1:30 - 57:20 -- Cannibal Holocaust
57:20 - 2:00:00 -- Freddy Got Fingered
2:00:00 - 2:02:28 -- Outro
» Download MP3 (84 MB)
Freddy Got Fingered (2000)Directed by: Tom Green
Starring: Tom Green, Rip Torn, Marisa Coughlan, Eddie Kaye Thomas, Harland Williams, Anthony Michael Hall
» Watch Tom Green's New Internet Talk Show
» My Year of Flops review
» Farily positive review from The New York Times
Cannibal Holocaust (1980)Directed by: Ruggero Deodato
Starring: Robert Kerman, Carl Gabriel Yorke, Perry Pirkanen, Francesca Ciardi, Luca Barbareschi
» Canibal Holocaust at Wiki-pedia
29 comments:
Good work guys! It was entertaining, educational and engrossing as usual. It's great to see Cannibal Holocaust receive a proper treatment rather than being dismissed as "just another trashy horror movie" as has happened so often before. As with your other podcasts this has made me want to go out and check out movies that I've not seen before (Who Can Kill A Child? and Maximum Overdrive) and get the ones I have seen before on dvd (cannibal holocaust uncut).
Personally I just can't give Tom Green that much credit, for me if you come out of a movie thinking it was unentertaining then even if you learn afterwards that the talent behind the film was aiming for something else that doesn't change the fact that you were not entertained by the film.
"even if you learn afterwards that the talent behind the film was aiming for something else that doesn't change the fact that you were not entertained by the film."
It's a bit of a sticky problem, unless you are interested in the mechanics of comedy and performance art then the movie is more than a bit of a write-off (exception being that it is just so out there, it has some sort of weird surreal energy going on)..
I noticed that I was pretty quiet for much of this episode. I was much more content just listening to the guys defend these films (and making good points) more than anything else.
While Cannibal Holocaust is technically really well done, I think Sean's Rambo comparison is right on. It looks good and is extremely well put together, but in the end, it's just a bunch of unlikeable, unrelatable, uninteresting and unimportant characters that just do a bunch of gross shit to shock the audience. I walked away feeling empty and not really caring about the picture as a piece of "art." Maybe this is why I hate other films that followed in its footsteps (Blair Witch, Hostel, Cannibal Ferox, etc.).
Same goes for FGF. It's funny in places, but ultimately it's just a guy being an idiot. If you dig that, fine. If you don't, then it's a waste of 90 minutes.
ERRORATA:
Just previewing the show and noticed that I said WHO CAN KILL A CHILD is another italian horror film. Ooops. It's Spanish, and quite obviously so. A slip of the tongue.
But a really good movie. One I quite enjoyed - more than either of these films discussed.
I think my work would get pretty annoyed if I threw my computer across the room. ;)
I don't have too much to say about the movies this month since I haven't seen either of them.
I really would like to hear you guys go over Exterminating Angel (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056732/)
You need to do your homework BEFORE the show is recorded John.
;)
John - so long as you don't make a mistake and rent "Exterminating Angels" instead. Slip of the S and get a totally different (I assume) film. And not a very good one to boot...
Goon says:
To me with FGF, its like this:
If you could have, would you have gone to an Andy Kaufman show where he was being Tony Clifton, doing everything he could do to be obnoxious, unlikeable, mixing entertainment with intentional "unentertainment"
hell yeah I would. You know, FGF for me works on multiple levels. On one level I genuinely enjoy Tom Green's bizarre antics, and that INCLUDES the repetition - its kind of the point. With Tom he says things like "I'm enjoying this drink. I like how this drink tastes. The drink is good because I'm enjoying it" - I mean that's just awesome for me, and certainly not the same as when say, Dane Cook, has to fucking repeat his punchline for 4 minutes and milk it for all its worth, turning a mediocre 45 minute comedy album into an awful 2 disc set...
As for the meta stuff, its pretty easy to explain. Aside from looking at the mechanics and analogies and how amazing it is it got made, theres the fact that Tom Green is a prankster - in a scripted film he can't prank the other characters like he did on his show, so what do you do? Prank the audience. I was sitting in the theater watching this seeing people get frustrated, and THATS entertaining...
...this is why the DVD has an audience reaction track - they start out laughing, theres a segment where theres shocked reactions, and then for most of the rest of the film, its just silence. why? the ones making the noise walked out.
Anyways, as much as I'm infinitely entertained by FGF, I accept that some people aren't going to get it - its part of the point that X percentage wont. That said, I think when making it Tom expected more people to understand what he was doing with this film. If it weren't for his reputation I think more people would have, however if it werent for his reputation they would have never let him get away with it in the first place.
Kurt, if you havent, check out the commentary track. its one of few commentary tracks I'd listen to more than once.
Hey Goon, I would love to watch the commentary track on this. I assume it is Green?
As to your comments, I think they are valid and either you get it or you don't. Now that I "get" the joke, that still doesn't mean I'm entertained by it or had fun. I don't mind being manipulated (I think that is what a film is supposed to do). But I do mind being pranked or fucked with for the enjoyment of the film maker. Aren't films supposed to entertain us; not entertain the maker?
Maybe that's just me and maybe the very fact that you know Green is entertaining himself by messing with us (or the studio) is entertaining to some - just not me.
And I'd like to reiterate one more time - while I can't give the movie a positive review, nor would I really recommend it to anyone, I did laugh out loud several times - and fairly hard. This is much more than most comedies give me in the average year.
The only 2 movies that really had me laughing (intentionally) at all in '07 was Superbad and Hot Fuzz (or technically 3 films if you count "Blood Car").
Goon:
"Aren't films supposed to entertain us; not entertain the maker?"
Like I said, I was completely entertained - but without X percentage of people being unentertained, those of us who know what he's doing are LESS entertained. its give and take.
in order to get my omelet, Green has to break a few eggs, that being the patience of X % of the audience.
as to your statement, i think if you applied your statement to music... less people would agree. We more easily accept that music is art and what they produce has to be what THEY want to do, and we are either their audience or not. I think of film enough as art to give people, especially someone as bizarre as Green was being at the time this was released, that same benefit... if someone tells me its Green's "job" to entertain them, well all I can say is you chose to see it, and while since you paid you have as much right to criticize as anyone else, to me its like someone buying a Captain Beefheart album and saying its crap/too weird. I think its certainly fair to say with FGF it comes to a matter of taste vs. most other movies which could be seen as more objectively bad..
I'm not using 'artists intentions' as a way to justify the film. (If i did I'd have to give free pass to artists who just splash a dot in a corner of a 50 foot canvas and say they're done), I'm just pointing out that when you have as many awkward, bizarre, pranking intentions as Green, its a little harder to come down on him for being entertaining or not the same way you would for say, Joe Dirt.
..and yes, the commentary is Green, which is a mix of regular commentary of whats happening on screen/how it was made, which bluntly addressing its failure with critics, specifically the deal with EW who gave him the harshest criticisms, even calling him "ugly".
@Marina - I actually have the movie Exterminating Angels sitting around waiting to be watched. I'm sure its going to be terrible but I love watching movies that play with sexuality. Which is the excuse I'm going to go with for just watching Spiderbabe. :)
@Andrew - I was just too busy to catch Freddy Got Fingered and Cannibal Holicaust or for that matter Lady in the Water. Other than those though I've been keeping up.
John - except that the sexuality in that film is so forced it's more uncomfortable to watch than hot. At no point did I, or the husband for that matter, think it was sensual. Just bad.
Really enjoyed your reviews of Cannibal Holocaust and was ecstatic to hear someone else defending FGF. Not surprisingly a lot of college students have taken to the film recently and I do hear it being seriously discussed far more often now. Green has not only cited Kaufman as an influence, but you can see another of his favourites, Monty Python, has a huge influence as well. Who wasn't disgusted by Mr. Creole, and Meaning of Life is one of the most subversive and mean spirited comedies ever made (I love it). And Python loved rubbing peoples nose in filth. In making this film, Green is basically giving the finger to all things mainstream, formulaic and stale and he was immediately punished by critics who make a living off the Hollywood formula films and the studios alike. Also, I don't find one moment of FGF unentertaining. I'm laughing my ass of at, "I'm a farmer! Look at me!", "You made your daddy proud" and "I saved the day". Very funny stuff. And Cannibal Holocaust is a masterpiece. As a sidenote, Sergio Leone was also a big fan of the film.
Lastly, my only complaint was all the coughing an sniffling. With the exception of someone eating during a podcast, these things are guaranteed to turn my stomach and I had a really tough time getting through it. Maybe it was to coincide with the gross out theme? It worked.
Anyway, great job and I look forward to your next podcast.
Coughing and Sniffling was Jay's viral outbreak which he braved thru to join the table. (although an interesting rationalization, Guitarbrother, it was unintended! ;)
I believe (as I've read somewhere, maybe the wikipedia page or disc commentary) that Leone actually warned Deodato what was like to happen due to the highly realistic verite approach used in the film. And he was right. Although the film remains what it is in part due to the controversy...
If you have the Cannibal Holocaust Book (which I have in storage somewhere) I think they may even reprint the letter Leone sent Deodato. Now we just need a cinema legend to love FGF and maybe folks will get off our backs for liking that too.
I just dig the screen name:
guitarbrother.
A fellow "Homeroom!!!!!!!!" classmate?
You kids rock!
I remember watching "Freddy Got Fingered" and thinking that I'd just seen Tom Green commit career suicide in front of me. There's a strong whiff of self-destruction in that movie. The baby scene is jaw-dropping. I couldn't really call it a funny movie but it is one of a kind. I really enjoyed your comments on that picture, as well as your discussion about "Little Children." Keep up the good work.
Great show guys, can't wait for the next.
When is the next one? I love Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! I've watched it acouple of times this year already since it's rotating on a channel.
We're aiming to record on the 26th, so expect it up at at the very latests before April Fools Day.
When is the next episode coming?
Next week Drew.
coolio
Oi. Took a while (3 weeks late) but we recorded the next episode, should be up in a day or two...
I'm obviously late to this, but great podcast. Actually, great half-cast, because i only listened to the second half, having not seen cannibal holocaust. i love freddy got fingered, and the thoughts on the innovation of it.
Tom Green made a parodical character out of the characters will ferrell and adam sandler and chris farley have made extremely popular. That's what i think is so great about this movie and, in general, his career.
Also, I don't know if this is intentional at all, but when the house falls around Tom, him standing in the path of the window, I can only think of Buster Keaton's Steamboat Bill, Jr. Not a whole lot in common between these two comedians, but I just like that connection.
Cannibal Holocaust is probably the funniest movie ever made!It also made me masturbate several times...what a great film of utter silliness!!! Some day I hope to see a really gory movie.
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