So. Because I know you're all holding your breath in anticipation, let me assure you that you never never never NEVER NEVER NEVER need to see Apocalypse & the Beauty Queen. I watched it with my friend Nils, and we started out laughing (hahaha, this is so bad, it's hilarious!)... then.... it started to become less funny. Then even less funny. Then not funny at all. AND I was intoxicated at the time. Imagine me sitting on the sofa, bottle of wine 3/4 empty between my knees, staring narrow-eyed at this:

.......

...........

Actually I couldn't find any stills online to properly convey the emotion I was trying to evoke. So, uh.... never mind.

Also, since I'm on the topic of movies, I went and saw Street Kings yesterday (fortunately paying matinee price), and was absolutely shocked by the blatant glamorization of police corruption. On top of the basic storyline with the "plot twists" that you saw coming an hour before they're actually revealed, the gross promotion of brutality in the police force labeled "necessary" to bring down the "bad guys" was, quite frankly, shocking and disappointing.

As Rich Cline (writing for Shadows on the Wall) says:

"With its jingoistic dialog and sharp attention to detail, this film shamelessly panders to the worst element of human nature, namely the urge for violent vengeance. The message is that blasting someone to bits in cold blood is the best route to inner peace. Which is, frankly, reprehensible. No matter how well made this film is, like Ayers' Training Day and Harsh Times, it proves that he creates great characters, but that he loves dumb violence even more. "

Shame on you, everyone who was a part of this film. Shame on you.

Now don't get me wrong, I love a good bloody vengeance flick, but not when the vengeance and brutality is advocated so shamelessly in... well, anyone really, but most especially in the police force - Serve and Protect, not Kill and Torture. If they had portrayed their main character as more of an anti hero and condemned his actions rather than applauding his mad spree of murder I would had appreciated the film more. Instead, we have the last lines of the film featuring Captain Biggs from internal review basically giving good ol' dirty cop Keanu Reeves a hearty slap on the back, and a cheerful "job well done".

Nice.

Anyway, back to work for me.

Later I'll be using the Apocalypse and the Beauty Queen DVD as a frisbee, and possibly finding an incinerator, meat grinder, etc to throw it in. I'm open to suggestions for the best way to destroy it. ^_^