Director Lee Loechler’s comedy short is a hilarious and beautifully acted statement about the lengths parents will go through to bring their child over to their religion. And not as a sense of best intentions, but only for personal victory. As someone who spent his entire life being lured to Catholicism through any means necessary by many, “Choosing Sides” is a hilarious commentary on that moment where some parents begin trying to bring their children over to their faith.
8. Behind the Laughter
2000
Season Eleven
“Behind the Laughter” is one of those episodes of “The Simpsons” where nearly every single word of the teleplay is quotable. You could pick out your favorite lines, and go through the entire script from beginning to end. It’s a lightning in a bottle spoof of the popular “Behind the Music” series. The often self important VH1 Documentary series gets the Simpsons treatment, profiling America’s favorite family. Ad hilarity.
It also presents a tongue in cheek satire of “The Simpsons” and how they went from a cute animated show to a worldwide phenomenon in the nineties. With immense exaggerations, of course. “Behind the Laughter” is a look at how the family grew in popularity and their inevitable saturation on pop culture. The writers are never afraid to mock the actual Simpsons’ over abundance of popularity in the nineties, profiling their goofy music albums (they actually had albums), enormous roster of guest stars, and their often contrived episodes that put new twists on characters. Including the episode where we find out Principal Skinner is not actually Skinner.
There are numerous hilarious moments to be mined here, from the creation of Homer strangling Bart as a popular gag, Richie Rich replacing Bart in future episodes of “The Simpsons,” Bart’s paying Lenny and Carl to kiss, to their pondering “Hey, did we ever get that money?” There’s also Homer’s declaration “Fame was like a drug, but what was even more like a drug, were the drugs.” Host of “Behind the Music,” Jim Forbes, even takes part in the fun with nuggets like “But reckless spending and interracial homoeroticism were just volume one of the Encyclopedia Self-Destructica.”
With a guest spot from Willie Nelson, “Behind the Laughter” is never afraid to take shots at stunts from “The Simpsons,” mocking them with sharp writing, all the while fabricating endless bits of witty and laugh out loud gags. That includes the Simpsons living in MC Hammer’s old mansion, Marge singing her version of “I Shot the Sheriff” (with a smile!), and Lisa’s accusation that the family gave her anti-growth hormones. Prompting Homer to argue “That’s ridiculous. How could I even get all five necessary drops into her cereal…? What?”
I’m surprised that a documentary titled “Jedi Junkies” about many fans that have a passion for “Star Wars” really seems to hold up its nose at the fandom. There are moments when the documentary wants to idolize the franchise that George Lucas molded, and then veers in to segments where we’re forced to explore the pitfalls of the fandom. There are even moments that seem to revel in exploring how much of a drag being a “Star Wars” fan can be, and how it’s consumed the lives of the people that follow the fandom so devoutly.
Friedberg and Seltzer’s “The Starving Games,” because we haven’t seen enough fucking jokes about “the most interesting man in the world”! The only advantage to watching “The Starving Games” (beyond Maiara Walsh) is that the Beavis and Butthead of comedy film making seem to be operating on a lower budget, thus the piss poor effects perfectly reflect the utterly piss poor comedy.
9. The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show
1997
Season Eight
The Simpsons tackle that classic television series trope where a successful series has begun dwindling in the ratings, and adds a new character. As we’ve seen with “Diff’rent Strokes,” and most famously, “The Brady Bunch,” the results are almost always disastrous. This time around the Simpsons not only comment on the desperate grasp for ratings the stunt always is, but they’re also never afraid to get meta. Homer is set to play a hip new character being shoe horned in to the Itchy and Scratchy show in an effort to improve the ratings. Meanwhile the Simpsons have a hip new house guest named Roy, who is a walking nineties cliché with a Fonzi attitude.
Director Christian James’ “Stalled” is a very creative, and often clever horror comedy that takes the zombie movie to a new direction. It tries, at least. “Stalled” really seems to have a grasp on its premise for the first forty minutes, and then scrambles to keep monotony from setting in the rest of the way. In spite of that, “Stalled” is a creepy, interesting, and very unique zombie horror comedy that takes a few notes from “Shaun of the Dead.” It’s a horror movie about a perpetual loser who gets his life together in the wake of a bona fide zombie apocalypse. But it tries to add its own twists to the conventions, which make for a good experience.
“Juan of the Dead” is a silly and occasionally creepy zombie movie, but one that also dares to have a brain and display some very volatile commentary about the state of Cuba, and the inherent poverty that runs rampant. Though Juan lives in poverty and is mostly considered a loser by most in his neighborhood, he’s managed to carve out a comfortable existence for himself, and is something of a saving grace for neighbors. After Juan and his friend Lazaro come across a rotted corpse while fishing that attempts to bite them, they kill it and then decide never to talk about it again. What’s funny is that most of the situations may seem like a warning sign to most, but director Brugués comments on the state of Cuba through it.