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RiffTrax Live: Sharknado 2What did you think? An open thread for your reports. I will post something later.
46 Replies to “RiffTrax Live: Sharknado 2”Commenting at Satellite News
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Apparently, the Belcourt Theater was at the center of the Earth. Either that, or the AC was busted. Every single person was fanning themselves, I kid you not. Good thing Mike, Keven and Bill read ‘Hitchhiker’s Guide’ and remembered their towels.
The show was great. Better than the last Sharknado, and that’s saying something.
Robert Klein, why?!?!
Also – Subway: Timing is Everything
We had a fairly full theater in Orlando, and despite not having the video feed until the start of the short, it was a blast. That was one hell of a short (I eagerly await the “regular” version) and the movie was dumb enough that the guys had good material to work with. I liked the little nod they made towards the contractual obligation they have to do the Sharknado riffs, which is the reason why I don’t give them flack for those shows.
I checked out the bonus page, and the 200th riff is going to be fantastic.
EDIT: Quick bit of trivia, the guy with the trident during the final battle is Ryan Mitchelle, a friend of Brad “The Cinema Snob” Jones and director of the Cinema Snob Movie. He mentioned his cameo when discussing the riff of the first Sharknado last year and I made sure to look out for it.
Great show, I’d agree that it was possibly better than the first. They were really good at highlighting the movie’s intentional awfulness. I prefer when they riff movies that weren’t intentionally awful, but they made delicious riffy gravy from every meaty morsel of mess. Plus, they managed to get laughs out of the Fogle cameo without doing something awful. A really fun night that was apparently so hot that Mike was soaked with sweat at the end.
Absolute perfection in terms of riff material. This is Mike, Bill and Kevin at their absolute best and every joke had me and the audience howling with laughter. I think the audience and myself included couldn’t stop laughing for a solid minute at “now that I have your attention I think Hitler had a few good ideas” riff. I usually never go to Rifftrax Live encores but I am making plans to see this one again it was just so darn good. It’s a shame October is far away because Miami Connection looks like it will be a real treat.
As someone and even Bill himself mentioned it must have been hot as heck in the theater because during the intro the crew were wiping the sweat off their faces with towels, I wonder why they could point a few fans in their direction off camera?
Their mics might have picked up the fan noise. Kudos to them to soldiering through it.
Did anyone else point out the fact that the short was the second edition of one riffed on MST3K? The second short on The Unearthly, that is. I’m pretty sure it even had the same narrator.
Nearly full theater at the Celebration Cinema in Lansing, even though another theater in town has started showing these too. The movie was fun but I have to admit feeling like the riffs were unnecessary. For example, pointing out that lines were ripped from Airplane!, when they were lines everyone was supposed to recognize them as ripped from Airplane!?
So … well, I enjoyed it, but I felt kind of hollow. I feel like this was done so they could afford more interesting projects like Miami Connection, which I’m very excited for.
I liked the short, Appreciating Your Parents II: The Appreciatingoning. Is this the first time the Brains or Post-Brains have done a MiSTed Remake? (Not redoing an MST3K experiment, doing something that was itself a remake of an experiment.)
After the movie my love and I turned on and played the Star Trek pinball, and got to the #3 spot on the high score table, which is a great way to end any night.
30 or so strong at Rave Cinemas in Flint. This one was the best. Perfect blend of a mess of a movie and mindless parade of Cameos- Sound was bit muddy, but, who cares? I laughed at how incoherent and distorted the film was- and, riffs were rapid and consistent. Entertainment highlight of the summer.
Our theater in Plano, Texas was maybe 30-40 percent full. I was somewhat surprised but we haven’t had a full house since starship troopers. The material the guys had to work with was good. Overall a dumb, goofy movie but I preferred it to the first one. I had no expectations for this and loved it as a result. Great short, and probably the best Rifftrax night for me in some time. Getting spoiled with four shows in a year!
Good-sized crowd at the Commerce Center in North Brunswick, NJ. The riffing and the pre-show title cards were great, but, spoof or not, the movie is ridiculous in ways beyond imagining. The short was great, though. And I’m sure we’ll be seeing the guys do “Sharknado 3” next year.
[Warning: Rant about Sharknado 2]
Not since Hobgoblins have I actively hated a movie this much. The smirking cameos, Matt Lauer and Al Roker jabbering on, the Weather Channel inserts, the other pointless NBC/Comcast tie-ins, the bad effects, the terrible music, the lifeless acting, and the afterthought of a storyline … it thought it was being clever. It wasn’t. When a terrible movie is this self-aware from the get-go you’re in trouble — kind of like Mrs. Miller after she realized she was being mocked.
[/Rant]
The guys did a great job with what they had, but even they seemed to have a hard time keeping up with this self-amused movie. They seemed to be having a blast and didn’t slack off just because it was the 20th edition of “Run! Fin! No! More Sharks! Watch out!” they had to work with. Maybe the Tara jokes ran thin, but even the producers seemed so bored with her they kept her away from the action for half the film. I think the first one was better, but if you’ve got to watch a sequel to a movie about a Snarknado, this is how you do it.
Best riff: “We had a joke here on Monday” (or something very close to that effect)
Followup: Wheaton? Eaten!
The short … I swear I’ve seen it before. It was killer, one of their best and the perfect foil for the crew. I about fell out of my chair when they compared dad to David Berkowitz.
I enjoyed it, but the riffing sort of felt unneccessary. The movie is self-aware, so I think there’s only so much you can do to it, but meh, it was funny. I do think Sharknado is overstaying its welcome, though.
About the short-
I can’t remember for sure who made tonight’s short, “Parents: Who Needs Them” but it had to have been 15-20 years newer than the 1950 Appreciating Our Parents on MST3k. I was wondering if it was instead related to another Rifftrax short: Cops: Who Needs Them.
About our viewership in Abingdon, MD-30 or so, and a pretty good looking Crow and Servo.
Wait, hold up, you guys, there was a short?! Whaaaaat?
We showed up exactly at 7. (There were about twenty of us in the theater.) It picked up during the rolling-Statue-of-Liberty-head scene. Then after like five minutes of that, it rewound to the Sharknado 3 snippet and then kept going as usual. Something like that happened when we went to see Anaconda, too, at a different theater. What the heck, Utah movie theaters?
Anyway, my 12 year old brother and I loved it. We didn’t think it was as strong as their first Sharknado riffing, but still enjoyable, still very worth it. These guys always are.
Paraphrasing a few favorite riffs:
“We have half-empty butane cans from the pizza guy– we can’t fail!”
“…and Guy Fierri immediately shows up to try it.”
“This is all a fantasy of Calvin’s in math class, right?”
Lots of fun. Our crowd wasn’t too large, but into the event.
After reading these reviews I’m definitely going to catch the replay next week. I was planning to go tonight but had a bout of exhaustion and didn’t make it. Definitely looking forward to catching it!
On the short, was that kid dubbed over? If so, how bad was the original voice that they got someone else who was that stiff?
As for the movie, at first I was wondering why on Earth it looked so much cheaper than the first one. The first was sort of sucessful, right? It made money. And then I saw all of the ridiculous cameos. Yeeeaah, that’s where the budget went.
This one was okay. Good stuff in the beginning, good at the end, but the middle wasn’t really working for me. I don’t think the Sharknado movies are “made to be bad” per se, but I do think they are made with tongue firmly in cheek, at least in this one. Probably so tongue in cheek that the riffs don’t really work all of the time. Whatever; it was still fun.
Favorite riff: “Wheaton? Eaten!”
P.S. Did Tara Reid ask to knock off Ash from Evil Dead?
@Clifton, NJ…theater about half full, the lowest turnout since House on Haunted Hill. The movie was of course, intentionally absurd, making it a bit of a challenge to riff. Some have argued that you can’ t riff comedies, but Santa Claus Conquers the Martians was riffed three times successfully. The short was a Cornet film that was creepy and strange, and more reminiscent of the classic MST3K type short. Enjoyable riffs, though none really stood out for us.
I was kind of disappointed by this one, honestly. Granted, I was at the Fallen Timbers theater in Maumee, Ohio, and they had the sound cranked up so loud that I had to cover my ears during many of the action scenes, which did take away some of the enjoyment. There were a few hearty laughs but no real gut-busting moments, IMHO. The movie itself was not as fun as the first, and was so ugly and unpleasant that even the guys couldn’t make it much fun. I’m kind of tired of self-referential pop culture, and all the wink-winking jokes wore me out, and the vast number of cameos from aging celebrities bordered on the depressing. I dunno…maybe I was just tired and grumpy, but it wasn’t as much fun as I’d hoped.
We lost the signal in the middle of the short in Burlington, NJ because of bad thunderstorms. They did try to fix it (I was able to see the lead singer of Sugar Ray’s first scene with his family before the signal died again :cry: ) Regal did give passes for the encore next week (I can make that, thank goodness) and gave out refunds too. I took advantage of both. :-D
Our theater in Cincinnati Ohio was empty but still good show.
In addition to the short ‘Cops: Who Needs Them?’ there’s also another Rifftrax short, ‘Reading: Who Needs It?’
Same at my theater in Milford, OH. The volume was excruciating and I couldn’t quite make out what they were saying. I didn’t want to miss any of it, so I rammed two gummy bears in my ears. That helped, aside from having ooey-gooey ear holes later. I switched out the bears every twenty minutes or so. Still, not recommended.
I felt for the guys with it being so hot. Do you think they showed them less on-screen because of it?
Favorite riff:
Kevin 21:23 (“is that a yes?” “yes”) I love you Luke Perry!
Runner up:
Mike 21:45 (“I love New York”) [As Tara mishearing ‘New York’] I love yogurt too.
(Copied and pasted from the Goodies script PDF!)
At the theaters I go to it’s always the opposite sound problem. The levels are too low in general and the riffers are always quieter than the movie. It’s very frustrating.
I found this one to be a disappointment after they beat the odds and made the first one work last year. I don’t know if it was the disorienting movie, the heat or the jokes themselves, but somehow things didn’t click and they struggled to establish a rhythm. Murphy having to make light of the audience’s lack of response early on kind of summed the whole thing up.
I wish they would have just done the first one, collected their winnings (which was proving the naysayers, which I guess even included Frank Conniff, wrong) and moved on. Going back to the Syfy well was a mistake. Do they get the rights to this in exchange for showing the trailer for the next one or something?
Some good laughs, but it was probably only above Godzilla for me in my personal live show ranking.
“I’m non-specifically turned on.”
I had a lot of fun, but I’m honestly hoping that this is the last of the Rifftrax/Sharknado collaborations. The movie never tried to make fun of itself, but it was treated like such a big media event you wanted to slap the people involved. The product placement was obnoxious and the non-stop cameos were just distracting. Every time a new character stepped on screen you ended up having to stop to asking yourself “Should I know who this is?” and “Should I be amused that they’re appearing in this role or just consider them to be another part of the cast?”
Looking over the information for Sharknado 3, it looks like a lot more of the same. And I don’t think I want any of my money to go towards paying some of the shock artists and political extremists that they’ve got listed among the cameos.
In Harrisburg, PA the theater was about 2/3 full. I finally got to the theater early enough to see the
pre-show feed (Godzilla clips). My favorite part was the short (I’ve always been partial to the short-form riffs) but the feature was well worth my time as well. Completely hilarious!!! I liked it very much.
Fairly empty theater here in northwest Montana, but I’ve found that’s typical for Rifftrax and I’m glad they keep showing them anyway for us nerdy die-hards.
First of all, kudos to Bill, Mike, and Kevin for soldiering through what looked like terrible heat and humidity. I’d already seen S2 on SyFy so I knew what was coming yet we still got lots of laughs. There weren’t any HUGE laughs, though, which was a little disappointing. Probably the Muppet one from the mayor of NYC got the biggest yucks. I feel like they could have come up with something with more zing for the Jared cameo. Still, glad I went, and Miami Connection looks truly awful/great. A “Kiss the Ninja” song??
Our theater (Springfield, Missouri) lost the signal due to storms and we missed the short completely. It came back on right as they started the movie. This is my least favorite Rifftrax Live movie, it’s just so brutally terrible that they couldn’t do much with it. The people who make this crap should be in prison. What a waste of time and effort just to have it end up as this garbage. I’d have more respect for them if they just made porn.
I hear you on the loud sound, I have experienced that the last several times, and I have just started to wear foam earplugs. I thought it was just me. Nobody else seems to notice in my theater.
Mostly full theater at the Cinemark in Merriam, KS. Thankfully they three annoying guys who thought they should add to the commentary themselves that have been at most of these didn’t show up for this one. People, please leave the riffing to the professionals.
Not bad, but the movie was just terrible in a way that didn’t lend itself well to riffing. The constant cameos might have been more entertaining if I knew who even 3/4 of them were.
Ugh, what a terrible movie. I agree with #28 above that people who make these “movies” should be in prison.
But with a terrible movie comes good riffing, though some jokes were lost in the loudness of the movie. I especially enjoyed seeing Ted Striker flying a plane again, even if briefly.
This is probably just me, but I do wish that they’d switch to movies that aren’t so violent. I’m debating on whether to see Miami Connection for this reason. Dear movie: I don’t need to see what happens to the human body when it’s mutilated/dismembered. I can trust that it’s not going to be pleasant.
We’re usually at the Portland, OR showings (Lloyd Center) where the theater is 75‰ full. For this one we caught the show at the Orleans in Vegas. I couldn’t believe there were, at most, 30 people in there.
Sound issues at the start (muted?) but was fixed right at the end of JoCo’s intro.
Can’t wait for Santa!
Saw it with friends at the Buckland Hills theater in Manchester, CT. That place seems not to handle live events terribly well. This time, they were blasting the pre-show audio, but not the picture. We got to listen to the Rifftrack for Godzilla – I finally had to ask the management to check on it, and that resulted in the feed being shut down completely, then somehow rewound a few minutes, before being restored with sound AND picture. Then, after the live stream itself started, they had the volume crazy-high for about 10 minutes. They also forgot to turn off the house lights (necessitating another trip to find the manager). Theater was about 20% full. I was dreading the re-appearance of amateur riffers who like to shout their own jokes over the stream, but that didn’t happen this time.
Didn’t enjoy this one as much as the first Sharknado; the cameos were silly and pointless, the plot even more nonsensical, and it was shot on crappy video instead of film (guess they needed to pay for all the cameos?). The riffers did an amazing job, but they were trying to polish a turd.
My usual random assortment of observations:
Not their best live show by any means, but still amusing. The first one was much better.
Union Square in NYC was about 2/3rds full, the least I’ve seen for one of these. We lost the signal for a moment just as the show started but didn’t miss anything.
Why is there no air conditioning at the Belcourt Theater!?? I really felt for the guys. Even Mike, Mr. Cool & Collected, was soaking wet & looked like he was going to pass out. I had a feeling that was definitely affecting the energy level of both the performers and the audience. What the heck is going on in Nashville??
Yeah, riffing a movie that has “look how crappy this is ha ha ha” built in is always going to be tricky and not necessarily the best idea. I hope they’re done with these. Birdemic works so well because it’s so darned earnest!
As Bill (or Kevin) said, “Go to Hell, physics!” Who knew the head of the Statue of Liberty had the elasticity and density of a whiffle ball? And why are sharks the only marine life that get sucked up? Those are very exclusive tornadoes. And New York City geography, as shown in this movie, must resemble an M.C. Escher drawing.
Going out of your way to get all those d-list cameos and then not give them anything interesting or amusing to do is the definition of lame.
Short was good. They haven’t done a whole evening of shorts since the Christmas show of ’09 (if you don’t count the Sketchfests). I’d love to see another night of shorts.
You know that effect when you speed up video a little and the pitch of everyone’s voice goes up a bit? Not like the Chipmunks, but just enough to sound wrong? It was like that in Paramus, and not just the “movie,” but Mike, Kevin & Bill, too (and the short as well, I guess, though the sound was so bad to begin with). The video looked a bit wonky, too. Anybody else notice this?
They guys did the best they could, but the creative geniuses at the Asylum are starting to lean into intentional comedy, which they’re even worse at that Tommy Wiseau. I’m not partixularly looking forward to them riffing Sharknado 3, but I’ll still happily spend an hour and half with RiffTrax laughing at Ian Ziering any time. (It’s not like two and a half hours of Matthew Broderick. That was a slog.) At least Sharknado has the decency to breeze along, not wasting our time with plot. Or character development. Or even introducing the characters, some of the time. Maybe they should all wear t-shirts describing their characters, like “Fin’s Brother-In-Law.” It would serve the same purpose as dressing up Billy Ray Cyrus like a surgeon.
Fun fact: The guy on the subway playing unamplified electric guitar was the director Tony Ferrante, thus the undisguised looks of disgust from the cast.
Somewhat off-topic: Why the hell was Bill wearing a suit and tie? Under stagelights in July in Nashville? Usually it’s Kevin who’s tomato-red by the end of the show, but Bill was already drenched as he walked out on stage. (Kevin stayed surprisingly dry, comparatively. The wicking properties of his Mets jersey? Or maybe he’s just been watching his diet.)
Come to think of it, Bill stuck out in a full suit on @Midnight, too. Has he joined a cult with a strict dress code? “This is the worst movie featuring the Statue of Liberty since Meet Dave!”
And for anybody else who was at the Garden State Plaza, what was the deal with that queue? “Let’s all make the nerds stand in the corner on the other side of the cinema for an hour, then make ’em run to the theater to catch the pre-show.” One more reason I wish my local AMC would start showing these. They only have 16 screens! (And they put up the RiffTrax Live promo posters fer chrissakes.) Plus, I hate New Jersey almost as much as basic cable loves sharks.
The Ameristar in Kansas City, MO was not even a quarter full. Perhaps 20-25 people. I imagine the two showings had something to do with that.
The short was just okay. The riffs they had were awesome, but there were a LOT of missed opportunities. It was not ALL the guys’ faults; I just don’t think the short was excellent material. That being said…
I laughed my tail(fin) off for Sharknado 2. I wasn’t sure how the film-makers would 1-up themselves for the sequel. They did, but not in the way I expected. To me the cameos were the schtick this time. Oh, and of course the “90% of the special effects budget is right here” was great. I THOROUGHLY enjoyed last night, and I CAN’T WAIT for Sharknado 3!!!!
I saw it in Ammon, ID and it was about half full. I’m the one who played the Torgo theme when the sound went out before the show – sorry about that! Loved the short! I already watched the movie on Syfy, so I knew what was coming, but still some top-notch riffs from the guys.
I read an explanation that makes as much sense as anything else in a Sharknado world — the sharks EAT everything else that gets sucked up. Except, I guess, that one poor octopus that went splat against the window.
You’re welcome.
I’m horrible at estimating crowd sizes but I’d guess close to 100 at the Cinemark Tinseltown in Canton, OH. The volume was pretty high but that helps when the laughter swells and it’s hard to hear the next riff. Seeing the sweat on the riffers at the end of the presentation made me appreciate the physical demands of the job. Glad you guys soldiered through and didn’t get all Hollywood on us. Great show!
I think so. Honestly, I’m surprised they were still standing by the end of the show. It was obvious they were suffering even by the end of the short, so much so that I thought they might have to end the show early. But as they say, the show must go on, and they certainly proved their dedication.
There were about 15-20 people in my Jacksonville theater, about average. There were a lot of laughs in the show, but I have to say most of them came from the movie itself instead of the riffing. But it wasn’t the fault of the guys; most of the movie seemed to have either loud sound effects or people yelling to each other, and it didn’t leave much room for jokes. I really don’t remember the original Sharknado having a problem with that. And there’s only so many comments you can make about the purposely ridiculous situations. But they gave it their best shot, and even a so-so Rifftrax Live is better that most of the entertainment out there. Hopefully Miami Connection will work out better.
@ The Rio 24 in Albuquerque, NM. No sound problems, good pre-show bits and music. The theater was around 80% full but I think it was fuller for the 1st Sharkndo. I’ll echo some of the sentiments made here earlier and say I liked their riffing of “Sharknado 2” just not as much as the first one. The short was funny but creepy (thanks obviously to the clown puppet.)
Things I noticed:
1. I felt bad for Mike, Kevin & Bill because of the heat and watching them sweat like that was a little sad. I’m surprised the Belcourt couldn’t fix the air conditioning. So Casey@Rifftrax what happened there? Why couldn’t the Belcourt get the cooler fixed in time?
2. Outside of Kelly Osborne, Downtown Julie Brown, Billy Ray Cyrus, Biz Markie and Lauer & Roker + Kelly & Michael I didn’t know who most of the “cameos” in the film were and when Mike mentioned that there was a certain “scandalous” cameo in the film I didn’t think it was the Subway guy…I thought it might be Donald Trump!
3. The sound did speed up a little especially when Lauer & Roker were on which was annoying/confusing.
4. Is it safe to say that the writer of this script was a Mets fan or maybe they just couldn’t afford to film it in Yankee Stadium because of all the cameos?
5. Kevin got it wrong on one joke: the song was trying to sound like AC/DC not Rush (more specifically “Highway To Hell”)
Other than that I & my friend had a really good time and I’m glad they’ve been doing these theater events for a few years now and keep it up. I’d actually like to see them riff Sharknado 3 too if they get the chance but I think I might have more fun at Miami Connection.
Next in the series: “Needs: Who Needs Them?”
Question for everyone: Did anyone else not get the pre-show gags and music? I think it was just an error on my theater’s part.
That’s AGAINST The Ninja.
To be honest, I have no problem having them riff Sharknado if that means we get gems like Miami Connection (and if you haven’t seen it, you’re in for a friggin’ treat in October).* At the end of the day, we’re talking about a small company – they all can’t be stuff that the general public wouldn’t know. So I concede that one Sharknado per year is worth it for the Miami Connections and your Ice Cream Bunnies.
Now, I have no idea if they’ve already agreed to riff Sharknado 3 next summer, but I’m not betting against it. Besides, I’m hoping they’ll have special plans for the 10th anniversary live shows (MST alums, fan favorites, maybe a best-of Shortstravaganza).
*it’s on YouTube in its entirety. Go find it and marvel.
About 50% full here in Amarillo Texas. For some reason it hasn’t been the same since last year’s Sharknado show. Either way it was a pretty good show. A lot easier than The Room which was downright scary bad. Looking forward to the next show!
A bit over half full for the encore at Regal Future Condominium Development in Portland. Definitely enjoyed both the film and especially the short, though it’s harder to riff this one, I think, since it wasn’t meant to be taken seriously. Quite a few good laughs, though some of the biggest came when the signal was lost (again; it happened during “Godzilla” last year) and we ended up seeing a Dish network logo and a reboot screen, then a list of available programs including dumb things like operas and such. It got restarted after a few minutes, but they may need to switch out their box or something.