Thursday, March 18, 2021

Eurotrip, BvS, & As For Dynamite

I was in the office three times this week, which means that I finally got back onto my regular commute.  For those unaware, I basically owe my writing career to the reality that my commute is long and that I often manage it by writing.  I’ve written at least four books over the course of 15+ years commuting via train into New York City along with doing maybe 75% of the written work on As For Football.  This week, I put together an edition of Blog Shots and the promotional stuff for Twitter in support of my memoir, and then I started watching the movies Eurotrip and Batman vs. Superman: The Extended Edition.  And here we are.


Eurotrip was hilarious

Eurotrip

I have no idea what critics expected from an R-rated “teenage sex comedy” filmed in Prague, but some of these folks were clearly not in on the joke.  Maybe these folks take their art a little more seriously than I do; who knows? I mean, I love art but knew going in that this wasn't it. Nearly every review I read lamented the fact that there’s a lot of tasteless female nudity in this movie, and that's certainly true, but yo, there is a lot of tasteless male nudity in this movie, too.  Like, full frontal male nudity -- yes, the Full swinging Monty -- shown exclusively for a single meaningless spot-joke.  Dudes are legit just standing there, hanging out.  This movie has just a tremendous amount of nudity.  But the movie is also at pains to point out America’s prudish, puritanical, pent-up nature, and then the critics piled on with laments that are exactly in line with the stereotypes on offer.

You can’t make this stuff up.

I read the reviews because the movie was so funny that I wondered if there was a sequel.  Alas, there was not.  In fact, the movie bombed, actually losing money on a meager $25M budget.

Sigh.  I joked with my wife a few months ago that a movie like Porky’s could never get made in the modern world, and now here’s the proof.  I just don’t get it.  The relentless moral panic in this country is drives me crazy.


BvS: Extended Edition

I can’t believe how much better the Extended Edition of Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice is, but wow.  The three-hour cut really is much, much better. It's better in every way.

I am not a Zack Snyder fan.  However, at least now I can see what he was trying to do.  That gives me some hope for Justice League: The Snyder Cut.  It seems impossible that the four-hour edition of a mediocre film would be an improvement, but so far, almost everyone agrees that it is.


As For Dynamite: The Lord of Lucha Libre

One of my favorite things about All Elite Wrestling (AEW) is the way the company encourages its performers to be entrepreneurs.  Pro wrestling always encourages its stars to think of their career success as being their own responsibility -- a tough sell in a scripted business, if you ask me -- but AEW takes it to the extreme, actually forcing the talent to think of themselves as their own independent side-hustles.  The Young Bucks pioneered this approach with Colt Cabana a decade ago via ProWrestlingTees.Com, and AEW has taken it to the extreme.  They all have to have their own shirts, and they all have to have their own YouTube channels or Vlogs or podcasts or whatever.

That’s actually part of how they’re supposed to earn their money.

The maximal example of AEW’s approach to talent managing their own brands and careers is the Republic of Lucha, the new lucha libre museum and store that just opened in Los Angeles.  The Lucha Brothers created Republic of Lucha.  It is an amazing investment in both their own personal brands and their entire approach to the business of pro wrestling. It's also an amazing celebration of culture.  

It’s not coincidence that Pentagon labelled himself the “Lord of Lucha Libre” in the same week that he opened his museum.  It’s probably also not a coincidence that the WWE’s Andrade asked for his release in this same week as well. Dude could be working with the Lord of Lucha, but he is instead being held off TV, albeit with pay.


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