I've been watching a bunch of riffs in preparation for the
top 25 iRiffs list (deadline tonight!).
Vox-o-Rox: KrullThis was an entertaining ride. The riffing was perhaps not as good as it could have been for the material, but it was more than enough to keep this kooky, bizarre,
extremely 80s movie fun. I laughed several times, but I don't know how often it was at jokes and how often it was at the stupid things happening on screen. That's okay, though. This is one of those riffs that's just having fun with a bad movie so that's kind of how it goes.
There is one positive thing I will say about Krull, though. Despite being from the 80s, it has an orchestrated soundtrack. And it's actually decent, if a bit predictable. I'll take predictable fantasy adventure soundtracks to insipid synthesized sci-fi soundtrack any day (see Terminator).
FireRiffs: The Incredible HulkThis was the second FireRiffs I've heard, and it was a vast improvement over Superman Returns, the track for which didn't have the strength to stay afloat over the sucking vacuum of bleak tedium that was the movie. But seriously, you'd have to actually be the Man of Steel to pull that off, so kudos for even trying (we're sure as hell not gonna touch it

). BUT I DIGRESS. The Incredible Hulk is actually a pretty good movie, which makes it much easier to watch and riff. There were a bunch of clever lines (many of which I hear were penned by Ryan "Darth Geek" Downey, who I have and am currently working with, and I always endorse his work). Many of my favorite bits have already been mentioned here, but the "____ is/are for sissies" running joke was good. The hard water problem line got the biggest laugh.
There were however some lines that didn't really work at all...some because they just didn't quite make sense, and one that I can think of that was just a restating of the joke the movie was making (about what items from her purse they can and can't use). And there were some lines that were making fun of aspects that I didn't think were that dumb, so they didn't work. I think when you do that, you need to phrase it in a way that's funny even if the audience isn't thinking the same way you are about the movie. ...I
hope that's what we've done, but I know there's always a point when you get so sick of the movie you just want to slap it around... Also, not to harp on the negatives, but while overall it did well for a solo riff, the dialog lines didn't work. I think Scott Zee is the only solo riffer I've seen do dialog with himself and have it work.
Ronin Fox: BatmanIt's been a long time since I watched an RFT, and this was better than I remembered (the previous being Masters of the Universe). There were lots of clever lines, several chuckles, and a few laughs. The main problem was that the girl's voice (was it Erica?) was much softer. I had a very hard time making her lines out. And in the intro....I don't want to sound insulting, and in the actual track she is more energetic...but she sounded bored out of her mind or just apathetic and I wanted to slit my wrists. THANK GOD it picked up after the sync because I was seriously worried.
SAPP Trax: TerminatorOverall this was very enjoyable. I liked the play between the riffers, and it had good riff pacing. There were some problems, though, the main one being that the audio was
too damn soft. I had to turn the movie down to about 10% my speakers up almost all the way (which is ridiculously loud on my desktop). I probably wouldn't have been able to get it right on my laptop or possibly even with headphones. And then of course I had to turn up the movie when there was soft dialog. Second, there were a lot of microphone noises—plosives and bumping—throughout. Ignoring this, the audio quality was actually pretty good. Lastly, and this is minor, but when you're doing a countdown to pause, have some rhythm or there's no point. It was something like "3....2...1.pause"
Favorite lines:
camera zoom on titles bit
Supermarket Sweep reference (we've been waiting for years for a place to reference that, now we don't have to.)
The bit about him getting a gun with a red laser sight when his vision is completely red
"It was like being born, I guess"
But I don't know...I haven't been born yet"Concierge."
The *hissss* ahhhhhh bit did not make sense with both of you doing it at once... and if you were doing a Family Guy reference, there just wasn't enough time to make it work at all anyway.
Great job, guys. Really good for a first effort.