Welcome to a special MasterChugs Theater. All you seriously in a relationship guys may know that Valentine’s Day is this week. If you didn’t, don’t worry, you’ve still got three days until you’re in trouble … unless you’re reading this on Thursday, then it’s Ruh-Roh, Raggy. For everyone else though, say salutations to “Love in the Theater”, a guide to the do’s and don’ts of the film world for this romantic week. Pay attention and you’ll hopefully get a do and not a don’t on Thursday evening. Our first victim: Love at First Bite. Continue reading MasterChugs Theater Love Tap: ‘Love at First Bite’
Tag: movies
MasterChugs Theater: ‘The Squid and the Whale’
First of all, just a little bit of housekeeping: make sure to visit SeriouslyGuys everyday next week as I’ll be putting up a new movie review each day, all within SG’s new limited time theme: “Love in the Theater.” Now, the review.
The Squid and the Whale has the power to break your heart and heal it again. Acutely observed, faultlessly acted, graced with piercing emotion and unsparing honesty, it will make you laugh because you can’t bear to cry. Winner of two top Sundance prizes for filmmaker Noah Baumbach, Squid’s accomplishment is especially remarkable because its material is so familiar. “Squid’s” roots are in youthful autobiography, in a family’s divorce and a son’s coming of age, usually the elephant’s graveyard of independent cinema. With a title whose meaning and resonance become clear only at the close, Squid‘s great strength is that it is as perceptive as it is personal. It’s the work of a skillful writer-director who has what might be called perfect emotional pitch. Continue reading MasterChugs Theater: ‘The Squid and the Whale’
How To: Babysit young children
Our more dedicated readers are probably thinking, “but Guys, didn’t you cover this topic when you told us How To: Raise your kids?”
Well, dear reader, the answer is no. (By the way, nice job on hyperlinking in your thoughts!) Raising kids and babysitting them is totally different. Why? Because you get paid for it, and you really aren’t liable if anything happens to them in the first place. Odds are you will have to take care of your sibling’s kids, your neighbor’s kids, or even (gasp) your boss’ kids at least once in your adult life. Long gone are the days of high school side job. That was a great racket, wasn’t it? The rules have changed, so SeriouslyGuys presents how to babysit young children.
MasterChugs Theater: ‘The Descent’
In 2002, Neil Marshall directed a low-budget film called Dog Soldiers. The plot was simple; take a close-knit group of six men, strand them in the wilderness and expose them to hostile monsters, i.e. werewolves. The film received a healthy reception both critically and financially and gradually wound it’s way towards it’s final cult destination. It’s a great film-make sure to rent it though, as opposed to watching it on The Sci-Fi Channel. Cut to 2005, and you could be forgiven for thinking that Marshall’s third film, The Descent, in which a close group of six women are stranded in a cave and exposed to hostile under-dwellers, is an exact blueprint rip-off of his earlier film. Not so much Dog Soldiers as “Lassie Spelunkers.” You could be forgiven for thinking that then, but you’d also be wrong, because this film is an extremely different beast altogether. The Descent is much more streamlined. This film’s lean. It’s mean. And by god, it’s as scary as hell.
MasterChugs Theater: ‘Dolemite’
Rudy Ray Moore might not have reinvented cinema, but he is a pioneer when it comes to comedy. Moore peppered his bits with enough four-letter words and sexual innuendo (and not so innuendo) to make Richard Pryor and Redd Foxx blink. He found great success doing comedy party albums, and he also single-handedly shaped what would become hip-hop music, by performing rap before Grand Master Flash and The Sugar Hill Gang even bought a Dr. Seuss book. Moore’s stand-up creation Dolemite, was quickly turned into a film character (and later an icon of “blaxpoitation” films), even though Dolemite more closely resembles the style of Bruce Lee films. Funded by Moore out of his own pocket (and helped by sales of his album Eat Out More Often), Dolemite’s high-flying karate heroics, little-man-versus-big-man storylines, and bad dubbing work on many different levels, although none very high-brow.