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Dec. 9th, 2009 12:06 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sailorstkwrningOccasionally, when time permits or the mood strikes, I check out one of the cultural objects (resources?) from the lists. (The songs I actually listen to as I'm compiling, and sometimes I read the lyrics, to consider context.) Anyway, here's a brief accounting of recent forays:
1. Spinal Tap: I watched this one for the first time really rather a long time ago, so my concept of it was really a bunch of familiar punchlines strung together. I was kind of startled by how grim and shrill I found it, particularly the deleted scenes. Not that I didn't laugh at "But these go up to 11" or the Stonehenge bit or the part where they explain how they lost their first drummer, or for that matter the part where their current drummer schools a radio caller about baseball. And I kind of about died at the whole black album thing, too. But on the whole it left me feeling sort of worn out.
2. Californication: I had a promo disk laying around with two episodes on it, so I thought, well, why not? OH MY GOD, YOU GUYS. I seriously had to watch half of it through my fingers. David Duchovny is super-hot, and all, and he plays an immature jerk with flair and style, but, wow. One character actually refers to Hank Moody as a "retarded man-child." Like that was the exact line of dialogue.
3. Dexter: There was one episode on the same promo disk as Californication. I got as far as the credits and the "previously on . . ." before I decided I was totally bored and turned it off.
4. Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story: I totally bought this one in the 7-11 because it was a) there and b) cheap. It's mostly a parody of Walk the Line, though they mix elements of Jerry Lee Lewis and Merle Haggard (and probably others) in with Johnny Cash. The biggest prank the filmmakers play is probably that a) the songs, when not flagrantly ridiculous, are actually excellent and b) whoever is doing the singing (John C. Reilly? I don't know) has a beautiful country/rockabilly voice. The movie around the songs is periodically entertaining and periodically really painfully unfunny and every once in a while actually hilarious. (Especially the scenes with the "Beatles".)
1. Spinal Tap: I watched this one for the first time really rather a long time ago, so my concept of it was really a bunch of familiar punchlines strung together. I was kind of startled by how grim and shrill I found it, particularly the deleted scenes. Not that I didn't laugh at "But these go up to 11" or the Stonehenge bit or the part where they explain how they lost their first drummer, or for that matter the part where their current drummer schools a radio caller about baseball. And I kind of about died at the whole black album thing, too. But on the whole it left me feeling sort of worn out.
2. Californication: I had a promo disk laying around with two episodes on it, so I thought, well, why not? OH MY GOD, YOU GUYS. I seriously had to watch half of it through my fingers. David Duchovny is super-hot, and all, and he plays an immature jerk with flair and style, but, wow. One character actually refers to Hank Moody as a "retarded man-child." Like that was the exact line of dialogue.
3. Dexter: There was one episode on the same promo disk as Californication. I got as far as the credits and the "previously on . . ." before I decided I was totally bored and turned it off.
4. Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story: I totally bought this one in the 7-11 because it was a) there and b) cheap. It's mostly a parody of Walk the Line, though they mix elements of Jerry Lee Lewis and Merle Haggard (and probably others) in with Johnny Cash. The biggest prank the filmmakers play is probably that a) the songs, when not flagrantly ridiculous, are actually excellent and b) whoever is doing the singing (John C. Reilly? I don't know) has a beautiful country/rockabilly voice. The movie around the songs is periodically entertaining and periodically really painfully unfunny and every once in a while actually hilarious. (Especially the scenes with the "Beatles".)
