It came to this. After almost twenty years, and countless inquirees from fans of when the team behind one of the most beloved franchises of all time would get back together to make a new film, the universe formed the foundation for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. With a director who was now respected -and a few gold statues to further prove his worth- and a co-creator who was just coming off closing out his OTHER beloved franchise, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, along with always game Harrison Ford, were here to create a new Indy adventure. And boy were we excited.
Well, at least two of us were. Listen as Law, Nate and I go through the journey of watching the fourth film of the franchise, and Law gets ever increasingly annoyed. We also detail what the next move for our favorite fedora wearing hero could be, and whether we would welcome a return to the screen for him.
I must say. As painful and hard as it was to put these shows together, they sure were a hell of a lot of fun to record. A big thanks to both Law and Nate, as well as that Sneaky bastard Juan Carlos for our kick ass logo.
Stay tuned. More retros coming!
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) (?/10, ?/10, ?/10)
By the time 1989 rolled around, five years after the previous Indiana Jones entry, the film landscape had changed. Steven Spielberg was not the only one turning out blockbusters, as a quirky filmmaker named Tim Burton rolled out Batman, a superhero juggernaut starring Jack Nicholson and Michael Keaton.
So how would Spielberg and pal George Lucas retort? By turning their once daring franchise into a sentimental journey for a father’s love and the key to immortality. Join Nate, Law, and I as we sort through Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. As always, some of us enjoyed the journey. While one, was left out in the cold. But which one of us is it this time? Listen to find out.
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) (?/10, ?/10, ?/10)
Welcome to the second of Binge Movie Aftertaste’s four part look at the Indiana Jones franchise. As one part of our crew so observantly puts it, at the rate we are going, we should finish up Crystal Skull by 2019. But this week, we are here to talk about Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. And do we have an interesting podcast for your ear holes. Listen as Law and I get once again baffled by the out of planet living Nate Peterson. At one point, he says that he is indeed going with the ride and ‘meeting us in the middle.’ But is he? You make up your own mind.
We hit it all here, as we talk about subjects such as how the film affected how ratings are done today, how it contains perhaps the worst character Spielberg ever put to film, and how two of us like Short Round while the other hates him with a passion. I’ll give you one guess as to who that is.
So what are you waiting for? Download the episode and get ready to yell at your phone. Loud.
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) (?/10, ?/10, ?/10)
After months of jump starting this series of podcasts only to have it pushed back, the Binge Movie Aftertaste Indiana Jones Retrospective is finally here. Listen as me, Law, and Nate dissect the first beloved film of the franchise Raiders of the Lost Ark. What is it that makes it so great? Why is Ford’s gruffness part of his charm here? And why oh why does one of us not agree with the other two?
Listen to find out. And don’t forget – we are going to look at the other three as well, so keep checking this space every Friday, as these podcasts will get even more interesting and rant filled as they go on.
Last week, I wrote an entire column basically describing how fan boys are assholes and try how they might to ruin a film for you before you even see it. It is almost like they say ‘I know. I will put down (insert movie title) because (insert person anticipating it) is really looking forward to it.’ It is a real ineffective way to live your life and if you are one of these types of people, please stop reading this and any future columns of mine right now because you are an asshole.
However, even with how hard people work at convincing you a new film is not up to your entertainment standards, sometimes our own worst enemy when it comes to watching movies is ourselves. Specifically, our own vested anticipation. How many times have you anticipated a movie for months, sometimes years, only to have the date creep up on you and you walk out feeling not nearly as fulfilled as you thought you would? It is something each film fan has experienced at least once in their lives. But why is it that we find ourselves even in that position? What are our own personal standards of how a film can be classified as personally life-changing?
I feel it is quite a number of things, mostly what kind of personal baggage we bring into each movie. Let me get the two most obvious examples out of the way quickly. One of my most memorable childhood film going experiences involved going with my father to see Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. With hardly an eye on anything other than all the times I watched Raiders of the Lost Ark on our just acquired cable network HBO, I walked in only knowing that hero Indiana Jones would probably crack his whip a lot. Seen back to back with Gremlins in a soda floored movie theater in Fairfield California, I was transfixed on each new situation Indy found himself in, and I can safely say the darkness of this film also made me fall in love with the horror genre. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, while not as life changing, was another fantastic film going experience. This time I was 12 years old and walking into a movie theater with a friend, and for the first time I was without a parent in a movie theater. I loved how the movie turned into an entertaining farce with some family values and an obvious love for history thrown in for good measure.
Flash forward to January 2008. I had just started my three year sabbatical in University living, and while surfing the net doing research for a paper, something crawled across my screen that made my eyes light up like a Christmas tree: New Indiana Jones Trailer. The way this trailer, titled Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, integrated old Indy adventures with new footage of him falling into a truck backwards and punching the driver & its passenger chilled me to the bone. It was something I watched many times, sending it to my Myspace (yep) friends at the time and even showing my father, who was also smiling from ear to ear afterwards. I then went to a screening, which I was invited to thanks to the site I was working for at the time, and walked out….well, I don’t know how I walked out of there. Dejected is not the right word. Neither is angry. In fact, it still holds the record for the most conflicted I have ever been after seeing a movie. I ended up giving the movie a fairly decent review, and took my brother to it on opening night, almost holding my head in my hands saying out loud, ‘what was I thinking?’
Looking back, I have no idea what I expected. Nearly twenty years after Last Crusade, Ford was still Indy. He was still using his whip and shooting his revolver. But in between all the swinging with monkeys and bad guys getting decimated by CGI ants, the charm and sheer wit which drew me in was missing. Now when I watch Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, I find myself halfway enjoying it. Is it the least of the films? Absolutely. But I can watch it now and think that it was not nearly as bad as I thought. In fact, my father and I had a real fun time watching it the week it came out on DVD. The anticipation for that movie changing my life like the previous two got in the way of me actually enjoying it. Did it make me love horror and want to explore history? No. But hardly any film has that kind of impact on anybody, so what the hell was my problem the first time?
And then there is 1999’s Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. Now, I have already been on record in various columns and podcasts saying I do not hold Phantom Menace, or any of the Star Wars prequels, as far deep in the barrel as most. But starting in 1984, when I read in People Magazine that George Lucas wanted to tell Darth Vader’s backstory, I was already counting down the days. By the way, if there was someone on the cover of People whom I wanted to read about, I would always beg my mom to get it for me. This particular one had, who else, but Indy. Anyway, Lucas already started the wheels in motion, and by 1997, when the original trilogy was re-released to theaters with brand new scenes, the anticipation was at an all time high. Working at a grocery store, I would scour the magazine rack looking for anything on Star Wars. I would spend hours looking on Star Wars sites. Years. Months. Weeks. Days. Of course, the question once again comes up: what the hell was I expecting? Another Empire Strikes Back? Another series of Ewok scenes? The Darth Vader mask to be the final shot of the film? No idea. Yet, when I got tickets for my father and I, we walked in that theater, and the familiar Star Wars theme blasted the speakers. It was almost magic. Yet when the movie ended, I walked out and once again declared, ‘what happened?’
I see and enjoy all three of the prequels for what they are. I won’t go into the reasons for that here. But I honestly believe the main reason people have such disdain for them, notably Phantom Menace, is because they were expecting the highest of orders. They were expecting to see everything that made one of the best villains in history tick within one film. They also were not expecting the senate hearings, and things which eventually led to the Galactic Empire being built from the ground up. Are the scenes boring? Sure. But what someone brings into the film in anticipation of it has almost everything to do with why they hate it. And of course, they were not expecting Jar Jar. Yet as I have already outlined many times, I do not hate it.
Of course, I have many examples of these instances happening to me in which I DO fully understand the reasons why it did not live up to my anticipation. James Cameron promised a movie which would change the way movies were made in the years and months leading up to Avatar‘s 2009 release. But was it all for the better? I have watched Avatar a grand total of one time since it left theaters (I saw it two times in that capacity, both in 3D) and none since. Rewatching the movie without the experience of living in Cameron’s 3D world is a downer. The story is completely lackluster, and there are certain times I would argue that some of Cameron’s dialogue would wilt in comparison to even Lucas’s. But in looking back, was there anything more to expect from the man who had never been known as a smart dialogue writer? Not really, I guess. But in Avatar I anticipated a movie I had not seen a hundred times before in less expensive (and much better) features before it.
The 2010 remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street was another film which went on my radar the moment it was announced. Freddy Krueger was a character that, despite only being a few steps up from a poor hapless chap getting his heart ripped out in Temple of Doom, forever cemented my love for horror. But it is no secret that after an admittedly enjoyable part IV, the series quickly went into a downward spiral, until eventually being bookended by a remarkably shitty and pretentious movie called Wes Craven’s New Nightmare. So when Platinum Dunes announced they were moving ahead with a remake, I found myself getting incredibly excited. Even the first film, in watching it now, falls apart at the seams after the midway point. So how about a dark take on a character which has the potential to be one of the scariest in history? Put notable character actor Jackie Earle Haley in the fedora, and you have a winner. Right? RIGHT?!
I guess if I had a movie going experience similar to those people who say they hate Phantom Menace had, it would be this one. Not as much a remake as a stilted piece of shit and rehash of old scenes using computer graphics as opposed to practical effects, A Nightmare on Elm Street 2010 just stomped all over any sort of anticipation I may have had. Why turn the character of Freddy Krueger from a scary scar-faced entity…to a muppet-faced scumbag….is baffling, and how epic a fail director Samuel Bayer and producer Michael Bay pulled off with this remake is beyond words. Thank God there was never a sequel to squash any more dreams I had of seeing a good Freddy movie ever again.
So what is it about anticipation that gets us where it hurts? I don’t know. What I do know is that if the outside world doesn’t get you, your very own anticipation will. Just once, I would like a movie to sneak up on me. With so many cinematic influences out there, many of which are mentioned above, and social media making it harder and harder to do so, it is looking like an unending battle to once again find that lightning in a bottle.
What are some of YOUR most anticipated letdowns?
Manny Pacquiao vs Floyd Mayweather Thoughts
I know this column is already way over worded and the great Luke Norris is waiting with baited breath to get his thoughts on it out there. But I thought my feelings on last Saturday’s fight, the most anticipated in decades, kind of echoes the theme of what this entire column has been about. I felt from the beginning that this fight was held five years too late. That being said, even though I really had no dog in the fight, I still thought there was potential for it to be even better than anticipated. Coming in, all people said is that no one could take it to Mayweather like Pacquiao could. And the only way Pacquiao would have a chance is if he did exactly that, and not let Mayweather pile on points and run.
Yet, there was always the solid chance that Mayweather would not let that happen. So after paying $89.95 to see Mayweather lose, people are now calling him a coward for fighting like he did and winning like he has for 90% of his fights. Even though he has done it almost his entire career. So I will say it again: What did people expect? I better take this moment to say that as someone who did not have to pay as much to watch it, I guess my thoughts are kind of stilted.
Afterwards, retired boxer Oscar De La Hoya took to Twitter criticizing Mayweather for running like he did (even though De La Hoya did the same exact tactic in the later rounds of a 1999 fight after he thought he had Felix Trinidad beaten by points), Mayweather bragged about making $100 million on the fight, and Pacquiao made himself look even worse by saying it was a shoulder injury which prevented him from fighting like he wanted to. The funniest part of all this is that the shoulder injury will probably make Pacquiao pursue a rematch, people will still pay out of the bank to hopefully watch Mayweather lose, and the only people who lose are those aching for a big money fight to be entertaining. And then the A word starts all over again.
News dropped yesterday that none other than Steven Spielberg will be directing the big screen adaptation of Ernie Cline’s READY PLAYER ONE and I, for one, couldn’t be any happier for this decision. Seriously, nothing makes me happier to return to 80s nostalgia than to have the king of the 80s at the helm, and who knows… maybe this will be Spielberg going back to doing what he does best: high-flying adventure that’s fun for the whole family. I don’t want LINCOLN Spielberg, or SCHINDLER’S LIST Spielberg, or AMISTAD Spielberg… and, frankly, I don’t want KINGDOM OF THE CRYSAL SKULLS Spielberg either. I want the guy who directed JAWS, JURASSIC PARK, E.T., and the first three INDIANA JONES movies, and you know what… I think READY PLAYER ONE is the vehicle he’s been waiting for.
Could this go epicly wrong? Yes. Look no further than THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK or the previously mentioned INDIANA JONES movie to see that just because it sounds perfect on paper doesn’t mean the end result will be as perfect. But come on! READY PLAYER ONE was born out of love for Spielberg movies, for George Lucas and Robert Zemeckis, for Atari and Nintendo, for the Flux Capacitor and the Millenium Falcon, and for everything else cool about the 80s (leaving all those mullets and bad fashion behind). This is a match made in heaven and I honesty can’t see how they could eff it up, though I suppose it all lies in who they cast as Wade Watts, the young hero of the story. How young will they go? He’s a kid… but he should be a teenage kid not an annoying little kid, right? They wouldn’t put a GOONIES-aged kid in this thing, would they? Cause that could eff this up.
Also, but better way to ensure the rights for all those Amblin/Spielberg movies be allowed in a single Warner Bros. movie than having the man directing it himself (whom, I’m sure, has the rights or the right relationships to allow for all that awesomeness be allowed in one movie). Remember WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT? and it’s incredible cross-overness? Executive Producer Spielberg probably had a lot to do with making that happen.
Other random awesomeness that came out this week in the wonderful world of Hollywood: the trailer for MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – ROGUE NATION hit and holy shit I cannot wait for that one! Plus, one of my 2015 Hottie Draft Picks (Anastasia Harrold) stars in this puppy and from the awesomeness that ensued in the trailer, I can already see a summer box office win from Tom Cruise and this beloved M:I franchise. The best of the series? Don’t know about that, but the ‘hanging on the side of a plane that’s obviously not CGI’ sequence was pretty damn spectacular. I accept this mission… with a vengeance!
Speaking of trailers, my childhood idol Arnold Schwarzenegger has a new trailer this week, a dramatic zombie flick called MAGGIE. Whoa. I never thought Arnold would ever star in another horror movie after END OF DAYS, let alone a zombie movie, let alone a zombie movie that isn’t an action extravaganza but rather a drama with zombies in it. I’ll be honest, I don’t care for zombies anymore (I’m all zombied out, man), but this one has me intrigued. Call it the Schwarzenegger factor. Here’s the trailer.
This week was a big week in movie news, detailing reports on upcoming reboots, thus spit-balling hate from movie fans of all ages (well, mostly those ages who grew up in the 80s). And for every reboot bomb that was dropped, I couldn’t help but think… welcome to the club! Horror fans have been living in remake/reboot hell for the last 10 years! Reboot outrage wasn’t this high for FRIDAY THE 13TH, A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, THE OMEN, or THE STEPFATHER. I was seeing red during all of these reboot events, but maybe having lived through them for awhile, the latest reboot news honestly didn’t fill me with rage… but rather, serenity. I’m actually OK with them. Whoa! Calm the fuck down! Let me explain.
Reboots aren’t the same as remakes. Disney is not remaking RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK. They want to make a new Indiana Jones adventure because they own the franchise and the rights. It makes total business sense, and as a HUGE fan of the Indiana Jones series, I’m fuckin’ really excited to see a new Indiana Jones movie. Listen, they can’t have Harrison Ford or Steven Spielberg come back because… KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULLS sucked cock. It really did. It really does. Don’t believe me? Watch it again. It’s the one film of the series that gets WORSE after every viewing. I want to see another Indy adventure, but I don’t want to see Ford at it again. CRYSTAL SKULLS was embarrassing. He’s too old and he don’t give a fuck anymore. Give us somebody new, and if that’s Chris Pratt… I’m totally OK with it!
The opening of GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY is the opening of RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK. And it was awesome. I had my doubts about Pratt before GUARDIANS because I thought he was too goofy, but he pulled it off. And he looks like he’s gonna pull it off in JURASSIC WORLD. So they want him as INDIANA JONES? He has the look, he has the charisma, I say… go for it! Just think of it as history repeating itself. Ford was Han Fucking Solo. Pratt was Star Fucking Lord. Now they’re both gonna live in the annals of history as Dr. Jones? People should be more worried about who’s going to direct and write the new Indy movie, not who’s gonna play Indy. Also, if they can’t get Pratt… my vote goes with Bradley Cooper. Stew with that for a minute!
The same sort of shit goes with the new GHOSTBUSTERS. They can’t make a GHOSTBUSTERS 3. Harold Ramis is dead. The rest of the guys are old. Have you seen Dan Aykroyd lately? Yeesh. Only Bill Murray is keeping his acting chops active, but… Ramis is dead. So having the original cast return is never going to happen. But a new Ghostbusters team? Taking over the reigns of the old Ghostbusters team? And they’re not the younger, hipper, version… but rather SNL alumni who also just happen to have vaginas? I’m down. I don’t know why, but I’m totally fine with having a new team of Ghostbusters and having them be women. Handled right, they could have a new GHOSTBUSTERS series on their hands. If I had concerns at all, it’s of director Paul Feig. But you know what? BRIDESMAIDS was great. THE HEAT seemed to nail the buddy-comedy genre. He’s not Brett Ratner. So it’s a total win in my eyes. The original was directed by Ivan Reitman, a director of comedies, so it only makes sense. Again… this is history repeating itself, not the present shitting on the past. You want shitting on the past? See the above-mentioned horror remakes. Because those were fucking remakes (and total abominations)… INDIANA JONES and GHOSTBUSTERS are reboots. There’s a difference! Plus, keep in mind, that these new movie in no way effect the original movies that you hold so dear and close to your heart. So calm the fuck down already.
The other bit of news that dropped was the trailer for the upcoming FANTASTIC FOUR movie. Or rather, FANT4STIC. Who cares? It’s based on a comic book, so fuck you and your ‘this is a remake of the 2005 movie’. It’s not. Call it a reboot? Sure. I guess. It’s just another adaptation of an old-ass comic book. Miles Teller. I still hate you, but WHIPLASH was amazing. If he doesn’t suck here, maybe I’ll become a Miles Teller fan. No movie should ever be sold with “From the studio that brought you…” because the studio doesn’t fucking matter. They could as easily said “From the studio that brought you ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS: CHIPWRECKED” as they could say “From the studio that brought you DIE HARD”. It’s just stupid. I’m done with comic book movies, so I don’t give two shits about this one, but I will say that it looks better than both the 2005 version and its 2007 sequel. So at least it has that going for it.
Finally, the Super Bowl. The Seahawks will win because they’re the better team (truthbomb!) and they have class (double-truthbomb!). Plus, Brady and Belachick can each eat a bag of Badadiiiiiicks! That is all. Go Hawks!
Christmastime, for those that celebrate it, tends to mean a few key things to people. For some, Christmas is about spending time with the family, drinking egg nog and watching Christmas Vacation. I’m not saying I don’t do those things, but they aren’t the key things that make the holiday what it is. As such, here’s a list of the things that have to happen every year for me to get into the Christmas spirit.
The Leg Lamp
Simply put, this is the first things that gets set up every year. My leg lamp is a source of pride as, when I was younger, I went through an obsessive A Christmas Story phase. I know some think the film is overblown and cliched these days, considering the fact that TBS plays it for 24 hours every year on Christmas, but I always maintain the flick as one of the absolute greatest films for the holiday. There were certain years, call them the “awkward teenage” years, where family members had no idea what to get me for Christmas, so I’d get A Christmas Story memorabilia. One year, gloriously, I got my own leg lamp, and it’s been a staple ever since. Hell, it was the centerpiece of my kitchen table at my first apartment for the entire first year I had it. It ain’t Christmas without the leg lamp.
Hallmark Ornaments
I don’t know if it’s a popular thing, but since I can remember my family has been collecting Hallmark ornaments. Every year, Hallmark puts out a bunch of new ones and luckily they’ve been getting better and more detailed as the years have gone on. Due to this product line, I’ve got Chewbacca carrying a broken C-3Po, Gandalf, several Batman versions, Captain Kirk, Spider Man, Indiana Jones and a ton of others. Putting up these ornaments on the tree is my own personal way to make my tree more badass every year. It makes the sentimental “Baby’s First Christmas” ornaments from when I was born way more tolerable. Again, without these, it ain’t Christmas.
It’s A Wonderful Life
While I have a special affinity for A Christmas Story, I’ll never argue against It’s A Wonderful Life being the pinnacle of Christmas movies. For a flick that’s over 75 years old, you really can’t do any better than this. The story of George Bailey losing faith in his humanity and being visited by a guardian angel after contemplating ending his life is deeply affecting and an incredibly wholesome and endearing story. If you aren’t at least fighting back tears by the end of the flick you are probably an atheist (seriously). Jimmy Stewart is one of the greats and he is pitch-perfect here. What makes this movie an even higher quality is the fact that the film works outside of it being just another Christmas film. I try to watch this early in the season to get into the spirit of things, and most Christmas nights I try to throw this on to fall asleep to. Great film, doesn’t diminish with age, an essential annual watch.
Alex Stevens Ugly Christmas Sweaters
I’m not very creative when it comes to DIY shit. Simply put, if you ask me to draw a stick figure I’ll routinely fuck it up. A few years back, I switched from my holiday-themed movie t-shirts for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day to designer Ugly Christmas sweaters. Cue Alex Stevens, a designer I found through a little Amazon searching. The above photo was one of the contenders I had on the docket when I purchased my sweater last year, but I ended up going with one featuring a polar bear doing hula hoop awkwardly with a circular candy cane. It always spawns quality conversation for people who are new to it, and the sweaters featured range from mildly random to straight up x-rated. I highly recommend these for the coordination-challenged among us who fear what they may come up with when making their own sweater.
Christmas Cocktails
Perspective is important here at Binge Media, and as a representative of the brand I feel responsible to let everyone know what I’ll be drinking over the next few weeks. I’ll definitely sprinkle in some beers here and there, but for the most part I will be making a large amount of cranberry flavored drinks throughout the season. I’m a big cranberry juice fan (no, it ain’t my period you fucking child) and the concept of mixing various vodkas and rums to it is enticing and wonderful. From here on out, any podcasts I am a part of until the end of the year will be aided by some cranberry goodness, in one form or several.
Christmas Morning
This may seem like a given but I absolutely love Christmas morning. Whatever time my brothers and I would wake up, we would come out into the living room to see a similar setup to the one above. Part of the fun of the holiday, for me at least, was that truly unique moment when you first see the presents under the tree. A combination of excitement, happiness and mystery came with that moment, something that happens each and every year, no matter how old I get. There is something about that image that is, in my opinion, far better than actually opening the presents. When you first see this mound, the possibilities are endless, one of the few times throughout the year where that is actually a great thing. I love Christmas morning. Of course, there is one other tradition we have for Christmas morning. See, in my house, many Christmas mornings in recent memory have been with my two brothers and my Dad, so we have an appropriate film that gets thrown on while digging through the gifts. That film is…
Die Hard
This is the cherry on top. Christmas morning isn’t complete without Die Hard. Is it always a little awkward when that topless chick gets ripped out of the office by the terrorists? It used to be, but at this point, we all love Die Hard so much that it doesn’t fucking matter. John McClane absolutely wrecking the assholes at Nakatomi Plaza, Hans Gruber doing the old helpless-office-worker routine to get on McClane’s good side, and F-bombs galore are a welcome, wholesome and fantastic piece of the season’s festivities. Other families might put on Charlie Brown or the aforementioned It’s A Wonderful Life, but I feel as though the themes in Die Hard, such as Bruce Willis being a fucking boss, Hans Gruber proving villains are just as good as heroes, the fact that Reginald Vel Johnson “shot a kid, man”, and ‘Murica are great lessons to be reminded of.
My Christmas is probably a little different than yours, but I would also argue it’s probably significantly better. If you haven’t before, try out some of these things this season for yourself and enjoy the season even more. Check out the video below of my personal favorite Christmas song. Until next week, Binge On!
Not a lot to report on this week in the movie department, as I had one revisit and a pair of fresh watches. The rewatch was Guardians of the Galaxy, which I won’t get into again. On the second watch though, I’ve gotta wonder, how many Marvel movies are going to end with a gigantic airship battle? Seriously, gotta spice it up there, Disney. As far as documentaries go, there are some so shockingly odd that they must be seen. One such flick is Crazy Love, the story of Burt Pugach and Linda Riss’s awkward love story. Attempting to give you the bullet points without spoiling the story would be ridiculous, so I’ll just say anyone who likes docs should give this one a watch.
Last Action Hero was always an Arnold flick that I wanted to give a fair shake. Years ago, I remember watching the film and not being into it. Something about the tone being too hokey and out-of-left-field rubbed me the wrong way when I was younger, but I’m happy to report that after years of experiencing truly shitty action films, Last Action Hero, while not without its issues, is a solid action movie satire. It pales in comparison to something like the brilliant Hot Fuzz, but for what it was trying to do, Last Action Hero still has a lot of great ideas. The biggest problem you run into when thinking about the plot is the same issue that Raiders of the Lost Ark has, albeit here it is way more obvious: the plot has no depth or drama because everything that happens does so on autopilot. In Raiders, you could argue that Indy has no impact on what happens to the Nazis because they would have always been stupid enough to open and look at the Ark. Here, something odd happens in the end of the third act where Gandalf shows up as Death from The Seventh Seal, only to appear before Jack Slater and tell the kid “I was curious”. Excuse me, but what the fuck does that mean? The mess of this movie’s production is well documented and I won’t go into that here, but knowing that and also knowing the hate people have for it, I can honestly say I don’t get it. Schwarzenegger flicks like End of Days or Eraser are far worse than this, which makes its failure all the more depressing. Still though, time has been good to this movie, and I absolutely would call myself a fan.
Fantasy football is back and I had my first draft this past weekend. What you see above is my lineup for one of my leagues, minus a trade that swaps Shane Vereen for Fred Jackson and the Bears D for Denver’s D. I know Kupka isn’t a fan of this but fantasy football makes me gain more of an appreciation for the sport. If you asked me two years ago who the quarterback of the Panthers is, I couldn’t fucking tell you because I was an arrogant Pats fan. I’m still a Pats fan (because they rule) but by paying attention to your fantasy lineup, you get more out of the season. While some people see that as something that ties up their Sundays, I look forward to getting together with the family, having some beverages and screaming at the tv for three hours.
Finally, this week I had my bi-monthly Who re-invigoration. What happens once every few months is, in my musical travels, I always circle back to The Who, whether I want to or not. This past week, I was all about their Live at the Isle of Wight performance, with a fantastic rendition of Water, a rare b-side from the Who’s Next days. I love coming back to these guys because they were the hub and center of musical universe for a long time, and coming back to some of their work always feels like hanging out with old friends. Also, because fuckin’ Bob put up one of his school projects, I decided to put up one of mine, starring none other than the gentlemen pictured above. While the video quality is comprised of a lot of youtube stuff, the editing makes it work pretty damn well, and it’s something that myself and my friend Bill Barry worked for a few months on. Keep an ear out for some Strain commentary (possibly featuring Russian Rat Dick) and the boys daily blogs. Binge on!