'Cuz I Love It! (Song & Vid)

FAVOURITE COMEDIES

A recent conversation with my friend Rob over at The Annekenstein Monster coupled with watching the special features on the Young Frankenstein DVD (in black & white... no offence) set me to thinking about my favourite comedies. It's interesting to me that all but one of them are American. And Rob, I challenge you to post your own list on your blog.

Any way, for better or worse, here's my list, including guilty pleasures and only straight ahead comedies (no Evil Dead 2 or The 4th Man), no cut off number and in alphabetical order:

AFTER HOURS (1985) Dir: Martin Scorsese




ANIMAL HOUSE (1978) Dir: John Landis



ANNIE HALL (1977) Dir: Woody Allen



BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS (1970) Dir: Russ Meyer



BLAZING SADDLES (1974) Dir: Mel Brooks



BRAIN CANDY (1996) Dir: Kelly Makin



BRINGING UP BABY (1938) Dir: Howard Hawks



A CHRISTMAS STORY (1983) Dir: Bob Clark



DESPERATE LIVING (1977) Dir: John Waters



DR. STRANGELOVE OR: HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE BOMB (1964) Dir: Stanley Kubrick



DUCK SOUP (1933) Dir: Leo McCarey



FEMALE TROUBLE (1974) Dir: John Waters



A FISH CALLED WANDA (1988) Dir: Charles Crichton



HIS GIRL FRIDAY (1940) Dir: Howard Hawks



JACKASS NUMBER 2 (2006) Dir: Jeff Tremaine



LIFE OF BRIAN (1979) Dir: Terry Jones



THE OUT-OF-TOWNERS (1970) Dir: Arthur Hiller



PEE-WEE'S BIG ADVENTURE (1985) Dir: Tim Burton



RAISING ARIZONA (1987) Dir: Joel Coen



SLEEPER (1973) Dir: Woody Allen



SOME LIKE IT HOT (1959) Dir: Billy Wilder



SOUTH PARK BIGGER LONGER & UNCUT (1999) Dir: Trey Parker



STEAMBOAT BILL JR. (1928) Dir: Charles Reisner



SUPER VIXENS (1975) Dir: Russ Meyer



TEAM AMERICA (2004) Dir: Trey Parker




THIS IS SPINAL TAP (1984) Dir: Rob Reiner



UP! (1976) Dir: Russ Meyer




WAITING FOR GUFFMAN (1996) Dir: Christopher Guest



YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN (1974) Dir: Mel Brooks

POOT

My CHIMP bandmate Rob has cut together a video for our song "Poot" using footage from a movie called "A Estrana Hospederia dos Prazeres". Check it out. You can also buy our CD "Thundercrack!" through Amazon.com and CD Baby.

ADULT R.I.P.s

Marilyn Chambers (1952-2009)


Jack Wrangler (1946-2009)

Check out Marilyn in


And Jack in

IT AIN'T BLOODY, BUT I LOVE IT

I've always held a special regard for Hal Hartley's movies. They're personal to me in an entirely out of perspective way since I always seem to end up watching them by myself in a theatre that's rarely more than a third full.

When I came across a Movie Morlocks' post about Hartley, it reminded me of just how much I like his movies. I remember going to the local rep theatre, City Cinema, to see "Simple Men" and being totally and pleasantly surprised by the dance scene set to "Kool Thing" by Sonic Youth (one of my favourite bands at the time). This scene is one of my all time favourites. You can find a clip of it in the Movie Morlocks post:

http://moviemorlocks.com/2009/03/15/simple-men/

Do yourself a favour and scroll down to the clip and watch it. Play loud!

I'm Young, Beautiful and Pissed Off!

To Be Twenty / Avere vent'anni (1978)

Okay, so I may not be young and beautiful, but I am pissed off sometimes. Anyway, Gloria Guida is all three of these things. And so is Lilli Carati. Their characters, Lia and Tina respectively, meet on an Italian beach and bond over this goofy but honest declaration. They decide to head off to a commune in Rome together, stealing food, scamming coffee, and looking for dick (and lady dick) along the way. Once there, they discover that everything's not quite what they expected, except for the always terrific Ray Lovelock. To say more would do damage to a first time viewing.

I'd read a lot about this flick (Thanks, Eli Roth!) before finally tracking it down in a version that I was able to play, just barely. I got my mitts on Alfa Digital's iffy "Avere vent'anni" 2-disc set that features the original Italian cut and the massacred US version. Both variations are faded and print damaged, and I wasn't able to play the Italian version on the first DVD player I tried. Despite this, I was happy to be able to finally see this flick, and in the recommended Italian version; the US cut completely eliminates the film's impact and meaning.

"Avere vent'anni" is directed by Fernando Di Leo, who apparently, along with the films' two stars, were known for sexy comedies about free spirited women and their sexual adventures, among other types of flicks (I also just wacthed Di Leo's "Slaughter Hotel", and despite my love of the most convoluted giallo, "Slaughter Hotel" just didn't do it for me. In a word: boring.). This is perfect for what the film has up its sleeve, since it pulls a "Psycho" and becomes a different kind of film entirely. To that end, the film's tonal shift most reminds me of Takashi Miike's great "Audition", and it is above all other things the film that "Thelma and Louise" wanted to be.

"I too am young, beautiful, and pissed off!" You can be too.

ROBERT QUARRY (1925-2009)

I came late to the cult of Robert Quarry, but he was one hell of an actor. A dashing and elegant Count Yorga, and a fitting foe for both Sugar Hill and Dr. Phibes. Like a lot of actors who exude class, I was impressed with Quarry's ability to dive completely into exploitation movie roles without winking to the camera, allowing his work to speak for itself. RIP.