-
Four Bottles of Morons on the Wall
Welcome to Madagascar. Madagascar borders on the Adriatic, and its chief export is chrome. No, wait, that’s Albania. Let me check my Google Earth. Ah, there it is. Madagascar is a huge island located off the coast of Africa, and if I remember my elementary school education correctly, its chief export is vanilla. Yum. Anyway, big ol’ island was the eighth pit stop…in a racearoundtheworld. Last week…well, last week was rather pointless, as David and Mary flexed all their stupidity muscles and finished last, only to be saved by the second non-Philimination in three weeks. Who will see the edge of Phil’s axe…next? -
Painfully Funny
In discussions of whether or not I was going to see Borat!: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, most people I talked to seemed insulted that I didn’t want to be insulted. Sacha Baron Cohen‘s sweet, dimwitted, anti-Semitic, misogynist Kazakh TV journalist is like the unholy hybrid of Punk’d and Jackass, before either existed: he combines outrageous physical gags with the “man on the street” interviews that he forces upon unsuspecting American bystanders. Serves them right for being accommodating, I suppose. The hook that Cohen puts on his character is that, along the way, he exposes the ugly underbelly of American society; the Borat movie was supposed to be the ultimate manifestation of this breed of comedy, and I wanted nothing to do with it. After seeing the film, I’d love to say that I fall in line with the critics and can praise Borat as one of the best comedies of the year, but the theme, the approach, and, indeed, a lot of the jokes, seem too tired to stick. -
Crazy Old Mauritius
Welcome to Mauritius. Yeah, we never heard of it until this episode either. But get this, when the Portuguese discovered the island in the 17th Century, they came upon a new species of bird that they nicknamed the dodo. Teams should feel pretty at home here, then. But, anyway, Mauritius is, uh…French, and stuff. It’s really pretty boring, as far as I can see. That’s the problem when you go to paradise: there’s nothing to make fun of. At least until television stars start driving drunk around your island. Then it gets a little bit annoying. Mauritius, for all its inability to be funny to me, was the seventh pit stop…in a racearoundtheworld . Teams raced here from Kuwait City, where we learned last week…well, we didn’t learn much, per se. It was reconfirmed for us, though, that Peter was a gigantic toolbag, as he and Sarah were uncerimoniously Philiminated, and I mourned for not being able to fit in a The Fugitive joke their entire time on the race. Who will be eliminated…next? -
Meant for the Stage
I have to admit that I’ve always bee torn over the prospect of seeing The Decemberists live. Lead singer/songwriter Colin Meloy’s lyrics are so engaging, his music so, dare I say, epic, that you can’t help but envision yourself amidst 16th century privateers or early American soldiers, preparing for battle. You almost expect the band’s concerts to play out like a theatrical production, with costumes, special effects, and elaborate scenery. Those expectations didn’t necessarily hold true when The Decemberists visited the Electric Factory last night – there was only one enactment of a song, and I couldn’t see it from my spot on the balcony – but that didn’t stop the concert from being extremely satisfying. -
Systemic Anomalies
Nothing major to write about today, so instead let’s reach into the grab bag that is the Interwebs.- Speed Racer will be a real life, live action movie, directed by Larry and Andy Wachowski, the guys responsible for the mindblowing film The Matrix and the…mindblowingly underwhelming The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions. Somehow I can’t get the image of Racer X punching Speed in the stomach and slowly turning him into a clone.
- Kazakh movie theaters will “probably” not screen Borat. I recommend the U.S. follow suit. Borat is the next step in the devolution of comedy started by Napoleon Dynamite. I, of course, will wind up seeing it, liking it, and hating myself for it.
- Fraggle Rock will be a movie. Remember when George Lucas re-released the original Star Wars trilogy in theatres because of all the hype around The Phantom Menace? Might I suggest the re-release of The Muppets Take Manhattan to lead into this release?
- And, for what it’s worth, LOST is on tonight. You can follow all the action over at Balls, Sticks, & Stuff as loyal Moviehawk reader Tom G. liveblogs the episode.
Archive: 2006