December 26, 2019 · 2:20 pm

The Set of 400: #180 – My Favorite Freedonia Shout-Out

Today! Because what if there is no God and you only go around once and that’s it. Well, don’t you wanna be part of the experience?

Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)

Directed by Woody Allen (x5)

Starring Mia Farrow (x4), Michael Caine (x3), Barbara Hershey, Woody Allen (x4), Diane Wiest (x2), Max Von Sydow (x2), Carrie Fisher (x3), Maureen O’Sullivan, Lloyd Nolan, Daniel Stern (x2), Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Lewis Black, Julie Kavner (x2), J.T. Walsh (x5), John Turturro (x2), Richard Jenkins (x3), Fred Melamed (x2), Joanna Gleason, Sam Waterston (x2), Tony Roberts (x2)

With one of the best casts ever assembled, Hannah and Her Sisters in a lot of ways is the perfect Woody Allen movie. He made better ones, and he made funnier ones, but this is the rare hybrid between family drama and neurotic comedy, neatly packaged together as one film. Really, there are two plots running alongside each other, knitted together by featuring the extended family of sisters Hannah (Farrow), Holly (Wiest), and Lee (Hershey). Being a Woody Allen film, the B plot is entirely him – as Hannah’s writer ex-husband Mickey, going through a mid-life crisis where he may be dying of a brain tumor (this is the funny half!). The A plot features Hannah’s current husband – Michael Caine’s Elliot – in his escalating disenchantment with their marriage and his lust for sister-in-law Lee. Even this breakdown isn’t entirely fair, as they split time on these stories pretty evenly, plus a good amount of time spent on Wiest’s hilarious Holly, but the Elliot/Lee/Hannah portion does occupy with the emotional center of things.

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December 25, 2019 · 2:11 pm

The Set of 400: #181 – My Favorite Barehanded Catch

Today! Because this is what it’s going to be like in the factories, too, I suppose, isn’t it? The men are back, Rosie, turn in your rivets –

A League of Their Own (1992)

Directed by Penny Marshall

Starring Geena Davis, Lori Petty, Tom Hanks (x3), Madonna (x3), Rosie O’Donnell, Jon Lovitz, David Strathairn (x2), Garry Marshall (x3), Megan Cavanagh (x2), Anne Ramsay, Ann Cusack (x2), Tracy Reiner, Bitty Schram, Freddie Simpson, Renee Coleman, Bill Pullman (x3), Don S. Davis, Harry Shearer (x2), Tea Leoni (x2), Joey Slotnick, Eddie Mekka, Mark Holton (x3), David L. Lander (x2)

The best baseball movie ever made (take that, The Natural!) and the funniest (suck it, Major League!), A League of Their Own gave us so much – it was a long overdue history lesson about the WWII-era women’s professional baseball organization, the AAGPBL (that is a mouthful of an acronym, too); it’s an insight into the world back home during the great war and the unbelievable pressure on the wives and girlfriends stateside; it’s a riveting sports movie with many of the typical beats but executed at a very high level; it manages to swing expertly from hilarious to heartbreaking without losing any strength or momentum. And it’s ridiculously the third Madonna movie on this list, which I’m as amazed by as you are.

Who’s That Girl did not make the list!

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December 24, 2019 · 2:15 pm

The Set of 400: #182 – My Favorite Projectile Water Fountain

Today! Because I must be crazy to be in a loony bin like this –

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)

Directed by Milos Forman

Starring Jack Nicholson (x4), Louise Fletcher (x3), Brad Dourif, Will Sampson, Scatman Crothers (x3), Danny DeVito (x5), Vincent Schiavelli (x5), Christopher Lloyd (x4), Michael Berryman, Peter Brocco, Sydney Lassick, Louisa Moritz, Mews Small, William Redfield

I was already well familiar with the movie by the time I read Ken Kesey’s book, which is a very different Cuckoo’s Nest experience, and then later Dale Wasserman’s play – which bears more similarity to the movie, but is sort of a neat hybrid of the two. Kesey famously hated the direction the movie went, because again, that book is wildly different, even as it tells basically the same story, but both are pretty great in their own ways.

The movie, however, does win out in the end, being the absolute cinematic classic that it is. And the whole thing came together as it did by a lot of luck – Kirk Douglas had starred as McMurphy on Broadway in the early ’60s and held the rights, only to age out of the role and pass the producing onto his son Michael, opening the door for Nicholson to come on board. That casting delayed the film, due to other Nicholson projects, which also roundabout-ly caused Lily Tomlin to vacate the Nurse Ratched role, picked up by Louise Fletcher, who subsequently dropped out of the epic pre-production on Robert Altman’s Nashville, in the role that ultimately Lily Tomlin ending up jumping into (Part of the reason Tomlin’s Linnea has deaf children in Nashville is because Louise Fletcher was fluent in sign language, having been born to deaf parents!). I think I have all that right, pulled together through various sources and my muddled memory.

And Lily Tomlin is excellent in Nashville

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December 23, 2019 · 2:09 pm

The Set of 400: #183 – My Favorite Spinach Puffs

Today! Because it’s not the first time I was tossed out of a window, and it won’t be the last –

The Emperor’s New Groove (2000)

Directed by Mark Dindal

Starring David Spade, John Goodman (x4), Eartha Kitt, Patrick Warburton (x2), Wendie Malick (x2), Tom Jones (x2), Patti Deutsch

Pound for pound one of the funniest animated movies ever made, The Emperor’s New Groove snuck into theaters around Christmas 2000 and opened to approximately zilch. Okay, that’s not 100% accurate, but it sure didn’t open well – was everyone aware this thing was coming out? – but it managed to hang around forever, ultimately putting up nearly a 9X multiplier from its first weekend, which if you know anything about box office is an insane number. Word of mouth caught on and saved a near disaster!

But its popularity would’ve gotten there eventually either way. New Groove is surprisingly funny, amazingly so, even if you’re not a particularly big fan of David Spade. I’m an old SNL devotee from way back, though, so this was not a drawback. His work here, as the egocentric emperor turned into a llama, is perfect – just the right actor in just the right part. Animated films – especially from this era – could be really hit or miss in this area. The mania to put huge movie stars into voice roles was a great marketing/publicity tool, but didn’t always serve the film best (I don’t want to get into specifics, but virtually all late ’90s Disney films suffer from this at least a little bit).

*cough*

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December 20, 2019 · 2:30 pm

The Set of 400: #184 – My Favorite Johnny Chimpo Contraband

Today! Because I can say “meow.” I can say “moo.” For $20, I’ll call the guy a chickenfucker –

Super Troopers (2001)

Directed by Jay Chandrasekhar (x2)

Starring Jay Chandrasekhar (x3), Steve Lemme (x2), Kevin Heffernan (x2), Paul Soter (x2), Erik Stolhanske (x2), Brian Cox (x4), Marisa Coughlan, Daniel von Bargen, Geoffrey Arend, Andre Vippolis, Joey Kern, Lynda Carter, Jim Gaffigan, Michael Weaver, James Grace, John Bedford Lloyd

Look, I’ve got a Best Picture winner coming up, movie after next, so give me a little leeway on how much I enjoy this stupid goddamn movie. I’m not even sure the first time I saw Super Troopers – I had a buddy I did plays with who ran this movie at parties pretty much non-stop, and I was plenty drunk at most of those parties. I also met my wife at one of those parties, so is Team Ramrod indirectly responsible for my marital bliss to this day? Hell, it might be! Thanks, Farva! And shoutout to my pal JD!

The Broken Lizard had a movie out before this – something I don’t think much of anyone saw until after they hit it big, called Puddle Cruiser, but it’s very much the same thing. Most of their movies share the same comic sensibility, but none work better than this – the Vermont highway patrol gets embroiled in a drug smuggling investigation that may or may not involve their rivals from the local police department. And there is much drunken hijinks and pranks and maple syrup chugging along the way. It’s hilarious! Shut up!

Aww, look at the young Broken Lizard!

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December 19, 2019 · 2:10 pm

The Set of 400: #185 – My Favorite Boot Hat

Today! Because so much for rule #1 –

Multiplicity (1996)

Directed by Harold Ramis

Starring Michael Keaton (x4), Andie MacDowell (x3), Harris Yulin, Eugene Levy (x2), Richard Masur, Brian Doyle-Murray (x3), John de Lancie, Ann Cusack, Julie Bowen, Robin Duke, Robert Ridgely (x3), Glenn Shadix (x2)

While it still might be a better idea for a movie than how it actually turned out, Multiplicity is nonetheless a very funny, solidly entertaining film. After a lengthy sojourn into superhero costumery and relatively effective dramas, Michael Keaton got back to his all out comedic roots portraying Doug Kinney (named for legendary National Lampoon writer Doug Kenney) and his clones. It’s a pan-and-scan nightmare of a film, so find it in widescreen or get ready for the whiplash! They want you to see all the clones, it’s understandable, but man, the camera sliding all over the goddamn place.

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December 18, 2019 · 2:10 pm

The Set of 400: #186 – My Favorite Heavily Mirrored Berth

Today! Because I always thought it would be better to be a fake somebody than a real nobody –

The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)

Directed by Anthony Minghella

Starring Matt Damon (x4), Gwyneth Paltrow (x3), Jude Law (x2), Cate Blanchett (x3), Philip Seymour Hoffman (x5), James Rebhorn (x2), Philip Baker Hall (x4), Jack Davenport, Sergio Rubini, Celia Weston

Ah, 1999! My fourth and fifth semesters of college really landed a lot of movies on this list – here we are at eleven already! – and I’m also surprised to find 1998 with only six, and none so far. Those are six pretty high ranking films! As I’ve mentioned, I consider the corridor of 1997-1999 as one of the best in film history (this is also possibly due to my finally being able to drive in this time period), and so films from this era keep cropping up.

A wonderfully atmospheric, psychological thriller, The Talented Mr. Ripley takes Patricia Highsmith’s solid murder yarn and elevates it to great cinema through a bevy of sterling performances and Minghella’s solid writing and directing – his best of the ’90s (Yeah, you heard me, English Patient!). Matt Damon was coming off Good Will Hunting, Gwyneth had just won an Oscar for Shakespeare in Love, and Cate Blanchett had just been robbed of that same Oscar for Elizabeth. This film also launched Jude Law – even if his career got way uneven for a long time afterward – snagging the film its only acting Oscar nomination as the object of everyone’s desire, Dickie Greenleaf.

I mean, obviously, right?

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December 17, 2019 · 2:20 pm

The Set of 400: #187 – My Favorite Inpatient Assignation

Today! Because I am the fool for Christ, and the Paraclete of Caborca, the Wrath of the Lamb, the Angel of the Bottomless Pit –

The Hospital (1971)

Directed by Arthur Hiller

Starring George C. Scott (x2), Diana Rigg, Richard Dysart (x2), Barnard Hughes, Andrew Duncan (x2), Nancy Marchand (x2), Jordan Charney, Roberts Blossom, Katherine Helmond, Frances Sternhagen, Robert Walden, Stockard Channing (x2), Lenny Baker, Donald Harron

A black comedy of the highest order, The Hospital is Paddy Chayefsky’s healthcare takedown precursor to dismantling television news five years later in Network. George C. Scott – in his second list film from 1971 in the last two weeks! – plays chief of medicine Dr. Bock who’s deeply sunk in his midlife crisis, marriage ruined, career malaise, while his hospital goes through an epic administrative, public, and lethal meltdown, with protests breaking out constantly over the hospital acquiring-to-demolish nearby slums, patients getting lost, misdiagnosed, and accidentally killed, and doctors being actively hunted by a faceless murderer. There’s also an Indian shaman and an overzealous billing supervisor in the mix. And this all takes place in about a 72 hour span. Continue reading →

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December 16, 2019 · 2:21 pm

The Set of 400: #188 – My Favorite Misplaced Jelly Beans

Today! Because mother always taught me – “Never eat singing food” –

The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)

Directed by Brian Henson (x2)

Starring Michael Caine (x2), Steve Whitmire (x3), Frank Oz (x4), Dave Goelz (x3), Jerry Nelson (x3), David Rudman, Jessica Fox, Steven Mackintosh, Meredith Braun, Louise Gold (x2), Karen Prell

Some critics and fans choice as the best Muppet film, Christmas Carol holds a number of interesting distinctions, not just in Henson Company lore but also in filmed versions of the Dickens novel. Come along on this trivia journey! Much has been made of the fact that this was the first major Muppet production after Jim Henson’s death in 1990, but this was also the first project without Richard Hunt – another of the core five puppeteers who performed virtually all the characters – who was ailing and died in early ’92. Because of this, many of their characters do not appear or have significantly scaled down roles, such as Rowlf, Scooter, Janice, and Dr. Teeth. It would be many years before they would recast these parts. The exceptions, of course, were Steve Whitmire taking over Kermit – an obviously necessity – and Dave Goelz and Jerry Nelson playing Statler & Waldorf (here, the Marley brothers), having been performed by Hunt (since The Muppet Show) and Henson (since The Muppet Show pilot, Sex and Violence). Partly by design, but also by casting, this was the first Muppet project of any substantial size that did not feature Kermit as the lead – you can make a case to say he’s fourth as Cratchit, after Caine’s Scrooge, Gonzo as Dickens, and Rizzo, helping out the narration. This set-up, with Gonzo as the main Muppet figure, would carry through the rest of the films in the ’90s.

Gonzo does make a terrific Chuck Dickens

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December 13, 2019 · 2:18 pm

The Set of 400: #189 – My Favorite Matt Damon

Today! Because this isn’t about sex, Gary, it’s about trust!

Team America: World Police (2004)

Directed by Trey Parker

Starring Trey Parker, Matt Stone, Kristen Miller, Daran Norris, Phil Hendrie, Maurice LaMarche (x2), Masasa Moyo

Okay, I’m not gonna lie, I’m not overly proud of how funny I think Team America is. Like, you remember it being funny too, right? When it came out, we were all still in the early years of South Park, and The Book of Mormon hadn’t come along yet to settle these guys down, so the humor in Team America was crazy extreme. You watch it today, it’s a bit shocking what all is in there. But it’s still funny, in a super inappropriate way.

I decided against the really inappropriate gifs

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December 12, 2019 · 2:19 pm

The Set of 400: #190 – My Favorite Dying Charlatan

Today! Because we switched a whole study course from the menace of Communism to the inspiration of Hazel Flagg –

Nothing Sacred (1937)

Directed by William Wellman

Starring Carole Lombard (x3), Fredric March (x2), Walter Connolly, Charles Winninger, Sig Ruman (x2), Frank Fay, Margaret Hamilton, Maxie Rosenbloom, Charles Lane, Sidney Kibrick, Hattie McDaniel (x2), Hedda Hopper, Jinx Falkenburg, Billy Barty

The movie that kicked off my 2018 marathon of every existing Carole Lombard feature (all 42 of them), Nothing Sacred inspired this endeavor by functioning as the purest example of Lombard-led screwballery. The other (spoiler alert) four Lombard films on this list all feature an equally effective leading man performance, be it Fred MacMurray or Jack Benny or William Powell, but Fredric March is just big name window dressing in this all-out Lombard vehicle. She plays small-town Hazel Flagg, incorrectly diagnosed with a rapidly terminal illness, who is quickly whisked away to New York City by an unaware, enterprising reporter hot for a human interest story. Hazel can’t help but get caught up in the attention and glamour, and obvious issues arise when more and more people find out about this deception.

It’s a real rock ’em sock ’em affair

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December 11, 2019 · 2:15 pm

The Set of 400: #191 – My Favorite Homeless Q*bert

Today! Because I’m bad, and that’s good. I will never be good, and that’s not bad –

Wreck-It Ralph (2012)

Directed by Rich Moore

Starring John C. Reilly (x5), Sarah Silverman (x2), Jane Lynch (x4), Jack McBrayer (x2), Alan Tudyk (x2), Joe Lo Truglio (x3), Mindy Kaling, Ed O’Neill (x2), Dennis Haysbert, Edie McClurg (x2), Rachael Harris, Adam Carolla, Horatio Sanz (x2), Maurice LaMarche, John DiMaggio (x2)

The shining example of a kid’s movie made for adults, Wreck-It Ralph includes loads of old video game characters and cameos, from Q*bert to Doctor Robotnik, voiced by a terrific group of comedians milking the arcade gags for all their worth. Even the central games of the story – Fix-It Felix Jr. and Sugar Rush – are thinly disguised versions of Rampage and Super Mario Kart. And being a kid who grew up in the ’80s and ’90s, obsessed with Atari, Nintendo, Sega Genesis, and Super Nintendo, this movie obviously was geared toward me and mine, not the Xbox children of today.

But while the first half hour does feel a tad gimmicky – these large scale Avengers style combinations of characters can’t help but suffer a little in design – it is still driven by a terrific little story, as Fix-It Felix Jr. villain Ralph is disgruntled with being the perennial bad guy and looks for a way to improve his standing with his game’s other characters. This leads his adventure through the arcade, winning a medal in the Halo-esque Hero’s Duty, and subsequently losing it in the candy-heavy racing game. There are plenty of fun twists and turns, but the emotional heart of the film separates it from other similar animated fare, as Ralph is tasked with helping Sugar Rush’s glitched racer Vanellope against the wishes of literally every character in her game. Continue reading →

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December 10, 2019 · 2:19 pm

The Set of 400: #192 – My Favorite Stallone Terminator Movie

Today! Because I’m the famous comedian Arnold Braunschweiger –

Last Action Hero (1993)

Directed by John McTiernan (x2)

Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Austin O’Brien, Mercedes Ruehl, Charles Dance, F. Murray Abraham (x4), Anthony Quinn, Robert Prosky (x2), Art Carney, Frank McRae, Tom Noonan, Ian McKellen (x3), Joan Plowright, Bridgette Wilson, Tina Turner, Rick Ducommun (x4), Michael V. Gazzo, Colleen Camp (x2), Leeza Gibbons (x3), M.C. Hammer, Little Richard, Maria Shriver, Angie Everhart, Jim Belushi, Chevy Chase (x2), Robert Patrick, Sharon Stone, Jean-Claude Van Damme (x2), Damon Wayans

I would normally start by telling you all to SHUT UP, but seriously, I need some input. This movie was a famous disappointment at the box office in the summer of 1993, and critically didn’t fare much better. It’s the weird resume blip for Schwarzenegger between Terminator 2 and True Lies. But, like, I legitimately love this movie, and simply don’t understand the hatred it seems to bring out in people. Really, why don’t more people like Last Action Hero?

Was it this?

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December 9, 2019 · 2:10 pm

The Set of 400: #193 – My Favorite Rudolph Valentino Impression

Today! Because he’s never Justin any more. All day, every day –

They Might Be Giants (1971)

Directed by Anthony Harvey

Starring George C. Scott, Joanne Woodward, Jack Gilford, Rue McClanahan, Al Lewis (x2), Theresa Merritt, Oliver Clark, James Tolkan (x3), F. Murray Abraham (x3), Sudie Bond, M. Emmet Walsh (x4), Louis Zorich, Paul Benedict, Frances Fuller, Lester Rawlins, Ron Weyand

Another kind of Sherlock Holmes movie, They Might Be Giants shares more similarities with Man of La Mancha than with Arthur Conan Doyle’s detective, despite this movie featuring a mystery, a Watson, and sort of a Moriarty. Sort of. Not all that dissimilar from #264 The Ruling Class, this is another play-based lunatic comedy wherein the main character believes himself to be someone completely different – Ruling Class had Peter O’Toole’s upper crust noble convinced he was Jesus Christ; They Might Be Giants sees George C. Scott’s respected lawyer and judge Justin Playfair 100% committed to the idea that he is actually Sherlock Holmes. Continue reading →

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December 6, 2019 · 2:12 pm

The Set of 400: #194 – My Favorite Pink Elephant

Today! Because your soul is dog shit. Every single fucking thing about you is ugly –

Bad Santa (2003)

Directed by Terry Zwigoff

Starring Billy Bob Thornton (x2), Tony Cox (x2), Lauren Graham (x2), Bernie Mac (x2), John Ritter, Cloris Leachman (x2), Brett Kelly, Ajay Naidu, Alex Borstein, Billy Gardell, Bryan Callen (x2), Tom McGowan, Octavia Spencer (x3), Matt Walsh (x6)

A bit of the shimmering, yuletide luster of Bad Santa has worn off over the years, I’ll admit. While Billy Bob Thornton was always a fair bet to effectively embody a comic asshole prior to this, he made it his stock in trade for some years to come afterward, knocking the novelty off this film ever so much. Bad News Bears, School for Scoundrels, Mr. Woodcock – it would take a bit for Thornton to get back to portraying wise, snide hillbillies again. And I’ll admit – I’ve never seen Bad Santa 2. I know! The original is in the top 200, and I just never got around to the sequel. How the hell does he team back up with Marcus, after what happened in the first movie? That idea alone put me off bothering to watch it. But hey, someday. Maybe by the time you’re reading this, who knows?

Seriously, just how does this happen?

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