 He’s played a drummer on the short-lived WB sitcom “My Guide to Becoming a Rock Star,” and not only did he survive the experience of co-starring in “From Justin to Kelly: With Love,” but he actually speaks fondly of it. He’s Brian Dietzen, but you probably know him best from his role as medical assistant Jimmy Palmer on CBS’s long-running drama, “NCIS.” What started as a one-shot appearance quickly turned into a steady gig for Dietzen, with Mr. Palmer gradually working his way out of the background and into his very own subplot, but now he’s actually going to be the focus of an episode. We spoke to Dietzen about how his character has evolved over the years, how this spotlight show came to pass (and why it took so long), and how fondly he feels about those pre-“NCIS” gigs nowadays. Stay tuned for…
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Nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, “Teeth” is one of those movies that garners more buzz than it probably deserves. Still, I couldn’t wait to check out this film about a prudish high school virgin who discovers she has a set of mutant teeth between her legs, if only because the concept sounded too good to be true. As it turns out, the basic idea surrounding “Teeth” is better than the film itself, but that doesn’t prevent from it from being mildly entertaining at times. Unfortunately, it’s not quite as funny or horrific as it could be, despite an enjoyable performance by newcomer Jess Weixler (a dead ringer for Alicia Silverstone and Leelee Sobieski’s lesbian lovechild). The ingredients are definitely there, and while “Teeth” never quite succeeds as a horror comedy, or as the kind of movie that is guaranteed a spot in future late-night marathons based on the title alone (such as the likeminded Japanese flick, “Sexual Parasite: Killer Pussy”), it’s still effective as a cautionary tale that should be shown to sex-ed students everywhere. Filed under: Movie DVDs and External Movie DVDs and Movie DVD Quicktakes Comments: None Digg this! Add to Del.icio.us |
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A juicy piece of cold war history that’s also a job of work to watch, this 1967 feature from the ultimate aesthetic bomb thrower of the French New Wave, Jean-Luc Godard, deals with a group of young people from well-to-do backgrounds sharing an apartment and, between lengthy philosophical, political, and artistic discourses, planning terrorist acts inspired by China’s Communist Chairman Mao. Led by a “Little Red Book” quoting actor (Jean-Pierre Léaud, “The 400 Blows”) and his winsome, but even more ideologically committed girlfriend (Anne Wiazemsky, Godard’s wife at the time), it’s clear this seriously naïve group isn’t, in John Lennon’s phrase, going to make it with anyone, anyhow — but boy do they talk about it. Never very comfortable with ordinary dramaturgy, Godard, a fanatical far leftist at the time himself, toys with avoiding it altogether here. The film is mostly a series of intense conversations touching on long dead controversies and rift that were then current among Europe’s more extreme left, leavened with bits of impish humor and cartoonish, primary-color-fueled compositions (lots and lots of red, naturally) courtesy of the director and his great cinematographer, Raoul Coutard. Godard’s next film was probably his masterpiece — the compelling, freaky and hilarious “Week End” — but it also famously proclaimed the “end of cinema.” The destruction of conventional, watchable cinema was already largely in practice here. (For all the visual rock and roll dazzle of “La Chinoise” with none of the work, see the snazzy trailer.) |
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What do you do when you’re not yet 40, the world’s most celebrated cinematic renegade, you’ve made your masterpiece (1967’s “Week End”), and it ends with the words “end of cinema?” If you’re Jean-Luc Godard, the Johnny Rotten of the French New Wave, you try to prove it by making movies that dispense with traditional meaning entirely. Still an oddity nearly 40 years after its release, “Le Gai Savior” (which means something like “The Joy of Knowledge”) is an interminable, exquisitely filmed, cinematic conversation between two archly doctrinaire Marxist students (Julie Berto and New Wave stand-by Jean-Pierre Leaud). The subject at hand is language as the enemy of the extreme social change that they advocate. The dialogue takes place entirely on an empty, darkened stage and examines the very notion of language, while being interspersed with a collage of random material and bizarre and often irritating sound effects and narrations by Godard himself. Nearly unwatchable for most of its length, it is also all but impenetrable. (Godard scholar Colin MacCabe has written that Godard’s films from this period “address an ideal audience.” I guess I’m not a member of that audience.) It is also, like Godard himself during this period, horribly politically obtuse. If only he had known that the puritanical, repressive, murderous Maoist Chinese government he so admired — despite his fierce opposition to these same tendencies in the West — would, within a couple of decades, be enabling many of the world’s most rapacious capitalists. |
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Considered a masterpiece by many, this occasionally moving and exciting 1982 festival winner and arthouse hit tells the story of a group of civilians taking an ultimately violent stand against Italian and German fascists just prior to the allied liberation of Italy in 1944. Written and directed by Italy’s Taviani Brothers, “Night” is a late example of neorealism, a style that attempts to combine “fly on the wall” realism with flourishes of emotion. I’ve never cared for the style very much, but the problems that undo “The Night of the Shooting Stars” go well beyond my personal impatience with its genre. The main issue is that the film focuses almost equally on a large number of characters and, with a length of 103 minutes, there doesn’t seem to be enough time to get to know them well enough to care about what happens. Also, the story is recounted by a woman telling her children about some mostly very grown-up events that happened when she was six, most of which she could not have personally witnessed or understood at the time. In that case, you might expect some very non-realistic stylistic flourishes or displays of childlike imagination, but, with the exception of single brief fantasy sequence, it is all mostly presented in pretty but literal fashion. Curious viewers are probably better off starting with Robert Rosellini’s 1945 “Rome, Open City,” shot only months after the Nazis had left the city and the only purely neorealist film I’ve ever loved. |
 It’s very rare to come across a made-for-TV movie that is both competent and enjoyable, but the BBC-produced “My Boy Jack” (which premieres on PBS April 20th and arrives on DVD two days later) does just that. Based on the stage play written (and adapted) by David Haig, the film stars the veteran actor as popular English author Rudyard Kipling, a major supporter of Britain’s involvement in the first World War.
Surprisingly tame for a war drama, “My Boy Jack” is more about Rudyard Kipling’s struggle to accept the unknown fate of his child than the war itself. Moreover, because it’s based on a play, the story depends entirely on the performances of its cast. Haig, who also played the role of Kipling during the stage production, delivers a tour de force worthy of an Emmy nomination, while Radcliffe (who continues to break “Harry Potter” typecasting with each polar role) delivers a fine performance as the title character. Kim Cattrall, on the other hand, sticks out like a sore thumb, and though she doesn’t do a particularly terrible job as Kipling’s American wife, one really has to question the person in charge of casting the “Sex & the City” star in such a role. Nevertheless, “My Boy Jack” remains an adequate primetime option on a night when there’s normally nothing on. It’s short, intelligent, and features some great performances. Sure, it’s no “Saving Private Ryan,” but there’s just enough going for this war drama to justify recommending it to anyone who likes a little history with their entertainment. Filed under: TV and Movie DVDs and TV Dramas and External Entertainment and External TV Comments: 2 Comments Digg this! Add to Del.icio.us |
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Although he’s been bouncing around Hollywood as far back as 1987, when he played Kolya ‘Nikolai’ Rostov on the “Dynasty” spin-off, “The Colbys,” it’s fair to say that Adrian Paul is more often remembered for his role as Duncan McLeod in the “Highlander” saga. After quite a few episodes of the TV series and a feature film, Paul took a break from the “Highlander” universe for several years, but he returned at long last for last year’s “Highlander: The Source,” which turned up on the Sci-Fi Channel and has recently seen DVD release. We spoken to Paul about his experiences in making the film (and whether there’ll be any more), his thoughts on longtime “Highlander” producer Bill Panzer, why his other sci-fi series, “Tracker,” never really took off, and what he’s been working on recently.
Adrian Paul: Hi Will. Bullz-Eye: Hey Adrian, how’s it going? AP: Good, good. BE: So how hard was it to step back into the shoes of Duncan MacLeod after a few years? AP: It was interesting. It was a different time, too, you know, and they wanted a slightly different type of character; you know, a little darker. But, you know, it’s fine, and you can do that because you know the values of the character; you kind of step back into it and try and find new stuff. So what with the old and the new stuff, you hopefully have a character with some new twists. BE: Was it painful to lose your katana after all these years? AP: (Laughs) No. The thing was, I think nothing’s lost, y’know? I mean, we know where it’s buried! But I love the katana. I love tai chi and working with the katana; I find it a very malleable type of weapon. But I do like using other weapons, too, and we wanted to sort of give it a whole different type of flavor. So we tried it, and even though a lot of the fights were sped up…which wasn’t my idea…we had some really interesting fights. The thing was that we actually tried a whole bunch of different types of weapons and stuff so that we’d have a roundabout look on it, but we didn’t know what we were facing when it comes to visual effects. That was an unknown quantity to us, so all we could do was choreograph it and hope for the best. Filed under: Movies and TV and Movie DVDs and TV DVDs and Actors and Interviews and TV Dramas and Movie Dramas and Action Movies and TV Action and External Entertainment and External Movies and External Movie DVDs and TV Sci-Fi Comments: 1 Comment Digg this! Add to Del.icio.us |
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You probably know Rory Cochrane, even if you don’t think you do. His longest and most high-profile gig was serving as a member of the “CSI: Miami” team as Tim Speedle, but prior to that, he’d already earned the status of cult icon by playing the stoned-as-shit Slater in “Dazed and Confused,” as well as the monetarily-challenged Lucas in “Empire Records.” Since departing “CSI: Miami” of his own free will, Cochrane has kept busy with the occasional film; we spoke to him on the occasion of the DVD release of the disconcertingly-real thriller, “Right At Your Door,” and we took the opportunity to ask him about how much of a toll the filming of the movie took on him, why he left a sweet gig on a weekly TV series, and…well, frankly, we spent most of the time just trying to get him to give us answers of more than a word or two. (Nice guy, that Rory, but not one to give you essay-length responses.)
Rory Cochrane: Hello? Bullz-Eye: Hi, may I speak to Rory? RC: Yes. BE: Hey, this is Will. RC: How are you doing, Will? BE: Pretty good. How are you? RC: All right. BE: Actually, I tried you a few minutes ago, but I figured you were still on the last interview maybe, RC: Oh, yeah? I didn’t hear it beep. BE: Not a problem. So…”Right at Your Door.” Very intense flick. I hadn’t actually seen it until they sent me the DVD – it never played in my area – but it’s great. RC: Oh, well, I’m glad you liked it. BE: Definitely. It’s part disaster movie, part horror movie, with a thread of romance running through it. How was it to shoot? RC: Very grueling…and intense, you know? I’m sort of glad that it was only…that we shot it in twenty days. Which is a good thing, because I would probably have had to check myself into some sort of institution afterwards if it had went any longer. BE: Yeah, it’s a little dark. RC: Yeah. BE: How did you get involved in it in the first place? Filed under: Movies and Movie DVDs and Actors and Interviews and Reviews and Movie Dramas and Horror Movies and Action Movies and External Entertainment and External Movies and External Movie DVDs Comments: 1 Comment Digg this! Add to Del.icio.us |
Given how busy the holidays were, you may or may not have even noticed when I posted a review of “The Munsters’ Scary Little Christmas,” but if you did, you might recall that I allotted a fair amount of the text to assuring people that the short skirts worn by Marilyn Munster - played by Elaine Hendrix, seen to your left - were just about enough reason to check out the film, even though it didn’t feature any of the original cast. At the time, I dropped Ms. Hendrix an E-mail, asking if she could offer any reminiscences from her experience on the flick, but I didn’t hear anything and, well, I didn’t lose any sleep over it. Again, holidays are busy, people get caught up in their own goings-on, not a big deal. Last night, however, I got a very belated but also very apologetic response from Elaine: Oh, darn it, Will. I get these e-mails so late, and it doesn’t look like my assistant responded. I would have loved to give you some info on it. Please keep (my publicist) in the loop, and we’ll do the same with you for upcoming projects. I hope you were kind to “Marilyn” in the review. It was a great project for 3 reasons - 1. Befriending Ann Magnuson Thank you! Hope all is well. Happy new year, Elaine Filed under: Movies and TV and Movie DVDs and TV DVDs and Actresses and TV Comedies and Movie Comedies and External Entertainment and External Movies and External TV and External Movie DVDs Comments: None Digg this! Add to Del.icio.us |
 …Stalking Santa.
What’s that strange taste in my mouth? By God, I think it’s the taste of a clean palate! After two days of less than stellar Christmas flicks (and, boy, is that an understatement), I’ve stumbled upon a new film which - dare I say it? - has the potential to become a cult classic…and, for once, it’s not because it’s so awful that its sheer badness has earned it kitsch value, a la “Santa Claus Conquers the Martians.” “Stalking Santa” is a mockumentary about Dr. Lloyd Darrow (Simon Taylor), a man who’s on an obsessive quest to confirm or deny the existence of Santa Claus, even if it involves risking a Christmas morning devoid of presents. In a twist which will amuse fans of the classic ’70s series, “In Search Of,” the narration is done by the inestimable William Shatner, who provides details about Darrow’s investigations, as well as other self-proclaimed “Santologists,” with absolutely no hint that it’s all completely fictional. Shatner’s deadly-serious delivery turns the most ridiculous claims into hilarity, such as his discussion of a wax cylinder that captured a voice during a seance which, when played backwards, reveals the words, “Ho, ho, ho, merry Christmas,” or the shot of an ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic which bears a striking resemblance to Kris Kringle himself. (Politically correct or not, I laughed out loud when they showed artwork of a chubby Asian fellow sitting in a lotus position and gave it the identifier of “Buddah Craus.”) Lloyd reportedly has many supporters in his quest, but the truth is, it’s really just him and his college intern, Clarence (Daryn Tufts), who, uh, probably isn’t getting actual college credit for his work. Lloyd’s the president and CEO of an organization known as Tangible Evidence, Real Discoveries…and don’t think he doesn’t get shit for that acronym. He’s a family man, and his kids are a little uncertain about his quest, which you’d expect, since it might mean they don’t get any presents. In particular, his son is sick of his schoolmates’ tauntings, but his lovely and pregnant wife Kylie (Sierra Squires) is behind him, even though there’s no humor in her laugh when she comments that “Santology” isn’t exactly something you get paid for. (The line is followed by a shot of her working in a fast food restaurant as the family breadwinner.) Yes, it’s easy to dismiss the entire concept of the film with a wave of the hand and a quick uttering of “there IS no Santa Claus, the end,” but only a Scrooge would do that. (Right, David?) But, seriously, this is a really funny concept that’s taken to hilarious heights and looks professional enough that, at least in appearance, it could fit onto TLC or The Discovery Channel without a second thought, especially the faux archival footage which suggests a government conspiracy to keep the existence of Santa under wraps so as not to disturb the world economy. Yeah, it descends too far into total ridiculousness on occasion (the idea that the Sphinx originally had antlers like a reindeer fell completely flat), but what keeps it working is the fact that virtually everyone believes Lloyd’s a complete nutjob…because, of course, everyone knows there’s no Santa Claus…right? Right? RIGHT?!?!? (P.S. Santa, I totally know you’re real, so I’m sure you’ve chalked this up to creative license and have in no way removed that copy of the 5-disc “Blade Runner” set from your sleigh.) Filed under: Movies and Movie DVDs and Reviews and Movie Comedies and Documentaries and External Entertainment and External Movies and External Movie DVDs and Doc of the Day Comments: None Digg this! Add to Del.icio.us |
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…Deck the Halls.
And here I thought “Jingle All the Way” would be the biggest waste of time I’d experience this Christmas season. I guess I was being naive to think that I might find myself as a member of the 7% approval rating for “Deck the Halls” on RottenTomatoes.com, but despite the odds, I just feel like you pretty much have to maintain a certain amount of optimism when you’re presented with a film starring Matthew Broderick and Danny DeVito. My bad. Steve Finch (Broderick) is, at least in his mind, the Pope of Christmastown…or, that is, the people in his little burg tend to think of him as having a significant amount of holiday spirit, given that he’s in charge of organizing the annual winter carnival. When Steve and his wife, Kelly (Kristen Davis), get new neighbors at the beginning of December, they’re cautiously optimistic about Buddy and Tia Hall (DeVito and Kristen Chenoweth), but when Buddy gets a wild hair up his ass to make his house visible from space by adding as many Christmas lights as possible, he quickly incurs Buddy’s wrath. Before long, things devolve into a full-fledged war between Steve and Buddy about just about everything you can imagine. Why, pray tell, does Hollywood insist on making these broad slapstick holidays films starring big names where the characters’ actions in no way resemble those of real people? I really can’t even be bothered to tell you a lot about the film, except that it’s dumb. Dumb, dumb, dumb. I mean, if we ever do an update of “Holiday Movies Bad Enough To Make You Hate Christmas,” rest assured that this’ll be making my list. Both DeVito and Broderick play characters who are in no way sympathetic, which means that you don’t give a damn who’s going to eventually turn out victorious, especially since you already know that the ending will be so sappy and schmaltzy that it won’t matter, anyway. 7%…? Sounds a little optimistic to me. There’s no trailer available for the flick on YouTube, but try watching this clip of the cast being interviewed by National Lampoon, instead. It’s not knee-slapping hilarious, but it’s still funnier than the film itself.
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…Jingle All The Way: Family Fun Edition.
I can’t really say that I miss Arnold Schwarzenegger, given that his position as Governor of California means that he’s on the news every other freaking day, but, y’know, it has been four years since the guy last starred in a movie, and, frankly, the world of action flicks is sorely lacking as a result. Stallone’s been forced to return to his hoary old “Rocky” and “Rambo” franchises to score anything approximating a hit, and the same goes for Bruce Willis and “Die Hard.” Seagal and Van Damme are both trapped in the career Phantom Zone known as the Straight to Video Market, and, really, is there any proper action hero still getting regular theatrical releases? I mean, I like Jason Statham as much as the next guy, but he’s still not on the same tier, y’know? Watching “Jingle All the Way,” I missed Ahnuld the Action Hero even more than I already did. Believe it or not, I’d never seen it before, which means that I can’t personally tell you any of the difference between the theatrical release and the new extended version; I will tell you, however, that having watched the latter rather than the former, my suspicion is that anything that made it feel particularly long to me probably was in the theatrical version, too. Arnold plays Howard Langston, one of those stock movie businessmen who loves his family but struggles to make time for them. We see him try and fail to make it to his son Jamie’s karate exhibition, and when he realizes later that evening that he’s forgotten to buy his son the TurboMan action figure he’s been clamoring for, he’s aware that there’s no choice: he has to get that figure. Unfortunately, TurboMan is to this film what a Tickle Me Elmo was to the real world a few years back, i.e. it’s impossible to find, and Howard ends up on a Christmas Eve quest to hunt one down. On a similar quest is an overworked postman Myron Larabee, played by Sinbad, who’s had almost no time off because of the Christmas rush and just hadn’t had a chance to get the figure for his son; Howard and Myron end up crossing paths on a regular basis throughout the film, battling to secure that elusive TurboMan figure…and that’s where the film fell apart for me. I understand that Howard’s trying to redeem himself with his son, but he knows he’s the one at fault in this situation, whereas Myron is a victim of circumstance, yet it never occurs to Howard to be the better man and let this guy make his son happy. Instead, Howard’s steadfastly determined to win his son’s love through material possessions. If that’s not the antithesis to the moral of Christmas, I don’t know what is. Even his son knows this: when Howard finally gets Jamie the elusive figure, Jamie gives it to Myron, even as Howard is still sputtering, “What are you doing…?” “Jingle All the Way” is mostly about ridiculous slapstick, but there’s at least one great comedic turn courtesy of the late, great Phil Hartman, who never met a role he couldn’t make into one of the best things in that film. There are also some enjoyable supporting performances, with Robert Conrad (”The Wild Wild West”) as a cop, Martin Mull as a DJ, Jim Belushi as a sheister of a Santa, Phil Morris and Amy Pietz as parade announcers, Chris Parnell as a toy store clerk, Curtis Armstrong as a live-action (and chain-smoking) version of TurboMan’s compatriot, Booster, and an uncredited Yeardley Smith as a woman who Howard thinks has a TurboMan doll. Oh, right, and there’s a crazed reindeer, too. Rita Wilson is little more than a cliche as Howard’s long-suffering wife, and Jake Lloyd…well, let’s just say that anyone who saw this flick couldn’t have been surprised by the lad’s ineffective turn as Anakin Skywalker a few years later. Yeah, y’know, I guess I do miss Arnold Schwarzenegger…but if he’s planning to return to Hollywood and make another crappy comedy like this one, I’d rather just stick to watching “Commando” again. If you disagree with me…well, just watch this so-called “highlight reel” from the film and see if it doesn’t change your mind.
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 …The House Without A Christmas Tree.
If you can trust the box art for this particular DVD, then we’ve finally been gifted with the long-awaited release of a cherished holiday classic; as for me, I wasn’t familiar with the film…or if I once was, my memories of it didn’t stick with me for the long haul…but having now watched it, I can say that there’s probably a fair amount of truth in that advertising. Addie (Lisa Lucas) is 10 years old and really, really, really wants a Christmas tree; unfortunately, her dad, James (Jason Robards), refuses to have one in his house. No, he’s not being a jerk…well, not intentionally, anyway. He’s still mourning the death of his wife, who died within weeks of Addie’s birth, and he readily associates the holidays with how much his wife loved that time of the year; unfortunately, he also associates his daughter with his wife, and it continues to haunt him that, once upon a time, he wished that she’d died instead of her mother. As such, the Christmas season is generally a pretty low-key affair around their house…to say the least. But when Addie wins a Christmas tree in a contest at school - through a method her father taught her, no less - and James still throws a fit over having a tree in his house, resulting in Addie running off in tears, one is forced to wonder if father and daughter will ever be able to reconcile. Say, this sure sounds like a merry Christmas movie, doesn’t it? Well, don’t worry: it wouldn’t be a holiday classic if things didn’t eventually turn out all right…but, then, you probably already figured that. Robards’ performance is appropriately gruff when he’s dealing with Addie while being just sad enough for us to realize that, yeah, that’s a major emotional rollercoaster the guy’s on, and who’s to say we wouldn’t react similarly in that situation? Mildred Natwick plays Addie’s grandmother (and James’s mom) in a manner that will no doubt strike a chord in many of us, the way she walks that tightrope between wanting to make her granddaughter happy without damaging the relationship with her own child. Lisa Lucas is…well, she’s a kid. She’s an average 10-year-old little girl. She was never destined to win an Emmy for her work, but she does well enough. “The House Without A Christmas Tree” was made in 1972, and it shows, but that’s a good thing, actually; the reason it shows is that it was filmed on video tape, and the result is that it tends to feel less like a movie and more like a play. There really aren’t many different locales involved - the family’s house, the school, a store, and another nearby family’s house - and the brief outdoor shots could easily be left out if anyone wanted to make this into a stage play. You may also recall that 1972 was the year “The Waltons” premiered, so don’t be surprised when you tune in to find that A) the story takes place in the 1940s, B) the goings-on are, by and large, pretty mundane by today’s standards, and C) there’s as much heartbreak as there is happiness. But, like I said, things turn out all right in the end, and that’s what counts. Filed under: Movies and TV and Movie DVDs and TV DVDs and Actors and Actresses and Reviews and TV Dramas and Movie Dramas and External Entertainment and External Movies and External TV and External Movie DVDs Comments: None Digg this! Add to Del.icio.us |
 …Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause.
As much as it pains me to say this, honesty requires that I must: “Santa Clause 3″ wasn’t as God-awful bad as I thought it was going to be…or, more specifically, it wasn’t as bad as the God-awful trailer for the film would’ve had me believe. I mean, man, when I first saw that thing, my reactions were as follows: * “The first film was legitimately enjoyable, the second one had its moments, but the funniest joke here appears to be the one in the title. The trailer is 100% laugh-free. David Krumholtz – formerly known as Bernard the Elf – should be sending his agent a solid gold Mercedes this Christmas for getting him ‘Numb3rs’ and keeping him far, far away from this picture.” * “As Santa is my witness, the only highlights are the clips from the first two films. It’s really that unfunny. Example: a kid tells Jack Frost to ‘just chill,’and he howls, ‘I invented chill!’ Ughhhhhh.” “Awful awful awful. Count on a solid opening weekend, but, God willing, word of mouth on the playground will kill the flick quickly after that. Even the under-10 set should have better taste than to accept this.” And y’know what? I meant it. All of it. Every word. It was just that damned bad. Having now subjected myself to a viewing of the film, however, I walked away from the experience far less horrified than I ever would’ve expected. Yes, there’s plenty of cheesy kid stuff in the flick, and if the inclusion of reindeer fart jokes isn’t enough to send most people with a modicum of taste running for the exits (or, in this case, the “eject” button on their DVD player), Martin Short’s hammy performance as Jack Frost will probably do the trick. If you can make it to the halfway point of the film, though, it falls back on the old “It’s A Wonderful Life” bit of seeing what the world would’ve been like if Scott Calvin (Tim Allen) had never put on the Santa suit but Jack Frost had instead. It’s a hackneyed Christmas plot device, but as a sci-fi geek who always enjoys a good alternate-universe tale, I still enjoyed it; it was also entertaining to watch Scott figure out how to get his old life back. Even Short earned a laugh when, after Jack’s plans have been foiled, he just kind of blinks and says, “Well, that didn’t work out like I’d hoped.” The best part of the film, though, was the surprise of finding Alan Arkin and Ann-Margret as Scott’s in-laws; I’m sure I’d known at some point that they were in the cast, but I’d totally forgotten it until they appeared on the screen. As ever, Arkin scores laughs, and Ann-Margret…well, she coasts by just by being herself. I’m still of the opinion that only the first “Santa Clause” film is a must-see, but if my kid wants me to put this in at some future juncture, I probably won’t twitch…much.
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 …The Munsters’ Scary Little Christmas.
What on earth possessed Universal to suddenly release this 1996 made-for-TV flick onto DVD for this holiday season? I mean, it’s not like they haven’t had a decade’s worth of Christmases to get it out there, and it’s not like the popularity of “The Munsters” has suddenly soared. Well, whatever the reason, it’s here now, so let’s take a look at it, shall we? As you can probably tell from the cover art, that ain’t Fred Gwynne playing Herman Munster. It’s always a dicey proposition when you take iconic TV characters and recast them - sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t - and this wasn’t Universal’s first attempt to bring back “The Munsters.” Only a year earlier, they’d done a TV movie called “Here Come The Munsters” which featured Edward Herrmann as Herman (yes, the patriarch of the Gilmore family once sported green make-up and neck bolts), Veronica Hamel (”Hill Street Blues”) as Lily, Robert Morse (”Mad Men”) as Grandpa, and Christine Taylor (a.k.a. Mrs. Ben Stiller) as the family black sheep, Marilyn. Presumably, it did pretty well, since it quickly spawned a sequel, but for whatever reason, every single role was re-cast. In “Scary Little Christmas,” Herman’s played by Sam McMurray, who tends to pop up on various sitcoms as the boss who thinks he’s way cooler than he actually is (he played Doug’s supervisor on “The King of Queens” and Chandler’s boss on “Friends”); Lily is now portrayed by Ann Magnuson (”Anything But Love”), Grandpa by Sandy Baron (he was Jack Klompus, the retiree on “Seinfeld” who foolishly told Jerry he could keep his pen), and Marilyn by the crazy-hot Elaine Hendrix, who wears spectacularly short skirts…and wears them well. Personally, I always preferred “The Addams Family” to “The Munsters.” The latter always drifted way too much into slapstick for my tastes…and, as expected, this flick is very much in keeping with that tradition. There are several storylines running throughout which echo classic material from the original series - Eddie’s depressed, Marilyn’s found a new guy, Grandpa’s having trouble getting an experiment to work right - and they’re interspersed with the holiday-themed plots, including a holiday house decorating contest and, most importantly, Grandpa accidentally bringing Santa and two of his elves into his laboratory. As Grandpa tries to get Santa and his elves back to the North Pole in time to make his rounds, the elves are more interested in going to a bar and partying, while a potion error turns Santa into - scout’s honor - a figgy pudding. The highlights include the inspired casting of Mary Woronov (Miss Togar in “Rock and Roll High School”) as the neighbor who desperately wants to beat the Munsters in the decorating contest, the underutilized plot thread of the Munsters’ Christmas party (every Universal monster you can think of makes a cameo at the party, but the funnier bits come earlier on, when they’re receiving their invitations), and, okay, those short skirts of Marilyn’s really were awesome.
It’s a fair bet that fans of the original series will just cry “blasphemy” and take a pass on this flick, and I can’t really blame them, but most kids will really enjoy it…and, yes, even the little kid in me was entertained enough to feel like it was worth my time to have watched it. Of course, the adult in me probably just kept watching because of Elaine Hendrix, but, c’mon, look deep into those gorgeous eyes and tell me you don’t suddenly feel a burst of Christmas spirit yourself. Yeah, I know, I could’ve made a far more tasteless joke about feeling one’s Yule log stirring. But I do have some standards, you know. Filed under: Movies and TV and Movie DVDs and TV DVDs and Actors and Actresses and Reviews and TV Comedies and Movie Comedies and External Entertainment and External Movies and External TV Comments: None Digg this! Add to Del.icio.us |
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As a DVD, “Fired!” may be one of the funniest viewing experiences of the year. As an actual movie, however, it isn’t nearly as successful…but, wait, I’m getting ahead of myself a bit.
The story behind “Fired!” began when actress Annabelle Gurwitch was…you guessed it…fired. Fired by Woody Allen, to be precise, when he was in the process of prepping the cast for a play he was putting together and declared that Gurwitch looked “retarded” when she followed a particular stage direction. Having already told tons of her friends and family members that she was going to working with Allen, Gurwitch was decidedly wounded by this act, but instead of wallowing in her depression, she ended up in conversation with various folks who sympathetically shared their own stories of being fired. She soon realized that, as a performer, there was something that could be done with this material, and, voila, the “Fired!” stage show was born, where various performers would get up on stage and read the tales of various people’s experiences. This documentary sprang forth from that show, but, unfortunately, it’s lost something in the translation. This is mostly because the flick trumpets appearances from Tim Allen, David Cross, Andy Dick, Jeff Garlin, Bob Odenkirk, Jeffrey Ross, Harry Shearer, Sarah Silverman, Ben Stein, Fred Willard, Illeana Douglas, and Anne Meara, then ends up feeling like it’s far more about Gurwitch herself. And, of course, it is about Gurwitch. Unfortunately, most of the other contributors just have funnier stories, which means we spent as much time waiting for them to come back as we do appreciating Gurwitch’s own humorous experiences as she struggles to find her way back from the abyss. Also, directors Chris Bradley and Kyle La Brache make the decision to chop up several of the stories being told at a performance of the stage show and come back to them periodically throughout the film for more of each story, which proves reeeeeeeally annoying. So if I’ve got these complaints, why am I calling “Fired!” one of the funniest DVDs of 2007? Well, like I said, the stories from the various contributors are pretty damned funny. Jeff Garlin talks about losing a stand-up gig because he couldn’t compete with the magician who opened for him, Fred Willard sits in a hot tub (with Harry Shearer loitering just outside the waterline) and recalls how he was dropped from a sitcom because he was honest and admitted that he wasn’t the guy who played Herb Tarlek on “WKRP in Cincinnati,” and Illeana Douglas concedes that she was once fired from a job as a coat check girl despite her years of experience in placing coats on hangers and then taking them off again. Andy Dick revisits the world of fast food and finds that he still can’t hack the pace, while Bob Odenkirk provides Gurwitch with a great it’s-not-you-it’s-us speech to show how you can be let down easy in situations like that. Better still, however, are the outtakes from the film. David Cross talks about getting fired from a hardware store, numerous telemarketing jobs, and the Paul Simon Presidential campaign, but the best bit comes when he discusses how he was let go from a mail-room job in a law firm by a guy who was the perfect combination of Mr. Smithers and Mr. Burns. (”He said, ‘Just get out,’ and I said, ‘But I haven’t had a chance to take a dump in your desk yet!’ And, then, that was it; I knew I had no chance of coming back. ‘Oh, c’mon, guy, lighten up! That was a joke! Seriously, can I just work through the summer?’”) Paul Feig, co-creator of “Freaks and Geeks,” tells an awesome story about his experiences as a teenage Ronald McDonald, comedienne Hillary Carlip tells a dy-no-mite story about getting dumped from her gig as Jimmie “J.J.” Walker’s juggling instructor, Dana Gould talks about being let go from the Fred Savage sitcom, “Working,” Harry Shearer explains how he got fired from several radio stations, once for playing a Mel Torme record on an all-rock station (calling the experience “the sincerest form of ‘don’t do that again’”), and…oh, hell, pretty much every single story in the outtake section is hilarious. Great concept, less than perfect execution, but given that your sides will hurt by the time you’re finished with the DVD, I guess the best description of “Fired!” is to call it an eventual success.
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Y’know, I don’t think I’ve ever seen an entire episode of “The George Lopez Show,” but after having watched this documentary, I think I’m gonna have to check it out; I don’t have any idea whether it’ll actually be funny or not, but just listening to the guy’s comments in “Brown is the New Green: George Lopez and the American Dream” makes me predisposed to liking him. (Mind you, I was already pretty much in that camp after I heard that he’d gotten into a physical altercation with Carlos Mencia over Mencia purportedly stealing some of his material, but, still, this really sealed the deal for me.)
“Brown is the New Green” focuses on Latinos as they’re perceived on the small screen, and while it probably won’t come as any surprise that they haven’t always had the best representatives on the American airwaves – for awhile, their big three were Jose Jiminez, Speedy Gonzales, and The Frito Bandito - it’s heartening to realize that they’re finally getting their due. Now, if you’re one of those folks who gets pissed off every time they reach a voicemail menu that says, “For English, press 1,” I’m sure you’re already seething mad at the mere thought of what this documentary discusses; in fact, some of you may have stopped reading altogether while you work out a diatribe for the comments section about how giving Latinos airtime to trumpet their culture is akin to setting Old Glory afire and watching her burn. Well, hang onto your hat, muchacho, because you may be surprised to find that a lot of Latinos aren’t so remarkably different from John Smith, Average American. For instance, when George Lopez was casting his TV show, many actors came in to audition and, when doing so, they’d put on a heavy Spanish accent. “George would say, ‘Brother, cool down, you don’t need to do that,’” said producer Bruce Helford, “and they’d say, ‘Oh, cool, thank you,’ and then they’d do it in perfect English, with no accent at all!” Lopez himself reveals that, while building the sets for his series, the network complained that the kitchen didn’t look like a Mexican kitchen. “They said, ‘There’s nothing here that indicates that a Mexican family lives here. There’s not a tortilla maker.’ I said, ‘My tortilla maker was my grandmother!’” For the most part, the so-called “Latino audience” is something which, more often than not, the entertainment industry views as an advertising demographic rather than a group of individuals who are looking for their own brand of entertainment. There’s an ongoing battle between trying to portray real Latino life versus what producers think middle America can handle; one guy mentions how, from his experience, the average Latino family doesn’t always have a father present, but TV can’t hang with the idea of a fatherless family scenario, while Lopez speaks about how absolutely no-one in his family was supportive of his attempts to build an American TV career. The most interesting interview, at least for me, wasn’t with Lopez but, rather, with Bill Dana, the comedian who portrayed Jose Jimenez. He was hugely popular for many years, but he wasn’t actually Latino, and as the tide of public opinion turned, the popularity waned dramatically…like, to the point where, when he announced that he was retiring the character, he was stunned at the resulting cheers. “Brown is the New Green” is another fine PBS production, providing an interesting, educational, and - ultimately - depressing look at how little love the Latino community gets on television. Sure, it’s nice that “Ugly Betty” is a success, but you can’t really call that a step forward when, in virtually the same breath, ABC canceled “The George Lopez Show” in favor of “Cavemen.” Still, when the doc ends with the revelation that Lopez earned $5 million from the show’s final season, $15 million from the series’ syndication deal, and $9 million from his stand-up shows that year, at least you can’t say that his chapter of the story hasn’t had a happy ending.
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Upfront admission: I’ve never seen the first “Married in America” film. Good thing, then, that director Michael Apted has taken it into account that some of those who might happen upon this sequel to his 2002 documentary might need to play a bit of catch-up.
In 2001, Apted - the British director who made a name for himself as a documentarian with the series of “Up” films - ventured forth to America, selected ten couples who were on the cusp of marriage and filmed the days leading up to their nuptials as well as the ceremonies themselves, asking them questions about their relationships, their feelings about marriage, and what they anticipate the future will hold for them. In 2006, he returned to the couples to see how things had been going since the last time he’d come ’round…and, no surprise here, things are decidedly different in most cases. When selecting couples, Apted pointedly tried to highlight as many different social, economic, and cultural angles as possible, so as to cover the gamut of marital stories, and he certainly succeeded on that front; there’s a lesbian couple, a multiracial couple (the husband is African-American, the wife is white), a multicultural couple (the wife is Filipino, the husband is Jewish), a pair who’d each already been married several times before, a couple of yuppies, a couple from Alabama where the husband’s a Marine and the wife’s a Southern belle, a duo from NYC who were married immediately prior to 9/11, and so forth and so on. As a result, each story is different from the one which precedes it…and, yet, ultimately, it’s all about marriage, so you can’t help but find similarities as well. It’s a bit sad to see that Betty and Reggie are still living with Betty’s mom, with the house they’d planned to renovate for themselves still sitting a shambles, but they seem happy, so, hey, more power to them. Less happy with each other, however, are Carol & Chuck and Nadine & Frank; the latter are trying to keep it together for the sake of family, but the former only barely keep any ties with each other these days. There’s no question that, whether you’ve seen the first film or not, “Married in America 2″ is often an interesting viewing experience. Personally, however, I found myself occasionally indifferent to the goings-on…and, ultimately, I think it’s for the same reason that I got so bored with “Tell Me You Love Me” even though it was full of realistic-looking sex: I’m married. I am one of these people; I don’t need to watch their stories on television when I’m already living their lives. Yes, it’s interesting to see where they are five years after their marriage, but I watch TV and movies for escapism, and seeing how five years of marriage has brought a couple a house, a child, and a fair amount of bills is, to say the least, not much of an escape at all. Filed under: Movies and Movie DVDs and Reviews and Documentaries and External Entertainment and External Movies and External Movie DVDs and Doc of the Day Comments: None Digg this! Add to Del.icio.us |
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Given that Oliver Stone’s “JFK” is one of my all-time favorite movies, it should come as no surprise to anyone that I’d enjoy a good conspiracy-theory documentary, but “911 Mysteries - Part 1: Demolitions” is more intriguing than the average…possibly because its subject is one that affected just about everyone who lived through it. I’m not trying to pretend that li’l ol’ me, sitting in Norfolk, VA, was in any way as traumatized by the experiences on September 11, 2001, as the people in New York City - that’d be ludicrous - but, man, I’ll never forget how I felt as I stood in the break room at Harris Publishing and watched the towers fall live on television. I’m not even going to begin to try to put into the words the sensation that went through me as I witnessed something so unexpected and of such tremendous magnitude unfolding before my eyes, but it was something I hope never to experience again. As it is, I’m already dreaded the day when my daughter, who’s 2 years old as of this writing, asks me about that day, because I have absolutely no fucking idea what I’m going to say.
With the first part of the “911 Mysteries” series (the additional two parts remain unproduced at present, as the filmmakers await the necessary funding to move forward), we’re presented with some very interesting premises; they may or may not be true, but for the open-minded viewer, they result in enough eyebrow raising to make you consider the possibility of their accuracy. The main question posited during the film’s 90 minutes is this: how do you get a 10-second, 110-story pancake collapse of a major structure? The answer is…no-one has an answer. Or if they do, they’re not talking. But plenty of civilian construction folk have had the question posed to them, and most seem to mystified as to how it happened. The film features footage of a gentleman who lost his life in the collapse of the Towers, filmed several months prior to 9/11, indicating that the buildings were structurally designed to withstand a hit from a 747 - the largest aircraft at the time the building were erected - without incident. So why did they collapse so rapidly after such a strike? And why weren’t the core structures of the buildings still intact even as the floors fell around them? Is it possible that there were additional goings-on within the Towers which resulted in their destruction…? The best I’m going to say is “maybe,” but, like I said, this movie will definitely get you thinking. There are interviews with plenty of construction professionals who find the building’s state of collapse to be inexplicable based on the facts as presented by the mainstream media; the discussions about who stood to gain from the loss of files, facts, and figures which were housed within the Towers might feel a bit too paranoid, but when you hear witnesses describing the mysterious construction on the 34th floor a month or two before the attacks, which was significant enough that the below floors could feel the shaking from the work being done (yet when one guy sneaked up to see what they were working on, he found the floor to be completely empty), you do start wondering, “What was going on up there?” Is it possible that terrorists planned far enough in advance to weaken the structure of the building by way of a bomb within the heart of the building itself? It’s thought-provoking stuff. If you’re a steadfast conservative Republican, you’re probably already wagging your finger and declaring it to be anti-American and unpatriotic, but if you’re like me and always wonder if the news you’re getting is really the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, you owe it to yourself to at least give “911 Mysteries - Part 1: Demolitions” a look…whether you believe it or not. Oh, and in closing, I really just have to ask this aloud: whose idea was it to use a blurb from Rosie O’Donnell as the front-cover quote? “Watch and decide for yourself,” she says. For one, it’s not a very good quote, and for another, what, is she really the best spokesperson they could get? I mean, I’m not familiar with David Ray Griffin, the author quoted on the back cover, but at least his statement - “Excellent. The best of the 9/11 movies.” - is an actual compliment. Rosie’s comment is just…nothing. Filed under: Movies and Movie DVDs and Reviews and Documentaries and External Entertainment and External Movies and External Movie DVDs and Doc of the Day Comments: 1 Comment Digg this! Add to Del.icio.us |
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It might’ve been fifty years since nine African-American teenagers broke the color barrier and, with the assistance of the National Guard, integrated the public schools in Little Rock, Arkansas, but racism still runs rampant in these United States…and I’m just as guilty as anyone. I’d like to tell you I’m not - in fact, I’d prefer to tell you I’m not - but here’s why I’d be lying if I claimed otherwise: while watching “Little Rock Central: 50 Years Later,” the HBO special which revisits Little Rock Central High School to see how much has changed (and how much has stayed the same) since 1957, there was a moment when several teenage African-American girls are dancing around the room to a song on the radio…and when I realized that the song was “Stacy’s Mom,” by Fountains of Wayne, my first thought was, “Wow, really?” I’d love to tell you it was simply the exclamation of a power-pop fan being pleased to hear a song by one of his favorite artists in such context, but, no, that was secondary at best. The harsh truth of the matter is that I reacted that way because it just seemed incongruous to see African |