Friday, October 15, 2004
Team America’ leads
crusade against evil
Trey Parker and Matt Stone appear at a movie premiere for their new movie, “Team
America.”
Review by Chris Hvizdak
staff writer
Trey Parker and Matt Stone's “Team America:
World Police” truly stands as the finest comedy pic
ture so far this century. The film earns this lofty
honor by delivering constant gags of extreme ob
scenity at a rapid frequency while expertly spoof
ing the brainless big budget action movie genre.
Boasting the participation of the cinematographer
from “The Matrix” and the pyrotechnics coordina
tor from "Terminator 2” and “Independence Day,”
“Team America” cements itself as an action pic
ture that is built upon comedic pacing any fan of
“South Park” or “Family Guy” will be delighted
by. Not to be outdone by action, the finely honed
humour in “Team America” assaults a scope of sub
ject matter which is equally insensitive to all per
sons, no matter their race, creed, color, nationality,
sexual orientation or political persuasion.
The story focuses on the aforementioned “Team
America,” a group of highly trained anti-terrorism
commandos which traverse the world eradicating
evil doers while inadvertently destroying landmarks
and making enemies for America in the process.
Through the course of the picture, Team America
must contend with WMD wielding terrorists origi
nating from the middle east and Chechnya, North
Korean President Kim-Johng 111 and a cadre of anti
war Hollywood personalities which have banded
together under the “Film Actors Guild” (which is
frequently referred to by an acronym).
Although the film does not offer criticism or sup
port of specific American politicians, it does weave
together its heavy handed attacks on war opposing
movie stars and imperialistically overbearing
American militarism in a succinct "anatomical ide
ology” that is remarkably insightful and, depend
ing upon your views, chilling in respect to it’s ac
curacy. Although the film could be criticized by
some for lack of an ideological standpoint outside
of the “anatomical” one I have already mentioned,
I find that to be Parker’s true genius; it is what the
film does not include that makes it so relevant. Al-
Save a cowboy,
ride a horse
By Andrew McLachlan
staff writer
Are you a big fan of horses? The Equestrian
Team is looking for you. The Behrend Equestrian
Team is forming and looking for new members of
the team. Founded in Fall 2003, the Equestrian
Team was formed by a few students who wanted
to take their liking of horseback riding and turn it
into a club at Behrend Last year, in their very
first competition, 3 students took home places, in
cluding Lindsey Snyder MKRTG 07, who went
home with a first place finish in novice equitation
on the flat.
Snyder believes there is a lot of upside to the
team this year.
“I think the team looks very good this year. We
have only had three shows so far, but our mem
bers usually place within the top six places in the
classes,” said Snyder.
though there are exceptions, most mindless big bud
get action movies have no carefully constructed
ethos and neither do many politicians or movie stars
who jump into war or whom oppose it. Above all it
is crucial to recognize that this film is truly an “equal
opportunity offender” and has no partisan sway, one
way or the other.
Politics aside, “Team America” is fantastic film
offering a hard edge alternative to the usual slate of
lighter comedies offered up year in and year out. A
true mark of progress for director Trey Parker, Team
America builds off of the comedic model he estab
lished with promise in “Cannibal: The Musical,”
refined in “Orgazmo” and perfected with “South
Park : Bigger, Longer and Uncut.” Expect an abun
dance of violent and sexual humour, parody tunes
sung by the director himself and a host of absurd
gags designed to cast their subject matter in a light
of eternal stupidity. The true strength of the film
lies in its comedy over characters mentality,
whereby everything else that composes the film is
second to the humour. Unlike most contemporary
comedies there are very few, if any, “valleys” in
Team America but rather we are treated to constant
and extreme “peaks” of comedic brilliance. This is
something only rivaled in cinema by pictures like
the Zucker Brothers “Airplane!” and in television
by Seth McFarlane’s “Family Guy” as well as David
Cross and Bob Odenkirk’s “Mr. Show.”
If you’ve adopted the attitude over the last few
years of South Park that the boys only crank out a
few good episodes per season (“Lemmiwinks” and
“Special Olympics” come to my mind). I can as
sure you that in relation to Parker’s other movies,
this is definitely a good one. Better than “South
Park: The Movie?” No, but for me, “Team
America” falls within a hair’s width of equaling it.
Cheap laughs or not, I stress that this is one of a
very small number of movies that has kept me, a
person weaned on Carlin, Kinnison and Monty
Python from an early age, bursting with glee
throughout. It should also be noted that “Team
America” is made not with people or cell anima
tion but completely with marionettes.
Snyder also thinks that the club could catch on.
“I don’t see why it wouldn’t catch on. We have
a lot of fun, travel to different schools, hang out
with each other, ride together and most importantly
we have gained new friendships with the other
members.”
This year the squad will be competing in the
Intercollegiate Horse Show Association (IHSA),
which is known for excellent competition. Lew
Trumble, coach of the Equestrian Team, isn’t too
worried about the competition.
“The girls on the team are working very hard at
their riding, plus several of the girls have placed
well in the last couple weeks at our shows at main
campus and at Pitt,” said Trumble.
Trumble also went on to say that the team is
still looking for more members of the squad. If
you are interested in joining the Equestrian team,
either contact Coach Trumble or any member of
the squad at their website, www.clubs.psu.edu/bd
/equestrian/
LIONEL HAHN/KRT
Hard-working
Walken tries a
By Glenn Lovell
Knight Ridder Newspapers (KRT)
SAN FRANCISCO - Christopher Walken
works a lot. As best he can figure, he has made
"about a hundred movies" since appearing in
"Annie Hall" and "The Deer Hunter" in the late
'7os. That's an astounding number, given that
the average Hollywood star makes one film,
possibly two, every 18 months or so.
"Work? It's my favorite thing to do, and I
don't really have anything else that I do," says
Walken, 61, during a stopover in San Francisco
to talk up "Around the Bend," an oddball re
union picture in which, for the first time, he
plays a grandfather - with an unsavory past, of
course.
"I don't have kids, I don't have hobbies," con
tinues the actor, who commutes between movie
sets and homes in New York and Connecticut.
"And I don't play golf. A lot of actors play golf.
It's amazing how many actors play golf."
Here, Walken's voice trails off, as it does fre
quently during our conversation. Is this an af
fectation, that studied insouciance that has
caused him to be typed as dangerous crazies
("At Close Range," "True Romance") and
comic crazies ("Mouse Hunt," "The Stepford
Wives")? Or is it something more, a hint of
wistfulness for the road not taken?
Before you start feeling sorry for the guy,
consider this: He's having a blast. He loves the
monetary rewards and adoration that come with
being Hollywood's most in-demand character
actor. This afternoon he shares a story about
an airport baggage handler who turned out to
be a huge fan.
Of Walken's psychologically damaged Viet
nam vet in "The Deer Hunter," which brought
the supporting-actor Oscar in 1978? Or maybe
of his broken father in "Catch Me If You Can,"
which brought another Oscar nomination in
2002?
Walken smiles that slow, mischievous smile.
(Fans of The Continental, his serial seducer on
"Saturday Night Live," will know it only too
well.)
"No, no - this guy was shouting, 'Frank
White! Frank White!’" Walken recalls. "That's
the character I played in King of New York.'
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** Hours may vary seasonally
Get the door. It’s Domino’s.
The Behrend Beacon |
Christopher
new role
They don’t talk about Deer Hunter'; they talk
about this little crime movie, and it was really
off-the-cuff stuff where we literally said, 'What
are you going to say next? All right, then I’ll
say this.' That usually doesn't work, but we had
Laurence Fishburne, Wesley Snipes and David
Caruso, and it was good."
Other memorably quirky Walken perfor
mances fuel "Pulp Fiction," "At Close Range,"
"Batman Returns," "The Dead Zone" and, of
course, "True Romance," where his sadistic
crime boss shares the screen with another great
scene-stealer, Dennis Hopper. The pair went to
dinner after work. Hopper: "We did a good
scene today." Walken: "Yes, I know."
But to have the kind of career Walken has
had (he went from character roles to leads in
"Dead Zone" and "Dogs of War," then back to
character parts), you have to love what you do.
"I do enjoy my work -I tend to be someone
who enjoys himself," he says. "The fact is,
when you get to be my age and you've been
around as long as I have, if people don't recog
nize you, come up and say hello, you start to
worry."
Walken attributes his work ethic to his fa
ther, who was a baker in Queens, N.Y. They
were close, unlike two generations of fathers
and sons in "Around the Bend," which finds
Michael Caine playing Walken's dad.
"I'm probably the way I am because of my fa
ther," the actor says. "He went to his bakery
seven days a week. He loved baking; he
couldn't get enough of it."
Despite an ornery, anti-social streak,
Walken's character in the new film turns out to
be a relatively nice guy. Ditto his characters in
"Man on Fire" and "Catch Me If You Can." Is
this the dawning of a kinder, gentler Walken?
"Could be," he replies. "But it also has some
thing to do with age. I'm now at the place where
I'm starting to play fathers and uncles _ and, in
this case, a grandfather."
Worse, a grandfather who's dying of kidney
failure. Hence, the gray-green cast to his skin.
"I saw the movie and I thought, 'Geez, you
look terrible.’"
He pauses, beams, then concedes, "But it's a
big juicy part. It's a leading part. And I don't
do that a lot.”