Watched the last 2 hours of Make "em Laugh ... meh. I'm sorry, I just don't find Billy Crystal funny and it seemed like they HAD to feature him ... kind of like "hey, if you don't give me 'x' minutes, I'm not gonna do your little intros". I mean, this guy is NOT funny. He takes himself way to seriously to be funny. Billy Crystal is not a guy who will poke fun at himself, his overinflated ego, Mr. Oscar bullcrap (I liked it when Letterman hosted). I just couldn't imagine being in a room with him. I'm imagining the sound of a vacuum cleaner sucking all the air out when he arrives because he's the most important guy in the room, in his mind.
So ... yea, I don't like Billy Crystal.
I guess my biggest surprise was that Phil Silvers ... Sgt. Bilko, is a really funny guy, never occured to me. I'm happy that they featured Larry David, the anti Billy Crystal. But only giving SNL a paltry 2 minutes? Really? They should have given SNL Billy Crystals 2+ minutes we had to listen to him parody Oscar nominated movies !!! Ugh!!!! How can anyone NOT feature Belushi ... they didn't even mention Gilda Radner! And Kovacs, not one stinking mention of Ernie Kovacs! This guy was a genius! He invented some of the special effects used on television back in the 50's. They could have squeezed him in when they paid tribute to Your Show of Shows for heaven's sake! No mention of Barney Miller either, blasphemy.
I don't know, I understand that they had a set amount of time to cram all their material into ... I say they have another 6 episodes and dedicate 1 hour to SNL and one hour to Kovacs and Barney Miller and please, no Billy Crystal!!!!!! Keep Amy Sedaris and have her brother, David take Crystal's place. An emmy for sure!!!!
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Monday, January 26, 2009
Southland Tales ... what the heck was that?
One of my alltime favorite films is Donnie Darko ... I could watch it, and I have, watched it over and over again. Each time I see it, I see something I missed. I cannot say enough about how great this film is and then I watched ...
Southland Tales
What the heck???? Richard Kelly ... what the heck??? He wrote and directed Donnie Darko superbly .. is that a word? He launched the career of Jake Gyllenhall and seriously, it's his best performance. So what the heck happened?
First of all ... the cast was horrible!!!! Just HORRIBLE!!! The Rock as the main hero? Are you kidding me? He can't act his way out of a paper bag, man, what a waste of a salary! Sara Michelle Geller? Really? Seriously ... really? And then here come the SNL people ... Poehler, Lovitz, Oteri, Nora Dunn ... now, they weren't bad, well, Lovitz was bad, but still ... lordy be what the heck? Bai Ling? What is she? Wallace Shawn? The only good casting calls were, believe it or not, Justin Timberlake and Sean William Scott. Timberlake did a cool song and dance number using the song that this blahg is dedicated to. I liked that scene.
The story ... this script probably could have been adapted for an HBO or Showtime miniseries. The movie was almost 2.5 hours long and it was still not complete. The editing was horrible and it was just incredibly hard to follow.
So why do I care?
I care because of Donnie Darko. Kelly needs to remake this film. It needs to be released in theatres a la the Kill Bill movies or, mentioned before, as a miniseries on cable. And most of all, A COMPLETELY NEW CAST.
Get Geller & Rock out of there. So please, Richard Kelly ... do it over!
Also watched a silly episode of Total Wrecklmation. Come on Jodi ... crying over an auction? That was really dumb. Dumb even after she threatened to take the kitchen out and sell it herself. Sorry, but crying really made her look like a total drama queen. No more crying, please!!!!!
Southland Tales
What the heck???? Richard Kelly ... what the heck??? He wrote and directed Donnie Darko superbly .. is that a word? He launched the career of Jake Gyllenhall and seriously, it's his best performance. So what the heck happened?
First of all ... the cast was horrible!!!! Just HORRIBLE!!! The Rock as the main hero? Are you kidding me? He can't act his way out of a paper bag, man, what a waste of a salary! Sara Michelle Geller? Really? Seriously ... really? And then here come the SNL people ... Poehler, Lovitz, Oteri, Nora Dunn ... now, they weren't bad, well, Lovitz was bad, but still ... lordy be what the heck? Bai Ling? What is she? Wallace Shawn? The only good casting calls were, believe it or not, Justin Timberlake and Sean William Scott. Timberlake did a cool song and dance number using the song that this blahg is dedicated to. I liked that scene.
The story ... this script probably could have been adapted for an HBO or Showtime miniseries. The movie was almost 2.5 hours long and it was still not complete. The editing was horrible and it was just incredibly hard to follow.
So why do I care?
I care because of Donnie Darko. Kelly needs to remake this film. It needs to be released in theatres a la the Kill Bill movies or, mentioned before, as a miniseries on cable. And most of all, A COMPLETELY NEW CAST.
Get Geller & Rock out of there. So please, Richard Kelly ... do it over!
Also watched a silly episode of Total Wrecklmation. Come on Jodi ... crying over an auction? That was really dumb. Dumb even after she threatened to take the kitchen out and sell it herself. Sorry, but crying really made her look like a total drama queen. No more crying, please!!!!!
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Much better parts 3&4
Make Me Laugh was much much better this time around. They honored Chaplin ... well deserved. But I was thrilled to see them give Laurel & Hardy, The Three Stooges and Harpo Marx their due. I watched Laurel & Hardy movies before I ever watched Chaplin. Their story is just sweet and heartwarming. Even after they retired, unlike Abbott & Costello, Stan & Ollie remained close friends and when Ollie died, Stan was there and was affected by his best friend passing for the rest of his life . I wish they would make a biopic about these 2. I can see Mackie from The Shield playing Ollie (he's already played Curley), not sure about Stan.
Anyway, The Stooges ... I used to watch The Stooges on Channel 32 everyday after school and on Sunday mornings with my Dad. The Curley's were the best and I still consider Disorder in the Court a master of words/cadence and pure slapstick.
Lawyer: Drop the vernacular
Curley: Vernacular? That's a doiby
Brilliance!
And Harpo ... I grew up watching Duck Soup every New Years Eve on Channel 9 (WGN). Harpo was the best and I don't mean that Groucho & Chico were slouches either. Groucho & Chico's monologues together are classics ... parachute, pair of shoes ... again, words & cadence. Harpo was a child, an ornery child who was a genius musician. I once gave a speech on how much Harpo Marx influenced my life when I was in high school.
Then onto a great segment. Political comedy. Lenny Bruce ... the man died so people like Richard Pryor & George Carlin could exist. Lenny's act now is tame ... said some bad words and I can't even remember how many times he went to jail ... 7 times maybe? And then Pryor. He made comedy personal. His material came out of his experience. He made growing up in a brothel ... FUNNY. He made torching himself ...FUNNY. He made having heart attacks ... FUNNY. God rest your soul Richard. Carlin. I got choked up because it's hard to believe that he's dead too. Sigh.
I also remember watching the Smother's Brothers and my Dad being ticked when CBS pulled them off the air. The thing I remember the Smothers Brothers for was Yo-Yo man .. hey, I was a kid!
Watched what may be a great show called Lie to Me. I love Tim Roth and he's the main character. He's a human lie detector. As I'm watching the show, I have to wonder how frustrating it would be to be on this show. The actors have to do certain movements and facial expressions to show they are lying. Ok ... say these lines and DO THIS with your face ... yikes!!!
Anyway, The Stooges ... I used to watch The Stooges on Channel 32 everyday after school and on Sunday mornings with my Dad. The Curley's were the best and I still consider Disorder in the Court a master of words/cadence and pure slapstick.
Lawyer: Drop the vernacular
Curley: Vernacular? That's a doiby
Brilliance!
And Harpo ... I grew up watching Duck Soup every New Years Eve on Channel 9 (WGN). Harpo was the best and I don't mean that Groucho & Chico were slouches either. Groucho & Chico's monologues together are classics ... parachute, pair of shoes ... again, words & cadence. Harpo was a child, an ornery child who was a genius musician. I once gave a speech on how much Harpo Marx influenced my life when I was in high school.
Then onto a great segment. Political comedy. Lenny Bruce ... the man died so people like Richard Pryor & George Carlin could exist. Lenny's act now is tame ... said some bad words and I can't even remember how many times he went to jail ... 7 times maybe? And then Pryor. He made comedy personal. His material came out of his experience. He made growing up in a brothel ... FUNNY. He made torching himself ...FUNNY. He made having heart attacks ... FUNNY. God rest your soul Richard. Carlin. I got choked up because it's hard to believe that he's dead too. Sigh.
I also remember watching the Smother's Brothers and my Dad being ticked when CBS pulled them off the air. The thing I remember the Smothers Brothers for was Yo-Yo man .. hey, I was a kid!
Watched what may be a great show called Lie to Me. I love Tim Roth and he's the main character. He's a human lie detector. As I'm watching the show, I have to wonder how frustrating it would be to be on this show. The actors have to do certain movements and facial expressions to show they are lying. Ok ... say these lines and DO THIS with your face ... yikes!!!
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Is it Inauguration Day?
Really? For real??? It's finally here? No WAY!!!
I started watching what will hopefully get better as it goes. It's a 6 part series called Make 'em Laugh. It's on PBS and the first 2 hours was so so. The first hour was fabulous! Starts out with Harold Lloyd, goes to Cheech and Chong ... I'm sorry, but I just laugh my butt off when I see their standup and the movie Up in Smoke. I remember seeing their bits when I was a teenager when no other parents would let their kids see it ... I have the coolest parents. It didn't turn me into a pot smoker either. I saw it for what it was COMEDY. Those 2 were making fun of people getting high, not glorifying them. I mean, you see then in a parked car, stoned out of their minds and Cheech thinks he's driving?
That
is
funny
Anyway, they also did bits with Jonathan Winters, another comedian I grew up listening to ... and Bob Hope (yawn, sorry, I just don't think he's funny). And then there's Andy ... Andy Kaufman. A comedian's comedian. This is a guy who didn't care if you were funny. If he thought what he was doing was funny, he was fine. He was on the first episode of SNL back in 1975 and guess what ... I watched it. I was 8 and even better ... I thought it was funny! I got it, I got what he was doing ... here's the clip:
To this day, I laugh at this bit. I spent most of the first hour laughing and then not so much during the second hour ... they spent it on family sitcoms, which, by and large, I do not find funny. Cosby was cute and cute is NOT FUNNY, as was I Love Lucy & Dick Van Dyke ... but then they ended with Seinfeld ... ah Seinfeld. The best sitcom in the history of television. It wasn't a family sitcom though. It was about 4 horrible horrible people and the horrible horrible things they did to each other and others ... seriously, there wasn't one nice person on that show and that is what made it funny.
They had better cover better topics for the next couple shows ... Chaplin, Kovacs, Bruce, Pryor ... Carlin ... hellllooooooo!!!! And if they completely bypass Barney Miller, I will be ticked. I do like that Amy Sedaris is the narrator. She can be raunchy and I adore her brother, David Sedaris. They have to cover Saturday Night Live and the Ernie Kovacs Show ... man, this show has a lot to live up to in my book.
I also watched the season premiere of Flight of the Conchords. It's hilarious ... the next day when you think about the episode, or watch it a second time. Jermaine and "Breet" are so incredibly dry and clueless. So between Conchords and Corner Gas, my dry sense of humor shows are pretty much covered.
I gave up on Damages. It's just too dark for me. I guess I'm just not into it this time around.
I think I forgot to mention how thrilled I am that Colin Farrell won a Golden Globe for his role in In Bruges. He completely deserved it!!!
I started watching what will hopefully get better as it goes. It's a 6 part series called Make 'em Laugh. It's on PBS and the first 2 hours was so so. The first hour was fabulous! Starts out with Harold Lloyd, goes to Cheech and Chong ... I'm sorry, but I just laugh my butt off when I see their standup and the movie Up in Smoke. I remember seeing their bits when I was a teenager when no other parents would let their kids see it ... I have the coolest parents. It didn't turn me into a pot smoker either. I saw it for what it was COMEDY. Those 2 were making fun of people getting high, not glorifying them. I mean, you see then in a parked car, stoned out of their minds and Cheech thinks he's driving?
That
is
funny
Anyway, they also did bits with Jonathan Winters, another comedian I grew up listening to ... and Bob Hope (yawn, sorry, I just don't think he's funny). And then there's Andy ... Andy Kaufman. A comedian's comedian. This is a guy who didn't care if you were funny. If he thought what he was doing was funny, he was fine. He was on the first episode of SNL back in 1975 and guess what ... I watched it. I was 8 and even better ... I thought it was funny! I got it, I got what he was doing ... here's the clip:
Link:
To this day, I laugh at this bit. I spent most of the first hour laughing and then not so much during the second hour ... they spent it on family sitcoms, which, by and large, I do not find funny. Cosby was cute and cute is NOT FUNNY, as was I Love Lucy & Dick Van Dyke ... but then they ended with Seinfeld ... ah Seinfeld. The best sitcom in the history of television. It wasn't a family sitcom though. It was about 4 horrible horrible people and the horrible horrible things they did to each other and others ... seriously, there wasn't one nice person on that show and that is what made it funny.
They had better cover better topics for the next couple shows ... Chaplin, Kovacs, Bruce, Pryor ... Carlin ... hellllooooooo!!!! And if they completely bypass Barney Miller, I will be ticked. I do like that Amy Sedaris is the narrator. She can be raunchy and I adore her brother, David Sedaris. They have to cover Saturday Night Live and the Ernie Kovacs Show ... man, this show has a lot to live up to in my book.
I also watched the season premiere of Flight of the Conchords. It's hilarious ... the next day when you think about the episode, or watch it a second time. Jermaine and "Breet" are so incredibly dry and clueless. So between Conchords and Corner Gas, my dry sense of humor shows are pretty much covered.
I gave up on Damages. It's just too dark for me. I guess I'm just not into it this time around.
I think I forgot to mention how thrilled I am that Colin Farrell won a Golden Globe for his role in In Bruges. He completely deserved it!!!
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Corner Gas
This show is hysterical! I hate to say it, but it's kind of like a Canadian Seinfeld. A show about nothing. Each show is independent of the other, no running storylines. Each character could be spun off on it's own, but as a whole, the cast is great. I read that they are going to stop production, but it's been on for 6 seasons, so I have a lot more to catch up on. WGN is going to start running 3 in a row in the early mornings, so my Tivo will be working hard!
Andrew McCarthy ... sigh ... what's happened to him? I tried ... really really tried to watch a movie he did called New World Disorder. I couldn't get through it! It was interesting at first because Rutger Hauer played a really fat cop and McCarthy played a bad guy, but he was really awful and it broke my heart, so I had to delete it before getting into it for longer than 30 minutes. Bad Andrew!
There's a song going through my head. You can hear it on the Toyota Prius commercial where a car literally is made out of sticks and grass and then decomposes back into the earth. The song is haunting ... here's the commerical:
The song is called Hometime by the band One EskimO. The entire song is fantastic and it is supposedly available on Itunes, but it's not :( the video for the song is on One EskimO's website and it's a haunting video too.
I forgot to mention that another reason why I'm digging Nip/Tuck is that the guy from Aliens In America, Raja, is in it as a young doctor. It really bummed me out that they cancelled Aliens in America, but at least one of the characters found work on another very cool show.
Andrew McCarthy ... sigh ... what's happened to him? I tried ... really really tried to watch a movie he did called New World Disorder. I couldn't get through it! It was interesting at first because Rutger Hauer played a really fat cop and McCarthy played a bad guy, but he was really awful and it broke my heart, so I had to delete it before getting into it for longer than 30 minutes. Bad Andrew!
There's a song going through my head. You can hear it on the Toyota Prius commercial where a car literally is made out of sticks and grass and then decomposes back into the earth. The song is haunting ... here's the commerical:
The song is called Hometime by the band One EskimO. The entire song is fantastic and it is supposedly available on Itunes, but it's not :( the video for the song is on One EskimO's website and it's a haunting video too.
I forgot to mention that another reason why I'm digging Nip/Tuck is that the guy from Aliens In America, Raja, is in it as a young doctor. It really bummed me out that they cancelled Aliens in America, but at least one of the characters found work on another very cool show.
Friday, January 9, 2009
Already Overwhelmed
Where do I start ... I feel like I'll never keep up with my Tivo! I added a new show to the mix called Corner Gas. It's a Canadian show and it's freaking hilarious. Clean, dry and quirky, kind of like most Candians I know. It's probably one of the few shows I can watch with my kids present. It's on 2 times a day ... in the wee hours of the morning, so when I wake up at 5am like I'm likely to, I can watch 2 episodes before anyone wakes up. I've seen 3 episodes so far and it is definitely worthy of mention on this blog.
Flight of the Conchords starts this weekend! Again, another dry and quirkey show, only from Australia, or is it New Zealand, anyway ... this one can't be viewed by children.
Whatever Martha is starting to wear on me. It was funny at first, but now little miss Alexis and her attitude are starting to make me yawn.
Total Wrecklamation started up with new episodes and Jody auctioned off stuff from a great Lincoln Park house. What I wouldn't give to get in on some of those auctions. Front doors alone would be worth the trip. It's amazing, door that would retail in the thousands going for a couple hundy ... as long as I'm not part of it, I will never think it's fair.
In the dead rock star file, I started re-watching Stoned. It's about Brian Jones and his rise and fall and death. What a jerk he was. Seriously, he lived in a fantasy world. Obviously he didn't attend the London School of Economics like his bandmate Mick Jagger.
Watched the season premiere of Damages. I swore I wouldn't watch it. I liked last season, but wow, the opener was great! I love Glenn Close's character and Frobisher isn't dead, surprise surprise. William Hurt is in this season and I think he's fantastic. He was underrated in The History of Violence and I still see him breaking through glass to get at Kathleen Turner in Body Heat. The other main character, Ellen, seems like she's on ludes, but then again, she is still dealing with the death of her fiance (on the show). I don't see how they will ever be able to get a case going against Patty and I have a feeling that the cops Ellen is working for are actually working for Patty ... we'll see.
Flight of the Conchords starts this weekend! Again, another dry and quirkey show, only from Australia, or is it New Zealand, anyway ... this one can't be viewed by children.
Whatever Martha is starting to wear on me. It was funny at first, but now little miss Alexis and her attitude are starting to make me yawn.
Total Wrecklamation started up with new episodes and Jody auctioned off stuff from a great Lincoln Park house. What I wouldn't give to get in on some of those auctions. Front doors alone would be worth the trip. It's amazing, door that would retail in the thousands going for a couple hundy ... as long as I'm not part of it, I will never think it's fair.
In the dead rock star file, I started re-watching Stoned. It's about Brian Jones and his rise and fall and death. What a jerk he was. Seriously, he lived in a fantasy world. Obviously he didn't attend the London School of Economics like his bandmate Mick Jagger.
Watched the season premiere of Damages. I swore I wouldn't watch it. I liked last season, but wow, the opener was great! I love Glenn Close's character and Frobisher isn't dead, surprise surprise. William Hurt is in this season and I think he's fantastic. He was underrated in The History of Violence and I still see him breaking through glass to get at Kathleen Turner in Body Heat. The other main character, Ellen, seems like she's on ludes, but then again, she is still dealing with the death of her fiance (on the show). I don't see how they will ever be able to get a case going against Patty and I have a feeling that the cops Ellen is working for are actually working for Patty ... we'll see.
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