The Simpsons Binge Watch: Every Episode Plus the Movie
Posted on August 20, 2014 at 3:59 pm
Get your food delivery menus ready. Unplug your phone. All 552 Simpsons episodes will be broadcast in order, starting tomorrow. They include scenes cut in syndication that have not been on television since the original broadcast. And of course they include some remarkably prescient moments that predicted the future so accurately we can only watch again to guess what other developments in the series are still ahead of us.
Bo Svenson is an actor, writer, director, judo champion, and, as I was lucky enough to find out, an enthralling guy to talk to, turning an interview into a wide-ranging conversation.
Copyright 2014 Bo Svenson
Svenson was born in Sweden. His family emigrated to the United States and he joined the U.S Marines when he was 17. Honorably discharged after six years of service, he was in pursuit of a Ph.D. in metaphysics when he was ‘discovered’ by Hollywood. He has starred in over sixty motion pictures, including Delta Force, North Dallas Forty, and Inglourious Basterds, and several hundred hours of U.S. network television, including the Walking Tall TV series.
He has competed in world championships, Olympic trials, and/or international competition, in judo, ice hockey, yachting, and track-and-field. He holds black belts in judo, karate, and aikido, and he is a licensed NASCAR driver. He was honored by the Martial Arts Hall of Fame.
In 1961, when he was a U.S. Marine, he earned his first degree black belt in judo at the cradle of judo, the Kodokan in Tokyo. A year later he heard about a red-haired Jewish American woman from Brooklyn training at the Kodokan (at a time when no women were allowed). She was Rusty Kanokogi, nee Rena Glickman. “She took the name from a neighbor’s dog that she truly loved,” Svenson told me. “After the dog was killed by a car, she wanted the dog’s name to go on, to be embodied, somehow.” After her death in 2009, Svenson got the rights to tell her story. He has written and is about to direct a film about Rusty Kanokogi, called “Don’t Call Me Sir.”
It is a remarkable story. In 1959, when she was a single mother, Rusty Kanokogi disguised herself as a man in order to compete in the New York State YMCA Judo Championship. She beat the reigning champion and won the tournament. While on the podium after having received her medal she was asked if she was a girl. She admitted that she was.
They took the medal back.
Rusty Kanokogi vowed to change how women were treated in sports. She got women’s judo accepted as a competitive sport and an Olympic event. Kayla Harrison will portray Rusty. She is the 2012 Olympic gold medalist in judo, the first American, man or woman to be Olympic champion in the event that Rusty created.
“There’s not much difference between martial arts and learning how to type, from my perspective,” Svenson told me. “It’s repetition. Once you get beyond the mechanics of it, it is personalized by who you are, your being. Eventually it’s an issue of the person, the person’s ability, focus, needs. There are people in this world who don’t have a need to conquer someone else. I don’t have a need to beat someone in competition. I enjoyed the competition. I didn’t care if I won or lost. That outlook becomes a problem if you want to stand on top of the podium. I enjoyed the people.”
“A hero is someone who does something at great personal sacrifice for mankind,” he said. “Rusty certainly did. She worked hard for years to get women’s judo to be a competitive sport and an Olympic event. She fought against gender and ethnic bias. She was Jewish and she was a girl and she didn’t feel that either should stand in the way of whatever she was capable of. She set out to right the wrong across the board, and she did.”
Svenson wrote the screenplay. He said that when he was supporting himself as an actor to pay his tuition in the PhD program in metaphysics at USC, one of the most important things he learned was that “art is a word that is derived from the first three letters of the word ‘artificial.’ The greater the art, the less noticeable the artificiality. When it comes to my writing — to everything, really — I am attracted to authenticity, to that which is least contrived.”
He told me that judo is the world’s second most popular sport, with more than 50 million people participating internationally. He resisted the pressure from Hollywood to put a “name” actress in the story to cast someone who was a judo champion like the woman she is portraying. “I abhor deceit of any kind. Kayla Harrison is the most extraordinary young lady. She has been confronted with challenges that would break any other person. She is fabulous and I know she will be fabulous as Rusty in the movie. After all the dumb movies I’ve been in, I’m thrilled to be part of something that has heart, soul, authenticity. It is about something. People who see it will have experienced something. They will be better off than they were before it began. It is a wonderful, wonderful journey to be on.”
“Without this,” Clark Wang says, “dying from lymphoma feels so empty and meaningless and pointless.” Dr. Wang was diagnosed in 2003, and we meet him as he is running out of options for treatment. His doctor tells him it is a matter of months. His choice for making his death meaningful is to seek out a “green” burial. He persuades a local cemetery to preserve a tract of forest instead of cutting it down to extend the lawn area. He finds someone who can make a coffin coffin for him out of reclaimed wood. We see him try it on for size, joking that “I’m going to be here for a while.” He approves. “It’s the exact style that I want to go out in.” And, in a moment of both celebration and defiance, he dances on its cover.
“A Will for the Woods” is a documentary about the small but urgent movement for eco-burial. But its focus on Dr. Wang, a psychiatrist and musician, makes it a profound statement about death and therefore about life. While some people in the film speak in euphemisms and indirection, and even Wang himself uses terms like “burial is a very likely outcome,” the way that he and his partner Jane confront what is happening to maintain a sense of dignity, honesty, and control is both moving and inspiring. It is not surprising that this film has won audience awards at four film festivals so far.
“It’s comforting to know I’ll be in such a beautiful place,” Wang says. He speaks of learning to “befriend death,” to make sure that his last act is not an act of pollution. Jane tells him what she will do after he dies, how she will wash his body and spend time with it, caring for him in a way he can no longer care for himself.
This is a touching film and a very important one. It is about dying with dignity, but it is also about living with grace. Just as Dr. Wang approached his own death with purpose and honor, the filmmakers have done the same in telling his story and making it ours as well.
Everything I said about the last two “Expendables” movies, blah blah, with some new additions from the AARP branch of the action heroes club: Harrison Ford, Antonio Banderas, Wesley Snipes, and Mel Gibson, plus a couple of Expendable interns to bring down the median age a bit.
Sylvester Stallone got the gang back together for one more Over-the-Hill gang run-with-a-gun-fest. Once again, he plays Barney Ross, as one of those guys who is most comfortable when he is least comfortable. One of these guys, given a chance to sleep in a bed, puts the bedspread down on the floor and settles in for the night. Barney and the gang are the guys you call when you need the impossible and off the books. I need to point out, however, that it isn’t too hush-hush as Barney’s first meeting with Drummer (ah, the machismo of these names), the CIA big shot played by Ford, replacing Bruce Willis as Church. (There are a couple of cracks about Church, directed at Willis, who reportedly asked for too much money to be in this film.) Barney and Drummer have a nice chat about all the black ops stuff in a hospital parking lot.
Who cares whether it makes sense? We’re here for the stunts and explosions and they are fine. It’s the winks to the camera and the manly quips that are hard to take. Note to the hard-core fans of hard core, however: while the first two films were rated R, this one is PG-13. Which means, basically, just one f-word and less blood.
Despite their name, of course each and every one of the team is vitally important to Barney, and he has a collection of dog tags from those who didn’t make it hanging in the plane like sad little wind chimes. Barney hates to put people in danger, which is something of an occupational hazard when you are in the tough guy business. When one of his team is hit hard, he fires everyone else and brings in new recruits, which (1) gives us a chance to see him hopping around the world with Kelsey Grammer as his talent scout, for one of those “Magnificent Seven,” “Oceans 11” let’s see what these guys can do episodes, and (2) gives them a chance to cast some people audiences under age 25 might recognize, including boxer Victor Ortiz of “Dancing With the Stars,” Kellan Lutz of “Twilight,” and MMA champion Ronda Rousey. Conveniently, each of them can do two things: fight and hack computers, fight and Parkour, fight and rock a mini-skirt, etc.
They’re going after a bad guy played with way too much relish by Mel Gibson, as though he is saying, “You want to hate me? Bring it on!” Of course he is impossible to find and surrounded by armies of security. And Drummer wants him brought back alive. But this is what Barney does. So, he takes his padawans and pretty soon they’re jumping out of plans and exchanging manly quips. And they’re showing old Pops a thing or two about using computers and being in the 21st century. It works out just fine until it doesn’t, and it’s time for the old folks to come in and save the day.
It’s fun to see these old guys in action, and it gives you a lot of bang-bang for the buck.
Parents should know that this movie includes some strong language and crude insults, extensive and graphic violence with knives, guns, fights, explosions, and many characters are injured or killed.
Family discussion: How did the two generations of Expendables differ? Why did Drummer and Galgo care so much about getting into the fight? Why did Barney take off his protective gear?
If you like this, try: the earlier “Expendables” movies and the 1980’s action films featuring these stars
Rated R for language including sexual references, some graphic nudity, violence and drug use
Profanity:
Very strong and crude language
Alcohol/ Drugs:
Drinking, marijuana, meth
Violence/ Scariness:
Law enforcement peril and violence, guns, many characters injured and killed
Diversity Issues:
Diverse characters, some racial, sexist, and homophobic humor
Date Released to Theaters:
August 15, 2014
Copyright 2014 Twentieth Century Fox
Oh, let’s not.
As generic as its name and way too long, any significant connection “Let’s Be Cops” has with its audience comes from the increasing sense of regret that this talented cast wasted its time — and ours.
The title is the elevator pitch. Two hapless losers dress up as cops, like the respect and sense of power they get, and decide to wear the uniforms some more so that they can order people around and get past the velvet rope at a nightclub. And impress a girl.
Highly likeable “New Girl” co-stars Damon Wayans, Jr. and Jack Johnson play Justin and Ryan, 30-year old Perdue alums and roommates who are reminded by a reunion party that they have not accomplished very much. Justin has a low-level job at a video game company and is too shy to get the attention of the boss for the new game he has developed, which is about a policeman. That’s why he has a couple of authentic uniforms on hand. Ryan is a sometime actor who — wait for it — is living off the residuals he got for a herpes medicine commercial. Oh, my sides!
The un-dynamic duo misunderstand the invitation to the reunion party and arrive in costume to find everyone else in business attire with masks. Why? No reason except an improbable basis for the even more improbable premise. They leave, embarrassed, but when people on the street believe they are real cops, they think it is a lot of fun. Justin is ready to walk away, but Ryan gets into character, watching YouTube videos to learn police lingo and skills. Pretty soon, Justin is impressing a pretty waitress (“Vampire Diaries'” Nina Dobrev) and Ryan is messing with some guys who crunched his car. It is obvious that these are very scary gangsters, but of course Ryan has no clue and Justin is having way too much fun engaging them in a law enforcement version of Simon Says to pay attention.
The rest of it plays out exactly the way you’d imagine, with the only bright spot Key & Peele’s Keegan-Michael Key hilarious appearance as a tattooed low-level driver for the bad guys, sort of the fake cops’ Huggy Bear. His too brief-appearance only reminds us of the comedic chaos this film is missing. The funny parts aren’t funny enough (Really? Wrestling a naked fat guy? Wasting Rob Riggle as a straight man? Being high on meth? Flirting with a drugged-out floozy?). The action parts aren’t exciting enough. The big surprise twist is neither big nor a surprise. Gene Siskel used to say that the movie should be better than watching the same actors talk over lunch. This one doesn’t come close.
Parents should know that this film has strong and crude language, sexual references and situations, male and female nudity, violence and peril with characters injured and killed, alcohol and drug use (marijuana and meth).
Family discussion: How did Justin and Ryan differ in their thinking about pretending to be policemen? How did their experiences change their ideas about what they were capable of?
If you like this, try: “The Other Guys” and “The Heat”
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It is a remarkable story. In 1959, when she was a single mother, Rusty Kanokogi disguised herself as a man in order to compete in the New York State YMCA Judo Championship. She beat the reigning champion and won the tournament. While on the podium after having received her medal she was asked if she was a girl. She admitted that she was.
