Monthly Top Five - September 2011

Hey, remember the What's Weekly Top 5 feature? So do we. The only problem is that it rarely came on a weekly basis, so we're switching gears. In  High Fidelity, the characters compare their top fives in a variety of categories. Being big fans of both the film and novel, we here at the What bring you our Weekly Monthly Top Five, a feature focused on five fantastic things that you should become familiar with.

Reasons to be Excited for The Muppets

I am a Muppet fanatic. This is no big secret. In fact, it will be very hard for me to narrow down this list to just five things, or to not just write "It's the Muppets!" five times. I have been excited about this movie since it was rumored several years ago. In fact, I have pretty much been constantly excited for new Muppet material for as long as I can remember. Nevertheless, I realize that there are people out there who are not quite as excited as I am, so for them I present this list of why they should be excited. Super pumped, even.

My feet need these.

5- Shopper's Delight: A significant amount of the hype surrounding this movie has been various companies releasing snazzy new Muppet swag. Threadless and WeLoveFine both started Muppet tee shirt design contests. Adidas is releasing what is probably the coolest shoe I have ever seen. There is even an album featuring artists like Weezer, OKGo, Matt Nathanson, and many more covering some classic Muppet tunes from The Muppet Show and various Muppet movies of yore. You can go into almost any store and find a Muppet tee shirt these days. It is basically the second coming for Muppet fans.

4- Cameos: Back in the days of films like The Muppets Take Manhattan, The Muppet Movie, and The Great Muppet Caper, the Muppets were joined by some serious A-list talent. The Muppets promises to be no different. Dave Grohl sits in at the drum set with Dr. Teeth and Electric Mayhem, Mila Kunis and Rashida Jones are super foxy, Danny Trejo claims to be a Muppet to try and get out of jail, and I can not wait to see what Neil Patrick Harris, Wanda Sykes, and Ed Helms bring to the film. Swing by Wikipedia for a list of stars who make appearances in this film and have fun wondering what they possibly could be doing.


3- It's the Muppets!: I know I said I was going to try and avoid using this as a reason. I did try, I just failed, that's all. But seriously, it's the Muppets! Their brand of comedy bridges the gap between child and adult humor like no other and they have inspired many comedians who are splitting our sides today. Aside from Jason Segel, Donald Glover recently revealed in a Rolling Stone interview that the Muppets were a big influence on him (Glover also makes a cameo in the film). There's just something special about these characters that no one else has been able to replicate.

2- Videos: Now more than ever, the web is flooded with Muppet videos. Whether it be classic clips from The Muppet Show, Muppets covering Queen, or even super cool unauthorized videos like the one shown above, the Muppets are everywhere. Beyond that, there are several trailers for the film, many of which are spoofing typical movie genres. You could spend several hours perusing YouTube for some Muppet gold, and I highly recommend that you do.


1- Jason Segel & James Bobin: Even a Muppet fanatic such as myself can admit that the quality of Muppet programming has dipped since The Muppet Christmas Carol in 1992. And although I was working for Disney at the time, I was a little disappointed when they bought the Muppets. They were great with the mouse, but could they handle the frog? Enter Jason Segel and James Bobin. When these two gents were announced as the writer and director, Muppet fanatics worldwide were assured that The Muppets was in good hands. Bobin is the co-creator of the HBO hit Flight of the Conchords and also co-created a few characters you may have heard of: Ali G, Borat, and Bruno. Segel is known for acting in Judd Apatow's productions such as Freaks and Geeks and Knocked Up. If you are not familiar with Segel's writing, check out Forgetting Sarah Marshall and I'm sure that will be all you need to rush out and get tickets for The Muppets.

Clearly I am excited for this film. Even if you are not a fanatic like myself, I urge you to give this movie a shot. It hits theaters on Thanksgiving, so take a little time out of your Turkey Day to spend some time with the Muppets.