- Yesterday, for some reason, they were showing several Mel Gibson movies on TNT. At 2:15, they played Payback, followed by Braveheart. I'm not sure if they had planned this for months and couldn't change the line-up, or if they actually thought the movies would be more in demand because of Mel's... problems.
I will say that I actually enjoy Payback, and it reminds me of why Mel has gotten so many chances in Hollywood. The dude can act, even if he is a horrible alcoholic and racist. He basically plays a bad, clever motherfucker in Payback, and he's the good guy. It predates stuff like Sin City and Kill Bill by a couple years, but it's a gritty, not-as-good "revenge" movie in that same vein. Mel and some of the supporting characters (James Coburn and Kris Kristofferson and vampy Maria Bello) in the movie have some really strong performances, as he is trying to get back the More importantly, it is the perfect sort of movie for a lazy Saturday afternoon. It has lots of violence and explosions, and enough decent acting to keep you interested; it follows firmly in the footsteps of fare like Falling Down with Michael Douglas and Roadhouse with Patrick Swayze. (Also, Ebert is a big fan, if that helps persuade anyone.)
- Also on Saturday was the original Buffy the Vampire Slayer, of which I am the only remaining fan of. While the WB / UPN / whatever show has many, many more fans, especially among people who write fan fiction, I like the original movie for a couple reasons.First, it doesn't take itself nearly as seriously as the series does. Kristy Swanson is goofier than Sarah Michelle Gellar, and the movie as a whole is very tongue in cheek. It's like the difference between Gremlins and Gremlins 2, with the movie Buffy being more of a spoof and exaggeration of horror movies. It was pretty odd for the time, considering that Buffy came out in 1992, four years before Scream.
Second, Swanson is much, much hotter than Gellar. I realize this is a scandalous statement to some, but take a look at that picture of her doing gymnastics and try to argue otherwise. Sure, she fell off the cliff into the Abyss of Non-Celebrity almost immediately after Buffy, but her peak is much, much higher than Gellar's. Although Gellar is undeniably cute, I never really viewed her as a major sex symbol like Swanson, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Denise Richards or Neve Campbell.For those reasons, I was quite glad to see Buffy The Vampire Slayer pop up on VH1 Saturday afternoon. Congrats!
- And finally, ESPN's programming is just odd sometimes. Instead of showing any number of Major League Baseball games, they instead showed... a men's softball championship. Seriously, ESPN? Sigh.
You can get you fill of Jennifer Love in 'The Client List' on the Lifetime channel. I suspect you manly men don't venture into that sort of unchartered girly territory but if do, you will benefit by getting to see Love decked out in various lingerie get-ups. Enjoy!!
ReplyDeleteWhoa whoa whoa there, buddy. You are NOT the only fan of the original Buffy. I used to have the movie poster hanging in my room. I would still have it had my father not thrown everything away. I love the original Buffy. Does Elvis talk to you? Do you see spots?
ReplyDelete@ Empress - I like Lifetime movies for their cheesy value, for when I'm hangin' out with a lady, but otherwise, I actively avoid that channel. Plus, there are plenty of hot pics of JLH floating around on the Internets :D
ReplyDelete@ Amanda - Whew, I'm glad I'm not the only one. We will have to form a support group. Like, we totally should.
I join in on the fan action - i too am an original Buffy Fan.
ReplyDeleteIn response to your comment - the bf knows hes fucked up. He begged for a last chance.
And he is doing some major sucking up.
hes 24 - so he should be some kind of mature by now. hopefully?
lets see how it goes..
on next weeks episode Ally gets spoilt by her boyfriend but is this what she wants?
-stay tuned.
@ Ally - Yay! We're up to three. Soon, we'll have an army that we can use to take down the rest of those Buffy fans...
ReplyDeleteThe thing is, you're both young. When I look back at my past relationships, one of my regrets is that I spent so much work and time on things that ultimately went nowhere, and which I kind of knew in the back of my head weren't going anywhere.
Just make sure you judge him by his actions. Guys will say a lot of things when they find themselves slipping in the relationship, yet their actions normally betray them. If he's 24 and still immature, then he might need to get dumped a couple more times before he's ripe for you, unfortunately.
I DVRed Buffy. I never watched the TV show...so it was interesting. Was it trying to be cheesy? Was Buffy supposed to remind me of Cher Horowitz? Why did Luke Perry remind me of Patrick Dempsey in Outbreak? How did Outbreak, an amazing book, spawn such a terrible movie?
ReplyDeleteSo many questions. I just don't know!
@ Alison - Actually, Buffy predates Clueless by three full years :) It came out way back in 1992, so it pretty much came out way before all those shows except 90210.
ReplyDeleteI... thought Outbreak was decent :/ Sure, the book was better, but the movie had Dustin Hoffman and Morgan Freeman and Cuba Gooding Jr., and it was pretty tolerable. It was no Congo.