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TheImpressiveX
moviesSo I Married An Axe-Murderer is a timeless classic. 🤘🏼
Down Periscope. It is to this day the most accurate submarine movie of all time.
"A Shot In The Dark".
Josie and the Pussycats
Idiocracy!
Airplane
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Office Space
My favorite movie.
I showed it to my mom, who worked in an office and she brought my copy in to lend to someone. I got it back around 3 months later when eventually everyone on her floor had seen it.
Young Frankenstein, and it was made in 1974.
The Princess Bride
Is that a kissing movie?
yes, you're very smart... shut up!
To blaaathe...
Marx Brothers, Duck Soup.
South Park: Bigger, Longer, & Uncut
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Life of Brian, too. I also love The Meaning of Life, but I recognize it's not as popular.
Idiocracy. started as a comedy, evolved through time in a documentary.
In Idiocracy, people take a crisis seriously, the state is actively looking for experts to solve the crisis, and defers to them quickly, and when evidence appears people change their minds. Finally they elect the person with the actual best plan for the future.
Idiocracy fundamentally has a wrong view of American stupidity. Idiocracy treats Americans as well-meaning but too complacent to care about the long-term consequences. It declares that society's problems are from a (genetic) lack of useful effort.
But, as the past 10 years have made increasingly hard to deny, American "stupid people" are actively hostile to reckoning with the long-term consequences of their actions. Ignorance was only ever an excuse. It's entitlement rather than complacency, and society's problems come from ('genetically smart') people deliberately bending useful effort towards societal harm for personal gain.
But while it may not have been quite as grating, Idiocracy was already wrong when it came out. Civil rights were suppressed with "ignorant" excuses that were a fig leaf on the desire to do harm. The eugenics the movie takes as a premise - that "smart people" breeding leads to a smart world and inversely for "stupid people" - is itself a form of "ignorance" about genetics that was actively being used as a fig leaf for genocide in the US in the century before.
But no, I'm sure you "just don't get" how Idiocracy is endorsing a genocidal view eugenics. It's easier to "believe" brawndo makes the plants grow.
While you’re correct that the movie highlights a leader searching for a solution to a problem, you overlook the unspoken criticism of society within the movie: the plainly evident results of generations of stupid Americans who were too complacent, and actively hostile, to reckoning with the long-term consequences of their actions.
While the movie is funny you should know the basic premise is eugenics. Which might not be something to cheer on, given the current history repeating trend.
I don't think enjoying the movie somehow supports eugenics. The premise is about the correlation between education level and demographic trends, which is a real thing. The reproduction rate is well-known to be correlated with women's education specifically. Regarding eugenics, historically, the issue there was forced eugenics. That's a much different thing.
Yeah, but the general dumbing down of society is a complete fiction. In reality, someone born ten years after you should statistically have +3 IQ points.
Flynn effect.
Yeah, the eugenics thing is frequently repeated here. I guess the point is also that the premise rests on dumb people outbreeding smart ones, and dumb people are poor. But I always saw that as not being the message of the film.
I disagree, the issue with eugenics is that it's absolute bullshit. Made up by racists and fascists to justify their views.
Genes simply don't work like that, each person doesn't just get the genes from their parents, but from the entire bloodline of each parent. Which means we get a huge mix of stuff, some of which will be expressed and a lot of it won't be. This means children might be similar to parents (but also might not be), but after a few generations it's very hard to track any kind of complex trait.
Most people are about as smart as one another, given the chance to develop and grow. Differences in perceived intelligence are often much more a product of the environment, than anything related to genes. Rich families paid for their kids to go to the best schools, thus their offspring is perceived as more intelligent.
So no the issue isn't just forced eugenics, the issue is eugenics period. Genes do not make one person superior to another and there is no such thing as an Ubermensch or master race.
Blazing Saddles, especially since, as they say, you couldn't make it today. 'Course, now that's less because you can't say the n-word and more because all the anti-racism would trigger the MAGA CHUDs.
I wish I could find it again, but years ago I saw a video about why you couldn't make Blazing Saddles today, aside from it already existing/permission/etc. It wasn't the racism or anything, or how people today are too sensitive.
It couldn't be made today because Blazing Saddles basically destroyed the entire genre.
Prior to its release, Westerns were everywhere. They were incredibly popular, with countless movies and TV shows released every year. Then this movie comes along, points out all of the overused tropes, and reveals the formula they've all been using. The genre of Westerns has never recovered. It would be lampooning obscure content with dated references that people don't understand.
That's the real reason it couldn't be made today.
That's a reason it wouldn't be made today. Not "couldn't"
The only reason it "couldn't" be made is that Mel Brooks won't license his work for a remake. Everything else is "wouldn't", including any concerns about people taking offense. There are entire studios dedicated to doing exactly that.
It's not the actual main thesis of the video so I may be wrong but that sounds familiar to a portion of Lindsay Ellis's video on Mel Brooks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62cPPSyoQkE (unfortunately, I don't have the spoons to try and rewatch the whole thing to double check, for sure).
thetickspoon.gif
Exactly! Always seems like the 'you could never make it today!' crowd is saying that the woke mob would get mad or some shit.
Do they think that Blazing Saddles isn't woke? The whole fucking movie is making fun of dumb white racists!
making fun of dumb white racists!
"You know ... morons."
The common clay of the west!
I've seen TV censor the freaking FARTING 'ROUND THE CAMPFIRE scene, while keeping the slurs.
But also: All Mel Brooks' stuff would fit the question, imo. Not just Blazing Saddles.
Sure, but somebody else already mentioned Mel Brooks films in general. I wanted to highlight that one uniquely because of the factor I mentioned.
If I'm honest, I could do without the farting around the campfire scene.
It is slightly funnier seeing them lift a leg to belch.
They eat beans and it gives them gas. It's not a constructed joke. It's like in Airplane 2: The Sequel where they take the Lunar Shuttle to 0.5 Worp speed and it does the trippy Star Trek visuals, and Elaine takes a drag from a joint and says "oh wow." Dya get it? She did drugs, now she's high. Didja get it?
Blazing saddles is a fun and wild ride. I came in expecting nothing and got kind off for blown off my socks! This movie is so much fun.
Y’all have mentioned so many, I have to go obscure. New Kids Turbo.
Don't forget about New Kids Nitro!
I need to watch it again. Loved it!
Tropic Thunder is a relatively modern movie considering it could not be made today, which adds a lot to the hilarious madness
Everyone keeps saying they couldn't make tropic thunder today but I don't understand why? Other than tropic thunder having already been made, why couldn't it be made today?
Is it because RDJ blacked up? It doesn't seem to have hurt his career at all, it seems most people got the joke.
Is it because they use the word "retard" a lot? I don't think that's integral to the film, it's more just something that ages it a bit and you could easily change the dialogue and have basically the same gag.
I really don't see why "it couldn't be made today".
When people say that it's based on their own personal reactions, which they assume every moral and ethical person shares identically. That movie couldn't have been made in 2008 either, but it was.
Having to convince investors to back it. A lot wouldn't touch a new movie without any potential controversy as it is.
Yeah, my guess is the blackface. But they really lean into it, and honestly, many of my friends of color thought it was hilarious, rather than offensive. Small focus group, but goes to show it's not a universally contentious topic.
And Tropic Thunder is a masterpiece.
Because these days people freak out more about those details. It was a very different time back then.
I don't think that's true at all. People say "tropic thunder couldn't be made today" but nobody says tropic thunder is racist or homophobic or anything like that.
It's not like the looney tunes cartoons from way back when where blatant racist shit was just the norm, TT specifically pokes fun at the racist stuff.
Put it this way, nobody has "cancelled" Tropic thunder, it's still just as good to watch today as it was then.
Nothing has changed to put the film in a different light.
Dude.... People freaked out about that stuff THEN.
Not like today.
We'll never know.
I know
Your mom knows.
- Mars Attacks!
- Galaxy Quest
Ack ack!
:: yodeling intensifies::
Drop Dead Fred 🩵
Rewatching as an adult, this is a psychological thriller. Phoebe Cates is dangerously unhinged and hurts everyone close to her with her delusions. She sinks her friends houseboat and assaults a violin player at the mall. Then she passes her illness on to her new boyfriends daughter.
I think Dr Strangelove is still great satire that's only gotten better as time goes by and the world has gone crazier.
my precious bodily fluids!
Yes. Dr Strangelove is practically a documentary, now. But still hilarious.
I worked at a (mostly) metal venue in college and I can confirm that 'This is Spinal Tap' was just as hilarious and accurate in the '00s as it was in '84.
And what did you make of The End Continues?
Can't speak for zerocool but I enjoyed it.... not nearly as much as the original, but it was cool to see how everyone had aged in our world of podcasts and rejection and legendary cameos....
Clue.
Clue was partially ruined by its theater gag; during its original theatrical run, you'd buy a ticket, go see a ~70 minute movie that randomly had one of the three endings. It flopped. The cable/VHS edit that hastily crammed all three endings together made it longer, you got all the content there was, and...it works better on TV.
Just saw that with the score played live by a symphony.
Disqualified because of the homophobic running gag.
The Death of Stalin. There's something hilarious about how a dictator who terrifies even his closest confidants couldn't get the help he needed in time thanks to all his bad decisions. The second half of the film with the rushed scheming and backstabbing made by the power vacuum was just as good.
MAGA is one final Big Mac Attack away from that whole scenario, which I'm looking forward to.
It's one of my favourite comedies. It was even more fun watching it with my mother who grew up in the USSR. She was constantly affirming that some of the more ridiculous aspects of the movie are shockingly close to reality.
I think a lot of Mel Brooks and Zucker comedies (Naked Gun et. al.) have aged pretty well with their absurd and physical comedy although they can definitely fall flat sometimes.
Christmas Vacation also comes to mind. I think everyone can still relate to the holiday family dynamic.
Even older can still be good - thinking like His Girl Friday style screwball comedies, or Desk Set, Some Like it Hot etc. They still work as comedy, you'll laugh, but they may also require a bit more cultural context to really enjoy, or interest in the period/fashion.
Christmas Vacation
knowing what an enormous asshole Chase was to work with has tempered my enjoyment of these but they are classic
There’s some joke in Naked Gun that are pretty sexist (forgetting the one with OJ)
Have some examples? I wouldn't be surprised but the last time I watched I didn't hear anything that I considered problematic. Admittedly, I'm willing to forgive a lot of generalization when characters are walking caricatures and say crazy shit regularly.
"Nice beaver!"
Thank you, I just had it stuffed!
Not sexist.
Airplane!
The Jerk
Naked Gun*
Spaceballs
Plains Trains and Automobile's
Kung Fu Hustle
Kung Pao Enter the Fist
Clerks, Mallrats
Evil Dead* - Army of Darkness
Tucker and Dale VS Evil
Shaun of the Dead - Hot Fuz
The Big Lebowski
The Jerk
Momma I can dance!
Lord loves a workin man. Dont trust whity. See a doctor, get rid of it!
Plains Trains and Automobile’s
Hell yeah! Excellent road trip movie and one of the best holiday movies there is. Steve Martin and John Candy were brilliant together.
This is the only movie i watch almost every year. I don't know if it's just pure nostalgia, but i always just loved the movie. John Candy plays the fuck out of his character. Like Steve Martin legitimate felt bad after the scene in the motel where he gave him a lot of shit. Every time i watch it i think about how absolutely annoying he is, and after his monologue i go: well maybe it's not that bad.
Apparently a lot of people hate that movie.
it's so good. Candy's character in PT&A and Home Alone are some of my favorites (he recorded all his stuff for home alone in a single fucking DAY of filming! with tons of adlibs that never made it into the final! as a favor to Reitmann and took only scale pay, so like, a few hundred bucks!)
I do need to re-watch Kung pao but I was trained wrong ....as a joke.
How you feel about Blazing Saddles?
Loved it!
Some OJ got in the wine for Naked Gun, so it's more like prison wine.
Good list. I think the only one I'd disagree with is Mallrats. Clerks is still brilliant, but last time I put on Mallrats it didn't hit at all.
Loved mallrats.
That kid is back on the escalator again!
I hope his pants get caught and a bloodbath ensues!
The first of the Corneto Trilogy: Shawn of the Dead, Hot Fuzz (and Spaced)
World's End is also good. It has just as many details for added fun as the first two except the ending feels a bit off even though it follows the theme of Simon's character ending up with the world changed where he doesn't have to.
Office space is still funny. Dumb and Dumber
Dang, I love office space.
Three amigos!
Josie and the Pussycats is too often overlooked.
Did you know some asshole wrote a book about that movie?
(It’s me, I’m the asshole)
"You want some? Come on! Bring it!"
I wish Trading Places could fit here. It is a genuinely hilarious comedy with one of the smartest takes on class culture ever laid to film. But there are some parts that the culture has turned away from...Dan Ackroyd in blackface is something that is just not tolerated these days. I wish it could be viewed for the satire that it is.
I watched it recently and Eddie Murphy was throwing around a lot of gay slurs. Granted you could say the Duke's dropping a few N-Bombs could easily show to prove how much of pieces of shit they really are.
It's interesting to me how Blazing Saddles get a pass on the language, it other satirical films don't. Similarly Tropic Thunder doesn't get pilloried for Downey Jr's blackface, but it's the kiss of death for so many other films.
Similarly Tropic Thunder
imho Tropic Thunder works because Downey is so obviously a foil, including actual black people bemoaning his bullshit in realtime. He's deranged and truly believes he's exceptional, and he's not, and to me, that's a big part of the joke.
I really don't like Tom Cruise, but his part in that is priceless too.
I make allowances, consider it black satire...
Napoleon Dynamite and Nacho Libre are two of my favorites that I can still watch. I will catch A Christmas Story and Vacation movies.
Napoleon Dynamite
"LOL They're All Autistic: The Movie"
I tried watching ND like a year after it hit video and really had difficulty laughing at a lot of it. Kinda like Juno, it hit well having such a refreshing new style of comedy out there, but after a couple watches I could tell I liked it initially just because it was so different.
Arsenic and Old Lace, if you really want to go for something properly old.
Probably wouldn't suit the sort of people who browse their phones while "watching" movies, but it's a funny and well paced farce that has women with agency in it (unlike most movies of it's day)
Which one, 1944 (staring Cary Grant) or 1969 (with Bob Crane in the same role)?
I haven't seen the '69 version - worth watching?
The original is classic and very well executed.
1944
This is my favorite movie of all time. I kid you not. Has been since I first saw it as a kid. I am gobsmacked to see this here but delighted.
1944 or 1969?
‘44 with Cary Grant. I did not know there was a 1969 version.
Excellent!
I only saw it for the first time a couple of years ago, but it really had me in stitches, and it's now my go-to black and white film :-)
-This is Spinal Tap
-The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (original Danny Kaye)
-Wonder Man
-Nearly any film starring Danny Kaye, really
-Most of the Thin Man movies
-Bringing Up Baby
-Father Goose
-Mr Blandings Builds His Dream House
Gosh there must be more but people have already added a lot of great ones, but I haven’t seen these commented yet.
Edit: thought of more
-Father Goose
Father Goose is just so damned fucking tight - every question it begs is satisfied, even glancing relationships / interactions pay out, it's got a cast of children that aren't fuckin annoying, it's got a drunk you feel sympathy for.... that film hits on all cylinders.
I thought Father Goose was an exceptionally good film - still a favourite of mine.
The scene where he slaps a woman to get her respect didn't age well, but the rest is great.
One Week with Buster Keaton is still hilarious and relatable, even though it was released in 1920.
Freddie Got Fingered. Waaaay ahead of its time.
Harold and Maude always cracks me up, but definitely not for everyone.
Bowfinger!
The Pirate Movie (1982)
I recommend watching it on February 29, 2028.
@remindme@mstdn.social 2028-02-29
@TheImpressiveX Ok, I will remind you on Tuesday Feb 29, 2028 at 12:00 AM UTC.
Added to my calendarrrrr
The Philadelphia Story
Withnail & I.
It just gets better with age.
I’m surprised Idiocracy hasn’t been mentioned yet.
As you wish...
Mr. Heulot's Holiday
The Wrong Guy (1997). Just watched it for the first time a few days ago and it really is one of the funniest movies I've ever seen. It's up there with the Naked Gun for me. Highly recommended.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyXoM-62lX0
Sold! Never seen this one before.
I was surprised to find out that so few people know about it.
I remember Foley saying there was some kind of rights issue that kept the movie out of print for a while. I think maybe it didn’t get a DVD release for a while and was stuck languishing on VHS, but I might be misremembering.
Blade Runner
