Posted on 06/01/2005 12:55:25 AM PDT by ambrose
The guilty pleasure of 'Team America'
By Gary Arnold
The most astonishing and hilarious movie of last year, "Team America: World Police," finally has made its belated transition from theatrical to home-video release. The adventure-flick parody from "South Park's" Trey Parker and Matt Stone ridicules in one fell swoop the U.S. war on terror, a lucrative Hollywood genre, Kim Jong-il, several Hollywood stars and their most conspicuous political propagandist, Michael Moore.
It was never in the cards that such a movie would be in serious contention for Academy Awards. Nevertheless, "Team America," a marvel of satirical perversity and technical craftsmanship, deserved the Oscar for best animated feature and nominations for best art direction, visual effects, cinematography, editing and costume design. The DVD edition,released May 17 and retailing for $29.98, provides behind-the-scenes featurettes showcasing many of the people responsible for the movie's conceptual effrontery and pictorial sophistication.
"Team America" hit on a happily brazen way of cutting Hollywood down to size, literally as well as figuratively: The characters are played by 2-foot marionettes.
The timing of its theatrical release was dandy. This uninhibited smack-down of Hollywood cliches and pieties appeared in the wake of a long summer of derision aimed at President Bush and his re-election aspirations. The one-sided malice began with Mr. Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" and continued through such summertime monstrosities as "The Day After Tomorrow" and "The Manchurian Candidate."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
I just bought the uncensored version for my hubby for Fathers Day.
The rat played the theme song over and over so it would be stuck in my head as I homeschooled my 7&5 year olds.
There is just so much I love about that movie. From the Hollywierd Lefties (and Has Blix) dying to the Kim Jong Il puppet (I'm so wonrey). And the theme song! "America F**k Yeah!"
watching it again tonight
I never felt guilty either!
Try Parkers first move Cannibal..the Musical it is a riot.
I paid $16.99 at Best Buy. I watched it with my wife (I saw it twice in the theater, but she hadn't seen it yet).
She was laughing so hard she cried on at least three occasions.
The way the world works in a nutshell.
By the way, folks, Russell Crowe's new film, Cinderella Man, comes out tomorrow (Fri).
Originally, Matt Damon (who Trey Parker and Matt Stone have admitted is really a "pretty cool guy") was going to be portrayed as intelligent and articulate, but when they saw the puppet, they noted that it made him "look retarded" and decided to portray him as such.
Every time I think of that, I crack up. And the "America, F* Yeah!" song is still running through my head.
Clooney was one of the first fans of SP. He showed the "Jesus vs. Santa Claus" short to his Hollywood pals long before South Park started. And he was the voice of Stan's gay dog in one of the episodes, and he did a brief spot in the South Park movie.
I am glad the article is wrong. I haven't gone out to the stores to check on the prices yet, but I bet it is something like 14.99 at the local Wal-Mart. That is reasonable.
I can't get the "montage" song out of my head. "Even Rocky had a MONTAGE..."
I just found the script:
http://scorpio.lunarpages.com/~spscri2/Treats/TAscript.htm
That is outrageous. I will wait until they have a copy at thet local used movie store and I can get it for 7 bucks.
Here you go; the source I always use for DVDs $16.14 , that's including shipping and no sales tax if out of state. My copy should be in my mailbox today, I think.
Even MallWart can't beat these guys - I've been using 'em for years.
Yer welcome.
I bought the Unrated one...one of the funniest deleted scenes...
After Gary performs the "loyalty Test"
Spotswood says "Ok Gary I trust you, now get yourself cleaned up, if we're going to send you single handed to Kim Jong Il's Palace, we've got very little time to make you the best soldier in the world. That's going to be hard because you're gay now."
ROFL
Yes! I was trying to remember what scene had that in it.
I just got it from Netflix -- I will be watching it again.
"You had me at 'd---s f--- a-----s'."
I can agree that Clooney got off relatively easily, I think Damon got hit pretty hard I mean basically they said he was retarded and the only words he knew were his own name. Penn got hit the hardest, though the funniest part about that was Penn's reaction, that open letter he wrote to them was nearly identical to the monologue they gave his puppet, he might as well have just announced that indeed he is just as big an idiot as they portrayed.
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