Its tough to follow up the absurdly perverse genius of Meet the Feebles, so I decided not to. Instead I decide to pick a film that is truly ridiculous and revels in showcasing some of the dumbest jokes that you could possibly imagine. Yet while the jokes may be stupid, and believe me they are stupid, its the delivery that sells them time and again.

One of the most interesting things about this film, is that it currently holds a 0% approval rating over at Rotten Tomatoes, an impressive feat to be sure. Yet even stranger is the fact the film is actually ridiculously funny and has a truly epic cast (including Steve Zahn, Jonah Hill, Kevin Heffernan, Harry Hamlin, Justin Long, Jeff Garlin, Ernest Borgnine and Robert Patrick). The voice over narration during the nature scenes alone are absolutely priceless (ex – Experts estimate that monkeys make up 80% of the world’s monkey population.) and they beg the question, why the hell isn’t that kind of nature show on television?

But it is the final nature show that truly eclipses them all, and the one that is impossible not to find humorous, despite it being one of the laziest jokes ever. Yet Strange Wilderness continually shows that earnest repetition is the key to getting a laugh, which is why this is one of the Greatest Moments in Cinema History.

Tags: cinema, cinema history, ernest borgnine, Greatest Moments in Cinema History, harry hamlin, jeff garlin, jonah hill, justin long, kevin heffernan, meet the feebles, nature scenes, Robert Frank, rotten tomatoes, steve zahn, strange wilderness, television, Where the Long Tail Ends

With just a cursory glance it would appear that Jared Hess’ career is in decline. After hitting it big with Napoleon Dynamite, his next film, Nacho Libre, struggled to gain a following as it garnered mixed reviews. Their certainly seem to be a certain group of devoted fans, but it had no where near the mainstream appeal of Napoleon Dynamite. Now along comes Gentlemen Broncos, and its stunningly poor 15% Rotten Tomatoes rating.

So when I went to a screening of Gentlemen Broncos I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. Napoleon Dynamite had certainly grown on me, but I loved Nacho Libre. Was I just one of those people who simply clicked with Jared Hess? As I sat through the film, quite early on the answer became quite clear, yes I am.

Gentlemen Broncos seals the fact that no one truly gets what being an awkward nerd is like Jared Hess does. His protagonists are strange, uncomfortable and surprisingly sweet. These are naive and gentle characters that know what they like, and understand that that makes them very different from everyone else. And while they might not always be comfortable with that, they accept it.

This is what I thinks makes watching his Hess’ films so difficult for most people. His “nerds” truly are nerds. Not simply some pretty face made ugly with one weird personality trait, but people who just can’t ever make that step to being acceptable to the mainstream. Hess portrays these personalities both accurately and lovingly, and the cool kids hate his films for it. These films don’t just have a facile appreciation for the un-hip, they saturate ever fiber of their being with oddities.

Is Gentlemen Broncos a great film? No, but its filled with sold performances, as well as Sam Rockwell’s second monster performance of the year, and it is wildly entertaining with its spastic and unconventional humor. It’s an incredibly sweet film, filled with awkward moments and subtle humor, and it does a remarkable job of capturing just how awkward teenage passion can be. Sure I’m in the minority, but I have been much of my life, and I am quite comfortable enjoying Gentlemen Broncos while the cool kids go watch something more comfortable.

Tags: film, films, Gentlemen Broncos, jared hess, movie, Nacho Libre, napoleon dynamite, Reviews, rotten tomatoes, Sam Rockwell

While the debate rages on between film geeks over whether Metacritic or Rotten Tomatoes is the superior criticism aggregator, their is now a third aggregator that has entered the mix, called Movie Review Intelligence. Movie Review Intelligence plans to separate itself from the Big Two by using an even smaller group of critics (somewhere in the neighborhood of 65) and weighting their reviews based on how much “pull” they have.

So far the site seems to have some impressive metrics working behind it, making it a bit of a thrill to read for those of us who enjoy crunching numbers. And while I’m happy to see Star Tribune critic (and friend of the site) Colin Covert being included within this select group, I’m a bit at a loss on why his compatriot across the river at the Pioneer Press, Chris Hewitt, is being left out.

The other negative that I have is that I’m not exactly happy that mediocre critics with wide ranging publications like Roger Ebert, Owen Gleiberman or ugg, Peter Travers, means that they might skew the reviews simply due to their wide readership, rather then their competency. And while the limited amount of critics does reduce the number of highly questionable critics being included, a major fault of Rotten Tomatoes, the same small sample size means that the resulting aggregation might potentially be widely skewed. It will be something to keep an eye on over the coming months, and hopefully this site proves as reliable and accurate as its lofty claims.