Conor writes:
One of the things we like to do here at RiffTrax (during those rare moments when we’re not absorbed by our frequent, mandatory company-wide Schnappi sing-alongs) is to challenge ourselves. Sure, it’s easy enough to make hay out of a bear-suited Nicholas Cage, but what really tests one’s mettle is to see how he reacts when he’s staring down the business end of THE GREATEST MOVIE EVER MADE. Yes, our respect and admiration for “Casablanca” is unbounded, but if our motto—We Don’t Make Movies, We Make Them Funny—is to have any meaning at all then it must be tested by fire. So we offer you this, our first in a series of RiffTrax Challenges, where we step outside our comfort zone (our comfort zone, by the way, is a large rumpus room here at RiffTrax Towers, with lots of bean bag chairs, thick shag carpet and a huge supply of Cheddar ‘n’ Bacon Easy Cheese) for our equivalent of a corporate “team-building” exercise. (We tried the more traditional rafting expedition but lost half our staff. We think it was at a Mobil Station in Bakersfield, CA.)
Will Mike, Kevin and Bill triumph? Merely survive? Suffer a huge smackdown by an angry, gargantuan Sidney Greenstreet? Join us for our first ever RiffTrax Challenge to find out!
The riff will be out Tuesday, June 2. Free sample here.
My own thoughts: I’m part of a private riffing group and one of the things we do is get together on weekend nights and riff whatever is on Turner Classic Movies. That has meant we have riffed a lot of truly great movies, and while back we did riff “Casablanca.” Now, I’m with Conor: this is probably one of the three or four most captivating, enthralling movies ever made, and Bogart, maybe the best, most natural actor ever to come out of old the Hollywood system, is flawless in it, as is just about everybody else.
But. What we’ve found over the years is that a movie doesn’t have to be bad to be riffable. It just has to take itself very seriously. And “Casablanca” definitely does that. The result was a memorable riff: plenty of things to riff on, even as we enjoyed a truly wonderful movie.
I’m looking forward to this one.
Hey #1, I represent that remark.
But, yeah, If they get “interfaced” I’ll lose it.
I haven’t tried Rifftrax yet, but this might be enough to pull me in.
Please, let there be Fingal jokes.
That’s plain odd. Fintheart was #1 when i posted.
(you’re still #1 in my heart, Flint.)
Yes, there must be call backs to Overdrawn at the Memory Bank.
I think this movie is a good choice. It’s from 1939. It’s a genuine classic. It’s also not too long, as opposed to something Gone With the Wind. I look forward to this RiffTrax.
I’m tired of RiffTrax, at least as far as movies go. It’s lame and only actually funny or clever once in a while; usually the shorts are still worth watching. This’ll be the last chance I give the good fellows. It’s got potential because of the film’s iconic status. Perhaps if they stay away from the “Memory Bank” fat-ass jokes, it’ll be okay.
I personally think this is a great movie to riff. Like Sampo said, it takes itself very seriously.
A true challenge would be riffing Jungle Holocaust.
I saw this on their site earlier today and after checking to make sure I hadn’t lapsed into a coma until April 1st 2010 I thought “So they have lost their minds after all”. I guess now we really can say “What next Citizen Kane?” without the slightest bit of irony or sarcasm, because after this it will probably happen. From my own experiences with Rifftrax I personally have not enjoyed most of the riffs I’ve seen of movies I really like on their own, so I can’t imagine I would enjoy this one in the slightest bit. I am Legend, Transformers, Twilight and The Happening are some classic Rifftrax, but Casablanca? Casablanca? No. Just no. Nope sirs. I’ll catch you next time around.
I think riffing on Good Movies will work when the movies are an iconic part of pop culture, and Casablanca meets that test handily. I haven’t been buying many of the riffs of newer movies, but I might take a flyer on this one. I have a feeling it’ll be good.
(BTW, I think this is the same reason that riffing on Citizen Kane would work.)
@ All Done # 5…
I’d say avoid this one and think about adopting my policy on Rifftrax. If it’s a movie I would want to watch on it’s own then I usually think it probably wouldn’t be a good Rifftrax to buy. Stick with the shlock, the stuff you’d be derisively laughing at anyway, and you will probably have much more fun with the experience. That has largely been my experience. Stick with the shorts and the shlock.
I’ll pass on this one. So many terrible movies to do and they do this?? What about Red Dawn? I thought i remember a interview where Mike said he would never do this one?
I am EXCITED. I really hope they do this justice, with really strong material that should help prove that any movie can be riffed. I don’t see why some people are such crybabies about not riffing movies THEY like. As has been said, if you don’t want to watch, then don’t. You might be missing something really special, though. I sure won’t. I’ve seen Casablanca about two dozen times over the years. It’s a masterpiece. I’m excited to see it through a fresh approach. It won’t take away from it being a classic film (#3 behind Citizen Kane and the Good,the Bad & the Ugly in my opinion), it is just a new way to view it. Godspeed, good Rifftrax!
“I’ll pass on this one. So many terrible movies to do and they do this?? What about Red Dawn? I thought i remember a interview where Mike said he would never do this one?”
I interviewed Kevin last week, he said they would do Red Dawn at some point. I’ll send a link to this site when I get it posted.
I agree with those who say this can qualify for a riff. It takes itself very seriously and the number of lampoons of it out there signify how ingrained it is in our consciousness.
I do hope they do Kane. There are plenty of Hitchcock options too. Rear Window, Vertigo, The Birds, Psycho.
I can’t wait.
I don’t understand all this hope for more riffing on good movies. I could at least understand why they do the occassional newer good movies, because people buy those DVDs by the truckload, and each one of those DVD sales means a potential Rifftrax sale. But with all the incredibly bad movies out there, both old and new why would anyone be dying to see them do things like Casablanca, Citizen Kane, or any Hitchcock? I just don’t get it. If this was 1992 and I read somewhere that MST was going to be doing Casablanca I would have been horrified and disappointed. It would have gone against everything the show was about. Yeah, sure “Rifftrax isn’t MST” blah blah (unless of course it can be used to advertise Rifftrax, then it’s “MST3K meets…!” or “From the makers of MST3K!”) but all that means is that the thing that made MST3000 so special to me, and something I still love so much today, is missing every time Rifftrax does something good and respectable. In other words when they do things like this it’s “not MST3K” in a BAD way.
Just saw the sample, and the “Mr. Toad” jokes honestly had me laughing…and then they had to respond to “Here’s lookin’ at you, kid” with a Larry the Cable Guy reference. Sorry if it makes me fussy, but I’m out. See you next challenge.
Now, I thought it was bad enough that the translators of the awe-inspiring “Transformers: Cybertron” 4 years ago decided to make one of the Decepticons do an impression of LTCG throughout the entire series, but that was kinda’ funny, solely because the character’s name happened to be ThunderCRACKER. In this context however, I personally would have found every conceivable joke tangentially connected to the Holocaust both less offensive and more appropriate, lamp shades and all. But more than that, I kept thinking how the 3 of them were 1,000X funnier playing off of #822′s rehash of the same line. Now, to balance the wishes of us old die-hards and the integrity of this project, they should probably throw in one and ONLY one callback to ODATMB, but I can’t help but think that incessant callbacks to their old work would technically end up being much funnier, even if we already knew all the jokes.
But hey, I’ve yet to shell out any dough for RT because my computer “disappears” MP3s on me, so I guess I can’t complain. Still, ya’ gotta’ appreciate their humility in calling it a challenge. Can’t wait to see what’s next (C’mon, Battleship Potemkin! I’m curious to see ‘em take on a non-talkie, as long as they’re delving into the classics)
When you get the Rifftrax synced up to the movie, be sure and shout “I’M INTERFACED!!”
I miss their old slogan…
“We don’t make films, we make fun of them.”
Looks hilarious. I for one WOULD like to see them take on the pompous, self-important gas-bag that is Citizen Kane.
rcfagnan…
spoken like a true “someone who obviously just doesn’t get why Citizen Kane is such an important part of film history”. Learn a little about film history, and then even if you don’t personally enjoy the film you might at least realize that even just from a purely film making perspective nearly everything Welles did in Citizen Kane was groundbreaking and revolutionary for it’s time. Without that “pompous self-important gas bag” the entire history of film making would have been very different, and most likely not for the best. Welles was FAR ahead of his time, and many of the most important film makers to come in the years after him, in the times where the techniques and ideas that he created and pioneered actually became understood and respected, owed him a lot. I will even admit that as a film fanatic Citizen Kane might not even make my list of top hundred films I personally enjoy watching, but as a person who is also highly interested in film history it would definitely be very near the top of my list of films most important to the history of the art form as a whole.
I know that some serious film devotees don’t think much of Roger Ebert, but as a neophyte in the world of serious film, I heartily recommend Ebert’s commentary on Citizen Kane.
He basically gave a Film 101 course on why Welles’ techniques were so groundbreaking and important, and it opened my eyes quite a bit. And it was very entertaining, to boot.
That said, I still think there’s room to make fun of the way that some aspects of the film have found their way into cliches, just as with Casablanca.
Another thought on Citizen Kane – I think a lot of the fans of special-effects-fests like Star Wars would be very surprised to learn that the effects in Kane were just as groundbreaking, or even more so.
Sounds good- could you doppel me into that Citizen Kane movie? I need a break from all these flav-o-fives; they’re turning me into a total tub.
By the way, Cronkite Moonshot: rcfagnan didn’t say the MOVIE was unimportant. He said: “I for one WOULD like to see them take on the pompous, self-important gas-bag that is Citizen Kane”. Well, a movie can’t be a gas-bag, can it? He’s referring to the CHARACTER of Citizen Kane, who is undeniably pompous and self-important, not the film in which he appears. I recommend reading the posts a little more carefully before you start battering us all over the head with your hobby horse.
Huh.
Okay, I’m not really a big fan of Casablanca – I can understand why people enjoy it, but personally I think it’s overrated. However, I simply don’t see what there is to make fun of. Yes, it takes itself seriously. So do quite a lot of other movies. Is that reason enough to riff it?
Maybe this is just me, but whenever I watch a film that I’ve already seen the guys riff, even if I’ve seen the film before I watched the Rifftrax, I can constantly hear the jokes popping into my head through the entire thing-which is fine with, say, The Happening, but much less so with, say, a Hitchcock film or, God forbid, Citizen Kane.
So, yeah, I’m going to be skipping this one (like most of the recent Rifftrax), and I’m hoping that this will be the first and last of these “Challenges”, since I doubt that it will sell very well-if you’re the type of person who already owns Casablanca, why would you want to listen to three guys taking the piss out of it?
Alert me when they do Red Dawn.
I think it’s fine for them to riff a classic (and of course Fingal callbacks will be MANDATORY). Look what a great job they did with the LOTR movies.
I’ll also admit I’ve never seen Casablanca. And I’ve had no special urge to see it. And now I’ll have a copy of it, because of Rifftrax. So think of the philistines like me who’ll be exposed to it. (Same goes for Citizen Kane, btw.)
Dunno. The sample didn’t do it for me probably because the actual movie was much more interesting than the riffs. One problem I can see with these “Challenges” is that the riffing is going to have to be consistently top-shelf to compete with the films for your attention. Otherwise, it’s just going to be annoying like a bad director’s commentary. I wish the boys luck and all but I’m passing. BTW, what’s up with Mike’s pronunciation of “conjure?” like he was channeling Valeria in Robot Holocaust?
I’ll give it a go. I have a stupid amount of love for Casablanca. ‘Course, I had a stupid amount of love for Dark Knight and that didn’t work out so well…but hey, always willing to try.
I think that there is material in ANY film that is riff-worthy.
I am a HUGE fan of both Casablanca and CK, but I won’t take it personally when they are riffed – especially if there are some gems in there. I’d love to see Mildred Pierce riffed!
I’ve never used rifftrax, but this may tempt me.
Really? They farm out cheesy classics like Tron or Dirty Dancing to mediocre Rifftrax Presents, then do AFI Top 100 films themselves? I just think they’re not really focussing their business model here. Or “exploiting their core competencies.”
Good movies, bad movies, who gives a **** as long as it’s funny? They’re cracking jokes about movies, not vomiting on the American flag or submerging pictures of Jesus in urine.
I like the exchange between comments #18 and #19.
#18 says something about Citizen Kane being self important and a gasbag. #19 tries to refute it and ends up pontificating so much and proving the point.
If you want cheesy old movies riffed, go watch MST3K, or Cinematic Titanic. Seriously, do you people go into KFC and complain about how you can’t get a decent hamburger?
One laugh in the sample for me– “We have church in a half hour…” Otherwise, pass. Or rather, fail.
Not sure about all the comments that Casablanca takes itself too seriously. What exactly does that mean? The movie is a great blend of comedy, drama, excitement, etc. It has great performances, an amazing script and a dozen of the most quotable lines in movie history. Maybe I’m feeling defensive, but after rewatching this last week at a summer film series with a packed house crowd of young and old laughing, crying and cheering along, self-important is not a word I would use to describe it.
From Here to Eternity, the other side of that double bill, now that’s another story…
Major Strasser: What is your nationality?
Rick: I’m a drunkard.
I agree with you #29d & 31! Not everyone around here pretends they went to film school.
I just watch movies. Four days later I have forgotten 98% of what I saw. But they’re all stinking funny with rifftrax. I also forget 98% of the riffs 4 days later.
Hell.. I haven’t even watched Cassablanca or Citizen Kane before. I don’t think I did.. I may have and forgotten by now.
And since no one else has said it, perhaps I will scroll up this cinema.
I’m with you, #29. Good movies, bad movies, old movies, new movies, I don’t give a rat’s ass. As long as it’s funny, and rifftrax has been pretty damn funny so far.
With that being said…..I must admit that I thought the sample wasn’t so hot, which would be the one and only reason why I’m maybe not as super-excited about this one as I usually am. Then again, I’ve also learned that just going by the sample isn’t always wise.
These guys have been riffing on bad movies for 20 years. Good for them to be bold and experiment. I love how they switch it up–I would personally like to see more TV shows riffed.
I’m in agreement with you on both counts McSwain. With their 20 year track record they’ve earned the right to riff anything they want. And as far as TV show riffs go, LOST and Grey’s Anatomy are two of my favorite rifftrax.
More TV riffs!!
@33 Bobbled Dopple : Nobody’s actually saying it takes itself too seriously, just that it takes itself seriously. Which is sort of odd – most successful movies that are’t spoof, parody or intentional camp take themselves at least a little seriously. I see where source material that takes itself seriously is a useful starting point for most riffing, but I’m not convinced it’s sufficient.
That said, I won’t deny the gang their right to stretch their range and challenge themselves.
@ #35
Bobbled Dopple I feel compelled to point out that scrolling up cinemas is reserved only for the all powerful chairman of novacorp. I suggest compulsory rehab. Or perhaps a good round of intense data processing. Either way you’re creating an efficiency problem, report to phychist now.
(I’ve really watched overdrawn too many times)
Also, per complaints that there are tons of crummy movies they should do… didn’t Planet of Dinosaurs come out just last week?
Never seen it (beside what portions appear in OATMB). Not kidding. I was never impressed by Bogart’s “natural acting” (aka mumbling through a halo of cigarette smoke), so I’ll probably appreciate this more than most.
Randy
Codemus #22 – Well put.
OK… WWOD? (What Would Orson Do?)
Citizen Kane would be cool, if the right riffs were in place. Remember Orson’s “We will serve no wine before its time”.
I kinda hope most rifftrax fans at least will watch the movie by itself before checking out the rifftrax. I have to cringe at people watching Casablanca (or Night of the Living Dead) for the first time with their commentary.
Rifftrax stopped being relevant a long time ago. This is just another example of their constant shark jumping.
simply put: unwatchable
Tarantulas: luckily, jumping over sharks is actually really impressive. Have you ever seen a seal trying to escape a hungry shark? That’s some amazing stuff, man!
Is it just me, or do the riffers sound kind of angry at the movie in that sample? Is rifftrax always like this?
At its best, MST had a sense of fun, like they were enjoying themselves despite the bad movies, but I get no sense of that here. Now they just seem kind of resentful, which makes even the somewhat clever riffs seem entirely humorless.
After going to see Cinematic Titanic live a couple weeks ago, I really began to realize what it is I don’t like about Rifftrax, aside from the sub-par riffing. CT keeps the spirit of MST3K by doing really, really bad movies. That’s one of the things that made the show so much fun to watch, and what makes CT as great as it is. Rifftrax is just going through the motions, trying to put out as much crap as possible, regardless of quality. CT is more carefully crafted and executed, and retains the feel of the old show we all know and love.
I have way more respect these days for Joel and company, because Mike, Kevin, and Bill seem to have forgotten what MST3K was all about.
Maybe Sattelite News should just stop posting Rifftrax updates. It always leads to “This isn’t MST3K” bitchfest.
#50, I’ve seen all the CT releases and all the Rifftrax releases and I’ve had the complete opposite reaction. I’ve found most of the riffing in CT to be sub-par(with the exception of the most recent one) and I’ve found myself laughing much more at Rifftrax. I will admit that I haven’t found the last year of Rifftrax releases quite as strong as the first two years, but overall they still entertain me more than CT. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.
It’s not that Rifftrax isn’t MST3K, it’s that it’s a near constant deluge of “new on DVD this week” type movies that in many cases, aren’t that great of fodder for the joke canon.
Add this to the fact that Rifftrax has gone from being fun to being catty and generally aggressively hateful in it’s tone, and you’ll see why they lost me as a customer and one of their biggest supporters. If you look back at the Film Crew stuff this same group of riffers worked on a couple of years ago, it’s a 180 degree difference in tone.
I love the hateful tone.
I watched a few of the Cinematic Titanic releases and the laughs were very few and far between. Yes, they have the silhouettes like MST and yes, they have the old movies like MST but they don’t have the funny riffing like MST. For me, the riffing comes first and everything else is secondary. I watched the rifftrax of The Happening and Twilight and thought they were both hilarious.
Ahem…this isn’t MST3K. Thank you.
..the hell? I’d better get back in my transport and get back to 1994!
After this, RiffTrax should take a break and review the entire film catalog of Daniel Bernhardt (aka Jean Claude Gosh Darn). There are so many direct to video movies that could be riffed.
Mike, Kevin and Bill should also pick through the films of Golan-Globus.
I wasn’t to terribly impressed with the quality of the riffs. Most of them (to me at least) seemed far to wordy, and were not that funny in the first place, so why bother making the riffs so wordy as to which they become annoying and detract from any sort of viewing pleasure one might glean from watching this. I also (unfortunately) have not seen Casablanca, so it probably would not be in my best interest (at this point anyway) to purchase this. I’m sorry I had to get wordy to get my point accross,but it seemed neccessary.
Yeah, I’m not a big fan of the really wordy riffs either. I’ve seen enough rifftrax to know, however, that they do these ‘rants’ on occasion but usually just a little bit per film. Unfortunately, this sample will give the impression to the uninitiated that this is all they have in their arsenal, which is certainly not the case. A poor choice for a sample.
Well, it is obivious that Rifftrax is still stung by The Dark Knight fiasco…..(it really did suck), This is another attempt to prove that they can riff good movies….they haven’t done it successfully yet, so we shall see.
Haven’t done it successfully yet? Huh??!!
Jaws – good movie – good rifftrax
Jurassic Park – good movie – good rifftrax
Matrix – good movie – good rifftrax
Lord of Rings films -good movies -good rifftrax
Spider Man – good movie – good rifftrax
Willy Wonka – good movie – good rifftrax
LOST – good movie (okay,TV movie) good rifftrax
Star Trek 6 -decent movie -good rifftrax
Bourne Identity – good movie – an extremely underrated and unfairly maligned rifftrax
I loved LOTR and was very excited to learn that Rifftrax was doing it, combining 2 of my favorite interests at that time. I felt it to be fairly reverent to the movie, but I didn’t find it all that funny. Part of it is the fact that it was 3 hours long. It is very difficult to pause or stop a movie and the commentary and then to correctly cue it up after life interjects upon one’s viewing. Perhaps I am spoiled by my DVR, but who has 3 hours of uninterrupted time these days?
Now comes Casablanca. Like LOTR, it easily makes my top-ten favorite film list. Fortunately, it is a much shorter film, making it much easier to sit through in one take. When I first heard they were doing it, I thought: “Yea, this could be interesting”. Then I watched the first few seconds and I was repulsed. Then I laughed. Then repulsion again, followed by some more laughter. I think what it boils down to for me is the fact that I already own the movie and it will only cost me $3 or so to get the Rifftrax. Therefore I will buy it. I refuse to buy or even rent crappy movies even if Rifftrax does a great job on them. What I would really like to see is Rifftrax choose one of the 50 packs of movies you can find a your local retail store and pick them off one by one. That way, I will be spending my money supporting the Rifftrax project, not the Hollywood blockbuster machine.
As someone who has never sat down to watch Casablanca, I don’t hold any ill will towards the effort. Funny is funny, classic or not.
This to me just seems like another nail in the coffin.
And you know, I don’t mind the hateful tone, in fact I love it…when it’s aimed at crappy movie that also equally pisses me off.
Of course that raises the question, what makes a crappy movie? It’s a matter of opinion as always. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. And a lot of fans are quite happy with the way things have been going, riffing newer mainstream movies or classics, what have you.
But what about the fans that aren’t happy with it? Like me. How about throwing a few craptastic films our way once in a while?
I know there’s the whole issue with the availability of newer movies as opposed to older ones and less well known ones. But I mean as long as you can find it say online, where’s the harm in riffing a real stinker? I would happily try and find it.
I also know that this isn’t MST3k 2.0 and I shouldn’t expect it to be. But apparently I’m a die hard for the old system.
I’ll take the advice that many have suggested, and just move on, that if I don’t like it…I shouldn’t buy it.
But I gotta say for me, those “don’t buy it” opportunities are mounting as of late.
“How about throwing a few craptastic films our way once in a while.”
In the last few months they’ve done:
Planet of Dinosaurs
Twilight
Swing Parade
Missile to the Moon
Reefer Madness
Those films aren’t ‘craptastic’ enough for you?!!
Oh no they are, I won’t deny that. Maybe I should rephrase…a few *more* craptastic movies. It just seems as of late the scales are tipped in one particular direction.
I find that I enjoy Rifftrax more the more I enjoy the movie. The LOTR riffs are some of my favorites. I have yet to watch a rifftrax of a movie that ruined a movie I already like. To me, they enhance the viewing of the film like any good commentary does.
The First thing Rifftrax needs to do though is have someone else pick out the samples.
Swing Parade, man now that was pure crap. The Three Stooges are barely in the movie. Shemp had more screen time in The Bank Dick; well not really but I exaggerate to make a larger point.
Let me re-iterate again the need for RiffTrax of newer, theatrical and direct to video movies. Mike, Kevin and Bill have the entire late 1980s and 1990s to cover.
Here are some fine choices:
The Punisher (the first one with Dolph Lundgren)
American Ninja 1-6
Kickboxer 2
Bloodsport 2
Best of the Best 2-?
Any of a number of Sci-Fi Channel “original” movies.
And any movie with the following actors:
Daniel Bernhardt (Jean Claude Gosh Darn)
Sasha Mitchell
Don “The Dragon” Wilson
Many of the Sci-Fi releases may not be on DVD.
Some of them are.
The Last Sentinel, starring Battlestar Galactica’s Katee Sackhoff and Don “The Dragon” Wilson even has a Blu-Ray disc. It’s sort of Warrior of the Lost World meets Terminator. The movies hero, played by Don “The Dragon” Wilson, even has a talking object, his gun. The Paper Chase Guy had his talking motorcycle.