capscoffin:JOHNNY MNEMONIC Rewatching this, I kept thinking of the similarities between it and JER
capscoffin: JOHNNY MNEMONIC Rewatching this, I kept thinking of the similarities between it and JERRY MAGUIRE. Johnny and Jerry are our two Siddharthas of the mid 1990s. Not only are the plots and character arcs pretty much the same, but Keanu and Cruise play both characters almost identically ( I was pretty sure that Keanu was really inspired by Cruise’s Oscar-nominated performance until I found out that JOHNNY MNEMONIC came out a year before), and both movies sort of revolve around analogously delivered monologues where the character’s addiction to consumer culture is comedically laid bare. The difference between them is that Johnny is going to save humanity by burning down corporations, and curing us of the disease that is our addiction to technology, and Jerry is going to save humanity by suggesting that maybe sports management agencies should be smaller (I sometimes wonder how many times Jason Reitman has watched JERRY MAGUIRE). Personally, I am now just a shell of a man, any dreams I had of being reborn in the ashes of our corrupt capitalist system are long dead, replaced by the black shakes and my thoughts, the color of television turned to a dead channel. My secret garden now a landfill. But in the deepest recesses of my broken, shrunken soul I do sometimes fantasize about going on a job interview and just delivering Johnny Mnemonic’s speech. Listen, you listen to me. You see that city over there? That’s where I’m supposed to be. Not down here with the dogs. And the garbage. And fucking last month’s newspapers blowing back and forth. I’ve had it with them, I’ve had it with you, I’ve had it with all this. I want room service. I want the club sandwich. I want the cold Mexican beet. I want a $10,000 a night hooker. I want my shirts laundered like they do at the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo. -- source link