The Reel World: Midterm blues

If I had to give a rough estimate as to the total amount of time I was outside of my blanket cocoon in my room this past weekend, I would guess it adds up to about seven minutes. The reason? No, I have not decided to become a troll, though I would be lying if I said I haven’t considered it. The real reason is that I discovered that 24 James Bond movies are on Hulu, and they will expire on Dec. 1. I, being the Bond nerd that I am, naturally had to watch as many as possible in the allotted time.

James Bond is one of the most iconic characters in the history of cinema, yet the suave, über-sophisticated superspy is, well, actually a terrible spy. In Bond’s most recent outing, “Spectre” (2015), his exploits land him on the front pages of The Guardian and The Times and live on CNN — i.e. exactly the opposite of what spies are supposed to do. And that’s just in the first 15 minutes of the film! Yet, Bond is still celebrated as the greatest spy ever — ask anyone to name any spy, and nine times out of ten, they’ll say, “James Bond.”

As I was watching Bond film after Bond film over the weekend, I was frankly indignant at the unfairness of it all. After all, I suck at being a college student just as much as Bond sucks at being a spy, but all I’m rewarded with is Helen’s, revisions and also maybe mononucleosis.

However, I take comfort in knowing that movies about people sucking at their jobs are among the richest traditions in the history of cinema.

For example, when I got a midterm back on Thursday, I immediately went back to my room and watched “Office Space” (1999). Starring Ron Livingston and Jennifer Aniston, “Office Space” has become a cult classic in recent years thanks to its hilarious skewering of American white-collar office culture, along with its indulgence of our age-old desire to stick it to the man. In the film’s best scene, Peter (Livingston) and his fellow disgruntled co-workers steal their office’s never-working printer, take it out into a field and smash it to pieces. The scene, which is filmed in slow motion with the sound altered to emphasize the workers' pent-up frustration, is set to “Still” (1996) by the Geto Boys.

That scene is, in my opinion, one of the best single moments from any movie in the 90s. The frustration, loss of freedom and anger of the workers portrayed in the film all perfectly come to a head in a moment of hilarious, triumphant violence. All of us have had crappy jobs, and all of us have felt like we suck at our jobs; in that scene, I wanted to stand up and cheer. I pity the next Tisch printer that decides not to see the documents I send it.