how much WORSE it was really going to get – and we still don’t know how much worse it’s going to get!?!

Especially in that second episode – awesome!

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small bit, but big laughs…..

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Amid the various show-bingeing going on at present, we watched Boondock Saints last night. Crazy movie, ridiculous violence, but entertaining nonetheless despite its age (1999). And they do well with nearly a complete no-name cast, save for Willem Dafoe, Billy Connolly definitely playing against type, and (if you know who he is), Ron Jeremy in a bit part.

Basically this is a vigilante movie of another stripe – here, two Irish guys from South Boston go on a killing spree, wacking lots of heavy hitters in the various Boston Mafia clans (Russian, Italian, you name it). The movie doesn’t have a positive view of the Boston police for sure (Willem Dafoe is the FBI agent who gives them their marching orders) and it’s pretty gritty generally.

There are also some pretty crazy scenes in this movie and at least a couple notable stunts. While it’s nothing you haven’t seen before, if you’ve ever watched ANY gangster movie or movies with big shootout scenes (a la The Matrix of the same year as this movie but far less blood) and while the climatic scene to us simply didn’t work, it’s still a great ride, even if it veers into weird territory several times (You have to kind of figure out what’s going on at the start for a bit, it doesn’t really have much of an intro, kind of like jumping into a moving car, plotwise – and Willem Dafoe has a multi-layered character, to be sure).

Given the amount of blood flying around is not really less than say, Zatoichi, Snatch or In Bruges, or other similar over-the-top style fight/samurai movies, i’d definitely NOT recommend watching this with any kids. Enjoy!

Make Room! Make Room! versus Soylent Green: can film trump book?

Thankfully given the age (and the genius of Phil Hartman, RIP), it’s pretty hard to spoil 1973’s Soylent Green at this point. Saw this article in The Guardian this am and have to completely agree, movie is far better and more focused than the book, way better zap ending, too. I also knew (later) about this being EGR‘s final performance but not about the cancer diagnosis he never told others about – truly poignant. And of course Charlton Heston in his usual over-the-top craziness, gotta love that, perfect casting choice.

This riot/scoops scene completely freaked me out as a kid watching this, I had no idea what happened to the people once they were thrown in the truck, so scary.

here’s another take on the movie from 2013:

Soylent Green Is (More Than) People

The article does in fact leave out one other very cool piece of trivia – that movie was arguably the debut of one of the very first video games, Computer Space – the game is briefly shown when the Soylent executive and his GF are playing it in their condo, before he gets wacked, very early in the movie. Another piece of Nolan Bushnell marketing sharpshooting, although that game itself ultimately was a flop. But boy are they worth something these days….

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the Goldfinger comment about the cafeteria workers is priceless 🙂

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we miss ya, Cozy!

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Pretty great impression!

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One of the all time funniest people has passed – rest in peace.

Terry Jones, 77; charter member of Monty Python comedy team

A sampling:

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not a Jeopardy geek but these are good reads – kudos to Ken!

Ken Jennings Is Jeopardy!’s Greatest Player of All Time

Ken Jennings Didn’t Want to Compete in Jeopardy’s Big Tournament, ‘Which Sure Looks Pretty Dumb Now’

Brad Rutter on Buzzers, Strategy, and Why He Lost Jeopardy!’s Greatest of All Time Tournament

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