the movie anyway. I give this movie 4 Daisy-girls.
• Compliance: Hmm, this movie. It's a movie that I had been wanting to watch for quite sometime and it's been on my imdb.com list since I first read about it. I can't even really comment if this is a good movie. I didn't hate it, but I did not enjoy watching it, yet I did. I've watched some fucked up shit before and some that would make people, including myself, uncomfortable, but not like this one. This is based on the incidents that occurred throughout America on stupid fucked up people crank calling fast food restaurants and having managers strip search (usually) a female employee due to a supposed complaint of a non-existent customer who claims the employee stole from them. This case happened in a small town (of course) and the employee was accused of stealing money from a customer right at the counter during a very busy shift. The manager calls the employee to her office and the manager is instructed to search the employee and to strip search her. The employee is refusing, but soon enough gives in. During the time she is in the back office only covered by an apron, the manager calls upon other employees to keep an eye on this supposed thief while she manages the restaurant. During these times, the caller (who claims he is a cop) tells these other employees (usually a male) how to handle the supposed thief. The male employees want no part of this and the manager decides it is best if she calls her fiance and keep an eye on her. At this time, he is left in the back office alone with the employee girl and the "cop" tells him that she needs to do certain things to make sure she didn't hide the money she supposedly stole. The employee talks back and the "cop" tells the guy that she has been bad and needs to be punished, so he orders the guy to spank her. It goes on for quite some time (in real life it went on for 10 minutes), she also has to perform oral sex on him and by the time the manager comes back it is all over and the fiance says he needs to leave and doesn't come back. In the car, he calls a friend and asks if he can go over cause he did a really bad thing. At this time, the restaurant custodian comes in and the manager tells him he needs to keep his eye on the employee in the back. When he picks up the phone, the "cop" tells him to perform the same acts he had told the fiance to do and he finds it very disturbing. He tells the manager what the "cop" is telling to do and the manager finally calls her boss and he is not aware of what the fuck had been happening (the caller "cop" had said that he had been talking to the district manager all this time, when in fact the district manager had been sick in bed all day). It ends in the girl being walked out to the police car and the manager looking very distraught. The manager gets interviewed by a TV show and she claims she felt bad at what happened to the poor girl, but then denies incidents that occurred right in front of her even though the tapes showed exactly what was happening. This prank went on for over 10 years and in 30 states. When I read about it, at the time, I had only read about 2 of these incidents. It's hard to rate this movie because I didn't hate it, but it wasn't enjoying to watch. I say it was a good depiction of what happened, although reading about the real incident, this movie was pretty mellowed out and I can see why. 4 Daisy-girls.
• Rabbit- Proof Fence: True Story. Takes place in the 1930's Western Australia. During this time, mostly white men were putting up 3 fences to enclose rabbits and they would often sleep with these Aboriginal women. 3 Aboriginal girls were taken from their mothers after it was found out that they were half-caste. This was a government policy, to "save them from themselves", whatever the fuck that means. They are taken 1,500 miles away from their home to a camp where there are other half-caste girls. Soon enough, Molly, Daisy, and Grace run away and follow the fence to go back home. During this time, the girls run into generous people and not so generous people. They also have to hide from the guys who work at the camp and will take them back there. After some time of constant walking and little food, they run into a man who tells them that they are following the wrong fence. In fact, there are 3 fences, he tells them how instead of walking back, they can cut across. More walking continues and one of the girls decides that the way they've been walking is the wrong way and decides to go on her own. Eventually, the two sisters see the cousin and are motioning her to join them back in their journey, when the men from the camp show up and take her away once again. The two sisters continue on their journey and make it home to their mom. They tell their aunt that the cousin didn't make it and the men took her back to the camp. These two girls, ages 14 and 8 walked 1,500 miles to go back home, most of the journey emancipated and barefoot (I know they aren't used to shoes, but that is a LONG way to travel without having anything on your feet and having to step on a lot of uncomfortable things). The epilogue shows that Gracie (the cousin) died and never returned home. Molly had two daughters and were taken from her, but she managed to escape with one daughter, walking along the fence back to her home. But, the saved daughter was taken away once more when she was 3 and Molly never saw her again. It was a pretty sad movie, I can't imagine reading the book. I give this movie 4 Daisy-girls.