Real Genius Tagged Articles at Cinematical
Villains We Love: William Atherton
Filed under: Comedy »
So there I was on the Twitter, conversing with a few friends and rambling aimlessly about some movie minutiae that was hopping through my head. One of those Tweets was this one, and it prompted an immediate response from several Twitter pals ... and Erik Davis. He insisted that my admiration for character actor William Atherton would make for an appropriate edition of "Villains We Love," and here's why: Mr. Atherton is at his best when he's playing a smug, smarmy, officious authority figure who exists mainly to give a movie's hero something fun to play off of.Case in point: Val Kimer vs. William Atherton in Real Genius. Bill Murray vs. William Atherton in Ghostbusters. Bruce Willis (and Bonnie Bedelia) vs. William Atherton in Die Hard and Die Hard 2. Pauly Shore vs. William Atherton in Bio-Dome. Certainly no one-trick pony (you also know this actor from The Sugarland Express, The Day of the Locust, and The Last Samurai), but the man's just great at playing a snooty villainous bastard. For those who require some evidence, I refer you to the post-jump territory.
More on Atherton: To find out which giant TV show he'll be guest starring on during its final season, head over to SciFi Squad.
Our Favorite Montages: Real Genius
Filed under: Trailers and Clips », Scenes We Love »
Of the "nerdy science kid" movies of the 1980s, I've always preferred Real Genius over Weird Science, and it has everything to do with young Val Kilmer. Not because he was godlike in his looks, but because he was hilarious in his bunny slippers. Kilmer is one of those actors you just want to shake senseless because he had it all, and chose to blow off his career in so many ways.
But this isn't a post about Kilmer, it's my favorite Real Genius montage. I abruptly remembered it thanks to being up around CU-Boulder a few days ago and realizing the fall semester had just started. I haven't been out of school that long, but it's amazing how quickly you forget the hell rush of class registration, book buying, and trying to decide which of your professors you'll be unable to stand. Every year, this montage popped into my head (which means I probably watched this movie way too many times), and I was all too aware that I was Mitch. My backpack was twice my size because I was so dedicated, I never missed a class, I spent my evenings trying to figure out who Shakespeare's Dark Lady was, and I'm pretty sure I once fell down some stairs because I was reading something. But all that hard work put me right here, posting about my unhealthy memorization of Real Genius!
Jump below for the montage. If you're in college right now, maybe you'll identify with it a little bit.
But this isn't a post about Kilmer, it's my favorite Real Genius montage. I abruptly remembered it thanks to being up around CU-Boulder a few days ago and realizing the fall semester had just started. I haven't been out of school that long, but it's amazing how quickly you forget the hell rush of class registration, book buying, and trying to decide which of your professors you'll be unable to stand. Every year, this montage popped into my head (which means I probably watched this movie way too many times), and I was all too aware that I was Mitch. My backpack was twice my size because I was so dedicated, I never missed a class, I spent my evenings trying to figure out who Shakespeare's Dark Lady was, and I'm pretty sure I once fell down some stairs because I was reading something. But all that hard work put me right here, posting about my unhealthy memorization of Real Genius!
Jump below for the montage. If you're in college right now, maybe you'll identify with it a little bit.
Val Kilmer Wants To Make A Sequel To Real Genius
Filed under: Comedy », Casting », RumorMonger », Remakes and Sequels »
Every once in a while you come across a bit of movie news that makes you think, "They're kidding, right"? Well, this is one of those times. According to a report on Virgin.net, Val Kilmer has signed on to make the sequel to the 1985 comedy Real Genius.If you haven't seen it, then I can't really say you are missing anything. The story follows a freewheeling genius (Kilmer) and his uptight sidekick who get duped into creating a weapon for the government by none other than '80s villainous staple, William Atherton. The whole thing plays like a time capsule, and I really don't remember the '80s as being quite that lame, but the proof is all there on film. Kilmer claimed that he signed on to revive his character from the first film in hopes of broadening his career horizons to include more comedy roles. Kilmer has a flair for comedy, as he proved in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and even Top Secret (a personal guilty pleasure), but was the world really crying out for a sequel to this particular flick?
There aren't many details on the production yet, and a shooting schedule hasn't even been announced. You have to wonder if maybe Kilmer is trying to drum up a little publicity for himself ... either that or the salad dressing idea isn't selling like he thought it would.
[via G4-The Feed]
Review: Scary Movie 4 -- Rob's Take
Filed under: Comedy », New Releases », New in Theaters », The Weinstein Co. », Remakes and Sequels »
A good parody is hard to spin beyond the here and now. Take "Weird Al" Yankovic, for example. The pop-music jokester has put out 11 regular albums since 1983, when the accordian-playing nice guy's spoof of The Knack's "My Sharona" (titled "My Bologna" and recorded in the men's room of his college radio station) started his career as a musician, comedic icon and food fetishist when it blew up on The Dr. Demento Show. However, every hilarious and unforgettable cut like "Eat It", "Like A Surgeon" and "Smells Like Nirvana" that hit was matched by fade-away tracks like the New Kids jape "The White Stuff" (an ode to Oreos), the Rocky III goof "Theme From Rocky XIII (The Rye Or The Kaiser)" or the misjudgment "Taco Grande" (a riff on Latin rough-boy Gerardo's only hit, "Rico Suave"). The secret to a successful parody is complex, involving a careful balance of picking a song that is big enough, worthy of a good-natured dressing down and most important, funny. The same is true with movies, and the latest in the popular Scary Movie series is a great example of what can go right and wrong with such an attempt.
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