iJust Finished Watching

[WhyDontTheyLook]

Fireriffs - "The Incredible Hulk S01E02 - 'The Beast Within'" -- In order to get into a lab/zoo where progress is promising on a drug that might keep him from turning into Lou Ferrigno, David Banner poses as a janitor, since scientists can't resist explaining their highly esoteric scientific work to janitors.  No, really, that's the plan.  There's a guy in a gorilla suit too.

I was a fan of the 'Incredible Hulk' series when it aired, though I was at an age (9) where plots like what I just described made sense to me.  Fireriffs skewering of the episode's weird logic and contrived plot twists helped make rewatching the episode now as fun for me as watching the original was for 9-year-old me.

[ https://www.rifftrax.com/iriff/fireriffs-presents-the-incredible-hulk-the-beast-within ]

Kids on the Street - "Rankin/Bass's 'Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer'" -- In this 15-percent-adaptation-85-percent-fanfic of the classic holiday song, Rudolph runs away from home, encounters a wannabe-dentist elf, and is chased by an abominable snowman.  Oh, and something something Santa's sleigh.  It ain't "The Christmas Shoes," but whaddaya want from 1964?

Kids on the Street turns in a pretty fun riff of a holiday staple.  It's not easy keeping up with a classic--got to give them credit for being able to go toe-to-toe with it.  This would be good on a double bill with Cinester Theater's riff of the Peanuts Christmas special.

[ https://www.rifftrax.com/iriff/rudolph-the-red-nosed-reindeer-a-joint-from-the-kids-on-the-street ]

[The Lurker]

Josh Way - "A Christmas Gift" - Josh Way riffs this depressing Claymation short by Wil Vinton Studios.  Rather good riff despite the nature of the short.
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/k_Alh9fdarA" target="_blank" class="new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/k_Alh9fdarA</a>

[WhyDontTheyLook]

Cinester Theater - "Back to the Future" -- Marty McFly has problems -- namely, his family's a drag, his love life is vehicle-free, and his best-friend/genius-old-guy has stolen plutonium from some Libyans who want it for Libyan Stuff.  He ends up going forward to the past, where he screws up his family tree by being given the chance to screw his... um... family tree.  Look, it was the 80s, only nerds cared about actual time travel logic.

This film is admittedly a classic, though not one I've had special levels of reverence for.  Cinester Theater does a good riff on this one, ribbing its odd logic and contrivances (which, admittedly, are part of the charm of the film).  It was fun revisiting the movie (which I haven't seen in a looong time) with them.

[ https://www.rifftrax.com/iriff/cinester-theater-presents-back-to-the-future ]

Drawback Productions - "Die Hard 2: Die Harder" -- So why do we argue every year about whether 'Die Hard' is a Christmas movie, when 'Die Hard 2' also merits at least twenty seconds of consideration?  There's a Christmas tree in the terminal, after all.  And a lot of flying things blow up, which has to put you in the mind of reindeer.

Whether it is nor not, surely we can all agree that Drawback Productions' is on top of its game mocking this convoluted, make-physics-up-as-we-go-along Bruce Willis-fest.  It certainly makes the nonsense feel a lot lighter and more fun.

[ https://orderoftheleague.com/products/die-hard-2 ]
[ https://www.rifftrax.com/iriff/drawback-productions-presents-die-hard-2-die-harder ]

[WhyDontTheyLook]

Josh Way - "Fun with Shorts Vol. 6" -- This round of short films tilts pretty heavily toward correcting kids and teens, though young punks who want to skate for talking trash about their ex-bosses also take a hit.  Volume 6 of Fun with Shorts collects "The Show Off," "Gossip," "A Day of Thanksgiving," "Am I Trustworthy," "When You Know," "Control Your Emotions," "How to Keep a Job," and "Family Life."

Josh does his usual great job with riffing these shorts a new one here, of course.  I wasn't kidding about how most of these shorts bunch up on one topic (or at least one zone of topics), though -- I tend to prefer a variety when watching through a collection (like the varieties that Josh riffs now, way up there in volume 33).  Still, lots of fun as always!

[ https://shop.joshway.com/shop/product/fun-with-shorts-volume-6/ ]

Thinking with Josh Head - "Eden of the East ep. 1" -- A guy shows up naked with a gun and no memory in front of the White House.  He's not black, so the Capitol Police let him get away, but shenanigans ensue anyway.  Ah, escapism.  The episode is both perplexing and strangely uninvolving given the setup, so it should have made a good riffing candidate.  But the sparseness of the jokes renders the riff a miss.  It's a pity, because it had potential.

[ https://www.rifftrax.com/iriff/thinking-with-josh-head-presents-eden-of-the-east-ep1 ]

Thinking with Josh Head - "FLCL ep. 1" -- Meanwhile, in the first episode of Fooly Cooly, things start out eccentric and go on to full-out weird, as a student encounters a strange girl and ends up having a robot grow out of his forehead.  This would have been a hard episode for anyone to riff, given how fast-paced and engaging it is.  The long quiet stretches between riffs here end up making this commentary feel entirely superfluous.

[ https://www.rifftrax.com/iriff/thinking-with-josh-head-presents-flcl-ep-1 ]

[WhyDontTheyLook]

OneWallCinema - "The Shadow" -- Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?  Rhetorical question, since Amazon owns that data already.  In the meantime, Alec Baldwin is transformed from being a desert warlord into a guy who roams around a large city and messes with criminals, which he finds hysterical.  Attila the Hun shows up, but doesn't get the joke.

The Shadow is a very odd and pulpy film, propelled along by a script operating on the 'your check cleared, so sure, why not' principle.  OneWallCinema has a lot to work with here, and tuck into it the way Alec tucks into the scenery.  The end result is hysterically funny, and well worth checking out.

[ https://gumroad.com/onewallcinema ]
[ https://onewallcinema.bandcamp.com/album/owc005-the-shadow-iriff-commentary ]
[ https://www.rifftrax.com/iriff/onewallcinema-the-shadow ]

Aggro Pulse - "Speed Racer" -- Sigh... stop, Speed Racer, stop.  You're giving me motion sickness.  No, really, your shiny candy-coated look is pretty and all, but it's giving my eyes a bellyache.  It's like being repeatedly punched in the face by a rainbow.  You even have a chimp, which to me is a key to great cinema, and it doesn't help any.  Just... no.

This was my first sampling of an Aggro Pulse riff, and my reaction was mixed.  Some of the jokes were good, some felt forced, and eventually it just seemed to lapse into rambling commentary.  Maybe I might have been more receptive if the film hadn't vexed me by being so aggressively hyperactive, I dunno.

[ https://www.rifftrax.com/iriff/aggro-pulse-speed-racer ]

[k1]

OneWallCinema - "The Shadow" -- Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?  Rhetorical question, since Amazon owns that data already.  In the meantime, Alec Baldwin is transformed from being a desert warlord into a guy who roams around a large city and messes with criminals, which he finds hysterical.  Attila the Hun shows up, but doesn't get the joke.

The Shadow is a very odd and pulpy film, propelled along by a script operating on the 'your check cleared, so sure, why not' principle.  OneWallCinema has a lot to work with here, and tuck into it the way Alec tucks into the scenery.  The end result is hysterically funny, and well worth checking out.

[ https://gumroad.com/onewallcinema ]
[ https://onewallcinema.bandcamp.com/album/owc005-the-shadow-iriff-commentary ]
[ https://www.rifftrax.com/iriff/onewallcinema-the-shadow ]

Thanks! This was one of our favorites that we've done & was the start of our switch to throwing out scripts and just hitting record while we watch.  (Full disclosure, we do edit the timing and occasionally re-record lines if the quality isn't great. But most of it is all on the fly which you can tell by some of our reactions especially on the Chevy Leader News riffs.)

[WhyDontTheyLook]

Riff Raff Theater - "Tron" -- Despite some glaring design flaws (among them, being programmed to look like Bruce Boxleitner), the security program known as Tron goes up against the rogue A.I. of Generic Evilcorp (probably it's name, I wasn't paying attention).  When the company's former owner is brought into the mainframe via Extreme Lazik (probably), he allies with Tron to bring system to its Laser Knees.

As always, Riff Raff Theater's riff here is super funny and engagingly performed.  They seamlessly blend together jokes solicited from fans and make them flow naturally.  Too bad they're not still at it; I'd love to hear them take on the more recent Tron sequel.

[ https://www.rifftrax.com/iriff/riff-raff-theater-tron ]

Animation Ripping Theater (ART) - "Beauty and the Beast" (1991) -- An inventor goes into the woods for some reason and is captured by a hideous hairy monster and his waitstaff of sentient tableware.  His daughter, Belle, sets out to rescue him, is also captured by the beast, and begins a charming romance with the candlestick.  I'm not sure which of them was Beauty.

But I kid the movie.  And so does Chris Wolvie, who turns in an enjoyable, well-paced riff that sometimes goes blue, but not all the way to dark navy.  Not a flawless riff, but most of the material works, even when the film is at its most engaging and attention-stealing.

[ https://www.rifftrax.com/iriff/art-beauty-and-the-beast ]