Interestingly, that’s the only Mel Brooks film (out of the four I’ve seen) that I actually quite like. Possibly because I first saw it when I was about 11 so on target for that type of humour, or possibly because Cary Elwes is great.
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and @daneel
I haven’t seen that one but I saw Chungking Express, Happy Together and I think Fallen Angel when they were current. I really loved those films but it was so long ago, i can’t remember much other than that. Wong Kar Wei’s whole approach to film is joyous.
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I like your four, but I’d add To Be or Not to Be (as good as the Jack Benny/Carol Lombard version), Silent Movie, and High Anxiety to the list.
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For once you and I agree on the quality of something!
Yes, I’d also recommend High Anxiety. You can safely skip Men in Tights. And History of the World should be “definitely” rather than “maybe.”
I always felt Spaceballs was a tragic misfire.
And I learned 22 years ago that, as brilliant as Young Frankenstein is, I can’t recommend it to people who don’t already love James Whale’s Frankenstein. It’s just too deliberately paced to stand apart from those old Universal horror movies as anything but a loving and hilarious tribute. Modern audiences who aren’t Old Genre fans will nod off.
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I miss slow movies.
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly; The Hustler; Das Boot; etc.
Give the script some time to breathe.
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I saw Robin Hood: Men in Tights when it came out, and thought it was really awful. Then I watched it again 2 years ago and thought it was funny as hell.
As for The 12 Chairs, in the near-century since the novel was written there have been many film adaptations; this one is not too bad, and while the ending is slightly lighter than the book’s it is true to the spirit. I’d like a chance to see the Italian one with Sharon Tate and Orson Welles to compare.
I agree with @subextraordinaire that To Be or Not to Be is good, though I don’t think it is quite as good as the one with Jack Benny.
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I’d have to agree that Spaceballs doesn’t seem in the same league as Young Frankenstein or Blazing Saddles. Although the reality-breaking tape review gag is one of my favorite comedy bits ever.
Recently saw To Be Or Not to Be. I haven’t seen the Benny/Lombard original to compare but I was at least able to see Brooks’ version on its own merits; I thought it was pretty solid.
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Zoolander 2 showed up at the library.
…I’m going to hate it, aren’t I?
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I loved the original, but forgot about Brooks’ version - will have to seek it out!
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We watched “The Fits” for family movie night. I really enjoyed it. It really portrayed childhood in a realistic way. And it was well acted and filmed.
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My favorite is Days of Being Wild.
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Jr has been talking about Transformers this week. Apparently one of his friends at preschool has an Optimus Prime. So I tried to share the delights of the '86 movie. The philistine fell asleep.
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Don’t disown him yet. He may yet learn to hate The Two Towers.
Or, like me, he might totally dig it. 
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Reading him The Hobbit seems to be the most reliable way of sending him to sleep that I’ve discovered, so yes, it’s entirely possible that he has no appreciation of Tolkein and will like TTT (although it probably doesn’t have enough helicopters or bulldozers in it for him).
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It’s really bad. I mean, the absurd premise of the first manages to work and a lot of comedy came of it. The sequel couldn’t recapture the magic. Instead you get some poorly recycled or remixed bits, huge plot-holes, and nonsense off the rails.
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Take him back to the ur-text: Robotech.
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I just saw the trailer for the next Resident Evil movie and it looks like it’s going to be either bad, or transcend the format with its badness. But I was reminded that the first movie in the installment actually managed to be… decent. Like it wasn’t amazing or particularly innovative, the acting wasn’t stellar, but it’s pretty watchable. They didn’t overcomplicate the storyline like some bad movies do when they want to artificially up the ante, going from bad to terrible. I’d say it’s a little underrated considering how okay it turned out.
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RE 1 had one of the grossest scenes for me evar. The cube chunking lasers.
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I’ve had Satantango sitting by my tv for going on at least 6 months (I must be Netflix’s ideal customer). I thought it looked intriguing but Revealed Preference rears its head: apparently, watching a slow 7 hour movie is something I’m not in the mood for very often. Excerpt from the description:
“The opening shot, about 10 minutes long, is an enormous tracking shot following a herd of cows wandering through an otherwise desolate village. Then there’s this 10-minute take of a window at dawn.”
Slow enough?
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Could just be that one summer when the co-op house I lived in had HBO and it was on constantly, but IMNHO Spaceballs definitely deserves to be on the A-list. But yeah I’ve been impressed at how great some of Mel Brooks’ lesser known movies are.
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