Mike Nelson, former castaway on the Satellite of Love, is now offering a new way for us to listen to him mock modern American cinema. His new site, RiffTrax, offers commentary tracks for specific movies that users can listen to on an MP3 player while watching a DVD of the movie. The first two available tracks are for Roadhouse (a nuanced film celebrating the drunken misogynists of rural America) and The Fifth Element (award-winner of the Special Oscar for Most Incomprehensible Science Fiction Film Ever).
My reaction to Nelson’s idea is mixed. I have no doubt that his riffs are funny and worth a listen. However, the process of fumbling with both your iPod and DVD player to make sure the two are in sync seems like a hassle. And it just won’t be the same without Crow and Tom Servo serving as fellow-wiseacres-in-arms. But with MST3K now off the air, I’ll take my biting jibes at pop culture where I can get them. And Nelson had better do a track for Battlefield Earth. That film is just begging for a thrashing.
