IntenseDebate - Grabuto

14 years ago @ Big Hollywood - Grading Television's F... · 0 replies · +1 points

I've heard a lot of complaints about the accents, especially from people who live "Chicago" (i.e., the suburbs) or they live on the Northside and were born in Madison, Wisconson. There really are a lot of people, especially from the south side and west Cook County suburbs, who talk like that. They just don't mingle much with the hipster crowd.

You are right about the Delroy Lindo thing.

14 years ago @ Big Hollywood - Grading Television's F... · 1 reply · +1 points

I agree with your opinion on Maria Bello. She needs just enough plot of her own to set her apart. The interplay of the characters on Rizzoli and Isles is fun, but not fun enough to compensate for the plots and the lack of depth. You are right about the Closer. It hasn't hooked me but my wife and her friends have a "Closer Night" with wine and pizza. And, yeah, she is from the South. Didn't her very southern (in a good way) father visit at some point?

14 years ago @ Big Hollywood - Grading Television's F... · 0 replies · +2 points

You are a wise man.

14 years ago @ Big Hollywood - Seth Rogen: The Oscars... · 1 reply · +1 points

A. Because this is a website about movies, and Seth Rogan makes movies?
B. Freaks and Geeks: Freakin' amazing
40 Year Old Virgin: Really funny
Superbad: Good. Great or freakin' great if you are younger than I am.
Pineapple Express: Fun
Zach and Mira: Fun and quirky
Funny People: Way underrated. It is a drama. If you keep that in mind and you will enjoy the experience.

14 years ago @ Big Hollywood - 'Rampart' Review: Harr... · 1 reply · +1 points

In films about cops and the military there are corrupt and/or obtuse people because conflict is the essense of drama. Do a film about office workers and there will be corrupt office workers. Do a film about air traffic controllers, astronauts, strippers or realtors you will find the same thing. The question is how the protaganists are treated and are the institutions themselves the problem .

There is a big distinction between a film that is hostile to the military/cops (Platoon, Thin Red Line, Training Day) and a film that has the usual assortment of good and bad archetypes in order to create conflict. (i.e. a film)

In Blue Bloods there is a plot thread about a corrupt group within the NYPD. However, having a plot thread about a corrupt group within the Iron Workers Local 21 of Omaha would be some tricky writing in a show entirely about members of the NYPD. And the characters would not be personally invested, which is to say, there would be no drama or conflict.

Speed. I agree, in the context of this discussion, it is a distinction without a difference.

14 years ago @ Big Hollywood - 'Rampart' Review: Harr... · 0 replies · +1 points

There is honor in all honest work, including mopping floors. Being a thief with a sense of unearned entitlement, on the other hand...

14 years ago @ Big Hollywood - 'Rampart' Review: Harr... · 0 replies · +2 points

I suspect if you polled most middle class people without a police record they would describe their experience with law enforcement as extermely unhelpful, hostile and unpleasant.
I came up in a cop family, and there are some very good cops.
And there are a lot of indifferent cops. And some really bad cops. But they all have guns and can tell you what to do.
I am sad to say that, in my experience, most police are casually indifferent and subtley bullying. They do not project the " protect and serve" mindset. They view the law-abiding civilian population as either a pain in the ass or as victims to be questioned. They are jerks in bars, for the most part. Their job is less dangerous than taxi driver's but they expect to always be placed on a pedistle.

14 years ago @ Big Hollywood - 'Rampart' Review: Harr... · 2 replies · +1 points

Once you get a job I hope you plan to buy the material you consume rather than steal it. This is Big Hollywood, not the Huffington Post. If you can't afford a Netflix account you are spending too much time watching movies and not enough time improving your skill set.

14 years ago @ Big Hollywood - 'Rampart' Review: Harr... · 1 reply · +2 points

Pretty much. But that is what he does, so why is he overrated? He seems to be perfectly rated as a strong character actor.

14 years ago @ Big Hollywood - 'Rampart' Review: Harr... · 3 replies · +6 points

Die Hard? Lethal Weapon? The two defining cop fims of the contemporary era.
Mystic River. Colors. Heat. Stop! or my Mom will Shoot. Speed. Bad Boys. 48 Hours. Tango and Cash. Beverly Hills Cop. Hollywood Homocide. Eastern Promises. Kindergarten Kop. Hot Fuzz. ... It is a long, long, long list.

Certainly, films have lots of "mavericks" bucking against the "system." Conflict is the essense of drama. A cop doing his thing with the complete support of his chain of command, the public and government is a tedious documentury, not a "cop film." But consider that the cliche is the rogue cop with the angry captain and the nervous mayor doing his own thing and getting the job done. The captain and mayor aren't evil, just very law abiding, which is best in the real world but not so good for generating conflict or wish-fullfillment.

I really like Blue Bloods. Maybe Blue Bloods, and only Blue Bloods, is what you are able to handle.

IntenseDebate Comment System

Connect with Grabuto

People I'm following

Grabuto