Rank a Moment Before You Forget!

[RVR II]

I give it a 9!

I forget why though

[stansimpson]

There are 3 movies that would freakin' blow my brainmatter against a wall (a la Teddy) if Mike, Kevin & Bill ever riffed:  "JFK," "Lost In Translation" and........... "Memento."  It has quickly become one of my favorite movies... ever.  (I try to wait years before donning any title into that list).  It's my example of a near-perfect movie.  I wouldn't be able to take a single moment out without the whole thing collapsing (aside from the hooker scene, which is a favorite scene of mine anyway).

I knew going in this would be a hard watch/listen.  It's so dialogue heavy (typical Nolan), I wondered if the whole riff would be done talking over dialogue.  Instead, it's mostly short quips between the smallest pauses.  The big question though was if I would laugh at the bon mots spouted over the tragic scenes.  I'll say it was hard to do.  It was like I had to suspend the laugh-center of my brain away from the heartstring-pulls of the movie.  So one part of me felt like it was ok to laugh, but then I had to quickly "get back to the movie" the very next second.  There were a couple places where I was asking myself "Am I being a prude, or was that in bad taste?"  The scenes with Natalie (Carrie-Ann Moss) and Leonard's wife (Jorja "the CSI girl" Fox) were typically the hardest to laugh through.  That's not to say that several gut-busting laughs escaped, like the reactions (particularly Mike's) to Natalie's barrage of insults.  The parts I *did* find myself thoroughly enjoying were always Burt ("the hairy desk clerk"), Sammy Jenkis (Stephen Toblomonomowski), and Teddy (Joey Pants).  Even though Pants has appeared in at least 3 other RiffTrax'd movies (and several billion non-RiffTrax'd movies), I felt the guys totally unloaded here, and it was great to watch.

So Mike, Bill & Kevin (or whoever) decided that a critically hailed, rape/revenge/killer neo-noir with a mindbending plot gets the wacky riff treatment.  I'm sure I'm not alone when I ask, did "Memento" really need a RiffTrax?  Somebody help me out, because the only reason I can guess that this happened is to capitalize on Nolan's "Dark Knight."  Maybe doing "Batman Begins" is too obvious a cash-in (or perhaps it's further down the pipeline).  Personally, I think BB is far more riff-worthy (compared to "Memento" anyway).  Or, for a bigger stretch, maybe it's to take aim at movies with cult status, thereby raking in the fanboy dough (i.e. LOTR, Matrix, Raiders; which ironically have brought about the best 'trax).  Where I see this divulging in the fanboy/cult category is that "Memento" has way darker elements and is grounded deeply in reality and tragedy; not usually akin to guys in spandex flying through the air (save the Nolanverse of Batman).  The best part of this release, though, is that many will now see "Memento" for the first time, and that, in the end, is worth a riff treatment all by itself imho.  I just hope the newbies watch it sans-RT'd first.  What a trip for those who don't!  Many may not "get it," but it'll be worth it for those who do.

"Memento" is a solid movie by itself, and sadly, I found the 'trax more as a distracting commentary than an "added flavor."  It's 1 of 4 dvd's I've owned before getting riffed on.  I tend to watch the other 3 with their respective 'trax.  "Memento," however, will not join that group.

I must mention that I was absolutely thrilled to hear

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Disembaudio sing the end credits (again)!  Is it possible to have him do that EVERY RiffTrax?  Even the instrumental ones?  That'd be hilarious to hear an instrumental sing-along!  And it's always in the perfect place to stop for those that don't wanna hear it!  Whaddya say, guys?  Dontchya think it's time for our favorite anthropomorphic kitchen appliance's star to shine just a little brighter?

Final question(s):  Is this the first non-fantasy/sci-fi movie the guys have taken on that is in IMDb's Top 250?  Does this pave the way for sacred classics like "The Godfather" and "Platoon"?  Does this mean "The Dark Knight" is fair game just as well?  A part of me would hate to see it happen, but the other "money spending" side of me would download them.  Damn you, fanboy inclinations!  And damn you, Ruxbin!!!

[torgosPizza]

Yes.

Also their reasons for doing this, mainly, was not to "cash in" but, to do something "different."

[stansimpson]

Also their reasons for doing this, mainly, was not to "cash in" but, to do something "different."

Indeed, Torgo.  I forgot that aspect!    Now that I'm reminded, I applaud the boldness!  I also forgot () to mention, despite the movie being a nonlinear narrative, the guys really held well and presented a coherent, straightforward RT.  I imagine that had to be really hard to make.

People who take chances (any people really) should be commended, whether through success or failure, as well as facing through the adversity of nostalgics.  Bravo, sirs! 

[countv]

I have to say that this movie was treated with a lot of care by the guys. Like Raiders was. It's obvious watching it, and I hadn't seen the movie for a very long time going back for this rifftrax, that this is a good movie. You can tell when they're riffing a good film because you follow the plot instead of laughing at the obvious flaws. I'd place Memento next to a circus mirror and see Next as it's warped reflection. Which is a dumb movie and you do follow the guys lampooning it more than the film itself. The disconnect helping to make the experience of Next to be all the more ridiculous. Not so with Memento.
When the guys started doing movies people liked they also changed the "We make fun of them" tag to "we make them funny" and in this case it was very much the latter.
Because Memento is so built upon a twist it means you can't really watch it again the way you did, so yes if you've rifftrax'ed this before seeing the film then you've missed out. But as I said the movie is good. You'll likely spend a lot of your time following the story rather than listening for the funnies if you've never seen it before. And it struck me that they knew this and fitted the riffs accordingly. The movie shines through the rifftrax.

I also liked that they tried something a bit different. There are only so many SuperHero movies they can riff before they get burnt out.

[wiztard01]

very nice.
I enjoyed it thoroughly.

[RoninFox]

Did this movie "need" a Rifftrax?  No.  Am I glad I bought the Rifftrax?  Yes!

Are rhetorical questions annoying?  I'll let you be the judge.

9/10

[ShadowDog]

Agreed, except that it DID need a rifftrax because this was awesome. >:-P

[Bob]

Watched it last night.

I forgot how good the movie is as there were a lot of scenes and events that I barely remembered or had forgotten entirely.   In fact, near the end, for about 5-10 minutes, I got so engrossed in the movie I realized I was tuning out the riff to concentrate on the film...... and with an ipod on, that is hard to do.

It was a VERY funny rifftrax.   I was pleasantly surprised that you can take a movie like Memento and make it funny.    I guess this opens up the possibility for a Godfather riff in the future.

9/10

[esoobaC .T bocaJ]

I'm still hoping for the Departed, that's why it's not on the list of "Films Rifftrax will never Rifftraxify because Jacob T. Caboose always posts them during every 20 questions"

[Courtney]

What clownshoe gave it a 1? 

[RVR II]

What clownshoe gave it a 1? 

eh, who cares, really.. Bill just can't please everybody

[Bob]

What clownshoe gave it a 1? 

"There was not enough Matlock"

[Action Batch]

What clownshoe gave it a 1? 

Language Courtney! Shit.

[esoobaC .T bocaJ]

What clownshoe gave it a 1? 

Language Courtney! Shit.

yeah, watch your duneing mouth