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Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion

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Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion. Touchstone Pictures 1997.

Before watching the movie:

This is probably a surprise entry for the month. I always wanted to include Romy and Michele and I’m not sure why they came to mind with the others. Possibly because one of the most notable images associated with the movie is the two women in a convertible, something also strongly associated with another iconic title duo.

I first learned of this movie’s existence from a podcast interview with Kudrow, who discussed how she’d done a pilot based on a play she’d been in that didn’t get picked up right before she got cast in Friends, and if that pilot had sold, then Friends wouldn’t have happened for her, but without the success of Friends, this movie based on the same characters from the play wouldn’t have gotten made. I have the vague idea that it’s about the pair realizing on the occasion of their ten-year reunion that they haven’t made much of themselves, but I don’t know much more and I’m mainly drawn to it because of how much it seems to mean to the actors and to the cult fanbase.

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Man on Wire

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Man on Wire. Discovery Films 2008.

Before watching the movie:

I was fairly aware of this documentary coming out at the time, but I didn’t really know much more than the image on the poster. At some point I heard that the high wire walk was done without permission, and when the police showed up to arrest him, he spent a while walking back and forth to whichever tower the police weren’t on top of and dancing in the middle.

I never really put much thought into what kind of preparation would have gone into setting up a tightrope where you’re not wanted, let alone just getting into the place. I suppose there would be a documentary in that story.

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Sportsball Cinema

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A collection of recommendations this week inspired by the main reason I’m still busy outside of work. I’m actually a little surprised how many sports movies I’ve covered, as it’s generally outside my interests. But I’ve had a long time to collect them now.

  • Field of Dreams – if someone doesn’t name this as the quintessential baseball movie, it’s probably because they said A League of Their Own
  • Mr. 3000 – Bernie Mac is playing baseball, how silly!
  • Major League – Awful players are playing baseball, how silly!
  • Ed – Matt Leblanc is playing baseball, how silly! Also there’s a chimp.
  • BASEketball – You got your baseball in my basketball! You got your basketball in my baseball!

Wonder Winterland?

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Where I am, we’ve been halted by what I used to consider a pretty minor winter weather event, so this week I’m collecting some of the reel thing.

Snow Day: the post that may have jinxed my region last year.

Jack Frost: do you want to build a snowdad?

The Survivors: somebody is ready to profit on your fear of being unprepared.

Cliffhanger: Rambo in the snow, parka not included.

Titanic: Ice has never endangered any of us this much.

Major Payne

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Major Payne. Wife n’ Kids Productions 1995.

Before watching the movie:

One more that I never heard of until I saw it floating around my sources. Damon Wayans terrorizes some JROTC kids as their drill instructor, so it sounds like fun. As the instructor is the protagonist, it sounds like a bit of the inverse of movies like Sgt. Bilko and Stripes.

I’m sure there will be one or two kids with an interesting quirk, but I don’t have high expectations for a memorable bunch, just a generic group of misfit boys trying to get the ex-Marine off their backs.

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Your Tax Dollars At The Movies

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Despite election cycles, the world is all politics, all the time, and it is only the privileged few who can avoid that, perhaps especially during an administration mainly built on not constantly drumming up controversy. So there’s always time to consider American government through the movies.

1776: Begin at the beginning, and sit down, John. Gridlock is eternal.

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington: The little guy with a heart who’s chronically too rare in the machinery of government.

The Manchurian Candidate: Back when it was easier to imagine a foreign government brainwashing and grooming future American leaders than just tuning the minds of the electorate through online advertisements and fake accounts.

All the President’s Men: Somehow Watergate is when cynicism about government corruption became standard, though it’s always been with us.

Wag the Dog: When there seems little else to do about the state of affairs, why not laugh about it?