CPO Presents: 8 Questions with Joe Bob Briggs

Contradicting Popular Opinion Presents:
8 Questions with Joe Bob Briggs

Intro
My wife and I play this game wherein we pair celebrities with local eateries for the purposes of fictionally taking them to dinner. For instance, we’d take Christopher Walken for a hot dog at a Greek fast food joint.

The man who has merited the most discussion in this game?



Mr. Joe Bob Briggs.

Joe Bob Briggs (A.K.A. John Bloom) was the host of the popular Joe Bob’s Drive-In Theater on The Movie Channel for nearly ten years, followed by a four year stint hosting TNT’s MonsterVision. He’s a syndicated columnist, he’s had one-man shows, he’s acted in movies for the likes of John Woo and Martin Scorsese, he put together two seasons worth of “God Stuff” for The Daily Show, and he’s the author of multiple books.

He is also the only other person I can find who supports Action Jackson as a 4 star classic.

In other words, Joe Bob Briggs is a national treasure.

8 Questions with Joe Bob Briggs

1. First, so we can pimp, plug and promote it, what are you up to?

JOE BOB BRIGGS: Working with some guys who are starting a new horror/suspense/thriller channel, called Redrum. Also starting a new book called “We Will Eat Your Flesh: Stardom in America.” Doing a lot of speeches.

2. Horror remakes seem to be all the rage these days. Certainly, they cover a wide range of quality (from the horrifying to the “horrifying”) and a wider range of sticking to the source material (from the “so faithful as to be redundant” to “remake in name only”). What do you make of all this?

JOE BOB BRIGGS: I hate remakes. If you’re going to remake a movie, remake a BAD one and make it better. It never works.

3. Which movie should be remade?

JOE BOB BRIGGS: “Manos: Hands of Fate.”


Do not attempt to view this movie without Tom Servo’s assistance.

4. Which is the better zombie-romantic-comedy (zom-rom-com), Idle Hands, My Boyfriend’s Back, or Shaun of the Dead?

JOE BOB BRIGGS: “Shaun of the Dead.”

5. The double feature Grindhouse is meant to be evocative of the days of the grindhouses, drive-ins, and other seedy movie venues. Is something lost in seeing the film in a corporately owned mulit-plex with Happily N’Ever After playing on an adjacent screen? Does
mainstreaming destroy fringe appeal, or is this simply a case of “my favorite band got popular so now they suck”itis?

JOE BOB BRIGGS: This is a case of it being Too Damn Long. Grindhouse movies were *never* more than about 74 minutes long.

6. From its thousands of dead bodies to its mutant lesbian orgies, 300 probably has the most impressive Drive-In Totals of any theatrical release this year. Is there another 2007 film that’ll pile up even more vigorous Drive-in Figures?

JOE BOB BRIGGS: Not that I’ve seen so far, on the “upcoming” list.



Even the logo is bloody!

7. Is there a film that you regret never being able to get for MonsterVision?

JOE BOB BRIGGS: “I Spit On Your Grave” remained on the Too Grisly For Cable List throughout my tenure. I don’t think it’s ever been shown on network tv, anywhere.

8. We saved the most important question for last: who wins in a fight,
(images from www.giantmonstermovies.com)

Jet Jaguar

or

Gamera?

JOE BOB BRIGGS: Are you kidding? Gamera. Old Skool.

Outro, Pimps, etc.

Big thanks to Joe Bob for doing this thing. The wife and I will gladly take you to dinner next time you are in the neighborhood.

If we could only figure out where. . .

Speaking of interviews, BrokenDial’s Greg Wind has one this week that just happens to involve a member of my favorite post-modern-pop band.

Cox has been posting movie news like a crazy person this week, but then again, he does everything like a crazy person.

And the last pimp goes to Gordi, who examines the debut of a real wrestler turned fake wrestler turned NFL reject turned shootfighter.