66% of THE JO-TEL is “losing it Scalia style”

CAUTION: This post will draw ire down upon me.

Everyone that I know wants to see Wall E. Now, if you think that Socrates set a standard that no one can satisfy to a metaphysical perfection when he prescribed “know thyself”, then you might have gleaned that I, a principled salt-mine, don’t claim to “know myself”; therefore, I am able to soundly make the following statement: I don’t want to see Wall E. (Also, please note that I refused to try to the insert the little circle symbol between the “Wall” and the “E”. You don’t even get a dash.) When I tell people this I usually can’t avoid adding my pre-packaged rant, which I will briefly summarize: Pixar does amazing digital animation. Their kid-friendly plot lines are peppered with often-amusing barb and adult humor. Their moves are, therefore, a cut above the average major movie. But that’s where it ends. I have seen many of them. Toy Story is very good. So is The Incredibles. Finding Nemo is horrible because Albert Brooks is mind-bendingly annoying as Nemo’s dad who is constantly trying to find/keep Nemo out of trouble by yelling “NEEEEEEEEEMO” over and over. Same reason I don’t like Lord of the Rings (especially part one), way too much “FROOOOOOOOODO”. Way. Too. Much. But I’m not going to obsess about a bunch of movies just because they are a cut above the standard fair. There are unmitigated shit-loads of great movies from previous decades and generations that a lot of people I know will never watch [FN1] because they’re too busy waiting in line for the next Judd Apatow-approved, irreverence-baiting, but-ultimately-morality-spewing, sort-of-pretty-funny comedy. I’m not saying boycott modern movies at all. Sideways is one of my favorite movies. But people need to use the value of hindsight more to check what other astute watchers have deemed worthy through the years, what has floated to the top. Just like the dumb masses can be baited into going to see Bruckheimer movies like Kangaroo Jack, I think the intelligent masses can be baited in to the one-foot-in-the-art-house one foot in the Big Studio movies like Knocked Up. Either path one is an abnegation of personality.

Aaaaaaaaand I’m ranting again. But the point is: life is a one-time blank slate, might as well participate in a bunch of weird stuff that no one else is doing. And then get your friends to join along.

-Shark

FN1: Examples/Recommendations

Weekend (Godard)
Rules of the Game (Renoir)
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Weine)
His Girl Friday (Hawks)
Kiss Me Deadly (Roberts)
L’Ecclise (Antonioni)
The Long Goodbye (Altman)
The Trial (Welles)
Fallen Angels (Wong Kar-wei)
The Apu Trilogy (Ray)
Richard III (Olivier)
Mon Oncle (Tati)