West Week Ever – 12/20/13

Well, let’s kick this off the way we usually do – movie reviews. This week, there’s a mix of Netflix and Redbox, as I couldn’t stream everything I wanted to watch. First up was Flight, starring Denzel Washington. It’s a movie about addiction. It’s a movie about redemption. It’s a movie about a plane flying upside down. It’s all of those things and more. At the end of the day, I enjoyed the movie, but I left with one complaint: I wanted to see the redhead’s boobs. I mean, the movie starts off with a nude Nadine Velasquez, plus we later see Denzel’s butt, so it’s not like there wasn’t a precedent that had been set. Plus, the redhead was a down on her luck addict who just wanted a second chance, and she was constantly rocking the cleavage. That’s a ripe recipe for epic boobage! Redhead booblessness notwithstanding, it’s still worth watching.

Next up was This Is The End, which I’ve been wanting to see since I first saw the trailer. In fact, I really thought that this would be the movie to actually get me to go to a theater, but that didn’t happen. I love when actors play exaggerated versions of themselves. After all, one of my favorite movie scenes of the past 15 years is the “Stars of The WB” poker game. Considering my love for the industry side of things, I love when they break that fourth wall. I’d love to be part of the newfangled Brat Pack that Rogen’s got going, so this movie was right up my alley. I know the UnderScoopFire guys were torn on this one, but I thought it was hilarious. That said, if you hate any of the people in the cast (especially Jonah Hill), you’re probably not gonna like it. You need to have already bought into the Freaks & Geeks/Undeclared/Pineapple Express/Superbad universe to really appreciate it. While it could easily be watched by newcomers, there was a built in audience that had come to love how these actors interacted with one another in prior roles. If you hated any of their movies, you’re not gonna get a kick out of seeing fake versions of themselves go at it. I only had two gripes with the movie: 1) if it’s the end of the world, wouldn’t you at least try to call someone to make sure what you’re witnessing isn’t an isolated incident 2) I don’t feel like they really knew how to end it. There’s a cameo that I should have loved, but it seemingly comes out of nowhere. The characters’ arcs are completed, but the movie just feels unresolved at the end. To make matters worse, there was no after credits scene which I thought would be a given, considering the nature of the film and the cast. What happened to Jonah Hill’s character? What happens to Danny McBride? Either of those would’ve worked in an after credits scene that would’ve capped off the movie a little better.

Finally, I watched Identity Thief. Now, I’ve gotta admit that I never had any desire to watch this movie, but after watching The Heat, I decided I wanted to watch more R-rated Melissa McCarthy. I wasn’t disappointed, as it’s actually a pretty funny film. The cast is…interesting. Amanda Peet is somewhat wasted (remember when it seemed like she was going places?), T.I. pops up as some sort of hitman, and T-1000 shows up as a bounty hunter. It’s like they picked the actors out of a hat. No need to rent this, as I’m sure this is the kind of movie that FX is gonna rerun the shit out of.

Moving on to television, something’s been bothering me about talk shows lately. Recently (especially on Jerry Springer and Maury), guests will say something like “I’m here because, last week, I cheated on him.” Hold the phone. You cheated last week, and you’re now on a talk show? There’s lead time with a TV production. It’s not like there’s some kind of hotline to call where they rush you on. I mean, sure, they have the whole “Are you currently cheating on your mate and you want to confront them? Then call…” hotline, but I seriously doubt there’s a turnaround time of one week. So, either these people were cheating long before “last week”, or this is an oversight by the writers who want to convince us that these shows are real. I know we wrote off Springer years ago, but where do we stand with Maury? Is he real, or is he just as fake as Jerry? I’m always curious to know what some folks consider to be “real” while others don’t.

My latest guilty TV pleasure is Undercover Boss. I would be TERRIBLE on that show. I’m way too glib. I’d be working with the boss, and say a bunch of shit about the company. That’s pretty much what I did whenever I trained someone in my retail days. I always made a point to know what my CEOs looked like, and I think the show has picked up on this, which is why they’re using other members of the executive team rather than the head honcho, him/herself. Plus, I don’t have a sad enough story. I was way too privileged (#firstworldproblem), so I wouldn’t be the guy who gets $5,000 to use however I want. You gotta be an ex-con or have a dead parent to get in on that kind of action. If anything, Undercover Boss has taught me that I no longer have anything to gain from the world of retail.

It was announced yesterday that How I Met Your Mother‘s series finale will air March 31st, which is a really odd date. I mean, you typically save a finale for May – ya know, when it’s a sweeps period. It seems really strange that they would decide to wrap it up so soon just to give its timeslot to 2 Broke Girls. I think the show did enough for the network that its ending shouldn’t seem so…rushed. And I say that as someone who isn’t enjoying this season at all.

I got a tweet the other day from a cool guy named Vince Chui who noticed my avatar, and wanted to share an illustration that he’d done that was similar to it. Here’s his amazing piece:

I wish I could claim to be the inspiration for it, but it’s actually based on that Marvel Kid meme that was going around a few months ago. No, I’m not gonna post that kid’s pic because he’s already stolen enough of my thunder. Still, you can follow Vince on Twitter @kidchuckle and you can check out his site at Kidchuckle.com.

My friend, James, and I had some fun talking about Wonder Woman and what she ultimately “means”. We discussed the casting of Gal Gadot, as well as the fact that there’s no such thing as a seminal Wonder Woman comic storyline. If you’ve got about 30 mins to spare, you can watch it or just play it in the background.

Links I Loved
Star Trek: Enterprise credits with Perfect Strangers theme – h/t @bionicbigfoot

How I Failed French and My Mom at the Same Damn Time – Medium

Wonder Woman: kNOCking heads – The Nerds of Color

Robocop had a Christmas Episode. It was Ridiculous. – The Robot’s Pajamas

23 Vintage Kenner Star Wars figures and case with weapons – my son’s collection – eBay

Forget The Music, These Are My 7 Favorite (Pop Culture) Carols! – UnderScoopFire

Have you gotten your copy of Cool and Collected Magazine yet? I wrote about it a few times, and it’s finally here! If you didn’t order through the Kickstarter, you can get it here in both print AND digital formats. This’ll make a great stocking stuffer for the pop culture collectible fan in your life!

Nobody had a week like Paul Rudd. Not only did Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues come out, but it was confirmed that he would be starring in Marvel’s Ant-Man movie. I’m no fan of Hank Pym OR Ant-Man, but the casting of Rudd makes me optimistic. Perhaps Marvel’s going in a more comedic direction for this one? In any case, Paul didn’t have much competition this week, as it was either gonna be him or Duck Dynasty‘s Phil Robertson. Can I just get on my soapbox for a minute? Regardless of what Phil said, SO MANY PEOPLE DON’T UNDERSTAND THE FIRST AMENDMENT. It only protects you from the *government*, and it doesn’t allow you to spout your opinion without consequence. The First Amendment doesn’t even apply to what’s going on in that situation. He said some shit and got suspended. The same could happen for you at your job. Those situations are not covered by the First Amendment. Whew! Where was I? Oh yeah, Paul Rudd had the distinction of having the last West Week Ever of 2013!

This is also the last post before Christmas, so I hope you all have a wonderful time and get lots of cool stuff! Oh, and good will toward men and all that hokum 🙂