It Could Be Worse Week: At the Movies

All this week, after the stock market crash, and all of the other bad economic news, we are going to be celebrating "It Could Be Worse Week." A look back at why we have things better through the lens of pop culture. First up movies:

The Love Guru
Yes, we watched the Love Guru this weekend. You see, I have like Mike Myers since SNL, and I have seen most of his movies since. I really enjoyed Wayne's World, So I Married an Axe Murderer, the first Austin Powers and the Shrek films. By 2002, the third Austin Powers movie started to feel tired.

So, we were hoping to capture some of the economic excitement of the late nineties by checking out a Mike Myers movie, The Love Guru. It is a quintessential Myers film. Goofy and stupid with lots of silly jokes. The only difference is Myers doesn't play a lot of different characters, only one. There are a lot of cameos, with numerous celebrites showing up to see the Guru Pitka.

I honestly don't have a lot to say about this movie. It was okay, not great. It was a relatively enjoyable 90 minutes. The issue is, Mike Myers is really no longer relevant in the world of comedy. His material was great 10 years ago, but now it is just okay. People have moved on to the world of Judd Apatow and "realistic" style comedies. Myers' goofiness just feels outdated. If you like his older movies, you will probably get a chuckle out of this, but don't expect it to feel relevant. Comedy really has come a long way in ten short years.

So, it could be worse, we could be stuck watching Mike Myers movies instead of the great comedies we have in theaters and on TV.

The Miracle of the White Stallions
This movie is all about the Spanish Riding School (in Vienna) and their famous "dancing" horse breed, the Lipizzaners during World War II. This is a 1963 Disney film, and we got it because of Mrs Titan's love of horses. The film follows the director of the school, Colonel Podhajsky, as he evacuates the horses and tries to keep them safe during the war.

The film is well acted, even by the horses, and the whole thing was done with the permission and support of the Spanish Riding School. Part of the film was shot at the school and the actual horses from the school were used in the film. It was great to see the actual location where these events occurred. Podhajsky escapes to the country side with his stallions, but the mares were relocated across the line of demarcation, to Czechoslovakia. The climax of the movie comes when he must work with the Americans to try to recover his mares. Does he do it?

This movie is fast-paced, exciting, historically relevant, and very interesting. It is worth checking out for anyone who likes war movies, horses, dressage, or just a good movie. Check it out!

It could be worse, we could be trying to ezcape from the Nazi, American, and Russian armies with over 200 horses, representing a historic riding school.