In reverse.

Two comics for you to appreciate from the last few weeks:

from here.

and

from here.

Zen Nothing, or: The art of masculinity aging gracefully (is dead).

For just a moment, based on these trailers, consider something for me. First up: Noah Baumbach’s upcoming Greenberg

…and the upcoming Wonderful World, starring Matthew Broderick…

Are these two movies not, in actuality, the same movie?

Or are they thematic sequels to something like Garden State? If so, then… Thanks, but no thanks.

Is Ben Stiller in Greenberg not grasping the arrogant douchebaggery of what used to be called slacker in young males, young males who then grew up into “aging hipsters,” who accomplish nothing but looking at other things and thinking things about them (kind of like bloggers, I know)? And then there’s Wonderful World, in which Matthew Broderick seems to be… well, ticking off every other box the young urban white male who’s seemingly not a Republican seems to fall into. Are these men who choose to do nothing and be nothing (or, at least, nothing interesting) because nothing has chosen them? Or because something chose them/they once chose something, but it was too hard? Is that it? And now they live in the place where a once charming recluse falls into a consistent routine, no, a life of misanthropy and misunderstanding and being a hermit.

Sometimes lack of ambition doesn’t just mean a sense of fatigue. Maybe, rather than being tired, and having a lot on your mind, you’re just not talented and scared and weak. You better reject everything before it rejects you!

But, in these guys’ case, of course there’s a beautiful young woman to pull them out of their funk who gets them to change their way of thinking. Of course.

In Stiller’s case, it’s the Queen of the Indie cinema, Greta Gerwig, who looks like a product of scientists trying to create an MPDG/Amazing Girl super(cute)beast. And for Broderick, it’s Sanaa Lathan. I’m sure we’re guaranteed some awkward romantic encounters! Honestly, I’d rather just watch a movie about these women’s characters. They sound vastly more interesting.

I’m not suggesting that anyone should subscribe to a life of constantly being a caregiver or bring some middle aged loser like Ben Stiller or Ferris Bueller out of their haze, but at least these ladies are doing something. Something is better than nothing, right?

There are good cops and bad cops, and then there’s…

from here and here. And here.

Suck it, Bullitt.

But you can do better than this, right, Benjamin Light?