Tag Archives: John Goodman

April 29, 2020 · 1:18 pm

The Set of 400: #91 – My Favorite Saddam Hussein Dream Sequence

Today! Because that rug really tied the room together –

The Big Lebowski (1998)

Directed by Joel Coen, Ethan Coen (x5)

Starring Jeff Bridges (x2), John Goodman (x6), Steve Buscemi (x3), Julianne Moore (x3), David Huddleston, Philip Seymour Hoffman (x6), John Turturro (x4), Sam Elliott (x2), Jon Polito, Peter Stormare (x2), Tara Reid (x2), Flea (x3), Jack Kehler (x2), Dom Irrera, David Thewlis, Ben Gazzara, Aimee Mann, Mark Pellegrino, Philip Moon

As mentioned earlier, the Coen brothers aren’t exactly flush with box office hits over their career. But coming on the heels of Fargo finally getting them Oscar attention, you’d have though their next film would fare a little better than, say, Species II or Simon Birch or Gus Van Sant’s Psycho remake or John Carpenter’s Vampires, but no. The Big Lebowski was virtually ignored on its initial release, landing in 96th on the 1998 box office chart, and garnering no significant year-end awards. Reviews were good by and large, even if it’s hard to go by Rotten Tomatoes today, with so much revision that is done to films predating the website. But I remember it being generally liked, but far from loved.

Even with the Jesus

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March 24, 2020 · 1:12 pm

The Set of 400: #117 – My Favorite Pomade

Today! Because we’re in a tight spot –

O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)

Directed by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen (x4)

Starring George Clooney (x4), John Turturro (x3), Tim Blake Nelson, Holly Hunter, John Goodman (x5), Charles Durning (x3), Stephen Root (x4), Michael Badalucco (x3), Chris Thomas King, Daniel von Bargen (x3), Ray McKinnon, Frank Collison, Lee Weaver, Wayne Duvall, Ed Gale

When I first saw O Brother, Where Art Thou? in theaters, I was not overly impressed. In my Epinions.com review from that time (R.I.P. Epinions!), I believe I titled the post “The Acme of Foolishness,” taking a line directly from the film, because I thought I was one cute motherfucker. Whereas I normally quickly and whole-heartedly embrace Coen films, this one just didn’t work for me. Initially.

However, one thing I did glom onto right quick was the soundtrack – probably the lasting memory most people have of this movie, if they ever bothered to see it. So popular was T. Bone Burnett’s compilation/re-imagining of that sweet old timey music (#1 on the Billboard chart! 8x Platinum!), that it stayed in the public consciousness far longer than the film remained in theaters (It did gross $45 million – decent by Coen standards). And as you’ve likely gathered from what’s come before on this list, music/musicals register pretty high with this guy, so incessant listening to this CD kept me thinking and reevaluating this movie until finally I learned to like it, then madly love it. Epinions Joe got it way wrong!

And I don’t think Clooney has ever been properly credited for his dancing

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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 3, 2019 · 2:23 pm

The Set of 400: #197 – My Favorite Runaway Cat

Today! Because I don’t see a lot of money here –

Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)

Directed by Joel Coen and Ethan Coen (x2)

Starring Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, John Goodman (x3), Garrett Hedlund, F. Murray Abraham (x2), Justin Timberlake, Adam Driver, Ethan Phillips, Robin Bartlett, Max Casella, Stark Sands, Jeanine Serralles

I debated when starting this list whether to include a cut-off at all, but once I landed on needing space to fairly evaluate these movies against each other, I had to resolve where the line would get drawn. In retrospect, maybe four years was too little (figure, all this was compiled in the summer of 2018, so I placed the eligibility date at January 1st, 2014). Thus only four 2013 movies made this list, and we’ve already reached the last of them. And yeah, maybe 2013 wasn’t the world’s greatest year for films, but hell, 2012 has 13 movies and 2011 has 8.

But, knowing what I know about 2013, having been there and looked around quite a bit, I’m still fairly confident Inside Llewyn Davis would emerge as my favorite. I’m not saying ’13 was a bad year, it’s just not a lovable year – 12 Years a Slave, Her, Nebraska, Prisoners, The Great Gatsby, and American Hustle almost made the list – an admirable group of movies, but none fought their way on. Nope, it’s only #388 The Wolf of Wall Street, #390 Gravity, #265 Iron Man 3, and this. Thin going! Jeez, Iron Man 3 is my second favorite movie of 2013? That can’t be right.

Nonetheless!

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August 16, 2019 · 1:18 pm

The Set of 400: #274 – My Favorite Airport Storyboard Movie Pitch

Today! Because if I’m doing a fake movie, it’s gonna be a fake hit –

Argo (2012)

Directed by Ben Affleck

Starring Ben Affleck, Alan Arkin (x2), John Goodman (x2), Scoot McNairy, Victor Garber (x3), Bryan Cranston, Kyle Chandler (x2), Tate Donovan, Chris Messina, Philip Baker Hall (x2), Rory Cochrane, Clea DuVall (x2), Titus Welliver, Bob Gunton (x2), Richard Kind (x2), Richard Dillane, Adrienne Barbeau, Taylor Schilling, Christopher Denham, Zeljko Ivanek

When we as a people rose up and decried in one voice that we would not allow the slighting of Ben Affleck to continue for one goddamn minute longer, Argo became the surprise Best Picture winner of 2012, despite not receiving a Best Director nomination – as rare a thing to happen at the Oscars as any. And the pointed reason for this win is attributed to this general outrage of Affleck being overlooked, which I don’t really understand. Not the overlooking (even though it was probably a little unfair), but the outrage. Why did everyone care so much? And in a year that I will go to the wall to defend as one of the best in film history? It’s not like there weren’t other deserving and/or better films available. So why did everyone lose their minds over the nominations?

Like, did this seriously have to happen?

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March 14, 2019 · 1:10 pm

The Set of 400: #385 – My Favorite Tournament of Roses

Today! Because he’s not a goodfella, he’s a badfella!

Bee Movie (2007)

Directed by Simon J. Smith, Steve Hickner

Starring Jerry Seinfeld, Renee Zellweger, Matthew Broderick, Patrick Warburton, John Goodman, Chris Rock, Kathy Bates, Barry Levinson, Larry King, Ray Liotta, Sting, Oprah Winfrey, Larry Miller, Rip Torn, Michael Richards, Megan Mullally, Tom Papa, Carol Leifer, Tress MacNeille, John DiMaggio, Carl Kasell, David Herman

Are you as worried as I am that this list could devolve into late ’00s animated comedies? For the second time in three days, here we are! But for an old Seinfeld fan like me, this one had to make the list. Figure, outside of Curb Your Enthusiasm across that decade, there wasn’t much to throw us ’90s fans back into that Seinfeldian vein of yuks, and then came this to scratch that itch. Thanks, Dreamworks! Sure, the actual driving plot is kinda nothing, and the ending works hard to break the reality they’ve built up, but the premise was solid enough to facilitate a ton of Seinfeld-style jokes, and isn’t that really what we were there for in the first place? I mean, what else did we have, American Express commercials? “That was a wicked googly!” is still a great catchphrase, though. Continue reading →

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