Screen gabs

Yes, there’s lot of serious stuff and heavy ominousness to wrangle with right now. There’s the Iowa caucus to goof on, and the looming horror of the National Defense Authorization Act, with that nasty little clause in there about citizens, terrorists—still our number one boogeyman!—unlimited detention, and nicely wadded up constitutional rights. Distasteful and disturbing to people who aren’t even paranoid. But for this week, I just wanna wax escapist and rave on three of my fave DVD/TV moments of 2011. To the tube!

First, I’ll blow a kiss at Kristen Wiig for her flick Bridesmaids. And I’ll give her what she wants: This wasn’t just a funny chick flick. It’s a funny movie. Period. And the scene where she’s on the plane to Vegas, gets wasted on booze and pills, and has her encounter with “Stove” the stew—comedy gold. All I have to do is replay her saying, “Auf wiedersehen, ahshole” in my mind’s eye, and I’m immediately transported to a happy place.

Second, kudos to Rise of the Planet of the Apes. No, this ain’t no Oscar contender or anything, although it’s a fairly plausible depiction of a thoroughly absurd concept. But the great thing about it is it’s a science fiction flick where the jerks, that is to say us humans, get our ass kicked. Finally! I’ve been ready for years for somebody to make a flick where we homo sapiens just flat-out lose. It’s so darned refreshing. I’ve been completely misanthropic towards my own kind, science fictionally speaking, ever since that mouth-breathing Independence Day, where we had no business beating those obviously superior aliens with raging juicer Randy Quaid leading the charge.

Well, even a sober Randy Quaid doesn’t come to humanity’s rescue in Apes, which makes it my feel good movie of the year. And after seeing this one, I have a new addition to my bucket list—to go to Borneo and have a banana with an orangutan. One of the big old males. That is one fine ape right there.

Finally, I have to lay it on down for the greatest television series currently rockin’ the idiot box, Breaking Bad. I know, I know, those who don’t watch it are tired of hearing about what a fantastic piece of work BB is, but damn, homey, there’s a reason that us Badophiles blabber away at the slightest provocation: The show is a fantastic piece of work. I know there are loads of good shows out there in the vast television wasteland. The quality of TV series in the last 10 years has exploded as the non-network channels have emerged and flexed their programming muscle. Well, Bad is the new kingpin, and it completely delivered in Season 4. The last five or six shows of the season were a rush, as the series hit a zone that TV series rarely hit—and then stayed there. If you haven’t seen it, you’re in for a treat when the DVD comes out.