Heard a great rebuttal to this logic in Slate Culture Gabfest which boiled down to if speech can be violence then violence can be speech. This is obviously a cancerous idea in any culture.
Thereās a very very large naval base in southern Indiana. I had a chance to work there a while back, but wasnāt feeling the whole southern Indiana vibe.
Couldnāt sleep last night and watched the 1995 dog food casserole Virtuosity starring Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe. It was so bad that I couldnāt turn it off. Crowe plays a virtual reality amalgam of serial killer personas that enters the physical world through an android body (thatās the short plot description). It seems like a straight juice blender ripoff of several popular sci-fi / action type flicks of that era glued into one, specifically T2, The Lawnmower Man (
), and Demolition Man. In fact, Iām almost positive that this must have been the high concept pitch for the film.
The plot, script, acting, and special effects are all exceptionally awful, but the aspect that really stuck out to me is Croweās performance: his character, especially the movement and mannerisms, is perhaps best described as a cross between Pee-Wee Herman and Robert Patrickās T1000. Maybe a dash of Brad Wesley from Roadhouse in there too with the weird head cock and crazy eyes. Itās truly bizarre and maybe the first time Iāve been consciously aware of an uncanny valley sensation from unnatural human movement.
Iām surprised there arenāt a lot of memes from this film. It really is that bad and has the material, but I couldnāt find what I wanted so ripped them myself. My favorite is this scene where he inexplicably walks backward onto a train which, in my opinion, sums up the entire movie quite well: āWeirdo in a purple suit executes a 180-degree spin in stride to walk backward onto a train for no good reason.ā
And another from an arena pursuit scene where he performs a backward 3 & 1/2 somersault from the tuck position onto solid concrete to evade police, but not before doing a quick gesture to pump up the crowd. Why?
Variance: The costume sold for $1,830 at auction in 2018.
6 Likes
Iāve always felt like if someone uses the word āobviouslyā to underline a conclusion that hasnāt been at all supported by any argument, it just draws attention to the same.
I cited the source argument.
Do you think violence can ever be speech?
Great review. Iāve binged a lot of bad sci fi on Comet TV and I havenāt seen this one.
Highy recommend checking out Demon Seed.
1 Like
Caught it on Pluto so you can probably see it on there for free this week.
1 Like
Proud to say I saw Virtuosity in the theater. Those were the high school glory days when my best friend and I would buy booklets of discount tickets and see basically anything. We even rented āPhat Beach,ā which is as bad as you would expect.
2 Likes
3 Likes
Should also point out that Virtuosity is same director but different writer as The Lawnmower Man, which is maybe not that surprising given that TLM is also technically quite bad as a film production (obv I love the concept). However, in Bret Leonardās defense, Iām not sure any amount of directing talent could have polished this turd of a script. The thing that initially set TLM apart in 1992 was the concept and special fx, neither of which are novel today. To be honest, they were probably already dated by 1995. Afaict, Virtuosity really has no saving graces other than this zany, almost slapstick makeover of the T1000 archetype.
Wow. Thatās sad. As the writer said, hopefully Willis will be remembered for all the great stuff he did, rather than the shit at the end of his career (and he probably will be).
Related, the Die Hard episode of The Movies That Made Us on Netflix is very good. One thing they talk about that I didnāt understand at the time, since I was young and didnāt watch Moonlighting, was that it was a big risk casting Willis as the lead in the film because he was known for comedy (and television in an age when there wasnāt much crossover). His face was even removed from the first newspaper ads.
I saw TLM in theaters but not Virtuosity but I see how they were directed by the same guy. Neither is good, both are weird.
When I saw TLM in the theater, it blew my mind. Thought it was one of the coolest things I had ever seen. And then I relived it all over again when I realized that Lapidus in āLostā WAS the Lawnmower Man.
The article portrayed it as really sad that he was blowing his legacy. But supposedly he wanted to be working. I donāt see it as that tragic or anything.
My uncle owns a CPA firm, went downhill in a similar fashion. His family finally had to have an intervention because he was driving the employees crazy constantly walking around asking them the same questions. He really went downhill fast after that though. His business was a big part of his life.
Man 67 is so young to basically be gone. Yet another data point in favor of my plan to enjoy myself and see the world now and let the chips fall where they may later.
4 Likes
As a fan of garbage movies, Iāve avoided any of the many recent Willis movies just because of a concern that heās been exploited. I think the bad movie podcasts out there have also stayed away from them as well.
1 Like
I think the bad thing about him continuing to work is that the movies heās done the last couple years are just these pump-and-dump bullshit straight to Redbox films and it looks like heās being exploited. Now, if he totally understood the deal and was fine with it all, then more power to him, make your money and enjoy your day on set. But if someone was taking advantage of his mental health, thatās no good at all.
Right. But I thought I read somewhere (or maybe LFS told us) that he likes making the movies and it keeps him feeling like heās doing something.
Yojimbo
10/10
I havenāt seen someone have this much swagger in a movie ever. The movieās got a bit of everything, comedy, drama, some amazing shots. I had a nagging feeling I had heard the story before. I didnāt realize that it was the basis for A Fist Full of Dollars
4 Likes
Before I knew anything about this, I watched Breach, knowing it would be a B-movie but figuring with Willis it would at least be fun. It was not. He wasnāt noticeably terrible though. The movie was just clearly ultra-ultra-low budget. Like student film level.
Iām inclined to think he wanted to keep making movies and they let him do it for as long as he could. Thatās the far more common way things go with cognitive issues rather than somebody being forced to keep on doing something. He was a performer his entire life and he almost certainly wanted to keep performing. The tragedy is that he finally had to stop, not that he āruined his legacyā or whatever dumb shit that article says. The guy who wrote that can fuck off imo.
1 Like