FUNNY FARM (1988) - 6/10. Not great but has some funny moments. Madolyn Smith steals several scenes she's in.

mkaroly wrote:FUNNY FARM (1988) - 6/10. Not great but has some funny moments. Madolyn Smith steals several scenes she's in.

One of my favorites! Gorgeous cinematography by Miroslav Ondricek (Amadeus), Henry Bumstead production design, Elmer Bernstein score, a Jeffrey Boam script and George Roy Hill doing yeoman's work...I've always been a big fan of FUNNY FARM. Some HUGE laughs in there.

L.A. Confidential: 10/10

"Have you a valediction, boyo?"

AndyDursin wrote:

mkaroly wrote:FUNNY FARM (1988) - 6/10. Not great but has some funny moments. Madolyn Smith steals several scenes she's in.

One of my favorites! Gorgeous cinematography by Miroslav Ondricek (Amadeus), Henry Bumstead production design, Elmer Bernstein score, a Jeffrey Boam script and George Roy Hill doing yeoman's work...I've always been a big fan of FUNNY FARM. Some HUGE laughs in there.

That's cool- one of my best friends and mentor loves this film. I am just not a Chevy Chase fan. Confession time: overall, I am not a fan of mosvies that have SNL actors in them. I do like BLUES BROTEHRS and CADDYSHACK; I like early Eddie Murphy films and some Bill Murray fare. I do like CHRISTMAS VACATION (which is Chase's best film IMO). Outside of that, I don't watch films with SNL members in them doing their schtick. I would like to see TOMMY BOY one day. Of the early SNL cast members, Chase was the one I least enjoyed. So that probably has something to do with the C+ review (6/10).

THE NATIVITY STORY - 8.5/10 I'm just glad they didn't get some cover model to play Mary (which they did with the Esther character in ONE NIGHT WITH THE KING). Overall I really enjoyed it despite its flaws. The story of Jesus' birth always moves me.

[quote="AndyDursin"][quote="mkaroly"]FUNNY FARM (1988) - 6/10. Not great but has some funny moments. Madolyn Smith steals several scenes she's in.[/quote]

One of my favorites! Gorgeous cinematography by Miroslav Ondricek (Amadeus), Henry Bumstead production design, Elmer Bernstein score, a Jeffrey Boam script and George Roy Hill doing yeoman's work...I've always been a big fan of FUNNY FARM. Some HUGE laughs in there.[/quote]

I haven't seen this in years, and I loved the surreal feeling of the gags (Chase and his antagonist the mailman, the lamb fries (ugh!), the movers, etc.). I'm not a Chase fan myself-still find it hard to forgive him that snide comment about Cary Grant years ago-but he actually seems human in this film. Madolyn Smith is a knockout but from the time they get to the house and she hides the apple from him then you hear an offcamera crunch, she is a little bit unsympathetic until he steals her manuscript. The film kinda punctures the small-town charm myth with no apologies and at least it doesn't cop out at the end, which is probably due to Hill's involvement.

Isn't this still a P/S disc, though? I always see it in the bargain bins at the stores I go to. . .

Monterey Jack wrote:L.A. Confidential: 10/10

"Have you a valediction, boyo?"

I'd agree with that assessment until the final minutes, which had me laughing out loud.

mkaroly wrote: Confession time: overall, I am not a fan of mosvies that have SNL actors in them.

Me, too, with the sole exception of Bill Murray. Chase has always struck me as one of the least entertaining human beings walking.

I haven't seen this in years, and I loved the surreal feeling of the gags (Chase and his antagonist the mailman, the lamb fries (ugh!), the movers, etc.). I'm not a Chase fan myself-still find it hard to forgive him that snide comment about Cary Grant years ago-but he actually seems human in this film. Madolyn Smith is a knockout Twisted Evil but from the time they get to the house and she hides the apple from him then you hear an offcamera crunch, she is a little bit unsympathetic until he steals her manuscript. The film kinda punctures the small-town charm myth with no apologies and at least it doesn't cop out at the end, which is probably due to Hill's involvement.

Isn't this still a P/S disc, though? I always see it in the bargain bins at the stores I go to. . .

It's a great movie. I recall Siskel & Ebert championing the film and at least one of them placed it on their Top 10 of '88 list also.

I felt that Smith looked great but, to be honest, I never thought her performance was all that terrific. As you say, she was very unsympathetic in the later portions of the movie (which were pretty hilarious, with Chase drinking and throwing the squirrel at her truck as she drives away). I always felt another actress, a more capable one, would've made her motives seem more understandable in the later parts of the picture. She just came off as cruel. Actually, come to think of it, she was cruel in the early parts of the movie as well, though that probably has as much to do with the script as written (like when she eats the apple and tells Chevy they have no food).

The DVD, sadly, is a massive dud. Not only is it 4:3, but it's a ZOOMED IN full-screen. If you compare it to the laserdisc, it's 4:3 also, but has more information on all sides of the image!

As far as Chase goes, the original FLETCH was a very entertaining movie, and CHRISTMAS VACATION is a bona-fide yuletide classic. He made a bunch of duds, as every SNL'er has, but what I liked about FUNNY FARM was that he seemed to embody the character instead of playing him as just a klutzy doofus. The movie felt "real" underneath the surface, even though some of the gags were surreal -- and quite funny. The amount of character actors in the movie makes it even better.

Elmer's score is a gem, and well worth a release at this point too!

JSWalsh wrote:

Monterey Jack wrote:L.A. Confidential: 10/10

"Have you a valediction, boyo?"

I'd agree with that assessment until the final minutes, which had me laughing out loud.

Anyways...

Wall*E: 10/10

Best movie of the year.

CAPRICORN ONE - 8/10. I thought it built suspense well and although some of the acting was not so hot (and some of it was a bit goofy), it was effective. It had that creepy 70s feel to it. Goldmsith's family theme was very lyrical...good score.

THE FOUNTAIN (2006) - 2/10. Sorry- did not like this movie. It was confusing and all over the place without cohesion, and the whole futuristic space traveler thing just didn't work for me. Not worth seeing IMO.

Well, mkaroly and I won't be watching any double features in the near future.

I consider CAPRICORN ONE one of the most laughable pieces of garbage foisted on the SF genre, and THE FOUNTAIN one of the very best movies I've ever seen.

THE FOUNTAIN is, actually, perfectly cohesive--I don't think there's an extraneous moment in it.

I'll give you a hint to figuring it out: It's NOT a science fiction movie.

Well....I HATED The Fountain. In basically every way, shape and form, I didn't care for that film at all.

And I liked CAPRICORN ONE.

Very different kinds of movies, obviously. But I have to confess, I couldn't stand THE FOUNTAIN.

I'm not surprised, seeing how poorly it did at the box office. But it doesn't matter to me, of course. I thought it was a brilliant little short story about love and how we deal with it.

CAP ONE was directed by Peter Hyams fer pete's sake!

It does say a lot about our moviegoing tastes that more people probably consider CAP ONE a great flick than like THE FOUNTAIN. The older movie was a box-of-stars'-faces movie, while THE FOUNTAIN was basically a two-person art film.