In a recent post, Ilona pointed out the fact that I have recorded and watched Spartacus Blood and Sand on Starz. Yes it is cheesy, I know that. It is sort of supposed to be.
It knows that it’s cheese whiz and makes no claim to be brie, or even kraft singles. Could the show be called Spartacus-blood and boobs, sure and I would be cool with that, but you can watch it for a few minutes and realize that it has no pretensions of being artsy or historically accurate.
Yes I know about the HBO show Rome, it’s great and I own the entirety of it on dvd. I also have Gladiator and the 300. I have a History Channel documentary called The Real 300 which debunks much of the myth and hubris of the film. It is interesting and it is good to know the real story but it also helpful to realize the the film is based on a feaking graphic novel from the guy who wrote Sin City. It never claimed to be anything other than an engaging and inspiring story.
In my opinion, movies are a lot like music in that if you listen to just one artist or genre you are simply shortchanging yourself. You could be like young Alex and eschew all other artists in favor of the great “Ludwig van” but that would be crazy. Now if you only watched Spaghetti Westerns or Merchant Ivory films, the A Clockwork Orange reference would be lost on you. Who decides whether High Plains Drifter has more or less artistic merit that The Remains of the Day?
I love The Godfather I & II and Ilona could testify to the fact that I have watched way too many times however, I think Kevin Smith is hilarious and Kid 2 and I love to watch Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back whenever her mom and older sister are away. Is it a dumb vulgar movie? You bet your sweet ass it is, but it is also really funny.
I guess what I am trying, in my rambling way, to say is that just because something is not a classic should not automatically relegate it to the realm of a guilty pleasure. Give Blood and Boobs a chance, if you can suspend disbelief and get over yourself for a moment you might just enjoy. Nib High School football rules!
My problem is that my default setting is “historically accurate” and I spend more time critiquing the mistakes than enjoying the story. It’s why I could never get into Xena and why The Tudors made me twitch. I’ve loosened up a lot over the years (I actually wrote some alternate history) but I still crave authenticity because the stories have more of a visceral punch for me that way.
That being said, if you enjoy the Blood and Boobs who am I to diss that? Enjoy, Lord Panda. I won’t be wrestling you for the remote. (I’d lose anyway).
It sucks. The Blood looks like it was photo shopped into the show lol. I know I may not be the target audience, but it seems to me like they just let the director go nuts with it. The script is cheesy, but not as cheesy as the fight scenes. To me personally it’s like they got a bunch of teenage boys to direct and supervise the whole damn thing. Maybe I just can not comprehend it’s awesomeness. But I highly doubt that. I guess we all have our guilty pleasures through, don’t we? At least it is entertaining to watch.
Each to his own. I like Spaceballs – something I can only admit to anonymously online
I agree that the blood is a bit or a lot over the top. I am not sure if it was directed by teenage boys, they would want less naked dudes I think, but they are more than likely the target audience, that or decidedly juvenile middle-aged guys like me who never outgrew the whole sword and sandal thing.
Honestly, I don’t think any man outgrows the sword & sandal thing. Or the naked thing. Because it’s mostly men that think that walking around naked means funny. I must admit, hearing about the family’s range of tastes or personal preferences is highly amusing. Were you to delve into my family’s dvr, you’d find.. well, a mesh of highly incompatible tastes. From my brother’s love of Robot Chicken and the office, to mom’s love of the snoozefest love affairs (ie: Emma, various bbc versions of Jane Austen novels) to dad’s personal selections of mystery science theater 3000 and old movies to my own more pedestrian choosings… NCIS,Castle,Bones…
Am totally with you. There is a time and place for everything including cheesy TV and films. Just watched Willow again with the kids and loved every cheesy minute of val kilmer.
Rome was fab ( Kevin McKidd!!) 300 and Sin City( love the homage to 300 in the Night at the Museum 2) amazing but then I also love BBC “snoozefests” and most Sci fi!
Watched Serendipity on your recommendation and agree that it was a shame it was cancelled. So will give your blood and boobs Spartacus a go!!
That will be Serenity!
After I read Gordon’s new title of “Spartacus” out loud to Hubby, he decided that perhaps he should be watching this show. >;D
As a watcher of most ‘cheesy’ shows (whether they be on SyFy channel, or comic book movies) I have to say that your post gives me hope that I’m not the only one out there!!! YAH!
Blood and Boobs! The idea that you have to give your birthdate before watching the show online reaffirms that fact. (Yes, I lie about how old I am. But, hey, what other teenager wouldn’t?)
Yea, the super fake blood doesn’t do it for me, at all. And the fight sceanes seem to be cut and paste from 300. Not a huge fan of all the boobies, but hubby seemed enthralled. =) It’s not a bad show. It won’t win any awards or anything though either.
Hell, I never outgrew the sword and sandal thing. I lurve gung-ho, bloodthirsty underdog stories – after all, I love Kate, right?
Ya know, this discussion reminds me of my rants against poo-poo-ing genre fiction. Just saying.
But yeah, the blood was clearly post-production. It kinda broke me out of the story there for a minute.
Nothing wrong with cheesy movies. I’m a self admitted cheesy movie watcher.
I agree, if you limit yourself you could be missing something great. Or at least funny.
Two words: THE. HANGOVER.
My husband and I watched Spartacus 102 this afternoon. I was the one who asked him to check to see if there was a new episode.
I can suspend disbelief to read books, so I have no problem watching an hour long show modeled after 300 that looks something like a video game. It’s Roman soap opera at it’s best; great entertainment for a Sunday afternoon that no longer offers football!
Don’t know that I will try to watch Spartacus, but I can totally. Hubby thinks Kill Bill and Kill Bill 2 are classics (I think they are o.k.). He recently tried to introduce our Kid 1 to these shows. She hated the totally fake blood spray; got up and left in the middle of a fight scene, saying she was bored.
Maybe I will recommend “Blood and Boobs” to him. He likes boobs.
…. can totally *relate*. Argh! I hate typos!
YAY FOR DEFENDING THE CHEESE *lol*
sometimes watching something senseless and cheesy is just what is needed.
I’m all for the cheese, love Xena and Hercules. That was cheesetastic. Then there was the Cleopatra 2525 and Jack of all Trades which all of them was done by the same people that is doing Spartacus. Those were beyond cheese. I just have to give the show a couple of episodes to see if it meets my cheese meter, cause right now the boobs aren’t doing it for me. But then I’m not attracted to boobs.
You gotta love cheese! At times I don’t want to think when watching a tv show or movie. I just want to be entertained. So if what I’m watching is cheese I will simply bring the crackers.
‘Dogma’!
(cackle!)
I did History as my degree, so I pick at anything that smacks of historical inaccuracy. Don’t even get me started on the depiction of Persians in 300, ugh. My dad found that film laughable but also slightly offensive. I can’t enjoy cheesy stuff like Hercules (erm, Herakles is the proper Greek name! Silly Romans Romanising everything), or Xena. It sets my teeth on edge.
BBC’s Merlin which is pretty cheesy re-make of the Arthurian myths also annoys me. The setting, the history, the socio-political stuff (everything) is all wrong. I can’t stand it. Gah.
I also have a degree in History and Poli Sci but I guess it does not keep me from occasionally enjoying something cheesy. I really liked Rome (the series on HBO, and I watch a lot of documentaries on the History channel) but I guess for me everything does not have to be historically accurate. Look at Bravehart for instance, a great movie but was it a spot on portrayal of Sir William Wallace? Decidedly not.
Sometimes you just gotta turn that edumated brain off and enjoy the oiled muscles and shiny swords.
We just discovered this show this past weekend. I saw Lucy Lawless and paused long enough in the channel surfing to become mildly interested. The boyfriend and I quickly settled into MST 3000 type commentary and had a fun evening. We didn’t expect the show to be something it wasn’t, so we could appreciate the qualities it had.
Sometimes I prefer wine, at others mojitos, Jack and cranberry and even grappa. It depends on my mood and who I’m with. My TV viewing tends to be the same way.
Thanks Gordon, I 100% agree with you as evidenced by my response to the earlier post. I also watched the real 300 on the History channel and thought it was interesting, but come on people if you want historical accuracy you really can’t trust tv even the historical or discovery channels sometimes. Now that I think about you can’t even trust history books completely, something is always left out. So…um…yeah I read to expand and entertain my mind and I watch tv to totally fry it.
I’m not really into all the boobies, but I do like the show. After religiousaly watching Xena, Charmed, and professional wrestling for years, this show is just another notch on my belt. Even without being a history major (English Lit), I have some serious doubts as to the authenticity, but enjoy the show anyway. It’s kind of like watching Kill Bill; you don’t believe half of it and you already know how it ends, but you keep watching anyway.
On a side note to Cyno: Totally agree with you regarding the history books. My mom had to tell me that the US kicked Iranians out of the country in the late 70s/early 80s. That definitely wasn’t in any history book I ever read and I certainly wasn’t old enough to remember it.
gordon,
if you liked Jay and Silent Bob strike back please please see Mallrats. it is also a Kevin Smith film. I have watched it like a hundred times. The more times i watched it the more things i realized i missed the first time. Kevin Smith made Clerks, Clerks 2, Chasing Amy, and Dogma. Out of all of his films the really good one has to be Mallrats, It dives into the male psyche and say hey this is Really Coooool. I introduced my nephews to these movies when i was in college and today they worship them. So show your kids some cool stuff. For Ilona i would suggest the entire FIrefly series. It really is wonderful. It is out there and after reading IT’S A MATTER OF FORMALITY it reminds me of that world. the guy who use to be on the show is now on Castle and he use to also be on ONE LIFE TO LIVE as Vicki’s son. I love Joss Whedon’s work so look for Firefly which is the tv series that they made into the movie Serenity. Hmmm i think i will watch it now
i think the love of cheezy runs in the family. Silent Bob rocks! But what about Monty? You cut off my arm! (to be said with a very British accent) HEEELLLLLOOOOOOO!!! and the coconut horse huffs! AHHHH so much to be said for the mindless drooling that follows a cheezy movie. Kid2 has good movie choice, but her music is another story.
I think I must go pull out Monty Python and the Holy Grail now,… either that or Blazzing Saddles. (He’s just crazy enough to do it) I do believe I shall download as many cheezies as possible to the Roku. Happy drooling!