Justin Long has confirmed that he will be included in the 2008 release, Still Waiting. Still Waiting may remind you of the 2005 release of Waiting. Well if it does, then you probably already know that Still Waiting is the sequel to the 2005 movie. Still Waiting has the same writer, Rob McKittrick, as the previous movie and the director, Jeff Balis, was a producer for Waiting. However the main cast except for Justin Long from the previous movie will not return to the sequel. There is a catch with Justin Long’s appearance. It will only be a cameo appearance which is more than Ryan Reynolds or Anna Faris can say for themselves. Most of the supporting cast will be reprising their role at Shenaniganz.
It has been revealed that the restaurant has found itself in financial trouble, which is threatening the jobs of the crazy wait staff. As the wait staff tries to save their jobs, the old supporting cast will be joined by newcomers such as Adam Carolla and Tricia Trotter.
As details about the movie are very scarce at this point, it is hard to what the movie is going to be like. However with most of the supporting cast along with the same writer, there is some hope for this movie. If the movie is anything similar to the first, then it should be an enjoyable movie.
This will be my last post on the Comdelicious blog. I hope you enjoyed my writing and hopefully my entries have helped you save some money on some poorly made movies. I know that I enjoyed writing on this blog, and being able to watch movies as part of my homework has made the experience even better. If you have been thinking about starting your own blog, I would highly recommend this experience to anyone.
Ah… Harold and Kumar make their triumphant return to the movie screen Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo. As you remember in their previous adventure, the duo of slacking anti-heroes had to relieve a case of the munchies that was caused by weed. John Cho and Kal Penn return as Harold and Kumar. Neil Patrick Harris also makes another appearance in the movie. Also most of the cast from the original appears to be reprising their role in the second movie. Both of the writers from the previous movie return but this time they also take the part of the director in this movie.
In this adventure, the pair gets themselves in trouble by trying to sneak onto a flight to Amsterdam with Kumar attempting to sneak a bong on board. As you may remember from the ending of the first one, Harold wants to fly to Amsterdam to chase down his love interest, Maria. Now that they are suspected of being terrorists, Harold and Kumar have to find a way to prove that they aren’t terrorists while running away from the police who are chasing the escaped convicts. Similar to the previous movie, along the adventure the pair will realize an important part of life that will continue their growth from slackers.
I cannot wait for this movie. I really liked the first one and it sounds like this will be very similar to the original movie. With both the writers returning, you know the dialogue will be the exact same. It is also very helpful that almost all of the cast has reprised their role in the movie so it will give you a true feeling on continuity between the first and second movie. The storyline sounds like it is full of potentially funny situations. However this time the expectations of the movie will be a lot greater. The question won’t be if it is a funny movie but whether or not the movie met expectations.
And yet another new action comedy movie on the Seth Rogen front. Pineapple Express, which is set to be released on August 8, 2008, will be the third of six 2008 films for Rogen. Rogen was also involved in the writing of the movie. James Franco stars alongside Rogen and the movie was co-written by Evan Goldberg, who also was involved in writing the writing of Superbad. Pineapple Express will be directed by David Gordon Green, who hasn’t had very much experience with directing.
Pineapple Express is the story of Dale Denton (played by Seth Rogen), a stoner who is in the process of turning into a self actualized adult along with his drug dealer, Saul, but both of them are slowed by poor habits. Saul and Dale, who is a stuck in neutral process server, inadvertently become witnesses in a drug related murder. However this unfortunate event turns out to be just what the two needed to break their bad habits and turn their life around. They find out that there is not a better motivator in life than being chased by a mob of fugitives.
Well I’m really undecided on this one at this point. There doesn’t seem to be enough details to determine what the final product will turn out like. However the storyline sounds like there will be plenty of opportunities for comedy to be thrown into the movie. Also there is always the Seth Rogen factor in the movie. As I’ve said before, it seems as though everything that Seth Rogen has recently touched has turned into cinematic gold. Nothing has happened to make me think otherwise at this point. Also Rogen and his co writer from Superbad returns so you know that the script will be well written and the comedy will be thoroughly entertaining. But there is always the inexperience of the director that can throw off a movie. Most of the cast also seems to be very inexperienced which is another concern for me. But we’ll see what happens when more details are released.
Well continuing on the Martin Lawrence theme here. Another one of Martin Lawrence’s films in 2008 will be Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins, also sometimes known as The Better Man. Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins stars Martin Lawrence with Cedric The Entertainer, Michael Clarke Duncan, and James Earl Jones. Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins is directed by Malcolm D. Lee, who previously directed Roll Bounce and Undercover Brother.
Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins has Martin Lawrence in the role of Dr. RJ Stevens, a talk show sensation who gives motivational advice to his millions of adoring fans. Dr. Stevens has shed his simple southern roots and turned into stardom and loads of money. His parents then request that he comes home for their fiftieth wedding anniversary. He then takes his spoiled fiancée and ten year old son to his boring southern hometown. When he goes home, he plans on showing that he has completely changed from the disaster that he was when he was younger that used to be picked on all the time. However as many people know, the way everything happens never happens in the way that you plan it. But once he gets home, his crazy family reminds him of what his childhood was like and helps his figure out how big of an ego he has now that he has attainted success. He takes a look at the life that he is living, and needs to figure what he truly wants in life.
Eh… I don’t know about this one. I kind of have mixed feelings about this one. On one hand the storyline doesn’t sound like it will have enough opportunities for comedic relief. But on the other hand it has Martin Lawrence and Cedric the Entertainer. I’ve always thought that these two are very entertaining comedians. I really liked Martin Lawrence in Blue Streak, which was released in 1999. However his recent performances have been very lack luster. Another thing that concerns me is the director of the movie. His previous experience as a director weren’t very promising. Roll Bounce and Undercover Brother were really bad, so nothing points to great filmography for this movie.
Hmmmm….. College Road Trip huh? You would think that it is another spinoff of Road Trip and EuroTrip but no. You won’t see any naked girls or sexual references in this movie about a road trip. You know why? Because it’s a Disney movie. College Road Trip stars Raven Symone, who many people will remember her from The Cosby Show, and Martin Lawrence, who most recently appeared in Wild Hogs. College Road Trip also features fellow Disney Channel star Brenda Song. College Road Trip is directed by Roger Kumble who directed Just Friends in 2005.
Raven Symone stars as Melanie Porter, who is a college bound student, and Martin Lawrence plays her overprotective cop father. Melanie plans an all girls road trip along wither her friends to go look at prospective universities. However her father insists on escorting her along with her friends to make sure that they stay on task and focus on what is important. She then sees her dream trip with her friends into a nightmare adventure with her father that is filled with loads of misfortune.
Wow… that’s all I can say. This sounds like this is going to completely bomb. Chances are only younger audiences will go see this movie. It also doesn’t sound like there is any potential in the movie, the only comedy I’ve seen from Raven and her screeching attempting to be comical in her Disney Channel show. The chance I see of this movie actually making money is if Martin Lawrence gives the performance of his life. But it’s a Disney movie so he can’t make some of the jokes that he usually does which means that he won’t be as funny as he usually is. Although the writer is the same guy who wrote Bubble Boy, which was somewhat enjoyable, earlier in his career, so that may also give this movie some hope. I may be overly critical of this movie because I’m probably a little older than the target audience. Either way there is no way I’m going to bother to watch this movie.
Well now that I have to get back into the writing mood after getting back to school, I think Mama’s Boy sounds like a nice restart movie to talk about. Mama’s Boy is slated to be released on November 30, 2007. It stars Jon Heder, Diane Keaton, and Anna Faris in the upcoming comedy. It is being directed by Tim Hamilton in his first notable directorial experience and the script was written by Hank Nelken who wrote Are We Done Yet?. The lack of experience from the director and the disaster that came out of the writer’s previous script should be a red flag for anyone who wants to see this movie.
Mama’s Boy is about Jeffery Manus (Heder), a twenty nine year old who still lives with his mother (Keaton). He sees the set up with his mother as the perfect arrangement and has no plans on changing it in the near future. That is until Jan, Jeffery’s mother, meets Mert. Mert, who is a motivational speaker, then starts to invade Jeffery’s territory, something that Jeffery will not tolerate. Jeffery then enlists the help of Nora (Faris) in his war against Mert (Jeff Daniels). Nora is an aspiring song writer who has a soft spot for Jeffery. As the war between Jeffery and Mert escalates, Jeffery slowly starts to discover the adult that is inside of him.
Now many of you may immediately think of Grandma’s Boy, but you are mistaken. There is no association between Grandma’s Boy and Mama’s Boy. This really doesn’t excite me too much since it sounds like they are trying to make some money by making people think that it’ll be similar to Grandma’s Boy. The lack of experience by the director could make the scenes on film really awkward to watch. The failure of the movie that the writer was associated with also really concerns me. Are We Done Yet was on IMDb’s list of 100 worst movies for a period of time. This just doesn’t sound like it has the potential to wow audiences.
Well anyone who read my previous blog, I apologize for not posting again. That was my mistake. On a positive note though, one of my favorite comedians, Katt Williams, looks to be coming out with a full length film, titled "Katt Williams American Hustle The Movie." This movie is going to be a sequel to his hit comedy stand up special "The Pimp Chronicles." This movie is going to be a bunch of clips and skits I think, at least that is what I get from the trailer. If you have never seen Katt Williams, well his comedy is based around his experiences and his point of view in life. He talks about weed, his children, things in the news, and just life lessons he has learned. The man is a comedic genius in my opinion. Anyways, without further ado, here is the trailer for the upcoming film. Please enjoy.
I've had this link on my list since I started writing, but I've never actually mentioned it. It's a series called We Need Girlfriends about 3 recent college graduates who've just been dumped as they begin life in the Big Apple. The series is about their trials as single men, and their desperate search for new girlfriends. It's a good 45 minutes of YouTube watching to see the whole miniseries, so I'll just post the first one in the entry, and give you the links to the rest.
There are 10 more... But they go pretty fast if you liked that one... and they get better if you didn't...
To be honest it might be a little bit longer than 45 minutes now that I look at it, but perhaps you've already found that out by now.
Anyways, the reason I mention it now is that I just found out from their site that the show has been bought by CBS. I'm not entirely certain, but this has to be one of the first online "YouTube series," as it's being called, to get picked up by national TV. To me, this is just another sign that even major broadcasting corporations are realizing the entertainment potential to be found in online material. I think it's a big step, and I can't wait to see WNG become a popular T.V. show.
Seth Rogan has just signed on as the lead role in the 2008 film, Zack and Miri Make a Porno, according to the Weinstein Company and Dimension Films. Elizabeth Banks, who starred alongside Rogan in The 40 Year Old Virgin, will be playing opposite Rogan as Miri. The movie is now scheduled to start filming in January 2008. Zack and Miri Make a Porno’s director, Kevin Smith, said that he wrote the role of Zack specifically for Rogan.
The movie centers on Zack and Miri. Zack and Miri are two lifelong platonic friends who are deep in debt, so they decide to make a porno to make some cash quickly. To make these porno videos, they recruit their friends to help them. But as everyone starts sleeping with each other, Zack and Miri realize that their feelings for each other are a lot stronger than they initially thought.
Zack and Miri Make a Porno is the latest project between Bob and Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Smith, and producer Scott Mosier. The list of movies that these four have collaborated together includes Clerks, Clerks II, Dogma, and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, all of which have been very successful comedy movies. With this track record, how could I not be excited about this movie? Having Seth Rogan in the movie also helps just a little bit. Ever since Knocked Up, Seth Rogan has made every movie that he’s been in into gold. It’s really hard for me to think that this movie won’t be a hit next year.
Another 2008 release that I see becoming a big hit is Get Smart. Get Smart has a big name cast led by Steve Carrel and Anne Hathaway. Other stars include Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson (Walking Tall, The Game Plan), Masi Oka (Heroes), Terry Crews (White Chicks, Norbit), and David Koechner (Waiting, The Comebacks). Get Smart is an upcoming action comedy about an organization of secret agents who try to stop a plot to gain world domination.
Steve Carell stars as Maxwell Smart, who is an analyst to the head of a U.S. spy agency called Control, is thrown into action one all of the identities of Control’s agents are compromised after an attack on the headquarters by KAOS, an evil crime syndicate. Being promoted gives Smart a chance to fulfill his lifelong dream and work alongside star Agent 23 (Dwayne Johnson), since there were only two agents whose identities were not revealed. However, Smart ends up being assigned to work with the beautiful but deadly Agent 99 (Anne Hathaway), the only other agent whose identity wasn’t compromised. As Agent 99 and Smart get closer to finding out KAOS’ master plan, they discover that a key KAOS operative and his sidekick are planning on making money off of the organization. With only his limited training experience and a couple of spy gadgets, Maxwell Smart needs to find a way to stop KAOS and save the day.
This sounds like it’s going to be a big hit next year. Like I’ve said I’m a big fan of Steve Carell’s work, outside of Evan Almighty, and this shouldn’t be any different. It’ll be interesting to see Anne Hathaway in a comedic role for the first time since I didn’t see her in The Devil Wears Prada. Get Smart is directed by Peter Segal, who previously directed three Adam Sandler movies, Anger Management, 50 First Dates, and The Longest Yard. There has to be a reason why Adam Sandler worked with Segal multiple times, so I’m not anticipating any problems with the cinematography. Overall this should be a very good movie and well worth the money when it finally comes outs next year.
One of the movies that I’m most excited about next year is I Know What Boys Like. It has a very promising storyline with a lineup of good actresses. I Know What Boys Like stars Anna Faris in the role of Shelley Darlington. Other cast members include singer Katherine McPhee and Rumer Willis, Bruce Willis’ daughter. The movie is being produced by Adam Sandler’s production company, Happy Madison Productions.
Shelley has lived in the Playboy mansion for the past nine years. She is one of Hef’s favorite playmates and acts like a mother to all of the other playmates. The day of her birthday, Shelley gets thrown out of the mansion for being too old in the eyes of all the other girls. Wandering around Los Angeles without a job and without the skills she needs to get a job, she eventually lands in the sorority house of Zeta Tau Zeta, the least popular sorority house on campus. The seven sisters of the sorority are probably the most socially clueless girls on the planet and they are about to lose their house. Shelley is able to get back her job as a motherly figure to a group of girls, and help them figure out who they actually are rather than who everyone wants them to be. With Shelley at their side, they are set to become one of the most popular sororities on campus.
This sound like the laughs is going to plentiful in this movie. Anna Faris has always been entertaining as an actress in comedies, such as the Scary Movie series and Waiting. The storyline sounds like it’s a good set up into a funny movie. I really can’t wait to see this movie next year even though it sounds like one of the those girly movies, but it’ll be funny as hell throughout the movie…. Hopefully.
Well my blog readers, it's been a long while since I have posted, and for that I apologize. So let's start things out with a look back to the past. I am referring the the post I made about the Theory of Comedy, and the topic of pain to one another and the comedy that in sues. I think I gave examples before, but as they say, hindsight is 20-20, which is why I now see that it's not so much funny to people in the classical way of being funny, but that it's more of a nervous humor. Kind of like when you are put in a bad situation and you laugh a little, out of nervousness and fear for your life. It's also just a fascination I think we all have ingrained into our bodies. Look at history books, some of the biggest chapters/sections of the history books is on wars, battles, famines, etc. As humans we also tend to flourish as a society, when there is war or bad times, the United States in general. But I digress. A few the examples I found that have to do with how we find the danger or pain of others funny is found in a few more stand-up comedians. One of them is George Lopez. In his stand-up special, "Why you crying?" he brings up a time at some department store parking lot where a woman is backing up and is about to hit one of those concrete poles you see there. He then goes into the difference between Hispanics and Whites and their reaction to this situation. The Whites would go up to the person yelling, "Oh my god, is your rear sensors malfunctioning? You should take that to the dealership right away." If you have seen Mr. Lopez you know his impression of white preppy people, a kind of surfer yuppie mix, and it is actually quite funny. Now when he switches to the Hispanics, they are pulling other people over saying, "Look at this dumb ass. Quick, quick, get out your camera." He then goes to show the action of people laughing and taking a picture.
My next example is the always well known, but for some reason, the not always well liked Dane Cook. One of his jokes is about car wrecks and the fascination people have with them. The video explains everything you need to see about this example.
So in closing, this is only part one of what you will see tonight, and trust me, there will be more.
I hate to say it but you may need to click on the image to see what the screen says. Or if your too lazy, it says "Foreplay" and to the left of it is the cute Wikipedia picture. (
) Again for those of you lazy types who did not follow the link to the actual comic, the title of this one is "Getting Out of Hand." And when you stop your mouse over the picture, that little manila box comes up saying "Wikipedia's role as brain-extension, while a little troubling, is also really cool."
There's no need for me to explain to our IQ:125+ readers the humor in the joke, but I must say it's rather pertinent. Just the other week, I found myself consulting Wikipedia for some new online humor sites, for a good laugh and a new post. In hindsight, that shure seems like a pretty useless idea, but I'll admit that I myself have taken to consulting Wikipedia for just about everything these days.
There's a lotta hype about whether or not Wikipedia is an acceptable research source for academic purposes. Hype which I feel no need to discuss, as Wikipedia is and has been my first source for both academic and extracurricular learning (those millions of contributors aren't writing all those articles for their own health). But rather, Randal Monroe has made me wonder if there are certain things that Wikipedia shouldn't be used for.
What happened to the days when we had to learn all these slang terms from our friends? When someone would throw the word "foreplay" in a sentence and toss it your way, making you feel like an idiot for not knowing what it is. You'd have to bullshit something or just come out and ask them what it meant. I suppose The Urban Dictionary would make me ask the same question.
I realize this is a very small portion of Wikipedia's use, and that to most people this probably doesn't matter in the least, but I always thought those ridiculously embarrassing childhood moments were somehow important to me in learning how to just suck up my pride and ask something. Perhaps it's good that those moments are now gone, and we just anonymously ask Wikipedia our questions, without fear of what it will think of us.
I apologize for this having nothing to do with the price of tea in China, and for the fact that my posts seem to be stripping every topic of it's humor. These days, the only things I'm finding really funny are those that make me think of things that are not funny.
So here's a simple T-mobile commercial on YouTube. No strings attached, but don't forget to notice the Pulp Fiction reference:
So umm reaching really far into the future for movies, Kevin James has been confirmed to have a role in the 2010 release of Mall Cop. And even better, he is taking a role as a writer in the movie. Mall Cop is also set to have Nick Bakay as a second writer alongside James. Mall Cop will reunite Kevin James with Adam Sandler and his production company, Happy Madison Productions. Adam Sandler and Kevin James were in I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, which just came out on DVD this past week, together during the summer. Mall Cop is about a shopping mall being overtaken by a group of organized crooks. While the group of crooks runs free among themselves, it’s up to a mild-mannered mall cop to stop them. The rest of the cast still needs to be casted. Kevin James is a thoroughly entertaining so I’ll be looking forward to this movie even though it’s three years away. I loved him in Hitch, and I expect that his performance will be on the same level as his previous performances.
Stephen Lynch. Yep. For those of you who know him already, you are thinking, "Oh no. This man is just plain sick." Yes. He is. But funny, and that is why he is on the blog. His style is musical. He sings and plays guitar. But unlike most singing comedians, he actually has a really good voice. Check out this song called Vanilla. It's about a hot topic: a topic of race. See the problem is that he is white, and she is...also white. While this song is funny, the main point of this one is to point out that can indeed sing. This song isn't to bad as far as most of lyrics go. In fact, it's downright appropriate. Most of his songs are less kid-friendly. This is his most widely-recognized song, If I Were Gay. See what I mean? It gets worse. We'll cover that later. Just enjoy the song. This is a purer version of the song than many you will find. He has almost no interaction with the audience on this one, so that is undiluted Stephen Lynch for you. He likes to cross lines, make fun of people who don't deserve it, and use misdirection in the beginning of many songs. Here's Caught Me. What does the title and first verse sound like? Yeah, I know. But then what happens? Again, I am aware. After you listen to that one, drop off some of your favorite lines. Mine is, "The tissues stand up by themselves." Probably one of his worst songs, as far as political correctness goes, is Special Olympics. He makes fun of retarded people. (Read that in a Jim Gaffigan voice for maximum humor). This version is not the CD one. He sings with a speech impediment, and says "My shoes hurt." At least he knows he's going to hell. Not like the rest of us who have false hope. For those of you who enjoyed any or all of the above clips, be sure to peruse the rest of youtube's collection of Lynch. I recommended Kitten, For the Ladies, and Lets Make Love. Let me know what you think of them. And if you laugh at his last name, it's okay. I won't judge you. Between you and me, I did too. Peace out y'all.
Remember those three adorable chipmunks in Alvin and The Chipmunks cartoon that started in 1983? Well they’re getting a computer generated make over in their upcoming Alvin and The Chipmunks, The Movie. The movie will be a live action/ computer animation movie. The voices in the move are done by the same voice actors as the cartoon series. The movie is directed by Tim Hill, who directed or written the script for other comedies for children such as The Spongebob Squarepants Movie and Max Keeble’s Big Move. It is being produced by New Regency Productions and 20th Century Fox. Alvin and The Chipmunks has been rate PG for some mild rude humor.
Well , basically the movie is about the Alvin and his two brothers, Simon and Theodore, and they were adopted by a man named David Seville, who is played by Jason Lee, star of the TV show My Name Is Earl. After being adopted by Dave, Alvin and his brothers make it big as musical stars as Alvin and The Chipmunks. The movie follows their rise to stardom, basically what the show was.
However there are some differences between the movie and the show. But they are major differences that completely change the show. Alvin is no longer wearing the red hat that he called his signature throughout the show is the biggest difference fans of the cartoon will notice. Also Simon is wearing a different pair of glasses.
This sounds like a ploy just to make some money but I’m still looking forward to it. It’ll bring back some memories of the past which is always fun. Also I can see things that I missed through the show. However it won’t be worth it if you already know how the cartoon ended since I think it’s going to be the cartoon series shortened into ninety minutes. But how can you hate Alvin and The Chipmunks? This is one of the few times I’m going to go see a movie despite my feeling that it won’t be worth the admission price.
So yeah… another holiday related comedy movie with some drama mixed in. This Christmas is about a family who hasn’t spent a Christmas with each other in years but once they do get back together all hell breaks loose. This Christmas features Chris Brown (yes, the R&B singer) and Regina King, who had a role in Ray as Margie Hendricks, and is directed by Preston Whitmore, who directed the embarrassment that was Crossover before taking the directing role in This Christmas.
This Christmas is based around the Whitfield family and the first time in four years that all of the siblings have come back for Christmas. Once the tree is set up and trimmed and the lights are set up, all of the family’s baggage that they brought with them is let out. Once this baggage is revealed, it tests the strength of the family’s bonds. Going through this challenging Christmas is what teachers the Whitfields the true meaning of the word family.
Although this is labeled as a dramedy, it sounds like the laughs in this movie are going to be rare and far apart. Past experiences with Preston Whitmore as director also doesn’t make this movie sound very promising. The storyline sounds like the same old story for all holiday season movies, but the good ones always have some type of twist. But I just don’t see it coming from This Christmas. There also seems to be a severe lack of details about the movie which also worries me a lot. Where ever I looked, there would just be information about the cast and a very short synopsis of the movie. Could the production company be hiding something? I guess we’ll see on November 21. Overall, I really would not waste my time with this movie. All the ingredients just can’t add up well(I’m talking about the mediocre “actors”, the director, and the lack luster storyline). I can see this movie ending up exactly like Preston Whitfield’s previous directing attempt.
A lot of diversity can be seen in today’s world. Some people would argue that it is incomplete of me by saying, “A lot of diversity” without elaborating what I am exactly referring to. However, According to me the term “diversity” reflects a very broad meaning today. With the fast- paced advancement in almost each and every field (yes...Each) out there over the past few years, diversity can be observed toady in each and every entity that you can think of. Bound to come with diversity, are diverse opinions and it is therefore obvious that the world today, together, no longer lays light (in the form of view or opinions) , on a particular thing, in the same “united” way. If one was to consider movies. Each and every movie out there has people who hate it. Then there are people who absolutely adore it and there are some who are on neither side. The opinions today are no longer “united”. To sum it up, With diversity come diverse opinions and it is these varied opinions that make the world what it is today i.e. divided or separated ( call it what you may. As I said, with diversity come diverse opinions)
A movie that would be absolutely apt to explore this topic would have to be none other than Dumb & Dumber.
Dumb & Dumber was released back in 1994 and went to gross over two hundred and forty six million (yes you read it might i.e.10 raised to the power of 6- don’t worry you’re not bad at math!) dollars on a global scale. This movie is a classic example of slapstick humor. Wikipedia would like to classify this movie as having “gross-out humor” i.e. disgusting elements made use of to achieve humor.
The Plot of this film revolves mainly around two characters – Harry (dumb!), played by Jim Carrey and Lloyd (dumber!) played by Jeff Daniels. Harry and Lloyd have been best friends since high school and are now struggling to hold on to their jobs. While working as a limo driver, Lloyd falls in love with one his clients called Mary Swanson (Samsonite!! – according to Lloyd after he sees it on her bag). However Mary forgets her suitcase at the terminal. Lloyd is un-successful in trying to get it back to her before her aircraft leaves. Ensuing is a series of events in which Lloyd and Harry take a road trip full of “adventures” to aspen in an attempt to try to fight a group of criminals who are after the money in the suitcase and return the suitcase to its rightful owner, Mary Samsonite (oops Swamson!), who needs it to pay it as ransom in exchange for her husband (who has been kidnapped).
I went roaming about within the webs of Web 2.0 and found exactly what I wanted to. I visited some reputed websites that publish movie reviews and as I had expected, the opinions of the writers varied diversely. Although the writers go for the movie or go against it, I observed that it isn’t about that completely. Each and every writer out there talked about different aspects of the movie and rated the movie accordingly.
For example,
Roger Ebert, a prize winning American film critic states in his review:
“The plot is lame, but that doesn't matter, because "Dumb and Dumber" is essentially pitched at the level of an "Airplane!"-style movie, with rapid-fire sight gags. Some of them work, like the karate fight that ends with a guy getting his heart handed to him in a doggie bag. Some of them don't, like a curious scene where Carrey is hugging a girl and lifts the back of her skirt for no apparent reason: It seems creepy.”
Chris Cabin, another film critic states in his review:
“When exactly we became obsessed with diarrhea and premature ejaculation can never really be pinpointed, but Peter and Bobby Farrelly are prime suspects. He was more than happy to shovel the laughs that come from every humiliation, every bodily function and every unnatural act in the book, and why the hell not? We loved it in the '90s and we love it even more today. More than ever, we have Dumb & Dumber to blame for being a spark that ignited a flaming fart of laughter.”
In the later part of his review he says:
“The big downside, of course, is that we can see a lot of these laughs coming, and they don’t hold much staying power. As far as mindless humor goes, it’s got all the right moves, but it never tries to do more than that. The reason There’s Something About Mary is always considered with greater prestige is that it was based on a universe of characters, each with specific comic talents that hit every sort of humor one could ask for. Dumb & Dumber is sadly contained only to Harry and Lloyd, playing off the straight man, which is the entire world besides them. Still, you have to admire an overload of goofiness once in awhile, like the occasional candy binge that leads to the sugar high. If there’s any humor left in the world, those candies will more than likely be made out of some animal’s bodily fluids.”
It can clearly be seen that there is no similarity in the context that each of the above two writers is trying to cover with respect to the movie.
Roger Ebert talks about how the plot being lame doesn’t matter whereas, Chris Cabin explores the downsides of the movie by analyzing how Dumb & Dumber is to be blamed for the type of slapstick humor that we come across today.
Other reviews talk about the movie being hilarious although the plot is stupid and useless.
“Actually, summarizing the film's plot was pretty useless. The story is mostly an excuse to pack a lot of stupid stuff in the film. And trust me, it's hilarious! This is the debut of writers-directors Peter and Bobby Farrelly, the madcap geniuses behind the smash hit "There's Something About Mary". Though this earlier effort ain't as daring as "Mary", you can still recognize the brothers' taste for lowbrow, gross-out humor. The film is not all that well crafted, but the cast is awesome. Jeff Daniels is more thought of as a serious actor, but he can also play a moron and make you laugh your balls off. But no one's gonna deny that this is Jim Carrey's film. I must have seen the film three or four times by now, and Carrey still makes me piss my pants in this film. The guy truly is a genius at physical comedy. Few comedians can make you laugh this much with just a facial expression or something. The two of them and the Farrellys make "Dumb & Dumber" terrific entertainment.”
Chris Hicks (wow another chris ?!), another film critic gets too specific and talks about how the movie is full of urine. In his review, he states that:
“Please forgive me for getting too specific in the following paragraph — my intention is not to make you ill, but to inform you of just how disgusting it gets.
This is a movie that expects its big laughs to come from diarrhea, frozen snot, flatulence and urine . . . lots of urine. There's urine in the background, as a wino faces a wall; there's urine in beer bottles, imbibed by a foolish highway patrolman; there's urine during a motorbike ride, just because they don't want to stop for a few moments . . . well, you get the idea. But the film's worst moment — and there are many in the "worst" competition here — comes when Carrey pours a laxative in Daniels' drink and a few moments later, Daniels drops his pants in a bathroom, sits on a commode and makes noise for what seems like forever.
This virtually laugh-less movie makes rude junior high school pranks seem positively sophisticated.”
Hicks lays light on the “abundance of vulgar gags, as well as violence, profanity and some partial nudity” that can be witnessed in this movie and talks about the aspects of this movie that relate directly to “gross-out humor” i.e. disgusting elements made use of to achieve humor ( according to Mr. Wiki P.).
I think that my point is clear. It doesn’t matter if the Movie does well at the box office or not. It is no longer a “factor” that can lead individuals to either like or dislike the movie. It’s all about Opinion. Not only does this apply to slapstick films such as Dumb and Dumber, but to each and every movie out there.
Andrew Keen, in his book The Cult of the Amateur, states that “What the Web 2.0 revolution is really delivering is superficial observations of the world around us rather than deep analysis, shrill opinion rather than considered judgment.”
If I was to apply what keen says to the world of movies, I think that Keen’s statement would fall short. Can there actually be considered judgment if you talk about reviewing a movie? Different opinions are bound to come from different people. Isn’t each and every living being entitled to his or her own opinion regarding a particular entity (be it micro or macro..heck be it anything ?). How would one define “considered judgment” in this case? Where does this considered judgment come from? Heck, is there anything out there in today, for which there is considered judgment? To answer this, one would have to go back and define considered judgment.
Dumb & Dumber. I liked the movie. Did you? Not Necessarily. Different writers considered different aspects of the movie and judged it according to those “considered entities”. This applies to each and every film out there.
Each and every movie out there has different aspects to it. Different writers consider different aspects of the movie that they review & hence their reviews differ. There exists a form of “Considered Judgment” depending on each and every review.
As I said earlier,
The world is no longer “united”.
I might've been kinda abstract in expressing what i wanted to.
For those of you who enjoyed Simon Pegg(at right) and Nick Frost’s Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead, I have good news for you. (For those of you who didn’t like it, keep reading anyway) Well anyway, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost’s next project has been revealed. Well apparently the British comedic actors are heading to America for their next project. Pegg and Frost are hard at work on the script for Paul, the title of their next movie together. The movie is about two British geeks who are in America according to Pegg. Pegg also stated that Paul will be different from both Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead. He also went on to say that he would be more of the “bitch” in the movie.
So after very disappointing reviews for their latest project, DreamWorks Animation hopes that their next project will be more successful with audiences. The reception of Bee Movie wasn’t as friendly as everyone wanted it to be, but there is hope with the upcoming Kung Fu Panda. Like most of the previous and past projects from DreamWorks Animation, Kung Fu Panda has a cast of well known actors and actresses, which includes Jack Black, Jackie Chan, Lucy Liu, Angelina Jolie, and Dustin Hoffman.
Kung Fu Panda focuses on Po the Panda (voiced by Jack Black), who is a waiter in a noodle restaurant, and his obsession for kung fu. However, his lifestyle as a panda, known as the laziest animal in ancient China, prevents Po from becoming a kung fu master. Then when the jungle animals are threatened by a gang of snow leopards, the jungle animals put all of their hopes on a prophecy that states that Po, “The Chosen One”, would save the day. Trying to carry out the prophecy, a group of kung fu masters attempt to teach Po the ways of kung fu. However these kung fu masters will need to have a lot of patience to turn this lazy panda into the animal that will save the day before it’s too late to stop these very powerful enemies. These kung fu masters include Master Monkey (voiced by Jackie Chan), Tigress (Jolie), a red panda named Shifu (Hoffman), and Master Viper (Liu).
This really excites me. There should be a lot of funny moments along the way through the path that Po has to take. This is also another one of those movies that focuses around one of those uncommon animals, similar to Ratatouille focusing on rats. However as we have seen with Bee Movie, DreamWorks Animations productions are fallible. It may also be geared towards kids more but still it should offer some good laughs along the way. Kung Fu Panda is scheduled to be released in June 2008, so details about the movie are scarce right now, but as it gets closer to release, movie fans will be able to get a better gauge on what the movie will be like.
For those of you who are tired of hearing about cartoons, let me say one thing: quit being such a buzz-kill. Oh yeah, one other thing: this one will be about a real comedian. Warning: For those of you who are easily offended, do not watch the following clip. For those of you who are Chinese and will ever get offended, do not watch the following clip. For those of you who don't have 45 minutes straight to listen to a funny, funny man, only watch part of the clip. Click here to go to a video of Russell Peters. Russell Peters is an Indian. Not like, "Me Chief Crazy Horse. We hunt buffalo and have many native customs which the white man destroyed." More like, the kind that live in Asia. Southern Asia to be specific. (I would have put in a quote, but a Indian accent is hard to type). This allows him to make fun of anyone, just because of the accent. He starts off this video by making fun of gay people. Throughout the whole thing, there is not a single peoples that are not made fun of at some point. Peters uses a purely vocal routine. There are almost no motions that have an impact on his comedy. He uses a very straight-forward method for all of his jokes. Every single one of his jokes has a set-up, usually a story, then a punch line. He doesn't use any slapstick, one-liners, classic jokes where you don't even need to deliver the punch line, or gimmicks. You might ask, "Why he is able to be so successful in such a competitive field?" Simple. He is a genius. If you don't believe me, watch this clip around 23 minutes. He gets into a conversation with a Chinese man in the audience, whose name turns out to be Tap Sum Bong. Try to say that without laughing. He also has the ability to do perfect stereotypical accents for several different types of people. My personal favorite is when he talks about his Hong Kong tour. First, imagine a real heavy Chinese accent, speaking English, saying, "Excuse me. Excuse me. Yoo mamaa soooooo fat, when sheee jump for jooooy, she get stuck. Thank yoo." He crosses lines. He makes fun of the people that most comedians don't. He talks about taboo subjects. He makes fun of people who tried to use Indians as slaves. He makes fun of Africans because their languages are so crazy. They have punctuation marks in their names. He is also creative. He proves that white people have accents by cursing like a white person, then comparing it to a donkey's bray. My personal favorite is when he talks about how the world will eventually be mixed. He says we should mix people who are never normally together. This is the list he gets: Jamaican and Italian = pastafarian Indian and Jew = Hinjew Philippines and Holland =Holapenos Cuba and Iceland = Ice cubes French and Greek =…Freak German and Noofy(spell check? I have no idea what this is) = little goofies What did my life mean before I knew about this list? Now I know what I must do. I must make people breed so that they have funny names for their heritage. Is it just me, or is anyone else tempted to make this list a reality?
What more can you want out of a movie other than a Gary Coleman appearance? How about a man trying to rob an amusement park only to find out that the Taliban has the exact same idea? Well that’s exactly what Postal gives you. Postal is based on the controversial computer game that was released in 2003.
Postal follows a man named Postal Dude after he just hit hard times. After hitting what he thinks to be rock bottom, everything just gets worse. First he has to share a trailer with his constantly expanding wife, Bitch (yes that’s her actual name). While having to deal with his wife, he has to go through an embarrassingly bad job interview and almost getting killed on a visit to the welfare office. After having no luck finding help from other people, Dude ends up on his Uncle Dave’s doorstep. It just happens that Uncle Dave is also going through some financial troubles, so they hatch a plan to steal the rare Krotchy dolls from the local amusement park and sell them to make money. However, Osama Bin Laden and the Taliban are also planning the same thing, but they are much better equipped than Dude and his uncle to complete the job. These two groups end up at war for the right to steal these rare dolls. Everything spirals out of control when Bin Laden is forced to call in his friend, George W Bush to back him up. By the end of the war, the town is a complete mess and Dude learns many lessons about life.
This sounds amazing! Even though I haven’t seen or heard of the video game before reading about the movie, the description of the movie really makes me want to go play the game. It sounds like it’s going to be full of action and funny moments. This movie sort of reminds me of Team America, and that isn’t anything to be ashamed of. However it appears that the movie is only running a limited release which may show that people didn’t find it as funny as I think it’s going to be. But we will see on November 9th.
I realize this TV show doesn't really follow my internet humor trend, but I was watching clips on YouTube so I thought I'd make the stretch. Robot Chicken is a late-night comedy skit show on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim. I'm fairly certain it was designed for high school and college students who like to stay up late watching TV. While, most of the time, I don't understand the humor of the jokes and therefore dislike the show over-all, I really like some of the satire skits. My favorite example of this is the Star Wars episodes. Having not watched the actual show, I'm not certain how many actual episodes it was (I believe at least 2 half-hour shows), I've found quite a few of the individual Star Wars skits. The best thing about these episodes is that, while they do reference the original movies, you don't really need to be a fanatic to get the jokes and find them funny.
For those that don't know the movies, this skit references a scene where Han Solo flies his ship through a giant asteroid. But like I said, aside from the actual scene setting, the skit doesn't directly reference Star Wars at all.
Boba Fet is the bounty hunter hired to capture Han Solo, the cryogenically frozen statue he's talking to (but you probably could have figured most of that out yourselves). While I didn't find this clip nearly as humorous, I still found it funny, and I didn't need any Star Wars backstory.
Most of these skits need not be explained, with the exception of the man and woman in bed. The man is Luke Skywalker and the woman is Princes Leia. The reference here is that the two discover at the end of Episode VI that they are brother and sister.
I think part of the reason that Robot Chicken is so good at making their satire skits so easy to understand is that most of their other skits are very random. They keep the skits short because they are the equivalent of stand-up's one liners. They don't require setup or backstory, and this holds true even in their satires. The simplicity of these skits is what makes them easy to laugh at, and thus makes them so funny.
So I decided to go see a showing of 30 Days of Night last night since I wanted a change in the mood of the movies I saw. And even before the movie began, I saw what I thought would be the next great comedy. Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story has the set up to be a huge hit, since it is written by Judd Apatow, who’s been associated with hits such as Superbad and Knocked Up, and Jake Kasdan. It has a huge cast of decently well known actors such as Jack Black (Nacho Libre, King Kong), Justin Long (Waiting, Accepted), and John C. Reilly (Talladega Nights).
Walk Hard is about Dewey Cox (played by Reilly) and the roller coaster ride that was his musical career. During his career, Dewey sleeps with 411 women, marries three times, has 22 children and 14 step kids, and stars in his own television show. While going through his, he builds an enormous amount of very influential friends from Paul McCartney (Jack Black) and the Beatles to George Harrison (Justin Long). Despite getting hooked on every drug known to man, he eventually finds a way to kick his addiction and becomes a national icon with his songs that influence the entire nation. Maybe he’ll find a way to settle down and earn the love of his long time backup singer, Darlene, played by Jenna Fischer (Blades of Glory).
I can’t wait for this movie to come out on December 31. Anything that Judd Apatow has touched lately has turned to gold and there isn’t any reason to believe otherwise right now. However one little thing concerns me a little, in all of Apatow’s other films he worked with essentially the same cast. It’ll be interesting to see how the new actors that he’s working with react to the script and how they’ll develop chemistry with each other.
About a week ago, I was reminiscing about my childhood with some friends. I have never felt so old in my life. I always thought I would wait until I began forgetting things before I tried to remember them. But I digress. The topic of childhood cartoons came up in this conversation. Some true classics were thrown out there, like Loony Toons, Road Runner, Thundercats, Spiderman, and so on. While these are all amazing in their own right, the best (in my opinion) is Pinky and the Brain. What I have spent the last week doing is watching any Pinky and the Brain that I was able to get my hands on. Go ahead and take a gander at some of those. The difference between Pinky and the Brain and most of the other cartoons mentioned above is the age level content. I remember watching it as a kid. I understood the main plot, but some things escaped me. I still found it funny because two mice trying to take over the world and failing disastrously is amusing to me. However, the cartoon is funny even now because of all the political and cultural references that escaped me as a child. In one episode, Brain founds a country called 'Brainania.' He goes to the US for a foreign aid check. Pinky points out that Branania is not a place, but Brain relies on the fact that no American is good at geography. This strikes a chord with me because my knowledge of the map is woefully flawed. He basically starts a war with the US, but wins because no one will admit they can't find Brainania on a map, and you can't go to war with a country if you can't find it. If only that had worked with Iran. (Please don't leave a comment about that, it was a joke and I couldn't care less about it. Much appreciated.) Also, Brain is discussing the terms of financial aid with the president(Bill Clinton at the time the episode was made), and Hilary Clinton takes over the negotiations, adding on the fact that the US needs a place to dump nuclear waste. When the deal is over, Mr Clinton says, "I don't know what you're talking about, but it sounds real smart. I like to be part of things." One again, political satire that was way over my head when I was seven. I wish more shows were made like this. Real thought was put into this cartoon. It has attraction for kids in the form of Pinky, who is the epitome of the imbecile. It also has an appeal for a slightly older crowd in the witty satire, historical references (once Brain tried to be Napoleon), and the ever-popular poking fun at the current leader of the free world. Most shows, not even merely cartoon but all types of shows, have no real thought put into them. They try to be funny using weird voices or crossing over into taboo topics(albeit slightly). Its the same with Disney movies. The older ones have some thought put into them, with all sorts of hidden innuendo that is completely above any child, but every adult catches it right away. For anyone who is unsure of what I mean, watch Hercules. There are some many undercurrents that no child will catch, but anyone above the age of eighteen will laugh at. I don't know why Pinky and the Brain stopped making new episodes, but I want somebody to bring it back. I like it old school.
After being released overseas in Spain and Belgium during the summer, I Could Never Be Your Woman is finally on the verge of being released here in the United States. I Could Never Be Your Woman has also been released in Brazil, Greece, and Taiwan in recent months. I Could Never Be Your Woman stars Michelle Pfeiffer, who’s been in Scarface and Grease 2, and Paul Rudd, who’s had roles in The 40 Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up , and Reno 911: Miami.
Michelle Pfeiffer stars as Rosie, an aging television producer who’s had no luck in the area of love. However she finally finds what she’s looking for in the form of a much younger man, played by Rudd. All while this is going on, Rosie’s teen daughter starts to think whether or not that strange tingling feeling that she gets when she’s around a handsome local boy is what everyone calls love. Throw Mother Nature and her powers into the equation and it all add up to one interesting story line.
Well this really sounds more like a romantic movie with comedy thrown in. It also doesn’t sound too appealing but at least it’s more appealing than all of the other children’s comedies that are also coming out around November 9. Reviews of the movie from the foreign releases have stated that the story line struggles and is severely lacking in the comedy department. They have even gone as far as saying that the movie was very painful to watch. If you’re looking for a good romantic comedy this probably isn’t it, otherwise it’ll be a better use of your money to see American Gangster which comes out a week before, or just watch a movie from your DVD collection.
Well so much for a Jim Carrey and Cameron Diaz onscreen reunion. The two super stars were planning on their first reunion on the big screen, since their appearance in the 1994 hit The Mask, in the upcoming dramedy A Little Game Without Consequence from Focus Features. The two have both pulled out less than a month before filming was set to begin on the movie. Rumors have been circulating that the two actors left the movie because of the usual creative difference between the actors and the director, Gabriele Muccino. Specifically they weren’t very happy about the latest version of the script written by Muccino.
A Little Game Without Consequence is based on a French play by Jean Dell and Gerald Sibleyras, which follows a model couple who pretend to separate and find out that their friends didn’t think that they were good together anyway. Carrey and Diaz originally signed on under the condition that the script be rewritten to fix problems in the third act. However the rewriting done by Muccino turned out to be completely different from what Carrey and Diaz expected. Apparently producers also had a problem with the revised script, they wanted a more commercial feel to the plot. Following Carrey and Diaz out the door was Muccino.
Reports have said that James Schamus is taking the latest rewrite of the script hoping to put the movie back on track. This movie is just another step back for Jim Carrey who has struggled recent with his movies. His last comedy Fun With Dick and Jane bombed in theatres, and he has hit snags in his upcoming projects. Both of his projects were abandoned by Paramount before they could get off the ground. Used Guys, which would have paired Carrey with Ben Stiller, and Ripley’s Believe It Or Not, were both cancelled mostly because of rising costs for both movies and script problems. Hopefully Jim Carrey will be able to bounce back soon and prove how good he actually is.
If you compare the movies or plays that come under the broad genre of comedy in today’s generation with those of the early nineties, it will clearly become evident that the word “comedy” has transitioned into being something completely different today.
According to me, one thing that this transition has managed to change completely is the face of Slapstick humor and the way it is made use of in today’s world.
Today, slapstick along with sarcasm, dominates the virtual humor community. Evidence to this can be witnessed over at Humor-blogs dot com , the main portal of the e-Humor community.At least eighty-percent of the humor blogs that this website links to are partially, if not completely, based on sarcastic or slapstick forms of humor in some way or the other.
“Slapstick is a type of comedy involving exaggerated physical violence or activities (e.g., a character being hit in the face with a frying pan or running full speed into a wall). The style is common to those genres of entertainment in which the audience is supposed to understand the very hyperbolic nature of such violence to exceed the boundaries of common sense and thus license non-cruel laughter”.
I think that the above definition relates completely to the modern form of slapstick humor.
If one was to talk about this form of humor in the past, Charlie Chaplin, without a doubt, would have to be an unforgettable example. He was surely a legend of his time.
To exemplify the old form of slapstick humor, following is a small clip featuring Charlie Chaplin, titled “Table Ballet” from You Tube.
This clip was considered to be a pure genius in the past. They called it the “Dance of the rolls”. There is a very little chance that someone who is accustomed to the present day form of slapstick humor, would be able to make out anything relating to humor from this clip. What was taken to be funny in this clip in the past was the fact that Charlie Chaplin used two forks and two potato rolls to depict two legs and make them move in a dancing sort of fashion.
However, If you were to show this clip to a person today, he/she would probably draw nothing related to humor from the clip. Heck, I think that even if Charlie Chaplin was alive today and had was accustomed to the present day slapstick flicks like the Bean series, he wouldn’t have taken another look at that “Dance of the Rolls” Clip(I find the clip to be highly un-amusing as well :-/).
The present-day form of slapstick humor is reflected in Rowan Atkinson’s famous film, Bean: The Movie.
Bean: The Movie was released back in 1997 and went to gross over $230,000,000 (two hundred and thirty Million.. yea yea don’t count the zeros) worldwide. This posed to be a huge ass achievement for the film as a whole because of the fact that it was made on a comparably lower budget of $22 Million (comparably?@!#?!@#! ). The hype generated by this film could entirely be contributed to the fact that the Mr. Bean Shows on TV (animated and the one where errr..its not animated) were a great hit amongst all the viewers and successfully created a large fan base for Rowan Atkinson.
The Plot of this film revolves around Mr. Bean who is a security guard at the London Art Gallery. Each and every employee at the museum is tired of him. He is on the verge of getting fired. In order to get rid of him for a while, the museum advisory board decides to send him to an Art Museum at Los Angeles, USA as a renowned British Artist in order to talk about their latest acquisition “Whistler’s Mother”.
Starting from the scene where he bursts open a vomit-bag full of puke on a passenger, Ensuing is a series of events in which Mr. Bean gets into one mess after another and continuously scrambles to cover up for the mishaps caused by him.
Although the storyline isn’t that appealing, this movie poses to be quite humorous at times (I stress.. “at times”). Rowan Atkinson uses quite a few elements to make certain parts of the movie very funny. The elements range from not talking at all to making various weird facial expressions that leave the viewer somewhat amused.
When I consider the above elements, it leads me to the conclusion that Mr. Bean is quite possibly a modern day form of Charlie Chaplin. However, the way in which Bean relies on physical comedy and grunting, is completely different from that used by Charlie Chaplin during his time.
The Slapstick Humor in this movie is kind of modernized, if I was to put it in one word. It is hard to explain what I mean here. For Example, some instances in the film that reflect humor would be-
When Mr. Bean bursts a paper bag full of puke onto a sleeping passenger in the aircraft,
When he wets his pants by accident in the washroom and tries to dry them using the dryer(you have to see this scene to truly understand what I mean).
When Mr. Bean doesn’t know that the mirror in front of him in the interrogation room is two-way and he starts making weird gestures.
These are some of the instances that reflect the type of slapstick humor that is made use of in this movie. Although there are many more scenes like this, they all make use of the same kind of acts to achieve Humor.
After seeing this movie, there were several questions that seemed to perplex my mind is. In order to sum them all up – Is this the Modern form of Slapstick Humor or is it a completely different genre of Humor?
Things may have just gotten worse for the Hollywood suits who allowed Evan Almighty to be made and released. The executives at Universal Pictures are hoping for a turnaround in the performance of the movie. Looking at the rate that Evan Almighty is burning through their budget, the movie is on track to becoming the most expensive comedy ever to be released, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The sequel to the 2003 hit Bruce Almighty has Steve Carell reprising his small role in Bruce Almighty as Evan Baxter. According to the Los Angeles Times, Evan Almighty has faced many problems that added a lot of extra money on to the price tag for the movie. One problem they encountered was bad weather in Virginia while they were filming in March. This poor weather forced producers to add 11 days to the filming schedule. The three massive arks that the construction teams had to build also didn’t help the price tag of the movie. Another problem was created by the animals that were used throughout the movie. They were often uncooperative and very hard to control causing the need for extra time to get the shots that they wanted for the movie. In cases where they couldn’t get the necessary shot, expensive visual effects were used to fill in the film.
Initially the movie was thought to have an estimated budget of $140 million to $160 million. But after the movie finishes in theatres, the budget could be closer to $175 million. However with marketing and distribution costs, the figure is thought to be closer to $250 million, not the typical budget for a comedy. However the studio continues to stand behind their movie and say that it was worth it to make the movie. But we’ll see if they actually benefit from making the movie.
And here comes the annual run of movies based around the holiday season that usually comes out around Thanksgiving. The one that is released first out of all of these movies is Fred Claus. This holiday based comedy stars Vince Vaughn, Paul Giamatti, and Kevin Spacey and is rated PG for mild language and some rude humor. Fred Claus is directed by David Dobkin who worked with Vince Vaughn on Wedding Crashers, a movie that was viewed as a great success.
Growing up was always for challenge for Fred Claus, played by Vince Vaughn, he was stuck in the virtual nothingness of the North Pole, while also constantly being compared to his perfect younger brother. As hard as Fred has tried, he could never live up to the high standards set by his brother, Nicholas, played by Paul Giamatti. Fred eventually became a repo man who stole everything that he repossessed. However, his deceitful past eventually catches up with him and he gets thrown in jail. Despite the objections of his wife, Nicholas bails out his brother under one condition; Fred must pay off his debt by making toys for his brother. There is just one problem, Fred continues the antics he’s become accustomed to and jeopardizes Christmas for everyone around the world.
And yet another comedy made for kids. There is nothing particularly exciting about this movie. It will likely just turn out like all the other holiday movies that are made for children, Fred will initially ruin Christmas for everyone, then he’ll see the error of his ways and do something miraculous to save Christmas. There isn’t anything special that really draws me towards this movie. Although one thing that made me give it a second look was Vince Vaughn working with the same director from Wedding Crashers. It’ll be interesting to see if they can achieve their past success again. We’ll have to wait until November 9th.
It's story time, boys and girls. Gather around, and hear about the best comedians ever. These guys, one specifically, have the best jokes ever. They may sound stupid now, but these guys created them. Nearly all of their jokes fall into the category, "The oldest joke in the book." I'm talking the Marx brothers. Groucho Marx to be specific. That is a picture of him. Now you're probably wondering where you have seen this guy before. You know those fake glasses that have the big nose, eyebrows, and mustache? Yep. Those are replicas of the face of Groucho Marx. Throughout his career, he created 15 movies along with his siblings. He also had a long and successful solo career. (Thank you Wikipedia. If you want some more details, click here. It's his biography.) Grouch Marx was a master of witty comments, quick one-liners, and improv(ad-libbing). One of his most famous quotes is, "I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas I'll never know." Another great moment is in the film, "A Night at the Opera." Groucho is writing up a contract with another man, (his brother Chico), and the dialogue is brilliant. The whole contract consists of lines like, "The party of the fist part, being the party of the first part, shall henceforth be know solely as the party of the first part." The second part is the exact same lines, but replace the word 'first' with the word 'second'. After that, neither agent(the Marx brothers) can agree on anything in the contract, so they just begin ripping parts off the contract. They each end up with a contract barely large enough for an entire sentence to be written on. He also had a lot of success as the host of the T.V. show You Bet Your Life. The show first aired in 1947. It was a mixed interview and quiz game show. The greatest pull to the show was the existence of a secret word. This word would be decided before the show, but none of the contestants would know the word. Before any contestants came on stage, the word was revealed to the audience. If a contestant happened to say the secret word, all sorts of hulabaloo would go off on stage. Then a duck with one of the Groucho masks would fall out of the ceiling with a $100 bill in its bill. Now, how many of you are familiar with the laugh tracks on all of your favorite sitcoms? Yeah, thats what I thought. Well, you know when they have that killer joke or crazy burn where the laughter is completely ridiculous? I thought so. Want to know where they get the audio for that laugh track? Bingo, Groucho Marx. During one show, Groucho asked the contestant how many children she had. She replied nineteen. When Groucho asked why, she replied, "Well, I just love my husband." Groucho replied, "I like a good cigar, but I take it out once in a while." (once again, Wikipedia comes through). The remark was too risque to be aired at that time in history, but the laughter that ensued is still used today for the biggest jokes. This great man had weak health later in life. He got pneumonia and died on August 19, 1977. His legacy is great, and the shadow he has cast is huge. Even Bugs Bunny has impersonated Groucho Marx. Some albums by Queen are named after Marx Brothers films. He even has part of the Hollywood sign (the big one in Hollywood, on the hillside, that says Hollywood) dedicated to him. When our generation reads his jokes or watches his movies, most of us give a chuckle but don't really give anything a second glance. What we don't realize is that Groucho made a new style of comedy. I can't even imagine what comedy was before him. Before Groucho was stuff like Charlie Chaplin, which isn't funny. Everyone was just mesmerized by the moving pictures. What I want you to do is to go to Groucho Marx's wikiquote page and read all of them. These are the classics of comedy upon which I feel the empire of laugh has been built. Groucho built the foundation, leaving a steady base for others to build upon. In my opinion, there would be no comedy without Groucho Marx and the Marx brothers. We would be stuck watching black and white films in which people walk funny and have top hats. Thank goodness for Groucho. The End.
For those of you who (like me) say that Facebook is somehow different from MySpace in that stalkers only use MySpace and not Facebook, I have another video from College Humor (the makers of "If Business Meetings Were Like Internet Comments"):
This video doesn't have much to do with anything like the last one I found did, but it is a bit funnier in my opinion. I think I can pick 3 favorite lines:
"John set fire to your cat (6:31 pm)" flies past the screen about 1 minute in.
"Casper just sent me 3,000 toilet paper rolls?" says a confused Ashley about those (stupid) gifts that you can send people on Facebook.
"Your just a person, Facebook is a website," says Ashley when Casper tries to convince her of who he is.
I love her implication that a website is not only more trustworthy, but more important than a human being. It really hits the point home that people get way to into Facebook; I know several people who's favorite saying is, "it's not official until it's on Facebook." I don't mean to put down Facebook too much, it's a great site to keep up with when your bored. It's also a good way to keep in touch with distant friends, but College Humor does a good job of showing how far it's gone lately.
And now, we finally have an explanation for the line "Too close for missiles, I'm switching to guns" that I keep seeing on Facebook.
A few weeks back, a friend of mine showed me this video entitled "If Business Meetings Were Like Internet Comments." Not two months ago, I probably would have found this video mildly amusing at best, but after posting on a blog myself for a while and seeing how comments can go on other blogs, I couldn't stop laughing:
Like I said, the humor itself is not all that funny; but then again, neither are the blog comments that they mock. Not to get into too serious of an issue or anything... but I was reminded of an article I read by Joel Spolsky called "Learning from Dave Winer" about the hindrance of web commenting. Spolsky references another author, Dave Winer, in his argument that web comments should be permanently disabled. As soon as the meeting starts we begin to see the "dribble of morbid, meaningless, thoughtless comments," that Spolsky refers to. Despite a perfectly respectable and important agenda, the meeting is immediately shot to hell by the commenter's ability to actively respond. I'm happy to say that this hasn't been much of a problem on this blog, but then again, each post on this blogspot only gets an average of one or two responses. I have, however, seen plenty of blogs by now whose intelligent messages are quickly drowned in succeeding mind-vomit.
The best thing the video does is show us the people who are making the comments. These are people in business suits or dress shirts making comments that 13 year olds would make anonymously. This is perfect due to a comment that Spolsky makes about how little he cares about these people who make these exact same anonymous comments. "[They're] not even human to me," he claims. "[they're] anonymous." Except here they're not anonymous in this case. We see that they are in fact, respectable looking business men and women.
Despite this, it doesn't seem that the video has the most pro-commenting message. In the end the guy running the meeting gives up and storms out after having accomplished nothing. I'm not even certain that the creators intended to persuade for or against blog comments, but they seem to make a fairly good case against it and it's hindrance to productivity.
Oh yeah, and the worst thing the video does (or rather the makers of the video) is create a second video just like it. It says the same jokes and really isn't worth watching, but it's only fair to make it known that there is a sequel.
So it's been a while since I have posted, it's either a mix of writers block or pure procrastination. I am hoping at least a little bit of both. Anyways, I want to go over a good ol' classic film that is funny no matter how many times you have seen it. Be it the beginning car scene or the meow game, it always finds a way to put a smile on your face. Before I delve further into this amazing piece of comedy film, I think I should probably give those that have lived under a rock a little insight into what the movie is in it's absolute essence.
First off, the movie starts off with hilarity. The scene is three pothead teenagers in a old Ford Mustang smoking pot when cops pull up next to him. At that point, they freak out and drop the joint, then proceed to feed a bag of pot and shrooms to their friend in the back seat, bad idea by the way. Long story short, they are caught but ultimately let off through some other events. You know what? Just go see the movie. There is too much to explain in this movie and would take up at least half a page or more to break it down. So let's move on shall we?
This, to some people, would be best seen while high out of your mind. But I think it is fine as it is with the plethora of rude, crude, and low IQ jokes. I think it is best seen with a group of guy friends just hanging out. If I were Ebert or Roper, I would give this movie two thumbs up for comedy value, probably a 8 out of 10 for actual worthiness of plot line which overall is lacking since it very drug oriented and the good guys do not come out on top at all, plus in the end it looses the majority of its humor, like during the drunk driving scene. There is in this movie though one memorable scene which will forever be referenced by people for years to come. That being the scene at fast food restaurant and The line, "Just get a large Farva." And Farva then proceeds to say, "I don't want a large Farva." So now people go places and order either a liter of Cola or a large Farva. By the way, liter is French for give me some (Explictive) cola.
