1939

This year marks the 70th anniversary of ‘Gone With The Wind’. And ‘The Wizard of Oz’. And ‘Mr. Smith Goes to Washington’. And ‘Stagecoach’. And ‘Wuthering Heights’. It is my sincerest hope that you have at least seen one of these movies. It’s also my strong, STRONG recommendation that you see them all. I know, I know, why should you bother seeing these films (3.5 of which are in black and white) when there are such stunning pieces of work as ‘Transformers 2’ or ‘Year One’ to enjoy? But you should bother. These five films are all master works, each in their own genre, and show the supreme pride people took in the ART of filmmaking way back when. (This of course isn’t to say that the art of film is dead, but I mean, look at the stuff that has been released this year alone. I mean, come on now.)

These films launched the careers of Jimmy Stewart, Judy Garland, Laurence Olivier, and John Wayne. (The last of which had been in 80 films by then but wasn’t a star. Wow.) These films are also all named among the top 100 films of all time, two of which in the top 10. Think about this. Within the span of a year, five of the greatest films of all time were released. Maybe it’s just me, but that is astounding. So the next time you think of watching the latest Resident Evil film, I implore you, make a better choice. You just might be surprised.

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Waiting For Guffman: The High School Edition

Flipping through the channels on a rainy Saturday afternoon, you aren’t likely to find much that will actually entertain you. So you can imagine my surprise when I stumbled upon a little documentary titled ‘Guys & Divas: Battle of the High School Musicals’. It centers around three high schools in southern Indiana vying for their musicals to receive a spot in the International Thespian Festival. (Well, technically only one truly goes for that goal. The other two schools are just trying to put up a show period.) Now, I’ve been to the International Thespian Festival, and I can tell you first hand that the shows which receive one of the coveted spots are, well, very high quality for high school. I can also tell you from watching this movie that the shows highlighted are, um, not. Maybe it’s just me, but is there some rule in Indiana about putting forth a show that people actually know? When the most familiar of the shows being produced is ‘Zombie Prom’ you have to wonder what the hell is going on. There’s even one school that puts on an original show about a princess in some sort of colonial Hawaii (already I have problems) which runs 4 hours long and which none of the students want anything to do with.

Quite honestly I have no idea whether this is something I would suggest people to watch or not. It is alternately a hysterical look at something incredibly familiar to anyone who has been involved in high school theater, and a horrid nightmare certain to make your eyes roll so far back into your head they ache. Regardless, it’s something I had to share.

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An interesting parallel

Last night, as part of my 100 Years 100 Movies project, I watched Oliver Stone’s ‘Platoon’. It’s a fantastic but rough film about – you guessed it – a platoon in the Vietnam war and the battles they have not only with the enemy, but with themselves. As I was watching, I began to observe an eerie parallel between Tom Berenger’s Sgt. Barnes and the former vice asshole president Dick Cheney. Some background…

Yesterday, Attorney General Eric Holder appointed a special prosecutor to look into abuses by the CIA in the years immediately following the September 11th attacks. ‘Enhanced Interrogation Techniques’ Torture techniques used on various terrorism suspects are now coming to light in a report released yesterday including: Threats against suspects’ families, mock executions, repeated pressure on the corroded arteries to the point of unconsciousness, intense threats with loaded guns and power drills, waterboarding. The list is long, and all of it is completely against international and national law.

Of course, everyone – including Dick himself – agrees that the interrogators should not be prosecuted for essentially following orders, which I guess means we should look at those setting the policies, yes? Here’s a quote from Dick on Meet The Press 5 days following the 9/11 attacks:

“We also have to work, though, sort of the dark side, if you will. We’ve got to spend time in the shadows in the intelligence world. A lot of what needs to be done here will have to be done quietly, without any discussion, using sources and methods that are available to our intelligence agencies, if we’re going to be successful. That’s the world these folks operate in, and so it’s going to be vital for us to use any means at our disposal, basically, to achieve our objective.”

Whether you agree with the man’s ideology or not, what we all must understand here is that we as a society have created laws against these actions for a reason. Humans get nowhere responding to barbarous acts with other barbarous acts. Cue Tom Berenger.

Sgt. Barnes is the Dick of ‘Platoon’ — a man so focused on winning that he strips his soul from himself completely, killing innocent people, fellow Sergeants, etc. There’s one scene in particular in which he proceeds to interrogate a man whom he is certain knows the whereabouts of the Vietnamese soldiers. When the man, speaking to Barnes through a translator, insists he knows nothing, Barnes kills his wife, and then holds a gun to his daughter’s head. Ring a bell to anyone else? A quote from Barnes:

“Me, I don’t need this shit. I am reality. There’s the way it ought to be, and there’s the way it is. Elias was full of shit. Elias was a crusader. Now, I got no fight… with any man who does what he’s told. But when he don’t, the machine breaks down. And when the machine breaks down, we break down. And I ain’t gonna allow that… in any of you. Not one.”

I dunno, I just found the timing of this report and of my finally watching this movie–well, interesting. At least one of these men isn’t real. That’s some sort of consolation, right? No?

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It’s about time.

What could be the only thing to make me happy in the midst of a case of food poisoning but a bunch of sexist, chain smoking advertising men in the 1960s? Nothing, that’s what. Tonight is the long-anticipated season premiere of ‘Mad Men’ on AMC and I, for one, am secretly giddy like a tween at a Miley Cyrus concert. This season will take place during the turbulent year of 1963 — then again, was there a year in the 60s that wasn’t turbulent? — and from what I understand, the show will be touching on all of the major events of that year. (I smell a JFK season finale….) If you’ve never taken the opportunity to watch this much-acclaimed show, do yourself a favor and start from the beginning. It’s a remarkably written show that leaves more questions than answers about its characters and their motives, yet doesn’t leave its audience frustrated by what they don’t understand. 10pm tonight. Yes.

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Let’s talk about: ‘The Deer Hunter’

I’ve been doing this sort of “Julie and Julia” thing recently (YES I started long before I knew of the film or book, so don’t start.) I’ve been watching the AFI 100 Years 100 Movies list (the original one, not that dumbass ’10 years later’ list) with the goal of watching them all before my 25th birthday. Now, though that particular goal may not work out directly on time (we’ll see), it has been an incredibly enlightening experience. (Oh, and no, I’m not watching them chronologically or in order. Just in case you were curious.)

Tonight’s film: ‘The Deer Hunter’. I’m going to give these notes in bullet form. And yes, that is the worst pun of my life.

-How the hell did I not know Meryl Streep was in this movie?

-Somehow I thought the title was metaphorical. It is not.

-Robert DeNiro circa the 1970s was one hell of a good-looking man.

-Robert DeNiro circa as-long-as-he’s-been-on-film is a freakishly good actor.

-Russian roulette. Need I say more?

-Another reminder of how thankful I am to have never lived through Vietnam. I mean, Jesus.

-Christopher Walken made me cry in a matter of two minutes. That’s pretty damn impressive.

-One of many fantastic films on the list that I will very likely never watch again. Just heinously depressing.

One sidenote. It’s also possibly not the best movie to watch before going to sleep. I’m about to test that theory. I hope I’m wrong.

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Lord I cannot wait to see this episode.

The cast of Family Guy performed a rare live performance Wednesday night of a never-to-be-aired episode dealing with abortion (cue ominous music). The performance was for Emmy voters — why? — it’s up for Best Comedy Show, bitches. You can read more about the shindig here:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32402957/ns/entertainment-television/

The episode will likely be making its way to DVD. I can’t wait.

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Paging Mr. Stewart

I have an idea.

You see, I’ve been spending some time lately watching the whole Health Care drama unfold throughout the country, and much like the election of 2008, what continues to grip me the most (and it grips you too, whether you want to admit it or not) are the wildly differenciated and mostly bombastic cable news personalities discussing – or ranting about – the issue. It’s reached a level to match that of politics itself, grounded not in the issues of the day, but the ways in which to spin the issues of the day to fit the idealogical stance of the host. It usually goes too far, and it always provides great material for Jon Stewart to use every night…hm…maybe that’s why I trust him so much. He sees through the garbage horseshit these hosts speak. Which leads me to my point.

So here’s my idea. It’s fairly obvious to anyone who observes cable news that MSNBC tends to be much more idealogically left, Fox News is clearly the most right-wing stuff on television, and CNN…well…CNN has just become a joke. I mean, seriously. And as these hosts are the centerpiece of this drift, let’s have a forum for them to dicuss their views face-to-face. (Think ‘Politically Incorrect’ without the d-rate commedians….oh wait, I forgot about Glenn Beck. Damn.) It’d be a televised event for these hosts who clearly see the issues so differently to debate them. (Who wouldn’t love to watch Chris Matthews and Bill O’Reilly go at it over the ‘birthers’, or see how long it takes Keith Olbermann and Sean Hannity to rip into each other about, oh, anything?) And who better to moderate than the chief observer himself, Jon Stewart. He’d provide the perfect punchline to every jab thrown, but he’d also have the insight to guide the discussion to what matters. It’d be funny, outrageous, and who knows, maybe some issues would be debated in a civil fashion… Ok, maybe not that last one. It’d still make for some good TV though, and hey, isn’t that what it’s all about?

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