Ryan Watches A Motion Picture #53: Idiocracy (2006)

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Mike Judge of Beavis and Butthead and Office Space fame came up with a movie that was little advertised and little seen during its limited theatrical release. Higher-ups clearly washed their hands of this one for some reason. It's a shame, since it's really not that bad. Not a great achievement by any filmmaking stretch, but certainly not bad.

Set in 2505 and taking a page from Woody Allen's 1973 film Sleeper, Idiocracy features an average joe waking up to find himself in a future that doesn't make any sense. Because statistically the more educated you are the less children you have, humanity has grown dumber with each generation and can no longer look after itself. It's a world of couches, lame television, belligerence, and crudity and....well, it's pretty much like our world I guess, which is the point.

The film makes some frightening sense in some places, and it's clear commentary on human nature and the more embarrassing aspects of this society we've constructed for ourselves. On that front the film could have had a lot more fun than it did, but there wasn't so little that the film was vapid for it, which made me very glad.

The acting is only at par here though, as nobody in the film, save maybe for Luke Wilson's lawyer, goes out of their way to really make a scene work perfectly in terms of delivery and timing. The visual effects are colourful and fun and never get to the point where the setting overpowers the plot or humour. That's probably due more to budget concerns than directorial restraint, but I'll give Judge the benefit of the doubt on this one.

So: Pretty much as people have told me - cool stuff, fantastic concept and worth the watch. But it's a damn shame more wasn't done with the concept.

Chris 2010 Viewings #6: Spy Kids 3 - Game Over

I saw this movie before I even had a kid. In theatres! This is one of the more peculiar things I can think of in my movie-going life. The first two Spy Kids pictures have a certain charm but this one is beneath contempt.

Apparently most of the cast from the first two were disinclined to appear so most of the movie is a solo adventure for the youngest of the Spy Kids. He is sent into a Virtual Reality Video Game in order to defeat its creator, the Toymaker, played with an extra helping of ham by Sylvester Stallone. The reason? If the game actually goes online, all of the kids who play it will be - I'm hazy on this part because I wasn't much interested - trapped in the game or brainwashed or something. So basically it's Halloween III territory, with 3D glasses instead of masks.

So Spy Kid engages in unengaging CGI hijinks, occasionally helped out by wheelchair-bound grandpa Ricardo Montalban, who takes advantage of his time in the game to be transformed into a giant robotic badass. Eventually they leave the game and 90% of the cast from the earlier films shows up for a short afternoon's work fighting a giant CGI robot monkey. Then the Toymaker and Mr. Roarke kiss and make up and everyone says "to family" and the audience says "No more Spy Kids motion pictures please" to which Robert Rodriguez said "OK then, here is a movie I call Shark Boy and Lava Girl" and everyone says "Oh for God's sake" until Shark Boy hits puberty and becomes the Twilight werewolf boy and girls swoon and I am no happier.

It is not any more enjoyable in 3-D.

Mike The Boss - Films of 2010 - Film the First: Extract

Extract (2009) (dir: Mike Judge)

Oh Mike Judge, please go away. Beavis & Butthead was stupid. Office Space had moments but was not really that good. King of the Hill is nauseatingly puerile. Idiocracy was likely your best film but the best joke is making fun of Crocs and how tough is that to do. And now you have given us Extract, a misogynistic, unfunny, unnoteworthy piece of crap filled with sterotypes that you pretend to like but don't even have the balls to respect. Wake up people, Mike Judge hates your guts and thinks you are stupid. Plus he's forced Ben Affleck on us in his unfunniest role yet. This film is a stillborn abomination and should be avoided at all costs. Yep, that was my first film of the year. Yeehaw!