a mighty wind c/d

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I cannot wait for this movie to get its ass down to State College. Granted, that probably won't be till the fall. sheeeeit.

Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 6 May 2003 01:22 (twenty-one years ago) link

this movie title keeps reminding me of this old suckdog song: "a mighty pigeon" or something. dame darcy, lisa, and jimmy hildreth on a cross.

gygax! (gygax!), Thursday, 8 May 2003 00:27 (twenty-one years ago) link

Dud city. How was this movie funny at all? It really drove me crazy. Wasn't it supposed to be a mockumentary? Besides the interviews, the movie doesn't acknowledge the format (and its large potential for laffs) at all. It opened with a run of pretty okay jokes, but man! after that, dry as a bone.

slutsky (slutsky), Friday, 9 May 2003 23:52 (twenty-one years ago) link

Wasn't it supposed to be a mockumentary? Besides the interviews, the movie doesn't acknowledge the format (and its large potential for laffs) at all.

This is perhaps the most bewildering thing I've read in a while. I can't see where you're coming from at all.

Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Saturday, 10 May 2003 01:14 (twenty-one years ago) link

I'm just running out, so I'll try to summarize quickly--the non-interview parts of the movie weren't shot documentary-style at all, nor did they even pretend to be (there were POV shots, for crying out loud!) When I have more time I'll elaborate on why I think this is dumb.

slutsky (slutsky), Saturday, 10 May 2003 01:18 (twenty-one years ago) link

Maybe it was my mood, but this movie struck me as cynical and dark, and the jokes only seemed to further that feel rather than foil it. Lots of great characters but Levy's was a DRAG.

Aaron A., Saturday, 10 May 2003 01:37 (twenty-one years ago) link

Levy's was just the same shtick over and over again.

slutsky (slutsky), Saturday, 10 May 2003 06:36 (twenty-one years ago) link

All you anti-Levy people are wrong, so there.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 10 May 2003 14:42 (twenty-one years ago) link

Slutsky, have you seen "This Is Spinal Tap"? It was done almost exactly the same way. I am also confused by your condemnation of "point-of-view" shots when half of them were intercuts between the people interacting with the alleged interviewer and interacting with each other.

Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Saturday, 10 May 2003 18:57 (twenty-one years ago) link

Levy = one joke dragged out for 90 minutes. Fred WIllard was grate. As was the ex porn star color cult lady. Overall not as good as Best in Show or Waiting for Guffman, but still aiight.

bnw (bnw), Sunday, 11 May 2003 04:21 (twenty-one years ago) link

Guest can eat my fuc.

Dan I. (Dan I.), Sunday, 11 May 2003 04:24 (twenty-one years ago) link

I too was bummed out by Levy's overdone acting; the friend who came with me thought it was terrific. I will add to the chorus of praise for O'Hara's performance (feeding wacky comedy with actual psychological depth is not easy), note that the bit with Balaban & the Town Hall manager actually got APPLAUSE at the show I saw (weirdly enough at the AMC that's two blocks from Town Hall), and point out that, as with the not-entirely-dissimilar _Nashville_, the actors mostly wrote their own songs.

Douglas (Douglas), Monday, 12 May 2003 03:51 (twenty-one years ago) link

I saw it tonight and loved it. I thought Levy and O'Hara were great together, their song was great, I thought it was pretty touching and sincere, which made it more interesting than just playing it for laughs.

hstencil, Monday, 12 May 2003 04:08 (twenty-one years ago) link

No one has said the obvious, that it felt like the last reel was missing. Wasn't everybody surprised when it ended? There was some subtle stuff there in the dressing room between Mitch and Mickey, where she realizes the power she holds, doesn't use it, kicks herself for it, and...? I sat there looking at the wall of names, kind of dumbly predicting to myself when the next one would light up.

Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Monday, 12 May 2003 05:28 (twenty-one years ago) link

wha' happened?

Chris V. (Chris V), Monday, 12 May 2003 10:23 (twenty-one years ago) link

wha' happened?

Argh, I keep saying this since I saw the movie on Saturday. I am probably driving poor Dan to madness.

Nicole (Nicole), Monday, 12 May 2003 11:24 (twenty-one years ago) link

I saw it yesterday and liked it. Fred Willard just rules.

Chris V. (Chris V), Monday, 12 May 2003 11:29 (twenty-one years ago) link

Like JBR sez, I could be happy just watching him. The second he appeared on screen there was hysteria and it just kept building.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 12 May 2003 12:16 (twenty-one years ago) link

I read today that the lines are improvised in Guests movies. I didn't know that, I dig that.

Chris V. (Chris V), Monday, 12 May 2003 12:18 (twenty-one years ago) link

When I went to see BEST IN SHOW with my friend, he couldn't stomach it because part hit too close to home --- his mom, who is a pretty terrible person, is an airheaded lady, obsessed with her dog, and married to a man almost 90 years old. Watching basically the same person up on the screen gave him the willies.

We went to see A MIGHTY WIND this weekend, and Mickie's character is disgustingly close to my ex-boyfriend's mom, who is a creepy Minnesotan earth-mother type who was always hinting at how she wanted to be my creepy Minneston earth-mother-in-law. She looks eerily like Mickie, sounds the same, and even plays the autoharp. It was too much!

Other than that, the film was hilarious. ME & my friend were the only ones in the theatre, which is The Ultimate Way to see a movie. He kept shouting "Spinal Tap!"

Fivvy (Fivvy), Monday, 12 May 2003 13:26 (twenty-one years ago) link

Also, I liked Levy's character a lot. Parker Posey was such an irritating dweeb, as were almost all the Main Street Singers, but that just made them really funny.

Fivvy (Fivvy), Monday, 12 May 2003 13:27 (twenty-one years ago) link

ME & my friend were the only ones in the theatre, which is The Ultimate Way to see a movie.

I've had this happen a few times -- it is a joy.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 12 May 2003 13:47 (twenty-one years ago) link

the wall of names credits was so weird, so similar to the Vietnam memorial. I actually thought that was kinda creepy.

hstencil, Monday, 12 May 2003 13:53 (twenty-one years ago) link

Slutsky, have you seen "This Is Spinal Tap"? It was done almost exactly the same way. I am also confused by your condemnation of "point-of-view" shots when half of them were intercuts between the people interacting with the alleged interviewer and interacting with each other.

I like Spinal Tap a lot; to me, this movie played with the documentary aesthetic and kept it up throughout the movie. Mighty Wind has stuff (like the shot of Eugene Levy wandering around New York) that couldn't have possibly been captured by a documentary camera. To me, this is annoying.

slutsky (slutsky), Tuesday, 13 May 2003 01:47 (twenty-one years ago) link

I finally saw this, agree with everyone on here, even when it contradicts, but I have to big-up Dan for saying that Ed Begley Jr. was underrated. He was great, one of my favorite characters. The model train line got the biggest laugh at my theater too. I'm another one of the anti-Levy contingent. Harry Shearer was great too.

NA. (Nick A.), Monday, 19 May 2003 13:36 (twenty-one years ago) link

I just saw Spellbound, the Oscar-nominated documentary about the National Spelling Bee. Christ almighty, this is the best film Christopher Guest never directed. But real!

jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 20 May 2003 17:44 (twenty-one years ago) link

best = funniest

jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 20 May 2003 17:47 (twenty-one years ago) link

yeah, I really want to see that

Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Tuesday, 20 May 2003 18:08 (twenty-one years ago) link

It probably doesn't plumb as many insights about spelling-bees-as-American-cultural-phenomenon as it could. But for sheer entertainment value, it's hard to beat.

jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 20 May 2003 18:12 (twenty-one years ago) link

Having heard the soundtrack (thanks Arthur!), I have to say that the Folksmen's cover of "Start Me Up" is one of the best things I have ever heard.

Nicole (Nicole), Tuesday, 20 May 2003 18:18 (twenty-one years ago) link

espn reaired the 1997 spelling bee the other night. i was drunk. i watched it, thus i should see that spelling movee!

Yanc3y (ystrickler), Tuesday, 20 May 2003 18:20 (twenty-one years ago) link

i'm pro-levy, but really pro-o'hara. she should really win an oscar for this performance. there's a really great dynamic between those two that i guess has been going on since the SCTV days, but it really unfolds here (and i'm not just talking about "the kiss").

i think fred willard is hilarious, but he's so over the top that guest was wise to only put a little bit of him in the film. too much would be too much. and we'll always have the dvd outtakes for that stuff.

we really oughta move this to I Love Film! there's not enough traffic there.

j fail (cenotaph), Tuesday, 20 May 2003 19:21 (twenty-one years ago) link

I wonder how many ILXors are former spelling bee champs.

*raises hand*

Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 20 May 2003 19:22 (twenty-one years ago) link

Everything in j fail's last post is completely OTM.

Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 20 May 2003 19:23 (twenty-one years ago) link

really? what word did you win on?

(x-post)

slutsky (slutsky), Tuesday, 20 May 2003 19:24 (twenty-one years ago) link

I don't remember. I was 9. But I went on to the borough-wide spelling bee and lost on "license." I've taken pains to spell that word correctly EVER SINCE.

Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 20 May 2003 19:28 (twenty-one years ago) link

The ultimate spelling bee drama:

http://www.snoopygift.com/books/1532.gif

Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 20 May 2003 19:32 (twenty-one years ago) link

I finally saw this on Saturday. "The kiss" was very moving. The years together as performers and friends showed. The woman telling her porn star story had tears running down my face, as did the ROYGBIV song. I love that Guest's movies aren't excessively long, too.

Bryan (Bryan), Tuesday, 20 May 2003 19:33 (twenty-one years ago) link

Let's move the spelling bee chat where it belongs: Howard Scripps Spelling Bee

jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 20 May 2003 19:38 (twenty-one years ago) link

four months pass...
I finally saw this movie; at first I thought Levy was pushing it for his character, but realized about half-way in that, rather than seeming an awkwardly-forced-performance, it was more of a natural-performance-of-an-EXTREMELY-awkward-character. Catherine O'Hara was so refreshing as usual too. I loved how they both did very well to play on the obvious still-lingering feelings between their characters. Plus that tension between them & the kiss I think made this more than just another Guest-mockumentary as there was a really huge emotional depth to that scene.

Other stuff I really really loved: the little "short-films" wink, Harry Shearer going into the Spanish Civil War history, the scene where the guy asked to take off his sweater and he got lectured about how he "wasn't ready yet", the smack-on-top-of-the-head, and Parker Posey being too corny to not be funny.

And I swear, at the rate Fred Willard keeps getting funnier in each Guest film he's in, I'm seriously gonna explode a testicle in whatever comes next. His suggestion to The New Main Street SIngers on what they should do on the show cracked my shit up!

nickalicious (nickalicious), Thursday, 25 September 2003 13:50 (twenty years ago) link

Wha' happened?

Chris V. (Chris V), Thursday, 25 September 2003 14:19 (twenty years ago) link

Heh heh heh. Must get DVD.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 25 September 2003 14:46 (twenty years ago) link

three months pass...
Here in rainy London town i am awaiting this movie with feverish anticipation. I *hope* it's brilliant.

pete s, Wednesday, 31 December 2003 01:54 (twenty years ago) link

And I still must get DVD!

Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 31 December 2003 02:02 (twenty years ago) link

wha' happened.

Chris 'Knuckle Deep' V. (Chris V), Wednesday, 31 December 2003 13:51 (twenty years ago) link

i got the dvd for $10 at blockbuster (someone gave me a gift card for christmas). it's used, but in good enough shape for me!

maura (maura), Thursday, 1 January 2004 21:46 (twenty years ago) link

And yay I got a copy used yesterday as well! :-)

Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 1 January 2004 21:48 (twenty years ago) link

I got a copy from my sister for X-mas. Maybe not classic, but definitely not a dud.

latebloomer (latebloomer), Friday, 2 January 2004 04:10 (twenty years ago) link

And having just watched it again, it holds up. Rah! The extras should be great fun.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 2 January 2004 04:14 (twenty years ago) link

roots & fruits.

cozen¡ (Cozen), Friday, 2 January 2004 04:22 (twenty years ago) link

"This flame, like all flames, represents the light and darkness. It also represents the uncertainty of life and its delicacy. It also represents a penis."

Abbbottt, Thursday, 19 August 2010 01:19 (thirteen years ago) link

"This is not an occult science. This is not one of those crazy systems of divination and astrology. That stuff's hooey, and you've got to have a screw loose to go in for that sort of thing. Our beliefs are fairly commonplace and simple to understand. Humankind is simply materialized color operating on the 49th vibration. You would make that conclusion walking down the street or going to the store."

Abbbottt, Thursday, 19 August 2010 01:20 (thirteen years ago) link

<3 Jane Lynch, the only thing that made Glee bearable

k¸ (darraghmac), Thursday, 19 August 2010 01:24 (thirteen years ago) link

The Eugene Levy character just makes me feel like killing myself.

“Going on tour with Midnight Oil” and more outmoded masturbation slang (kenan), Thursday, 19 August 2010 02:00 (thirteen years ago) link

I said on a Doctor Who thread, but there's an interview with Tom Baker from a local news programme on the Revenge of the Cybermen disc (an edited version has been on another disc before) and damn if that isn't Eugene Levy's performance, right there.

Hey Jabulani! Pope of four four two. (aldo), Thursday, 19 August 2010 07:05 (thirteen years ago) link

I love that my dad, an actual folk singer, loved this movie.

Pete Scholtes, Thursday, 19 August 2010 18:30 (thirteen years ago) link

That's interesting, as something that I felt was lacking is that it didn't seem to be about folk music in the way that Spinal Tap is about heavy metal. Though I come from a position of very little knowledge of folk.

rhythm fixated member (chap), Friday, 20 August 2010 00:14 (thirteen years ago) link

this is Fred Willard's finest hour.

― Sun Tea (Pillbox), Wednesday, August 18, 2010 6:54 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

yes

? (dyao), Friday, 20 August 2010 00:17 (thirteen years ago) link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D421N6xlisg

? (dyao), Friday, 20 August 2010 00:26 (thirteen years ago) link

back in nineteen seventy mmmrghhrgjh

? (dyao), Friday, 20 August 2010 00:26 (thirteen years ago) link

You don't want to be on a cruise ship when dysentery breaks out. Truer words were seldom said.

nine years pass...

I can't do my work!

Lady Antibody (Neanderthal), Saturday, 18 July 2020 01:02 (three years ago) link

So glad to get the Blu-ray of this in the Warner Archives sale last weekend.

Ned Raggett, Saturday, 18 July 2020 01:11 (three years ago) link

I finally saw this on Hulu! I liked it! It did seem a bit thin, not much in the way of conflict, but it was a charming film and not only was the music well-done, but the humor on point as always. Balaban had me in stitches with his helicopter producer antics.

the scene at the end with Mitch and Mickey doing their song for the first time in 40 years surprisingly affecting.

sad we didn't get to hear the full Spanish civil war history song with Spanish translation!

Lady Antibody (Neanderthal), Saturday, 18 July 2020 01:13 (three years ago) link

I should watch this again. Mascots popped up on Netflix and had us in stitches.

American Fear of Scampos (Ed), Saturday, 18 July 2020 01:32 (three years ago) link

I didn’t dig this much apart from Fred Willard, should watch again

brimstead, Saturday, 18 July 2020 01:54 (three years ago) link

Ends with an antediluvian joke where the joke is just that Chris Guest’s character is a trans woman but still sings bass, iirc

all cats are beautiful (silby), Saturday, 18 July 2020 01:59 (three years ago) link

it was actually Harry Shearer but yea

Lady Antibody (Neanderthal), Saturday, 18 July 2020 02:04 (three years ago) link

All of the music was sung/played live which is pretty impressive.

Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Saturday, 18 July 2020 05:01 (three years ago) link

There is a thread on here somewhere about the treatment of LGBTQ characters in Guest's films and the above bit was not beyond reproach.

Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Saturday, 18 July 2020 05:03 (three years ago) link

Where’s the real mayor? Someone shot the mayor, but they did not shoot the deputy.
Incidentally, the D.A.’s office called. They can’t find any witness, so he’s in the clear, Your Honor.

Speaking of Your Honor, I was at a swinger’s party the other night and a fellow says
to me “I’d like to meet your wife,” and I said “Your Honor!”

Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Saturday, 18 July 2020 05:18 (three years ago) link

Watched Mascots for the first time last night and it was surprisingly delightful.

change display name (Jordan), Saturday, 18 July 2020 14:13 (three years ago) link

Huh thought Mascots was very very bad. Eugene Levy has a lot to do with the artistic and comedic success of the earlier films.

Boring, Maryland, Saturday, 18 July 2020 14:21 (three years ago) link

the transgender "joke" definitely was uncomfortable, since it was fairly obvious Shearer's character is the butt of the joke. Can agree it was antediluvian but I will admit around the time that film came out, my reaction probably would have been different than it would today, as back in 2003 I didn't know anybody that was transgender or know much about gender dysphoria or the trans community at all.

kind of a bummer note to end the movie on, yeah.

Lady Antibody (Neanderthal), Saturday, 18 July 2020 14:33 (three years ago) link

I had low expectations, and it's better than most of what's on Netflix. Mostly it was nice to see the regular players again, especially since we've been rewatching Party Down and some other shows where they pop up a lot.

change display name (Jordan), Saturday, 18 July 2020 16:48 (three years ago) link

two years pass...

Finally saw this recently. It might not have been quite as laugh-out-loud funny as Guffman or Best in Show, but it had a warmth to it that I really enjoyed, and there are some great bits -- Bob Balaban completely misunderstanding basic stagecraft and concert setup, warning the audience about the plants in the lobby, Jennifer Coolidge's line about model trains, Ed Begley Jr as a philosemitic Swede public tv producer who can't stop dropping yiddish into conversations, the spanish civil war song, "wha happened" etc. The rehearsal scenes especially felt very much like a real band reuniting for a concert. My grandparents were very much in the Chicago folk scene and I grew up hearing the music and stories, so it felt very close to home for me. I thought they captured a very specific slice of that scene very well -- not so much the Dylans and Dave Van Ronks, but the Kingston Trio type bands (I loved that the Folksmen sneered at the commercialism of the New Main Street Singers while only being a notch or so less commercial). "Eat at Joes" felt very real. These seemed very much like the bands that would do a hastily thrown together multi-act reunion concert for public tv, whereas the more *serious* acts probably wouldn't.

Mixed feelings about the Eugene Levy performance - I got the sense that he was supposed to be either acid burnout or nervous breakdown, but it was a little hard to tell if it was that or if he had had that same weird stilted speech when he was young. A bit one-note and underdeveloped.

longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Sunday, 29 January 2023 04:06 (one year ago) link

The titles and cover shots of Mitch’s solo albums are hysterical

Alicia Silver Stone (Boring, Maryland), Sunday, 29 January 2023 17:33 (one year ago) link


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