The other day I took in a triple feature consisting of the following very different films: Shane Meadows’ Somers Town; the political farce In the Loop; and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Two things each of these films did share are they all come from the UK (the last is a co-production at least) and they all were more naturally funny than Funny People, which I watched the next day.
I’m not sure if it’s my inherent Anglophilia that causes me to appreciate the humor of Jim Broadbent in a fantasy blockbuster more than Seth Rogen or Adam Sandler in the latest from the reigning king of American comedy, but I did realize that I should probably be watching more British cinema, much of which is humorous whether labeled comedy or not, and less Hollywood comedies, most of which tend to be overwritten and forced nowadays.
This isn’t to say I’m going to turn all blueblood snob and ignore the domestic stuff. I still enjoyed Funny People for the bittersweet tale(s) that it is, and I’ll continue loving Keaton more than Chaplin and the Marx Brothers more than any comedy group that has or will ever come out of Great Britain. However, I am looking to expand on my so-far limited familiarity with British comedy, which barely extends further than the must-see bunch listed below. So please leave a comment with any other recommendations you have for myself and anyone else interested. …Read more
I first caught wind of the news from Stu over at Defamer, and seeing as how his post features a montage of Brooksfilm clips that excludes Solarbabies (for which he apologizes), I present you with a clip from the film here. Isn’t it great to know that breakdance and beatboxing is still cool in the waterless post-apocalyptic future? Another thing that would be cool in the future: a Broadway adaptation of Solarbabies. Hopefully Brooks will forget about that Blazing Saddlesmusical that’s rumored to be in the works and concentrate on bringing one of his non-classics to the stage. It’d be kinda like Starlight Express meets Urinetown. If Xanaducan be a hit and Young Frankensteincan’t, I say this idea should at least be explored.
Phillips, who marginally prefers the sequel, uses the opportunity to revisit those sequels that improved upon the original. Obviously, the list includes The Empire Strikes Back, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khanand The Road Warrior. However, surprisingly,The Godfather Part IIis not in the top ten, because he considers the first and second films tied, and he claims both Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Gremlins 2: The New Batch are only honorable mentions, because their definite superiority is up for debate (true, I’ve never been able to decide if I like them better than their respective counterparts).
I don’t know what is more upsetting, that I’m actually excited about a movie starring Ben Stiller and Jack Black (remember Envy?) or that it’s actually Robert Downey Jr. in blackface that’s provoking all this excitement. Fortunately — or maybe unfortunately — I’m not the only one that’s going ga ga over Downey’s racial transformation for Tropic Thunder. It began a couple weeks ago when this still, featuring Stiller, Black and a colorized Downey, made the rounds through the blogosphere. It turned out the actor’s appearance is part of a brilliant joke on method actors. Downey plays Kirk Lazarus, a multiple Oscar-winner who goes through a special skin-darkening procedure in order to play an African American sergeant during the Vietnam War. It’s mostly funny because you could almost imagine someone like Sean Penn doing this for real.
But is there danger of the joke becoming a bit too much during the whole movie? After all, it began as a mere sight gag with the still photo, then continued with the website, where Downey actually looks eerily identical to Blaxploitation star Fred Williamson. However, now it’s also an audio gag, complete with what must be referred to as blackvoice. Yay, racism is funny! Not that I’m knocking it; I do actually think Downey is absolutely hilarious here. And having Brandon T. Jackson there as an actual African American actor, acknowledging how ridiculously racist Lazarus is, makes it the potentially the best use of racism as comedy since Blazing Saddles (sorry Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay).
I wonder, though, if the joke, the blackface and Downey’s performance will all completely overshadow the rest of the actors. I guess, considering my lack of favor for either Stiller or Black, I should be more hopeful of that being the case than worried.
Tropic Thunder, written by actor Justin Theroux (Inland Empire) and Etan Cohen (Idiocracy) and directed by Stiller, arrives in theaters August 15.
We’ve had a bit of trouble getting this episode to go through the iTunes feed, so we hope this re-post will fix the problem. The original post, with episode description and embedded player, is here.
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The sequel to 
