Ridiculous Movies (but not B movies)

Damn, I think @Clay just beat me at my own game.

Wolf doesn’t seem that crazy to me. It’s an ostensibly upmarket werewolf movie. At a time a bunch of ostensibly upmarket monster movies were being made. Branagh made a Frankenstein movie around then. With DeNiro as the monster.

I thought Wolf was the worst Jack Nicholson movie I’d ever seen at the time. It probably still is.

Oh, it’s not good. I’m just not sure why it’s supposed to be ridiculous.

Haha. Thinking of that inspired me to make this cookie with my kids.

The whole idea of the movie is ridiculous. It has an interesting idea, of this schlub of a guy discovering he can swim with sharks after discovering his “inner wolf”*, but then it turns him and Spader into literal wolves with teeth and fur and they go at each other full bore. I mean, you know what you’re getting when you cast Jack Nicholson, I guess.

Also, I don’t see how you can really compare this with Branagh’s Frankenstein or even Coppola’s Dracula, which are after all based on classic literature. Wolf is just a weird metaphor that goes literal.

*Now that’s a mixed metaphor to be proud of.

It’s a werewolf movie. It’s an established genre. Even the metaphorical turned literal stuff isn’t remotely new - see American Werewolf In London or Cat People.

American Werewolf in London and Cat People are straight up horror films, with a good bit of gore and a smidge of satire. Wolf is none of those, it’s played entirely straight. He’s a guy who gets bit, taking the fight to the corporate jerks. By the end, he’s a four-legged wolf, loping off into the darkness. Lesson being, we should all get in touch with our inner wolf, or something.

Anyone ever see the Andy Warhol horror movies, Blood for Dracula or Flesh for Frankenstein? Both anchored by Udo Kier, and both super weird and lurid. Technicolor phantasmagorias.

Have you read the book? Great read. The movie hewed pretty close to it.

I think Being John Malkovich fits the parameters rather well.

Yeah, good call. Probably any Charlie Kaufman script, really.

Predestination fits there for sure. Not good enough for a second viewing but it’s a good ride. Don’t want to spoil it but got to love the IMDB synopsis :

For his final assignment, a top temporal agent must pursue the one criminal that has eluded him throughout time. The chase turns into a unique, surprising and mind-bending exploration of love, fate, identity and time travel taboos.

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But I’ve never heard of Predestination - gotta check that out.

"Ohh, a lesson in not changing history from Mr. “I’m my own grandpa”.

What you have in mind is probably much tamer than the real time travel taboos of Predestination.

Repo Man.

-rests case-

Zardoz is so awesome… but did it review well? I dunno. Doesn’t matter.

I offer:
Kung Fu Hustle

Holy shit the zardoz cookie is one of the greatest things created on these forums, ever.

I want to say yes, but even though it’s not a B movie and has actual actors and a budget it’s still pretty under the radar. And not really much in the way of familiar faces. I mean Harry Dean Stanton is a great character actor but not a star really, and while Emilio Esters would become one, this was still pretty early in his career. But then I feel like that’s all kind of not-picky, plus Repo Man is one of my favorite movies, so …

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I mean it’s not a blockbuster or anything, but it is a Hollywood production with some semi-names and it is so, so weird and difficult to understand how or why it was made. But I am thankful every day that it was. It’s amazing.