In 2022, sheriff’s deputies in Adams County, Ohio raided the home of rapper Afroman. According to the warrant, they were doing so on suspicion of drug trafficking and kidnapping. They found neither drugs nor kidnapping victims but they did find and seize over $5,000 worth of Afroman’s money. The money was later returned, with $400 of it missing. During the raid, they also damaged the front gate, blew up a door, and illegally turned off the house’s security cameras.
Afroman responded with several songs and videos about the raid, all utilizing the footage that security cameras recorded before being shut down. The deputies attempted to sue, claiming that the videos were an invasion of their privacy. The judge eventually threw out their lawsuit though another lawsuit, claiming that the video and the songs “defamed” the deputies was allowed to proceed. Yesterday, Afroman also won that court case.
So, I guess that means that we can now safely share Lemon Pound Cake.
Today is the birthday of the legendary Bruce Willis. Here he has in the 80s, performing Under The Boardwalk with The Drifters. It’s also our song of the day.
Oh, when the sun beats down and burns the tar up on the roof And your shoes get so hot you wish your tired feet were fire proof Under the boardwalk, down by the sea, yeah On a blanket with my baby is where I’ll be
Out of the sun (Under the boardwalk) We’ll be havin’ some fun (Under the boardwalk) People walking above (Under the boardwalk) We’ll be fallin’ in love (Under the boardwalk) Yeah (boardwalk)
From the park you hear the happy sound of the carousel You can almost taste the hot dogs and french fries they sell, yes you can Under the boardwalk, down by the sea, yeah On a blanket with my baby is where I’ll be
Out of the sun (Under the boardwalk) We’ll be havin’ some fun (Under the boardwalk) People walking above (Under the boardwalk) We’ll be fallin’ in love (Under the boardwalk) Yeah (boardwalk)
Yeah, under the boardwalk, down by the sea, yeah On a blanket with my baby is where I’ll be
Out of the sun (Under the boardwalk) We’ll be havin’ some fun (Under the boardwalk) People walking above (Under the boardwalk) We’ll be fallin’ in love (Under the boardwalk) Yeah (boardwalk)
Okay, just kidding. I know the name of the song is Baba O’Riley. But seriously, there are thousands of people out there who think that this song is called Teenage Wasteland and, way back when I first wrote the first draft of my review of Summer of Sam, I was so exhausted that I actually referred to it as being Teenage Wasteland but, fortunately, Jeff pointed out my mistake before I hit publish. Pete Townshend, who wrote the song, later said that the reference to a “teenage wasteland” was inspired by the audience Woodstock and it was not meant to be complimentary.
It wasn’t quite as dull as the COVID Oscars. The 2021 ceremony set a standard for dullness that will probably never be matched. This year, the ceremony actually took place in a theater and it actually had a host who, for the most part, knew what he was doing. That’s not to say that Conan O’Brien was a particularly exciting host but at least the opening monologue went by quickly. When Jimmy Kimmel came out to present the Best Documentary Oscar, we were reminded of just what an improvement O’Brien was on previous hosts.
It’s funny when you think about it. We always bemoan stuff like Will Smith slapping Chris Rock or Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway announcing that the wrong film had won Best Picture but the Oscar ceremony is pretty dull without any of that. Last night’s show ran relatively smoothly and only went over by a few minutes. It probably would have been livened up by a slap or two.
The acceptance speeches were okay. I prefer arrogant Paul Thomas Anderson to sincere Paul Thomas Anderson but at least he finally won the Oscars that he probably should have first won many years ago. Anderson is one of our best filmmakers so it’s unfortunate that he won for one of his least interesting films. But that’s the way it often goes with the Academy. Martin Scorsese didn’t win for Goodfellas or Raging Bull or even The Aviator. He won for The Departed.
What happened to all that Sinners momentum? Looking back, the majority of that momentum was a mirage of wishful thinking. A lot of people — myself included — wanted something unexpected to happen to liven up what had been a pretty boring Oscar season. In the end, Michael B. Jordan emerged as Best Actor, over the early favorites. The momentum was less for the film and more for the actor.
The In Memoriam segment was well-handled, though I would have liked to have seen Robert Duvall also get an individual segment. That said, I imagine that Duvall died after the segment had already been planned out. In the end, we all know what a great actor Robert Duvall was and that’s the important thing. Bud Cort, Joe Don Baker and Brigitte Bardot were left out of the In Memoriam montage. I can’t say why Cort and Baker were left out. Brigitte Bardot was undoubtedly left out because of her politics and shame on the Academy for that.
Sean Penn was not at the ceremony, so we were spared a Penn speech. Fortunately, for fans of wealthy celebrities bloviating about politics, Javier Bardem showed up wearing a big ugly button that looked like it was made by an 8 year-old.
There was a lot of talk about how AI will never replace real movies and it felt a bit desperate. I don’t want AI to replace real movies but, sad to say, I think we can all see where things are heading. Perhaps if the real movies were a little bit better, AI wouldn’t be such a threat.
I haven’t seen the ratings yet. Ten years ago, the Oscars dominated social media. This year, things felt much different.
Finally, my Oscar tweet received a review of their own last night.
In an effort to save their marriage, Tom (John Ritter) and Gina (Rachel Hunter) take a vacation in California. However, when they arrive at the home that they’re going to be renting, they are taken hostage by a group of redneck criminals led by Mr. Eddie (Eric Roberts). Mr. Eddie wants all of Tom’s money and this leads to a rather drawn-out hostage situation as Tom tries to get the better of Mr. Eddie and Mr. Eddie spends a lot of time purring threats in a thick Southern accent.
That’s plot of 2000’s TripFall. Don’t ask my why it’s called TripFall. It seems like a bit of a redundant title because a trip and a fall are pretty much the same thing. In fact, don’t even ask me what the point of the film is because there’s really not that much action or suspense. It’s mostly just Eric Roberts and the gang driving John Ritter from one location to another. I’m not a big fan of films about people being held hostage because they always seem to feature the same scene played over and over again. The hostage refuses to do something. The person holding him hostage gives a long monologue. It gets boring after a while.
TripFall is not a career highpoint for either Roberts or Ritter. It’s an action film in which there is very little action. Watching the film, I found myself thinking that it would have been more interesting if Ritter and Roberts had switched roles. Roberts could have played the likable family man for once and maybe the film could have explored the darkness behind Ritter’s goofy persona. (Comedic actors sometimes make the best villains.)
That said, it’s difficult to resist the oddness of John Ritter and Eric Roberts starring in the same movie. If there are two actors who feel as if they literally come from different planets, it’s Ritter and Roberts. Ritter is his typical goofy self, even when he’s trying to play up the drama of the situation. Roberts hisses his lines as Mr. Eddie and appears to be acting in a totally different movie from Ritter. They’re so mismatched that they become rather fascinating (if not exactly memorable) to watch.
Previous Eric Roberts Films That We Have Reviewed:
In 1976’s Grizzly, something is making a national park a lot less inviting.
Campers are turning up dead. Bloody body parts are being found buried underneath leaves. It’s obvious that a bear is to blame but reports seem to indicate that this isn’t just any bear. This is a super bear, standing 8 feet tall and capable of knocking down an observation tower and picking up a helicopter. This is the most dangerous bear known to man and the park has to be closed.
Closing the park during tourist season!? Surely not!
Does this all sound familiar? Grizzly came out a year after Jaws. In all fairness to Grizzly, there were a lot of movies that ripped-off Jaws. As a matter of fact, there are still movies ripping off Jaws. The Jaws films eventually ended up ripping off themselves with three sequels. Still, it’s hard to ignore just how blatantly Grizzly rips off Jaws. We get shots from the bear’s point of view. Christopher George plays the sheriff who keeps demanding that the park be closed down until the bear has been taken care of. Andrew Prine is the hippie bear expert. Richard Jaeckel is the crotchety old man who knows more about bears that just about anyone else in the world. In Jaws, they needed a bigger boat. In Grizzly, they need a bigger helicopter. Jaws features scenes of people fleeing from the water. Grizzly features an unintentionally funny shot of hundreds of panicked campers fleeing down the side of a mountain.
Grizzly is Jaws, without the water and without the wit. And yet, in its own grim way, it works well enough. The fact of the matter is that bears are scary and the bear in Grizzly is really, really big. The gore effects are memorably grotesque and, perhaps even more so than Jaws, Grizzly goes out of its way to establish that anyone can die. As for the actors, I’ve always enjoyed seeing Christopher George in films like this. He was one of those actors who always seemed to try to give a convincing performance, even when he was appearing in a film that no one would mistake for a classic. Richard Jaeckel and Andrew Prine also do their best to bring their characters to life.
Finally, I should mention that the film ends on a properly silly and over-the-top note. Actually, it’s not that much different from the ending to Jaws. It’s just that Jaws was made with such skill that even the silly moments worked. Grizzly was directed by William Girdler, who was no Steven Spielberg. At the end of Grizzly, I found myself shouted, “Why didn’t someone just do that in the first place!?” Then again, if they had, we never would have gotten all of those point of view shots of the bear wandering through the forest while growling like an 70s obscene phone caller.
As a final note, I defy anyone to watch Grizzly without imagining Werner Herzog narrating the bear’s activities. It cannot be done!
Ah, the 80s! Ronald Reagan was president. America was strong. Russia was weak. The economy was booming. The music was wonderful. Many great movies were released, though most of them were not nominated for any Oscars. This is the decade that tends to drive most Oscar fanatics batty. So many good films that went unnominated. So many good nominees that failed to win. Let’s dive on in!
Should Have Won: Ordinary People is actually a pretty good film. It may feel more like a made-for-TV movie than a feature film but it’s well-acted and it deserves some credit for not offering up any easy solutions. A lot of people would say that the Oscar should have gone to Raging Bull but, as well-directed and acted as that film is, Jake La Motta is such an unlikable character that it’s hard for me to really get emotionally invested in his story. My vote would have gone to David Lynch’s The Elephant Man. Lynch tells an inspiring story without compromising his surreal vision.
Should Have Won: The victory of Chariots of Fire is an odd one. The music is great but the film itself isn’t particularly memorable. I really, really like Atlantic City but ultimately, my vote would go to Raiders of the Lost Ark, an adventure that doesn’t insult the intelligence of its audience.
Should Have Won: Gandhi is the epitome of the type of Oscar winner that won less because of any cinematic artistry involved in the production and more because of what it was about. To be honest, though, I’m not extremely enthusiastic about any of the other nominees either. Ultimately, I guess I would have to go with E.T. It’s a bit heavy-handed but it works.
(My pick for the best of 1982 would probably be …. I don’t know. Blade Runner? Diner? There are some really good 1982 films but it’s hard to find one that just leaps out and says, “This is the best of the year!” Actually, I’d probably go with Tenebrae, despite the fact that it wasn’t released in the States until 1984 and in a heavily edited version at that.)
Should Have Won: Out of Africa is a pretty boring movie and Robert Redford is totally miscast as an Englishman. (To be honest, Redford is pretty much miscast as anyone but Robert Redford.) There were a lot of good films in 1985 that were not nominated: Brazil, Ran, Runaway Train, The Purple Rose of Cairo, Back to the Future, The Breakfast Club, Mask, After Hours, and quite a few more. Of the nominees, I would have gone for the beautiful and haunting Witness.
Should Have Won: Here’s one of my favorite exchanges from King of the Hill. It’s Peggy and Hank’s anniversary. They have the house to themselves for the weekend. Feeling that the romance has gone out of their lives, Peggy’s depressed. Hank tries to cheer her up.
Hank: “C’mon, Peg, we’ve got the house to ourselves. Plus, I rented an R-rated movie.”
Peggy (briefly hopeful): “Really? What movie?”
Hank (pauses, looks down): “Uhmmm …. Platoon.”
Some people love Platoon and some people don’t. You can put me in the latter category. Oliver Stone achieves a dream-like intensity but good God, was Charlie Sheen ever a good actor? Of the nominees, I would vote for A Room With A View.
Among the films not nominated this year: Blue Velvet, Aliens, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Stand By Me, Mona Lisa, Something Wild, and Top Gun.
Should Have Won: How about Full Metal Jacket? Oh wait, wasn’t nominated. Robocop? Not nominated. Dirty Dancing? Not nominated. Oh well. Even if those films were nominated, I would still have voted for Hope and Glory.
Should Have Won: This is an odd year. It’s kind of a weak line-up. Not nominated were films like Do The Right Thing, Scandal, Crimes and Misdemeanors, Enemies: A Love Story, and Henry V. Driving Miss Daisy gets criticized for obvious reasons but Jessica Tandy and Morgan Freeman both give strong performances. Born on the 4th of July has some good moments but Oliver Stone’s heavy hand eventually gets in the way and the scene where Tom Cruise-as-Ron-Kovic tracks down the parents of the soldier he accidentally killed only succeeds in making Kovic look like a selfish jerk. Dead Poets Society is, in many ways, just as heavy-handed as Born On the 4th of July but it’s also a lot more likable and I enjoyed the trio of Ethan Hawke, Robert Sean Leonard, and Josh Charles. In the end, Dead Poets Society gets my vote.
Coming up in thirty minutes — it’s time for the 90s!
Continuing our look at the Best Picture races of the past, it’s now time to enter the 50s! World War II was over. Eisenhower was President. Everyone was worried about communist spies. And the Hollywood studios still reigned supreme, even while actors like Marlon Brando and James Dean challenged the establishment.
Should Have Won: The Academy started out the decade by getting it right. While I love Sunset Boulevard and could definitely make a case for why it could have won, All About Eve was the best film nominated and one of the best films ever made.
Should Have Won: An American In Paris was a bit of an unexpected winner. A Streetcar Named Desire swept almost all of the acting prizes (only Marlon Brando failed to take home an Oscar) but the film itself is a bit too theatrical for me. As much as I Like An American In Paris, my personal vote would have gone to A Place In The Sun.
Should Have Won: Cecil B. DeMille’s The Greatest Show On Earth is often described as being the worst film to ever win best picture. I don’t know if I’d go that far but the Oscar still should have gone to either High Noon or The Quiet Man. With The Greatest Show on Earth, the Academy went for spectacle over …. well, everything else. It was not the first time the Academy did so, nor would it be the last.
Should Have Won: I want to say Rear Window but it wasn’t even nominated. On The Waterfront is the best made and the best acted of all the nominees but that the film’s support for “naming names” will never sit well with me. Like many of Elia Kazan’s films, it also gets a bit too heavy-handed towards the end. (One always got the feeling that Kazan didn’t trust his audience to figure out things on their own.) I’ll go with The Caine Mutiny, if just for Humphrey Bogart’s amazing performance as Queeg.
Should Have Won: This is a difficult one for me. All of the nominated films are fairly weak. The best remember films of 1955 — Rebel Without A Cause, Kiss Me Deadly, East of Eden — weren’t even nominated. Marty‘s likable but it still feels like a made-for-TV movie. I’ll go with Picnic, just for the scene where William Holden and Kim Novak dance on the dock.
Should Have Won: In a year in which all of the nominees were epic in scope, Around The World In 80 Days won because it featured a cameo from nearly everyone in Hollywood. It’s a bit of a drag to watch today, despite the charm of David Niven. Personally, of the nominated films, I would have gone with …. mock me if you will …. The Ten Commandments. As flawed as it may be, it’s still incredibly watchable and never dull. If I couldn’t vote for The Ten Commandments, I’d probably vote for Giant, just because it’s a movie about my home state.
Should Have Won: The Bridge on the River Kwai is a worthy winner but my favorite of the nominees is definitely 12 Angry Men. And I’ll admit that I’ve always enjoyed Peyton Place as well.
Should Have Won: Gigi’s good but I would have to vote for the overheated but always entertaining melodrama of Cat On A Hot Tin Roof. Of course, the best films of the year — Vertigo and Touch of Evil — were not nominated.
Should Have Won: I actually like Ben-Hur but I absolutely love Anatomy of a Murder. It’s one of the best courtroom films ever made and it features James Stewart at his absolute best.
Through the Shattered Lens 