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A Couple of Cinematic Titanic PiecesThere’s a review of the latest Cinematic Titanic release at Pop Matters. Also, there’s a general piece on CT at ScreenRant.
22 Replies to “A Couple of Cinematic Titanic Pieces”Commenting at Satellite News
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“That’s like suing the studio of a major movie for using a picture from your blog in their movie!!”
Err…no, it’s like graciously allowing someone to use your product as long as they call it by a different name.
I got the CT version of Santa Clause Conquers the Martians on Friday. The riffing is good, with more mature comments this time around.
As for the other review of CT, I have to agree with this, “That’s like suing the studio of a major movie for using a picture from your blog in their movie!!”
Aside from the movies of Roger Corman, which are sure to have a cult following, and some of the Universal B-movies, I don’t see, under any circumstance, anyone actually paying money to watch the movies on MST3K or CT. Heck, the only place I’ve ever seen any MSTied movie is on Svengoolie’s show, and even that is humor oriented.
So, to any hold-outs that have the rights to highly riffable bad movies, I say, “Why not make some money on this crap that’s just sitting there?”
The two uses of “LOL” in the screenrant write up hurt my head. :roll:
I’d say that these are two positive reviews of CT. Wished that could have used a picture of Joel in stead of Mike. This is a piece about Joel’s push to revive movie riffing, shouldn’t he at least be shown in the review? I am glad to hear that this outing is a bit more “adult” in riffs. I am waiting until they breech the “F word” barrier. Not that I want hear it all the time, but hey we are all adults here in an adult market with no FCC concerns. What am saying is that if a riff with the F-word fits best – then please use it. On another note SCCTM release surpasses the “Film Crew” releases by one and perhap by CT many many more times in the future.
I’m watching the MST3K and CT versions back-to-back today. (I always watch ST v. tM on Thanksgiving weekend.) Haven’t gotten too far into the latter yet, but I did want to point out that the print they’re using does indeed have a title, unlike the MST version. Sampo wondered about that in the Episode Guide.
Not to give too much away, but the term “MILF” is used in CT’s version of STCTM. :lol:
I don’t need to read any reviews. I just finished watching SCCTM w/ the CT treatment.
:sad:
How mature is SCCTM with the CT treatment? I bought as a gift and taking the chance that it wouldn’t offend the receiver.
I counted a few mature riffs, but I didn’t find anything offensive. Actually there were quite a few laugh out loud moments for me. I don’t think it was better than the MST3K version, but it was definitely just as good (although I couldn’t help muttering ‘lentils’ and ‘headbutt’ at the appropriate moments).
Thanks.
My take on post-MST3k:
1. Rifftrax aren’t that good; none are keepers; they sound like obnoxious guys IN THE BACK SEAT yapping on and on; I got thru Wicker Man – but don’t yap on GOOD movies like Alien and Trek VI – simply annoying;
2. Cine Titanic – now we have the group overcompensating, making themselves the issue and way too involved: example: Oozing Skull was yet again another rehash of Brain of Blood – already seen it, no surprises; yet they stop the film and do irritating things simply to call attention to themselves just to be “funny” – which they’re not – too strained;
Um…”Brain of Blood” IS “Oozing Skull”. Was it released on MST3K or CT prior to this? Unless you’re talking about the live show that preceded the CT release, in which case most of us did not have a chance to attend the show, meaning it was not a rehash for 90% of us.
Agree the “stop the film” moments are the weakest part of CT, and that the commentary sometimes come off as TOO scripted, and not natural like MST3K. Still, every installment so far (with perhaps the exception of “Wasp Woman”) have had laugh-till-I-cry moments.
Also agree that Rifftrax doesn’t have the “staying power” of MST3K, in that I have never had the urge to watch a Rifftrax’d movie again after the first view. Can be funny, and the riffs come off as more organic (less scripted), but something is lost in them doing slick, glossy, Hollywood movies. Doesn’t have the charm of the dirt-bad movies MST3K and CT typically use.
If I had to choose, CT would win on points. I have shelled out $10 for every CT release thus far, but have been picking and choosing which Rifftrax to buy, and haven’t bought one in awhile.
I’m not sure why you guys didn’t link to the DVD Talk review, but here it is:
http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/35595/cinematic-titanic-santa-claus-conquers-the-martians/
The inherent problem with both Riff and CT: they’re trying to recapture the past magic, and without a really unique twist it’s bound to disappoint.
Don’t RIFF good movies like Alien: you sound like obnoxious guys in the seat behind me who won’t shut up, and defeats the purpose.
CT tries too hard to be funny, stopping the film and such; ironically, too much talent attacking too little content.
What made MST3K so memorable was the unique combination of skits, characters, situations and BAD MOVIES MOST PEOPLE NEVER HEARD OF! Thanks to MST3K, nuclear stinkbombs like Manos, Beast of Yucca Flats, Monster A Go-Go, etc, would remain unknown – and THAT is what they should focus on – unearthing even more horrible, truly horrible films, not everyday Hollywood movies or retreads like Brain of Blood/Oozing Skull. Half the fun was discovering just how bad these really were!
Any Jess Franco, Al Adamson, Larry Buchanan, Ted Mikels, etc film would work, but by now they’re overexposed. At the same time, you don’t want some jerk’s lame amateur film; it must have made an impact somewhere, or at least gone thru the Hollywood process: a few suggestions:
AT LONG LAST LOVE (Bogdonovich)
MONSTER FROM GREEN HELL
LITTLE CIGARS
TERROR OF TINY TOWN
FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE SPACE MONSTER
Okay.
Just got the new SCCTM and thought it was hilarious. I laughed out loud many times and also caught myself “filling in” the original MST comments where I remembered them which was fun too.
I also got my Rifftrax Shorts DVD which was also totally worth it. Loved them all but especially “Drugs Are Like That”- if your film about drugs is itself like a drug trip then I think you’ve completely failed at getting your intended message across. The songs on the menus by “The Rifftones” are HILARIOUS and I’m definitely hoping they put a cd out at some point.
I don’t feel that anyone is trying to “recapture past glories”. MST was cancelled. The people behind it are bringing us TWICE AS MUCH new material to laugh at now than when the show was on the air. Don’t know how anyone can argue with that.
Oh, and if anyone does try to argue the point, “Some riffs are weak!”, “They shouldn’t do good movies!” may I remind you: A) Not every episode of MST was comic gold. and 3) They actually did do what were considered “good movies” on their summer blockbuster and Oscar(tm) specials. So :razz:
Nobody wanted to say NO to George Lucas, and look what happened…
Let’s not forget MST3K did “Marooned” (aka “Space Travelers”). That movie was nominated for 3 Oscars in 1969 and actually WON for Best Special Effects. A lot of people thought that “This Island Earth” was a too good for them to make fun of in MST3K:TM, too.
And I’m in the camp that thinks most of the Russo-Finnish flicks they mocked–while bizarre–weren’t all that terrible. Still, they’re some of my favorite all-time episodes.
George, you’ve made this “re-hashing” comment before. I didn’t understand it then, and I don’t now. MST3K riffed The Amazing Colossal Man and Godzilla and Gamera and a whole host of things that are better-known than anything CT has done. CT, in its five releases to date, has riffed two schlock films I’d never heard of, which is a pretty good ratio in my book. Have you really seen Doomsday Machine so many times it’s old hat?
As for stopping the movie, the bits have gotten both funnier and more infrequent. Joel’s Christmas presents in SCCTM were hilarious, sez me.
I don’t mean pee in the pool here, and it’s hard to criticize something so endearing, but I still feel that given all of this great talent I expect something more; ironically, they’re victims of their own success. Sequels and follow-ups are almost never the same.
My beef is this: MST3K introduced most of us to obscure, frighteningly bad films and treated them like pinatas [sp?], hoisting movie and moviemakers on their own petards.
MST3K already demolished SCCTM; it’s a rehash; Elvira riffed Legacy of Blood years ago; Wasp Woman and Doomsday Machine aren’t exactly obscure – what I’m craving from them is something more archaeological – dig up some truly bad ones like you did with Manos, Monster A Go-Go, Mighty Jack, anything by K. Gordon Murray, etc.
Simply go to http://www.archive.org – there are tons of downloadable public domain movies; but because they’re so easily accessible today, a bit of the “discovery” is gone – perhaps that’s just my own nostalgia talking, and maybe I’m raising the bar too high. That said, here’s a challenge to find any of these titles that would make excellent fodder:
A MAN CALLED DAGGER (Jan Murray, 1967)
MANTAN RUNS FOR MAYOR (Mantan Moreland, 1946)
MUTINY IN OUTER SPACE (1965)
SGT DEADHEAD (Frankie Avalon, 1965)
BANG BANG KID (Tom Bosley, 1967)
CLONES OF BRUCE LEE (1977)
SPECTER OF EDGAR ALLAN POE (Cesar Romero, 1974)
DEEP BLOOD (Joe D’Amato, 1989)
If I can find ’em, they can find ’em. It’s always been essential to the magic.
I for one had never, ever, ever seen or heard of any of the movies that CT riffed on until SCCTM. And of course the only reason I heard of that one is because it was on MST3K. Both versions are hilarious.
Years ago, when I was a teen and into Rocky Horror I used to go every weekend and learned all the riffs. I took a trip to the opposite coast and when I saw Rocky Horror there, many of the riffs were different but still hilarious. (For the record, I’m way over Rocky Horror.)
So my point is that CT redoing SCCTM isn’t bad or a rehash. It’s just DIFFERENT. What’s wrong with the same people making different jokes to a movie they’ve already done? Who cares? It’s still FUNNY! Don’t be an elitist and certainly don’t be a party pooper. The best thing about CT? Josh Weinstein is funny as hell. We only got 13 episodes in the very formative first year of MST with Josh and most of them weren’t all that good. He’s probably the funniest thing about CT and I’m glad we got a second chance at his humor.
“Doomsday Machine” not obscure?? I certainly had never heard of it!
“Wasp Woman”, sure. But then, a lot of Corman movies are relatively well-known in spite of their poor quality. This includes many of the ones riffed on MST3K (“It Conquered the World”, “Attack of the Giant Leeches”). Same with the Ed Wood fare. And of course, lots of people had heard of the Godzilla and Hercules movies.
I guess what I’m saying is that not EVERY movie on MST3K was dug up out of TOTAL obscurity, and those episodes were still pretty darn good. “Manos” was a great find, but you can’t mine gold like that every time out.
I agree with you to some extent, in that I prefer HORRIBLY BAD, somewhat obscure movies to get the riffing treatment, as opposed to big studio flicks everyone knows and loves (which is why I lean CT over RT). But for me, it isn’t the movie itself so much as it is how it’s riffed! God bless Elvira, but I’m sure whatever she did with “Legacy of Blood” didn’t come close to how funny the CT version was! And I didn’t see her version–nor plan to–so it was a never-before seen or heard-of movie for me. (And I’m guessing it was new to most of us, too.)