Rifftrax Expects Us To Pay To See Point Break Riffed? Sure!

 

This movie has been a source for MST and Rifftrax riffs, featuring two movie heartthrobs from the 1990s. 
This week, Rifftrax took on the original 1991 version of Point Break, where Keanu Reeves as an FBI agent hopes to surf his way into breaking up a robbery gang led by Patrick Swayze.

Instead of broadcasting from Nashville, the Rifftrax gang did the show from the State Theater in Minneapolis, site of the MST reunion eight years ago. It was packed to the brim, and the crowd really enjoyed the story of how an ex-quarterback hoped to be Eliot Ness. While that may be interesting, Gary Busey steals this show as the hot-headed Pappas. John C. McGinley of Scrubs was also fun as a really stiff FBI supervisor.

The plot, of course, is about how Reeves, as Johnny Utah, takes on a gang of robbers known as the Ex-Presidents because of their masks. He finds out they're also surfers, and tries to infiltrate them. Using a waitress (Lori Petty) who happens to know one of the robbers, he first has to learn how to surf...and has to ask her to help out. He eventually meets Bodhi, played by Patrick Swayze. Utah gets sucked into the surfing culture, but still has to prove Bodhi is the bank robber.
The real fun is towards the end, when Bodhi figures out who Utah is, and forces the agent to be in one of the robberies. The chase scene with Reeves and Swayze is also classic. What other chase includes home invasions?
The ending is also a bit out there, where Bodhi begs to ride a special wave in Australia before he's carted away. It's kind of weird, but with two classic leading men, it's a fun cult classic.

It's fairly impressive that Rifftrax got their hands on this movie, which was directed by Kathryn Bigelow and was executive produced by her then-husband James Cameron. That's the power of Kickstarter, even though they also got Ladyhawke and Super Mario Brothers without it.

The riffs came fast and furious (is that movie next?), with some that were fairly topical. They remarked how odd it was that Keanu was cast as an FBI agent, but also mocked his and Swayze's movies. They still swooned a bit towards Swayze, considering he inspired a special Christmas carol.  

Now, it's riff time:

Pappas mocks Utah without seeing him...then meets him
No, I wanted the other excellent adventurer

The Ex-Presidents rob a bank
This is what presidential elections have become now

"Too much testosterone around here"
Opposite of a Maroon 5 concert

A surfer slugs Utah
That's for Johnny Mnemonic (four years later?)

Pappas points a gun and says "Speak into the microphone, squid brain"
That would be a great name for the Joe Rogan podcast

There were also riffs on Courtney Love, The Golden Girls, Capri Sun, Spirit Airlines and a certain Australian America is still trying to forget.

The live show is expected to be available to everyone sometime this fall, and should be a very popular feature. In the meantime, Rifftrax has some good features like a Bill Rebane movie (?), a disaster movie where people get sweaty before they die, and a rock and roll movie about a girl trying to get to the prom. See them at rifftrax.com

Rifftrax Live Returns With Hobgoblins Redux

 

After being kept off theaters last year due to the COVID pandemic (except for a Halloween special)
Rifftrax Live returned this past week by taking another look at the Rick Sloane travesty, Hobgoblins. 

It was an MST3K favorite way back in the '90s, and the crew of Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett took a big chance seeing it again. This time, they didn't try to run away twice. At least there's that.
MST fans know Joel Hodgson took a look at the original episode on YouTube. His reaction to the movie was very interesting, and, to be honest, better than this second look.

Fans may have been hoping to hear some of the original riffs, but this was all new. Some may have been repeating some of the original riffs, though. This second look didn't have as much zing as the original, maybe because Mike and the bots couldn't believe how bad this movie was the first time.

As with all Rifftrax features, the movie was uncut, but it dragged a bit. At least the Club Scum section was complete, and was even sleazier. That worked just fine.
Still, the re-riff didn't work as well as the original. That was expressed by a lot of fans on Facebook.

The plot, such as it is:  four furry monsters who are Gremlin knockoffs, wreak havoc on the life of a security guard and his friends. It features terrible dancing, frantic punk music, and a guy who is not Rambo and never will be. The riffs included comments on Murder, She Wrote, old Hollywood, Mean Girls, and Joy Division (the band is described as being like that band, but less joy). 

It was preceded by a Coronet film about life in a medieval town, mostly about a serf being supervised with a guy in a weird green hat. One of the comments include a guy who looks like Mike Ditka.

It was still great to see the guys back on stage after a dreary year. Hopefully, their next movie, Amityville 4, will go better in a couple of months. Seeing Patty Duke trying to fight an demonic floor lamp might be better than a dopey blonde pretending to fight a hairy puppet.