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How Was SFSketchFest/Best of RiffTraxAn open thread for reports from tonight’s Best of RiffTrax showings throughout the country (how full was your theater?) and, if you were in San Francisco, the live SFSketchfest kickoff show.
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Best of Rifftrax:
Saw the show, well half the show at the Saginaw, MI theater. There was some technical problem at the point where the mom and dad start looking for the little girl. We waited about half an hour, but the manager said it couldn’t be fixed. Luckily, we did get a refund. The only bright spot was when the Direct TV menu screen came on, someone yelled “Push the button, Frank!”
Best of Rifftrax:
In Greenville SC at the Manos showing there were quite a few more empty seats than I thought.
I believe there might have been between 20 to 25 people in the audience but I think that was due to the so many seeing it the first go round plus the possible threat of bad weather.
Whatever the case this was my first time seeing Manos Rifftrax style and my daughter and I really enjoyed it. The last Rifftrax event I attended was “Birdemic back in October and it was almost a full house. Again it was totally worth it.
There were something like twenty people in Evanston viewing it (including one dressed as The Master)- the recent cold streak may have played a role in that. The showing went smoothly, and I found it (I had to miss it originally because of prior commitments) quite good.
Took the family to the showing at the AMC Studio 30 in suburban Kansas City. I’d say the theater was about half full, where it was nearly sold out for Birdemic. Great show, and it was interesting seeing a more complete cut of the film after watching the MST3K version so many times over the years.
My kids (17 and 14) were about the only “youngsters” in attendance. I have to wonder if people even bother to raise their children properly anymore.
RiffTrax Presents — Night of the Shorts IV: Riffizens on Patrol with Michael J. Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett
Opening night of the 12th Annual SF Sketchfest got off to a strong start with all three Rifftrax principals on-stage for the first time here in awhile (Mike Nelson did not attend the previous two years). They performed some shorts just the three of them and some with special guests.
1. Welcome Back Norman (ugh!) – Kevin, Bill, and Mike
2. Perk! Pop! Sprinkle! (truly baffling) – w/ Cole Stratton & Janet Varney (Rifftrax Presents and Sketchfest founders)
3. Choking: To Save a Life – w/ Kevin McDonald (Kids In The Hall)
4. Cooking: Terms And What They Mean – Kevin, Bill, and Mike
5. More Dangerous Than Dynamite – w/ Adam Savage (Mythbusters – he was a great fit for the subject matter)
6. The Self Image Film: If Mirrors Could Speak (kids in clown makeup) – w/ Kristen Schaal (30 Rock, Flight of the Conchords)
7. At Your Fingertips: Cylinders – w/ Paul F. Tompkins (comedy, podcasts, etc.)
The Castro Theatre was nearly full with an enthusiastic crowd. The evening began with the usual live organ music pre-show, then a funny commercial for the festival, then a brand new Best of Rifftrax reel highlighting the past year of Hollywood movie riffs. Downside of the event was that, once again, the sound mix was sometimes muddy, with the riffers often being buried by the poor audio from the short blaring too loud. But then the sound would be fine. I’d say I missed a quarter of the jokes this way. What I did hear though was great, and the guests added a lot of variety to the night.
On the upside is that for the first time they had two video cameras filming the event! I spoke to one of the camera men who said he and his partner had been hired to record the event for a possible VOD release. This was later confirmed to me when I got to speak to Conor from Rifftrax who added that they recorded audio from the board. I imagine it will take a bit of work to put it all together, but maybe it will happen. Fingers crossed.
The other plus was that I stuck around after and got Mike, Kevin, and Bill to sign my pristine MST3K Amazing Colossal Episode Guide which I brought on the slim chance they’d be available. They were all friendly and gracious, telling me that they have a bunch more great stuff lined up for us fans this year.
Only 8 people at “Best of…” at the Galaxy in Atascadero CA. Chair killed my back, but the show was hilarious.
I missed Manos last year because it was sold out. Missed it last night because our car decided to act up again. Glad I already have a riffed version of this. Seem doomed to ever see it in theaters.
There were about 15-20 people at the Rialto in Westfield, NJ. That’s more than I expected, given that the weather was…well, in the words of Dr. F, “Brass monkeys, Frank. Brass monkeys.”
They didn’t show any test footage this time, but I’m pretty sure they put in some new pre-title slides, like “Most theaters didn’t show the post-credits scene from ‘The Hobbit’ where Samuel L. Jackson recruits one character for The Avengers.” Still very funny, though, with a lot of laughs from the audience.
One note: last August, the week after the original “Manos” showing, I was at the “Star Wars Celebration” in Orlando. Just before one of their showings of the original movies, I mentioned to the others waiting in line how just a week earlier I was in a theater watching “Manos”. A fellow “Star Wars” fan looked at me and said, “You lucky b*****d.”
I watched it at the Rosedale AMC in Minnesota. Theater was about half-full. The audience was pretty lively.
@ Finnias: So you took the Brains’ advice and stored your ACEG in a dark, dry place with your X-Men back issues? My copy is anything but pristine. Shoulda bought two…
My theater was about 1/3 full, but I sat in front of two people who had never seen Manos before. Just hearing their reactions to the movie at various points made the night worth it. Of course the riffing made it even better as I literally fell out of my seat laughing a few times.
There were about 20 people at the theater in Hudson OH. Might have been more if it wasn’t 7 degrees out last night. We all seemed to enjoy it very well. Some loud laughs during the movie. I thought this version was better than when it was shown on MST3K. Both were good, but the white trash Twilight fight was hilarious. I have never read or seen Twilight (riffed or unriffed), but still almost fell out of my chair laughing.
Also went to the Sketchfest show at The Castro last night (@ #5, great synopsis above), also had a hard time hearing some of the jokes but really the majority came through loud and clear. While they were all shorts that we have seen before, I felt like there was maybe a few new riffs thrown in (unless maybe they were just ones that I missed the first time around). Loved all the guest riffers, Paul F Tompkins was my fave if I had to pick. Saw Bill about 30 feet in front of me in the lobby as I exited the ladies room but he was pretty much surrounded by fans so I opted to go find my husband and leave. I always think when I go to these events (Rifftrax & CT) “Well I could go up and say ‘Thank you for all of the hours of amazing entertainment you have provided me in my life time and for basically forming the basis of my sense of humor as an adolescent, you guys are awesome’ but how many damn times do they hear this same thing over and over and how old does it get?”. Anyway, definitely looking forward to all the great stuff to come as mentioned by Finnias above.
Full house last night here in NYC for “Best of”! It was my first time seeing a Rifftrax production and I was impressed. They’re showing “Plan 9” in the same theater next week and I think I’ll be going back.
I missed MANOS last year, so I was really glad for a repeat screening. The riffing was good, but not quite up to the MST3k version (similar to how I feel about CT’s re-riff of SCCTM), it’s certainly a different way to experience MANOS… I ended up noticing a lot of new things about the movie. Theater was about half-full; really looking forward to seeing PLAN 9 next week!!!
BEST OF RIFFTRAX LIVE:
I missed MANOS last summer, it was a sellout, and I was bummed. When they announced they were rereleasing it in theaters, I was ecstatic, my fiancé bought me tickets for my birthday (which was on the 23rd), and we went to the Lloyd Center 10 Cinemas here in lovely Portland, OR (actually, the weather last night kinda sucked).
The theater was about 70% full, give or take; the usual mix of older folks, weirdos, and hipsters.
The shorts were very funny, I saw the BIRDEMIC show back in October, and the Norman short in that now makes a little more sense (although, not much more).
Had no idea there were so many cylinders just waiting for me at my fingertips. . . . . . . .
My fiancé had never seen MANOS before (she’s not a MSTie, but she’s come with me to all the Rifftrax shows and she laughs and has a good time) and she was pretty amazed by the crappiness of it all, but we both agreed that BIRDEMIC is a waaaaaay worse movie.
The movie itself looked a little different to me, not sure why that is. This wasn’t a different cut or print of the movie, was it? Maybe it was just the fact that I saw it on a big screen, and I was seeing things that I hadn’t noticed before, like when The Master is slapping his tied-up wife and she’s got that red (blood?) smear all over her face.
In the opening, the two guys dressed as Torgo and The Master were really kinda lame. This whole Manos II thing is gonna be awful, isn’t it? ***sigh***
The guys all messed up and flubbed lines multiple times, especially Kevin and Bill. Why the mush mouth, fellas?
As usual, the night belonged to Torgo,
Not sure who said the line, but when Torgo is coming
out of a doorway and he’s shaking all about, he sings “You make me feel like dancing.”
:laugh: BIG Laugh from me! :laugh:
All in all,
another great night of Rifftrax,
looking forward to the next (original) show!
There were maybe 8 people in the Downtown L.A. theater showing the Manos event. The volume was up WAY LOUD during the pre-show, so all of the parody songs came off more obnoxious than funny. Once the show began, the volume became tolerable and Welcome Back, Norman set the 8 of us into tears of laughter. Fun was had, but I wonder why the Regal at L.A. Live even bothered to be involved.
#16 Watch-out-for-Snakes: The wife slapping scene had been cut for the MST3K version, there were quite a few scenes like that, the MST version is a bit choppier.
I, too, missed the first airing of this because I had been sick. Glad I went to this one, it was pretty funny. I just re-watched the MST3K version. I think my first impression was that the original was funnier, but it’s hard to tell, because when I first saw it, obviously, the movie was fresh and it was quite a bizarre experience. For this one, I already knew what I was in for, movie-wise. I think some jokes were better on the original and some were better on this new one.
#5 Finnias Jones:
“5. More Dangerous Than Dynamite – w/ Adam Savage (Mythbusters – he was a great fit for the subject matter)”
OMG… they really, REALLY need to release that version…
I would like to second fish eye no miko’s request. I’d sell my little sister on CraigsList to make that happen!!!
FYI: She’s house-broken and has a job! ;-)
Edit: Adam Savage can “bust” my myth any day of the week ;-)
I’m with you guys. I would LOVE to see Adam Savage’s performance. Actually, that might make a good Weekend Discussion Thread – What else are you a fan of? It wouldn’t surprise me if a lot of MSTies are also Mythbusters fans. There are probably a lot of Monty Python fans among us, too. What do you think, sirs?
In San Diego the theater was almost filled, again.
Saw this when it WAS live and the crowed was remarkably diverse as far as age goes.
Took my daughter, who was out of the country then, and this time I was the oldest one in the house.
The next generation of Mstiees is in full swing.
Still laughed through the whole thing.
#16 Watch out for snakes, while this is not the fully restored version of Manos that is being completed, it was a much more complete version then MST3K had. I noticed a lot of additional scenes that made things make a “little” more sense.
The theater at the Ameristar in Kansas City had about 25 people, which was kind of disappointing. Weather was great, but cold. I went with four other people and had a GREAT time! It was my second time seeing the Rifftrax version of “Manos” and I laughed just as much as I did the first time.
The theater in Springfield, Missouri (College Station Theater) isn’t even showing either of the reruns. the closest places on the Fathom Events map were Columbia, MO or Tulsa, both of which are 3+ hour drives. Sometimes small town life sucks!
Edit: This theater has showed all the other Rifftrax Live, and even sold out for Manos! I hope to Gamera they have future Rifftrax live shows!
Sadly I missed both times due to work schedule conflicts. I am hoping they release it on DVD, Blu Ray preferred!!
“How Was SFSketchFest/Best of RiffTrax ? Satellite News”
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