Ask 411 Movies for 09.07.09: The Column That Sweeps the Leg!

Posted by Leonard Hayhurst on 09.07.2009

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Muppets, the possibility of History of the World, Part II, the whereabouts of Billy Zabka, the search for Captain Kirk Chair Guy, alternate Planet of the Apes endings, Canadian television, good and bad children programming, the new direction of Scrubs, The Wrong Guys, Swingers, The Descent 2 and Boondocks Saints 2.

Next week is our six-year anniversary. Six-year anniversary is candy traditionally and iron modern. So, I think the perfect gift would be an Iron Man pez dispenser.

So the G.I. Joe fervor might be dead already, but I have to share this cool video from YouTube of the Crimson Guard Twins. I'm the whitest person I know, but I think the beat is pretty dope.



From the Odd Lots tri-corner of $3 I picked up Brick, The Man with Two Brains, An Evening with Kevin Smith 2: Evening Harder and Steelyard Blues, which appears to be some sort of seventies counter culture update of Robin Hood in a junkyard with Peter Boyle, Donald Sutherland and Jane Fonda.

Q: Here are a few good theatrical versions of plays (non-musical).

Noises Off: A slapstick endeavor about a play going all wrong, with each act representing the actors doing the same scene, getting progressively worse. The first is a dress rehearsal, the second shows the behind-the-scenes at a matinee, and the final is just a complete messup. The casting is great, with Michael Caine, Christopher Reeve, Marilu Henner, John Ritter, and several others.

Speaking of Caine & Reeve, they also starred together in the theatrical adaptation of Deathtrap, an interesting mystery drama about an aging playwright who would kill to have another hit.

Finally, there is also "A Few Good Men", which of course became a Jack Nicholson vehicle, even though his character only had three or four scenes.
-Michael L

A: Thanks for those additions to last week's question on successful plays that were turned into successful movies.

Q: First of all, that's Telly, not "Tully". Shame-shame-shame.

I agree with you on about 95% of your take on "Best Little Whorehouse in Texas", but definitley take issue with you that Charles Durning can't sing. The movie was a slow, plodding mess until The Governor breaks out with "The Sidestep". That scene (along with the "Hard Candy Christmas" rendition) almost make the rest of the movie worthwhile. Charles Durning made it work, proving that one doesn't have to be a great vocalist to make a song your own.
-Truth Detector

A: I must have had Tully Blanchard on the brain. Wouldn't it be cool if he was a Muppet? Delivering a slingshot suplex to Grover. Knocking Cookie Monster out with a piledriver. Bad ass!

I don't think I said Charles Durning was bad, just that he can't sing and he can't. His number is one of those talking on pitch numbers that made unlikely musical stars out of Richard Harris and Robert Preston. I will admit his sequence is one of the more fun moments and better production numbers in the movie. "Hard Candy Christmas" is a good song, but it feels like it was kind of wedged in and doesn't fit the rest of the movie in mood or style.



Q: This might be a question for Ask 411 Music, but it's about a TV commercial. Axe body spray has a commercial with claymation cave people and the background song is something about you can do whatever you want if you look good in leather. Is that a real song or just a jingle, because I'd like to find the full version if there is one.
-Nate

A: It is a real song called "Look Good in Leather" by Cody ChestnuTT off of his 2002 debut double CD "The Headphone Masterpiece." Another song off the CD, "The Seed" was covered by the Roots as "The Seed 2.0" with ChestnuTT providing guest vocals and guitar. He's got this real soulful R&B sound that reminds of some later Marvin Gaye or Billy Paul. And yes capitalizing the double T is correct.



Q: Hey Leo-nard!

Now that you've finished up with the Sesame Street thing, how about answering some muppet questions? Whats your fave muppet movie? (including the non-Muppet ones like Labyrinth, a list from top to bottom would be cool)

And why on earth have they not released "special editions" of the original 3 muppet films? They're owned by Disney now for gawds sakes, you'd think they'd be up to the "super platinum special limited 32nd anniversary editions" by now!
-The Capn

A: My favorite films Muppet related in any way in order are

The Muppet Movie
Follow That Bird
Dark Crystal
The Great Muppet Caper
Labyrinth
Muppets Take Manhattan
Muppet Christmas Carol
Muppet Treasure Island
Muppets in Space

This excludes TV specials and series.

Disney owns the rights to the Muppets now under the title of The Muppets Holding Co. "Sesame Street" and "Fraggle Rock" remain separate from this deal. To me, Disney has always treated the Muppets like redheaded stepchildren. It's like when Vince McMahon bought out WCW and then buried them. My best guess on why Disney has not put out special sets of the Muppet films is that they don't care and/or rights to the original movies are tied up with the original studios. Only the bottom three on my list above were made and distributed through Disney.

Q: I know it's not really a comedy, but Kiss Kiss Bang Bang was a seriously underrated movie. Plus it helped start the comeback of one of my favorite actors, Robert Downey JR.
-Spaghett



A: I think I would call it a comedy, just a dark comedy. It's a film noir comedy and updating the elements of film noir in and of itself can be darkly comedic. While it oddly might mark Robert Downey Jr.'s comeback, it also probably marks the last really significant film of Val Kilmer. In the movie from 2005, Harry Lockhart (Downey) is a small time thief who inadvertently winds up in an acting audition and lands a movie part. To study for his part as a detective he is sent to shadow Gay Perry (Kilmer). While at a party, Harry meets aspiring actress Harmony (Michelle Monaghan) who he knew in childhood. They renew their friendship, but she's also mixed up in the case Harry and Perry are investigating. Hugh Grant, Benecio Del Toro and Johnny Knoxville were all considered for Harry and Harrison Ford was wanted by Warner Brothers to play Perry.

Q: Will there ever be a "History of the World, Part II"?

"South Park - Bigger Longer and Uncut" - best original movie musical in the past 20 years?

We hear all about movies being dropped in pre-production, but how often does filming actually begin - only for the movie never to be completed? And which film cost the most only to never be fully released?
-Bobby C

A: At the end of History of the World, Part I is a fake teaser trailer for the second film, which promises Hitler on ice, a Viking funeral and Jews in space. Why the rumor has floated for years that Mel Brooks was going to do a sequel the title was originally a joke based on the book History of the World Sir Walter Raleigh was working on in prison, but he died after only getting the first volume done.

I can't think of a lot of significant original musical films in the past 20 years, aside from parodies like Hamlet 2 or Cannibal: the Musical also from Parker and Stone. I'm sure I'll be very corrected in the comments section. Even with that, South Park succeeds by actually creating solid songs and musical numbers that drive the story and characters. There not just there as gags and in that it makes the film even funnier.

Q: IS there any truth behind the story of Multiple endings being filmed for Tim Burtons ,Planet of the Apes?
-Guest 6442

A: The original ending had Mark Wahlberg's character crashing into Yankee Stadium and finding apes playing baseball, according to imdb. It was cut due to budgetary concerns and not filmed.

Q: Hey Leonard. I'm the guy that originally asked about 'underrated comedies' some time back and I wanted to apologize that it's snowballed the way it has lol. I do very much appreciate everyone's suggestions/opinions though and I have added some of the ones mentioned over the last couple of months to my netflix queue. (Funny too that I was just thinking about Brain Donors and it popped up in the column)

So anyway, speaking of underrated comedies (lol)...

I was just recently turned onto the Canadian tv series 'Corner Gas' and I've been enjoying it very much. Pretty funny I must say. It got me thinking about Canadian television and how aside from SCTV I've never really heard about any shows from the Great White North.

How does Canada differ from the way American television is run? I've heard of the TSN channel, but are there other networks? Do they have a Neilson rating system? Do they have access to the same cable channels as we do? Do they have daytime soaps? lol Pretty much looking for any useless trivia about Canadian tv.

I also just finished last season of Scrubs and was wondering if they're really coming back for another season without Zach Braff? Is there anything definitive about which cast members are coming back or storylines? It's one of my favorite shows, so I'll give it a chance if it goes in another direction.

Thanks for your help man!
The Danimal

A: The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) came to life in Sept. 1952. Those close to the American border could also pick up affiliates of US stations. Several secondary stations began to spring up across Canada. Many came together in Oct. 1961 as CTV. Canada was dotted by many minor stations (which I won't go into) with pay television, satellite and cable coming in the eighties. In 2006, CTVglobemedia bought CHUM Limited, which owned CityTV and other stations. The CityTV stations were sold off to Rogers Communications, making Rogers and CTV the largest media outlets in Canada. That's the short form, I don't care for the long form.

While regulations deem that a certain degree of programming is local, most Canadian stations fill primetime with foreign shows, particularly from the U.S. There are also French speaking stations too, which usually air a little more original programming. Canada does have news, talk shows, soap operas, game shows and most of the same genre you would find in the U.S., plus American shows of all genres are popular as well.

Of Canadian shows that have become popular or have had decent showings in the U.S. are "Corner Gas," "Anne of Green Gables," "You Can't Do That on Television," "Andromeda," "Are You Afraid of the Dark?" "Bumper Stumpers," "Check it Out!" "Danger Bay," "Degrassi Junior High," "Degrassi: The Next Generation," "Due South," "Earth: Final Conflict," "The Edison Twins," Forever Knight," "Fraggle Rock," "The Galloping Gourmet," "Kenny vs. Spenny," "Kids in the Hall," Learning the Ropes," "Lexx," "Maniac Mansion," "Mr. Wizard," "The Naked News," "La Femme Nikita," "The Outer Limits," "Queer as Folk," "The Red Green Show," "SCTV" and "Stargate SG-1." There are others, many children's and animated shows have hopped across the border as well.

As for "Scrubs," an official announcement was made in June on how the revamped series would go for the coming season. John C. McGinley as Dr. Cox and Donald Faison as Turk would become professors at a local med-school with their students also doing rounds at Sacred Heart. Zack Braff as J.D. and Sarah Chalke as Elliot would do the first six episodes. Neil Flynn as the Janitor will only make sporadic appearances as he has a new ABC series "The Middle." Judy Reyes as Carla and Ken Jenkins as Kelso will also make appearances here and there. The new med students will become the primary characters. Additionally, shooting will go from North Hollywood Medical Center to Culver Studios. The difference in look will be explained as Sacred Heart being partially torn down and rebuilt, but money ran out so there are hallways that lead nowhere and operating rooms half finished. Bill Lawrence is still involved as a producer and described the new direction as a medical version of "The Paper Chase."



Q: I've been to a Wiggles concert with my little boy. It was a fuckin blast. Of course, my whole enjoyment was how much fun he had at the concert.

Quick question. Is Leo Sayer famous?
-BFF

A: That's how I felt with my niece. She liked it, so I liked it and the Wiggles do try to do a few things to keep the parents into it.

Leo Sayer was famous, he's not so much now. Sayer, 61, is an English singer/songwriter who scored back to back number one hits in the United States with "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing" and "When I Need You" in the late seventies. He also got to number two in 1980 with "More Than I Can Say." His name is Cockney rhyming slang for all day drinking session or "all-dayer," therefore "Leo Sayer," according to Wikipedia and we know that's never wrong.

The below video is more Leo Sayer that leads us into the next e-mail. It's only about 10 percent less disturbing that last week's Wiggles video.



Q: I think another possible answer to your Battlestar Gallactica DVD question is kinda similar to what you put as possibility number 4. For some reason, it's been in vogue few years to take a complete season, but split it apart and show them at separate times of the year, but still say it's part of the same season. USA Network and SyFy are notorious for doing this. USA just showed about 8 episodes of their "Burn Notice" show, but said they'll show the rest this winter. Therefore, we'll probably get "Burn Notice" season 3 and 3.5 DVD sets.

That Wiggles clip was painful. The weird thing is that Leo Sayer sang that song on "The Muppet Show" about 30 years ago and that version still holds up, while that was just dumb. Do you think kid's programming is getting dumber, or am I just getting older? Also what do you think are the Top 5 best and worst kids shows of all time?
-JLAJRC

A: Thanks for the extra idea on the TV show box sets question from last week.

As for children's televisions shows, I don't know if they're getting dumber, but I think they're presenting different information in different ways from what we're used to. I have three nieces and often watch television with them and admittedly there are few shows they watch that I like, but there are few shows from when I was a kid that they can get into to. I believe it's just changing taste with the times. Any list I make of the best and worst children's shows are going to be weighted to my childhood, but so be it.

"Sesame Street" (1969-current): "Sesame Street" has constantly changed with the times. They've kept the same characters and concepts, but adapted to new technology and new educational techniques to stay current, hip and fresh for pre-school age children. Importantly, the show moves fast and covers a wide variety of topics so pre-school age children absorb a lot without getting bored. When Big Bird learns about death through the real death of the actor that played Mr. Hooper is one of the most endearing and noteworthy television episodes of all time.



"Mr. Rogers Neighborhood" (1968-2001): Fred Rogers was a sweet soul who knew that you had to talk to children on their level without talking down to them. Instead of focusing on ABC's and 123's Mr. Rogers was about social themes and psychological development. At the same time you showed children that there was a world outside of just home and school with frequent trips to the bakery, music store and other locales that demonstrated that your neighborhood is the world.



"Captain Kangaroo" (1955-1993): Captain Kangaroo was played by Bob Keeshan, who created the character in an attempt to capitalize on the special relationship that children have with their grandparents. The Captain was supposed to be very grandfatherly, but at the same time silly and funny. While there were educational elements to the show, the focus was more on having fun by playing games, doing stories, making stuff up and the enjoyment of being with others.



"Spongebob Squarepants" (1999-current): This is one of the few shows my nieces love I can tolerate. I know there is some backlash against the little yellow guy because he's been crammed down our throats so much, but the show really is a throwback to the fun, silly irreverent cartoons of the past. I do find it to be funny and there is humor in there for adults that doesn't turn off kids. At the same time each episode usually has a moral or life lesson, so that's why I would count it as a ‘children's show' and not just a cartoon.



"The Electric Company" (1971-1977): This was definitely a show of its era. It also featured a talented cast that included Bill Cosby, Rita Moreno, Morgan Freeman and Spiderman with Irene Cara as one of the child performers. The show tried to be "Saturday Night Live" for kids with plenty of recurring characters and seventies hipness. Unlike it's sister show at the time, "Sesame Street," "The Electric Company" skewed a tad older and focused primarily on reading and vocabulary.



Now for some bad children's shows.

"The Soupy Sales Show" (1953-1978): If Captain Kangaroo is your kindly grandfather; Soupy Sales is your weird, skeezy uncle. On New Year's Day 1965, Sales was mad about having to work the holiday and told the children watching at home that they should sneak into their parents bedrooms while asleep and take those "funny green pieces of paper with pictures of U.S. Presidents" and mail them to him. A few real dollars were actually received along with some play money, but Sales was still taken off the air for several weeks.

Another time I remember hearing about, but couldn't find proof of was he urged kids to take their Brussels sprouts if they didn't want to eat them and mail them to Brussels, Belgium, where they came from. Again, a few children did what he said and it caused a ruckus. Sales was also accused of slipping dirty jokes into the show, but he never actually did anything too risqué. About the dirtiest thing I remember seeing him do is defining "booze" as what Dean Martin does at a Dodgers game.

About the most famous Sales incident actually happened twice. A running gag on the show would be Sales standing in his doorway and talking to someone, who usually only appeared as an arm. Once in L.A. and once in Detroit when the show was live, the crew as a prank had a topless dancer flash Sales. Allegedly on the Detroit occurrence, the crew switched feeds so when Soupy looked at his monitor he thought the topless woman was going out to all the viewers when it was just a private in station feed.



"Lazy Town" (2004-2007): Probably the only television show ever imported from Iceland, the series encourages children to be healthy by jumping, running and playing sports. However, I figured out the real back-story of the show and it's disgusting. So you have Lazy Town where everybody sleeps a lot, eats a lot of candy and pretty much loafs around. That's how Rodney Rotten likes them. Why? Because he's a pot dealer and he's got the town stoned. Then one day this girl moves into town who dresses in neon colors with bright pink hairs who is always moving around and grabbing on people. Why? Because she's a raver on ecstasy. Rodney is going to get rid of her, but Stephanie is protected by Sportacus. Sportacus is a 40-year-old man who likes to hang out with a 12-year-old girl with a European accent and a pencil thin mustache. He's a pederast dude.



"The Gospel Bill Show" (1981-1993): Gospel Bill (Willie George) is the sheriff of Dry Gulch and uses the power of prayer more than the power of his gun to maintain law and order. While I'm ok with the basic premise and was even a member of the Gospel Bill fan club when I was a kid (shut up, I don't want to hear it), upon reflection the series was cheesy and heavy handed in its attempts to put over good Christian values and Bible stories in a way children could relate to.



Q: Of course that Wiggles clip is painful, JLARAwhatever. It's made to entertain little ones. Just like we enjoy muppet clips now, the little ones will enjoy their wiggles clips 20-30 years from now.

Also, another question for ya, Leonard. That bad guy in the Karate Kid, "Johnny," I think. He had a good role as the teen asshole in lots of any movies. What has he done for us lately?
-BFF

A: William Zabka, 43, was born in New York City to parents who also dabbled in the entertainment industry in several areas. He became known as the jerk or bully in several eighties films including The Karate Kid, Just One of the Guys, Back to School and National Lampoon's European Vacation along with being a regular on "The Equalizer." He continued to act in indy films in the nineties as he studied directing and screenwriting. He made the short film "Most" in 2003, which earned him an Oscar nod for best live action short film. In 2007 he wrote, directed and starred in the video "Sweep the Leg" by No More Kings. He still acts regularly in B-movies and direct to DVD faire.



Q: You've helped me once, I'm wondering if you can do it again. There was a TV show back in the mid 90's. To the best of my recollection, it was an amusing show, but the only part I can recall is a bit where a guy talked about "news" or "really stupid stuff going on in the world" while sitting in a Captain Kirk chair, with various images appearing behind him. If I remember correctly, this show was on just before another show that came out at the same time, called "Last Call". I seem to recall them debuting on the same night (or same week, as I believe "Last Call was on multiple times a week, whereas the other show was only on once a week) or during the same season at absolute most. I know Last Call came on just after this show I'm trying to remember.

Unfortunately, looking up "Last Call" seems to bring me to "Last Call with Carson Daly" and it most decidedly was not that show. The Last Call I'm thinking of "starred" Tad Low. I found an old review of it here. http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,304008,00.html Unfortunately, though I can find lineups on Wikipedia from those years .. Last Call seems to be missing .. even looking up Tad Low's bio on Wikipedia doesn't have this show listed. Since it's really all I have to go on to try to find my missing show .. I'm really sort of at a standstill. What I want, is to find the show that came on before it .. with Captain Kirk Chair guy .. but apparently, the show that came on after it .. is the worst show ever to try and base something on, since in most internet places, it just doesn't exist unless it's got Carson Daly on it. From what I was able to dig up, Brandon Tartikoff had a hand in the "Last Call" I'm thinking of, which makes me think both shows were on NBC

I vaguely remember it being some kind of sketch show if that helps .. sort of, pre Mad-TV? I really just can't remember. I know Captain Kirk Chair guy had dark hair .. I just really want to find the name of the show, so I can see if I can find old episodes of it to watch. I remember it being quite funny at the time.

Any help would be greatly appreciated :) Thanks.
-Jake

A: When the internet fails you, go back to good old paper books. According to the "Complete Directory of Prime Time Network and Cable Shows," "Last Call" was a half hour syndicated discussion based program that lasted one season from 1994 to 1995. The original panel was Tad Low of MTV News, British U.S. correspondent for "The Sunday Times" Sue Ellicott, entertainment reporter for "Spin Magazine" Elvis Mitchell, actress Brianne Leary and "Sports Afield" editor and publisher Terry McDonnell as host. After the initial run of 13 episodes McDonnell and Low left to be replaced by Stuttering John from "The Howard Stern Show" and Herman Williams with Ellicott becoming host. Mitchell eventually left to and Leary became a special correspondent leaving the rest of the panel to be rotating. The series basically covered news of the past week in a funny manner.

How does this help us find your show? Since it was syndicated and could appear on any channel at anytime, it really doesn't. However, you seem to think it was on late night, possibly one night a week, I'm guessing a weekend. You mentioned Brandon Tartikoff, that makes me think NBC. So the best guess I have for you is "Friday Night Videos," which underwent a major overhaul in format and style in the early nineties and Captain Kirk Chair Guy is none other than Tom Kenny, the voice of Spongebob Squarepants. Starting in Nov. 1990 the series had more live performances and sketch comedy along with reoccurring weekly segment, including Kenny doing music news. In early 1994 the format changed again to be more of a general entertainment and variety program with Henry Cho and Rita Server as hosts, later Server was the lone host.



Q: Hello Leonard, great column as always!

Two questions for you:

1. Who do you contact if you want to find out if/when the next season of a particular show will be released? I am interested in when the next season of NYPD Blue will be released. I cannot find what email/website I could write to so I could inquire/beg for the next season release date.

2. Do you recall a mini-series on TV in the late 70's that involved a stopwatch that could freeze time or be a time machine or something like that? I believe "the girl, the gold watch" was somewhere in the title.
Thanks for all your help, as always!
-Gozzz

A: I guess the most direct answer would come from the production company or distribution company. Both of these should be listed on the DVD back cover. In both cases for "NYPD Blue" this is 20th Century Fox. There has been no news in a long time if the remaining season of "NYPD Blue" will be released. Season four came out in June 2006.

You are thinking of 1980's "The Girl, The Gold Watch and Everything" starring Pam Dawber and Robert Hays. It was followed in 1981 with "The Girl, The Gold Watch and Dynamite." The TV movies are based on a novel by John D. MacDonald. Hays is left a pocket watch by his inventor uncle that stops time for everybody but the person holding the watch.



Q: I recently caught a couple of trailers of sequels. The 1st was Bondock Saints 2 and 2nd is The Descent 2. Are these movies going to get theatrical release or are they going straight to DVD? What determines if a movie hits theaters. I see alot of straight to DVD movies with some pretty high profile actors/actresses (or at least formally high profile).

As far as underrated comedies go, The Heartbreak Kid (Stller version) was so f'n funny. Its was 1 of those movies i watched just cause nothing else was on & was very pleasantly surprised. "cock me, cock me!)
-Jason

A: Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day is set for a limited theatrical release on Oct. 30. The MacManus Brothers return to Boston when a priest is killed as a message to them from their last vicious killing spree.



The Descent Part 2 has already played some film festivals internationally and is set for release in the United Kingdom on Dec. 4. There is no word on a U.S. release at this time, but I would guess early 2010. Shauna MacDonald reprises her role of Sarah. She gets free and leads a search team back for the others.



The Heartbreak Kid from 2007 stars Ben Stiller as a sporting goods store owner pressured into marrying a woman, Malin Ackerman, who he's only been dating for about six week. On their honeymoon in Cabo, he discovers a lot wrong with her while also meeting and falling in love Miranda, Michelle Monaghan. Barrny Sonenfeld was originally slated to direct, then James Bobin before the Farrelly brothers took over. Jason Bateman and Amy Poehler were the original stars.



Q: Leonard, maybe I missed the initial explanation on what you consider an underrated comedy, but do you go by what the critics think or what the grosses are? Might it be a combo of both?
-The Great Capt. Smooth

A: Pretty much a combo of both. Basically those movies that weren't blockbusters and got at least lukewarm critics reviews, but caught a fan following on DVD and television. Of course, there is some hair splitting in there, but it's a general idea of the concept.

Q: You have previously covered "The Wrong Guy" but not "The Wrong Guys," a completely different movie altogether.
-Commie

A: Thank you for that correction. Obvious I haven't seen The Wrong Guys from 1988. A Cub Scout troop (featuring Louie Anderson, Richard Lewis, Richard Belzer, Tim Thomerson and Frank Ajaye) reunite to conquer the mountain they never could. Along the way they run afoul of a criminal gang hiding out on the mountain who thinks that they are FBI. Also featuring John Goodman and Ernie Hudson.



Q: Well if you did cover the Wrong Guys, can we just say we've come full circle and close this subject? Not to start a new tangent, but as far as conedies that I consider overrated, I would put Swingers right at the top. Maybe it's just me, but I don't see the appeal of the movie.
-Mario



A: I liked it at the time, but I don't think that maybe it's worn well. It's kind of a movie of a certain place and time. 1996 was when swinger and lounge culture and swing music became kind of popular again and this movie was part of that revival while also riding the wave of popularity of indy films with a certain, look, feel and style. I would probably say it's not as good as its reputation. It's low budget and most everyone in it was fairly novice at the time and that comes across.

Don't die.

"Don't worry, I saw Lord of the Rings. I'm not going to end this 17 times."