Best Worst Movie/Troll 2-She Said

There’s something to be said for bad movies. There are bad movies, and then there are BAAADDDDDD movies. Movies that are soooo bad, that you feel the need to tell everyone about it. It’s so bad that you actually recommend people watch it. The best part about these movies isn’t the actual movie, but the experience in seeing it with a group of people and laughing until it hurts. Troll 2 is the ultimate bad movie. What’s even worse is that it has nothing to do with the first Troll; in fact, there aren’t even trolls in Troll 2.

But something odd happened over the last 20 years, Troll 2 became a cult classic. It became one of those movies that you loved because it was ridiculous, and it was fun sharing the ridiculousness with friends and more friends. Eventually, Michael Stephenson, who played the little boy in Troll 2, decided to take it upon himself and make a documentary about the worst movie ever made, thus Best Worst Movie came about. Michael first finds George Hardy, who played his dad, and finds out he is a dentist. George becomes kind of the center of the documentary and travels with Michael to find all the other old co-stars.

Where Michael lacked in acting skills in Troll 2, he makes up for as a filmmaker. His documentary is insightful, funny, poignant, and charming. It makes you want to watch Troll 2, if you’ve never seen it, to see what all the fuss is about. As he researched and interviewed people for the movie, he found this almost underground cult following of the movie. There were Troll 2 watching parties across the country, and people began screening the movie in theatres to sold out crowds. George eventually begins going to some of these screenings and becomes completely engrossed in this sub-culture.

The documentary isn’t all fun and games. There’s a point where Michael and George go and visit Margo, who played the mother, and it’s heartbreaking to watch where her life has taken her since making Troll 2. They also go visit the men who played the Grandpa and shop owner, and those visits also twinge on the heartstrings. Michael takes treats these visits with great respect. He never makes these people out to be crazy; he just shots the honest truth.

Michael is a brilliant filmmaker, and he captures the phenomenon of this cult classic. After watching Best Worst Movie, I was so excited to watch Troll 2. But first we were treated with an amazing Q&A by the guys at Gordonandthewhale.com with George Hardy! He was actually as every bit as energetic and charming as he was in the movie. He appeared to be having the time of his life in Dallas, and he seem to have all the time in the world for the audience. We were even lucky to get a reenactment of his famous line live!

After the Q&A, we were treated to a midnight showing of Troll 2. Now, I’ve been to a few awesomely bad movie premieres before, and I was insanely excited for this one. The movie itself is absolutely horrific. It’s bad in every sense. I mean there is literally no redeeming quality in it. However, the point is not to enjoy the movie, but to enjoy the experience of seeing it with people who dig bad movies.

Now, this experience was fun, but it wasn’t as “involved” as other screenings I’ve been to, such as The Room (where people yell at the screen and throw spoons) and Rocky Horror (need I say more about this one?). Most at the screening had never actually seen Troll 2, including myself, so we were interested in what made the movie so bad. It’s a lot more fun to see it with an audience who has seen it and laugh at all the jokes coming up. Maybe the mojo in the audience wasn’t flowing that night or maybe I wasn‘t in on the joke, but I would go back now that I’ve seen it. For awesomely bad movies, it’s always better to suffer through it beforehand so you know what to expect. Therefore, you can enjoy the inside joke of what’s going on in the movie with an interactive audience

Get Him To The Greek

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Get Him To The Greek

Starring: Russell Brand, Jonah Hill, Sean "P.Diddy" Combs, Elisabeth Moss, and Rose Byrne

Directed by: Nicholas Stoller

Written by: Nicholas Stoller/Jason Segel (characters)

Synopsis:

When record company employee Aaron Green gets the idea to have troubled rock star Aldous Snow play an anniversary show at the famous Greek Theater, he has to go get him from London to LA, which may be more trouble than he expects.

Get Him To The Greek- He Said

Get Him To The Greek is the latest in the many comedies produced by Judd Apatow and his ever expanding cast of friends/comedians.  This is not a widely advertised fact, but you can see hints of what makes his comedies great in here.  It’s the story of a record company lackey, Aaron Green (Hill), going to retrieve a relapsed junky and outrageous rock star, Aldous Snow (Brand), from England to play a show at the famous Greek Theater.  You can bet that hilarious hijinks will ensue throughout this movie.  The people that were at the screening, as well as myself, laughed throughout this whole movie, even if I didn’t quite get what the movie was trying to do.  It definitely was a good time at the movies, and I honestly would see it again if only because it’s one of the better movies out right now.

I went into this movie with mixed expectations; I was familiar with the Aldous Snow character from Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and I knew this was a pseudo-sequel of sorts, with Jonah Hill playing a different character than from Forgetting.  This seemed a bit fishy to me, but once you get past this you can have a good time.  Aaron is a good counterpoint to Aldous but neither are extreme personas.  Aaron has some bad boy moments, and he can be outrageous, while Aldous’ big story arc has a lot to do with emotional growth.  I know it’s been done before, but the “bad boy with a good heart underneath” feels natural to Brand and he pulls it off well.  After having read, on AICN, an interview with his own drug and alcohol issues, it gave me a bit of chills, and I almost felt sorry for him having to relive those experiences.  Regardless, the chemistry between this dynamic duo is indeed the best part of this movie.  They fight, party, disagree but it all felt very organic in that way that Superbad did.  The songs that Infant Sorrow, Aldous’ band, play are hilarious in a Flight of The Conchords sort of way, there is a CD out by them with all of the songs played in the movie. 

And for all of the good that it has, I was still left confused as to what the point to the movie was.  Normally most of these raunchy types of comedies don’t really have anything in the form of a message.  But, given how many serious moments involving Aldous and Aaron, I can’t help but feel that Nicholas Stoller tried too hard to emulate Apatow and failed.  For example, there are moments where Aldous become contemplative and tries to repair various relationships and every time he does, it seems that the most outrageous and random things happen that take away from the emotion.  Like I said, if it hadn’t be for the fact that they try to be serious I wouldn’t have minded.  My other big complaint is Sean “P. Diddy” Combs’ performance; you know I get it…he’s supposed to be a caricature of the eccentric music executive, but where I have seen actors tackle this same role, Combs’ performance was very one note, and ridiculously annoying by the end of the movie.  We get it; you want to make money and you need Aldous there at the Greek.  He felt like the weakest part of the movie when it came to characters.  Also there is an almost climatic “emotional” scene at the end with Aaron, Aldous and Daphne, Aaron’s girlfriend, that was supposed to be for laughs but honestly felt more uncomfortable in general, and this scene but it left a bad taste in my mouth. .  I will say that Russell Brand needs to get away from these roles; I fear he will start being typecasted even if he is good in the bad boy persona. 

Overall, I’d say you should go out there and check out the movie.  It’s not an opening night sort of movie but this will go great with a group of friends.  It is a funny and entertaining movie, with a few missteps, tonally speaking.  If you have seen Forgetting Sarah Marshall, it definitely feels like its spiritual sequel rather than a formal one.

Get Him To The Greek- She Said

One thing I never wanted to be was a rock star. The life seems very hectic: flying across the world to play at a show for three hours only to hop on a jet and fly back, radio interviews at all hours of the morning, TV interviews which require you to look and act coherent, recording new songs, learning new shows, and having a life somewhere in the mix. No, seems too insane for me. The only job that would seem worse is their assistant because not only do you have to keep up with the rock star, but you have to organize them and deal with their demands and mood swings.

In Get Him to the Greek, Aaron (played by Jonah Hill), gets a chance to prove himself to his music industry boss, Sergio (played by Sean Combs), by going to London and bringing back legendary rocker, Aldous Snow (Russell Brand), to the States for a Today Show appearance and a show at the Greek in LA. Seems pretty simple, but Aaron has never really seen the rock star side of the music industry before, so let the fun begin!

Yes, the movie is as funny as the commercials advertise. In fact, I would say they keep some of the best parts out of the commercials, which is rare nowadays for comedies. Aaron gets thrown into this world with Aldous, and on their way to LA, pretty much anything and everything happens: sex, drugs, alcohol, more drugs, and more alcohol. Honestly, I’m not sure how their livers handle the binge. One of the best shots of the movie is when Aaron and Aldous are running out of a hotel in fear of their lives, and Aaron has a manic, terrified look on his face that he’s about to die, but Aldous has this almost excited, pleasurable look as if to say, “this happens everyday!”

This movie is odd because it’s half raunchy comedy and half mid-rocker-crisis-epiphany story? The second half of the movie deals with Aldous coming to the realization of how alone in the world he is. He has no real friends, except his mother, an estranged relationship with his dad, divorced, doesn’t see his kid that often, and relapsed into drugs and alcohol. He finds a somewhat friend in Aaron, but doesn’t know how to keep it because he’s destroyed almost every other relationship in his life up until now. Russell Brand, believe it or not, can actually act. I found him really endearing during this revelation. He makes Aldous an actual character instead of a stereotype.

Sean Combs as the outlandish record producer, Sergio, brings a great edge to the movie. He’s the black version of Cruise’s insanity that was Les Grossman. He brings amazing energy to the movie, including having a voice over of a text message that, I have a feeling, will become very popular among friends.

The only problem I have is, tonally, the movie seems all over the place. It felt a little like Apatow’s Funny People, where you weren’t sure if it was an all out comedy or drama-dy or drama. You know the movie is good, but you’re not sure what you were supposed to get out of it. You think it’s going to become sentimental, then Aaron has to shove heroine up his butt before they board a plane. Or there’s an insanely awkward moment between Aldous, Aaron, and Aaron’s girlfriend, and I won’t get into it, but you can probably guess what the moment is.

The movie is fun; go with friends and laugh, and don’t ever accept a “Jeffrey” from anyone…ever.

Shrek: The Final Chapter, He says

Directed by Mike Mitchell

Starring: Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz, Eddie Murphy, Antonio Banderas

Synopsis: Shrek is tricked into signing a pact with the smooth-talking deal maker, Rumpelstiltskin, who offers Shrek a day where everything will be as if his adventures had never happened.

If you’re a movie that actually plays up Pete Hammond and the fact that IS (hopefully) the last chapter in a series, you know that you can’t expect much. Shrek: The Final Chapter Forever After is exactly that sort of movie, but here’s the surprise, if you have your expectations lowered, this fourth Shrek movie is pretty fun. The story is a generic one that we have all seen many times, where Shrek cannot appreciate the apparent perfection that is his life with wife, kids, and goofy friends, and he wants to go back to his single days of being a scary ogre. And so begins what is Shrek’s last tale.


I will say that for the first half of the movie I kept on thinking how I would rather be watching The Fantastic Mr. Fox instead because it starts of the same way. Fiona’s parents about to sign over their kingdom to Rumpelstilskin, who specializes in making magical deals with people. As soon as the king and queen are about to sign, they get word Fiona has been rescued and don’t sign the contract. The next scene shows every day mundane routine of hanging out with the cute pooping babies, hanging out with his friends, and dealing with his fame. I’m going to cry boohoo here. It truly bothered me how whiny Shrek seemed; yes it’s annoying to take care of babies but being a good parent means powering through that. When Shrek becomes overtly irritated at his kids’ first birthday, Rumpelstilskin takes this opportunity to make a power play for the kingdom in this deal (didn’t you see this coming). Rumpel gives Shrek a day to be a manly scary ogre again for a day from his life in his past. In a sweet twist, we go to a world where Shrek never existed since the day he gave up was the day he was born, ogres are evil outlaws, Rumpel is king, and his friends do not know anything about him. As an end note, I do think its interesting how they tried to emulate How To Train Your Dragon-style flying scenes, but it does not do it justice the way the former movie did. Though just like with Dragon, this movie’s 3D use is very classy and well put together.


So like I said, this is It’s A Wonderful Life and the aforementioned Fantastic Mr. Fox put in a generic package. You can see Shrek trying to reconnect with his old friends in ridiculous ways, and it’s horribly annoying because you know he’s going to fail numerous times, then he will succeed, and he’ll have to move on to the next acquaintance.

But here is where I think that there is the genius of the film. By taking the characters back to zero, you can almost relive the magic of the original; the chemistry of donkey and Shrek is definitely the highlight of the movie. They have toned down the humor that’s filled with ridiculous pop culture references and adult inside jokes, which really helps the movie. The last half of the movie is what makes me think that this is a fitting end to the series. As Shrek is trying to connect with Fiona, you see the difficulty of this ogre trying to win her again, and without going into spoilers. the way he does win her over is one of great characters growth, and you can see how truly well he knows Fiona and cares for her. And fittingly the end credits of the movie are highlighted scenes from all the movies in the series. (Interesting that they don’t show Justin Timberlake’s character for the most part, just saying guys.)


Overall, this is a generic movie. I would say that it is way better than Shrek 3, but if I had to rank the series it’d be Shrek, Shrek 2, Shrek The Final Chapter, and Shrek 3. I find it a fitting end to series that leaves it with a decent amount of dignity. I would not recommend it unless you want your kids to be quiet for a couple of hours but definitely it would make for a great rental.

Exit Through the Gift Shop- He said

“Exit through the Gift Shop” is movie that isn’t quite a movie but much more. Depending on who you ask, it is either a film by the enigmatic street artist Banksy, or it’s a Charlie Kauffman-esque, meta commentary on the state of art and its culture. I must admit that the film was one of the most entertaining and inventive pieces of cinema I have had the pleasure of seeing. The fact that anyone that has ever cared about any form of art NEEDS to see this film.


The movie follows Thierry Guetta, the eccentric owner of a “vintage” clothing store in one of the hippest parts of LA. He has the most ridiculous moustache that I’ve seen in a long time. He constantly carries a camera around with him in order to capture all of life’s precious moments. This turns into a creative endeavor when he is introduced to street art by his cousin, Space Invader. When he returns home, he seeks out other street artists and starts to follow and communicate with some of the more famous ones in the scene, such as Shepard Fairey, for a supposed documentary about street art.

Eventually he meets Banksy, who is a famously reclusive street artist that has painted street art all over the world. Banksy decides that Thierry is more interesting of a subject for a movie than he was, so the movie becomes about the man, Thierry, trying to make a movie. It’s at this point that the movie becomes more about Thierry’s quest to become a street artist himself at the behest (and annoyance) of Banksy. This is partly due to the fact he had years of raw and unorganized footage from his time filming artists, and the fact that his documentary was incomprehensible. Starting from the creation of a sticker in his own image to the opening of his art show in LA, we see Thierry’s quick rise in fame

As a “documentary”, Exit through the Gift Shop is a well-paced with an entertaining story, as well as a good introduction to the new sort of art form that not many people know about. But the movie really works well as the commentary on art itself. Seeing as how there has been speculation, since the movie was released, that Banksy created all the works of art that were credited to Mr. Brainwash (MBW), aka Thierry. And Thierry just pretended to be MBW as a part of an elaborate years long prank. Whether you believe that theory or not is up to you.

This is the part of the movie that is brilliant to me; it spends the first half of the movie showing you street art, and then it bastardizes the movement in the last half. Thierry Guetta is not a person; he is a symbol about all the bull (shit) that goes into art and what happens when it goes wrong. Beginning with his first sticker, he creates nothing original. It is a picture of him holding a camera symbolizing the narcissistic tendencies of a lot of artists in all forms of media. In the events leading up to the opening show of his gallery, he buys an art house factory with hired guns photoshopping and helping with the creation of his art, and most of it, which is repetitive and horribly colored (and unless I’m missing something) says absolutely nothing. This is a great contrast to the works of Shepard Fairey and Banksy, who all have done something to speak about social equality and peace with their works. Instead Thierry makes Spock look like Madonna.

As the deadlines for his big show approaches, Thierry asks Fairey and Banksy for quotes to help hype up his show. He becomes one of those eccentrics that you see in the reality TV shows. He has no vision or creativity instead he chats with the TV crews instead of setting up his own gallery. He becomes a super famous artist, but has not had to establish a reputation, which is unorthodox even in the world of street art. One of the most cringe worthy moments was when all of these LA’ers were being interviewed about the exhibit, and they talked about the greatness that was MBW, and how he is innovative. These people obviously had no clue what they were talking about. It’s something that happens to all forms of art, you have the types are there to see and be seen.

For all of the ranting on my part, this movie actually brings about a lot of healthy discussion amongst people. Whether they believe that the whole movie is a prank, or that maybe the prank is that people believe the movie itself is a prank. Who knows? Banksy obviously knows the art of satire and social commentary. Even seen as a simple documentary about art gone wrong, it still is a hilarious and engaging story that won’t leave you bored.

Exit Through the Gift Shop- She said

Most of us modern people know the term “street art” by it’s more common and illegal term, graffiti. But there’s a whole underground culture of street artists, and some of them are making money, and LOTS of it. Now, from what I understand, like any form of art, you’re not suppose to get into it for the money. You enter into the world because you’re passionate about making art and/or making a statement (whatever that may be). In Exit through the Gift Shop, we meet “Banksy”, a legendary street artist from Britain, making a documentary of the man, Thierry Guetta, who was making a documentary about street artists.



Now the rumor surrounding this movie is that it’s a hoax, that maybe Guetta and Banksy are pulling a farce on the audience. No one really knows, and to be honest, I think it makes the movie more intriguing. Guetta is a quirky, cartoonish character who will drop whatever he’s doing if it means getting a good shot for his documentary. He is able to catch some of the most prominent street artists in action: Banksy, Invader, and Shepard Fairey. He records 1000s upon 1000s of hours of footage and dumps his tapes into random, unmarked boxes. Eventually, he tries to make a movie, but as Banksy puts it, “It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before…” Banksy then plants idea in Guetta’s head to become a street artist, thus Mr. Brainwash is born.


Guetta puts together his first art show, and it’s huge. However, he didn’t have to “pay his dues” as most artists have. He gets Banksy to put a quote for his art show, and BAM, Guetta has upwards to 7,000 people the first day. He makes millions of dollars. Now, is his art good? One could argue he’s not really an artist. He blatantly takes ideas from other artists, like Warhol. Some say he finds inspiration; others say he’s rip off-wannabe.


At this point is where the question comes in…did Banksy and Guetta create “Mr. Brainwash” to prove a point about art? Was this an elaborate hoax to show how fake and superficial some artists could be, and how blind the masses are?


Or is it a true story? Did Guetta become inspired by the culture he followed for so long and discovered he had a natural gift? Was he just at the right place at the right time and knew the right people? Is he just a lucky guy?


None of these questions are answered, and that’s what makes this film so great. The debate that happens afterwards between members of the audience is why I loved this movie so much. I stayed talking with people for at least half an hour discussing the validity of Guetta, his art, and his sudden success.

Personally, I think it’s a hoax and a brilliant social commentary on art and the passion behind it. The movie is very entertaining and keeps the audience engaged throughout. The world street art that we’re able to scratch the surface of is inspiring and brilliant. The artists like Shepard and Invader do this because they love it and want to make a statement. Guetta…he seems to be in it for the money, which completely goes against the unwritten morals of this culture.


If the truth ever comes out and Banksy and Guetta has pulled one over on the world, I will be impressed. Banksy proves that he can delve in to the subconscious of a culture, create a mess of an artist, and come out clean and brilliant on the other end.