Finally, a music video to which I can relate!
Or, at least, I think I can relate. I’m not really sure what the song is about. I’m just reacting to the drowning imagery. It’s easy to feel like you’re drowning under the weight of everything that you need to get done. Being basically out of commission all last week left me running so far behind that I don’t feel like I’m ever going to caught up.
*sigh*
But I’ll make it! I always do.
So, enjoy!
A thoroughly misguided film, 2010’s Loving the Bad Man tells the story of Julie Thompson (Cree Kelly) and Mike Connor (Arturo Rossi).
Julie is a young woman who is so religious that she wears a Jesus Saves button to work and she agrees to let a young shoplifter off the hook on the condition that he go to church with her. One night, Julie gets a flat tire while driving home. Looking for help, she stumbles into a sleazy bar. Mike Connor is a young mechanic from a broken home who just happens to be having a beer that night. He offers to help Julie out.
Mike fixes Julie’s car but, the entire time that he’s working on it, he’s having flashbacks to an earlier physical confrontation that he had with his boss at the local garage. Mike has issues with people looking down on him and when Julie attempts to thank Mike for his work by giving him a tip, Mike snaps. Screaming that he’s not poor, he grabs Julie and, off-screen, he rapes her.
Mike goes to prison. Julie gets pregnant but, despite the efforts of her family to convince her otherwise, Julie refuses to have an abortion. While Mike is being targeted by the head of the Aryan brotherhood, Julie is giving birth. While Mike is being tutored by the wise elder prisoner, Julie is raising her son. After reading in the Bible that one must be willing to forgive all who have sinned against them, Julie decides that she has to forgive the bad man.
Now, there’s a lot about the first part of the film that doesn’t work. Playing an upbeat Christian pop song over a rape kit montage is not a decision I would have made. The fact that Julie never appears to actually be traumatized by her rape is another big problem. The only time Julie gets angry is when her parents suggest that she not keep a child fathered by the man who raped her. (At this point, I should perhaps note that, when it comes to abortion, I’ve never felt comfortable with the extremes of either side of the issue. As far as this film goes, I could respect Julie’s parents’ point while also respecting Julie’s decision to keep the baby. That was entirely due to my own personal feelings as opposed to any type of nuance on the part of the film.) Finally, the authenticity of the film’s prison scenes are not helped by the decision to cast Stephen Baldwin (complete with obviously fake tattoos) as the head of the Aryan Brotherhood.
That said, I am a believer in forgiveness. Many crime victims have spoken and written about the importance of being able to forgive the people who victimized them, often describing it as the first step in moving on with their lives. However, forgiveness does not mean forgetting about what someone did or becoming that person’s best friend. Ideally, it means letting go of the hate that was holding you back. By forgiving those who have hurt you, you’re basically refusing to allow them to control your lives.
So, I don’t have a problem with Julie forgiving Mike. I do have a problem with Julie continually showing up at the prison with a big smile on her face and introducing Mike to his son. I have a problem with her baking cookies for him. I especially have a problem with Julie eventually declaring that she’s fallen in love with Mike and telling him that meeting him was the best thing that ever happened to her because it led to the birth of her son. I don’t care how much of a Christian she is or how into forgiveness she is, no woman is going to react like that when seeing the man who raped her. Nor should any woman be expected to react like that, regardless of how guilty Mike feels or how many times Mike declares that he loves Julie as well. That doesn’t mean that Julie can’t forgive the bad man. Nor does it mean that Mike can’t try to change his life while he’s in prison. But the actions of the characters in this film make no sense.
Worst of all, the film builds up to a climax in which it appears Mike might have to sacrifice himself to protect Julie. It is true that Jesus forgave the incarcerated. But it’s also true that Absalom threw a feast specifically so he could have his half-brother killed after the latter raped their sister.
Forgiveness is a good message but this film’s execution is offensive. Perhaps the only highlight is Stephen Baldwin acting like a tough guy and looking like he’s fighting the urge to laugh every time he opens his mouth.
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, the Kotters find a new apartment! Say goodbye to that iconic closet.
Episode 3.8 “What a Move”
(Dir by Nick Havinga, originally aired on October 20th, 1977)
At school, Gabe asks Mr. Woodman if he ever told him about his uncle who went to a psychiatrist because he thought he was a radiator and he needed help to stop hissing.
“I can hiss too, Kotter!” Woodman snaps.
Why is Gabe telling his joke to Mr. Woodman? Well, Julie hates his jokes and she’s also busy trying to find a new apartment. The babies cannot grow up in a one-room apartment, especially one that is continually being broken into by the Sweathogs. But this is New York in the 70s and a rent-controlled place is not easy to find. Thanks a lot, Mayor Beame!
Fortunately, Epstein has a solution. His uncle Mo owns a building and has a place to rent.
“You don’t want to move to Puerto Rico!” Woodman exclaims but Epstein explains that Mo is from “the other side” of the family.
It’s a nice apartment and with the help of the Sweathogs (because apparently, neither Julie nor Gabe know anyone outside of those four students), Julie and Gabe pack up and leave their old place. They nearly leave the babies behind but, after Julie yells at Gabe, they go back and get them.
The new apartment seems like a great place except Uncle Mo (Herb Edelman) has a strict no baby policy and no sooner have the Kotters moved in than Mo is telling them to get out. Epstein is so upset about his uncle’s behavior that he uses it as an excuse to start skipping school. This is a crisis! However, when an offended Julie and Gabe inform Mo that they will be leaving immediately, Mo asks if they wouldn’t rather threaten to sue him. It turns out that Mo fights with his tenants for fun and he doesn’t mean half the stuff he says. Gabe obliges by pretending to yell at him and Mo allows Julie, Gabe, and the babies to all stay. Personally, I’m not sure I would want to live with a landlord who threatens to illegally evict me for snots and giggles but whatever. I guess in Mayor Beame’s New York, you took what you could find. Damn you, Mayor Beame!
Having taken care of all that, Gabe tells Julie about his Uncle Ellwood. Julie dramatically rolls her eyes as the new apartment is christened with Gabe’s sense of humor.
Weird episode. Watching it, one gets the feeling that the producers were trying desperately to find a way to renew the spark of Julie and Gabe’s marriage. Marcia Strassman was notoriously unhappy with the the first two seasons of the show, going so far as to speak publicly about her dissatisfaction. Season 3 seems to feature a lot more of Julie and Gabe’s marriage and Julie is getting to do a lot more than she did in the previous seasons but there’s such a visible hostility between Gabe Kaplan and Strassman that it’s a bit awkward to watch. It makes one wish that the show could just return to Gabe telling the Sweathogs not to steal or fight other gangs. The new apartment is nice but it takes more than moving to save a marriage!
As some of our regular readers undoubtedly know, I am involved in a few weekly live tweets on twitter. I host #FridayNightFlix every Friday, I co-host #ScarySocial on Saturday, and I am one of the five hosts of #MondayActionMovie! Every week, we get together. We watch a movie. We tweet our way through it.
Tonight, at 9 pm et, Tim Buntley will be hosting #ScarySocial! The movie? 2022’s X!
If you want to join us this Friday, just hop onto twitter, start the movie at 9 pm et, and use the #ScarySocial hashtag! I’ll be there tweeting and I imagine some other members of the TSL Crew will be there as well. It’s a friendly group and welcoming of newcomers so don’t be shy.
X is available on Prime!
See you there!
Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a new feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Fridays, I will be reviewing T. and T., a Canadian show which ran in syndication from 1987 to 1990. The show can be found on Tubi!
Wait a minute! This isn’t Friday afternoon! This is Saturday morning! Why am I posting my review of this show now?
I’m only human. After a long week, I was so exhausted on Friday that I couldn’t even find the strength to former coherent thoughts about a show as simple as T and T. So, I put off the review until this morning. Of course, I’m still tired. All of this thinking is exhausting. Roll the opening credits so I can take a 90 second nap.
Episode 2.15 “Jump Start”
(Dir by Don McCutcheon, originally aired on February 20th, 1989)
In a rare nod to maintaining some sort of continuity from episode to episode, this week’s episode of T and T opens with a flashback to a previous story. We once again witness how two hapless crooks — Fritz (Dominic Cuzzocrea) and Finn (Ron Gabriel) — tried to pull a gun on T.S. and Decker, just for the clip to fall out of the weapon. At the time, my feeling was that the two crooks were both too incompetent to be viewed as a legitimate threat and this follow-up episode proved me right.
Fritz and Finn are back on the streets, having had their criminal charges dismissed on a technicality. They want revenge on Turner for sending them to jail so they decide to steal his car. However, because they’re both incredibly incompetent, they have to ask Max (Kathleen Laskey, who also played Marlene on Check It Out!) to steal it for them. Just as with so many episodes of Check It Out!, Laskey was this episode’s saving grace. She brought so much badass attitude to the character that you couldn’t help but cheer Max on as she stole Turner’s car.
Unfortunately, Laskey really isn’t in much of this episode. For that matter, Alex, Decker, and even Turner have reduced roles. The majority of the episode is devoted to Fritz and Finn and their total and complete incompetence. I get that it was meant to be comedic but these two characters were so stupid and so foolish and so obviously doomed to failure that there was absolutely no tension as to whether or not Turner would be able to get his car back. As far as I could tell, Turner didn’t even bother to report that his car had been stolen. He just tracked the two guys down and took it back. That’s the power of T and T!
Anyway, this was a throw away episode. I’m not sure why, out of all the villains that have been on this show, T and T decided to bring back the least impressive of them. Episodes like this leave little doubt that all of the serious criminals left Toronto as soon as Mr. T showed up.
Jeff and I saw this video at tonight’s Night Flight Friday watch party, along with our friends Brad and Patrick. As soon as the video started, I knew that I had found our next music video of the day. And not a minute too soon because I’m typing this up like 15 minutes before the time hits midnight on the West Coast!
What do I like about this video? The beach! The fun! The party! The dancing! Plus, the song’s tune really get stuck in your head. (To be honest, I’m the worst when it comes to actually hearing lyrics. I just hear the music and I’m often shocked by how poorly I do whenever I try to recite the lyrics later. I assume that “Half a boy and half a man” was a lyric in this song but he could have been singing one of the Bond theme songs for all I know.) This past week was also that week so getting to see a fun video and hear a catchy song was a nice way to celebrate making it to the end.
Anyway, I’m totally off my previously perfect schedule now but I’ll get caught up with everything (including my retro television reviews) over the weekend. For now …. ENJOY!
As some of our regular readers undoubtedly know, I am involved in a few weekly live tweets on Twitter and Mastodon. I host #FridayNightFlix every Friday, I co-host #ScarySocial on Saturday, and I am one of the five hosts of #MondayActionMovie! Every week, we get together. We watch a movie. We tweet our way through it.
Tonight, at 10 pm et, we’ve got a classic, 1999’s Cruel Intentions!
If you want to join us this Friday, just hop onto twitter, start the movie at 10 pm et, and use the #FridayNightFlix hashtag! It’s a friendly group and welcoming of newcomers so don’t be shy.
Cruel Intentions is available on Prime! See you there!
The second day of February. It’s Groundhog Day. I am finally feeling a bit more awake and ready to get back with everything. It’s time for a new kind of kick and here to give it to us is Muse.
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 Thursdays, I will be reviewing Highway to Heaven, which aired on NBC from 1984 to 1989. The entire show is currently streaming on Tubi and several other services!
This week, Jonathan and Mark visit their friend, Scotty.
Episode 1.19 “A Match Made In Heaven”
(Dir by Michael Landon, originally aired on February 20th, 1985)
Jonathan and Mark pay a visit to both Mark’s cousin, Diane (Margie Impert), and their friend, Scotty (James Troesch), a quadriplegic attorney. (Scotty previously appeared in the One Fresh Batch of Lemonade double-parter.) Mark is shocked and a little concerned when he discovers that Scotty is also their latest assignment.
However, it turns out that the assignment also involves Diane. Diane, an outspoken architect who quits her job when her chauvinist boss refuses to give her credit for her work, meets and falls in love with Scotty. When Scotty asks her to marry him, she says yes. Mark is concerned that Scotty, as a quadriplegic, won’t be able to take care of his cousin. It’s a concern that Scotty comes to share after they have a car accident and Scotty can only wait helplessly for someone to discover him and Diane.
Fortunately, Jonathan is a bit more open-minded than Mark and he has more confidence in Scotty than Scotty has in himself. Jonathan introduces Scotty to another quadriplegic, one who is married and has a wonderful family as a result. Scotty realizes that it would be foolish for him to give up on his dreams and Mark realizes that Scotty is stronger than he realized.
This was an extremely earnest and well-intentioned episode of Highway to Heaven. You can’t doubt the sincerity of the message, even if the message is often delivered in the most heavy-handed fashion possible. James Troesch was a writer on the show and he and his wife co-wrote this episode’s script with Michael Landon. Troesch was a bit of a stiff actor but you still can’t help but be happy for Scotty at the end of the episode.
Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Thursdays, I will be reviewing So Here’s What Happened, which aired on CBS in 2006. The entire show is currently streaming on YouTube!
The first and only episode of this show has one message for all the mooks out there. And that message is …. NEW YORK, BABY!
Episode 1.1 “Pilot”
(Dir by Michael Lembeck, aired on May 1st, 2006)
What to say about Vince Brophy (Bobby Cannavale)? Hey, he’s a New Yorker, you know what I mean? Hey, he starts every sentence by saying, “Hey,” y’know? He knows the name of every single athlete who ever played for a New York sports team, y’know? He meets a woman named Rochelle Jeter (Rashida Jones) and immediately asks her if she’s related to Derek Jeter, you know what I’m saying? She says, “Yeah,” and she’s being sarcastic but Vince thinks that she’s being serious because who in their right mind would come into the old neighborhood and make a sarcastic joke, y’know?
Vince is such a New Yorker that he narrates the entire episode while sitting in his favorite barber chair. His barber (Hector Elizondo) hangs on his every word, which is good since he presumably can’t see the flashbacks that the audience is forced to sit through. Vince works at his family’s car lot and he wears solid suits and pinky rings and the pilot finds several excuses for him to say the word “Escalade.” He’s not smart but he’s a stand-up guy, that Vince. His co-worker asks him to be the godfather to his newborn and Vince agrees but then he nearly drowns the kid at the christening because he gets distracted when someone tells him that Derek Jeter don’t have no sister named Rochelle. What a New Yorker!, y’know what I’m saying?
There’s a lot of talented people in this show. Rashida Jones was months away from appearing on The Office. Hector Elizondo is a comedy veteran. Steve Park, a favorite of the Coen Brothers, appeared as Vince’s boss. Mercedes Ruehl plays Vince’s mother. And then you’ve got Bobby Cannavale in the lead role. Cannavale is one of my favorite actors, a guy who is as good at playing sensitive as he is at playing tough. Cannavale can play drama and he can play comedy and he’s easy on the eyes. Unfortunately, all of these talented people were let down by a script that was written by none other than Paul Reiser.
The main problem with the show is that none of the characters have much of a personality beyond being from New York. Obviously, New Yorkers are a unique group of people but every New Yorker I’ve met has also had their own individual personality to go along with their identity of being a citizen of America’s largest city. The characters in this episode, on the other hand, have no identity beyond being a New Yorker in the most cliched ways possible. Even worse, none of the jokes are particularly funny. Vince crosses the line from being amiably dumb to being a buffoon far too quickly.
Perhaps not surprisingly, this was the only episode of this show. The pilot did not lead to a series. Fortunately, everyone involved went on to better things, y’know?
Through the Shattered Lens 