parody | timotheories

Shirley, You Can’t Be Serious (Cross Talk Ep. 13)

Posted on November 13, 2016 by Tim Kuefler

Did you know that the grand tradition of the parody has been around since the time of ancient Greece, dear readers?

In fact, the word parody itself has Greek roots, dear readers. With par meaning “beside” and ody representing an “ode” or “song,” dear readers. Heck, even now in contemporary society, we have many instances of parody within our western culture, dear readers. Movies, music, television, and radio all take examples of this and recite them back to us, dear readers. It’s time to release the stinker of all Cross Talk episodes, dear readers – And quite frankly, I don’t give a damn if I make a reference or three along the way to get us thinking critically about spoofs, parodies, send-ups, take-offs, and lampoons, dear readers.

Are you getting sick of me ending each sentence with “dear readers” yet friends? Well, such is the nature of the spoof – it upends the pattern, announces habits, and amplifies characteristics of a common thing. It can be very frustrating to witness, but also incredibly entertaining, if you get the joke. After all, no one wants to be the punchline.

Yes spoofs are those works which have been made to imitate and then make fun of and/or comment on an original work with elements of satire and irony. These are often some of my favourite works of art. My art-ache if you will. My art-burn. My artery.

I’ll stop while I’m ahead.

I am sure it is very frustrating to see such direct reference from me on lampoonery, but the episode really does speak for itself, and more importantly you’ll find that some references are just too on the nose for me.

Which is why we decided to focus on how movies spoofs work for this week’s episode of Cross Talk. Some of the best examples I can think of are well laid out in this 25 minute piece of comic brilliance, and heck just for you, we’re introducing a guest speaker to the cast, by way of a good friend of mine – André Lindo.

This is episode thirteen of Cross Talk. Did I mention the new camera angles at play? No, well see if you can notice where we’ve taken some liberties with the form, and also please let us know if you like the new, shorter, and much better intro to the show. Cross Talk just keeps on keeping on mon copains.

I’m about theoried out for now friends, but I’ve gonna share a Common music review with you tomorrow which I think you’ll enjoy given the recent US election results. Otherwise, please comment, subscribe, and share this video with friends. We want to hear your feedback!

Tim!

Never Ever, Ever, Ever (Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping review)

Posted on October 11, 2016 by Tim Kuefler

The first time I watched This Is Spinal Tap, was when I was in my late teens, it was also around that time that experienced Fubar as well. I can thank my friend Nick for those movies, because he loved to watch documentaries and mockumentaries when we were growing up.

And because I already had a love affair with satire in other shapes and forms, it makes sense that I’d give this weeks movie review a thumbs up.

Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping (2016)

Cast: Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer, Jorma Taccone
Director(s): Akiva Schaffer, Jorma Taccone
released on blu-ray September 13, 2016
******* 7/10

IMDB: 6.8
Rotten Tomatoes: 77%, Audience Score 68%
The Guardian: ***/*****

Akiva Schaffer, Jorma Taccone, and Andy Samberg are all members of the popular comedy group The Lonely Island. Known for their involvement with SNL and Samberg in particular for his acting skills, this group generally delivers topical and entertaining satire.

Popstar never deviates from that pattern or presentation, which is a testament to these gents ability. After all, the mockumentary has been done a few times before, some would say done to death. Worse still, musical mockumentaries will always have to compare themselves to This Is Spinal Tap, the quintessential piece of that cinematic format.

Which means that I don’t really need to dig into the story this time around, because we should all know how it goes.

Connor4real (Andy Samberg) is a popstar who is about to release his followup album, but he makes some bad decisions, like investing with an appliance manufacturer that only shares his tracks whenever one of their machines is used. And of course his sophomore album bombs, forcing Connor4real to do everything he can to maintain his solo career, despite major attempts from his DJ Owen (Jorme Taccone), fans, and even talk show hosts to see a reunion tour of his former group Style Boyz. You see, Style Boyz were three friends that included Connor, Owen, and the now missing writer of the group Lawrence (Akiva Schaffer). The group originally broke up when Connor and Lawrence got into a fight over a music award that had been attributed to Connor only.

We watch Connor4real spiral out of control, fighting with everything he has, except for that desire to reunite with this childhood friend. Ultimately the movie leads us to it’s inevitable reconciliation, and all is right in the world.

But in all honesty, I fell asleep in the last 15 minutes… not once, but twice. So if that isn’t an indication of a weak ending, I don’t know what is. And when I actually did force myself through it, I was indifferent.

Pros: The jokes are consistent and the material is solid for the most part, but Samberg really does hold all the star power here, and it’s what makes even the weak moments digestable.

Cons: It isn’t a perfect story by any means, but it’s one you recognize, and I think the movie suffers for it. In quite a few places it feels like you’re watching a sketch instead of a feature length movie.

Runtime: 1 hour 27 minutes

Points of Interest: In the movie Seal tells the audience he was scarred by wolves, when in real life it’s from an autoimmune disease called lupus, wolves are classified as “canis lupis.” Justin Timberlake cameos as Connors personal chef.

Maybe it’s a parody of Justin Bieber: Never Say Never, maybe it’s a parody of Macklemore, and maybe it’s a parody of the state of popular music in our times, but I don’t think it really matters. We laugh at the jokes because they’re funny and we understand the punchline. After all, I never like to admit that I was wrong.

The Lonely Island make comedy music for a viral age, and some might think that this entry in their record is passable for forgettable, I’m inclined to believe that, but who’s to say that this is what we need right now? Never say never, and never stop never stopping.

I’m theoried out for the evening friends. Hit me back tomorrow with something wise and uncharacteristic.

Tim!

Ermahgerd Mershed Perderders (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies review)

Posted on July 12, 2016 by Tim Kuefler

Mashups can be fun, if you take the right mix of levity and appreciation for each facet, then you can make it work in your favour. Whether it is a song, a movie, a comic book, a video game, it doesn’t matter, as long you know your source material and come at it with fun, research, and actual passion, it’ll get through.

But when you dial it in, just for the property rights, then your mashup will suck. Period.

Pride & Prejudice & Zombies (2014)

Cast: Lily James, Sam Riley, Jack Huston, Bella Heathcote, Lena Headey, Charles Dance, Sally Phillips, Matt Smith
Director: Burr Steers
released on blu-ray May 31, 2016
***** 5/10

IMDB: 5.8
Rotten Tomatoes: 42%, Audience Score 47%
The Guardian: **/*****

Burr Steers is an American screenwriter, director, and sometimes actor. He has been involved in a few Tarantino movies as an actor, and has directed film like Igby Goes Down, 17 Again, and Charlie St. Cloud. Which is why I find it interesting that he decided to direct Pride & Prejudice & Zombies, henceforth known as PPZ in the rest of my review.

And I just might have an addiction to silly movie premises. I bought Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Wolfcop, and now PPZ mostly because I liked the idea of a good mashup, but the reality is that often these horror movie crossovers don’t pull the trigger, and leave you with powder in hand, so-to-speak.

Which is where PPZ ultimately ends up, and in the final third of the movie too.

Now, I have to decide if it is even worthwhile to explain the premise of the movie to you, given that it’s a mashup of an established and well known book with some zombie thrills.

So I’ve decided to sum it up rather easily for you, zombies are injected throughout the story in small portions, but it is not until Elizabeth spends some private time with Wickham, and before the reveal that he used Darcy’s family money and tried to squander it via eloping with Darcy’s sister that we see the story twist. But this is because this is a parody of Pride and Prejudice, and Wickham is also secretly a zombie himself, wanting to have treaty with the humans and set up a high position for himself and his fellow zombies who live off of animal parts.

Inevitably the movie ends up with Wickham on the side of bad, capturing Lydia, and Darcy coming in to the save the day. Then Elizabeth confesses her love for Darcy and there is a double wedding. Neat and tidy, and in line with the original.

The truth is that the story feels muddy, and the mythology is interesting but also confused and in some ways forced upon us. There will be gaps without zombies, and then the zombies come back in but with tremendous effort on the part of the characters to justify the zombies place in their world.

Pros: Despite or because of the premise, the movie is full of cheese and fun, poking at the action genre and gender roles, both within the source material and in action films. And if you’re a horror fan it’ll make the original material less boring for you.

Cons: It never feels like it’s confident in what it is trying to sell us. The movie starts off interestingly enough, but the action grows stale and the twist is not alluring enough.

Runtime: 1 hour 47 minutes

Points of Interest: Natalie Portman was originally cast as Elizabeth Bennet but dropped out due to scheduling conflicts. All of the Bennet sisters did their own stunts for the movie.

The opening sequence promises us that the Georgian period we know so well is in fact one of nightmares. With the rich learning Eastern disciplines in combat so that they might fight off the zombie terror. But the problem is that we never get to see them sweat or earn their abilities, and so the combat immediately feels contrived. That and the already mentioned mythology make it a fun popcorn movie, but not much else.

PPZ is not the worst mashup I have ever come across, but it’s not the best either. It middles about and hopes to get away with it, on the premise that teenagers and fans of the ridiculous will take it in. You have to decide yourself it this movie was made out of pride or prejudice, but I’m pretty confident that it wasn’t made for zombies. But that’s just a theory.

Tim!