Blogorium Review: Jackass 3

There is a moment in Jackass 3 (nee 3-D) when, faced with a Tee-Ball to the groin, the question is asked "Ohhhh, why do I have to be Steve-O?", which may be the prevailing theme of this fourth entry* into the Jackass saga. The Jackass crew isn't getting any younger, and the impending damage to their bodies weighs heavier on their minds than in previous outings, both televised and theatrical: more than a few stunts begin with hesitation from members about to do something stupid / decidedly dangerous, and it takes a little bit longer to bounce back from being rammed by buffalo, being kicked in the face by a football, or the aforementioned tee-ball to the junk.

Which is not to say that there isn't still a sense of relish to the proceedings: Johnny Knoxville still cackles with glee when a giant hand smacks unknowing visitors during "High Five." He seems especially pleased that "Danger" Ehren would actually be dumb enough to bring a tray full of soup into the room (and one can actually see him looking around suspiciously with the tray before he gets slammed). Steve-O seems to be having much more fun with "Beehive Tetherball" than Dave England is, in part because the former knows that panicking will only attract more of the Africanized colony. Everyone is on board with hopping around behind a plane engine, or being propelled by bungee rope off a ramp into a flimsy swimming pool (on roller skates, skateboards, boogie boards, and a wheelbarrow), and the sense of maniacal glee that comes with the Super Glue games is infectious.

While many are quick to point to Jackass as being the decline of western civilization on celluloid, I'm going to stick with the John Waters approach that they're carrying the torch of "bad taste" into the next generation. The Cap'n freely admits that Jackass is an acquired tastes, and that for most of you, any interest in today's post ended when you saw the title. Fair enough. It makes me laugh (sometimes causing people to check out what exactly I'm howling at), rarely disappoints, and periodically grosses me out. And while Jackass 3 doesn't go quite as far as the first film did on that count (I'm looking at you, "Yellow Snowcone"), there are a couple gag-out-loud moments in the film. One involves a model train set that you're better off turning away from, and the other involves Preston Lacy exercising in a suit designed to capture his sweat into a cup. You can guess where it goes from there.

Where I'd point out that Jackass is different from other nihilistic, mean-spirited, prank style "guerilla" films like Bumfights is in the sense of fraternity between the gang. Even when subjected to pain, or being the butt of someone else's practical joke, the boys are quick with a smile or to congratulate the prank-er. Lacy goes out of his way to shake the hand of the punt kicker that nails a football into his face; Steve-O, covered in feces after the "Poo Cocktail Supreme" opts to chase Johnny Knoxville and give him a hug; even Bam Margera, faced with his worst fear after falling into a pit with snakes, gives a fist bump to the snake trainer that dumped them on his head. The camaraderie between the Jackass guys keeps spirits high, even when the stunts are cruel; "Danger" Ehren's "Lamborghini Tooth Pull" wouldn't be nearly as palatable if he wasn't so excited at the prospect of doing it.

Jackass 3 looks better (by far) than any previous incarnation, largely because director Jeff Tremaine shot on high definition Phantom cameras with 3-D in mind. I can see where most of the 3-D was supposed to be, but the DVD that came from Netflix was strictly 2-Dimensional. In addition to 3-D trickery, Tremaine also used the Phantom for its high frame rate, allowing for super-clear, super-slo-mo photography, which figures prominently into the opening and closing of the film, allowing audiences to see every blow with crystal clarity (it also makes a recurring segment called "The Rocky" worthwhile).

Like Jackasses before it, the film has its share of cameos: Minnesota Vikings player Jared Allen takes Knoxville down while referee Sean William Scott winces; Spike Jonze returns for another round of "Old Lady" jokes; Will the Farter pops a balloon in Steve-O's ass from, well you can guess; singer/songwriter Will Oldham plays an animal trainer to Chris Pontius' wild gorilla to scare Phil and April Margera; Mike Judge gets back in the action by providing the voices of Beavis and Butt-Head, who introduce the film and explain the wonders of 3-D. Even Finland's The Dudeson's get involved with the boys for tree-related mayhem.

Also like the other Jackass films, there are bits that work and bits that don't: I've mentioned a number of the better gags (and intentionally left out a few really good ones) but many of the "on the street" pranks played unsuspecting folks just don't play like they used to. Jason "Wee Man" Acuña is part of a bar fight designed around "little people"; Knoxville dresses up as an old man and makes out with his "granddaughter" on a public street, and also crashes through a scooter dealership before "stealing" one of the vehicles. At this point the segments are less effective than they used to be, and tend to drag the film down from the wilder, "conceptual" stunts or endangerment. The April and Phil "gorilla" prank is a total bust, as is a much longer than it needed to be segment built around Bam peeing on everyone.

While Jackass 3.5 looms, I somehow doubt there's going to be a Jackass 4; the film certainly is the product of guys who aren't as wild as they used to be, who are far more aware of the mayhem they subject their bodies to. The film closes out on a montage during the credits of each member of the team as a child, in their first appearance on the show, and now, and it's amazing to see how young they were when Jackass premiered on MTV at the turn of the century. Set to Weezer's "Memories," which features the cast singing along, it feels like a fitting close to the series. They might not be as reckless as they were, but you can't blame the Jackass crew for giving it their best on the way out.





* Fourth including Jackass 2.5, and to be followed by Jackass 3.5, the fifth chapter. If we're including the show, then who knows what 3 qualifies as.

2009 Recap: Honorable Mentions

Welcome to part one of today's Blogorium madness! In this half of the Year End Recap, I'd like to spend a little time with movies the Cap'n saw this year that, while pretty to very good, didn't make the list of "Favorites". There's nothing about these movies that should prevent you from seeing them, and I recommend them highly. Unlike my favorite films, I'm not going to insist you see them as soon as possible, but I think most readers here will enjoy the "Honorable Mention"s of 2009.

Whenever possible, I'll try to link to the original review and keep my thoughts to a minimum. There's a lot of writing left to do, you see. In no particular order, the movies that weren't my favorite but are still pretty nifty:

I Love You, Man - Still a fun movie to watch, and probably as good as the "Bromantic Comedy" subgenre is going to get. Anchored firmly by Paul Rudd and Jason Segel with some clever supporting roles for Jon Favreau, Jaime Presley, J.K. Simmons, Rashida Jones, Jane Curtain, Rob Huebel, Andy Samberg, Jo Lo Truglio, Thomas Lennon and Lou Ferrigno of all people, it's a consistently funny comedy that just missed the cut. Still, if you like Role Models and Forgetting Sarah Marshall, I Love You, Man is right up your alley.

Star Trek - It only really didn't make it to "favorites" because upon reflection, I honestly can't find a plot to attach the film to. As I've said before, it's a testament to JJ Abrams and writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, along with the cast and some great visual effects that for Star Trek's two hour running time you hardly notice. There's not a lot about the film that's hard to like, but I wish that it held up better when put to closer scrutiny. Still, it's not "your father's Star Trek", to be sure, but my dad still liked it. So did I. I just didn't love it.

Coraline - While Coraline has as good a chance as any at dislodging Pixar's Up for Best Animated Film (something I'll get to during the "Favorites"), I think that perhaps my polite admiration for the film is tempered in some way by knowing the story so well. I read Coraline two or three times after its publishing, and as a result, the movie lacked tension to me. It's a completely personal issue, I admit; Henry Selick's animation surpasses The Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach, and the film has no shortage of amazing sights, but as much as I appreciate Coraline, I just didn't love it. Which is a pity, because I suspect many of you will.

Funny People - I thought long and hard about where Funny People fit in the "Best Of", because I do sincerely recommend you check it out, provided you understand that it's not necessarily a comedy. Perhaps the biggest reason I left Funny People out of my "Favorites" is the length: Apatow's film covers a lot of ground and a lot of characters, and the shifts are a bit awkward, especially when moving back and forth between George (Adam Sandler) and Ira (Seth Rogen). I will note that I watched the theatrical cut and not the extended version, but even at its shortened length I felt Funny People had a bit too much padding. Still, I highly recommend the movie as a character study, and length aside, it's easily the best Judd Apatow movie yet.

Sherlock Holmes - Blame it on all the negative reviews I read after watching the film, which rightly point out things I overlooked because of how charming and fast paced Sherlock Holmes is. It's still a fun movie, and I'll gladly pick it up on Blu-Ray, but it's just shy of my top films.

Crank: High Voltage - I watched Crank: High Voltage again on Blu-Ray, and while the film is still insanely offensive and cartoonish in every regard, it just couldn't match the energy of opening "Bad Movie Weekend" at the premiere. There's nothing wrong with Crank: High Voltage - okay, that depends on your definition of the word "wrong" - but I fear that it may never be as fun as it was in The Carousel.

Public Enemies - I found Michael Mann's Public Enemies to be an exceptionally well made film. It's interesting, and the two-and-a-half hour run time never drags. The digital photography can be a little iffy: it alternates between "ye gods! look at that detail" to "yeesh! that digital grain is unbearable" and even into "should a period film look this contemporary?", but that's Mann's technique of choice and he gets better with it film by film. There's nothing wrong with the cast (more on that in a second), and the true story of Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale) chasing John Dillinger (Johnny Depp) is frequently riveting. At times it reminded me of Ridley Scott's American Gangster. My favorite scene has to be the moment - probably fictionalized- where Dillinger walks into the Federal Task Force office, totally unnoticed by ancillary agents, and looks around at their evidence boards.

Yet, Public Enemies left me feeling detached. It's not that I didn't enjoy the movie, because I thought there was nothing particularly "off" about it; it's just that I didn't really invest in any of the characters or feel much when Dillinger's men are killed off. Sure, it's a technically fine film, and well acted, but the end result was rather cold. I was never engaged in the story, which is a crippling problem for the Cap'n.

One thing that is likely to come out of Public Enemies is yet another excellent "Movie Game" film. Like Mann's earlier Heat, Public Enemies is filled with recognizable names in smaller roles. For example, in addition to Depp and Bale, you have Marion Cotillard (La vie en Rose), Stephen Lang (Avatar), Jason Clarke (Brotherhood, Death Race), David Wenham (The Two Towers, 300), Stephen Dorff, Channing Tatum (Fighting), Rory Cochrane (Dazed and Confused, A Scanner Darkly), Emilie De Ravin (Lost, Brick), Giovanni Ribisi, Billy Crudup, Shawn Hatosy, Stephen Graham (Snatch), Lili Taylor, and Leelee Sobieski. There are a lot of ways to use Public Enemies in the "Movie Game".

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince - After watching Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets again, I appreciated Half Blood Prince more for its willingness to move away from a "kid's movie", but again I must stress that it doesn't do the title of the film justice, nor does it properly convey the gravity of what's to come in The Deathly Hallows.

Extract - Mike Judge fans are going to enjoy Extract, with reservations. That's my suspicion. Extract is the King of the Hill of Judge's movies: the comedy is mostly understated, and only on rare occasions does the film reach the cartoonish levels peppered through Office Space and abundantly featured in Idiocracy. That said, there's a lot to like about Extract, and a whallop of an ending that reminds you who the director is. Ben Affleck is allowed to be funny again, which should be mandated for his roles from here on out, unless he plans to direct movies as good as Gone Baby Gone in the future.

Jason Bateman is saddled mostly with the "straight man" role, but then again most of the comedians you're expecting to go wild and crazy don't. Like I said, understated. Kristen Wiig, J.K. Simmons, Clifton Collins Jr., and Mila Kunis are all pretty reserved. Only Dustin Milligan's idiot gigolo Brad, Gene Simmons dirtbag attorney Joe Adler, and David Koechner's neighbor from hell Nathan get to cut loose. Extract is a fun movie, but it's not going to be the kind of film you drag people over to watch, like Office Space or Idiocracy.

World's Greatest Dad - Bobcat Goldthwait's World's Greatest Dad, which is not exactly Heathers but does have a character named Heather, is an odd movie. I was expecting it to be much darker than it was, but the movie is kind of uplifting. Well, as uplifting as a movie about a father who fakes his son's suicide after he chokes to death masturbating can be.

The film, which is about Lance Clayton (Robin Williams), an unpublished writer who teaches a barely attended poetry class and has the worst son ever (Daryl Sabara of Spy Kids), is similar to Heathers in that after Kyle dies, a faked suicide note and "secret" journal (both written by Lance) make the little sociopath a school hero. It's never as outlandish as "I Love My Dead Gay Son!", but this kind of movie has to work pretty hard to distance itself from Heathers. World's Greatest Dad doesn't necessarily, but it's still an entertaining film, if you define entertainment by listening to a little shithead talking about felching and anal sex before accidentally strangling himself tugging it to pictures of his dad's girlfriend's underwear.

And yet, I tell you the film is kind of sweet, in ways I couldn't begin to explain without spoiling the film. For some of you, this is right up your alley, but for most it's probably best to move on to the "Favorites" list...

The Girlfriend Experience - I don't have much to add to my review here. I wish I'd seen Soderbergh's The Informant! now, but it'll be out on dvd before too long. While interesting, and certainly worth watching, The Girlfriend Experience isn't quite in the realm of "Best Movies I Saw This Year".

Whatever Works - It's not as good as Match Point, but it's better than Cassandra's Dream. The teaming of Woody Allen and Larry David isn't quite what some people expected, but I liked it.

Stay Tuned for the thrilling conclusion, which will probably be as long, but I'll try to keep things brief!

Just a Thought, plus one.

I've been thinking lately that if the best way to avoid more remakes is to push for something more "original", maybe it's time to look into some unadapted fiction that's just begging to be translated to the big screen.

There's a lot of Philip K. Dick fiction that went wrong (mostly short stories), and a handful that went right (Blade Runner, A Scanner Darkly, the debatable Total Recall), and a whole lot that would never work as movies. However, I think that there's a cracking good movie to be made from The Man in the High Castle.

If you've never read the book, Dick posits an alternate world where the Axis powers win World War II, and America is split in half: the West Coast is controlled by Japan, the East Coast by Germany, and the middle is a sort-of No Man's Land. In this world, a mysterious author somewhere in the occupied U.S. writes a book about a world where the Allies win the war, and he's considered enemy number one by the Nazis.

The Man in the High Castle does juggle several characters, but is easily the most straightforward novel by Dick, possibly even more than Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. If the film was taken very seriously, made not as a "what-if" sci-fi film but as a wartime drama with a cast that didn't wink at the camera, Man in the High Castle could be a great adaptation with little or none of the alterations that normally mark PKD books-turned-movies.

But what do I know? I mean, I think The Secret History could be a great movie too, if handled by someone like Ang Lee. Unfortunately, people don't know the names of those books. They do know Bad Boys, The Fantastic Four, and Predator. Name brand recognition wins, even if there's a lot of excellent material waiting in the background.
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One Mike Judge creation shills for another:

'Extract' Film Forum with Beavis and Butthead @ Yahoo! Video

You know what? Even though it's shameless self promotion, I'm going to give it a pass because it brought back Beavis and Butthead. If I'm not mistaken, that may be the same basic animation from the MTV Music Awards, but any return of B&B is okay by me.

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Vote, you swine! Also, leave me your comment about what to drop so we can move this voting into interesting territory!