tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post1001591260033735507..comments2023-11-03T06:02:02.128-07:00Comments on By Ken Levine: I know everyone else loves it BUT...By Ken Levinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17305293821975250420noreply@blogger.comBlogger106125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-14612430786350708262009-01-25T09:11:00.000-08:002009-01-25T09:11:00.000-08:00This is a great list. I usually find myself out of...This is a great list. I usually find myself out of sync with everyone else around me. Agreed with you on pretty much everything...the only time I truly enjoy Jim Carrey is in his more serious roles -- like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, for example. <BR/><BR/>I don't even know what Pinkberry is - I thought it was another version of a Blackberry.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-38295881662499090532009-01-17T03:05:00.000-08:002009-01-17T03:05:00.000-08:00"Hey Jude" is made slightly more entertaining if y..."Hey Jude" is made slightly more entertaining if you listen for John Lennon saying "F*ck*ng hell!" at about 3:00.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-15736787570702674042009-01-06T14:43:00.000-08:002009-01-06T14:43:00.000-08:00This reminds me of the daily show's old piece - "A...This reminds me of the daily show's old piece - "America is out of talent"<BR/><BR/>http://www.truveo.com/America-is-Out-of-Talent/id/2007953492<BR/><BR/>Carson Daly - "One person, with the ability of half a person, doing the job of four people."toogoodtocheckhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18300330111258030486noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-43856565393483414442009-01-06T06:44:00.000-08:002009-01-06T06:44:00.000-08:00No comment.No comment.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-6125231553174902962008-12-27T05:35:00.000-08:002008-12-27T05:35:00.000-08:00I can confirm that Ken is both a commie and a rich...I can confirm that Ken is both a commie and a rich guy.<BR/><BR/>Back in the 70's, before he was either, he used to buy his underpants in the 12-pack at K-Mart for $1.99.<BR/><BR/>It's probably the memories of those days that makes him hate Costco.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-34535611800009812872008-12-24T10:59:00.000-08:002008-12-24T10:59:00.000-08:00I vividly remember the 1st time I saw "Its A Wonde...I vividly remember the 1st time I saw "Its A Wonderful Life" on TV -- I was about 13, had never heard of it and had no idea of how it would turn out.<BR/><BR/>For most of the film, I was absolutely riveted - seeing the film as a tragedy about a man with glorious dreams of travel and invention who gets entrapped into a banal small-time life by a series of excruciating obligations.<BR/><BR/>I will never forget watching the heartwarming finale, (SPOILER) where the entire town comes together to save the bank, and I was absolutely incredulous, and was like, WTF??? THIS sentimental treacle is what this movie is all about?<BR/><BR/>Can't tell you how cheated I felt..<BR/><BR/>Years later, I was leafing through a biography of Frank Capra in the bookstore, and saw that he proudly proclaimed the secret to making films that Americans would eat up was to make "Tragedies with happy endings" and I was like, "Frank Capera, you're a hack and the poster child for sell-outs".<BR/><BR/>Frank Capra should have stuck with Harry Langdon. "Long Pants" is possibly the most bizarre film ever made in this country (in ways both good and bad).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-64438276502039531202008-12-24T10:34:00.000-08:002008-12-24T10:34:00.000-08:00I agree on Jim Carrey, and yes Hey Jude drones on....I agree on Jim Carrey, and yes Hey Jude drones on. I think it was because the band was breaking up at the time and there attitude was F-it when it came to recording. <BR/>Costco, a Seattle company is in my opinion, a Godsend. It's Walmart that you can have!Mike Barerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14447874605833321732noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-29450263376463457062008-12-24T09:47:00.000-08:002008-12-24T09:47:00.000-08:00jbryant-Well, I can't speak for the original blogg...jbryant-<BR/><BR/>Well, I can't speak for the original blogger, but I didn't interpret it as "anyone who likes an older film must be in thrall to something called "Classic Film Adoration". To me, the point was "if you don't happen to like a 'classic' film, don't be afraid to say so". Which is why I thought Ken might appreciate it.<BR/><BR/>And, btw, based on the FiveSprockets profile, Jess appears to be a she.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-10390237961853835122008-12-24T06:07:00.000-08:002008-12-24T06:07:00.000-08:00Mr. LevineOnly commies and the rich hate Costco. S...Mr. Levine<BR/><BR/>Only commies and the rich hate Costco. So which one are you?<BR/><BR/>If a can of aerosol furniture polish costs $1.08 a can when buying 4 at Costco (if you look a little closer, you really don't have to buy a gross of anything at Costco) and it cost $3.98 per can at your local Piggly Wiggly, why would you have a problem with saving 75% by buying 4 cans at a time?<BR/><BR/>Some real Americans actually need to save where they can these days to keep food on the table & a roof over the family's heads..<BR/><BR/>While your Coscto comments were probably in jest, some of us need the Costcos and Sam's Clubs these days just to survive.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-28678740720148578842008-12-24T04:26:00.000-08:002008-12-24T04:26:00.000-08:00" jbryant said... instead of just saying, ..." jbryant said... <BR/>instead of just saying, 'Didn't work for me,' he blathers on about how anyone who likes an older film must be in thrall to something called 'Classic Film Adoration,' which he clearly thinks is some sort of mass delusion."<BR/><BR/>Thanks for the warning. I'll skip the essay. Anyone remotely familiar with my work knows I suffer from a terminal case "Classic Film adoration" and do not desire to be cured. Hell, Tallulah is an outward and visible sign of "Classic Film Adoration".<BR/><BR/>Yet I despise IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE, almost as much as I despise folks who don't love the great films of ALL eras, not just the modern - or worse - just the color ones.<BR/><BR/>One can wallow in THE LADY EVE, relish DOUBLE INDMENITY, roar at DUCK SOUP, cry at HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY, snigger with I'M NO ANGEL, study and smirk at THE OLD FASHIONED WAY, devour NOTORIOUS, drive SUNSET BOULEVARD, and prefer an hour with LAUREL & HARDY to an hour with one's family, and still dislike IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE. But anyone who can not love at least SOME of those films, is a sad creature indeed, more to be pitied than censured. What an empty, shallow life. <BR/><BR/>I pity everyone whoever lived and died before The Marx Brothers, Laurel & Hardy, and WC Fields hit their strides. They were cheated. But to be born after their work is complete, preserved, and there for the devoring; well, that's just sad; cinematic pearls before swine.<BR/><BR/>This turned out to be a lively topic, didn't it?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-20721438282800380162008-12-24T00:07:00.000-08:002008-12-24T00:07:00.000-08:00Hey Jude - it might be okay if it were not for the...Hey Jude - it might be okay if it were not for the 7 minute ending. Alas that's the only part I can usually think of.<BR/><BR/>Jim Carrey - I'm with you. Though I did like The Truman Show<BR/><BR/>I still like ER, went thru a period of being bored with it, started liking it again, and now I'm bored again. Stamos and Sam are just a couple due to the fact that they are the opposite sex and they are on ER. (and there's no one left for him to hit on since apparently Neela dumped him for Ray who promptly got himself deported from the show)<BR/>I still like the medical angle when they show it. Of course I prefer Greys Anatomy - but you know, when they start beating a dead horse...<BR/>Scrubs will be back soon<BR/><BR/>wonderful life - think i finally saw that. maybe. boring. sorry.<BR/><BR/>I was the girl who always liked the number *two* song (I'm Gonna Made You Love me rather than... what was it? Grapevine?) Im still shocked when things I like are hitsPamela Jayehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06135379188588301400noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-2597958026024526612008-12-23T22:17:00.000-08:002008-12-23T22:17:00.000-08:00Deb: I just read that Five Sprockets column. Of c...Deb: I just read that Five Sprockets column. Of course he's entitled to his opinion, which is one that many here share, but instead of just saying, "Didn't work for me," he blathers on about how anyone who likes an older film must be in thrall to something called "Classic Film Adoration," which he clearly thinks is some sort of mass delusion. Apparently, I don't REALLY love the movie (or any other movie older than Zoolander); I'm just "so frightened to disagree (with) the classic cannon [sic] that [I] believe anyone who does so must be a strange alien with bad taste."<BR/><BR/>Sheesh.<BR/><BR/>And what's really hilarious is that he seems to think that there's some mythical cinema buff majority that's trying to terrorize him and his "few and proud" fellow free-thinkers into accepting musty old clunkers.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-30360274733441385412008-12-23T19:36:00.000-08:002008-12-23T19:36:00.000-08:00You're not alone Ken! Jess over at FiveSprockets ...You're not alone Ken! Jess over at FiveSprockets got us all riled up about it too:<BR/><BR/>http://www.fivesprockets.com/resources/?q=blog/its-not-such-wonderful-movieat-least-according-meAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-34587679153095904002008-12-23T17:57:00.000-08:002008-12-23T17:57:00.000-08:00Jim Carrey...no sh*t. I freakin' hate that guy. I'...Jim Carrey...no sh*t. I freakin' hate that guy. I'd almost like to go see "Yes Man" because I love Zooey Deschanel so much, but I just don't think I could take it.<BR/><BR/>oh, and Ellen up there called it..."Juno" was a piece of crap. Arcane hipster dialogue without a shred of authenticity. Not even J.K. Simmons, Alison Janney, and Jason Bateman could save it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-72195164274581732552008-12-23T14:49:00.000-08:002008-12-23T14:49:00.000-08:00Interesting how many comments this is generating. ...Interesting how many comments this is generating. I totally agree with those who have listed Robin Williams. Just this sight of him makes me dive for the remote. The aversion has gotten stronger with time. My other one is the NFL. I am a typical American male, but find everything about the NFL off putting. The self importance, the creeping dominance of the airwaves, the machismo, the strutting after a TD. Barf. I enjoy college football, baseball, college basketball. I guess I'm weird.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-23412330095548528712008-12-23T14:01:00.000-08:002008-12-23T14:01:00.000-08:00D. McEwan,I liked SULLIVAN'S TRAVELS a little more...D. McEwan,<BR/><BR/>I liked SULLIVAN'S TRAVELS a little more than you (but a little less than I liked MIRACLE OF MORGAN'S CREEK), but, nevertheless, here's a problem with it's point of view.<BR/><BR/>Sturges endorses comedy as ESCAPISM rather than as something that can shed light on the human condition, which seems to contradict his own comic oevre.<BR/><BR/><BR/>Incidentally, one reason I like SULLIVAN, despite my misgivings, is it pokes fun at Capra in the very first scene.Kirkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02155991693956178030noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-36222428567065792842008-12-23T13:29:00.000-08:002008-12-23T13:29:00.000-08:00Wow! Hating on Frank Capra I'm on board with, but ...Wow! Hating on Frank Capra I'm on board with, but Preston Sturgis? That takes guts.<BR/><BR/>But I have a secret Sturgis hate myself (Didn't Doris Day sing "Once I had a secret hate, that lived within the heart of me."?), only it's not MIRACLE OF MORGAN CREEK. (A classic farce about a girl getting knocked up by who knows who in the mid-40s? How did he ever get it made?)<BR/><BR/>No, the Sturgis film I always hear praised to the skies that I just can not abide is --- (Oh, I'm gonna catch it for this) SULLIVAN'S TRAVELS.<BR/><BR/>First off, it's not funny.<BR/><BR/>Secondly, much of it is depressing.<BR/><BR/>Thirdly, it's self-referential navel-gazing on why it's more important to make comedies than dramas, a lecture on the importance of comedy.<BR/><BR/>And you show me a real room full of chain gang inamtes laughing their brains out at a Walt Disney cartoon. Never happened. Never will.<BR/><BR/>But THE LADY EVEN or THE PALM BEACH STORY (or, as all enlightened people call it, THE WEENIE KING STORY), these are still the greatest.<BR/><BR/>Sturgis didn't need to make SULLIVAN'S TRAVELS to tell us why comedy is important, because THE LADY EVE proves it so much better.<BR/><BR/>So have an ale that won for Yale.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-27720644718490848912008-12-23T13:19:00.000-08:002008-12-23T13:19:00.000-08:00I'm not a comedy professional, but I'm gonna defen...I'm not a comedy professional, but I'm gonna defend MIRACLE OF MORGAN CREEK anyway, since I consider it one of the greatest comedies ever made, and Preston Sturges at his best.<BR/><BR/>McGinty: "This is the biggest thing to happen to this state since we stole it from the indians!"<BR/><BR/>The Man: "Borrowed!"<BR/><BR/>You may not find the above line as funny as I do, but at least give Sturges credit for being WAY ahead of his time. Also ahead of it's time is a shot of the doctors faces as they wait for more babies to pop out of Betty Hutton (the inside looking out. Not as ahead of it's time as the other way around, but this in 1943.)<BR/><BR/>I can't "prove" Eddie Bracken's funny, but to equate him and Betty Hutton--she more or less played it straight. <BR/><BR/>And let's not forget William Demerest and Diana Lynn!<BR/><BR/>Even though we disagree, Buttermilk Sky, I'm glad you mentioned it. Even among Sturgis fans, MIRACLE is ignored in favor of SUllIVAN'S TRAVELS and THE LADY EVE, two films I find just a bit inferior. As Martin Landeau as Bela Lugosi said in ED WOOD, any publicity is good publicity.Kirkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02155991693956178030noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-25154403990185207362008-12-23T13:06:00.000-08:002008-12-23T13:06:00.000-08:00Should I...? OK, I have to admit to a giant blind ...<I>Should I...? OK, I have to admit to a giant blind spot about Preston Sturges. Everybody says he's a comedy genius and his movies are all screams, but "The Miracle of Morgan's Creek" is worse than root canal. Betty Hutton and Eddie Bracken making faces and noises and running around -- please explain, comedy professionals.</I><BR/><BR/>Consider when it was made -- in 1944, a decade after the Hays Code began being enforced, in the midst of wartime sanctimoniousness. In that context, it's as subversive as any film ever made.<BR/><BR/>For Sturges as a writer, I recommend "Remember The Night," the <I>second-most</I> known Barbara Stanwyck-Fred MacMurray teaming. It's on at 11:15 p.m. (ET) Wednesday on TCM in the U.S. Charming film.<BR/><BR/>WVW: "scalediu." The measure of God.VP81955https://www.blogger.com/profile/11792390726196611188noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-87941980905545534512008-12-23T10:27:00.000-08:002008-12-23T10:27:00.000-08:00Well,Sam, perhaps if you listened to The Beatles i...Well,Sam, perhaps if you listened to The Beatles instead of The Beetles it might change your mind. <BR/><BR/>Anonymous, I disagree with a lot of Ken's opinions. That must make me a laugh riot.Cap'n Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11783977137812876489noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-65061535956285100492008-12-23T10:03:00.000-08:002008-12-23T10:03:00.000-08:00Anonymous - oh come on now, you know what most peo...Anonymous - oh come on now, you know what most people really hate, don't you? Snarky, superior a-holes who hurl their insults anonymously! <BR/><BR/>I think most of us here prefer our a-holes to be out and proud.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-55292383361853687772008-12-23T09:29:00.000-08:002008-12-23T09:29:00.000-08:00Ken,I agree with you on all counts except "It's a ...Ken,<BR/><BR/>I agree with you on all counts except "It's a Wonderful Life." <BR/><BR/>It is a terrific classic. Jimmy Stewart is such a great actor, it's worth watching it every year to see him yell at those kids of his. <BR/><BR/>The only thing that could ruin it is if they remade it starring Jim Carrey.Rickyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00480810172668236583noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-67029246230983015092008-12-23T05:21:00.000-08:002008-12-23T05:21:00.000-08:00Congratulations, Anonymous. You are not funnier th...Congratulations, Anonymous. You are not funnier than you actually are.<BR/><BR/>Please have a pleasant seasonal experience, if that is your inclination.Sam Thorntonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18049389264459683859noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-21594197205650579142008-12-23T05:17:00.000-08:002008-12-23T05:17:00.000-08:00would an answer of "most of these responses, espec...would an answer of "most of these responses, especially by people who think they are funnier than they actually are" or "the people who try and kiss Ken's ass by agreeing with every word he says" count?<BR/><BR/>or do most people hate them tooAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-33195934516631618392008-12-23T05:09:00.000-08:002008-12-23T05:09:00.000-08:00AI - Hate it passionately, mostly because of the j...AI - Hate it passionately, mostly because of the judges (no matter if it's the german or the US version).<BR/><BR/>The Dark Knight is this generation's Godfather so back off people ;-) What's really a shame is the Blu-Ray and DVD "Special Editions". Those two are atrocities. Warner Bros. should go and die a horrible death for this. I paid 40 bucks for a Blu-Ray that has less features than a Dr. No. I returned it just like I also sold every season of "Frasier" except the first one. Stuff like this makes me want to pirate the hell out of these shows/movies because if I wanted JUST THE EPISODE without a commentary track, I'd simply keep my DVR recordings and convert them to XviD/DivX AVIs (which I don't need to do because I can simply get the whole shebang directly of the Internet if I want to).<BR/><BR/>Really - when will those idiots learn?<BR/><BR/>But I digress. So again: AI. Hate it.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01936042470523695383noreply@blogger.com