Last week I prematurely awarded the Thursday Threes to long-time, loyal redblog reader and commenter Jason–it would have been his first Threes win. Except I'd misread the comments listings and it was actually our other long-time, loyal reader and commenter Joe Allen. (His fourth Threes win, followed closely on Monday with his first Threes Freeze Frame win. Joe notes, "I've really got to get a project going instead of reading blogs all day." Naw! Just drop all the others and keep reading redblog, Joe.)
Well in what is a lesson to all about perseverance, today Jason finally gets his day in the sun! Jason was the first to correctly identify what film featured Jack Black (appearing this weekend in Year One), Sandra Bullock (appearing this weekend in The Proposal), Benjamin Bratt, and Denis Leary. Jason wins himself the right to make a homemade construction-paper medal. You worked hard and waited a long time for this, Jason! Congrats! (Joe Allen, by the way, came in third. Yet another Jason, Jason Mode, came in second.)
So what was the correct answer? I thought I was being all clever and could get some of you to bite on Miss Congeniality (Bullock and Bratt) or Two If By Sea (Bollock and Leary) (hence the four clues instead of three), but alas you saw through my cheap ruse. Rock out the Inviso-Text for the truth!
Yes, it was Sylvester Stallone's 1993 future-cop epic Demolition Man. Not be confused with Sly's 1995 future-cop epic Judge Dredd. Others might prefer to think of DM when coupled with Cliffhanger that same year as the Point at Which Stallone's Career Started to Smell a Little Funny.
Demolition Man was the one where Sly and bad guy Wesley Snipes were both cryogenically frozen and unthawed in the year 2032 to continue their battle. It remains unclear what any of this has to do with the Grace Jones/Police song from which the film took its title.
Perky Sandra Bullock was still in the early, pre-Speed stage of her career, playing Sly's future "handler," Lt.Huxley–the name alludes to Aldous Huxley, the author of Brave New World, the inspiration for the nice, neat, clean, safe, pacifist utopia of Demolition Man's future. (A future where the big joke was that Arnold Schwartzenegger had been President of the United States. Ha! Wow! Far out, huh? Like THAT could ever… )
Benjamin Bratt, pre-Law & Order, pre-Julia Roberts, had a supporting role as Alfredo Garcia, Bullock's police partner.
Denis Leary, hot off his breakout stand-up show No Cure for Cancer, played the leader of the rebellious "Scrap" people living in the Wasteland ruins of old Los Angeles. The role allowed Leary to spin his already trademark love of "things that are bad for you" (smoking, drinking, swearing, eating fatty foods) into his character's anti-utopian philosophy.
And one of those scruffy, rule-hatin' "Scraps" following Leary was none other than young Jack Black.
Posted on June 17, 2009 at 8:44 pm
Woo Hoo! Time to get a hobby? Nay! This IS my hobby!
..why does that sound just a little sad?