There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I though I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form so here they are courtesy of YouTube. I advise you to watch them before you read my reviews if you don’t want me to spoil things. If you are interested in buying the video through iTunes, click the title link (where available, if not the link goes to YouTube where you can watch the video in full screen). If you are interested in buying the song, look for a link in the analysis.
It seems like the soundtrack era has died. Back in the nineties every band seemed willing to send songs not good enough to make there own albums to the soundtrack, most of the songs which never actually appear in the movie so I guess it is a good thing. Another good reason major soundtracks have disappeared, the lame music video tie in where they would mix in scenes from the movie with scenes of the band that usually had nothing to do with the movie. Well maybe that will change with this great video from the Spiderman 3 Soundtrack with an elementary school play reviews the first two movies with Snow Patrol playing the role of the house band conjuring up images of the Crash Test Dummies video. But in true soundtrack fashion, the song itself isn’t nearly as good as anything on their latest album.
Remember the good ol’ days of 2003 when Arrested Development was still on the air and a little band was daring you to move? Now they are both back (sort of) and together in this video. Apparently Buster asking price is so high that Switchfoot couldn’t even afford the licensing fee for Guitar Hero. And if there were an video equivalent to jumping the shark (okay that was a blatant AD reference) it would be when the dead chick from Heroes goes all eighties.
Back when I reviewed the debut album from Corinne Bailey Rae (see Girl Go Ahead Let Your Hair Down), in an album chalk full of good songs, Trouble Sleeping received the coveted Song to Download for the album. And she finally released the song here stateside (it has been out for awhile in England). I dare you to listen to this song and not grab somewhere near and start dancing.
Okay, one more video. Words really cannot describe this video other than it may be the greatest thing ever in the history of YouTube:
Ugg, it's just one of those days where you just want to cue up that cheesy Bad Day song and put it on repeat. I was planning a proper post for today but spent to much time studying for a quiz that I'll be happy to get credit for getting my name right. And if my posts become sporadic over the next week it is because I have a test in the same class and need to make up for the goose egg I laid today plus another test in my other class. The one bright spot to my day is I came across a trailer on YouTube for a movie that looks like will be the greatest movie in cinematic history. Check it out:
On a side note, when do I get my own production company where I can hire Jessica Biel to star opposite of me and grab her breasts? (And to any movie studios out there, yes I have a script.)
Quote of the Week: It’s not Rabbit-ussin, it’s Robitussin. (Julius, Everybody Hates Chris)
Song of the Week: Endless Love - Lionel Richie and Diana Ross (as sung by guest host Adam Sandler and Don Cheadle, The Late Show with David Letterman)
Big News of the Week: All the shows I watch are on the verge of being canceled: Last week I mentioned the cancellation rumors are already starting and now the “Save Our Shows” polls are popping up and wouldn’t you know it, almost every show I watch popped up on one poll including Friday Night Lights,How I Met Your Mother, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Supernatural, and Veronica Mars. Head over to the webpage to vote. Now I’m not going to tell you to vote for Veronica Mars, but vote for Veronica Mars.
Pardon the Interruption: Here is one show I never miss. In fact I haven’t missed an episode since it premiered. Unfortunately Tony Kornheiser likes his reality show and three days a week we have to put up his lame American Karaoke ramblings. Another show he occasionally rambles on about is other show I avoid like the plague, Dancing with the Has Been’s and Never Were’s. I bring this up because they featured Apollo Anton Ono and more importantly his partner. If there were a reason why I’d watch that show it would be her. In fact if you know who she is or actually are her, shout me a holla.
How I Met Your Mother: I’m really hoping they break up Ted and Robin by the end of the season because the whole will they or won’t they end up together thing is getting tired considering we already know they aren’t ending up together. One thing not getting tired, Barney, his Top 10 was classic. Check out the latest episode on Innertube.
Friday Night Lights: Somewhat of a weak episode coming out of the hiatus aside from the boys night out at the high school. And I’m beginning to wonder if Riggins ever actually goes to school. Presumably if the kid has school, the high school would also been in session. But the episode did end with an “Oh, snap” moment when Lyla played demolition derby with her dad’s dealership. Check out the latest episode over at NBC.com.
Lost: Many point to an episode in season two where the show jumped the shark, for me it was when they killed off the token hot chick. But if the show jumped the shark back then, they need to find a completely new term for the latest episode. I’m not surew what was more inane, that Locke survive a eight story fall after being pushed through a window, Locke blowing up the submarine, or Locke’s father showing up on the island. For a comparison, if killing off the token hot chick was Britney Spears marring Kevin Federline, this past episode was Britney shaving her head. Oh and just when the show revealed the big secret that everyone already assume already last week with Jack and Claire being sibling, now how many seasons until we get the hyped, shocking revelation that the original Sawyer is Locke’s dad? Check out the latest episode over at ABC.com.
Survivor: Since the show was on Wednesday this week and I was already taping Friday Night Lights, I had to watch the episode online this week and the brain trust over at CBS.com decide to advertise that Anthony was going to be on Survivor Live ruining any suspense on who was getting voted out or winning immunity. Thanks guys. With that said, the immunity challenge has to go up there with one of the coolest in the show’s history and I would love to give that a try sometime. Check out the latest episode on Innertube.
Smallville: For those keeping track home, the three Zoners this season have been played by two WWF’ers and rapper Bow Wow. Think about that for a moment. And the Lana pregnancy takes another turn. Was Lex behind the miscarriage, and if so why? Hopefully we find out soon than later.
Pick of the Week: Lost, Wednesday 10:00 ABC: Okay, so I didn’t care too much about the last episode but at least next week we get a Paulo/Nikki-centric episode. Wait, who are they again?
It probably won’t take a long time reader here at the 9th Green to realize that a review of a Adam Sandler movie won’t be the most unbiased review out there. But much like his other past dumb comedies, Click made into my DVD library. But unlike his previous movies, Sandler doesn’t play the lovable loser. Instead he is a fairly successful architect who close to making partner and he already has the girl in the form of Kate Beckinsale (Serendipity) who seems to like to walk around in pajama short shorts and tight fitting shirt.
Okay, so not everything is perfect as he is having trouble balancing his family and doing enough at work to be made partner. The pressure culminates when he has to do research on Asian architecture so he can land a prestigious Japanese client only to turn on a remote control car while trying to play a video on the subject. So it’s time to a universal remote so he doesn’t open his garage door every time he tries to turn on the television. But the only place that is open at the time is Bed, Bath, and Beyond where Sandler has to venture into the Beyond where he runs into the last person you want to meet at the end of a dark hallway, Mr. Cowbell himself, Christopher Walken.
As anyone who saw the trailer can figure up, the remote that Walken gives Sandler is truly a universal remote as it gives Sandler the power to control his whole universe. He can fast forward threw fights with his wife, mute annoying people, and pause to kick someone in the crotch without them knowing (hey it’s an Adam Sandler movie; you need your prerequisite object to the crotch). No remote control gag goes unused. Well except for close captioning. But anyways. Unfortunately for Sandler the remote comes with Tivo so it starts predicting his habits and starts to fast forwards even when he doesn’t want to do so. And unfortunately for us as Sandler goes further in the future, the sappier the movie gets and almost plays out like A Christmas Carol with Walken playing all three ghosts.
But luckily there are plenty of fart jokes and other sophomoric gags that you would expect from a Sandler movie that keeps the sappy parts from being unwatchable. Plus Sandler brings in some of his past coworker who knock the comedy out of the park including The Fonz (The Waterboy), Sean Austin (50 First Dates), Terry Crews (The Longest Yard), and of course Rob Schneider who seems to pop up in every of his movie, but you will have to look in the deleted scenes to hear his catchphrase, “You can do it!” The best cameo though goes to James Earl Jones who you will just have to see the movie to see how he is used. But when it comes down to it, if you love Sandler, you will love this movie, but if you’re not, you are complete and total tool and need to get a sense of humor.
I have to start off this review by saying that I have never seen the 1974 original with Burt Reynolds, who also shows up in the update as the inmates coach, so I can’t compare the two movies. This could be a good thing because most reviews I read always stated how much the first one was better. Granted I can still compare this version to the other Adam Sandler football movie, The Waterboy. It’s odd that no one complained about Sandler playing a linebacker in that movie yet everyone jumped on him for trying to be a quarterback. And he was a washed up one to boot so I really didn’t have a problem with it.
Of course the movie is about the washed up QB in prison but how he gets there is great with cameos by Courtney Cox’s newly enormous breasts and Dan Patrick, who apparently didn’t get the memo that the movie would be set in present day as he instead chose to go with the 70’s gay porn mustache with a dash of the Village People. But from there Sandler is shipped off to a Texan prison where the warden pulled some strings in hope that he would help out with the prison guard’s football team. And what would be better practice for the guards than a little warm up game against a team of inmates.
Even though most of the inmates and guards are played by former football player, pro wrestlers and other non-actors, most of the characters are so well written, it makes up for any lack of acting experience. Ultimate Fighter Bob Sapp is great as the mentally slow Switowski, Michael Irvin in a role before he started holding onto his buddies narcotics plays a con who still doesn’t trust Sandler after selling out his teammates in the NFL, and the giant Dalip Singh English was so bad they had to subtitle everything. As for the guards, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Brian Bosworth, who was always a better actor than football player, but that isn’t saying much, and Bill Romanowski all play their tough guys well but I bet Romo was mad that Stone Cold got to utter the racial slurs and not him. But the standout of the guard is Kevin Nash who even though goes into every cliché conceived is hilarious after the inmates replaced his steroids with estrogen.
But not all the characters are well flashed out. It’s hard to relate to Nelly talking how poor his character is when he has a couple gold teeth and Goldberg one running gag that his, um, chariot swings low, so to speak, gets old before it starts. The cast is filled out with more traditional actors with Chris Rock channeling Morgan Freeman as Caretaker, Terry Crews, who has gone on to play Rock’s dad on Everybody Hates Chris, is hilarious as the cheeseburger dude, as is Nicolas Turturro as the early recruit who is quickly benched as more black inmates show up.
When I first was brainstorming for a name for this blog, the most logical choice was a nickname that a college buddy gave me back in the day, Scooter McGavin. Now I have hated the nickname Scooter for the longest time but since this name was a take on a character from one of our favorite movies, Shooter McGavin from Happy Gilmore, I actually didn’t hate this moniker. Taking my love of the movie one step further, I added an obscure reference to make the blog’s name more unique with the 9th Green referring to where Shooter sent Happy on his first day on tour and ended with Happy getting soaked by the sprinklers.
Due to my unofficial 10 year waiting period for inductions into the Scooter Hall of Fame, Happy Gilmore hasn’t been eligible until now since the movie was released back in 1996, but if there were ever a first ballot inductee, it is this movie. (Granted 1996 was a great year for entertainment which I will go deeper into later this month including a Best of 1996 Lyrics Quiz on the 15th, so look out, and study up, for that). I still remember seeing the trailer to the movie for the first time with the classic line “The price is wrong, Bob” (of course they changed the line in the movie, which was much more funnier) followed by Happy punching the ancient Bob Barker. From that I knew I had to I would be in line I had to see the movie. The full page ad from the newspaper quickly made it up on my wall and was later replaced by the official movie poster that I got for Christmas that year.
And when I finally saw he movie, it didn’t disappoint. Adam Sandler was at his best as the failed hockey player turned reluctant golfer. Julie Bowen, in her first prominent role before becoming Carol Vessey on the brilliant Ed and more recently guest shots on Lost as Jack's (possibly) ex-wife, was solid as the love interest that helps Happy compete. Then there is my namesake Shooter McGavin as portrayed by the always reliable Christopher McDonald who plays the corny joke spewing adversary of Happy perfectly. Even all the bit players were on point the most memorable being Donald, the dude who Shooter paid to annoy Happy that led to the Bob Barker beating. It was because of him that “jackass” became the most used term of endearment, so to speak, among my college buddies. On top of all that there were great cameos from Ben Stiller, Kevin Nealon, and Lee Travino.
Rarely do long stretches of time go by without me quoting the movie or emulating a scene. Since I’ve seen the movie, there hasn’t been a time when with a female when Endless Love comes on I haven’t turned to her and say, “Friends can hold hands while listening to Endless Love in the dark.” Sadly, though, I have yet to master the running drive. Maybe one day.
With Christmas only week away, it’s officially time to break out my mix tape of my favorite holiday songs. I really try to avoid Christmas music more than a week from the holiday because it always seems I get burned out from it if I start listening to it after Thanksgiving, which most department store start to play them. Even today as I listened to my personalized Yahoo radio station (see the link in my sidebar to listen to it yourself) I heard three different versions of The Christmas Song. But anyways. Hear are my favorite holiday tunes that easily fit on a single CD and feel free to leave a comment letting me know some of your favorite holiday tunes:
Adam Sandler was the best reason to watch Saturday Night Live for me in the post-Dana Carvey era. The best was whenever he’d show up at the Weekend Update desk to sing his silly little songs. Then I was introduced to his first comedy album, ironically at church camp. Aw, good old church camp where we would listen to Sandler albums, make out with chicks and get into fights. Then there was the sect that would wonder off for a smoke break. I think church camp was more immoral than regular camp. But anyways. Sandler’s They’re All Gonna Laugh at You! had us on the floor all weekend and is still good for a laugh today. And as we start November and head to Thanksgiving, the album makes a great addition to the Scooter Hall of Fame with my daily spin of the Thanksgiving Song.
The album starts off modest enough with Assistant Principal’s Big Day as the namesake in the title making some new rules as regulating smoking. Of course this takes a turn for the worse as me matter of factly orders the girls shower into his office which then disturbingly includes the men’s gymnastics team. And the album rarely slows down from there and really earns his Parental Advisory sticker as if any good parent would let his or her child listen to this.
Next we are introduced to the Buffoon who shows up multiple times throughout the album as he makes outrageous statements like telling his Dean of Admissions, played by Conan O’Brien, “I bet you got really hairy (expletive deleted),” only for the person he’s talking to, such as the Valedictorian, respond to the Buffoon in almost scientifically. The best of the Buffoon’s statement was when he told his girlfriend, “My dog has a four inch (expletive deleted).”
Another theme on the album is the severe beating of various high school employees such as the janitor, bus driver, science teacher, and Spanish teacher. These all got multiple spins when I was in high school in particular the Spanish teacher because, even though I too French, it was nice to see a foreign language teacher be taking down and try to get out of her beating by saying things such as “Me casa, su casa.” And to this day, I still sing “Mop, mop, mop, all day long…” whenever I clean stuff.
There are a couple of missteps on the album as I find nothing funny in a dude taking a monster piss and the mother repeating the album title repeatedly during Oh Mom… get tired quickly. And hearing the dial tone go on forever during Mr. Spindel’s Phone Call gets annoying. But none of these skits drag down the album too much.
The best parts of the album are the songs. There was the previously mentioned Thanksgiving Song was originally conceived for SNL. There’s also Lunchlady Land that was brought to life hysterically by Chris Farley. But the best of the best would have to be At a Medium Pace that starts out as a cheesy Michael Bolton type love song with lyrics like “Put your arms around me baby, can’t you see I need you so.” But that quickly changes as he order’s his lover to “Spit on your hand and stroke my (expletive deleted) at a medium pace. This build up to a crescendo until he again requests “Now pull up my (expletive deleted) and take the shampoo bottle out of my (expletive deleted).” If you ever want some extra hilarity, perform the song yourself as if you were reading from a Shakespearian play.
To this day, the album is still very quote worthy as I still say “You suck” like it was performed in The Cheerleader and still look for appropriate times to say “I’m coming out of the booooooth.” And whenever I play with drunken idiots I always pull out, “Look at my hand, it’s moving, but it’s not moving.” Sandler also brought in an all-star voice talent to help him out. Aside from O’Brien, there are other SNL alums such as Rob Schneider, David Spade, Tim Meadows, and Robert Smigel. And with the other holidays coming up, make sure you also pick up The Chanukah Song and The Chanukah Song, part 2.
I’m a huge Adam Sandler fan so much I could quote every line from Billy Madison, Happy Gilmore, and The Waterboy for much of the late 90’s. Going into the new millennium, Sandler seem to not be able to decide whether to stick with his sophomoric shtick as with Little Nicky or move into a more sophisticated style as he did in Punch Drunk Love. And of course there is always romantic comedy with Drew Barrymore. His latest trek into the sophisticated realm was Spanglish.
The backdrop of the film is an essay a student has written for her application to Yale. It explains why her mother is the person she most admires and goes on to explain how her mom took her from Mexico and made her the person she was today. The problem with this is that the movie then doesn’t revolve around the young girl yet focuses on the family he mother began to work for upon arriving in America. In fact the girl gets very little screen time in the movie. The family includes Sandler as the dad with an inferiority complex at being the best chef in the country, his wife, played by Téa Leoni, a victim of downsizing who can quite adapt to being a stay at home mom. They have two children, a son who barely makes blip on screen and an overweight daughter played by an actress who tries to pull off the “wise beyond her age” act but isn’t able to do so. Alcoholic grandma also lives with them played perfectly by Cloris Leachman who delivers the best line in the movie, “Honey, lately, your low self-esteem is just good common sense.” That line has entered into my repertoire of insults and can’t wait until I find the perfect time to unleash it.
The movie finally hit its stride when the family movies to a beach house for the summer when Sandler’s family is introduced to the Mexican girl who is forced to move in with them due to distance reasons. Leoni finds in her the daughter she always wanted which causes problem with basically everyone else in the film.
The film is well written finding a balance in-between drama and comedy and also features what was one of the most disturbing sex scenes I have seen in a while. If that ever happen to me, I may have to give up sex for a while. As for the negatives, the movie seems to forget that is it based on an essay and there are many things that I doubt the girl ever knew yet she is able to write about it. Also all the driving scenes it is very obvious that green screens were used and they looked as bad as a SNL skit. A big budget movie should avoid such pitfalls. On the DVD, don’t forget to check out the deleted scenes to see one of the funniest scenes with Leoni’s character preparing for a party. Although the other scenes make you understand why they left out.
Last night, the American Film Institute ran down the top 100 Movie Quotes of All Time. No, I didn’t watch it because I found it easier to take five minutes to read the list (check it out here) rather than watch the three hour broadcast, not to mention the premier of Rescue Me was on. Granted, had AFI brought in the I Love the 80’s commentators, then maybe I’d watch it. Beside the lame commentary, the biggest problem is whenever I see an AFI list, I immediately have to slap the phrase “According to Old People” at the end. So this was the Top 100 Movie Quotes According to Old People. They even said this list was judged by 1,500 film artists, critics and historians. Historians? OK if they were creating a list of the greatest Pharaoh, than yeah, bring in some historians, but not for films. So what we get is a list full of movies even older than my parents. I think there were a few that were even older than my grandparents.
So since the list was made up by people who were born between the two World Wars, there were many good quotes that were left off the list, here are a few omissions:
Where all the white women at? Or basically anything from Mel Brooks repertoire.
I sneeze in your general direction. Or anything involving Monty Python.
The price is wrong (Bob). Or anything that has come out of Adam Sandler’s mouth.
Honey, you got a whole lot uglier. Or anything involving Bruce Campbell.
Indiana was the dog’s name. Or anything from the greatest trilogy ever.
If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball.
And those are just the ones that are coming off the top of my head. I’m sure if I thought about it more, I could come up with my own 100. But the biggest omissions was that they put, “May the force be with you” at number eight yet, “Luke (dramatic pause) I am your father” was no where to be found. The father quote could easily top the best quote list. Seriously, I really hate old people. Next time you do a list, please send me ballot so the average age can drop a little bit.
Another absurd list that graced my TV recently was the top 100 Child Stars list on VH1. At the bottom of the list there was Christina Ricci at 97. She was the go to kids of the 90’s and was in such kids movies as the Addams Family movies and Casper the Friendly Ghost. But the biggest “huh” moment was they actually had Gary Colman at number one. Just because he has look like a child the longest doesn’t make him the greatest child star ever. If you look at 2-5 you have Macaulay Culkin, the Olsen Twins, Jodie Foster, Drew Barrymore all of who should have been higher than Colman. But come to think of it, this from the same people who named Oprah as the number one Pop Icon in American history, so that just taints any list they ever make. Well until they let me cast a ballot. (Note to VH1 – call me.)
movie won’t be the most unbiased review out there. But much like his other past dumb comedies, Click made into my DVD library. But unlike his previous movies, Sandler doesn’t play the lovable loser. Instead he is a fairly successful architect who close to making partner and he already has the girl in the form of ![Terror Alert Level: High [ORANGE]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhebDZ0qqwOVKMZj7oFSUe8Hm3ax54U9Hp1fThJPgiddTyzcdwx_5SV6E3b7hkKyxbaDiym4COmUXT2YJnsKCUjBHI_a2xZtNoY7qFQRslP5AGO5gLkJwn2ZbO0wIF80ycbKrgPPA/s400/small_high.png)
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