FS #267: Funny People / Ikiru / Top 5 Movies About Comedy

July 31: What’s up Cleveland?! So nice to be back in the City of Lights. What’s the deal with these iPods? You see these things? Everywhere I go, people have iPods clipped to their arms or hanging from their belts. Not me. I still rock the Walkman. Remember the Walkman? Remember cassette tapes? You’d spend hours listening to the radio hoping they'd play your song? You’d hear the first few bars and run to the boombox and hit record? And then you’d scream in agony because you got the radio guy’s voice! Oh man, you couldn’t give a girl a mix tape with the radio guy’s voice on it! Guys would set up tables in the lunchroom selling radio mixes like they were Grateful Dead basement session bootlegs... “I got GNR Don’t You Cry Tonight, 9:17 last Friday WXRX, completely clean dude, all pure, this is the good stuff.”

Anyway, I’ve been listening to this show, it’s called Filmspotting. You know these guys? They DON’T SHUT UP! I’m like, what in God’s name could you possibly have to say about Judd Apatow’s "Funny People" for like 17 minutes? It’s Adam frigging Sandler! Last time I looked, he wasn’t beating out Marlon Brando for the role of the Waterboy. But these guys, they don’t stop there. They keep going and start yammering away about some Japanese film from 50 years ago called "Ikiru." And they’re such pretentious snobs, they start talking about how this film is all about the meaning of life, and yada yada. COME ON. It’s some old dude sitting on a swing! I’m like, old dude, you’ve got CANCER, quit stalking the kids and get your butt to Vegas. But nooooo, Adam and Matty (what kind of name is that? I mean seriously? That’s how you describe your dog’s fur, it’s not a name!) they keep droning on and on about the Top 5 Movies About Comedy.

What do these guys know about comedy? If it’s not some unknown, unwatchable indie flick or something directed by Steven Soderbergh, these two morons aren’t interested. That Kempenaar jerk wouldn’t know funny if Ingmar Bergman himself rose from the dead, came to his house and started kicking him in the jewels while wearing a Michael Bay ringer tee-shirt. All right, my name's M. Night, you’ve been great!

Also on the show: Massacre Theatre -- presented by In Review Online -- and music by Ben Folds.


Filmspotting #267
:13-19:52 - Review: "Funny People"
Music: Ben Folds, "Hiroshima"
20:40-33:25 - Polls, Listener Feedback
Music: Ben Folds, "Effington"
34:53-39:44 - Mass. Theatre (Winner: A. Dillon)
39:45-50:46 - Kurosawa #2: "Ikiru"
Music: Ben Folds, "Brainwascht"
51:42-1:01:59 - New DVDs/Contests/Donations
1:02:00-1:16:07 Top 5: Comedy Movies
1:16:08-1:19:59 - Close/Next Show/Outtake

NOTES
- I didn't come to the show expecting to quote Woody Allen and ended up combining, more or less, a couple great lines: "I don't want to achieve immortality through my work; I want to achieve immortality through not dying. I don't want to live on in the hearts of my countrymen; I want to live on in my apartment."

- Here's the Bill Simmons article using "Almost Famous"... and the "Fresh Air" podcast about Zooey Deschanel.

- Read the Watchmen Contest winners here. Thanks again to Titan Books!

- Seattle Metro Cinemas blog

- Follow more notes and corrections at http://twitter.com/filmspotting.

- Jeff Goldsmith's Creative Screenwriting Podcast can be accessed through iTunes here.