Thomas McCarthy‘s The Cobbler hits theaters this weekend, though you wouldn’t likely know it considering I haven’t even received an email about it and that’s no big surprise after the savaging it received at the Toronto Film Festival last year. However, something good has come out of its release, which is a sit down with Adam Sandler‘s co-star in the film, Method Man.
Speaking with Rotten Tomatoes (via FilmDrunk), Method Man revealed his top five (six) favorite films and it’s not necessarily the list that’s so great (though trust me, you aren’t likely to guess them), but more his explanations. First, the list:
- Frailty (dir. Bill Paxton)
- The Station Agent (dir. Thomas McCarthy)
- Napoleon Dynamite (dir. Jared Hess)
- Snow On Tha Bluff (dir. Damon Russell)
- The Raid / Dredd (dir. Gareth Evans / Pete Travis)
Now the best explanation for why he liked any of these movies comes with his explanation for Napoleon Dynamite, which goes as follows:
Loved that movie. When me and Redman were doing Method & Red — because I hadn’t seen it; I’d heard about it because I used to see pictures on the lot — when I used to drive to lunch, I would see the poster. I’m like, “Who the hell is this Napoleon Dynamite kid?” I thought it was some direct-to-DVD thing. You know, I saw someone one day, and I was like, “What is this thing about?” He’s like, “Oh this movie? You’ve never seen it?” Gave me the DVD. So I go home — I mean, the thing sat there for like two weeks. I got bored, watched it. Incredible.
Now, I hang around nothing but real, you know, killers, thugs, right? I’m like, “Yo, y’all gotta check this movie out.” And I’ve thrown on movies in the past, because comedy is comedy to me. I don’t care if it’s white, black, whatever, but they usually shoot down a lot of the white comedies because they don’t get that white innuendo, whatever. I threw on this Napoleon Dynamite, they looked like they were gonna shoot me down again. I mean, they still use some of the quotes from the movie to this day. From there, it was cool for me to play Walk Hard and Anchorman and stuff like that, you know? Now it’s cool.
And the fact that they didn’t use a curse word. They didn’t use one curse word that whole movie. And there are so many quotes, so many quotes. And the payoff was the dance at the end. Brilliant.
I just love that, the idea of what he describes as killer and thugs, just sitting down to watch a little Napoleon Dynamite, maybe double-featured with Walk Hard and beyond that, actually quoting it.
His thoughts on shaky cam when he discusses The Raid will likely make those that not only love The Raid smile, but those that hate shaky cam will be cheering:
I’m not talking about story. I’m talking about that f—in’ shaky cam. Why do they do the shaky cam? Get the f—in’ shaky cam the f— outta here unless you know how to use it correctly, okay? When they did it in the Bourne films, they did it correctly. These dudes are losing their minds. I asked. I said, “Why do you guys have the camera so close when the guys are fighting?” “We want the people to experience what it’s like being in the fight.” No! When you’re watching a fight out on the street between two guys, do you want to be up close in the fight? No. You want to stand back and see the whole scenery. You want to actually see the fight. People are jockeying for position in the circle around these dudes so they can get a better look at the fight. They’re not in the middle of it! All you’re gonna see is a fist or an elbow.
And I get it. Sometimes the lead actor can’t fight. They don’t know the moves. But they get paid enough that they can go train for a month and learn how to do the ballet moves in order to get in the fight and make it look convincing. Because Scarlett Johansson is killing it, murdering it. Come on! Let’s go! Stop playing with us. We want quality s–t, and y’all giving us half-assed s–t.
The Batman movies, I give [Christopher] Nolan credit. He took it from where it left off with Joel Schumacher, the campy nipples-on-the-batsuit s–t and brought it back to what core Batman people love. Now, mind you, Batman is a detective, so, you know, you want to see the detective work. You want to see him in the shadows. But when he’s fighting… That fight between him and Ra’s al Ghul, man, come on! We’re talking about two ninjas. I didn’t see a flip or nothing! Oh my god, are you serious? And that first scene in The Dark Knight when he busts Scarecrow and the criminals? Are you kidding me?
We need to demand that these hack-ass camera guys go away, or go to the school of shaky cam and learn how to do it correctly. I know I’m not a director, and I don’t know how those things work, but I’m a fan and I know what I like to see.
I always got the impression Christopher Nolan used tighter shots on the Batman films because of the bulk of the suit and the cape, making it more difficult to make the fights look realistic from a wide angle. I could be wrong, but that was my understanding. However, I get his point, and as much as I dislike The Raid as a movie (though absolutely love The Raid 2), I will cede it does have some excellent fight choreography.
Get all of Meth’s thoughts right here.
