Dedicated to none other than Keith H, who I can still see doing the shimmy to this song all these years later. From “Lust in the Dust” (1985, dir Paul Bartel).
Archive for the ‘Comedy’ Category
Mashup
January 1, 2009
Two of my favorite television memories: Carol Burnett’s takeoff on Gloria Swanson in “Sunset Boulevard” and the Dean Martin roasts. If you are a child of the 1970s you know just what I mean.
Goddam Actors
October 18, 2008
Maggie Smith in her Oscar-winning role of an Oscar-losing actress. The sole bright spot in an otherwise dismal movie (“California Suite,” 1978, dir Herbert Ross).
Why Alec Baldwin Won An Emmy
October 7, 2008
Pure, if not so simple. A bravura piece of acting from “30 Rock.”
Sévérine
September 19, 2008
Get into the spirit of the sparkling Jour pour nuit (1973, dir François Truffaut) — called “Day For Night” in the US — and you will fall in love with its collection of egoists, oddballs, ballbusters, and raging neurotics. If you have ever had an interest in how films are made, you will love this movie. Here, Valentina Cortese plays the thoroughly overwhelmed Sévérine, with too much dialogue, waaaaay too much business, and constant, obstreperous direction to contend with.
Oh No She Di’n't
May 9, 2008
And I don’t know to whom I’m referring. Rock Hudson and Mae West light up the legendary 1957 Academy Awards. Here the two, um. . . friends spark to “Baby, It’s Cold Outside.” Fantastic!
La Grande Lucia
May 2, 2008
It will be difficult (er, “dwefful diffy”) to convey how brilliant this adaptation of Benson’s novel is, but I urge you to see the serialization of “Mapp & Lucia” as soon as possible.
Genius
December 1, 2007
Donald O’Connor is brilliant, nimble, and incredibly graceful in this scene from “Singin’ In The Rain.” (1952, dirs Stanley Donen & Gene Kelly)
From The Crassest, Most Vulgar TV Show
November 3, 2007
Maybe ever, but undoubtedly one of the funniest. The brilliant Kathy Burke is the egregious Linda, here abetted by her roommate, the flamboyant James Dreyfus.
Almost Single-Handedly Defining “NSFW”
October 25, 2007
Vulgar, reprehensible, caustic, misogynistic: it is all here in Beat’s wonderful sendup/homage to [Miss] Peggy Lee.
