Young Frankenstein is the favorite comedy horror film

While there is a day remaining on the poll for best comedy horror film, the mercy rule is being invoked. Young Frankenstein was chosen by 83% of the people who stated a preference, while the second place films were only on 27% of the ballots. The people have spoken.

Young Frankenstein is one of my favorite Mel Brooks films, along with The Producers and Blazing Saddles. As a Highlight Reel™, I would say it is my favorite work of Marty Feldman and Cloris Leachman, and the funniest work for Peter Boyle and Gene Hackman, but the rest of the cast have several movies I like at least as much. Both Gene Wilder and Madeline Kahn are good in other Mel Brooks' film and in movies by other directors. Teri Garr is good in Tootsie and I like Kenneth Mars' work in The Producers and What's Up, Doc?

I say this more as an observation that a criticism, but Mel Brooks does not always strike when the iron is hot, even in the movies of his I like. Young Frankenstein is a parody made in the 1970s about horror films as they were made in the 1930s. Blazing Saddles makes fun of westerns long after the genre has lost steam. Even Spaceballs came out four years after the last film of the Star Wars trilogy was released.


I voted for more than one movie on the list, including Young Frankenstein, but I would like to put in a good word for Shaun of the Dead, which I misspelled in the list as Sean of the Dead. It is making fun of horror films as the genre exists today, not as a tribute to films decades past. Shaun actually has horror aspects to it, gore and death and the like, and it is also very funny.

I do not think the voters made a mistake favoring Young Frankenstein. I can still remember multiple scenes from the movie that make me laugh. My point here is that Simon Pegg and Nick Frost are one of my favorite comedy duos, most especially in Shaun of the Dead and their cop film parody Hot Fuzz.

Favorite fantasy comedy is...

I could put up a second round of voting, but The Princess Bride is the only movie on the list that showed up on more than 50% of the ballots, so I'm going to give it the nod.

Besides being a good romantic adventure movie, I think it is the Highlight Reel™ for many of the actors involved. You could argue it is the best thing in the careers of Cary Elwes and Robin Wright Penn, and it is also my favorite work of Mandy Patankin, Chris Sarandon, Billy Crystal, Fred Savage and definitely Andre The Giant.

If not for This Is Spinal Tap, it would also be my favorite movie directed by Rob Reiner. It is certainly not the best work in the careers of Peter Falk, Peter Cook, Wallace Shawn or Christopher Guest, but only because they have done better work than the very good work they did here.

Next up: Horror comedy! Oooooh, scary, kids!

What is the best science fiction comedy film? (Second pass at the question)

I put the first version of this poll up last week and 21 people voiced their opinions. We had a three way tie for first place, and I thought of two films I flat out forgot about because I'm old and that happens. Now instead of ten films to choose from, there are only five and this time, you can only vote for one.

Here they are in alphabetical order.

Back to the Future This is the oldest movie on the list, and the only one to have two sequels. The movie did not completely succeed in turning Michael J. Fox into a movie star, but these things happen. For some reason, the public was happier seeing him on the small screen and barring his health problems, he hasn't had any trouble finding work.

The film certainly works as an action adventure, and there are plenty of laughs as well. Christopher Lloyd is a great comic actor and Lea Thompson and Crispin Glover turn in good performances as both as gawky teens and middle aged parents.

I consider it much better than either of the two sequels and it deserved to be a hit.

Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure This was one of the favorites in the first round of voting, but it was not a major hit. Still, it's very few movies that you can point to and say "This is where xxx started out." and that's certainly the case with Keanu Reeves in this film.

While it's not my favorite of the five, there are still some great laughs in it and, along with Fast Times at Ridgemont High, it set the tone for all stoner movies in the post-Cheech and Chong era.



Galaxy Quest There's a lot for sci-fi nerds to love about Galaxy Quest. First, it is so true to the spirit of Star Trek that I think it deserves to be part of the "canon" more than the J.J. Abrams movie that was actually called Star Trek. Second, the cast is great. It's my favorite work of Tim Allen ever, it's my favorite comedy from Sigourney Weaver, Tony Shaloub does his usual excellent job, as does Sam Rockwell. The actors playing the adoring aliens in need of help are uniformly terrific, and yes, that was an intentional pun.

Did I miss anyone?

Oh yeah, Alan Rickman, the best thing in the whole movie!

I'll admit it, I laughed like a hyena during this movie but when the adoring alien dies in his arms and Sir Alexander Dane says "Quellek... by Grabthar's hammer... by the Sons of Warvan... you shall be... avenged." I actually wept.

Mars Attacks! This is a movie that really didn't find an audience. I remember when Mars Attacks! bubble gum cards first came out, and there hadn't been anything quite like them before. Trading cards with a story on them! Kids traded them like mad when I was in grade school in Alameda, but then there was the dog getting disintegrated and suddenly, somebody's mom found out and the cards were available anymore.

Actually, it was Mike Musseter's mom who complained. It's only been 48 years, and you never really forget true betrayal.

There's a lot of star power in the cast, with Jack Nicholson, Glenn Close, Annette Bening, Pierce Brosnan, Sarah Jessica Parker and Natalie Portman just to name a few, but for me, a little Tim Burton goes a long way.


Men In Black This movie made more money than any other on the list, but when adjusting for inflation is was not as big a hit as Back to the Future.

I never read the comic book series the movie is based on, but you didn't need any inside information to enjoy this story both as a comedy and an action movie roller coaster ride. The cast after Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith isn't as well known as the very deep cast of Mars Attacks!, but quality actors like Vincent D'Onofrio, Tony Shaloub, Linda Fiorentino and Rip Torn deliver on the story and deliver on the laughs.

This is probably my second favorite movie on this list. If you read my blurbs, you can probably figure out which movie gets my vote.

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The poll will be open until next Sunday. You can only pick one of the five movies. May the best movie win.
Never give up. Never surrender.

Vox Populi: What is the best science fiction comedy film?

I haven't had a poll on the blog for a while, so I thought I'd start a new one today. I was thinking about a film recently and I considered calling it "the best science fiction comedy ever". (Hint: it's on the list.) But then I thought, "How many science fiction comedies have there been?" and the answer is quite a few. I decided to choose ten and make it a polling question where you are allowed to vote for more than one. Instead of hunting down pictures from all ten movies, I instead have put this picture from Abbott and Costello Go To Mars, which counts as one of the first science fiction comedies, but to my mind, not in the running for one of the best.

Here's the list.

Sleeper (1973)

The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984)

The Brother From Another Planet (1984)

Back to the Future (1985)

Spaceballs (1987)

Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989)

Groundhog Day (1993)

Galaxy Quest (1999)

Idiocracy (2006)

Wall-E (2008)

After several helpful suggestions from readers, I narrowed the list down to ten. There were a couple of mentions of The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, but I made an editorial decision not to include it because I think the TV and radio versions are superior to the film. When I mentioned Sleeper, my friend Jodi countered with Zelig, which I like very much, but I think it might fit better in comedy fantasy.

Several box office hits did not make the list, like Honey I Shrunk The Kids. I argued with myself whether Brazil should count, but I decided it wasn't quite sci-fi and it wasn't quite a comedy. I'm pretty sure someone is going to remind me of a film not on the list and I will do a forehead slap.

In any case, these are the ten choices. You can vote for more than one. Balloting will close next Sunday.

Nominations for a Highlight Reel™ category: best science fiction comedy film

Here's an idea for a new Highlight Reel™ poll. What's the best science fiction comedy film of all time? Here are three films I would put on the list.

Sleeper

Groundhog Day

Galaxy Quest

Technically, there are some movies like Tremors that are science fiction movies with laughs, but I'm not certain if I would call it a comedy, maybe because the stars Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward aren't considered comedy stars. Given how short the list is right now, I am leaning towards including it. There are also some movies that I never saw that would fit the category, like Click and Multiplicity, but unless somebody writes in to say they are worth putting on the list, I'll probably leave them off. I'm thinking that comedy horror films like Sean of the Dead deserve their own category, which I'll put together for early May.

Please put your nominations in the comments and I will put together a list for voting in the next few days.

Thanks.