Land of the Lost

Post by **Zarathustra** » Sat Jun 06, 2009 3:32 am

Saw it today. Pretty funny. Maybe not as funny as Anchor Man, but definitely funnier than Talladaga Nights. The special effects are great. It's kind of weird seeing Will Farrel in a movie with such kick ass CGI. There were many laugh-out-loud moments. Danny McBride was hilarious, too.

Post by **The Dreaming** » Sat Jun 06, 2009 10:59 am

rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090603/REVIEWS/906039993

An interesting review. As someone who LOVES schlock, I may have to see it.

YouTube · Post by **Menolly** » Sat Jun 06, 2009 12:29 pm

The Dreaming wrote:rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090603/REVIEWS/906039993

An interesting review. As someone who LOVES schlock, I may have to see it.

*sigh*

I saw a trailer for this yesterday at Terminator: Salvation. Hyperception and I had both been really looking forward to Land of the Lost, both of us being nerdy fans of the t.v. series; the trailer instantly turned both of us off. And while Ebert seems to have liked it, this is one storyline I would have preferred not having rebooted. I liked the father/children aspect of the series and the changes don't appeal.

I'll pass.

Post by **iQuestor** » Sat Jun 06, 2009 12:36 pm

I was a huge fan of TOS and also was dissapointed to see it was being spoofed.

SciFi ran the entire TOS overnight a few weeks ago and my wife and I watched it -- it was pretty cheesy but I remember how much I loved it as a 9 year old.

I will likely wait for the CD.

Post by **dlbpharmd** » Sat Jun 06, 2009 1:27 pm

Will Farrell is not funny outside of SNL. I'll pass.

Post by **dANdeLION** » Sat Jun 06, 2009 2:14 pm

Will's just as funny now as he was then; you probably just got tired of his type of funny (BTW, I liked him best on Conan O'Brien). Anyway, the girl from 'Pushing Daisies' (Anna Friel) is in it, and I enjoyed that, so I'm sure I'll end up seeing this flick.

Post by **danlo** » Sat Jun 06, 2009 3:38 pm

What is TOS?

I couldn't ever get into LOTL on TV and I refuse to ever give Farrell one red cent in my lifetime.

YouTube · Post by **Menolly** » Sat Jun 06, 2009 3:41 pm

danlo wrote:What is TOS?

As in when people talk about Star Trek: TOS (the original series, i.e., Kirk, Spock, McCoy, etc.) I think...

Post by **Zarathustra** » Sat Jun 06, 2009 4:13 pm

Wow, I didn't realize this film was so controversial!

Lots of negativity here for something you all haven't seen. No problem, that's how I feel about Michael Moore movies, too. So I understand.

But Will Farrel is hilarious. Sure, he does the same kind of humor in every movie (though I think he lost himself in the Anchor Man role moreso than any other). You even get to see his flabby belly as he prances around in his underwear. Like always.

But perhaps what is so striking about this movie is the fact that it's a comedy at all, and that it's a Will Farrel comedy. The fact that his brand of humor has been inserted into this remake of a 70s TV show, that was itself not a comedy (but might as well have been for how damn goofy it was) and that it actually works . . . well, I've never seen anything like it. It's as if all the unintentional humor of the original series has been made explicit and intentional. This is a series that SHOULD have been a comedy, it's so laughingly cheesy.

Anyway, it's trippy, absurd, and strangely beautiful (and I'm not just talking about Anna Friel in very short shorts the entire time

). One of my favorite parts is how many ways they find to make fun of the Jurassic Park strategies for outsmarting T Rex. Those were hilarious.

But humor is subjective. If you don't like WF, you won't like this. But I promise you, you've never seen him in anything like this.

Ebert was right on with this:

The movie is inspired by the 1974 TV series, and has the same producers, Sid and Marty Krofft. The show and the film will never be confused, but they share one thing in common: deliriously fake locations, props and special effects. The dinosaurs are so obviously not really there in shots where they menace humans that you could almost say their shots are about how they're not really there. Confronted with such effects, the actors make not the slightest effort to appear terrified, amazed or sometimes even mildly concerned. Some might consider that a weakness. I suspect it is more of a deliberate choice, and I say I enjoyed it.

I didn't realize it had the original producers as the TV series. Seems they got the joke, at least.

Post by **Cagliostro** » Sat Jun 06, 2009 6:30 pm

I saw some "behind the scenes" thing gearing up for this movie, and it had Syd and Marty on set talking about the movie. That kinda keyed me up for it.
I watched the original series quite a bit as a kid, and I remember a storyline or two that got me excited, but mostly the show kinda bored me. But the Sleestak's were cool.

Post by **lorin** » Sat Jun 06, 2009 8:44 pm

dlbpharmd wrote:Will Farrell is not funny outside of SNL. I'll pass.

The only thing I enjoyed him in was Stranger than Fiction. He reminds me of Jim Carey, he tends to over do it and the comedy gets strained and repetitive. I enjoy comedians that are subtle, so I enjoy when both Ferrell and Carey take it down a level, as in The Truman Show.

Post by **Orlion** » Sat Jun 06, 2009 11:08 pm

danlo wrote: I refuse to ever give Farrell one red cent in my lifetime.

Hear hear!

I may be in the minority, but I always want to destroy any media showing Farrell's face at the time (once, someone had to hold me back from hurling a brick at a TV screen). Maybe we should make a new order, the Order of People Who Want to Break Will Farrell's Face (OPWWTBWFF)!

Take that, Farrell! Eat Omega-3 Oils!!!

Post by **Zarathustra** » Sat Jun 06, 2009 11:15 pm

lorin wrote: The only thing I enjoyed him in was Stranger than Fiction. He reminds me of Jim Carey, he tends to over do it and the comedy gets strained and repetitive. I enjoy comedians that are subtle, so I enjoy when both Ferrell and Carey take it down a level, as in The Truman Show.

That's a fair criticism--of both actors. Though perhaps it's not just Carey and Ferrel. I think you could probably say this about any comedian. They all have a set act, a unique "shtick." While some might be more repetive than others, I think it ultimately boils down to personal taste.

I did like Truman Show. And I liked Stranger than Fiction. I *really* liked Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind.

Post by **Orlion** » Sat Jun 06, 2009 11:22 pm

Malik23 wrote: I *really* liked Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind.

Good movie.

Post by **dlbpharmd** » Mon Jun 08, 2009 3:50 pm

Is America Over Will Ferrell?

The receipts are in. Land of the Lost opened this weekend in a distant, disappointing third place behind Up ($44.2 million) and The Hangover ($43.3 million). Lost hauled in a mere $19.5 million, which may not sound like an epic train wreck until you consider that its budget and marketing costs were reportedly close to $200 million and it had one of the biggest stars in Hollywood on its poster.

You could say that the warning signs for Will Ferrell first appeared on Friday, when the nation's critics blew raspberries and dogpiled on the comedy. Our own critic, Owen Gleiberman, gave the movie a C, writing, "the film's only conviction is its investment in its total lack of conviction." That's gotta sting.

Still, I would argue that Ferrell's box-office fate was sealed long before the movie even came out. For months, the trailers of the erstwhile SNL star's riff on the not-very-good-to-begin-with '70s Saturday morning kiddie TV show have been greeted by mild chuckles at best. It had the stink of death on it long before this weekend. If you found yourself laughing at all at the trailer, it was more out of conditioned response to Ferrell's previous track record than the actual goods being sold this time around.

Anyone who's honest with themselves has to admit that Ferrell hasn't been all that funny for a while. Did you see his one-man George W. Bush show on HBO? Just painful. It was like watching someone shoot fish in a barrel for an hour and change. Step Brothers? Semi Pro? The dude's been coasting for a while now. And the less said about The Producers and Bewitched, the better.

Land of the Lost is just the latest proof that Ferrell's shtick -- the clueless, self-deprecating blowhard man-child -- is growing stale. You can put him in a NASCAR jumpsuit, a basketball uniform, or a quantum paleontologist's khakis, but he's pretty much always the same guy. You know that at some point he'll take off his shirt and reveal his flabby belly, or dump dinosaur urine on his head, and then mug at the camera as if to say, Ain't it hilarious? Well, yes it was...the first time.

Look, I like Will Ferrell. I think Anchorman may be the funniest movie of the past decade. So I'm saying this out of love: It's time to change it up, man. Leftovers can be delicious, but sometimes you've got to dig into the pantry and serve up something fresh and new.

popwatch.ew.com/popwatch/2009/06/is-ame ... ml?cnn=yes

Post by **Cail** » Mon Jun 08, 2009 5:41 pm

Ferrell is absolutely fearless in his comedy. You've gotta appreciate that, whether you find him funny or not. He's like Anna Ferris, go to any indignity for a joke.

I'm not a fan of his at all, but damn if the guy doesn't make me laugh every once in a while. He was hysterical in The Ladies' Man, and Step Brothers is the funniest movie I've seen in years.

Post by **Zarathustra** » Mon Jun 08, 2009 6:05 pm

So I'm still the only one here who has seen it, right? I liked it. I laughed. Does anyone else who actually saw it have an opinion? I'd be curious to hear.

As I mentioned upthread, every comedian repeats himself. Carlon did that psuedo-intellectual stuff. Robin Williams talked fast. Jim Carey makes faces. Sam Kineson screamed. Ferrell shows his belly.

Can anyone name a comedian who doesn't have a certain shtick? I can't think of one. Either you click with a comedian, or you hate them. Ferrell does it for me now, but I can see getting tired of it. I didn't like Talladeda Nights. Didn't bother seeing the basketball movie. Waited for Stepbrothers on Blu-ray.

Post by **sindatur** » Tue Jun 09, 2009 12:14 am

iQuestor wrote:I was a huge fan of TOS and also was dissapointed to see it was being spoofed.

SciFi ran the entire TOS overnight a few weeks ago and my wife and I watched it -- it was pretty cheesy but I remember how much I loved it as a 9 year old.

I will likely wait for the CD.

Heh, yea, I burned the whole marathon onto DVD (Note, the first airing of the all day marathon, didn't include the final 3 episodes, they were shown on june 5, when they started over again June 4/5)

I, too have no desire to see the new movie. I would be interested in seeing an up to date remake, that was seriously done. Surprisingly, there was some pretty good arc progression, and character development in the Saturday morning show. Sure, the effects were horribly cheezy, some of the acting was awful, and alot of the show was juvenile, but, a surprising gem to be mined from, if you were to do it seriously.

I too, have never been able to find Will Ferrel funny

YouTube · Post by **Menolly** » Tue Jun 09, 2009 1:20 am

sindatur wrote:I would be interested in seeing an up to date remake, that was seriously done. Surprisingly, there was some pretty good arc progression, and character development in the Saturday morning show. Sure, the effects were horribly cheezy, some of the acting was awful, and alot of the show was juvenile, but, a surprising gem to be mined from, if you were to do it seriously.

*vigorously nodding*

Post by **sgt.null** » Tue Jun 09, 2009 3:55 am

i am looking forward to the movie. as to the original - having just rewatched some episodes. it is typicaly overdone to the point of absurd as any Kroft show was. both the series and the movie can exist apart from each other.

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Land of the Lost

Land of the Lost