Just saw the Dixie Chicks movie, Shut Up and Sing. It was okay, but for me, not much better than okay. I think I went in expecting something more... I thought there'd be lots of Bush vs. Dixie Chicks politics - there was a bit, but not a lot. I thought it was going to be a great stand-up-and-be-counted battle about deeply-held political opinions, but it came off (for me, at least) as more a case of someone said something off the cuff to get a laugh, and didn't think she ought to have to take it back, which was true. Admirable, definitely, but not the same kind of admirable I was expecting, I suppose. (The one aspect I didn't know about was the reaction of all the radio stations to the statement about Bush. Interesting.)
So I guess the difference between my initial expectations and what was actually in the movie, along with the music (which is obviously of good quality, but not my type of sound), made for a movie which I found disappointing. Not bad, just... not as good as I had hoped for. Meh.
Saturday, November 25, 2006
Saturday, November 18, 2006
Movie review: Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
[Warning: possible spoilers ahead, although I try to keep them small or out altogether.]
So, I just saw the movie called "Borat", the one that's been getting all the (controversial) press recently. Questions are being asked about this movie all over the place, and I'm going to give you my answers to them, as if they mean anything.
Q: Is it crude?
A: Without a doubt. I'm a fan of South Park *and* Kevin Smith movies, so I've seen/heard a few crude jokes in my time. Borat is right up there.
Q: Is it politically incorrect in the extreme?
A: Absolutely. That's part of the intent, and part of the appeal.
Q: Is it horrendously offensive to various races/sexes/countries?
A: That's a tough one. On the surface, yes. Some nasty things are said about Jewish people, gay people, feminists, people with learning disabilities, etc. and the way he portrays Kazakhstani people as so backwards isn't exactly flattering.
HOWEVER (and this is the crux of the issue, I believe), this movie should absolutely not be taken at face value. If you take it as offensive to, you're missing the point. (Of course, the point has been made that many people (including children) WILL miss the point, and that in that case, the movie will do more harm than good. Perhaps, but does that mean the movie shouldn't have be made and aired? No, I don't think so. Maybe it should have had more than 14A rating, but that's not my call.) Anyway, back to my point, which was about the point of this movie...
Sacha Baron Cohen plays Borat, a Kazakhstani reporter tasked with going to America to learn about the "greatest nation in the world" and bringing some knowledge home to Kazakhstan. While in New York, he falls in love with Pamela Anderson by seeing Baywatch on TV, and decides to travel across country to Hollywood to meet her. Borat is an ignorant, uncultured, centuries-out-of-date guy who clashes with American culture all throughout his Pamela-pilgrimage. (Note: Although Cohen is definitely playing a character, he interacts with real people in his trip across country, making them believe he really as a Kazakhstani reporter, much akin to Canadian Rick Mercer's "Talking To Americans".) In playing such a backwards character (e.g. who grins and says "naughty, naughty" to the 'town rapist'), I think Cohen is poking fun at our (North American) stereotypes of middle-eastern / eastern-European / Asian countries. The really offensive stuff is to be found in the (real) reactions of the (real) Americans, who side with his (fake) bigotry, (fake) sexism, (fake) racism, (fake) everything-else-offensive. Some of these people, now realizing that they exposed themselves as less than admirable people (in a nationwide forum, no less), have sued Cohen. Interesting.
Anyway, I think the point is that Cohen is using his offensive character to set up even more offensive reactions from Americans, and therein lies part of the humour of this film - the disbelief aspect of humour, I guess. And of course, I realize that not all Americans share these views - all the Americans I know are extremely kind and extremely enlightened - I'm hopeful that they had to do a LOT of interviews and a LOT of editing before they found people to say these things. (Although I must admit, there is a cynical little part of me that kind of doubts it, in some of the venues they visited...)
Q: Is it funny beyond belief?
A: For my money, yes. Aside from the disbelief aspect I mentioned above, the humour was the kind of humour I yearn for, the wonderful combination of stupidity and wit and slapstick and clever dialogue that seems so hard to find these days. I laughed harder during this movie than I remember laughing during any movie in the last five or ten years. There were a couple cringe-worthy moments during the film, or jokes that didn't quite hit, but for the most part, it was laugh-out-loud funny. I was howling during the extended fight scene, the brief scene at the playground/park had me in stitches, and I snickered at the subtle jokes which were sprinkled throughout the movie like old jelly beans in the sectional couch of my dreams.
Conclusion: Not a movie everyone will enjoy, but if you have a fairly robust sense of humour and aren't offended easily, pick someone you won't get embarrassed with, and go see it. You might just laugh yourself silly.
So, I just saw the movie called "Borat", the one that's been getting all the (controversial) press recently. Questions are being asked about this movie all over the place, and I'm going to give you my answers to them, as if they mean anything.
Q: Is it crude?
A: Without a doubt. I'm a fan of South Park *and* Kevin Smith movies, so I've seen/heard a few crude jokes in my time. Borat is right up there.
Q: Is it politically incorrect in the extreme?
A: Absolutely. That's part of the intent, and part of the appeal.
Q: Is it horrendously offensive to various races/sexes/countries?
A: That's a tough one. On the surface, yes. Some nasty things are said about Jewish people, gay people, feminists, people with learning disabilities, etc. and the way he portrays Kazakhstani people as so backwards isn't exactly flattering.
HOWEVER (and this is the crux of the issue, I believe), this movie should absolutely not be taken at face value. If you take it as offensive to
Sacha Baron Cohen plays Borat, a Kazakhstani reporter tasked with going to America to learn about the "greatest nation in the world" and bringing some knowledge home to Kazakhstan. While in New York, he falls in love with Pamela Anderson by seeing Baywatch on TV, and decides to travel across country to Hollywood to meet her. Borat is an ignorant, uncultured, centuries-out-of-date guy who clashes with American culture all throughout his Pamela-pilgrimage. (Note: Although Cohen is definitely playing a character, he interacts with real people in his trip across country, making them believe he really as a Kazakhstani reporter, much akin to Canadian Rick Mercer's "Talking To Americans".) In playing such a backwards character (e.g. who grins and says "naughty, naughty" to the 'town rapist'), I think Cohen is poking fun at our (North American) stereotypes of middle-eastern / eastern-European / Asian countries. The really offensive stuff is to be found in the (real) reactions of the (real) Americans, who side with his (fake) bigotry, (fake) sexism, (fake) racism, (fake) everything-else-offensive. Some of these people, now realizing that they exposed themselves as less than admirable people (in a nationwide forum, no less), have sued Cohen. Interesting.
Anyway, I think the point is that Cohen is using his offensive character to set up even more offensive reactions from Americans, and therein lies part of the humour of this film - the disbelief aspect of humour, I guess. And of course, I realize that not all Americans share these views - all the Americans I know are extremely kind and extremely enlightened - I'm hopeful that they had to do a LOT of interviews and a LOT of editing before they found people to say these things. (Although I must admit, there is a cynical little part of me that kind of doubts it, in some of the venues they visited...)
Q: Is it funny beyond belief?
A: For my money, yes. Aside from the disbelief aspect I mentioned above, the humour was the kind of humour I yearn for, the wonderful combination of stupidity and wit and slapstick and clever dialogue that seems so hard to find these days. I laughed harder during this movie than I remember laughing during any movie in the last five or ten years. There were a couple cringe-worthy moments during the film, or jokes that didn't quite hit, but for the most part, it was laugh-out-loud funny. I was howling during the extended fight scene, the brief scene at the playground/park had me in stitches, and I snickered at the subtle jokes which were sprinkled throughout the movie like old jelly beans in the sectional couch of my dreams.
Conclusion: Not a movie everyone will enjoy, but if you have a fairly robust sense of humour and aren't offended easily, pick someone you won't get embarrassed with, and go see it. You might just laugh yourself silly.
Saturday, November 04, 2006
Random (stupid) He-Man thoughts
My work is a pretty neat place. There are lots of people who are just big kids - it can be like working with the Lost Boys sometimes. Two aspects of this (that relate to my current incoherent ramblings) are a) a love of toys, and b) a short attention span. If you combine the two, what you end up with is a free toy giveaway every once in a while.
During one of the latest free toy grabs, I ended up with some neat new (to me) toys. Among them was a little working skateboard, and a Skeletor action figure. You might remember Skeletor as the ultimate bad guy from the cartoon show, He-Man. He's basically a guy with a bodybuilder physique, a Roman skirt, high boots, and a sort of bib-cowl combo. Plus, his skin is blue. Plus, his head is a bright yellow skull. Plus, he has a high cackling laugh. Totally evil, as you can imagine. What the heck, I'll include a picture of the very toy I'm talking about...
Anyway, it wasn't long before I discovered that I could balance Skeletor on the skateboard, which is where he currently sits, threatening the world in a very skater punk kind of way. Right on. Very cool, right? This brings me to my actual point (which hardly seems worth it by this time), which is that I got bored at work the other day, and started imagining what He-Man would have been like as a show, if all the characters had also been pro skateboarders. Beast-Man would have fallen over a lot, Trap-Jaw would have laughed at him and maybe eaten his skateboard, but wouldn't have been much better... And for some reason, I figure Mer-Man would be the best skater in Eternia. Dunno why, but it seems like he'd be the most bad-ass of the group.
And needless to say, the good guys would all be cruddy skateboarders, but would be plucky, and would therefore win all the skating contests. Prince Adam would probably have to heft his board (or maybe a magic spraycan?) over his head, yell something dumb, and get hit by lightning, making him an awesome skater.
On second thought, this is perhaps one of the stupidest posts I've ever made, and perhaps one of the stupidest trains of thought I've ever had, so maybe I should just apologize and cut my losses.
Dean out.
During one of the latest free toy grabs, I ended up with some neat new (to me) toys. Among them was a little working skateboard, and a Skeletor action figure. You might remember Skeletor as the ultimate bad guy from the cartoon show, He-Man. He's basically a guy with a bodybuilder physique, a Roman skirt, high boots, and a sort of bib-cowl combo. Plus, his skin is blue. Plus, his head is a bright yellow skull. Plus, he has a high cackling laugh. Totally evil, as you can imagine. What the heck, I'll include a picture of the very toy I'm talking about...
Anyway, it wasn't long before I discovered that I could balance Skeletor on the skateboard, which is where he currently sits, threatening the world in a very skater punk kind of way. Right on. Very cool, right? This brings me to my actual point (which hardly seems worth it by this time), which is that I got bored at work the other day, and started imagining what He-Man would have been like as a show, if all the characters had also been pro skateboarders. Beast-Man would have fallen over a lot, Trap-Jaw would have laughed at him and maybe eaten his skateboard, but wouldn't have been much better... And for some reason, I figure Mer-Man would be the best skater in Eternia. Dunno why, but it seems like he'd be the most bad-ass of the group.
And needless to say, the good guys would all be cruddy skateboarders, but would be plucky, and would therefore win all the skating contests. Prince Adam would probably have to heft his board (or maybe a magic spraycan?) over his head, yell something dumb, and get hit by lightning, making him an awesome skater.
On second thought, this is perhaps one of the stupidest posts I've ever made, and perhaps one of the stupidest trains of thought I've ever had, so maybe I should just apologize and cut my losses.
Dean out.
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