She Likes to Watch

British duo set sci fi classics “Terminator 2,” “Robocop” and “Predator” to music

If you’ve wondered what “Robocop” would sound like as a rap song, here’s your answer.

This ingenious video is the work of British nerdcore rappers DJ Mayhem and MC Mouthmaster Murf, two members of hiphop/breakbeat/indie band The Anomalies whose love for 20th century science fiction knows no bounds.

Their videos, which clock in at about 10 minutes apiece, feature plentiful plot exposition interspersed with video clips. Rap lyrics rhyme with dialogue background, and background beats are based on the familiar strains of thrilling movie scores.

Although the duo’s amazing “Robocop” rap is undoubtedly the best they’ve done, it’s replete with swear words and gruesome violence.

The rap videos for “Aliens” and “Predator” aren’t much better.

In their place, I’ve posted the slightly tamer rap video for “Terminator 2,” starring Linda Hamilton, Edward Furlong and our very own California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Strap on your headphones, watch and enjoy.

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Thanks to TheWorldsBestEver.com for the tip.

Coach Boone (Denzel Washington) motivates a player in "Remember the Titans"

Sports editor ranks the best football movies of all time, from “Rudy” to “Remember the Titans”

With Super Bowl Sunday right around the corner, I invited Tribune Sports Editor Ashley Conklin to discuss gridiron greats on the big screen. Here are his favorite football movies, ranked from No. 10 to No. 1.

With Super Bowl XLIV on Sunday, what better time to discuss the 10 best football movies of all-time?

You’ll have to forgive me for not seeing “The Blind Side.” That’s why it’s not mentioned here. I hear it’s great and I hope to see it soon.

10. The Program (1993): Everything is out of control at ESU: an alcoholic quarterback, a steroid-popping linebacker, money-giving boosters. Coach James Caan is trying to hold it all together but falters under the pressure of trying to win at all costs at a big-time university.

“The Program” exposes the seedier underbelly of college football and probably hit a lot closer to home when it came out than a lot of people would admit.

9. Invincible (2006): Vince Papale (Mark Wahlberg) goes from pickup football games with his buddies to a Philadelphia Eagles tryout to a roster spot as special teams standout with the Eagles in the 1970s. Another “Rocky” in the City of Brotherly Love.

8. We Are Marshall (2006): This film should resonate loudly here because of the 1960s Cal Poly fatal football airplane crash. Matthew McConaughey brings a lot of enthusiasm as new coach Jack Lengyel, who tries to rebuild the Marshall program and honor the memory of those who perished.

7. Friday Night Lights (2004): The movie doesn’t exactly follow H.G. Bissinger’s best-selling book, but it still shows how football rules over everything in Texas and is well acted and directed.

6. Rudy (1993): “You’re 5-foot-nothin’ and a hundred-and-nothin’ and you have barely a speck of athletic ability. And you hung in there with the best college football players in the land for 2 years.’

Thank goodness he did, so we could have the best Notre Dame football movie there is.

5. Jerry Maguire (1996): “Show me the money.” “You had me at hello.” “You complete me.”

Probably the most memorable movie phrases of the ‘90s. Also the finest performances we’ve seen from Tom Cruise and Cuba Gooding Jr., who was very deserving of his Oscar.

4. Any Given Sunday (1999): One of Oliver Stone’s greatest films. Perhaps a little over the top, but that’s Stone. The best on-the-field football action I’ve seen in film. Al Pacino makes a great coach and when he delivers his “we heal, now, as a team, or we will die as individuals” speech, I was ready to play for him.

3. The Express (2008): Few black players received football scholarships in the late 1950s, even those going to a northern school such as Syracuse. But the Elmira Express, Ernie Davis, might have been better than his predecessor at Syracuse, Jim Brown, and was the first black Heisman Trophy winner.

Davis (Rob Brown, so good in “Finding Forrester” as Jamal Wallace) was a terror out of the backfield for college defense. Even President Kennedy mourned his death from leukemia at age 23.

2. Brian’s Song (1971): The tug-at-your-heart flick about the NFL’s first interracial roommates — Chicago Bears running backs Gale Sayers and Brian Piccolo — and Piccolo’s death at age 26 from cancer strikes just the right chord and never gets sappy. It was remade in 2006 but I’ve never seen it. The original was perfect, so why see the new one?

1. Remember The Titans (2000): I never thought I would pick anything over “Brian’s Song” as the best football movie ever. But the more I see “Remember The Titans,” the more I am convinced this is the greatest football movie ever. Where were the Oscars? Case closed.

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The Indianapolis Colts play the New Orleans Saints at 3:25 p.m. Sunday on CBS  (KCOY, Channel 12).

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Image courtesy of Movieweb.com.

John Goodman and Jeff Bridges star in "The Big Lebowski"

And proud we are of all of them: Fans come out in force for “The Big Lebowski”

Regular readers of this blog know that I am a fan of “The Big Lebowski.”

Well, perhaps “fan” is a bit of an understatement.

I’ve seen the Coen brothers’ brilliant cult comedy about a slacker bowler turned private eye more times than I can count. I quote movie lines at random, and I’ve made two separate pilgrimages to the ultimate fan festival known as Lebowksi Fest –  engaging in an utter orgy of bowling, White Russians and costume contests.

I even own a copy of the ultimate guide to Dude-ism, “I’m a Lebowski, You’re a Lebowski: Life, The Big Lebowski and What Have You.”

Although I don’t have any “Lebowski” bobbleheads, Christmas ornaments or action figures, I think it’d be safe to say I’m an Achiever.

That’s why I’m so stoked that “The Big Lebowski,” which last showed athe Palm Theatre in May 2008, is once again gracing Central Coast screens.

“The Big Lebowski” will be shown tonight at 7:30 p.m. at the Fremont theater, 1025 Monterey St. in San Luis Obispo. Show up a half-hour early for trivia and prizes.

Tickets are $7.50.

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On a completely unrelated sidenote, I’m told that McCarthy’s Irish Pub, located at 600 Marsh St. in San Luis Obispo, will be offering a White Russian drink special tonight.

You just might find yourself saying, “You mix one hell of a Caucasian, Jackie!”

Oscar winner Alan Arkin of “Little Miss Sunshine” is coming to San Luis Obispo

As show business legend has it, the directors of “Little Miss Sunshine” nearly rejected Alan Arkin for the role of the film’s foul-mouthed, heroin-snorting grandpa because he was “too virile.”

Too virile?!? Sounds like a veiled compliment to me.

In fact, Arkin, who celebrates his 76th birthday this spring, continues to enjoy a professional popularity that many in the film industry would envy. In the past five years, he’s appeared in 11 movies,  including such certifiable hits as “Get Smart” and “Marley & Me.”

Perhaps it’s the Oscar-winning actor’s wonderfully sarcastic screen persona or his superb cache of character roles. Whatever the reason, he’s a hot Hollywood property right now.

In March, the San Luis Obispo International Film Festival will honor Arkin with its highest individual prize — the King Vidor Career Achievement Award, which celebrates excellence in filmmaking.

Past recipients include Academy Award winners Morgan Freeman, Eva Marie Saint and Ernest Borgnine, Oscar nominees Norman Jewison, James Cromwell and Peter Fonda, and Golden Globe nominee Malcolm McDowell.

Best known for his roles in such films as “Wait Until Dark,” “Catch 22,” “The In-Laws” and “Glengarry Glen Ross,” Arkin has spent much of his film career as a sarcastic straight man in a world-gone-mad.

He’s spent the last few years developing a repertoire of good-natured grumps — surly, misanthropic dads and grandpas who refuse to play by society’s rules.

Just look at Murray Abromowitz, the poverty-stricken divorcee in the criminally underrated “Slums of Beverly Hills” or Joe Lokorkowski, the popcorn-peddling kook in “Sunshine Cleaning.” These are men accustomed to hard-scrabble lives and frequent disappointment, ordinary guys who meet each fresh affront with a sarcastic smirk and eyeballs rolled heavenward.

It’s as the heroin-snorting, porn-addicted grandfather in “Little Miss Sunshine,” however, that Arkin’s talent is truly evident.

In honor of Alan Arkin, here’s a clip of “Little Miss Sunshine.”

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If you’re interested, here are a couple interviews with Alan Arkin.

Learn what it’s like to Alan from “Little Miss Sunshine” directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris and co-stars Toni Collette and Greg Kinnear in this clip.

You can also check out Arkin’s conversation with Jerry Bowen, host of CBS’s “Eye to Eye,” right here.

“Praying in Her Own Voice” documents the battle for equality in the religious world

Here’s a spiritual addition to this week’s film calendar.

On Sunday, Congregation Ohr Tzafon will screen “Praying in Her Own Voice.”

Directed and co-written by Yael Katzir, the 2007 documentary chronicles Women of the Wall, an Israel-based group that has spearheaded the battle for female equality in the religious world.

The group’s main focus is Jerusalem’s Wailing Wall, considered by many to be the holiest site in Judaism.  It’s also one  of several spots where women are not allowed to gather and pray.

Women of the Wall want to change that.

Starting in December 1988, when group members first read from a Torah scroll at the Western Wall, the group has been working toward improving the religious status of women in Israeli public life — staging protests and challenging Israel’s government in court.

“Praying in Her Own Voice” features interviews with some of the most influential women in the United States and the Holy Land, including Rabbi Debbie Israel of Morgan Hill.

Israel will lead  a discussion following the free screening.

Watch “Praying in Her Own Voice” at 3 p.m. Sunday at Congregation Ohr Tzafon, 2605 Traffic Way in Atascadero.

The screening is co-sponsored by the Reform Jewish congregation and the Jewish Community Center of San Luis Obispo. Community members of all faiths are welcome.