411 Fact or Fiction Movies: Week 84

Posted by Ben Piper on 07.13.2007

Is Carlos Mencia overrated? Will anyone tune in for Holly Hunter's new TV series? Will Order of the Pheonix be the highest quality Harry Potter film to date? 411's Ben Moser and Jeffrey Harris debate these and other topics in week 84 of Fact of Fiction: Movies.

Hello, and welcome once again to everyone's favorite debate column focused on the entertainment industry, Fact or Fiction: Movies. I\ am your humble mediator Ben Piper. This week we have Jeffrey Harris and Ben Moser butting heads to see whose opinion rules all. Without any further hyperbole, why don't we get right to that, shall we?

1. Gene Simmons: Family Jewels is an enjoyable guilty pleasure.

Ben Moser: Fact (?) I'm going to go ahead and admit that I haven't watched this. In fact, I've barely even heard of it. That said, I would be willing to bet that if I did catch a few minutes of this show, I wouldn't be able to turn it off. This isn't because of some deep love for KISS that I hold, but rather because of Gene Simmons himself. If you asked Scott Baio why he's doing his new reality show, he'll probably give you some line about self-discovery. Bret Michaels, depending on his mood and who's asking, will tell you either that it's to take a shot at finding love or getting some boobage in his face. Gene Simmons, though, never has any problem saying that he's whoring himself out. He's never pretended to have any other motivation for anything he does. I admire that honesty. Sort of.

Jeffery Harris: Fiction- I for one have never watched this show, and I usually avoid most reality television like the plague outside of Ultimate Fighter. So obviously it can't be a guilty pleasure for me since I don't watch and enjoy it with guilt. :)

Score: 0 for 1

2. Carlos Mencia is vastly overrated.

Ben Moser: Fact- I can't stand race-based comedy, and I'm not sure if Mencia knows any other kind. Any time I've seen his show, that's pretty much been all there is to it. Are we really at a place right now where, as a culture, we can crucify Don Imus as a racist and a sexist and then go home to watch Carlos Mencia give us 30 more minutes of sketches detailing the differences between black guys and Mexicans. I didn't like it any more when it was Chappelle doing 30 minutes on the difference between black guys and white guys either. Actually, Chappelle was worse because of the horrid amount of catchphrases that he generated with his show. Did I get off track? Sorry. Right. Mencia. Vastly overrated. Not good for this country if we're going to be sensitive about race. Also, tremendously unfunny.

Jeffrey Harris: Fiction- If anything I think he gets crapped on more than he deserves. I wasn't out crucifying Don Imus either. And I still don't have a problem with racially tinged humor. I mean if I can enjoy the promos of Scott Lost and Chris Bosh in Arrogance, I can enjoy Carlos Mencia right? To me Mencia makes fun of how overly-sensitive we've become more than anything else. I think that's a good thing.

Score: 0 for 2

3. You'd be greatly interested in seeing Jim Carrey and Michel Gondry reunite to bring Ripley's Believe It Or Not to the big screen.

Ben Moser: Fiction- Greatly interested is a bit of a stretch. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind was interesting enough, but just that. I felt like there were a few missteps in there. So let's say that I am more slightly intrigued at the idea of giving this duo another shot to stick the landing, as it were.

Jeffrey Harris: Fiction- Well I mean, the thought never once occurred to me that "Hey, Ripley's Believe It Or Not would make an awesome movie to be directed by Michael Gondry and starring Jim Carrey." That said, I am still not excited or greatly interested by it. I'm certainly not expecting something to the level of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind either. At least that was original material. The amount of properties that Hollywood is turning into movies gets downright sickening at times to me.

Score: 1 for 3

Switch!!!

4. You're looking forward to brand new episodes of both Monk and Psyche.

Jeffrey Harris: Fact- Now with Burn Notice and these shows it seems that USA has cornered the market on fun and quirky sleuth shows. And one of them has the Chin (Bruce Campbell). Chances are if these shows were on a regular non-cable network, they'd be dead in less than a season. At least for Psyche. So I applaud USA for actually giving their original shows a chance to succeed these days, instead of killing them at the first sign of ratings disappointment.

Ben Moser: Fact- While neither are my favorites, both Monk and Psyche are high ranking on my "I'll stop at watch it every time I see that it's on, but won't go so far as to add it to the DVR queue. USA could do a lot worse than "fun and quirky sleuth shows" as a creative crutch to lean on. Remember when they were pushing their "World Premeire Movies" every week, most of which were bad, cable-ready, half-hearted erotic thrillers? Renewing these shows means that USA is going in the right direction, and we may even end up with the "fun and quirky" reaching into other genres(especially if Monk continues to grab the odd award here and there) and establishing a nice identity for the network.

Score: 2 for 4

5. You'll check out Holly Hunter's new TNT series Saving Grace.

Jeffrey Harris: Fiction- I really know very little about this show, at least so little that I'm not compelled to tune in or check it out at all.

Ben Moser: Fiction- I just read up on this show on it's official website. So Holly Hunter's character is a self-destructive alcoholic who makes poor choices in bedmates until she drives over someone and asks for help. Instead of help, she gets an angel who's going to try to help her pull herself together. TNT claims to "know drama," but the show would actually be more compelling if the same character were trying to pick herself up without an angel. Hunter would have been a great actress to try to pull it off, too. You might say that it's well-worn territory, but it hasn't ever been done well. It won't be this time, either.

Score: 3 for 5

6. You expect Harry Potter & The Order Of The Pheonix will be the best installment of the franchise thus far.

Jeffrey Harris: Fact- The Harry Potter films with the exception of Chamber of Secrets have gotten stronger and better each time. The films have found a good balance between adapting the story of the novels, but moreso making the movies dark, ominous, and compelling. The Potter films have demonstrated strong staying power over the last six year and have shown numerous improvements and progress over the last four films. Simply, with sequels it feels like movie franchises just get worse. But with Harry Potter, they get better. What with the escalation of the war with Voldemort, I feel that this outing should be no exception.

Ben Moser: Fact- You so asked me this at the right time. I'm a very latecomer onto the Harry Potter phenomenon. So much so that only this past weekend did I finish the sixth book and watch all of the movies for the first time. Jeff has it right, the movies seem to be going in the right direction with each installment as each director seems to be more intent on making a good movie than the last, as the casting continues to be brilliant, and as the kids(well, most of them) continue developing their acting chops. Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix is easily my favorite book of the six out now, so when you add that to the rest there seems to be little room for this not to be the best of the bunch.

Final Score: 4 for 6

Damn! Things started off all promising when Ben and Jeff disagreed on the first two subjects, giving me hope that I'd pitch a no-hitter, only to find my hopes dashed when they were liked minded in the later stages. Ah, well. There's always next week. Many thanks to both of them for taking part, and as always, thanks to you for reading this discussion. We'll be back n seven days for more Fact or Fiction: Movies.