Back Seat Producers

Release date:  10/15/04

Paramount Pictures

Directed by:

Trey Parker

Written by:

Trey Parker

Matt Stone

Pam Brady

Produced by:

Trey Parker

Matt Stone

Scott Rudin

Cast/Voices:

Trey Parker:

Gary Johnston

Joe

Kim Jong Il

Hans Blix

Carson

Matt Damon

Drunk in Bar

Tim Robbins

Sean Penn

Michael Moore

Helen Hunt

Susan Sarandon

(Others)

Matt Stone:

Chris

George Clooney

Danny Glover

Ethan Hawke

(Others)

Kristen Miller:

Lisa

Masasa Moyo:

Sarah

Daran Norris:

Spottswoode

Phil Hendrie:

I.N.T.E.L.L.I.G.E.N.C.E.

Chechnyah Terrorist

Let it first be noted, and never forgotten, that this movie was Sam’s pick!  Partly because he loves this movie and partly because it fulfills the Recently Dead Guy Podcast formula (Kim Jong Il).

The MPAA rated this movie R, with a specific explanation, “For graphic crude and sexual humor, violent images and strong language – all involving puppets.”

Sam could not contain his excitement from the very beginning, before the discussion of the movie even started, setting a clear tone for the night, “God damn it America, f**k yeah!”

This is the MOST animated I have seen Darrell… (granted, I’ve only been listening for a couple of months, but still!)

The initial comments by the hosts:

Darrell thought it was the funniest thing he’d seen in a while, and the funny/odd part is that a lot of the stuff talked about in the movie has sort of come true.  Tony thought it was funny and a great parody and social commentary in that both sides of the issue are equally skewered.  Trey Parker and Matt Stone make everyone look ridiculous.  Sam thought that it’s the greatest modern satire or our era and that Stone and Parker are this generation’s best satirists because no one is safe.

It was also agreed that Parker and Stone couldn’t have gotten away with covering any of this subject matter with actual actors or even as an animated movie (South Park-ish).

Team America: World Police hit on so many movie clichés – the tragic love triangle, the character who is a jerk for no other reason than to be a jerk and the reluctant hero hitting rock bottom and then finding his courage, to name a few.

In the opening scene in Paris, all the bricks on the ground are actually croissants.  Tony also notes that in this opening scene, Parker and Stone show, in extremes, what the rest of the world sees Americans as.  We are the cops for the WORLD… We’ll take care of things for everyone else, whether they like it or not!  The fact that Team America levels almost every inch of Paris… the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triumph, the Louvre, leaving the residents of Paris with looks of terror and dismay on their faces as Team America makes their “triumphant” departure back to the U.S. is not only priceless, but also introduces that attitude of arrogant Americans.

The opening scene also included a puppet puppeteering a smaller puppet, which completely freaked out your happy note taker (Lena)… because those puppets aren’t creepy enough on their own!

Everyone wholeheartedly agreed that the puppetry was very good.  They loved how, during the fight scenes (which Sam dubbed “Puppet Fu”), the puppets just flail wildly at each other but during the sex scene, the intricate puppet maneuvers were painstakingly choreographed.

This sex scene initially garnered the movie an NC-17 Rating by the MPAA.  The scene was edited 12 times before they were finally given the R rating Parker and Stone were aiming for.

Tony also loved that Kim Jong Il was really an alien cockroach that gets into his rocket ship and flies away at the end.

The music in the movie also played a huge part in adding to the mood and movement of the story.  And thank you, Sam, for singing bits and pieces of the songs during this part of the discussion!  Sam also mentions that, at the very end of the credits, there is one more uncredited song sung by Kim Jong Il, “You Are Worthless, Alec Baldwin.”

It’s also noted that song being played in the bar (Derka Derk) is the Star Wars Cantina theme played backwards.

As for the infamous “D**k, p***y, a*****e speech , as much as I would love to get into this, not only could I not do it proper justice, but it would just be line after line of asterisks… so I highly encourage you all to listen to this entire podcast!

While discussion the overt racism and how necessary it was for Parker and Stone to make their points, Scott notes (from the chat room), “It’s so racist it’s like it loops around just ridiculous, back through racist again and back to nuts.”

Sergio states (also from the chat room) that this film is made for high school boys, college men, basically the male population of the world, except for Koreans.  {Lena’s additional note: as none of the above, I’m just going to have to disagree with Sergio on that one… I LOVED this movie!}

It’s much too easy to dismiss this as a simple film about puppets who swear and have sex – UNLESS you actually take the time to watch it, think about it, and discuss it!

Darrell noted that there were shades of Quentin Tarantino in the film; namely the scene with Team America walking down the hall in the palace on their way to battle with the “Battle Without Honor or Humanity” from Kill Bill.  (This was featured in the movies Kill Bill,Transformers, Shrek the Third, Hotel for Dogs, Team America: World Police )  Also, in a nod to Tarantino, is the big shootout, filled with gore, blood and guts flying all over the place.

In the overhead shot of Gary lying in his own vomit (perhaps the most favorite scene of the hosts), it’s actually Trey Parker wearing a pair of fake legs so the proportions are right.  The “vomit” was a mixture of soup and beer.

Matt Stone referred to the puppet technique they used as “supercrappymation.”

Sean Penn was so insulted by his portrayal in Team America that, in his letter to Parker and Stone, he closed it with, “a sincere f**k you, Sean Penn.”

Matt Damon was originally written as an intelligent puppet, but when they saw the finished product, they thought he looked dumb and decided to portray him as such.  Also, Matt Damon and George Clooney were both quoted as saying that they would have been offended if they weren’t in the film!  Alec Baldwin also reportedly round the project very amusing.

The Michael Moore puppet was filled with ham before they blew him up.

I couldn’t find anything “official” but I did find a few YouTube links (one below) for “You Are Worthless Alec Baldwin”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfOXhGbwdm0

Your Producers for this episode were:

• Tony
• Darrell
• Sam

This episode was recorded: 1/18/2012

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Release date: 9/23/11
Lionsgate (home video release)
Directed and written by:

Kevin Smith

Produced by:

Jon Gordon

Cast:

Michael Parks – Pastor Abin Cooper
John Goodman – ATF Special Agent Keenan
Melissa Leo – Sarah
Kyle Gallner – Jared
Michael Angarano – Travis
Nicholas Braun – Billy Ray
Stephen Root – Sheriff Wynan

The host reviews were just slightly mixed.  Tony was a Kevin Smith fan up through Jersey Girl but believes that Smith’s movies have not “grown up” over the years.  Darrell had to force himself to watch the movie.  Jill felt that it could have been good as one or two different movies but Smith didn’t solidify what this particular movie was going to be; things were meshed together and just didn’t work out.  Even the credits at the end were broken up into three groups (Sex – Religion – Politics).  All of them did agree that the performances by Michael Parks and John Goodman were fantastic.

Red State was billed as a horror movie, but once you get past the three teenage boys being captured by the Five Points Trinity Church, there is no more “horror.”  When the phone rings and wakes up Agent Keenan, this introduces almost a “second” movie.  The violence from this point on is more akin to an action movie than a horror movie.

This same dividing line, the introduction of Agent Keenan, also divides the two political statements in the movie; that of religion and that of the government.

The hosts all agreed that there are two elements of evil in this movie (Cooper and the government) but neither is the one true monster. The hero is Agent Keenan but was he truly redeemed at the end?  Yes, he was.

Darrell didn’t like the hand held camera shots, he found it very distracting and thought it didn’t add anything to the filming.  Tony thought there was too much off-screen violence; he wanted to have a more visceral reaction to the film.  Jill questioned if Smith’s message was that we (the audience) are being duped… the media portrays all of these right-winged groups as monsters but the real ones still exist in the shadows and we’re being distracted from what the real monsters are doing.

Darrell brought up that Samuel L. Jackson was considered for the role that eventually went to John Goodman.

Smith wrote the role of Pastor Cooper for Michael Parks after seeing his performance in From Dusk Till Dawn.  Smith said that if Parks had not agreed to be in the film, he would have dropped the project entirely.

Smith did not initially know that Michael Parks was a country singer early in his career (1960s & 1970s).  Many of the country-gospel songs sung in the film were suggested by Parks during filming.  Three of the six songs listed in the soundtrack were performed by Parks.  After the film was completed, Parks re-recorded the songs onto an album.

Smith had stated that the original ending of Red State continued through with the trumpets signaling the Rapture.  After Cooper tells Keenan to shoot him, Cooper’s chest explodes, followed by the remaining family members’ chests and the government agents’ chests exploding one by one. During these deaths, the ground shakes and splits, and Keenan curls up on the ground and closes his eyes. When he opens his eyes he sees the last agent killed with a giant sword coming out of his chest, which is being wielded by an enormous armored angel. The angel looks at Keenan, puts a finger to his lips, and says “Shhhhh”. The angel then flies off into the sky, and as the angel banks out of the picture the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse descend.

It has been widely acknowledged that there are ten “easter eggs” in this film.  One is known, but the remaining nine will only be discussed by Smith once they are discovered by fans.  I searched online for quite some time but I couldn’t find if any one had uncovered any of the other easter eggs.  The first one is that Sheriff Wynan enters and exits the film with a shot to the face.  Tony wonders if another one is that Keenan was named after hockey coach Mike Keenan, as Smith is a well-known hockey fan.

Your Producers for this episode were:

• Tony
• Darrell
• Jill

This episode was recorded: 1/11/2012

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