On tap this week: Ben Roethlisberger and his side job as an alleged rapist, the Kick-Ass effect and how it could ruin the specialness of the comic book film, trying to find the head of Alfredo Garcia and slightly much more!
The whole Ben Roethlisberger bit has given comedic license to me and the retards I call friends. This is the latest, courtesy of a phone call during the NFL Draft when Roger Goodell was allowing the Make-A-Wish kids to announce picks:
“Is that one of Ben Roethlisberger’s rape babies?” — Nick the standup comic
“No, it’s a Make-A-Wish kid. They partnered with the NFL this year.” – Me
“Oh.” — Nick, adding a minute of dead, awkward silence afterwards. “Now I feel bad.”
Me, I’ve been wondering something all week since Ben Roethlisberger got suspended for six games for his shenanigans in a college bar: Why hasn’t the NFL signed a petition and gotten behind him in the same way Hollywood got behind Roman Polanski? Me, I’m waiting for Jerry Rice, Peyton Manning, Tom Coughlin and the gang to all sign a petition about how this is a “case of morals” but I think it leads to a broader point. This case is when two eras collided and we are beginning to realize that both are kind of bothersome.
The first is the era of “Athlete Entitlement.” Over the years the limits of what you can get away with as an athlete have been expanded; when a significant enough percentage of professional athletes have been convicted of a crime above and beyond a traffic ticket to warrant merit you know something’s wrong with the way we’re doing things. To me it was all evident during the aftermath of Michael Vick’s release from prison; you had a serious debate on whether or not he ought to be allowed back in the NFL even after his prison sentence for running a dog-fighting ring.
In any other profession this wouldn’t be even merited; like if the CEO of Meryl Lynch ran a dog-fighting ring, would we really even debate whether or not he could be the CEO of another company? Yet if you run a 4.3 in the 40 yard dash you can get back into a pro sports league. And get a multi-million dollar contract while you’re at it. Part of me is sympathetic, as we all have made mistakes in our youth and some have long-lasting consequences. But it’s getting to a point where people are starting to notice and getting ticked; it’s why Tim Tebow went in the first round and why LeGarrette Blount didn’t get drafted. Roger Goodell is a Stetson away from completely aping Timothy Olyphant in Justified and he’s bringing out some old-fashioned Kennesaw Landis style justice.
Guys like Ben, nicknamed “PacBen” by Jason Whitlock in perhaps the greatest nickname ever for an accused rapist, are used to certain privileges by virtue of their athletic talents. Part of the reason why we envy athletes is because of the fame, the money and (most importantly) the groupies. It was partially shocking that Tiger Woods was caught, and the cavalcade of women came out, but how shocked were we that a rich, successful guy would sleep with women who weren’t his wife?
It’s part of the game, so to speak, and I imagine that most wives of famous athletes don’t want to know who else their spouses are sleeping with. Just “no kids and no diseases” is perhaps a more enlightened view of fidelity one can expect from a superstar athlete spouse. The best example is of Michael and Juanita Jordan. Michael was the consummate family man and yet was quite infamous for being the ultimate ladies man as well. But then again when you’re the richest and greatest in your profession, one with a lot of media exposure and adulation, it’s not altogether unsurprising that women would find this is attractive.
We can talk about fidelity and whatnot but any young guy worth millions and is famous, regardless of profession, has a higher probability of not being the most faithful of spouses. It’s just a fact and we all just need to acknowledge this particular 500 lb gorilla in the room. If regular guys in marriages can cheat on their wives when given the opportunity it’s not surprising that rich, famous guys will do it as well.
The other era is the “Casual Sex is ok and encouraged” era. Having spent the bulk of my adulthood in an era when women were encouraged to get as drunk, sloppy and dirty as their male counterparts has been interesting to say the least. We’re told that women can do anything a man can and well … they can be just as filthy as we are. I say this on behalf of men everywhere: WOO HOO.
Just saying it isn’t enough, actually, so I’ve found a YouTube to put it in song:
So what happens when you get an athlete used to getting nearly any woman he wants meets an era where a song about hooking up in the bathroom is popular? Well, when you get a conversation that’s highly “sexually charged” and “flirtatious” between a drunken pro athlete used to getting what we wants and a woman allegedly wearing a tag that stated that she was open to sexual relations with men she just met that night. Or, DTF as in “Down to F—-“ as it so eloquently stated. The fact that this isn’t a massive outrage is interesting in and of itself; it shows how far we’ve gone to accept and normalize this sort of behavior.
Since no charges were filed, we can’t say whether or not Ben did anything wrong. We don’t have the faintest clue and anyone besides Ben and the girl who claims to know otherwise is talking out of their ass. It is amusing that between Tom Cable (who broke an assistant’s jaw) and Ben that the Steelers QB is the one to get punished despite charges not being filed in either case. I’m shocked he, or the union, hasn’t sued the league based on this but I imagine Roethlisberger isn’t a big enough dope to push the issue and go ahead and rehabilitate himself (more like his image, but that’s semantics). So really, we’re at an impasse. The last six months (really, since Tiger’s shenanigans) have been interesting in how the discussion is evolving.
Where is this all going to lead? I don’t know, but then again it’s probably the reason why I didn’t get into the good colleges.
Random Thoughts of the Week
Familiarity breeds contempt and success will always breed imitators; those are two lessons I’ve learned from life. And the amusing thing is that Marvel, with the success of Kick-Ass, is committing itself to make a number of cheaper superhero films based on the Kick-Ass model. While the model itself isn’t really new, as horror films have been able to ride that $15-30 million budget number to a $70-100 million box office and profitability before DVD release, it’s an interesting one in that Marvel is coming to a realization that’ll probably end up changing the nature of the comic book film: You can mass produce a comic book film.
CHUD broke it and it’s been nearly everywhere.
Ever since the renaissance of the comic book genre with Spider-Man, every comic book film from Marvel has had one thing in common: they weren’t cheap. No matter the quality of content, and some were terrible (Blade: Trinity), there was always a genuine attempt at making every one into a big blockbuster. Even if it was a bit misguided, there was always the attempt to make every film in the genre into an event. There was always the attempt to capture lightning in a bottle and not working, ala Daredevil, but there was an attempt at turning every one into a massive $300 million domestic box office hit.
Kick-Ass was able to look about three times more expensive than it actually was with a top flight cast and will end up making its budget back (and then some) before it hits on DVD. Even for an R-rated film it’s going to be a hit; at PG-13 the audience would be significantly larger in theatres because more teenagers can get in without buying tickets to other films and sneaking in to that one instead. And unfortunately it’s sending the wrong message to Hollywood.
The Saw franchise provides the best example of this and show the path that Marvel is probably going to follow. The first Saw was brilliant and made $103 million in box office receipts against $1.2 million in production costs. What followed? A ton of cheaply made films in the newfound “torture porn” genre flood the market, most of them turning a profit because of how little they cost against modest box office receipts. What those in charge forget was that Saw was a remarkably brilliant film and a definite game-change in how the genre could be presented in the same way Halloween introduced the slasher motif to horror films.
It was brilliant and would’ve worked with a $100 million budget, but worked with 1/100th of that because of the execution. What followed was a watering down of the concept in the same way that Marvel is risking messing their brand. If someone wants to option other brands comic books, make cheap versions and try doing the quick buck bit then I would rather Marvel not follow their lead. Marvel to this point has guarded their brand like Pixar has; there’s nothing shoved out there for the quick buck and the cheap turnaround. The Modern Marvel era has been one of relatively high quality, or an attempt therein at the latest. Even both the Fantastic Four films, which were pretty bad, didn’t reek of “trying to make a quick buck.” It’s nice to see Marvel at least have the pretense of brand integrity for a while; the one thing Marvel has when it comes to their movie franchise as a whole is that most people expect a Marvel film to be good, if not great.
It’s why people get excited for Pixar animation, to continue that motif, and shrug their shoulders for everyone else. And why people kind of figured Catwoman would be bad and were disappointed that Elektra was. Marvel still has brand value and part of me is thinking that it could be cool to see up and coming directors/actors given the opportunity to make a superhero film.
But that’s inherently the problem, too. Horror films now are populated by young, struggling actors cast for their ability to be photogenic as opposed to talent. And not just anyone can put on tights and a cape in the same manner that one can be a horror film victim. Kick-Ass was successful because it was made outside the studio system by Matthew Vaughn and then sold off, maintaining his artistic vision by making it his way. Trying to duplicate that by just going cheaper is a short term profit motive with a long term consequence; once the door is opened and people don’t expect much out of Marvel they won’t get excited by Marvel’s new projects.
And that’ll be a sad day because it’ll mean the comic book film will be just another genre and not something special.
A Movie A Week – The Challenge
This Week’s DVD – Bring me the head of Alfredo Garcia
For $2, I’m always willing to take a flyer on a Peckinpah film. And thus when I was perusing the wares of a going out of business sale at a video rental place I noticed this was not taken. I had remembered it being on Roger Ebert’s greatest movies list but never had gotten a chance to rent it, so for the cost of a rental I figured that buying the sucker wouldn’t be so bad. Plus it can always get traded for something, if need be, so why not right?
Alfredo Garcia has knocked up the boss’s daughter. El Jefe (Emilio Fernandez) is understandably pissed. He sends his two best, Sappensly (Robert Webber) and Quill (Gig Young), on one mission: to kill Alfredo Garcia and bring back his decapitated head. Garcia has a hefty price tag on his head, $1 million dollars, making the aforementioned skull the object of much desire.
And it’s not a very good film, even for $2. The film is essentially indulging in all the gratuitous sex and violence that Peckinpah is known for but without any of the smarts behind it. There isn’t a whole lot of the film that’s interesting or unique; just more of the same.
The story behind the film is interesting in and of itself. Done on the cheap after the failure of Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, this film was another failure for Peckinpah both commercially and critically. It’s become somewhat of a cult classic in the years since its release, finding an audience in the years since. That seems to be the story of Peckinpah’s career in the years after The Getaway with the exception of Convoy; his career mainly tanked because he was in the tank more often then not.
Recommendation to avoid.
What Looks Good This Weekend, and I Don’t Mean the $2 Pints of Bass Ale and community college co-eds with low standards at the Alumni Club
Furry Vengeance – Brendan Frasier gets attacked by animals. Hilarity allegedly ensues.
Skip it – No. Just … no.
Nightmare on Elm Street (2010) – After about 300 sequels, Freddy Krueger is back!
Skip it – Jackie Earl Haley is intriguing as the new Freddy. HOWEVER, the last time they remade a horror classic it turned out to be Rob Zombie’s Halloween.
Harry Brown – Michael Caine goes Gran Torino on some punks. Awesomeness ensues.
See It – There’s something to be said about old, awesome actors making films where they beat up criminals. Me, I’m waiting for Morgan Freeman to pick up a baseball bat in Watts and do his own Bobby Bonds impression on some local hoodlums in a flick you could call Easy Reader Gives a Hard Beating. Until then, I’ll settle for Michael Caine aping Walt Kowalski.
Do you have questions about movies, life, love, or Branigan’s Law? Shoot me an e-mail at Kubryk@Insidepulse.com and you could be featured in the next “Monday Morning Critic.” Include your name and hometown to improve your odds…
