Mat Brewster is on vacation this week, so I am filling in.
Two weeks ago, I was preparing to go to the world famous San Diego Comic-Con where I would immerse myself in entertainment and pop culture for five days with over 130,000 like-minded folks. It can be a hectic schedule running around the convention center and outer locations, through throngs of cosplayers, autograph seekers, memorabilia purchasers to then stand in long lines or wait through panels in an effort to get into one’s desired programs. The sleep and feeding schedules are usually thrown off, and of course with my group, there’s a good bit of drinking involved. Some of the hardcore fanatics, who have an inexplicable need to be the first to see a movie trailer with 6,000 others in Hall H, moments before it shows up online, throw away an entire day waiting outdoors in a line.
And yet the world I returned to seemed to be the odder, crazier one. I recently overheard someone claiming it was God’s plan that they missed a plane that later caught fire while offering no explanation why God would save him yet allow everyone else to be on a plane that would catch fire. That just seems like a bizarre, nonsensical worldview, and I say that as someone who had no problem with a man walking around San Diego in a Princess Leia slave outfit. And don’t get me started on the U.S. Presidential Election where many of the voters are just as unlikable, hypocritical, and insane as the candidates.
It’s times like these that I find myself in need of a laugh. (Keegan-Michael) Key & (Jordan) Peele delivered plenty over the five seasons on their Comedy Central show, now available in a Complete DVD Set, which has annoyed those who purchased the first three season releases and are left waiting for individual releases of the last two. Check out the Amazon page, if you doubt me.
What was great about the show is its range of humor, from scathing social satire to just plain silliness. I am a fan of both and the duo and their writing staff created a great balance, which allowed the two stars to shine. When President Obama asked that a character from the series, his anger translator Luther (Key) join him at the 2015 White House Correspondents’ Dinner, there was no doubt that Key & Peele had hit the big league.
Also out this week that looks interesting:
Keanu: Key & Peele starred in their first feature as they go in search of a lost cat.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) Collector’s Edition: Although it seems that for many on the Internet the initial reaction to a remake is immediate outrage, I am very curious about this film because in addition to the impressive cast it was made by director Philip Kaufman, who also directed The Right Stuff, and screenwriter W.D. Richter, who co-wrote Big Trouble in Little China and directed by The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension. That Shout Factory! has created a Collector’s Edition filled with extras is a very appreciated bonus.
Red Sonja: Queen of Plagues: I know nothing about the character other than first seeing her alongside Conan in Marvel Comics where I only knew she was a sexy redhead who fought in an impractical chainmail bikini. Shout Factory! and Dynamite Entertainment team up for this motion comic directed by Gail Simone.
The Lobster: A variation on Logan’s Run where society/government compels citizens to behave a certain way, the story is set in a future where single people “are obliged to find a matching mate in 45 days. If they fail, they are transformed into an animal and released into the woods.”
Requiem for the American Dream: Filmed over four years, this collection of interviews with Noam Chomsky, Institute Professor Emeritus at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and author of over 100 books, presents a look at the man and a subject he has railed against frequently “the deliberate concentration of wealth and power in the hands of a select few.”
The Knick: The Complete Second Season: In his review, Mat called it “the best show on television,” so that certainly has me intrigued.
