Showing posts with label Matt Stone. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Matt Stone. Show all posts

Saturday, October 19, 2013

Review: "Team America: World Police" is Crazy, Smart and True (Happy B'day, Trey Parker)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 209 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

Team America: World Police (2004)
Running time:  100 minutes (1 hour, 40 minutes)
MPAA – R for graphic, crude & sexual humor, violent images and strong language; all involving puppets
DIRECTOR:  Trey Parker
WRITERS:  Pam Brady, Matt Stone and Trey Parker
PRODUCERS:  Scott Rudin, Matt Stone, and Trey Parker
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Bill Pope, A.S.C. (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Thomas M. Vogt
COMPOSER:  Harry Gregson-Williams

COMEDY/ACTION/ADVENTURE

Starring:  (voices) Trey Parker, Matt Stone, Kristen Miller, Masasa, Daran Norris, Phil Hendrie, Maurice LaMarche, and Paul Louis

The subject of this movie review is Team America: World Police, a 2004 satirical comedy film from the team of Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of the long-running animated series, “South Park.”  The film’s cast is composed of marionettes (puppets) instead of live actors.  Team America: World Police follows a popular Broadway actor who is recruited by an elite counter-terrorism organization to help stop a dictator who is plotting global terror attacks.

Team America: World Police may be 2004’s funniest film.  Some may consider it the most obnoxious and crass movie of the year, especially after viewing the graphic puppet “sex scene.”  It will certainly go down as one of the most outrageous movies not made by John Waters.  It’s a wonderful send up of action movies, especially as those made by super-producer Jerry Bruckheimer, and the hilarious characters that populate them.  Even the musical scores to Bruckheimer films get it up the butt and in the mouth from this movie.  It’s also a wicked satire of American military aggression and the celebrities who protest it.  However, as good as the film is (and it’s quite good), Team America: World Police frequently falls on its own spear.

Team America is an international police force dedicated to maintaining global security.  And they’re also marionettes; you may best remember marionettes as those puppets on the venerable British TV children’s series, “Thunderbirds.”  Team America’s latest mission takes them to Paris, France, where they fight a handful of terrorists with WMD’s, also known as weapons of mass destruction.  Team America also manages to destroy Paris’ most famous landmarks, and also loose a team member to a terrorist’s bullets.

Team America’s leader, Spottswoode, a gray-headed, older, distinguished gentleman, recruits a young Broadway actor named Gary to replace the fallen comrade.  Spottswoode thinks that Gary will make the perfect spy because in college he was a double major in theatre and world languages.  The other Team America members:  Lisa, Sarah, Chris, and Joe, are wary at first, but they back him up on their first mission to Cairo to infiltrate a band of Islamic fundamentalists with WMD’s.

There is however a larger crisis looming.  Power-mad dictator Kim Jong Il of North Korea has planned a series of simultaneous global terror attacks – imagine 9/11 times 2356.  He’s convinced the Hollywood Film Actors Guild, or F.A.G., and their leader, actor Alec Baldwin, to support a conference in North Korea in which all world leaders will attend.  The conference is merely a cover for the launch of the worldwide terror strikes, which will occur while Baldwin gives his peacenik keynote speech.  Can Team America stop Kim Jong Il…and the actors?

Team America: World Police is the second major studio film from Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of the uproarious and bawdy animated program, “South Park,” on Comedy Central.  Team America, on one hand, is a delightful and loving send up of “Thunderbirds” and the other puppet marionette shows produced by England’s Century 21.  On the other hand, the film is mostly a vicious and brutal satire of the contemporary American political landscape and American self-righteousness.  The use of marionettes instead of actors greatly takes the sense of people getting made fun of to a level that human actors couldn’t go.

Parker/Stone use clever dialogue, over-the-top violence, and hyper-patriotic songs to skewer heavy-handed U.S. military offenses, strikes, and pre-emptive attacks on international locales.  They also use marionettes that closely resemble well known Hollywood and celebrities that protest U.S. military action.  The marionettes, in some cases, barely look like the stars that they’re supposed to resemble; in some cases the resemblance is just close enough not to get the filmmakers sued.  Still, it works enough so that such stars as Alec Baldwin, Tim Robbins, Michael Moore, Susan Sarandon, Matt Damon, Helen Hunt and others are mercilessly lampooned.

But is the movie good?  The answer is a resounding yes; it’s one of the funniest films I’ve seen in years.  However, it is mean-spirited, graphic, obnoxious, brutal, vicious, vulgar, filthy, foul, nasty, rank, etc.  Sometimes, I had a hard time believing that Parker and Stone were going so far in their satire and humor.  Still, they’re not frat boys out of control; every joke and satirical comment and farcical moment seems well conceived.

Team America: World Police, in the end, takes the side of the “good guys,” but Parker and Stone obviously only trust them a little more than the “bad guys.”  They insist that even the protagonists be viewed with a wary eye, so in the end, it’s as if they question that anyone can be trusted.  Fighting assholes who want to kill everyone is a dirty job, and the heroes and their charges may not be “all that” themselves.  Team America: World Police is not perfect, but it’s the work of frankly honest and only barely inhibited filmmakers.  That’s refreshing when “looking good” is so important these days.

8 of 10
A

Updated:  Saturday, October 19, 2013

The text is copyright © 2013 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.

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Monday, February 13, 2012

2012 Grammy Awards - Complete Winners List

The Grammy Awards (or Grammys) are given out by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS) of the United States. The Grammy is an accolade that recognizes outstanding achievement in the music industry. It is the music industry equivalent to the Academy Awards for film, the Emmy Awards for television, and the Tony Award for stage.

The 54th Grammy Awards were held on February 12, 2012 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles and broadcast live on CBS.  Adele won six awards including the big three: Album, Record, and Song of the Year.

54TH ANNUAL GRAMMY AWARDS (2012) – Complete List of Winners:

1. Record of the Year
"Rolling in the Deep" - Adele

2. Album of the Year
"21" - Adele

3. Song of the Year
“Rolling in the Deep” - Adele Adkins & Paul Epworth, songwriters (Adele)

4. Best New Artist
Bon Iver

5. Best Pop Solo Performance
"Someone Like You" - Adele

6. Best Pop Duo/Group Performance
"Body And Soul" -Tony Bennett & Amy Winehouse

7. Best Pop Instrumental Album
"The Road From Memphis" - Booker T. Jones

8. Best Pop Vocal Album
"21" - Adele

9. Best Dance Recording
"Scary Monsters And Nice Sprites" - Skrillex

10. Best Dance/Electronica Album
"Scary Monsters And Nice Sprites" - Skrillex

11. Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album
"Duets II" - Tony Bennett & Various Artists

12. Best Rock Performance
"Walk" - Foo Fighters

13. Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance
"White Limo" - Foo Fighters

14. Best Rock Song
"Walk" - Foo Fighters, songwriters (Foo Fighters)

15. Best Rock Album
"Wasting Light" -Foo Fighters

16. Best Alternative Music Album
"Bon Iver" - Bon Iver

17. Best R&B Performance
"Is This Love" - Corinne Bailey Rae

18. Best Traditional R&B Performance
"Fool For You" - Cee Lo Green & Melanie Fiona

19. Best R&B Song
"Fool For You" - Cee Lo Green, Melanie Hallim, Jack Splash, songwriters (Cee Lo Green & Melanie Fiona)

20. Best R&B Album
"F.A.M.E." - Chris Brown

21. Best Rap Performance
"Otis" - Jay-Z & Kanye West

22. Best Rap/Sung Collaboration
"All of the Lights" - Kanye West, Rihanna, Kid Cudi and Fergie

23. Best Rap Song
"All of the Lights," Jeff Bhasker, Stacy Ferguson, Malik Jones, Warren Trotter & Kanye West, songwriters (Kanye West, Rihanna, Kid Cudi & Fergie)

24. Best Rap Album
"My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" - Kanye West

25. Best Country Solo Performance
"Mean" - Taylor Swift

26. Best Country Duo/Group Performance
"Barton Hollow" - The Civil Wars

27. Best Country Song
"Mean" - Taylor Swift, songwriter (Taylor Swift)

28. Best Country Album
"Own The Night" - Lady Antebellum

29. Best New Age Album
"What's It All About" - Pat Metheny

30. Best Improvised Jazz Solo
"500 Miles High" - Chick Corea, soloist

31. Best Jazz Vocal Album
"The Mosaic Project" - Terri Lyne Carrington & Various Artists

32. Best Jazz Instrumental Album
"Forever" - Corea, Clarke & White

33. Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album
"The Good Feeling" - Christian McBride Big Band

34. Best Gospel/Contemporary Christian Music Performance
"Jesus" - Le'Andria Johnson

35. Best Gospel Song
"Hello Fear" - Kirk Franklin, songwriter (Kirk Franklin)

36. Best Contemporary Christian Music Song
"Blessings" - Laura Story, songwriter (Laura Story)

37. Best Gospel Album
"Hello Fear" - Kirk Franklin

38. Best Contemporary Christian Music Album
"And If Our God Is For Us..." - Chris Tomlin

39. Best Latin Pop, Rock, Or Urban Album
"Drama Y Luz" - Maná

40. Best Regional Mexican Or Tejano Album
"Bicentenario" - Pepe Aguilar

41. Best Banda Or Norteño Album
"Los Tigres Del Norte And Friends" - Los Tigres Del Norte

42. Best Tropical Latin Album
"The Last Mambo" - Cachao

43. Best Americana Album
"Ramble At The Ryman" - Levon Helm

44. Best Bluegrass Album
"Paper Airplane" - Alison Krauss & Union Station

45. Best Blues Album
"Revelator" - Tedeschi Trucks Band

46. Best Folk Album
"Barton Hollow" - The Civil Wars

47. Best Regional Roots Music Album
"Rebirth Of New Orleans" - Rebirth Brass Band

48. Best Reggae Album
"Revelation Pt 1: The Root Of Life" - Stephen Marley

49. Best World Music Album
"Tassili" - Tinariwen

50. Best Children's Album
"All About Bullies... Big And Small" - (Various Artists); Jim Cravero, Gloria Domina, Kevin Mackie, Steve Pullara & Patrick Robinson, producers

51. Best Spoken Word Album (Includes Poetry, Audio Books & Story Telling)
"If You Ask Me (And Of Course You Won't)" - Betty White

52. Best Comedy Album
"Hilarious" - Louis C.K.

53. Best Musical Theater Album
"The Book Of Mormon" - Josh Gad & Andrew Rannells, artists; Anne Garefino, Robert Lopez, Stephen Oremus, Trey Parker, Scott Rudin & Matt Stone, producers; Robert Lopez, Trey Parker & Matt Stone, composers/lyricists (Original Broadway Cast)

54. Best Compilation Soundtrack For Visual Media
"Boardwalk Empire: Volume 1" (Various Artists); Stewart Lerman, Randall Poster & Kevin Weaver, producers

55. Best Score Soundtrack For Visual Media
"The King's Speech" - Alexandre Desplat, composer

56. Best Song Written For Visual Media
"I See The Light (From Tangled)" Alan Menken & Glenn Slater, songwriters (Mandy Moore & Zachary Levi)

57. Best Instrumental Composition
"Life In Eleven" - Béla Fleck & Howard Levy, composers (Béla Fleck & The Flecktones); Track from: Rocket Science

58. Best Instrumental Arrangement
"Rhapsody In Blue" - Gordon Goodwin, arranger (Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band); Track from: That's How We Roll

59. Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s)
"Who Can I Turn To (When Nobody Needs Me)" - Jorge Calandrelli, arranger (Tony Bennett & Queen Latifah); Track from: Duets II

60. Best Recording Package
"Scenes From The Suburbs" - Caroline Robert, art director (Arcade Fire)

61. Best Boxed Or Special Limited Edition Package
"The Promise: The Darkness On The Edge Of Town Story" - Dave Bett & Michelle Holme, art directors (Bruce Springsteen)

62. Best Album Notes
"Hear Me Howling!: Blues, Ballads & Beyond As Recorded By The San Francisco Bay By Chris Strachwitz In The 1960s" - Adam Machado, album notes writer (Various Artists)

63. Best Historical Album
"Band On The Run (Paul McCartney Archive Collection - Deluxe Edition)" Paul McCartney, compilation producer; Sam Okell & Steve Rooke, mastering engineers (Paul McCartney & Wings)

64. Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical
"Paper Airplane" - Neal Cappellino & Mike Shipley, engineers; Brad Blackwood, mastering engineer (Alison Krauss & Union Station)

65. Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical
Paul Epworth:

1. Call It What You Want (Foster The People) (T)
2. I Would Do Anything For You (Foster The People) (T)
3. I'll Be Waiting (Adele) (T)
4. Life On The Nickel (Foster The People) (T)
5. No One's Gonna Love You (Cee-Lo Green) (S)
6. Rolling In The Deep (Adele) (T)

66. Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical
"Cinema (Skrillex Remix)" - Sonny Moore, remixer (Benny Benassi); Track from: Electroman

67. Best Surround Sound Album
"Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs (Super Deluxe Edition)" - Elliot Scheiner, surround mix engineer; Bob Ludwig, surround mastering engineer; Bill Levenson & Elliot Scheiner, surround producers (Derek & The Dominos)

68. Best Engineered Album, Classical
"Aldridge: Elmer Gantry" - Byeong-Joon Hwang & John Newton, engineers; Jesse Lewis, mastering engineer (William Boggs, Keith Phares, Patricia Risley, Vale Rideout, Frank Kelley, Heather Buck, Florentine Opera Chorus & Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra)

69. Producer Of The Year, Classical
Judith Sherman:

1. Adams: Son Of Chamber Symphony; String Quartet (John Adams, St. Lawrence String Quartet & International Contemporary Ensemble)
2. Capricho Latino (Rachel Barton Pine)
3. 85th Birthday Celebration (Claude Frank)
4. Insects & Paper Airplanes - Chamber Music Of Lawrence Dillon (Daedalus Quartet & Benjamin Hochman)
5. Midnight Frolic - The Broadway Theater Music Of Louis A. Hirsch (Rick Benjamin & Paragon Ragtime Orchestra)
6. Notable Women - Trios By Today's Female Composers (Lincoln Trio)
7. The Soviet Experience, Vol. 1 - String Quartets By Dmitri Shostakovich & His Contemporaries (Pacifica Quartet)
8. Speak! (Anthony De Mare)
9. State Of The Art - The American Brass Quintet At 50 (The American Brass Quintet)
10. Steve Reich: WTC 9/11; Mallet Quartet; Dance Patterns (Kronos Quartet, Steve Reich Musicians & So Percussion)
11. Winging It - Piano Music Of John Corigliano (Ursula Oppens)

70. Best Orchestral Performance
"Brahms: Symphony No. 4" - Gustavo Dudamel, conductor (Los Angeles Philharmonic)

71. Best Opera Recording
"Adams: Doctor Atomic" - Alan Gilbert, conductor; Meredith Arwady, Sasha Cooke, Richard Paul Fink, Gerald Finley, Thomas Glenn & Eric Owens; Jay David Saks, producer (Metropolitan Opera Orchestra; Metropolitan Opera Chorus)

72. Best Choral Performance
"Light & Gold" - Eric Whitacre, conductor (Christopher Glynn & Hila Plitmann; The King's Singers, Laudibus, Pavão Quartet & The Eric Whitacre Singers)

73. Best Small Ensemble Performance
"Mackey: Lonely Motel - Music From Slide" - Rinde Eckert & Steven Mackey; Eighth Blackbird

74. Best Classical Instrumental Solo
"Schwantner: Concerto For Percussion & Orchestra" - Giancarlo Guerrero, conductor; Christopher Lamb (Nashville Symphony)

75. Best Classical Vocal Solo
"Diva Divo" - Joyce DiDonato (Kazushi Ono; Orchestre De L'Opéra National De Lyon; Choeur De L'Opéra National De Lyon)

76. Best Contemporary Classical Composition
"Aldridge, Robert: Elmer Gantry" - Robert Aldridge & Herschel Garfein

77. Best Short Form Music Video
"Rolling In The Deep" – Adele; Sam Brown, video director; Hannah Chandler, video producer

78. Best Long Form Music Video
"Foo Fighters: Back And Forth" - Foo Fighters; James Moll, video director; James Moll & Nigel Sinclair, video producers

http://www.grammy.com/

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Review: "South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut" is a Great 1999 Film (Happy B'day, Trey Parker)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 176 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999) - animated
Running time: 81 minutes (1 hour, 21 minutes)
MPAA – R for pervasive vulgar language and crude sexual humor, and for some violent images
DIRECTOR: Trey Parker
WRITERS: Matt Stone and Trey Parker and Pam Brady (based upon the TV series created by Matt Stone and Trey Parker)
PRODUCERS: Trey Parker and Matt Stone
EDITOR: John Venzon
Academy Award nominee

ANIMATION/COMEDY/MUSICAL/WAR

Starring: (voice) Trey Parker, Matt Stone, Mary Kay Bergman, Isaac Hayes, George Clooney, Brent Spiner, Minnie Driver, Dave Foley, Eric Idle, Nick Rhodes, Stewart Copeland, and Mike Judge

I could list several films that were better than Oscar® winner for “Best Picture” of 1999, American Beauty. One of them is South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, the film version of the hit animated series, “South Park,” on cable television channel, Comedy Central. The film did earn an Oscar® nomination in the category of “Best Music, Original Song,” and it should have won. But where it really counts, the film won – it is as good as the best episodes of the series.

Our heroic quartet: Stan Marsh (Trey Parker), Eric Cartman (Parker), Kyle Broslofski (Matt Stone), and Kenny McCormick (Stone) sneak into a theatre to see the R-rated film of Canadian bad boy duo, Terrance & Phillip, entitled Asses of Fire. The film, a wall-to-wall profanity-laden musical, warps the little boys’ minds, and they begin to freely used the most vulgar language in everyday speech. Kyle’s mother, Sheila Broslofski (Mary Kay Bergman), is horrified, so she leads the other boys’ parents in a massive crusade against Terrance and Phillip.

In true fanatical organized censorship fashion, her coalition against filth goes overboard. The parents pressure the United States government to declare war on Canada (because they generate lots of filth that finds it way to America), and to have Terrance and Phillip publicly executed just before the U.S. military invades Canada. Meanwhile, in Hell, Satan and his homosexual lover, Saddam Hussein (Stone), eagerly await the execution. For when Terrance & Phillip’s blood touches the earth, it will open a portal from Hell to Earth from which Satan and Saddam will launch an invasion.

The quality of the animation (crude and crudely manipulated paper cutout animated figures) and comedy (naughty) of the film is about the same as the TV series, except the hardcore R-rated vulgarity and profanity that would be edited out of even the series makes its way to the film. What the film has that the show doesn’t is a wonderfully satirical and farcical song score. There are certainly better musical and song scores in film history, but none are as ribald, as bold, and as hilarious as these songs.

The most important thing about South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut is that it is so subversive. The TV series has always used satire and farce to make political and social commentary. Creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone take their hardest hits at ultra conservative, too liberal, bigoted, and politically correct America. But the part of the U.S. that takes the biggest hit is the dishonesty of adults: lying to children, not explaining to them why they should be protected from certain things, cheating, stealing, and selfishness. Parker and Stone do it while making you laugh so hard at their outrageous sense of humor. I don’t know which is their best talent, humor or commentary; they do both so well that’s it’s unfair to most others who try both.

9 of 10
A+

NOTES:
2000 Academy Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Music, Original Song” (Trey Parker and Marc Shaiman for the song "Blame Canada")

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