Posted in: Movies | Tagged: entertainment, film, Ian Ziering, MST3K, rifftrax, sharknado, tara reid

RiffTrax Live! Takes On Sharknado

Published Sat, 07 Mar 2015 16:15:19 -0600

I should probably start by saying that I am a huge fan of MST3K but I hadn't watched any of the current stuff from Rifftrax. Also I never planned on watching Sharknado. There is a limit to just how much I can suspend disbelief. But the two together, like the combination of chocolate and peanut butter, was too much to resist.

If you're not familiar with Rifftrax, it's Michael J. Nelson (Mike), Bill Corbett (Crow T Robot) and Kevin Murphy (Tom Servo) from Mystery Science Theater 3000 doing what they do best. Making jokes at really bad movies. And when you have a movie as bad as Sharknado you need to up the ante, so they performed in front of a live audience.

They started the live event with a classic short made by the spring industry featuring Coilie the Spring Sprite who tortures this old guy into submission by taking away all his springs and making nothing work. Once Coilie's mind washing is complete, the old guy is sent off to torture his friends by talking endlessly about springs. I believe this was a short they've riffed on in the past but the jokes were all new in the live event and pretty funny.

But the main event of the evening was a movie that begged to be given the Rifftrax treatment. Had I watched the film on its own I'd been making jokes too, but they wouldn't have been as funny or spot-on as the trio of riffers. The comedy comments could only have been better is if they were on the Satellite of Love.

If like me, you hadn't see Sharknado, the basic plot of the story is a storm of the century hits the west coast of North America causing hurricanes, tsunamis and tornadoes. The giant waves and tornadoes suck up marine life… well not all of the marine life, only sharks… and spread them about Los Angeles. This leaves the city to be saved by an ex-surfer / bar owner, a waitress, a drunk patron and a guy from Tasmania who were not sure why he's there. Add in the bar owner's ex-wife and two kids and you have a team of heroes. I'm assuming this happens because every fireman, policeman, soldier and paramedic was on vacation in wine country that day. This film also contains so many completely unbelievable and logic-defying moments that the only way to enjoy this film properly is with the Rifftrax crew.

The humor of the additional comedy track includes the obvious jokes about Tara Reid's failing career and plastic surgery, every Ian Ziering 90210 jokes you could think of, poking fun at the people of Tasmania and some of brilliant one-liners that ranged from current events to obscure references. From a dig on George W. Bush's handling of Hurricane Katrina to a reference about an epic octogenarian orgy.

If you are looking for some laughs, go watch Rifftrax Live Sharknado.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/OYV5YPtupmA[/youtube]

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