Dang that’s nice.
I also like what Jeffrey Reddick described as the foundational theme of the franchise: you can’t cheat death, but you CAN prolong life.
Informed in part by Jeffrey being a gay man of color born and raised in Kentucky.
But like you said, this is very much a KIND of movie experience that either hits the sweet spot for a person or is otherwise inaccessible, sort of like what Richard Gere said about opera in Pretty Woman.
It makes me happy that Albert Brooks has surely gotten his bag as a voice actor for various animated movies, because it would otherwise distress me more that he has cranked out really good comedies that nobody watches.
Mother is fantastic, as is Defending Your Life, and both deserve more recognition than they get.
Oh, and The Scout as well
Yes. Defending Your Life is excellent. Also Modern Romance.
Broadcast News is perhaps better than any of these, but I feel like that one actually gets a solid amount of respect. I’m just going by how much I see these come up in conversation (Mother feels so obscure that I have to occasionally confirm that I didn’t just dream it and it doesn’t really exist), so I could be misjudging the overall popularity of his works.
It certainly feels like Brooks has a shit-ton of respect from his peers, seems like the very best talents in the business line up to work with him (I always feel like Scorsese just dropping by for a random cameo in The Muse is a telling sign of this), but it feels like he’s far less known among the general movie-watching public.
I love The Scout!! Also peak Brendan Fraser in that one.
Brooks was excellent also in Drive.
And as Paul Rudd’s dad in This is 40. Amazing John Lithgow performance too.
Idk if I’m the only person alive who watched The Muse 
Never saw his early SNL stuff.
Hes never really seemed like a “Me me me, everyone look at me!” Type guy. I think the respect that he gets is from him being a genuinely nice, respectful, competent professional to work with. Who wouldnt want to work with someone who can come in, and nail it first take every time, even in ad-libs.
His episode as Hank Scoprio in The Simpsons was almost entirely ad libed, and a lot of Castellaneta’s responses are genuine as he would change lines on the next take and caught him off guard. Its one of my favorite Homer episodes for that reason.
More people should know of him, absolutely. He seems like a gem, and I hope never to find out that hes a secret monster
Glad to be ponied
Yeah, I liked The Muse quite a bit too. Sharon Stone had the comedic chops to really make that dynamic work. And again you have really solid stars showing up for a Brooks directorial project (Stone, Andie MacDowell, Jeff Bridges, and then you just throw in bit parts from fun performers like Bradley Whitford), but seemingly no cultural imprint whatsoever. I wouldn’t say it was as good as Mother, but it was a very solid follow-up.
I’ve actually never seen Mother. For you to say you enjoyed it more than The Muse has me heading to JustWatch right now to see where/if it’s available anywhere.
Scorsese should have acted more. He’s always great in his little roles.
(Though I guess sticking to his day job worked out just fine.)
I have somehow gone until today being totally unaware that this was Brooks as Hank Scorpio. I just looked up a clip of Scorpio and it’s absurd that I didn’t recognize his voice, but here we are. I did love that episode too.
His role in Taxi Driver was BONKERS
This one goes out to all the haters
stay for the Peter Falk cameo
Surprised not to see any hype for Napoleon. Will definitely be seeing this in theaters. Recently finished a long Napoleon biography so will make myself available to answer questions in the theater lobby.
Hot take, Napoleon enabled some of the better parts of the French Revolution to spread across Europe in the 50 years after Waterloo (except in Russia, which remains partly stuck in the 18th century). The success of the US was also a factor.
Idle Hands was one my favorite movies as a teenager.
Watching No Hard Feelings on Netflix
“I had sex once just to get out of playing Settlers of Catan”
Would they rather have played 7 Wonders?
Ticket to Ride is fine (Ticket to Ride Europe is much better), but there have been some super elite board games released in the last two decades.
Please share. Love a good board game.
