Disc Reviews

In the last few years, I’ve begun to question the veracity of any of the history I’ve been taught. I’ve been finding big chunks of history that were never included in the textbooks, and it seemed to depend on the point of view of the teller what kind of history you got. The old saying is, “History belongs to the victors”. It’s that sort of thing. Now you can add Drunk History to the mix. This is where people talk about historical event, but only after they have become hopelessly debilitated by alcohol. It’s funny to watch, and, in this case, you already know for sure history is becoming garbled. I’ve already reviewed the Season One and Two sets, in case you want to go back and reread that. They really are very funny, but you wonder, first of all, how much these various comedians really know about history. Then they get drunk, so often they wind up just falling on the floor and sleeping and babbling. But on some level, I get more out of these historical retellings than the dry and serious ones. At least with Drunk History I am forced to think for myself, and if I really want to know, I should research it myself.

Drunk History: Season Three is at a point where they are running out of all the good history to tell, but they still managed to find lots of fun stories. This season deals with people like no-nonsense Harriet Tubman, super spy and future children’s author Roald Dahl, perplexed Milton Bradley, sneaky Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell, little kid Louis Armstrong, and a haunted Clark Gable. The stories are told most often by relatively unknown comedians, but sometimes they up the ante with stars like Paget Brewster (Criminal Minds). But there are stars everywhere with so many stories being told. Some of them are Dennis Quaid (Lucky Luciano), Sam Rockwell (Bugsy Segal), Josh Harnett (Clark Gable), Nathan Fillion (Wernher Von Braun), Topher Grace (Milton Bradley), Kat Dennings (Kentucky Daisy), Giancarlo Esposito (Andre Pico) Ryan Phillipe (Benjamin Hayes), Jack Black (William Mullholland), Colin Hanks (Gordon Cooper and Ernest Thompson Seton), Jason Ritter (Elisha Gray and Robert Woodrow Wilson), Patton Oswalt (Mac Brazel), Henry Winkler (Zenas Fisk Wilber), Greg Kinnear (Thaddeus S.C. Lowe), Stephen Merchant (Abraham Lincoln), Michael Cera and Haley Joel Osment (Newsies), Jahel “Urkel” White (Bass Reeves), Olivia Spencer (Harriet Tubman), Johnny Knoxville (Juan Ponce de Leon), Ellie Klemper (Nellie Bly), Maya Rudolph (Grizelda Blanco), Jason Momoa (pirate Jean Lafitte), Jack McBrayer (President Andrew Jackson), Will Ferrell (Ronald Dahl), Parker Posey (Mary Phelps Jacob), Martin Starr (Alexander Graham Bell), Michael McKean (Carl Laemmle), Chris Parnell (Thomas Edison), Taran Killam (Bobby Fisher), Jake Johnson (Boris Spassky) Jason Alexander (Boss Tweed), Noah Wylie (Thomas Nash), and I’m going to stop because I’m running out of space. There are actually a lot more notable people. There are interviews with writer/directors like David Simon (The Wire) and David Wain (Wet Hot American Summer) and lots of goofy extras. The motif of going to different cities to interview people on the street continues.

Here we go, yet another killer crocodile film to whet your appetites for fun, cheesy gore and perhaps a late-night scare or two.  Sure, the thought of another killer crocodile film may cause some (OK, many) to roll their eyes, but in the killer-animal genre, it’s the crocs and gators that still manage to get my attention.  Perhaps it’s because I’m a Florida boy, born and raised, and around these parts it’s not much of a surprise to hear about gators being found in the strangest places.  With The Hatching bringing us some cold-blooded horror out of the UK, I figure I’ll test the waters with this film from across the pond and see what it has to offer.

Three young boys decide one night that they are going to break into the local zoo; while on their late-night escapade, the boys have an accident, and one of them doesn’t make it out alive. After being away from his home in Somerset, Tim (Andre Lee Potts) returns after 15 years following the death of his father.  It’s not long after Tim’s return to Somerset that people and animals start to disappear, leaving only a trail of body parts behind.

In the book of Genesis from the Bible, the story of Abraham comes right after the stories of Adam and Eve and Noah. It is one of the foundation stories of the Bible and talks of Abraham being the father of the Jewish people. The Bible is the source book of Christianity as well. The stories of the Bible are well known among people of all faiths as well, so it is assumed that most people on the planet know the story of Abraham. Bible stories are done religiously (pun intended), and Richard Harris (Camelot, Albus Dumbledore in the first two Harry Potter movies) himself has done two other Bible stories (Cain in The Bible: In the Beginning and the apostle John in The Apocalypse). Abraham is a well -mounted two-part 173-minute 1993 television presentation that originally aired on TNT as part of a Bible series. There is a box set called The Bible ,which also includes Joseph in Egypt, Samson and Delilah, Jacob, Moses and David.

Before there was Moses, God spoke to Abraham (or Abram) and told him to take his people to search for an unknown land called Canaan. God promised Abraham to “make of him a great nation, bless him, make his name great, bless them that bless him, and curse he who may curse him”. Abraham wanders with his tribe which includes his wife, Sarah (Barbara Hershey), and his nephew, Lot. The cast also includes Vitorrio Gassman as Terah, Abraham’s 205-year-old father, and Maximilian Schell as Pharaoh. One of the main struggles that Abraham faces is fathering a child, because he is very old himself. In fact, many of the things that God has promised him seem impossible, and his faith is tested many times. At one point they arrive in Egypt and Sarah is taken to live in the house of Pharaoh. Eventually they escape, and they take Sarah’s Egyptian handmaiden, Hagar. Eventually Hagar is offered to Abraham by Sarah to consort with and have a child. The story of Sodom and Gomorrah is also included. Two angels are sent by God to rescue Lot from the evil city. Lot at one point offers his young daughters to evil men of the city who want the angels who have come to Lot’s home. The next day, because God could not find 10 righteous men in the city, it will be destroyed. Lot’s wife is turned to salt when she turns to look back against God’s expressed command.

Prayer in school, oh boy, I can't think of another high-tension issue that surpasses this one. Although God's Club is not necessarily about this particular subject, its premise is bound to have some big arguments on both sides of the fence. I'm sure most of us know them already, but for the sake of my word count, let's run them down. On the one hand, this great nation of ours was founded on the ideal of religious freedom; however, the separation of church and state has much to say about the matter as well. Needless to say, this is a topic that garners a lot of attention and must be handled with care. Fortunately, I believe that to be the case with God's Club.

Before the death of his wife, Michael's attitude in regards to the bible club was tolerant at best. Believing the extracurricular activity was not worth the pushback that it was receiving from outraged parents, he was supportive, albeit unenthusiastic. Following her passing, he makes it his mission not only to reinvent the club but spearhead it as well. It does not take long before he finds himself up against the same backlash that plagued his late wife. Only through perseverance and dare I say faith will he be about to survive the onslaught.

A spaghetti western with a bit of supernatural tone. I not exactly sure that those two go together, but they give their best shot in Killed or Be Killed. This film shows how far man will come in pursuit of a fortune, as the group sacrifice almost everything including their lives. A band of outlaws, after breaking one of their number free from a chain gang, set about a long trek across the great state of Texas in order to claim a fortune that will allow them to retire from their outlaw ways. Not long after beginning their trek, misfortune strikes the gang in the form or several situations which will decrease their number and create dissent among the gang.

Soon bodies begin dropping left and right with every town the group hits. A tremendous bounty is placed on the group’s heads, attracting the attention of several lawmen looking to collect on the payday. Who will survive to make it to the fortune?

Maybe it’s simply just a part of growing up, but when I listen to the radio and I hear what is topping the charts I just roll my eyes and wonder, “What is this crap I’m listening to?”  We’ve all experienced this at some point, I’d imagine, and as I’ve gotten older my music tastes have seemed to move to before my time, as I’ve moved past my days of listening to strictly metal and rock that ruled the 90’s to now embracing the music of the 60’s and 70’s.  I listen to the pop music that floods the airwaves now and hear “music” that lacks substance and meaning, as it is just noise to play on the dance floors of clubs.  It’s here where I feel the series of documentaries Penelope Spheeris should conclude her saga of music over the decades.

In 1981 Penelope Spheeris came out with a documentary that captured the LA punk scene, a scene that was filled with such rebellious nature that for some it was the last stand against the corporations taking over our music.  These young men and women are pretty much the unsung heroes of music; whether you’re a fan or not of punk, it has made its mark on music to this day, and it did so without flashy music videos and without the Twitter-verse; it did so as a unified force that wasn’t afraid to stand up to its oppressors.