FilmFlicking

Lucifer_666 · Site Joined: 27 Jul 2007 Posts: 9547

Stop pressuring me man ....just stop it ...OKAY!!!!!!

Just kidding I will add mine tomorrow if thats okay

After all you two have raised the benchmark on which my review will be judged

Oh and yeah fantastic review babes too

I'm glad you got to like it

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Lucifer_666 · Site Joined: 27 Jul 2007 Posts: 9547

Okay Mystery Men.... as I said before is not to everybody's tastes but I loved it, I think the first thing of note is the great cast which consists of William H. Macy, Ben Stiller, Hank Azaria, Janeane Garofalo, Kel Mitchell, Paul Reubens, Geoffrey Rush, Greg Kinnear,Claire Forlani, Lena Olin, and Eddie Izzard.
I loved all the performances of all the stars but the one that really stood out to me was Stiller's Mr Furious..... I don't know what it is about Stiller but I adore when he plays these highly strung characters...anyone who has seen Heavyweights or Dodgeball know what I'm on about except in this it was his thing, his gimmick the thing that brings out his power to the surface or so he says throughout after all he did once lift a bus

. One of my favourite scenes is when they are attacking Casanova Frankenstein's car and he's sitting in the back unconcerned while they are all doing their worst ..... the Blue Raja scrapes his fork along the paint work lol while Furious just screams on top and belly flopping in some kind of temper tantrum

in fact the only one to actually do some real damage is the Bowler...it was a very funny scene. I also really liked the interraction between Furious and The Sphynx particularly as the latter keeps coming out with cryptic but ultimately unhelpful aphorisms like.....
"To learn my teachings, I must first teach you how to learn." or
"You must lash out with every limb, like the octopus who plays the drums." or
"He who questions training only trains himself at asking questions." or
"You must be like wolf pack, not six-pack."
It eventually gets to a stage where Furious can't take anymore and responds....."Okay, am I the only one who finds these sayings just a little bit formulaic? "If you want to push something down, you have to pull it up. If you want to go left, you have to go right." the Sphinx quickly replies "Your temper is very quick, my friend. But until you learn to master your rage..." but Furious interrupts ".......your rage will become your master? That's what you were going to say. Right? Right?" .....The Sphinx walks away saying "Not necessarily."

.
I enjoyed the scene too where he decides to rejoin the group after going off in a temper and the Shoveler goes out to talk to him to broker the peace and of course pride is preventing him from saying sorry so he starts speaking like Kirk saying "..... losing......control.....rage ........building" or words to that effect until the Shoveller eventually puts him out of his misery

. There is actually a few subtle references to William Shatner's recording lines for the animated Star Trek series throughout the movie which I thought pretty neat!!
I also Cat loved that line aswell..."My pants feel like they're shrinking too." Other great lines from him were.... "Don't mess with the volcano my man, 'cause I will go Pompeii on your... butt." and ....."You must've torn out the "Q" section in my dictionary, because I don't know the meaning of the word "quit".

Who I was surprised at was Claire Forlani ..who has a relatively small part and not a particularly interesting one either, she's really only a window dressing character providing the minuscule sub-plot love interest.... I just think any actress would have sufficed for that role and I would have much preferred to see her challenged a bit more with a more bizarre part.

Like Chump I completely digged the Invisible Boy concept too which was a very unique and funny take on the whole premise of invisibility.....and I did question at the end where did his clothes go when he past the sensor?

I also really liked Geoffrey Rush's performance who just seemed to be in his element playing it way over the top at any moment...... I think his fight scene with Furious where he's using his fingernail as a deadly weapon was brilliant... I laughed throughout!!

The movie is a real piss take on comic book heroes...even Champion City where it is all set is reminiscent of Gotham...or a strange 70's Dick Tracy city. and anyone who has read comics such as Marvel over the years will know they have created some weird heroes with weird abilities that appeared at the time perhaps a little cooler to me than they should have

The Superhero characters themselves originate from a comic called Flaming Carrot....which was the name of the main hero...... Of course he looked stupid and had no powers either he carried an array of stuff like rubber bands, playing cards, sneeze powder, etc in his utility belt. He was however a founding member of The Mystery Men but ironically it is he who does not feature in the movie which really is mighty strange. I thought they should have thrown him in somewhere!! Perhaps at the hero auditions?
Oh and before someone says about that Shrek song.....Mystery Men was the first film to feature the 'Smash Mouth' song "All Star" and clips from the film actually form the basis of the song's video......so there!!

Though I still love the beginning of Shrek....

Mystery Men is a fun movie that really doen't take itself very seriously...It appeals because like many great movies the losers become winners, those that aspire to be and get ridiculed succeed in their endevours and of course provide us with the laughs along the way .its one of those types of movies that you can just sit down forget about everything in your life and enjoy and I for one can never watch it enough times!!
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Catnapper · Site Joined: 30 Jul 2007 Posts: 6132

I missed the ST references Luc

that's why I like reading your reviews cause I get to learn something new!

I think you'd have to watch it a few times to get all the references.......but it's a good excuse to watch it again!

lord vader · Site Joined: 31 Jul 2007 Posts: 3131 Location: scotland

i didn't watch it , i bet it was tosh luc

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site admin and serial word sensorer , :)

Lucifer_666 · Site Joined: 27 Jul 2007 Posts: 9547

Thanks babe.... yeah the Star Trek references where actually an idea between Ben Stiller and Janeane Garofalo who wanted to do it in a film for a long time.

What I didn't add in my review was that Garofalo was paramount on getting Stiller on board on the project in the first place....he was reluctant but she rang him up saying it would be fun for them both to work together and so he agreed apparently Stiller and Garofalo are very good old friends

Also an awful lot of the movie was unscripted and much of the dialogue was thought of on set by the actors themselves who were just told to run with it.

The idea of Frankenstein's nails being long and strange originated from Claire Forlani unusually enough

No its a good film Sta
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Catnapper · Site Joined: 30 Jul 2007 Posts: 6132

Most of it was ad libbed.....you'd never have thought it

Have you got the dvd Luc cause I'm wondering what features are on it......a blooper reel would be good!

Lucifer_666 · Site Joined: 27 Jul 2007 Posts: 9547

I do have the dvd....no blooper reel but it has the Directors commentary, deleted scenes, a docu on the origin of the comic characters. I think thats it... I have to recheck it now

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Catnapper · Site Joined: 30 Jul 2007 Posts: 6132

Aww a blooper reel would have been very funny I bet!

Lucifer_666 · Site Joined: 27 Jul 2007 Posts: 9547

Yeah I reckon so too...its unusual actually it wasn't supplied... I will recheck the dvd but I'm almost sure there is none

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Catnapper · Site Joined: 30 Jul 2007 Posts: 6132

Maybe they'll put one on when it's the 10th anniversary or something