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Stargal427
Reviews
Super Troopers (2001)
Don't take it seriously, just laugh.
You've got to appreciate how Super Troopers can get you out of a bad mood. You watch it and think 'is this for real?' but don't get much farther than that -- you're laughing too hard.
But I may be predisposed for laughter since I'm one of the under-30 crowd. However, Super Troopers is a work of pure insanity and pure genius. From start to finish, you don't get much time to recover from laughing. All things considered, it had a plot that won out over most of the teen-bop movies I've had to sit through. And those didn't make me laugh a quarter as much. So you decide on what you want to watch -- another teen movie or this work of masterpiece?
It's in some town in Vermont near the border, who cares? It's got the green New England small town feel. Complete with a local diner that the town and highway cops frequent. Notice they park on polar sides. Then the next thing you see is maple syrup. Pure, viscous maple syrup being chugged in competition. It makes you cringe, laugh and feel empathy for Rabbit when he has to finish the rest of the bottle.
The town cops are condescending, and clearly more organized in the sane sense of the word. The two factions hate each other, but even as the ax comes down to close the state police station they keep at it [by 'it' I mean shananigans]. There's a murder on the highway, but a rampaging pig inside a Winnebago coerces the state police to give it to the locals. It turns out that case, solved in entirety is the key edge either side needs to survive the firing.
There's enough quirks, and pure comic craziness to keep you guessing what they'll do next. They're all newcomers [to me] except Brian Cox, and Daniel von Bargen. If you can get your hands on it, sacrifice a few hours and watch this. ..Twice. You'll get subtle things you missed the first time with the second round.
I gave it a 10. A comedy is a comedy, but this is a comedy that's innovative in its own genre. One day, I hope to write something as crazy.
Canadian Bacon (1995)
Unusually hilarious.
Canadian Bacon is an eccentric comedy, involving the names like John Candy, Alan Alda, Rhea Perlman and with cameos by James Belushi, and Dan Aykroyd. I hadn't heard about it until I had the chance to watch it on Comedy Central.
Basically, Alan Alda is a President who's low in the opinion polls and needs to find some way to hike his ratings back up. So, what better thing to do than start a conflict and rally the American people behind him again? But, what country do they choose? CANADA.
At first hearing their 'Blame Canada' campaign it was reminiscent of the South Park movie's motto. Perhaps their creators watched this movie, along with some editors who needed movie titles -- did anyone catch several current movie titles spoken there like 'Collateral Damage' and the like? Perhaps it was only me.
One of my favorite parts was to see Toronto as such a clean, orderly and polite peopled city and then on the way home the view of the US city has smokestacks and steam rising from a polluted, ugly mess but the characters are truly happy to see it all again.
This movie doesn't have the usual sex, swearing and violence of some intense comedies. The gun carrying is reduced to just that, and all the shooting happens at inanimate objects. If you want a comedy that you could show with the children around, this is the one.
My -favorite- part was in the US control room where the red lights start flashing and the sirens sound and everyone else knows what it means but Alan Alda's character suddenly perks up and glances around, completely blank with a sputtered -- 'what the hell is THAT?!' Remind you of one of our former Presidents?
In Pursuit of Honor (1995)
A film about courage, compassion, and with a fulfulling delivery.
The film opens onto a flashback of one of the darker moments of history -- the destruction of WWI veteran camps outside the White House during the Depression. This sets the stage for how a few veteran calvarymen have a stronger sense of personal morale than their fellow men.
Then the present, with an adept young man whose father left a longlasting impression to many men he comes into contact with in a southwestern military base. It's a calvary stronghold, with around 500 horses and a fraction of that in men.
But the seeming low-action utopia ends when a Colonel retires and is replaced by a more ruthless replacement who carries out orders of Gen. MacArthur -- to disband the calvary's traditions [discontinuing sabers] and destroy the spare mounts in a brutal method that reminded me of the WWII concentration camp scenes of horror where Nazis would shoot Jews and bury them in mass graves on top of one another.
The start of this movie is a fast set-up for the rest of the film and does not leave much room for intermission. It's a long journey they undergo, and isn't without the harsh reality of the peril that the renegades face in their decision to rescue the horses.
I was attracted initially because of its history-base, which I'm interested in, and I've learned while being entertained at the same time of what happened within our own borders that might not have attracted everyone's eye, but was brutally savage all the same.
In conclusion, this made-for-TV movie scored an 8 with me and if any of this movie's main elements fascinate you it should be on your agenda to see.
Retroactive (1997)
Reassuring everyone that hell is in mid-Texas.
Retroactive was an unusual movie title for this sci-fi flick, but made up for it. With only one real mainstream, recognizable name in the film it proved that the small guys can make a good movie too.
Although a few points of this movie were poor, it was a good median-type film with that downplayed ending that was another aspect that set it apart from the usual Hollywood commando ending.
Overall, I enjoy the idea of time machines and this was a practical way of approaching the idea. Kylie Travis takes the female lead with a feminine heroism; Shannon Whirry the abused, soft-spoken wife. Frank Whaley as the neurotic scientist plays the part just as well as the polar end of James Belushi as the loud-mouthed hired courier.
If you want to see a few new faces and go on a ride back in time, rent Retroactive.