4 posts tagged “movies”
What never fails to make you laugh?
Submitted by BeautifullyBroken.
Maybe I'm mellowing but I rather like this question. I mean, it could mean so many things, like what kind of books make you laugh? What jokes make you laugh? What situations make you laugh? It's just a nice way of looking at things.
Of course, as a cynic and a possible pessimist, it could also be used as "What makes you laugh with cynicism? What causes you to give a mocking laugh?"
Though, I'm not typically a one who will give a mocking laugh or a poo-poo-ing laugh. I think it's passive aggressive. If I think something you're doing is stupid, I'll cut you a side-eye or make a "Who farted?" face. There will never be a question as to how I feel.
What makes me laugh? Let's start a list:
Movies:
Beerfest - yes, I know. No, seriously, I know. It's a movie about a beer competition. But it makes me happy, stop judging me)
Blazing Saddles - LOVE this movie. Absolutely love it. I lent it to a friend who's husband had fond memories of it from his youth and so she sat while he watched the movie, watching to see if he laughed. That's so much pressure! Would it surprise you to hear he wasn't able to laugh at any of it?)
Ghostbusters - I'm sorry but if you don't like Ghostbusters, we need to have a serious conversation. I'm not going to judge you for not liking Ghostbusters 2, though I thought it was quite good, but Ghostbusters! Come on! It's a work of genius!)
The Addams Family 1 & 2 - Whatever you think about the second one, Joan Cusack is genius and I love her. Plus her attempts to kill Fester make me laugh like a donkey.)
Team America - What can I say? Besides "Matt Damon!"?
I'm sure there are some I'm missing (though I mostly watch action movies) but those are off the top of my head.
Books:
Dave Berry's Guide to Guys - irreverent and it plays off of stereotypes but it's so good-humoured with this strain of cynicism, it's almost like me, distilled as a comedy book.
... okay, that seems to be it. I mostly read romances and suspense fiction. Some of those are laughs but it's mostly because the writing or situations are really bad.
TV
How I Met Your Mother - I just did a marathon of Season 1 and 2 and it is so funny, mixed with sweet, mixed with booze and topped with whipped cream and cherry. Love.
Big Bang Theory - I wasn't wild about this show when it first came out. I thought all the jokes would be grotesque stereotypes (Oh look! Nerds can't get laid!) but it's not. It's a lot sweeter than that. It feels like the writers like the characters and aren't willing to be vicious or cruel, just for an easy joke.
And... huh. I don't seem to watch a lot of comedy shows either. Mostly action or sci-fi which contain humour but aren't the "traditional" sitcom.
Is this the point where I have to assure you all that I am actually a girl?
And will I have to assure you again when I tell you I also like Family Guy?
As for jokes and things, I prefer jokes that aren't at someone's expense, in the sense that, while I may joke around, I don't like jokes where the heart of the joke is vicious.
How many times can I fit "joke" in a sentence? Damn, no wonder I never cut it as a writer.
I'm not a fan of practical jokes since it seems the basis of those are to make the person look ridiculous. I don't mind a crass joke if it's properly funny, that is, if it's funny in it's own right, regardless of crassness. Though I'll take the occasional poop joke. I like those.
I like word play jokes because it lets me use my brain sometimes.
But mostly, I just like to laugh. I like the weird witch's cackle I get when I'm feeling particularly evil, the weird deep throated laugh that I have no idea when I developed.
Mmm, funny things. I like funny things.
I've never heard it referred to as this but then again, I don't think anyone's ever come out this forcefully and angrily as these two women.
The best part? I could see myself, especially when you hit minute 2:40 (NSFW because of rampant cursing, just the kind of cursing I like):
ETA: Sorry, one more thing. It seems that M. Night Shyamalan is making a live action version of Avatar: The Last Airbender. It's technically a children's cartoon but many adults in my family LOVE it. But rather than using an all Asian cast, since the entire cartoon is set in a fantasy Asian-like world and the animated cast is fairly Asian, he's using basically an all-white cast.
Hey, thanks for that; because it's not hard enough for Asians to find work on-camera. Plus I already think you're a hack and now my sister won't make me watch any of your shitty movies. YAY!
It has been a long time since I've done one of these. Let's see if I remember how:
This isn't a BBC version of Agatha Christie's A Caribbean Mystery; oh no, it's an American version with everything that's good and bad that implies:
The good? The guy who played the blonde brother in Simon & Simon. I loved that show and I had the biggest crush on him. Then I moved on to Gerald McRaney who aged a lot better than he did, then moved on to have crushes on guys closer to my age. They also did a really good job in setting up the story and explaining who everyone is.
The bad? ::cough:: Well, that's the rest of the review.
I've always found that, for me, a lot of the Miss Marple adaptations really live and die by Miss Marple and the woman who plays her. I find Joan Hickson too dry with not enough twinkle (an opinion not shared by many) but then the newest Miss Marple, Geraldine McEwan, is a little too much twinkle and flutter but not enough of the razor sharp mind.
Yes, I'm quite picky.
But this Miss Marple? Wow... um, she's awful. She can't hold her English accent (she goes positively Southern US once in a while) but she's also so mincey and fluttery and woolly, you wonder how she's able to keep thoughts in her head. There's so much exclaiming and jumping up and running around, it's like watching a farce.
Then the story. I don't know who asked these (fairly) capable actors to act in the way they do but whoever it is needs a slap. Not only did I not sympathize with any of these characters (except for the Major who dies initially, which is not in the spirit of the book AT ALL) but I was actively hoping most of them would be killed off in a snuff adaptation. That would have made me feel better after watching them poop out their version of a fairly good mystery novel.
My biggest problem with the adaption? All the yelling. Why all the yelling? And when did the characters all become Americans? Nothing against Americans because I'm sure they holiday in the Caribbean but most of the book's characters (except for Lucky and Greg Dyson, I believe) are all British.
And when did Ruth Walter become a brassy woman on the prowl? No offense to Swoozie Kurtz (even though I kept wanting to call her Sissy Spacek) but your voice hurts my ears. The most defining description of Ruth (who I could almost swear was Esther in the book... but then sometimes my memory of names isn't the greatest) was her quiet disposition, her subdued nature, her ability to handle Mr. Rafael when others were defeated instead of yelling at him like a crazed fishwife.
Okay, so I'm not sure what a fishwife is but I've always loved that description. It makes me think of a a crazy woman wearing a bathrobe and rubber boots with crazy hair, yelling and wagging her finger at a giant fisherman, cowering in the face of her anger.
Is this the worst adapation ever? No, BBC's version of Body in the Library is. Seriously, how do you mess up that adaptation? They probably used all their inspiration in hiring Joanna Lumley as Dolly then their brains shorted out and they thought, "You know what's current and in fashion? Lesbians. Let's make the murderer a lesbian instead of the ACTUAL murderer from the book. We're clever." BAH.
Recommendation: You actually should watch this movie, if just to see the staging and the obvious, "I'm VERY EVIL!" glares given by the actors while they stand stock still as the camera pans past them. But go in to it expecting not a very good film.
I know I mention many times how NOT like the book this movie is; my problem isn't so much that the story isn't a mirror image of the book but that the changes aren't improvements. If you're going to change something, shouldn't you be changing something for the better?
They’ve cut me off. I can’t even randomly check my personal email anymore. Motherfuckers! I’m not sure I can fully explain how bored I am but I’m going to try:
I’m reading previously sent emails for questions that I’m not ever going to get because they’re not part of what I do.
Yup, that’s what my morning’s been. All morning.
Alllll morning. Yay.
So not only did I have to give up my blogging, I have to give up the little bit of email I had? MOTHERFUCKERS!
I miss you guys. This sucks. Not the department, of course, I rather like what I’m doing. I like knowing how much effort is involved in getting into med school. I like knowing that we’re raising up doctors who don’t suck. But I hate the lack of privacy, that sense of how appearance is everything.
OH! When I got in this morning, I had this woman at the elevator do the “look up/look down” to me. That’s so bitchy! I hate when women do that to other women, unless it includes an “OH MY GOD! You look so good!” with it.
And yes, I was wearing pants, cheeky!
Which also reminds me that I really want to buy this shirt. I’m saving up.
AND I finally got the okay for my holiday in October. SWEET! I can buy my flight and life is all good. ::sigh:: I love when life is all good.
What else is going on with me? I’m so backlogged on reading all your Voxes. I’m so sorry; I haven’t even read this week’s Death is Not an Option and you know I love me some DiNaO. I looked at last week’s but… what does it mean when last week’s DiNaO was more disturbing than the David Hasselhoff one? I mean, how do you seriously pick between Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears? They’re both so gross now. And when they weren’t gross, they were jailbait.
What else is going on? Still haven’t read the new Harry Potter but I’m planning on reading it this weekend. I couldn’t start it last weekend when it was delivered because of my sister’s birthday bbq. I remember talking about this before. But yeah, if I’d started it last weekend, I wouldn’t have left my home until I finished it and I had a ton of stuff to do.
This weekend, I’m staying mostly at home (except for a couple sojourns out) and I’m thinking of things I should have around the house that’s easy to make so that I don’t forget to eat on Saturday.
Yes, I’ll forget to eat if I’m really into a book. For some reason, unless I haven’t eaten for over 16 hours and my body starts to disrupt my reading with growling and threats, reading is more important to me than food.
Oh, and I joined a video mailing thingy, like Netflix but since I’m Canadian, it’s Rogers Video Direct. It’s pretty sweet. The option I’ve chosen is one where I give them a certain amount of money a month and they send me unlimited videos but I can only hold on to 3 at a time (though they keep sending me dvds even though I have more than 3 in my possession right now). My Ziplist has over 800 titles on it, mostly movies but a goodly number of tv on dvd.
I love tv on dvd. I love whoever thought of it and I love that you can find pretty much anything on dvd now. Hellooooo, Wonder Woman and A-Team!
Some of you think I’m kidding.
Since joining, I’ve watched Orgazmo (very funny and yes, I’m going to do a review), Stripperella Season 1 Disc 1, Smallville Season 4 Disc 1, Vampires: Los Muertos (the worst vampire movie I’ve ever seen and I’ve seen a bunch of them --- I might do a review, we’ll see) and right now I’m holding, Stripperella Season 1 Disc 2, Smallville Season 4 Disc 2, Justice League Season 1 Disc 1 and a Justice League movie.
Really, my life is pretty nice.
And if you’re more of a control freak than I am (though I’m quite the control freak with other things) you can choose an option where you number what you want to see and they’ll only send it to you in that order. I don’t particularly care what I see so I’m on the option where they’ll send whatever they have handy that’s on my ziplist. I’m okay with that right now. There isn’t anything that I need to see right now. If there is, I’ll just head to my nearest video store but I don’t see that happening.
Are we all caught up with my life? Now, to get caught up with YOURS! That might take a little while. It was almost a full time job before!
HAH! I figured out a work around for my personal email! Or the site was just down this morning and I’ve been maligning the IT department here unnecessarily. Eh, whichever. I have webmail again!
