Sunday, October 12, 2003
You know, this is a good example of why I think the UK is so ass-backwards. For those of you who didn't click the link, it's about a new super-cheap "broadband" service launching there. In the UK, anything faster than 128k -- yeah, that's double a regular 56k modem -- is considered broadband. So this pathetic 150k service (that's less than three times faster than dialup) can properly be called broadband. When I was there, I had the fastest connection available at the time and it's basically what other countries would consider the minimum allowed speed for broadband. Mind you, it wasn't bad -- still 10 times faster than a 56k -- and playing online games with Americans was smooth as silk, but back in HK more people are wired and they're on faster connections to boot. I pay less than I do in the UK and my connection is a whopping six times faster. It's fast enough that my ISP offers to pipe TV channels down this line!
Anyway, enough of that. I've been on a bit of a comedy kick this weekend. The movie I actually desperately wanted to see on DVD was the Jim Carrey classic Dumb & Dumber, but nobody had it. So I tried to buy it. And still, nobody had it. So instead I settled for that other Farrelly Brothers classic: There's Something About Mary. Yeah, I know, everyone's seen this film a million times now, but it's still hilarious. It's one of those movies where you just want to pick out a highlight actor or moment but can't because there are too many. Ben Stiller, Matt Dillion, Chris Elliot and Lee Evans are all wonderful in the main roles. The cameos, from Farrelly Brothers collaborators (like the hitchhiker and his SEVEN. MINUTE. ABS.) to Mary's dad to even Brett Favre ("Brett Fav... ruh") are awesome. And the gag scenes (the "zipper", the dead dog, the dog on speed, the "hair gel"... it goes on and on) are so funny you think you're going to seize up. Hell, even the credits are funny thanks to the out-take-ish rendition of "Build Me Up Buttercup". OK, if there's one highlight I can pinpoint, it's Cameron Diaz. She's perfect at playing the role of, well, Miss Perfect. And it's not so much about her looks as her comic timing (how many major multimillion dollar actresses can do comedy like this?) and willingness to look stupid.
The other big comedy I saw was Wayne's World. I haven't seen this one in years, and I still love it. Mike Myers is a genius -- first Wayne's World, then Austin Powers, then Shrek? For all that he's done he's received way too little credit. And Dana Carvey... man, what happened to him. He was brilliant on Saturday Night Live and great here. His "Foxy Lady" is one of the funniest bits of movie humour ever.
Incidentally, with the money left over from not buying Dumb & Dumber (grr), I picked up The Lion King. The last great Disney animated movie? Definitely, especially since they are apparently not doing any more after they release their next two films. Years of losses will do that, but then years of crappy movies will result in you losing money in the first place. Supposedly all their 2D animation guys are moving over to do computer-generated movies now, which is probably a wise thing to do because if Pixar (you know, Toy Story, Monsters Inc, Finding Nemo) leaves Disney -- as it seemingly wants to do -- they'll literally have nothing. Funny side-note: I read Roger Ebert's review of The Lion King, and in it he says that computer-generated films have been hyped in the media but scoffs at the notion that computers could ever replace hand-drawn cartoons. That review was written in 1994. In 1995, Disney and Pixar released the first ever full-length computer-generated film, Toy Story, to widespread acclaim (including from one Roger Ebert). Nice one.
Posted at 11:55 PM
