I’ve seen more films than usual recently. Along with the washed-out, off-model, almost-King-of-the-Hill-style backgrounds in The Simpsons Movie, the notable thing I wish to comment on is the funniness of these films.

First, The Simpsons. Well, how can you live up to 18 years of hype? It’s obviously not as good as the best of the best episodes; I’d watch any disc from season 3 to 8 in preference to it. But then I’d watch the movie in preference to any disc from season 10 onwards*, leaving season 9 as the crucial turning point and the movie in the creditable position of having reversed a straight 8 seasons of decline. Since they can’t hope to spent $65m and 4-odd years writing each episode to the same standard, I would prefer it if they pulled a Star Trek: end the series and switch to quadennial movie releases.

As for funniness, there were two or three LOLCHORTLE moments, 70 minutes of makes-you-smile-rather-than-makes-you-laugh, and 10 minutes of get-on-with-it slowness in the middle. And Bart drinks whiskey. WHAT? Consider this paragraph me registering my disgust on the internet within minutes.

* I write from the vanishing point of the future, where all inevitable things have come to pass, such as every Simpsons series being available on DVD.

Secondly, I also saw Borat this week. It’s a lot less than the sum of the parts I’ve already seen on YouTube. That’s not to say it’s unfunny - just that it’s a sketch show that gains little from being packaged in movie format beyond the excellent callback gag with the “new arm from America” at the end. Its absolute funniness peaks higher than The Simpsons on a laugh-intensity scale: bear > spider-pig, basically. But in the same way that the most intense spicy sauce is not necessarily the best, I prefer The Simpsons.

Thirdly, I saw Die Hard 4.0 last weekend! There is a website, http://www.diehard4.co.uk. I tried going to http://trac.diehard4.co.uk to submit my complaints in the hope that they might release a Die Hard 4.1, but alas, the writers’ understanding of information technology is stuck in the Hackers era. The plot goes like this: anything electronic (or even electric) can be broken, fixed, manipulated, taken over, or destroyed… by hacking. Cell network dead? Just hack the phone until it can connect to a satellite! Good guys using a satellite to bypass your hacked cell network? Just hack the satellite until it goes offline! Good guys holed up in a gas distribution centre? Hack it until it blows up! Hack, hack, hack go the writers.

There is a bizarre scene where the hacker dude decides Bruce Willis’s crusty old hotwiring technique will immobilize a car, so does something inexplicable with the glove compartment: he calls up the car’s sysadmin or something and pleads with her to start the car. DOUBLE WHAT? Even if this was meant to be a SF film, weren’t all the country’s communication networks down at the time? Does BMW have its own internet just for cars? Die Hard 4.0 is not a comedy, but I found it at least as funny as Borat, and at any rate its action set-pieces are awesome explosiony testosterone-fests.

Fourthly, I saw Death Race 2000 (IMDB plot keywords: Topless / Neo Nazi / Crushed Head / Wheelchair / Impalement / Grandmother Granddaughter Relationship / Post Apocalyptic). It’s the Carmageddon film! This is billed as a SF action film, but I laughed almost continuously for 79 solid minutes. They hadn’t invented post-modern tongue-in-cheek self-referential humour in 1975, so it’s all done with a shockingly straight face. Even Battle Royale couldn’t take itself completely seriously.

Well, what does she expect? You leave your navigator lying around, naturally somebody is going to run over him.

This film is a masterpiece, and funnier than any of the other three. I think comedy only happens when you’re not trying too hard.