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Post by ash2 on Dec 16, 2009 23:33:36 GMT -5
Very funny, but at my theater anyway it was sometimes hard to hear the audio of the source films and I was disappointed that Weird Al didn't get to do any of his songs.
The riffing was hilarious. Everyone in the theatre laughed at the call back to Prince of Space.
I enjoyed the joke about Santa at a parade in Dallas in November of 1963.
The shear volume of crappy Christmas themed shorts did start to wear thin, but the riffs were always undeniably funny.
The one big failure was actually one of the two Non-Christmas shorts. The first one about Pork and the newlywed that was so dumb she "makes Jessica Simpson look like Stephen Hawkins" was really funny, but the Aquatic adventure short that was endless footage of people doing belly flops in a pool was kind of a stinker.
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Post by Hellcat on Dec 17, 2009 1:00:53 GMT -5
Loved the show. The shorts were great (with the exception of the aquatic one -- that was a bit dull), and I flat-out loved the Christmas commercials. My theater was packed, and everyone howled at the Prince of Space callback. We had a great time.
On the whole, it was a very strong show. The guys were in great form. (I do wonder, however, why they didn't give Weird Al more to do.) I hope they release this one as a DVD too.
One negative, however: I just know I'm going to see that creepy dancing doll in a nightmare sometime soon.
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Post by Skyroniter on Dec 17, 2009 1:03:13 GMT -5
One of the guys with me loved the Pork short. It was certainly creepy.
I don't think our crowd as as big as last time. The theater didn't lower the lights until about 30-40 minutes into the show. That was distracting. Then they didn't turn them up after it was over so we had to file out in the dark. They just didn't care...
Thought all the shorts were excellent including the non-xmas ones. Did have trouble hearing the first couple but that seemed to improve as it went on. I would have liked a song or two by the Rifftones. I enjoy Weird Al but he as involved enough as far as I was concerned.
Show was about 15 minutes short of two hours. Would have like a little bit more for my six hours of driving and riding. I just got home. But overall it was worth it.
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Post by Hellcat on Dec 17, 2009 1:19:26 GMT -5
I don't think our crowd as as big as last time. The theater didn't lower the lights until about 30-40 minutes into the show. That was distracting. Then they didn't turn them up after it was over so we had to file out in the dark. They just didn't care... That's odd. My theater also didn't turn up the lights after the show was over. We had to leave in the dark too. I wonder what they were thinking?
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Post by Skyroniter on Dec 17, 2009 1:29:42 GMT -5
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Post by Nuveena on Dec 17, 2009 8:17:47 GMT -5
Great show! I enjoyed it even more than Plan 9, but maybe because I like Christmas so much. The shorts were definitely weird (what was up with the one about the kids visiting Santa in his 60s living room?), and a lot of unwelcome memories were thankfully torn apart. Christmas Dream gave me nightmares when I was little, but they did a great job on it. Too bad Weird Al only got to riff one short; I would've liked to have seen him do more.
The theater wasn't as full as last time, and there were more families, for some reason.
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Post by doctorz on Dec 17, 2009 8:28:45 GMT -5
My theater had a lot of problems. Naming names, the Tinseltown Theater in Jacksonville Fl. was just awful. Fifteen minutes before the show started they lost the signal. at 8:05 the little projectionist girl came out and quietly announced they were having problems and somebody WAS ON THE WAY to fix it. It wasn't until around 8:12 or so that they got somebody in to fix the problem. The 100 or so people in my theater missed the opening remarks, entire first short and probably the "secret word" to download any free goodies from Rifftrax. (Later I've found out that I probably only missed about 5 minutes of the whole thing, but still.) They also left the lights up in the theater so the unfocused second short "A Visit to Santa" was washed out. They didn't focus the image and turn down the lights until well into the Pork short. The sound was either turned down too low or badly mixed so I missed about a third of the riffs. I can only quote Kevin Murphy out of his A Year at the Movies book, "Movie experiences, expensive as they are, should be better than the experience of eating at the food court." I hope they come out with the DVD soon because what I did see of the show was grand. I did not realize that the Rudolf sketch was so unsettling. A Jackbooted Santa who "needs" a reindeer tonight and Rudolfs note to his mother and father was just so wrong in today's context. It got the biggest laugh of the night for sure. I've seen that "Christmas Dream" stop action short before on our local access cable channel over Christmas past. It is real nightmare fuel.
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Post by quinnmartin on Dec 17, 2009 8:39:42 GMT -5
It was a good show, but I didn't enjoy it as much as Plan 9. My wife thought it was better, so it was probably me. The theater was about 2/3rd's full, and not as into it as at Plan 9. The surreal Christmas shorts just got a little repetative after a while, and I didn't think any of them were as funny as the Stewardess short from the Plan 9 live show.
One very cool thing was that Bill's wife was just in front of us for the show. It was fun watching her get excited about them playing Kevin's shark song that she sang on before the show.
But still very funny, and well worth the time/money. The Ding-a-Ling's commercial was probably my favorite moment, and my favorite riff was the "Santa in Dallas, 1963" line during a clip of Santa riding in the back of a convertable.
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Post by doctorz on Dec 17, 2009 8:51:53 GMT -5
One very cool thing was that Bill's wife was just in front of us for the show. It was fun watching her get excited about them playing Kevin's shark song that she sang on before the show. One other thing and then I'm going to shut up about it. Once you see a live Riff it spoils you for the ersatz experience of seeing it projected on a movie screen. There is really no comparison. Granted it's better than nothing, but it is really not even close to being at a live performance. I watched the audience shots during this show with unmitigated envy.
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Post by quinnmartin on Dec 17, 2009 9:09:47 GMT -5
One very cool thing was that Bill's wife was just in front of us for the show. It was fun watching her get excited about them playing Kevin's shark song that she sang on before the show. One other thing and then I'm going to shut up about it. Once you see a live Riff it spoils you for the ersatz experience of seeing it projected on a movie screen. There is really no comparison. Granted its better than nothing, but it is really not even close to being at a live performance. I watched the audience shots during this show with unmitigated envy. I envy you and your wife sir, I truly do. We weren't actually there live. We saw it in Eden Praire, MN. I'm assuming that theater is the closest to where Bill and his family live. But I agree with your take. The Plan 9 show actually felt kind of live. The place was packed and everyone in the audience applauded as if Mike, Kevin, and Bill were there in front of us. It felt very much like when I saw CT live. But this one felt much more like seeing riffing projected on a movie screen, as you said. But still, most of the time watching riffing projected on a movie screen with a sizable group of fans >>>>>>>>>>>>>>> watching riffing on your tv at home. Kudos to Mike and the gang for figuring out how to make this kind of thing happen. Hopefully they sold enough tickets to make another one possible.
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Post by cityofvoltz on Dec 17, 2009 9:11:11 GMT -5
The shorts were great. As others said the audio was a bit off. Seemed like the riffing volume was about the same as the short volume. and the laughter of the crowd was very overpowering. At the theater i was at in livonia at times it just sounded muddy. I mean i have bad hearing- but i heard plan 9 alright. Perhaps it was the microphones in that theater picking up the crowd? At first i probably missed 1/3 of the riffs. i could hear the recorded crowd laugh and our crowd would be silent. I was hoping for more weird al;) but this one- would be a dvd rental/purchase if it gets released- i want to know what i missed! Also the theater i was in did not turn on the lights when it was over. it just had the rifftrax logo playing music- that was odd- some folk hung around. did anything happen after that?
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Post by doctorz on Dec 17, 2009 9:33:05 GMT -5
Did you see Kevin in fishnet stockings and high heels? It changed my life man! Quinnmartin - Sorry, I had the impression you were at the live show. My theater was pretty quiet (and probably mad) so it was not like being at your venue. That would have been nice and I'm sure I would have come away with a better impression of the experience if the theater hadn't totally f***ed it up. I'll get over it, but I was really looking forward to this and it was a big let down that I didn't need right before the Christmas madness hits big time.
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Post by Crowfan on Dec 17, 2009 10:06:38 GMT -5
Seems we have a common thread here. Some of the theaters we saw this show in dropped the ball big time. I probably had the worst experience of all of you. Naming names, the Tinseltown Theater in Jacksonville Fl. was awful. Fifteen minutes before the show started they lost the signal. at 8:05 the little projectionist girl came out and quietly announced they were having problems and somebody WAS ON THE WAY to fix it. This is a particular problem I have with many people and technology. NOBODY knows how to regroup a computer set up when it malfunctions. I've sat through enough failed multi-site Power Point presentations at work to know this all too well. This blind acceptance that nothing can go wrong will kill us all one day, mark my words! (OK I'm going off Jeff Beck mode now ) It wasn't until 8:15 that they got somebody in to fix the problem. The 100 or so people in my theater missed the opening remarks, entire first short and probably the "secret word" to download any free goodies from Rifftrax. At this point I'm feeling ripped off and not entertained. They left the lights up in the theater so the unfocused second short "A Visit to Santa" was washed out in a bong water green fluorescent glare. They didn't focus the image and turn down the lights until well into the Pork short. Add to this that the sound was turned down too low so I missed about a third of the riffs. I can only quote Kevin Murphy out of his A Year at the Movies book, "Movie experiences, expensive as they are, should be better than the experience of eating at the food court." I paid twice the normal price for a movie to see this and my experience could have been a thousand percent better if the THEATER GAVE A DAMN! I hope they come out with the DVD soon because what I did see of the show was grand. There was no secret password, just a line on the screen that said Go to rifftrax.com/toyshop
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Post by Bix Dugan on Dec 17, 2009 10:10:07 GMT -5
We had connection problems with Plan 9, but last night was flawless, technologically. The three "gifts" they got for each other were awesome!
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Post by doctorz on Dec 17, 2009 10:35:20 GMT -5
Hey, thanks a lot. That makes it all somewhat better. I thought I'd missed the "secret word."
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