As time bends and brains melts in the heart of the “Quar,” we’re joined by longtime friend of the show and writer for Emmys.com, David Gutiérrez… and things get weird.
We get into everything from circumcising our children to wanna-be movie theater comedians. We try to understand the confusing relationship of rockstar film critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and try to figure out when Bruce Willis and Harrison Ford stopped trying to be good at their jobs.
Finally, we try to retroactively fix the Rambo franchise (and action/revenge films in general) into something a bit less racist and burdened with conservative “white guy baggage.”
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“We love our rats.” That could be a new tagline, or at least a descriptor for this episode.
Harrison Ford officially Stopped Trying in 1998, likely because he was traumatized by the experience of filming “Six Days, Seven Nights” a godawful action/comedy/romance where he’s stuck on a deserted tropical island with Anne Heche. If you watch that movie (don’t) you’ll understand how it could drive a man to give up on his acting career.r
Uniquely, however, Ford officially Started Trying Again in 2015 with his performance in The Force Awakens, and Kept On Trying in 2017 with his next performance in Blade Runner 2049. Were those 24 months an anomaly? Will he revert back to Not Trying, or will his career be reborn? Who can say?
Pinpointing when Bruce Willis Officially Stopped Trying is a little more difficult, but I believe it happened during his period collaborating with M. Night Shyamalan. While Willis was lucky enough to appear in the two best Shyamalan films, and did a decent job in them, his performance was so muted that I suspect he came to realize he had been “working too hard” and could be just as much of a success while completely checked out of the acting process. He hasn’t been the same since the year 2000. Whether in good movies or bad, he just doesn’t care anymore.