Tag Archives: improv

Top 10: Improvised Scenes in Movie History

As wonderful as a carefully crafted script is, some of the best movie moments are simply made up on the fly.  CineFix returns with another great movie list – Top 10: Improvised Scenes in Movie History.  Some directors hate improv and some barely require a formal script.  I think erring on the side of having a Nolan-esque literary script in place is probably the prudent route, but as those are a handful a year, there’s something seriously admirable about an actor/director collaboration that just spontaneously generates magic on the spot.  While improv is most associated with comedy, a good portion of the spots on the list go to famous dramatic scenes from Apocalypse Now, Goodfellas, A Clockwork Orange, and The Breakfast Club.  Improv is a staple of comedy, and a lot of your favorite comedy moments, be they from Judd Apatow, Bill Murray, or Chris Guest, also make the list.  Rather than picking a scene for #1 though, CineFix made the very wise choice of simply sticking Robin Williams’s name up top.  If you’re going to have a list heralding lack of structure, Robin deserves to sit atop it with his whole body of work. Robin Williams in Good Will Hunting

 

Patton Oswalt’s Star Wars Vision Gets Animated


This video is the most posted video now in the history (albeit brief of this website).  The phenomenon that is Patton Oswalt’s crazily improvised premise for Star Wars Episode VII continues to seize the hearts and minds of sad, pale friendless geeks like myself.  First, Entertainment Weekly gave the bizarre opus its own poster.  Now someone has gone to the admirable time killing effort of animating the rant.

For those who somehow missed the off-the-cuff feat of nerditry last month, Patton Oswalt was guest starring on an episode of Parks and Recreation.  His character was filibustering at a Pawnee, Indiana City Council meeting.  The writers hadn’t scripted anything for Oswalt and just asked him to talk about anything for as long as he could.  Oswalt proceeded to outline in phenomenal detail his pitch for Star Wars Episode VII.  The pitch merges the Star Wars and Marvel Universes with Greek Mythology into a sort of geekly fever dream.  Above, I have first the original version of the take from the show, then the animated version with Entertainment Weekly’s poster below.

Star-Wars-VII_Poster_Oswalt

Patton Oswalt’s Star Wars Pitch Has a Poster

This video has the distinction of being the first in the history of Killing Time to be featured in two posts…because it is just THAT good.  For those who missed it earlier in the week, Patton Oswalt guest-starred on Parks and Recreation.  His character was filibustering at a Pawnee, Indiana City Council meeting.  The writers hadn’t scripted anything for Oswalt and just asked him to talk about anything for a while.  Oswalt proceeded to outline in spectacular detail his pitch for Star Wars Episode VII.  The pitch merges the Star Wars and Marvel Universes with Greek Mythology and now Entertainment Weekly has created a poster for this geek fever dream.  I feel like the geek nation should knight Oswalt for this spectacular feat of improvisational nerditry.  Pitch above; poster below; all told, this has been by far the best thing to happen in this sad week.


Star-Wars-VII_Poster_Oswalt

Patton Oswalt’s Crazed Star Wars Episode VII Pitch

….this is one of the greatest things I have ever seen…..

Ok, you may need more context.  Patton Oswalt is guest starring on Parks and Recreation as a citizen filibustering at a council meeting.  The producers didn’t have anything specific written so they just asked him to keep talking.  He proceded to outline his pitch for Star Wars Episode VII connecting it to the Marvel Universe and…just watch this…this is Mr. Smith Goes to Washington meets Clerks.


Comedian Jonathan Winters Has Passed Away

davisrulesjonathan

Another sad passing this month.  Comedian Jonathan Winters has passed away from natural causes.  Winters was a pioneering force in improv comedy and helped inspire the careers of later comics such as Jim Carrey and Robin Williams.  Winters starred with Williams in Mork & Mindy and films like The Loved One and It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.  Witners was 87.