Z is for Zoolander

 

Zoolander: Unlike some of my other choices, the only Z I could think of was actually one I would have picked anyway, had there been a bunch of other Zs. This is one of my favourite comedies because Ben Stiller does such a fine job of making fun of the ridiculous fashion and model industry. Plus, he and Owen Wilson as perfect male fashion models is as funny as Will Ferrell being a fashion designer who wants to eliminate the Prime Minister of Malaysia. (How does he get Derek Zoolander to do such a task? By brainwashing him to the tune of Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s “Relax,” of course!) So, yes, it’s ridiculous and Derek is so stupid and funny that you can’t help but love the idiotic things he says. Besides, wouldn’t you at least want to see a “walk-off” judged by David Bowie? And “The Derek Zoolander Center for Kids Who Can't Read Good and Wanna Learn to Do Other Stuff Good Too” is just hilarious, especially the part with the little model of the school that confuses Derek. “What is this a school for ants?” I even remember referencing this movie when I first started working at the library and seeing how tough it was just on my hands to put all the DVDs back in order. It reminded me of Derek saying he’d gotten The Black Lung like his family of coal miners and his dad said, “Derek, you've been down there one day. Talk to me in thirty years.” See, the message is universal!

From this post I also learned two things about the film: First, Brett Easton Ellis claimed this was stolen from his book Glamorama, which I only read the very beginning, otherwise I would have caught that too. and secondly, there’s going to be a Zoolander 2! Hooray!

So watch it, it’s funny.

Derek Zoolander: Well I guess it all started the first time I went through the second grade. I caught my reflection in a spoon while I was eating my cereal, and I remember thinking "wow, you're ridiculously good looking, maybe you could do that for a career."
Matilda: Do what for a career?
Derek Zoolander: Be professionally good looking.

Yay! I made it to the end of Culture Month. Hope you enjoyed the tour as much as I did. Thanks for reading my A-Z April Blog Challenge of movie reviews. I appreciate all the comments and new followers. I’m following back so I can keep up with everyone who’s been painstakingly working on their lists for next year as well, I’m sure.

Technorati Tags: Ben Stiller,Owen Wilson,Will Ferrell,David Bowie,Christine Taylor,Milla Jovovich,David Duchovny,Jon Voight,90s,Frankie Goes to Hollywood,Brett Easton Ellis,blogging,blog,writing,atozchallenge,a-z

Y is for Young Guns

Young Guns: was first a movie before it was a band. Now, I remember these movies fondly as a kid because it starred every hip, male actor (Kiefer Sutherland, Charlie Sheen, Christian Slater was in the sequel as well). Emilio Estevez played a pretty funny, charming Billy the Kid. This is why I think a young audience maybe could appreciate this because they would know Sutherland and Sheen, plus the movie isn’t played a lot anymore on cable and, more than likely, the historical reference to William H. Bonny got lost somewhere between 1990 and now. The thing I remember the most about the second movie was the Bon Jovi song which was so “cool” back then. (Jon Bon Jovi as an actor now is fine, but the music, sorry, no. Time to move on.) I always liked western movies to a degree because I’m from the hills of Ohio so it’s pretty much a prerequisite for us there. I just found out that John Locke was in this too – crazy!

Alex McSween: I'm not leaving my house.
William H. Bonney: Alex, if you stay they're gonna kill you. And then I'm gonna have to to go around and kill all the guys who killed you. That's a lot of killing.

Technorati Tags: Emilio Estevez,Kiefer Sutherland,Lou Diamond Phillips,Charlie Sheen,Dermot Mulroney,Casey Siemaszko,Terence Stamp,Terry O'Quinn,Billy the Kid,Lost,Bon Jovie,90s,80s,western,cowboy,Christian Slater,atozchallenge,a-z

X is for X-Men

X-Men: This was an obvious choice since the only other X movie I could think of was Xanadu and I only know the song to that one. Anyway, can honestly say that I only know about these characters because of the films (this is true for any Marvel comic movies.) I was never into comic books as a kid so everything I know about Spiderman, Batman and The Hulk are from TV. I know basic stories and I appreciate the comic book stores themselves but I’m not way into them like the boys of The Big Bang Theory are or anything. With that said, I distinctly remember seeing the first the X-Men movie and only knowing who Wolverine was vaguely by name (and hair cut, of course.) Since it’s been forever since I’ve seen the first one and because I saw X-Men First Class on the plane to Florida last year so they’re starting to confuse me in events. The main thing that I liked about the whole theme of these films was that mutants can live in a society and be accepted for who they are somewhere. As with all the Marvel comics, the underdog is always the winner, despite all the painful things that have happened in their lives. That’s why I liked the first X-Men film so much because it showed Wolverine befriending Rogue and their first being helped by Professor X. I liked that Rogue was finally able to find a boyfriend that she wasn’t in danger of killing. I know I’ve seen all of these and I know the characters were awesome so even if comic book movies aren’t your thing, the first film is pretty good and worth seeing just to get a gist of the story.

Rogue: You know, you should wear your seat belt.
Wolverine: Now look, kid, I don't need advice on auto...
[car crashes]

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W is for War Games and The Wedding Singer

Only four more posts to go – time for W movies! Now, my favourite W television show is, of course, The Wonder Years which I doubt a lot of younger people have seen and really should because of it’s time frame. However, the W films I chose were contenders with Willow, The Witches of Eastwick, Wuthering Heights (Tom Hardy as Heathcliff is so good), The Wizard of Oz (which I am going to assume everyone in the world has seen because it’s so, so good and students like Wicked so much) and my first runner up: Wayne’s World (Part time! Excellent!) But in the grand tradition of SNL and 80’s Brat Pack actors I give you two of the most important W films for Culture Month.

War Games: I chose this movie, not only for the Matthew Broderick / Ally Sheedy aspect, but for the new, cool emerging technology that pre-dated the Internet. Younger audiences don’t have a concept of a time when computers were new and mysterious so I think seeing this would be pretty eye-opening. I’m sure they’d laugh at this idea but considering that by 1983 we had already been sending people to space, it’s remarkable what little we still didn’t have as far as the modern technology we have today. Plus, the concept of the movie is pretty great. I mean, we’re still trying to figure Steve Jobs out, just as David is trying to figure out how Falken thought to begin playing the computer games he created. It’s been a while since I’ve seen this so I found a clip to share (and help learn German!) I don’t even think students now would understand why these computers aren’t using Windows 7. I also love how Jennifer is fascinated by the fact that the computer can talk. Wonder if Ally Sheedy has Siri now. Hhmm.

Joshua: Shall we play a game?
David Lightman: Oh!
Jennifer: [giggles] I think it missed him.
David Lightman: Yeah. Weird isn't it?
Jennifer: Yeah.
David Lightman: [typing] Love to. How about Global Thermonuclear War?
Joshua: Wouldn't you prefer a nice game of chess?
[Jennifer laughs]
David Lightman: [typing] Later. Let's play Global Thermonuclear War.
Joshua: Fine.

The Wedding Singer: Pretend the movie Jack and Jill never existed and Adam Sandler had just left SNL two years ago and put out Happy Gilmore a year later. When this movie came out, Sandler was still new to the movies. His creating an overly-emotional, mullet-wearing, wedding singer set in the 80s named Robbie, was the funniest thing ever. I still think a lot of it is pretty good even though I’ve seen it tons of times. I know Sandler is revered by kids on the Kids’ Choice Awards so more than likely anyone in their teens and twenties who hasn’t seen this would like it. (Especially since the 80s or still retro, or something, I think…) Anyway, the beauty of the film is Sandler’s dialogue and acting. Drew Barrymore was a perfect choice in casting for Julia and the whole romantic comedy was cute, different and funny without being overly gross, stupid or annoying. Plus, after seeing this, you will never hear songs like “You Spin Me Right Round” quite the same, again – just watch the opening credits. Ah, still love it! Also, not sure if everyone in their 20s and teens would get the importance of Billy Idol being in the film but I saw a student wearing a Siouxsie and the Banshees shirt the other day so  while I hated the idea of kids not getting “our” music years ago, now I’m glad that it’s still living through to new generations. (I think I’m getting wiser in my years.)

Linda: I've been talking with my friends the last few days...
Robbie: Oh, boy, here it comes.
Linda: ...and I think I've figured out what's been bothering me. I'm not in love with Robbie, now. I'm in love with Robbie, six years ago. Robbie, the lead singer of Final Warning; I used to come watch you when you were in your silk shirt and Spandex pants, and you would sing into the microphone like you were David Lee Roth.
Robbie: I've still got the Spandex; I'll put 'em on right now.
Linda: The point is, I woke up this morning and realized I'm about to get married to a wedding singer? I am never gonna leave Richfield!
Robbie: Why do you need to leave Richfield? We grew up here. All our friends are here; it's the perfect place to raise a family.
Linda: Oh, yeah - sure! Living in your sister's basement with five kids while you're off every weekends doing wedding gigs at a whoppin' sixty bucks a pop?
Robbie: Once again, things that could've been brought to my attention YESTERDAY!

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V is for The Virgin Suicides

The Virgin Suicides: Was one I liked enough to go out and read the book a long time ago because the story was so unique and disturbing and beautiful all at the same time. A seemingly perfect family full of beautiful girls in a suburban neighbourhood end up being overly protected by their parents. The Lisbon girls are fascinating to the neighbour boys, one who narrates the story. At the beginning, the youngest sister seems to be the most unstable and she attempts suicide but during a rare party that their parents allow them to throw, Cecilia succeeds in killing herself, leaving the parents to keep the other sisters even more protected from the outside world. After Lux (Kirsten Dunst) is reluctantly allowed to go to prom, bringing her sisters along, they stay out after curfew and their parents remove the girls from school and end up keeping them prisoners in their own home. After months of witnessing Lux’s affairs on her rooftop, the boys receive a letter asking them to help them escape the house. When the boys arrive at the house, Lux chats with them while, quietly, each sister takes her own life. Yes, it is disturbing but the movie is so beautifully done that the tragedy in the story is handled in such a way that you understand and completely sympathize with the girls. Since it’s not on cable a lot, I’m not sure that a lot of female students would have seen this film before. I just appreciate it for the story craft and the American family saga aspect of it.

Narrator: So much has been said about the girls over the years. But we have never found an answer. It didn't matter in the end how old they had been, or that they were girls... but only that we had loved them... and that they hadn't heard us calling... still do not hear us calling them from out of those rooms... where they went to be alone for all time... and where we will never find the pieces to put them back together.

Technorati Tags: Kirsten Dunst,Jeffrey Eugenides,Sophia Coppola,Josh Hartnett,Kathleen Turner,James Woods,literature,atozchallenge,a-z