Wednesday Double Features – Comedy with Rabbis

by on May 9, 2018 at 9:11 am
Posted In: Test

This week I decided to dip into a very small pool and watch comedies about Rabbis.

Wednesday Double Features - Comedy with Rabbis - The Mad Adventures of Rabbi JacobThe film that inspired me to go with this theme was the first film on my list, Gérard Oury‘s The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob. Starring Louis de Funès and Claude Girau.

Rabbi Jacob (Marcel Dalio) is a beloved Rabbi in New York who is going back to his hometown in Normandy to attend a great nephew’s Bar Mitzvah.  But this is not his story but not quite. We meet Victor Pivert (de Funès) a rich businessman and obnoxious bigot who is rushing to get to his daughter’s wedding. On the way, he gets mixed up with Arab revolutionist leader Mohamed Larbi Slimane (Claude Giraud) who has been captured by agents of his government.  Pivert finds himself dragged along in Slimane’s escape. They run into Rabbi Jacob in the airport and get the idea of disguising themselves as the Rabbi and his assistant. At this point, things start getting really weird. 

This was a piece of broad slapstick with most of the humor coming from Funes hamming it up, for the which I mostly found myself wanting more. I was hoping more from Rabbi himself but instead he’s mostly an innocent bystander.

Wednesday Double Features - Comedy with Rabbis - The Frisco KidThe next film on my list Robert Aldrich’s The Frisco Kid. (Not to be mistaken for 1935 western film starring James Cagney) tells the story of Rabbi Avram Belinski played by Gene Wilder. A young polish rabbi fresh out of his yeshiva at the bottom of his class who’s been sent to America to answer the request for a Rabbi in San Francisco’s small Jewish community. 

He arrives in Philadelphia where he is quickly robbed of all his money. On the plus side, he runs into  Tom Lillard (Harrison Ford) a bank robber with a soft side, who agrees to be his guide across the west to San Francisco.

Mostly this was a by the numbers picaresque buddy film putting a complete innocent in the wild west. Wilder plays Avram as a quiet sweet man of faith. A faith that’s not mocked even though the inconvenience of it is played for laughs. (Not being able to ride on Saturdays is not convenient when you’re being chased by a posse.) Ford’s Tom Lillard is essentially Han Solo as a cowboy. (Yes I know, technically Han Solo was always a cowboy but you know what I mean.) All in all it was… okay.

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May The Fourth be With You!

by on May 4, 2018 at 10:30 am
Posted In: Art

For all the geeks out there May Fourth is a hard choice. For the Geeks of a literary bent today is the day Alice dreamed about her trip to wonderland.  For everybody else, thanks to a certain godawful pun, it’s Star Wars day. Normally I go with Alice, but it’s been a while since I did Star Wars, so I did a quick piece for it, featuring Luke’s first trip to the Cantina where he meets Ponda Baba and his associate, Dr. Cornelius Evazan.

Perhaps a little too quick.

I’m mostly happy with it but I think I’ll recolor it eventually.

Cornelius Evazan and Ponda Baba wish Luke a happy May Fourth.

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Wednesday Double Feature – Subways

by on May 2, 2018 at 9:00 am
Posted In: Test

`This week I watched films about subways. Specifically, ones that were sort of urban fantasies and sort of comedies… but not quite. 

Wednesday Double Feature - Subways - Luc Besson's SubwayThe first film on my list, Luc Besson’s Subway. Christopher Lambert plays Fred a man who has just stolen some important documents from a gangster. Running away from the gangster’s goon squad, Fred finds himself in the Paris Metro, where he discovers a hidden underground culture of thieves, eccentrics, and musicians that he quickly finds himself part of.

I’m not sure what to make of this film. It was certainly fun and I enjoyed it. Otherwise, it’s completely uncategorizable beyond being a comedy. It seems more interested in introducing us to a seemingly endless group of eccentrics living and/or working in the subway. (My favorite is Jean Reno as the Drummer) In fact, Besson seems to drop any pretense of a plot by the very end of the movie.

Wednesday Double Feature - Subways - ControlThe next film, in the lineup, Control by Nimród Antal . Tells the story of a Bulcsú (Sándor Csányi) a man who has been living in the Budapest Metro, not going up to the surface since he got a job as a ticket checker. It’s his job, along with his mob of eccentrics to make sure everyone in the subway have their ticket. This is an utterly thankless job, and his people get no respect with people not willing to cooperate with them almost out of the principle of the thing. This is not made easier when they have to deal with people who don’t have tickets. To make matter worse there’s someone who’s pushing people in front of trains. 

I liked this film. It took its time showing us an interesting underground world perhaps a little slow but that didn’t matter because there was plenty of things and people to watch (most notably Zsófi (Eszter Balla) the lovely daughter of one of the train drivers who is always dressed as a Teddy Bear.

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Batman Sketch Challenge – Day Thirty – Henchmen

by on April 30, 2018 at 10:07 am
Posted In: Art

For day Thirty of my Batman sketch challenge, I gave some love to the henchmenI finally finished this thing. For the last day of this challenge, I thought I’d give a little bit of love to the unsung heroes of the franchise, the henchmen!

As always, this was fun and it gave me a few ideas I definitely want to work with more. Though as far as actual sketch challenges go, with any luck I’ll stick to my senses until next Inktober.

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Batman Sketch Challenge – Day Twenty Nine – Royal Flush Gang

by on April 29, 2018 at 11:16 am
Posted In: Art

For Day Twenty Eight of my Batman Sketch Challenge I drew the Royal Flush Gang.It turns out my list wasn’t quite as long as it should have been so Now I’m off my leash and I’m finishing up the challenge with a few ideas I’ve been thinking about since I started this. Starting with the Royal Flush Gang.

The Royal Flush Gang are pretty much Justice League villains, and mostly considered a joke both in the universe and out. They kind of got a decent reboot in Batman Beyond where they are now a family of criminals. All of a sudden they were a little interesting.

So for this, I’m dropping the stupid costumes. (whether they have costumes I’m still thinking about.) THey’re professional criminals, in the vein of a lot of the heist films I’ve been enjoying lately. (I haven’t decided whether they’re family yet, beyond King and Queen being an item) Also as the name implies, they are part of the Joker’s network. I don’t think they work directly under him, more something in the vein of the Joker and King go way back and The Joker has them on retainer. Based on this I think they’ll work well in the Batman Rogues Gallery.

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