| 038 |
[07 Apr 2012|08:25pm] |
Office Space, 1999.
And on that note. I am quitting my job.
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| 037 |
[01 Apr 2012|09:03pm] |
Arrested Development. 2003-2006, 2013-?. The beloved, critically acclaimed, Emmy and Golden Globe winning TV show that the world rightly refused to let die. There is actually no good place to start so I'll just pick something. Ron Howard. The uncredited narration. The Next Time On... scenes at the end. How much do you love Jason Bateman, seriously? He was someone in the 80s, veered into obscurity, and came back with vengeance. David Cross has been around forever, he was in the first Men in Black movie, but no one outside of comedy seemed to have heard of him until this. It gave Michael Cera a career of apparently limited length, nearly gave Alia Shawkat one, Jeffery Tambor and Jessica Walter defined their careers, Portia de Rossi proved she had more teeth than just another member of the Ally McBeal ensemble, and Will Arnett got to continue being the little comedy elf he's always been. Which reminds me of some very exciting casting news for the new season.
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| 036 |
[25 Mar 2012|08:39pm] |
The most excellent Bill S. Preston Esq. and Ted 'Theodore' Logan, whose excellent adventure and bogus journey in 1989 and 1991 helped cement Keanu Reeves into pop culture and was one of George Carlin's most prominent movie roles. Bill and Ted must have seemed like any sort of normal film poking fun at teenager culture, and was embraced for its creativity and novelty of the concept. Two idiot teenager metalhead slackers travel through time in order to pass a class, so that one day they can bring peace to the human race. It is hard to take seriously, and it knows that. But the brilliant thing about Bill and Ted is that it is just that, brilliant. It is a movie about time travel, it's not just a gimmick, it is a time travel movie, in which most time travel tropes are used, if not even perfected. The ending of Bogus Journey is actually very complex and clever, as is the escape from the police station. The stupid is written so brilliantly that you almost begin to believe their reasoning, even though you know it is wrong.
Mostly, though, I think the best thing about these movies is the overall message. Some could say it is 'don't judge,' because they might be metalhead slackers, but they care, and given direction and purpose are capable of apparently anything. You could even say the message of these movies is 'wisdom and change can come from the least likely of places.' The world of San Dimas, save one teacher, was all but ready to overlook these two and toss them in with the lot of deadbeats and do-nothings. But it was those two idiots that brought the change and hope the world so desperately needed with a message of love and acceptance. And that is why people love this movie. You laugh at their idiocy, you snicker at their reasoning, but in the end you get the message. The real message. Be excellent to each other. Bill and Ted were two improbable, ridiculous movies, that sent out the one message that could actually bring peace, if more people were willing to listen.
So please, I mean this. Be excellent to each other.
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| 035 |
[17 Mar 2012|08:10pm] |
Zoolander, 2001. Stiller at the top of his game, satire pretty much at its best. Incredibly quotable and surprisingly not really very dated. It's almost eleven years old and doesn't feel that way. Brilliant because you take several actors who wouldn't normally fit their roles and let them play a perfect mockery not just of the roles, but of the fact that they have been cast in it. Stiller has a habit of playing nice losers where you laugh because horrible things happen to him, and those always make me sort of uncomfortable, but it works in Zoolander because although he ends up being a nice guy, he is clearly the cause of some of his misfortune, and the fun is more in his attempts to fix things than watching bad thing after bad thing befall him. Brilliant supporting cast. I know she pretty much only does movies with her husband (Stiller) but Christine Taylor does actually deliver, a long way from her time on Hey Dude! Jon Voight of course who has a brilliant but strange relationship with comedies. Owen Wilson doing what he does. David Duchovny, the amazing Mr. Bowie, Will Ferrell at his most wonderfully insane, Jennifer Coolidge, James Marsden, Patton Oswald and, wait for it... Alexander Skarsgard seven years before True Blood, as one of Zoolander's unfortunate roommates.
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[12 Mar 2012|07:54pm] |
Alright, so I took off today work and visited several doctors. I don't have SARS. Not even Swine Flu. Not even Ebola. Though I still maintain it felt like Ebola. They've given me some medication, tiny white pills, and it seems to help. I have stopped discharging mucus in such vast quantities. It seems my illness is not curable, but manageable, although it is likely to be chronic for the rest of my life.
Though my doctors said it took me awhile to find out I was allergic to dogs.
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| 034 |
[10 Mar 2012|07:26pm] |
The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, 1990-1996. Will Smith's big push to the limelight, impressed his co-stars, very iconic, incredibly 90s, ridiculously catchy theme tune, very special episodes, major cast changes, amazing butler.
I think I might be getting sick.
I don't know how.
I don't like it.
Someone make it go away.
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| 033 |
[04 Mar 2012|06:41pm] |
Saturday Night Live's Celebrity Jeopardy! skits. Airing from 1996 and 2002 during Will Ferrell's run on the show, it was the go-to skit for celebrities that could do some kind of impersonation and just wanted to be in something hilarious, even though they hardly contributed to the hilarity themselves. Aside from Ferrell, the stars of these skits were Darrell Hammond's cantankerous Sean Connery, and Norm Macdonald's flippant Burt Reynolds. I was never able to tell if this skit was a love song to the celebrities or a smack in the face, but it seems that most if not all celebrities parodied were fans, with Alex Trebek being the biggest fan of all. There is a great shame in the world that Burt Reynolds once suggested coming onto the show in the middle of the skit, punching out Norm Macdonald and answering the rest of the questions even more stupidly than Macdonald had, but Macdonald was unjustly fired from the show before that could happen.
The world is still mad at you for that, Don Ohlmeyer.
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| 032 |
[28 Feb 2012|08:23pm] |
It Happened One Night, 1934. First off, Capra. Second off, this is of course in honor of the Oscars. Congratulations to Octavia Spencer, by the way, a very funny woman. It Happened One Night was the first of only three movies in the history of the Oscars to win the Big Five. Best picture, best director, best screenplay, best actor and best actress. You might be thinking 'Shuro, why are you talking about a critically acclaimed, Oscar winning movie?' Because It Happened One Night is a romcom. Yes, one of the greatest, most acclaimed movies in the history of Hollywood is a romcom. Things have changed. It Happened One Night is still a very lovely film, still iconic (ever see a nod to a hitchhiking woman showing her leg to get a car to stop? It's a reference to this film. Only Claudette Colbert had a stunt leg used) and still adorably hilarious. And the stories around it are impressive. Neither of the leading stars wanted to make this film. And reportedly, after winning his Oscar, Gable gave it to a small boy because he cared more about winning it than keeping it (the boy returned the Oscar to Gable's family after Gable had died.) And several characters became the inspiration for Looney Tunes, including Gable's character being an inspiration for Bugs Bunny.
The only flaw in this movie, really, is the title. I still don't know what 'It' is, and the story takes place over several days. The movie makes up for this fault with the copious use of the word 'autogyro.'
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| 031 |
[23 Feb 2012|09:28pm] |
Finding Nemo, 2003. And sit down for a moment before you realize this movie came out nearly ten years ago. Yes you are that old. Now, first. I don't like fish. I don't like oceans. I don't like algae. I don't like birds. That being said, I adore Albert Brooks and Ellen DeGeneres. In pretty much everything they have ever done or touched. Although I don't really watch her show, my mother does, so I have been assured by the expert DeGeneres is still top notch. The roles are perfect for them. Albert Brooks is always at his best as the frightened, caring neurotic. And the fewer restraints on Ellen DeGeneres the better. Once you unleash her from the bonds of sanity you just need to sit back and film. Case in point, the DVD extra of film of her recording the whale talk.
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| 030 |
[18 Feb 2012|06:35pm] |
Judith Light. In short? She's the boss. The big haired blonde single mother and beleaguered daughter in Who's the Boss? (1984-1992) as well as the bitter, bad ass, alcoholic mother trying to keep her family together in Ugly Betty(2006-2010). The reason Judith Light gets these parts is because she is a strong force to be reckoned with. She has the death glare, she has the eyebrow raise, she as that look that makes every child shake in their shoes. Judith Light is a lovely woman, lithe and graceful and beautiful, but when she turns sour, when you hurt her, you have no doubt that she can and will destroy you. And you can tell she delights in it. Personally I think you can see more joy in her performance when she is being wicked than you can when she is being vulnerable. You want Judith Light on your team always, for compassion, and for brute power. It has been pondered, queried, discussed, argued, and wondered over many, many times, but the answer will always be, she is the boss.
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| 029 |
[11 Feb 2012|01:14am] |
And a happy birthday to me.
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| 028 |
[07 Feb 2012|07:48pm] |
Miss Congeniality, 2000. In my opinion, a call back to a classic comedy strategy. 'Let's pick a setting, put an improbable person in it, but give them a good reason that would never happen in real life.' This happens to law enforcement a lot. Hello 21 Jump Street, and good bye 21 Jump Street movie remake. In the case of Miss Congeniality it was the FBI, in a situation I assume the real FBI would never actually participate in. But in the classic way about these sorts of comedies, you forgive them that, because there is Michael Caine and Candice Bergen. It's also one of Bullock's best, because you can just tell she's having a ball making it, and that the cast just gets along together tremendously. Also worthy of note is the wonderful and omnipresent Ernie Hudson, and Heather Burns, who can also be seen in You've Got Mail and again with Bullock in Two Weeks Notice. These two are actually odd to mention together, because Ernie Hudson hasn't changed in appearance at all in the past 20-30 years, while Heather Burns is a 'wait that was her?' sort of actress.
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| 027 |
[02 Feb 2012|09:11pm] |
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| 026 |
[31 Jan 2012|06:43pm] |
Bette Midler. The Divine Miss M. My mother is a huge fan, as are most women in her age bracket but Bette Midler deserves it. Huge voice, huge attitude, more often than not huge hair. Biggest personality in the world, stands about 5'1". Bette Midler has sass, enthusiasm, energy, sarcasm, and talent. She can sing a song and throw out a line like she'd been born to it. Not bad at serious acting. More likely to break your heart with a song. But her comedic timing and delivery are top notch. Praises for Bette Midler's delivery. I picked the above song from Beaches 1988, because the movie is considered her crowning moment, and this song is the most hilarious part of it. Bette Midler can sing, she can be hilarious, and she can sing and be hilarious at the same time.
She has apparently also prefected cloning, if you have ever seen her daughter.
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| 025 |
[26 Jan 2012|09:24pm] |
Young Frankenstein, 1974. It makes me so happy right now.
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[21 Jan 2012|03:29pm] |
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I may have just fire axed a raptor in the neck. We're moving to a bunker. Damn that old man!
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[18 Jan 2012|02:41pm] |
If you don't hear from me again I want a brilliant obituary in the paper that recounts how I was killed by dinosaurs.
Edited: Gravestone too, might as well.
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[16 Jan 2012|12:15pm] |
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I am in Jurassic Park. Any ideas on how to get out? How do I find the heart of dinosaurs that will want to eat me? I'm with a woman named Lovisa Jansen and possibly someone else.
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| 024 |
[09 Jan 2012|06:29pm] |
Flip Wilson. Born Clerow Wilson Jr., headliner of The Flip Wilson show from 1970 to 1974 for which he earned a Golden Globe and two Emmys. Audacious. Perfect word for him, as you can probably tell from the above picture. Comedians had worn drag before, but something about Flip Wilson as Geraldine is just amazing. You laugh as soon as he steps foot in front of the camera, as soon as he begins to talk. Most comedians in drag before him simply tried to mimic their mothers and wives and the women in their life. For Flip Wilson, Geraldine became a woman in his life. She was her own, unique, developed, perfect comedic persona. The highlight of his program, the epitome of his career. And it's because he didn't seem to be mocking anything. Geraldine was a caricature, but she still felt very genuine, like she was a real person. An outlandish, hysterical, over the top person... what we all know someone like that. Wilson wore the short skirts, he flirted with the male guests, he gave Geraldine an on and off boyfriend named 'Killer.' Amazing. Absolutely amazing. And his guest stars? You were not anyone in the 70s if you didn't appear on the Flip Wilson Show. David Frost came on the show and interviewed Geraldine. Three times.
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| 023 |
[04 Jan 2012|07:24pm] |
 
Not really a lot I need to say is there?
But also, Clive Anderson love.
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