Team America: World Police

I had waited with huge expectations for this political satire from the "South Park" boys, Parker and Stone. What I'd like to report is that they are still mad geniuses, even if "America" is more uneven, less a startling positive surprise than the "South Park" film. Not as consistently funny, the songs aren't as good, and there are longer "draggy" periods. That said, let me add that it is also a quite remarkable feat. The creation of a marrionette action-adventure world (brought to us by the Chiodo brothers, who, I believe, were responsible for "Killer Klowns From Outer Space" is virtually unprecedented.
The art direction is impeccable, and the metaphors work savagely well--actors as puppets, the Left taking advice from mindless screen stars, the Right watching all of the destruction as if it were a video game or children's action show. I would suspect that Stone and Parker lean Right on issues of social security, Left on issues of personal freedom. This makes for a decent balance, and is not the problem.
If there is a problem, it probably comes from the fact that the sheer logistics of making this movie were overwhelmingly harder than the "South Park" effort. No one has done anything like this for decades...maybe EVER (I never saw that "Thunderbirds" film), and the conceit works beautifully, and must have been nightmarish. Possibly as a result, some creative aspects suffer. But I can't say that without adding that the entire effort is a staggeringly creative performance by two guys at the top of their game. With all of its flaws, I'm still giving it a strong "B." It's a hoot.

ELECTION-YEAR THOUGHTS

Does this sound familiar?

"

"NATURALLY, THE COMMON PEOPLE DON'T WANT WAR, BUT AFTER ALL, IT IS THE LEADERS OF A COUNTRY WHO DETERMINE THE POLICY, AND IT IS ALWAYS A SIMPLE MATTER TO DRAG PEOPLE ALONG WHETHER IT IS A DEMOCRACY, OR A FASCIST DICTATORSHIP, OR A PARLIAMENT, OR A COMMUNIST DICTATORSHIP. VOICE OR NO VOICE, THE PEOPLE CAN ALWAYS BE BROUGHT TO THE BIDDING OF THE LEADERS. THIS IS EASY. ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS TELL THEM THEY ARE BEING ATTACKED, AND DENOUNCE THE PACIFISTS FOR LACK OF PATRIOTISM AND EXPOSING THE COUNTRY TO DANGER. IT WORKS THE SAME IN EVERY COUNTRY."

HERMANN GOERING.
HITLER'S REICH-MARSHALL
AT THE NUREMBURG TRIALS AFTER WWII.

Ladder 49

This tale of a young fireman and his absolute commitment to the saving of lives (as well as the adrenaline rush of charging into fires) is a mixture we've seen before. Mr. Phoenix and John Travolta deliver perfectly fine performances, and the fires are appropriately menacing, but it lacks...dare I say, heat?
Give it a C+.

SHAUN OF THE DEAD

"A romantic comedy. With Zombies." What a great ad slogan! And the film, about a London slacker who can barely tell the difference between his drooling contemporaries and the brainless, flesh-eating zombies who threaten them, is alternatingly hysterical, juvenile, brilliant, boring, terrifying, cartoonish, gory, and actually emotionally effecting. I loved it, and the last five minutes compensate for any mid-act sagging. If you like George Romero, the "Evil Dead" films or Peter Jackson's "Dead Alive", you will love this perverse little import. For the twisted, this is an easy "A". For the rest of you guys, give it a "B" and bring a barf bag--it does occassionally test the limits of an "R" rating.