Sometimes our pair of features have a theme. We rarely plan ahead. Sometimes the theme is found in the features, last night I was reaching and found destruction and wires.
Our first feature was Team America, Trey Parker's puppet feature from last year. We watched the Unrated DVD, which has a minute more material than the theatrical version, which I guessed came from the sex scene. This morning I looked at the review on IGN and it confirmed my suspicion about the poop. Not something I am fond of. IGN has an interview with Trey and Matt here, in which they explain the poop and some other stuff. I liked the movie mostly. It won't make my top 200 but I'll certainly watch it again. There are some funny parts, some good songs, some great sets and great puppets. I think the puppet faces are a bit strange, just on the borderline of creepy. The heads are big for the body. They were created by the Chido Brothers, who are cool. They worked on Elf recently and the wonderful Killer Klowns from Outer Space. Lots of stuff blows up, I always like that. The sets are massive and filled with lots of puppets, some of whom blow up. There are wires. Team America is a mixed bag of things, which all boils down to pussies, dicks and assholes. You can read a whole lot into Trey and Matt's simple worldview. I like the simplicity of putting people's personality types into basic, crotch-based categories. It's like the Harmon Principle: Cookies and Toys. All things boil down to that. You eat it or you play with it. Some of those basic crotch-people can be found here on a pretty long message board page that argues which country is better with most of the posts devoted to Canada and the US. It's the best and the worst of the internet personalities.
Our second feature Varan the Unbelievable is a 1958 Ishiro Honda feature. He's the director of nearly 30 of Toho's great monster movies, starting with Godzilla in 1954 and ending with Mechagodzilla vs. Godzilla in 1975. Varan is awaken by two scientists, who are killed by his monsoon-wind-creating, earth-moving personality. More scientists come and Varan chases them back to Tokyo where he's bombed repeatedly. He leaves, movies over. Several people were falling asleep during this one but I wouldn't fault the movie. It's got a good monster and some hokey characters and is short, only 87 minutes. The dvd from Tokyo Shock looks promising, with a commentary, some other stuff and a lecture from a special effects guy. I am looking forward to that. There are wires on the special effect planes to guide the rockets when attacking Varan. While the planes are attacking him he's tramping about creating lots of property damage.
Team America was strange, particularly the sex scenes. I was entertained (hm, that may not be quite the right term) by them blowing up the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre and the Pyramids when they go after terrorists, no remorse, just ecstatic reactions that they've foiled/killed the terrorists, just like some politicians currently in office. I may watch it again but it isn't in my top list of movies either. I have not seen the other movie you mention.
Posted by: Gary | May 23, 2005 at 08:48 PM
I tell you when they knocked the head off of the Sphinx I just laughed and laughed. I would be the last person in a long line of people who would ever want anything of historical significance to be destroyed. I don't think we keep enough stuff as it is. I frimly believe that the internet is not living up to it potential in keeping available things from the past or the present. There are things that aren't here yet, but people like Google are thinking in the right direction.
I think why I laughed was the sheer ironic stupidity, and while it's an old joke, often repeated, it's still a good joke. Like a pie in the face. Unfortunately, sometimes a pie in the face will kill you.
Posted by: Garth Danielson | May 24, 2005 at 07:34 PM