Oh, how we laugh!

We here at Howls Of Owls love good comedy, heck sometimes we even love a bad comedy (I'm looking at you you Paula Poundstone!) The Kids In The Hall, Mr. Show, Zach Galifianakis, Todd Berry, Lewis Black...oh the list could go on and on; we love to laugh, it's just that simple. Or is it chortle? I think we love to chortle. So here are a few of my favorite comedy personalities via Youtube.

This first one here is from episode 20 of season 1 of the Kids In The Hall, and it might be one of my favorite Kids In The Hall sketches ever. Scott Thompson as Christ? Get outta here!



The next clip is from Mr. Show perhaps one of the most criminally funny sketch comedy shows ever. This clip is from episode #406. The taint is defined as the region...of the human body between the testicles...oh you know!



People have been listening for the death rattle of Saturday Night Live for a few years now but thanks to the hiring of the guys from The Lonely Island it's been postponed for another couple of years. First is a SNL Digital Short which might be the funniest thing I've seen on SNL in a few years. After that is a clip from The Lonely Island's hit show The 'Bu. Once you see episode one you might as well and go watch the other 7 episodes.





This next clip is of Zach Galifianakis, and he has a beard (maybe..who knows!) He also has that cool biting wit that modern kids seem to love. What does that mean? I'm not sure. Was this thing shot with a phone?



Stella is Michael Ian Black, Mikey Show, and David Wain from The State and that underrated Comedy Central show from a couple of years ago. It was funny. Shut up.



Eugene Mirman: "I can kill a dog in six ways. Five of them are throwing missiles at it."



Finally we get to the main reason I wrote this blog. I can't write enough words to describe it, but it sort of speaks for itself. Ladies and Gentleman: John Mayer, musician who wrote the hit song Your Body Is A Wonderland, has a comedy routine.

CS-111

Paulette Goddard is a an Oscar-nominated American film and theatre actress who starred in films such as Modern Times and The Great Dictator.
Thanks to Co-Star Records we can all hear the beautiful Ms. Goddard act out one of her favorite novelettes, Peyton Place...but there is a catch! You have to act with her!
Co-Star Records sells itself as "The Record Acting Game" wherein you get a record with Ms. Goddard's lines recorded and a script with the lines you're suppose to act out.
This MP3 is the first two cuts from the record. In the first one you star as Allison. In the second part of this MP3 you star as the devilishly handsome Mike.
The script here isn't replicated. Sorry.

The Record Acting Game featuring Ms. Paulette Goddard

DVD Releases: April 24, 2007

In 1958 Louis Malle made French noir classic Elevator to the Gallows and soon steamrolled his way to Hollywood after conquering French cinema. Some of his most loved films include the Brooke Shields classic Pretty Baby, My Diner with Andre, and the under appreciated, but heavily awarded, Atlantic City.
Louis Malle got his start working as a cameraman on documentaries, and now The Criterion Collection gives you a chance to own 5 of his best documentaries including Phantom India, a film that Malle called one of his most personal films ever. The best part? All 5 films are about $55 dollars.

One word: Bigfoot.
The truck?
No, the sasquatch.
I love it. Can we get John Lithgow?
John Lithgow? Yeah I think so.
Let’s make a movie!

That’s how I imagine the pitch for Harry and the Hendersons went about 20 years ago. Now it’s back with a special edition. Perhaps a DVD release of the TV show isn’t far behind? Is that asking to much?

Moral Orel is one of those shows that are funny, but it sort of hits a note and stays there. I’m just suggesting that you buy it so Adult Swim will think they should release Squidbillies on DVD for some reason. Squidbillies is easily the best 15 minutes on TV.

Alejandro Jodorowsky is a director whose films deserve to be seen. El Topo is one of the best “Westerns” ever made, yet it’s success is mired in its arthouse exhibition past, but now we not only get El Topo but The Holy Mountain and Fando y Lis. These movies are amazing. I can’t say enough about them. They are simply three of the most ground breaking films ever made.

Early Bergman

Criterion might be the hardest working DVD company right now. They provide their customers with movies of only the highest quality, plus packaging and bonus features that would never appear on the releases of other companies.

The main compliant has always been that their films are too expensive. Well, this is no longer true. Starting this Tuesday Criterion Collection/Eclipse will start releasing films that may have a cheaper price, but still contain the Criterion Collection quality.

Their first release is a collection of early Igmar Bergman films and the following month will see a release of Louis Malle documentaries both for around $50!

TMNT review

I’ve been looking forward to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie since day one. The idea of an all CGI Turtles movie didn’t thrill me, it was just a small concern, and any fears were soon erased with the teaser trailer. In that trailer the Turtles looked like they were ripped from the pages of the comics. Their eyes were the same eyes to be found on Page one of issue one which was a big plus for me. This movie was obviously made by someone who cared about this property.

But somewhere in there something happened. It was like the TMNT movie I had put so much faith in became a safe kid’s film. Now I know that this movie was never going to sniff a rating above PG, but that teaser trailer showed so much promise and these other trailers showed so much….umm…cute monsters. What happened?

So with much hesitation I went and saw it. I was excited, but every ounce of me was waiting for a disaster. What I found instead was a Turtles film that pulled a lot of punches and yet it still manages to work somehow.

The Turtles retain a lot of the characteristics of the comics. Mike is a clown, Don is smart, Raphael is a loner, and Leo is the reluctant leader. Keeping this dynamic is crucial to the movie, and I think director Kevin Munroe realizes that. The Turtles need to act like a fractured family. If Munroe had chosen to ignore this and instead focus on the monsters then this film fails. The arc of this story isn’t in the Max Winters storyline; it’s in the Raphael and Leonardo dynamic, and the stances that they choose to take.

I mentioned the CGI earlier because I still don’t think it works. The humans are animated to be too much like a cartoon. How come a cheap Nasonex commercial has better animated humans then a top of the line Hollywood movie?

What works? The Foot here works better then expected. They are a group lacking a leader since the Shredder’s death. In many ways the Foot is what the Turtles are at the beginning of this film; Leaderless, looking for their place.

I’m not the biggest fan of the monsters and Max Winters story, but it serves its purpose. It is just a backdrop for a much bigger story to hopefully be played out in a sequel. A sequel that would hopefully include the Shredder.

Overall TMNT is a solid children’s film. It doesn’t pretend to be anything more then a fun movie, and you shouldn’t expect as much.

DVD Releases: March 20th. 2007

It's been far too long since the Care Bears Movie has been available on DVD. Ok, I couldn't even say that with a straight face, but this little slice of 1980's nostalgia has to appeal to someone due to it being the 25th Anniversary of the Care Bears and all. One reason to consider owning it? How about a score by NRBQ, John Sebastian, and Carole King! Still not selling you? Ok, how about Harry Dean Stanton as the singing voice of Brave Heart Lion!

Ed Wood sure could make a shitty movie, and now you can shell out 10 bucks and see six of these shitty movies in the comfort of your own home. That's a cost of $1.66 per shitty movie! This set give you some of Tor Johnson's fines acting! You get Glen of Glenda, Jail Bait, Bride of the Monster, The Violent Years, Night of the Ghouls, and the worst (best?) movie ever made: Plan 9 from Outer Space! But the real treat of this disk looks to be the bonus feature The Ed Wood Story.



I can't tell you how amazingly scary and funny Re-Animator is. Is it a zombie movie? A rip off of Frankenstein? Whatever it is, it's pretty great. Anchor Bay looks like the did a pretty good job putting this together. It's two disks, with the first being a widescreen transfer and two audio commentaries by Director Stuart Gordon and members of the cast. The second disk is full of deleted scenes, extended scenes, a seventy minute documentary, and a bunch of trailers.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #45

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles began being published by Mirage Studios in May of 1984 until August of 1993. While originally intended to be a parody of the popular mutant comics at the time, it quickly became something that Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird never realized it would be: a merchandising empire. But somewhere between the movie, the Archie comics, the toys, the cereal, and the animated series the original canonical series lost a step. Issue #45, titled "Leatherhead, Too" (First Printing: March, 1992), tries to return the Turtles to their original, more action oriented, roots.

This issue was written and illustrated by Dan Berger, who does a decent job to replicating the tone of the early Eastman and Laird written and illustrated issues. His art is very reminiscent of Batman: The Dark Knight Returns but with a nod towards the animated series, and while that sounds awful, it actually works pretty well.

The issue starts with two splash pages that seem to be lifted directly from issue #1, and then a brief introduction to the turtles and their characteristics. The plot centers on the re-emergence of a leaderless Footclan in New York. This plot point would seem to set up the 13-issue "City at War" arc that concluded Volume 1. The Foot were last seen in the "Return to New York" story arc (issues #19-21) which concluded with the second death of the Shredder, Oroku Saki.

It seems that members of the Foot want revenge for the death of the Shredder and begin using Leatherhead (first appearance Tales of the TMNT #6) as a means to achieve that revenge. Leatherhead is trying to return to the Ultron planet, the planet calls home, when members of the Foot befriend him and secretly ruin the transporter device he was working on (this isn't the dumb wrestling obsessed Leatherhead of the Archie series and cartoon, Leatherhead here is portrayed as being highly intelligent.) This leads Leatherhead to question who are his real friends and his real enemies. After two very brutal battles, with the Turtles and the Foot respectively, the issue ends on somewhat of a sour and depressing note.

While issue #45 seems to be nothing more then a stand alone issue, it may be important to collectors trying to carve out the Turtles versus Foot relationship. This issue directly bridges the events from the second death of Shredder and the return of the Foot in "City at War", which allows the reader to cut out the numerous stand alone and zany dream-like adventures the Turtles have from issues #21-#44.