Since today marks the official start of summertime (hooray!), I figured it would be a good time to put up a blog post! How about that?! I've taken a decent-sized break from 42 Inch Television since the end of the television season in an effort to recharge my batteries for what will undoubtedly be a pretty jam packed fall. But, of course, I'll still try to put up a weekly post for you loyal readers. And, you can always read me, almost daily, over at the New York Observer website (linked to the right, or click here!)Enough housekeeping! (My least favorite part of any blog is when writers go on and on about how they aren't posting.) Onto some random thoughts!
The Worst Movie of 2009
Using hyperbole like that is usually a bad idea when the calendar only reads June 21st, but I am fairly confident in the sheer terrible awfulness of Year One to proclaim it the "Worst Movie of 2009." In fact, as I said on my Twitter page last night (you should be following me, do so here), this might be the worst movie I've ever seen in the theaters... and that's including current title holder HurlyBurly, which is always my default answer to "what's the worst movie you've ever seen?"
Year One is just an epic fail. It's a comedy, but I'm pretty positive I didn't laugh but one or two times. Literally. Maybe a smirk here or there, mostly directed at something Michael Cera was saying. But, man, even Cera, my Patron Saint of Kindhearted Hipsters, doesn't escape this mess without loads of poison covering him. Now I know what people who saw The Love Guru felt like when they left the theater.
I'm not exactly sure what anyone was thinking here: There is simply no way that funny people like Mr. Cera, Jack Black and David Cross could have thought this was a good movie while they filming. Every joke falls flat and/or sounds like it has been ripped out of some terrible comedy from the '80s--Really Hank Azaria? We're making a "Jews are bad at sports" joke? What decade is this?--and, worse, no one seems to be enjoying themselves.
For director Harold Ramis, it's just another piece of evidence to prove that he has completely lost the funny. Since Groundhog Day, these are his comedies: Stuart Saves His Family, Multiplicity, Analyze This, Bedazzled, Analyze That, The Ice Harvest and now Year One. Oof. It might be time for Mr. Ramis to retire; I shiver at the thought of Ghostbusters 3.
As for Michael Cera, I'm officially concerned. This is certainly the subject of another blogpost, but his shtick has gotten old. In Year One, he does all the things you would expect to see from "Michael Cera" but it isn't nearly as funny as it should be. Maybe that's because the rest of the movie is so bad, or, maybe that's because he's getting played out. Still with Paper Heart coming in August and then the guaranteed awesome Scott Pilgrim vs. The World hitting theaters in 2010, I'm assuming it won't be long before Mr. Cera puts this utter disaster in his rear view mirror. But Year One is a proof that his career could have an expiration date.
Self-Promotion Alert!
In addition to my daily writings at the Observer, I'll be doing occasional e-mails for Very Short List. You can sign up for the service here, and I would suggest doing it; Very Short List sends you a daily e-mail highlighting some under-the-radar event in pop culture (television, books, movies, music, websites), so if you like being on the cutting edge this is the service for you. And, it's free! There is no downside here. I wrote this post, but since there are no bylines you'll have to just follow me on Twitter to find out which ones I end up writing.
Also! Did you know I got linked by the New York Times a couple of weeks back? Me neither! (Well, until I saw it on Friday.) On their ArtsBeat blog, Dave Itzkoff linked to my post about how Away We Go was killed by the overly sappy indie rock score (courtesy of Alexi Murdoch). Mr. Itzkoff writes: "[Rosen] gives Todd Phillips’s use of Flo Rida’s “Right Round” in “The Hangover” a hearty thumbs up."
Then! Over at the Village Voice blog Runnin' Scared, Roy Edroso uses my post on '70s remakes to come up with five remakes that he would never want to see. Fun times!
As for Michael Cera, I'm officially concerned. This is certainly the subject of another blogpost, but his shtick has gotten old. In Year One, he does all the things you would expect to see from "Michael Cera" but it isn't nearly as funny as it should be. Maybe that's because the rest of the movie is so bad, or, maybe that's because he's getting played out. Still with Paper Heart coming in August and then the guaranteed awesome Scott Pilgrim vs. The World hitting theaters in 2010, I'm assuming it won't be long before Mr. Cera puts this utter disaster in his rear view mirror. But Year One is a proof that his career could have an expiration date.
Self-Promotion Alert!
In addition to my daily writings at the Observer, I'll be doing occasional e-mails for Very Short List. You can sign up for the service here, and I would suggest doing it; Very Short List sends you a daily e-mail highlighting some under-the-radar event in pop culture (television, books, movies, music, websites), so if you like being on the cutting edge this is the service for you. And, it's free! There is no downside here. I wrote this post, but since there are no bylines you'll have to just follow me on Twitter to find out which ones I end up writing.
Also! Did you know I got linked by the New York Times a couple of weeks back? Me neither! (Well, until I saw it on Friday.) On their ArtsBeat blog, Dave Itzkoff linked to my post about how Away We Go was killed by the overly sappy indie rock score (courtesy of Alexi Murdoch). Mr. Itzkoff writes: "[Rosen] gives Todd Phillips’s use of Flo Rida’s “Right Round” in “The Hangover” a hearty thumbs up."
Then! Over at the Village Voice blog Runnin' Scared, Roy Edroso uses my post on '70s remakes to come up with five remakes that he would never want to see. Fun times!
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