Posted by crumbsroom ![]() 7/30/2022 3:15 pm | #61 |
Jinnistan wrote:
Crumbs, we need to talk about Blues Brothers. No laughs even when they get blown up in a phone booth by a rocket launcher, only to immediately start grabbing for all of the stray spare change?
"Blues Brothers is alright. There are other Dan Aykroyd comedies I'd rather watch."
Plural. Oookay.
"Loved Monty Python's Flying Circus as a kid but I've never been a fan of their movies."
What in the god-loving fuck?
"It’s funny though, cause I generally love British humor. Their comedy is great. But Monty Python has never been something I’ve found hilarious."
??? I just want to kick some of these bastards in the balls.
"I don’t really like The Blue Brothers. I don’t get it. Not my generation I guess."
If "your generation" is the first excuse you reach for, I don't think the fault lies with the film.
"Raising Arizona is virtually unheard of in lists of Nicholas Cage movies. When people think of Nick Cage they usually reach for one of his more well-known movies like Face/Off, Lord of War, or whatever most recent drek he's roped himself into. He's mainly known for unintentionally comedic roles, not intentionally comedic roles." (Includes gif of Wicker Man remake as if that proves a goddamn thing.)
As Little Ash stated upthread, there is something about mixing action that completely fucks with my appreciation of humor. Like it messes up the rhythm, or it drowns out the subtlety or makes me focus on shit I don't want to focus on.
There are a handful of moments I know I sort of laugh at, but to me I just like the go for broke scope of the film and the music more than anything and, even though I don't find the characters particularly funny, I like watching them.
Also, as I'm on record saying often, I don't really find Belushi funny. I think he has loads of charisma but...he just doesn't work for me
Posted by crumbsroom ![]() 7/30/2022 3:16 pm | #62 |
As for all those other opinions they are shamefully bad. Have I mentioned I hate that place yet?.
Posted by Jinnistan ![]() 7/31/2022 2:39 pm | #63 |
crumbsroom wrote:
Also, as I'm on record saying often, I don't really find Belushi funny. I think he has loads of charisma but...he just doesn't work for me
And yet for some reason you appreciate Animal House a lot more than I do. And it goes without saying that my favorite part of that film is Belushi smashing that hippie's guitar, and not the smashing per se but the look on his face just prior. (I hate to cosign the avatar from that idiot cricket.)
Filmwise, I can understand to a degree, because clearly Belushi did not live to fulfill his potential. However, I find him brilliantly funny on his classic SNL stuff. And although Blues Brothers is more deadpan and meta than gutbusting (even if "How much for your women?" still gets me), I, again, have to got to the mat for the musunderstood hilarity that is Neighbors.
Last edited by Jinnistan (7/31/2022 2:43 pm)
Posted by Jinnistan ![]() 7/31/2022 2:58 pm | #64 |
Jinnistan wrote:
And yet for some reason you appreciate Animal House a lot more than I do.
Not that I don't appreciate your thoughts on it, which I'll import here to a safer home.
crumbsroom wrote:
I love this film. It's the kind of movie that I recently struggled to defend when I was told to mention something funny from it, which I was hard pressed to do, not because there is nothing funny, but the humor doesn't really exist outside of the universe of the film. It is more a state of mind as much of what is funny is articulated more in the joy of the performers/characters throwing off the shackles of pointless responsibility and behaving badly simply for the sake of behaving badly. The laughs can be found mostly in a facial expression, or a tone of voice, or the exasperation of everyone who bears witness to such terrible antics. As a child, Animal House wasn't just a comedy, it was a place I wanted to go to myself eventually. A place where I could burn all the worlds expectations of me to the ground and start anew. Comedy as liberation, and I'm sadly (gladly) still just burning from its influence.
Posted by Jinnistan ![]() 7/31/2022 3:09 pm | #65 |
I think their list is actually shaping up to be something resembling respectable. Which is making all of the whining snots hating on it over there (ala, honeykid's "This is utter, utter dogshit") all the more sweet. I enjoyed raul's conniption about Shrek missing the list, and I eagerly await the seismic meltdown when and if American Pie gets snubbed (if only, but I still have no faith it won't). So in terms of what are clearly generational preferences for these (I assume) majority American millennials, I'll take a higher-than-warranted ranking of Office Space (very funny, pleasant surprise, but shouldn't rank higher than the 80s here if at all) over what I was fearing to place like Old School, Garden State, This Is The End, Wedding Crashers, Despicable Me, ad hoc etc.
Posted by Jinnistan ![]() 7/31/2022 4:44 pm | #66 |
Annie Hall - my #11. I don't take this as a comedy but decided to include it in my list as a last resort to help one of the greatest filmmakers be in this countdown, knowing that the majority of the population that usually dominates social forums are strongly controlled by the ruling regime and this is one of few Woody films the users are allowed to comment positively.
(after the 2000's game and during this one it became very obvious that the population in territories without freedom are commanded not to mention Allen.) How pity... I have no hope for his even better numerous masterpieces from the post-2000 period.
That is, um, a lot to unpack. "How pity" indeed.
As someone who is not convinced that Woody raped his daughter, I have to say that I've never been censored for my thoughts on the matter by whatever "ruling regime in territories without freedom". I don't know if Mr. Blond here knows this, but the guy hosting the list? Has a Woody Allen avatar. Not quite so verboten.
"Better numerous masterpieces from the post-2000 period"? Hey, it's not the most perplexing post I've seen on this thread, but, while the Woodman has made maybe a handful of decent films since then, I can't say that any of them were masterpieces on par with his very best, and arguably at least a dozen that could definitely be considered among his very worst. The best is probably Blue Jasmine, probably because of the great Cate Blanchett but mostly because I interpret it as a savage burn on the more bourgeois and class-pretentious tendencies of Mia Farrow (and Oscar-winner, to the dismay of the ruling regime). Some of the others (Melinda and Melinda, Match Point, Vickey Cristina Barcelona) are decent but ultimately mid-tier. I'm not a fan of Midnight in Paris, probably his most acclaimed film of the era. And then there's the horrid dreck of faceless frivolity that makes up the rest (best summarized by the sentiment on the poster of Whatever Works). Irrational Man may have been the most insulting, and has effectively kept me from seeing his last few films since.
I guess we haven't given Woody a proper rundown, so here goes.
The Slapstick Era
Even though he didn't direct, Play It Again Sam is classic Woody from this era for me, and I've always preferred it to what I felt was a too-similar Keaton romanitc pairing in Annie Hall. The latter has its moments, but they seem peripheral. My favorites are still Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex, Sleeper and Love and Death, all top-shelf 70s comedy imo. Bananas is a little too silly, I prefer the more dead pan Take the Money and Run.
The B&W Era
Another round of top-shelf favorites - Stardust Memories, Zelig, Broadway Danny Rose. Perversely of not, Manhattan falls short, I think it's OK. Honorable mention: the half-B&W Purple Rose of Cairo.
The Mia Farrow Years
Hannah and Her Sisters and Crimes and Misdemeanors are great. And I'll add Husbands and Wives, a film I find irresistably amusing, which is more of a post-Mia Farrow movie, but is still really all about their dysfunctional relationship. I think crumbs is kinder to the others than I am, but I never got any interest out of September, Another Woman or Alice.
The Return To Comedy
Bullets Over Broadway is tremendous, Manhattan Murder Mystery is very good and Mighty Aphrodite is cute. Everyone Says I Love You is tolerable for those in on the joke that none of the actors can sing. Deconstructing Harry is admirably experimental. Celebrity is nice self-parody. All in all, a pretty consistent period with few highs and lows.
Of the ones I missed, because they don't fit neatly into those categories: Interiors is insufferable, Midsummer's Sex Comedy is stale, Radio Days is pleasant, Shadows and Fog is a fraud, and Sweet and Lowdown falls in more with the 00s era of middling to competant hackwork.
Posted by crumbsroom ![]() 7/31/2022 5:45 pm | #67 |
Jinnistan wrote:
And although Blues Brothers is more deadpan and meta than gutbusting
I wouldn't be at all surprised that, because of its loud tone, that deadpan vibe you talk about just went over my head.
I've only watched it a handful of times. Three or four in highschool. Then about half of it at the beginning of the pandemic (where I remember finding a few scenes funny that I hadn't before...so maybe if I had kept with it, I would have found more to like)
That said, I can't overstate that I think it's a great movie.
I, again, have to got to the mat for the musunderstood hilarity that is Neighbors.
This one I have way more trouble with. And I think we talked about this years ago, that whatever the movie was going for, gets absolutely ruined for me by the score. Like, I can't bear it.
It was a movie that I desperately wanted to see for years. That was never available at any videostore I went to. That was never for sale. That was never played on TV. And all I had was my father's description of it (he was a fan) and it always sounded amazing. I had imagined the scene where Dan Aykroyd sneaks off to cook Chinese food, and laughed at the idea of it repeatedly, for years, all by myself. It seemed like it would be everything I wanted in a comedy. Then when my father someone came across a copy of VHS and bought it as a surprise Christmas gift, I just remember being so shockingly disappointed after I immediately watched it that I don't think I ever recovered. Even the way that Chinese food scene played out, in my mind it seemed to work so much better.
Clearly they needed ten year old me to direct it and not John Alvidson.
As a side note, I do think having Fear score the movie (as was Belushi's want), would have been an even more incomprehensibly bad decision than whatever shit they eventually used. And I say this as an (outspoken) fan of that nightmarish, morally irresponsible band.
Posted by crumbsroom ![]() 7/31/2022 6:01 pm | #68 |
Jinnistan wrote:
Annie Hall - my #11. I don't take this as a comedy but decided to include it in my list as a last resort to help one of the greatest filmmakers be in this countdown, knowing that the majority of the population that usually dominates social forums are strongly controlled by the ruling regime and this is one of few Woody films the users are allowed to comment positively.
(after the 2000's game and during this one it became very obvious that the population in territories without freedom are commanded not to mention Allen.) How pity... I have no hope for his even better numerous masterpieces from the post-2000 period.That is, um, a lot to unpack. "How pity" indeed.
As someone who is not convinced that Woody raped his daughter, I have to say that I've never been censored for my thoughts on the matter by whatever "ruling regime in territories without freedom". I don't know if Mr. Blond here knows this, but the guy hosting the list? Has a Woody Allen avatar. Not quite so verboten.
"Better numerous masterpieces from the post-2000 period"? Hey, it's not the most perplexing post I've seen on this thread, but, while the Woodman has made maybe a handful of decent films since then, I can't say that any of them were masterpieces on par with his very best, and arguably at least a dozen that could definitely be considered among his very worst. The best is probably Blue Jasmine, probably because of the great Cate Blanchett but mostly because I interpret it as a savage burn on the more bourgeois and class-pretentious tendencies of Mia Farrow (and Oscar-winner, to the dismay of the ruling regime). Some of the others (Melinda and Melinda, Match Point, Vickey Cristina Barcelona) are decent but ultimately mid-tier. I'm not a fan of Midnight in Paris, probably his most acclaimed film of the era. And then there's the horrid dreck of faceless frivolity that makes up the rest (best summarized by the sentiment on the poster of Whatever Works). Irrational Man may have been the most insulting, and has effectively kept me from seeing his last few films since.
I guess we haven't given Woody a proper rundown, so here goes.
The Slapstick Era
Even though he didn't direct, Play It Again Sam is classic Woody from this era for me, and I've always preferred it to what I felt was a too-similar Keaton romanitc pairing in Annie Hall. The latter has its moments, but they seem peripheral. My favorites are still Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex, Sleeper and Love and Death, all top-shelf 70s comedy imo. Bananas is a little too silly, I prefer the more dead pan Take the Money and Run.
The B&W Era
Another round of top-shelf favorites - Stardust Memories, Zelig, Broadway Danny Rose. Perversely of not, Manhattan falls short, I think it's OK. Honorable mention: the half-B&W Purple Rose of Cairo.
The Mia Farrow Years
Hannah and Her Sisters and Crimes and Misdemeanors are great. And I'll add Husbands and Wives, a film I find irresistably amusing, which is more of a post-Mia Farrow movie, but is still really all about their dysfunctional relationship. I think crumbs is kinder to the others than I am, but I never got any interest out of September, Another Woman or Alice.
The Return To Comedy
Bullets Over Broadway is tremendous, Manhattan Murder Mystery is very good and Mighty Aphrodite is cute. Everyone Says I Love You is tolerable for those in on the joke that none of the actors can sing. Deconstructing Harry is admirably experimental. Celebrity is nice self-parody. All in all, a pretty consistent period with few highs and lows.
Of the ones I missed, because they don't fit neatly into those categories: Interiors is insufferable, Midsummer's Sex Comedy is stale, Radio Days is pleasant, Shadows and Fog is a fraud, and Sweet and Lowdown falls in more with the 00s era of middling to competant hackwork.
I love Another Woman. Am fond of both September and Interiors. Alice the first movie (chronologically) in his filmography I believe I disliked. I really like Sweet and Lowdown and think Radio Days is unfairly overlooked. I've never seen Manhattan Murder Mystery, Deconstructing Harry, Blue Jasmine, Vicky Christina Barcelona or Purple Rose of Cairo (I also haven't seen a bunch more, but these are the ones I feel bad about)
I also fucking hate Midnight in Paris.
Posted by Rock ![]() 7/31/2022 7:31 pm | #69 |
The Blues Brothers took me a rewatch to warm up to. I think JJ is right that the comedic impact comes from the contrast between the deadpan attitude of the leads and the go-for-broke anarchy of the movie around them. I too found the scale of the movie distracting the first time around, but watching it at the same time I watched a lot of movies with the classic SNL guys helped me redirect my attention to the carefully calibrated coolness of Belushi and Aykroyd in the face of all the carnage.
Posted by Jinnistan ![]() 7/31/2022 10:52 pm | #70 |
crumbsroom wrote:
I've only watched it a handful of times. Three or four in highschool. Then about half of it at the beginning of the pandemic (where I remember finding a few scenes funny that I hadn't before...so maybe if I had kept with it, I would have found more to like)
I wouldn't rule out a certain amount of nostalgia in my case. I probably watched it a dozen times, in middle school. And I could probably cite a similar feeling of "comedy as liberation" as you mentioned with Animal House, in that Blues Brothers was so anarchic and defying in convention from regular comedic formula - very similar to Python in that sense. One example is in the car stunts, and how they so flagrantly break all of the laws of physics, space and time. Utterly absurb but played straight, no winks to the audience to show that it knows how absurd it is. It doesn't know, and there's the magic.
crumbsroom wrote:
This one I have way more trouble with. And I think we talked about this years ago, that whatever the movie was going for, gets absolutely ruined for me by the score. Like, I can't bear it.
It was a movie that I desperately wanted to see for years. That was never available at any videostore I went to. That was never for sale. That was never played on TV. And all I had was my father's description of it (he was a fan) and it always sounded amazing. I had imagined the scene where Dan Aykroyd sneaks off to cook Chinese food, and laughed at the idea of it repeatedly, for years, all by myself. It seemed like it would be everything I wanted in a comedy. Then when my father someone came across a copy of VHS and bought it as a surprise Christmas gift, I just remember being so shockingly disappointed after I immediately watched it that I don't think I ever recovered. Even the way that Chinese food scene played out, in my mind it seemed to work so much better.
Clearly they needed ten year old me to direct it and not John Alvidson.
That's a shame. It's hard to compete with expectations, especially in a film which is aggressively trying to subvert expectations (which is probably why Belushi and Aykroyd switched roles before shooting, as Belushi was already expected to be the wild man and Aykroyd was expected to be the stuffy shirt patriarch).
It's a weird movie, and deliberately has an unsettling malice running through. Avildsen definitely doesn't seem right for the job, and by all accounts didn't really understand the material or what Belushi/Aykroyd were trying to do. I haven't seen any of Avildsen's earlier comedies, they actually don't look too funny on the surface, but something tells me that the director who worked with Jackie Mason, Zero Mostel and Burt Reynolds had no clue what to do with these two. And the film's attempts at "zany" are a harsh contrast with some of the more surreal, almost psychedelically awkward, moments (like Aykroyd unstrapping his jock with a shotgun while offering coffee, "I like mine black. And tepid.") I embrace the strangeness of it, and it reminds me of DeVito's later directoral efforts*.
(*Throw Momma From the Train is one of my favorite 80s comedies that won't come anywhere near a popular top hundred list, and War of the Roses has to be the darkest romantic comedy ever made.)
crumbsroom wrote:
I love Another Woman. Am fond of both September
Urgh. I guess I'll have to rewatch these. I remember being glad they were over.
Posted by Rock ![]() 8/02/2022 11:40 pm | #71 |
Jinnistan wrote:
(*Throw Momma From the Train is one of my favorite 80s comedies that won't come anywhere near a popular top hundred list, and War of the Roses has to be the darkest romantic comedy ever made.)
Is The Ratings Game any good? It looks to be on Prime and Tubi.
Posted by crumbsroom ![]() 8/03/2022 10:54 am | #72 |
Holy fuck, that clown's favorite Rob Reiner movie is The Bucket List
This has to be a troll job. Nobody can possibly be this clueless an idiot about films and still be able to feed themselves without swallowing the cutlery.
Posted by Jinnistan ![]() 8/03/2022 11:01 am | #73 |
crumbsroom wrote:
Holy fuck, that clown's favorite Rob Reiner movie is The Bucket List.
If we could drive our cars on bad internet takes, Raul must be some kind of Saudi Arabia.
Posted by crumbsroom ![]() 8/03/2022 11:46 am | #74 |
Jinnistan wrote:
crumbsroom wrote:
Holy fuck, that clown's favorite Rob Reiner movie is The Bucket List.
If we could drive our cars on bad internet takes, Raul must be some kind of Saudi Arabia.
Holden claims it is a joke to name Reiner's worst movies. Which he obviously did when he personally submitted North as his joke choice.
But was raul doing this? Is it possible to distinguish truth from reality if he was joking? How is it not in lock step with all of his other idiot hot takes.
Let's wait for his write up when he calls it 'a good movie with a good script that gets a bunch of good performances that I thought were good on the whole. Good movie!'
Posted by Jinnistan ![]() 8/04/2022 5:17 pm | #75 |
Looks like raul wasn't joking.
A Shot in the Dark is probably the best of the vintage Pink Panther films, but honestly Steve Martins two features are the best & funniest of the franchise
I swear to hopscotching Jesus. It's...It's for the best that I can't comment on these kinds of things. No good can come of it. Dreyfuss would be grateful that he didn't suffer what these people deserve.
Posted by Jinnistan ![]() 8/04/2022 5:18 pm | #76 |
Also, I don't want to rain on mark f's parade, but I have it on good authority that Pryor did not stop using the N-word in his lifetime. Privately, at least.
Posted by crumbsroom ![]() 8/04/2022 6:58 pm | #77 |
Jinnistan wrote:
Looks like raul wasn't joking.
A Shot in the Dark is probably the best of the vintage Pink Panther films, but honestly Steve Martins two features are the best & funniest of the franchise
I swear to hopscotching Jesus. It's...It's for the best that I can't comment on these kinds of things. No good can come of it. Dreyfuss would be grateful that he didn't suffer what these people deserve.
They can keep throwing the word subjective around, but comedy is one place you absolutely cannot hide your lameness. It speaks volumes when you prefer the Martin Pink Panther, or bemoan the lack of recognition for Mrs Doubtfire. Coupled with dismissals towards any kind of nuanced humor, or a complete unawareness of how absurd humor like Python or Airplane operate, are clear indicators that you're a fucking dud at a dinner party. Unless, if course, everyone at the dinner party equally sucks (which i imagine is the case for a lot of these people since who else would hang out with them, or let them continue being so fucking uninteresting)
Posted by Jinnistan ![]() 8/06/2022 6:24 pm | #78 |
Is Liquid Sky.....a comedy?
Posted by Rock ![]() 8/06/2022 6:58 pm | #79 |
I seem to remember there being humour in the movie, but it's been a while. I think Takoma is a fan.
Posted by Jinnistan ![]() 8/06/2022 7:35 pm | #80 |
Rock wrote:
I seem to remember there being humour in the movie, but it's been a while. I think Takoma is a fan.
I'm a fan. The great Anne Carlisle. I just don't remember a lot of laughs.