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New on DVD: "30 Rock" rocks, Seth Rogen: Mall Cop and Ol' Blue Eyes is back
That season of 30 Rock that just won another Emmy? It's on DVD. As are a controversial comedy with Seth Rogen and a lavish box devoted to a mixed bag of Paul Newman movies. Read on for more!
I can't begin to imagine why any of you aren't already watching this brilliantly hilarious sitcom, but 30 Rock - Season Three is available to those of you who haven't been converted (as well as those who need repeated viewings to catch all of the rapid-fire gags). This season contains two of my favorite episodes—"Believe in the Stars," in which a prescription-drug–addled Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) shares a flight from Chicago with Oprah Winfrey, and "Reunion," where Liz begrudgingly attends her high-school reunion to discover that she wasn't a picked-on nerd, as she'd remembered, but actually a bully.
Critics were sharply divided (literally, with a 51% at Rotten Tomatoes) over Observe and Report, starring Seth Rogen as a Travis Bickle–esque mall cop, but I found this exceedingly dark comedy (from the guy behind The Foot-Fist Way and Eastbound and Down) consistently hilarious. Take a look and see on which side of the debate you fall.
The Paul Newman Tribute Collection comes loaded with lots of gorgeous extras, but the movies themselves are something of a hit-and-miss proposition, as is usually the case when someone's career is anthologized based on his or her work for one particular studio (in this case, 20th Century Fox). This box set contains some of the handsome star's best films including The Hustler, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Verdict, and at least one guilty pleasure (the Betty Comden and Adolph Green–scripted What a Way to Go!) but also some decidedly lesser work including The Towering Inferno, Quintet, and From the Terrace. Still, there are few Hollywood icons that are as fun to sit and stare at for several hours.
And finally, the always-reliable Criterion Collection delivers a Blu-Ray of one of the finest films from director Jean-Luc Godard: Pierrot le Fou, starring the unbelievably sexy duo of Jean-Paul Belmondo and Anna Karina as former lovers who reconnect and go on a nihilistic crime spree. L'amour fou has rarely been this breathtaking. Submitted by on Wed, 2009-09-23 15:19. |
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Ol' blue eyes...
Observe And Report
"Which side of the debate" about whether Observe And Report is funny will all depend on whether you think rape jokes are hilarious or sick.
Clearly Alonso you find rape something to laugh at, and apparently have never experienced rape or attempted rape. Lucky you.
What I believe
I think there is "funny" and "not funny," but I don't believe that there is anything that is inherently off-limits in the realm of comedy and satire. If such material offends you, that is your right. But to contradict your assertions, I have no policy on "rape jokes."
And as the scene in Observe and Report is presented, I don't think that Ronnie is smart enough to realize that what is happening could be construed as an assault, particuarly since Brandi urges him to continue having sex with her when he momentarily stops.
At least some of the people who took issue with the "rape" content of Observe and Report admitted they'd never actually seen it. I certainly hope you're making this argument with a clear picture of what takes place in the film and aren't just parroting someone else's line of complaint.
So ignorance is innocence?
The basic set up is: Woman is extremely drunk, Man is extremely drunk, Woman passes out in bed, Man climbs on top and begins having sex with unconcious Woman, Man momentarily pauses out of some small glimmer of recognition that what he is doing is wrong, Woman wakes up and drunkenly yells, "Why'd you stop motherfucker?", Audience erupts into laughter.
Did I miss some deeper nuance about this scene that somehow does not make this possibly one of the most disturbing jokes in a mainstream film?
Maybe it is the fact that something along these lines happened to me, except without me saying anything other than "stop". In college, I was drinking with a guy I thought was my friend in his dorm room. Never having drank before, I became very drunk and all but passed out on his bed. Next thing I knew, this much stronger and apparently much more sober guy was on top of me grinding his body against mine. I yelled at him to stop and tried to push him off me. It was only after I punched him in the side of the head that he got off me. I ran out out the door and locked myself in my room terrified of what almost happened. When I confronted him the next day about what happened, he did the standard rapist denial of "I was just drunk, things got out of hand, you know you wanted it, you are just overreacting."
Apparently he was justifying what happened because HE did not see it as rape. Rapists rarely do.
"I don't think that Ronnie is smart enough to realize that what is happening could be construed as an assault"
If I understood that comment correctly, you are saying it cannot be rape because the character does not think it is rape, and what makes it really funny is that the woman being raped actually wants it to happen...which is also a near universal belief of all rapists: their victims secretly enjoyed it and wanted it.
You are so kind to state that I have a right to be offended by rape jokes. Thanks Alonso! You also have a right to enjoy rape jokes. I just am completely unsure as to why AfterElton would have someone write for them who thinks no type of humor is off limits (like rape) as long as it is funny. Apparently gay bashing jokes are only wrong when they do not make you laugh. Is that what all those homophobic movies, TV shows, and stand up comics were doing wrong? It was not that they were being hateful, it was that they were just not making us laugh hard enough.
In a country where 1 in 6 women will be raped in their lifetime, I think we should agree that rape jokes are never funny.
Towering Inferno
You put words in my mouth
There's no point in discussing this issue further since you've already decided you already know both sides of the argument.
In your original entry, you note that I "clearly" find rape something to laugh over and then conjecture over whether or not this has ever happened to me. You know nothing about either but presume to say otherwise.
Then you go on to make further assumptions and blanket statements about my opinions. Why should I bother debating you when you're doing my half of the discussion for me?
From the Terrace
From the Terrace (1960) is an underrated masterpiece from one of Hollywood's most underrated directors, Mark Robson. Before he sold out with trashy pics like Valley of the Dolls (1967) and Earthquake (1974), Robson made astute yet melodramatic studies of society and those who rejected the confines of society or tried to come to an understanding with society; this is reflected in such masterful films as Champion (1949), The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1955), Peyton Place (1957) and The Inn of the Sixth Happiness (1958).
In From the Terrace, Robson explores these themes once again, stripping down John O'Hara's novel to its basic core and, in the process, presaging in a pulpier form (much as he did for Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho and Roman Polanski's Rosemary's Baby with his 1943 debut, The Seventh Victim,or even Peter Weiss's Marat/Sade with 1945's Bedlam) Richard Yates' 1961 novel Revolutionary Road. Watching From the Terrace back-to-back with Sam Mendes recent, leaden film version of Revolutionary Road, it's easy to see which is the far superior film.
Plus, From the Terrace features terrific supporting turns from Myrna Loy and gay actor George Grizzard.