To be honest, I’m neither a huge fan of Bon Jovi or Young Guns II but Blaze of Glory is still a rocker of a song, one that both makes the film it appears in better and which can also stand on its own. Jon Bon Jovi captured the feel of a great western with this song, in a way that he tried too hard and failed to do with Dead or Alive.
Of course, the video is full of footage from Young Guns II. It’s not only a good music video but it’s a good trailer as well. The only problem is that it almost reveals the plot of the entire movie.
Today’s music video of the day comes from 1985, the year when anyone with big hair could be a rock star.
It starts with two women running down a hallway in Philadelphia. Are they excited to see Cinderella, the generic glam rock band that had a few hits in the 80s just to be washed away, as so many similar bands were, by the arrival of grunge?
No, of course not!
The girls are excited because they’ve heard that Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora are in the building! Bon Jovi and Sambora’s cameos are significant because Jon Bon Jovi was the person who initially discovered Cinderella and convinced PolyGram Records to sign them. So, basically, this is all Bon Jovi’s fault.
To be honest, this video would probably be totally forgotten if not for it’s appearance on an episode of Beavis and Butthead:
“New Year’s Eve is the worst, people who don’t drink or party all year suddenly going all Kanye on you.”
That line was delivered by Ashton Kutcher in the 2011 film, New Year’s Eve. Seven years ago, when the film was first released, I thought it was an awkward line, partially because Ashton Kutcher sounded like he was drowning in self-loathing when he said it and partially because the sudden reference to Kanye West felt like something that would be considered clever by 60-something screenwriter who had just spent a few hours scanning twitter to see “what the kids are into nowadays.”
(Of course, hearing the line in 2018 was an even stranger experience. People who don’t drink or party all year suddenly going all Kanye on you? So, they’re putting on red MAGA caps and spending New Year’s Eve tweeting about prison reform? True, that’s the way a lot of people celebrated in my part of the world but I’m not sure how exactly that would play out in Times Square.)
In New Year’s Eve, Kutcher plays a character named Randy. Randy is a comic book artist, which means that he’s snarky and cynical and doesn’t really see the point of celebrating anything. Fortunately, he gets trapped in an elevator with Elise (Lea Michele) and, with her help, he comes to learn that New Year’s Eve is not the worst. Instead, it’s the most important holiday ever created and, if you don’t think so, you’re worse than the devil.
Fortunately, Hillary Swank is present to make sure that we all get the point. Swank plays Claire Morgan, who is in charge of making sure that the ball drops at exactly the right moment at Times Square and who gets a monologue where she explains that the purpose of the ball is to make you think about both the past and the future. As she explains it, the world comes together one night a year, all so everyone can watch that ball drop. Apparently, if the ball doesn’t drop, the new year doesn’t actually start and everyone is trapped in a timeless limbo, kind of like Iron Man at the end of Avengers: Infinity War.
Of course, there’s more going on in New Year’s Eve than just Randy taking Kanye’s name in vain and Claire refusing the accept that Times Square is not the center of the universe. There’s also an old man (Robert De Niro) who wants to time his death so he passes right at the start of the new year. Sarah Jessica Parker plays the mother of frustrated teenager Abigail Breslin and gets to make a “girls gone wild” joke. (A Kanye reference and a girls gone wild joke in the same film? It’s like a pop culture tsunami!) Michelle Pfeiffer tries to accomplish all of her new year’s resolutions with the help of Zac Efron. Halle Berry worries about her husband (Common) , who is serving overseas. Josh Duhamel searches for a woman who once told him that his heart was more important than his business. Seth Meyers and Jessica Biel compete with Til Schweiger and Sarah Paulson to see who can be the family of the first child born in the new year. Jon Bon Jovi thinks about the woman that he nearly married and Katherine Heigl wonders if she’s ever going to have a career again. In other words, New Year’s Eve is an ensemble piece, one in which a bunch of slumming Oscar winners and overachieving TV actors step into small roles. It leads to some odd pairings. De Niro, for instance, shares scenes with Alyssa Milano while Sofia Vergara and Ludacris are both relegated to playing sidekicks. Michael Bloomberg, New York’s then-mayor and general threat to civil liberties everywhere, also shows up, playing himself with the type of smarminess that already has many people dreading the prospect of his 2020 presidential campaign. This is one of those films where everyone has a familiar face but no one makes much of an impression.
New Year’s Eve was directed by the late Garry Marshall and it’s the second film in his so-called holiday trilogy, sitting right between Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day. By most accounts, Garry Marshall was a nice guy and popular in the industry, which perhaps explains why so many familiar faces were willing to sign up to appear in New Year’s Eve. Though the film is ruthlessly mediocre, it’s actually the best of the holiday trilogy. For all the schmaltz and forced sentiment, one gets the feeling that the film actually is sincere in its belief in the importance of that ball dropping in Times Square.
I remember that, when New Year’s Eve was first released, a lot of people joked that Marshall was going to make an ensemble romantic comedy about every single holiday, all with the hope that at least one of them would eventually become a television perennial in the style of It’s A Wonderful Life or The Ten Commandments. Interestingly, that’s exactly what happened with New Year’s Eve. Yesterday, E! aired New Year’s Eve three times, back-to-back! For better or worse, this film is probably going to outlive us all, ensuring that, in the far future, viewers will spend New Year’s Eve asking themselves, “What’s a kanye?”
Listen, I’m not going to say too much about the 2000 film Pay It Forward because it’s such a terrible movie that I feel like writing too much about it would be like the equivalent of having sex in It Follows. Seriously, you talk too much about Pay It Forward and you’ll end up with some sort of shape-shifting demon following you around, doing you favors and demanding that you do three more favors for three other people and then those people have to do three more favors and pretty soon, everyone in the world is doing favors for everyone and…
AGCK!
Okay, okay — I know that probably doesn’t sound too bad to some people. “People being nice to each other!? What could be wrong about that?” Well, watch the damn film and find out.
In Pay it Forward, Haley Joel Osment plays a creepy little kid who basically “saves” the world. At the end of the film, he’s violently murdered and the entire population of Las Vegas gathers outside of his house with candles. His mother Helen Hunt is truly touched that everyone was so moved by Haley’s mission. That said, if Haley had never decided that everyone should pay it forward, he probably wouldn’t be dead. I mean, let’s just be honest here.
Before he died, Haley was challenged by his social studies teacher, Kevin Spacey. Mr. Spacey challenged an entire class of 7th graders to come up with an idea that will change the world. (Honestly, don’t 7th graders already have enough to deal with?) Haley’s idea is that he’ll do a favor for three random people and then those three people will do three nice things for three people and then…
BLEH! God, I hate this movie!
Anyway, Haley gives money to a homeless man and then that homeless man keeps a woman from committing suicide and then that woman does something nice for Angie Dickinson and then somehow, this all eventually leads to some rich guy giving Jay Mohr a car and telling him to “pay it foward.”
And Jay’s a reporter!
So, naturally, he starts to work his way backwards on the chain of good deeds. Along the way, he meets a prison inmate who has been converted to Pay It Forwardism. “This is going to change the world!” he tells Jay. “I’m even getting the brothers in here in on it!”
By the way, there’s exactly one person of color in Pay It Forward and he’s a prison inmate who thinks that other inmates will want to do random favors for each other.
Oh, but Haley has to do two other favors! So, he sets Helen Hunt up with Kevin Spacey and when he catches his teacher coming out his mom’s bedroom, Haley gets really, really excited and … well, it’s pretty creepy.
At first, Helen thinks that Kevin thinks that she’s not smart enough to date him. When Helen asks him point blank if he thinks that she’s dumb, he responds by giving a really long monologue about the time that his father set him on fire. Kevin does not mention what his father was attempting to pay forward…
And then Jay shows up in town and interviews Haley and oh my God, Haley’s going to change the world! Yay! But then Haley spends his third favor trying to protect a kid (played by Degrassi‘s Marc Donato) from some bullies and ends up getting stabbed to death.
But fear not! Along with that candlelight vigil, we also hear an anchorwoman breathlessly reporting that there have been reports of “Pay it Forwardism” across the country.
Now, there’s a lot of negative things that I could say about Pay It Forward but … well, I kinda already did. Pay It Forward pops up on TV a lot and there’s a lot of idiots who always get excited about it.
OMG, can't believe there are people on twitter talking about how much they love Pay It Forward. It actually makes me angry.
— Lisa Marie Bowman (@LisaMarieBowman) May 30, 2015
Here’s my fear concerning the whole Pay It Forward idea. It seems like anybody can just do anything and then go, “Pay it forward,” and suddenly, you are obligated to go do three favors. You may be running late. You may have other things you need to do. But no, you’ve been told to pay it forward and now, you have to! Because of one creepy little kid who wanted his social studies teacher to have sex with his mom, you have now been inconvenienced.
There doesn’t seem to be any rule about how big of a favor anyone actually has to do before they can smugly order you to “Pay it forward.” Think about this. You’re trying to get a Coke from a vending machine but all of your dollars are all crumbled up and the machine won’t accept them. You’re about to give up and go home when suddenly, a stranger walks up and deposits three quarters in the machine and punches a button.
He tosses you a grape drink. You wanted a Coke but, because you’re nice and you think he was selflessly trying to help you out, you smile and say, “Thank you.”
“Pay it forward,” he replies before walking away.
Well, now, you’re screwed, aren’t you?
Now, suddenly, you have to go find three people who need a favor. You didn’t want grape. You wanted a Coke and, even if you had never gotten that Coke, it would not have been the end of the world. But, because you were polite and said thank you, you are now obligated.
As you look for people to help, it occurs to you that stranger really didn’t care about whether you wanted a Coke. What he cared about was completing his third favor so he could actually get on with his life. So, no, he wasn’t trying to help you or trying to make the world a better place. Instead, he was just trying to free himself of a nagging obligation.
So, after a long search, you’ve finally found your three strangers and you’ve done your three favors and you’re finally free of your obligation. And then suddenly, another stranger runs up and tosses you the keys to one of those stupid looking Smart cars and yells, “Pay it forward!”
SERIOUSLY, IT NEVER ENDS!
Don’t tell me about paying it forward.
Just leave me alone and let me drink my damn Coke.
We’re halfway through Oscar season and that means that it’s time for the Golden Globes to weigh in. To be honest, I think the Golden Globes are somewhat overrated as an Oscar precursor. For the most part, the Golden Globes usually honors the films that are on everyone’s radar and then they come up with one or two nominations that nobody was expecting. However, those surprise nominations rarely seem to translate into anything once it comes to time to announce the Oscar nominations.
So, while Salmon Fishing In The Yemen did receive a few surprise nominations (and those nominations were deserved, by the way), I doubt that we’ll see the movie mentioned on January 10th when the Oscar nominations are announced.
From the reaction that I’ve seen on the usual awards sites, a lot of the usual suspects are upset that Beasts of the Southern Wild was completely snubbed. Actually, they’re not just upset. They’re about as outraged about this as they were when The Social Network lost best picture to King’s Speech. The way they’re carrying on, you would think that someone had just informed them that David Fincher’s version of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo was a thoroughly unneccessary rehash of an already brilliant film. Seriously, the facade of Stone has fallen and tears are being shed.
Myself, I’m more annoyed that neither The Cabin In The Woods nor Anna Karenina are getting the love that they deserve.
Anyway, with all that in mind, here are the Golden Globe nominations!
BEST DRAMA
“Argo”
“Django Unchained”
“Life of Pi”
“Lincoln”
“Zero Dark Thirty”
BEST DRAMA ACTOR
Daniel Day-Lewis, “Lincoln”
Richard Gere, “Arbitrage”
John Hawkes, “The Sessions”
Joaquin Phoenix, “The Master”
Denzel Washington, “Flight”
BEST DRAMA ACTRESS
Marion Cotillard, “Rust and Bone”
Jessica Chastain, “Zero Dark Thirty”
Helen Mirren, “Hitchcock”
Naomi Watts, “The Impossible”
Rachel Weisz, “The Deep Blue Sea”
BEST COMEDY/MUSICAL PICTURE
“The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel”
“Les Miserables”
“Moonrise Kingdom”
“Silver Linings Playbook”
“Salmon Fishing in the Yemen”
BEST COMEDY/MUSICAL ACTOR
Jack Black, “Bernie”
Bradley Cooper, “Silver Linings Playbook,”
Hugh Jackman, “Les Miserables”
Ewan McGregor, “Salmon Fishing in the Yemen”
Bill Murray, “Hyde Park on Hudson”
BEST COMEDY/MUSICAL ACTRESS
Emily Blunt, “Salmon Fishing in the Yemen”
Jennifer Lawrence, “Silver Linings Playbook”
Judi Dench, “Best Exotic Marigold Hotel”
Maggie Smith, “Quartet”
Meryl Streep, “Hope Springs”
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Alan Arkin, “Argo”
Philip Seymour Hoffman, “The Master”
Christoph Waltz, “Django Unchained”
Leonardo DiCaprio, “Django Unchained”
Tommy Lee Jones, “Lincoln”
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Anne Hathaway, “Les Miserables”
Helen Hunt, “The Sessions”
Amy Adams, “The Master”
Sally Field, “Lincoln”
Nicole Kidman, “The Paperboy”
BEST DIRECTOR
Ben Affleck, “Argo”
Ang Lee, “Life of Pi”
Steven Spielberg, “Lincoln”
Quentin Tarantino, “Django Unchained”
Kathryn Bigelow, “Zero Dark Thirty”
BEST SCREENPLAY
“Silver Linings Playbook”
“Argo”
“Django Unchained”
“Zero Dark Thirty”
“Lincoln”
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
“Anna Karenina”
“Life of Pi”
“Argo”
“Lincoln”
“Cloud Atlas”
BEST ORIGINAL SONG
“For You” from “Act of Valor”
Music by: Monty Powell, Keith Urban Lyrics by: Monty Powell, Keith Urban
“Not Running Anymore” from “Stand Up Guys”
Music by: Jon Bon Jovi Lyrics by: Jon Bon Jovi
“Safe and Sound” from “The Hunger Games”
Music by: Taylor Swift, John Paul White, Joy Williams, T Bone Burnett Lyrics by: Taylor Swift, John Paul White, Joy Williams, T Bone Burnett
“Skyfall” form “Skyfall”
Music by: Adele, Paul Epworth Lyrics by: Adele, Paul Epworth
“Suddenly” from “Les Miserables”
Music by: Claude-Michel Schonberg Lyrics by: Alain Boublil, Claude-Michel Schonberg
BEST ANIMATED FILM
“Brave”
“Frankenweenie”
“Wreck-it Ralph”
“Rise of the Guardians”
“Hotel Transylvania”
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
“The Intouchables”
“Amour”
“A Royal Affair”
“Rust and Bone”
“Kon-Tiki”
The newest entry in the “Song of the Day” feature takes us back in the glory days of the late 80’s when hard rock made a major come back. It’s only appropriate that I pick one of my favorite hard rock songs of the era: Bon Jovi’s “Wanted Dead or Alive”.
It was to be the third single released off of their monster third full-length album, Slippery When Wet. It would turn out to become their official anthem as millions of fans from several generations since it’s initial release. The Old West-themed song was a collaboration between frontman Jon Bon Jovi and band lead guitarist Richie Sambora. It took the two listening to Bob Seger’s own “on the road” song “Turn the Page” to bring inspiration to the two musicians. What they came up with was their own version of “Turn the Page” and it would become an instant hit and classic.
“Wanted Dead or Alive” would have one of the more recognizable openings with Sambora playing the initials chords on a Spanish guitar before the rest of the band comes in and Jon Bon Jovi starts singing about the hard life of a rock band as it travels from gig to gig. The lyrics to this song shows the less-than-glamorous side of a band no matter how successful they may be. The two musicians liken themselves to the Old West cowboys and gunslingers who, just like a rock band, lived like outlaws and on the edge of what’s morally decent as they passed from dusty towns to dusty towns plying their skills.
Even after 23 years since this song came out I’m still not tired of it and could always get me to sing along to it to the top of my lungs.
Wanted Dead or Alive
It’s all the same Only the names will change Everyday It seems we’re wastin’ away
Another place Where the faces are so cold I drive all night Just to get back home
I’m a cowboy On a steel horse I ride I’m wanted Dead or alive Wanted Dead or alive
Sometimes I sleep Sometimes it’s not for days The people I meet Always go their separate ways
Sometimes you tell the day By the bottle that you drink And times when you’re alone All you do is think
I’m a cowboy On a steel horse I ride I’m wanted (Wanted) Dead or alive Wanted (Wanted) Dead or alive
Ohh alright Ohh
Oh I’m a cowboy On a steel horse I ride I’m wanted (Wanted) Dead or alive
When I walk these streets A loaded six string on my back I play for keeps ‘Cause I might not make it back
I’ve been everywhere (Ohh, yea) Still I’m standin’ tall I’ve seen a million faces And I’ve rocked them all
‘Cause I’m a cowboy On a steel horse I ride I’m wanted (Wanted) Dead or alive
I’m a cowboy I got the night on my side And I’m wanted (Wanted) Dead or alive And I’m right (And I’m right) Dead or alive I still drive (I still drive) Dead or alive
Dead or alive Dead or alive Mm dead or alive Dead or alive
Through the Shattered Lens 