Dark Water
Released: May 8, 2008
"The comedy stylings of Miss Sylvia Plathe"
Dark Water is a
ghost story set in all manner of dreariness and it stars Jennifer Connelly as a
single mother trying to start a new life with her daughter while battling her
ex for custody. It receives a riffing not from Mike, Kevin or Bill! Now, I love
all the old pro's, but I've become very familiar with them and sometimes, just
sometimes I can anticipate a riff before it lands. That's what's fun about a
new riffer, surprises abound. British writer Mathew J. Elliott has a quiet,
easy delivery. There's a very 'matter of fact' vibe and a dash of British
sensibility that adds freshness to the project. But none of that would mean a
thing if Elliott wasn't funny - thankfully he's funny as all get out.
Flying solo can be a tough row to hoe but Matthew handles it
with aplomb giving his own spin ("There's no place like Homicidal")
while drawing from the masters (He calls John C. Reilly the love child of Gene
Hackman and Elmer Fudd. LMAO!). He teases the dialog well (I love the line
about not having to worry about snipers when they shower) and can twist the
reality nicely (The clever quip about "finger painting" was a work of
art).
The movie is very one-note and after a while, that bleeds
into the riffing. The rainy, gray atmosphere is targeted maybe too often.
Though it is funny ("Drab is the new fabulous"). The movie also takes
forever to end and Matthew sounded tuckered out by it all down the final
stretch. Still, the new guy does a great job and I'd recommend giving it a
listen.
House of Wax
Released: May 28, 2008
I like this
Matthew Elliott. He pretty sharp and I must admit, I was attempting to get
through Bill and Kevin's "Alien" and wasn't digging it, so I switched
over to this one and immediately received the laughter I desired. That's saying
a lot when you can trump the pros.
House of Wax is a scary movie that doesn't offer much
thrills or chills. Though at one point Elliott quips, "You could cut the
tension with some kind of tension cutting device"- One of the stars is
Paris Hilton who is wretched and such an easy target that Matthew hammers away
at her without breaking a sweat. Plastering Paris isn't all Elliott's got
though, and he proves this right from the opening sequence when he quickly
takes notice of a chocolate Jason Voorhees head and later chastises the backing
singers for exacerbating an already anxious moment.
I liked the way Matthew casually drops the line about how he
"already forgot what just happened" on screen (the movie really is
that unmemorable) and that a slack-jawed yokel has more Myspace friends than
he. He also delivers a funny reference to Cinematic Titanic that I got a kick
out of.
All this and there's a dude who talks to his knife. How much
more joy could you want. It's another winner from the Brit, I'd love to hear
him riff with Mike on one of these.
Die Hard
Released: April 10, 2009
"Ah urinal cake, what a lousy birthday that was"
Starts off solid
with quips about the Blofeld chair, Josh Groban and some self-deprecating
humor about that unfunny English guy who thinks he can do Rifftrax. After that,
things get a bit jagged.
On the negative: Repetitive lines about Bruce's movies and
hairline (less hair than Homer Simpson? Actually it was fuller at this point in
his career, it might have been better to attack that smug look on his face).
The MST references - aside from a great Ben Murphy joke, weren't
particularly fitting and felt like they were shoehorned uncomfortably in there.
On the positive: The riffs, "Send in the car" -
"And if that fails the clowns are still on route", and after an
explosion... "The Sgt. Pepper's of screw you's". I found some clever
reference material (Ian McShane, Touched by an Angel, and a beautiful Robert
Davi/007 quip). There's a sports team called the "A-holes", a great
rant at the end when the cop kills the last terrorist, as well as a quip I
could relate to, "Well I'm stumped, but I can't tell the difference
between Tilda Swinton and Cate Blanchett". I count myself as a Matthew
Elliott fan, and while I found this a bit hit and miss, the good outweighs the
bad.
Planet of the Apes
Released: September 1, 2009
"I heard these guys were too busy singing to cause
anybody harm"
Though I was a
big fan of Matthew's first two trax, his work took a turn for the worse in
2009. This time he takes on the original Apes and there’s really not a lot of
great material here. Predictable NRA references are plumbed incessantly, plus
his timing is off. At times he rushes through 2 or 3 jokes, one after the
other, which doesn't allow us any time to savor a riff. Then he’ll pause and
leave big chunks of silence. The riffing rarely gets into a rhythm. I did receive a handful of laughs
("Nobody monkey’s with my nuts") but for the most part, this one
disappoints.
Armageddon
Released: June 15, 2010
While Matthew
does better with spacing the riffs out with this one, the humor is lacking. His
delivery could be a problem, as there are jokes that probably looked good on
paper, which doesn't translate well to audio.
There are sparks
-a quip about independence still being a sore point is clever- but these are
few and far between. I really wanted to like this one; the movie is the usual
loud, unfunny, winded fare you'd expect from Michael Bay, I'd hoped Matthew
could return to form and slay this bloated giant. Unfortunately, this hope was
quickly dashed. In the end, I was a bit bored with the download and it took several
attempts before I made it to the end.
Jurassic Park III
Released: April 15, 2011
Matthew Elliott
bounces back. Though I enjoyed his first two releases, I found his subsequent
efforts suffered from nonsensical quips and some weak timing and delivery. I
was considering skipping this, before watching the sample, which was an out-and-out riot. Elliott's timing is better this time out - he allows a few beats in
between riffs and that allows me to settle in and enjoy a joke. While there are
a few times when he could have used a partner in the booth (verbal hand-off type
riffs work better with 2) overall he does well as a soloist. I had to Google
search a couple of quips (Rebecca Loos? Episodes of "Come Dine With
Me"? Rick Sanchez, Jeremy Kyle?) but the references just as often hit me
where I live, for example... Dr. Grant: "It's time you started doing some
explaining Mr. Kirby!" – Matthew: "Like, why do all the superheroes
you draw have square heads?" The release is loaded with good stuff like
that.
Sherlock Holmes
Released: December 13, 2011
Matthew returns
with a good, though not great effort. He gets too preoccupied with genitalia
and drugs - but when he lays off the junk, there are laughs to be had:
Especially the British-centric quips. Ala, a fun pun about "pounds",
and noting how RDJs shows off his great acting by pretending to enjoy English
food. He also teases the banter ("David, Maddy please...") and other
weak aspects of the flick. Pun haters beware - Elliott puns a lot, and when I
say a lot I mean beyond Federal standards of punning "a lot". Some of
them work, some of them made me wince.
The Expendables
Released: September 13, 2012
"So why does the pirate get subtitles and Stallone
doesn't?"
Expendables is an action movie stocked to the
gills with well-known action stars and filled with the kind of crisp witty
banter you'd expect from a movie of this caliber... meaning that it is neither
crisp nor witty. Thank goodness riffer Elliott delivers all the wit you need. In
fact, this might be my favorite release from Matthew. The jokes are quick and
clever and frequently hit their targets dead center. Elliott takes pointed
shots at the anemic script ("Woody Allen did not do his best work on these
rewrites"), the acting and action. And his references are as cute as his
observations (I loved the nod to the 1960s Batman film). This is great comedy.
Horror Express
Released: March 27th, 2013
"I don't know that my disbelief is suspended, but it is
kind of dangling"
Boy, this riffing
has a lot of wang in it... and if you loved Dorkin in MST3Ks Gorgo, you'll get
a kick out of this. Matthew takes us on a trip full of innuendo and pun for
this scary flick about a hairy evil with red eyes. But the movie's best feature
is that it stars Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing (and later Telly Savalas
shows up). Elliott doesn't let much get past him, even noting a typo in the
credits. So it was odd that he stays silent when a character mentions that all
he has are stones in his box. I was thinking, "What, nothing about Mick or
Keith there?" But I kid Matthew; he does good work with this one and it
well suited to a drinking game. Take a shot whenever Elliott mentions a movie, actor, or character associated with trains. You won't get drunk, but it is kind of fun.
Released: May 15, 2015
The Veil - Part 1
Released: February 5, 2021
When I took an extended break from the blog I missed the opportunity to talk about the Matthew J. Elliott and Ian Potter releases. Now's my chance, and I thought I'd put the spotlight on these 2 offerings, as they stood out as highlights. These BritRiffs are sometimes overpacked, M&I speak over the dialogue to excess, and don't allow room for the movie to breathe. But with Veil & Warning, the pacing is much more relaxed.
The Veil I grabbed during the St. Patrick's day sale in 2021. Matthew and Ian are on fire... much like Boris Karloff in the opening sequence. 3 episodes are riffed on - I'd never heard of this series, so it was cool getting to watch it, and the quips were quite funny.
Warning From Space was one I always thought would be a good fit for a riff project, and M&I prove me right. So much hilarity in the movie and the duo take that and make it all a scream (the newspaper sequences are a good example of that)
I'll place them both at #39 on my Rifftrax Top 50
