Spoof Movies

[ThaOGDreamWeaver]

So, this happened.

 

...no spoilers for guessing this is a spoof (well, the movie-in-a-movie for Judd Apatow's The Bubble, about a bunch of actors stuck together during COVID filming. I'm kinda hoping it doesn't take off as a genre, but Gillan, Pascal, Duchovny and Serafinowicz are in it, so... maybe?)

 

I have opinions on spoof movies.

 

Some of them I like - most of Jerry Zucker's stuff (Airplane!, Police Squad, quite a few others), some of Mel Brooks' (Young Frankenstein, Blazing Saddles), some cult oddments like Meteor Man and Mystery Men...

 

...but best of all, the Pegg/Frost/Wright Trois Saveurs Cornetto trilogy - World's End, Hot Fuzz, and Shaun Of The Dead. Because although they're taking the mick, they play by the rules and work as fine examples of the genre.

 

But just throwing stereotypes and lifted characters at a wall and seeing what sticks... maybe not so much.

 

What do you lot think?

Edited March 3, 2022 by ThaOGDreamWeaver

[Frostbiter]

I'm just glad someone besides me likes/remembers Meteor Man. I didn't know that movie was a spoof, it stands pretty well on it's own.

[Techwright]

This one think about, I must.

 

First thing that comes to mind is the superspy romp Undercover Blues with Dennis Quaid, Kathleen Turner, and Stanley Tucci.  It's not a blistering satire of its genre like Airplane was, but it has its moments.  Tucci had me, and everyone I've shown it to, gasping for breath laughing.  As overconfident street thug Muerte, whose vendetta gets him sucked into a superspy game he doesn't understand, Tucci's slapstick skills rival the old masters.  Quaid was a perfect foil for him.  The movie is not deep, but its one of my guilty pleasures.

 

 

[ThaOGDreamWeaver]

11 hours ago, Frostbiter said:

I'm just glad someone besides me likes/remembers Meteor Man. I didn't know that movie was a spoof, it stands pretty well on it's own.

I'd argue it's a spoof in the same vein as Shaun: it lampoons all the conventions of cape movies (eg: Jeff can fly, but what if you're afraid of heights - or only took Hover at L6?), relocates it to a different environment (DC in the bad old days) with people who behave differently in that scenario (Cypress Hill and NBN, the wonderful Marla Gibbs as his mum, and James Earl Jones and his stunning hair pulling unexpected physical comedy chops).

 

And yet, it works perfectly as a cape movie - better than quite a few I can think of. I wouldn't suggest a remake, but with a little script polish and modern FX...

 

@Techwright - haven't seen Undercover Blues, but love Tucci and am already grinning at the thought. Will hunt it down.
(BTW: he's currently playing at being a slightly slicker Bourdain on CNN/BBC's In Search Of Italy. Do not watch when hungry.)

Edited March 4, 2022 by ThaOGDreamWeaver

[Frostbiter]

4 hours ago, ThaOGDreamWeaver said:

I'd argue it's a spoof in the same vein as Shaun: it lampoons all the conventions of cape movies (eg: Jeff can fly, but what if you're afraid of heights - or only took Hover at L6?), relocates it to a different environment (DC in the bad old days) with people who behave differently in that scenario (Cypress Hill and NBN, the wonderful Marla Gibbs as his mum, and James Earl Jones and his stunning hair pulling unexpected physical comedy chops).

 

And yet, it works perfectly as a cape movie - better than quite a few I can think of. I wouldn't suggest a remake, but with a little script polish and modern FX...

 

@Techwright - haven't seen Undercover Blues, but love Tucci and am already grinning at the thought. Will hunt it down.
(BTW: he's currently playing at being a slightly slicker Bourdain on CNN/BBC's In Search Of Italy. Do not watch when hungry.)

 

 

You realize this means Blankman makes the list of spoofs.

[Luminara]

Big Trouble in Little China, Galaxy Quest, Slither, Deadpool/Deadpool 2, Zombieland/Zombieland: Double Tap, Planet Terror, The Lego Batman Movie... I'm inclined to include Death to Smoochy, as it's making fun of the entire television industry and going so over the top; and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a spoof on the entire vampire genre; as well as RED and Mr. and Mrs. Smith (the Doug Liman film), which successfully poke at spy films.

[ThaOGDreamWeaver]

11 hours ago, Frostbiter said:

 

 

You realize this means Blankman makes the list of spoofs.

It does. But that list has a bottom. Possibly even a sub basement. A locked one, with the stairs removed and a sign saying Beware Of The Leopard.

[TheOtherTed]

No one has mentioned "Mom and Dad Save the World."  This hurts me.  Truly it does.  It's a deliberately stupid movie that looks like it was a ton of fun to film, and riffs on pretty much every outer-space classic from "Buck Rogers" to the original "Star Wars" trilogy.  Lots of one-liners; huge untapped meme potential.  Check it out.

 

I'll also throw in Woody Allen's "Sleeper."  You can't question its cultural impact if an elevator in your college's life sciences building was called "The Orgasmatron."

[Frostbiter]

Mom and Dad Save the World was one of my favorite movies as a kid.

 

Can't go without mentioning some of my martial arts favorites:  Kung Fury, Kung Pow! Enter the Fist, and Kung Fu Hustle

[Luminara]

16 hours ago, TheOtherTed said:

No one has mentioned "Mom and Dad Save the World."  This hurts me.  Truly it does.

 

I'm surprised that it's really been 30 years since I saw that.

 

I'm more surprised that I remember the rubber and the grenade.

 

I'll have to add that to my list of things to buy when I'm looking for something to pad an Amazon order.

 

Uh... the movie, not a rubber and a grenade.  Pervs.

[Techwright]

On 3/4/2022 at 3:50 AM, ThaOGDreamWeaver said:

@Techwright - haven't seen Undercover Blues, but love Tucci and am already grinning at the thought. Will hunt it down.
(BTW: he's currently playing at being a slightly slicker Bourdain on CNN/BBC's In Search Of Italy. Do not watch when hungry.)

I'd love to hear what you think of Tucci's performance in the comedy.

 

And I'll be checking out his Italy broadcasts. I'm pleased, but not really not surprised he's doing this.  He's had a history of a love of fine cooking.  It's why he made Big Night and I suspect why he did Julie & Julia.  And you need not worry about my hunger.  My sister married into a Sicilian family of restaurateurs.  Such challenges are well known to me now.  Do worry for my waistline though.   

[ThaOGDreamWeaver]

12 hours ago, Techwright said:

Do worry for my waistline though.   

 

Episode 1 was Napoli (pizza), Episode 2 was Rome (the four pillars... and quite a lot of pasta).

CNN/BBC releasing this during diet season is pure, pure evil. I'm impressed.

 

Also, Big Night and Chef are the two movies that I can happily talk about with pro chefs - I've only ever worked front of house but both feel absolutely real.

As for Julie & Julia: yes, very much so. The one trick I think they missed in that movie was rewinding to how Paul & Julia met...

 

Spoiler

...working for OSS. Yes, I was today years old when I learned Julia and Paul Child were secret agents - Julia a fearless analyst and jack-of-all-trades support agent (including inventing a shark repellent to keep curious sharks away from explosives), while Paul was officially a mapmaker: but also a judo black belt who spoke multiple languages. And considering in WW2 making maps meant looking at places people didn't want you to be, probably quite the badass. Which, yes, Tucci could still have carried off.

Then again, would the audience be ready for that little aside to change their whole view of Julia Child? I dunno. 

 

Hauling this back slightly on topic... I have now seen Kung Fury.

...and the accompanying, equally terrifying Hasslehoff video (which I just inflicted on the Jukebox thread. Because evil is fun, kids.)

Edited March 8, 2022 by ThaOGDreamWeaver
THE FURY OF THE HOFF

[ThaOGDreamWeaver]

On 3/4/2022 at 2:48 PM, Luminara said:

Big Trouble in Little China, Galaxy Quest, Slither, Deadpool/Deadpool 2, Zombieland/Zombieland: Double Tap, Planet Terror, The Lego Batman Movie... I'm inclined to include Death to Smoochy, as it's making fun of the entire television industry and going so over the top; and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a spoof on the entire vampire genre; as well as RED and Mr. and Mrs. Smith (the Doug Liman film), which successfully poke at spy films.

 

A most excellent list, especially Galaxy Quest. (Oddly, I'm just getting into The Orville, and it's again the kind of spoof that could only be done by absolutely faithful Trek nerds:.Lower Decks has taken a lot of the ideas and satire and run with it but it's canon. Even the bit about Caitians and boxes.)

 

Speaking of space spoofs, the mighty Mel Brooks. 

• Blazing Saddles: absolutely yes, even with the studio breakout sequence at the end.
• Young Frankenstein: 100% works.
• Spaceballs... eh. There's quite a few good gags in here (plaidspeed, the video store, John Hurt's guest shot), but not a cogent plot to hang it all off, some less than convincing acting, and some flat-out joke fails that even Mel himself is ashamed of (Druish Princess for one). List denied.
   

Also, it's inconceivable that no-one's come up with Princess Bride, which as both book and movie is a classic of the fantasy genre while exploring/ripping the hell out of a lot of its conventions (giants, revenge, bad guys, kissy bits and Rodents Of UnusuAAAARGHgetoffyoulittlebas[FX/GRAMS: DW beating ROUS with Mac cooler stand]yeah those. 

Edited March 8, 2022 by ThaOGDreamWeaver

[Frostbiter]

@ThaOGDreamWeaver You fell for my trick and have now seen Kung Fury. Muaha muahahaha. I take no responsability for the Hasslehoff music video though, or for any time hacking that may or may not occur.  Just whatever you do, don't watch Iron Sky next.

[ThaOGDreamWeaver]

2 hours ago, Frostbiter said:

 Just whatever you do, don't watch Iron Sky next.

We're Nazis on the moon, we carry a harpoon, but there ain't no whales so we tell tall tales and sing this whaling tune...

...wait, is that right?

[Luminara]

8 hours ago, ThaOGDreamWeaver said:

Also, it's inconceivable that no-one's come up with Princess Bride

 

Worse, I forgot Hancock.

 

I'm on a superhero video game forum and I fucking forgot Hancock.

 

I'm definitely growing old.

 

Also, the Evil Dead series, Return of the Living Dead series, Ice Pirates, and, from what I've read, Brightburn (haven't seen it yet, though, so nothing but synopses to go on).  I think the Incredibles franchise might be appropriate for the list, too, but it's up in the air... they swing back into seriousness in the second half of each film.

[Frostbiter]

59 minutes ago, Luminara said:

Also, the Evil Dead series, Return of the Living Dead series, Ice Pirates, and, from what I've read, Brightburn (haven't seen it yet, though, so nothing but synopses to go on).  I think the Incredibles franchise might be appropriate for the list, too, but it's up in the air... they swing back into seriousness in the second half of each film.

 

I haven't seen Brightburn since it came out but it's a pretty formulaic horror movie with a super. I enjoyed it but from what others post around here I think I just have a soft spot for B material.

[Oubliette_Red]

Favourite parody movie is Hudson Hawk, which plays a really big homage to Our Man Flint/In Like Flint, themselves being spoofs of the spy movies of the day like Bond. It went so far as to star James Coburn (who played Flint) and one easter egg was of Flint's phone/watch alarm tone was the tone of the musical handcuffs used on Hudson Hawk. It also has great music. 🙂

 

[Ulysses Dare]

Some great ones listed thus far. I'm especially pleased that Hudson Hawk hasn't been completely forgotten. Let me just add one more: Tremors.

[InvaderStych]

More of an inversion/deconstruction than a spoof or parody, but as it's not been mentioned yet ...

 

 

[Techwright]

Well, there is the original Casino Royale with Peter Sellers and David Niven.  It's been decades since I saw it, so I don't recall if it was a good spoof.

 

 

Oh, and then there's The Private Eyes, the Don Knotts/Tim Conway send up of the murder mystery genre.  It was filmed about an hour from my home, and I love watching it just to see all the rooms of the Biltmore Mansion that were used.  Well that, and all the zany ways Conway messes up homing pigeons' lives.

 

Another classic send-up of the same genre is Murder By Death.  Despite it being star-packed, I don't think it is on par with The Private Eyes.   MBD spoofs many famous literary characters.  It in turn was imitated by a made for TV movie, Murder Can Hurt You, which parodied all the popular TV detective shows up to that point.

 

EDIT:  Just remembered a bizarre film that tried to spoof both westerns and Looney Toons at the same time, in live action: The Villain. Star-packed, with Kirk Douglas, Arnold Schwartzneggar, and Anne-Margret headlining.  Haven't seen it in 30 years or more, but just the crazy idea of an actor of Kirk Douglas' Oscar caliber basically taking on the role of Wile E. Coyote had me glued to the screen, and even cracking up laughing.  I was still not old and jaded, though.  Not sure how I'd react now.

Edited March 9, 2022 by Techwright

[ThaOGDreamWeaver]

10 hours ago, Luminara said:

I'm on a superhero video game forum and I fucking forgot Hancock.

 

Well that's just wait what...Hancock is old folks' stuff now?

SRC: Titanic_84_Years_Meme.gif alt="ironic_fake_code_tag"

 

Okay, here's a curveball I forgot that's one of my favourites - it should by rights be a cult classic. It's a cape spoof (plus quite a lot aimed at American politics), The Incredibles owes more than a little debt to it, there's terrible Thunderbirds-level SFX, it's even got songs by Richard O'Brien - one of them sung by Christopher Lee...

...and it's Australian. So practically nobody's heard of it. Go find it. Or just watch this bit:

 

 

Picking up on the spy and cape themes - one quite terrible movie I've loved unironically since I was a kid.

Condorman was the first (maybe last) venture of comedian Michael Crawford into Whollyodd, famous for playing an accident-prone milquetoast on British TV (and later for nailing the original West End Phantom of the Opera - hell of a casting choice but one that paid off.)

 

It's a straight rip of From Russia With Love for kids - a gorgeous Russian defector wants to make it to the West, but believes only one person can assure her safety. 

Unfortunately he's a cartoon, so the CIA recruit his creator as the only person who could act and think like him.

It's not great. I could go on about the dialogue, acting, etc.

But I'm going to shut up and show you one of the single greatest car chases in cinema history.

(With that glorious Henry Mancini music. If I ever have to make a public appearance as a hero, I'm nicking it.)

 

 

[ThaOGDreamWeaver]

5 hours ago, InvaderStych said:

More of an inversion/deconstruction than a spoof or parody, but as it's not been mentioned yet ...

 

 

Will have to dig that one out. Also, some weirdo called James Gunn had a crack at the same theme a couple of years later. Not sure he went on to have a career.

 

[InvaderStych]

4 hours ago, ThaOGDreamWeaver said:

But I'm going to shut up and show you one of the single greatest car chases in cinema history.

(With that glorious Henry Mancini music. If I ever have to make a public appearance as a hero, I'm nicking it.)

 

Yeah, I need to see the rest of this.  That spinning radar aerial on the body-kit "935" leading the pack.

 

Still laughing.

Edited March 9, 2022 by InvaderStych
word choice

[ThaOGDreamWeaver]

Weirdly, Condorman is not on Disney+. I'm not sure whether they're just embarrassed about it or there's some kind of terrible thing I've forgotten in the movie.