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markit
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Feb 28, 2006
- Messages
- 119
- Reaction score
- 26
So last night at London's BFI (British Film Institute) was the start of the brand new LOCO film festival celebrating great Comedy in cinema. For the opening night they'd organised a preview screening of The Muppets, two weeks before it opens Nationwide.
Fortunately I was able to get 2 tickets before it quickly sold out, for me and my best friend who's almost as Muppet-mad as I am, so we went in our matching Kermit tees, and soon realised when we got there, that a BFI audience is a far more serious film goer, so we kind've stood out a little.
Fortunately we weren't the only ones who dressed for the occasion, there were a couple other muppet tees scattered throughout the audience, and all of the attendants were wearing the 'Together Again' Threadless t-shirt, which they were selling to raise money for the festival.
As we arrived they had a young jazz band in the foyer playing Muppet tunes, which was a nice touch, although they murdered 'Man or a Muppet' but I think it was the first time they'd played it, so top marks for effort
The film played, following a brilliant new Toy Story short about discarded fast food toys, which will accompany the film when it goes on general release.
And what can I say about the movie, it's just amazing! Absolutely pitch perfect and gets the tone of Muppets spot on from start to finish, it's extremely funny, yet really pulls on the heart strings like every good Muppet movie should do.
Back to the humour, it's so fast, with excellent timing and execution, the laughs just keep coming , I could definitely see some similarities of style and tone between this and the Flight of the Conchords, also directed by James Bobin, whilst also bringing in the contemporary humour and edge of Jason Segal and Nick Stoller, without compromising what the Muppets are all about, no doubt owing to the fact that those involved were and are such huge fans, holding them with such reverence and the same high regard as the fans who are watching. And to re-introduce the Muppets to the audience through the eyes of Walter, possibly their biggest fan, was a brilliant idea.
I also have to say, the sight of Swedish Chef dressed as a ***** (Spoilers) complete with hat is one of the funniest things i've ever seen! I just loved that!
Anyway, back to the screening, after the movie, it was a real treat that they'd invited the director and local James Bobin to chat about the film and to participate in a Q & A session.
This was fantastic, and very interesting, giving lots of insights into the making of the movie, it's probably all been documented already in various interviews and post elsewhere on the forum.
But it was fascinating to hear about how they filmed everything, and how complicated it was to achieve everything we see on screen, and he wished they'd had a camera set up all the time filming everything around them so we could see how difficult it was. Obviously making a film with puppets is a huge undertaking, and there was a young film maker in the audience who was about to make a puppet movie, so he asked for some advice, to which Bobin replied, allow yourself plenty of extra time.
Normally i'd just sit back and enjoy these type of chats, but I couldn't resist asking a question, and very cheekily managed to include about 4 questions in 1
I said how I felt like I wanted to cheer and applaud after every song, I don't think I was alone in this, but obviously us Brits are so reserved, we tend to look around to see if anyone else is and if not, just sit there quietly , but I really wanted to cheer throughout this entire movie, that's how it made me feel.
I suggested that there may have been a lot of footage that was filmed that didn't make the final cut, hoping that he might divulge a little more info about the blu-ray release...and I LOVED his answer....
Of course there was a lot cut including the whole Tex Richman back story in the full length version of his number, but SEMI SPOILER AHEAD - He also filmed an entire sequence over 2 days of how difficult it is for the Muppets to get down from all the different levels of the arches in the opening title sequence after they've sung the Muppet Show theme. Which should be in the Blu-ray, so I can't wait to see that.
They also asked some of the kids in the audience what they thought of it, to which one said 'good' which got a few laughs as, one also said 'unique' which he seemed to appreciate.
So overall, it was a fun and fascinating insight into the making of the movie, he was a really cool, nice guy and kindly posed for a photo after so good experience all round
Fortunately I was able to get 2 tickets before it quickly sold out, for me and my best friend who's almost as Muppet-mad as I am, so we went in our matching Kermit tees, and soon realised when we got there, that a BFI audience is a far more serious film goer, so we kind've stood out a little.
Fortunately we weren't the only ones who dressed for the occasion, there were a couple other muppet tees scattered throughout the audience, and all of the attendants were wearing the 'Together Again' Threadless t-shirt, which they were selling to raise money for the festival.
As we arrived they had a young jazz band in the foyer playing Muppet tunes, which was a nice touch, although they murdered 'Man or a Muppet' but I think it was the first time they'd played it, so top marks for effort
The film played, following a brilliant new Toy Story short about discarded fast food toys, which will accompany the film when it goes on general release.
And what can I say about the movie, it's just amazing! Absolutely pitch perfect and gets the tone of Muppets spot on from start to finish, it's extremely funny, yet really pulls on the heart strings like every good Muppet movie should do.
Back to the humour, it's so fast, with excellent timing and execution, the laughs just keep coming , I could definitely see some similarities of style and tone between this and the Flight of the Conchords, also directed by James Bobin, whilst also bringing in the contemporary humour and edge of Jason Segal and Nick Stoller, without compromising what the Muppets are all about, no doubt owing to the fact that those involved were and are such huge fans, holding them with such reverence and the same high regard as the fans who are watching. And to re-introduce the Muppets to the audience through the eyes of Walter, possibly their biggest fan, was a brilliant idea.
I also have to say, the sight of Swedish Chef dressed as a ***** (Spoilers) complete with hat is one of the funniest things i've ever seen! I just loved that!
Anyway, back to the screening, after the movie, it was a real treat that they'd invited the director and local James Bobin to chat about the film and to participate in a Q & A session.
This was fantastic, and very interesting, giving lots of insights into the making of the movie, it's probably all been documented already in various interviews and post elsewhere on the forum.
But it was fascinating to hear about how they filmed everything, and how complicated it was to achieve everything we see on screen, and he wished they'd had a camera set up all the time filming everything around them so we could see how difficult it was. Obviously making a film with puppets is a huge undertaking, and there was a young film maker in the audience who was about to make a puppet movie, so he asked for some advice, to which Bobin replied, allow yourself plenty of extra time.
Normally i'd just sit back and enjoy these type of chats, but I couldn't resist asking a question, and very cheekily managed to include about 4 questions in 1
I said how I felt like I wanted to cheer and applaud after every song, I don't think I was alone in this, but obviously us Brits are so reserved, we tend to look around to see if anyone else is and if not, just sit there quietly , but I really wanted to cheer throughout this entire movie, that's how it made me feel.
I suggested that there may have been a lot of footage that was filmed that didn't make the final cut, hoping that he might divulge a little more info about the blu-ray release...and I LOVED his answer....
Of course there was a lot cut including the whole Tex Richman back story in the full length version of his number, but SEMI SPOILER AHEAD - He also filmed an entire sequence over 2 days of how difficult it is for the Muppets to get down from all the different levels of the arches in the opening title sequence after they've sung the Muppet Show theme. Which should be in the Blu-ray, so I can't wait to see that.
They also asked some of the kids in the audience what they thought of it, to which one said 'good' which got a few laughs as, one also said 'unique' which he seemed to appreciate.
So overall, it was a fun and fascinating insight into the making of the movie, he was a really cool, nice guy and kindly posed for a photo after so good experience all round
