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 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5h4P-26kHAw Hundreds of Beavers is a slapstick comedy film directed by Mike Cheslik and starring Ryland Brickson Cole Tews about an applejack brewer who finds himself thrust into a frozen wilderness. Forced to survive on only his wits, our hero Jean Kayak must brave the woody tundra and become a master of its elements to survive and win the affection of a local trapper's daughter. Making use of bodysuits, puppetry, and hand-drawn animation, Hundreds of Beavers is one of the wildest and most inventive comedies you'll ever see on this low of a budget, making something akin to a live-action Tex Avery cartoon. Sometimes when I make threads for movies, it's an experimental hidden-camera drama about humanity's ability to normalize even the greatest of atrocities, or a bloody revenge quest between some of the most talented killers in the world. Sometimes it's the goofiest poo poo you've ever seen. This is the latter. Hundreds of Beavers is not rated but you can expect some PG-13 material out of it. It recently concluded a theatrical roadshow and is now available on the digital storefront of your choice.
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Apr 17, 2024 16:10
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| # ? May 4, 2024 00:16 |
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If you love the golden age of theatrical animated shorts and silent comedies with a dash of videogame mechanics, this is the film you've been waiting your entire life to see you hear me, egbert souse?
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Apr 17, 2024 16:31
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First time I ever heard of this movie was about a week ago on these very forums and thanks to the strong word of mouth and my toddler watching the trailer a good five hundred times over the weekend, we bought it digitally on Amazon first thing Monday morning. Funny as hell, extremely creative, crass and clearly drawing inspiration from not just from other movies and filmmakers but from video games (every time it would cut to the New Trapline Map with the little Jean whistling his leitmotif I'd lose it). Definitely PG-13 and can see having to explain some of the more puerile jokes to older children, but the toddler thinks its the best movie he's ever seen. Strong recommend that you get on this strange, joyous creation as soon as you can!
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Apr 17, 2024 16:50
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This movie hit me like the first time I saw Mad Max Fury Road. Infinitely creative, wildly funny, spectacularly clever. Haven't seen a film better handle set-up and payoff since Hot Fuzz. Doesn't quite reach that peak, but comes drat near close. Waxed about it in the general cinema chat thread: quote:What starts as a gag snowballs into something that becomes part of the world's physics. For one not-really-spoilerly example, guy does the catcall whistle when he finds a woodpecker's nest of eggs, woodpecker immediately runs over and starts pecking his head. Repeat twice. Throughout the rest of the film, he repeatedly summons the woodpecker to trigger traps, attack foes, etc. Almost everything works that way, with even background gags coming back later into a wild finale. Still smiling thinking about it. So happy over the past week to hear it's reaching larger audiences - not one but two podcasts I listen to dropped mention of it despite not being podcasts about films. Get some buds together and watch it, it's incredible.
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Apr 17, 2024 18:41
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Oh snap it's on VoD now? Going to have to check it out this weekend
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Apr 17, 2024 18:48
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This looks amazing
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Apr 18, 2024 04:11
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I absolutely loving out-of-breath lost it when the beaver prosecutor squeaked at the jury in a "southern country gentleman" cadence. And then the Beaver Holmes/Watson's "deductions" about Jean's crimes were presented at trial. Best courtroom drama of the year. I bet a feature-length "making of" about this movie would kick rear end, too. I'd love to know how the gently caress they made this in the North Woods of Wisconsin with a shoestring budget.
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Apr 19, 2024 19:05
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Funniest movie I have seen in a while! The beaver kill counter was just perfectly executed.
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Apr 19, 2024 19:24
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This was fantastic. It's the kind of movie where the odd concept and the insanely positive word of mouth make me a bit paranoid that I've gotten overhyped as it starts, and then it still just blows me away. I think the best short review I can give is that I would be down to watch this again very soon, and that is extremely not my style with 99% of movies. Watch it with friends and stuff, it is very much something where the communal aspect of seeing how jokes hit different people is part of the joy of it. Seriously wonderful I dunno... I'm so glad it lived up to the hype. I think my favorite single bit ended up being the rabbit footprint tracking. The escalation of the rabbit lifespan into them banging and a full on rabbit orgy, into yet another branching path, could have seriously come from a PG-13 golden age Looney Tunes that never existed. just godly use of visuals to communicate so much in a silly side joke. the more I think about the movie though the more I want to watch it again because I'm sure there are tiny bits I missed Martman fucked around with this message at 10:55 on Apr 20, 2024 |
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Apr 20, 2024 10:50
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This is the most a movie has ever made me say “why is that so funny.” One of my biggest laughs was when he unravels his clothes to make a rope, lays it on the floor in the shape of an M, and just goes “MMMMMMMMM”
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Apr 20, 2024 15:20
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I've gotta say the poster art alone is a huge callback to some of the great midcentury comedies, I wish we'd see more stuff in that art style. I love Buster Keaton/Harold Lloyd/three stooges and this looks amazing, thanks op.
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Apr 20, 2024 23:28
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Loved this. Did not expect it to live up to the hype but it did. I lost it when I realized the title card doesn’t show up until minute 75.
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Apr 21, 2024 01:54
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It's so loving funny, thanks for recommending it. I particularly liked the gizmos he comes up with
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Apr 21, 2024 03:40
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This is a ridiculously funny movie. Its easily the funniest movie I've seen in like 5 years and its unbelievable how inventive this is. Also almost completely silent.
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Apr 21, 2024 03:52
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I've seen this movie a few times already since my kid loves it and it's the movie that keeps on giving. The gags are so drat smart. I've been recommending it to everyone I know and really hope it gets picked up on a big streaming service. maruhkati posted:I absolutely loving out-of-breath lost it when the beaver prosecutor squeaked at the jury in a "southern country gentleman" cadence. And then the Beaver Holmes/Watson's "deductions" about Jean's crimes were presented at trial. Best courtroom drama of the year. I was dying during that whole sequence. beaver Watson & Holmes are my favorite bits of the whole movie, especially their second fake wall thing that makes no sense. I'd love to know how they shot it as well - I go up to Crivitz and pembine and thereabouts yearly, and read the filming was during that brutal cold snap back in early 2020. It's nice to see a ton of stuff was just obviously in real snow and frigid temps and that lead actor was a drat trooper for putting up with that. trevorreznik fucked around with this message at 03:57 on Apr 21, 2024 |
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Apr 21, 2024 03:53
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Oops! I accidentally did a colonialism in Hundreds of Beavers! What an incredible film.
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Apr 21, 2024 05:52
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I am now ok with not having that shelved Wile E Coyote film now that this exists
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Apr 21, 2024 09:08
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I started out watching this thinking it was dumb and stupid and won't actually hold my attention outside of a few funnier jokes now and then, but then it kept on building on those dumb jokes to turn them into smarter jokes nonstop. A good movie.
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Apr 22, 2024 04:18
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Genuinely surprised by how good this film was. What a treat
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Apr 23, 2024 09:49
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Saw this movie last night and I loved it. I was on board from the start with its general Looney Tunes bullshit, but it escalated so beautifully. There's so much creativity on display. At the end of it all I lost my poo poo at the music used for the end credits. Safety Factor fucked around with this message at 15:17 on Apr 23, 2024 |
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Apr 23, 2024 14:29
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Yeah this ruled, the gags just keep coming and build up really well.
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Apr 23, 2024 15:01
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MacheteZombie posted:Yeah this ruled, the gags just keep coming and build up really well. Once it was revealed what exactly the beavers were building it just felt so…”justified” is the only word I can think of to use here. Also at one point the dam resembles classical depictions of the Tower of Babel. Before seeing it I was worried the handmade look of the movie would be the whole joke, but fortunately I was wrong.
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Apr 23, 2024 22:10
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Brilliant movie. Definitely worth an exploratory rental on Prime if you like fun. Many amazing moments, but the one that first surprised and delighted me was when he tries rolling the snow carrot onto the rabbit, but it rolls exactly like a real giant carrot would and just scoots to the side
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Apr 24, 2024 01:46
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My only regret is that I rented it instead of buying it
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Apr 25, 2024 15:30
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Saw this the other day and it's just nonstop fun, never stopped surprising me either. I'm amazed they kept up the madcap cartoon hijinks for two entire hours!
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Apr 25, 2024 22:01
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By the way, the previous feature from these guys - Lake Michigan Monster - is on Amazon Prime. It has the same handmade look and a lot of the same energy, but it’s a little too self-aware for its own good sometimes. Still pretty funny and worth a look if you loved Hundreds of Beavers, but adjust your expectations accordingly.
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Apr 25, 2024 22:19
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Went in primed to like this, but I was very repulsed by just about every choice in this film. The art direction was bad - it's not that it's low budget, it's just tacky and unappealing. The drawings that start the movie, the very poor costuming for the human characters and the mascot costumes all clash and none of them are good on their own. The only kind of nice designs were the frog and the fish. Combine that with ultra artificial green screen compositing and you have a visually focused movie that's almost always incredibly unpleasant to look at. The lead actor is very fit and can move around a lot but his whole demeanor and sense of humor seems to be based around the same type of "comedy" that fuels things like Epic Rap Battles of History. You can't make another Chaplin or Keaton but the kind of timing and gesturing (with more than your eyebrows) could have been studied more for a role like this. I would actually be surprised if the filmmakers appreciated or have watched many silent comedies. It has a very "retro" type feel to it, a filter-based, algorithmic aesthetic that is distinctly online in origin. They played a lot of video games and watched a lot of cartoons that were probably already borrowing jokes from older cartoons and films. They clearly put in a lot of effects work but I don't sit down to a movie for 100 minutes to congratulate the filmmakers on their work ethic. Edit: Man, the poster has such better design than anything in this movie, including rendering the beavers and his costume in a way that makes them look actually nice.
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Apr 27, 2024 17:37
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I don't know what you're seeing in the costuming that I'm not, can you elaborate? I scrolled up to the poster a few times and don't see a difference that lessens the movie. I do agree that the lead isn't as good as Chaplin or Keaton, but I think that's unfair since they're two all time greats with decades of experience in silent movies and big studios backing them. Meanwhile, my kid is currently watching it for the 7th time.
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Apr 27, 2024 21:38
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trevorreznik posted:I don't know what you're seeing in the costuming that I'm not, can you elaborate? I scrolled up to the poster a few times and don't see a difference that lessens the movie. I do agree that the lead isn't as good as Chaplin or Keaton, but I think that's unfair since they're two all time greats with decades of experience in silent movies and big studios backing them. It’s looking at the costumes in motion. They look cheap, and I did not find the cheapness charming. The proportions in the poster are also cartoonish, while the beavers in the movie are just regular guys in cheap mascot outfits moving like regular guys. I didn’t expect the guy to be a vaudevillian comic actor, but I also don’t think modern epic internet YouTube mugging is funny and that’s the only thing he did during the entire film. I’m sure kids like it, but this is not a kid’s movie and the rave reviews are not from kids.
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Apr 27, 2024 23:05
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I rented it on Prime and thought it was hilarious. The main actor does a great job at the role, I loved the gag of holding off with the title until, I dunno, mid way through the movie? And I really enjoy the visual style. I know there's green screen involved of course but I couldn't figure out exactly how the compositing was done. Like some shots look like they actually did go out in the woods and shoot, and then just comped in some funny looking trees, but in others I could not tell where reality stopped and composited elements began, or how they actually pulled it off. The black and white style certainly helps make the integration more seamless. I thought the casting was perfect, the building up of gags over the course of the film was perfect, the transition from somewhat grounded to more and more outlandish cartoony environments was great. I hope they had a ton of fun making it because it was a ton of fun to watch.
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Apr 28, 2024 00:26
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Mullitt posted:It’s looking at the costumes in motion. They look cheap, and I did not find the cheapness charming. The proportions in the poster are also cartoonish, while the beavers in the movie are just regular guys in cheap mascot outfits moving like regular guys. Well, I appreciate your explanation. I guess I really enjoyed the beavers just being guys in cheap outfits, especially with so many different "professions.". Oddly, the only thing I didn't like was the look of the skunk.
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Apr 28, 2024 04:21
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Mullitt posted:.It has a very "retro" type feel to it, a filter-based, algorithmic aesthetic that is distinctly online in origin. They played a lot of video games and watched a lot of cartoons that were probably already borrowing jokes from older cartoons and films. I get the sense ya didn't go into this knowing that this was a super tight low budget covid flick. I'm sure there's a way to get this atheistic to look cleaner, but like, all the editing and compositing was done by the director. They had an "art department" but 100% of it is just prop and model builders, whatever that entailed. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12818328/fullcredits/?ref_=tt_cl_sm Personally, I think it works because it's consistent and sets expectations right away. There's some downright inspirational compositing of footage laid over other footage imo, notably when he's throwing a snowball off a cliff composited over footage of bunnies in the lake. quote:I would actually be surprised if the filmmakers appreciated or have watched many silent comedies In interviews they're quick to drop the direct silent comedies that they were inspired by and various tributes to them.  Gonna go out on a limb and say they appreciate and have watched a few given they made a whole movie that's largely w/o dialog and uses the same music library as many classic toons.
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Apr 28, 2024 04:44
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CatstropheWaitress posted:I get the sense ya didn't go into this knowing that this was a super tight low budget covid flick. I'm sure there's a way to get this atheistic to look cleaner, but like, all the editing and compositing was done by the director. They had an "art department" but 100% of it is just prop and model builders, whatever that entailed. I have more than passing familiarity with low budget and independent films. I knew what it was going into it. I've seen plenty of video game/sci-fi influenced special effects movies at local film festivals in my life and this one has better compositing and effects than most, I agree. I don't really care about the technical achievements, though. It's nice for them, not me. The humor at the beginning is somewhat inspired by Looney Toons gags but always focuses on the effects, which since they are obviously fake I find the least effecting thing to focus on in a comedy. Then we get the entire middle chunk of the film which can be boiled down to "what if Zelda Breath of the Wild happened in a movie?" I just don't find it funny. I've played the game and had fun with the physics engine, I don't need to see it repeated on screen for an hour. The one movie these guys have for sure seen is Star Wars, since we get a whole tribute scene with the same sound effects. It's not even really a silent movie, it features a Zelda-inspired silent protagonist that communicates through grunts. I didn't see a lot of filmmaking promise or inspiration here besides the technical compositing abilities. The fight scenes/violence seem to have more passion and creativity than anything else but those are not the focus of the movie.
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Apr 28, 2024 17:13
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Just finished it and I think I can count on one hand the amount of movies that have made me laugh as hard as this did. Every single joke just builds and builds to a perfect crescendo, every other filmmaker needs to study this as a masterclass of physical comedy and show-don't-tell.
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Apr 28, 2024 22:30
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I'm so glad people are discovering this one. Agreed totally on the 'why is this so funny' posts and I just really love how hard it means into video game mechanics and concepts (the inventory and shop systems, the map being slowly revealed and having to go back to specific areas) in a movie absent of technology. I really don't go in for Keaton and other silent slapstick comedies (or slapstick in general) but this hit with me in a major way.
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Apr 29, 2024 13:23
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The Chaplin etc comparisons aren't really the ones to go for. This is a looney tunes cartoon with some live action characters
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Apr 29, 2024 17:08
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Mullitt posted:Went in primed to like this, but I was very repulsed by just about every choice in this film. The art direction was bad - it's not that it's low budget, it's just tacky and unappealing. The drawings that start the movie, the very poor costuming for the human characters and the mascot costumes all clash and none of them are good on their own. The only kind of nice designs were the frog and the fish. Combine that with ultra artificial green screen compositing and you have a visually focused movie that's almost always incredibly unpleasant to look at. The lead actor is very fit and can move around a lot but his whole demeanor and sense of humor seems to be based around the same type of "comedy" that fuels things like Epic Rap Battles of History. You can't make another Chaplin or Keaton but the kind of timing and gesturing (with more than your eyebrows) could have been studied more for a role like this. Did you watch it alone or in a packed theater? I could maybe see having some similar emotions if I watched it alone but in a packed theater it really worked and cracked me up
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Apr 30, 2024 13:05
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To me the mixed media sorta feel of it being a Loony Tunes cartoon mashed with a silent film mashed with a video game mashed with a YouTube video was part of the charm.
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Apr 30, 2024 20:03
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FreudianSlippers posted:To me the mixed media sorta feel of it being a Loony Tunes cartoon mashed with a silent film mashed with a video game mashed with a YouTube video was part of the charm. Yeah I really liked that about it. It felt like there was something going on in every corner of the screen.
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Apr 30, 2024 20:32
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Fuckin beaver ziggurat (I've used the word ziggurat twice today!) Also the theme song is way more of an earworm than it needed to be Honestly I think my biggest laugh was for the beefy snowfisherman, just a perfect encapsulation of the type of thinking at work across the whole movie
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May 1, 2024 02:47
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