VIRUS may be the most disappointing riff yet

[enyalep]

Virus was not the best example for this poll, i generally don't love newer rifftrax but this one made me laugh a few times, and the movie selection was far from their worst (you all know which ones i'm talking about). at least based upon what's come so far, i'd welcome more grimtrax.

[I Want To Go Faster]

For anyone who wants the longer [2:35:56] version;

https://mega.nz/file/Zyl3VBiY#Xw0xJHS328...IaSaNzsILw

Caveat emptor; it's 360p and it has English subtitles burnt in ... even though the dialogue is in English (although they're reasonably small).

[subnode]

At least in the old days, the funny days of rifftrax, MKB wrote their own jokes.  Which - as proven by the poll of this topic and hundreds of posts on this forum and hundreds on other forums - indicates that the hipsterwank humour fails compared to non-adolescent humour.

My understanding is that Conor's been involved in writing since the very beginning. Mike hired him as a writer before they even released their first riff, certainly before Mike brought in Kevin or Bill. There was never a time where Rifftrax was written by MKB exclusively.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Rifftrax/commen..._producer/

[blurg]

At least in the old days, the funny days of rifftrax, MKB wrote their own jokes.  Which - as proven by the poll of this topic and hundreds of posts on this forum and hundreds on other forums - indicates that the hipsterwank humour fails compared to non-adolescent humour.

My understanding is that Conor's been involved in writing since the very beginning. Mike hired him as a writer before they even released their first riff, certainly before Mike brought in Kevin or Bill. There was never a time where Rifftrax was written by MKB exclusively.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Rifftrax/commen..._producer/

and sean not long after I'm pretty sure

[SuspiriaTrumpsItFollowsCrap]

At least in the old days, the funny days of rifftrax, MKB wrote their own jokes.  Which - as proven by the poll of this topic and hundreds of posts on this forum and hundreds on other forums - indicates that the hipsterwank humour fails compared to non-adolescent humour.

My understanding is that Conor's been involved in writing since the very beginning. Mike hired him as a writer before they even released their first riff, certainly before Mike brought in Kevin or Bill. There was never a time where Rifftrax was written by MKB exclusively.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Rifftrax/commen..._producer/

Conor is 43, so he’s barely a Gen Y, and as I stated in the beginning, every Millennial is a Gen Y, but not every Gen Y is a Millennial; AGAIN, millenniwanks are a behavioural subset, just like Slackers were a subset for Gen X.  Not every 20-something in the roaring 20s (1920s) was a bathtub-gin swilling flapper, but the non-flappers were still part of the same generation.  I don’t consider Conor to be a millenniwank.  That being said ~

Reddit is often considered an unreliable source for accreditation.  Or vetting.  But milennibrats and tikky-tokky-tardians love it.  Because it requires very little “effort”.  Now, back to Conor ~

On the rifftrax site itself, I don’t see a credit for Conor on “The Revenge of Dr. X”, nor on “Ghosthouse”, nor “Tourist Trap”, nor “Plan 9 From Outer Space”, nor “Brainiac”, nor the “The Wicker Man”, nor “Swamp of the Ravens”, nor many others, and cross-checking with Conor’s own imdb credits, he didn’t work on those.  At least “on record”.

However, if he did, if he even provided one joke, in any of those rifftrax titles, he should be credited, and the rifftrax pages should be edited and amended to reflect his efforts.  Even if he wrote jokes that fell-flat for me.  And that also goes for any of the other younger writers, which means only a consistent and congruous policy of credit.  Which is fair to ask, since the writing-credits have been more detailed in the pages for later entries into the Rifftraxian catalogue.  Including some of the worst jokes.

But Reddit is no more reliable than Tumblr these days. 

Again, I provided style-samples of riffs which indicate the answer provided to the question of the original poster; those are what truly count, but you deserved a proper reply, which no millenniwank would give.  Have a good day or evening.  Disagreement does not require a stoush.

---

... and the poll still stands at 21 against, 5 for, 5 undecided.

[I Want To Go Faster]

"millenniwank"

No.

[Moe]

Off topic posts and posters sent on vacation.

Keep it on topic unless you want to join them.

[stormium]

the topic of this thread is: VIRUS may be the most disappointing riff yet.

[NexusWraith]

I watched it, finally. In the intro, MKB make a big deal about how terrible the movie is, congratulating themselves on how funny they are, and how no one could even consider watching this movie without their having cut significant chunks out of it.

As it happens, I also recently watched the Mads' episode of "I Accuse My Parents". Frank went off on a long rant, mocking people who complain about them cutting 20 minutes out of the movies they do. ("Well fuck you, too, then," was my thought at the time.)

It recalls comments by Jerry Seinfeld, where he complains that today's audiences are too sensitive or stupid or whatever to appreciate his humor.

I am going to call this the Gallagher effect, after the prop comic who made a lot of money on the back of a gimmick, and who then turned bitter when audiences stopped finding him so entertaining.

Personally, I did not find the riffing in Virus funny. I think that's partially because it's a terrible choice for riffing. It is slow and serious, without any of the inherent goofiness of (say) the German TV Hamlet. (I might track down the unriffed movie, though. I have a feeling I'll enjoy it more.)

As a final note, this was no more "grim" than most of their riffs, and a lot less grim than some. What they are calling "grim", I would just call "dull".

But that's just my opinion.

[TDS_Frank]

What great responses - I'm Very encouraged by the commiserate results of the poll and for the sympathetic discussions this post has generated.

Lots of great points about the many possible contributing factors:

1. M,K,B being advanced in years and somewhat losing their gusto, 
   
2. their disjointed/separated approach to writing their scripts, 
   
3. selecting RLM leftovers that absolutely do not lend themselves to sustained riffing (or viewing),
   
4. selecting "shot on shideo" movies ...or really any VOD release of B-movies or Straight to Streaming movies (or worse) made after the year 2000,
   
5. picking an okay movie but having so little material that they decide to trim out 10-35 minutes of the film,
   
6. a general decline in organic inside jokes and truly pithy and clever lines (either due to laziness, or out of a gross underestimation of their audience's intelligence), 
   
7. a decline in creative, funny bits that AREN'T just groaner, see-it-from-a-mile-away puns (even some of the Just The Joke intros have more energy and creativity than many of the more recent VOD's in full!),
   
8. and a decline in bits that AREN'T intentionally annoying, and bits that conclude with one or more riffers acting mad, frustrated, or insulted - or leaving/threatening to leave over it (as if that earns it a pass or creates sufficient ironic distance - spoiler: it never does).
   

I pray they hit a new stride and get in the groove again. Maybe a new writer, or more collaborative writing style, or even just getting feedback on what riffs land and which ones absolutely do not - there have been breakdowns of MST3K riffs by category/types, they might benefit from a similar breakdown for their golden age and present day riffs...

...BUT the most SHOCKING thing I've read, across all the replies to this post, is that there are people, or supposed people, who ACTUALLY prefer Mary Joe and Bridgette riffs to...well, Anything!
I refuse to believe that anyone could find issue with even the least-inspired recent Rifftrax, and yet wholly enjoy Any of the femtrax releases...
I find that each of the issues listed above with the M,K,B Riffs go DOUBLE for the femtrax, plus many more issues unique to them!

I'd argue that for some people, a lot of rifftrax is consumed almost as comfort food, in a vaguely para-social sense, to view bad movies with a familiar, friendly, funny companion - while this may not be a primary motive for most, is SURELY must be prominent factor for the fans of the Mary Joe + Bridgette riffs. It just can't be for the raw comedic talent!

Please, I mean no offense - what, if any, are the Stand Out best riffs by MJ+B?? The 10 or so I've seen have all been full-on misses.