(Dir. John Landis 1980)
The Blues Brothers rated R, it's not graphic or anything, just has lots of cursing. I was a little apprehensive going into this movie just because, honestly, I don't think SNL is that great. I used to watch the original seasons with my family and they were ok, but I think it's a little ambitious to try to produce consistently fresh funny material every week. Plus, I hate it when they break character and laugh, so the live stuff was just eh for me. This was not the case in Blues Brothers at all. The Blues boys never broke their straight face once, and I loved it! Sure the situations that they get themselves into are hilarious, but they're only made funnier by the calm straight faced reactions. When I think Blues Brothers I think high speed car chases and gleefully dangerous physics defying stunts, all while they discuss something completely banal, like what to have for dinner. If you haven't already figured this out, my favorite trope is people reacting to ridiculous events as if they're just everyday events. I just want to take a moment to talk about the star-studded cast in this film. Today in film it's pretty common to see a mediocre movie with a crew of insanely talented actors in the lead roles, like King Kong: Skull Island, for example. Which always frustrates me, cause sure its not a terrible movie, it's entertaining so it achieves its purpose, but you never would have heard of it if not for the cast. Added to, I can never figure out why these actors would agree to appear in these films as a major role. Blackmail? I don't know. Ok, tangent time over, but what I really enjoyed about Blues Brothers is that yeah, It had an extremely star studded cast, but the film never really revolved around any one of them. Even without the already famous actors, this film would be just as famous and just as good. When I watch the Blues Brothers, I don't wonder why these stars agreed to appear. In fact, I think the stars in the cast add another layer of humor to the film. Sure, seeing some random woman trying to murder them throughout the film, with zero success, is funny, but when that woman is also Carrie Fischer it makes it even funnier. I think it's because in this movie it adds to that feeling of "What the heck is going on?" that makes the events so funny. Another thing I love to see (well, hear, in this case) in movies is good music. Boy did the Blue Brothers have a lot, I mean c'mon, Aretha Franklin was in it! Side note, the Blues boys in the dance number for respect is one of the funniest things I have ever seen, I could honestly watch the movie just for that. My personal favorite song, thank you for asking, was their version of the theme from Rawhide. Don't ask me why, I don't know. tl;dr Just when you think this film can't get any more ridiculous, it does, and you'll love it. Also, I hate Illinois Nazis.
1 Comment
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Aubrey KirchhoffI'm just screaming into the void and somehow getting graded on it. Archives
April 2018
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