Team America: World Police

Dear blog, it's been over three months since my last film review, so let's rectify that now. I can't do that with giving away some spoilers, so if that doesn't butter your toast, you know what to do. I'll try to keep it minimal though.

My wife took our son out to the birthday party of one of his friends yesterday afternoon. I had the house to myself. I could do anything or go anywhere! What should I do? I seriously considered sleeping first but then decided instead to watch this "On Demand" movie made with puppets. The unedited version.

I went into this not knowing exactly what to expect. Team America: World Police had been described to me as Thunderbirds for adults. Well, I liked Thunderbirds when I was a kid. That sounds alright. I knew that the Director/Writer/Main Voice Talent was Trey Parker of South Park fame, but as I've never seen that (yes, I admit it) I still wasn't sure what that would give me (apart from some very profane dialog).

Did I like it? (Four letter expletive deleted) yeah! I loved that the strings on the puppets were visible (except for scenes like the romantic close-ups). The made up foreign languages. The complete over-the-top violence and senseless destruction. The dead pan humor. The musical numbers. The scenes that parodied scenes from other films. Just watching puppets trying to do some of this is hilarious.

I like the tribute to the old Thunderbirds shows. And the spoofing thereof. Is it just me, or does Lisa looked remarkably like Lady Penelope?

So what was in the unedited version that was different from the version that presumably made its way through theaters earlier this year? This was discussed on the IMDB web site (sorry, you'll have to register to find out). Interestingly there were four places in the film where I went Eeew! and I see they were all in the unedited version. Strangely enough the relentless expletives didn't bother me. Most of the sex scenes between Gary and Lisa I found funny rather than erotic or disgusting (if you've seen the unrated version, you can guess the two bits that I thought were gross).

Let's also not forget the character assasination of lots of Hollywood Celebrities and that "socialist weasel" Michael Moore. I thought the humour was just perfect, though I can't believe any of the actors in question were any too happy at this unauthorized use of their names. It's left me wondering how many law suits are now floating around because of this film.

If there was a poilitical statement to this film, then I entirely missed it. It has left me with a penchant to watch some South Park episodes though.

[Technorati Tag: Films]

( Sep 05 2005, 09:11:33 AM PDT ) [Listen] Permalink Comments [6]

Favorite BoingBoing Links (June 2004)

• Roses are red, and now come in blue (look lilac to me) [link]
• EUROBAD '74, an exhibition of Europe's worst interiors of 1974. [link]
• Automated Antenna Design [link]
• The Top 10 Most Untranslatable Words [link]
• Alice in Wonderland pop-up book as a Flash app [link]
• Photographers' bust card [link]
• MP3: Radiohead's "Paranoid Android" played by UMass Front Percussion Ensemble [link]
• Gallery of Fantastic Timepieces [link]
• Slow Down Signs as drawn by kids [link]
• Zelda Classic [link]
• Public Toilet with one-way glass [link]
• Card Throwing Technique [link]
• Movie Related Fonts [link]
• Design Your Own Paper Box [link]
• Ivor the Engine (Paper Model) [link]
• Video Game Characters (Paper Models) [link]
• Paper Video Arcades [link]
• Chairs - in an aircraft kit packaging style (makes Ikea look positively classy) [link]
• The Reality of Running Away from Stuff [link]
• Hyperlinkomatic (alternative bookmarker) [link]
• Brotronic Weapons [link]
• BBC Shockwave soccer replays [link]
• Nanotechnology pioneer slays "grey goo" myths [link]
• Seattle's Science Fiction Museum [link]
• Photoshoped Cybernetic Animals Contest [link]
• Turn Your PC into a Mac [link]
• Webjay Playlist Community [link]
• Human subjects play mind games [link]
• The bridge that's smaller than a pinhead [link]
• Dancing With Cats [link]
• Listmania! - the Top 25 Weirdest Items You Can Purchase Through Amazon! [link]
• Photoshopped Animal Renaissance Contest [link]
• Satellite images 'show Atlantis' [link]
• Photoshopped Replacement Theory Contest [link]
• EngL 3020 Studies in Narrative: Science Fiction and Fantasy [link]
• I Gave My Cat An Enema [link]

[Technorati Tag: links]

( Sep 05 2005, 07:53:34 AM PDT ) [Listen] Permalink