Daily Show with Jon Stewart - INdecision 2004 (2004)

[b]L' Auberge Espagnol:[/b] A decent enough film about a young Frenchman finding himself abroad in Spain for a year sharing an apartment with a European melting pot of college students. Doesn't hit any comedic or dramatic high notes, but manages to succeed based on its spirit of comraderie - spending a year in Barcelona apartment with other college students, living it up, finding yourself, now [i]that's[/i] the good life.

[b]The Aristocrats:[/b] Literally a one-joke premise, except this joke is the World's Dirtiest and it's repeated over and over and over again. You'd have to be mentally disturbed or morally bankrupt to want to listen to a joke about bestiality, incest, sodomy, and other sexual perversions - or you'd have to be a college student. So yes, I did find the joke funny. Very funny. But this isn't just a film about an offensive joke, it's a film that tries to get to the very nature of comedy. Hearing the joke being told in so many different ways offers an insight into how to be funny. You have to be clever in order to be really offensive. Best versions of the joke: South Park, and the magician. Incidentally, I was carded twice when I saw The Aristocrats; I don't even get that at bars.

[b]The Daily Show INdecision 2004:[/b] A tad dated, but still funny. The Schoolhouse Rock parody was brilliant.

[b]Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter: [/b]"In the new millenium, vampires no longer fear the sun. Now they'll learn to fear the son... OF GOD!" It was filmed, mostly on weekends, over a period of 2 years. It cost $40,000 Canadian - that's less than one year of my college tuition. It was filmed in 16mm and the dialogue was dubbed in postproduction. It looks like it was made in the 70s but it's not even 5 years old. Yes, this is no-budget campiness to the extreme. Alas, it's not that good. Even at 85 minutes it feels slow, the fight scenes go on too long, and the dialogue just isn't goofy enough. It's hard to do something like this and pull it off. [b]Bubba Ho-Tep[/b], despite a bigger budget and better talent, was still uneven; [b]Repo Man[/b] is the gold standard. But there's still a charm to the film. Watching it and the "Harry Knuckles" short, you get the feeling that the filmmakers are just guys with a little talent but boundless enthusiasm who make silly movies with elaborate fight scenes for the hell of it. Give these guys a budget, or even just a million bucks, and they could create something brilliant. Better yet, team them up with the [url="www.sockbaby.com"]Sockbaby [/url]guys and let the fists fly. This is what filmmaking is all about.

[b]The 40-Year-Old Virgin:[/b] This is the movie [b]Wedding Crashers[/b] wanted to be. It's raunchy, dirty, hilarious, and unexpectadly sweet. Steve Carrell is brilliant. Catherine Keener is HOT. The supporting cast is also great; these are guys you'd want to be friends with even though they've got problems out the wazoo. The insidious product placement for various Universal films is rather annoying, though.