Frank Oz: A Look Back.

Note: This post is for the LAMBs in the Director's Chair.

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Mostly known for his voice work on Sesame Street, as Muppets, and--of course--as Yoda, Frank Oz has been in the business for quite a while. But today I wanted to focus on his directorial efforts. I've seen half of his films, but I don't remember much of one (Indian in the Cupboard). At a surface glance, his films seem drastically different. But when you poke just a little bit deeper, you'll see a bit of twistedness and dark humor imbued in most. Let's start from the beginning.


Title: The Dark Crystal
Starring: Jim Henson, Kathryn Mullen, Frank Oz, and Dave Goelz
Synopsis: Fantasy story about a creature named Jen who must find a crystal shard in order to restore peace and order to his dying world.
Thoughts: This is apparently some masterpiece of puppetry and fantasy, but I don't see it. I've always stayed away from this film because just the look of it on posters and cases bothered me. That didn't go away when I just recently watched it. The voice acting is ungodly annoying--particularly Jen and Chamberlain (which is done by both Henson and Oz, respectively). The voice over in the first 10 or so minutes gets really old really fast. The puppets themselves are ugly and too fake. I love fantasy films, but this one is nearly unbearable to me. I know it's a children's classic, but I couldn't handle it.


Title: The Muppets Take Manhattan
Starring: Jim Henson, Frank Oz, and Dave Goelz
Synopsis and Thoughts: For more information on both the synopsis and thoughts, check out episode 13 of The Demented Podcast in which Jess and I discuss this film.



Title: Little Shop of Horrors
Starring: Rick Moranis, Ellen Greene, Vincent Gardenia, Steve Martin, Bill Murray, and Levi Stubbs
Synopsis: A young man named Seymour working in a rundown flower shop showcases a "strange and interesting new plant" he's discovered... that just so happens to eat blood. In order to continue his success and keep the attention from Audrey, Seymour must continue to feed it blood until the only way left to feed it is kill people.
Thoughts: This was my favorite film growing up and is still a personal favorite today. I know the whole film by heart. Excellent puppetry for the Audrey II. Amazing songs. Really fun comedy and good romance. Of course, this is my favorite Frank Oz film hands down.


Title: The Score
Starring: Edward Norton, Robert De Niro, Marlon Brando, and Angela Bassett
Synopsis: Old thief wants to retire. One last heist. Young up-and-comer. You know the drill.
Thoughts: It was alright. I don't remember much about it, despite having just seen it last year. A decent heist movie, but apparently not very memorable. The dynamic between Norton and De Niro trying to outdo each other was fun, though.


Title: Stepford Wives
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Matthew Broderick, Bette Midler, Glenn Close, and Christopher Walken
Synopsis: The women in the town are replaced with androids... or something.
Thoughts: It's crap.


Title: Death at a Funeral
Starring: Matthew Macfadyen, Ewen Bremner, Rupert Graves, Alan Tudyk, and Peter Dinklage
Synopsis: Chaos ensues at the funeral of a man's father.
Thoughts: I thought this movie was hilarious. Apparently most just think it's an OK film, but I loved it. Unfortunately, they remade the movie with Chris Rock 3 years later, which I still have yet to see... though I know it can't be good (or as good).


Final Thoughts: Just like his varied career, Frank Oz has made some questionable films. Some are excellent (at least in my opinion), while some are pretty dang awful. I have yet to see some of his more appreciated works, but I will get to them eventually. I seem to enjoy every other Frank Oz film I see, and after the abysmally annoying Dark Crystal, I'm sure to enjoy at least the next few.

R2D2's Ultimate Top 10 Countdown Of The 2000s #1 - Comedies.

We're officially in the last 10 days of the year (and decade), and every other movie blogger is doing their Top 10 lists of the the year and/or decade. So I knew I had to follow the popular crowd... but I didn't just want to do one Top 10 list. No, I want to do 10 Top 10 lists. You heard me.

For the next 10 days, I'm going to post one Top 10 list a day, counting down some of my favorite movies. And this is how it will work: The next 10 days will consist of my Top 10 favorite films of different genres from the past decade. And then, on January 1, I will be posting my Top 10 of the decade. I will actually post 2 Top 10s for this post (OK, that's technically 12 Top 10 lists, but whatever). The first will use, in a new order, my #1 choices from the previous 10 lists to have a fair-and-balanced (but not in the Fox News kinda way) list. But then I'll be making another Top 10 of my overall favorites of the year (for instance, what if I liked my #2 horror spot more than my #1 musical spot?).

Note: These lists will not be "the best," but they will be my favorites. If those coincide, then great. But otherwise, these lists will just be what I consider to be my favorite films of the last 10 years.

The "genres" I'll be taking a look at are the following (in no particular order): Comedies, Dramas, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Horror, Musicals, Animated (including anime), Action/Thriller, Oscar Bait, Decade Specials (Superhero, Remakes, etc.), and Foreign (outside America, live-action, subtitled only... I know these can fall under numerous other genres, but I wanted to keep foreign films together. The only ones I won't put in here are anime, seeing I'm putting those under Animated).

So for our first list, I'll be taking a look at Comedies.

Top 10 Comedies of the 2000s

Comedy is a very wide genre. There are tons of subgenres that go with it: action/comedy, horror/comedy, British comedy, dark comedy, dramedy, slapstick, gross-out, sex/teen, etc. I'll be spanning the full spectrum of comedy for this list. How I've decided whether to include certain movies in other genres if they're cross-genre (such as horror/comedy) depends on the level of each genre they have. For instance, if they're more horror than comedy, they'll be in horror, and vice versa. All this being said, let's get into the list.

10. 11:14 (2003)

A dark comedy, 11:14 is funny, thrilling, and stylish. It has a great cast, a great concept, and a great twist ending. It's also incredibly underrated and mostly unknown. The film stars Henry Thomas, Hilary Swank, Shawn Hatosy, Colin Hanks, Ben Foster, Patrick Swayze, Rachel Leigh Cook, and Jason Segel. Its concept is similar to those of Go and Vantage Point, where the same story is told numerous times, but through different perspectives until you get the full story. But I particularly love how this movie pulls it off (with every perspective centering around events that occur at 11:14 PM), due to a major twist that is revealed through the final perspective.

I put it in my number 10 spot because, while it is an excellent movie, it's not the funniest on the list (it gets a bit dark and dramatic at times). But it's still great enough to make it.

9. Superbad (2007)

If the 2000s were anything in comedy, especially the latter half, they belonged to one Judd Apatow. I wanted at least one Apatow flick on this list, and I almost gave it to the one that started it all--40-Year-Old Virgin. But in the end, it came down to laughs, and I felt Superbad just held more. It's also the film that skyrocketed Michael Cera's career (and arguably Jonah Hill's, if you don't count Knocked Up). It also gave us the gorgeous Emma Stone. In fact, there are a few people in this film that appear in some of my other films higher up on the list. And that probably wouldn't have happened without this movie.

8. Death at a Funeral (2007)

I saw this movie earlier this year, and as soon as I did, I immediately had to go out and buy it. This movie is downright hilarious. From a stoned Alan Tudyk to a gay dwarf affair/blackmail scandal, this movie pulls all the right punches and delivers on the laughs.

7. Role Models (2008)

One of my favorite movies of last year, Role Models was an Apatow picture without Apatow being involved. It involved McLovin himself, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, as well as Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Banks, Jane Lynch, Ken Jeong, and Jo Lo Truglio, all from previous Apatow-produced (and/or directed) films. And, of course, Seann William Scott and newcomer Bobb'e J. Thompson as loudmouthed, sex-obsessed characters. Of course, the heart of the film is in the relationship between Mintz-Plasse and Rudd, with Rudd's slow acceptance of people a little different from the norm. Every character in this film was brilliantly written (except maybe straight-girl Elizabeth Banks), but it's like every character was written to be memborable.

My favorite scenes, however, involved all the nerdy LARPing. A bit of an RPG nerd myself, I really took into the fantasy nerd humor. Without these scenes, the movie wouldn't have been even as remotely good as it was.

6. EuroTrip (2004)

This is probably one of the main movies on my list that probably won't be making too many others. I'd call it a guilty pleasure, but I honestly think the movie is too funny to be a 'bad' enough movie for a guilty pleasure. Outside of maybe one or two people, nobody in this movie went on to do anything greater. It's over-the-top and silly, but it's loads of fun. Not to mention Matt Damon's cameo is one of my all-time favorites. And the "Scotty Doesn't Know" song is a classic in my mind.

5. Gamers: Dorkness Rising (2008)

Another movie that I'd put money on won't be making any lists, but not for the same reasons as the previous film. The reason this movie won't be making lists is that almost nobody has ever heard of it. It's an incredibly low-budget film that you can only buy online. But I swear, if you're a gamer of any kind, this is one of the funniest movies you will have ever seen. But what's so special about this movie is that, even if you've never played a game, D&D or otherwise, it's still accessible enough to be good fun (in a similar way that Role Models was funny to those who have never LARPed). The best thing, though? It doesn't make fun of gamers. It embraces and celebrates the hobby. And I dare you to watch this movie and not want to do any gaming afterward.

4. Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang (2005)

Who doesn't love Robert Downey Jr.? His fast-talking and forgetful narration quickly made this movie one of my favorites. And Val Kilmer's Gay Perry is great, too. This movie moves very fast, and the ending is hard to grasp the first time you watch it. But the great thing about this movie? It lends itself to rewatchability. Similar to this year's The Hangover, it's a cross-over genre you don't usually see too often: the comedy/mystery. But whereas The Hangover focuses more on the comedy than the mystery, this film blends both in equal amounts, making for a good laugh-out-loud time while keeping you intrigued by the detective story. Oh, and did I mention Robert Downey Jr.?

3. Zombieland (2009)

One of this year's best, Zombieland is a horror/comedy of the ages, right up there with another that doesn't need to be named. Starring Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Abigail Breslin, and Emma Stone, Zombieland was an unexpected hit (well, to a lot of people other than me). It's stylish and fun, and Eisenberg and Harrelson worked amazingly well off each other. Not to mention it has one of the best cameo appearances ever.

2. Napoleon Dynamite (2004)

This is a movie that should be on a lot of people's lists. If somebody discussed comedies of the 2000s and didn't reference this film, they shouldn't be discussing comedy. A dry comedy if there ever was one, Napoleon Dynamite escalated far past cult status and into the history books as a low-budget film that, even if you've never seen it, you probably still know the whole film from beginning to end. Why? Because you probably know at least one person who walked around quoting it. Has there ever been another movie where basically every single line is quotable comic gold? I don't think so. Idiot!

1. Shaun of the Dead (2004)

If you didn't know this was going to be my number one comedy choice, then you probably don't read my blog on a regular basis. As one of my all-time favorite movies, of course Shaun of the Dead was gonna hit my #1 comedy spot. It's got everything. Simon Pegg. Brilliant writing. Zombies. Romance. Thrills. Laughs. Quotability. A lot of people might put Hot Fuzz on their list over this, but I honestly like Shaun so much more. I love Fuzz, but I think the writing in Shaun is tighter and funnier. Not to mention the "everything happens at least twice" aspect is stronger and more well-done in Shaun, which is one of my favorite things about the film. Oh, and it has zombies.


End Notes: So that's my Top 10 Comedies of the 2000s. I know I'll probably get lambasted for not including more popular films such as The Hangover or Knocked Up, or more "sophisticated" comedies, such as The Royal Tenenbaums, but remember, this is a list of my favorite comedies. And "favorite" is subjective.