Film/moving picture show you most recently watched

[Billy Whitehurst 790]

Havent watched a film for weeks! Really want to see The Future & The Tree of life. Anyone seen either? Bridesmaids and the new ape movie would be nice.

I saw Tree of Life a few weeks ago. I was really looking forward to seeing it based on what I've seen of Terence Malick and also because Sean Penn was in it, but it was a total let down. It was far far too self-indulgent, loads of people walked out of the cinema. It's nicely shot but ridiculously pretentious, I wouldn't recommend it. Mrs liked it though.

[Gemmill 34622]

Jesus Camp. Documentary about lunatic religious types in the US and the indoctrination of children. Which was canny scary.

 

Red State. It was decent enough. Pretty short, and I dunno, it felt like an episode of something rather than a film for some reason.

[Andrew 4229]

Rise of the planet of the apes last night, pretty much agree with parky

 

Trailer for tinker tailor soldier spy has got me very excited for it, what a bloody good cast

Edited September 4, 2011 by Semimental

[Kevin S. Assilleekunt 1]

American - Bill Hicks story

I think I preferred to imagine he came out of the womb drunk with a bine in his hand dressed in black and angry. Intresting though, the point made about his stand up being still on the money now, 20 years after death, more than anything anyone alive is doing, is illuminating and worrying. I've not seen a stand up with a routine on Obama or Cameron.

 

How would that be illuminating and worrying, if it were true? You think there is a problem with political discourse because there aren't stand-up comics who have the same opinions of Obama and Cameron as you do? Hicks was a decent comic, when he went on political rants he forgot to be funny sometimes, something that George Carlin never did. Carlin would never attack individual polititians because he thought it was cheap and easy humour--he always attacked the political establishment as a whole, and never forgot to be funny about it. Perhaps that's why he was a lot more successful than Hicks. Hicks had a cult following in this country that probably had something to do with anti-US feeling that is quite common here in certain quarters.

 

 

Saw Enter the Dragon the other night, it's a shame Lee didn't live long enough to get to do some better films, I think he would have been capable of it.

[Billy Whitehurst 790]

Saw 'The Skin I Live In'. I thought it was very good, well worth going to see. Pretty shocking but that's what you get with Almodovar films.

[Brock Manson 0]

American - Bill Hicks story

I think I preferred to imagine he came out of the womb drunk with a bine in his hand dressed in black and angry. Intresting though, the point made about his stand up being still on the money now, 20 years after death, more than anything anyone alive is doing, is illuminating and worrying. I've not seen a stand up with a routine on Obama or Cameron.

 

How would that be illuminating and worrying, if it were true? You think there is a problem with political discourse because there aren't stand-up comics who have the same opinions of Obama and Cameron as you do? Hicks was a decent comic, when he went on political rants he forgot to be funny sometimes, something that George Carlin never did. Carlin would never attack individual polititians because he thought it was cheap and easy humour--he always attacked the political establishment as a whole, and never forgot to be funny about it. Perhaps that's why he was a lot more successful than Hicks. Hicks had a cult following in this country that probably had something to do with anti-US feeling that is quite common here in certain quarters.

 

 

Saw Enter the Dragon the other night, it's a shame Lee didn't live long enough to get to do some better films, I think he would have been capable of it.

 

Hicks was always intent on using his satire as a means to provide a social commentary. He said it himself that he wanted to make people think.

 

There's a worrying trend for 'safe' comedy these days thrown at us on telly. A lot of guys who aren't particularly funny just going for cheap laughs has replaced thought-provoking insights into what's wrong with societies. All well and good if you want to zone out at a comedy gig, but there's nothing challenging in that.

 

A great deal of Hicks' material is still relevant today, which is both a testament to how good a comic and social critic he was and how fucked up the world is even nearly twenty years after his death.

[Happy Face 29]

American - Bill Hicks story

I think I preferred to imagine he came out of the womb drunk with a bine in his hand dressed in black and angry. Intresting though, the point made about his stand up being still on the money now, 20 years after death, more than anything anyone alive is doing, is illuminating and worrying. I've not seen a stand up with a routine on Obama or Cameron.

 

How would that be illuminating and worrying, if it were true? You think there is a problem with political discourse because there aren't stand-up comics who have the same opinions of Obama and Cameron as you do? Hicks was a decent comic, when he went on political rants he forgot to be funny sometimes, something that George Carlin never did. Carlin would never attack individual polititians because he thought it was cheap and easy humour--he always attacked the political establishment as a whole, and never forgot to be funny about it. Perhaps that's why he was a lot more successful than Hicks. Hicks had a cult following in this country that probably had something to do with anti-US feeling that is quite common here in certain quarters.

 

 

Anti-US?

 

The title of the film should tell you that's not the case. He's a bloke who values the rights he benefits from as an American above most others. He argues for the RIGHT to burn a flag which so-called patriots that wrap themselves in the flag would have banned. That's the irony of the title. Clearly his view is most closely alligned with the constitution. He's the patriot.

 

You don't think it's worrying that everything that raised Hick's ire 20 years ago still would in exactly the same way? Right up to Bush/Clinton being in the White House?

 

You say anyone else doing this stuff would need to align with my views but that's not the case at all, if you can point to anyone giving an opposing view that would be fine. There is an abundance of political comedy. Bill Maher, Jon Stewart and Colbert do a brilliant job regularly to a far wider audience than Hicks ever had.

 

But it's a film about the art of stand-up, and it's a shame there's no political stand-up I'm aware of. I've heard Josie Long's Edinburgh show this year is quite angry about the coalition like.

[Kevin S. Assilleekunt 1]

Hicks was always intent on using his satire as a means to provide a social commentary. He said it himself that he wanted to make people think.

 

There's a worrying trend for 'safe' comedy these days thrown at us on telly. A lot of guys who aren't particularly funny just going for cheap laughs has replaced thought-provoking insights into what's wrong with societies. All well and good if you want to zone out at a comedy gig, but there's nothing challenging in that.

 

A great deal of Hicks' material is still relevant today, which is both a testament to how good a comic and social critic he was and how fucked up the world is even nearly twenty years after his death.

 

I've seen all of Hick's concert films, probably a few times each. He's got some decent material. His material on drugs is brilliant. One of his best bits is 'weed vs booze'. Some of his political stuff isn't that funny. The same thing happened with Lenny Bruce when he got arrested for 'Indecency' or whatever it was, he started just doing rants and forgot to be funny: more understandable in his case as he was in deep shit. Richard Pryor and George Carlin were just as subversive as Hicks and a lot more successful. Why is that? They were better and funnier comics than him. Some of Pryor's social commentary is a lot more profound than Hicks, and Carlin was more subversive in his later years, there's never been a comic as misanthropic as Carlin was in his old age.

 

The 'worrying trend' you speak of is the way it's been forever. There's never been a time when there were tonnes of comics like Bill Hicks. It's the same with music, the stuff that sells the most is always easy-listening pop, but the stuff that is remembered culturally is the blues etc. Same deal with comedy, but there are plenty of 'safe' comics who are really funny. Stand-up is very popular at the moment and there are lots of tv shows with stand ups on, so naturally there are going to be more poor stand ups getting more exposure because of this.

 

What are you talking about, "oh man the world is still fucked up mannn," what do you expect? There's never been a time in recorded history when fucked up stuff isn't happening. Hicks is probably a bit overrated by his British cult following, END OFF.

[Happy Face 29]

Mis-read the "anti-us" comment as "his anti-us"

 

Soz.

[Kevin S. Assilleekunt 1]

You say anyone else doing this stuff would need to align with my views but that's not the case at all, if you can point to anyone giving an opposing view that would be fine. There is an abundance of political comedy. Bill Maher, Jon Stewart and Colbert do a brilliant job regularly to a far wider audience than Hicks ever had.

 

But it's a film about the art of stand-up, and it's a shame there's no political stand-up I'm aware of. I've heard Josie Long's Edinburgh show this year is quite angry about the coalition like.

 

I didn't say Hicks was anti-US, I believe parts of his cult-following here are. Let's be honest, you're going to find plenty of fans of Hicks from the UK are the type who think 9/11 was an inside job, Bush/Blair are war criminals worse than Saddam Hussein and so on, at least that's what I've experienced.I count myself as a fan of Hick's standup anyway, I just don't think he's the God of all comedy/politics. I certainly don't look to standups for political insight. I think those who just absolutely take the piss are funnier, like Brass Eye and Sasha Baron Cohen.

 

Is it worrying that fucked up shit happens in the world? Yes, but it doesn't worry me in the slightest that Michael Macintyre isn't doing bits on Darfur and US war crimes in Iraq.

 

You should check out Carlin's bit on voting in the US btw. You were harping on about the illusion of choice and he did some great stuff on that and corporate influence etc. I don't think there's much of an illusion of choice anymore tbh.

 

[Happy Face 29]

You say anyone else doing this stuff would need to align with my views but that's not the case at all, if you can point to anyone giving an opposing view that would be fine. There is an abundance of political comedy. Bill Maher, Jon Stewart and Colbert do a brilliant job regularly to a far wider audience than Hicks ever had.

 

But it's a film about the art of stand-up, and it's a shame there's no political stand-up I'm aware of. I've heard Josie Long's Edinburgh show this year is quite angry about the coalition like.

 

I didn't say Hicks was anti-US, I believe parts of his cult-following here are. Let's be honest, you're going to find plenty of fans of Hicks from the UK are the type who think 9/11 was an inside job, Bush/Blair are war criminals worse than Saddam Hussein and so on, at least that's what I've experienced.I count myself as a fan of Hick's standup anyway, I just don't think he's the God of all comedy/politics. I certainly don't look to standups for political insight. I think those who just absolutely take the piss are funnier, like Brass Eye and Sasha Baron Cohen.

 

Is it worrying that fucked up shit happens in the world? Yes, but it doesn't worry me in the slightest that Michael Macintyre isn't doing bits on Darfur and US war crimes in Iraq.

 

You should check out Carlin's bit on voting in the US btw. You were harping on about the illusion of choice and he did some great stuff on that and corporate influence etc. I don't think there's much of an illusion of choice anymore tbh.

 

 

Seen most of Carlin's later stuff. Worryin there's no-one like him about anymore

[Kevin S. Assilleekunt 1]

Paul Mooney's still going (he wrote with Pryor), and he does plenty of political stuff. You might like him, he does all the Bush-slamming stuff.

 

 

There's probably quite a few standups doing political stuff in the US, it's just a lot harder to get a tv slot as a comedian there. In the UK now they're just plucking anyone and plonking them on Live at the Apollo, or MM's roadshow, or Jason Manford's Comedy Hour, or Stand up For the Week... .. I could go on.

[wykikitoon 16734]

Cloverfield

 

UTTER dog shit 2/10

[angrysteve 0]

Fright Night (the new one) Enjoyable way to spend a hung over sunday afternoon. The 3D added absolutely nothing to it though. 7/10

[Holden McGroin 4894]

Kill List. Wickerman-wannabe. It tried too hard to be cool/classic/a cult movie. Came up short. Interesting story line but full of Mockney shite.

[Brock Manson 0]

Hicks was always intent on using his satire as a means to provide a social commentary. He said it himself that he wanted to make people think.

 

There's a worrying trend for 'safe' comedy these days thrown at us on telly. A lot of guys who aren't particularly funny just going for cheap laughs has replaced thought-provoking insights into what's wrong with societies. All well and good if you want to zone out at a comedy gig, but there's nothing challenging in that.

 

A great deal of Hicks' material is still relevant today, which is both a testament to how good a comic and social critic he was and how fucked up the world is even nearly twenty years after his death.

 

I've seen all of Hick's concert films, probably a few times each. He's got some decent material. His material on drugs is brilliant. One of his best bits is 'weed vs booze'. Some of his political stuff isn't that funny. The same thing happened with Lenny Bruce when he got arrested for 'Indecency' or whatever it was, he started just doing rants and forgot to be funny: more understandable in his case as he was in deep shit. Richard Pryor and George Carlin were just as subversive as Hicks and a lot more successful. Why is that? They were better and funnier comics than him. Some of Pryor's social commentary is a lot more profound than Hicks, and Carlin was more subversive in his later years, there's never been a comic as misanthropic as Carlin was in his old age.

 

The 'worrying trend' you speak of is the way it's been forever. There's never been a time when there were tonnes of comics like Bill Hicks. It's the same with music, the stuff that sells the most is always easy-listening pop, but the stuff that is remembered culturally is the blues etc. Same deal with comedy, but there are plenty of 'safe' comics who are really funny. Stand-up is very popular at the moment and there are lots of tv shows with stand ups on, so naturally there are going to be more poor stand ups getting more exposure because of this.

 

What are you talking about, "oh man the world is still fucked up mannn," what do you expect? There's never been a time in recorded history when fucked up stuff isn't happening. Hicks is probably a bit overrated by his British cult following, END OFF.

 

I agree with you on the stance of safe comics, much like your viewpoint on Adele; it's always been the case that easily marketable material is what sells. Russell Howard tells a joke that isn't funny so he prances and shouts until it is. Dane Cook did it before him and so on.

 

Your satirical comic tells it like it is and at times may not come across as funny (Stewart Lee, but then he's never funny because he's so bitter about not being let on Mock the Week).

 

What I loved about the film was how it followed the transition of Hicks' comedy from when he first started out to when he was staging full blown political rants as his audience looked on wondering when the joke was coming. Yes, some of his material isn't 'funny' in the sense that a comedian must tell jokes otherwise his act is pointless. But what he's saying bore serious consideration.

 

The way I see it, his career came at a time when there were more serious shifts in comedy from the Outlaw Movement to safer, network-friendly comedy. The film shows that there were many like-minded comedians performing with similar material. Hicks' appeal was severely limited in America when Letterman ran the rule over his (already heavily toned-down) act, yet the British welcomed his style as we've always been far more miserable bastards than the yanks. There hasn't been a comedian quite like him. There have been similar routines and rants, similar political beliefs put forward through the medium of satire but Hicks still bears relevance today.

 

Yes, there's always shit going down in the world but that doesn't mean it can't be addressed. Comedy is an excellent vehicle with which a social critic can comment on vices and follies of societies, global and political atrocities and so forth. Hicks knew full well that through his routines he could make his observations known to his audiences. We can't truly say whether he wanted to change the world, reveal what people otherwise would be closed off to or whether he just saw that his material was edgy and he'd make money out of it.

 

How successful a comedian is doesn't make him any more or less relevant than his peers IMO, its the material that speaks for itself. Since Hicks is still so popular and discussed today, you have to say he's successful in his own right.

 

 

Incidentally I attended the Q&A session with the family & directors when I was at the premiere. Some daft woman came up with: "Given how anti-establishment Bill was and in light of the Letterman censorship, do you think it's possible that his death was quite suspicious and the result of a government ploy to silence him?"

 

His brother simply said "No, I'm pretty sure the pancreatic cancer did it."

[Kevin S. Assilleekunt 1]

The way I see it, his career came at a time when there were more serious shifts in comedy from the Outlaw Movement to safer, network-friendly comedy. The film shows that there were many like-minded comedians performing with similar material. Hicks' appeal was severely limited in America when Letterman ran the rule over his (already heavily toned-down) act, yet the British welcomed his style as we've always been far more miserable bastards than the yanks. There hasn't been a comedian quite like him. There have been similar routines and rants, similar political beliefs put forward through the medium of satire but Hicks still bears relevance today.

 

How successful a comedian is doesn't make him any more or less relevant than his peers IMO, its the material that speaks for itself. Since Hicks is still so popular and discussed today, you have to say he's successful in his own right.

 

Having heard what you and HF have to say about the film, I'll have to give it a watch sometime now.

 

What you say about Hicks bearing relevance today is equally applicable, maybe more so, to someone like Pryor or Carlin. Pryor in particular did some bits which had an incredible insight into parts of society that aren't spoken of, because he lived in them. He is a better social critic than Hicks, just as subversive, and a more gifted standup at his best; he just had a lot more in his locker, be it in his performance or the material itself. He managed to do all that in a way that had crossover appeal with mainstream audiences. There were parts of Hick's material that would have put a lot of audiences off: the way he spoke of women, the whole goat-boy schtick. That's a tough sell!

Letterman didn't have any racy comics on his show, it's not like he singled out Hicks, you're just not going to get an edgy standup on a network chatshow. Andrew Dice Clay wasn't allowed anywhere near Letterman Sam Kinison did a bit on Letterman about film crews filming people in the 3rd world and how the should give them a sandwich, and he got cut off. Seinfeld is your network tv chatshow guy. I think Hick's biggest problems in America would have been alienating the audience and also the competition--there are a lot of standups there and a lot of very funny ones too. Over here the competition isn't as fierce.

 

You're right Hicks is successful in his own right, but I don't know how popular he is really. Seems to have a good following amongst edgy students who go round screaming that Tony Blair has the blood of millions of innocent Iraqis on his hands. They seem to be the demographic who get the most out of him and think he is an important figure of political discourse. I'm not that far gone, I think he was a decent standup--at times brilliant--but not amongst the best I've seen. And I certainly don't look to him for political insight.

 

By the way, I think in Sasha Baron Cohen and Chris Morris, the UK has produced better (funnier) satirists than Hicks was. I used to hurt myself laughing at those shows.

[LoveTheBobby 1]

"I used to hurt myself laughing at those shows."

 

And do you still self-harm ?

[Happy Face 29]

Which Pryor would you recommend KSA because I tried That Nigger's Crazy when you were singing his praises on N-O and wasn't impressed.

 

Think his best work was Moving.

 

"Mission Idaho!"

 

[LoveTheBobby 1]

His Mafia sketch on Vegas is fantastic like

 

"come here kid *mafia man laugh*"

 

"put a little scazzuzzi on it - they like that kinda thing *mafia man laugh*"

[Happy Face 29]

His Mafia sketch on Vegas is fantastic like

 

"come here kid *mafia man laugh*"

 

"put a little scazzuzzi on it - they like that kinda thing *mafia man laugh*"

 

That rings a bell. Not sure when i saw it though.

 

Unfortunately i don't know much about his act other than being a kid with a prostitute mother and saying "nigger" a lot.

Edited September 5, 2011 by Happy Face

[Kevin S. Assilleekunt 1]

Which Pryor would you recommend KSA because I tried That Nigger's Crazy when you were singing his praises on N-O and wasn't impressed.

 

The best standup set he did that was filmed is the 1979 Richard Pryor Live one, it's on VD. A lot of standups rate it as one of the best sets ever filmed. Certainly it has the best material of any of his concert films and any of the recordings I've heard.

 

Unfortunately i don't know much about his act other than being a kid with a prostitute mother and saying "nigger" a lot.

 

He retired his use of the word 'nigger' when he returned to standup after he burned himself up freebasing and took some time out in Africa. He'd actually started out as a clean comic in the mould of Bill Cosby, which lead to something of an identity crisis and an epiphany moment when he walked out of a gig in Vegas, stating, "Fuck this!" He was hanging round with counterculture elements like the Black Panthers and started working social commentary into his act, but crucially, the language of the street.

He said 'nigger' a lot for a few reasons. He wanted to take the power of the word away, but also that is how the characters in his material spoke. If you have a problem with that you might not be well-suited to his material. He rips on WASPs a lot, and white establishment, and again I've known some people (whiteys) who have a problem with that and find those sections of his material offensive. Personally I think they are all just cracker-ass honkys who should remind themselves of the black struggle for freedom, and then they might see what a influential and bold figure Pryor was. His straight observational comedy was as imaginative and subversive as any standup I've seen too. He does a great bit on the female orgasm.

 

Anyway, I think you'll definitely find some laughs on that one if you check it out, but it sounds like you might not be a good candidate for a Pryor fan. Let's face it, you're a honky who likes spreadsheets, hardly a candidate for the bloods or the crips. Having said that, if you're a fan of the Wire obviously you must have some time for the black struggle, so there's hope.

 

Here, there's a few clips of that set on youtube, they've taken most of them down:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrtSmBtBEX8...feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UweHO1_iUFY...feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4nXcO5FIpc...feature=related

Edited September 5, 2011 by Kevin S. Assilleekunt

[Happy Face 29]

Which Pryor would you recommend KSA because I tried That Nigger's Crazy when you were singing his praises on N-O and wasn't impressed.

 

The best standup set he did that was filmed is the 1979 Richard Pryor Live one, it's on VD. A lot of standups rate it as one of the best sets ever filmed. Certainly it has the best material of any of his concert films and any of the recordings I've heard.

 

Unfortunately i don't know much about his act other than being a kid with a prostitute mother and saying "nigger" a lot.

 

He retired his use of the word 'nigger' when he returned to standup after he burned himself up freebasing and took some time out in Africa. He'd actually started out as a clean comic in the mould of Bill Cosby, which lead to something of an identity crisis and an epiphany moment when he walked out of a gig in Vegas, stating, "Fuck this!" He was hanging round with counterculture elements like the Black Panthers and started working social commentary into his act, but crucially, the language of the street.

He said 'nigger' a lot for a few reasons. He wanted to take the power of the word away, but also that is how the characters in his material spoke. If you have a problem with that you might not be well-suited to his material. He rips on WASPs a lot, and white establishment, and again I've known some people (whiteys) who have a problem with that and find those sections of his material offensive. Personally I think they are all just cracker-ass honkys who should remind themselves of the black struggle for freedom, and then they might see what a influential and bold figure Pryor was. His straight observational comedy was as imaginative and subversive as any standup I've seen too. He does a great bit on the female orgasm.

 

Anyway, I think you'll definitely find some laughs on that one if you check it out, but it sounds like you might not be a good candidate for a Pryor fan. Let's face it, you're a honky who likes spreadsheets, hardly a candidate for the bloods or the crips. Having said that, if you're a fan of the Wire obviously you must have some time for the black struggle, so there's hope.

 

Here, there's a few clips of that set on youtube, they've taken most of them down:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrtSmBtBEX8...feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UweHO1_iUFY...feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4nXcO5FIpc...feature=related

 

I've got no problem with "nigger" at all. Didn't intend it as a negative, the "unfortunately" is a reference to my own ignorance of his work outside of the films that didn't capture anything of his stand-up persona and one mediocre album.

[Park Life 70]

Mis-read the "anti-us" comment as "his anti-us"

 

Soz.

 

[Tooj 17]

Zombieland

 

Brilliant.