Today’s videos are Clint Eastwood & Dirty Harry by Gorillaz to end my Clint Eastwood Week here at Cinema Parrot Disco. I spent the week reviewing some Eastwood films that I’ve just watched for the first time this year. These films are:
Plus I also previously reviewed Unforgiven, Escape From Alcatraz & The Good, The Bad And The Ugly. I think I’ve now seen far more Clint Eastwood movies than any girl really should. 😉 Oh, and I also did a list yesterday of My Top Ten Clint Eastwood MoviesHERE.
So! I’m Eastwooded out for a while. Instead of forcing myself to finally watch Million Dollar Baby to review today, I’ve decided to just stick with my Music Video Friday series and post these Eastwood tribute songs by the Gorillaz. Because I love them! Fantastic songs from a band that should have been far bigger.
I’m not going to say a lot about Gorillaz as I already did that HERE in my review of the Tank Girl comic collection that I read since Tank Girl’s co-creator (Jamie Hewlett) also helped create Gorillaz along with Blur frontman Damon Albarn. I love the virtual band’s style and, more importantly, they have damn good songs. Of the two below, I’d have to say that I like the Dirty Harry song slightly more but the Clint Eastwood video is better. They’re easily my two favorite Gorillaz songs, though. Funny how they have that Clint Eastwood link. That’s why I just had to end my Clint Eastwood Week with these videos…. Enjoy! And have a lovely weekend. 🙂
Starring: Clint Eastwood, Patricia Clarkson, Liam Neeson, Evan Kim, Jim Carrey, Guns N’ Roses
Plot Synopsis: (via IMDB) Dirty Harry Callahan must stop a sick secret contest to murder local celebrities, which includes himself as a target.
My Opinion:
Okay, I can’t pretend that The Dead Pool is exactly “good” but I really did thoroughly enjoy it! There’s so much cheesy 1980’s goodness going on in this one & I always have a huge soft spot for that because of my age. Liam Neeson as a horror movie director with an embarrassing ponytail! Guns N’ Roses looking totally out of place in awkward cameos! The most amazing remote-control car ever! Jim Carrey giving a massively cringeworthy performance while lip syncing to Welcome To The Jungle! Patricia Clarkson, um, doing a decent job! (But she’s probably a bit embarrassed as this isn’t the sort of movie she does nowadays).
I know this probably isn’t the Dirty Harry film I should’ve started with. Actually, though, I know I did see at least part of both Dirty Harry & Sudden Impact. My dad is a big Clint Eastwood fan (it’s a requirement by law for American males his age) & I know I saw plenty of Eastwood’s Dirty Harry types of films on TV throughout my childhood as he watched them. I remember very little of them now, though, and wanted to start with Dirty Harry but The Dead Pool is the only one I had available and I don’t have the money to go buying movies just for blog reviewing purposes. Sorry! 😉 So I’m reviewing this one now but I’ll certainly re-watch Dirty Harry if it pops up on TV.
I have a feeling I’ll “like” this one the most of the Dirty Harry films anyway, although I doubt I’ll consider it the “best”. I just liked the feelings of nostalgia I got watching it – I wish I’d seen it at the time. Although I later went off of them, I was a big Guns N’ Roses fan in 1988. And the exact car that we had throughout my childhood was in this! Well, in a different color… Ours was gray & black. Check it out!
Was that a Monte Carlo? I know nothing about cars. I just remember that my dad never took the protective plastic cover off the backseat (probably due to my car sickness & tendency to throw up on car journeys) and, man, that plastic burned my legs in the summer! I hated that. Anyway, back to this cheesy movie… Oh! I really liked Clint Eastwood’s partner in this (Evan Kim). They’re great together so I assumed maybe they were partners in all of them but, damn, I guess not.
So, yeah, Liam Neeson is in this and he’s pretty funny with his ponytail but, let’s be honest – it’s not like this movie is really any cheesier than stuff like Taken so he doesn’t feel totally out of place. Patricia Clarkson plays a news reporter slash love interest for Eastwood slash damsel in distress. She’s fine in this – her character isn’t too annoyingly “in need of rescue”, which is all that female characters often were in these types of movies back then & is probably why this genre has never really connected much with me (or with most women).
Eastwood is good – he’s his usual Eastwood self. I mean, I have no memory of other Dirty Harry films so can’t compare them but get the feeling this one is a little less intense than the others? He seemed angrier in the others. I did read that he didn’t make any more of these after this one as he felt he was too old to keep playing Dirty Harry & that it would start to feel like a joke (he was 58 in this). He didn’t feel awkward in this movie but I think he quit at the right time. Then there’s Jim Carrey… Holy hell! I’d heard his role mentioned before but didn’t realize just how bad he was in this. Hilarious! His lip syncing is probably my favorite bit of the movie, though. Either that or the remote control car… I love the cheesy crap that movies got away with in the Eighties!
Summary:
The Dead Pool is an entertaining Dirty Harry movie. It feels older than it actually is – it’s weird to think that this was 1988 when, in a lot of ways, it feels more like it’s from 1978. It’s not a bad film but, when compared to big blockbusters of the day, this seems very low budget in comparison. I suppose that cop drama TV shows were very popular in the 80’s & this movie almost feels like a long episode of Miami Vice or Magnum, P.I. Oh! Or Simon & Simon! Lol! Remember that?? Actually, no – The Equalizer is probably a better comparison. What’s my point? I have no idea! I mean, a lot of people liked those sort of TV shows so, if you were a fan of those, you’d probably enjoy this movie. I guess my point is that this movie hasn’t aged well. This was out a year after Lethal Weapon yet looks & feels much older. I think Eastwood made the right decision to move on from the Dirty Harry films but I did really have fun watching this one.
My Rating: 7/10
**For a laugh, here’s the clip of Jim Carrey lip syncing Welcome To The Jungle. You have to watch this if you’ve not seen the movie. How utterly embarrassing!
I get really annoyed when a song isn’t named what it should be. Such as: Why the hell isn’t Baba O’Riley by The Who called Teenage Wasteland?! They don’t mention the words Baba O’Riley at all in the song but they sing “Teenage Wasteland” over & over again!
Okay, it doesn’t REALLY annoy me all that much – there are bigger things in life to worry about. 😉 But I did think it would make a fun top ten list! Like last week, though, I’m going to be annoying & make this a Top 20 (there were too many!). Feel free to add any you think of – I admit that with this list I’ve only looked through what’s on my iPod so there will be loads of songs I’ve not thought of or not mentioned.
So here are My Top Twenty Songs Where The Title Isn’t In The Lyrics (ranked roughly according to how much I like the song – I don’t think the order is important with this one):
20. MGMT – Kids(Should Be: Take Only What You Need) 19. Massive Attack – Unfinished Sympathy(Should Be: Really Hurt Me Baby) 18. Led Zeppelin – Immigrant Song(Should Be: Ah Ah Ahhhhhhh AH!) 17. Death From Above 1979 – Black History Month(Should Be: Dunno. Maybe “Hold On”. But that’s a Wilson Phillips song…) 16. Blink 182 – Dammit(Should Be: This Is Growing Up) 15. Red Hot Chili Peppers – Brendan’s Death Song(Should Be: I’m Almost Gone)14. Bob Dylan – Subterranean Homesick Blues (Should Be: I have no idea… How about “Mixin’ Up The Medicine”!) 13. Interpol – Evil(Should Be: Rosemary) 12. New Order – Blue Monday(Should Be: How Does It Feel?) 11. Daft Punk – Instant Crush(Should Be: We Will Never Be Alone Again)
Top Ten:
10. Public Image Ltd – The Order Of Death Should Be: This Is What You Want, This Is What You Get
I adore John Lydon & this Public Image Ltd song, which is used prominently in the shower scene in Hardware. Yes! I’ve managed to once again mention the movie Hardware on my blog! Anyway, it’s an awesome song title even if it’s not said – most of the titles in this list are better than my “Should Be” titles.
9. Blur – Song 2 Should Be: Woohoo!
Such a fun song! It’s apparently named Song 2 because it’s two minutes long plus I think it was also the second song on the album? I sometimes play it when timing my kid’s toothbrushing (because kids are meant to brush for two full minutes, right?). Well, it’s a fun way to brush teeth!
8. The Police – Synchronicity II Should Be: Not sure – maybe “Many Miles Away”
I used to really be into song lyrics as a teen/early twentysomething – you know, the age when you have time to waste on that kind of shit. But I never looked into the lyrics to this one at all until now. Pretty deep stuff with this one! And pretty bleak. This is quite possibly my very favorite song by The Police, who I don’t think really got the credit they deserved. An excellent band & I think I now like this song even more after reading the lyrics but I have to say I still don’t understand the title. I’m too old to think about these things.
7. TIE: Gorillaz – Dirty Harry & Clint Eastwood Should Be: I Need A Gun & Sunshine In A Bag
I love Gorillaz!!! Do any Americans here know their songs? I think they were far bigger in the UK. I’m actually reading Tank Girl at the moment because it was created by the same guy (Jamie Hewlett) who created this “cartoon band” (one member of the band being adorable Damon Albarn from that picture of Blur I posted for Song 2). These are my two favorite songs of theirs & it made sense to put “Clint Eastwood” & “Dirty Harry” together for this post. The titles are cool. The look of the band is cool. The songs are cool. They should be even bigger than they are!
6. Grandmaster Flash And The Furious Five – The Message Should Be: Don’t Push Me
Seriously. Don’t push me. I’m close to the EDGE!
5. The Who – Baba O’Riley Should Be: Teenage Wasteland
I’ve not researched all of these songs but did of course look into this one. Here’s a bit about it from Genius.com:
Initially part of an idea (later thrown aside) of a follow up rock opera — Lifehouse — to Tommy, Pete Townshend wrote it after his experience at Woodstock. The name of the song is a combination of Meher Baba – an Indian guru that kept silent from 1935 until his death in 1969 who inspired Townshend spiritually, and Terry Riley — a musician and classical composer that also inspired him.
There’s actually a lot more to it if you want to read about it at Wikipedia – it’s an interesting read. But whatever the reason for the title, it’s a damn good song.
4. The Cure – Lullaby Should Be: The Spiderman
I just really really like this song. 😉 Love The Cure.
3. David Bowie – Space Oddity Should Be: Ground Control To Major Tom
Well, okay – I assume this title is a play on words after 2001: A Space Odyssey. I looked this one up too. Turns out this song is actually about alienation. I thought it was about a guy going into space! I’m so damn literal. This song has now gone up even more in my estimation. And I already loved it like crazy before. Because: Bowie. 🙂
2. Black Sabbath – Paranoid Should Be: Not sure but any excuse to get Black Sabbath into a list… How about “I Am Frowning All The Time”
Black Sabbath have quite a few songs where the title isn’t in the lyrics (except Iron Man, of course). I almost used Black Sabbath but the word “black” is said, so – close enough! I do love the lyrics to Paranoid – you can tell that Sabbath come from dark, grey, dreary England… 😉
1. The Clash – Train In Vain Should Be: Stand By Me
Okay – clearly The Clash couldn’t use Stand By Me as the Ben E. King song was such a huge hit. I’m thinking I like The Clash even more than I realized – this song also topped my list of My Top Ten Happy Songs. I love it! And Train In Vain is an excellent title even though I’m sure most people can’t name it.
Almost Mentions: (I considered these but in looking up the lyrics, I ruled them out as at least one of the words was mentioned)
Harvey Danger – Flagpole Sitta
The Rolling Stones – Sympathy For The Devil
Black Sabbath – Black Sabbath
The Smiths – How Soon Is Now
Radiohead – Paranoid Android (how can I have not noticed that in this song, one of my absolute all-time favorite desert island tracks, there’s a voice saying the words paranoid & android in the background the whole time?!)
Cinema Parrot Disco 