the reason Michael Caine and Tim Curry are so good in their respective Muppet movies is that Michael Caine treats the Muppets as fellow actors, and Tim Curry treats himself as a fellow Muppet
It’s really sad Tim Curry had a stroke.
He was always a great villain even in the cheesiest roles
Man… I love this description so much, like a glimpse into the intellectual processes that go into the acting on screen, in best case scenarios like this one - top actors surrounded by sock puppets - there are crucial and consistent choices to be made.
It’s like what they say about dogs and cats.
Dogs see themselves as fellow humans.
Cats see humans as fellow cats.
I wish the “top serious actors being in Muppet films” continued to be some kind of badge of honor. (Kinda like how getting a Weird Al cover means you’re officially big time).
C’mon I wanna see Muppet shenanigans with Liam Neeson, Hugh Jackman, Ryan Reynolds! There should’ve been one with Alan Rickman!
I’m aware I’m missing a ton of talented names and I’m quite impressed I remembered those off the top of my head, but you get my drift lol.
However, in most cases, Curry and coCaine will probably send you to the nearest bathroom.
The Muppet Christmas Carol is the best film version of A Christmas Carol. I will gladly die on this hill.
The only way you die on that hill is from crushing as we are all crowded on there with you.
He’ll, I picked up the book last year and had forgotten that Marley was a single (former) partner, not two brothers.
I work in a hospital and sometimes people have these air pumps on their legs that prevent blood clots. I often joke when disconnecting them, “We have to take those off so you aren’t dragging it behind you like Marley and Marley.”
Then i remember that’s not the original version.
I know people who worked on it.
I have a decade of experience in film and have worked on some cool shit and I logically know that just like what I have done at the end of the day it’s basically a job like the one that I am doing… But I envy them that one credit so fucking hard and will beg them for stories of what it was like as though I am a starry eyed child who wants to be them when I grow up.
I mean, isnt this a thing in comedy, where you can make the jokes of the one being funny have more impact by contrasting them with a super serious character? Scrooge is already a normally quite serious character, and the muppets are known for their antics, so leaving the comedy to them and acting serious makes a lot of sense.
Yea, the term is a “straight man” although this is slightly different in that the straight man is usually allowed to acknowledge the antics of the comedic characters, where-as Michael Caine treats the comedy as done straight.
I guess it would be a sub-category of straight man though, not a different thing to itself.
Fans of Brooklyn 99 will recognize Captain Holt as the straight man in the show, which is made hilarious since he is a gay man. He is the gay straight man.
RIP Andre Braugher
Even in season One he was more about being funny because of how “not comedic” he was. And that went out the window fairly fast and he was just as zany as everyone else. Ironically, in a lot of the earlier episodes, Peralta served the role of “the straight man” because the ambient level was so absurd.
A better Braugher example may be House where he mostly existed for House to bounce off of
I’m sorry but it’s my favorite Michael Caine movie. Yes, yes there’s a plethora of amazing movies, but this one is the one I fell in love with as a child and it’s stuck with me now. He’s stellar in it too.
I still refuse to forgive the asshats at Disney for cutting the “When Love is Gone” scene from the DVD release.
They found the original cut and added it back in a couple years back. You can find the full 4k release in the special features on Disney Plus
I need to find an navally appropriated version. I have both, but the version with the restored song is a 4:3 VHS(?) transfer I think.
I’ve seen this film every year since it was on vhs. Last night I took my kids to see it at the cinema and it still holds up. “When Love is Gone” was back in it’s rightful place and having not seen it for a good few years it’s such a welcome return. The pacing is totally messed up by it’s removal.
