I’m serious, look, this is my serious face

Last night I rewatched Team America: World Police with two friends who had never seen it before. I warned them beforehand that they would never think of the musical Cats in the same way again and that there were some adult acts performed by puppets.

I remember being desperate to see this film when it first came out because my brother and I were big South Park fans but they didn’t show it at our local cinema, which was a massive disappointment.

I’m not sure how Trey Parker and Matt Stone are still alive, to tell the truth. The more politically correct our society gets, the worse this movie seems. It’s still hilarious and ridiculous but I’m not sure whether I would want to be involved in the making of anything similar!

I love Parker and Stone’s analysis of society though, especially how they show Americans just going in places and smashing things up in the name of freedom. There’s also loads of random Star Wars references in there for the geek in all of us – you don’t need to see my credentials.

I could go all deep and philosophical about this movie but I won’t, because at the end of the day it’s four action heroes, an actor (that’s the best acting I’ve ever seen) and their boss with a hilarious chair. All played by puppets. There’s also some awesome panthers. Although the speech in the bar scene is pretty deep…

I like the songs in Team America (he’s way better than Ben Affleck now) but they can’t stand up to how perfect the songs are in the South Park Movie, which is more like a full-on musical.

I love the use of stupid one-liners to give the feel of a real action film and how the puppets only have a handful of facial expressions so they look deadpan when they’re telling each other they love them or treasure their friendship.

I guess all I really have to say about this film is…

Matt Damon.

Matt Damon (Matt Damon)

Today I went to see The Martian (along with half of the population). First off, I went by myself and had some right banter with the guy serving me. To the point that he joked that the two for £10 offer that came with the ticket clearly wouldn’t be applicable to me!!

I think I’ve said in a previous post that I like Matt Damon as an actor. He’s intensely likable and I think that’s chiefly the reason why this is such an enjoyable film (well, it’s definitely not the plot!). It’s really fun to watch him joking around to himself, to the rest of the crew and to the people at NASA. I also felt really tense towards the end because I just really wanted him to make it.

The rest of the cast are also great, there isn’t a weak link in a very star-studded cast. Jessica Chastain heads up the crew as a sensible captain who has a heart. The rest of the crew each bring a little something to the mix (and seem to be half the supporting cast of the Marvel Cinematic Universe – yay Sebastian Stan).

I miss his guyliner!

Despite being primarily an Action/Sci-Fi film, The Martian has great moments of humour. I particularly enjoyed the Iron Man joke and Sean Bean explaining the Council of Elrond. I enjoyed Sean Bean’s joke so much that I openly laughed out loud and was the only person to do so. One does not simply stay quiet at comedy gold like that!

The film reminds me a lot of 90s survival movies – I’m thinking Armageddon, Twister and Deep Impact. It has a lot of heart and space looked really great on the big screen. I will say that Mars looked a lot like Tatooine though!

Yeah? You must mean old Ben Kenobi!

All in all, I would definitely recommend seeing this. It’s good, old-fashioned film fun. Just don’t take the plot too seriously. It’s pretty ridiculous and once again the Americans send all their resources to bring back Matt Damon (Matt Damon).