I Just Want To Celebrate, Another Day of Life

Tomorrow is my birthday.

But enough about me. How about who I share my birthday with?

Gilda Radner

John Belushi once famously said, "Chicks aren't funny." But, I don't think he meant Gilda. In her short time on Saturday Night Live, she was funny, heartwarming and showed that humor does not have a gender bias. She won an Emmy for her work, made movies with husband Gene Wilder and set the standard for SNL's female cast members. Gilda passed away in 1989.

Pat Morita

Forever immortalized as Mr. Miyagi in the Karate Kid films, Pat Morita was an amazing American actor of Japanese descent and extremely significant as an accepted minority actor in Hollywood. He never took any roles that were stereotypes, loved to work and was nominated for an Academy Award. Pat passed away in 2005.

Mel Brooks

Saving the best for third, Mel Brooks is an accomplished comedian, war veteran, writer, director, actor, playwright, author, songwriter, producer, Emmy winner, Grammy winner, Oscar winner and Jew. He has worked with Richard Pryor, Gene Hackman, Carl Reiner, Dave Chappelle, Sid Caesar, Orson Welles, Harvey Korman, Will Ferrell, Kermit the Frog, Richard Lewis and of course, his late lovely wife, Anne Bancroft. He is also responsible for the funniest movie of all time, Young Frankenstein.

And finally, John Cusack.

Just watch.

Spaced, Edgar Wright and Me

It’s rare for a film festival to program a television series into its lineup, but not when that show is the incomparable Spaced. The genesis, the alpha, Eden and Spaced are where all things spring from. Anyone who knows me knows that I saw Hot Fuzz no fewer than ten times in its theatrical run and am a devoted fan of Edgar Wright and everything he does. I’m not going to write a review of the series for those who haven’t seen it, because I want to wait for the DVD release on July 22. Instead, I want to tell you about Tuesday at the Los Angeles Film Festival and my evening with Edgar Wright.

Spaced is the British sitcom about friends Tim and Daisy pretending to be a professional couple in order to rent a flat in London. Stars Simon Pegg and Jessica Hynes (Stevenson) wrote every episode and Edgar Wright directed every episode, 14 in all over a two year run. Pegg and Wright went on to make both Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz and the style of those films is clearly birthed in Spaced. So, when the Spaced Invasion USA was announced, my friend Graham and I secured our tickets immediately. Tuesday night, we drove out to Westwood and the Regent, ready for some Spaced. Also in attendance was Bill of Hader of SuperBad and SNL and I tried giving up my seat to Oscar winner Diablo Cody who of course, had one saved for her. Matt Stone of South Park fame was the moderator for the evening and told a funny story about Edgar before introducing the director. Edgar announced he could not decide between the two scheduled episodes so he chose three instead and would we object to seeing one more? The episodes he screened were ‘Art’, ‘Epiphanies’ and ‘Gone’. After sitting through about sixty minutes of comedic brilliance, Matt and Edgar took the stage again to talk about the series and answer a few questions.

Edgar talked about directing at 21, working for three years on Spaced as both editor and director. He answered questions about the music, did not answer questions about Ant-Man, except to say that it was written and Matt Stone was just as funny and entertaining in his questions and comments on the series. I stood up to ask a question, inquiring of Edgar if there was ever a bit or gag they wanted to do, but could not get cleared or could not fit into a story. He couldn’t think of any off-hand, but he did tell an amusing story about having to re-record certain music and actually performing from memory the Ewok song from Return of the Jedi. After everything was done, I caught Edgar as he was walking up the aisle past me and asked if I could get an autograph. He gladly obliged, complimented me on my t-shirt and even posed to take a picture with me. I don’t know if it’s because he’s British, but damn, he’s a nice guy.

Note the autographed copy of Hot Fuzz.

Riding the high of the moment, we walked out of the theatre where everyone was milling around outside. I introduced myself to Bill Hader who shook my hand and took a picture. Then, the guy talked to me, actually TALKED to me for about five minutes. He recognized my shirt and said he asked Edgar the same question on the DVD commentary. He told about what episodes he did, meeting Edgar thru Will Arnett and Amy Poehler, watching SuperBad for the first time with him and even telling me with what famed female filmmaker Matt Stone was f-, um, having relations with. He then turned and introduced me to Joe Cornish. writer on Ant-Man, and the series Big Train and Adam and Joe. I asked him about Ant-Man, which he and Edgar collaborated on and if it would be part of the big Marvel Universe and possibly integrated into the Avengers movie. He said he didn’t know and that he didn’t even think that Marvel knew right now, but the movie was written and they were looking forward to starting work on it. I thanked him for his time and we walked off to FatBurger, convinced of the good of Hollywood stars.

Matt Stone on the right.

It was another awesome evening for me and for film. Thanks to Edgar, Bill, Joe and my friend Graham for rolling along with me for all of it.

That's Graham!

Spaced is available on DVD on July 22.

Audiences Need to Get Smart

I used to watch Get Smart on Nick at Nite as a kid, which is distressing to me because now kids watch Fresh Prince of Bel-Air on that station. But, by sheer virtue of the cast of the movie Get Smart, I knew I would see it when it came out. Besides the fact that it opened this weekend against The Love Guru.

I am a fan of Steve Carell, Anne Hathaway and The Rock. Meaning, I think Carell is hilarious, Hathaway is hot and The Rock kicks ass. I heard that Carell wanted it to be more Bourne Identity than Austin Powers and I think he was right on with the tone of the picture. The movie tells the modern version of how Maxwell Smart became Agent 86. And it seemed most audiences missed out on that major plot point. When people decried Carell’s performance as neither an homage to Don Adams or an original performance on the same comedic level, they didn’t seem to realize that he was creating something new. Like Daniel Craig in Casino Royale, his Max Smart is not yet Agent 86 from the series, but an analyst yearning to show everyone what he has. Here again, people complained that he character was simply another incarnation of Michael Scott. If be that they mean a man who’s lonely life revolves around work where his enthusiasm is met with indifference, then yes, some of that might be true. But, the difference between Max and Michael is that Max is always in control (pun unavoidable) of the situation. When you think he is going to screw up, he does then uses the laughs to gun down the enemy, gain secret information or get the girl. The girl, Agent 99, played by Anne Hathaway is terrific in her role, easy on the eyes and with a great back and forth with Carell. Luckily, most of the film is the two of them working together to hunt down stolen nukes and it’s the best parts from the ballroom dancing sequence to Max’s growing frustration at her sexual awareness.

Both Alan Arkin and The Rock seem slightly underused in my opinion. They seem just thrown into the final act and are probably the results of a lot of cuts after test screenings. But the rest of the movie moves pretty good. It’s not Casino Royale, but I liked it better than most spy comedies that I’ve seen. Perhaps, we can see another Get Smart soon, or rather just skip Get Smarter and make Get Smart With A Vengenance.

Get Smart, directed by Peter Segal and starring Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway is now in theatres.

George Carlin, Joe Bless You

I used to fancy myself a ball player and a stand up comedian. To that extent, in my lifetime I studied the greatest men who ever did both. I saw Michael Jordan play with the Chicago Bulls in 1993 and George Carlin perform live in 2004. I think about it now with a heavy heart and a small smile.

George Carlin was probably the greatest stand up comedian ever. His only competition Richard Pryor has left us long ago and he continued to march on, bringing his unique brand of comedy to the masses. His wit and intellect have never been equaled and although I am of a generation who considers Dane Cook its representation of ‘college comedy’, Carlin was the original class clown. Born an Irish Catholic in New York, he lived the American Dream he so often enjoyed disparaging in his act. In the Sixties, he changed the course of comedy forever, by completing changing his clean cut act, growing a beard and challenging the authorities. Carlin took on the media, the government, Holy Mother Church and never apologized for anything. He hosted the first ever episode of Saturday Night Live and of course, popularized the Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television (shitpissfuckcuntcocksuckermotherfuckertits). He was once arrested for that bit and like Lenny Bruce, used his comedy to change social attitudes towards languages and laws against obscenity. In his later year, he may have taken some of them venom out of his bite, but never slowed down his pace. He toured constantly, got his own episode on Inside the Actor’s Studio, performed live as recently as last weekend in Vegas and had 14 (!) HBO Comedy Hour specials.

My favorite George Carlin album.

He never carried a feature film because that was not what he wanted to do. He appeared in smaller supporting roles in films like Car Wash and Prince of Tides. Perhaps most people will remember him as Rufus in Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure. He did three films with Kevin Smith that will be how I choose to remember him because of how he portrayed them. In Dogma, Kevin wrote the role of Cardinal Glick for Carlin. Who else to play a Catholic leader determined to ‘revamp’ the Church for the 21^st century? He then played a hitchhiker in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back to bring some comic credibility to a few gay jokes. But, I truly treasure him in the role of Ben Affleck’s father, Bart Trinke, in the over-hated Jersey Girl. He played a grandfather figure filled with tough love and sarcasm that was probably as close to his true nature as we might have ever been privileged to see.

George Carlin taught me how to deal with life as a lapse Catholic and a disgruntled military veteran. He taught me you can say whatever you want and get away with it, so long as you’re funny. He taught me that freedom of religion also means freedom from religion. He taught me the beauty of our English language. He taught me if you love someone and they leave you and come back, set them on fire. He taught me to worship the sun and pray to Joe Pesci. He taught me that you can be sober and hilarious.

George Carlin was 71.

Big Mike's Lil' Update 6/20/08

What's been going on this week?

- Ok, so I've been reading a lot this week about the division growing between fans of the new Hulk and the old Hulk (who all came out of the woodwork this week after five years keeping mum). I enjoyed the new Hulk, if you haven't read my review (then read it here) but I don't think the first one was THAT bad. It just wasn't AS good as this. It's not even a good Ang Lee movie, even though all his themes of family, romance, emotion and character are there. So, I got to thinking, what if Lee stopped carrying over those themes and just carried over the Hulk to his movies instead?

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Hulk

Smash and Sensibility

Eat Drink Hulk Betty

The Hulk Storm

Smash, Caution

and of course, the obligatory,

BrokeHulk Mountain


We can dream, can't we? Also, I happened to catch Ang Lee's version on Sci-Fi Channel last night. I guess I must have blocked out most of this movie, because it seems very weird and unrecognizable. Sorry, Mr. Lee.

- Get Smart tomorrow. I love Steve Carell, The Rock (regardless of what he's calling himself now) and Alan Arkin. But, damn, Anne Hathaway is smoking hot!



- Speaking of hot chicks, Nicole Kidman turns a stunning, STUNNING 41 today. Happy Birthday, beautiful.



- We are officially less than one month away from The Dark Knight. All other movies will bow to it. Although I could've done without all that myspace stuff.



- Oh and in the meantime and in between time, we got Wanted and Hancock.