WE ARE THE WORLD (25 years later)
In support of Haiti, the new generation of singers spent a few days laying down tracks for this 25 year follow up to the original Michael Jackson classic. What's different? Well, they have some great new singers who belt out this old song like Jennifer Hudson who couldn't sound better, Josh Groban, also excellent...
And that's where the praise stops. Pretty much everything else about this is just horrible. From the awful new lyrics, to the shots of Haiti that are shown over some singer's entire segments so we don't even know who's singing, to the ghastly inclusion of MJ, to the horrifying rap segment, to the overuse of Autotune (a good idea for one line, not 20), to the insipid inclusion of Randy "Dog" Jackson...where does it all end? On top of everything, whenever I go to Youtube to take a look at it, I'm mistreated to a 4 minute discourse by the most overrated self satisfied performer in history - Jaimee Fox, discussing Haiti and looking very serious before we get to hear him belt out his auto-tuned ego. In fact, they should've just called this whole thing EGO. But it's fucking rubbish. Really. Haiti reportedly saw this and said "yeah, no thanks."
Grade: F -
MOON (DVD Screener)
Okay, only half way though - but so far, so great. Will give a fuller review when I finish.
FUNNY GAMES (German version)
I rewatched this over the weekend and thought this was truly a horrifying masterpiece and the woman who plays the wife might be the best actress of all time - yet I don't know her name.
If you're thinking about seeing this, don't even consider watching the American version.
Grade: A
TAXI DRIVER (DVD)
With Shutter Island news all over the dial, I ended up watching this classic with the girlfriend over the weekend. This is really where it all started (I loved Mean Streets) but Taxi Driver is an outright masterpiece. It plays so well its like a great song. The shots, the acting, the dialoge, the action sequences - this is truly the most nimble work DeNiro's ever done and the direction by Marty here is just like..something that would never happen again. Until RAGING BULL. And then KING OF COMEDY. And GOODFELLAS. Even CASINO had it. I know a lot of you liked THE DEPARTED. Not me. I don't think Marty's made a good film since Casino. Starting with CAPE FEAR, it almost seems like the man has forgot his craft. Although I might go see Shutter Island this weekend just to make sure.
But if you want to know where the genius came in, it was with TAXI DRIVER. That scene of DeNiro watching American Bandstand, pointing his gun at the young black couple on TV while Jackson Browne's LATE FOR THE SKY plays...that is where every great movie/music sequence was born.
Grade: A +
Drag Me To Hell (DVD)
Sam Raimi, more in EVIL DEAD mode here than SPIDERMAN, crafts a clever modern horror yarn that works just fine for the 2 hours it plays. But since I watched it last week and cannot remember anything about it nor who was even it it....I'd say that isn't a great sign. But I remember sort of liking it while it was on.
Grade: C +
AMERICAN IDOL is getting exciting again. Next week the top 24 start, and I like the contestants this year. I don't even mind Ellen nearly as much as I thought I would...though she is truly unfunny. Sorry, but it's true. Her "humor" is....I don't know what the fuck it is. It ain't funny.
It apperas that the all the hoopla surrounding Howard Stern stepping in for Simon Cowell on American Idol may not be so accurate. I liked the idea, and thought Stern would've been great, and Howard clearly had a great time having fun with it on the air, calling Ellen a "fake shitheat" and Ryan Seacrest a "total tool" and said he'd bring back Dunkleman! He also said he'd smack Randy Jackson in the mouth if he heard "dog" ever again leave his lips. And this is the least of what he said. What he went on to say about Fantasia would have to be heard to be believed, but I wouldn't repeat it here.
In any case, I do think Idol is exploring the possibility of Stern, though Cowell, in a statement, said Howard would be out of his depth since he has no musical background. But then Cowell went on to say that he thought it could work with Perez Hilton, so...maybe Simon could give a shit less what happens to Idol and a lot more concern of his is reserved for next year's THE X FACTOR which he and Paula Abdul will judge and Mr. Cowell will own. In fact, Simon saying Stern bad...Perez (also with no musical experience) good....sounds like Simon might want his old show to die once X Factor comes on. In fact, I think I like that theory.
I saw the new Leno promos. Everyone is saying that NBC and Leno are dissing Cocan with the "Get back" theme...but, as much as I think Leno is the Antichrist, the actual lyrics are "Get back to where you ONCE belonged" I do not think discredits Conan so much as the whole idea that his show was taken away. But again, the man lost money for the network and that was not going to cut it. And he had a great lead in...wasn't it...Leno? Hmmmm...Conan didn't really have a chance with that setup. I mean, Conan wasn't funny, but then again, neither is Leno. So clearly success in that hour has nothing to do with actual comedy.
Speaking of Coco, did you see those weird pictures of him kissing a dolphin? First of all, dolphins held captive now kind of turns my stomach ever since watching The Cove, secondly, why does he look 80 years old with an afro? What a strange looking picture. It makes me think Conan was under a lot more hair and makeup than we ever thought.
By the way, I don't know if I believe he'll ever get a proper late night show again. Fox is talking about how they don't want to lose money on the show like NBC did, and how the affiliates don't really want it, and how they might put him on F/X four nights a week with a weekend version of the show.
Um...why didn't he take the 12:05 show again?
Lastly, I've recently been watching episodes of the late Judd Apatow show UNDECLARED. This was basically a half hour version of FREAKS AND GEEKS which got cancelled the year before. Judd thought he'd score with a similar setup in a half hour harder comedy version. First of all, FREAKS was one of the best 17 hours of produced television EVER. That was an A + show and if you haven't seen it, rent or buy. Immediately. It's that good.
UNDECLARED is a different beast. It start Jay Baruchnal and Charlie Hunan (who now stars as Jax on one of my favorite shows SONS OF ANARCHY) however here Hunan sports his real English accent and shows a real flair for comedy. Seth Rogan also graduated from GEEKS to this show as both an actor and a writer and lots of familiar Apatow faces flood this thing (which only lasted 18 eps - 1 more than FREAKS but since it was a half hour, it still doesn't beat GEEK's running time.)
Anyway, I'm in the middle of the run and while the first few shows were just okay with signs of good things to come, I just watched an episode that was so hilarious about Jay taking a job in the cafeteria that was as funny a half hour as anything I've seen in forever, so I look forward to unspooling the rest of these.
How bad does the new REAL WORLD: WASHINGTON suck? I ditched it after only 3 episodes and those were nearly impossible to take. Bad, boring casting.
I sort of like the new CELEB FIT CLUB even though I barely recognize anyone on it, and CELEB REHAB is winding down with a spate of eventless episodes. (I really liked SOBER HOUSE - what happened to that show.)
Couch out.
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