wildyams

I was watching the movie Disturbing Behavior last night before I went to sleep (I turned it off about halfway through it cause it was getting late), and wanted to write a few things about it. First, odds are most people probably only vaguely remember this movie, if at all, even though it's only 10 years old. Second, it's probably right that most people wouldn't remember it, cause it's not a great movie or really remarkable in any way other than it stars a couple people who are arguably bigger stars now than they were then (but it's actually tough to make that case for sure, since the stars are Katie Holmes, James Marsden and Nick Stahl). Despite it not being very memorable or all that well done, it's one of those movies that I've found over the years is very rewatchable when it's in regular rotation on cable.

I don't watch much live TV anymore, thanks mainly to DVR/Tivo and my AppleTV, but before I had any of that my typical TV viewing habits would be to scan the pay movie channels for something that looked interesting (something I'd usually seen before), that I could put on and sort of half-watch, half-listen to while I was surfing the web or something; and then I'd do the same thing when I was watching TV in bed or eating in front of the tube, except there of course I'd give what I was watching my full attention. Anyway, since the way they program pay TV is sort of like a radio station where they have what is essentially a playlist that only gradually rotates you end up seeing the same movies on all the time, and for someone like me who doesn't really watch TV shows I've found there are lots of movies here and there that, while not being great or even good movies, are still plenty entertaining to watch over and over. Disturbing Behavior is one of those movies.

For those who have forgotten this movie and what it's about (i.e. just about everyone), it's the story of how the parents in an affluent northwestern suburb turned to some mad scientist guy to brainwash their troubled adolescents into being goody two shoes, conformist, non-rebellious teens. The unfortunate side effect for all involved is that the kids essentially become like robots and occasionally lash out with uncontrollable violence, even killing people. But at least they're not wearing Marilyn Manson T-shirts I suppose. Anyway, James Marsden and his family are the new people in town, and Jim quickly makes friends with Nick Stahl and Katie Holmes (who broods and frowns so much in this movie she almost edges over into Michelle Rodriguez territory). Nick tells Jim his theory about the stepford students, which Jim dismisses as paranoia, until Nick gets "recruited" (brainwashed) and joins the robotic student elite. Then Jim and Katie investigate further and find out what's happening and eventually put an end to the whole mess (except for the "twist" ending which sets up a potential sequel, which of course never happened).

I remember seeing this movie on DVD when it first came out, all those years ago, and because it was so long ago and DVDs were still relatively new to me (and to everyone, I guess), I actually watched all the extras on it, which were basically a long list of deleted scenes with commentary from the director. It's been a long time, but I do remember essentially the director having a somewhat beaten down tone to what he was saying, talking about how he was forced to cut all these scenes by the studio because he was a relative nobody and they wanted the movie to be really short in length. Basically he was apologizing for how crappy the movie turned out as a result of it being pared down to the bone the way it was. In retrospect though, I doubt the movie would have been much better if it had been longer, and the really fast pace for such a mediocre movie worked pretty well as I found myself last night wanting to get to the next part and always finding that it was right around the corner.

In any event, the main reason I am blogging about this (other than killing time at work) is because there's a really funny thing that runs throughout the movie which I felt I had to comment on. For whatever reason the filmmakers (or the studio or somebody) decided they would try to coin a new hip phrase or saying with this movie, and clearly assumed it would just take off and people would look back on this film as the origin of this word being used this way. It's very reminiscent of that girl in Mean Girls was was "trying to make 'Fetch' happen." Anyway, throughout Disturbing Behavior the characters keep saying the word "Razor" as though it's a common slang term, and it's quite funny every time they do so. Like they'll say "I hope you've got a totally razor plan for this" or "What do you say we get some beers and hang out tonight?" "Sounds razor."

So anyway, if you ever do find yourself watching Disturbing Behavior, keep an eye out for the repeated use of that word, while also keeping an eye on Nick Stahl's great overacting and Katie Holmes' brooding bitch routine. But just remember, if you do watch it and find yourself saying "This movie stinks, what was he talking about?" keep in mind I only said it is mildly entertaining upon repeat viewings, at least in comparison to many other movies. Don't rent it or catch it on TV if you're expecting a great night of moviewatching.

Last night the final season of The Shield began on F/X, and I felt like I should say something about it. Well, not the particular episode last night really, but just about the show in general, because The Shield is really the show that genuinely got me interested in watching television. Of course I'd watched TV before The Shield, but prior to The Shield I hadn't actually been a fan of any TV show since I was maybe 10 years old (give or take) and liked watching Knight Rider. Growing up my parents were very opposed to my sisters and I watching any TV at all, and the only times we were really allowed to do so was Friday nights, Saturday mornings (before they woke up), Saturday nights, and then for maybe an hour or so on Sunday nights. Because of that, even back then it wasn't like I had a bunch of shows I watched, and instead I just ended up watching whatever was on during those times (which was basically Knight Rider on Fridays, some cartoons Saturday morning, some kind of movie on Saturday night, usually on Elvira or something, and then some kind of family programming on Sunday night).

When I was in high school my parents relaxed a bit on when they'd let us watch TV, but by that point I was really more interested in hanging out with my friends than with sitting home and watching TV, so I really didn't do much of it. I did watch movies in HS, but never really latched on to any TV shows (my sisters were way into 90210 though). In college there weren't many TVs around, so I never had any real regular shows I would watch there either, mainly just a lot of Simpsons re-runs here and there whenever they were on. In college I definitely was just hanging out with friends during most of my spare time. Then after college I discovered the internet, and spent my spare time usually surfing the web, watching movies on TV or watching the Lakers (which I greatly missed doing in college).

Eventually I came to adopt a fairly adversarial attitude towards television shows as an artistic medium, thinking that no idea is that interesting that it needs to be explored for some 20 hours per season for 5-10 years or whatever; especially not when there were so many great movies out there that could deliver the goods in around two hours. I became frustrated when people would talk about whatever shows they were into, and detested the idea of scheduling my time around some show on TV and couldn't understand how people could do this. I became even more annoyed with TV when Reality TV first started to become popular, as I couldn't fathom how people I respected could sink to such a lowest common denominator level of entertainment, even while they were aware that they were doing so (I still feel this way, btw). So I never watched any shows, and even flatly refused to give anything a chance.

Well eventually through my job I was forced to have to view a couple episodes of various TV shows here and there, and they almost always confirmed the contempt I had (Joss Whedon's crap, the X-Files and Star Trek being the most frequent shows I had to watch which reinforced my dislike for TV). However, eventually I had to watch a couple episodes of The Shield and The Wire, and I actually was impressed. These were episodes I had to watch that were right smack in the middle of some episode so I didn't really know what all was going on, especially with The Wire (which is an extremely complex show, and is virtually impossible to just pick up in the middle like that); but even without having seen these shows right from the first episodes I could tell that these were both good shows.

The Shield definitely was much easier to pick up in the middle of a season like that due to it still taking somewhat of an episodic approach that The Wire really does not; so eventually when I got tired of just getting movie after movie on Netflix, I decided to give Season 1, Disc 1 of The Shield a look. The result of that was that I just whipped through that show, watching the first 3 seasons' worth (all that was on DVD at the time) in a little over two weeks. I was really blown away by the quality of everything on the show, especially the writing and the acting, and I just gobbled it up. By the time I finished the 3rd season on DVD, the 4th season had already aired, but we had yet to do the discs, so I was stuck in total frustration of wanting to see what happened next but being unable to. When Season 4 finally came to the office, I volunteered to do the whole season alone just to make sure I got to work on it, and I ended up being paid to watch every episode in order (which of course was awesome). A few months after that the Fifth Season aired, and for the first time since I was a kid I had a show that I actually tuned in for each and every week (aided by Tivo at this point).

After starting with The Shield on Netflix, I got The Wire and found myself almost as impressed at first (and ultimately moreso as that show went on - The Wire is hands down the best show I've ever seen). After The Wire I got into a couple other shows: Deadwood, Entourage and Battlestar Galactica. In that time Deadwood has since been canceled, The Wire finished airing all the episodes the creators wanted to make, and Battlestar Galactica has entered into its incredibly long, drawn-out last season. And now The Shield has begun its last season as well, with it being the choice of the creators to end it now rather than waiting till it became crappy or the ratings fell causing the network to pull the plug on it. Watching the first episode of Season 7 last night was great, it was definitely like seeing an old friend who I hadn't seen in a long time. I'm so happy it's back on the air and I can't wait to see how they wrap it up, but of course I'm sad that it's almost over. I intend to cherish it while it's still here.

Here are two unrelated things I'm blogging about simply because I'm bored.

I have my doubts about how smart the new Apple "Genius" feature on iTunes really is. For those who aren't familiar with it, it supposedly is able to make playlists out of your music by choosing songs that sound like the one you pick. So you just scroll through your music till you find a song you like and click the Genius button and voila, it should give you a playlist made up of songs that sound pretty close to the one you chose. Sounds great, right? Well overall I've been mostly impressed with it, although just now in the Genius playlist I created from the song "No Myth" by Michael Penn I had the song "Chopped In Half" by Obituary show up. Maybe Apple knows something I don't?

A couple days ago I bought some mice to feed the snake back at my place and had a near disaster happen on the way home. See, I normally buy about 5 mice for the snake, and this time was no exception, except that usually the guys at PetSmart put these mice in a fairly large paper box. Well, this time they put these mice in a very small paper box, and I figured it wouldn't matter if they were cramped for the car ride home cause they'd be dead soon anyway. After paying I had the cashier put the box into a plastic bag just cause the mice will piss and shit a surprising amount in the short time they're in there, and I didn't want anything seeping through the box. It turns out that the plastic bag was a lifesaver because when I got about halfway home I realized that the mice had chewed their way through box and were now crawling around inside the plastic bag. Naturally I was worried that next the mice were gonna eat their way through the bag or just escape through the opening, so I decided to just tie off the opening and hopefully suffocate the mice (that's what the snake was gonna do to them anyway). After tying the end of the bag I spent most of the ride jostling it around so the mice wouldn't be able to easily get a spot they could start chewing through. Well, I got most of the way home when I realized that one of the mice was wiggling out of a small hole near the opening of the bag. I quickly turned on the next side street and had to try to grab the mouse by the tail (which I did) and get it back into the bag. The problem was that the hole the mouse had wiggled out of was very small, so I had to untie the bag while holding it in one hand and holding the mouse by the tail in the other. In the end I had to thump the mouse on the head a couple times to daze it before I could get it back in the bag, but eventually I did get it back in there and quickly made it home where I fed all five mice to the snake. Crisis averted.