Monday Morning Quarterback Part III

By BOP Staff

June 15, 2011

He's taking his talents to Disney World!

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Jason Lee: I loved Bridesmaids. I habitually use the line "it's happening, it's happening, it happened" in my everyday life. I have also started calling my friend "Steve" by the name "Stove."

Edwin Davies: The last film I saw in the theater was X-Men: First Class, which I left feeling positive about but, when I sat down and thought about it, I actually wound up really disliking. There are plenty of things in it that I liked a lot, namely Michael Fassbender, who looks like he'll be very comfortable switching from indie-hero to blockbuster star, but there were so many little bits of it that I found aggravating; the leering, PG-13 lasciviousness of having more or less the entire female cast strutting around in lingerie for most of the film; it tried to fit too many characters in yet focused so much of its time on Charles and Magneto that important characters like Mystique were left shortchanged (and Jennifer Lawrence, who I loved in Winter's Bone, was so flat and tone-deaf); and it didn't do what I think any good X-Men film should do, which is engage with the subtext of the mutants' struggle. Bryan Singer did a great job of making his entries in the franchise into exciting, engaging blockbusters that also commented on issues like racism and gay rights, whilst this one just kind of cursorily mentioned them then moved on to be a bit stupid. The last 20 minutes were great, though.

On DVD, I rented Black Dynamite, which I enjoyed so much I rushed out and bought it on DVD and have now watched four or five times in the last two days. For those who don't know, Black Dynamite is a blaxploitation spoof starring Michael Jai White as a sort of Shaft/Superfly/Dolemite former CIA agent who gets drawn into clearing up the streets when he learns that someone has killed his brother and is putting smack into the orphanages. It is such a brilliant recreation of that kind of film, yet it's also got plenty of jokes that work whether or not you are familiar with the genre. White's performance is something to behold, and I would recommend that everyone look up "Black Dynamite I threw that sh*t before I walked in the room" on YouTube to get a sense of just how funny and insane his line deliveries are. It's up there with Airplane, Hot Fuzz and Walk Hard as one of the most consistently hilarious spoofs/parodies that I've ever seen.




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Joshua Pasch: My sad sack list of recent viewing includes: The Karate Kid remake, Killers, Chasing Amy, Something Borrowed, Fast Five, Salt, and Hangover II. I have almost never been as embarrassed as I am right now. The strongest of the above, maybe Salt? Maybe Chasing Amy? None of them will leave a lasting impression, and yet none of them were overtly bad. That's probably the highest praise I can muster. I've really got to stop slumming it. I hereby resolve to see something akin to Midnight In Paris very soon.

Kim Hollis: I've recently seen Bridesmaids and Super 8. I thought Bridesmaids was sort of a glorious mess, one that started off kind of blah but then became completely endearing the more we got to know the characters. I never liked Kristen Wiig much, but she's won me over with this film (as well as Whip It, Extract and Adventureland). I'm also very happy that Melissa McCarthy is the breakout star - she was absolutely wonderful on Gilmore Girls and it's fantastic that she's captured the attention of a broader audience. Her character could have been so one note - but she does a lot of unexpected things that unfold in creative ways. Chris O'Dowd (as Officer Nathan Rhodes) makes the movie for me, though. I absolutely fell in love with him and his character and I look forward to seeing more of him.


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