He’s funniest when he’s not trying to be funny at all.
“From Dan Ackroyd, a recognized authority on UFOs . . . ”
Can you possibly resist viewing a movie with a trailer that starts like that? NO YOU CANNOT!ÂÂ
Let’s be frank. The only things Dan Ackroyd is a recognized authority on are Hostess cupcakes and how to keep a career going by surrounding yourself with more talented actors. (Please note that Ackroyd attempted to try the opposite when replacing John Belushi with the abominable Jim Belushi, perhaps hoping to appear funny in comparison. This tactic failed miserably.) Setting that aside, I’m sure this is a fantastic movie/documentary.
It’s called Dan Ackroyd Unplugged on UFOs. I was surprised by the trailer, mostly because I assumed that most scenes would take place on an intimate dimly lit stage, as Dan Ackroyd strums an acoustic guitar and speaks candidly about his inspiration for the role of the repair man he played on that one episode of The Nanny. Instead, we’re treated to poorly shot clips of video showing fuzzy dust particles or stock military footage interspersed with headshots of Dan saying things like, “The sightings could be explained through conventional means, but . . .”
The end of the trailer urges us to “Probe the mind of Dan Ackroyd.” Using state-of-the-art alien technology, let’s do that right now!
. . . probing . . .
. . . are real, dammit. Everyone is laughing at me now, but soon they’ll see I was right! Then I’ll finally be bigger than Bill Murray. I’ll be the one starring in sensitive character-driven indie films and he’ll be the one eating Hostess cupcakes for dinner every night. Mmm, cream-filled cupcakes. I like to lick the icing off first. I think I’ll have one now. Perhaps two. Wait, where did they all go? I just bought a new box yesterday. ALIENS!
I think that’s enough. I guess there’s really no need to watch the movie after all.
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While not disagreeing at all on your stance towards Dan Ackroyd's woo-woo views, I disagree that he's made a career by surrounding himself with more talented people. He's done some good stuff, it's just a matter of seperating the act from the idiot behind the act. His latest films are a load of old crap though, so maybe talking crap in a film was his next logical step ;-).
Dan Ackroyd is not a bad actor, any more than Jonathan Frakes is a bad…. director. Being ok at your job is hardly incompatible with having flakey ideas. Now about Tom Cruise? I have no explanations at all.
I love the blog – keep up the good work!
Oh man. A photo of Beldar would have been so apropos. Also, I've long suspected that Canadians are somehow involved in the UFO conspiracy what with their pasty white skin, strange accents, and government "healthcare".
Get out of my head, Rebecca!
Seriously, though, it's probably more of a "great minds think alike" situation.
I heard he is trying very, very hard to get a Ghostbusters 3 deal together, and Bill Murray is having none of it.
(I've mentioned my hollywood connections before :)
[...] I don’t believe in UFOs in the sense of extraterrestrial life. I’m 99% certain that they’re weather anomalies, man made, or space debris. I read yesterday (here) about a film called Dan Aykroyd Unplugged on UFOs. I got hold of a copy ten minutes ago. The opening sequence includes lots of stereotypically badly taken of UFOs. Why does nobody, other than hoaxers, have impeccable camera work when filming these things? It annoys me. I’ve seen two UFOs. What I mean by this is that I saw a man-made Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) that I didn’t recognise while walking in Wiltshire (a county with lots of Ministry of Defence land), and a lot (50+) of what looked like bright white weather balloons floating very high, or maybe fragments of something burning up in the atmosphere. The balloons/bolides were above local propeller driven aircraft because two planes were circling to see the amazing sight and I could guess at their height relative to the balloons. They were no-where near them. [...]