Thursday, June 25, 2015

Animal House, 1978

Directed by John Landis
Writing by Harold Ramis, Dougs Kenney, and Chris Miller
Starring , , and

"Thank you, God!"
"Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life."
"You fucked up. You trusted us."
"What the hell we supposed to do, ya moron?"
"See if you can guess what I am now."
"There were blanks in that gun!"
"Germans?" "Forget it, he's rolling."

Disclaimer: This movie features a lot of really inappropriate behavior and a fair number of topics and jokes that have not aged well.

Other important point: It is really funny. John Belushi, had he done nothing other than play John "Bluto" Blutarsky in this movie, would be a comedy a legend. This movie launched Harold Ramis into the comedy realm that allowed him to give us the modern underdog vs. elitist comedy genre (also in Caddyshack, Ghostbusters, and a million other things he inspired). It's also one of the few movies in which Doug Kenney had a major hand. 

Yes, it's in the Pantheon.

"Can I have ten-thousand marbles, please?"

"It's got to work better than the truth."
"Still want to show me your cucumber?"
"Don't be afraid to help yourself to punch and cookies."
"Well, as of this moment, they're on double-secret probation."
"She was going to make a pot for me."



Mr. Blutarsky























 


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Favorite movies – The Pantheon
Places – Good Things around Boston, and Elsewhere
Me generally – Josh Lubarr’s web site extraordinaire
Also also – Josh’s Part of lubarr.com


Wednesday, June 24, 2015

A Fish Called Wanda, 1988

Directed by Charles Crichton
Written by John Cleese and Charles Crichton
Starring John Cleese, , and

This is one of the great ones. 

Kevin Kline's performance completely merits the Oscar that he won for it. In fact, his stream of curses at John Cleese may alone merit it, or maybe the scene where he and Jamie Lee Curtis have sex, or the scene near the end with him, Michael Palin, and the fish and chips, or probably any individual scene, actually. His performance is like a series of comedy arias.

But this movie is John Cleese's. It's the Ealing Comedies for its own time; it's Python in the regular -- non-surreal, non-Terry-Gilliam-infused -- world; it's everything hilariously frantic about Fawlty Towers. Cleese brings together everything he does well as an actor, puts it into the tight story that he wrote, and even gives us some emotional reality to ground all the farce. He's why this movie is what it is.

Not to take away anything -- anything -- from Jamie Lee Curtis or Michael Palin. She is over the top in her scheming, her utter willingness to use anything or anyone to accomplish her ends (one example: the moment when she meets John Cleese and says, perkily, "I'm American"). And yet we still, somehow, keep rooting for her. 

And Michael Palin? The first time (of the many times) that I saw this movie, I found his character grating. As I've watched it over and over, I find his performance funnier and funnier. Not only is his Ken a completely formed person, but his task in the story almost threatens to become a Sisyphean tragedy. But, to quote Otto (Kevin Kline's character), "Almost."

It's so good. All the other characters are wonderful. The movie isn't calling attention to itself as a movie -- it's invisible in just the right way. 

Of course it's in the Pantheon. Along with the other brilliant 1988 British vs. Americans comedy caper classic, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, it practically created the Pantheon. (By the way, for theaters such as the Brattle in Cambridge, MA, A Fish Called Wanda and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels would be a fantastic double bill.)


Archie and Wendy Leach (John Cleese and Maria Aitken)
hear Otto (Kevin Kline) tell "terrible lies"




















The places to hear from me:
Food – josh lubarr food stuff
Geekiness – geekiness(josh lubarr)
Movies – Old Movies and New with Josh Lubarr
Politics – Progressive Politics (per Josh Lubarr)
Silliness and comedy – Le Repository du Silliness, avec Josh Lubarr
Favorite movies – The Pantheon
Places – Good Things around Boston, and Elsewhere
Me generally – Josh Lubarr’s web site extraordinaire
Also also – Josh’s Part of lubarr.com