|
Post by Mod City on Jun 27, 2008 13:17:46 GMT -5
The Doomsday Machine
Not bad at all for a second effort. It wasn't wall-to-wall funny, but the movie itself is compellingly bad. It's very much in the vein of the best selections from MST. It shares a fair amount of plot with Rocketship X-M, except Rocketship X-M did it all much, much better than this film does. I mean, even the little floor toilet everybody climbed up through was there.
The riffing, like Oozing Skull before it, wasn't bad, but never really hit that stride that keeps you laughing from one joke to the next. There were the occasional hard laughs, but mostly I just shared in the disbelief of what I was seeing on screen.
Some points: • The mysterious changing space ship was the highlight of many bad, bad special effects. The people floating in the airlock (that suddenly somehow cancels gravity) was one of the funniest parts for our watching group. • Some of the references to MST were kind of fun. Josh's comment about a robot with a gumball machine for a head being stupid was a nice wink. • The ending to this movie rivals Manos in sheer nonsense and total disregard for the audience. I halfway expected Joel to drop a "DO SOMETHING!" in there. I think Josh described it as "watching someone watch Manos." Lord, it's downright awful. • I liked the DVD case and cover and I liked the little intro thing they did. It just kind of set the pace and kept things from feeling too random when they all just walk in and start talking to the screen.
Overall a very good experience. The riffing is still not up to speed and uneven – Frank seemed awfully quiet through a lot of it – but I'm confident once they get their system up and running we'll see stronger performances.
|
|
|
Post by travis on Jun 27, 2008 13:30:03 GMT -5
I will say, the one weak point in both the FC and CT releases are the quality of the skits. Granted the CT crew are at a disadvantage being limited to silhouettes, but, well, that was their choice. I agree. While the FC skits usually made me laugh, I think it showed how much funnier some jokes are coming from puppet robots (like the ending segment in GIANT OF MARATHON). I could totally picture Crow & Servo fitting in to the FC skits. The CT skits are ok, but usually too short and random as hell (which I guess works).
|
|
|
Post by beljah on Jun 27, 2008 22:29:29 GMT -5
The Doomsday Machine• The ending to this movie rivals Manos in sheer nonsense and total disregard for the audience. I halfway expected Joel to drop a "DO SOMETHING!" in there. I think Josh described it as "watching someone watch Manos." Lord, it's downright awful. Actually, that was Frank and that was the riff I found to be the funniest. And the air lock scene was a hoot, strings clearly evident. The Peter Pan riffs rang true.
|
|
|
Post by strangefate on Jun 27, 2008 23:14:43 GMT -5
Doomsday Machine was just okay IMO. Probably not as good as the first release actually. Fair riffing, really terrible movie, and more half-baked skits the show might just be better off without.
Ultimately I agree with those above, CT has so far been a less enjoyable venture than FC to me. But then I've always been a Mike/Bill/Kevin guy. They just hit all the right notes for me. Weirdly I also think their skits were a bit funnier and their overall plotline (eccentric rich guy bankrolling film commentary for his favorite B-movies) somehow worked better than, well, whatever's going on in CT.
Which sounds like I'm bashing CT but it's not intended that way. I do like the show overall, but I don't think they've quite hit the mark yet. I imagine it'll only improve as they keep tweaking things and get more episodes under their belt tho. (Which leads to me the sad thought of good FC might have become if the release delays hadn't killed it...)
|
|
|
Post by Mod City on Jun 28, 2008 2:16:14 GMT -5
The Doomsday Machine• The ending to this movie rivals Manos in sheer nonsense and total disregard for the audience. I halfway expected Joel to drop a "DO SOMETHING!" in there. I think Josh described it as "watching someone watch Manos." Lord, it's downright awful. Actually, that was Frank and that was the riff I found to be the funniest. And the air lock scene was a hoot, strings clearly evident. The Peter Pan riffs rang true. Good call on Frank's riff. I missed the Peter Pan lines because I was laughing so hard. Gonna have to watch it again.
|
|
|
Post by Mr. Atari on Jun 28, 2008 2:17:23 GMT -5
I love the Rifftrax guys and their product. But deep down, Trace and Joel are my favorite Brains, and Mary Jo climbed a mountain with me. So I have a special enjoyment of CT. And I enjoyed Doomsday even more than Oozing.
I like how they made adjustments based on fans' feedback from the first one; specifically, the explanation of the premise, the individual pictorial introductions, and the better spaced silhouettes. The jokes are great, the film was my style, and even the skits are interesting to me. They're quirky and random, just what you'd expect from Joel, Frank, et al.
My one criticism is the same as last time: their delivery. Once again, they seem to be performing a script-- which of course, they are. But MST eps, which were also scripted, never felt this obvious. The gesticulations of Trace and Josh trying to sell a silhouette gag, the limited riff interplay/overlap between the five, and the way you can tell how each of them is waiting their turn to deliver their next line all exemplify this problem. As the movie went on, I kept wanting to tell them to just relax.
I wonder if all of the live performances they do is causing this effect. But I hope as they continue making these that they'll settle in to a looser performance. I hope future releases will feel more like five friends making fun of a movie and less like five stage actors performing a teleplay.
That singular complaint notwithstanding, my reaction to The Doomsday Machine is like the annoying kid's in Prince of Space: I liked it VERY MUCH!
|
|
|
Post by BoB3K on Jun 28, 2008 11:07:55 GMT -5
I agree with most of what's been said here. I would rank this episode a half-point lower than Ep 1. I liked the intro--hopefully they'll keep expanding it. I thought the skits were better this time, but there was only two--this drag of a movie needed another break somewhere in the middle there.
As for the movie, GOD it was boring. I've said this before--I like watching "CHEESY" movies, NOT "TERRIBLE" movies! The riffs were hit and miss. I enjoyed most of them, but man those riffs over the credits at the beginning were just bad--they made me cringe a little.
Which brings me to my final point--it's the same one Atari made--"Lighten Up!" The delivery in the CT eps so far does not feel like it's coming from a group of five 20-year riff-experienced friends. It sounds like five commedians with little stage time reading through a script.
This is not meant as a Rifftrax vs CineTanic jab, but I think the CT folks should go listen to a couple of the recent Rifftrax eps to hear how it's supposed to be done--Mike, Kevin, and Bill are relaxed, but engergetic, they bounce riffs off of each other--they're just fun to listen to. (And, I'll tell you, this is coming from a guy who has always preffered MST3K seasons 0-5.5.)
But back to the movie selection--the group can hone their riffing skills, and tweak the show format, but if the selection of movies doesn't get a little better, I might be switching from a buy-em-all plan, to a selective wait-and-see plan.
( ... aaa, who em I kidding, I'll probably still buy them all, but I still hope the movie selection improves--I like movies with actual plots, like 'Night of the Bloodbeast' or 'Tormented' or Most of the Secret Agent Ones. Made for TV Movies are great examples, because they usually have a decent script, but then throw little budget and B-TV stars at it.)
|
|
|
Post by strangefate on Jun 28, 2008 12:50:56 GMT -5
I agree on the somewhat stiff delivery and did cringe at a couple of the jokes during the opening credits. (Josh doing the hammer dance?) There's something about it that just isn't clicking for me, and I think it may have to do with combination of the silhouettes only, the fact they seem to be wearing suits, and that Trace & Josh have to stand through the whole film. It doesn't seem fun. It seems oddly scripted and serious.
I think one of the problems is that this new format may not play as well to this cast's strength. Mike, Kevin, Bill fit perfectly in a show that's all riffing all the time. That's what they excel at. Host segments always did seem secondary to them. But I think by eliminating (or curtailing) that sort of thing from Cinematic Titanic, Joel, Trace, and Frank have done themselves a disservice. I'm admittedly not a huge Joel fan, but some of his best work IMO came from his interaction with the bots outside the theater and invention exchanges. And as good a Crow as he was, Trace was most memorable IMO as the hammy Dr. F.
I'm not sure the tone and setup of Cinematic Titanic is playing to the strengths of its cast the way MST3K did. (And I say that feeling the riffing is actually fairly decent, at least Season 4 quality or so). I hope over time they'll start developing 'characters' (or personalities) to go along with their silhouettes, which might help sell the skits better. Right now they seem too bland and interchangeable, probably especially so to someone who isn't already a fan of these people.
|
|
|
Post by Mighty Jack on Jun 28, 2008 13:25:55 GMT -5
Posted my review at my site: Doomsday MachineI watched Oozing Skull again last night as well and just howled from start to finish. It fits my style and sense of humor to perfection. It would easliy rank among my top of any riff project (MST included) - Doomsday's a hair below it, but still a riot. I don't need skits or set up or anything else. Just make me laugh while you riff on a movie and I'm happy. CT makes me more than happy. That's all I can ask for. Can't wait for the 3rd release!
|
|
|
Post by pablum on Jun 29, 2008 11:23:09 GMT -5
Doomsday wasn't as good as Oozing Skull, but I feel it had to do more with the movie than anything else. The last 10-15 minutes were some of the most excruciating moments ever put to film. Some shoddy 2001 rip-off where even less happens. When absolutely nothing is happening in the movie very little in the way of riffing is likely to come out and it shows here. Maybe the guys at CT should screen their movies a little more for watchability before committing to a riffing project.
As far as the riffing itself, it was okay. Much better in the beginning when they had stuff happening on camera to riff on. Though not that great. I'm not a fan of the jokes where all of them riff at the same time shouting at the action on screen. They did it too much here. I guess its supposed to be cute, but I hate cute.
The sketches, what little there were, weren't anything special either. The opening was the funniest due to the MST3K references and the robots. Joel's megaphone was okay, and the last segment was only good for Frank screaming. They basically added nothing to the show. The ending petered out like the movie, so I couldn't expect much there.
I'm bashing it a lot, but there was a lot to bash, but it was okay as I typed previously. I could still watch this more than some MST3K season 1 and KTMA material, but its still not anywhere near MST3K season 3 or beyond. Which is where I'd like Cinematic Titanic to be.
The only post-MST3K stuff that so far has met my criteria for entertainment truly picking up where MST3K left off were most of the sketches in the Film Crew (not the riffing). As of yet contemporary riffing projects haven't reached the days of yore that I still harken back to, but I suppose its hard to get to that level when you don't really have a TV station's production budget.
|
|
|
Post by davidmello on Jul 1, 2008 13:17:09 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by braindeadzombie on Jul 1, 2008 14:34:40 GMT -5
Wow, ok. I just finished the latest CT DVD, The Doomsday Machine. I really enjoyed it but this is my kind of bad movie and my kind of crew to work on it so maybe I'm a little biased.
This "movie" has so many things in common with Monster-a-Go-Go, it's not even funny. Mock surprise ending, the know it all narrator at the end makes a hopeless attempt to make everything that passed before seem coherent, actors and props that change or disappear all together {what was with the space station model? That was supposed to be the Astra?}, a plot that doesn't know when to start or quit and actors who don't the meaning of the word "emote".
In light of this kind of movie, riffing is incidental. Point out the illogical plot, mixed up models, stock shots, make some comments of how slow and dull the story is and make the occasional "out of the blue" comment: It's pratically a standard for riffing on these movies. A paint by numbers blueprint.
To sum it up: It's the end of the world as we know and I feel it's fine. Fav riff: "But what if we ditch the computer?"
|
|
|
Post by fishbulb33 on Jul 1, 2008 19:39:48 GMT -5
Is it just me, or did that "narrator" at the end sound a lot like Harry Shearer doing his Principal Skinner/God voice?
|
|
|
Post by davidmello on Jul 1, 2008 20:25:48 GMT -5
That's what I said on my review. I noticed that, too.
|
|
|
Post by terry on Jul 2, 2008 12:03:14 GMT -5
Personally, I really dug it. Except for the last 10 or so minutes, I thought it was really well done. The riffing, I mean. Not the movie, which was the Deepest of Hurting.
REFERENCE I NEVER THOUGHT I'D HEAR:
JOEL: "Don't you look at me! DON'T YOU EVER LOOK AT ME!" (a la Frank Booth (Dennis Hopper) from "Blue Velvet." Yikes.)
|
|