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Review of Team America World Police
The movie is essentially a parody of your standard summer blockbuster. In this case we have "Team America", the stereotypical hodge podge band of freedom fighters brought together to kick ass (not surprisingly) for America and for Freedom. It turns out that marionettes are the ideal vehicle for such a film: the summer blockbuster genre has at its very core the super huge special effect. A parody would be hard pressed to convincingly duplicate these effects. But these are puppets. So the effects are supposed to look silly. And this is fortunate: the film takes constant blissful pleasure in the blockbuster tradition of demolishing national monuments, from the Eiffel tower to Mount Rushmore.
Our team of freedom fighters hits all the standard cliche's: we lose a member, find a replacement, who gets jaded and ultimately must come to terms with his feelings about his job while the team comes to accept the new guy.
Of course, there is some sort of a plot as well. In South Park the movie, Parker used Saddam Hussein as his evil joke. This time it's Kim Jong-il. He's really no different than Saddam was last time around. Just a ludicrous bad guy. In this case he's busy masterminding a stupid plot where he unifies the hollywood liberals and various terrorist organization as part of your standard wreck the world plan. It's thin, but no thinner than what it parodies.
I think my general concern going into this movie was the politics. The movie could very easily get mired down in preaching a point. But thankfully it never really does that. It simultaneously makes fun of liberal hollywood actors, and the rah rah 'Go America' right wing stereotype. But the movie isn't really picking sides: it's more about parodying the genre of summer blockbuster then it is about right vs left or war vs peace. Thats a good thing. Parker has proven time and time again that he can make simple points very well. South Park has addressed countless social issues over the years, and the feature film really took issues like censorship and parenting in a very meaningful way. Team America doesn't spend much time trying to seriously address the issues. It's just simple fun.
The other major concern that I harbored was that the marionette jokes would run thin. As I said before, the use of marionettes works great for mocking special effects, but the film easily could have constantly referred back to the fact that we are watching puppets. There are only a few jokes like that. Since they are used so sparingly, they make it all the more amusing when it happens. And there's a lot of hilarity to be derived from puppet sex when the film is pretending to be serious about it.
Like all of Parker's movies, they come out guns blazing, and 30 minutes in, I find myself needing a commercial break. The jokes are constant and funny. Maybe too funny. By the middle of the film you see something funny but are so desensitized that it's tough to muster another laugh. Of course then they turn around and beat you over the head with something new.
It's also worth noting that the facial puppetteering is really cool. Everyone involved should be really proud of themselves for pulling off something so visually unique.
I really enjoyed the film. I went in with high hopes and was pleased to have them all met. Even my wife, who is quite sick of South Park and wasn't looking forward to watching this at all came out absolutely giddy with laughter.
If you're a South Park fan, you'll love this movie. If you're a fan of summer blockbusters, and can tolerate the language, you'll love this movie. If you're a prude, watch something else. As for me, this is the first movie in months that I decided to buy the DVD before it was over.
Why is the parent modded troll again? This movie has nothing to do with tech news, software or anything remotely "nerdy". It's like every other episode of SouthPark, except with puppets. Hell, where's the review of SpongeBob Squarepants then? We'll accept that as a frontpage story, right?? Right???
You need a FREE iPod Nano
When I first saw the trailer for the movie, I thought it was crap. I figured it was my political bias talking, so I decided to only watch the parts of the trailer that were just funny (and it was still crap). For a last measure I ignored any words shown in the trailer and muted the sound to get rid of any political bias, and unfortunately...it was still crap.
Why did I think it was crap? Why would I even stoop so low as to disregard a motion picture with only one vulgar word? It couldn't be politics -- I got rid of those. Was it the dialogue? Nope, I muted the sound. Oh wait, I figured it out: puppetry is dead.
Sorry Trey. Sorry Matt. But it looks like you've got nothing but another cheap quick-to-video cult hit on your hands. I would've loved to see the movie if you had chosen some form of expression that's only fit for beaming to the Satellite of Love. Honestly...if you had just put yourselves in the movie like in "Orgasmo", I would've been in line by now.
Parker and Stone are terrible, one-note jokes that only stoners laugh at. They're fucking clown shoes. If they were real, I'd beat the shit out of them for being so stupid. I can't believe Paramount would have anything to do with this shit. I, for one, will be boycotting this movie. Who's with me?
You got it. Why is it that people who are allowed to use a computer neglect 5th grade grammar rules?
Simple rule - the word is singular plural. No apostrophe.
Siiiimmmpppllleee
Might as well learn to pronounce "Nucular" or "Foilage" correctly.
Argh.
- Zav - Imagine a Beowulf cluster of insensitive clods...
Trash that dumbass qt player from apple, install k-lite mega codec pack with qt alternative: google for k-lite mega codec.
Preserve old classics: copy your collection onto all hard drives.
Which sadly translates into extreme-right poltics, kids loving things like "the ownership society," failing or refusing to understand what FDR did, etc.
This is pretty bad because people who would like to keep things like social security and the SEC alive. Its natural to dismiss authority in the form of the two political parties, but if GenY and GenX think far-right politics with a close relationship with the GOP is good for them, then they are only fooling and hurting themselves.
Oh well, back to fart jokes and celebity bashing. Didnt both these guys receive federal aid when they went to college? Arent they both Hollywood celebrities as much as anyone else? I mean, they arent like indie rockers who shun the mainstream, they show up at all sorts of fancy galas, events, awards ceremonies, etc. Can you smell the H word? I can.
I'm so sick of this "cool neo-libertarian crap." You get to whine about taxes, blame everything on the two party system, and then still be about legalizing drugs and being pro-gun. The best part is you just memorize a couple lines and you seem like a bright guy at parties. Sure beats donating to the ACLU or being associated with liberal 'girly men.' And of course none of this will be put into practice so no one can call you on your ideological BS. Nothing like complaining with no plan to do something about it.
This is how the interview ends btw, for you non-subscribers:
Stone: Stay home.
Parker: Don't vote!
Stone: And it's no big deal. If you don't want to vote, you don't have to. Fuck that vote or die shit. I hate that.
(if we had less of this in Florida in 2000, things would be very, very different)
Au contraire, I often find myself laughing at Libertarians.
Laughter is the first refuge of those with nothing intelligent to say. It's not that you think Libertarians' arguments are funny, but probably more because coming up with a rational defense or critique is hard, and you find mockery to be so much more pleasing than dignifying someone you hate with your intelligence.
I don't make the rules. I just make fun of them.
Did they really invade or were they just running from the germans again? Or were they offering a refund on the Louisiana Purchase? Then again they may have wanted to borrow that Statue they gave us. It's got to be one of those...