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Post by kmorgan on Dec 16, 2018 17:50:24 GMT -5
Just watched "Killer Fish". Haven't read the other reviews yet.
This movie wasn't too bad, I thought. It's just pretty jumbled. Did they really need the whole piranha thing, in addition to the heist and the double-crosses? And if they're going to go with piranha, why not go all out and make them mutant or alien piranha? And does the uncut version have a scene explaining how, it seems, everybody is in on the heist and was swindling everybody else, or was that just a last-minute twist? And the stupidity of some of the characters (like the guy trying to pull his buddy to safety while the business end of a spear gun is pointed right at his own chest) was amazing. Still, the movie was reasonably well-made, and I thought James "Not the Finder of Lost Loves" Franciscus was pretty cool as the backgammon-playing mastermind. The riffing was good, though I was surprised that there were no "Airport '75" riffs directed at Karen Black (like when she gets into a boat: "And, suddenly, another boat with Dana Andrews slams into her."). The Invention Exchange was OK, I liked the "killer fish" speculation, and "Under the Dock" was another great song. And I'm still wondering where they're going with "Idiot Control Now!" All in all, a good episode.
By the way, there's one more show left in The Gauntlet, but I counted two open sockets in the wheel on Moon 13. Did I miscount, or is there something else going on? (Don't answer that; just asking.)
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Post by sotrain515 on Dec 27, 2018 11:49:12 GMT -5
We're there to watch the movie with commentary, not commentary with a movie. An important distinction that I feel that they are slowly losing sight of. THIS. One of the reasons I’m actually quite fond of season 1... And why I don’t like the focus on “riffing”. I like jokes, but I like comments and observations too. And quiet moments. This season the movies have them doing too many “funny” voices and seems both overwritten in terms of quantity but underwritten in terms of quality. Which is odd because the host segments and invention exchanges were, in my opinion, hugely improved with not a cringy one or a dud that I can remember! Yeah, you kinda nailed it. To me it's like overall the actors aren't reacting to the movie. Are Jonah and the bots actually watching the movie when they record the riffs? I know the shadow-theater stuff is done later (and obviously involves looooooots of post-production with the Servo stunts and whatnot) but are they just recording the actual jokes in a sound studio with a script? In the original the actors (Mike/Joel and the bots) would sometimes just snort or giggle or make Statler-and-Waldorf noises at the action on the screen 'cuz that was all you needed. I don't think you *ever* hear the new guys doing anything like that. They've gotten better about reacting to each other's jokes (which makes it seem a little more natural) but still... With crass junk like Atlantic Rim or Mac and Me an occasional verbal eyeroll can be just what the doctor ordered. Also, I found all of the "Idiot Control Now" stuff kind of baffling. Why would Dr Forrester care about that song? It felt very much like pandering to the base to no other purpose. Kind of.. fanficcy or something? Like, in our world that's a fondly-remembered host segment but in the show's world it was just another day on the SoL, you know? The idea that that song not only was brought up (repeatedly), re-recorded and re-played (with multiple characters basking in its reflected glory) and used over a multi-episode arc as a kind of eulogy to Frank and Dr. F (who had little to nothing to do with the original that I recall)... Like I said, baffling.
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Post by ChrisDalek on Jan 19, 2019 16:02:11 GMT -5
Never thought I'd hear the Italian theme song to Return of the Saint show up on MST3K, but here we are.
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Post by jadenh on Jan 20, 2019 13:32:47 GMT -5
It's been a while since I've watched Killer Fish, but I remember it being not that great. There were some funny moments, but the movie was very confusing for me. There were too many random characters and half the time, I didn't even know what was going on because it would randomly switch from side plot to side plot. I did like the song in the theater, but it really should have had its own host segment rather than taking place in the theater. Fish Crow was probably my favorite thing about the episode.
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Post by Megalon on Mar 3, 2019 15:27:44 GMT -5
What a weird, weird and confusing movie. It was really more of a heist movie than a killer-fish movie. And for such a stinker, it had a surprising amount of star-power in it: Margaux Hemingway (grand-daughter of Ernest Hemingway), James Franciscus, Lee Majors, Karen Black... I don't know how they were all talked into appearing in this mess, but something tells me that the script they saw was not titled "Killer Fish." More likely the title was changed in post-production after the (modest?) success of Piranha. As an episode, this one was just so-so. Not as good as Mac and Me or Lords of the Deep, but not as bad as the worst episodes of Season 11. Definitely worth rewatching. That said, I agree with the other complaints voiced here. The song was a big miss for me, and there were too many intrusions into the theater by the new robot characters (I'd really prefer one or two appearances, at most, per SEASON; it should be something really special, not a regular occurrence). I also noticed Gypsy's missing line in her second theater appearance. I wonder if it has since been fixed. It's a pretty big goof for such a high-profile show.
Overall rating... B- or C+.
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Post by jadenh on Mar 3, 2019 20:57:15 GMT -5
I believe someone told me that Gypsy's second theater line was fixed, but I didn't care enough to look back and see if it was. If you want to check, go right ahead, because I would rather not watch through a boring episode like Killer Fish again.
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Post by pufncraft on May 15, 2021 20:03:00 GMT -5
I remember really enjoying this one when I first binged The Gauntlet only to cool off on it during subsequent re-watches. I revisited it again yesterday with my twelve-year-old brother, who's only ever seen MST3K: The Movie and the Mac and Me episode in their entirety. He laughed a LOT during the episode and was actually invested in the story. Like Jonah and the bots, he guessed early on that Ollie wasn't going to make it. He also loved the musical number. He's getting to be at that age where he just wants to be left alone in his room so he can play video games all day, so the fact that this episode gave us a chance to bond made me a fan of it again.
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Post by slainmonkey on May 15, 2021 21:45:56 GMT -5
This episode was a mess imo, very badly cut down to fit the shorter format, and there are some very unfortunate gimmicky moments in the theatre sections with Growler, Waverly and Gypsy (I dunno if I’ll ever adjust to calling her GPC), the worst offender of this was the excruciating “Below the Dam” song that distracted from the movie horribly. On the plus side there were some pretty good riffs like the take offs of the mafia characters early on, and even in it’s butchered state the movie itself was pretty watchable. Sadly it’s one of the weakest episodes from the revival series, that said I’d gladly take it over Atlantic Rim!
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Post by Mighty Jack on May 15, 2021 22:17:28 GMT -5
The movie is better than the riffing.
This should have been like shooting fish a barrel (ha, bad pun) but it's just not all that funny to me, and I really disliked how busy it got in the theater with bots popping in and out, that song, Tom flying, even a fish swims through... Uhg. Yeah, watched this not long ago and it's still the worst -meaning unfunniest- effort from the new gang.
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