The King of Comedies

Mrs. Frazier and I were re-watching Talladega Nights the other night ("Why, if it isn't our mangy, transient grandfather"). By the way, I know my brother Beer-on-the-Girl is not a Will Ferrell fan. I do maintain that Talladega Nights is a consistently funny movie, even if its perhaps a bit over the top.

Anyway, afterwards I commented to Mrs. Frazier, "Wow, Will Ferrell's been in a handful of decent comedy movies. I wonder if there's anybody that's been in more than him." She responded, "Oh sure, there must have been. What about Eddie Murphy? How about Bill Murray?"

A good question... "Which actor has been in the most decent comedy movies?"

So we started naming famous actors that have been in a handful of comedy movies and going over their resumes. There is, of course, always some discussion about if particular movies qualify as "decent" or not.

Here are a handful of the first few famous comedy actors we thought of, and what may qualify as their "decent" comedy movies:

Will Ferrell: Austin Powers, Zoolander, Old School, Anchorman, Wedding Crashers, Talladega Nights

Bill Murray: Caddyshack, Stripes, Ghostbusters, Little Shop of Horrors, Scrooged, Groundhog Day

Steve Martin: Three Amigos, The Jerk, Little Shop of Horrors, Parenthood, My Blue Heaven, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

Eddie Murphy: Trading Places, Beverly Hills Cop, Golden Child, Coming to America, Boomerang, The (first) Nutty Professor


Certainly, one could add or subtract comedies from each person's resumes, depending on one's opinion of what a decent movie is or not.

But the point: Two things stood out...

1) All of them have been in plenty of shitburger movies. Check out any of their resumes on IMDB. You will see a handful of movies in each person's resume that will have you saying, "Wow, they must have cashed in when they did that movie."

2) Look at the number of movies in each person's resume. What do you notice? They all only have 6 "decent" comedy movies! Why is there not one comedic actor that has 10 good comedies or more? Maybe many of them seem to have lost their comedic touch after they've been around for a while and aged. Bill Murray started doing serious, artsy films. Eddie Murphy got stuck in the kids movie rut and seemed to forget how to be funny.

So who is the king of comedy movies? Who did we overlook? Who has been in the most decent movies? And, what are the best individual comedic movie performances of all time?

Dirty Dancing Debate

"I carried a watermelon."



So BotG and I have had a long-standing debate about a scene in the movie in Dirty Dancing.

(side note: I thought about searching for a YouTube clip or a link to this scene somewhere but then I realized: that's not necessary, everybody knows every scene of Dirty Dancing!)

Remember the scene where a bunch of the rich old guys are playing cards and one guy tosses a bunch of money at Patrick Swayze to give his wife "extra dancing lessons" as his card game might last all night? The guy's cougar wife, who later sleeps with Robbie, the slimy young guy who got Penny pregnant, looks lustfully at Patrick Swayze. The implication made there is that in the past, she has had sex with him and given him money...

(paraphrasing:

"You don't know how it is Baby... I mean, one day, you're dancing, hustling on the street, and the next day women are throwing money at you."
"I understand, you just used them for sex, I understand."
"No, no, it wasn't like that... it wasn't like I was using them, it was like, they were using me.")

... and Patrick Swayze, in a dramatic turning point in the movie, gives the guy the money back and declines to give dancing lessons to the wife, as Baby looks on with pride at Patrick, thus solidifying the relationship between Patrick and Baby and setting up the dramatic last scene.

Anyway, here's the question:

Did the old guy know that Patrick Swayze had been routinely sleeping with his wife during these extra dancing lessons, and just not care much, as she was just out of his hair and wasn't bothering him for sex? Or was he ignorant to the fact that she was boning Patrick and the dance lessons were more than just lessons?

And the winner is (drum roll)… Martin Scorsese

My Top 5 Movie Directors List, In Order:

1. Martin Scorsese- Mainly because of one movie, Goodfellas. I have watched Goodfellas too many times, and still love every moment from “Am I clown?” to “Come on Karen!” I also loved: Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Color of Money, Cape Fear, Casino, Gangs of New York, The Aviator, and The Departed.

2. Stanley Kubrick- To me, the Patrick Ewing of directors. Yeah, he never scored that great movie for me, but I have liked everything that he has done: Full Metal Jacket, The Shinning, Dr. Strangelove, Clockwork Orange, Eye’s Wide Shut, etc… All solid movies with longevity to his movie making career with no duds.

3. Quentin Tarantino- Yes, primarily because Pulp Fiction is fucking a-mazing… “Royale with Cheese.” But I also loved Reservoir Dogs and Jackie Brown. I wasn’t a hue fan of the Kill Bill series (but I respect the try to do something new) Worth noting, Inglourious Basterds was good

4. Oliver Stone: I loved: The Doors, JFK, and Midnight Express. And, I don’t care if JFK was factually accurate; it was damn entertaining and was a movie not a documentary. Decent movies: Natural Born Killers, Born of the 4th of July, Any Given Sunday, Platoon, Wall Street. And yes, I agree with Chuck that Scarface is overrated which was written not directed by Stone.

5. Steven Spielberg- I think he’s overrated, generally speaking, but has still made some good movies. I don’t think I love any Spielberg movie the way I do Goodfellas or Pulp Fiction. But movies that I liked were: Jaws, Jurassic Park, All the Indiana Jones (cover your heart Indy!), Schindler’s List, E.T., and Munich. Movies that I thought were overrated, and if were not directed by Spielberg would have never been huge hits: Saving Private Ryan, A.I, Catch me if You Can, War of the Worlds. This guy knows how to make crowd pleasing hits but most of them are pretty cheesy.

Pineapple Express

Pineapple Express is an underrated movie. I remember seeing it as soon as it came out, as it is an Apatow movie, and feeling underwhelmed. However, after many re-viewings on DVD, I have appreciated it more and more with each showing.

Yes, it is a stoner movie, but is much more than that. The stoner dialogue is hilarious, and gets funnier with each viewing. James Franco's character, Saul, is the greatest stoner character ever on film. His acting is subtle, organic, and hilarious. The 70s vibe and the over-the-top plot with Bill Lumberg as Ted Jones and Rosie Perez as the bad guys is awesome also.

I strongly encourage you to watch this a couple of times, and pay close attention to every part the dialogue the way you would with Lebowski or GoodFellas. You will not be disappointed.

Mob Movie Monday

A magnificent... err... triuMvirate of memorable mob movie moments for your viewing pleasure.

Random Notes 9.14.2008

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WALL-E!

My wife and I saw WALL-E this weekend in the theaters. Animated films keeping raising the bar. From Toy Story to Shrek to Finding Nemo, they just keep getting more mindblowing. Despite it being a kids movie... when we first walked into the theater, there were hardly any kids there (and this was not that late - 7 pm show). I thought we were in the wrong theater. In any case, it was a movie that I'd recommend that, if these kinds of movies are your thing, you see in the theater. The visuals are a-mazing.

If one was nitpicky, one could argue that it was manipulative in how cute it was (like E.T.) and the social commentary might be construed as a bit over the top. However, if you can suspend that disbelief and if you are not a cynical bastard, it is an adorable movie - again, if this is your kind of thing.



A robotic looking E.T.... just as cute as E.T., no?