Spike TV is showing ‘Warriors’ at the moment. Presumably in the build up to the re-make of ‘Warriors.’ I watch this again, though for the first time in almost a decade, and I can’t figure out exactly why this movie has the appeal that it does. It seems so cheesy, but there is a certain charisma around the central gang members that transcends the cheesiness. Or maybe it just reminds me of an earlier, simpler era.
Riffs, yeah!
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/13144665.htm
I’m not terribly surprised, but I’m also not terribly disappointed. As much as I think this is the best comedy on, it would have probably gotten stale if it kept going.
What I wish for (and I don’t think FOX will allow this to happen), is that the rest of the season could have played out knowing it was coming to an end, as The Office did so well; heightening the tensions and relationships up to the finale.
Last week’s episode, where it’s revealed that Charlize Theron’s character is retarded, cracked me up.
It frankly had a really good run, won some emmys, and will do well on DVD – and thank god, it put Jason Bateman back on the map. Perhaps now they could revive his old Silver Spoons spin-off “It’s Your Move.”
yesterday evening I spent 8.50 to see Doom. to paraphrase the Zodiac Killer: I can’t help it. Can someone stop me?
nifty half monster dog/half wheelchair, though.
Nothing important: just saw a wonderful snippet of an interview with Michael Caine from 1967: Peter Whitehead’s Tonite Let’s All Make Love in London. Michael: “You see, we don’t want to get drunk, or go out–what is properly known as–womanizing until 2:00 in the morning, what we want is the freedom to do so should we wish. We don’t want a lot of rules and regulations. To me, the pubs closing at 11:00 pm and more expensive clubs keeping open later is the most condescending piece of class consciousness I’ve ever heard. It’s to keep the workers out of the pub so they’re not drunk and up late for work in the morning–this was the original idea of it for the munitions factories of the first World War.” He then objects to mini skirts and such, while Whitehead gives us footage of him primping for the cameras. Great stuff.
did we have a discussion already of hbo’s “rome”? well, it’s crap anyway, and the fact that i’ve watched all the episodes to date speaks only to the utter tedium that is my life. and now i’m posting about it. somebody help me. it is badly written, the performances are overly serious, and it has the worst opening credits sequence of all time. so, why do i watch? i mentioned the utter tedium thing; plus it is on hbo ondemand and watching it helps justify the price i pay for digital cable; and i’m a sucker for finding out how stories end (and damn you, whoever it was that got me into watching stupid “lost” as well!). i wait for jeff to tell me why i should like this more. and for notlaughing schmucko and angryrabbit to mock me–ach, i remember the halcyon days of this blog when we had commenters with real names (like lesbian anime girl).
I succumbed to the hype and watched this sweeps-month live “event.” almost as dull as a real debate and almost as “beside the point” as a real debate where everything about American life gets reduced to “the economy.” nevertheless, interesting as an experiment. they must have known it would be somewhat dull in order to include the heckler about halfway through. many discussed the possibility that an event like this might have some actual impact on real television debates–that they might follow the fictional model and dispense with “the rules.” fat chance, since nobody does anything without a rehearsed script. even the coughs and gestures are scripted I imagine (here, George should lean forward to express intimacy and suggest that folksiness always trumps the need to be articulate, etc. etc.) also perhaps, too, this always rather self-important show undercut itself with the cutesy ellen degeneris bits, which more than anything in the actual show, demonstrates what politics is all about now–the short con and corporate control masquerading as “lifestyle” choices. demonstrating further that the show–by featuring as a kind of ‘anti-ad’ ad the cool lesbian chatting amiably with us, the purportedly open-minded and educated West Wing viewers–is heavily invested in the kind of imagery of dualism, the liberals vs. the conservatives regarding “issues,” that you wish it would critique and take apart; the issues march happily by in their pre-determined places(education, jobs, health insurance….) fragmenting real life into pieces while covertly homogenizing it. or should I be less grumpy and praise the attempt to “raise” the level of civility in politics in this kind of episode and acknowledge its attempt to advocate for less constrained political discussion…
p.s. anyone else find it strangely totalitarian that the audience gets chastized by a TV news talking head for “inappropriately” reacting during the course of the event. screw you, Forest or Chad or Don or whatever the hell your name is.
Dreary.
If anything can be said to be somewhat redeeming about it, it’s that Romero still wants to infuse his zombie movies with some sort of social commentary.
But here, we have three groups; the haves (represented by Dennis Hopper and his black valet who was almost as sterotypically offensive as Bob Hope’s black valet in The Ghostbreakers (now there’s a movie.), the have-nots, represented by Asia Argento, the whore with the heart-of-gold, some shmuck who was supposed to be the star, and John Leguizamo, whose character was charmingly named “Cholo.” (Why not Spic? Or Beaner?) Continue reading Land of the Dead
Arnab has expressed his anger over Netflix, but Arnab isn’t the only one. The recent settlement of a class action suit, Frank Chavez v. Netflix, Inc. (ahh…only in San Francisco!), has made most of us eligible for benefits. But it appears it’s the same old crap with Netflix. Karl Rove: The Architect had been in my queue for weeks, and I had hoped to get the thing sent before it gained “Very Long Wait” status because the Fitzgerald investigation was coming to a conclusion. I had room “At Home,” Karl Rove: The Architect was ready NOW. But what was sent? Kolchak, the Nightstalker which was priority 4. Now, of course, Karl Rove: The Architect is a “Very Long Wait.”
Capote – really good
Good Night and Good Luck – good
I bought a comedy album by Albert Brooks when I was 12–“A Star is Bought”–and was absolutely amazed and confused. I laughed really hard, but I couldn’t share its punchlines at school; unlike Steve Martin, say, or Richard Pryor or George Carlin, who if nothing else came with value-added profanities, and who always drew an appreciative laugh from the kids who might otherwise have punched me, Brooks…. well, how could I explain that his parody of the “Mr. Jaws” records was about the funniest damn thing I’d heard?
I was able to find on video at a local hole-in-the-wall Real Life, his and Harry Shearer’s absolutely brilliant send-up of reality television made thirty years ahead of its time (riffing on the contemporaneous PBS documentary ‘inside’–and destructive of–a family’s home). Mauer and Bruns have rhapsodized about that wonder elsewhere on this blog.
And although I got almost none of the specific angst pervading his next two films–Modern Romance and Lost in America–I got the existential genius of the arrogant, doomed-to-failure character “Albert Brooks.”
I’m kind of just gushing here. I’ve watched everything since–and even relished The Mother–but haven’t seen anything close to that early genius.
So, with great trepidation but also great hopes, I thought I’d post the trailer for his new flick, Looking for Comedy in the Moslem World. The trailer hits a couple high notes, and squawks awkwardly (and sounds almost Catskillsy, in the worst way) in a few instances. But…. here’s hoping I have a devil of a time talking to my colleagues, those ones who might otherwise punch me, about why this movie is funny.