Weird, I was just watching an old episode of Community and there was a small bit where a drunk Jeff and Brita argued about the merits of turning The Hurt Locker into a radio play.
…or just watch BoJack Horseman. Whaaaaaaaaaaaaat?
The Guest is painfully crazy. Good for a few laughs though. Doesn’t go the path you’d have thought though, and goes much darker.
— Alan
Oh hell yeah. The second season is crazy good.
I eventually really got into the documentary “Lost Soul” now on Netflix Streaming. It’s about the shitshow of the “Island of Dr. Moreau” movie shoot. Egos clashed, plans failed, fired directors skulked around the set. It was a little slow to start (what is this, I thought, a poor man’s “Jodorowski’s Dune”?) but by the time the first director was fired I was absolutely riveted. And that was before the two biggest players, veteran and well respected director-turned-mercenary John Frankenheimer and grieving prima donna Marlon Brando, joined the drama. It’s mostly talking heads reminiscing about the past, and I wish they could have gotten Val Kilmer on camera to give his side of the story. But maybe Kilmer didn’t want to be reminded of how much of a spoiled brat he was. Madwoman Fairuza Balk also tells some great stories.
Now that I’ve got to watch.
When I was in Film School, the original director of Island of Dr Moreau - Richard Stanley, came round to talk to us. This was in 98/99 sometime, so not THAT much time had passed since the filming. And his stories were pretty hilarious as well, though he obviously painted himself as the goodguy, an overlooked genius screwed by the Hollywood system.
They talked about this a little bit on How Did This Get Made a few weeks back – sounds like the documentary is amazing.
That was fun, watched it last night. Thanks for the recommendation.
In the Loop is available and was a fun romp through very plausible bureaucracy.
Thanks for the heads up, Banzai. I second the recommendation. In the Loop is far more than a fun romp, though. It is an utterly brilliant black comedy on the order of Strangelove, which comparison I am totally stealing from Tom Chick. I believe he made the point during a Top Ten podcast, and it’s such a great comparison.
Also, Peter Capaldi FTW. Damn, that guy can say a curse word like nobody else.
-xtien
“Unforeseeable. That’s what you are.”
In the loop is a fantastic movie, if you want more, track down The Thick of It, the British TV show upon which its mostly based. SO GOOD.
From The Thick of It, to In the Loop, to Veep, Armando Iannuci is a goddamn national treasure. For two nations!
-Tom
“White Stripes, out. There are only two people in White Stripes.”
I like The Thick of It. But I hated In the Loop. Aside from Capaldi’s temper and swearing, I found the rest of the movie fairly dull. Also I made the mistake of watching the movie with my Dad, so Capaldi’s swearing was just embarrassing in mixed company like that.
Not only are you a terrible person, but I’m afraid I can’t be friends with you. :(
Seriously, though, I’ve seen In the Loop more than ten times and I still find it utterly captivating. Every line, every gesture, every look, every detail. To me, it’s just so dense with content, meaning, humor, and insight. I can’t stress enough the Dr. Strangelove comparison.
-Tom
Awww shucks Mr. Chick. We still love lots of the same movies. Don’t Capadli drive a wedge between us!
From The Thick of It, to In the Loop, to Veep, Armando Iannuci is a goddamn national treasure. For two nations!
Also, in case you haven’t seen them, The Day Today, the various Alan Partridge shows, and The Armando Iannucci Shows (available on Channel 4’s site via VPN) are some of the funniest television ever made.
Wing Commander is now on Netflix. I remember seeing this on opening weekend–they had the Phantom Menace trailer attached to it, so it was a big selling point. I had forgotten or just forced out of my brain how completely horrible this movie is, aside from the soundtrack. I couldn’t stand to watch it for more than 20-30 minutes before skipping around, then taking an axe to my Xbox in resigned horror.
— Alan
Yeah, it’s pretty damned bad. We had Chris Roberts on our podcast a while back, and he was very open about how this movie ended up. I think the biggest problem they ran into was their filming time being cut from months down to weeks. That said, so much ended up being wrong with the film, which was a shame because it had a couple things right (basically David Warner and Jürgen Prochnow, the only good things in the movie).