Playing Catch Up!!!

Sorry for being incommunicado for so long, kids. Inspiration, that fickle muse, took a major siesta for a few weeks behind Agent 5150’s back; however, the mojo has returned so here are some entertainment nuggets that cover the last half of August 2009. The obvious starting point is the big news that broke yesterday…

1) Disney buys Marvel: Well, we all thought Wal-Mart would eventually take over the world, but it looks the Mouse House will have something to say about that before all is said and done. As a former comic book geek, I am deeply saddened by this news. You already need a sizeable loan to buy a handful of comic books each week (they currently average $3.99 an issue!), but Disney will surely figure out a way to extort more money out of the unwashed masses still living in their parents’ basement. Cynical? No, realistic…just look at how the price of admission to Disney’s theme parks has escalated over the last few decades. Outside of any major university, I defy you to find me a business entity with a higher year-to-year percentage increase in prices. Let’s just hope that Disney doesn’t castrate Marvel like they did ESPN…I mean, does Mickey really want to screw around with the guys to my right?

2) New Collective Soul: I’m still not sure if their latest effort is technically another self-titled affair (following the 1995 classic that featured “December” & “The World I Know”) or if it’s called “Rabbit”, but this new album simply rocks. Easily their best CD/MP3 since “Disciplined Breakdown”, “Rabbit” has but one misfire…the sappy, generic “You”; the remaining ten tracks range from blistering arena rock (“Welcome All Again”) to goofball party tunes (“Fuzzy”, “Lighten Up”) to tender personal disclosures (“Hymn For My Father”) to new-classic behemoths (“Dig”, “My Days”). Ed Roland and company are in top form here…like The Cars in the 70s and 80s, Collective Soul are underrated troubadours for the 90s and 00s who are never ‘hit-and-miss’ like their peers (sorry Pearl Jam fans, but “No Code” sucked and “Riot Act” wasn’t much better!). 3 ½ Eddies for “Rabbit”…

3) Quick Hit DVD Reviews: Agent 5150 has actually been able to catch a few flicks recently in between lawn mowing marathons and mass resume mailings. Let’s get up to speed, shall we?

“Push” is fun junk food for the brain, a decent ‘X-Men’ rip-off that’s actually just as good as the summer blockbuster “Wolverine”…2 ½ Eddies.

“Gran Torino” closes the book on Clint Eastwood’s ‘Dirty Harry’ persona like “Pale Rider” did for ‘The Man With No Name’. Yes, I know in both cases the main characters are technically different from the classic personalities they represent, but the similarities are just too striking to ignore. That being said, “Gran Torino” feels a bit manipulative on an emotional level, and Eastwood explores themes he’s already covered over and over and over again…3 Eddies.

“Killshot” stars Mickey Rourke and Diane Lane in an Elmore Leonard adaptation that surprisingly only saw a limited U.S. theatrical release earlier this year despite Rourke’s presence hot on the heels of “The Wrestler”. Maybe that’s because the flick is average at best - not much charm or humor in this crime drama…2 Eddies.

“Yes Man” once again shows that Jim Carrey is slightly ahead of Adam Sandler in the battle to claim the title of ‘Hollywood’s King of the Moderately Amusing Movie’. Very similar in tone to “Liar Liar”, “Yes Man” is a tolerable comedy with just enough sweetness to make it digestible…2 ½ Eddies.

“Horsemen” is a straight-to-DVD thriller starring Dennis Quaid that doesn’t try very hard to hide the fact that it’s a mirror image of “Seven”. Still, “Horsemen” manages to weave its disturbing little spell fairly well - Quaid plays haggard and obsessive with a nice edge, and the overwrought ending doesn’t sink things completely…2 ½ Eddies.

Finally, “I Love You, Man” is an overrated buddy comedy about grown men trying to find buddies. Paul Rudd is a bit too nerdy here; also, a little less gay innuendo and a little more nastiness in the script could have made “I Love You, Man” much, much better…2 ½ Eddies.

That’s it for now, people…wake me up when September ends. Just kidding…I’ll be back atcha in a week or so. And please forgive me for the lame but appropriate use of your song title, Green Day…

The Greatest (Fictional) American Hero

Agent 5150 has always had an obsession with heroes. Maybe it’s because my moral code hasn’t always been as perfect as I would have liked it to be. Maybe it’s because I too often look at the negative in life yet always hope for the best with the start of every new day. Maybe it’s because I haven’t helped everybody I could, every possible time I could. Maybe it’s because to settle for being the flawed human being I am seems somehow disingenuous...

Anyway, enough psychobabble. I got to thinking about what would constitute my idea of a perfect hero (we’ll stick with fictional characters for this debate; real-life heroes are too few & far between, and too precious to even consider debasing with this silly exercise). If I look back through all the movies, novels, and television shows I’ve digested over my many years, which qualities from which characters would I combine to create Agent 5150’s ultimate heroic icon? Let’s take a look at the top ten (in no particular order), shall we?

1) The laconic cool of Clint Eastwood’s ‘Man with No Name’ and ‘Dirty Harry’. Never a doubt. No distractions. Never needs anyone...ever. No friends, no women, nobody. The ultimate representation of independence. How can you go wrong when you have that much faith in yourself?

2) The world-weary optimism of Dave Robicheaux. Battled the bottle and the dark underbelly of New Orleans but still believes in love and friendship. Enough said.

3) The self-assured fragility of Sonny Crockett. Confident enough to seduce any woman, but sensitive enough to bow out of the picture if he feels his baggage is too great a burden for her to handle.

4) The ability to change exhibited by Jimmy McNulty (we'll pretend Season Five never happened). From boozer to family man in roughly one season of “The Wire”, he experienced the hypothetical ‘moment of clarity’ that all men deep down inside hope to face at some point in their lives.

5) The strength to stay the course at all costs shown by Patrick Kenzie (especially in “Gone Baby Gone”). Kenzie gave up the love of his life because he couldn’t reconcile one crucial moral decision with her. Would you take that kind of an emotional hit to stick to your guns?

6) The capacity to help people even when every fiber of your being screams against it for fear of being hurt as shown by Lew Fonesca. His wife was killed by a drunk driver. Fonesca actually took the drunk driver in over the span of a few books until they reached a level of forgiveness that worked well for both of them. Would you be strong enough to do that?

7) The analytical focus of Alex Delaware (and Nero Wolfe, as well). All business, all the time. Well, maybe a little nookie and fine cuisine thrown in for good measure...

8) The perfect balance of smart-ass and dead-serious problem solver, as demonstrated by Elvis Cole. Cole hasn’t exactly matured or evolved over the years…life has just had its way with him. He’s a little more bitter than he was when we first met him, but he can still sling a wicked sarcastic barb when needed...

9) The Hemingway-esque view of life demonstrated by Travis McGee. Beds a ton of women, always waxes philosophical about evil and love and man’s inhumanity to man. Kicks ass, beds more women. He gets it.

10) The clear chivalric code of Spenser. Will kill when needed, will make a deal with the devil if it leads to a net positive in the end...

If some of these names aren’t familiar to you, Google ‘em. Or better yet, go to Amazon.com or Best Buy (or your local library, if you’re pinching pennies like most of us) and get a copy of the book or DVD. Feel free to send me your suggestions, ideas, or arguments for or against any of my picks...

After all, our heroes are as unique as we are, right?