November 30, 2004
Texas has a jackass in it
Posted by pete at November 30, 2004 12:04 AM
I saw the trailer for this movie before the National Treasure screening last week, bookended between spots for Son of the Mask and The Pacifier, Vin Diesel's latest. It's a not so hard and fast rule that studios generally try to run previews that are similar in tone, if not subject matter, to the feature being shown. Needless to say, you could hear my crest falling over Treasure's prospects about a microsecond after this brief glimpse of Man of the House unspooled before me.
Plenty of decent films (Slacker, Dazed and Confused, Office Space) have been set in Austin, and who knows? Maybe the story of a Texas Ranger assigned to protect five University of Texas cheerleaders who witnessed a murder will be one of them. Unfortunately, obligatory scenes of Tommy Lee Jones kicking some redneck's ass in a bar and Cedric the Entertainer shaking it to C&C Music Factory don't fill me with optimism (though I will admit to a certain vicarious thrill watching Jones clothesline the Arkansas mascot).
Maybe it's the fact that Man of the House is the first film to get approval from the University to use UT symbols. Royal Memorial Stadium figures prominently, as do Hex Night, the football team, and (obviously) the cheerleaders. I'll admit, my school spirit while going to college amounted to attending perhaps two games a year and gleefuly pointing out Charles Whitman's bullet holes in the masonry to visiting relatives, so I might be a little predisposed to thinking the worst. Still, I wonder how popular it's going to play outside of the Lone Star State.
Man of the House, coming (to the probable chagrin of Longhorn alumni everywhere) to a theater near you next February.
Office Space takes place in Austin? Where does it say that? This is cool, I have another excuse to watch the movie :)
Alex
As for Austin movies, don't forget Blood Simple, especially the scene between M. Emmet Walsh and Dan Hedaya in that crappy VW Bug on top of Mount Bonnell.
I have my reasons for blotting out memories of anything involving Mt. Bonnell.
Office Space takes place in Austin?
It's not set in a particular city, but was shot in Austin and Dallas. "Chotchkies" is actually the Alligator Grill in Austin.
Finally Tommy Lee Jones gets a leading lady who's close to his own age. Granted, you have to add all five of their ages together....
"gleefuly pointing out Charles Whitman's bullet holes in the masonry to visiting relatives"
Dude, you are a sick twisted individual. I admire that in a person.
Considering their most notorious claim to fame, a mass murderer, I think this movie is a cute and clever choice to advertise their scholastic institution. haha!
Speaking as someone who is so far outside the Lone Star State it isn't even funny...
I associate Texas with first and foremost NASA's mission control.
I think I may have a brother-in-law who went to A&M, I'll have to ask again, as I'm not sure.
I recall my mother going to Dallas a few times for Mary Kay conventions when I was a kid.
But that's about the extent of my personal connections with Texas.
Pop-culture-wise, I associate it with "Walker Texas Ranger".. "in the eyes of a ranger, the unsuspecting stranger..."
I shared residence (and a tv) with a Chuck Norris fan in the early 90s. haha.
But anyway... Come on. It doesn't really look outside the norm of the average comedic view of American higher education.
The cheerleaders in the movie seem positively downright wholesome & intelligent compared to the sorority type cheerleader girls at the college I attended. heh.
And I'm very impressed with the photo on the site... One girl is sporting a very nice, natural, belly. So you can't call them plastic girls!
Since there' been no Weekly Recap recently, I present selections from Hollywood's "Loss Write-Off" season (February/early March) of upcoming movies: Hitch: If the trailer, wherein a hip black dude tells a unhip white pantload not to dance... twice... d......
| --Posted to Happy Furry Puppy Story Time with Norbizness on Feb 2, 2005 11:42 AM:. |
(1) Let's face it, UT football rituals aren't as interesting as A & M's, mainly due to the lack of fanatical brainwashing.
(2) As for Austin movies, don't forget Blood Simple, especially the scene between M. Emmet Walsh and Dan Hedaya in that crappy VW Bug on top of Mount Bonnell. And there were a few scenes in the original Spy Kids (shopping at the uncle's spy shop) where you can see the limited Austin skyline.
(3) Was Tommy Lee Jones ever young? He looked like he was in his late 40s in Coal Miner's Daughter!
(4) This movie looks like pureed donkey feces.