I am in a real rush so these will not be fully fleshed out. But, for the record - can you fucking BELIEVE this Sandra Bullock/Jesse James shit? Unusual to the say the least. Anyway, on to my cutting edge reviews:
THE LOVELY BONES (DVD Screener)
Better than you might think, this kind of bombed at the box office. Peter Jackson has a great book to rely on here for source material, and the actress playing the young murdered girl (no spoilers - it happens really fast) is both beautiful and evokes the entire idea of wasted youth and people cut down just as they're starting to grow. So does this film make a great rental? Maybe not, but a pretty good one; especially if you have the time. With lots of unexpected twists and great performances, particularly from Stanley Tucci, this is a meaty film with a lot of ambition. Where Jackson really goes wrong is in his handling of the dreamscape sequences from the book. At its heart, the story is a pulpy gritty tale of a girl raped and murdered and somehow, she's around in some sort of purgatory to try and help her family figure out who murdered her (sort of.) What Jackson does is get lost in this visual dreamscapes to the point of where - it almost looks insanely fun to get killed because you get to hang out in a wonderland of snow and magic, while your family grows closer and blossoms. That said, this is still very effective in parts and while not any kind of classic, a story well told, that could've used a 20 minute chop.
Grade: C +
UNDERCOVER BOSS (CBS)
One of my favorite new reality shows, this is the biggest his CBS has had in forever. No wonder. It's that good. The bosses of huge, reconizable companies go undercover to see what's up and meet the people who really work for them on the front lines. Is it partly manipulated and scripted? Completely. Every worked the boss comes into contact with usually has an AMAZING story, they all know they're on film so there is no real UNDERCOVER aspect to this as everyone is probably on their best behavior (Do I really believe that if you went undercover in a Los Angeles 7-11 that the worst thing that would happen is a light bulb would be out? Not bloodly likely - since I knew of a 7-11 that was in close proximity to the one on the TV show - that store's biggest issue is that you could walk in and literally purchase crack-cocaine from the clerk.)
Still, it's an informative, uplifting hour and as long as they stick to big companies (they're starting to get into companies I've never even heard of) this a realy interesting bit of reality tv - which is to say- they pull back the curtain a tad - but not enough to really show anything.
Grade: B
ARCHER (F/X)
I've only seen the pilot thus far but I must say - it was really funny and offbeat. Looks like another winner for F/X.
Grade: B +
PARANORMAL ACTIVITY (DVD Screener)
NO SPOILERS! Suffice it to say this is a study in tension. It's 90 minutes long and if you watch it straight through, I promise a satisfying pay off. And yes, I liked it better than Blair Witch. The non-actors (or rather - actors we've just not ever heard of) are almost pitch-perfect and their banter does sort of lull you into thinking they're not really onto anything. The payoffs here are small, but it works in a big way.
Grade: A -
24 (FOX)
Kind of a dreary season, but with news that it's the final season, suddenly every episode feels very vital.
UPDATE: Hold on the 24 movie franchise, NBC might pick this up for a 9th season.
PS: Freddie Prinze - on this show - fucking sucks.
SOBER HOUSE (VH1)
Nothing compares, nothing compares....to you.
Grade: A
SOUTH PARK (COM CEN) Season Premiere
South Park opens with maybe one of the best eps in its 14 seasons. The subject was rich celebs cheating on their spouses. Laugh out loud funny and of course, very thoughtful on its subject. When this show is on its game - there is nothing better.
Grade: A
Bonus Episode:
Woodland Critters Special
I saw this old ep for the first time the other night - no spoilers and I'm too pressed for time - but it's about Stan coming across a bunch of seemingly harmless woods critters and trying to help them. From there the show gets insane.
Grade: A
JUSTIFIED (F/X)
Wasn't nuts about the pilot, Walton Goggons should be ashamed of himself at this point. How many times is he going to play a dumb hillbilly? And the story didn't really work that well. That said, I love the lead, Tim Olyphant and the supporting cast is pretty excellent. I think this should get much better. And since I have high hopes for this show, I'm going to reserve my grade.
BAD GIRLS REUNION (Part 1) (OXY)
Da bomb. Can't wait for part 2. Nathalie is a HO!
UPDATE: Part 2 was just as insane, and Flo might be the sickest
girl in the house...no, has to be Nathalie.
Perez Hilton does a great job holding the reunion
together.
Grade: A (for lovers of trash TV only)
DR. OZ (Syndicated)
I love this show. They just rush too fast through the subjects. Slow down, Oz. Give an important topic more than 2 minutes. We won't tune out. Every episode seems like he's racing to get to the next segment.
CELEBRITY APPRENTICE (NBC/CNBC)
I just started watching this but so far, I fucking love it. Great cast and I love Cyndi Lauper.
Kimmel was great on Letterman the other night.
Sorry for the short reviews, but my time was limited this week.
2010/03/14
GET HIM TO THE GREEK first full review.
GET HIM TO THE GREEK (Preview Screening)
I was a huge fan of FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL. It was probably my favorite comedy in the last few years. (Or one of them anyway.) Because this is a work-in-progress, I will keep this short and sweet. While I was very encouraged early on to learn that while this film had SARAH MASHALL's director writing and directing this time around, I was completely heartbroken to learn that while Jonah Hill has a starring role in this, he's not the same character he was in SARAH MARSHALL. Watching the movie, you kind of get over that really quick. (Although he easily could've been that guy.) In fact, there are quite a few faces from the earlier movie and its fine if a tad distracting. But Jonah Hill is great here, it might be his best work to date. Russel Brand plays Aldo Snow this time around with a lot more complexity and dimension, and the dark and weirder sequences this film gets into kept constantly suprising me. This is not a mild comedy, this is a great hilarious comedy that I suspect will be a huge hit and I'm happy to report might even make a screen star out of a way funnier than expected P. Diddy. I know they're still editing and what I watched will most likely end up being some sort of "director's cut" on the dvd, I saw enough to know that this movie is a huge winner and if you liked the earlier movie, this one is a must see. If you haven't seen the earlier movie, this stands alone as one of the wilder comedies I've seen in years.
While it's unfair to grade this based on the workprint I was shown, I'm going to go out on a limb and reward this early cut with:
Grade: A
THE KING OF COMEDY (DVD)
Just recently rewatched this 1983 absolute gem from Martin Scorsese. Somehow, in the middle of world reknowned classics like Taxi Driver and Raging Bull, Scorsese and DeNiro, as Rupert Pupkin, shot this in NYC 27 years ago right before a WGA strike threatened to close all production. This is as good as the aforementioned films and perhaps even darker in its implications. I'm not going to bother with much of a synopsis of this film - if you haven't seen it yet, just see it. Rupert Pupkin (played to absolute perfection by DeNiro) is an awful comic who has never even taken the stage, yet dreams of having a close entertainment friendship with Jerry Langford (Jerry Lewis - playing a dark variation on Johnny Carson.) Jerry Lewis gives arguably the performance of his life (the actor gave the film a lot of tips on celeb life and this is truly an underlooked performance) and DeNiro could not be better as a showbiz nut who is so far gone he can't seperate fantasy from reality anymore. The only possible component here that doesn't quite play as well as it did is perhaps Sandra Bernhard, who is certainly fine, but a bit over the top and frankly, a bit too much like herself here in her solo scenes with Jerry. That aside, this may be the very best film about show biz I've ever seen, and one of Scorsese's absolute greatest. And for all the praise I just heeped, keep in mind this is an extremely small film whose pleasure come not in huge set pieces but in a low key knowledge of certain types of show biz animals. It holds up better than ever and if for some reason you've skipped it, correct that.
Grade: A +
SNL has been okay the last few weeks, but Zach Galfanakas has been their best guest host in 2 years. His opening bit on the piano 2 weeeks ago was pitch perfect.
THE BAD GIRLS CLUB (OXY)
Wow. Things really heated up in the last batch of episodes. This might be the most insane bunch of ladies since the first season. I never want it to end! If you like these types of reality shows, this one is the bomb!
Grade: B +
I was a huge fan of FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL. It was probably my favorite comedy in the last few years. (Or one of them anyway.) Because this is a work-in-progress, I will keep this short and sweet. While I was very encouraged early on to learn that while this film had SARAH MASHALL's director writing and directing this time around, I was completely heartbroken to learn that while Jonah Hill has a starring role in this, he's not the same character he was in SARAH MARSHALL. Watching the movie, you kind of get over that really quick. (Although he easily could've been that guy.) In fact, there are quite a few faces from the earlier movie and its fine if a tad distracting. But Jonah Hill is great here, it might be his best work to date. Russel Brand plays Aldo Snow this time around with a lot more complexity and dimension, and the dark and weirder sequences this film gets into kept constantly suprising me. This is not a mild comedy, this is a great hilarious comedy that I suspect will be a huge hit and I'm happy to report might even make a screen star out of a way funnier than expected P. Diddy. I know they're still editing and what I watched will most likely end up being some sort of "director's cut" on the dvd, I saw enough to know that this movie is a huge winner and if you liked the earlier movie, this one is a must see. If you haven't seen the earlier movie, this stands alone as one of the wilder comedies I've seen in years.
While it's unfair to grade this based on the workprint I was shown, I'm going to go out on a limb and reward this early cut with:
Grade: A
THE KING OF COMEDY (DVD)
Just recently rewatched this 1983 absolute gem from Martin Scorsese. Somehow, in the middle of world reknowned classics like Taxi Driver and Raging Bull, Scorsese and DeNiro, as Rupert Pupkin, shot this in NYC 27 years ago right before a WGA strike threatened to close all production. This is as good as the aforementioned films and perhaps even darker in its implications. I'm not going to bother with much of a synopsis of this film - if you haven't seen it yet, just see it. Rupert Pupkin (played to absolute perfection by DeNiro) is an awful comic who has never even taken the stage, yet dreams of having a close entertainment friendship with Jerry Langford (Jerry Lewis - playing a dark variation on Johnny Carson.) Jerry Lewis gives arguably the performance of his life (the actor gave the film a lot of tips on celeb life and this is truly an underlooked performance) and DeNiro could not be better as a showbiz nut who is so far gone he can't seperate fantasy from reality anymore. The only possible component here that doesn't quite play as well as it did is perhaps Sandra Bernhard, who is certainly fine, but a bit over the top and frankly, a bit too much like herself here in her solo scenes with Jerry. That aside, this may be the very best film about show biz I've ever seen, and one of Scorsese's absolute greatest. And for all the praise I just heeped, keep in mind this is an extremely small film whose pleasure come not in huge set pieces but in a low key knowledge of certain types of show biz animals. It holds up better than ever and if for some reason you've skipped it, correct that.
Grade: A +
SNL has been okay the last few weeks, but Zach Galfanakas has been their best guest host in 2 years. His opening bit on the piano 2 weeeks ago was pitch perfect.
THE BAD GIRLS CLUB (OXY)
Wow. Things really heated up in the last batch of episodes. This might be the most insane bunch of ladies since the first season. I never want it to end! If you like these types of reality shows, this one is the bomb!
Grade: B +
2010/03/12
The End of Nip/Tuck - John Casavetes
Sorry, have to make these very quick.
Nip/Tuck (Season finale) F/X
Even though Nip/Tuck had slid right off the rails the last few seasons, the final season had plenty of closure and the kind of adult themes and situations that made us love it in the first place. I thought the last hour was particularly good, penned by series creator Ryan Murphy. It paid small tributes to greatness past, like bringing back the Famke Jansson character (although nobody mentioned in both episodes that Matt was interested in running off with Famke who was...a post-op man.) Although I'm not sure he actually knew that (although I think he did,) it does seem like something somebody would've mentioned as the final storyline with Matt running off with a transexual.
I thought it was very smart to set that final cast dinner over Art Garfunkle's ALL I KNOW which closed out season 2, which was the best season finale they ever did and was never lived up to again. I was almost looking/hoping for a return of the Carver, but sort of glad they didn't go there.
All in all, I liked the final season, enjoyed the final episode and appreciated the irony in Matt's storyline and the inevitable conclusion to the Christion/Troy relationship.
At this point this show won't quite be missed (way too many off the wall storylines to preserve its legacy as one of the greats - which it had the potential to become) but this was certainly memorable and for the first 2 seasons, it really was the bomb. The finale sort of acknowledged many of those attributes and I tip my hat to this show and the amount of balls shown per episode (not literally.)
Grades:
1st season: A -
2nd sesason A
3rd season B +
4 - through 6 - C +/C -
Final Season B
Season Finale B +
THE MARRIAGE REF's debut was unwatchable. The second episode - detestable. I don't quite get it. Seinfeld, get it together, dude. There is nothing believable nor compelling about your stupid new reality show. A + talent compiled for a F - execution.
Blah.
Grade: F
UPDATE: I watched another one. This had a panel of Larry David, Ricky Gervais and Madonna. And the whole thing was unwatchable because of the ridiculous squabbles they portray and the absolute intolerable personality of the host. A bona fida diaster. The A list panel always go away looking like idiots for both taking part ina nd trying to mix it up in such an awful setting having to make jokes about things nobody on the planet would relate to. Not even good payoffs or reactions to the final decision the "judge" makes by the couple. A fucking 4 alarm disaster.
Revised Grade: F -
Killing of A Chinese Bookie (Director's cut)
Improves on the original 2 1/2 hour cut in some ways. This version had a completely reworked and had tons of new scenes and a much shorter running time. I loved this version as I did the original, but the original felt more docu like with all that extra scenery and I liked the setup with Cosmo much more in the older cut than the newer one. Even still, both versions are great Scorsesee like street operals of desperation and grit.
KILING OF A CHINESE BOOKIE (Orig. Cut) A
KILLING OF A CHINES BOOKIE (Dir. Cut) A -
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno is back. He sent out Ross the intern the other night to do something with celebs. This whole enterprise really sucks.
Jay sucks.
I also think Conan's twitter account is funnier than all the seasons of his tv show combined.
Woman Under the Influence (IFC)
Another great John Casavetes film this time starting Peter Falk and Gena Rowlands as a mentally unstable couple trying (without much success) to keep it together. While the opening would have you think she's the crazy one, by the time we're mid-way though, I thought both of them needed to be institutionalized. By the way, top notch acting and directing. She's so good (Oscar nominated) that you will as if you are watching a documentary, not a film. She really is that good. Falk is pretty excellent as well, but Gena Rowlands is a revelation in this film.
Grade: A +
Am I crazy or from a distance, do Ellen Degeneres and Chef Gordon Ramsey look roughly the same?
The New Dominoes Pizza
Good, dependable...frankly, a lot like their old pizza. I couldn't tell the diference for whatever its worth.
Nip/Tuck (Season finale) F/X
Even though Nip/Tuck had slid right off the rails the last few seasons, the final season had plenty of closure and the kind of adult themes and situations that made us love it in the first place. I thought the last hour was particularly good, penned by series creator Ryan Murphy. It paid small tributes to greatness past, like bringing back the Famke Jansson character (although nobody mentioned in both episodes that Matt was interested in running off with Famke who was...a post-op man.) Although I'm not sure he actually knew that (although I think he did,) it does seem like something somebody would've mentioned as the final storyline with Matt running off with a transexual.
I thought it was very smart to set that final cast dinner over Art Garfunkle's ALL I KNOW which closed out season 2, which was the best season finale they ever did and was never lived up to again. I was almost looking/hoping for a return of the Carver, but sort of glad they didn't go there.
All in all, I liked the final season, enjoyed the final episode and appreciated the irony in Matt's storyline and the inevitable conclusion to the Christion/Troy relationship.
At this point this show won't quite be missed (way too many off the wall storylines to preserve its legacy as one of the greats - which it had the potential to become) but this was certainly memorable and for the first 2 seasons, it really was the bomb. The finale sort of acknowledged many of those attributes and I tip my hat to this show and the amount of balls shown per episode (not literally.)
Grades:
1st season: A -
2nd sesason A
3rd season B +
4 - through 6 - C +/C -
Final Season B
Season Finale B +
THE MARRIAGE REF's debut was unwatchable. The second episode - detestable. I don't quite get it. Seinfeld, get it together, dude. There is nothing believable nor compelling about your stupid new reality show. A + talent compiled for a F - execution.
Blah.
Grade: F
UPDATE: I watched another one. This had a panel of Larry David, Ricky Gervais and Madonna. And the whole thing was unwatchable because of the ridiculous squabbles they portray and the absolute intolerable personality of the host. A bona fida diaster. The A list panel always go away looking like idiots for both taking part ina nd trying to mix it up in such an awful setting having to make jokes about things nobody on the planet would relate to. Not even good payoffs or reactions to the final decision the "judge" makes by the couple. A fucking 4 alarm disaster.
Revised Grade: F -
Killing of A Chinese Bookie (Director's cut)
Improves on the original 2 1/2 hour cut in some ways. This version had a completely reworked and had tons of new scenes and a much shorter running time. I loved this version as I did the original, but the original felt more docu like with all that extra scenery and I liked the setup with Cosmo much more in the older cut than the newer one. Even still, both versions are great Scorsesee like street operals of desperation and grit.
KILING OF A CHINESE BOOKIE (Orig. Cut) A
KILLING OF A CHINES BOOKIE (Dir. Cut) A -
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno is back. He sent out Ross the intern the other night to do something with celebs. This whole enterprise really sucks.
Jay sucks.
I also think Conan's twitter account is funnier than all the seasons of his tv show combined.
Woman Under the Influence (IFC)
Another great John Casavetes film this time starting Peter Falk and Gena Rowlands as a mentally unstable couple trying (without much success) to keep it together. While the opening would have you think she's the crazy one, by the time we're mid-way though, I thought both of them needed to be institutionalized. By the way, top notch acting and directing. She's so good (Oscar nominated) that you will as if you are watching a documentary, not a film. She really is that good. Falk is pretty excellent as well, but Gena Rowlands is a revelation in this film.
Grade: A +
Am I crazy or from a distance, do Ellen Degeneres and Chef Gordon Ramsey look roughly the same?
The New Dominoes Pizza
Good, dependable...frankly, a lot like their old pizza. I couldn't tell the diference for whatever its worth.
2010/03/08
The end of Nip/Tuck and Rocky III. Oh, and Oscar talk.
They just ran the Oscars, so what better time to discuss the late 80s classic ROCKY III?
Actually, I will get to that, but I do want to spend a minute talking about the Oscars.
I'll make this brief, but I thought overall it was a damn fine show with an incredibly slow middle. I guess I was okay with the idea that they'd cut the nominated film song segments, but only to be replaced with REALLY bad musical segments? Like the retarded opening Neil Patrick Harris had us endure? (I love NPH, but c'mon!)
Alec Baldwin was fun. He didn't seem to have much in the way of actual material, but he's so likable it was just nice to have him up there. Steve Martin...making "THE JERK" references...oh, boy. The two of them together...I don't know. ABC should have Jimmy Kimmel host the Oscars. I've been saying that for years and I promise he'd be better than the last five years of hosts put together, but I digress.
I don't have that much to say about the show really, except that my favorite film of the year, WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE was a complete shut out from nominations and my other favorite film of the year INGLORIOUS BASTERDS did well with the supporting actor category but I thought QT's screenplay would take it home.
The ten nominated films thing didn't seem to really matter ultimately as the whole night was really posited between two films: Avatar and The Hurt Locker. I loved Avatar for what it was - an incedible movie going experience that was like taking an LSD trip but without the flashbacks. Hurt Locker was a real movie and incredibly well made, but frankly it left me cold so, I had no real dog in this race (as Mel Gibson likes to say.)
The IN MEMORIAM section is usually the most moving, and for the 2nd year in a row, Oscar really fucked it up. Last year they didn't bother to train a camera on the images so it looked like it was coming through on a shakey cell phone. This year there was more of James Taylor than the people. Don't get me wrong, I love James Taylor. But I see a lot of him. When it comes to Oscar night, I want moving music and dead people.
JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE swung back with their perennial AFTER THE OSCARS special and it had an ingenius openening "The Handsome Men's Club" and a great guest in Robert Downey Jr. and a particularly inspired segment with Christoph Waltz that paid tribute to the weirdest thing I've ever seen on Youtube. (the segment truly had balls and had the advantage of being a very knowing inside joke.) Go to
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyGJXLxtVEo
for the handsome man club segment and go to:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUbGcRJUDu0
for the Der Humpink piece (my favorite moment of the night.)
I'll say it again. ABC, have Kimmel host the Oscars.
ROCKY III
I watched this recently and had sort of a new take on it, since it has really been years since I'd really watched it. III is an iconic entry in the series as most people remember EYE OF THE TIGER and the Mr. T. stuff; but there was more to this than that. III was really a departure from Rocky and Rocky II in that it presented an entirely different Rocky. He was still a bit dopey and a very nice guy, but this time around, Rocky was chiseled and lean, better looking (a point they even make in the film about the character's use of plastic surgery) and Rocky seemed so on top of things philosophically he was miles away from the palooka we fell in love with in the original. Micky tells him early on "you got civilized, kid." I guess that's true. The relationship between Rocky and Mickey in this installment had truly crossed trainer/athlete into father and son territory. Lots of 80s style shots of Rocky on a bridge, thinking very intensely while the music swelled. Then there's the major re-tooling of the whole thing, with the introduction of Apollo Creed as Rocky's new trainer and best friend (frankly, they're almost lovers here.)
As I write this, I realize I can probably talk for hours on this film as it was such a game changer in the Rocky franchise. This one also had the unspoken idea that it was going to be the final chapter. That worked to its success thinking that this was the final part of the story. But for all the innovation in the movie, there are many steps backwards. Paulie has gone from a realistic Fishtown bum into a comic, fangless pain in the ass who, by the way, is unbelievably racist throughout the film. His entire comeuppance for his rampant racism after he tells Rocky point blank "I don't like these people." Rocky looks at him and says "Maybe they don't like you." Paulie then says "What did I do?"
Hilarious!
Even worse, after a disastrous training session with Apollo, Adrian comes to give Rocky the "let's go get 'em" speech that is present in every Rocky film to send Rocky's training into overdrive. This one is paricularly painful to watch. Having Adrian yell "what's the truth, damnit!" and Rocky yelling back "You want me to break this down for you. I'm afraid, dammit! I'm afraid!" After she tells him its okay to be afraid, Stallone's precision dialoge actually let's Rocky say "I REALLY love you."
Still, most of this film works exceedingly well, and while its not up to the grit and vigor of the first two masterpieces, it's certainly a finely tuned machine that not only goes through the formula, but invents some of it on the way. The fights are great but...am I the only one who realizes in the film that Clubber Lang kind of kills Mickey? (and whoever thought the Mick was Jewish! Oy vey!)
The movie doesn't make much of Rocky's transition from living in a tiny house to owning an insanely expansive mansion, it just kind of accepts it. I know there was something else about this film that I wanted to point out and I'm not remembering it...
Maybe I'll figure it out tomorrow, when I review the director's cut of KILLING OF A CHINESE BOOKIE and the NIP/TUCK finale. I just spent way too much time on Rocky III and I need to get out and go train to some hard thumping Survivor!
Eye of the tiger!
GRADES:
OSCARS: B -
ROCKY III: A -
KIMMEL LIVE AFTER THE OSCARS: A +
Actually, I will get to that, but I do want to spend a minute talking about the Oscars.
I'll make this brief, but I thought overall it was a damn fine show with an incredibly slow middle. I guess I was okay with the idea that they'd cut the nominated film song segments, but only to be replaced with REALLY bad musical segments? Like the retarded opening Neil Patrick Harris had us endure? (I love NPH, but c'mon!)
Alec Baldwin was fun. He didn't seem to have much in the way of actual material, but he's so likable it was just nice to have him up there. Steve Martin...making "THE JERK" references...oh, boy. The two of them together...I don't know. ABC should have Jimmy Kimmel host the Oscars. I've been saying that for years and I promise he'd be better than the last five years of hosts put together, but I digress.
I don't have that much to say about the show really, except that my favorite film of the year, WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE was a complete shut out from nominations and my other favorite film of the year INGLORIOUS BASTERDS did well with the supporting actor category but I thought QT's screenplay would take it home.
The ten nominated films thing didn't seem to really matter ultimately as the whole night was really posited between two films: Avatar and The Hurt Locker. I loved Avatar for what it was - an incedible movie going experience that was like taking an LSD trip but without the flashbacks. Hurt Locker was a real movie and incredibly well made, but frankly it left me cold so, I had no real dog in this race (as Mel Gibson likes to say.)
The IN MEMORIAM section is usually the most moving, and for the 2nd year in a row, Oscar really fucked it up. Last year they didn't bother to train a camera on the images so it looked like it was coming through on a shakey cell phone. This year there was more of James Taylor than the people. Don't get me wrong, I love James Taylor. But I see a lot of him. When it comes to Oscar night, I want moving music and dead people.
JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE swung back with their perennial AFTER THE OSCARS special and it had an ingenius openening "The Handsome Men's Club" and a great guest in Robert Downey Jr. and a particularly inspired segment with Christoph Waltz that paid tribute to the weirdest thing I've ever seen on Youtube. (the segment truly had balls and had the advantage of being a very knowing inside joke.) Go to
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyGJXLxtVEo
for the handsome man club segment and go to:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUbGcRJUDu0
for the Der Humpink piece (my favorite moment of the night.)
I'll say it again. ABC, have Kimmel host the Oscars.
ROCKY III
I watched this recently and had sort of a new take on it, since it has really been years since I'd really watched it. III is an iconic entry in the series as most people remember EYE OF THE TIGER and the Mr. T. stuff; but there was more to this than that. III was really a departure from Rocky and Rocky II in that it presented an entirely different Rocky. He was still a bit dopey and a very nice guy, but this time around, Rocky was chiseled and lean, better looking (a point they even make in the film about the character's use of plastic surgery) and Rocky seemed so on top of things philosophically he was miles away from the palooka we fell in love with in the original. Micky tells him early on "you got civilized, kid." I guess that's true. The relationship between Rocky and Mickey in this installment had truly crossed trainer/athlete into father and son territory. Lots of 80s style shots of Rocky on a bridge, thinking very intensely while the music swelled. Then there's the major re-tooling of the whole thing, with the introduction of Apollo Creed as Rocky's new trainer and best friend (frankly, they're almost lovers here.)
As I write this, I realize I can probably talk for hours on this film as it was such a game changer in the Rocky franchise. This one also had the unspoken idea that it was going to be the final chapter. That worked to its success thinking that this was the final part of the story. But for all the innovation in the movie, there are many steps backwards. Paulie has gone from a realistic Fishtown bum into a comic, fangless pain in the ass who, by the way, is unbelievably racist throughout the film. His entire comeuppance for his rampant racism after he tells Rocky point blank "I don't like these people." Rocky looks at him and says "Maybe they don't like you." Paulie then says "What did I do?"
Hilarious!
Even worse, after a disastrous training session with Apollo, Adrian comes to give Rocky the "let's go get 'em" speech that is present in every Rocky film to send Rocky's training into overdrive. This one is paricularly painful to watch. Having Adrian yell "what's the truth, damnit!" and Rocky yelling back "You want me to break this down for you. I'm afraid, dammit! I'm afraid!" After she tells him its okay to be afraid, Stallone's precision dialoge actually let's Rocky say "I REALLY love you."
Still, most of this film works exceedingly well, and while its not up to the grit and vigor of the first two masterpieces, it's certainly a finely tuned machine that not only goes through the formula, but invents some of it on the way. The fights are great but...am I the only one who realizes in the film that Clubber Lang kind of kills Mickey? (and whoever thought the Mick was Jewish! Oy vey!)
The movie doesn't make much of Rocky's transition from living in a tiny house to owning an insanely expansive mansion, it just kind of accepts it. I know there was something else about this film that I wanted to point out and I'm not remembering it...
Maybe I'll figure it out tomorrow, when I review the director's cut of KILLING OF A CHINESE BOOKIE and the NIP/TUCK finale. I just spent way too much time on Rocky III and I need to get out and go train to some hard thumping Survivor!
Eye of the tiger!
GRADES:
OSCARS: B -
ROCKY III: A -
KIMMEL LIVE AFTER THE OSCARS: A +
2010/03/04
Ellen on IDOL
I have to make this quick today, but Ellen is so bad on Idol.
She feels she has to make a joke everytime they throw to her. Her jokes about the sexual tension between her and Simon are truly awful. In fact, she has yet to say one single funny thing since she got there, and her critiques of the singers could simply not be worse or less consistent. Paula might have been bat-shit crazy, but how much do you miss that moment of unscripted insanity and the great chemistry between her and Simon?
With Simon set to leave Idol and Paula sitting by him on X FACTOR next Fall, it appears to me that IDOL will fall and X FACTOR will become the show.
Ellen Degeneres is not funny, not a good talk show host, and the worst judge to ever sit in that chair.
It's over, dawg.
She feels she has to make a joke everytime they throw to her. Her jokes about the sexual tension between her and Simon are truly awful. In fact, she has yet to say one single funny thing since she got there, and her critiques of the singers could simply not be worse or less consistent. Paula might have been bat-shit crazy, but how much do you miss that moment of unscripted insanity and the great chemistry between her and Simon?
With Simon set to leave Idol and Paula sitting by him on X FACTOR next Fall, it appears to me that IDOL will fall and X FACTOR will become the show.
Ellen Degeneres is not funny, not a good talk show host, and the worst judge to ever sit in that chair.
It's over, dawg.
2010/03/03
The Bad Girls Club
BAD GIRLS CLUB (Oxygen)
The first year was really good. Second year was good as well. By the third year I'd started to tire of the format.
This year: Gold!
Maybe the weirdest, strangest most retarded batch of bad girls ever! Natalie who "runs LA" is one of the ugliest (inside and out) and boldest creations the show has ever produced. When she bragged in the first episodes about hanging out with Chris Brown, one of the other girls said "why would I want to hang out with the guy that beat the hell out of Rhianna?" Natalie informed her that Rhianna had that beating coming to her. I knew we had hit gold.
Then there's Amber, who appears insane in many ways, and on top of everything, is an outragous bi-sexual and homophobe.
We have Flo, who appears to have a switch in her head that actually makes her go homicidal. Now that her ankle has healed up, I'm afraid for everyone's lives, including my own.
That new weird girl "miss piggy" who gets naked, eats a lot and makes bird noises when trying to calm down, was never better when she was asked to stay out of some confrontation and she replied "I'm not that bitch." Later in the series, while we thought she was pretty tame, she let them know that if she is to be made fun of "she'll choke a bitch to death."
It's endless. From the girl with the weird lips (who I think is pretty) who finally stands up for herself and then stumbles repeatedly over "trailer trash" to Kate, who I genuinly liked until she hooked up with Natalie and now she's busy ragging on everyone and spitting on people and exploring carnal desires with other ladies..this might be the best season ever.
Grade: A
On the same note, those promos for the Bad Girls dating show look positively dreadful. There is only one Bad Girl that I recognize and they only run her promos. Seems like it's going to suck.
Speaking of sucking, how bad is Ellen Degenerous with her awful jokes on IDOL? Insanely bad.
The first year was really good. Second year was good as well. By the third year I'd started to tire of the format.
This year: Gold!
Maybe the weirdest, strangest most retarded batch of bad girls ever! Natalie who "runs LA" is one of the ugliest (inside and out) and boldest creations the show has ever produced. When she bragged in the first episodes about hanging out with Chris Brown, one of the other girls said "why would I want to hang out with the guy that beat the hell out of Rhianna?" Natalie informed her that Rhianna had that beating coming to her. I knew we had hit gold.
Then there's Amber, who appears insane in many ways, and on top of everything, is an outragous bi-sexual and homophobe.
We have Flo, who appears to have a switch in her head that actually makes her go homicidal. Now that her ankle has healed up, I'm afraid for everyone's lives, including my own.
That new weird girl "miss piggy" who gets naked, eats a lot and makes bird noises when trying to calm down, was never better when she was asked to stay out of some confrontation and she replied "I'm not that bitch." Later in the series, while we thought she was pretty tame, she let them know that if she is to be made fun of "she'll choke a bitch to death."
It's endless. From the girl with the weird lips (who I think is pretty) who finally stands up for herself and then stumbles repeatedly over "trailer trash" to Kate, who I genuinly liked until she hooked up with Natalie and now she's busy ragging on everyone and spitting on people and exploring carnal desires with other ladies..this might be the best season ever.
Grade: A
On the same note, those promos for the Bad Girls dating show look positively dreadful. There is only one Bad Girl that I recognize and they only run her promos. Seems like it's going to suck.
Speaking of sucking, how bad is Ellen Degenerous with her awful jokes on IDOL? Insanely bad.
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