yeah, i figured you relate to comedy the way i do to horror-- we all have our biases.

for example, inherent vice had shit right out of the zucker brothers (naked gun, etc)-- like the beatdowns he gets from the cops.

see: http://www.hitfix.com/in-contention/...-inherent-vice

and there's nothing goofier than the zucker bros.--except maybe manuel in fawlty towers.

Yeah, that stuff doesn't really do it for me. I can respect the artistry involved but it rarely makes me laugh, which obviously defeats the object. And as for Fawlty Towers, I always thought Sybil was a million times funnier than Manuel, and even Basil, for that matter. As you say, we all have our biases.

EDIT: One sitcom I loved without reservation was Bilko. But that probably links with the WC Fields thing.

sybil????????

ha ha ha, i get it now. i see her as the mean adversary-- but she's the "clever" one i suppose. i hate her.

yeah, i'm all for a big stupid laugh just like you go for the blood porn. that basic primal pre-frontal thing, just of a different note.

my idea of a great horror movie is eyes wide shut-- i find the menace of social class much more terrifying that some demon parasite that chews people's livers (or something like that).

The funny thing is, most of my favourite horror films I don't find scary at all. And some of them, like Basket Case, actually border on comedy. Rather like finding non comedies often funnier than actual comedies, plenty of films that've really scared me aren't actually horror films. The original version of The Vanishing terrified me far more than any horror film I can think of, and Midnight Express still gives me nightmares.

did you like the big lebowski?

borat?

or should i say instead--did they make you laugh?

caddyshack?

the first monsieur hulot movie, when he goes to the beach?

Big Lebowski made me laugh a lot, but only in terms of the dialogue. I haven't seen Borat or Caddyshack.

I love Jacque Tati movies and Hulot's Holiday is probably my fave of the lot, but I don't really laugh at them.

Trying to think of some comedies I really liked and laughed at.

Annie Hall; Manhattan; The Bank Dick (and a few others by WC Fields) ... god I'm really struggling ... there must be some more but I can't actually think of any. Damn, I must come across as being really humourless.

Anyway still the funniest thing I've ever scene in a movie:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wE_2uqCc_K4

I literally can't watch that without almost crying with laughter.

i've never seen any wc fields-- i remember you recommended him but haven't had a chance.

hulot's holiday i couldn' stop laughing. from the dog that eats the fish all the way to the end. i like physical/ gag comedy. all kinds of comedy really. only thing i don't like is the overly mean stuff. i remember trying to watch peep show and just feeling "ughhh." too mean. except for "the baddies". hah ha ha ha haha ha. "the baddies". maybe i'll give it a chance again in the future.

Watched Jackie Brown.. i forgot how brilliant it is

Yeah, while Fields could do the visual stuff as well as anybody, it's his dialogue that I love most. And there's a world-weary darkness to him. He was notoriously difficult in real life, not just because of his drinking but his general personality, and that really comes across. So even he might not qualify as 'pure' comedy. I suppose he's the epitome of the angry clown.

It's my favourite QT film by far.

Oh! Yes, A DANGEROUS METHOD!

That was one of my favorite films of 2011, and certainly one of the most underrated from that year. An excellent movie.

Yes, Ms. Knightley can act. Can act the shit out of Winona, certainly. If she's in q movie, chances are I'm going to like it.

For my part, I just watched the EVIL DEAD re-boot.

I was really engaged by the actress who played the main part. I didn't research it at all, so I was expecting a re-telling of the first film's story. I'm glad it came back around to focus on the "Bloody Mia" character, and I hope they make at least one sequel.

With Raimi and Campbell on a producers, it would be a great way to form an "Evil Dead Universe" that connects with the first three films. And I think he girl who played Mia could be quite a big star.

Also - fucking bloodiest movie ever. Ever. like... shit, that's so much blood that it's pointless to even comment on how bloody it is. Way beyond gratuitous. Saying "that's a lot of blood!" would be like announcing that someone farted at the dinner table. Everyone knows someone farted.... we're just trying to be polite over here. Shut the fuck up.

But even so... There WAS a LOT of blood.

i can't see that youtube right now and i yet have to confirm this but what i suspect you really like is wit. i do too btw.

but also the stupid stuff. like, really dumb non-verbal shit-- monkeys. stooges. zucker brothers. farrelly brothers. mel brooks. shit, piss, boogers, fart noises, untimely erections-- the stupider the better. also the grotesque-- gargantua & pantagruel, etc. anything that reveals the ridiculous ape behind the human facade.

i think i fucked up a small detail-- the dog that eats the fish i'm now pretty sure is at the beginning of "mon oncle." under the cart. hilarious! though there's another street dog in holiday, which moves away when the car drives through at the beginning. but yeah, holiday + mon oncle i laughed all throughout.

I think that's it. Fields was certainly a great wit, Allen too, and Phil Silvers. Plus I love reading Oscar Wilde, Dorothy Parker, so I think you've nailed it there.


Brooks is a perfect case for me. I love his standup but can't stand his movies - with the possible exception of The Producers. Blazing Saddles left me cold. I appreciate the art and comedic intelligence that goes into more slapstick kinds of humour, as well as their potential for subversion, but it does nothing for me as entertainment. Essentially, I suppose, I 'watch' comedies more with my ears than with my eyes.


Yeah, he seemed to like dogs, both for what they were and as metaphors. He's great, similar to Chaplin but far funnier. He's rightly celebrated as a great visual filmmaker but also really innovative in his use of sound (interesting connection to above, about watching more with my ears than my eyes). The interview scene in Mon Oncle, for example, the squeaky door in Hulot's Holiday, the tennis balls. But they also have a quite easy going, free spirited charm to them, Holiday, especially, which kind of transcends comedy.

This was made to look like a riotous Coen Bros. in comedy mode kind of thing in the previews. Like Burn After Reading or the Coens-lite Men Whp Stare At Goats. I'm not sure why they felt the need to misrepresent the film like that. It's actually quite a beautiful and bittersweet story. Very well acted, very patiently scripted and paced. Beautifully stylized. But not at all an oddball comedy.

If you go into it knowing that, it will be easier to get into.

I was expecting to laugh my ass off. But it's a war movie, and it deals with some very thorny subjects. One of Clooney's better directorial works. I really enjoyed it and now I find myself wanting to read the book and learn more about the true story upon which the film was based.

Good stuff.

Just tried watching godard's "Weekend".

How fucking tedious. Listening to a video essay now explaining all the obvious tired shit I had to fast-forward through.

I hate this gutless "clever" shit. Everyone giving speeches to the camera.

Clever not intelligent btw. Just noise. Words words words. A fucking illustrated sermon. On-the-nose preaching. Pamphletary and painfully dated.

Anyway, yesterday finally watched "The Thin Blue Line" which was really a brilliant documentary. So well done. And the disc extras were great as well--- Morris talking about his experiences making it, Joshua Oppenheimer ("The Act of Killing") talking about the influence Errol Morris had on everyone and the importance of documenting the fictions we live by, the impossibility of "direct cinema", etc.

yeah a film ive tried to like but never been able to. clever but not intelligent. Spot on. Although I increasingly feel like that about Godard generally.

The Jackal.. and a few pointless minutes of Alpha Dog which seemed like a rich suburban white kids version of Belly

Wasn't there a pretty disturbing rape scene in that one? I remember liking it as a child, and suddenly very strongly disliking it when I was in my teens, and I think it had something to do with a very grisly scene involving the murder of a naked woman??

I never watched it again after that.