MetaFilter posts tagged with Film and comedy

Ambiguous movie (and TV) endings resolved.

meadowlark lime — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 08:43:42 -0800

Ambiguous movie endings resolved. Some jokesters have put together imagined endings to some ambiguous film (and TV) endings. Much funnier and better executed than I expected.

Brüno: Delicious Journeys Through America for the Purpose of Making Heterosexual Males Visibly Uncomfortable in the Presence of a Gay Foreigner in a Mesh T-Shirt

goodnewsfortheinsane — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 16:43:10 -0800

Trailer for Brüno, the upcoming film by Sacha Baron Cohen, formerly known for his characters Ali G and Borat.

I piss on Gods stupid world!

Artw — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 23:26:24 -0800

"Our boss is a madman! I was in the sorting office and he said our system was outdated! I spat in his face! He fired me! I have to look for a job now!" Would Klaus Kinski have been so angry if he hadn't been so famous? A vintage column by Graham Linham (Father Ted, The IT Crowd) from the late lamented Neon magazine. (via).

Heroes

fearfulsymmetry — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 14:12:53 -0800

Super Powers, winner of the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival Special Jury Prize for Best Narrative Short (possibly NSFW - a couple of swear words and adult theme)

Ssssssssssst! Throw me a Gookie!

miss lynnster — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 17:13:06 -0800

The story behind Harpo Marx's "Gookie" face. (See 2:16.) The Animaniacs take on The Gookie. (Previously.)

All I need to make a comedy is a park, a policeman and a pretty girl.

miss lynnster — Mon, 26 May 2008 13:36:12 -0800

Charlie Chaplin Filter. That first link features 60 of his short films. Here's more: A Dog's Life (1918, 35 minutes) The Kid (1921, 67 minutes) A Woman of Paris (1923, 84 minutes) The Gold Rush (1925, 71 minutes) The Great Dictator (1940, 125 minutes) Monsieur Verdoux (1947, 133 minutes) City Lights (1931, 87 minutes) His final directorial effort was A Countess From Hong Kong (1967, 120 minutes), in which he had a cameo. Chaplin accepting his honorary Oscar on April 10, 1972, as part of his first visit to the United States in 20 years.

Driving fast and jazzing it up in the 1920s.

flapjax at midnite — Sun, 25 May 2008 18:53:55 -0800

The opening shots of 1920s New York City are wonderful, then you get a zany high-speed Harold Lloyd blazing down the avenues, and that's fun to watch, but the real killer is the horse-drawn trolley absolutely tearing-ass through lower Manhattan, full gallop. Ends badly. Then it's over to San Francisco for one last bit of homicidal vehicular activity with a bus. Well, they sure don't drive like they used to! In case that crazy 20s spirit grabbed you, you might want to spend a little time with the archetypical "jazz age" sounds of Jan Garber and his Orchestra, full of pep, silly humor and choked cymbals: There Ain't No Maybe In My Baby's Eyes Don't Bring Lulu! Since My Best Gal Turned Me Down Baby Face Positively-Absolutely "is she nifty? ABSOLUTELY! under fifty? POSITIVELY!" Louisiana Way Down Yonder In New Orleans Of course, Garber's music was lively, entertaining and well played, but, unsurprisingly, the music of the same era and style as played by black folk had that extra swing, that rollicking but relaxed easy groove that was just a wee bit lacking from bands like Garber's. These musicians deserve FPPs of their own, but for the time being, let's drop by and listen to the music of a couple of early pioneers, Freddie Keppard and Joe "King" Oliver. Freddie Keppard Jazz Treasury (two 1920s gems on this clip) King Oliver's Too Bad and Riverside Blues.

In which the girls continue to be girls. Sort of.

Help, I can't stop talking! — Sat, 03 May 2008 22:11:45 -0800

"Girls Will Be Girls", the hilariously tacky and tasteless story of a trio of women in Hollywood, earned Best Actress awards for its leads at both Outfest and the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in 2003. This was notable largely because the parts were played by three male performers. Now, thanks to the internet, you can watch the continuing adventures of Varla, Coco, and Evie in streaming hi-def. Oh, the gays and their wit.

"Sid James is Silenus... Barbara Windsor is Aphrodite. Hattie Jacques is Athena."

fearfulsymmetry — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 05:32:34 -0800

The Carry On films have been a much-loved part of British life for the last 50 years, and they may even be making a new one. This give a quick feel of what you might of missed (slightly NSFW) And though it does have its knockers, one person liked them so much he made a religion out of them, literally.

"I gotta sleep under some Chinaman named after a duck's dork."

amyms — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 22:05:55 -0800

Long Duk Dong: Last of the Hollywood Stereotypes? Related: Whatever Happened to John Hughes? which has an accompanying photo gallery: Where are Hughes' teen stars now? [A previous post about John Hughes here.]

Splinter your sides with laughter

fearfulsymmetry — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 07:52:30 -0800

The Plank, classic British comedy (Youtubed: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) Starring Eric Sykes, who despite being partially deaf appeared in his own show Sykes and elsewhere with 'sister' Hattie Jacques, and the odd interesting guest, and Tommy Cooper, Britain's worst magician but funniest man (Spoon Jar, Bottle Glass, Magic Cloak, Hats, Card Trick, Paper Tear, Milk) who finally died on stage for real, live on television.

Hello. I must be going.

miss lynnster — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 00:59:19 -0800

Marx Brothers Filter:
Animal Crackers (1930), Monkey Business (1931), Horse Feathers (1932) and Duck Soup (1933). And while the full film itself wasn't on google, here's everything you ever needed to know about A Night at the Opera (1935). Previously.

Bring on Noise.

bassjump — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 09:21:11 -0800

Director Henry Bean has written and directed a new movie, Noise. It's about the bad kind of noise: car alarms that won't stop going off, garbage trucks that wake you up, endless horns honking. You know the pain. Turns out Bean used to run his own vigilante campaign against all things intolerably noisy, until he got arrested. In the film, Tim Robbins plays Dave, a character who becomes so obsessed with noise that he turns into a black-clad vigilante, "The Rectifier", waging his own crusade on those damn alarms shattering his quiet. After ending in jail and nearly sinking his marriage, he decides to try to go about his fight legally, collecting signatures for a petition which he hopes will get the issue on the ballot at an upcoming council election. The initiative is hugely popular but is blocked by the city's slimy mayor, played by William Hurt, forcing David to resort to an extreme strategy to make his point. Perhaps some advocacy groups against noise pollution will be happy to see this.

Augenblick Augenblick Augenblick

East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 07:37:01 -0800

Augenblick Studios provide many strange and offensive animated cartoon video films including Superjail. You may be familiar with their work!!! [flash, mayhap quicktime]

Judd Apatow's Family Values

ColdChef — Sun, 27 May 2007 21:10:24 -0800

Judd Apatow's Family Values A look inside the comedic mind that brought us "Freaks and Geeks", "Undeclared", and "The 40 Year Old Virgin". Apatow’s childhood hero was Steve Martin. On a summer trip to L.A., Apatow persuaded his grandparents to drive by Martin’s home until Apatow spied his hero in the driveway. Martin wouldn’t give him an autograph, so Apatow wrote him an angry letter saying it was his patronage of Martin’s projects that allowed him to live the high life. A few weeks later, Martin sent Apatow a copy of his book “Cruel Shoes” with an apology: “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize I was speaking to the Judd Apatow.” Also: Judd and Seth Rogen at play.

Whatever it is, it’s better in the wind.

Smart Dalek — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 06:13:41 -0800

40 years ago, the Vicious Cycles motorcycle club assaulted a construction worker before taking to the road. Fortunately, filmmakers Chuck Menville (father of voice artist Scott Menville) and Len Janson were on hand to film the gang's misdeeds. Menville and Janson's picture would ultimately become part of a trilogy, with Blaze Glory and Sargent Swell of the Mounties produced wit similar eye-catching style. Decades later, the filmmakers' work would be echoed in another tale of conflict, in addition to a product-themed homage to more recent hipster subculture.

Scenes from 'Withnail & I' on the YouTube

y2karl — Fri, 24 Nov 2006 11:58:33 -0800

Withnail & I on the YouTube:

Drinking the Lighter Fluid
In the tearoom
Withnail and Danny argue about drugs
Withnail and the Telephone Box
Monty and I
Withnail's monologue in the rain

Withnail & I - A review, Sanjek on Withnail and I
Concerning film maker Bruce Robinson
Withnail & I - The Screenplay
Withnail & I locations, Withnail and I quotes and picturesand...
Kids, don't try this at home!--Regarding the Withnail & I drinking game

“Yes, but in my film time is shattered.”

matteo — Fri, 08 Sep 2006 11:10:24 -0800

"I would like to do better, to be better than I am". He's the French New Wave maverick and Academy Award winner (at 26, for his first short) who, to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz -- with considerable personal pain and the admission that "no description, no picture can reveal the true dimension" of what happened in the camps -- made what François Truffaut called "the greatest film ever made", duly censored by French authorities. Four years later he baffled audiences with "the first modern film of sound cinema", shattering the rules of chronology to describe the “anguish of the future”: even if all he ever wanted was "to stop death in its tracks" (French language link), only for one minute. But he is also the unabashed lover of la bande dessinée who learnt English by reading comic books and in the Seventies dreamed (French language link) of making "Spider-Man" into a movie (the Hollywood studios were not convinced), the MGM old-school musical and operetta nut so in love with design that "half of the fashion photography of the past 40 years owes a debt" to him. Now, Alain Resnais' new work, just shown at the Venice Film Festival where his buddy David Lynch was awarded a lifetime achievement Golden Lion, is a French film inspired by an English play with 54 short scenes, music by the X-Files's Mark Snow. (more inside)

The Trailer Mash

mathowie — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 09:56:16 -0800

The Trailer Mash is the spot for movie trailer recuts and mashups. We've done the subject before, but now the subject has its own blog. Current new favorites: Garden State as a murder thriller and School of Rock as a kidnap film. [via mefi projects]

The Room: Best/Worst/Best Vanity Project Ever

boost ventilator — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 12:03:20 -0800

The Room: The Movie. Triple-threat (actor/writer/director) Tommy Wiseau made his cinematic debut in 2003 with the The Room (see trailer and various scenes), "a blend between a softcore porn flick and a Tennessee Williams stageplay." Wiseau ("who's not just one of the most unusual looking and sounding-with an unidentifiable Eastern European accent-leading men ever to grace the screen, but a narcissist nonpareil whose movie makes Vincent Gallo's "The Brown Bunny" seem the apotheosis of cinematic self-restraint...may be something of a first: A movie that prompts most of its viewers to ask for their money back-before even 30 minutes have passed." - Variety), allegedly raised $6 million outside Hollywood to cover production and marketing costs of the self-described "black comedy about love, passion, betrayal and lies" (see various rough dress rehersals). Audience members, including comedian David Cross, have been "marveling at the bizarre editing, bad bluescreen, uncomfortably explicit sex scenes and, of course, the enigma of Wiseau himself" as the film played monthly for years in Los Angeles. Available on DVD, diehard "roomies" swear by the theatrical experience, shout out their own commentary, hurl spoons at the screen and singalong to the soundtrack. Some call it "The Rocky Horror of the New Millenium" and stage "Room" parties. If you look at the marketing campaign or survived a screening you might see The Room as "a seminar on how NOT to make a movie." [Inspired by Boing Boing]

Forgotten silent film genius Larry Semon

mediareport — Mon, 01 May 2006 12:13:50 -0800

Forgotten silent film comedian Larry Semon. Part II - Heyday. Part III - Trouble Brewing. In 1920, he was the world's 2nd-most-famous Hollywood star, with a contract and creative control rivaling Chaplin. In 1921, he made a popular series of films with Oliver Hardy as his main comic foil, six years before Laurel & Hardy became a household name. In 1925, he directed a truly bizarre silent version of The Wizard of Oz, just as wild overspending, erratic behavior and lawsuits ruined his career. The Larry Semon Research site has an interesting picture gallery.

short films goodness

funambulist — Fri, 31 Mar 2006 08:01:27 -0800

Never ever borrow a friend's mobile, trust hitch hikers or strangers in furry costumes, never get distracted, worry about the first time or about your young son not being manly enough, and most of all never, ever forget stuff. Also, remember to always be nice to your enemies, your granny and policemen, but don't be too nice to your neighbours, and don't forget to get the car washed. Lots more brilliant short films viewable online from UK's Channel 4 Film (Real/WM streams).

matteo — Mon, 13 Mar 2006 10:12:06 -0800

Jerry Lewis at 80 (more inside)

How It Should Have Ended

Gator — Wed, 25 Jan 2006 07:32:52 -0800

Sometimes movies don't finish the way we'd like. Short, off-beat, animated re-imaginings of selected movie endings, in torrent and .wmv format. The archives are yet young, but might be worth keeping an eye on for future chuckles.

Deere John

stacyhall1 — Tue, 17 May 2005 08:13:40 -0800

Machine as romantic object. The short film “Deere John” explores how narrative archetype can humanize the inanimate (and is funny).