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Mekhi Phifer recommended Wag the Dog (1997) in Movies (curated)
Awix (3310 KP) rated The Scarfolk Annual 197* in Books
Mar 8, 2020
Deeply twisted parody/satire manages to be unpleasantly disturbing and consistently funny throughout. You kind of have to be familiar with the conceit of Scarfolk - a 'lost' town in the north of England, trapped in the 1970s and run as a brutally right-wing totalitarian dystopia - to get the joke here, but the recreation of the sort of useless filler that made up the bulk of children's annuals in the 1970s is brilliantly done. The inventiveness and attention to detail is consistently impressive, and most of the jokes connect - there's a combination of silliness, savage political satire, and League of Gentlemen style macabreness that certainly won't be to all tastes. Gets the balance between horror and humour just about right; very funny, but also undeniably disturbing.
Troy Aker (6 KP) rated The Orville - Season 1 in TV
Dec 14, 2017
Reminded me of Star Trek: TNG (1 more)
interesting characters
Marketed as a straight up comedy (1 more)
Seth MacFarlane's acting
Not knowing what it wanted to be hurt the beginning
I had trouble accepting this show because I went in expecting a straight comedy, which is the takeaway I had from the commercials. But it wasn't funny enough to be a parody. And it wasn't serious enough to be a serious sci-fi show.
Slowly it grew on me though. I accepted it for what it is and started to get a Star Trek: The Next Generation feel.
The stories are interesting and the characters are great, especially the non-human characters.
Definitely worth a shot. If you find yourself unimpressed with the first couple eps, stick with it, it will grow on you.
Slowly it grew on me though. I accepted it for what it is and started to get a Star Trek: The Next Generation feel.
The stories are interesting and the characters are great, especially the non-human characters.
Definitely worth a shot. If you find yourself unimpressed with the first couple eps, stick with it, it will grow on you.
Awix (3310 KP) rated Peter Rabbit (2018) in Movies
Mar 19, 2018 (Updated Mar 23, 2018)
Almost wholly ghastly bastardisation of Beatrix Potter's charming, gentle tales. Starts off with Peter Rabbit essentially killing Mr McGregor (not before contemplating sticking a carrot up his rectum) and goes on from there. 'Hilarious' jokes about Asbestos poisoning and anaphylactic shock ensue, plus a sight gag where Mrs Tiggy-Winkle walks into an electric fence.
Made all the more indefensible by a lovely fully-animated segment which completely captures the style of the original stories. Film-makers clearly not interested in that, though: not nearly 'contemporary' or 'irreverent' enough for them. Often resembles a mean-spirited parody of Beatrix Potter, twisted so it can make knowing jokes about rom-coms and so on. Very nearly completely horrible; scrapes one point for the animation sequence, another for Rose Byrne (what can I say, I'm sentimental).
Made all the more indefensible by a lovely fully-animated segment which completely captures the style of the original stories. Film-makers clearly not interested in that, though: not nearly 'contemporary' or 'irreverent' enough for them. Often resembles a mean-spirited parody of Beatrix Potter, twisted so it can make knowing jokes about rom-coms and so on. Very nearly completely horrible; scrapes one point for the animation sequence, another for Rose Byrne (what can I say, I'm sentimental).
LeftSideCut (3778 KP) rated Not Another Teen Movie (2001) in Movies
Jul 3, 2021
Both Scary Movie and Not Another Teen Movie have a lot to answer for in regards to avalanche of actual pure shit that followed in terms of parody movies. The 00s were just full of them. It was a dark time.
However, NATM does a pretty decent job in pointing out all the ridiculousness that comes with this particular sub genre, and its brand of offbeat humour ranges from outright slapstick, to subtle throwaway lines. The cast are quite aware at how silly this film is, and the committent to the whole piece is admirable enough.
It might be low brow, but it weirdly works, and as such, NATM reamains an under appreciated, silly comedy, that has been tarnished by the same brush applied to absolute piss like Meet the Spartans.
However, NATM does a pretty decent job in pointing out all the ridiculousness that comes with this particular sub genre, and its brand of offbeat humour ranges from outright slapstick, to subtle throwaway lines. The cast are quite aware at how silly this film is, and the committent to the whole piece is admirable enough.
It might be low brow, but it weirdly works, and as such, NATM reamains an under appreciated, silly comedy, that has been tarnished by the same brush applied to absolute piss like Meet the Spartans.
David McK (3188 KP) rated Sourcery: Discworld: The Unseen University Collection in Books
Nov 27, 2022
One of the earliest Discworld (#5) books by the late, great, Sir Terry Pratchett, and it shows.
At this point the series was still very much in its infancy; very much still a parody of classic 'Sword and Sorcery' (especially where Rincewind is concerned) instead of the exploration of the human character it would later become.
Everybody has their own favourite 'subseries' of Discworld novels - The Witches, Stand-alones, Industrial Revolution, City Guards, Death - for me, personally, the Rincewind series has also fallen towards the bottom of that ranking (although they do get better around about the time of Interesting Times).
Having said that, it's still interesting to see the beginnings of Pratchett's evolution of the Discworld here - like any great symphony, they all need to start somewhere!
At this point the series was still very much in its infancy; very much still a parody of classic 'Sword and Sorcery' (especially where Rincewind is concerned) instead of the exploration of the human character it would later become.
Everybody has their own favourite 'subseries' of Discworld novels - The Witches, Stand-alones, Industrial Revolution, City Guards, Death - for me, personally, the Rincewind series has also fallen towards the bottom of that ranking (although they do get better around about the time of Interesting Times).
Having said that, it's still interesting to see the beginnings of Pratchett's evolution of the Discworld here - like any great symphony, they all need to start somewhere!
Kevin Murphy recommended Young Frankenstein (1974) in Movies (curated)
Matthew Krueger (10051 KP) rated Chicken Run (2000) in Movies
Jul 23, 2020
Chickens Can Run
I love the stop motion animation. It is perfect, its excellent and phenomenal. Chicken Run was Aardman Animations' first feature-length production, which would be executive produced by Jake Eberts. Nick Park and Peter Lord, who run Aardman, directed the film. The movie is a loose parody of the film The Great Escape.
The plot: Award-winning DreamWorks animation from the Aardman team, telling the story of a band of chickens doomed to a life of egg-laying on a Yorkshire chicken farm. When a flamboyant American rooster arrives on the scene, the hens hope he can teach them to fly to freedom. However, when a chicken-pie making machine is installed, their need becomes urgent and they must devise other means of escape.
Its a excellent film. It has humor, adventure, darkness and most of all chickens. Lots of them. A must see if you haven't already.
The plot: Award-winning DreamWorks animation from the Aardman team, telling the story of a band of chickens doomed to a life of egg-laying on a Yorkshire chicken farm. When a flamboyant American rooster arrives on the scene, the hens hope he can teach them to fly to freedom. However, when a chicken-pie making machine is installed, their need becomes urgent and they must devise other means of escape.
Its a excellent film. It has humor, adventure, darkness and most of all chickens. Lots of them. A must see if you haven't already.
Awix (3310 KP) rated War on Everyone (2017) in Movies
Mar 6, 2018
Slightly baffling deadpan black comedy parody of American cop thrillers (probably - it's hard to be sure). A pair of incredibly corrupt New Mexico detectives discover previously unsuspected reserves of decency and honesty as they encounter a ruthless gang of thieves.
One of those movies which seems to be trying ridiculously hard to go over the top, but with an absolutely straight face: the main characters aren't just corrupt, they're absurdly corrupt, and the plot at times seems to be intentionally provocative and also absurd (the story relocates all the way to Iceland at one point, but only for about five minutes). It's so in-your-face extreme in some of its attitudes and jokes that it's quite hard to engage with as a story for much of the time. But McDonagh is too good a director to make an entirely bad movie and there are some impressive moments and sequences along the way. But still a strange and difficult-to-figure-out movie.
One of those movies which seems to be trying ridiculously hard to go over the top, but with an absolutely straight face: the main characters aren't just corrupt, they're absurdly corrupt, and the plot at times seems to be intentionally provocative and also absurd (the story relocates all the way to Iceland at one point, but only for about five minutes). It's so in-your-face extreme in some of its attitudes and jokes that it's quite hard to engage with as a story for much of the time. But McDonagh is too good a director to make an entirely bad movie and there are some impressive moments and sequences along the way. But still a strange and difficult-to-figure-out movie.
David McK (3188 KP) rated Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) in Movies
Dec 31, 2019 (Updated Apr 28, 2020)
The first Indiana Jones film, with Harrison Ford in the role for which he would become iconic.
It's fair to say that this has permeated popular culture: the bullwhip, the hat, the fear of snakes are all intrinsic to the character and heavily copied over the years (Tomb Raider, anyone? The Uncharted series?), with even TVs The Simpsons doing a parody of the opening tomb robbing scene with Homer chasing Bart and ending up rolling down the stairs.
There's almost too many iconic scenes (and quotes) to count: that tomb robber bit at the start, the fed-up Indy shooting the sword-wielder in Cairo (initially storyboarded as a full on sword fight, except the actors all got sick), the Well of Souls sequence, the escape, "It's not the years, honey, it's the mileage", the opening of the Ark by the Nazis and the final warehouse scene, to name but a few!
It's fair to say that this has permeated popular culture: the bullwhip, the hat, the fear of snakes are all intrinsic to the character and heavily copied over the years (Tomb Raider, anyone? The Uncharted series?), with even TVs The Simpsons doing a parody of the opening tomb robbing scene with Homer chasing Bart and ending up rolling down the stairs.
There's almost too many iconic scenes (and quotes) to count: that tomb robber bit at the start, the fed-up Indy shooting the sword-wielder in Cairo (initially storyboarded as a full on sword fight, except the actors all got sick), the Well of Souls sequence, the escape, "It's not the years, honey, it's the mileage", the opening of the Ark by the Nazis and the final warehouse scene, to name but a few!