The World Could've Been Yours, Michael Richards

SCARFACE (DVD)
Just watched this for the first time in about 20 years (I'm old.) What a great, ridiculous, brutal, preposterous movie! And it works exceedingly well despite, or because of, the insane amounts of excess. Pacino never flinches from his Cuban tough guy persona, Steven Baeur shined briefly here in his underdevelop role, and Mary Elizabeth Mastrioanni wears a crazy long 'fro that has to be seen to be believed. Michelle Pfeiffer is here as well - perfect in her role as the wife of the highest bidding drug lord. The film remains all surface, never really delving into any of these people, but there are scenes that have the ring of truth to them throughout. I loved the scene where Tony goes home for the first time in 5 years and throws a crumpled thousand dollar bill on the table to show what a great man he's become. The mother coming down on him has to be a humiliating moment in the movies that's hard to shake. Though I think, even though there are GREAT scenes of violence and action here - the best scene in the movie - the real doozy - is a coked-out Tony biting the heads off his wife "my wife is a junkie with a polluted womb" and his buddy in the restaurant, then turning to the whole crowd and saying "What the fuck are you looking at you fucking assholes? You never seen a bad guy like this. Say goodnight to the bad guy." What a great scene. I think Oliver Stone the screenwriter kind of shot himself in the foot by having Tony want to fuck both his wife and his sister. That's why Michelle goes away without a real resolve to their story, and the sister takes the stage in the final act. And in general, I think the one component this really missed out on was emotion. Every scene is sort of a classic gangster/American dream beat - but there's a certain individuality to Scarface that I think could've been capitalized on more. Had they figured out a way to integrate both the wife and the sister into the last act, it could've been more epic, but either way - this is some kind of twisted masterpiece.
The extras are really good, from about 5 featurettes on the making of - to a revealing half hour of deleted scenes, to a hilarious reel of the changes the movie made from film to tv.
Grade: A +

DRAWN TOGETHER (COM)
Has anyone else noticed that this has become the raunchiest, funniest cartoon on the block? Just watched a bunch of them and found the general quality to be really good to brilliant.
Grade: A -

BREAKING BONADUCE (VH1)
I love this show - and Danny seems just as insane as ever. Don't expect this little moment of happiness between Danny & his wife to stay that way. People like Danny crave the drama (and so does vh1) so believe me, a calm environment is not what keeps his interest - it's conflict and chaos - that's what he thrives on. For the record, I think Gretchen should just divorce him, but I'm sure she likes being on TV, too.
Grade: A


THE LAKE HOUSE (DVD)
Slow moving but really cool movie about romance and time travel. No spoilers here, but Sandra Bullock does her best acting work since SPEED (not counting her good work in CRASH - but she was barely in it) - and Keanue is (dare I say) the thinking man's romantic.
Grade: B


EBERT & ROEPER (SYND)
Roger Ebert's recovering from a stroke, so the show has been trotting out different people to sit in with Roeper. Here are their grades:
AISHA TYLER - probably the most idiotic cement headed critic ever to be on a tv show. She's such a fucking knucklehead. A true idiot. She uses words that sound right but don't exist. She has a ridiculous wink she keeps working, and I can't believe I'm devoting this much space to her.
Grade: F

ZORIANNA KITT (from TV GUIDE "movies" - whatever that meant.) Almost dumber then Aisha - a complete moron and insanely embarrassing moment for this tv show.
Grade: F +

Fred Willard - Great. Funny, if not completely insightful.
Grade: B

Kevin Smith - Another great guest critic and true fan of movies - though I'm not a huge fan of his. But I've always found his persona really engaging. And his take on movies is pretty on the money.
Grade: B +

Harold Ramis - The GHOSTBUSTERS director and former SCTV frontman did a great job reviewing the movies. Full of insight, humor and warmth - a great guest critic.
A -

A.O. Scott - from the Chicago Times (Or New York?) - he's the best. A real critic and good foil for Roeper. A true critic with solid opinions, and who I think should be the permanent guest till Roger's return.
Grade: A
dexter (Showtime)
Clocked in with a fantastic episode last week that wrapped up the Ice Cream Truck killer case - or did it? And also brought in the menacing ex husband of Dexter's girlfriend. No spoilers, but this was a first rate ep.
Grade: A +


STUDIO 60 (NBS)
I watched 3 on my dvr, NEVADA DAY 1 & 2, and OPTION PERIOD. Slowly starting to re-like this show, though it's still complete bullshit - they seem to be getting into a better storytelling mode - even though it feels like a show from the 50s. (John Goodman's judge was a complete cliche'.) Worst of it's current misdeeds, taking DAWN, from THE OFFICE BBC, and literally humiliating her every single episode by giving her really bad comedy to perform. Surely, Tim would not stand for this?
Grade: B -


NIP/TUCK (FX)
Why be so idiotic as to set a show 25 years in the future and put a cap on everybody's character. A suicidal idea that went over like a lead balloon. The following ep was somewhat better - but the non chalance with which these characters handle their increasingly outlandish lots in life - what happened to this show?
Grade: D


THE SOPRANOS (HBO)
Just finished the 6th season. It really did kind of just peter out at the end - but as a chapter in an ongoing story - it worked well enough. There was an interesting finale that dealt with the love lives of Christopher and AJ that sort of worked. Now, on to the final 8 in March.
Grade: A -


For those who can't get enough of Chris Makepeace, my friend Jason contributed this site:
http://www.artstomp.com/makepeace/index.html
If you don't know who Chris Makepeace is, you've obviously never seen MEATBALLS or MY BODYGUARD (or MAZES & MONSTERS.)


GPS SYSTEM (STAR)
Okay, I'm not sure what system it is - but I used one of these things in Vegas over the weekend to get around (my mother's new car has it.) And if you're one of those people (like me) who get lost going to the grocery store - this is probably the greatest invention of the 21st Century.
Grade: A +


THE KRAMER FIASCO
A lot of talk about Michael Richards. You can see his original onstage rant HERE:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=9sEUIZsmTOE

After watching it, it's pretty clear that he had an awful night. When I first saw it, I thought it was just part of his shtick. If this were on a COMEDY CENTRAL ROAST, nobody would've thought twice about - well, maybe - but really - I've been to many comedy clubs and heard those words out of many comedians mouths - and I don't necessarily think it automatically brands you as a racist - I just think he was reacting. They found a 80s clip of Richards doing the same bit with a Jewish guy. I think had he just said he went over the line and didn't mean anything by it, this might've gone away. But then came this Letterman appearance which you can view in it's entirety here:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=1UR4sysYE3A

You see, it gets harder to defend him because he's coming off like a sedated lunatic. He's also going around giving a LOT of weird quotes, sounding like a guy who's really out of touch with reality.

I think I prefer to remember Kramer as the K-Man - because this shit is ultimately just too disturbing. For the record, I doubt he's a racist, and there's something very fucked up about being on a late night comedy stage and saying the wrong thing and suddenly it's out in the world to vilify you and ruin your life. On the other hand, he's been so strange about in print and on Letterman - I just think he might have personal problems. This is not Mel Gibson calling people Jews as he dangerously drunk drives - this is a comedian on stage dealing with a heckler. I think no matter what the nationality of the person - they would've gotten the same treatment. Was it appropriate - look, that's not for me to decide. I've been to the COMEDY STORE where worse things were said by just as famous comedians and people were laughing their heads off. It could've went another way - but it didn't, and I feel a lot of sympathy for Richards because I think this is going to fuck him up for a long time to come - and be a part of his legacy, as well as SEINFELD's. (I thought Jerry was masterful in his handling of this on Letterman - except for his ridiculous "Be quiet - it's not funny.") So, first they give us the worst last episode in history - and now Kramer's a racist! I don't know what the answer is, but this is one of those horrible things that just makes me sad.


CHARLIE BROWN THANKSGIVING
I had the pleasure to watch this with my 5 year old niece, Chloe, and was reminded of why I loved the PEANUTS crew so much and how fantastic those old tv specials were. They don't make 'em like this anymore, and watching this special after not having seen it in over a decade was something of a revelation.
Grade: A +


I thought the K-FED gag on Jimmy Kimmel's AMERICAN MUSIC AWARDS (they should have him host every year - he was terrific) was pretty insane. They had a K-Fed look a like descend from the roof to the floor, then put in a box and thrown into the river. Right after the bit, Brittney came out to present, and looked really pissed. Great tv. And what's she so pissed about - she married him.


ICONOCLASTS: PAUL SIMON & LORNE MICHAEL (Sundance)
A great 45 minutes with these two fast friends - this offered insight on both men, plus plenty of revealing behind the scenes stuff of both SNL and the recent SIMON & GARFUNKLE reunion. Great show.
Grade: A