Rifftrax Starts The Crappening With The Best Live Show Ever

This is going to be a great year in responding to lousy films...and, despite what some people say, that should not include Avengers: Age of Ultron.

It means this year's Rifftrax Live season, which started Thursday night at Nashville with the classically bad romantic-ish sort-of drama, The Room.

The movie had a special showing a few weeks ago at the Tribeca Film Festival, and saying that it was a highlight of the festival is putting it mildly. It was a smash hit, and it makes you hope one day they can do this at Cannes.

The story, of course, is about Johnny (writer and director Tommy Wiseau) , a "banker" with a mysterious accent (like, is it Croatian, Frenchistan or what?) in love with Lisa (Juliette Danielle). They plan to marry, but she admits she's falling for Mark (Greg Sestero), Johnny's best friend. She's told by her mom she should stick to Johnny, but Lisa doesn't care, not even the fact mom has breast cancer (I think). There's also Denny (Philip Haldiman), a creepy kid who Johnny adopted or something, He hangs around the place a bit too much, and also gets involved in drugs.
The story is just strange. At one point you see Johnny, Denny, Mark and some guy named Mike play football in tuxedos. There's also a bit too much of an effort in reminding us this takes place in San Francisco, even in the middle of a couple of scenes.
It almost makes you feel that you owe Ed Wood, Hal Warren and Coleman Francis an apology. At least their movies had a plot that could be recognized (and that could include Skydivers).

The movie also marks a first for Rifftrax. After using Gorilla Grams to hide Dina Meyer's breasts in Starship Troopers, the Grams stayed home while we saw Lisa's breasts. However, we were distracted by how really uncomfortable the "sex" scenes were, with soundtrack by (according to Mike) Boys II Repulsive Men.
Johnny was also described as "Weird Al as Rambo in UHF", although "Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer's Brother In Law" would be more accurate. He also seemed to have a new body part called the "Hip Dick".
When Lisa has her sex scene with Mark on a staircase, Bill Corbett points out that since the movie was made, "70% of homes with spiral staircases have been demolished:"
Then there's the scene where Johnny says, "You're tearing me apart, Lisa", showing Tommy Wiseau for what he is: the Bulgarian zombie version of James Dean.
The best riff came from Kevin Murphy:  "After appearing in The Room, the Golden Gate Bridge jumped off itself."

Then again, here's a couple more:

Lisa complaining how "that bitch is about to control my life"
Mike:  but enough about Martha Stewart

Mark and Johnny head to a coffee shop, and have a very odd order
Bill:  Hot chocolate and a mint tea? You guys headed to Lilith Fair?

It was also pointed out by Mike Nelson that this year is the 100th anniversary of Orson Wells' birth, There is a scene in the movie where Johnny tears Lisa's room apart, just as Kane rips Susan's room apart after she leaves him in Citizen Kane. (Bill: Tommy's trashing the room, much like the critics.) The only thing they have in common is that it ends in a mess. In the case of The Room, it's a mess from start to finish.

In fact, here's some scenes with the original Rifftrax comments. A new riff from the show is coming soon.



There's also riffs on Full House, President Obama, Ryan Leaf, Herbalife (which used to be a riff staple in the MST3K days), Tom Cruise and Robert Durst.

Before the movie, Rifftrax took on the final "At Your Fingertips" short, showing how kids can make lousy boats using styrofoam or old milk cartons. It wrapped up all the lingering plot lines of the previous films, especially the debate of whether corn is grass (for the record, it is).

The most surprising part of the show is what was shown after the credits:



This is from tommywiseau.com, and you can even get the script from the movie with free underwear as a bonus. This is also connected to his sitcom on Hulu Plus, The Neighbors, where he plays more than one role.
However, it won't be as popular as this item. Some backers from Kickstarter got this t-shirt for supporting Rifftrax's season. I just got mine:

The next new show is July 9th, when the gang will take on Sharknado 2. It's basically what happened in the first movie but it's in New York, and baseball bats are used.

UPDATE:  Rifftrax's website has announced Mike, Bill and Kevin will be featured on @midnight, Chris Hardwick's late night show on June 9th. It's the first time Mike and Kevin has been on Comedy Central since MST3K left the channel in 1996, and Bill's first visit.

Can You Support The Crappening? Rifftrax Hopes You Can

Rifftrax has announced its 2015 series, As you can see, it includes two familiar titles, a long-lost martial arts movie, and something that doesn't surprise Sharknado fans at all.

The series will be funded by a Kickstarter campaign. Mike Nelson wants his fans to help raise $75,000 in the next month to pay for the theatrical rights plus production costs to make this happen. The goal was reached after seven hours, but he and his crew hope to raise more to produce a high-quality show. Besides, they're movies that are asking for it
It's also offering some cool rewards. For ten bucks, you can get two new shorts plus a spot on the "thank-you page". For 20, you can get the VOD copy of the Christmas show, Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny, in February of next year. For 45 bucks, you get Santa plus the October showing of Miami Connection. You can also get special T-shirts, a chance to write a riff for the show, and more.

So, what will make up "The Crappening"? Here's Mike with a video preview:



First off is the notorious Tommy Wiseau movie, The Room on May 6th. It's about a banker who loses his girlfriend to another man. How that story is sort of told is why people have been attracted to this movie. It's already a popular riff at the website, and it's the first time it's being shown live with, er, appropriate commentary.

On July 9th, it's round two for Rifftrax vs. Sharknado. As those who bought the new Rifftrax live show on Sharknado know, it includes a scene from Sharknado 2:  The Second One where sharks attack people at a Mets game...in the snow. Also, the fans use baseball bats to strike back. Sharknado 2 is just like the first only it's in New York, and also has Vivica A. Fox, Mark McGrath, Kari Wuhrer from Anaconda and MTV, Judd Hirsch, snd John Cena as a fireman. There will be a third one, where the sharks apparently decide on a two-pronged attack.

The third movie, coming on October first, is Miami Connection, which could be considered Fists of Fury: Electric Boogaloo. Y.K. Kim, a taekwondo expert, produced and starred in the story of a guy who heads a rock band. His group also trains in taekwondo. They try to fight some local thugs who are selling cocaine, and help their leader reunite with his dad. Kim was hoping his movie would be a hit, when it was released in 1988, but it wasn't. One reviewer from Slant magazine thought it would be perfect for MST3K. The movie was recently re-distributed by Drafthouse Films, and got a second chance at getting noticed by movie fans. Still, here's some clips:



The final movie is a familiar holiday treat for Rifftrax fans, Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny. This will be shown December 3rd. Santa is stranded somewhere in Florida, and hopes to get his sleigh off the ground with any help available, even if it's a guy in a gorilla suit. He stops to tell the kids the story of Thumbelina, trying to show you shouldn't give up. He's later rescued by an Ice Cream Bunny with a fire engine and a creepy laugh  This version has been riffed before, but the crew found another version with Jack and the Beanstalk. There's no clips on YouTube, but here's something from IMDB. The fact that there's a second version should draw in a lot of interest. It's like finding a sequel to Manos.

Even if the events are now paid for, the Rifftrax crew will come up with stretch goals to offer more rewards. Again, if you'd like to add more bells and whistles to "Rifftrax 2015: The Crappening", visit the Kickstarter page to donate.