www.michigandaily.com R T S
MONDAY 9
JULY 28, 2003 9
JOEL
HOARD
Seriously no more VH-] lists.
As a friend pointed, when VH-1
does its list of the 100 worst VH-1
list shows in a couple of years, their
latest, "The 200 Greatest Pop Cul-
ture Icons" will undoubtedly nab the
top spot.
Until this point, I've been very for-
giving with VH-1. I'll admit that I
was there start to finish for "The 100
Greatest Artists" and "The 100
Greatest Albums," and I was willing
to overlook "The 100 Greatest
Songs" and "The 100 Greatest
Women of Rock and Roll." Around
the time of the overlapping lists "The
100 Greatest Shocking Moments in
Rock and Roll" and "The 100 Great-
est Moments That Rocked TV" I
started to wonder what had happened
to the network that brought us
"Behind the Music." But it didn't end
there. "The 100 Sexiest Artists,"
"The 50 Sexiest Video Moments"
and "The 100 Greatest One Hit Won-
ders" dropped soon after, leaving me
confused and saddened.
But it wasn't until this month's
"200 Greatest Pop Culture Icons" that
I finally gave up hope that VH-1
was still good for some-
thing. While on the sur-
face it may not appear
as inane as some of
the other lists, it is by
far the craziest the
network has been
with its ranking
obsession.
With such an open-
ended topic, you'd
think there'd be room at
the top for people like
Jesus, but where was
J.C.? Nowhere to be
found. Overlooked to
make room for
Oprah and
Superman,
respectively
numbers one
and two. And
" :
FRy ONi
all Jesus did was write the most
popular book in history and estab-
lish a following of a billion people
worldwide. And Jesus didn't even
need a wildly popular talk show or
superhuman strength to make a
name for himself.
Sure, it's probably just as silly to
complain about the choices as it was
to make the list in the first place,
but Oprah and Superman? As nice
as they are, I'm sure Johnny Carson
and Batman would have a few
things to say about that.
It's not that I don't think things
like pop culture icons and sexy
video moments should be discussed
- in fact a significant amount of
my life has been dedicated to dis-
cussing both - it's just inherently
ludicrous to think that these things
can be ranked in one official, god-
given list.
And so, in an effort to improve
VH-I programming, I would like to
offer a list of suggestions for future
list shows. This is my list, and it
goes like this:
1.) The 100 Greatest Pop
Culture Icons Who Don't
Belong on Our 200
Greatest Pop Culture
Icons List
2.) The 50
Greatest Celebrity
Pets
3.) The 100
Greatest Talentless
Hip-Hop Posses
and lackeys
4.) The 200 Great-
est Comments Given
by Talking Heads Dur-
ing VH-1 List Shows
5.) The 100 Great-
FAMILY SNAPSHOTS FROM HELL
By Scott Seilla
Daily Arts Editor
MOVI E REVI EW ****I
There's a haunting image in direc-
tor Andrew Jarecki's heartbreaking
new documentary "Capturing the
Friedmans." On a jumpy black and
white film, a tiny girl spins around
endlessly in a ballerina costume,
happy and completely innocent, total- 5.
ly unaware that her own young life°.
will soon end abruptly.
Those few fleeting frames of a sister
lost to blood poisoning began the com-
plicated, more often than not tragic rela-
tionship of Arnold Friedman's family
with film / pictures.
Arnold, a respected teacher in Great
Neck on Long Island, compulsively
recorded the lives of his wife Elaine, a
more neurotic Jean Stapleton type,
and his three dorky, but good natured CourtesyofMagnoliaPictures
sons David, Seth and Jesse with pic- The Friedmans in happier times.
tures and home movies. His sons Arnold kept hidden from the world. the family and the lasting scars the case
inherited the habit. "Capturing" is When federal postal agents raided and left on their psyches.
packed with Super 8s of birthdays, confiscated his collection, local Brother David and mother Elaine's
holidays vacations spent at the beach authorities immediately began ques- interviews are the bulk of the film, per-
where the family stares back at the tioning former and current students, haps because they are truly the kind of
audience with the same unwitting searching for evidence that Friedman rich, complicated characters a screen-
smile as the dancing girl. might have physically acted on his fas- writer could only dream of conjuring.
Ironically later TV news coverage cination, possibly with members of the David, now a New York City-based
and videos of screaming matches would computer class he taught out of the birthday clown, bitterly rants about the
take over as the primary testaments of family's basement. police's hardline tactics, his unwavering
the family. Even Hysteria swept through the tight-knit, admiration and belief in his father and
as the Friedmans Capturing the posh community and soon heavy, unbe- his boiling anger towards his mother.
enter an unbear- Fed ma lievable charges of sodomy and rape are Elaine somehow became a focal
able stretch of friedmanS riled, not only against Arnold, but also point for her sons' rage, perhaps
years which At Madstone his youngest son, Jesse. While often because she never fully believed her
would see all Magnolia Pictures leaving room for viewers to draw their husband was wholly innocent or
their lives crum- own conclusions, Jarecki quietly sides because she was never the warm parent
ble, they kept their cameras rolling. with the family, noting that Arnold's Arnold was for the boys. Her eventual
These private clips alone would make sick pedophilic impulses don't inherent- divorce of Arnold seems much more of
for an interesting doc, but combined ly make him a violent rapist, especially a painful point for David than his
with their public downfall, the film not without any physical evidence, father's undeniable addiction to child
reaches the heights of classic tragedy. The drama and heart-wrenching pornography, which David refuses to
Jarecki's film is about the transfor- twists of their trials could fuel dozens of fully acknowledge.
mation of the Friedmans from an "Law and Orders," but while "Captur- Jarecki directs the film with breath-
eccentric but loving suburbanite clan ing" is intrinsically focused on these taking subtlety, balance and surprising
to bitterly divided, twistedly embattled court room and police dealings, espe- suspense. He leads the audience
outcasts and living tabloid fodder. The cially allegations of botched, overly through the Friedmans' sad tale with a
dark catalyst for this ground-shaking aggressive interviews of Friedman's stu- careful pace, delicately avoiding
change was a hidden stash of child dents, Jarecki can't help but keep his screaming sensationalism and pathos,
pornography the secretly disturbed film locked on the internal conflicts of put still snapping a compelling photo.
NOW SHOWING
RAISINGV ICTOR VARGAS(R)..........1:00,3:00, 5:00, 1:00, 9:00
WASHINGTON HEIGHTS (R)..............1:05,3:05, 5:05, 1:05, 9:05
28 DAYS LATER (R).........................................1:10, 3:30, 7:10, 9:30
(APTURING THE FRIEDMANS (NR)............1:15, 3:40, 7:15, 9:40
AMEN (NR).........................................................1:00, 3:30, 1:00, 9:30
JOHNNY ENGLISH (PG).......................1:35, 3:35, 5:35, 1:35, 9:35
A MIGHTY WIND (PG-13) ..................1:25, 3:25, 5:25, 1:25, 9:25
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