Here’s the Super Bowl teaser for Despicable Me 4, which comes with a lot of cute minion and some well-deserved shots at A.I!
I know that certain people claim to be over the Minions. I have a talking Minion doll and he’s adorable. Seriously, how can you not like them?
It’s Super Bowl Sunday and you know what that means! It’s time to watch and judge all of the Super Bowl commercials! It’s also the time that those of us at the Shattered Lens try to post all of the trailers, teasers, and film-related commercials that air during the Big Game!
Let’s get things started with this Super Bowl teaser for Kung Fu Panda 4!
Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Sundays, I will be reviewing the made-for-television movies that used to be a primetime mainstay. Today’s film is 1984’s Pigs vs. Freaks! It can be viewed on YouTube.
In the late 1960s, a small town is divided between the conservative older generation and their rebellious hippie children. Former high school football star Doug Zimmer (Patrick Swayze) has just returned from fighting in Vietnam and, unlike many of his former classmates, he is firmly on the side of the establishment. He wears his hair short. He has a job as a cop. He tries to keep his younger sister, Janice (Penny Peyser), from hanging out with hippies like his former best friend, Neal (Grant Goodeve).
Neal is also the son of the local police chief, Frank Brockmeyer (Eugene Roche). Though Frank and Neal have different political beliefs and Frank is always telling Neal to get a haircut, they still have a respectful relationship. When Neal complains that cops like Doug and his partner, Sgt. Cheever (Brian Dennehy), are always harassing the hippies who want to play football in park, Frank suggests a football game between the hippies and the police. When Neal agrees, the game becomes known as “Pigs vs. Freaks.”
While Frank coaches the Pigs and signs a few former athlete as police reservists, Neal recruits his former little league coach, a bearded guru who now goes by the name of Rambaba Organimus (Tony Randall) to serve as the Freak’s coach. He also places a call to a former football star named Mickey South (Adam Baldwin) and talks him into coming down from Canada to play in the game. Of course, Mickey is wanted by the FBI for dodging the draft so it might not seem like a great idea for him to risk federal prison for an exhibition football game but no matter! Who cares that there are now two federal agents watching the Freaks practice? There’s a game to be won!
Pigs vs. Freaks is an amiable mix of comedy and drama. Some of the comedy, like Tony Randall’s bearded guru and Stephen Furst’s perpetually frantic hippie linebacker, is a bit too broad but there’s enough moments of dramatic insight that it’s easy to overlook those flaws. I appreciated the fact that both the Freaks and the Pigs are treated fairly, with both sides getting a chance to make a case for themselves. When they first appear and start harassing the hippies for playing football in the park, it’s easy to dismiss both Doug and Cheever as fascists but a later scene, which is very well-played by both Brian Dennehy and Patrick Swayze, establishes them as just being two men who are confused by the direction of the world. Swayze, in particular, gives a strong performance that reveals the vulnerability underneath Doug’s tough exterior. As for the hippies, Mickey South is no self-righteous crusader but instead someone who feels the Vietnam War is wrong but who is also someone who both misses and loves his home country. Adam Baldwin does a wonderful playing him and is well-matched with Grant Goodeve, who plays the most reasonable hippie that one could hope to meet.
It’s a likable film and well-intentioned, a portrait of two opposing groups brought together by the love of one game. Some will cheer for the Pigs. Some will cheer for the Freaks. I cheered for both.
My Super Bowl prediction is that the refs are going to come hard after the 49ers and there will be a lot of shots of Taylor Swift watching from the owner’s box and cheering every Travis Kelce play. The narrative has been set since the season began and the NFL knows how they want this story to end.
And with the ratings they’re going to get for this Super Bowl, who can blame them?
Final score:
Chiefs — 28
49ers — 14
The Directors Guild of America announced their picks for best of 2023 last night and any doubt that Oppenheimer was the clear Oscar front runner were pretty much eliminated by Christopher Nolan’s victory.
Here are the winners!
NARRATIVE FEATURE FILM
GRETA GERWIG – Barbie
CHRISTOPHER NOLAN – Oppenheimer
YORGOS LANTHIMOS – Poor Things
ALEXANDER PAYNE – The Holdovers
MARTIN SCORSESE – Killers of the Flower Moon
FIRST TIME NARRATIVE FEATURE FILM
CORD JEFFERSON – American Fiction
MANUELA MARTELLI – Chile ’76
NOORA NIASARI – Shayda
A.V. ROCKWELL – A Thousand And One
CELINE SONG – Past Lives
DOCUMENTARY
MOSES BWAYO & CHRISTOPHER SHARP – Bobi Wine: The People’s President
MSTYSLAV CHERNOV – 20 Days In Mariupol
MADELEINE GAVIN – Beyond Utopia
DAVIS GUGGENHEIM – Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie
D. SMITH – Kokomo City
DRAMATIC SERIES
PETER HOAR – The Last Of Us, “Long, Long Time”
BECKY MARTIN – Succession, “Rehearsal”
MARK MYLOD – Succession, “Connor’s Wedding”
ANDRIJ PAREKH – Succession, “America Decides”
ROBERT PULCINI & SHARI SPRINGER BERMAN – Succession, “Tailgate Party”
COMEDY SERIES
ERICA DUNTON – Ted Lasso, “La Locker Room Aux Folles”
BILL HADER – Barry, “Wow”
DECLAN LOWNEY – Ted Lasso, “So Long, Farewell”
CHRISTOPHER STORER – The Bear, “Fishes”
RAMY YOUSSEF – The Bear, “Honeydew”
MOVIES FOR TELEVISION AND LIMITED SERIES
SHAWN LEVY – All The Light We Cannot See
TARA MIELE – Lessons In Chemistry, “Introduction To Chemistry”
MILLICENT SHELTON – Lessons In Chemistry, “Poirot”
SARAH ADINA SMITH – Lessons In Chemistry, “Her And Him”
NZINGHA STEWART – Daisy Jones & The Six, “Track 10: Rock ‘N’ Roll Suicide”
VARIETY/TALK/NEWS/SPORTS – REGULARLY SCHEDULED PROGRAMMING
PAUL G. CASEY – Real Time With Bill Maher, “Episode 2117”
JIM HOSKINSON – The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, “Jan. 19, 2023: Rep. Adam Kinzinger; Meet Me At The Altar; Special Appearance By Harvey Guillén”
MICHAEL MANCINI & LIZ PATRICK – Saturday Night Live, “Pedro Pascal / Coldplay”
DAVID PAUL MEYER – The Daily Show With Trevor Noah, “Singer Charley Crockett Performs “Name On A Billboard” And Discusses New Album With Jordan Klepper “
PAUL PENNOLINO – Last Week Tonight With John Oliver, “Episode 1018: Dollar Stores”
VARIETY/TALK/NEWS/SPORTS – SPECIALS
JOEL GALLEN – Chris Rock: Selective Outrage
STAN LATHAN – Dave Chappelle: The Dreamer
LINDA MENDOZA – Wanda Sykes: I’m An Entertainer
PAUL MILLER – Carol Burnett: 90 Years Of Laughter + Love
GLENN WEISS – The 95th Annual Academy Awards
REALITY PROGRAMS
NIHARIKA DESAI – Rainn Wilson And The Geography Of Bliss, “Happiness Is A Bottle Of Cod Liver Oil”
KEN FUCHS – The Golden Bachelor, “Premiere”
JOSEPH GUIDRY & ALEXANDRA LIPSITZ – Project Greenlight: A New Generation, “PGL Vs. Gray Matter Problem”
RICH KIM – Lego Masters, “Is It Brick?”
PATRICK McMANUS – American Ninja Warrior, “Season 15 Finale”
CHILDREN’S PROGRAMS
JAMES BOBIN – Percy Jackson And The Olympians, “I Accidentally Vaporize My Pre-Algebra Teacher”
DESTIN DANIEL CRETTON – American Born Chinese, “What Guy Are You”
ROB LETTERMAN – Goosebumps, “Say Cheese And Die”
AMY SCHATZ – Stand Up & Shout: Songs From A Philly High School
DINH THAI – American Born Chinese, “A Monkey On A Quest”
COMMERCIALS
MARTIN De THURAH (Epoch Films) – Fair Exchange, Levi’s 501 Jeans – Droga5, Legends Never Die, Levi’s 501 Jeans, Droga5
SEB EDWARDS (Park Pictures) – Rumble, Battle Of The Baddest – Droga5
KIM GEHRIG (Somesuch) – Run This Town, Apple Music – Apple
CRAIG GILLESPIE (MJZ) – Waiting Room, Apple Iphone – TBWA/Media Arts Lab
ANDREAS NILSSON (Biscuit Filmworks) – R.I.P. Leon, Apple Iphone – Apple, Action Mode, Apple Iphone14 – Apple, Choose Happy, Les Mills Fitness – Nice&Frank, San Francisco
Wait’ll You See This, Snapchat – Snapchat
Artist Unknown
Sometimes, you have to chase him.
Happy Super Bowl Sunday! This is a national holiday, as my old edition of Madden used to put it. Playing Madden, I discovered that the way to get to and win the Super Bowl was to always play with difficulty set to rookie. One time, in Franchise Mode, my team won 30 straight Super Bowls. And yet none of the players involved in setting that amazing record made it into the Hall of Fame.
As far as I can tell, no one in this video will be playing in this year’s Super Bowl.
Enjoy!
Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Saturdays, I will be reviewing the Canadian sitcom, Check it Out, which ran in syndication from 1985 to 1988. The entire show is currently streaming on Tubi!
This week, I finally get a chance to review the episode that I should have reviewed last week. Nature is healing.
Episode 1.17 “Banzai”
(Dir by John Bell, originally aired on February 8th, 1986)
Mrs. Cobb (Barbara Hamilton) has decided that it would be a good idea to send someone over to Japan to study how the Japanese have become such efficient employers and employees. That is an idea that actually isn’t bad and totally makes sense. Give some points to the show for having a good idea for once.
However, for some reason, Mrs. Cobb wants to send over not an executive and not a store manager but an assistant store manager. That makes no sense. If you want to make changes, why wouldn’t you send someone over who has the authority to do so? As usual, Mrs. Cobb wants it to be someone from Howard’s store. The show has always implied that Mrs. Cobb is the richest woman in Canada and that she actually owns several businesses across the North American continent. It’s odd that the only one she ever seems to care about is Howard’s store.
Assistant Store Manager Jack Christian is on vacation in Fiji so Howard has to pick a temporary replacement who can go to Japan. Mrs. Cobb tells him to pick a woman and since Marlene has a criminal record and Jennifer is not in this episode, the job falls to Edna.
Edna goes to Japan and then returns with a lot of ideas for how to make Cobb’s better. Cue Howard’s comic exasperation as Edna demands informality in the workplace, a lack of walls, and a mandatory exercise period. Also cue the two Japanese workers that Edna brought back with her, who proceed to tear down the walls of Howard’s office.
Watching all of this, I had to wonder just how long Christian’s Fiji vacation lasted. This episode seemed to take place over the course of a month, maybe even longer. It lasted long enough for the staff to rebel against Edna and for Mrs. Cobb to change her mind about using Japanese methods in her business. And it lasted long enough for Edna to decide that she would rather go back to being Howard’s administrative assistant. Jack Christian did return by the end of the episode, which is good since Jeff Pustil (who played Christian) and Kathleen Laskey (who played Marlene) were the show’s two most consistent comedic performers. (Interestingly enough, they’re married in real life.)
This was actually not a bad episode. I always cringe a bit whenever I see any 80s or 90s sitcom attempting to deal with cultural differences, especially when the other culture is Japanese. Just judging from a lot of the shows that I’ve seen, it would appear that many Americans (and I guess Canadians) in the 80s felt like the only way to deal with Japan’s competitive economy was to make often juvenile jokes about Japanese tourists with cameras and the poor dubbing that most Japanese films suffered on their way to American screens. This episode of Check It Out! is actually respectful of Japanese business culture, even if the show’s message seems to be that it ultimately isn’t right for the more laid back culture of Canada.
As for what happens in next week’s episode — who knows? We’ll find out.
You would think that, being stuck on the couch with an injured ankle, I would have watched a lot of television this week. I didn’t. Instead, I barely turned on the TV. Instead, I spent most of my time listening to music and wondering if this year is going to continue in a sucky direction or if its going to redeem itself.
Here’s a few thoughts on what little I did watch:
Abbott Elementary (Wednesday Night, ABC)
Abbott Elementary, the most acclaimed sitcom on network TV, started its 3rd season this week with a special hour-long episode in which Janine left her teaching job and took a job with the school district. Meanwhile, her relationship with Gregory continued to be awkward, Barbara continued to be the voice of wisdom, Ava briefly tried to be a good principle before returning to her old ways, and Melissa broke up with her latest boyfriend. And, of course, Career Day was a disaster.
The premiere had its amusing moments but …. I don’t know. Something felt a bit off to me. I’m not really sure I like the idea of Janine working for the school district. It seems like one of those storylines that is just going to be dragged out for way too long and, even worse, it feels like it was mostly included so the show could find another excuse to keep Janine and Gregory from getting together. Gregory’s social awkwardness, which was so likable during the previous two seasons, is starting to feel a bit old now. You’ve been at the school for three years, dude! YOU CAN SMILE! On the plus side, quarterback Jalen Hurts was good playing himself. (“My boundaries are extremely porous.’) We’ll see how things go with the rest of the season. I have faith in Abbott.
Check it Out (Tubi)
I re-watched last week’s episode Check It Out! earlier today. My review should be dropping soon.
Law & Order (Thursday Night, NBC)
It was a good episode this week. Nolan Price got his conviction but at the cost of giving immunity to one of the sleaziest characters to ever appear on the show. That led to another recriminating glare from Maroun. As for the cops are concerned, I’m liking the laid-back vibe that Reid Scott is bringing to his role. Until this season started, I never realized how nervous I would get whenever I had to watch any scene featuring Jeffrey Donavon as the ultra-intense Cosgrove. With Reid Scott, I feel like I can actually breathe.
Snub (Night Flight Plus)
This was a BBC music show from the 80s, featuring independent British bands. I watched an episode on Friday night, featuring a bunch of British rappers. It was okay. For the most part, I liked the no-nonsense, no apologies attitude of the hosts. They were British, working class, and proud of it.
Watched and reviewed elsewhere:
Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Saturdays, I will be reviewing Welcome Back Kotter, which ran on ABC from 1975 to 1979. The entire show is currently streaming on Tubi!
This week, Mr. Woodman writes a book!
Episode 3.9 “A Novel Idea”
(Dir by Nick Havinga, originally aired on October 20th, 1977)
When his father has an attack of appendicitis, Gabe rushes to upstate New York to be with his mother. That’s right. Other than a brief appearance at the start and the end of this episode, Gabe Kotter is absent from this edition of Welcome Back, Kotter.
With Gabe gone, it falls to Julie to deal with the lates dispute between the Sweathogs and Mr. Woodman. Mr. Woodman has written a book, a Civil War romance called Swamp Rats Of Savannah. The book’s hero is Beauregard Ravenna, the “sliver fox” who is the headmaster of the Applegate School in Georgia. Ravenna is a dedicated educator but he has to deal with four unruly students, the Swamp Rats. Kloberino, Warpstein, Thorshack, and Baltimore are not only terrible students but they are also responsible for the start of the Civil War when they launch an attack on Ft. Sumter. Ravenna must defeat them while also dealing with a deserter-turned-teacher named Gaylord Teesdale and his love-starved wife, Julie Luh.
When the Sweathogs get their hands on a copy of the manuscript, they are so offended that they write a science fiction epic called Space Hogs of Buchania, in which the heroic Space Hogs battle a tyrant known as Demento. Woodman is as offended by their novel as they were by his. Finally, at a summit held at the Kotter apartment and with Julie overseeing, Woodman and the Sweathogs agree to tone down their depictions of each other.
I was looking forward to this episode because the idea of Mr. Woodman writing a novel about the Sweathogs seemed like a promising concept. Mr, Woodman has always been the most consistently funny character on the show and John Sylvester White’s wonderfully unhinged performance has always been a highlight of Welcome back, Kotter. And indeed, there are some funny moments in this episode and John Sylvester White is responsible for almost all of them. That said, the overall episode just fell flat. The absence of Gabe Kaplan is really felt, if just because it requires Julie to suddenly go from being annoyed with the Sweathogs to instead being their enthusiastic ally. It doesn’t feel right for Julie’s character and Marcia Strassman doesn’t seem to be totally comfortable with stepping into the role that was typically played by Gabae Kaplan. I kept waiting for Julie to kick everyone out of the apartment. Instead, she read everyone’s books. That’s not the Julie we know! As well, I was really hoping the show would go into even more detail about what was in each book, perhaps even visualizing a few of the scenes. Instead, it was just a collection of scenes of people looking at pages and then saying, “Look what he wrote here!” For an idea that has so much potential, the execution was a bit lacking.
As with so many of Welcome Back, Kotter‘s later episodes, this one that you watch and try not to think about how much better it all would have been handled during the first season.
Through the Shattered Lens 