There's no better way to both get used to being back at work after a long weekend AND prepare for yet another weekend that's just two days away by reading the brief comments on various subjects I like to call Look At My Briefs.
I wonder how it is I slipped into the parallel universe that thinks lame comedies like Two And A Half Men and Big Bang Theory are funny. Still, that article doesn't actually come out and say that anyone thinks they are funny. It just says they get great ratings. Some of the least funny sitcoms in history scored huge ratings and lasted for years. Ever see Different Strokes? That show's popularity was inversely proportionate to its humor content. Television is always trying to grow out of the models and formulas set in previous decades with shows like The Office or Lost but then you, the audience, pulls them back by making shows like Two And A Half Men or The Mentalist, shows that could just as easily been made in the 70s and 80s, huge hits. Shame on you!
It would be great if the western could be revived. Up until the 1960s, the western ruled both movies and television. There was even an Emmy category for Best Western. The last decent western I can think of was 2003's Open Range with Kevin Costner and Robert Duvall. It was a modest hit and didn't inspire anyone to try to revive the genre. In the end, this is rather odd since the western never really went away. Most action films are just western plots set in a different time period. Hell, take All About Steve, set it in the Old West, change Sandra Bullock from a woman obsessed with following a guy across the country and make her a man spending years trying to track down a relative who'd been kidnapped and you have the plot of The Searchers. See? It all makes sense.
One thing I haven't seen mentioned in any reviews of or articles about Inglourious Basterds is something I noticed on my second viewing of the film. When you first see Brad Pitt's character Lt. Aldo Raine he's wearing an open collar uniform that allows you to notice a scar on his neck. Judging by the appearance of the scar, at one point in his life, Raine was either hanged or had his throat cut ear to ear. Thing is, it's never mentioned and you never get a good look at the scar after that. It's probably something that could explain why Raine is capable of the levels of brutality to which he led his men but I suppose we'll never know unless Pitt or Tarantino ever see fit to explain it. I'll add this to the list of questions I'll ask Quentin Tarantino if I ever meet him along with, "Hatori Hanzo and his assistant argued like an old married couple. Were they lovers?" and, "What was your ex-girlfriend Mira Sorvino like in bed?"
I really want to see Up In The Air. Nothing more to add to that at this time.
If I was going to make a joke about what the next Rambo movie would be, I would probably come up with something like, "Rambo hunts a monster that escaped from a military testing lab." I had to use the phrase, "If I was going to make a joke," because reality caught up with me on this. If I was going to be sarcastic about this, I would say, "Oh yeah, this is an awesome idea."
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