The Films of Bobcat Goldthwait

Spoilers for Bobcat Goldthwait's films within

Over the last year or two, I've become more interested in a genre that I used to steer clear of: the black comedy. Black, or dark, comedy films are films that take on depressing or serious topics with a sense of humor. These films deal in taboos, often challenging audience expectations about what's acceptable to make jokes about and what can be shown on screen. One of the new masters of black comedy, and a filmmaker I really admire, is Bobcat Goldthwait.

Bobcat rose to prominence in the 1980's for his unhinged, energetic stand-up act. His trademark vocalizations eventually led him to a supporting part in the Police Academy series. He is often remembered by those not in the indie film world as being the crazy late-80's comedian that wasn't Sam Kennison, his more famous rival. However, he would soon find a second life in his career as a writer-director, starting with his debut feature, 1992's Shakes the Clown.

Goldthwait as Shakes 

Shakes the Clown tells the story of the seedy underbelly of the professional clowning business, through the eyes of Shakes (played by Goldthwait himself), an alcoholic, depressed children's entertainer. The film flopped upon release, but found a second life as a cult classic due to it's dark humor and a small supporting turn by Goldthwait's friend and muse, Robin Williams.

Robin Williams, credited under the name Marty Fromage, as Mime Jerry

Goldthwait returned to dark territory with his third film, 2006's Sleeping Dogs Lie. Essentially a comedy about communication and relationships with a dark twist, the film hinges on the main character's confession to her fiance that she performed oral sex on a dog in college. The film explores relatable issues within relationships while maintaining a macabre sense of humor and fearlessness in the face of an extremely taboo subject, beastiality.

In my opinion, Bobcat Goldthwait's directorial masterpiece, and the culmination of his long-term collaboration with Robin Williams, is 2009's World's Greatest Dad. Featuring my favorite performance by Williams, the film concerns a struggling English teacher whose life changes when his unloveable son, played by Darryl Sabara of Spy Kids fame, accidentally kills himself while masturbating. This film is fearless in the face of a topics such as autoerotic asphyxiation and the societal glorification of those who commit suicide. The film has recently taken on a sad connotation with the death of Robin Williams; however, if one can handle it, I think that now is as good of a time as ever to discover the film. William's performance as Lance is a master class in the handling of controversial comedic material. Goldthwait and Williams were a comedy team that could approach topics that no other filmmaker-actor would touch with a sense of humor not found anywhere else.

All of Goldthwait's films, including his most recent effort, 2011's God Bless America (which concerns a murderous middle-aged man and a teenaged girl killing those they find vile in American society), tackle head-on controversial subject matter and mine these topics for every bit of comedy they can yield. Although none of his films are perfect, I admire Bobcat Goldthwait for his incredibly dark comedic sensibilities and refusal to back down in the face of controversial, tricky topics.

Striving to be the best

When I was young my parents introduced me to the world of Disney. I remember the first video I ever watched was Mickey's Steam Boat. In the video Mickey is whistling the most catchy tune that I can still hum to this day. When I got a little older I became fascinated on how the music, and the sound was created. My uncle (who worked as a Production Designer for Disney) saw me watching loops of old Disney clips and later sent me a book titled "Demystifying Disney. This book basically revealed everything behind the scenes in Disney animation. The chapter that fascinated me the most was about this guy Doc Kane who works with Mixing all the sounds for animation. His name is Doc Kane but most just call him Doc. With over 300 projects under his belt and a slew of awards and nominations, including four Academy Award nominations, Doc has one of the longest and most impressive resumes in the sound business. Re-recording for over 35 years, Doc has worked with hundreds of talented actors including Tom Cruise, Ellen DeGeneres, Johnny Depp, Brad Pitt and Robin Williams to name a few. He is also the trusted ADR mixer for dozens of legendary filmmakers such as: Tim Burton, James Cameron, Clint Eastwood and Taylor Hackford. Never one to toot his own horn, Doc is known as one of the best in the industry, his name alone drumming up praise and admiration from his colleagues and clients alike. Doc talked about automated dialogue replacement or ADR which basically means you take what is being said by these actors and transform it into what the character says in the film. Doc talked about when he was younger he used to take a boom mic and a Nagra recording device and record different ambiance's. And this fascinated me that you could literally record anything and through sound make people believe that your actually there. I guess this made me realize how lucky I am to be in a place where I can play around with all different types of audio equipment. And for that I am extremely grateful for what I have, and what I want to be

Night at the Museum 3?

If there's one thing I hate about the film industry, it's the perpetuation of a film series in order to make  more money. Lucrative films are always getting sequels, prequels and and other type of "quel" that can be squeezed out. Sometimes, these subsequent films build upon the foundation set by their predecessor and are quite good. However, I've found that nine times out of ten, the series reaches a threshold where the films simply stop being good. Take the Shrek series, for example. The original "Shrek" movie was great. Funny, charming, built with a great cast, it was one of my favorite films growing up. Shrek 2 was a pleasant surprise, and in some cases proved to be better than the original. Then "Shrek the Third" rolled around. I remember thinking to myself, my goodness this film is terrible. I didn't even bother going to see the fourth Shrek film. For better or worse, each film was considered a blockbuster hit, and perpetuated the creation of other film. I bet right now there's someone in Hollywood who thinks another Shrek film is a brilliant idea. My point is, monetary success is not proportional to quality, and should not be considered as such.

Recently it was just announced that the "Night at the Musuem" franchise is getting another installment. Now, this one particularly bothers me. I remember being in elementary school when the first film came out, and I was very excited. Rightfully so, as the film was charming, witty, and had a pretty good premise. After seeing the second one, it was clear that the source material for the films had quickly evaporated. It was essentially the same as the first, only it had lost it's charm. I feel like this downhill slide could only continue with a third film. I mean, how many museums can Ben Stiller almost ruin?

It seems like this project is going to get the greenlight, as Robin Williams recently announced that he would reprise his role as Teddy Roosevelt. Nothing to keep a film going like the attachment of big-name actors.

Although I don't want it to, this film will definitely and unfortunately happen.

Good Will Hunting

 The other night I took the liberty of watching the classic "Good Will Hunting". As most of you probably know, the film follows Will Hunting, a 20 year old janitor who lives in Boston and acts like a thug, but consequently happens to be a genius. The film was written by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, launching them into stardom. The film won the Academy Award that year for Best Original Screenplay, which was quite an achievement for young Ben (25) and Matt (27) and a testament to their natural talent, being that this was the first real piece they had ever written.

 The story itself is absolutely impeccable. It's one of those movies that I can watch over and over again without ever getting sick of. Damon and Affleck did such an incredible job creating a story with characters that were so multidimensional, they really help bring you in and keeps you invested in what's happening. It's astounding to me that these guys were able to write such an incredible piece at such an early age, given the stories complexity and overall genius. Good Will Hunting is a movie that will remain a classic for generations to come.

Good Will Hunting

I am going to move away from Russell Crowe and to a movie I really Love.  Good Will Hunting.  This is a heart warming story starring some A-list actors including, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, and Robin Williams.  I love Robin Williams and I really love his stand up, so it was great seeing him in such a serious emotional role.  He won Best Supporting actor for his part.  The screenplay was written by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck and won them each an academy award.  It also got nods for Best Picture, director, and supporting actress.  It is about a janitor at M.I.T named Will Hunting who is actually a genius.  When a professor at M.I.T figures this out he does his best to try to get Will Hunting into a very high level, and well paying job.

Good will Hunting is directed by Gus Van Sant who also directed Milk, another movie I think is fantastic.  Gus Van Sant did a fantastic job with the actors.   He got a oscar worthy performance out of Robin Williams and really was able to get them to play their characters well and fit well into the story.  I think the story is great because it takes what seems to be an obvious decision for Will Hunting to only reveal that he has various emotional issues.  Robin Williams plays a psychology professor who is asked to help Will by the M.I.T professor.  It is a great story and a great movie and is a must see.

Happy Feet Two

I can't even explain how excited I am for Happy Feet 2

Elijah Wood is back as Mumble and Robin Williams will be playing his variety of characters. I'm also really excited for the new editions like Pink and Common and can't wait to see what they do with their characters.

Here's a behind-the-scenes featurette I found, it's awesome to see how much fun all the actors are having and how great of an experience it was for the people involved: