Number 9!

Well...I hope that you enjoyed that first entry.  Yes...I know...'Nacho Libre'?  Are you kidding me?  No.  It's worth another spin...or...like Willie said in the comments section...if you gave it a pass...why not give it try?  You could always hate it and debunk my myth, right?  Without further blabbering...

Klum's Top Ten Comedies Of All Time!!

Number 9:  Zoolander

I almost forgot this one.  My first memory of this was seeing the poster in a theatre and wondering just what the hell they were trying to tell me...

I didn't read the caption.  Shame on me.

I thought that it might be some kind of Austin Powers retread.  I looked at it from afar and shoved it way, way, way back...so far back that I didn't even see it in theatres or read about it or anything.  I'm not sure where my head was in those days...probably right where it should have been...focused on girls and booze.  Right!?!  Anyway...I was working at a video store at the time and had just reinvigorated a friendship with an old high school chum when we received a preview copy at the store.  I took it home, begrudgingly...89 minutes later I was absolutely obsessed!

I looked like this while watching it.

For me it was the funniest thing I had seen in years.  Like really great Adam Sandler movies...I imagined these guys hanging out, drinking beer and just thinking of the silliest sh*t!  It must be nice to get to a point in Hollywood where you can think of stuff like this...and then actually not have to convince someone that it's worth sinking money into...


No...this is not the long awaited sequel to 'Deliverance'.

And once you start making it...all sorts of people want to show up and work on it...probably for nothing as you are cool and they want a slice...

Can we hurry this up?  I need to get back to my voiceover work on 'Pocahontas II'.

In fact...this is a pretty scathing critique of stardom and Hollywood in general.  Stiller and Co. must have had a good chuckle at the studio executives and just about everyone else that allowed them to do something like this...

Those aren't just regular school girls.  They're Asian!  Hi-ya!!

My friend and I ended up driving out to Dayton, Ohio in a 'death ride for the ages'.  Once we got onto Indiana Avenue...I kissed the ground, went to the liquor store...and then showed anyone and everyone this movie!  Sometimes...sometimes a film comes along that just totally blows it out of the water!  All you can do is 'absorb' it as much and as frequently as possible...this is one of those films!!

Death Ride!

I hear that they are making a sequel to this.  A horrible idea.  It'll just be a retread of these jokes and anger me.  Some jokes are better told once...they stay funnier that way.  Speaking of 'funny'...you find lots of strange stuff when you image search to prep one of these...

That's racist!

'Zoolander' is one fantastic joke after another fantastic joke!  It's endlessly quotable!  And...it pushes more than a few envelopes...

This is not racist!

It's a crime that I almost forgot this one.  I wonder what happened to that VHS copy?  Oh yeah...I left it with my friend Jayson in Ohio.  He still lives at the old place on Indiana Avenue.  He probably doesn't have a VCR anymore.  You know what he does have?  A drive through liquor store about a block away called 'Quick 'n' Cold'.  Kevin renamed it 'Cold 'n' Go'.  He said that sometimes it's just not quick enough...

You freakin' idiot!

 

Top Tens!

It's been quite some time since I've written here.  Inspired by McMolo's brilliant Stephen King blog, I've decided to return to the fold and comment on a variety of things.  That's what you do in a blog, right? 

I've always been big on lists...especially when it comes to art, film and music.  I think a person's individual Top Ten list tells a lot about their personality and whether or not you wish to continue having any sort of contact with them in the future!  Every list is different, every list is entertaining...if only to see what nonsense someone puts first over something you would put first...or something like that!  When reading these lists I'm excited for the entries I agree with...but almost more excited for the entries that I totally disagree with.  Like Empire's list of best foreign films putting 'Amelie' at #2.  Are you sh*tting me?  A great movie!  But #2!?!  They're out of their minds!  But they're British so they probably didn't have the most nutritious of breakfasts!  Clouded minds in a cloudy land.  Anyway...

I've decided to start with Klum's Top Ten Comedies Of All Time!!  Now this list is primarily personal preference...what made me laugh, still makes me laugh after repeated viewings and those films that have seeped into my funny bone so deeply that they have bled, and continue to bleed, out of my subconscious!  I thought about focusing this list on the undisputed funniest comedies, their place in history, etc.  20 is tough, 10 is easier...figured I'd keep it to 10 for my return to the blogsphere or whatever they call it.  But 10 is difficult if you want to include personal favorites with global classics.  So...I decided to be completely selfish and make it the 10 I find funniest, the 10 I find most watchable/rewatchable, the 10 most quotable.  This last one is very important and perhaps may be the overwhelming factor in this process.  I find that the really good films, the films with real lasting power tend to come out of my mouth at random times to people I know and people I don't know...like the teller at the bank when you ask to borrow a pen and find yourself talking like Arnold and looking through your wallet for not your ID...but the Brubaker ID that you put in your wallet before going to Recall.  Stuff like that.  So...without further blabbering...

Klum's Top Ten Comedies Of All Time!!

Number 10 : Nacho Libre

This is a great film.  In compiling this list...Number 10 was perhaps the hardest slot to fill.  There are great films that wanted their place here...stuff like 'Step Brothers', 'Beverly Hills Cop' or 'Miami Blues'.  Well...all three of these could be anywhere on this list...I guess I just wanted to mention them cause they are brilliant, quotable and rewatchable.  I've put 'Nacho Libre' at Number 10 for one reason in particular.  Comedies in general can be pretty cruel.  Often times we are laughing at someone's misery or embarrassment or awkward situation.  This film is perhaps the sweetest comedy ever.  There is not a mean or cruel bone in it's body.  From the first frame to the last triumphant battle for the orphanage...this film comes from a place of genuine caring for one's fellow man!  I'm not usually a softy on such stuff.

Chancho!  This is why we fight!!

Mexico is a horrible place.  Well...I've never been there.  But after watching this film...well, it's still probably a horrible place.  This film though...this film makes it look warm and friendly and full of strange people who wrestle each other and when finished...eat the corn!

They seem to like this stuff!

Made by the fools who brought us 'Napoleon Dynamite' and written by Mike White who wrote 'The School Of Rock' and a few other films of note...this seems like one of those films that you wish you were on set for...very funny, very warm and fun!  Like waking up in a really nice house on Christmas morning or...

...Easterz...

From stretchy pants to blouse tearing...this film is relentless with the jokes and like Wes Anderson films...all about little details...

I wish this was my pillow.

 I know that this is a long shot for a Top 10 list...but this is mine so deal with it!  All I know is that when I catch this on cable or toss it into my DVD player...a huge grin slides across my face!  It is a truly uplifting film!

I made dem!

My wife and I had a discussion about how our country has returned to a puritanical state.  In the 60's we had flower power, revolution and free love...then in the 70's we had disco, cocaine and weird love...then the 80's came and we had Atari, cocaine and Jennifer Beals...in the 90's we had grunge, Clinton and meth...but now...it's all about values and morals and no one minding their own business.  That being said...how'd this film slip through the cracks?  Riffing on organized religion and taboo smashing...like a punch to the face...or an elbow to the face!  It's much more subversive than it's given credit.  And we have the inclusion of a full blown hottie nun!!  Take that Puritans!!

Nunin' it up!

Great music, great performances!  If you haven't seen it...you should.  If you have seen it...watch it again!  It's sweet, it's funny, look at that nun again!  Aww...j'yeah!!

I don't believe in God, I believe in science.

See you at the BattleJam!!!