Team America: World Police.

Review #2557: Team America: World Police.

Cast: 

Trey Parker (Gary Johnston/Joe Smith/Carson/Kim Jong Il/Hans Blix/Matt Damon/Tim Robbins/Sean Penn/Michael Moore/Helen Hunt/Peter Jennings/Susan Sarandon/Drunk in Bar/Liv Tyler/Janeane Garofalo/Additional voices), Matt Stone (Chris Roth/George Clooney/Danny Glover/Ethan Hawke/Martin Sheen/Additional voices), Kristen Miller (Lisa Jones), Masasa Moyo (Sarah Wong), Daran Norris (Spottswoode), Phil Hendrie (I.N.T.E.L.L.I.G.E.N.C.E./Chechen terrorist), Maurice LaMarche (Alec Baldwin), Chelsea Marguerite (French mother), Jeremy Shada (Jean Francois), Fred Tatasciore (Samuel L. Jackson), and Greg Ballora, Scott Land, Seb Hartman & Tony Urbano (Lead puppeteers) Directed by Trey Parker (#2226 - South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut)

Review: 

"It's funny when someone responds with, “Oh, well they think this is funny?” No, we just think that everything's funny. We think that “funny” is a great thing and “funny” is a great way to think about things and deal with things. People who don't have great senses of humor think that comedy is that you just think something's trite and stupid and you don't care about it. [They think] if you're laughing, it's because what you think you're laughing at is stupid — because that's about as far as their sense of humor goes. People don't realize that it can be something a lot deeper than that." - Trey Parker

Sure, let's talk about the movie with puppets and American spirit for the 4th of July. The production of South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999) was a pain in the ass for Trey Parker and Matt Stone (particularly with the ratings board), but it was a successful pain in the ass, and eventually the two of them came up with something they thought would be funny to do for a film. They landed upon the Thunderbirds (as originally created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson from 1964-1966), which they vaguely remembered watching as reruns when they were bored and found it "so expository and slow" for a show that took itself really seriously involving the Tracy family and a few vehicles (when production was rounding the corner to finish, Parker and Stone jokingly called Anderson "absolutely insane"*). Of course, it also helps to be a "send-up" of the Jerry Bruckheimer productions of the time (most notably Pearl Harbor [2001], although non-Bruckheimer films like Megaforce [1982] also proved an inspiration). Parker and Stone wrote the film with longtime writing partner Pam Brady. The Chiodo Brothers helped create the hundreds of puppet characters, with Parker and Stone soon realizing during filming that the comic tone to them came from the marionettes trying to drama rather than just having "puppets doing jokes". Trying to capture every stunt live on film and making the deadline of late September 2004 took a toll on the filmmakers, who also had to battle with the MPAA for the rating because, and I'm not kidding, a puppet sex scene (but the violence, well...), but they got the job in time for release in theaters in October, which happened to be less than four months after the live-action adaptation of Thunderbirds. 

Team America: World Police was a fair hit with audiences at the time; various filmmakers such as Quentin Tarantino and Edgar Wright have called it among their favorite films of this particular generation. The biggest compliment is that the movie is clearly more entertaining than the two Thunderbirds movies. With a film that was about American optimism that basically has kept Americans looking forward regardless of how naive it all sounds. Stone and Parker clearly enjoy dealing in humor when it comes to the world that gets construed for nihilism because they favor the middle ground and what sounds funny in common sense. It just so happens that there are a few folks worth making fun of (visually/audibly) to go with a rhythm of four-letter colorful words (including a climax involving the nature of what can be construed as "collateral damage, am I right?"). It freewheels for 98 minutes on a loose plot involving looming terror, a horde of film actors guild (get it?) members and the Bruckheimer spirit of entertainment at all costs in chaos that is pretty funny for what actually gets on screen beyond (obviously) the wires. Beneath the tension (in the "I think America will win, but unless....") is a few silly moments on the side that ranges from the hang-ups of "actors" and whatever goofy stuff you spot in the staging of puppets trying to maneuver around the environment. Parker and Stone are perfectly comfortable with the voices they want to put on (Norris probably hones it in the best for the not-Jeff Tracy from) and the movie rolls along with its tongue-in-cheek ra-ra spirit that, naturally, has a rip-roaring "America" song (the one that goes "fuck yeah", yeah, yeah, yeah). You see a few neat-looking vehicles to house the puppets and staging that works with the scenarios. It ribs at wannabee global dictators and wannabee do-gooders with enough conviction in actually having fun (well, unless you're Sean Penn*). As a whole, Team America is packed with enough goofy moments in the audacity of going nuts with puppets going on an adventure ends up being a bit more than just being swears and strings. 

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.

Song of the day!

*Apparently, Gerry Anderson was quoted as stating "there are good, fun parts [in the film] but the language wasn't to [his] liking".

*Bro really sent them a letter being mad that Parker and Stone said there was "no shame in not voting" and closed it with "All best, and a sincere fuck you".

South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut.

Review #2226: South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut.

Cast: 

Trey Parker (Stan Marsh / Eric Cartman / Gregory / Satan / Mr. Garrison / Mr. Hat / Phillip Niles Argyle / Randy Marsh / Clyde Donovan / Tom – News Reporter / Midget in a Bikini / Bill Clinton / Canadian Ambassador / Bombardiers / Mr. Mackey / Army General / Ned Gerblansky / Bill Allen / Fosse McDonald / Christophe – Ze Mole / Big Gay Al (singing voice) / Adolf Hitler / additional voices), Matt Stone (Kyle Broflovski / Kenny McCormick (Hooded) / Saddam Hussein / Terrance Henry Stoot / Big Gay Al / Ticket Taker / Stuart McCormick / Jimbo Kearn / Gerald Broflovski / Butters Stotch / American Ambassador / additional voices), Mary Kay Bergman (Sheila Broflovski / Liane Cartman / Sharon Marsh / Carol McCormick / Wendy Testaburger / Clitoris / additional voices), Isaac Hayes (Chef), with Jesse Howell, Anthony Cross-Thomas & Franchesca Clifford (Ike Broflovski), Bruce Howell (Man in Theatre), Deb Adair (Woman in Theatre), Jennifer Howell (Bebe Stevens), George Clooney (Dr. Gouache), Brent Spiner (Conan O'Brien), Minnie Driver (Brooke Shields), Dave Foley (the Baldwin brothers), and Eric Idle (Dr. Vosknocker) Directed by Trey Parker.

Review: 

"We grew up with Monty Python, as fucked-up as that all was, and Dirty Harry and Charles Bronson and ultraviolence. People seem to forget that the world has been ultraviolent for a long time. Both of us — and all our friends — grew up in that culture, and we’re fine. There’s nothing about Marilyn Manson that says, “Pick up a gun and kill people.” And there’s nothing about South Park that says that, either." -Trey Parker 

" If there’s an overriding message in South Park, it’s just to question authority. That’s the shit we make fun of." -Matt Stone

Believe it or not, I have been waiting for this day to come for a while. In what I would call an "on-and-off basis", I watched at least a dozen episodes of a show that was for whatever reason shown late at night (the one that served as an affiliate for Fox) for at least a few weeks in that time where kids remember the weirdest things (as opposed to bad friends) watched when they are 27. That one was South Park, and it sure is a hell of a time trying to get the memory of stuff such as "Mecha-Streisand" out of your head. The genesis for what eventually became a television show on Comedy Central was a couple of stop motion animated short films as created and voiced by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, who had first met in study at the University of Colorado. The shorts of "The Spirit of Christmas" featured a killer snowman and Jesus fighting Santa to go with a couple of kids that is all done on construction paper and 8mm film. Inspired by various programs such as Monty Python, the show (with all but its pilot using computer technology) that resulted from the folks that gave you Cannibal! The Musical (1993) and Orgazmo (1997) is one that has managed to stay on the air for over 25 years, although I have to admit that for some reason, only the early stuff (some favorites of the early stuff is the one where the kids try to get a cop to learn how to read or, well, "Jewbilee" [aired one month after the film] had Moses depicted as a dreidel and was hilarious) seems to attract my curiosity (incidentally Parker and Stone have noted their dislike of their earlier episodes in terms of writing, proving that sometimes ome really can just ignore recommendations). Anyway, the film was in mind as early as 1998, complete with the condition by Stone and Parker to have it an R rating. The episode "Death" was a key influence, since that one involved the comedy styling of Terrance & Phillip (fart jokes) offending parents enough to ditch their kids while they go off to protest (which naturally was Stone and Parker's response to certain criticism people had of the show). Parker and Stone wrote the film with Pam Brady while composer Marc Shaiman co-wrote the songs with Parker. Made at the same time that the show was in production with a slightly different animation usage (Alias|Wavefront PowerAnimator), the movie barely sneaked in with an R rating (evidently if you are a studio project, you get a specific target on your back when it comes to swearing) and was released on June 30, 1999 to general success.

Parker and Stone didn't make a second South Park film, but they did collaborate for a different kind of non-liveaction film in Team America: World Police (involving puppetry) five years later. Every so often, I have to remind myself that there is always someone pissy about folks saying swear words at certain moments. I enjoyed this about as well as I thought I would for a film that has a few amusing songs that actually work to the film's benefit. It manages to avoid most of the traps one can find when trying to adapt a show into a movie (such as feeling like just a compilation of episodes) with an engaging pace and plenty of ways to drain from the well of showmanship. Parker and Stone managing to make a film where one only needs three or four voices (which includes the smooth timing of Hayes and Bergman) to make something seem like, well, a film with cartoon atmosphere (such as with Cartman, probably the most amusing goon to ever terrorize the senses for laughter at and with). The songs hit that certain type of sweetspot in not overstating its welcome and, well, being pretty silly fun, particularly with "Blame Canada" in its scapegoating glory. Within a film involving a gay(ish) Satan and Saddam Hussein is also one about the dangers of parents trying to play scapegoat in blaming someone for what their kids pick up rather than looking in the mirror and actually making the effort to reach out to their kids. Amusingly enough, there were apparently a number of young folks who were reported to buy tickets for films adjacent to this one so they could try and sneak in. There is the usual type of creativity in havoc to be found here, such as the reveal of Hell (complete with song and ghosts of folks meant to generate biting one's lip such as George Burns or Ghandi) or the momentary bits of guest voices/making fun of certain people (incidentally, George Clooney had appeared in a previous South Park episode, voicing sounds of a gay dog). I can't resist the crude enjoyment, particularly since it proves that one can push the boundaries of animation in terms of crass nature to go with a message more interesting than corporate meandering. As a whole, the movie serves followers of the original show exactly what they would anticipate in anarchic charm without compromising its sense of self for a rewarding time in the full of piss and vinegar mindset.

Overall, I give it 9 out of 10 stars.