Life In The DPC!

In effort to maintain some semblance of integrity in this blog I must offer full disclosure that I am an Adam Carolla fan. I catch his show while cruising to work on the 51 and for the most part I’m always in a better mood by the time I get there. Of course I loathe my job so one would be apt to assume that Carolla must be a funny cat to keep me in high spirits while cruising to impending doom.

Due to grooving to Carolla’s radio show six days a week I felt inclined to rent his first movie production The Hammer.From what I have gathered from listening to his show The Hammer is Carolla’s life and in the movie he stars as Jerry Ferro, a carpenter that recently turned 40 who finds himself down on his luck. As the movie plays out he finds himslef unemployed and back working in a gym as a boxing instructor. Ferro was once a promising talent in the square circle but a lack of focus and dedication led to him getting out of the ring but he makes an unscheduled comeback after an excellent sparring contest.While teaching his boxing class he falls for one of his students, played by Heather Juergensen,and an unlikely romance begins to blossom.

For the most part,  I was entertained by The Hammer but I was also disappointed. Disappointed  because the Adam Carolla show is funny and the movie had flashes of his radio comedy but these moments were fleeting and for the most part the movies was a very subdued version of his usual act.

Overall I would give the movie a C+ and I am going to assume that The Hammer was a toned down version of Carrola’s cinematic vision. Since this was his first Hollywood endeavor he needed to appeal to a wider audience and many parts of The Hammer had romantic comedy vibe and his somewhat crasser humor may not appeal to all demographics.

T.R.O.Y. Jerry Reed

Grammy Award winning musician and costar of Smokey and the Bandit Jerry Reed has left the building at the age of 71. Reed initially rose to fame as country musician with such hits as “When You’re Hot, You’re Hot” and “East Bound and Down” and became a movie star after his portrayal of the Snowman in Smokey and the Bandit.

1. The Waterboy (1998) …. Coach Red Beaulieu
2. “Evening Shade” (1 episode, 1994)
   - Educating Calvin (1994) TV episode
3. “B.L. Stryker” (1 episode, 1990)
   - Plates (1990) TV episode
4. Bat*21 (1988) …. Col. George Walker
5. “Dolly” …. Willie Jeffcoat (1 episode, 1987)
   - Episode #1.8 (1987) TV episode …. Willie Jeffcoat
6. What Comes Around (1986) …. Joe Hawkins
7. Stand Alone (1985) …. Paramedic
8. Smokey and the Bandit Part 3 (1983) …. Cledus Snow / ‘Bandit’
9. The Survivors (1983) …. Jack Locke
10. “Mama’s Family” …. Leonard Oates (1 episode, 1983)
    - The Return of Leonard Oates (1983) TV episode …. Leonard Oates
11. “Concrete Cowboys” …. J.D. Reed (1 episode, 1981)
    - Episode #1.1 (1981) TV episode …. J.D. Reed
12. Smokey and the Bandit II (1980) …. Cledus Snow / ‘Snowman’
    … aka Smokey and the Bandit Ride Again (UK)
13. The Concrete Cowboys (1979) (TV) …. J.D. Reed
    … aka Ramblin’ Man
14. Good Ol’ Boys (1979) (TV) …. Traveler
15. Hot Stuff (1979) …. Doug von Horne
16. High-Ballin’ (1978) …. Duke
    … aka Death Toll (Australia: video title)
17. Smokey and the Bandit (1977) …. Cledus ‘Snowman’ Snow
    … aka Bandit, Bandit (Europe)
18. “Nashville 99″ …. Det. Trace Mayne (2 episodes, 1977)
    - Joldy (1977) TV episode …. Det. Trace Mayne
    - The Fallen Idol (1977) TV episode …. Det. Trace Mayne
19. Gator (1976) …. Bama McCall
20. W.W. and the Dixie Dancekings (1975) …. Wayne
21. Harper Valley, U.S.A. (1969) (TV) …. Host

Over The Top

Despite working at Blockbuster for five years I don’t consider myself a movie expert and I don’t have great taste in cinema. This is proven by the simple fact that I enjoy James Bond flicks and anything starring Scarlett Johansson. Of course anything involving the aforementioned Scarlett is for the eye candy factor, the exception being Lost In Translation.

But enough about my love of Scarlett Johansson and back to Over The Top:

Lincoln Hawk is a struggling trucker who arm wrestles on the side to make extra cash while trying to rebuild his life. Hawk’s wife Christina is very ill at the beginning of the film, and asks that Hawk pick their son Michael up from military school so that he may get to know his son since they have been apart since Hawk left them ten years earlier. His father-in-law Jason Cutler is enraged since he feels his daughter was deserted by Hawk, that his daughter and Hawk should never have been married in the first place, and Hawk has no right to be in his grandson’s life. - Courtesy of Wikipedia

Over The Top makes it way onto DPC’s Top 100 Movie List because it combines many genres and it also paints an optimistic portrait of the human condition. On one hand you have a child torn apart by divorce, the failing health of his mother and never really knowing his dad. All of these real world issues are then combined with the cutthroat world of interstate truck driving and competitive arm wrestling.

Sylvester Stallone’s Lincoln Hawk epitomizes the proletarian everyman as he struggles to make ends meet and all the while his life has the void that only his bratty son can fill. Of course Stallone ultimately triumphs and to a lesser degree Over The Top is another chapter of his greater work in the Rocky series.

But what really ties Over The Top together is the work of the Red Rocker, Sammy Hagar. Hagar’s “Winner Takes It All” is up there “You’re The Best”, from the Karate Kid, as one of the greatest theme songs of any movie released in the 80’s.

T.R.O.Y. Isaac Hayes:

Isaac Hayes, idol of Life In The DPC, has passed away at the age of 65. Hayes was largely known for his role as “Chef” in the Comedy Central cartoon  South Park.
DPC.com will always remember Hayes as an Oscar award winning musician, for the Shaft soundtrack, and for his movie roles in I’m Gonna Git You Sucka and his starring role as Truck Turner.

We’re gonna miss you, Isaac.

Due to technical difficulties I didn’t get to the midnight showing of the Dark Knight. Ultimately it doesn’t matter whether I saw it at 12:01 a.m. or eleven hours later, except for maybe bragging rights amongst my peers. With that said, the Dark Knight is the rare flick that actually lives up to its prerelease hype.

Without giving too much away I will say that the Dark Knight was better than Iron Man and X-Men 2, which DPC.com considers to be two of the best comic book based movies to be released in recent memory, and Heath Ledger’s performance is as good as advertised. A part of me assumed that the reviews of Ledger’s performance were tainted by his untimely passing but his take as the Joker is a legit and is definitely worth an Oscar bid. DPC.com is quite biased toward Ledger but that tendency aside, the dude scared me as the Joker.

I’m going to a midnight showing of the Dark Knight, the sequel to Batman Begins. Details to follow…

From Wikipedia.org

Quantum of Solace is the 22nd James Bond film by EON Productions, due for release in the United Kingdom on 31 October 2008 and in North America on 7 November.[3] The sequel to Casino Royale (2006), it is directed by Marc Forster, and features Daniel Craig’s second performance as James Bond. Casino Royale’s Paul Haggis, Neal Purvis, and Robert Wade returned as writers, alongside newcomer Joshua Zetumer. In the film, Bond battles Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric), a member of the Quantum organisation posing as an environmentalist, who intends to stage a coup d’état in Bolivia to take control of its water supply. Bond seeks revenge for the death of Vesper Lynd, and is assisted by Camille (Olga Kurylenko), who also wants to kill Greene. The title was chosen from an unrelated short story in Ian Fleming’s For Your Eyes Only (1960).

Producer Michael G. Wilson created the film’s story while Casino Royale was shooting. The film was originally scheduled for a 2 May 2008 release, but it was pushed back to allow more time when Roger Michell dropped out as director. Second unit filming began in August 2007 at Siena and Madrid, before principal photography began in January 2008 at Pinewood Studios. Production designer Dennis Gassner took over from Peter Lamont, who retired after working on eighteen Bond films. Gassner designed the five major Pinewood sets, which stand in for Siena, Bolivia, and the MI6 headquarters. His designs are close to the modernism of Ken Adam, the first Bond production designer. Location filming took place in Panama, Chile, Italy and Austria, before moving back to Pinewood in June. There will be more gadgets than in Casino Royale, though they will still aim to be realistic.

Where have you gone, DJ Yella? Apparently down the same road as the Dark Brothers. The former man behind the wheels of steel for the world’s most dangerous band is now directing porno movies.

A brief synopsis of Str8 Outta Compton #1: GRAB YO BITCH, POP THAT REMY AND BURN THAT SWISHER CUZ WE GOT A DOUBLE DISC SET AN WE COMIN STR8 OUTTA COMPTON

Most members of NWA have had main stream music success after they went their separate ways. Yella, on the other hand has gone a different route.

Iron Man was worth the wait as I finally got the chance to check out Jon Favreu’s foray into the life of Tony Stark this past Friday. I had minimal doubt that the combination of Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Terence Howard and Jeff Bridges would be successful because the latest influx of comic book based cinema have all used the formula of legit actors and directors to make movies that are both entertaining and surprisingly well made.

The first two X-Men flicks, with Bryan Singer at the helm, had a talented cast with Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellan, etc. and hold up quite well past their initial viewing. Batman Begins is another example of using a mainstream, heavy drama based director, Christopher Nolan, and legit actors like Christian Bale, Liam Neeson and Gary Oldman to tell a fantasy based flick.

Due to too much drama in the DPC I found myself spending Friday evening at the Roxy watching Untraceable. Untraceable stars the always foxy Diane Lane as an FBI agent, in the cybercrime division that is in pursuit of a murderer that posts his killings on line as they occur.

All in all Untraceable was entertaining, not a great or even very good flick, but it is two hours of escapism. If escapism can be based on watching people die slow, painful deaths during a web cast. The movie had a dash of social commentary but for the most part it was mindless and stole quite bit of its torture scenes from Se7en and Saw.

Would I recommend anyone to run out and see this movie? Nah, but I figure Untraceable will be one of those flicks that you watch repeatedly on cable.