“You can trust me, I play in a band!”
Surely someone in a band you trust has given you bum advice on buying an album before. It’s possible that musician even used his or her “insider knowledge” as a musician as part of the pitch. If so, any if you’d like to now call out that person in public, be it a musician you know or a musician whose advice you took from an interview, for steering you wrong, here’s your space to do so. Calling out the musician by name is optional, especially if it’s a friend. If it’s a fellow Townsperson, we’ve got thick enough skin to take it! If it’s a musician whose advice you followed from an interview, by all means call that person out! What album did this musician convince you to buy based on what special insights?
Hello my good friend,
It has been some time since I’ve been up here.
Know that I greatly enjoyed the last meal we had together: the food, the music, and most importantly the making fun of every single arrogant doofus whose arrogance was unearned.
Much thanks for your past generosities, for turning me on to some objectively great stuff, namably two or three Robyn Hitchcock tracks that were mildly interesting but certainly nothing to write home to grandma about.
That said, your recent suggestions have been the pits. The new “A-Team” picture? I don’t think so. “The Hangover”? I did waste time on that one and found it to be nothing but a giant megaturd. Simply put, not funny, and most of the characters were poor man’s versions of those found elsewhere. I agree that much needs to get done these days: bills need to get paid, asses need to be wiped, and many many compromises with the ball and chain need to be made if one does not want to find one’s self’s story made into a biopic not unworthy of broadcast on a 3 digit channel cable television show, somewhere in the nether reaches where something like “Cutlery Corner” is found (I urge all to check this thing out.).
Yup, being picky certainly becomes less and less of an option. That said, consumption of the above is a lethal affair. And if that crossing of the six lane highway is made, there is absolutely and positively no coming back.
As far as listening to new music is concerned, know that it’s an absolute waste of time. Those with functioning brains know that it was all over around 1982. That’s objective fact. We need not waste time on any of that crap.
Movies are another matter. Every so often, magic still happens: “Sideways”, “You Can Count on Me”, “The Squid and the Whale”, etc.
Since you have chosen to go where no sane man has gone before, I will take on the responsibility of enlightening the dolts up here who still go on and on about the mystical power of something like the Zombies “Odyssey and Oracle” -indeed, a noble effort, but let’s all be honest with one another -how many times is it really pulled out of the jacket and flopped on the turntable. Enough said.
I urge all to check out “The 500 Days of Summer”. Yeah, it’s slightly flawed, but there’s plenty of meat on its bone. For those of you who saw the pic, I’d enjoy hearing what you thought about it.
Sincerely,
E. Pluribus
P.S. I’m down here in Maryland – the Land of Pleasant Living. And I’ll prove that point. My breakfast today consisted of a huge chunk of London broil, a giant sliced tomato, and two cans of icy cold National Bohemian.
Song in the headphones is very familiar. Shameless, subliminal, self-promotion?
E.P.- “Sideways”? Really?! I’m shocked and surprised that a gentleman of such cold-filtered taste fell for this remarkable POS.
Apart from Thomas Hayden Church getting his skull caved in and the whack-worthy Virgina Madsen, this film had absolutely zero redeeming qualities. A folly for pseudo-intellectuals.
A Captain Beefheart of movies if you will.
P.S. I play Odessey at least once/year.
Hey Maudlin,
Your two cents has always meant a lot to me. Please don’t change any of that with the dissing of “Sideways”. “A folly for pseudo intellectualls”? How? Please provide examples.
Thanks again for giving Captain Beefheart another kick in the nuts. Is the kicking of his nuts the current critical trend or do those in the hallowed halls of rock think he still has something worthwhile to offer?
Hope to hear from you soon,
E. Pluribus
Sideways= A host of unlikeable characters, stuck in adolescence struggling with midlife crises. As midlife crisis movies go at least City Slickers and even Shrek 3D made me laugh.
Here’s the pitch- Post adult “party-guy” + “I-never-get-the-girl-best-friend-guy” = party-guy learns he’s a fool + never-gets-the-girl-guy gets the girl. Swingers anyone?
But wait, let’s set it in California wine country and use words like “sommmelier” so we can call it “indie” and watching it therefore means you’re smart.
sammymaudlin nailed “Sideways.” Much ado about nothing.
Odessey and Oracle, on the other hand: a joy forever, notwithstanding Butcher’s Tale and the lame bonus tracks on my copy of the cd. Had it on two or three days ago.
Except for that lovely speech about wine being alive by Madsen.
Which made me think differently about wine, until, two minutes later, when I remembered, it’s still a lot of overpriced, tannin-tasting, acid-stomach inducing, aged grape juice that I don’t like.
I am learning a lot these days: no good rock before the Beatles and the Stones, wine is overpriced, tannin-tasting, acid-stomach inducing, aged grape juice, music was all over by 1982 (well, maybe that one is true), any others?
I’m down with Sideways, although seeing it once, so far, has been enough. sammy’s diss of it was well written and believable.
I’m down with E. Pluribus, too, even if he’s shown up here only twice this summer. In person, the man is Good People!
Ugh..Sideways? I thought that was a cast of people that never had an interesting conversation pretending to have interesting conversations. I figured about halfway through if no one had stabbed anyone in the eye with a corkscrew it was never gonna happen, so I shut it off.
misterioso, things get better. Wait until you hear that Herman’s Hermits wasn’t total barfola. Which they were. Totally.
Right on, 2000 man! And Mick Jagger’s latest solo outing is his finest work since Sticky Fingers!
E. Pluribus
My idea of hell is spending eternity trapped in a bar where the Replacements serve up never ending encores to a load of appreciative numbskulls who can’t wait to talk about the brilliance of “Fight Club” during breaks.
Hence, “RTH -The New Generation”.
Here’s hoping that someone indifferent to the charms of purple Kool Aid will opt to chime in tomorrow!
E. Pluribus
I’m so down with E. so often (1982 was it, pop gets no better than Noone & Co.) that when he says something laughable (e.g. Beefheart) I pause momentarily re my own opinion before reaffirming said opinion and thinking no-one, not even E., can be right all the time.
Come ’round more often E. (said the near lurker).
Why I like Sideways: Giamatti does an excellent job making his sad-sack character simultaneously annoying and sympathetic. He’s great. He does an equally excellent job as Harvey Pekar.
The friendship between the more successful Jack with the loser Miles rang true. I fully believed how they could enjoy each other’s company, and still be disappointed with the other one. The Jack guy is a funny character.
I like the travelogue aspect depicting the wine country.
SPOILERS: There are some very funny scenes and lines. “Don’t go to the Dark Side.” “Did you drink and dial”? Seeing Miles drinking his prized wine bottle in the fast food joint. When Miles hands over his gigantic unpublished novel for Madsen to read. The 2 intentional car crashes.
The 2 monologues of why they dig wine were very phony, but otherwise a very believable and amusing movie about middle-aged friendship, and how you can act more adolescent when you’re in those situations.
Good summary of what makes that movie so enjoyable for me, too, chick. The only parts that tire me are the women, at times, especially the character of Sandra Oh, or whatever her name is.
Well said, Chicken Frank. That said, I thought Madsen’s monologue was one of the higlights.
Have you checked out “The Hangover” yet? I was told that it was something Judd Apatow wishes he could have done. That assessment was dead wrong. I’m not an Apatow fan, but he always manages to get a couple of huge belly laughs out of me during any of his 4 and 1/2 hour efforts. I got none from “The Hangover”. It’s been ages since I’ve seen a crew try so hard to be clever and funny and fail so miserably. I honestly thought the gang responsible for “Fight Club” had a hand in the turd.
Whatever. As always, I’m looking forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
e. Pluribus
Hey, Gergley! Did you see “Walk Hard: the Dewey Cox Story”? Previews made it look like a stone-cold turd, but it was actually pretty good. Especially for a reluctant rock nerd like you.
Hey Al,
Always good to hear from you. Hope all is well in Connecticut. By the way, I recently picked up a copy of Dylan’s “Don’t Look Back” with the extra DVD that was more or less another version of “Don’t Look Back” made from cutting floor scraps. Still, it’s worth a watch. Call me crazy, but during that time period, Dylan is absolutely and positively the very essence of “cool”.
And speaking of “cool”, the concept itself appears to be gone completely. When someone as thoroughly average in all aspects as Bradley Cooper can consistently be a major box office draw, you know things are very, very bad.
Any thoughts on Cooper or “The Hangover”?
Hope to hear from you soon,
E. Pluribus
2000man, c’mon, no one is going to argue for the greatness of Herman’s Hermits here. Are they?
The plus side of this discussion has been realizing how very, very little of Sideways stuck with me. Almost as little as Fight Club, but, then again, I never bothered to see that.
But, then, movies have been pretty much over since 1975.
Hrundi,
I am currently pissed off at the Moderator. I need to focus my energies on that target alone.
Know that your recent e-mails have given me a major headache as well. Fear not though. I’ve already placed them in the “Forgive them father, for they know not what they have done” file.
And please, please smoke some pot, lots of it, for yourself and all of us who have to deal with you and your whitest man in America psychological garbage bag.
Your friend,
E. Pluribus
E. wrote:
Dude, that’s so CRAZY that Jim Sipala wants to see ya in a Kia.
E. you would love it out here. We’re in super-manly cowboy country: driving through 1-horse towns, guys with their jeans hitched high, the un-ironic wearing of cowboy hats, etc. In some tiny town in Colorado we ate at a steak joint called True Grit. Nothing but The Duke on the walls. Nothing but beef on the menu. The local jerky is fine. Wish you were here. Hope you can chill out over the disappointment you experienced over The Hangover. It was a funny movie. There are many kind people in the world. Don’t fear them, man. We need to make some time before the summer ends and life gets more hectic.
Hey Hrundi,
I recently had a conversation, about you, with a girl named Heather. She told me to e-mail this to you. I figured it might be a good idea posting it up here on RTH because it might be good for someone else as well.
Hi Terry,
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Whatever the reason (s) was the sad reality is you are in a lot of pain right now. You feel confused, sick, afraid, isolated, and depressed. You’re not sure who or where to turn to. You might feel like you’ve made the biggest mistake of your life or you may feel that way towards your partner. Sadly, we’ve all been there. The good news is there is help that will get you back on your feet and back into the game of love
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It might not seem that way right now, but proper preparation and time to recuperate will help immensely. After all, time heals all wounds. The same can be said even if infidelity is involved. Anything is possible if you put your mind, body, and soul into it. It isn’t child’s play though. Some work will certainly be involved…maybe even a little bit of coercion. But you will discover soon enough that the ends justify the means and all of the sweat, blood, and tears will be well worth it in the end.
So, What’s Your Secret?
Is there a fool-proof way to fix any relationship, no matter how badly broken it is? Is it a word, a technique, or a potion? Could it be a formula that you can apply to any and all love predicaments, regardless of where you’re from or who you are?
Skeptical? We don’t blame you. But before we get into it you may want to make sure that you are truly heartbroken…
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Heartbreak 101
Do you exhibit any of the following symptoms?
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– Constantly calling up your ex or sending them tons of text messages.
– Stalking your ex.
– Thoughts of killing or maiming your ex.
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– Obsessing about the break-up, the relationship, or your ex.
– Breaking out in hives or boils.
If you noticed that many of the aforementioned symptoms developed after the breakup then you are probably suffering from heartbreak and should receive the proper treatment as soon as possible.
However, the good news is none of this stuff is your fault. You didn’t learn how to behave properly in a romantic relationship and the Dos and Don’ts in school! It’s kinda strange when you think about it. We are constantly bamboozled with petty sex in advertising, and all sorts of ads pertaining to materialistic pursuits. Yet, there is a very small amount of literature devoted to helping people reignite their lost passions and stay in love forever. Well, we were sick and tired of all the empty-promises and BS. We wanted to help others achieve what we have. You may be wondering who we are by this point and what makes us so “special” or “different.”
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My Music Inc
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Whitby
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Canada
Hey Moderator,
Screw all that “we’ve got together and” blah, blah. . . .. I’ve used and continue to use those tactics to dig myself out of holes when I choose to champion indefensible crap. When discussing the merits of that thing, you more or less said it was nothing short of the second coming of Christ. Somewhere in the depths of your ignorance, there is indeed a well thought out high five for that stinker that will most probably wind up being something not unlike your defense for “Miller’s Crossing.”
It’s in that big ass head of yours, and I want it, for all the world to see, ASAP.
Sincerely,
E. Pluribus
Hey, Gergles — I think you misunderstand me. I wasn’t trying to poke you with a stick with the Dewey Cox thing. It’s a genuinely funny (although silly) movie, and I wondered if you’d seen it. I would’ve thought you’d like it for the scene parodying Brian Wilson and the “Smile” sessions alone.
About my recent e-mails: I know, I don’t fit the mold of the trembling, teary-eyed grandmother who just wants you to take her garage full of 1950s record store inventory, so she can make room for her sister’s living room set while she’s recuperating from hip replacement surgery, and “how much will I have to pay to have you move them for me?”, and so forth. I’m prepared to take a third of what they’re worth, and neither I nor my customer should bother with the greedy dance. I just want to pay for my honeymoon. I like goldmining as much as you do, but I’m looking for a straightforward business transaction at this point. Hence the spreadsheet. If nothing else, it helped me figure out what all my crap is worth. If that precludes me from being a “client” of yours, so be it.
And none of the above was said in a snarky tone of voice!
Your pal,
HVB
Hrundi,
Did Gary give you a number for everything? Or does he want to pick and choose?
E. Pluribus
Misterioso,
Movies ended in 1975? I may not agree, but you may have something there. I’d really dig hearing your bent on this.
Sincerely,
E. Pluribus
He’s thinking it over. We’ll see. He’s a good guy.
Let me know what his number is. I might wanna throw one at you as well.
E. Pluribus
WTF? Mr Mod leaves on vacation and this becomes feckin Craigslist?
What about you, Mockcarr. Any thoughts on “The Hangover”? Or Hrundi?
Hope to hear from you soon,
E. Pluribus
I wasn’t expecting anything from The Hangover except spaghetti western-level “groaning because I’m awake” entertainment. It lived up to that, although I believe an entire movie could have been built out of the idea of a dentist pulling his own tooth on the dare of an a woman much more attractive than any he could expect outside of a CBS sitcom.
Well, like any argument built on a generality, this one will be replete with holes or exceptions.
It’s pretty well established that the blockbuster mentality, which can be dated to the mid-70s and certainly was writ large with Jaws, set back the cause of the independent filmmaker or the small film. Eventually, “indy film” appears as a genre itself, essentially, and one that produced some good films.
However, the crux of it is this. The studio system, say from the 20s until the mid-50s, produced within its constraints an inexhaustible wealth of films; as it broke down, national cinemas including those of France, Japan, and Italy produced an incredible body of groundbreaking work; which was eventually emulated by the great wave of American films from the mid-60s until about 1975.
Increasingly, since that time, we are treated to retreads, useless blockbusters that no one cares about the day after their opening weekend, and indy film that seems to have lost the courage of its convictions, assuming it had any.
I admit to painting with a broad brush the period that has been, in effect, my movie-going life. But just as much as there are plenty of records since 1982 that I like, but yet cannot escape the feeling that it’s all gone rather wrong, so too it’s awfully hard for me to feel good about an era that appears to regard Judd Apatow as anything more than a maker of b-movies for the niche market of emotionally retarded men.
And don’t even get me going on Adam Sandler.
I don’t think Adam Sandler is any good, but how is he worse than the modern equivalent of Jerry Lewis or Jacques Tati? There are even lower common denominators to consider now.
Gergely, do you not feel that the one song download age we live in could be a new “45 rpm a-side single” sort of era for songsmiths, if produced properly?
No longer do we need to have whole albums of material to wade through. Buy the song you like.
Not necessarily worse than Lewis. Much worse than Tati. Not the world’s biggest Tati fan, but nonetheless he was a talent and a clever filmmaker.
I thought The Hangover was funny. Really funny, actually. I thought Fight Club was dumber than Sideways.
Any movie where a naked guy unexpectedly jumps out of a trunk and starts kicking ass on the guy that opened it is okay in my book.
Has Paul Giamatti been in anything good, ever, or is Giamatti actually Italian for douchebag, like I suspect?
Tati is clever? I don’t know, it seems like Rowan Atkinson’s Bean series does Jacques Tati much better than Tati does without much effort. Perhaps it’s the benefit of an example to improve upon. Mr. Hulot’s sound effects were done infinitely better by Moe Howard.
I enjoyed Giamatti as John Adams.
I’m not sure that, from a strictly technical standpoint, that Moe Howard–admittedly, a great, great artist–was responsible for the Stooges sound effects.
No but his dexterity fostered those effects much more freely than Tati, and consider how much more difficult it was to get that effect aurally in vaudeville. He at least paid his dues getting slapped around by Ted Healy.
It’s true. Moe could have slapped Tati silly.
I didn’t want to toss some Tati compliment his way.
I don’t know if this is the thread to bring it up, but is a old school rth poll on this side. I dig it.
I left out a “that” which is typical. Why after everything I post is more appropriate, however.
Never saw “Hangover.” I’ve been doing a lot of travel in the movie way-back machine. Watched “North by Northwest” the other night — for the first time, believe it or not — and found that I liked it.
HVB
Mockcarr,
Just for the record, that’s easily one of the most interesting insights I’ve read around here in ages.
The convenience aspect of downloading, for me at least, has always separated the men from the boys. Those who did the homework, got in the car to drive to Philly, Baltimore, or DC to find that one record by whoever, tended to be way more interesting than the run of the mill, “It’s not all that important. So and so will wind up getting a copy at some time or another” load. The diehards (and I include myself in that gang) always tended to be a little bit odd, and therefore had better stories to tell. To put it simply, they were very passionate about their likes and dislikes, and if they chose to become songwriters/musicians they were just a little bit better because of that passion.
I love those stories about the Beatles and the Stones dying to get their hands on records from the States, and Bob Dylan actually breaking into peoples’ house JUST TO HEAR STUFF. All that is over. Everything is readily available, and therefore a good chunk of the romance and adventure is gone from a lot of the music. The word “downloading” alone in any music article or interview makes me recoil, regardless of the fact that I do it all the time.
Interestingly enough, the one thing that I have noticed is that the download/guitar tab generation learns at a pace much faster than our crew who picked up the tone arm and put the needle down again and again to master those one or two notes that were necessary for band high fives. I’m very friendly with a younger avid music fan who could outsing, outdrum, out-twang anyone by the time he was a sophomore in high school -and he’s the first one to admit it’s all computer based learning. That said, his overall taste in everything is fairly mediocre, and his opinions are all together uninteresting. He loves Quentin Tarantino movies, doesn’t care one whit about issues involving social justice, and sees women through a “Hangover” like lens. And all his buddies are exactly the same. This is not good. I can’t put my finger on it, but the whole downloading thing in some way or another changes the magic of the music into candy. That’s a stretch, but I think you might know what I’m getting at. Don’t know about you (actually I do know a decent bit about you because I look forward to reading your take on whatever it is everytime I’m up here on this friggin’ thing), but one of the many charms of the whole pop music thing is that it led to loads of other interests, history in particular, which leads to another peeve of mine. Say what you want, but none of the crap today is historically important whatsoever. The last big thing was whatever went down in Seattle, and as far as I’m concerned, every bit of it sucked. And everyting it spawned sucked even more. All that happened around the same time as the download generation kicked into gear.
That said, I hand over discs and discs and more discs to my daughters who can’t get enough of the whole British Invasion thing. I can’t help but think that some of that is due to the popularity of Harry Potter. They play the Brits and Americans influenced by the Brits on their iPods 24/7. I thought about hooking up turntables in their rooms and giving them LPs to listen to, but then I thought about all the time that would be wasted listening to LPs with those two or three tracks that are killer dillers: the first Pink Floyd LP is a great case in point. Yeah, it goes against everything I believe, but I don’t want to turn my daughters into freaks. They’re already having a somewhat tough time with their fascination with the Brits, and the need to share that love with their friends. The last thing they need is alienating themselves because of their need to express insights concerning the obscure delights found on “A Saucerful of Secrets”.
Truth be told, all this adds up to absolutely nothing. Take it as a text book example of rambling at its finest. All I really wanted to say is that the whole download thing lessens the total value of music and encourages laziness, something that’s not good when it comes to songwriting.
Sorry for all that horseshit,
E. Pluribus
Hey Moderator,
‘Twas you that brought all this on. For it was you that said the best two things you’d seen in the last six months or so were “The A Team” and “The Hangover”. No true friend would let that stand without several solid shots in the nuts.
I love you.
Sincerely,
E. Pluribus
HVB,
If you’re on an old time movie kick (and you’ve gotten up to speed on those essential Hitchcock movies), I recommend A Face In The Crowd starring Andy Griffith. I didn’t know anything about it when I caught it on AMC one night. It’s really good.
Man, that is indeed a winner!
E. Pluribus
I usually feel like the grumpy grandpa. These posts from epg are like the Fountain of Youth. Thank you.
You’re more than welcome, Big Steve.
Sincerely,
E. Pluribus
I’m an outlier here but I like 1. Sideways, 2. The Hangover, and 3. Jacques Tati.
E., just a word of warning. I’m betting your daughters are pre-teen. My daughters listened to nothing but early ’60s top 40 – BI, Motown, etc. at that age.
Come the teenage years they crossed to the dark side and I lost them to current top 40. They went to see John Mayer the other night; it was Jack Johnson a couple weeks ago. The shame…
Keep them in the house – home schooling is the only answer!
You have something on the download thing, epg. But some kids these days are getting into records. Obviously a hobby that can only lead to heartache and frustration, but it’s nice to see some of the kids playing along.
I do enjoy some of the modern dumb type comedies that focus on the adolescent nature of man. Anchorman had enough laughs, Superbad had a lot going for it, and Walk Hard was very enjoyable. So, I think I get the genre and am not a pure movie snob.
That said; The Hangover was awful. I am so exhausted with what I think is the approach with that and similar crap. You take 3 or 4 guys who have been previously funny in better outlets (hopefully snagging 1 or 2 guys from the Daily Show), give them an outline of the situations that will be filmed, and ask them to ad-lib their way through the scene. “It will work, they are funny guys!”
After filming 10 versions of the scene, the director will pick the “funniest” ones that invariably have just degenerated into the actors yelling back at each other in silly voices, “suck my dick”, “lick my balls”, “fuck you”, and simulating masturbation. Now put a tiger in the backseat of the car. Naked Asian man with a cliche accent! HA! HA! (See also Stepbrothers)
Superbad seemed to have a script with actual thought out jokes and one-liners. Editing of the script may have been involved to refine the jokes. The Hangover had Galinfakilopolus saying something odd off the top of his head and Bradley Cooper looking at him quizzically like, “what’s with this guy?” over and over. Funny people aren’t always funny just because you turn a camera on them. Write a script, please, lazy-ass!
Giamatti has been excellent in everything he has done. Meet me in the Octagon.
Can I get a shout-out from Gergley and others on the wonderfulness of the first “Harold and Kumar” movie? I was shocked at how much I liked it, given the fact that it’s basically about nothing.
E., sadly I’ve got NOTHING to back up my enjoyment of The Hangover. I thought it was funny. I enjoyed the actors. It was MUCH better than I was expecting.
The A-Team, on the other hand, is easy to defend: men working together to do what, by all means, can’t possibly be done.
My little guy and I chowed down on some of the highest-quality, regional jerky I’ve ever had. It’s cut so thin that you could stitch it into a wallet, use it for a week, and then eat it.
Though I haven’t seen The Hangover yet (I keep pushing it further down my Netflix queue, which should tell you something), Chickenfrank’s assessment of the ailments of modern improv-based comedy are spot on.
Personally, I believe David Wain’s films Wet Hot American Summer and that one about the Big Brother/Little Brother program are miles better than even Judd Apatow’s best films.
I guess I don’t consider movies art anymore than I do TV shows. Even if I really like a movie, it’s not like I’ll go out of my way to see it again. After the first viewing, the acting and directing and stuff sticks out too much and I can’t get myself into the story anymore.
I watch Bad Santa every xmas, though. That cracks me up and I seem to forget enough about it after a year.
Hey Moderator,
Your selective memory is working with incredible precision. At THE MEAL, you told me the writing for “The Hangover” was superb. Please elaborate.
I am waiting. . . . I am waiting,
E. Pluribus
Hey Al,
Know that control is slipping a tad. My oldest daughter recently added a few tracks by Miniature Tigers to her iPod.
What I heard was not good.
The belt will be coming out if this keeps up.
Sincerely,
E. Pluribus
Oats, I apologize for not posting a Spoiler alert for the Hangover “tiger wakes up in the car scene”. Although, if you saw Tommy Boy fifteen years ago, then you’ve already seen that bit.
Don’t worry about it, Chickenfrank. I mostly don’t care about spoilers. I even knew about the special secret celebrity cameo in Zombieland when I went to see it, and enjoyed it nonetheless.
misterioso- You and I largely reach on modern movies. You have to keep your ear to the ground to discover anything original, let alone anything GOOD and original. And this is the core of my beef with Sideways.
I disliked Sideways for both subjective and objective reasons. Subjectively I cared for no characters and Paul Giamatti bugs the shit out of me. Sorry Mr. Frank. (I’m with you on Monkey Man though and your well known love for Porpoise Song.)
Objectively Sideways is a Hollywood system retread. Midlife Swingers set in California Wine Country. Just as Old School is (sort of) Swingers in a Fraternity plus Will Ferrel. (In this instance Vince Vaughn plays essentially the same character.)
Sideways strongly takes from both the Buddy Film and Road Film genre conventions that have been around since forever and milked to no end by the gazillion “Road To” Crosby/Hope films. Plus a healthy dose of the post-sensitive-man-era Romantic Comedy.
Was Swingers the first movie to feature the comedic/pathetic “can’t-get-over-the-girl-guy” character? There must be an earlier example but I can’t think of one.
I don’t hate anything that is a retread. If I did I’d almost never go to a movie. It’s the meat on the bones that makes the difference in retreads.
What pissed me off about Sideways was that it was packaged and presented as some form of high cinema, a breath of clean fresh indie air for the discriminating film enthusiast. Bullshit on that.
At least Hangover didn’t pretend to be something it’s not, except maybe “funny”.
Comedy was over in 1970. Emil Sitka my ass, Larry was the only Stooge that mattered.
HR- I’ll high five you on Harold & Kumar. I think comedy is the absolute hardest thing to write, act and direct and Hollywood treats it like shit. Spinal Tap should’ve won Best Film. Hilarious and original.
The bottom line for comedies is laughs and I laughed my ass off during H&K. So much that I have avoided the sequel knowing that it can’t live up.
Well argued, Sammy. I can understand that if you dislike Giamatti, then there isn’t much else to get you through Sideways. But, I would take Giamatti over Jon Faverau. And I thought middle-aged Thomas Hayden Church was almost as fun a character as the young charasmatic Vince Vaughn. Both seemed to play the fun loving foil in each film.
I’ve read enough reasonable stuff here to understand how one might not enjoy Sideways even though I liked it.
Good-bye, good-bye, good-biiiiiie.
“Spinal Tap should’ve won Best Film.”
Hollywood prefers Serious Movies to comedies. It’s got to be serious if it’s going to be considered Art.
Amadeus won best picture in the year Spinal Tap was released. Other nominees were: The Killing Fields, A Passage to India, Places in the Heart, A Soldier’s Story
But Spinal Tap was a bit unconventional when it was released. Was there a better movie from 1979 than the In Laws? A totally traditional and HI-larious comedy that had the misfortune of coming out in the same year as Kramer vs. Kramer, All That Jazz, Apocalypse Now, Breaking Away and Norma Rae. Seriously, one of those nominees couldn’t be bumped for the In Laws?
I was fine with Favreau v.1.0 but when he started pumping up he got ridiculous fast. Did a good job directing Iron Man though.
Hayden Church got slapped with the TV stick and thus a leper to Hollywood film. Super funny guy. I met him a few times when he had that show on FOX. Super nice too. I even shared a limo once with him and Debra Messing (from that same show). As she was bending down to get in I could see right down the top of her gown. She wasn’t wearing a bra…She didn’t need one.
Oh-yes-I-did-snap!
sammymaudlin, thanks for your remarks. Totally different sort of movie than Sideways, but I had a similar feeling with American Beauty. I know the solution: pay no attention to reviews and buzz. But, sometimes you do, anyway. So to hear American Beauty hailed as some trenchant commentary on The Way We Live Now or what have you, and then to see it and find a rehash of other less-than-trenchant commentaries on The Way We Live Now, was aggravating.
I have no problem with dumb funny movies as dumb funny movies, as I am taking Hangover to be. Although, really, I don’t want to see them.
Yes! And the sequel wasn’t bad, either! I also enjoyed Zombieland and agree that Hollywood mistreats or doesn’t value comedies.
C’mon Moderator,
My patience is wearing thin. You and I both know that those nature walks are doing nothing but putting you to sleep.
Sincerely,
E. Pluribus
Speaking of dumb funny movies, have you seen Grandma’s Boy? That movie is really juvenile, but it was also much funnier than I thought it would be. But bear in mind that I’m also a huge fan of Shakes the Clown.
And no, I don’t smoke weed.
Gergs, first of all, I have never spoken (or even written) the word superb with a straight face. I did say something to the effect that it played like a good, long, old-time (ie, pre-’70s) joke, like something my grandfather would have laughed silently to on a Dean Martin Roast. I’m standing by my reaction to that movie, which I’ve seen twice. You guys who’ve seen it all before and you guys who’ve actually read the script (or so I presume, because you can make such informed judgements on the “writing”) have it all over me. What can I say? I can only go by what I saw, and I saw a movie that made me laugh. It also ended when it needed to, unlike those fucking Judd Apatow movies, which run for 2 hours and 45 minutes AND expect me to give a shit about the manchild “characters.”
Put me down for Harold and Kumar, too. The writing was superb, or so I’m told.
I’m not the world’s biggest fan of the comedy genre. I don’t like the Marx Brothers. Unadulterated Hollywood comedies (not including “black” comedies, social commentary comedies like those from Ealing Studios, and the like) that make me laugh consistently include the following:
Young Frankenstein
The Big Lebowski
Meet the Parents (that’s the first one, right?)
A Fish Called Wanda
A number of really old B&W movies
Spinal Tap is always funny too, but that’s a parody of a rock doc, so I’m not counting stuff like that.
The fact of the matter is I’d rather cry while watching a movie. I just read a cool piece in some magazine (Esquire) in the house where we’re staying on the making of Raging Bull. I can’t get enough of that movie!
Moderator,
Thanks for getting back to me. That said, you’re squirming away from what bothered me the most. At THE MEAL, you said that what you liked most about the movie was that there was clearly a well written script, i.e. the anithesis of what Apatow decides to do when given the green light by a producer, which is most probably what Chicken Frank described so well.
Like Frank, I too pictured the filming of “The Hangover” exactly how he described it -the director throws out a certain scenario to the characters, they wing it five or six times, and the best take is used for the film. In other words, there is no writing.
Please be a man and stand behind the movie and discuss how you envisioned its writing process. Why? It really, really bothers me that you enjoyed a movie so utterly unfunny, unentertaining, and vacuous and also saw it as model of workmanship when it was so not any of those things.
A good chunk of the members of RTH, including myself, see you as our Dr. Joshua Larabee if you will, providing guidance to a crew of sometimes rudderless Akeelahs (I urge all to check out Akeelah and the Bee, even if you don’t have kids. If you need a real man around here, look no further. I’m definitely man enough to stand up straight and tall and proudly state to all that “Akeelah and the Bee” kicks ASS! ) Should you continue to drag your feet and wear a skirt, many including myself may fall hard.
Take a real good look at yourself, and tell me this. Do you like what you see?
I HOPE TO HEAR FROM YOU SOON,
E. PLURIBUS
P.S. I also urge all to check out “Roll Bounce” as well.
And one more thing,
Please paste the following link into your browser bar:
http://www.beliefnet.com/Entertainment/Movies/2006/04/The-Mentor.aspx
Press “enter”, and print out the contents of what you see on your screen. Read it, think real hard about all of it, then fold it up and stick it in your wallet along with that other thing you have in there that reminds you to stay golden. YOU KNOW WHAT I’M FUCKING TALKING ABOUT!!!!!
E. Pluribus
You’re a funny man, E. There’s no way I made any claims about “the writing” or “the script.” You know how much that pains me when I hear others say that. If I slipped out with anything along those lines, shame on me! My tastes would suddenly be thrust into question – my tastes in all matters, that is. I did find the humor and story of the movie to move in a satisfying, unexpected, and funny direction. I laughed more than enough times at Zach Garafinocular’s bits. I don’t care if a team of script doctors or D.H. Lawrence wrote for him to walk through a hallway with his fat ass hanging out or whether he “winged it” for the cameras. I laughed. More out of shape guys should walk down a hallway with their ass hanging out. There would be a little more laughter in the world. And more naked Japanese guys with lisps can jump out of the trunk of a car, if you ask me. I laughed at that bit, too. I laughed a lot harder than I laughed at any thumb-sucking moment in – what was that movie you liked by the Clerks guy called – the one about the guy who was supposedly in love with the woman who was supposedly lesbian, or something? Who was the lead guy, Ben Affleck, possibly the least talented “hunk” on earth? That movie sucked. There was nothing to be learned from it.
Now listen, you and I heartily agree on the merits of Akeelah and the Bee and the teaching of Dr. Larabee. My enjoyment of The Hangover as a wholly satisfying piece of mainstream Hollywood comedy and my recommendation of The A-Team as a lesson in manliness notwithstanding, if I have any wisdom to share, any meaningful movie recommendation to make, it’s that you see Kick-Ass. I know you hate my man Cage. I know you have no interest in comic book stuff (I don’t either, for the most part, but the power of Cage draws me in). I know you’ll probably hate the movie, but Kick-Ass is now out on DVD. My oldest son, who saw this movie in the theater with me when it came out and was one of 4 patrons in the theater who understood this film, downloaded it from iTunes and watched it again tonight. Dr. Larabee approves of the film’s teachings. Please, when you have a chance, watch this film and then really beat up on me, if need be. This is a film I care deeply about, and you should too, even if your darkest passions are stirred.
Thanks for challenging me on The Hangover. I’m standing behind it, but Kick-Ass is the more important lesson to be learned from this discussion.
I like the Apatow comedies (Even though I will concede that they do push the time limits. Those films should NOT be that long.). I’m also a big fan of David Wain’s stuff. I like most of the “dumb, juvenile” comedies that seem to be hitting it big these days. Having said that, I did NOT like THe Hangover. Yes, the scene with naked Asian hopping out of the trunk did garner a laugh from me (I also snickered at the taser scene), but the rest of the film didn’t do anything for me. I also recently watched the Hot Tub Time Machine and wasn’t impressed.
Adam Sandler was in Punch-Drunk Love, so he kind of gets a pass from me. I don’t think P.T. Anderson has made a bad film. That dude really cares.
I have not seen Sideways, but something tells me that I won’t like it as much as everyone else. I will see it before passing judgement. I may be surprised.
I like the dumb comedies as well as David Lynch and Stanley Kubrick. Whatever that says about me.
TB
The first half of Shakes the Clown was damned funny, but I’d never recommend it to anyone, that’d be like admitting I used to set aside time to watch Married With Children. I suspect that’s the only movie I’ve seen more than once with Adam Sandler in it.
Apatow’s movies are too long, but that’s true of most movies now, I think it just is more noticable in comedies. Maybe there isn’t enough funny stuff to make them great, but there are several that are funny enough to make them watchable. Superbad and Knocked Up have a good amount of funny stuff in them.
One of the actors in Apatow’s troup, Jonah Hill, should be the lead in The Jim Hardcastle Story. You GW guys will know what I mean.
I am in the pro-“Roll Bounce” camp.
Yes! You’re now my favorite RTH poster. That’s pretty much exactly how I feel about it, though I’ve only seen it once. We have a friend who owns it and I believe it’s his favorite movie, too.
Also, I watch Bad Santa every holiday season, too. It’s balanced out by Emmett Otter’s Jug Band Christmas, though!
Sometimes, I weep for you. 🙂 That movie is called Chasing Amy, though I do agree that Jason Lee outacted Ben Affleck in that flock. I was obsessed with Kevin Smith and particularly his 1st 3 movies in college and saw all of those way too many times.
I meant “flick”, obviously.
Also, I’d love to read about the true meaning of Kick Ass. I enjoyed watching it, but don’t know if I learned much from seeing it.
Just saw Kick Ass last week and it kicked ass. I haven’t liked Cage since Raising AZ, but the Shatner affectation he took on when in costume was HI-larious.
Jonah Hill as Hardcastle! Brilliant.
Nicholas Cage blows. He should get down on his knees everyday and thank the Lord profusely for the Coppola connection. That said, I enjoyed his work in “Valley Girl”, his only decent achievement. It’s an absolute piece of fluff, but it actually holds up pretty well.
Still no commentary about “The 500 Days of Summer”. What gives?
E. Pluribus
I didn’t care for Summer. The film, not the girl. It was too…something. BUt what do I know?
TB
I guess it’s not fair to say it was too “something.” Maybe the word I was looking for was “typical.” Little things that annoy me. Like the “wiser-than-her age” sister character. It’s liek they took the little sister role from Bottle Rocket (a film I like) and blew it up. Maybe the movie was a little too much “hipster” for me, too. There were moments that were okay, but it didn’t light me up. Of course, Zooey is one cute cutey. It’s hard to resist her.
TB
I forgot about the “wiser than her age” little sister. That too bothered me. She was also is “Diary of a Wimpy Kid”, something I watched with my kids last night. Whatever. As far as kid movies are concerned, “The Bad News Bears” is the crowning achievement of children’s cinema. I have yet to see ANY kid movie that good.
E. Pluribus
OK, I’ll bite. I really liked this movie, but with some minor reservations. The elevator scene really made me cringe, for example. I liked the general idea, the execution and the cinematography, though it tried a bit too hard at times. I know what latelydavidband meant.
The only “kids” movie I can think of that’s close to The Bad News Bears is A Christmas Story.
The missus and I were talking about the 70s TV show “What’s Happening” the other day, asking ourselves why it was so good. We both came to the conclusion that it was the charm of the characters — well, except for Rerun and Shirley, both of whom sucked. Who doesn’t love Raj? I was about to say that my fave character on that show was sad-sack Duh-wayne, but then we both agreed that the best character on that show was Raj’s little sister Dee — precisely because she *wasn’t* “wise beyond her years.” True, she was a wise-ass, and frequently less idiotic than her teenage older brother and his buddies, but she wasn’t, you know, an adult dressed up like a little girl. She was great. That whole series was great — even the Doobie Brothers episode!
The kids movie. For me, it’s The Goonies. The entire plot seems like kids wrote it. Pirate treasure, adventure, gentle monster-creature, bad bad guys, and…Kerry Green. It probably influenced tons of crap, but The Goonies is almost perfect as a kids’ film.
TB
I realize you can probably find What’s Happening on dvd or youtube or somewhere without difficulty, but I haven’t seen it since it ran, and maybe it is best that way; the memories are enough. I’ll never forget the Doobie Bros. episode. Who knew black kids were so into Michael McDonald! Reminds me of that great episode of the Brady Bunch when Greg booked Parliament to play at the prom.
Hrundi,
I’m crossing you off my shitlist. Anybody that high five’s “What’s Happening” is okay in my book. Once again, free VG- copy of The Outlaws “Lady in Waiting” LP is yours if you can track down the “What’s Happening” clip concerning Raj’s heroic attempt at the “Theatre of Reality”.
Good luck!
E. Pluribus
FREE VG- COPY OF BAD COMPANY’S DESOLATION ANGELS LP TO ANY SOUL WHO CAN FIND THE CLIP OF GREG BRADY BOOKING PARLIAMENT TO PLAY PROM. STOP.
AM UNAWARE OF THE CLIP AND DESPERATE TO SEE IT. STOP.
E. PLURIBUS
Sorry, my mistake–I was thinking of the one where Deacon Jones is on the show and kisses Marsha. No, wait, I mean, Davey Jones comes on and shows that Peter isn’t a sissy. By kissing him, I think. I get those guys mixed up a lot.
RIP Richie Hayward. Bummer.
Yeah, I know they’ve been having benefits for him for a while. Liver cancer. Very sad. He was a great drummer, Little Feat’s secret weapon.
I saw him sit in with Dylan’s band about five years ago. I couldn’t really figure out why he was there other than Bob probably just wanted to hang out with him and was doing him a favor by giving him a job. I don’t think he ever played alone, he just played along with George (Bob’s regular drummer).
TB
The Doobie Brothers episodes of What’s Happening?? are probably the greatest episodes of the series and, therefore, arguably the greatest episodes of any sitcom ever made. I’ll fight anyone on that.
I disagree, however, about Dee being the best character on the show. Dwayne was better among the main cast – perhaps you’re forgetting the emotional power of the episode where he clashed with his father, who was running for mayor – and the best character during the entire run of the show was Snake, the basketball player who was as talented and personable as he was stupid who Raj was hired to tutor. “Snaaaaake, Snake, Snake.” Shirley’s finest moment.
My favorite thing about What’s Happening?? is how every character shared at least part of their name with the actor who played them. Ernest Thomas as Roger Thomas, Haywood Nelson as Dwayne Nelson, Shirley Hemphill as Shirley, Mabel King as Mabel Thomas, Fred “Rerun” Berry as Fred “Rerun” Stubbs and The Doobie Brothers as The Doobie Brothers.
Sadly, the additions of Big Earl and Little Earl ruined that show. Cousin Oliver gets a bad rap compared to those two creeps.
Parliament on The Brady Bunch deserves to be in the “invent a musical guest appearance on a TV show” thread. https://www.rocktownhall.com/blogs/index.php/battle-royale-rock-cross-promotiona
Alexmagic, thanks a LOT. You managed to ruin a perfectly good morning by reminding me of the Big Earl/Little Earl fiasco. Wotta loada crap!
And, I should point out that finding that clip of Dwayne singing and dancing to “Handyman” forced me to re-evaluate the whole best character thing. Dwayne is in fact best. But I’m sticking by my assessment that Rerun was a tool.
Forget the whole “President of Rock” thing. I’m more interested, for the moment, in filling out an Executive Branch of 70s Sitcoms. I think the cast of “What’s Happening!” could fill a few cabinet spots, for sure. Here’s what I’m thinking so far:
President: Fred Sanford (of COURSE)
Veep: Jack Tripper
Secretary of State: Raj
Secretary of Defense: Mel (of Mel’s Diner)
CIA chief: Dee
Heath and Human Services: Lamont Sanford
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs: Shirley
Dept. of Homeland Security: Snyder
… or am I just wasting my time?
… and where does my all-time favorite secondary sit-com character — “Grady” — fit in? That’s what I want to know!
That would be President Fred “G” Sanford. And the G stands for Graft is welcome.
Grady must be Press Secretary.
Bubba probably would be chief of staff.
Esther could remain his sister-in-law and wreck havoc on his administration in the press.
Jack Tripper: VP–brilliant!
I thought “500 Days” was above average, but that tirade about the greeting cards had me cringing. And the soundtrack seemed overpowering at times. I did, however, like the ending–as if the film was just one part of the guy’s life.
Some recent films I liked:
Nine Lives
Mutual Appreciation
Wendy and Lucy
Excellent, Mockcarr! Bubba should definitely be chief of staff.
I think Dee should be Secretary of Treasury or Fed Chairman, she was always extorting money from Raj.
Didn’t you guys watch any good 70’s sitcoms? Like Barney Miller? Barney Miller should be president of sitcoms. Michael Stivic should be a lobbyist hell bent on cleaning up the country, and Bob Newhart could be the common thread and just happen to be everyone in DC’s psychologist.
I’d watch that show.
Sherman Potter get to run the Army, and Merrill Stubing is in charge of the Navy. Former CPO, Otto Sharkey is head of the Joint Chiefs.
We need some nominees for the Supreme Court, perhaps:
Felix Unger
Maude Findlay
Phil Fish
Alex Rieger
Boss Hogg
Bob Hartley
Howard Cunningham
Benson DuBois
Bailey Quarters
Bubba’s role in the Blind Mellow Jelly episode, where he wanted his daddy’s records back, indicates that he would be an excellent Director of The Office of Management and Budget, a post that is open in the current White House.
Barney Miller was good. There ought to be a place for law-and-order Inspector Luger in this administration. Just don’t let Nick Yemana make the coffee in the White House.
I maintain the Odd Couple was the best 70s sitcom. But that has little to do with this exercise.
Great choices, Dr. John. I liked both of these films a lot, though Wendy and Lucy was really sad and hard to watch at times. I liked it much more than her previous feature (the one that Yo La Tengo also did the soundtrack for and had Will Oldham in it; I’m blanking on the name now).
Also, if Boss Hogg can be on the Supreme Court, can’t the Duke boys get a cabinet post or something? Also, what about Roscoe P. Coltrane for sherriff? 🙂
Jesus, Dr. John is back???!! Nice!!!
With all this talk of decent TV, I can’t help but think that RTH, over the years, has been a lot like Saturday Night Live, with a series of different players. I’m not up here a whole hell of a lot, but I certainly have enjoyed being up here again. Sometime back, I checked in once in a while, only to find things heading in a very uninsightful Joe Piscopo-like direction. That was not good. Good stuff is happening once again. I think part of that revitalization might be because the Moderator is in Arizona, where he’s currently looking for a new crop of sychophants that’ll back slap him for celebrating dogshit like “The Hangover”.
Hrundi, feel free to flesh out the SNL skeleton. I’m way too dumb to work all that out.
Sincerely,
E. Pluribus
This has to be some kind of record. 117 posts and I don’t think a single one had anything to do with the point of the thread as stated in the lead post.
b,
The film you’re referring to is Old Joy, which I think put some people off due to Will Oldham’s oddball character and the meandering final scene. But I liked it just as much as Wendy and Lucy. I agree with you: that final scene in W & L is really powerful. Very cool that the dog is in both films.