In this latest promo clip from Mike Judge’s Extract, Judge goes back to the well for the characters that made him famous, Beavis and Butthead. I was about Beavis and Butthead’s age when Beavis and Butthead came out, so I’m probably guilty of the same kind of romantic nostalgia I make fun of sci-fi fans for all the time when I say this, but five seconds in I was thinking, “Oh man, remember Beavis and Butthead? Beavis and Butthead were awesome.” Anyway, nostalgia aside (I hope), props (or kudos, or another word that doesn’t sound as lame as props or kudos) to Mike Judge for being able to skip to the good parts of his own career. This wouldn’t have been nearly as funny or likable if he’d used King of the Hill. God that show sucked. Though I think it taught us all the valuable lesson that fat pussies don’t make good lead characters. A lot of people will try bring up Fat Pussy Hunter 7 as a counter argument, but in that case I would argue it was more the mcguffin.
Here’s a couple clips from the Twilight New Moon presentation at Comic Con. As you might imagine, you can only hear about half the audio over the squealing of the fangirls, not that it matters. In the first one (above), ethnic werewolf Taylor Lautner and his ridiculous Lorenzo Lamas wig is all like, “Hey, let’s do something ridiculously cliché!” So he teaches Bella Swan to ride a motorcycle, which is like a metaphor for his greasy ethnic sex appeal. But Bella crashes because she can’t handle it. She needs the gentle, fake love of her sparkling-white vampire who can’t touch her, only listen to her stupid teenage emo whining and share meaningful looks. Then Taylor Lautner takes off his shirt to wipe the blood off Bella’s head, which is a metaphor for all the girls in the audience who just menstruated for the first time.
Matt from WarmingGlow puts it best: “I’d rather have my daughter end up a stripper than one of these bitches.”
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After the jump I’ve got a new R-rated clip from The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard - the Don Ready Story, the Will Ferrell/Adam McKay-produced comedy that feels like a rejected idea from the Anchorman/Talladega Nights brainstorming sessions (which it probably was). It stars Jeremy Piven as a God among used car salesmen alongside Ken Jeong, Ving Rhames, David Koechner, Ed Helms and a ton of other comic actors in bit roles. If The Hangover was the exception to the studio rule that you can’t make big money on an R-rated comedy with no proven box-office stars, The Goods will prove it. It’s not terribly unfunny, it just feels… stale. And I’m eating Bugle Snacks right now so I think I know a little something about stale.
Part two of the Raaaaaaaandy documentary (viral video of Aziz Ansari’s character in Funny People) just came online, and I almost didn’t watch it because part one seemed like a less funny version of Dave Chapelle’s bad comedian character from 10 years ago. But then I watched it anyway, and I admit, this one’s a lot funnier. Turns out a mockumentary cutting together out-of-context punchlines like “I got some Oreos on my diiick!” and “You gotta take a shiiiiiit!” is way better than seeint the whole act in character. So, uh, keep that in mind. And as for Aziz, head bowed and hat in hand, I must utter a humble “Ansari.”
Shut up, I was already leaving.
I normally wouldn’t post eight minute clips of movies, but The Hurt Locker is still in limited release and I loved it, so I want to tell everyone about it, like the time I touched my first boob (thanks, mom). As you’ll see in this clip, The Hurt Locker is a great movie for the same reason Public Enemies was a disappointment: details. Hurt Locker has them, Public Enemies tries to skip them. There’s nothing too complex about Hurt’s plot and it doesn’t have some brilliant insight into the horrors of war or the human condition, but it takes you into the world of guys who defuse bombs for a living and makes you feel the tension right along with them. And it’s not that phony, bullsh-t tension where they shake the camera around and keep cutting between a foot on the gas pedal and Vin Diesel grimacing. It comes from simple, fully fleshed-out scenes. Every hack director and editor in Hollywood should watch The Hurt Locker with their notebooks out and their Axe bodyspray in the off position. Best non-bukkake-related movie I’ve seen all year.
