Film is Pwn

Monster Squad.  Monster Squad is a relic from the late 80s resuscitated in modern times due to nostalgia, prompting a 20th anniversary DVD release in 2007 with hoopla and fanfare for the grown up child stars and the director, whose most recognizable credit since Monster Squad is the towering achievement that is Robocop 3.  I was not one of the kids who grew up watching Monster Squad and getting a tattoo of the signature line like “Wolfman’s Got Nards!”  I had better things to do growing up in the 80s, like T-ball, playing with G.I. Joes, and repeatedly replaying every single Chevy Chase and/or John Candy movie ever made. (more…)

Yes, we’ve done it again. While many of our readers likely stop themselves from watching bad movies. We here are Film is Pwn take our bad movies very seriously.

Dozens of watchings, hours of discussion — all so we can mock it passionately and completely. Our latest victim or rather the film that most recently took us as victims is Monster Squad. The movie is great in the way that many children’s movies from the 80s are great. It’s impossibly ridiculous, fraught with sickeningly bad fashion, ridiculous dialog, and it has that kid from “The Wonder Years” (no not Fred Savage, the other one … no not Josh Saviano the other one… no not Danica McKeller either, the OTHER one). The truth is though that it was fun to watch. Many of the types of movies we suffer through have no redeeming qualities, which of course amuses us. This however genuinely amused us. So we decided, “why not make a good bad movie better?”

So, check out our iRiff Monster Squad and enjoy. Let us know what you think.

Film Is Pwn’s first iRiff was for a fun little, no-budget turd of joy called Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus, which got great feedback and a spot on the iRiff top seller list (thank you very much)  The next movie we wrote and recorded riffs for was 80s fun/bad classic Monster Squad, which is still in the can because we decided to shelve everything to work on our most ambitious project, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.  We figured we’d have our Transformers 2 iRiff up and running early in the week, sit by the pool, and wait for that elusive six figure Rifftrax residuals check.  ‘Twas not to be.

In retrospect, writing and editing a nearly 2 and a half hour blockbuster with no-nstop robot fights is particularly challenging when you have wacky things like jobs, families, and softball teams.  After a long Friday night and morning, our Transformers iRiff is up Saturday morning, sadly after the Rifftrax pros Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy, and Bill Corbett put out one of their own on Thursday. *Sigh* (more…)

It’s Tuesday, October 20th, the big day that Transformers Revenge of the Fallen is released on DVD.  This was the biggest box-office hit of the Summer,  and since I don’t think Sherlock Holmes is going to knock it off its perch this Fall, it’s safe to say it’ll be the biggest money-maker of the year.

A lot of people hate Transformers Revenge of the Fallen, and I can understand why.   If you’re like me and regarded the 2007 Transformers movie as a great nostalgia trip, you’ll probably still like the sequel, as it’s ostensibly an extension of the original, albeit louder and longer.

This blog was going to be my “in defense of” Transformers Revenge of the Fallen, but I’ve changed my mind.  Film is art, even if it involves giant transforming robots fighting on top of Pyramids, and art is subjective.   Some folks loved the movie, some enjoyed it for what it was (I fall in this category), some kind of liked it at first though changed their minds on a second viewing (Tom is in this category), and some found it torturous to watch the first time through (Brian falls in this category).  Instead of “in defense of,” I’m going to write about what it would have taken to make Transformers Revenge of the Fallen better, so there will be spoilers aplenty herein, be forewarned if you’re the one guy who wanted to see this but didn’t make it to the theater all Summer. (more…)

Film Is Pwn’s next short is a double-feature, that we will be posting on Rifftrax.com in the next couple of days, but in the meantime here’s a sneak peak at the hi-larious poster Tom made for it that makes me laugh every time I look at it.  Check out all our iRiffs on our page at Rifftrax by clicking here. In the meantime, enjoy the poster: (more…)

A new “short” with riffing by Tom, Brian, and Yours Truly is available to purchase right now on Rifftrax.com. It’s a 10+ minute short film from the late 60s and if you can tell us what it’s about, we would really like to know. To clarify, the name of the short is, “Who Cares?”, and that’s not your reaction to learning we have a new video up for sale (at the low, low price of $.98!).

Enjoy this free sample, then go to Rifftrax.com and buy the whole video!

In Tom, Brian, and I’s last riffing session where we worked on the latest goodies to offer on Rifftrax.com, we took a couple minutes to riff on a PSA (Public Service Announcement) from the 70s dubbed “VD Is For Everyone.” The video is funny without our comments, as it comes off as an advertisement for Venereal Disease. Hopefully, our commentary took funny and made it hilarious. Enjoy, won’t you?

It took a little longer than we thought to get the technical kinks worked out, but the video with hilarious commentary from myself, Tom Stephens, and Brian Alterman is now for sale at Rifftrax.com for a mere $.98. To get it, just go here. Just remember, if you made an iRiff, we’d buy it too!

Click here to see our page on Rifftrax.com!  The audio commentary from Tom and I costs $2.50, you will need to acquire the DVD and sync up the two in order to enjoy our witty jokes, quips, puns, and any other conceivable manner of riff.  The DVD is available to rent in the new release section of most video stores – I’ve seen it at Hollywood VIdeo and Blockbuster – or you can check out my post from last week for the sample clip and a link to buy the DVD.  You know you want it!