Change Your Image
Ddey65
Marital Status:
Single, and very likely to stay that way, regardless of social climate and fashion trends.
My Politics:
I consider myself to me a moderate right-winger. Others tend to disagree. I've been accused of being a fascist(mostly by communists and their sympathizers), because I support the war on terror, include nations that sponsor(ed) terrorism and had nothing to do with 9/11(like Iraq), and justify America's past resistance to communist wars. On the same note, I've also been accused by some on the far-right of being a left-wing dupe because I've justified Clinton's sporadic attacks on Serbia's genocidal war against non-Serbs in the Balkans, and have equated Zimbabwe's government as being as racist as the Rhodesians they replaced in 1980. I even took a political survey fairly recently that suggested that I was a moderate left-winger.
I'm for a United Ireland, a United Timor, and a United Korea, but not on North Korea's terms. In fact, since North Korea was created by the USSR for the sole purpose of expanding communism into the rest of the far east, I refuse to recognize their right to exist as a nation.
Israel, on the other hand does have the right to exist as a nation. Palestine can exist too, as long as they're not out to destroy Israel. All these allegations of "Israeli Apartheid," "genocide against Palestinians," "stealing land," and what not are nothing but Arab & Muslim extremist propaganda, further supported by the far-left and the far-right. Peace betweeen Jews & Arabs in the Middle East could've existed if it were not for the Muslim Brotherhood, and their supporters in the Middle East, as well as the Third Reich, before & during World War 2, and the Communist Bloc during much of the cold war.
To me 9/11 conspiracy freaks(I've become tired of referring to them as conspiracy theorists, and refuse to refer to them as their self-proclamed labels like "truth movement" or "critical thinkers") can be and often are as despicable as the jihadists who attacked us on September 11, 2001, whether they're from the far-left, far-right, or self-proclamied independents. In fact I say the whole so-called "9/11 truth movement" is nothing but a cult.
Another view on the far east can be described this way: One China; One Taiwan; One Tibet.
On non-foreign affairs, I'm pro-road, but not anti-mass transit.
Here's a site debunking the myth held by those who believe George Washington had some "special wisdom" about the Jews:
http://www.snopes.com/quotes/thejews.asp
Not my links, but I like them:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZ2gKqFv5iM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYzIbOYaSy8
MUSIC:
Some song parodies I like:
http://www.amiright.com/parody/60s/thebeatles11.shtml
http://www.amiright.com/parody/2000s/weezer56.shtml
This is funny too:
http://nicke1odeonconfessions.tumblr.com/post/30153638451/its-probably-not-going-to-happen-but-i
Now, since this is a movie site, I think I'll point out that my interest in this site came from a failed attempt to become part of the entertainment industry in the past(as a cartoonist in particular), and a general knowledge of trivia and other details involving movies & television. I joined IMDb as a member sometime in the late-1990's, despite the fact that IMDb has my registration date listed as being on February 24, 2000.
Movies & TV Shows I like & hate:
Just read my User Comments for now, at the link below.
More 2 Come.
Lists
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Perfect remakes for actors
Long Island Movies they don't tell you about
People known for their hair
Short films I got into
Though I don't know when, I will add more movies to this list someday.
Actors and the roles they should and should've played
NOTE: There has to be something screwed up about people when the idea of an actress playing Bristol Palin gets them all bent out of shape, but to play someone truly evil, like George Wallace, P.W. Botha, Hermann Goering or John Gotti, nobody seems to bat an eye.
Movies and TV Shows I saw for the most absurd reasons
D-Dey's list of Celebrity look-alikes
Like many of my lists this is incomplete, however I won't add people that I don't think look alike. So if you're going to badger me to add Amy Adams & Isla Fisher, or Victoria Justice & Nina Dobrev, don't waste your time.
People who need more roles
Actors and Actresses who shouldn't do biopics
NOTE: This is not a trashing of the skills of any actors and actresses.
Voice Replacements that should exist
Reviews
Lost in Space: Invaders from the Fifth Dimension (1965)
Ugh! This could've turned out so much better for all parties involved.
***SPOILER ALERT***
The last time we were here, we saw what can only be described as the greatest episode of "Lost in Space" ever! It may not be on the same level as most episodes of "Star Trek" or "Dr. Who," but it was still outstanding, with an Emmy-worthy tour de force from Angela Cartwright. And then we went downhill with this one. Sure, it's no "Great Vegetable Rebellion" or "Space Viking" or "Target; Earth" or any of the episodes with that stupid chewed-up lollipop head dude, but it sacrificed potentially good writing for some lame cliche explosion just for the hell of it.
A group of aliens from the Fifth Dimention who are nothing more than floating giant heads capture Dr. Zachary Smith in the hopes of using his brain to power their spaceship so they can go home, but he tells them that they'd be better off using some members of the Robinson family. These guys put a collar around Smith's neck demanding that he lure one of the younger, smarter Robinsons to help him out or they'll use it to kill him.
The first one he approaches is Penny, who's doing some gardening. He tells her that he has to show her something that is "our little secret." Yeah, I don't think so! When a 50-something man tells an 11-year-old girl about something that's "our little secret," it's usually pretty sleazy. Luckily, Don and Judy arrive just in time to foil his "little secret" with Penny, so he selects the next candidate, who of course is Will. He lures the youngest Robinson to the invaders' spaceship, while John and Maureen look for him, and insist he shouldn't reveal his whereabouts.
Finally, they take him on the ship and they explain that they need his brain power to get home to their own planet. The rest of the Jupiter 2 crew arrive with the exceptions of Judy and Penny, and all try to rescue him. However Will sends a message on their PA system that they just need his big brain to power their ship. The only problem is, helping them out isn't going to be as easy for them as they hoped. The aliens realise he just misses his family, and insist that he should forget about them. The aliens see him crying, and they realize he's too emotional to help them out, so they give up and become suicide bombers. You'd think Will would be dead too, but miraculously he survives, with all his body parts still attached where they belong.
So what is it about this episode that's worth hating? Well, these Fifth Dimensioners are in the same position as the Robinsons. They're lost, and they're just trying to get home. Actually the only person trying to get home is Smith, and the Robinsons and Major West are just trying to get to Alpha Centuri, but whatever.
The writers of this episode could've had Will try to make a deal with them that benefits both his family, and the Fifth Dimensioners. Instead, Irwin Allen had to make a cheap move, and just add a big explosion. Yeah, I know. Big explosions are expensive, but any weak mind can suggest something like that. I wish I could say that at least this isn't the worst episode, but that's not really very comforting. Good ones and bad ones will be found in all three seasons, and the bad ones will make this one look like Playhouse 90.
The Big Bang Theory: The Egg Salad Equivalency (2013)
A more annoying than usual Sheldon is made up for by a great ending.
***SPOILER ALERT***
One of the things that makes season six of "The Big Bang Theory" so good is the recurring role of Alex Jensen, played by Margo Harshman, who looked better here than in many episodes of "Even Stevens." Amy became jealous of Alex in "The Higgs Boson Observation," and now it's Penny's turn to be jealous of her.
Sheldon continues to have Alex serve as his assistant. When the two of them are walking through the Caltech cafeteria, and pass by the other denizens of Apartment 4A, Alex admits to getting a crush on Leonard who is quite flattered that somebody as attractive and smart can fall for him, but he's still loyal to Penny. Sheldon's not so sure of that, and later neither is Penny. Because Sheldon gathers Penny's posse for a meeting over how he should handle the affair, with a poorly conceived attempt to cover-up the names of the people involved. So, what do they recommend? That he just talks to her about his concerns.
Unfortunately, Sheldon goes a little too far to persuade Alex out of her affection towards his best friend by accusing her of sexual harassment and showing her photos of sexually transmitted diseases. During this accusation, he tries to be nice about it, and repeats some questionable old folksy advice he received from the late George Cooper, Senior. He claims that women are like egg salad sandwiches left in the warm Texas sun, and accuses her of being a slave to her biological urge to reproduce. Naturally, Miss Jensen brings this incident to the human resources department which is run by Janine Davis (played by Regina King), who tries to figure out what really happened, although she's already convinced that Sheldon is guilty. So when Ms. Davis brings up Alex's complaint against Sheldon, and mentions her misquote of his father's advice, he tries to clear up the matter by saying that it's not just Alex who is a slave to her biological urges, but all women including Janine herself.
Never... and I mean NEVER tell a black woman that she's a slave! In fact never tell anybody of African descent that they're slaves! His poor attempt to save face involve him telling her about some of the sexually-oriented comments and actions of his colleagues. He's not making a good case for himself or them.
Leonard tries an elaborate and questionable attempt to apologize to Penny, who luckily accepts his apology. Penny admits she's starting to worry that she's going to lose Leonard to prettier and smarter girls, which surprises him because he's always worried that he's going to lose her to better guys, and didn't realize she felt the same way. They resolve their issue in what's not so much a typical sitcom fashion, but typical BBT fashion. He still has to deal with Caltech's Human Resources department though, as do some of his other friends.
About the ending, Penny tells Leonard that she had considered a college course, but changed her mind because she found it boring and irritable. So as a substitute, she buys a pair of fake glasses. Despite his doubts, he's immediately turned on and takes her straight to the bedroom! Hooray! Better than that, at some point after this episode aired, somebody posted the ending on YouTube, and a young woman made a commented that she and her boyfriend were watching this episode together and she tried a similar trick on him. Long story short, she implied that the results were identical. Don't you love it when life imitates art? Yeah, you know you do.
The A-Team: Children of Jamestown (1983)
What we all wish had went down at Jonestown.
In my review of the Hawaii Five-O episode "Draw Me a Killer," I mentioned that I couldn't figure out why that episode was so popular among fans of the show. In this case, there's no question why people like this episode of "The A-Team." We like it because we wish that former President Jimmy Carter would've taken similar action against the blatantly obvious basis for this cult, the Reverend Jim Jones and his "People's Temple," down in Guyana.
On the first job since Amy Allen got to do her news report on the A*Team, Colonel Hannibal Smith, Templeton 'Faceman' Peck (now played by Dirk Benedict, fresh from "Battlestar Galatica"), Sergeant B. A. Barracus, and 'Howling Mad' Murdock were hired by a rich man to rescue his daughter (Carol Jones) from a standard California religious cult. No, they didn't move out of the country, and they don't force their followers to drink poisoned Kool-Aid or Flavor-Aide, or any other instant flavored drink, but who's to say they wouldn't in the future? Face and Amy stage a domestic dispute at some general store, while Hannibal escalates it to a fake fight as part of an attempt to swipe Sheila while she and the rest of the kids are taken into town for supplies. I almost thought I saw Ike Eisenmann playing one of the cult kids. Anyway, the team succeed, but most of the them get caught, with the exception of Murdock who flies her to safety. And soon the mad Reverend will sentence them to death by making them trade in their shoes for cheap pairs of sneakers and force them to run through the desert, while his goons shoot at them from Jeeps, and one Ford M-151. Luckily, they managed to survive, although Face is injured, so they seek help from some random farmer and his daughter (Yeah, yeah. Cue the old dirty jokes).
At least the farmer and his daughter know that the Jamestown cult are a bunch of fanatics you don't want to rub the wrong way. But this farmer has a side business of making industrial art, which B. A. takes advantage of by turning into makeshift weapons. So while Face recouperates from his injury and gets kind of friendly with the farmer's daughter, and Murdock returns for air support, the rest of the crew goes back to take Martin James and his goons down, and rescues all the kids.
Another commenter doubted this episode would've been written if Jimmy Carter had been reelected in 1980. I think it still would've not only been written, but aired. There were plenty of people who thought Carter was too weak and unwilling to use military force when needed, especially after being unjustly shamed for it in Vietnam. Save your phony allegations of "American imperialism" and your lectures about killing innocent people, because the Red Armies of Indochina were doing that before we got involved, and they did so on a much larger scale after we gave up. Carter would't even send a platoon or two against Jones' Red Guard, or even team up with the Guyanese government to take them down. One thing I do agree with when it comes to that reviewer was that we needed shows like this after the Malaise era, which was still spilling over into the early-1980's. Besides rejecting the idea that violence wasn't the way to deal with thugs, George Peppard's taunting of the villains of the week were always fun, especially in this episode. Even the additional trivial reason of him reclaiming his boots as an excuse to go after the cult was amusing.
Regarding the idea about all those machine guns blazing and nobody getting killed, an issue that has detractors as well as fans (surprisingly); In reality, there have been instances where characters get both injured and killed. Just not in this episode.
Finally, Carter claimed that he didn't want to send troops to places like Guyana because he was concerned that about them getting killed, not to mention the deaths of innocent people. Realistically, you would've had some people getting killed, but it wouldn't have been a whopping 918 people.
Lost in Space: My Friend, Mr. Nobody (1965)
Was Angela Cartwright snubbed for an Emmy Award?
***POSSIBLE SPOILERS***
I'm about to review a TV episode that aired before I was born. It wouldn't be the first time I've done something like this, though this episode aired the year I was born.
Penny Robinson is feeling bored and dejected. She nearly gets blown up while all the males are trying to mine for Deutronium, or whatever they use to fuel the Jupiter 2, and after her father rescues her, tells her to go off and play. Evidently, she already got the same response from Maureen and Judy. The trouble is, on a planet with only seven earthlings, it's extremely difficult to find anyone to play with... or so it seems. Walking off and mocking her family's conflicting orders, she suddenly finds some water near a mysterious cave with an echo that responds to her. At first, she's scared and runs off to tell Maureen and Judy who is trying to get a new hairdo with help from her mom. Whether it's for herself or to woo Major West isn't that important. What is important, is that the device designed to give her that hairdo was clearly swiped from "The Jetsons," and more than likely used by THAT Judy.
Being the friend to almost all living creatures that she is, she decides to do the same to this echo, and names him "Mr. Nobody." Whenever she arrives, she's greeted by the plants, offered a drink of water from a magical fountain, and gains access to the cave by moving a boulder only she can move. The pre-teen brunette beauty continues to tell her family and others from the ship about her discovery, but nobody believes that this "Mr. Nobody" is a real entity, even though they're on a planet where someone or something like him could exist. When she shows Will some of the rocks she got from Mr. Nobody's cave, Will chucks them aside and they land right in Dr. Smith's lap. He realizes they're diamonds, and will make him rich, which of course will only matter once he returns to earth.
Much of the episode involves Smith scheming to get the diamonds, while the rest of the crew has real work to do, as well as Penny who forms a stronger bond with this voice in the cave, and struggling to prove to the rest of the Robinsons that he exists. Realizing Smith is going to destroy his home, Penny flees to the cave and begs Mr. Nobody to reveal himself and leave before their stowaway villain kills him. Smith didn't know and didn't care that Penny was at the bottom of this cave, and due to his excessive use of explosives, she's now injured. Once Mr. Nobody realizes this, he's ready to destroy everybody and everything within their proximity, and not just Zachary Smith! Needless to say everybody flees to the ship and they send the robot to try all their might to defend themselves against this angry cosmic force. Only when Penny is revealed to be alive and begs this entity to spare their lives does he put an end to his rampage.
Something about Mr. Nobody reminds me of the not-so-friendly angel from the "Star Trek" episode "And the Children Shall Lead," but that was Melvin Belli. Mr. Nobody is voiced by William Bramley. Regardless of this it's a known fact among fans of the show that this episode was Angela Cartwright's favorite, and whether in spite of or because of her opinion, it's a fan-favorite as well. What makes the episode so great is Angela Cartwright's A-level acting in a B-rated kids sci-fi series. If you've ever seen the 1987 comedy "Outrageous Fortune," Shelley Long's terrified reaction to what she believes to be the sudden death of Peter Coyote is far above anything you might expect from such a fledgling comedy flick that has been panned more and more by critics and fans as the decades have passed. With all this praise over Miss Cartwright's acting, you would think that the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences would've considered her for an Emmy nomination. But alas, she was completely overlooked. And for that, you must ask why? Is it because she's a kid? She was already in the business for more than a decade at the time. Was it because the show was science fiction geared towards kids and families? Perhaps. Was it because the show was just starting out at time? That's possible too. Whatever the case may be, she made the show better than anybody could've imagined. It's hard to believe this is the same show that once had angry humanoid vegetables and creatures with chewed-up lollipop heads as villains.
Growing Up Brady (2000)
Possibly the most fun you'll ever have watching a behind-the-scenes gossip flick.
There is a lot that can be said, and a lot that has been said about the made for TV version of Barry Williams' autobiography "Growing Up Brady." I'm going to try to cover a few details myself.
First, and this should be no surprise, Williams fell hard for Maureen McCormick. Granted, neither of them were newcomers to the business, and McCormick's career was longer, so one can assume they could have seen each other before on screen. Nevertheless as he tells it, he was hit by Cupid's arrow the moment he saw her along with the rest of the cast. I'll try not to repeat what every other reviewer posted here, and focus on some dialogue for emphasis instead. During a scene in the Paramount commissary, Williams tells McCormick that all his friends are jealous of him. She minimizes his revelation claiming they're only jealous because they're on television, but he replies that it's because he's on television specifically with her. That means of all the people Williams could've worked with before the Brady Bunch; Raquel Welch, Jayne Mansfield, Sandy Dennis, Sandy Duncan, Audrey Hepburn, Goldie Hawn, Teri Garr, and Marlo Thomas (who he actually did work with), it was Maureen McCormick who was the source of their envy for Willams.
Speaking of Marcia Brady, yes Kaley Cuoco was certainly attractive playing McCormick, but Christine Taylor from "The Brady Bunch Movie" and "A Very Brady Sequel" looked much more like Marcia. Somewhere I read that another person claimed Cuoco looked more like Eve Plumb, but I don't think she looked like her either. On the flip side, Shelley Long did make an impressive and attractive Carol Brady in the 1990's Brady movies, but Rebecca Bush was the most realistic Florence Henderson.
Then there's the scenes of Robert Reed (Daniel Hugh-Kelly) struggling with his closeted homosexuality, and how it affects incidents where he has to kiss Florence Henderson. We see him getting arrogant over the content of the show, and in some cases getting drunk, and more so with each progressing season. I could swear that during the original broadcast there was a scene where he gets plastered and tries to suggest that Mike Brady should come out of the closet and claim he's having a relationship with one of the other male characters. If we didn't know what we knew about him now, it might be hard to have any sympathy for the man. He also was right about the fact that the reason for the show's success was the presence of six adorable kids, and despite how much he hated the show, he not only tried to protect them, but even gave Barry some legitimate advice at times.
Another segment involves the photoshoots between seasons 1 and 2, and the revealation about the death of the dog who played Tiger. All the girls were undestandably in tears over this, and knowing how much of an animal lover Kaley Cuoco is, that scene is much more believable. The drastic failure to get a substitute for the beloved pooch is also easy to believe.
During the scene when the cast and crew prepare to shoot the episode with Davy Jones as a guest star, Kaley Cuoco was obviously standing on a soapbox in order to emphasize the diminutive stature of Jones, played by Paul Greenberg. Cuoco stands at 5'6", while Greenberg stands at 5'11". Both McCormick and Jones is/was 5'3".
Again, I have to bring up the attempted kissing scenes between Robert Reed and Florence Henderson. Reed could've used some advice from Rock Hudson in "Pretty Maids All in a Row," if that hadn't come out three years later. Henderson actually wanted to suggest to Sherwood Schwartz that they French kiss, and his reply was that they could do so, just not on television. Boy, if they only knew what could be shown on TV in less than a decade, let alone what almost happened between Williams and McCormick in this movie, they'd either revel in their artistic freedom or defecate in their collective drawers!
As we all know, the chances of love blossoming among the boys and girls wasn't just limited to Barry and Maureen. You had Eve Plumb (Kaitlin Cullum) and Chris Knight (Raviv Ullman) falling for each other a little more gradually, and you even had Mike Lookinland trying to put the moves on a nearly terrified Susan Olsen. I love Maureen and Eve's reactions to the two of them together. It even makes me wonder what Scott Lookinland was thinking, knowing what he knows about his aunt. As for Knight and Plumb, despite Chris' claim that Eve was in tears when they got caught making out in that old car on the set, in this movie she just looks annoyed over getting caught.
Aside from the tawdry love affairs, and the hostility between Robert Reed and Sherwood Schwatz (Michael Tucker), there are other interesting scenes, like the time the cast was waiting for Reed to arrive on the set, and made their own insulting parody of the theme song. And did I see Eve Plumb and Susan Olsen themselves, playing their mothers at one point?
Admittedly, I wanted more. Specifically, I wanted to find out about his time on "That Girl" when he played a young autograph seeker along with some girl who was his age, and also seeking autographs. Having said that, I don't want to make it seem like I'm trashing the movie, because I'm not. There's just too much fun seeing the behind-the-scenes activities in this movie, and not just for Brady Bunch fans either. It's also for "Big Bang Theory" and "8 Simple Rules" fans because of Kaley Cuoco, "Phil of the Future" fans for Raviv Ullman, and "Lizzie McGuire" fans because of Carly Schroeder, among other. I was going to add a list of highlights from the movie, but I've already covered enough as it is. Overall, it's just too much fun not to watch.
Kojak: A Shield for Murder: Part 2 (1976)
Kojak continues his pursuit of the case of two murders and a drug bust while being framed.
If you're familiar with the trailer for the 1972 John Waters classic "Pink Flamingos," there's one rather flamboyant young man who describes the movie as "the future of city living." One of the guys who gave the fake tip to Detective Kojak (Matthew Cowles) looks a lot like that guy.
When we last left our lollipop sucking bald Greek-American NYPD detective, the city-living look-alike guy and his partner in crime (who I still can't identify) try to bump him off for the widow Morrison through Decker. He turns the tables on them only face a couple of uniformed NYPD officers. When they arrive, the "city living" look-alike guy concocts a crappy scheme to get the detective busted on a phony police brutality change, which specifically references the Burton-Shaw-Foster case.
In this episode, we also meet the "foreigner" that Sally Jo mentioned in the first part of the episode. Anton Lenco (Noberto Kerner) is either a Central or Eastern European janitor who's struggling to earn his citizenship by working at Columbia U as a janitor. The problem is he's kind of scared to reveal everything he knows, but it's not because of the KGB. It's because of that widow from the Gold Coast.
Edna Morrison (Geraldine Page) is still doing everything she can to try to keep Kojak from finding the truth about Karen Foster, and Foster from finding the truth about herself. Making sure Greg Burton gets on his good side, and that Decker continues to discredit the girl and ride him harder to stay away from the case. Of course, even with the Internal Affairs department watching over him, he still won't budge. He also knows somebody's trying to tear up that poor little skater girl, but he's not sure who it is.
In the meantime that big drug bust on the East River was compromised by that tipster who fled the scene. Luckily, the head detective from Manhattan South coerces him to resume cooperating with this drug bust, without seeming too threatening.
Later, that immigrant finally tells the detective that Karen was raped by two of the college boys and they threatened to tell the authorities that he raped her. And one of those kids has really close ties to that gold coast power broker lady. And for that, Anton Lenco must die. But that doesn't mean there aren't other loose ends for the 13th Precinct to exploit. There's the cabbie who picked the two rapists up, and was rewarded with the chance to run his own flower shop in return for his silence about what really happened. Somehow, it's not hard to believe they'd let him get away with this cover up.
I won't reveal exactly what happened, but the important flashback scene revealing what really went down has been compared to the Sally Field mini-Series "Sybil." I suppose I can see the comparison. Of course that mini-series aired the same month and this episode was shot before Sally Field's project was, so the comparision can only be made in retrospect. Also, the outcome for the little lady in question seems a bit too good to be believed. But the one other thing that I will reveal, because it's far too dissatisfying to do otherwise, is that Lieutenant Theo Kojak tells Edna Morrison that her days of deciding how life works and who it works for and against are numbered.
As with most people my age, a lot of what I know about Mary Beth Hurt comes from movies like "The World According to Garp," and even "Parents." Thankfully, with the advent of sites like IMDb, we can find work that many actors and actresses did before making it big, and Hurt is no exception. Admittedly, it's both cute and ironic to watch her call Kojak a bear. Her agonizing meltdowns might be a bit tough for some to deal with, but it's still worth it. GetTV still puts disclaimers at the beginning and end of this part of the episode, just like they did with Part One.
Kojak: A Shield for Murder: Part 1 (1976)
Saw this for Ellen O'Mara; Got blown away by Mary Beth Hurt.
One of the unfortunate factors of the 1967 Sandy Dennis movie "Up the Down Staircase" is that many of the actors playing the kids didn't have such fantastic careers. The biggest "kids" to come out of this movie were Bud Cort and Liz Torrez, both of which were uncredited.
And then we have Ellen O'Mara who played Alice Blake, the girl with the unwavering crush on teacher and would-be writer Paul Barringer, only to wind up trying to commit suicide when her affections are rebuffed. It's her guest starring role in this episode that made me want to see it. However there's another guest star, specifically some early work of Mary Beth Hurt, that also made me want to check it out, and I'm truly glad I did.
Mary Beth Hurt plays Karen Foster a young woman who at one time had a promising ice skating career. Unfortunately she is now in the psychiatric ward of the Bedford Hills Women's Prison, after a failed suicide attempt for killing her mother. Everybody is convinced she's guilty, even her. Not even El Diablo from "Suicide Squad" is as regretful as this girl. Her boyfriend, Daniel Shaw (Uegene O'Neil) goes to the Bronx County Courthouse to assassinate the assistant district attorney (Charles Kimbrough) who convicted her. That same ADA just had a heated argument with Theo over the dismissal of evidence in another case that the detective offered him, which could've proven a suspect to be innocent. When the NYPD shoots the boyfriend for trying to kill the ADA, the Lieutenant starts to investigate the crime. But for some reason, some rich high-profile debutaunt from the Long Island Gold Coast played by the legendary Geraldine Page wants to make sure he and the 13th precinct don't go through with their investigation. At the same time, the detective and his team are trying to carry out an undercover heroin bust somewhere along the East River (either Long Island City or northern Brooklyn).
A cop transferred from another precinct, named Lt. Decker (Kenneth McMillan), who more or less suggests she's a dumb slut who's not worth his time and effort. So do a few other people. However, one of his more trusted detectives finds out the opposite is the truth, and as it turns out Decker is on the take from Ms. Paige's character, and so is a female guard assigned to watch over Miss Foster.
O'Mara plays as a waitress in a "lunch box" named Sally Jo, who gives the detective some key evidence regarding Miss Foster's case. It's a small part, but it's still important. She tells him that Shaw was a frequent customer, was close to Miss Foster and mentions something about a "foreigner" who orders pizzas for Columbia University students from the nearby pizzeria that Karen's mother used to run.
Soon the question isn't why did Shaw try to kill the ADA, or why did Karen kill her mother (assuming she did), but why are their so many people in power who care whether or not she's convicted. And when the detective confronts Page's character on this, she pretends not to know anything, but he refuses to take any crap from her.
The detective decides to talk the prison psychiatrist into letting this girl out in order to spend time with her and help her jog her memory about what really happened. So he takes her to an indoor skating rink, knowing full well that it's her domain, and believing it's the best way to remind her of the truth about that night. But once the girl is taken to the scene of the crime, she falls to pieces. I can guarantee you won't find a perfomance as touching as hers until Jennette McCurdy's groundbreaking guest appearance on Law and Order; SVU. And when GetTV adds warnings and disclaimers about the possibility that the episode might trigger real suicidal feelings, that's saying something.
I'd reveal more, but since this episode was split in subsequent airings, and IMDb recognizes it as a two-part episode, you're going to have to read the rest of my review in that next episode.
Hawaii Five-O: Draw Me a Killer (1973)
A stand-out episode, but I'm not entirely sure why it's a fan favorite.
A not-so-honest pawn shop owner named Ho Toy (Clement Low) is closing up shop for the evening when suddenly he's approached by a roughly twenty-something young man who calls him by the wrong name, accuses him of causing trouble for a girl named Judy Moon and fires a few slugs into him killing him instantly. So why did this guy shoot the pawnbroker? Did he stiff the guy on a deal? Was he dealing with stolen goods? Not this time. His only crime was that he looked like one of the villains from the Judy Moon comic strip. And he's the third victim of this psycho killer who thinks of himself as Judy's guardian angel.
The Judy Moon comics are in the same category as Brenda Starr back in the period when she was wearing a black wig over her more familiar redlocks. Unfortunately, the Island of Oahu was populated with people who have the misfortune of looking like many of the villans from this loser's favorite comic strip. Along with Ho Toy, you've got a banker, a lawyer, and a random sailor from the US Navy. The poor guy probably had some well-needed shore leave from Vietnam after the phony Paris Peace Treaty, only to get gunned down by this dim bulb.
And wouldn't you know it, Arthur happens to encounter a woman in a local restaurant named Mary Ellen Farmer (Susan Foster) who just so happens to look like Judy Moon herself. And what a woman she is. I'd even go so far as to say she was better looking than her cartoon counterpart. The cops are clueless about why all these random people are being killed until a trip to the barber shop for McGarrett and the reading of the comics in the newspapers left for customers makes him realize what's going on.
A female psychiatrist and profiler (Jean Tarrant) tells the the Five-O gang that he's a lonely, low-life paranoid schizophrenic, but that's only half the story. This guy's not just psychotic, he's stupid. Luckily McGarrett knows what to do. He lures the Judy Moon cartoonist from the US Mainland (Lowell Palmer) to help them set up a trap by creating a new villain; a crooked cop who looks a lot like Lt. Danny Williams!
My opinion of the episode? Sure, I liked it. Though I honestly have no idea why other fans like it more than most. In the 12 seasons that this show ran, it had plenty of episodes that stood out more than others, and this was certainly one of them. But then so were episodes like "A Woman's Work is With a Gun" and "A Distant Thunder."
Speaking of shows that ran 12 seasons, decades after this in the first season of "The Big Bang Theory" we see a young girl on a bad date with Raj, and Sheldon notices that she looks like a major character in an Indian folk tale his mother used to read to him as a child. Sheldon Cooper had more tact on this issue than this lunatic.
Riley's First Date? (2015)
It's a BLAST!
**EXTREMELY RELUCTANT SPOILERS**
No matter how much time has passed, whenever somebody mentions "Inside Out," I will always think of those 15-minute educational shorts that used to run during midday on PBS since the 1970's. And when it comes to little people in your head representing moods and personality traits, the early-1990's Fox Sitcom "Herman's Head" will be my go-to reference. But with entire generations being unfamiliar with both of these, the only "Inside Out" has become the 2015 Disney/Pixar production about an 11-year-old girl struggling with being moved from the Great Lakes to San Francisco.
Unfortunately, considering that this is a less than five-minute animation short, it's kind of hard not to spoil. Riley's parents are surprised to find that a boy from her school is visiting her supposedly as part of an attempt to go skating with a group of her friends. They had to know this was coming. She has a classmate who wears eye shadow, and she's not even a teenager yet. Anyway, her mom tries to act cool about it, while dad is sitting down with him in the kitchen to find out if he's worthy of going out with his daughter. This boy named Jordan who visits Riley, seems like a slacker or a wannabe stoner, and her father is not happy with him. Riley's dad is mere seconds away from kicking this boy's sorry ass out of the house, when he realizes they have something in common. They were both in a band, both fans of AC-DC, and both nearly wreck the house as they play a dual air-guitar jam while "Back in Black" plays on the bookshelf stereo in the background!
And to think there was a time when parents thought the music of AC-DC was satanic. Had he lived past 1966 into the '80's, Walt Disney in his aging ignorance would've probably felt the same way. Equally, I can't fathom the idea that any members of the band at the time, including the late Bon Scott would consider that any of their music would've even been touched by a Disney production. And yet here they are together for all of us to enjoy. On a side note, I just have to recommend sticking around past the closing credits of this short.
As I mentioned in the warning, it's far too difficult not to spoil this movie. There's too much goodness packed into these five minutes for an audience to enjoy. Therefore a sequel to this movie whether short or long is a must. Bring it on, Pixar!
The Rise and Fall of Black Velvet Flag (2003)
A unique band before it all fell apart
Do you remember when punk was young, loud, snotty, and offensive? Could you have ever imagined saying something like that in your lifetime? Or were you convinced that we'd all be obliterated in a nuclear holocaust before anyone could ever utter those words?
This short documentary covers how the band Black Velvet Flag was just on the verge of making a name for themselves in the alternative rock scene in the New York Tri-State area. Jeff Musser, Fred Stesney, Jason Zasky decide to form a lounge band specializing in west-coast punk rock music. Unlike Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine, they don't diversify into rap, hard rock, or heavy metal.
Fred Stesney is not only the lead singer, but is a true punk historian (There's two more words you didn't think you'd ever see together!). He knows about every band who broke out of California in 1980, as well as the clubs they played at and the site of Oki Dogs.
It's when they actually start doing a tour of the west coast that things start to fall apart. They rent a Chevy Astro van, become convinced their promoters aren't promoting them, and the fans that they thought would get their music, don't have a clue. One club they wanted to brag about playing in, wouldn't even let them bring the camera in. After this, they refused to play there and it was back to their recording studio. Bob Segar, AC-DC, and Bon Jovi all had songs about the difficulties of concert tours. This rocumentary makes it all too real.
I found out about this band from the first "Go-Kart vs. The Corporate Giant" compilation CD, which has one of their few original songs, "I Shot JFK." As someone who listened to a lot of college radio in the 1990's, you'd think I would've heard them there first. They have other original tunes as well, such as one where they mope about how they miss the days when punks and cops had major street battles on a regular basis.
One of their slogans was "punk is not dead, it's just sleeping." With people arguing over whether or not punk is dead since the death of Sid Vicious, this rocumentary makes you wonder if it is. Even Jello Biafra once said in an interview that perhaps punk should die. Then again, he also stated that the only leader who had any decent advice about Syria was Vladimir Putin, which turned out to be total crap. Either way, this is still a movie that should be seen and a band you ought to listen to.
The Big Bang Theory: The Shiny Trinket Maneuver (2012)
How Mayim Bialik's religious convictions lead to one of the most iconic TV moments of the 2010s.
***SPOILER ALERT***
Actually, my original title of this was "How Mayim Bialik's religious convictions lead to an iconic TV moment reminiscent of Mary Tyler Moore on The Dick Van Dyke Show."
Most of us are familiar with the story. Sheldon and Amy go on their monthly date at the local Cheesecake Factory. Amy brags about being featured in a neurology magazine, while Sheldon brags about a much more trivial accomplishment. Amy storms off just as Penny is about to take their order, and she realizes that Sheldon committed a major social faux pas. And she has to convince the ex-Texan genius to fix this. Because in her mind, "Shamy" must live.
Penny convinces Sheldon to go to a jewelry store at a nearby mall, and the manager thinks the two of them are a couple. Later, the theoretical physicist makes a speech about how people waste money on what are essentially lumps of coal, but ends up buying it anyway, along with a little something for himself. Penny and Sheldon decide to lure Amy to Penny's apartment. When she finally arrives, she's upset with both of them although less so with Penny. Sheldon tries to apologize, but she refuses to accept it. Then, he shows her a bag of assorted jewlery. The nerdy neurobiologist feels insulted by the gesture and continues to rant about how shallow and self-centered he is... until he breaks out that tiara. And suddenly she ends up doing a Mary Tyler Moore imitation reminiscent both of her own sitcom and her time on "The Dick Van Dyke Show," thus creating one of the most iconic television moments of the 2010's!
The B-Story involves Howard performing at a magic show in a kid's birthday party, with Bernadette as an assistant. However, she doesn't feel it's such a good idea, because she's not so good with kids. The ending of this storyline involves Leonard giving Howard some sage advice about dealing with the possibility that he and Bernadette might be a childless couple. Of course, we all know how that ends up.
Now for the behind-the-scenes details; Amy's original line was supposed to be "Oh my God, it's a Tiara!" However, Mayim Bialik is a modern orthodox Jew, and saw such common expressions as taking the Lord's name in vain. Instead she opted for the line we know and love. Normally, I'm not one to endorse censorship, unless it involves the possibility of giving away U. S. Military secrets. But sometimes it works, and this was one of those times. And you just can't help but enjoy that moment.
Marry Me (2008)
Cute Australian short love story.
Every now and then within the glut of short films throughout the world, you'll find one that's guaranteed to charm your socks off. And within the first decade of the 21st Century, you'll definitely find that with this Australian masterpiece.
Seven-year-old Chloe (played by Jahla Bryant, who has grown into quite the lovely young woman since this was filmed) was a flower girl at a recent wedding. The day after the wedding, she vows to make Jason Mohini (Ryan Fitzpatrick), the boy across the street her own future husband. The trouble is, Jason is more interested in BMX bike riding than girls.
Jason sees the older boys riding their bikes through his suburban Sydney neighborhood and wants in. He tried to remove the training wheels with the only tools he can find, asks his older brother (Max Lawson) for help riding without training wheels, seeks to build the perfect makeshift ramp to jump his bike with. All the while Chloe does some of the same things in the hopes of joining the boy she loves.
One thing I noticed as the movie progressed; The girl's hairstyle and outfits changed as she tried to get the boy's attention. She goes from being a middle childhood doyly to dressing more casual with every attempt to get his attention. You've got to give Kati Lehtonen and Julia McGrath some credit for that. And you truly have to give Michelle Lehman credit for the movie in general. I hope this movie will be available to the public for a long time in one way or another.
Young Sheldon: A Proposal and a Popsicle Stick Cross (2019)
The saga of Georgie Jr. and Veronica.
When we first met Veronica Duncan, she was being tutored by Sheldon Cooper and crushed on hard by Georgie Cooper. She was a typical "bad girl" who he was sure was going to take away his virginity. But one day at a Halloween horror house designed to convert people to Christianity, the girl of his dreams decides to become one of the saved.
Then she wanted to be baptized at the local church and Georgie wanted to use this as an attempt to make out with her,... and do a lot more after that of course. Unfortunately, all that gets him is her right fist square in his eye!
So much seems to go wrong with Sheldon's older brother's unshakable crush on this girl, and his effort to get together with her. But now her mother's drunken, abusive boyfriend Cliff, who looks like an older version of Darrin McGrew from "The Middle," has sent her running in terror and tears to Mary Cooper's office at the First Baptist Church of Medford, and she decides to give her sanctuary at the Cooper household, in spite of the lustful desires of Georgie. And Mom knows her teenage son is going to try to woo her again, and warns him not to do so. Though he does offer to let her sleep in his room and clean the place up, he still douses himself with so much cologne, that everybody can smell it.
One night, Veronica watches Georgie watching TV and makes a joke about what he watches, then she gives him a passionate kiss. But it's only a dream... a dream that makes her realize that she's actually falling for him even though she knows he only wants to get under her skirt.
The B-Story involves Dr. Sturgis inviting Meemaw on a date at a local Tex-Mex restaurant where they first met. They're both having a good time, until the professor gets down on one knee and offers a wedding ring. She turns down his hand in marriage, but still wants to stay with him.
The real trouble starts when the cause of Georgie's would-be girlfriend's problems arrives at the Cooper's front door and meet the two oldest male family members, and let's just say that sometimes, you can really appreciate trumped-up legal charges.
One of the scenes that a lot of fans talk about is the "Girl Time" scene between Veronica and Missy. Not so much because of the dialogue, but because of the background music. The song is "I'll Be You," by The Replacements, and some people like it because it fits the scene where Missy claims Veronica has a better life than she does, and vice versa, and they both try and fail to do an old "Freaky Friday" trick. I like it because it proves that the music department on this show is willing to go a little more underground for period piece tunes. I could recommend some '90's music myself, including a couple that would work well with Sheldon's atheism. Then again, I'm not so sure how much money the bands would want to use their songs on TV. In the meantime, I was kind of disappointed that Isabel May didn't appear again in Season 4. Hopefully we'll get to see her play Veronica Duncan again for what's left of Season 5, or the remaining two seasons.
Young Sheldon: A Research Study and Czechoslovakian Wedding Pastries (2018)
Missy playing Cupid is what makes this episode worthwhile
I can't see how the idea of "different kinds of intelligence" could be "feminist propaganda." What I can see from this episode is that despite not being the super-genius that her twin brother is, Missy's insight and perceptiveness has a major impact on those around her whether positive or negative, and in the case of two people in this episode, it proves to be very positive.
One day, Dr. John Sturgis approaches the Cooper household with Meemaw, and recommends that George brings Sheldon and Missy into a weekly research study on the intelligence of the twins. At first, he seems unwilling to get them involved, but the promise of money for travel expenses and other financial gains has him looking for a new cabin cruiser. Later he tells Mary about it, but she's worried that it'll inflate Sheldon's ego more than it already is, and have a negative impact on Missy's self-esteem. "I'm not smarter than Sheldon, it doesn't make me feel bad." Of course, they tell the kids about it later that day, and since Georgie isn't a twin, he gets to stay home by himself and do whatever he wants. Sheldon is eager to get involved, but dad has to bribe Missy with a trip to a nearby Dairy Queen to convince her to go along with the study.
Once they arrive, the meet the two doctors who are supposed to test them; Drs. Edward Pilson (Wallace Langham) and Sandra Thorpe (Amy Farrington). First they discuss their early childhood and Mary's pregnancy with them in order to look for clues, while Dr. Sturgis hangs out with them. Meemaw tells them this exam is pointless and insist they get on with the testing. Sheldon is supervised by Dr. Pilson and is surprised that he knows about the tests he could be taking. This first text involves problem solving skills, which Sheldon aces, and Missy... not so much. As with many episodes, Missy steals the show, but it's the way she does it in this episode that makes it so great. Here she concentrates more on her own appearance for the video, but also recommends some fashion tips for Dr. Thorpe, who originally take offense to her recommendations. Nothing drastic, though. Just letting her hair down and wearing a belt with her lab coat. Later we learn why she's making these suggestions. Sheldon's doctor has a crush on her. When the twins are finally done with the first test, the two doctors send the Coopers home, and Dr. Thorpe awkwardly tries to flirt with Dr. Pilson with her hair. She's worse at flirting than Sue Heck and better than Isadore Smackle, but she still gets her man.
As they get home from this little excursion, the twins spot Georgie watching an episode of Soul Train and developing a crush one one or more of the dancers. Mary continues to fret over the psychological impact of the test, and George continues his semi-secret plot to use the money from it for a boat.
The next test involves measuring the kid's level of empathy and perceptiveness. Sheldon is failing miserably, while Mary anxiously tries to help him, like sports fans watching a football game as their team is losing. Missy is coming up with her own storylines for the flash cards in the same test. She also mentions that one of the young women on these flash cards is wearing a belt, as her doctor is doing this time. It's far too obvious Missy's fashion tips proved to be extremely beneficial to the two doctors.
These two characters only appeared in this episode, but it's impossible not to be happy for them. Let's hope their relationship becomes better than George and Mary Cooper, and dare I say it... better than Sheldon Cooper and Amy Farrah Fowler as well.
The Big Bang Theory: The Troll Manifestation (2015)
Amy's fanfiction is the highlight of the episode
I know that a more professional reviewer said the same thing about this episode, but it's still true.
The main storyline is over some physics blog that Leonard thinks is going to set the scientific world on fire. But some online troll decides to make fun of him for it, and he, Sheldon, Howard and Raj are on a campaign of revenge. While they're doing all this, Penny invites the rest of her posse over to her apartment for movie night and reluctantly shows them one of the "Serial Ape-ist" movies she was in. Bernadette shows a beauty pageant she was part of in 1999, looking exactly the same, and doing a crappy rendition of "Wannabe," by the Spice Girls. Then in retaliation, Bernadette reveals that Amy wrote a piece of Little House on the Prairie Fanfiction involving characters modeled after her and Sheldon. When Penny finds it online she reads it aloud and both she and Bernadette are immediately intrigued. Fair warning though; Her excitement over the "distinct possibility" of Sheldon and Amy getting it on in "The Cooper/Kripke Inversion," does not measure up to her reading of first paragraph from Amy's fanfic.
The two beauty queens may make fun of Amy's story, but they're still engrossed in it. Not simply because it's good, but because it about Amy and Sheldon, no matter how much she insists it involves "Amelia and Cooper." Their love story is what Amy wants her own love story to be, as well as what her friends want it to be, and to some extent what we want it to be. When Bernadette cracks a joke about one of the lines, Amy decides to put an end to what she sees as public humiliation, until Penny convinces her to read it instead. And from there, it seems like Amelia's love for Cooper is doomed. Bernadette's little heart breaking over how she thinks the story was going to end made me want to give her a big hug. Thankfully, Amy's protagonist doesn't end up so sad after all. I won't spoil the ending of her tale, because the truth is, the writers of the show didn't give it an ending either.
There has been at least one real life fanfic that I know of based on the fanfic used in this episode. If anything, such a real fanfic should involve the Ingalls, the Wilders, or the Olesons. In the meantime, a lot of people have described the four denizens of Apartment 4A as being emotionally immature, especially Sheldon. Here we see the two early-30 something women acting like a couple of lovestruck pre-teens. Certainly not an episode to be missed, and if you have missed it, catch it in a rerun.
Young Sheldon: A Docent, A Little Lady and a Bouncer Named Dalton (2020)
Fun fact; Mary Cooper will not go to hell for liking movies like "Road House."
The episode that should've been the Season 4 premiere gave us a little more to look forward to than we may have expected.
Sheldon volunteers at a local railroad museum, despite being only 11 years old. Being a high school graduate and a die-hard train fanatic, he was easily able to convince the museum to hire him. Unfortunately, he gets a little overenthusiastic about his favorite not-so-scientific subject. He give a lecture to a guy who just wants to use the men's bathroom, and tries to convince a family that only he has the proper technique for ringing a train bell. The last straw is when he tries to correct his boss on the Southern Pacific Railroad as he's giving a lecture on the Saint Louis-Southwestern Railway, better known as the Cotton Belt Line. Normally, my first instinct is to submit this error to IMDb, but I have a suspicion the writing staff made this error on purpose.
Then there's Missy. As her father George drives her to her little league baseball game, she has a harder time holding her bladder. And then we find out why; she gets her first period. This is one of those storylines you had to expect, since Sheldon and Missy are twins and tweens. Both Missy and George try to handle the situation as best as they can, and she coaxes her father into taking a detour to the drug store to buy "feminine products." But since he's a typical middle-aged white man from Texas, he doesn't know what he's supposed to get for her, until a female cashier closer to his age helps the two of them out, and Sheldon's twin sister play the game as if nothing happened just like in so many tampon commercials that have aired over the years. So many teen and tween girls, both real and fictional, have their own stories about when and how they got their first periods, and such. Some are more embarrassing and inconvenient than others, and certainly more than Missy Cooper. Hers could've been worse. It could've been like Carrie White.
We've all seen TV episodes where the B-story is better than the A-story, and in some cases, way better. In this case, it's the C-story that turns out to be the best. Sheldon's born-again Christian mother tries to act like a standard housewife, but she secretly watches a VHS copy of the 1989 Patrick Swayze action movie "Road House." And Georgie catches her in the act! I love the way he teases his mom about being the fact that it's an R-rated movie. She goes from threatening to ground him for revealing this guilty pleasure, but suddenly changes her mind when he compliments his mother on her taste in movies. And soon mother and son have a giddy discussion not only on the Patrick Swayze classic, but other action movies. I could spoil the episode and reveal what happens when Mary tries to loosen up and exposes her taste in movies, but I'm not going to.
Sheldon Cooper's railroad enthusiasm is a well-established fact as far back as early episodes of "The Big Bang Theory," but he's primarily focused on the railroads of the southwestern U. S. Someday I'd like to see his reaction to the railroads of the Northeast and Great Lakes region. If he's anything like me when it comes to trains, that might be a lot of fun.
The Big Bang Theory: The Opening Night Excitation (2015)
Two Virgins.
Do I really have to use a reference to an album by John Lennon and the Plastic Ono Band for this?
Yeah, I do, and it's worth it.
After spending the first third of Season 9 broken up with Amy, only to be nagged by an old Beach Boys song that he couldn't get out of his mind, Sheldon and his girlfriend are reunited as a couple. However prior to this, he and his friends pre-ordered movie tickets for the opening night of the latest Star Wars movie "The Force Awakens." Unfortunately, the movie premier is scheduled for Amy's birthday. When Penny makes him realize he should spend time with her for her birthday rather than for a movie that every other geek is anxious to see, he feel a bit conflicted. That night he has a dream where he's visited by the ghost of the late Professor Proton star Arthur Jeffries (Bob Newhart) dressed like Obi-Wan Kenobi, who convinces him he's better off with his girlfriend.
The next morning, he decides to give his ticket away to somebody he thinks is a worthy fan, and visits Penny and Bernadette for birthday gift advice. He tells them he has three potential gifts in mind. The first being a one-day invitation for her to play the harp with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, the second being a wool-related festival that he has no intention of attending due to his fear of sheep, and the third is to have sex with her. Penny's reaction may have been scripted, but it's still very easy to understand. Of course, we all know that Sheldon has been uncomfortable with the idea of touching anybody until sometime before this episode, and Amy has been anxious to be touched by the opposite sex before she ever met Sheldon. "Then it's settled. My birthday gift to Amy will be my genitals." Can you imagine a line that would normally be considered gross would be so heartwarming?
So who gets Sheldon's ticket? Why none other than Wil Wheaton who arrives dressed like Mr. Spock during the original version of Star Trek. Normally, that's like giving away Yankee Stadium to the New York Mets, or if you want to go way back, the former Brooklyn Dodgers or New York Giants baseball teams. Personally, I was never able to take sides regarding the Star Trek vs. Star Wars feud, but I'm not oblivious to it either.
Equally enjoyable is the subtle attempt by Penny and Bernadette to prepare Amy for her big night, and Bernadette's revealing motive for their suggested activities. The parallel dialogue between Sheldon and Amy in her bedroom and Wil Wheaton and Sheldon's friends is funny, but it has already been covered, so we won't go into that. But Wheaton does deliver some genuinely sage advice about the movie, which applies to a lot of others.
Also, Sheldon and Amy's first time, what little of it we see, turns out to be wonderful. And yet, this could've been much different, even for somebody their age. It could've been like Michael Biehn and Linda Hamilton in "The Terminator." Who wants that?
Young Sheldon: A House for Sale and Serious Woman Stuff (2020)
A Triumph for Missy Cooper
***SPOILER ALERT***
Not since the ending of "The Middle" episode "The Christmas Miracle" has been a TV episode this joyous and triumphant. Actually, that episode was happier, but that's besides the point. Even the ending of the "American Housewife" episode "The Dance" was happier. Come to think of it, I can even include the Season 5 premiere of "That Girl" on that list.
While Sheldon and his twin sister Missy are getting ice cream from a local ice cream truck, he discovered that the house next door has been sold. That means anybody could move next door from motorcycle gangs, to drug dealers, to people with pets and babies that might expect him to take care of them. Needless to say, he goes out of his way to make sure the wrong type of people don't buy that house. Not only does he fail, his plans backfire on him in a big way.
Throughout a good portion of Season 3, Missy has been putting up with a lot of sexist crap because she's the only girl on a little league baseball team dominated by boys. Nevertheless, she is a good player (and not just for a girl). And yet, it was her crush on a boy that made her want to join a team in the first place. In this episode, she has fallen for a boy who happens to be on another team, and is afraid that if she defeats him, she'll lose his heart. But the only person she can talk to about this is her grandmother.
Meemaw tries to persuade the coach to let her granddaughter sit out the game using sexual favors, as one might expect from her. When she actully sits on the bench, she realizes that her team in losing, and talks the coach into letting her play again. But the best part of this is not the results of the game. It's the period afterwards when the opposing teams congratulate each other, and when Missy finally does the same to Marcus, the boy she loves!
This is yet another example of an episode where the B-story is better than the A-story. Many storylines involving Raegan Revord's character tend to outshine the main character anyhow. If there's any justice in Hollywood, when this show ends, something really good should come her way. As of this episode, I will never be able to think of the song "New Sensation" by INXS the same way again. In all honesty, that's not such a bad thing, and from what I've read the late Michael Hutchens might've been okay with the song used in this manner. Regardless, I'd like to see the two of them together in Season Four.
Young Sheldon: A Swedish Science Thing and the Equation for Toast (2019)
A Triple Treat; Much more than just a tribute to the original series
***SPOILER ALERT***
So much focus on this episode being a tribute to "The Big Bang Theory" has been covered, that it seems the story leading up to that tribute is overlooked. As you read many reviews of the Season 2 finale for "Young Sheldon," you'll hear how the episode is a tribute to the original series which had it's series finale that very night, just before the airing of this episode. But, oh no. It is much more than that.
Sheldon's teacher and childhood mentor, Dr. John Sturgis (Wallace Shawn) has just finished setting up an antique world band radio in the Cooper's garage. I'm not sure about the make and model but that had to be a collector's item even back then. The whole reason for him doing this is because Sturgis is an ex-nominee for a Nobel Prize for Physics, and the two can't wait to listen to a radio station in Ottawa receiving transmissions from Stockholm to find out if he won. The trouble is, nobody else in Medford, Texas seems to give a rat's ass. For as older Sheldon once told us in a Season One episode, the "holy trinity" in Medford was God, Football and Barbecue, although not necessarily in that order.
Nevertheless, he tries to invite as many people as he can for a listening party in his garage. He announces the party on the school PA system, talks to his friend Tam (Ryan Phuong) about it, and even talks to total strangers. His sister Missy tries to warn him that he's wasting his time organizing this party, but he seems to have a little more faith in his peers than he should. There's also a B-Story about Georgie Jr. trying to get his father to install cable TV on their television set, and when he refuses, he buys it himself.
Unfortunately, some kind of commotion at East Texas Tech breaks between the Sturgis and the other professors, and Dean Linkletter (Ed Begley Jr.) calls up Meemaw to tell her that he lost his mind, and uses his alleged breakdown to try to hit on her.
Not even Dr. Sturgis comes to the party, and his mother tells him his idol is "not feeling well," but doesn't go into all the details. Poor little Sheldon has to sit there in tears listening to his mentor lose the prize. So much so that it's hard to believe it would even matter if he won. But, alas there is hope on the horizon. And it comes in the form or that widely praised montage of childhood versions of the characters from "The Big Bang Theory," which serves as double duty, reassuring us that Sheldon Cooper's alienation will not last. He will in fact find friends and lovers in his life.
Even more than that, it's fan service. During the first season of this show, I read all over the internet about fans of The Big Bang Theory complaining left and right; Oh, why does it always have to be about Sheldon? Why can't it be about Raj or Penny or Amy, or whoever? Well fans, your wish has come true. Not only that, some of those characters might appear once again.
One aspect of the episode bothered me though. It was the claim that Sheldon's professor and mentor was suffering from a mental illness. On the day the Nobel Prize winner was being announced, he starts practicing Tai-Chi on the roof of his apartment building. Now, I know there have always been parts of the country that are oblivious to other cultures, but even in rural Texas at the time when the 1980's turned into the 1990's, there had to be enough people who know the difference between a form of martial arts and throwing yourself off of the top of a building. Aside from that questionable definition of mental illness, it was a better than average season finale. Maybe not as good as the first season finales of kids shows such as Phineas and Ferb or Liv and Maddie, but still above average and worth your time.
Schooled: FeMellor (2020)
Only Lainey Lewis can do any justice to The Indigo Girls.
When A.J. Michalka's sister Aly was on "Phil of the Future," The Disney Channel decided to promote the two of them as a family-friendly non-lesbian version of The Indigo Girls. I have to admit, their performance on the theme song from "Ice Princess" was as haunting as Amy and Emily's "Prince of Darkness," if not more-so. So it's only fitting that A.J. Michalka gets to do a spot on version of their best known hit. Perhaps it also helps that this episode followed an above average episode of it's prequel "The Goldbergs" on the same night.
The episode doesn't start out like this; It involves our heroine narrating how dress codes at schools were being tested throughout the country during the 1990's, including at William Penn Academy. Principal Glascott (Tim Meadows) isn't standing for any of these violations, and neither is Coach Mellor. In one scene, Glascott spots a girl wearing a skirt that's too short, only to find out it's Miss Lainey Lewis. "You're not a student, you're a Lainey." That line reminds me so much of the scene from "Up the Down Staircase," where Sylvia Barrett is kept from using the school elevator which is reserved only for teachers, despite being a teacher herself. Later on, Glascott finds so many kids violating the dress code they've run out of monogrammed T-Shirts with the school name on it to replace them with. As he discusses the "crisis" with the teachers, he decides not only to ban Lainey's microskirts, but funny ties like those worn by C.B., and T-Shirts with rock band names. If he thinks "The Butthole Surfers" is an offensive name, he hasn't heard of some of the bands I know about.
In some of the more recent episodes, we see Mellor in a relationship with one of the kid's aunts, who is hired as the new school nurse. In this episode he finds out she's not a sports fan! This makes him feel their relationship is threatened. On a day when Mellor wants to go see the Philadelphia Eagles play the "New York" Giants, she wants to go to Lilith Fair. Needless to say, Mellor doesn't understand this, and needs help trying to do so in order to better relate to his girlfriend. So Ms. Wilma Howell (Haneefah Wood) gives him some lessons starting with trying to get him to learn the Indigo Girls' bigger hit "Closer to Fine," claiming it's a siren song among women everywhere. Sure enough, she starts out by singing the song herself, suddenly joined by Ms. Lewis on acoustic guitar and Liz Flemming on tambourine. Unfortunately, Mellor gets spooked by the song, and fears his relationship is doomed. Speaking of Lainey and Liz, it's the issues over the dress code that creates tension between the two teachers. Ms. Flemming has had a long standing grudge against stylish and popular girls like Lainey because she believes that they're also stuck-up b*tches, and Big Tasty's girlfriend is genuinely crushed by this.
Hearing Bryan Callen murder the Indigo's most famous hit in an attempt to woo Nurse Julie is a bit hard to stomach, but A.J. Michalka's cover is worthwhile, with or without Lennon Parham and Haneefah Wood. It's too bad Aly Michalka couldn't be there for this.
And for the record, Lilith Fair came out a decade after The Indigo Girls' first two albums.
Camp (2003)
Saw this for Anna Kendrick, and got a whole lot more.
There are two words in the universe that would make a straight man want to see this movie; Anna Kendrick. In her autobiography "Scrappy Little Nobody" she originally thought the only people who would've bothered with this movie were closeted homosexuals who believe this movie helped them come out. But if you're not 100% homophobic, there could still be something in the movie you might find worthwhile.
Ahh, life before Camp Ovation; While the campers perform the song "How Shall I See You Through My Tears," we have a montage of some of the other campers before getting the chance to do so. We have Vlad Baumann rehearsing a speech in his mirror, Michael Flores going to the junior prom in drag, and not only having his invitation torn up by the prom committee, but getting the living crap kicked out of him by a bunch of jocks, and Ellen Lucas trying to convince her brother to take her to the junior prom after failing to get a date (although I can't imagine why). But going to this summer camp for the performing arts gives all these kids and more a chance to not only perform, but to be themselves,... or so it may seem that way. Kendrick plays Fritzi Wagner a would-be actress who also tries to be a toadie to the popular Jill Simmons (Alana Allen). Shaun (Steven Cutts) wants to convince his shy little brother Petie (Kahiry Bess) that he can make it as a black man in the performing arts. Another camper named Jenna (Tiffany Taylor) was able to talk her parents into letting her go to Camp Ovation as opposed to a fat camp, on the condition that she goes with her jaws wired shut.
At the first audition, we see Vlad perform a cover of "Wild Horses" by The Rolling Stones, with the camp background band playing to the very note, and one of the female counselors is convinced he's straight. Evidently the lesson is if you want to be viewed as straight, just perform an old Rolling Stones song during your audition. Even with that, he ends up striking a friendship with Michael. He doesn't insult the guy for being gay, but he does tell him that if he were straight he have girls hitting on him left and right, using his Latino heritage to pass himself off as a Latin Lover. Vlad himself seems to have his heart set on Ellen, and they seem like they're going to hit it off, until Jill swoops in and takes him away from her for a little nookie.
The camp is supposed to be supervised by Bert Hanley, a playwright who had a big hit named "The Children's Crusade," back in the day, and hasn't been able to do anything else but drink ever since. Other counselors include a dance instructor who makes a speech during one of his lessons which is reminiscent of Debbie Allen's speech in Fame, which one of the kids snarks about until that teacher makes him eat his words, and a Cuban refugee director who evidently feared that the avant-garde play "Midnight Sun" would cause reprisals from their "Revolutionary Armed Forces." His maniacal tirades are one of the things that bring Vlad and Ellen closer to one another, and so are Jill's insults over her appearance. But how long can that last?
After Jill chastises Fritzi for washing her underwear, she gets a pep talk from Bert, then sabotages her performance from "Company," by spiking her drinks with a well-known household cleaner. She yanks Jill off-stage in the middle of singing "The Ladies Who Lunch" and makes that song her own! You will forget Elaine Stritch after this, in fact, you'll forget Alana Allen after this! Later when Bert hears Vlad casually perform one of his songs, he interrupts him and the rest of the campers and tells them they're wasting their time trying to make it in show business. After he leaves the porch, Vlad goes into the counselor's office and chastises him for trashing the campers. "They"? Did you think I wasn't talking to you too?" No Mr. Hanley, I think he knew it. But it's after this exchange while the camp administrator is passed out drunk that this golden boy he despises discovers some of his other work, and he rallies the other campers to perform some of it, in order to prove that they and he are both worthy.
The highlight of this movie was Kendrick's show stopping performance of "The Ladies Who Lunch," which she literally steals from Alana Allan. At a close second is the cast's cover of "Century Plant" by Victoria Williams. Others might disagree with me and put Williams' song at the top, and it's hard not to imagine why.
If you grew up in the New York Tri-State area like I did, you've seen as many ads on TV and in newspapers for Broadway plays as you have for movies. So, whether you're straight, gay, or bisexual, you'd be exposed to some of the references to the various plays here. There are some truly funny scenes during the movie. During the auditions, one of the counselors draws a picture of himself committing suicide next to a piano while another anonymous girl sings "Tomorrow" from "Annie." Another is when Ellen is with Petie with her own rendition of "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" from "Dreamgirls," and the boy gets spooked and runs off stage. Even Todd Graff, who wrote and directed this movie found the scenario hilarious.
Those who see this movie for Ms. Kendrick should know that it's really not her movie. In fact her part is barely a B-Story, despite her outstanding musical number. The movie itself is based on Graff's own life at a camp known as Stagedoor Manor while he was on a break from his membership in the Short Circus on "The Electric Company." Because of this, it makes me wonder if the gay kids could've been that openly gay in the 1970's. I even thought of making the title of my review "This Movie is So Gay." Regardless, the musical performances are what makes this movie great even if you don't like the story lines. I think there's still a good chance that you will.
The Cool Ones (1967)
I'm not going to lie; I saw it mainly for Teri Garr.
Despite the title, there are other aspects of this movie that got me interested in it. One main reason the movie didn't do so well at the box office was because they were making a 1965 movie in 1967. By the time this movie was released, The Beatles had finished doing official concerts in under a year, the hippies were beginning to organize the "Summer of Love" in San Francisco, "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" had pushed sleaze into Oscar territory, and "The Graduate" did more to speak for the kids than any leftover wannabe beach party movie.
Cliff Donner (Gil Peterson) was an early '60's swinging sixties pop singer whose career went into the toilet when some managers suggest he performs some old 1940's music. Think Ricky Nelson going Bing Crosby, and you'll get the idea. Years later Cliff is driving to Palm Springs and stops at a night club owned by Stanley Krumley (Robert Coote), a man he knew from England who ran a club there, and talks him into singing along with The Leaves.
Would-be pop singer Hallie Rodgers (played by the uber-cute Debbie Watson), is struggling to make it big in the music business but has to settle for being a go-go dancer on "Whiz-Bam," an obvious imitation of "Hullaballoo." Frustrated with having the powers that be stall her career, she breaks out of her cage and has an unauthorized duet with the lead signer of Patrick and the East Enders (played by Glen Campbell). The producers are pissed at her, but the kids dig it, and the Whiz-Bam dancers noticed this. Even Patrick notices it, and when a stagehand insults their audience, and the girl is fired, both the Whiz-Bam dancers and the band threaten them "West Side Story-"style (I wish I were kidding!).
Though despondent over being fired, some of her fellow Whiz-Bammers take her to that bar in Palm Springs where Cliff and The Leaves are performing. Suddenly, a guy in his late-20's who looks a lot like Iggy Pop (No, really!) decides he wants to put the moves on her, and he won't take no for an answer. The commotion this guy causes stops the show, Cliff comes to the rescue and throws everybody out, until he recognizes her from the show. He decides he wants get her foot in the door with the dance that everyone on in the audience was doing which he dubbed "The Tantrum." However she wants him to make a comeback in return for his promotion of her.
Then there this whole elaborate number where Gil, Debbie and the Whiz-Bam dancers perform the song "High" in the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway. Leave it to a non-Californian such as myself to be flabergasted over the fact that such a transit system can exist in Southern California, and with a ski lodge too. After it's all over, Krumley tells them that he's about to give the two of them a big break through his brother Tony Krum, a wannabe Phil Spector played by Roddy McDowall. Naturally as expected from these movies, the two fall in love, but Tony Krum wants to be the one who decides when and how they do so. This creates a major kink in their relationship, but Krum doesn't care, and Donner sees what's going on, and poor Miss Rodgers wants to keep both her man and her career. He even goes so far into getting Gil to get involved in a demoltion derby as part of his promotion. One might think this might be more of an attempt to capitalize on movies such as "Fireball 500."
So who else among the dancers are in this movie besides the lovely Ms. Garr? Well, you have a short guy with a goatee, a guy who looks like Howdy-Doody, another guy with a Peter Tork haircut, an Asian-American woman, one token black guy, some other blondes, including one with roots, and a lot of other extras. Sadly I don't recognize them all, although I've heard some names of a few of those people, so maybe I should.
There's a line from the docudrama on the making of "Sweet Sweetback's Badassssss Song" where Mario Van Peebles (playing his father) claimed that in the late-1960's the times were changing, and Hollywood wasn't. Actually there were movies that reflected what was going on (or what people thought was going on), and how people felt about it, and even if this wasn't one of them, it was still farily enjoyable. Let's be honest though; this movie is not only not cool, it's corny, and doesn't know it's corny, unlike, say for instance, "Enchanted." Incidentally, Garr's career started to take off after this movie when she went from being a nobody dancer to roles in a certain episode of "Star Trek," and the 1968 Monkees movie "Head," and the rest is history. So a little art imitating life gives this movie a couple of extra points.
The Andy Griffith Show: Andy Discovers America (1963)
"Andy Saves History" would've been a good episode title too.
What can possibly be said about this episode that hasn't been said before? Sadly not much, which is kind of disappointing. Oh, but I'm gonna try.
Opie is having a hard time with his history lessons, and seems to blame "Old Lady Crump," who's not really that old (even if she looks that way). Andy replies with sympathy claiming that he had trouble with his schoolwork when he was a kid too. That day at class, he tells her that he doesn't need to learn history, and his friends join in that sentiment. Miss Crump blames Andy for convincing his son and their friends to forgo their schoolwork just because his father is the Sheriff of Mayberry. Both she and the kids have the wrong idea on how Andy feels about the issue.
It's just then that Sheriff Taylor decides he's going to get them interested in history by retelling the start of the American Revolution in his old folksy way, and it works! He even gives the Native Americans credit for helping Paul Revere and the Minutemen at Concord! A surprise for the teacher like this one won't be found again until 1967 with Sylvia Barrett at Calvin Coolidge High School in East Harlem.
As he grows up, Opie and his friends will realize that the "shot heard 'round the world" was only a metaphor, but a good one. They'll also grow up to learn that there are people in his state outside of Mayberry who resent the Emancipation Proclamation, and have been throwing a monkey wrench into it for a whole century. In addition, they'll find out that just five years earlier, 500 modern-day Indians defeated 50 stupid white men in white sheets from his own state. This is an episode that if it doesn't get you into Griffith's old comedy routines, is guaranteed to make you more interested in American History.
The Middle: Hecks vs. Glossners: The Final Battle (2018)
The Battle of Birchwood Avenue
***POSSIBLE SPOILERS***
In my review of "The Proud Family Movie," I mentioned that I was bummed that Penny Proud and her friends never got to make the Gross Sisters pay for their bullying and extortion. Thankfully, nothing like that has ever happened on "The Middle" when the Hecks deal with the Glossners. In fact in almost every episode involving the Glossners, the Hecks seem to be the only family who are able or willing to deal with them.
Axl seems to be living the kind of life that contradicts what Mike wants to teach him about being a man, and he keep rubbing it in his father's face. Brick is trying to earn his driver's license, but his parents are doing everything he can to prevent him from reaching that point. Sue is about to return to college after Spring Break, and wants to use a snowglobe she found as a device for declaring her love for Sean Donahue. On her way out though, she finds out her car was stolen.
Once Frankie reveals that car was stolen by the Glossner family, she and Sue are convinced there's nothing they can do about it. Mike refuses to give up and calls the police, but even the cop who interviews them thinks getting the car back is a lost cause. Then during a family discussion, Mike decides that the only way to stop them is for the whole family to take matters into their own hands. Unfortunatley, they find that when they go after the Glossners, they have invited a few extra relatives for support, and though most of the Hecks escape, they turn Sue into a prisoner of war.
You know how sometimes they say it's always darkest before the dawn? Just as in the first Glossners episode "The Neighbors" from Season One, the rest of the neighborhood is encouraged to take a stand against them once the Hecks do. Now they know they have a better chance of taking them down. One of the best scenes is when Axl has trouble breaking through the front door and Mike steps in to help. He doesn't just kick the door down, he STOMPS on it! I'm almost afraid to ask if Neil Flynn can do that in real life.
I'm not going to reveal the ending of it, but I will say it's almost as uplifting as the ending of "The Christmas Miracle." Although by referring to that episode, I may have ended it up spoiling it just enough, but you should still watch it anyhow.
Descendants 2 (2017)
Delivers on it's promise to blow the first movie out of the water.
The 2015 DCOM "Descendants" proved to be incredibly popular among the kids, and not without good reason. However I was given some negative responses to my IMDB user review of the movie, which is something all IMDb users are at risk of getting. Just because I didn't feel the same way most people did about it doesn't mean I was unsympathetic towards the main characters. Whatever misgivings I may have had about the previous movie, it had nothing to do with Dove. Before the movie, Cameron herself said this would blow the first movie out of the water, and I have to admit I was impressed.
Mal is on the verge of marrying Prince Ben, and is overwhelmed by the publicity. Before we see what she's living with, we get a fantasy sequence used as the theme song, and I have to admit, no matter who mentions any song called "Ways to be Wicked," I always think of the Lone Justice song from the 1980's. The daughter of Maleficent is caught off guard by the prospects of marriage, as well as the prince showering her with gifts, including a new scooter. She's also facing pressure to turn her spell book over to the "Museum of Cultural History," which she has been reluctant to do. In the meantime, Carlos has been crushing on the fairy godmother's daughter Jane (who looks better in the sequel, BTW), Jay is winning the heart of Lonnie, and trying to get her a spot on the fencing team. Evie is adjusting well to life in Auradon, and even helping those in need. After being caught using her spell book for a date with Ben who chastises her over it, she finally breaks down and is ready to give up and return to the Isle of the Lost.
Certainly no slouch when it comes to talent is China Anne McClain, who plays Uma, the daughter of Ursula from "The Little Mermaid." Disney probably wanted her for a few more projects since she became the third wheel on her own sitcom, and they got their money's worth with McClain. With the sons of Captain Hook, Gaston, and lesser pirates, Uma more or less runs the island, as well as a seafood dive bar and restaurant But seeing Mal on TV apparently living the good life pisses her off.
On the isle, we meet a pre-teen hairdresser named Dizzy Tremaine (Anna Cathcart), who is the granddaughter of one of the evil stepsisters of Cinderella. With her messy pigtails, color-splattered frock, and purple cat-eyeglasses barely hiding her copper eye shadow, Dizzy's true talent as a hairstylist is overlooked by her grandmother, but not by Mal or Evie. Unlike the other kids of the villains, she is anything but evil. Mal also keeps her from being victimized in an extortion racket by one of Uma's gang, which leads to the revelation that she has returned, and so has her purple hair.
Feeling guilty over trying to change his girlfriend and driving her away, he decided to go to follow her to her former prison island, and Evie, Jay, and Carlos know they have to go with the Prince, at least partially for his protection. They eventually find her and he tries to talk her into coming back, through no avail. While Mal loves the Prince, and life on Auradon, she feels she's a liability to her boyfriend, the royal family, and the kingdoms. But then Evie starts off a duet of "The Space Between," and everything seems like it's going to be okay.
Unfortunately Ben gets kidnapped in the process of trying to bring Mal home, she demands that Uma let him loose. Meanwhile Ben tells her abductor that the effort to bring the villain kids away from their evil parents influence was going to be expanded to other kids and could've even included her. The new villain makes a deal with the future princess and demands the fairy godmother's wand. The villain kids return home to make a fake wand with a 3-D printer, and bring it to Uma as a substitute this time with the help of Lonnie. They have a musical number before the exchange, with a bridge where Prince Ben urges the girls not to fight, but they go through with it anyway, and battle each other when Uma finds out it's fake, but not before returning Ben. I smelled a sequel to this the moment that Mal's spell-book was dropped on the Isle of the Lost as they tried to escape, and to be honest, I'm open to the idea. I also wish I was able to say something about the possibility of a third movie in my review before the first promo for it. I won't spoil the ending if you haven't seen it already, but the first four refugees of the Isle of the Lost do defeat the remaining villains. Also the post-credit ending is better than anything Kenny Ortega did with his previous franchise.
Having said that, there are only so many years that the cast can continue to be believable as their characters, and unless I'm mistaken Melissa De La Cruz's books will outnumber the movies that the cast can make. So the idea that the third one could be the last won't surprise me at all.