Release Date: October 2, 2007
Riffers: Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett
"And, on to Ebay it goes" – Kevin after the Ark is in hand
This one was kind of a bummer as there’s simply too much flimsy comedic material throughout. In the first hour, I had one or two actual laugh-out-loud moments (At about 25 minutes in, during the drinking game with the man/woman). What was on the screen didn’t equate to many explosive riotous riffs. The predictable twists on Indy’s name gave me smiles, not guffaws. The cultural jokes were flat and uninspired. Jones just didn’t click.
Immersed in darkness and fearing that this might be the worst riffing ever done. Worse than KTMA’s Gamera, worse than Aztec Mummy, worse than Top Gun... I was given a few shards of light. As the film was closing in on its first hour, Indy and his band locate the Ark, and Mike, Kev, and Bill found their muse. Slams about how Jones was barking orders but not doing any work were a hoot, as was the moment when Indy looks momentarily insane. My laughter was short-lived, but at least there was something to enjoy here and there down the stretch.
Attacks on the French remain a highlight and Bill got in some good lines: Including his admission about his favorite make-out music. The riff -“Who’d want to leave behind a delicate flower like her”- on Karen Allen’s rough, screechy personality. And the toppermost, the one reason to listen to this trax, his rendition of the Raiders theme. What a great companion piece to Bill Murray’s lounge lizard on SNL singing the “Star Wars” song.
There was also a cute, quick callback to the ending of Fantastic Four that I liked as well. But in the great scheme of things, this was a pretty tepid comedy and it ranks among my least favorite Rifftrax to date.
Release Date: July 2, 2009
Riffers: Mike Nelson & Joel McHale
"I'm your real father Robert, I lost you in a poker game when you were two"- Joel
A long requested movie finally gets its due. Red Dawn would make a good doubleheader with MSTs Invasion U.S.A. and the riffing runs along the same lines, fair to middling. It doesn't offer a steady diet of hilarity ala "Twilight" or even the Rifftrax Presents offering, "Ghost", but there are laughs. The best sequence was when the 3 leads head to a farmhouse and pick up some gals hiding in a cellar (one of them Swayze's "Dirty Dancing" co-star, Jennifer Grey).
Joel McHale, very funny on The Soup, does a good job here. His delivery is top-notch and he compliments Mike well. I enjoyed some of his oddball observational quips... "Someone's washing machine is off balance!" I also liked the comments on the misheard lines of dialog. And the required Wolverine (the superhero) quip was obvious but funny. So overall, decent material can be found, though it's not a rip-roaring success.
Release Date: January ?, 2009
Riffers: Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett
"Did your boyfriend enjoy meals? We must know!" - Mike
And they come full circle. Reefer Madness was where it all began. It was the first step towards this thing we call Rifftrax. I remember laughing so hard at Mike's audio track (more commentary style than full-out riffing) on its release and hailing it as the greatest commentary track ever. Listening to it now, it is quaint but Mike sounds subdued, almost uncomfortable at times and it's not up to the quality of trax to come. So, as with Plan 9 Mike is joined by Bill and Kevin and the trio augment the original work with new material to give us a better and stronger Reefer. The end result isn't as inspired as the Plan 9 redo, it doesn't have the spark and constancy of the riffing on Ed Woods classic, but it's not bad, not bad at all.
Most of Mike's better work survives (though sadly, not the batshit insane quip and there is no reference to the colorization this time out). They did give me some extra chuckles concerning the guy who never stops eating, and here and there I'd bellow out in laughter from a great quip (When a character asks, "What's the beef?", Mike responds, "That's actually a far more accurate slogan for Wendy's"). It is a definite upgrade and overall an enjoyable trax.
Release Date: December 21, 2006
Riffers: Mike Nelson & Kevin Murphy
"Yay! I get to sleep in the same room with a depressed hairy man" – Kevin.
As with Dr. Moreau, The actors in Reign of Fire are not immune to the duos scathing barbs. The pan-fried and oiled Matthew McConaughey chews the scenery, swaggers, and as Mike and Kev observe, speaks like Jody Foster and moves just like John Belushi in Animal House! The bits about “Incomprehensible panic yelling” was priceless because it sums up the entire movie in a nutshell. The two also take the film to task for being so unrelentingly dark and bleak. Also, I loved the riffing whenever the kids were involved. It was very funny when 2 men stage a Star Wars play for them and Kevin uses the opportunity to bash Lucas as a childish bearded freak. Overall a solid effort.
#29 in Mighty Jack's Top 50
Release Date: August 21st, 2012
Riffers: Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett
"Noriko likes to plan ahead for all crimes against God" - Mike
Rifftrax continues to live inside my head as they tackle another on my B movie wish list. Dr. X is a glorious goof fest, about a scientist with a hair-trigger temper who goes to Japan -- where he creates one of the cheesiest looking plant monsters you ever could hope to see. The guys nail this one: Every character trait, every odd situation and silly line of dialog... just nail it. They also must have had movies on the mind, as there were several Terrence Malik-related jokes, as well as references to the Dark Knight Returns, Francis Ford Coppola, The Lion King as well as The Wicker Man (loved Bill's hilarious line, spoken during the scene where we see a torch-wielding crowd's pursuit of the monster... “The villagers couldn't find your plant so they are burning Nicolas Cage.”) Great stuff!
Release Date: April 14th, 2012
Riffers: Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett
"Don't you know food when you see it?" – "Golden Coral's new slogan" – Kevin in response to the guy handing out slop to the Apes.
Okay 'trax, some good chuckles but not many gut-busters. As expected, they draw from every simian-based film and book (from mentioning the protagonists need for a yellow hat, to a knock on Tim Burton), as well as the animal's habits (yeah, there are poo-flinging quips), but they still manage to squeeze laughs from the material. Course they branch out into other areas: they pick on Netflix, quote from The Godfather, and make observations about the characters and the actors who play them.
Road House
Release Date: July 21, 2006
Riffer: Mike Nelson
And so it begins... our introduction to Rifftrax. And it starts with a movie Mike has always wanted to quip on -- and he doesn't waste the opportunity. Highlights include hilarious jabs directed at Swayze's constant shirt-less-ness and his kung fu moves... "Clearly, he has studied with the great master - Pat Morita". It was different seeing and hearing Nelson work on an R-rated flick... you never saw nudity on MST. Despite this, Mike keeps his humor at PG levels, and in fact, one of the funniest bits for me were the jokes said during Swayzes big love scene with co-star Kelly Lynch. While he would go on to bigger and better, this was a good solid start.
The Room
Release Date: June 18, 2009
Riffers: Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett
"The plot races along with no regard to human life" - Kevin
Basically, a nonsensical soap opera – This highly regarded trax was a stop-and-start affair. The opening sequences did zero for me and Disembaudio bits are stupid as hell. I didn't really get the hype until Johnny walks into a flower shop and finally, that got me laughing.
Johnny and his cold dead, expressionless eyes are disturbing. It's like watching a living manikin. Out of the blue characters, Denny, unstable lying Lisa, overwrought cancer mom, all of whom spout abysmal dialog that pulls random ideas and thoughts from nowhere and relates it to nothing - it's all pretty weird.
The riffing isn't bad, the movie makes an easy target, and the jokes amount to playing around with its eccentricities and repeating the characters words and accents (ala, the countless times a character says, "don’t worry about it" or Johnny's "Oh hi, so and so") After a while the sameness of material got tiring. it was good but it never had me roaring the way Twilight did. Maybe it's the odd film that's enchanting folks so much and adding to their fun? (and I admit, Johnny's rampage at the end was pretty funny)
