405: Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure

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[00:00:48] Contest. Give us just a few details, and you could replace this spot and be heard by millions. See webpage for T's and C's. AudioStack.ai Contest Let's get to Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. This one came out in

[00:01:05] 1989, directed by Stephen Harrett, stars Keanu Reeves, Alex Winter, Harry Calamari, George Carlin, Dan Shore, a few others. And I'm gonna go ahead and do the synopsis for all of these films just because they're all, for the most part,

[00:01:20] kind of their own thing. Two rock and roll teens on the verge of failing their class set out on a quest to make the ultimate school history report after being presented with a time machine.

[00:01:33] Just right off the bat, I could not believe how much I loved this movie. It's one of the best times watching this that I've had watching a film in ages. I thought if we're talking about quotable comedies,

[00:01:44] this is top of the list with some of the best because Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter, their performances are fantastic, and they fit the style and the tone, the very over-the-top nature of the film perfectly.

[00:01:57] But the writing is great, too. You know, there's so many great one-liners anything from Most Excellent, Most Triumphant, Strange Things Are Afoot at the Circle K. There's just endless lines both through writing and through performance delivery that make the movie

[00:02:16] very memorable and so, so funny where you could give this script to the wrong director, the wrong cast, and it could come out completely flat and stupid and lame and unfunny, but it is the exact opposite with this

[00:02:30] cast and crew. The overall story is just the concept of these two doofy rock band guys who don't care really about school and are just want to play music. They get transported through time and they meet Napoleon and Socrates as they call it, which is hilarious. Genghis Khan,

[00:02:51] Billy the Kid, you know amongst others, Abraham Lincoln, and then they come back and basically have a newfound love and appreciation for those things in some ways and then incorporate into music and then broadcast that to the world or at least to

[00:03:05] in this movie it's just to their through that presentation. But I think as I was saying at the beginning, movies that are all about bringing people together through an amazing song, an amazing performance, a piece of art,

[00:03:17] that's something that we need more of these days where it's, you know, there were songs and I mean it maybe happens occasionally these days, but not very often where a song can change an era. It can define an era, a generation, a year, an event,

[00:03:32] or another piece of art can as well. And so obviously they aren't super deep. There's not a whole lot commentary there, but those central messages are definitely there. But even if that wasn't a big part of the movie,

[00:03:44] they're still hysterical. I think Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves are perfect together. The chemistry and then by themselves are great as well, but just their bromance and that continues over the three films and evolves and I really like what they do with it in the third film

[00:04:01] is great. I really like all the featured characters like, you know, Napoleon and I love them going to the Waterloo water park. That's a genius idea. The whole mall sequence where Abraham Lincoln's getting the photograph taken, Genghis Khan is messing with the

[00:04:16] sports equipment I think and then so on and Beethoven's playing the keyboard. All that stuff is so clever, so witty, really funny, and there's just such a lightness and innocence. I think the pacing is pretty much spot on with this film. It

[00:04:31] struggles more in the second one, which we'll get to, but this movie flies by. It's only about 90 minutes, but it still flies by. It's consistently inventive and creative. The visuals are, it's very 80s, but that's part of the charm.

[00:04:43] I don't think even at the time they were anything amazing, but I think that part still is great to me and very visually enjoyable. The quoting of this movie once again is unlike anything else I've seen in a long, long time where I feel like I could

[00:04:57] re-watch this movie now and quote most of the movie and a lot of those lines are still ones that I hear mentioned in pop culture references and jokes and things like that. So it definitely has struck a chord, pun intended there, with

[00:05:11] its audience. It doesn't have a huge audience. I think it deserves more, especially considering what other franchises get much bigger audiences than this one does, but the movie is amazing.

[00:05:21] I just absolutely loved revisiting this and could not believe it was as funny as it was. Still, it holds up great. The medieval sequence is awesome. That's another great moment. The music, considering what it's all about, is great.

[00:05:36] I love the little romance guitar riff that they carry out through the three movies. It's just little kernel ideas like that that help make the movie what it is. The final presentation where it's basically like a rock show and they bring forth all the different historical figures.

[00:05:53] I love that and that's just an appreciation, I guess in some ways, as shallow as it may be for bringing back history, bringing back education, informing people whether it's through music or whatever it might be. I think all that stuff is there, as shallow as it might be.

[00:06:08] The sequence where they, towards the beginning, where they're at the circle K and they see themselves. I love that idea. George Carlin is hilarious in it. The father of Keanu Reeves who's trying to get him to go to military school.

[00:06:20] That's a really funny, but being in the military myself, I get kind of a kick out of that. I love the film booth. That's an iconic part of the whole franchise.

[00:06:29] I really like that and their journeys through time where it's like the time portals and all that. I love that. So it's just a really very underrated movie still. I wish more people nowadays, newer audiences were aware of it and I'm hoping maybe

[00:06:43] if they do a fourth movie or if people go back and revisit the third one that it does get more of an audience because I think it's very deserving of it. But this one is an absolute comedy classic, one of the best comedies of the 80s easily.

[00:06:57] One of my favorites of Keanu Reeves and definitely of Alex Winter. I haven't seen him in a ton of other things. So this would be my favorite just by default.

[00:07:03] But even though I've seen really all of Keanu Reeves' films, this is probably be top five, at least top ten, but maybe even top five. Absolute must watch if you've not seen it. Could not say enough about it. Love it to death. So five out of five.

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