Movie Monday: City Lights

Today we're going back to the roots. The real roots. Alllllll the way back. The movie: Charlie Chaplin's "City Lights," from 1931.

Charlie Chaplin could be considered the man who invented screen comedy. He was born in 1889 and began in film when it was still burgeoning, in the mid-1910s.

Before the one-to-two hour film became the agreeable standard, he did dozens and dozens of short films in the 1910s, and directed, wrote, edited and produced many of them as well.

His major successes began in the early 1920s with movies such as "The Kid," which was one of the first where he defined his continuing role as the "Tramp." He appeared as the Tramp or a Tramp-like character in several of his most famous films, perhaps the most famous being "City Lights."

"City Lights" is the story of a poor tramp, and is undeniably one of the first romantic comedies. The Tramp falls in love with a blind girl who sells flowers on the street, while she mistakes him for a millionaire. When he finds out that the girl's rent is past due and cannot pay, he tries to win money for her in a variety of ways that ultimately make up the comedic plot.

As with nearly all of Chaplin's films, "City Lights" is silent, even though the technology in 1931 allowed for "talkies." Chaplin's comedic style was ingrained in silence and when silent pictures died out, so then did his career.

Laughasaurus worthiness:

Chaplin's roles were funny in how he was able to do so much without ever muttering a word. He, indeed, could have written "City Lights" with sound, but chose not to. If you watch it, you'll understand why it's better as it is.

His ability to create physical comedy, just using his body and a few props, was unmatched at the time and probably still today. Even more incredible was the comedic suspense he was able to create in a scene. Here's a familiar scene from "City Lights" where he uses comedic suspense:



His brand of physical comedy was, in fact, so hard to replicate, that when a stand-in in a chicken suit had to imitate his movements in another of his classics, "The Gold Rush" from 1925, the stand-in could not do it accurately enough, so Chaplin got in the suit himself.

Another famous scene, the Tramp here enters into a boxing match in order to win money for his love:



The ability to perform these feats of physical comedy and Chaplin's understanding of his appearance in a situation (with the bowler hat, no less), makes for unmistakable humor, and made Charlie Chaplin an unmistakable innovator of cinematic comedy.

Flight of the Conchords

I know, I know. You didn't collectively vote for Flight of the Conchords in last week's poll. But I think that's because, perhaps, many of you are not familiar with the HBO original show of the same name, and really just don't know what you're missing!

Hailing from New Zealand, Jermaine Clement and Bret McKenzie make up the Grammy-winning duo, whose awkward lyrics and situations oddly reflect an exaggerated reality.

Mostly dealing with women and relationships (and sometimes self-deprecating sexual situations), Bret and Jermaine sing about life as they see it through the eyes of two complete losers.

The show, which takes place in New York City, features Bret and Jermaine playing themselves as Flight of the Conchords, a severely unsuccessful parody music band who never can land a gig (partly because of their incompetent manager Murray, played by Rhys Darby), and who only has a single fan Mel, played by Kristen Schaal.

When they do have gigs--usually at a a place like a hotel restaurant, or an empy bar--Mel is the only fan present. She almost always waits for them outside their apartment, and almost always wears an FOTC t-shirt.

Murray, who works at the New Zealand consulate, holds the band meetings in his office. The meetings always begin with a roll call, for which Murray insists on everyone present (including himself) to say "present" when their name is called.

Laughasaurus worthiness:

As I usually try to break down what makes a particular show/movie/cartoon/article funny, Flight of the Conchords has two main draws.

The first, of course is their music. Focusing on their parody lyrics instead of their instrumentals or voices--voices, which seem to be intentionally awful--the lyrics often evoke the feeling of the situations they present in the topic, even putting the jokes out at their own expense. Here's a clip from the beginning of their first episode:



Other episodes feature songs that get much weirder and don't exactly reflect the situation at hand, such as "Bowie" and "Robots." Though I highly recommend checking out "Robots," it's hilarious.

The show is also funny because of the non-musical dialogue between Jermaine and Bret, and the other uncomfortable situations they find themselves in. They speak in very monotonous voices with very little inflection or excitement, they almost never laugh and rarely smile, and when combined with their thick New Zealand accents, it still manages to garner laughs.

Here's another clip from the first episode at a band meeting:



If you don't have access to HBO or a Flight of the Conchords DVD, here are some more suggestions to look up on YouTube (or your preferred online video viewing site):

- Hiphopapotamous vs. Rhymenocerous
- Business Time
- If You're Into It

Enjoy!

Weekly Poll Winner: Tenacious D

The votes are in, I've counted them (actually, Google counted them for me), and you've selected Tenacious D as your favorite parody music group.

If you're not familiar with Tenacious D, they are what has been dubbed a "mock rock" band, featuring sometimes over-the-top comedic actor Jack Black (School of Rock) and Kyle Gass.

Jack does a majority of the singing and Kyle does a majority of the guitar playing, but they both sing and play at times.

Their musical style spans from straight rock to lighter metal in the tradition of bands like Led Zeppelin, The Who and Kiss, among other influences. Other influences they named in an interview with "The List" are Jimi Hendrix, Dio, Bach, Mozart, Satan and Meatloaf. Not far from what you might expect them to say.


Their brand of rock--unlike other parody music groups--does not ignore the instrumentals and actual musical quality for parody-type lyrics (even though their lyrics are outrageous and very funny).

Kyle Gass is actually a sweet guitarist and Jack Black, as you probably know, has a way decent set of vocal chords. This gives Tenacious D credibility beyond the average parody group who might simply play chords to accompany their funny lyrics.

The band's music features wry, epic, ballad-type lyrics, that boasts more about how epic it is than what they actually display. They sing about marijuana, sex and they sing about rock. There are also often introductions and interludes where Jack Black will simply talk about something while the music plays.

Formed in the mid-90s, Tenacious D had minimal success before striking a deal with HBO for a show by the same name. In the early 2000s, they also released a self-titled album which featured memorable hits such as "Tribute to the Greatest Song in the World", "F*** Her Gently", and "Wonderboy":



In 2006, Tenacious D made a feature film called "Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny," about a magical guitar pick. They discover that the pick was used by all of the legends of rock, and was apparently forged from one of Satan's teeth.

(To clarify, Weekly Poll Winners do not receive Laughasaurus worthiness due to the fact that they are selected by the fans and not by me...it's only fair!)



**Special thanks to Katie Rabinowitz for coming up with this week's new poll: Favorite Seth Rogen movie.

Movie Monday: The Big Lebowski

I remember the first time I saw "The Big Lebowski" and how it completely rocked my world.

Writers/directors/producers/editors Joel and Ethan Coen (also responsible for such cinematic thrill-rides as "Fargo" and "No Country For Old Men") seem to turn almost everything they touch into gold.

"The Big Lebowski," although quite weird, and even more profane, is damn near close to a perfect movie.

It has a hint of detective fiction and a hint of "Alice in Wonderland," where our protagonist, Jeffrey Lebowski AKA The Dude (Jeff Bridges), finds himself falling deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole. And as he falls, it just gets weirder and weirder.

Let's first start with an attempt to describe the plot:

The Dude arrives home one evening to find several idiot gangsters in his apartment, who shove his face into the toilet, urinate on his rug and ask: "where's the money, Lebowski?"

As it turns out, there's another Jeffrey Lebowski who is quite wealthy--unlike The Dude--and whose young trophy wife Bunny (Tara Reid), owes the money.

When Bunny is kidnapped, the other Jeffrey Lebowski commissions The Dude to his service to make a payoff to the kidnappers. But when The Dude's unhinged, Vietnam War-vet friend Walter (played so perfectly by John Goodman) gets involved, the payoff doesn't go as planned, and our detective/Alice in Wonderland is even more lost.

Laughasaurus worthiness:

There are several reasons why "The Big Lebowski" is worthy of association with the big green dinosaur. The first is something that the Coen brothers do better than most any other filmmakers in Hollywood: casting.

They have an innate ability to select probably the most perfect actors for roles in their movies (it helps that they often write the screenplays with specific actors in mind). Other examples of this phenomenon would be Frances McDormand in "Fargo" and Javier Bardem in "No Country For Old Men."

In "The Big Lebowski" it seems as if everyone cast was born to play that role. I don't think anyone could have done The Dude better, and absolutely no one could replicate John Goodman as Walter.

Here's a clip (sorry about having to sign in to see it--Hulu has the best clips and they're trying to be responsible with all the F-bombs)



As you can see (or as I hope you can see), everything John Goodman says is hilarious. His wacked-out way of turning everything into a personal vendetta and a reason to bring up his involvement in Vietnam generates fistfuls of laughter and helps to drive the story.

The writing is a second reason why I selected this movie today, for even the best acting doesn't hold up against a flimsy screenplay. Each character has their own unique way of talking, interacting and just plain being.

Many of the jokes are then written in and derive from each character's way of being. If Walter wasn't a complete nut, then listening to him yell about how he is "shomer shabbos" (observing the Jewish sabbath by not using electricity), wouldn't knock me off my feet from laughing. Needless to say, it cracks me up.

Here's another clip, and again sorry about sign-in for R-rated viewing:



Among other well-cast characters--such as Philip Seymour Hoffman, Steve Buscemi, Julianne Moore and John Turturro--trippy music sequences, mass confusion, and even a cameo from Sam Elliot, "The Big Lebowski" achieves everything its creators intended...and much more. Enjoy.

The Onion: 2008 Election Map, State by State

Laughasaurus worthiness:

The Onion is great with political humor. Good political humor is not something to be ignored, and at Laughasaurus we definitely do not ignore it.

This map was in the issue of The Onion that came out a day after the election, giving it the perfect poise to give its readers an ache in their sides from laughing. I remember when this issue came out, and I was standing by myself in the DC metro reading...and laughing.

I've always thought the true test of what makes something (anything) funny is when you are watching/viewing/reading it by yourself and it makes you laugh out loud. Laughter has strength in numbers. Pay attention the next time you watch a funny movie (perhaps Airplane!) with a group--then watch the same movie alone and notice the disparity.

That being said, and since reading The Onion is more often a personal activity (as is reading in general), when you catch yourself L-ing-O-L, you know you've got a winner.

This map was also very pertinent because, if you'll remember, in the weeks before the election every news site had their own map with voter predictions. Of course they were mostly colored red and blue for Republicans and Democrats, but then seeing a map with states colored "Seceded" and "Should feel lucky they got to vote at all after what happened last time," has got to be enough for a chuckle.

And as always, The Onion adds some more random, screwball options, like grouping Colorado, Wyoming, South Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas and calling it the "Forbidden Zone," or Montana's "Upset about being shaded chartreuse on the map," are classic unpredictable Onion moves.

So if you're red, blue, chartreuse, or still too scared to leave the voting booth and face election results (that's you, Mississippi and Iowa!), enjoy the map and thanks for stopping by at Laughasaurus!