Waaayyyyy behind on throwing some thoughts out on new and returning shows, but I’m going to take care of all of that with a full-sized batch of reviews Monday. I think. I hope.
I seriously doubt any other new shows are going to be as good as Glee. Some lingering thoughts from last night’s episode (SPOILER ALERTS!!!) before the Bruce Willis portion of the blog:
–As much as I liked last night’s episode — and I liked it a lot — Glee now falls into the category of shows that flagrantly flout sports rules in the spirit of storytelling. You see, there’s this little thing in football called a — and I’m making air quotes right now — “play clock.” It starts at 25 as soon as the previous play is over and counts down to zero. If you don’t get the play off in those 25 seconds, five-yard penalty. Doesn’t make a difference they called time out before the play. The founding fathers of football probably didn’t have Beyonce dance numbers in mind when they made the rule, but still, that thing took about two minutes (just checked — 1:35). Of course the other team was rattled, they were probably thinking, “Why the holy heck aren’t the refs calling delay of game???” And kickers barely have enough time to get the kick off when they’re seven steps away and running up to the ball. To throw in a couple dance steps would make getting a kick off impossible. TV shows and movies are notorious for this — even Hoosiers did it — and it detracts from my overall enjoyment. All of that being said, the dance routine is one of the funniest, most original ideas I’ve seen on TV in a while.
–If Ryan Murphy’s prime directive is to get annoying songs in my head for at least two days after the episode, then missions accomplished. I can’t get Single Ladies out of my head. I woke up and it was the first thing I heard rattling around my brain. This is the fourth freakin’ episode, and it’s the fourth freakin’ time it’s happened (Don’t Stop Believin’, Sex You Up and Say a Little Prayer are the others). Even getting Poison in last week couldn’t avert this peculiar phenomenon.
–I took some heat a couple years ago when I wrote a story on a MILF comedy show at PBC (link is gone for some reason). Mainly it was because people don’t like that last F in the acronym, but my contention was that it’s all over pop culture now and is accepted. People couldn’t believe it. Well, here we are again with another mention of MILF in Glee’s weekly Subversive Line of the Week That Should Have Been Caught by Censors But They’re Not Noticing It Because It’s Deemed a Musical: Puck randomly sees Quinn and says, “What’s up, MILF!” the first time he sees her after he learns she’s pregnant. Hysterical.
–Finn thinking of hitting the mailman has the potential to be the funniest running gag on TV.
–Mike O’Malley has been on the PopRox radar since his days at The Rick, but it’s ironic his last TV job was a gay cop on My Name is Earl and now he’s playing a man’s man who we think is going to be angry with his son Kurt’s revelation that he’s gay.
I’m something of a Bruce Willis aficionado, so I’m not leaving it up to other people to ranks his top 10 projects, even though this is pretty close. Not counting cameos (so long, Player) and I’m basing this on his performance and overall impact on the movie, since Pulp Fiction is inarguably the best movie ever but not his best. And I’m including 12, because 10 just doesn’t include some good stuff:
12. Hudson Hawk. Ahead of its time or rightfully vilified? We still don’t have the answer, but I’m one of the few people who really liked Hudson Hawk and still watch it when it makes its way into the Comedy Central rotation. There’s a lot of junk in there, but I’ll go to my grave saying the Swingin’ on a Star scene is innovative, fun and purely good moviemaking.
11. Respect Yourself video. Here we are at the crossroads of being a Bruce Willis fan and a slightly worrisome Bruce Willis fanatic. By including this on any Willis list, you firmly include yourself in the latter group. (UPDATE: OK, I just watched the whole video, and I can no longer condone it. It’s not quuuuuiiiiiittttteeeee as cool as I remember. In fact, it may be the most unintentionally funny thing ever).
10. Look Who’s Talking. I don’t think I fully appreciated this movie until I had my daughter last year (happy birthday Jenna!) and find myself saying what I think is in her head based on the look she’s giving. Willis’s voice-over is what keeps the whole thing from being a Scientology allegory. OK, that’s probably not true, but you never know.
9. Nobody’s Fool. You get the feeling if Willis never became an actor, this is who he would have been.
8. Twelve Monkeys. I’ve watched it about 20 times and I’m still not sure I understand it. But I’ll watch it 20 more times to try and figure it out.
7. The Sixth Sense. When he didn’t get a best actor nomination after this, it was pretty clear he never would. Somehow, Willis has grabbed on to up-and-coming directors before they jump the shark (M. Night Shaymalan, Michael Bay, John McTiernan, Tony Scott).
6. The Whole Nine Yards. Any questions about whether he could relate and play to a younger generation were answered loud and clear. His timing with Matthew Perry is 100 percent perfect. It was so good, in fact, they went ahead and made a sequel based only on this chemistry and not worrying about a script.
5. Armageddon/Striking Distance. I’ve made my thoughts on Armageddon known — I hated it when I walked out of the theater, now I watch it every time it reruns on Encore. I’ve literally seen it more than 100 times, and I have no idea why. But after multiple viewings, I realized what saves a flawed script, an insultingly bogus premise and about a half-hour of extraneous material that had no business being shot let alone making the movie are the very good performances of everyone involved, from Michael Clarke Duncan all the way down to Willis. Striking Distance would have fallen straight into the bowels of the toilet without Willis. He’s apologized for this movie, but no apology necessary, Bruno. It’s a surprisingly good script in parts with a couple of my favorite Willis lines thrown in there for good measure. It’s also got the most underrated cast of the 90s.
4. Die Hard with a Vengeance. The most underrated movie of Willis’s career and an unfairly criticized installment into the Die Hard franchise. It’s the most humanizing edition of John McClane, it’s just too bad they couldn’t think of an ending. Not Bruno’s fault.
3. Moonlighting. David Addison is the coolest character of 80s television. On this there can be no argument. As a kid, I prayed I’d be able to say something as cool and witty as “Do bears bear? Do bees bee?” Never have.
2. Pulp Fiction. Is it really a Bruce Willis movie when three other actors get Oscar nominations — four if you count Quentin — get Oscar nominations but he doesn’t? No, you can’t. But his 40 minutes of screen time are probably the best in his career, except when he called Hans a “jerkweed” in Die Hard. Which brings us to . . .
1. Die Hard. Redefined the action genre and remains the most rewatchable movie of the last 25 years. Easily. If I ever get a Blu-Ray player, it’s for this movie and this movie only.
Mike Sadowski is pretty boring, but here's the quick scoop: Lifelong NEPA resident, Abington Heights grad ('93), Elizabethtown College grad ('97), sports reporter ('97-'99), news and cops reporter ('99-'04) and pretty much doing everything at the Read Full
glee and the best of bruce willis
Waaayyyyy behind on throwing some thoughts out on new and returning shows, but I’m going to take care of all of that with a full-sized batch of reviews Monday. I think. I hope.
I seriously doubt any other new shows are going to be as good as Glee. Some lingering thoughts from last night’s episode (SPOILER ALERTS!!!) before the Bruce Willis portion of the blog:
–As much as I liked last night’s episode — and I liked it a lot — Glee now falls into the category of shows that flagrantly flout sports rules in the spirit of storytelling. You see, there’s this little thing in football called a — and I’m making air quotes right now — “play clock.” It starts at 25 as soon as the previous play is over and counts down to zero. If you don’t get the play off in those 25 seconds, five-yard penalty. Doesn’t make a difference they called time out before the play. The founding fathers of football probably didn’t have Beyonce dance numbers in mind when they made the rule, but still, that thing took about two minutes (just checked — 1:35). Of course the other team was rattled, they were probably thinking, “Why the holy heck aren’t the refs calling delay of game???” And kickers barely have enough time to get the kick off when they’re seven steps away and running up to the ball. To throw in a couple dance steps would make getting a kick off impossible. TV shows and movies are notorious for this — even Hoosiers did it — and it detracts from my overall enjoyment. All of that being said, the dance routine is one of the funniest, most original ideas I’ve seen on TV in a while.
–If Ryan Murphy’s prime directive is to get annoying songs in my head for at least two days after the episode, then missions accomplished. I can’t get Single Ladies out of my head. I woke up and it was the first thing I heard rattling around my brain. This is the fourth freakin’ episode, and it’s the fourth freakin’ time it’s happened (Don’t Stop Believin’, Sex You Up and Say a Little Prayer are the others). Even getting Poison in last week couldn’t avert this peculiar phenomenon.
–I took some heat a couple years ago when I wrote a story on a MILF comedy show at PBC (link is gone for some reason). Mainly it was because people don’t like that last F in the acronym, but my contention was that it’s all over pop culture now and is accepted. People couldn’t believe it. Well, here we are again with another mention of MILF in Glee’s weekly Subversive Line of the Week That Should Have Been Caught by Censors But They’re Not Noticing It Because It’s Deemed a Musical: Puck randomly sees Quinn and says, “What’s up, MILF!” the first time he sees her after he learns she’s pregnant. Hysterical.
–Finn thinking of hitting the mailman has the potential to be the funniest running gag on TV.
–Mike O’Malley has been on the PopRox radar since his days at The Rick, but it’s ironic his last TV job was a gay cop on My Name is Earl and now he’s playing a man’s man who we think is going to be angry with his son Kurt’s revelation that he’s gay.
I’m something of a Bruce Willis aficionado, so I’m not leaving it up to other people to ranks his top 10 projects, even though this is pretty close. Not counting cameos (so long, Player) and I’m basing this on his performance and overall impact on the movie, since Pulp Fiction is inarguably the best movie ever but not his best. And I’m including 12, because 10 just doesn’t include some good stuff:
12. Hudson Hawk. Ahead of its time or rightfully vilified? We still don’t have the answer, but I’m one of the few people who really liked Hudson Hawk and still watch it when it makes its way into the Comedy Central rotation. There’s a lot of junk in there, but I’ll go to my grave saying the Swingin’ on a Star scene is innovative, fun and purely good moviemaking.
11. Respect Yourself video. Here we are at the crossroads of being a Bruce Willis fan and a slightly worrisome Bruce Willis fanatic. By including this on any Willis list, you firmly include yourself in the latter group. (UPDATE: OK, I just watched the whole video, and I can no longer condone it. It’s not quuuuuiiiiiittttteeeee as cool as I remember. In fact, it may be the most unintentionally funny thing ever).
10. Look Who’s Talking. I don’t think I fully appreciated this movie until I had my daughter last year (happy birthday Jenna!) and find myself saying what I think is in her head based on the look she’s giving. Willis’s voice-over is what keeps the whole thing from being a Scientology allegory. OK, that’s probably not true, but you never know.
9. Nobody’s Fool. You get the feeling if Willis never became an actor, this is who he would have been.
8. Twelve Monkeys. I’ve watched it about 20 times and I’m still not sure I understand it. But I’ll watch it 20 more times to try and figure it out.
7. The Sixth Sense. When he didn’t get a best actor nomination after this, it was pretty clear he never would. Somehow, Willis has grabbed on to up-and-coming directors before they jump the shark (M. Night Shaymalan, Michael Bay, John McTiernan, Tony Scott).
6. The Whole Nine Yards. Any questions about whether he could relate and play to a younger generation were answered loud and clear. His timing with Matthew Perry is 100 percent perfect. It was so good, in fact, they went ahead and made a sequel based only on this chemistry and not worrying about a script.
5. Armageddon/Striking Distance. I’ve made my thoughts on Armageddon known — I hated it when I walked out of the theater, now I watch it every time it reruns on Encore. I’ve literally seen it more than 100 times, and I have no idea why. But after multiple viewings, I realized what saves a flawed script, an insultingly bogus premise and about a half-hour of extraneous material that had no business being shot let alone making the movie are the very good performances of everyone involved, from Michael Clarke Duncan all the way down to Willis. Striking Distance would have fallen straight into the bowels of the toilet without Willis. He’s apologized for this movie, but no apology necessary, Bruno. It’s a surprisingly good script in parts with a couple of my favorite Willis lines thrown in there for good measure. It’s also got the most underrated cast of the 90s.
4. Die Hard with a Vengeance. The most underrated movie of Willis’s career and an unfairly criticized installment into the Die Hard franchise. It’s the most humanizing edition of John McClane, it’s just too bad they couldn’t think of an ending. Not Bruno’s fault.
3. Moonlighting. David Addison is the coolest character of 80s television. On this there can be no argument. As a kid, I prayed I’d be able to say something as cool and witty as “Do bears bear? Do bees bee?” Never have.
2. Pulp Fiction. Is it really a Bruce Willis movie when three other actors get Oscar nominations — four if you count Quentin — get Oscar nominations but he doesn’t? No, you can’t. But his 40 minutes of screen time are probably the best in his career, except when he called Hans a “jerkweed” in Die Hard. Which brings us to . . .
1. Die Hard. Redefined the action genre and remains the most rewatchable movie of the last 25 years. Easily. If I ever get a Blu-Ray player, it’s for this movie and this movie only.