Change Your Image
jpspencer-14435
Reviews
Road House (1989)
My Greatest Guilty Pleasure
The dialogue is atrocious. The story is full of obvious questions of the "Gilligan's Island" variety, such as, "How does the owner of a crappy club in Missouri know multiple bouncers across the country in an age before social media?". The acting is mailed in. The survival instincts of the protagonist are somehow on a par with Rasputin. The female characters appear to be pulled out of old copies of Penthouse Letters. My wife rolls her eyes in utter exhaustion whenever it is on my TV. Having said that, I shall say this. If you bad mouth this movie in my presence, you are totally dead to me. Viva Swayze!!!
The Way Down: God, Greed and the Cult of Gwen Shamblin (2021)
The Word "Sham" is Literally In Her Last Name
Sometimes , it is difficult to feel positive emotions to the heavily faithful. If viewers take anything away from this documentary (and so many others like it about other control groups), let it be that the faithful aren't born this way. Believers are the way they are because someone wanted them that way, and engineered them to follow.
The weight loss angle of this particular cult should have set off bells and whistles from the get-go. Everyone is different and unique. Whether it's the matching jumpsuits of Heaven's Gate, FLDS female hair styles, or pews full of thin people, forcing members into one box is a system of control. Homogenization is as boring in people as it is at Olive Garden. It's a big world, with variety and variance. Embrace that instead.
The Mission (2023)
Listen When Someone Says "NO!"
The problem with missionary religious groups is that they are raised in a belief system of absolutes.
Pushing a fantasy on new generations that one "must" convert the globe to their way of thinking never takes into account the opinion of those they're trying to convert.
I don't come away from watching this documentary thinking of John Chau as a sympathetic figure in any way, shape or form. He is just another statistic in a long and - unfortunately - unbroken chain of the imperially arrogant devout who feels that their message is the only one worth heeding. A truly elevated and civilized human being doesn't think that way.
Steve Canyon (1958)
Interesting Aviation History
When I was a kid, growing up in the 70s, Steve Canyon was a comic strip that I didn't particularly read. It looked a bit long and involved for somebody who was 8.
Out of pure curiosity, I started watching this on streaming, and just kept going. My main interest was in the episodes that featured extended flying sequences, as they show the development of jet aircraft in the fairly new Air Force at the time.
The episodes featuring more intrigue and less flying are not particularly strong. The one episode where the two actors who later played Tarzan and Sheriff Lobo, respectively, pounding the daylights out of each other in an alley is mildly amusing. Overall, not a total waste of time.
Coronet Blue: A Time to Be Born (1967)
A Bit Rushed
Part of watching an old series like this in modern times is how a show captures the style, music and habits of the time. After being intrigued for many years by the plot of the show, I took the plunge in ordered it on DVD.
This first episode feels like four episodes compressed into one hour. We go from the introduction to the series in the first 7 minutes, to suddenly fast-forwarding to the protagonist having a job and attending a fancy party. This series could have used a little more exposition.
I was struck by the fact that Susan Hampshire must have been a professional at appearing in pilots of cult TV shows, as she also appears in the pilot of "The Time Tunnel". This episode also features actors who've played Boston Blackie, the chief on "Hill Street Blues", and the governor from "Benson". Talk about a diverse cast....
As I continue watching, we'll see how this panned out.
Sky King: Sky Robbers (1958)
Life Was Funny Before My Time
The plot line is basically what is described in other reviews and in the episode description. I just enjoyed watching this episode to see what passed for entertainment in the 1950s. From the robotic acting, the crooks with impeccable manners and the out-of-sync filmed flying sequences, television had to start somewhere. The ghosts of radio drama had not yet been shaken off TV at this point. The hilarity kind of starts with the name of the show itself. I thought the title was a description of the main character. Instead, it's the NAME of the main character. I kind of wish I had a name that sounded that cool....
Mary Tyler Moore: Chuckles Bites the Dust (1975)
The Writing....The Writing....The Writing
I am obsessed with television. Far too much of my life has been spent watching television, in primetime, in the middle of the night, etc. If there was one episode of a situation comedy that I would point to as perhaps the greatest single episode of a situation comedy in the history of television, this would be it. It is THE lesson in how to write black comedy, and could only be executed by this cast. Every single member of the cast has their moment in the writing spotlight. Every close friend I have has been exposed to this episode as of rite of passage for sharing a common space with me. No spoilers, no hints, no explanation. Just...enjoy!
Marjoe (1972)
A Preview of Coming Attractuons
From what I have read about this documentary, due to the subject matter, it had a very limited release in its time. Placing it in the time and context of 1972, it is not hard to see why.
Based on my love of schlock TV and movies from the '70s and '80s, I was familiar with Marjoe Gortner as an "actor", but knew nothing about his pre-acting background.
Watching this film 50 years after the fact, I can't help but consider it against the backdrop of the rise of the " Moral Majority" and the many scandals that affected televangelists in the 1980s. I come away with mixed feelings about Marjoe taking one last lap in Pentecostal tent revivals in order to make enough money to do something else with his life, but I also realize that his parents provided him with no other skills with which to survive in the real world.
I try to be sensitive to the fact that those raised in extreme faith are basically living a life that is the fault of the people who brought them there. Being as skeptically areligious as I am in my adulthood, I am glad that Marjoe found enough human decency and quasi-compassion to stop doing what he was doing, even though his acting chops were not particularly noteworthy.
Cannon: Bobby Loved Me (1974)
"You'll Get Yours, Fatso!"
There are several things about this episode that are part of the legacy of "Cannon".
The episode starts out with the most prominent. Whenever an episode of "Cannon" needed music that vaguely sounded like the rock and roll of the time, terrible music featuring a saxophone was played. This music was used in multiple episodes, and never gets better. It sounds vaguely like something that the old Saturday Night Live band would have played into a commercial.
Second, there are multiple jokes about Cannon's weight. One wonders how this show would go over in modern times when "body positivity" has somehow superseded concerns about diabetes and heart disease.
Lastly, Cannon's incredible ability, despite his physical limitations, to narrowly escape a threat to his life. I'll leave it there, and let the viewer see what I mean.
I give this episode nine stars not because it's riveting television, but because there is a scene about 15 minutes in where Cannon falls down a flight of steps. I showed this to a friend of mine, and I have never heard him laugh so hard in his entire life. Just that one scene makes this episode worth the price of admission.
My Name Was Bette: The Life and Death of an Alcoholic (2011)
A Bit Clinical
I chose to watch this documentary after it showed up in my Amazon Prime lists a few times.
Roughly 35 to 40% of this documentary was focused on what alcohol does to female bodies, in comparison to men. Although extremely important, I would have rather seen a little bit more emotion regarding the subject, rather than an anatomical recitation of alcohol's effects.
The Deep End (2022)
Self-Indictment
If you approach a subject or a topic in a neutral fashion, eventually, the subject or topic will reveal themselves by words and action.
The brilliance of this documentary is simply letting the camera roll, and allowing Teal Swan to indict herself by words and actions.
People who join control groups tend to do it because they are seeking something, usually a larger solution, that which is "missing" or a deeper meaning to existence. The filmmaker shows a particular leader, by word and deed, to be as exploitative as any of the charlatans that precede her, and perhaps moreso, given her target audience.
It is perhaps best that the outside opinion of Teal Swan, her movement and her methods are kept to a minimum as far as screen time is concerned. It allows the viewer to make the final decision, and I would imagine that judgment has quite a bit to do with one's viewpoint prior to viewing.
As Bob Dylan once so eloquently put it, "If you're looking for someone to trust / trust yourself".