The Useless Critic 2.0

WORSE CHRISTMAS EVER maybe Billy, maybe.

The year was 1939 , and many lists and books on film history were greatly changed by “Gone with the Wind.” It sold more tickets and made more money than any other film of its day, destroying the previous figures really. AFI placed the Rhett Butler/Clark Cable “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn” as the number one greatest line in all of cinema (or some other award of that nature and similar phrasing). “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn.” If you haven’t seen “Gone with the Wind,” I will try not to ruin the ending. However, when I first saw it on the list as number one, I was shocked. It didn’t seem great or exceptional to me in anyway. I had the literal look on my face of a “SO WHAT” expression. It honestly meant nothing to me. Then, one night earlier this year, I couldn’t get to sleep, and suddenly, I was metaphorically awakened by the gravity of it. A man spends years and years chasing this woman, investing countless endeavors, only to obtain her…to have h...

Being that it is decade week here at TUC, I have taken it upon myself to inculcate you with some of the common themes of the 1950s. The first and most prominent theme is that of total nuclear annihilation. The United States and USSR were regarded as nuclear titans, but a third was born with the first Godzilla film in 1954. While tensions between capitalist and communist powers built, they spilled over into the Korean War. Captain America was reinvented to take down Uncle Joe instead of Hammerin' Hitler. The escalation of tensions also evidenced itself in the space race. Arthur C. Clarke imagined an extraterrestrial solution to the quibbling Earth powers in 1953's Childhood's End. Space was the new frontier, and science fiction was becoming the new western. John Wayne wouldn't give up on the genre, though, as he released Rio Bravo in '59, co-starring with rock 'n roll star Ricky Nelson and crooner Dean Martin. Rock 'n roll and crooner coexist...

Hello and Welcome to Decade Week. It was Steve Martin that stated in one his theatrical works that the 20th Century, beginning with January 1st, 1900 was the first time that the accomplishments of the artists and thinkers outweighed those of politicians and the military. In fact, that is an understatement. The nuances of how the 1900’s Decade changed life in the world as we know it are as plethoral as blades of grass on Michael Landon's prairie. 1900's: GOODBYE VICTORIAN ERA! HELLO TO PUTTING A FINGER IN THE GROUND AND TURNING THE WORLD UPSIDE DOWN!* This was the first time when the Wright Brothers flew through the sky, and the idea of using aircraft for terror (or even the military) was nonexistent. Flight in the skies was simply a dream, and it was only reserved for Greek Mythological Figures. Furthermore, Packard's 1898 models of automobiles would be surpassed dramatically in the history books by the illustrious Henry Ford and his designs for the Model T ...