Devin says: There’s a lot that’s brilliant about Shaun of the Dead,
but the thing that really blew me away the first few times I saw it was
how the tone shifts so very subtly at the end in the Winchester. As
Shaun’s mom lays zombifying the five remaining survivors – Shaun, Ed,
Liz, Dianne and David – argue and get violent over what to do next. The
comedy steps aside for a moment and things get legitimately tense and
heartfelt. What’s even better is that the fight isn’t a bullshit one:
you can see everybody’s side of the equation (even if Shaun and David
are both coming from less than logical places as they fight). And then
things get really gory…
Nick says: Can you do a Southern accent?
You’re clearly one of the best auditions we’ve ever had but the script
calls for this character to be a kid from the South. It may have been smoke up a 9 year-old’s ass [HOT!],
but those words were uttered to me shortly after moving South from the
icy expanse of New York City after I auditioned for a role in a then
untitled feature film to be shot in Atlanta starring local legend Sir
Kenneth McSteady-Greenheart Rogers III, esq…The film became Six Pack
and it went on to gross dozens of dollars. One Kenny and Six little
assholes apparently was not the elixir for the fickle beast known as
the Boxofficeasaurus. My life continued as a non-actor, a streak I keep
alive to this day.
Devin says: In Omen III: The Final Conflict (originally just called The Final Conflict,
but I sort of like the franchise numbering system), jackal spawned
anti-Christ Damien is all grown up and has become Sam Neill. He’s the
US ambassador to England and he has his eyes on the presidency, but
first he must contend with the fact that an astronomical event that is
described as ‘the second Star of Bethlehem’ heralds the arrival of the
Second Coming. Add to that hassle the fact that a bunch of priests have
uncovered the seven daggers of Megiddo, the only things that can kill
him, and he’s got quite a few problems. Sure, Omen III is the worst of the bunch (I’m not even counting Omen IV: The Awakening as so much as existing), but it’s still got plenty of fun bits. And we tend to love the underdog around here.
Devin says: The stateroom scene in A Night at the Opera encapsulates
the silly, absurd side of the Marx Brothers’ comedy. When Groucho takes
an ocean liner from Italy to New York, Chico and Harpo (along with
Allan Jones, replacing the now-gone Zeppo) stow away in his luggage. As
the four of them banter in Groucho’s impossibly tiny stateroom, more
and more people join the crowd (including an army of waiters, one of
whom is carrying the eight pieces of French pastry Groucho ordered),
until they finally come tumbling out in a torrent of limbs…