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Mister Two
Reviews
The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn (1999)
Dreadful
A few months ago I forced myself to watch Kilborn because a friend of mine had sent in a short video that was going to be used as a bumper when the show went to commercial. Not only did the show renege on showing my friend's short, I didn't laugh once the whole time I was watching the show.
It's been several years now since Kilborn jumped from "The Daily Show" to CBS to take over the timeslot that was once held by the venerable Tom Snyder. All in all, Kilborn should have stayed on cable. Now, the only thing keeping the network from cancelling this show is the fact that Kilborn draws about the same ratings as Snyder did, and CBS doesn't want to lose face by firing him. With the aging Letterman's tired irony shtick and "The Late Late Show"'s sorry writing which drags down Kilborn's otherwise incisive and entertaining on-screen personality, it should come as no surprise that NBC can claim the title of "America's Late Night Leader" with its virtuoso trio of Leno, Carson Daly, and especially Conan O'Brien, who, as Kilborn's competitor, will continue to succeed in his part of the network hot clock.
People say the same pejorative things about Kilborn now as they said about Conan when he first started, but the difference here is that "Late Night" kept getting better, while the "Late Late Show" goes on stagnating. I wish Craig Kilborn all the best, but this show is need of a new producer and writers; otherwise, when Letterman finally checks out, CBS will be up a creek without the proverbial paddle to resuscitate their faltering late night schedule.
Pumpkin (2002)
An Anti-Greek Masterpiece
This film is a scathing indictment of the racist and elitist Greek system. Although I live and attend college in the South and experience its prejudice (disguised as "hospitality") everyday, I didn't think that Greeks were quite so racially separated in California or the Northeast. It should be noted that, other than this film, I've never seen a movie that quite captured the essence of what it's like to be in college here and now.
Christina Ricci's character falls in love with a challenged boy her age as she mentors challenged athletes for a "charity" her sorority engages in in competition for Sorority of the Year. What ensues destroys friendships, social networks, and indeed lives.
The film does a thorough job of exposing the profound shallowness and cultural bankruptcy of the people who join fraternities and sororities, from the rushees to the current members to the parents who so clearly forced their children to join the same frats they did when they were in college. The A-O-Pi's in the movie drop the charity the minute they realize they've lost the S.O.Y. contest. During rush, the "Filipina with Caucasian features" and the African American girl are prized pledges for their money and diversity-instilling presence.
This film is a wake-up call to everyone who's in a Greek Organization: they are being inculcated with racist, classist, and homophobic ideologies, and would probably do themselves a favor by walking out and getting in the real world, where working with people of color and people with disabilities and others with differences from the norm is a big reality. This film should probably be required viewing for all entering Freshmen at state universities across the nation. Though the stylistic roughness is attributable to the fact that Pumpkin is a first film for the two directors, I believe these two have large shoes to fill in the tradition of David Lynch, Solondz, and the Marx Bros.
10/10