Category Archives: Humor

Saturday Matinee: Tokyo Godfathers

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Who would have guessed that the greatest animated Christmas story would be an anime set in Tokyo? I would have had my doubts before seeing Satoshi Kon’s “Tokyo Godfathers” (2003). Unlike the majority of Kon’s filmography, the film’s relatively simple plot centers on three homeless friends who upon finding an abandoned baby set out on a quest to track down the parents. The homeless protagonists are not mere stereotypes but complex individuals with unique backstories which is especially remarkable since homeless people continue to be underrepresented in films (despite growing numbers). Like other Christmas fables, it has its share of sentimentality and reliance on convenient coincidences (ie. miracles), but it’s elevated by beautiful artwork and a finely crafted blend of realism, humor, action and earned emotional uplift. This was only Satoshi Kon’s third feature production and his penultimate film. Kon passed away much too soon from pancreatic cancer on August 24, 2010 at the age of 46.

Tokyo Godfathers (Full Film)

Saturday Matinee: Wave Twisters

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“Wave Twisters” (2001) is a mindbending homage to hip-hop culture set to the music of DJ Q-Bert. Using a mix of live-action, CG and cel animation, it tells the story of a heroic team who confronts an army of anti-hip-hop oppressors with the help of a powerful weapon known at the Wave Twister. Buckethead, D-Styles and Flare also contribute to the excellent soundtrack.

Saturday Matinee: Short Film Double Feature

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An imaginary friend is forced to consider retirement when his creator/best friend starts to grow up.

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The members of a fourth-grade class pull an innocent April Fool’s Day prank on their teacher that accidentally kills her. Fearing jail time, they set out to cover up the murder before their D.A.R.E. officer shows up for his weekly lesson.

Saturday Matinee: Freeway

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“Freeway” (1996) is a satisfyingly dark retelling of Little Red Riding Hood written/directed by Matthew Bright and featuring excellent performances by Reese Witherspoon as the protagonist, a seemingly stereotypical “white trash” teen, and Keifer Sutherland as the “wolf”, a secretly psychopathic high school guidance counselor. While the film works on the level of a traditional exploitation film, it provides much welcome commentary on racism, sexism, class-ism and societal hypocrisy.

(Video may not stream on some portable devices.)

 

Life Imitates “Black Mirror”

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Fans of the superb dystopian series “Black Mirror” (including myself) had our collective minds blown by recent claims (first widely reported by the Daily Mail) that British Prime Minister David Cameron performed a sexual act with a pig carcass as part of a depraved initiation ritual. The story would be very bizarre even had it not mirrored a key plot point of the premiere episode of Dark Mirror. No doubt besieged by questions about the recent news, Dark Mirror creator Charlie Brooker took to Twitter to state: “Just to clear it up: nope, I’d never heard anything about Cameron and a pig when coming up with that story. So this weirds me out.”

These are the most recent statements on the topic from Brooker’s Twitter feed (as of 9/21/15):

  1. 16h16 hours ago

    Perhaps the least prescient line from the script.

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    4:18 PM – 20 Sep 2015 · Details
    2,262 retweets 2,519 favorites

     

    16h16 hours ago

    I hope White Bear doesn’t come true next.

    4:17 PM – 20 Sep 2015 · Details
    1,280 retweets 1,563 favorites

     

    19h19 hours ago

    Just to clear it up: nope, I’d never heard anything about Cameron and a pig when coming up with that story. So this weirds me out.

    4:17 PM – 20 Sep 2015 · Details
    5,223 retweets 5,143 favorites

 

Read more about David Cameron’s days of elitist debauchery at Oxford.

Was this a case of insider knowledge, extra sensory perception, retrocausality, premonition, intuition or coincidence? Watch the full episode and judge for yourself.

Saturday Matinee: Journey to the West

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“Journey to the West” (2013) is writer/director Stephen Chow and Derek Kwok’s film adaptation of the classic 16th century Chinese novel of the same name. It chronicles the portion of the story in which young monk Xuan Zang (Zhang Wen) protects a village from three demons with the help of demon hunter Miss Duan (Qi Shu) and has his first encounter with the Monkey King (Bo Huang). Like Stephen Chow’s other blockbusters Kung Fu Hustle and Shaolin Soccer, Journey to the West features delightfully over-the-top performances and slapstick sensibility, but unlike previous works it also contains a spiritual message about redemption, sacrifice and enlightenment.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2mn7pd_journey-to-the-west-conquering-the-demons-full-movie-new-action-movies-hd-english-movi-action-movie_shortfilms

Saturday Matinee: Everything is Terrible! The Movie

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From Wikipedia:

Everything is Terrible! is a Chicago-based video blogging website that features clips of VHS tapes from the late 20th century. The project was founded in 2000 by a group of friends while at Ohio University. “Every weekend or free afternoon they get,” according to NPR, they search at thrift stores, garage sales, and “bargain bins” for the worst and most outrageous VHS tapes to share with each other. The website was launched in 2007 in Chicago….In 2009, the website released a video titled Everything is Terrible! The Movie, which featured the same type of VHS clips that would be featured on their website. The A.V. Club called the video “a portal into a world halfway between showbiz and real life—a look at how the people who make entertainment for a living think the rest of us saps actually live”, adding that it’s “simultaneously enlightening, hilarious, and deeply sad”.