November is for the birds.
Pop Culture Ephemera
- Back to the Future (1985) (Directed by Robert Zemeckis): “If my calculations are correct, when this baby hits 88 miles per hour… you’re gonna see some serious “shit.” – Doc Brown. Between E.T. (1982) and Indiana Jones & the Temple of Doom (1984), two almost perfect Spielberg horror films were released that were NOT directed by Spielberg in Poltergeist (1982) and Gremlins (1984). Between Indiana Jones & the Temple of Doom (1984) and The Color Purple (1985), the perfect Spielberg action comedy was released in Back to the Future (1985), directed by Robert Zemeckis.
Watching this in the theater again this past week, the small details that are lost on the television screen prove this to be one of the best structured and paced films of the past 50 years. This film has set a bar for time-travel movies that others haven’t even tried to copy in terms of comedy and action. The set designs and verbal duplications between the time settings show attention to detail that make this just as enjoyable in what has to be my tenth viewing of the film. The combination of Zemeckis, writer Bob Gale, and executive producing by Spielberg is a brilliant mix of influences and it brings out the artful skewering of the past that would makes this like a Frank Capra film transported back to our future.
- Happy Days – “Requiem for a Malph” (1977) (S.5 E.12) (ABC): “Winners don’t sit on floors.” – Potsie. It’s the 100th episode, and the show is already the dominate player in Prime Time and will dominate the syndication circuit for years. This episode’s title is a take on Requiem for a Heavyweight, so you know this will be a boxing-centric episode. Ralph has stolen Kitty (Audrey Landers) from star football player, Rebel E. Lee (Reb Brown, Captain America). I wonder if the boxing theme is related to the success of Rocky (1976). The writers seem to need to have a slapstick heavy show at least once a season. The fight is worth a few laughs, but generally the Ralph-based episodes are the weakest of the series. They never could really decide what to do with Ralph. He’s best as the comic sidekick and less as a lead, like when he became a bookie. The series has 155 more episodes to go, and it’s odd that we’re about to finish the ones that I have watched each a dozen times and move to the ones I have never seen or just once.
- Enigma – “Return to Innocence” (1993) (from The Cross of Changes): “Love / Devotion / Feeling / Emotion” The song was almost derailed before it got started. The chant is Taiwanese recorded in 1988. Sampled without permission, it was settled in court and the original artists paid. The John Bonham drum beat was acknowledged properly. From 1993 for about a four-year period, this song seemed to be everywhere. The reverse aging video was directed by Julien Temple and was one of the last truly ubiquitous music videos on MTV, from my memory. The theme of “finding the child within” is an old theme and this song and video combination made quite an imprint on children of this era. Today it’s an easy, satisfying listen.
- Rocky IV (1985) (Directed by Sylvester Stallone): “Going in one more round when you don’t think you can – that’s what makes all the difference in your life.” – Rocky. I’ll try to summarize the filmgoing experience of this film. Flashback montage – Fight – Montage – Music video – Training montage – Music video – Fight – Montage within fight – Music video of a montage over end credits. I almost expected a flashback montage in the 10th round of the fight to think back to the first couple of rounds of the fight. The film starts with the most footage of a previous film that I can remember in a sequel. The new director’s cut removes around 45 minutes of the film and replaces it with roughly the same amount. The result is a film that’s more of a personal battle of man vs. machine than it is about the U.S. and Soviet relations in 1985. One of the most entertaining features of both versions is that during the course of the fight, Rocky brings about glasnost. Unfortunately, all of the healing between nuclear superpowers in this film will be shot to hell in 1988 during Rambo III. Or at least until the Director’s Cut.
- Sorry, Baby (2025) (Directed by Eva Victor): “I don’t want him to be arrested. I want him to stop being someone who does that. And if he went to jail, he’d just be a person who does that, who’s also in jail.” – Agnes. I’m reluctant to describe a film about dealing with a traumatic event in one’s life as a comedy. It’s also misleading to say that a film that has wry observations about life is an emotional drama. Eva Victor writes, directs, and is the main character, Agnes, in a film about how a terrible event can happen in our lives out of nowhere. There is a before and after that moment for the person that it happens to, but this film is also about how life around us goes on. It’s hard to convey observations about life and be an introspective character, but Eva balances that effectively. The best scenes show how the kindness of strangers who don’t even know your trauma can make the biggest difference. The scene where a man helps her breathing through a panic attack is one of the best symbols of the film. This isn’t a film that will entertain everyone. Dealing with a traumatic event isn’t always solved in one cathartic experience. This movie brilliantly pieces it together over a series of events until it finally feels like just something that happened.
Best of the Rest
- When you are bopping your head to “Return to Innocence,” much of it is thanks to the looped sample of John Bonham’s drums on “When the Levee Breaks.” It’s always a good opportunity to go back and visit one of Bonham’s signature performances for Zep.
- His current crazy status notwithstanding, Kanye West has had some jams. One of the more underrated ones is “Waves.” I accidentally came across this interview with Chance the Rapper who had the original version of the song mix with the Enigma sample. I dig this beat more than the album version (which features one of Chris Brown’s best vocal performances) and wish there was a cleaner version to be had.
- The choice of the Enigma’s “Return to Innocence” as the song for advertising the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta is a testament to how universally beloved that song was even three years after release.
- The company might be in the midst of a downturn, but that’s not the fault of the folks making some very repeatable commercials for them. This is just a wonderful vocal cover of the Miley Cyrus “The Climb” and for some reason it is supposed to make you want to buy reasonably priced outerwear. If it does anything else, it should make you watch the entire series of Somebody, Somewhere to get to her cover of “The Climb.”
Sunday Morning Tuneage Flashback
- Sunday Morning Tuneage from 1/3/2010, I’m going to pause here for a few weeks while I look deeper into my Best of 2009 lists that I released on this morning. My lists have evolved/devolved over the years. This was probably only the fourth or fifth year of standardizing my lists. In general, 2009 was a good year for pop culture and for me, I remember it positively with six-, twelve- and thirteen-year-old children at home.
The “Best Movies of 2009 That I Didn’t See” was a list started as part mea culpa if a reader wondered why it wasn’t on the list and partially as a to-do list for the next year. The problem being that because of the delay for these films to make Netflix DVD release or HBO/Showtime, I rarely followed up on them in a timely manner. This list shows just that. It serves as a reminder that I need to go back and put some time in on the decent releases of 2009.
My #82 Top TV Show of All-Time was Quantum Leap (NBC) (1989-1993): This list is paused until I move forward to the next Tuneage release. - BEST MOVIES OF 2009 THAT I DIDN’T SEE (2010)
- 10. Crazy Heart (Directed by Scott Cooper)
- 9. Bad Lieutenant (Directed by Werner Herzog)
- 8. Watchmen (Directed by Zack Snyder)
- 7. Big Fan (Directed by Robert Siegel)
- 6. Precious (Directed by Lee Daniels)
- 5. A Serious Man (Directed by Joel and Ethan Coen)
- 4. A Single Man (Directed by Tom Ford)
- 3. Inglorious Basterds (Directed by Quentin Tarantino)
- 2. Avatar (Directed by James Cameron)
- 1. (500) Days of Summer (Directed by Marc Webb)
- BEST MOVIES OF 2009 THAT I HAVEN’T SEEN STILL (2025)
- 10. Bad Lieutanant (Directed by Werner Herzog): It’s a remake that I wouldn’t have suggested was needed. It’s got a celebrated Nicolas Cage performance and directed by one of the most notable directors of our era. I should see this eventually.
- 9. An Education (Directed by Lone Scherfig): Based on a Nick Hornby novel, this looks to have a plot that could be very uncomfortable of older man and underage woman. The reviews were just too good for me to ignore it.
- 8. Watchmen (Directed by Zack Snyder): I was sapped of excitement to see this once I read the initial reviews. I don’t have a problem with Zack Snyder in general, but this was going to be impossible to do as a film. I’m still not sure I need to see this, but I will some day.
- 7. Zombieland (Directed by Ruben Fleischer): A film that I have watched bits and pieces of on cable television but never in totality.
- 6. Knowing (Directed by Alex Proyas): A second film on the list with a superb Nicolas Cage performance. I wasn’t against him at the time. And this is a director that I generally respect. It’s not a film that gets much chatter these days, and it’s been off my radar.
- 5. Public Enemies (Directed by Michael Mann): I had to take a second look to make sure I hadn’t watched this film. In the days before multiple places to log the films I watch, it was easy to forget if you had or hadn’t watched a film. I’m confident that this is probably a film I will love when I get around to it.
- 4. Drag Me to Hell (Directed by Sam Raimi): Another example of “Why?” I can’t explain how this one escaped my viewing to this day. I even meant to watch it this past October and here we are with it still on a list.
- 3. A Serious Man (Directed by Joel and Ethan Coen): I didn’t see it in the theater and then there just wasn’t a chance to see it on DVD until I had moved on and just forgot about it. I think it’s good, but people don’t talk about it like their other films.
- 2. Inglorious Basterds (Directed by Quentin Tarantino): No excuse. I know I’ll love it. I have no other excuses other than I’d love to see it on the big screen my first time.
- 1. The Hurt Locker (Directed by Kathryn Bigelow): I think that for years I imagined I had watched this Oscar winner. I watched the trailer and remembered that I had passed on it a few times because it feels like a film you watch when you can watch it all in one sitting. It’s definitely on my shame list of films I haven’t watched.
1975 in Review
- November – Avengers #141 (Marvel Comics): “It doesn’t take much of a genius to figure out who did it, either! We’ve been had by Kang the Conqueror!” – Iron Man. Cover by Gil Kane and John Romita. Written by Steve Englehart. Art by George Perez. It’s odd that they battle Squadron Supreme even though it says Squadron Sinister on the cover. This is a notable issue for many reasons, including the first fully penciled issue of The Avengers by George Perez and Captain America rejoins the team. The cover was so popular that it appeared on notebooks and Trapper Keepers by Mead in the future.
- November 10 – The S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald sunk in Whitefish Bay of Lake Superior, killing all 29 members on board.
- November 29 – TV Guide. Cover by Bernard Fuchs. The NBC Sunday Night Mystery Movie (NBC) was a series of rotating mystery movies including Columbo, McMillan & Wife, McCloud, and McCoy. Only one of those was a McFailure. McCoy starred Tony Curtis in what was clearly The Sting (1973) set in modern times. It never caught on and despite a cool cover here, it would be cancelled in January 1976 after five episodes.
Navy would beat Army for the third straight time in their 85th match-up. Pat Buchanan is the source of the quote, “You should be skeptical of TV news” in Edwin Newman’s article. The summary is that since Watergate, TV news is interested only in scandal and sensationalism. You don’t say?
What the Hell Did I Put in My Mouth?
Bertolli Garlic Vodka Sauce
I don’t often review Italian sauces. There’s always going to be the judging folks who are going to say, “You should always make your own sauce.” Well, some of us stop working at 5pm and need to have dinner on the table by 5:30pm. This is a noteworthy addition to the sauce shelf because it comes from my favorite brand, Bertoli, and it improves upon the best vodka sauce on the shelves. The additional garlic to the cream sauce is just what it needed. Add a little sharp cheese of your own, maybe Romano in this case, and you have a great sauce out of the jar.
Life – Hot Cocoa
I should have listened to the packaging. It clearly says “Nothing like Hot Cocoa” on the box. It’s not their Chocolate Life from a few years ago. That had a rich, milk-chocolate flavor. It’s not Hot Cocoa, although I don’t know exactly what that should be other than chocolate with maybe some marshmallows or whip-cream flavoring. It’s closer to chocolate lite and it doesn’t even turn the milk into chocolate. I’d suggest you believe the box and just pick up one of the best cereals in the aisle, Cinnamon Life.
Chex – Caramel Corn
Cheerios own the oat-grain-based cereals. They have easily released the most combinations of flavors over the years. They don’t have the grain breadth of Chex. I didn’t know initially if these were caramel-flavored Corn Chex or caramel-corn-flavored Chex. I think it’s somewhere in-between. They smell sweet coming out of the bag and initially in the milk. Soaked for a bit, they become closer to a honey-flavored Corn Chex. These are flavorful and a welcome addition to the holiday cereal aisle. I would suggest setting aside at least half of the bag for dry snacking.
“Don’t be afraid to be weak
Don’t be too proud to be strong
Just look into your heart my friend
That will be the return to yourself” – Enigma
