Tag Archives: Satire

OSS 117 Box Set from Music Box Films (2023) 

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The OSS 117 films have been around for a very long time. Originally a sort of French response to James Bond and his 007, OSS 117 films seemed to disappear for a while and then, in 2006, Jean Dujardin stepped in the suit and made it his own. His films as the famed spy started with OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies (2006), followed by OSS 117: Lost in Rio (2009), and OSS 117: From Africa with Love (2021). The box set released by Music Box Films recently contains the first two films only, something that was a bit of a letdown. However, it is a solid release of these films.  

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Ranking the “Scary Movie” Series from Best to Worst

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By the end of the 1990’s, the big slasher movie boom had all but run out of steam, allowing the sub-genre to be ripe for spoofing. In came the Wayans family, all of whom had had previous experience with spoofs in the eighties with their classic “I’m Gonna Git You Sucka!” Keenan Ivory Wayans took the lead directing “Scary Movie” for Dimension Films, which not only goofed on many of the films released during that period, but had a good time with it, too.

While “Scary Movie” promised “no sequels,” we did get them because—it’s Hollywood, after all. We received about four sequels to be exact, and they all arrived with very diminishing returns. Sadly, the more the movies went on, the worse they became, so it’s ironic that the series gets worse in order of the films’ release.

Here’s my ranking of the series from best to worst.

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Barbie (2023)

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The idea of turning “Barbie” in to a feature film has been something Mattel has been grappling with for a very long time, and there was no other way to bring her to the big screen without turning her in to something of a meta comedy. Barbie is revered but also reviled for being beautiful, because with a lot of reasonable vitriol, Barbie has been considered a vapid unrealistic representation of beauty. “Barbie” seeks to confront a world that not only holds women to unrealistic standards, but also presents us with a Barbie whose own unrealistic standards are finally dawning on her. This forces her in to something of an existential crisis where she’s forced to look for the origin of her existence and how she can obtain that sense of perfection.

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An Ostrich Told Me the World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It (2022)

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Director Lachlan Pendragon’s “An Ostrich…” is probably one of the more inventive shorts about creating, the idea of a higher being, and what happens when our creations take on a life of their own. “An Ostrich…” utilizes interesting filmmaking mediums and a collaboration of two art forms to unfold a very self aware and entertaining meta-satire.

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The Best Animated Movie Satire I’ve Ever Seen

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Part of what made the Looney Tunes and Warner Bros. dynasty so great beyond its characters, was its limitless ability to mock and satirize Hollywood. At a time where Hollywood was adored and enamored by so many, Warner Bros. actually did a great job of taking the piss out of people like Humphrey Bogart and Clark Gable. In 1993, Fox Studios and Warner brought back the formula that they’d abandoned for decades with “The Animaniacs.” While the show was primarily a series filled with segments primarily aimed toward children, some of the segments brought back a lot of the classic Warner Bros. traditions, including satirizing modern Hollywood.

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Aliens, Clowns & Geeks (2019)

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Richard Elfman’s “Aliens Clowns & Geeks” is the type of indie zaniness you’ll only find in back room of modern cinema. It’s a fearless, and bizarre mish mash of comedy, satire, science fiction, music, and just about everything else you can find. There are transgender individuals, and evil clowns, and a hero who can fire lasers out of his anus. And that’s really the tip of the iceberg when you manage to soak it all in. And you’ll need a hell of a lot of booze and weed to soak it all in.

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