Many
years ago I went to a Disney on Ice show. I ended up having a great
time because rather than just have the characters skate for 90 minutes,
they gave this show a plot! There was an actual story, as the Wicked
Witch from Snow White cast a spell and kidnaps Minnie, Daisy, and some
human girl. Of course Mickey, Donald, and a human guy have to charge to
the rescue. They have a sword fight to rescue the girls, and it was just
so cool to see a story rather than just a boring ice show.
Why
am I telling you this? Because that is what I am reminded of when I
watch the TV special I want to talk about today which premiered in 1988.
Mickey's 60th Birthday!
This
reminds me of the ice shoe because rather than just get a glorifed clip
show we get a special which has a story! Is it a good story? Well,
that's another discussion entirely. This is one of those programs where
What seemed really cool as a kid seems down right peculiar today when
looked at with adult eyes. In fact, the more I watch it the more I
realize that they really missed the target with this. Let's take a
closer look.
Plot
Summary-Joey, Ross, and Rachel try to sort out who proposed to whom,
Monica and Chandler are caught having sex by Monica’s father
Funniest
Line-“Oh, I still can't believe my dad saw us having sex! He didn't
make it toone of piano recitals, but this he sees!”….Monica
Nitpick
of the episode-I guess I should point out that the whole scenario here
is forced, why would Rachel ever say yes to Joey like that? It takes her
about a second to change her mind.
Standout Character-Rachel, she deals with a real emotional roller coaster here
Syndication Edit-Scene Extensions
Final
Thoughts-This is a very difficult episode to talk about because so much
happens in such a short amount of time. Rather than quickly resolve the
cliffhanger,the episode keeps making it more and more complicated by
having people think different things and then unintentionally mislead
each other. By the end it’s all sortedout, and we end on a stunned Ross
who realizes that Rachel actually said yes to Joey. The Chandler/Monica
stuff is ok and Phoebe is here to mix things up.
Superfriends
featured Superman, Batman and Robin, Wonder Woman and Aquaman working
out of the Hall of Justice with teenage Wonder Twins Zan and Jayna. It
was a great show,....when I was a kid.
It has aged I admit it, I even find it sily when I watch it
today. It's almost as if the cartoon show was stuck in the silver age.
There seemed to always be something bizarre happening to the heroes. Odd
space warps, peculiar aliens, random time travel. They would be
transformed in to all kinds of things from monsters to gold statues, be
shrunk down, mind controlled, or somehow turned evil. Once Superman was turned into a photograph, WTF?
This
is a result of the era these shows were produced, since there could be
no violence they had to resort to silly stories. Shows like He-Man and
G.I.Joe would eventually start the end of that trend thank goodness. And
of course the new JLA shows were ten times better, But we can still
look back at the classic and enjoy. So here are the five strangest
moments in Superfriends. And yeah, I stole this idea from Phelous.
Starting
what I hope will be a new series talking about the great (and not so
great) specials from the 80's and 90's. We just don't get these anymore,
not counting that awful Betty White's 2nd Annual 90th Birthday Special.
I adore Betty White but That was seven kinds of stupid.
Today
I want to talk about a special which has become almost infamous. It
aired on Earth Day in 1990 and was simply claled "The Earth Day
Special". I loved this as a kid because of the all star cast. As an
adult I find it more and more...silly.
My
brother and I videotaped this and I still have it to this day. I have
seen it several time and it gets weirder every time. I will say one
thing, it sure does have an all star cast. I'd be here all day if I
listed everyone who appears in it. Basically the special is a series of
cutaways and cameos. They do try to hammer in a narrative, but it gets
so lost toward the end you forget it.
Plot Summary-Joey has an interview for Soap Opera Digest (yes, that’s it!)
Funniest Line-“It hurts me. It physically hurts me.”…..Chandler
Nitpick
of the episode-If the reporter knew Joey was fired from Days and had
been interviewed before for her magazine, shouldn’t she be able to
figure out why he got fired? Or am I thinking to much?
Standout Character-Joey, I guess
Syndication Edit-clip show
Final
Thoughts-Groan! Another clip show! And this is the worst yet! I mean,
another Joey centered clip show? They did that already! Why not make
Phoebe or Ross the focus or something? Yeah there are a fewfunny lines
from Chandler but this episode is just a bore. We know how much Joey
cares for his friends! I don’t mind clip shows in sitcoms until they get
overdone. Unfortunately Friends joins a long line of shows like The
Golden Girls and Family Ties who over did the clip show format to death! Oh but good news, we have two more coming!!!
Plot
Summary-Chandler discovers the joy of bathing; Ross and Rachel argue of
potential baby names, Joey tries to dismiss his feelings for Rachel
Funniest Line-“Oh, I'm sorry, are we having an 89 year old?”….Rachel
Nitpick
of the episode-So many argue that while Chandler states he hates baths,
he was taking a bath with Monica back in season 5. Well, give one to
the creators they do clear this up when Chandler explains clearly that
it wasn’t the bath he enjoyed but the wet naked lady.
Standout
Character-Joey, the reason why the “Joey loves Rachel” stuff works is
all in how the character deals with it. He doesn’t embrace it at all; he
knows it’swrong but decides it’s out of his control. Handled very
nicely.
Syndication Edit-Scene Extensions
FinalThoughts-After
teasing last time I will talk about the Joey/Rachel stuff. It works in
the beginning because of how it’s handled. I can buy that Joey suddenly
has these feelings. What screws it up is how they stretch it out later,
but we will talk more about that as we go. It’s the strong acting by
LeBlanc that sells the scenario. The baby name stuff with Ross and
Rachel is realty good here. Lots of laughs. What isn’t good is that
stupid Chandler story. Yeah, watching him sit in a bath really makes me
laugh. To be fair that last scene in the bathroom with the gang where
Ross and Rachel announce the baby’s sex was really good and the opening
talk Joey has with Chandler. Phoebe is basically just here to pad the
episode out.
I have
not seen any Disney trailers in a while (is it me, or do they not
advertise movies on TV like they used to?). But in the 90's I did, and
the trailers were always so annoying. It was almost like Disney was so
sure about its product they felt they could throw together any trailer
and it wouldn't matter.
Just so you know this is all in good fun. Anyway, here are five things Disney did to ruin their
own movie trailers.
TO MUCH TALKING!
This happened with the animated films a lot! Now I mean no disrespect to the guy who did these voiceovers,
he was great, but my lord shut up! First he had to remind of us of the
earlier fimes. Then He had to tell us who the characters were and set
up the basic plot. How about letting the scenes from the movie speak for
themselves without a plot synopsis? And finally he always had to point
out how the heroes were onto an exciting adventure the whole family
would love! It's like they were trying to convince us that yes, there
will be a story! A good trailer should be able to give an idea who the
characters are and what the story is about without it being spoon fed to
us. And just once I would have loved the guy to say "A terrible movie
your whole family is sure to hate!"
I
talked a few weeks ago about how much I love Baseball, specifically the
Red Sox. Well it stands to reason that if I love Baseball, I would like
Baseball movies. So today I wanted to share my personal favorite
Baseball movies.
Before I start to
list I wanted to mention what had to be my favorite Baseball scene
ever-from the movie The Naked Gun! Frank Drebin infiltrates a Baseball
game looking for a potential assassin, and let’s just say that it’s
really funny! Yeah the Acaedmy Award spoof in the third Naked Gun was
better,but still. I dare you to watch the scene where he mangles the national anthem and not laugh!
Ok, here are my favorite Baseball movies.
#5.Major League
I
go back and forth on this movie all the time. Sure, the Baseball stuff
is fun but why did they have to ruin the movie with that awful love
story? I like Rene Russo, but that subplot just seem really unneeded, as
if they wanted to pad the running time. Still the Baseball stuff is
really good and the film does have some laughs in it. Charlie Sheen, Tom
Berenger, and Cornin Bernsen all make a solid cast. Even Bob Uecker is
fun as the announcer. Sure the jokes a re bit off color but the
character stuff works well. It's Just a fun movie, if you can get past
that annoying romantic nonsense. What about the sequels? Yeah….let’s
just move on J
Plot Summary-Chandler hires a main which upsets Monica, Phoebe hooks up with Eric, Rachel decides to move out of Joey’s place
Funniest
Line-“ Yeah. I can't live with Joey once the baby comes. I don't want
my child's first words to be, "How you doin'?"…..Rachel
Nitpick
of the episode- Chandler hires a maid. Let me repeat that. Chandler,
who is married to an anal retentive clean freak who is always cleaning
and needs everything to be just so, hires a freaking maid!!! Who
thought this up?????
Standout Character-Joey, you can tell he honestly enjoys living with Rachel
Syndication Edit-The maid wondering why Monica put her head between her legs (no, I’m not kidding)
Final
Thoughts-I really don’t know what they were going for with the maid
story. I already pointed out how dumb that is, and then they take it a
step further by making Monica paranoid about the girl. I like when
Chandler asks if it’s possible the company
that made the jeans the maid is wearing could have possibly made more
than the one pair. The only good part of that is the end when Rachel
clears everything up. I liked the Joey/Rachel story, you wouldfigure
that Joey would not want to live with a baby but he loves living with
Rachel so much he’s willing to take it on…nice. Pointless as we will see
later, but nice. And Ross waiting out the death of a tenant so he can
lay claim to her apartment is awful. Finally, we have Phoebe who quickly breaks up with Eric.Really why did she try seconds after he just broke up with Ursula? Lots of stupid here.
I wanted to take a break from my usual light fare today and discuss the horrible events which took place in Boston yesterday.
As
you may or may not know, I live in the Boston area. I am only twenty
miles away, and visit the city a few times a year. I love my little city
and to see what happened yesterday really hits close to home.
It strikes even closer when I came close to being in the city
yesterday. I had made an apointment with a temp agency to talk to them,
but it was cancelled and rescheduled. Oh, and in case anyone is
wondering no I did not know anyone who was in or around there yesterday.
I am submitting
this late Monday night so I apologize if the information is incorrect or
has changed, but as I write there are over 100 injured including two or
three children and three dead (one was an 8 year old). To say that this
is unacceptable is an understatement. The Boston Marathon is a
cherished city tradition and while I may not be huge fan of it, I
respect it and its importance to the city. This act is just a horrible,
inexcusable offense which was the result of a coward. Yeah that's right,
because only a coward will willingly injure innocent people who didn't
do a damn thing to them. I don't know what the motive is, but it really
doesn't matter either. What in the world is the point of doing something
like this? The idea that somewhere there is a person or persons
congratulating themselves on a job well done sickens me. Yeah, good job!
Just to push your political or religious agenda three people lost their
lives while many other suffered injuries (some of those life altering
including losing limbs). Way to go! I feel so bad for the runners and
the spectators, just out to have a nice day and then this happens.
I
just don't get it, and at my advanced age I have seen it all to many
times. The Unabomber attacks. 1988 Pan Am flight 103 bombing over
Lockerbie. The 1993 World Trade Center bombing in New York City. The
1995 Oklahoma City bombing (which involved children at the Federal
building). The 1996 Olympic Park Bombing in Atlanta (111 people
injured). The 1998 embassy bombings. The 2000 attack of the U.S.S. Cole
in Yemen. 9/11. The London bombings in 2005. And now the Boston Marathon
Bombing in 2013. And that doesn't cover the threats or potential bombs
which were discovered in time (and we're not even getting into
shootings!). And of course you can go further back in history, in 1963
there was a bombing in Birmingham, Alabama.
How
many times do we have to go through this? I understand that people have
differences in the world, there is nothing wrong with that. But what
makes one person or group decide that their way is so right that their
only choice is to kill people to advance their own agenda I will never
get. It could also have just been a nutjob who didn't like the fact that
the marathon was being run on a Monday or something, you never know.
Still why anyone would think causing so much tragedy is the way is just
lost on me.I think of all the families affected, and it really breaks my
heart.
One
of the things I love in Star Trek is the notion that one day we will
get past this kind of violence. I guess we can only hope that there will
come a time when this kind of thing is just pages in a history book.
The ironic thing is that this happened on a fantastic day for the city.
The marathon is alwayts a big deal, the Red Sox won, and everything felt
good. Until reality stepped in. For now all we can do is take solace
that there wasn't more injury or damage, it could have been lots worst.
And there are some great stories here of people helping and caring for
those who were injured. The first responders were just amazing in how
fast they go there, the responses from the governor, mayor, and
president were inspiring (this is one of those times when you forget you
don't like the president and you respect him), and I am sure many more
stories of courage will emerge in the next few days.
Of course there is a lot of greiving coming too. But we are a proud
city, and a strong country, and you know we will rise up and be even
stronger after this. Knock us down, and we just get right back up! I
just hope that the culprits are captured and severely punished. Until
they are, let's remember the victims. My heart is broken for my city and
the victims of this horrible act.
“When
I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would
say to me, "Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are
helping.”
Plot Summary-At Monica and Chandler’s wedding reception, Chandler tries to dance,Joey tries to audition for a guest, Rachel reveals she is in fact pregnant
Funniest Line-“Oh honey, you could never embarrass me. Okay, you could easily embarrass me.”….Monica
Nitpick
of the episode-Monica takes the whole Rachel is pregnant news at her
wedding really well considering how upset she was that Rachel stole her
thunder on her engagement night. It could be that she is mature enough
to not let that ruin her big day, or it could just be lazy writing.
Standout
Character-Rachel, I promise I will try not to make her the stand out in
every episode but this was her season. And the scene in the bathroom
with her and Phoebe and Monica is one ofthe best of the series!
Syndication
Edit-The original tag and the opening was longer and included a scene
with Monica’s parents thinking she is pregnant. Another extra scene
where Chandler slips and falls on the dance-floor, grabbing his
mother-in-law's skirt, ripping it. Also you may wonder why Ben was not
at his aunt’s wedding. Actually, he was but his lines were deleted from
the broadcast version.
Final
Thoughts-What a great episode this is! The way that Rachel’s pregnancy
is handled is really good. You gotta love how the episode doesn’t reveal
anything about who and when, that will come later. I was kind of
surprised the whole episode was just the wedding reception. Chandler
trying to dance was funny, Joey trying to impress the director is funny,
and of course the main focus is Rachel. That scene with the three of
them in the bathroom is just a great scene. I love the way Phoebe lies
to make Rachel see how much she really wants it, and Rachel’s lines are
just well done. Even the silly Ross story, having tod ance with all the
kids, doesn’t come off all that badly. Just a very strong episode.
I love how the internet gives people a voice. You have every right to your opinion
and I will always support that. But at the same time very often people
will say things, for example critquing a show or movie, they insist are
clever when really they are blowing smoke. There is a difference between
expressing and opinion and spouting incorrect information in an attempt
to shopw off. Here are five example of what I mean that I have seen all
over the internet .
BEING A REFERENCED GUEST STAR IS NOT A "GOOF"
Sometimes
people really get carried away. I was looking at one site talking about
the mistakes on Friends (and yes there are plenty) but among the
mistakes they would comment on how a character would reference an actor
or actress who would later appear on the show. Um, how is this a
mistake? Talk about active imaginations, for instance Susan Sarandon got
a mention in one episode and many shows later appeared as a character.
CAN'T WE JUST SAY THE CHARACTER LOOKS LIKE SUSAN SARADON? Geez people,
it's a sitcom! Another one noted why Chandler and Joey didn't recognize
Bruce Willis when he appeared on the show since the two are huge Die
Hard fans...people, please!
STAR WARS JUMP CUT
I
have seen this a few times. There is a scene in Star Wars A New Hope
where Obi Wan gives Luke the lightsaber that once belonged to his
father. Before he does C3PO powers down. When Luke activates the
lightsaber, there is a jump cut which many people believe shows C3PO
reacting to the lightsaber. Supposedly you can see his head move. Sorry
guys that was just a jump cut, there is no way the actor could see the
actual lightsaber turn on since it had been undoubteldy added later, so
why would he react to it?
THE SCARECROW IN THE WIZARD OF US
I
see so many people posting this as if it were a film flub. That the
scarecrow has no brain and yet he comes up with the ideas. THAT'S THE
POINT! It's not a mistake it's brilliant writing! In the movie we also
see the Lion find the courage to enter the castle and rescue Dorothy and
the Tin Man clearly worried about her.
HOME IMPROVEMENT "TIM, AL, AND HEIDI"
This
is kind of a personal one because I tried to correcrt the person and
never got a reply. There is an episode where Tim Taylor says "Tim, Al,
and Heidi" and someone thought they had heard Tim say his real name, Tim
Allen. Yeah if you say that fast it can sound that way...but it's not a
mistake!
THE BACK TO THE FUTURE MEME!
If
any of you guys have Facebook I am sure you have seen this. Someone
takes an image of Marty McFly, and the caption reads TODAY IS THE DAY
HE CAME BACK FROM THE FUTURE. Then the date is photoshopped on the
console from the movie. This pisses me off because it's wrong!! I
realize not everyone has seen the movie as muuch as I have, but if
you've seen it once you should show know that they went 30 years after
1985. That would be 2015! October 21st, to be precise. It just annoys me
when people post this and think it's so cool,
it's not correct! I have seen these pop up many times and will be so
happy when the date does get here so these photoshopped things can
finall disappear.
As annoying as these are I do love that people can comment and express their opinion, and I hope that never stops!
Ah,
PSA’s! I talked a bit about this awhile back but decided to elaborate a
bit today. There was something special about the PSA’s we had when I
was growing up. They were corny, sure, but they were entertaining and
memorable. I am not sure what they have today, but I feel safe in saying
they just don’t make them like this anymore.
There
are lots I could mention from Woodsy Owl (Give a hoot,don’t pollute!),
to McGruff the crime dog (ah, take a bite out of crime), Smokey Bear
(only you can prevent forest fires!) The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter Day Saints, The crash test dummies, and even a crying indian!
Good times. I won’t get into the drug PSA’s(like the one with R2D2
smoking!!) because Nostalgia Critic covered those very well many moons
ago. Instead I wanted to talk about the PSA’s which aired onSaturday
mornings in between cartoons. Remember when getting up on Saturday
morning was a big deal? I loved to get up and watch the awesome
cartoons. Part of the fun were the cool PSA’s that we got. Here are my
five favorites.
#5.He-Man PSA's
It was a rule that said every kids show had to have a moral lesson, so pretty much every show in the 80's threw PSA's onto the end of their episodes. He-Man was no exception, but everyone did this even Sailor Moon!
#4.Time for Timer
I
am betting this is the one many people have never heard of. Though
Family Guy did do a parody of it. This one is hard to explain but let’s
give it a shot. Timer was a cartoon character who looked like a matzo
ball. He basically promoted stuff like healthy eating
habits and personal hygiene.I remember one where was inside the human
body talking about how food is processed for energy. One was set in a
western setting and he sung about cheese as a good snack (this was a
long time ago!). Another he sung about a healthy snack called sunshine
on a stick. It’s orange juice frozen inan ice cube tray. You put sticks
in the juice, and voila you got homemade orange Popsicle! And yes, I
tried this.
#3.Knowing is Half the Battle! from G.I. Joe
As I noted back in the
80’s all cartoons had to have something educational in them. He-Man's were goofy for the most part. G.I.Joe however, now these were cool! Maybe it was because
G.I.Joe is set in the real world so they could cover real dangers, or
maybe it was because they didn’t force the moral to be tied to the
story, but I still remember a few of these to this day. The format was
simple, a couple kids would get into a situation and a member of G.I.Joe
would pop up and give some sound advice. I loved G.I. Joe and the PSA’s
were a great end of each episode. These are so popular that they still
get made fun of. Is it lame that hearing the tag line on these still
makes me smile? Now you Know!
#2. Schoolhouse Rock
Why
oh why can’t they have stuff like this on today? Is there anyone who
has never heard of this, unlikely since these ran well into the 90’s?
Conjunction Junction, I am just a Bill, The Great American Melting Pot,
Electricity!….I love these! Basically these were shorts about English,
Math,and various other subjects with very creative songs that you can’t
get out of your head no matter how hard you try! My favorite is the
adjective song, the cartoon has a girl camping and she sings about how
she was “Unpacking her Adjectives”. Ok the animation was never much but
the songs were cool and the educational stuff was top notch. It’s not
always easy to make educational content memorable and enjoyable, but
this show does it very well! Unlike the rest of these all of these have
all been collected on DVD.
#1 One To Grow On
I
loved these!! Can I state that emphatically enough? It just wasn’t
Saturday morning without these awesome PSA’s. Basically the concept was
we would see a situation involving kids, for example complaining about
having homework, and suddenly the scene would zoom out to a celebrity
explaining whatever the moral was. After the celebrity explained the
mistake the kid was making the scene would zoom back in and we'd get the
proper resolution to the problem. Not only were these fun and
educational,they were a who's who of who was on NBC at that time! Name a
star on NBC in the 80's, from Michael J.Fox to Soleil Moon Frye, and
they did at least one ofthese. Even Mr.T! Sure not all of them were
perfect, they could be corny and not well acted, but man these bring
back some great memories. If you never heard ofthem, or just feel like
reliving some fun memories, I shared some YouTube links but there are plenty more to check out!
PSA’s
are still around today of course, including CBS Cares and the never
dying NBC classic, The More You Know……. which has been around for ages
(since 1989!) and was even parodied in an episode of Scrubs. At this
point virtually anyone who was party of NBC in the last almost 25 years
has done one. The piano tune with the star logo has become as popular as
the aforementioned G.I.Joe slogan.
Is it just me, or would anyone else kill for a DVD collection of all of these?
Plot Summary-Ross is attracted to his cousin (I already lost you, haven’t I?), Joey auditions for a movie role which requires him to naked, Phoebe and Rachel throw Monica a spot bridal shower
Funniest
Line-“Say something clever. Okay, doesn't have to be clever. Just has
to be words. Say some words. Any words will do. Oh, my God, this is the
longest that anyone has not talked ever! There is nothing you could say
to make this worse so just say something!”…..Ross
Nitpick
of the episode-Nice of Rachel and Phoebe to forget to throw Monica a
bridal shower! I could complain Chandler never got a bachelor party, but
the serieswill take care of that one next season
Standout Character-Ross, not easy to be funny and creepy at the same time!
Syndication Edit-Scene Extensions
Final
Thoughts-It never bodes well when a show has to resort to a stunt to
get people’s attention. That’s what Joey’s story is, it’s all setup for
that last gag at the audition
with the silly putty. It’s funny but when a story is all set up for a
joke it leaves the rest kind of empty. The bridal shower story seemed
silly, why go the extra step of making Phoebe and Rachel forget all
about it? Thankfully by the time Phoebe has her bridal shower the
writing would be a little more creative. Ross’s story….what can I say
about Ross’s story? The scene where he thinks to himself while his
cousin stares at him waiting for an explanation is kind of funny, but on
the whole the concept is just creepy. I guess it does help that they
established Ross has not been with anyone in awhile. And of course
Chandler is once again all but absent.
I
love Superman! He is my favorite comic book character, anwhy not? He
embodies everything good about people. He has so much power that hecould
easily conquer, and what does he do with it instead? He helps people
andonly uses his powers and abilities when they are really needed. Of
course therehave been many versions of The Man of Steel and his
supporting cast on TV andin movies, and they all portray the character
differently. But what if youcould take all those versions and make one
perfect version of Superman? That’swhat I am going to do today. This is
all just for fun, and 100% opinion.
I
will be using characters from Lois & Clark,Smallville, and the
classic movies. Yes I know there were other versions but I never watched
the old classic show and am not including any animated series here. And
since I hated Superman Returns, let’s just forget about that one. And
finally I am aware Smallville does not get tremendous respect, and while
I agree there were flaws the truth is the creators did a great job
respecting and staying true to the Superman legend so I am going to
include it.
Plot
Summary-Phoebe takes a job as a telemarketer, Rachel destroys Joey’s
chair, and Monica thinks her parents love Ross more than her
FunniestLine-“Are you kidding? I get a Porsche and the Barcalounger's gone? This is the best day ever!”….Monica
Nitpickof
the episode-Amazing; Jason Alexander created a character who is an even
bigger loser than his character on Seinfeld! I also don’t buy the “no
one in the office knows he exists” gag, it feels forced. And what
exactly is stopping the guy from quitting?
Standout
Character-Monica, about time her parent issues came out a little
bit(although having it be with her mother would have made more sense)
Syndication
Edit-This episode was 40 minutes long to compete with Survivor. As a
result there are lots of scene missing or trimmed. There's an extra
scene at the coffee house where Ross calls his parents, and another one
at Joey's place with Rachel and Chandler, where they argue about who
gets the La-Z-Boy.
Final Thoughts-What
do you do when you are out of ideas? Get a big named guest star and
make a story about him! In all fairness it’s not a terrible Phoebe
story,but why does the character played by Jason Alexander get the
focus? You know what would be worst, centering a story on Joey’s
armchair. Oh wait, they did that! The only redeeming part ofthis episode
is the Ross/Monica story; it’s good to see the way Monica feels about
her parents finally coming out!
I realize that with all the tributes from everyone, my special ranting seems minor. But I had some special memories I wanted to share,
so here we go. Roger Ebert passed away yesterday at the age of 70. This
is very sad news for me. I am not a big fan of any one critic. They all
kind of blend together. Roger Ebert was the exception, no matter what
if I wanted to know about a movie, I always checked his review. I have
been a fan of his since I can remember.
Before
I begin I want to mention that this is a second article on movies I
love that don’t get much attention. The first article was originally
called “Five Forgotten Movies I Just Love”, but the word forgotten was
poorly used in that instance, all the movies I listed were remembered by
many Besides Les is using that word in his new series and I want to
avoid a copyright suit.:)
Now that I have bored you, let’s talk about five more movies I love which do not get enough attentionin my opinion.
#5. Soapdish
If
you’ve never heard of this, log onto Netflix and check it out! This is a
little comedy which really is pretty funny. It’s basically aparody of
soap operas, and has a fantastic all-star cast. Sally Field, Whoopi
Goldberg, Kevin Kline, Elizabeth Shue…and that’s just for a warm up. Why
this movie never appears in lists of people’s favorite comedies is
beyond me. It’s a very broad comedy and to be honest the story makes no
sense, but the laughs are what make this movie so awesome! I would give a
plot synopsis, but I would need to do an entire review of it and don’t
have the room in this format. Awesome movie!
Plot Summary-Rachel and Phoebe convince Joey to continue dating a girl they like, Ross discovers that people are having sex near his thesis in the library, Janice returns….enough said.
Funniest
Line-“Hi, I was wondering, is it possible to increase security in the
Paleontology section? I wrote a book that's up there, and instead of
reading it people are... well, they're rolling around in front of
it.”….Ross
Nitpick of the
episode-While they did a good job with Janice here, I can’t help but
feel they could have gone even further with her finding out Chandler is
engaged. I don’t often make comments like this, but I hated Rachel’s
short hair in this and the next several episodes. From what I read, so
did Jennifer Aniston.
Standout Character-Joey, always nice to see there is a real person in there
Syndication
Edit-The first scene with Janice was a bit longer, I think Joey’s
reaction toseeing Janice was cut but I could be wrong
Final
Thoughts-Well after not seeing her last season (voice over aside),
Janice returns in her full glory this season. You knew she had to have
feelings about Chandler being engaged to Monica, and overall this
episode handles that verywell. The story about Rachel and Phoebe talking
Joey into continuing to date awoman they like is good, but the cop out
in having her be just as shallow as Joey was weak. Ross’s story is
stupid, but ends up having the biggest laugh inthe episode.
Plot
Summary-Monica wants to celebrate her engagement but a sudden reunion
of Ross & Rachel sidetracks her, Joey thinks he can pass for 19
while Phoebe tries to get Monica to let her sing at the wedding
Funniest Line-“I'm sorry, uh apparently I've opened the door to the past.”….Monica
Nitpickof
the episode-This is a tough one to judge because you can sympathize
with Monica but at the same time you can say that she ruined her own
night. She is the one who made a big deal about Ross and Rachel. Oh,
and isn’t it funny after all that drama with Phoebe that she never sang a
word at the actual wedding?
Standout
Character-Rachel, I feel for her it must be hard seeing Monica engaged
when she was so close to being married only to end up not. It also makes
her story from the previous episode more than just pointless filler.
Syndication Edit-Longer opening, Rachel telling Joey to dress the age he wants to play,Phoebe’s first song
Final
Thoughts-This is a bottle show, so you can imagine that I really
enjoyed it. Monica and Chandler are funny, Phoebe and Joey are funny,
Ross and Rachel are funny. This is really a strict character piece,and
that make sense because Monica and Chandler getting engaged does change
things. No longer will they be six single friends hanging out, and that
makes adifference! Ross gets the funniest line at the end about his
hands, and I amnot about to describe it here. If you have never seen the
episode check it out. Great start to the season! Would it last?
Grade=A-,strong episode but would the season stay strong?
