Enough Already: A Holiday Service Piece
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A blogumn by Jordan Weeks
“Happy Thanksgiving 2008!!! from Enough Already”
The universal Thanksgiving Day ritual is the cooking and eating of turkeys, America’s stupidest bird. (Sure, people say they’re smart, but come on; take one look at that weird loon and you know he’s a fool.)
Presumably the second most-common ritual that takes place on Thanksgiving Day in households around the country is the watching of football. It seems like everyone in the U.S. ingests all stripes of feast food and then parks for hours to watch the footing of the ball.
That’s fine and dandy. But I don’t give a shit about football, so I don’t ever partake in that particular adjunct act of post-chow sports voyeurism. Instead, I usually hit a movie or two in the theater along with a couple of friends and relatives who’ve either had enough football for one day or who, like me, don’t have an interest in it in the first place. And if the weather’s prohibitive, we’ll watch some stuff on DVD or On-Demand, if we’re at a location where there’s a second T.V. available.
So for me, Thanksgiving is a time to be thankful first for family and friends…but a really close second is movies. I’m thankful for good-ass movies.
With that in mind, here are my current recommendations for Thanksgiving Day 2008 movie-going and home-viewing after the jump:
IN THEATERS NOW:
* Role Models
* Zack and Miri Make a Porno
I do not recommend these above two films lightly, but strongly, with intensity and heartfelt admonition that you see them with all due speed.
* Rachel Getting Married
* Soul Men
NOW ON DVD:
* Step Brothers
Absolutely beautiful.
AND NOW FOR MY On-Demand RECOMMENDATIONS
(TAKEN FROM EAST-COAST Comcast’s “Classic Cable” CHANNEL SETUP):
FREE On-Demand:
* Blow Out
* Convoy
* Ernest Goes to Africa
* The Last Temptation of Christ
* Manchurian Candidate (1963; Frank Sinatra)
* One False Move (1992; directed by maestro Carl Franklin)
* Pure Luck (1991; Martin Short, Danny Glover)
* Stardust Memories
* Angel Heart (1987; Lisa Bonet, Mickey Rourke, Robert DeNiro)
This movie is crazy.
* Bad Lieutenant
This movie is insane.
* K-9000 (1990; Catherine Oxenberg, Chris Mulkey)
A dog with an implanted device that lets him communicate his thoughts to a similarly equipped human receiver fights crime.
* Man’s Best Friend (1993; Alley Sheedy, Lance Henriksen)
I haven’t seen this, but I plan to. Another dog-fights-crime-with-human-partners flick, this time featuring a “genetically enhanced guard-dog.”
* Iraq for Sale (documentary)
* Uncounted (documentary)
FREE On-Demand TV SHOWS:
* Home Movies (under “Cutting Edge”, in “Adult Swim” / “Comedy”)
* Sarah Silverman
* Facts of Life (under “Tube Time”)
* Silver Spoons
* Who’s the Boss
PAY On-Demand:
* 88 Minutes (2008; Al Pacino, Alicia Witt, Leelee Sobieski)
Al Pacino having the best time of his life. This movie is completely amazing on many, many levels – none of them that of a sane movie.
* Forgetting Sarah Marshall
* Iron Man
* Meet Dave (2008; Eddie Murphy, Gabrielle Union, Elizabeth Banks)
* Sarah Landon and the Paranormal Hour (2007; Rissa Walters)
I have never seen another movie like this. Just…just see it.
* Christmas is Here (2008; Ed Asner, Jay Leno)
“The evil Krad steals Santa’s toy bag.”
I haven’t seen this, either. But I’m going to make everyone watch it on Thursday.
AND ALWAYS, WHEREVER YOU CAN FIND THEM:
* Wild Style
* Style Wars
* Beat Street
* The Freshest Kids
That’s it for now.
Oh, yeah – and don’t forget, a bunch of crackers killed almost all of the people who had lived for thousands of years on the land where this country is now so that they could have it. “This land is your land, this land is my land…” RECOGNIZE.
Peace.
Jordan
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