The Netflix gods are kind to us this week. Our sacrifice of one horror franchise nets us a wealth of comedy to enjoy, including new ‘MST3K’.
Leaving the Stream
- ’Friday the 13th’ (3/16): If you’re a fan of the franchise, you’re giving up a lot this week. It isn’t just the original ‘Friday the 13th‘ that’s taking a hike, but the entire series. Yes, that includes ‘The Final Chapter‘ and the four movies that immediately followed.
- ’Top Secret’ (3/16): That’s right, ‘Top Secret‘. That’s how small and insignificant the list of movies leaving the stream is this week. I generally don’t like Val Kilmer, and I’m completely out of love with the Zuckers, but the team made one hell of a funny movie back in 1984.
Entering the Stream
- ’Mystery Science Theater 3000’ (3/15): Two of my favorite episodes come to the Netflix stream this week. The first, ‘Gunslinger‘, is a send-up of a Roger Corman western that’s almost too bad to be believed. The second – and I’ll let the title speak for itself – is a riff on the movie ‘The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies!!?‘
- ’Back to School’ (3/11): When I was in high school, ‘Back to School’ was on Comedy Central nearly every day. Now that it’s not, I miss it. It stars Rodney Dangerfield and features Robert Downey, Jr., Burt Young, an unforgettable performance by Sam Kinison, and a tiny cameo from Kurt Freakin’ Vonnegut.
- ’Bill Hicks: Sane Man’ (3/15): We lost Bill Hicks far too early. ‘Sane Man‘ doesn’t have the best video or audio quality, but his 1989 performance is absolutely stellar. It’s filled with great material, some of which you may be familiar with from Denis Leary’s cover album ‘No Cure for Cancer’. Seriously though, if you aren’t familiar with Bill Hicks and you don’t mind a whole heap of cynicism mixed in with your comedy, this is an essential.
William Henley
You know, I have only seen one episode of Mystery Science Theater, and had one huge issue with it that kept me from going back – the sound quality. When they are sitting in front of the movie, you can hardly hear the movie at all, and they only tend to throw in a comment about every 20 or 30 seconds, and the comments were hard to understand. This lead to the show being excruciatingly hard to watch, and the comments are supposed to be the main point of the show.
Maybe I’ll give it a second chance, cause I know countless people who have raved about this show.
Dick Ward
It’s a really tough line to walk when it comes to audio. If the movie’s too loud, you can’t hear the jokes and the other way around no one can hear the movie.
The Mike era has much better audio than the Joel era, so stick with those. Newer movies tend to be a lot easier to hear too.
Check out ‘Werewolf’ – it’s one of my favorite episodes and features an Estevez in the movie!
http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Mystery_Science_Theater_3000_Werewolf/70106078