Did I mention that I was looking forward to seeing Borat? I’m pretty sure I did.
And I was going to, yesterday, with son Brendan (15). But then Mary and the girl (Mairead, 11) decided that they really needed to go to the Alpaca Show, and I couldn’t find a play-date or film companion for Aidan (13, schizophrenia), and I ended up having to accompany Aidan to Flushed Away, which was not bad.
Brendan and his pal, Ivan, came out of the theater laughing, and declared without hesitation that it was the funniest movie they’d ever seen, and Brendan added that if I wanted to take him again, he wouldn’t mind, and that he figures he could watch it 7k times without getting sick of it. Also, that it made South Park look mild by comparison. Also that he wanted me to be the one to take him again, because if Mom saw it she probably wouldn’t allow him to buy it on DVD.
We also rented Brazil over the weekend, and he enjoyed it a lot, so that gives you some frame of reference.
uh, great.
I wonder what actus and monkyboy will have to say on this.
Didn’t actuse star in Brazil?
Or maybe it was monkyboy, developing his deliberative skills at distance principle from outcome.
I guess I’m one of the few who finds the guy doing that movie to be quite unfunny.
I didn’t like Andy Kaufmann either.
– Speaking of politics, aside from all the Congressional dem talking heads being conspicuously absent during the weeks lead-up to the elections, is anyone else getting a laugh, watching the laim-stream media, try to propup the dems abysmal showing in an off year election cycle. Because I’m just not seeing this “mandate”, and I even looked under Deans desk….
– I continue to be amused, watching both the drive-bye media hyperventalating in regards to the “earth shaking consequences of the democratic landslide mandateâ€Â, should they win the house majority tomorrow, which is anything but of course, and on the other hand the steadfast void of them realizing that the truth is in a 6 year term, when the “out†party normally enjoys a slam dunk of 67 seats or more, they’re sorry butts are struggling just for the few they actually need. this, even with an electorate that has a few very large bones to pick with the Pres. How many more gimmics, and advantages would the dems need to make a decent showing?
– If that doesn’t send a screemingly loud message that their party’s empty wagon of idea’s, and hard left ideology, isn’t going over well with the electorate, nothing ever will. Again the truth is, they should feel totally embarrassed that this is the best they can do, even with all their contrivences, and a 24/7 cheerleading campaign by the lap dog MSM. Yep. The saga of the gaggle of the “surealistic based community†continues.
– Now back to your regularly scheduled movie reviews……
I saw both movies over the weekend, and liked both. Borat was not the funniest movie ever made, but your son’s assessment had been voiced by some adults. It certainly does make South Park seem mild by comparison. Indeed, there is one scene that comes perilously close to a certain type of slapping known well here at PW.
Flushed Away was very much an Aardman film assisted by the CGI muscle at DreamWorks rather than a fusion of the Aardman style of humor with the Dreamworks-Shrek style of loading up on the adult pop culture references. I even liked that they imitated the Aardman style of stop-motion animation instead of using the computers to smooth every thing out. Even so, there was something about watching the Wallace & Grommit movie on the big screen and seeing the fingerprints in the clay.
Mairead
That’s unusual. How is it pronounced?
I think if you’ve seen a lot of past Borat, either on HBO or the DVDs, you’ll be disappointed. If this is your first exposure to him, you’ll think it wildly funny.
The movie is pretty short, 82 minutes, and much of the funnier stuff is available online.
Borat is at his best in a simple, sit down interview, and these are the parts of the film which got the most consistent laughs. Although the wrestling match scene got wild laughs.
My favorite skit was the dinner party.
Aardman turns out some of the coolest stuff. I agree that I prefer the classic stop-motion Aardman, but I have the feeling that we won’t see as much of that in the future. Computer animation is easier to deal with, especially if you make a mistake.
Brazil would really calm you down from the hysterical laughter due to Borat.
I saw Brazil at the movie theater when it first came out – we (the whole crowd of 300 or so) all left in dead silence. I had never seen a thing like that before.
Brazil, with Bobby as the plumber? COOL!
BBh: I heard it referred to as the media ‘dragging the Dems over the finish line’. Apt.
Brazil is one of my favorites. Yes, it knocks the wind out of you at the end, but it’s a work of genius. Also great Gilliam is The Fisher King, which I failed to understand the first time I saw it. The second time I saw it, it hit me like a ton of bricks. It has a screenplay that’s in the same class as that of Moonstruck, which is also thoroughly brilliant.
Angie–
It’s muh-RAID, Irish for Margaret.
The three Gilliam movies, Time Bandits, Brazil and Baron Munchausen, are meant to represent childhood, middle age, and dotage, respectively. Of the three, Munchausen is my favorite, but only because I decode it against the movement from Renaissance to Enlightenment, and that is an area of intense interest for me (see Stephen Toulmin’s Cosmopolis, which is heuristic, rather than magisterial, but lots of fun).
Similarly, I read The 5000 Fingers of Dr. Terwilliger against Jonathan Goldberg’s excellent book Writing Matters, which unfortunately was obscured by the trendier, dumber Sodometries.
I watched some clips and outakes from Borat on TV and felt like it was a Punk’d episode, with a jackass pretending to be a foreigner so he could get away with insulting people. Just taking Candid Camera past the point of funny into assholish manipulation. I’ve no doubt that insufferable pricks like this can be pretty hysterical to cynical teenagers, but maybe that’s why I hate teenagers.
It’s muh-RAID, Irish for Margaret.
That’s lovely.
Your wife must have picked it out.
ss sez Borat is “taking Candid Camera past the point of funny into assholish manipulation.”
I see it as commentary on how easy this is to do, given the general, overall lameness of our fellow citizens—demonstration as well as manipulation.
I reckon this raises it to satire, and I still laugh every time I hear all those wannabe cowboys singing along with “Throw the Jew down the well”.
But SS—Borat intends for it to be funny!
<ducks, runs>
Harry–
If you thought that was funny, you should have seen monkyboy explaining the exchange rate between the USD and Yuan, and david’s defense of Harry Reid’s LLC/land deal.
But if you want to see people who really want to throw Jews down the well, the Guardian’s the place.
Angie–
You’re right on both counts. I wanted her to be Ciara, but Mairead suits her.
but maybe that’s why I hate teenagers.
I hate when people say stuff like that. I work with kids every day and I’d rather spend time with them than a lot of the adults I know. For so many of them the cockiness and arrogance is a cover for the emptiness they feel after having been ignored by parents obsessed with careers and self-fulfillment. So many kids have every modern gadget thrown at them but can’t get the one thing they really need from their parents – time.
That’s why it’s great to read about Dan taking his kids to movies. When my husband balked at taking the kids to a movie he didn’t want to see years ago, I took him aside and reminded him that it’s not the movie; you’re building memories – a lifetime of memories that will shape a kid into something worthwhile.
Oh, come on. Everyone loves teenagers.
They’re particularly good sauteed with dry white wine, garlic and a couple of sprigs of fresh rosemary.
Thanks, dog8, but I really do love the little bastards, and their little bastard friends, too.