Take Five
By George Rose
August 11, 2009
Surprisingly, I was right! Wheeler's "little brother" is Ronnie, a young black boy with a mouth that would make a drunken sailor blush, and an affinity for breasts. Of course he would be paired with Wheeler. Again, this predictable moment is overlooked because of just how funny Ronnie and Wheeler are together. Or maybe it's just because how often the child curses. I enjoy hearing a kid curse just as much as I like seeing him steal his big brother's car and sucker-slap him. Danny, on the other hand, is paired with a much tamer geek of a child. Augie (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) wears a cape and practices his sword-fighting skills for L.A.I.R.E., a medieval fighting tournament. The geek and the suit also seem like a forced pairing by the screenwriters, but it is again overlooked since the ringleader of Sturdy Wings, Sweeny, is played by Jane Lynch. Maybe it wasn't the screenwriters but her character that set these pairs up on purpose, but, really, how could she have known so much about the men in advance to do so? It doesn't matter, because Lynch's "recovered coke-and-sex-addict" routine is done with such perfect timing it makes me wish she were more of an A-list actress. Or my partner in crime when going out.
After non-stop laughs throughout (I won't give examples because you'll want to see them for yourself), the films falls back into the predictable rom-com formula: just before completing the 150 hours, they screw up (go figure), are threatened with being sent to jail, have to redeem themselves to the kids and prove they are more than just court-ordered friendships (uh huh), and ends with Beth discovering that Danny really is passionate and upbeat after all. Awww. If it wasn't all so humorous, I might have thought less, but this movie is one flawed relationship I'm smart enough forgive before it's too late.
Overall Rating: B
Blazing Saddles (1974) – watched/written August 3, 2009
It seems to be in the nature of a child to disregard the advice of their parents. When my parents said, "you should break up with that guy because he cheated," I decided to continue dating him. When they said, "you should watch Blazing Saddles because it's a classic," I ignored them. Seeing now that they may have been right about my ex, I figured I'd give their advice another shot. Heck, they aren't the only ones that say Blazing Saddles is a comedy classic, so how wrong could they be?
Pretty wrong. The opening credits roll and you see the name Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder, which immediately heightened my anticipation. The creator of Spaceballs and star of Willy Wonka should lead to a classic, despite its Western setting (which I am generally not a fan of). The film starts with a group of African and Chinese men building a railroad, as ordered upon them by their white employers. One of the main gags in the movie is to call these black men the N-word, which is more uncomfortable than entertaining. The Westerners shoot the word as often as they shoot their guns aimlessly into the sky or saloons. Pointlessly firing either weapon makes me hate this time period more. We come to find out that the railroad cannot be completed because of quicksand blocking its path and the only other option is to send it through a nearby town called Rock Ridge.
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