Calvin's Canadian Cave of Coolness: Yeh Mel Sucks But He Made One Pretty Cool Movie

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Yeh Mel Sucks But He Made One Pretty Cool Movie

Just screened at the 'Cave of Cool' media room.

8 comments:

mercurius said...: Agreed. People even like to criticize "Braveheart" for its wild departures from history but 99% of historical movies have never been rote educational retreads of fact. Between the gorgeous Scottish hills/ridges, the romantic Janes Horner score, Braveheart is a true gem that I fear will retreat to obscurity within the shadow of Gibson's private life exploits.

This is why I have a very strict separation between my derision for the public follies of celebrities and my appreciation of their cinematic workmanship. Yes, Travolta is a Scientology nutjob but he chewed great scenery in Face/Off and took part in Tarantino's critical darling Pulp Fiction. Sure Will Smith might be skewing deep into the Scientology camp, too, but one can't deny his charming cocksure heroism in Independence Day or Men in Black. And sure Eddie Murphy has turned out a ton of dreck recently like Norbit but that doesn't diminish his heydey works Coming to America, Beverly Hills Cops, Delirious, and Raw.

Bring a judgmental, self-righteous tool only diminishes the number of things that can make you happy, people. "I'm Walt Mossberg. SHUT UP."; September 6, 2011 at 10:42 AM
Cal's Canadian Cave of Coolness said...: I have been reading about Eddie Murphy doing the Oscars which if true, will turn out to be great and it will become his yearly gig like it was for Johnny Carson. This will give Murphy a whole new career where he will win an Oscar for something. There is just too much substance to a guy like Eddie Murphy to ever take him to task for the kid friendly drek he has made. Damn if I don't loves me some 'Dr Doolittle AND it's very funny sequel.

However, for me. Murphy will always be that scrappy young angry comic who played Buckwheat and Gumby and Clarence the Firth Beatle and James Brown and Mr Robinson.; September 6, 2011 at 10:56 AM
Debra She Who Seeks said...: Lots of great actors are assholes in real life. Mel Gibson is not the first and he won't be the last. You have to separate the two. His movies are still to be enjoyed.; September 6, 2011 at 11:23 AM
mercurius said...: There is nothing funnier in my DVD library than Eddie Murphy's stand-up concerts "Delirious" and "Raw"; the man is unstoppable. Well.... Blazing Saddles is a close tie probably. They're both from the decade when nothing was off-limits to comedy.

Btw, pilot for Zooey Deschanel's "The New Girl" is now free to download on iTunes. It'll be on Hulu next week, but here's the streaming if you can't wait:
http://www.megavideo.com/?d=76GLJE6D

Don't get too attached to Coach though; even though he's great, Damon Wayans Jr. had give up his spot on this show b/c his ABC sitcom Happy Endings got renewed, so he'll be replaced in ep 2 under pretext that his char was only subletting from the replacement series regular, a basketball player returning from abroad.; September 6, 2011 at 11:23 AM
mercurius said...: Annnd just like that, Eddie Murphy is confirmed as Oscar host. I hope they realize that much like 30 Rock's fictional Tracy Jordan, he's only at his best when off his leash.; September 6, 2011 at 11:30 AM
Cal's Canadian Cave of Coolness said...: Nope..mark my words, Eddie will be so fantastic great because he is so quick and improvisational he will strike the right kind of balance and it will be better than the reception Hugh Jackman got a few years back.

Oh and thank you for the Zoe link. I appreciate all the comments and research that you do. I have to go to the dollar store and see if they have cool rings like the Shadow would give to his agents and start sending some out to people who keep the cool in the 'Cave of Cool'.; September 6, 2011 at 11:47 AM
Belle said...: I thought Eddie Murphy was amazing in "Dreamgirls". He is super talented and I'm sure he will be great on the Academy Awards.

Braveheart moved me so much I must have seen it 6 times at the theatre. If I could change my last name, it would be Wallace. His movies are usually fantastic.; September 6, 2011 at 2:06 PM
Kelly Sedinger said...: The reason why Oscar hosts suck is not that Oscar hosts suck. It's that the room they are playing is full of stiffs, very few of whom have any ability to honestly laugh at themselves. I figured this out one year when I realized I was laughing a lot but none of the people in the auditorium were, and every close-up of someone reacting to a joke was the same expression: "Yeah, yeah, I'm smiling 'cause I know the camera's on me but you can see in my eyes how pissed I am." One year -- I think it was Chris Rock's year -- the producers realized that Jamie Foxx was actually, sincerely laughing, so they started showing him after every host joke.

Johnny Carson and Bob Hope did great work as hosts, but they were also standing in front of a crowd that was generally more down-to-earth than today's Hollywood crowd. I think the percentage of folks in Hollywood who think that their shit doesn't stink has gone way up over the last few decades.

Oh yeah, Braveheart. One of my favorite movies. It loses steam in the second half, but the first half is remarkable (and Horner's score is amazing, even if he uses Irish uillean pipes instead of actual Scottish Highland pipes).; September 6, 2011 at 6:11 PM

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