Latest news with #BlazingSaddles
Hindustan Times
15-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
When irony loses its superpower
'Welcome to the MCU. You're joining at a bit of a low point,' Ryan Reynolds' quipaholic mercenary greets Hugh Jackman's rageaholic mutant in Deadpool & Wolverine, a corporate alliance bulletin in the guise of a superhero team-up romp. Fox's Marvel properties are welcomed into Disney's fold not with the red carpet rolled out, but with a snarky dig. If you thought the franchise had hit rock bottom already, there are phases yet to come in its business cycle, by the end of which you may forget if there ever were any peaks to begin with. Self referential comedy when it's done right: Buster Keaton's Sherlock Jr (1924) (Courtesy iMDB) A corporate alliance bulletin in the guise of a superhero team-up romp. (Publicity material) For a movie about IP integration amid company-wide restructuring, the villain is a fitting one: a corporate bureaucrat by the name of Mr Paradox (Matthew MacFadyen) who has been tasked with cleaning up loose timelines across the multiverse. When Deadpool finds out his timeline is going to be 'pruned' from existence, he seeks out Wolverine for help. Their battle for survival stands in for Fox's battle against erasure upon being gobbled up by the Mouse House. From the very opening moments of Shawn Levy's movie, Deadpool goofs on the business acquisition that greased the wheels for the franchise crossover, a building block for grander crossovers in the future. The movie even pokes fun at the Disney-owned Marvel for persisting with the multiverse despite diminishing returns, while being a glaring example of why the returns keep diminishing. If the MCU has grown into a monster devouring itself into a void of nothingness, the Deadpool movies have become the ouroboros in reverse: a franchise with its head up its own ass. Not that there's anything wrong with self-referential comedy. Many a filmmaker has directed our attention to the artifice of their creation for laughs. In Buster Keaton's Sherlock Jr. (1924), a projectionist dreams of entering the very film he's projecting; once inside the film, he is subject to the whimsical rules of continuity editing; each cut leaves him stumbling and unmoored in one of the most enterprising sight gags. Mel Brooks took aim at the whitewashed myths of the Old West and the absurdity of racism in Blazing Saddles (1974), a satirical Western that has a brawl break out of the set, spread through the Warner Bros studios, pour into the streets and end at a theatre premiering Blazing Saddles. Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994) finds the monster Freddy Krueger has grown beyond folklore; out of his creator's control, he trespasses into the real world to haunt the actor who defeated him on screen. Two years later, with Scream, Craven established the rules of a slasher only to break them. Charlie Kaufman re-energised the modern book-to-film adaptation with a decidedly post-modern approach in Adaptation (2002); on being assigned to adapt Susan Orlean's nonfiction book The Orchid Thief, Kaufman wrote himself into the film; as he dramatized his own struggles to adapt said book, he confronted the self-doubts, the anxieties, the chaos that can paralyse the creative process. Ocean's Twelve (2004) had less serious intentions when it had Julia Roberts play a character who must pretend to be Julia Roberts. Cleavon Little and Gene Wilder in Blazing Saddles (1974). (Film still) It is no surprise that some of the funniest shows on TV in the 21st century similarly took the self-referential route. The metamoments in Arrested Development were like annotated jokes in the margins of its episodes. But the show was also loaded with all sorts of running gags, callbacks and double entendres. Being a situational comedy, it had a good nose for inventing the most absurd situations without the need for a laughter track to punctuate its punchlines. What made the comedy of Community so refreshing was its pop culture references were intertwined with its identity as a sitcom. The nods to movies and shows never once felt out of place. In 20-odd-minute episodes, Dan Harmon's series encapsulated how it feels to live and nerd out in a world saturated by mass media. Community laid the groundwork for another Harmon creation with a flair for the meta: the animated series Rick & Morty. The meta-layers provide Rick, an alcoholic jerk of a superscientist, the necessary distance to confront his cynicism, his failures as a parent and a grandparent, and the consequences of his selfish actions. Its most meta episodes evoke the feeling of living inside an MC Escher lithograph. In Fleabag, creator-writer-star Phoebe Waller-Bridge's quizzical side-eyes to the camera gave the audience an intimate glimpse into her character's inner life. We as the audience became her confidante, her coping mechanism, her emergency escape to dissociate when she felt overwhelmed, nervous, embarrassed, guilty or witty. What was for her a way of taking a breather shaped not only how we saw her but how we engaged with her story. In Season 2, Waller-Bridge broke the very device of breaking the fourth wall. As Fleabag's emotional bond with Andrew Scott's Hot Priest deepens, he begins to clock her asides — a sign of just how much he truly sees her. There is nothing quite as clever or thoughtful about Deadpool writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick's approach to metacomedy. Their execution is tantamount to a gag being slapped in the face again and again instead of organically kneaded in. Sure, it might grab your attention by sheer force. But you are left feeling bruised. And not from spasms of laughter. Listening to Reynolds' endless asides is like watching a movie with its built-in commentary track on — and an exhausting one at that. The fourth wall has been flattened to dust. Irony loses its inherent superpower once writers begin to resort to flippant asides as a rhetorical device by default. Deadpool's fourth-wall-breaking antics is a device carried over from the comics (Amazon) Bear in mind Deadpool's fourth-wall-breaking antics aren't a character quirk created exclusively for the movies. It is a device that carries over from the comics. Deadpool, alter ego of one Wade Wilson, was a comic book character aware he was in a comic book. When he is being tortured in a Joe Kelly issue, he reasons, 'None of this is really happening. There is a man. With a typewriter. This is all part of his crazy imagination.' Gail Simone's run saw Deadpool refer to his not-so-inner monologue as his 'little yellow boxes.' Sometimes, the references were about things outside the confines of the comic book medium. In one issue, he cues an action movie montage, instructing the reader to play Pantera's Five Minutes Alone, as he gets ready to kill 10 zombie presidents and their henchmen in about six pages. In another, he shoots a guy in the head for even suggesting he preferred the Star Wars prequels to the original trilogy — years before Lucasfilm and Fox became Disney properties. When the first Deadpool movie came out, Reese and Wernick didn't dial down the references. In one scene, a handcuffed Deadpool pulls out a knife, winks to the camera, says 'Ever see 127 Hours? Spoiler alert' before severing his hand. David Leitch, the director who replaced Miller for the sequel, billed himself in the playful opening credits as 'one of the guys who killed the dog in John Wick' (a piece of trivia that feels a lot less amusing when the end credits dedicate the movie to the memory of Sequana Harris, the stuntwoman who was killed while filming the movie). Deadpool & Wolverine repackages a lot of the same tired routines in a slightly different context. In its crosshairs are more or less the same targets. Ever so often, there might be a dick joke just to say 'Yeah, we went there if you can believe it.' Dress it up in postmodern regalia or undress it with a wink, a dick joke is still a dick joke. 'In Fleabag, creator-writer-star Phoebe Waller-Bridge's quizzical side-eyes to the camera gave the audience an intimate glimpse into her character's inner life.' (IMDB) On page, Deadpool and Wolverine have enough in common (two violent men capable of healing themselves from any wound, haunted by the past and seeking redemption) and enough differences (a glib merc who won't shut up vs a grumpy loner who sulks in silence) to make for a watchable pair with testy dynamics. But their collisions barely draw a laugh. When Deadpool quips, 'That is a shit ton of exposition for a three-quel' or 'Big CG fight coming up!', don't mistake it for satire. Acknowledgement isn't commentary. It is a cynical ploy to vindicate a movie for perpetuating the very tropes it is mocking. It is the writers getting ahead of the punch line of any joke the audiences might make at its expense. The writers are essentially saying 'Hey, we know everyone's grown tired of these same old conventions. But look, we are pointing them out for you this time. Please laugh so as to grant us an automatic free pass.' This kind of self-referential comedy is facile. There are no set-ups to the punchline. Sometimes no punchlines even. Just throwaway lines. Why bother earning our laughter with a fresh well-written joke when you can simply piggyback on the coattails of old material? 'It's a superhero movie that doesn't take itself too seriously' has become an excuse for not putting in the work. This consolidation project and all the Disney properties by themselves provide Deadpool & Wolverine a broad cultural ground to cover. While the movie takes a wild swing at the stakes, the milestones and the characters, it never really has anything interesting to say for itself. About the erasure of a past legacy to create a future one. About bureaucratic meddling. About the superhero monoculture. About our consumption patterns. About fan service. About the state of the entertainment industry. About the annoyingly snarky characters Reynolds always seems to play. The movie wants to have it both ways: to mock MCU while ultimately conforming to its vision. Deadpool is after all a Disney-sanctioned disruptor. A scene from She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (IMDb) In the season finale of the Marvel series She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, Jennifer Walters (Tatiana Maslany) finds herself in the middle of a chaotic conclusion. 'What is even happening here? This is a mess. None of these storylines make any sense,' she complains, looking straight at the camera. Jennifer then literally breaks out of the She-Hulk thumbnail on the Disney+ page to scold the writers, who blame it all on their boss Kevin. Not Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige, but an AI bot named K.E.V.I.N. (Knowledge Enhanced Visual Interconnectivity Nexus) wearing a similar kind of baseball cap. Calling itself 'the most advanced entertainment algorithm in the world,' K.E.V.I.N. claims to 'produce near-perfect products.' It takes some persuasion on Jennifer's part before K.E.V.I.N. tweaks the ending as she wants it. This turn of events could be seen as a Marvel-approved self-critique for churning out algorithmic trash as well as a warning about a future where AI could replace writers. But it also gets at the core of the problem when self-referential comedy is used as a get-out-of-jail-free card. There is a similar moment in Deadpool 2 where a plot complication is branded as 'lazy writing' — an apt epigraph indeed for formulaic meta-comedy. Prahlad Srihari is a film and pop culture writer. He lives in Bangalore.
Yahoo
24-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Mel Brooks loves ‘Hidden Figures'?! Julianne Moore's a ‘Superbad' fan?! Stars reveal their most surprising NYT movie picks
When The New York Times recently dropped its list of the 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century, it didn't just spark film buff debates — it also gave readers a peek into which movies actors, directors, and creatives listed as their favorites. And let's just say, the results are full of surprises. Who would've guessed that comedy legend Mel Brooks — the mind behind Blazing Saddles and The Producers — is a major fan of Hidden Figures? His top 10 also includes Jojo Rabbit, A Beautiful Mind and The Bourne Identity. More from GoldDerby Billy Joel doc 'And So It Goes' sets HBO premiere date, 'The Strangers 2' trailer drops, and more of today's top stories 'American Idol' winner Jamal Roberts to join Brandy and Monica on 'The Boy Is Mine' tour 'Only Murders in the Building': After surprise success at SAG, how big can Season 4 get at the Emmys? Then there's horror king Stephen King, who proved he has a soft side with Brokeback Mountain on his list, alongside more intense films such as Black Hawk Down, Million Dollar Baby, and Oppenheimer. When Oscar winner Julianne Moore needs a laugh, it appears she turns to comedies Superbad and The 40 Year-Old Virgin. Rounding out her list was also stylish dramas like Black Swan, Ex Machina, and Lost in Translation. The list also suggests that Elizabeth Banks and Nathan Lane may want to schedule a movie night as many of their favorite films overlapped like Parasite, Inglourious Basterds and The Grand Budapest Hotel. Speaking of unexpected taste, Pamela Anderson — fresh off her acclaimed performance in The Last Showgirl and starring in the upcoming Naked Gun reboot—showed she has quite the range in movies and picked the The Lobster and Amélie for her top 10. Former teen icon Molly Ringwald (The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink) chose Eighth Grade, a film about an introverted teenager trying to navigate middle school, as one of her favorites along with Get Out, and La La Land While Brett Goldstein, the Emmy-winning actor and writer know for playing Roy Kent on Ted Lasso, also has some surprising picks including Pixar's Inside Out and the comedy Bridesmaids. He's not alone in his love for Inside Out — Bryce Dallas Howard, Simu Liu, Paula Poundstone, Tramell Tillman, and Tony Hale also added the emotional animated film to their list. And if you're wondering what movie totally dominated the lists? That would be Parasite. Banks, Lane, Moore, Ringwald, Toni Collette, Sofia Coppola, John Lithgow, Amy Pascal, Naomie Harris, and Jodie Turner-Smith were among the many who listed the 2019 Bong Joon Ho Oscar winner as one of their top films. Best of GoldDerby Tom Cruise movies: 17 greatest films ranked worst to best 'It was wonderful to be on that ride': Christian Slater talks his beloved roles, from cult classics ('Heathers,' 'True Romance') to TV hits ('Mr. Robot,' 'Dexter: Original Sin') 'It almost killed me': Horror maestro Mike Flanagan looks back at career-making hits from 'Gerald's Game' to 'Hill House' to 'Life of Chuck' Click here to read the full article.
India Today
12-06-2025
- Entertainment
- India Today
Mel Brooks to Return as Yogurt in Long-Awaited ‘Spaceballs' Sequel
Comedy icon Mel Brooks is set to reprise his role as Yogurt in a long-anticipated sequel to his 1987 sci-fi spoof untitled film, backed by Amazon MGM Studios, is scheduled to hit theatres in 2027. The announcement comes just ahead of Brooks' 99th birthday later this who co-wrote, directed, and starred in the original film, will again play Yogurt — a parody of Yoda from Star Wars. The original also featured Brooks as the bumbling President Skroob, spoofing classic sci-fi tropes and blockbusters of its As reported by the Hollywood Reporter, Josh Greenbaum will direct the upcoming sequel. Josh Gad, Dan Hernandez, and Benji Samit wrote the screenplay. While Amazon has not yet announced additional casting, Brooks' return is fueling fans' Grazer and Jeb Brody of Imagine Entertainment, Brooks, Gad, and Greenbaum share producing duties. Kevin Slater, Adam Merims, Samit, and Hernandez will serve as executive RETURN TO BIG SCREENBesides voice-over, Brooks' final screen appearance came in 2005's The Producers, a big-screen adaptation of his own Broadway hit based on his 1967 a legendary career that includes Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, and High Anxiety, Brooks remains one of the rare entertainers to achieve EGOT status (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony awards).The original Spaceballs starred Bill Pullman, John Candy, Rick Moranis, and Daphne Zuniga, with Joan Rivers voicing the droid Dot Matrix. While not a major box office success on release, the film gained a devoted cult following.
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Beans Morocco, ‘Used Cars' and ‘Eating Raoul' Actor, Dies at 90
Beans Morocco, the comic character actor who showed up in everything from Blazing Saddles, Used Cars and Eating Raoul to episodes of Mork & Mindy, The Bob Newhart Show and Growing Pains, has died. He was 90. Morocco died May 29 in Bakersfield, California, his friend Ryan Wise told The Hollywood Reporter. For his final film, he starred as an ex-con on his own after decades in the Federal Witness Protection Program in Killing Cookie (2024), a comedy that Wise wrote and directed. More from The Hollywood Reporter Ananda Lewis, Former MTV VJ and TV Show Host, Dies at 52 Harris Yulin, Actor in 'Scarface,' 'Training Day' and 'Ozark,' Dies at 87 Elton John, Bob Dylan, John Stamos, John Cusack and More Pay Tribute to Brian Wilson: "The Maestro Has Passed" 'He was always performing — always entertaining — and he made everyone feel good,' Wise said. Going by birth name Dan Barrows until he adopted his quirky stage name in the late 1980s, the pint-sized actor also appeared in such other noteworthy films as Clint Eastwood's Any Which Way You Can (1980), Howard Storm's Once Bitten (1985), Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994) and Rob Reiner's The American President (1995). After he played one of the Rock Ridge townsfolk in Mel Brooks' Blazing Saddles (1974), he was a guy named Stanley Dewoski, who's lured by Kurt Russell's Rudy Russo to a lot across a dangerously busy street by a 10-dollar bill on a fishing line in Robert Zemeckis' Used Cars (1980). He then donned a kids' jumpsuit to portray a guy looking for kinky sex from Mary Woronov's character — 'I've been very bad, haven't I, Mommy? Are you going to teach me a good lesson?' — in Paul Bartel's classic Eating Raoul (1982). Daniel Ernest Barrows was born in Cincinnati on June 8, 1934. After graduating from Walnut Hills High School, he attended Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, then served in the U.S. Navy, where he became a pilot. (He would fly private planes for many years.) In San Francisco, he studied comedy acting under Del Close, who brought him into The Committee, where he performed alongside the likes of Howard Hesseman, Carl Gottlieb, Peter Bonerz and Alan Myerson. Barrows made his onscreen debut in Tom Laughlin's Billy Jack (1971) in a cast that included Myerson and Hesseman, then appeared in Michael Ritchie's The Candidate (1972) and on a 1973 first-season episode of The Bob Newhart Show, where his character needs therapy to deal with people treating him like a 'pipsqueak.' (Bonerz, of course, played an orthodontist on the sitcom.) Also in 1973, Barrows had a role in Myerson's feature directorial debut, the comedy crime film Steelyard Blues, working alongside Donald Sutherland, Jane Fonda and Peter Boyle. He participated in the Ritchie-helmed mockumentary Smile (1975) and in parody skits for Tunnel Vision (1976) and Loose Shoes (1978), then reunited with Myerson for Police Academy 5: Assignment: Miami Beach (1988) and with Bonerz, now directing, for Police Academy 6: City Under Siege (1989). When he learned that his friend, cartoonist M.K. Brown, had created a character named Beans Morocco for National Lampoon magazine, he asked her if he could use it. By either name, he appeared on two episodes of Mork & Mindy and six of Growing Pains, and his vast TV résumé included guest spots on The Mary Tyler Moore Show; Harry O; Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman; Hesseman's WKRP in Cincinnati; Eight Is Enough; Soap; Laverne & Shirley; The Fall Guy; Matlock; Star Trek: Voyager; Murphy Brown; Clueless; and, as the world's slowest grocery bagger, Scrubs. He lived in Pine Mountain Club, California, where he performed in plays, rode his horses in parades, dressed as Santa for the kids and was elected honorary mayor. 'Unfortunately, he was quickly impeached … and convinced everyone to storm the gazebo. That was the joke he used to tell,' Wise recalled. Survivors include his wife of more than 50 years, Diane; his sister, Nancy; and his cousins, Gail and William. His son, Justin, died in March 2024 at age 37. Enjoy his work in his acting reel here. Best of The Hollywood Reporter 13 of Tom Cruise's Most Jaw-Dropping Stunts Hollywood Stars Who Are One Award Away From an EGOT 'The Goonies' Cast, Then and Now
Buzz Feed
09-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Buzz Feed
Red Flags Millennials Are Roasted For
As a Millennial, I know all too well about the things we're notoriously known for. From skinny jeans and side parts to the use of acronyms and emojis, some things are just impossible to let go of. Reddit user maryjanepuff420 recently asked, "What's your millennial 'red flag' that younger generations would roast you for?" Here are the hilariously relatable responses people still unapologetically do: "They can pry my ankle socks from my dying hands. I'm not giving them up." "Gif reactions." "I won't download your store's app, and if your menu is a QR code, I'm going elsewhere." "I still write checks and carry cash, and I don't use Venmo." "My overuse of emojis 🤪." "I quoted Step Brothers at work, and my 19-year-old coworker told me I dated myself. I've never considered that movie a comedy classic, but Gen Z 100% does — the way we think of The Producers or Blazing Saddles." "Using a @ email." "My 13-year-old consistently roasts me for eyeliner usage." "I don't have a 5,000-step skincare routine or make GRWM videos because who has time for that?" "Ripped jeans. I love my ripped jeans. Like, stylewise — not because you ripped them doing something silly." "I have used the same song as a ringtone since 2011. I hardly know anyone who uses a song as a ringtone." "I don't know how to take a selfie without doing the peace sign." "Using punctuation in text messages." "Calling people on the phone in the office instead of emailing them." "I enjoy things unironically. I'm not liking stuff to be funny or fit in — I just like it, period. Not trying to impress anyone or be popular." "I drive without GPS. I check my route for traffic, but don't need guidance in my local city." "Leaving 50 tabs open on my phone." "Not liking Nickelback. Apparently, Nickelback is cool now." "I still make a stank face whenever a good song comes on." "Crimping my hair." "When watching videos on my phone, I turn my phone to landscape." "Millennial shorthand. Texting things like 'perf' or 'deets.'" "One-strapping my backpack over one shoulder." "If it's an important purchase, it has to be done on the laptop. I don't trust these damn mobile sites on my phone." "Using paper to write down or remember stuff." "Apparently, saying 'lol' or similar at the end of a sentence is a giveaway we're millennials, and people make fun of us for it, too! How will people know I'm being friendly without the use of 'lol,' 'lmao,' or 'rofl' at the end of my sentence?!?" "YOLO!" "Skinny jeans and my side part. I'm never giving them up. Ever." Millennials, what's your "red flag" that younger generations roast you for? Share your thoughts in the comments or use the anonymous form below. Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.
