We're taking a couple days off for Labor Day. We'll be back Tuesday with our brand new Toon Tuesday. We'll also have someone new joining us on the Sunday Debates. We'll also start our contest with the million dollar prize!* In the meantime, tell us your favorite vacation film.
* Statement is a total lie.
* Statement is a total lie.
49 comments:
Glen Beck says we're on the verge of WW3, so just in case.
I'll go the easy route and pick the National Lampoons Vacation movies...
Scott.
I may be the last person alive who remembers Captain Ron.
I live too close to SAC, so I'm probably dead. Nice knowing everyone.
Picking the National Lampoon Vacation films isn't necessarily the easy route. After all, they were made specifically to embellish (albeit for comedic effect) the family vacation experience.With the exception of European Vacation they were well written,Randy Quaid was well used,and Beverly DeAngelo and Chevy Chase had great on screen chemistry. They were believeable as a married couple. In fact,those films are so engraved in our collective memory that Old Navy used Chase and DeAngelo in a commercial last Christmas. She's still hot,btw.
So with that out of the way,I choose as my favorite vacation film,a Vacation film,National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.
The writing was a little leaner than the first one, DeAngelo and Chase had really gelled and Quaid was cousin Eddie without being too over the top.I watch it every Christmas and it has held up well.
GipsyTyger
Go away from the light Tryanmax!
Gipsy
Geez, Gipsy, I didn't think Captain Ron was such a bad pick. ;-)
K, That's why Glenn needs help. His followers should help him dig his bunker deeper... miles deeper.
Scott, A reasonable choice. :)
tryanmax, Don't worry, Beck's forces can't reach SAC.
Captain Ron, huh? I know I saw it, but I really don't remember it.
GypsyTyger, I like the first on the best personally, but they are a good choice. I also enjoy Meatballs, which is more of a vacation at camp film.
Though, having seen Meatballs lately, it's not nearly as good as it seemed in the 70s and 80s.
Blame It On Rio! ;)
GypsyTyger
Favorite vacation film: Piranha 3D.
Some people enjoy fishing on their vacation, this movie is about fish going peopling. Turnabout = fair play and all that. Also lots of fan service.
Bonus:Favorite vacation song: Holiday in Cambodia.
World War 3 over Syria is not completely outside the realm of possibility but its still a very small possibility. More likely they are going to do what they did in Vietnam: Funnel weapons and supplies to Assad to annoy the hell out of us and keep us busy there as long as possible.
Things came perilously close to getting hot over Bosnia* when Russia deployed troops at the Pristina Airport. But that involved a deployment of Russian troops. As far as I know, the Russians have not deployed troops to Syria. B
LINK
*World War 3 happening because of something in the Balkans. You are allowed to laugh.
By the way, favorite vacation movie would be National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.
"The shitter was full!"
How likely is World War 3? I have a better chance of hooking up with Amanda Seyfried by the end of next week.
Kit, There is no conceivable scenario where we end up in a third world war. That would require militaries that don't exist and a design to fight which doesn't exist either.
Beck still thinks the Russians are the old Soviet Union. He's woefully misinformed... a real "low information" talker.
"There is no conceivable scenario where we end up in a third world war. "
Don't say that! I'll loose hope about hooking up with Amanda Seyfried! ;)
Beck doesn't know what he's talking about? Now I don't know what to believe in!
:o
Stick with Zoey. She's so dumb you can just call her up and tell her you've been dating... she'll believe you.
Here's a handy guide: if Beck says it, the opposite is true.
She may be dumber than a red box of rocks, but I wouldn't kick Zooey out of bed for eating crackers.
What, no love for Meatballs 2?
Seriously, there was a second film but it has nothing to do with the original - I think the filmmakers paid Ivan Reitman for the rights or something.
Anyway, the only thing I remember (other than Paul Reubens as a psycho bus driver) is one of the campers is an alien which results in this dialogue:
Kid: "What's your name? Me, Ted."
Alien: "'Me, Ted.'"
Kid: "I think he said his name is Meat Head."
Yeah, that happened. :-D
Scott, I have zero memory of Meatballs 2. I know I saw it, but I can't remember a single detail. Clearly, it didn't work for me.
The Thin Man Goes Home (1945) -- the 5th Nick and Nora Charles movie... the formula is well set at this point but who cares? Good stuff here as always from William Powell and Myrna Loy.
Hitchcock's "The Man Who Knew Too Much" is also great -- Jimmy Stewart and Doris Day look for their annoying kid who was kidnapped.
Last but not least -- Taken. OK this is cheating a bit since the daughter is taken while on vacation and Liam Neeson is not on vacation, but that's merely a technicality.
And HM to Total Recall -- the Ahnuld version... he tried to go on vacation anyway...
Excellent list Floyd. It sure seems that vacations aren't worth the trouble, doesn't it?!
How about one of my favorite vacation films - First Blood. John Rambo goes to the pacific northwest to get a little time away and sort out his life. Stopping for a bite to eat, he runs afoul of the local Chief of Police,Wilfred Teasle.
Now, Teasle's not a bad guy himself,but he puts too much trust in his deputies,who rough up Mr. Rambo. Mr. Rambo decides to leave town.Upon reflection he decides that he simply can't tolerate the way he was treated and returns to the town to lodge a forceful complaint.
GypsyTyger
GypsyTyger, You know. I'm starting to think that vacationing is a bad idea. No one on film seems to have ever had a good vacation.
Other great vacat movies... Hostel, Friday the 13th, I Spit on Your Grave, The Edge, Shoot to Kill...
Hey, I went on vacation this summer and had a great time! No kidnappings or near-death experiences or anything. In fact, I'm pretty sure I was at that place in the picture. Fun times.
(Well, I did get sunburned, but you expect that to happen.)
I've never seen any of the Fast & Furious movies but that might change with the next one.
Scott, I've seen them all. I enjoyed most of them. The most recent really grew on me.
T-Rav, Still, unless Hollywood is lying to me, the odds don't sound good on vacations.
BH is gonna have one of their usual conniptions with this, the plot summary for Christopher Nolan's Interstellar, assuming it's true of course:
Set in the future, the movie details the toll climate change has taken on agriculture, with corn the last crop to be cultivated. The scientists embark on a journey through a worm hole into other dimensions in search of somewhere other crops can be grown.
I believe there's a difference between saying climate is changing, and saying humans need to revert back to the stone age before the planet blows up. It may just be the inciting incident - the movie isn't about climate change per se, it's just background.
Scott, BH aside, that's a stupid premise. No amount of climate change could cause that.
It's made of people!!!
LOL! "Nolan corn is made of people!!"
2000-2010 Climate change = 1950-2000 nuke war.
If climate change gets debunked I'm not sure what they'll use for apocalyptic plot motivation -
"In 2020, a desperate team of scientists tries to escape to another dimension due to explosive growth in government spending and tween twerking on earth."
K, How about the sun: EMP, coronal mass ejections, too bright, not bright enough.
Atomic decay? "All our atoms are getting old and tired."
Capitalism: "Those dirty capitalists used everything on the planet."
The site for the film doesn't say why they leave earth. The Imdb page has an anonymously posted plot summary that somewhat more vaguely mirrors the BH one posted here.
The plot would be stupid, but if they keep the destruction of the world vague then it could be a great movie still... all the futurustic dystopias are somewhat idiotic including Planet of the Apes, Soylent Green, Omega Man, Waterworld, The Post Man Wall-E (Oblivious was all right with it's alien war scenario)... the man destroyed the world scenario is so ludicrous... BUT if it's just a brief exposition and the majority is about the films' "present" then it could be great as alot of those movies I mentioned above are -- in spite of a ludicrous background story.
Andrew: I was always partial to Fred Saberhagen's Berserker stories - self replicating machines programmed to stamp out all life in the Galaxy.
The sun thing was done in Nick Cage's "Knowing". It even has an implicit message - get a self sustaining off world colony or your species could be toast. Of course, no lefty is going to push THAT message cause humans suck.
I'm partial to Summer Rental with John Candy as a vacation movie.
Floyd, True. The premises is often idiotic, but at least it's fathomable. In other words, there is a causal connection between the dystopia and what they are selling. I don't see that with the global warming example. We know too much about agriculture and have too much control over out environment for that to happen.
K, I don't think it's a matter of having been done, it's a matter of the topic being hot really and everyone is now talking about EMPs in particular.
Dwizzum, I recall enjoying that one too, though I haven't seen it in 20 years.
A good vacation movie: Weekend at Bernie's.
Who has not had a weekend just like that!
Kit -
I love that movie and I make no apologies for it. :-)
Kit, Yeah, I believe we've all done that. :P
Great movie.
Andrew -
I may have mentioned this already but perhaps the difference between a lot of the stupid comedies of yesteryear and today was that those characters were upwardly-mobile (or at least had a goal) whereas many of today's "slackers" are content to be just that and only learn because they're forced to do so...?
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