Tag Archives: Parody

The Al Yankovic Story is Not Weird at Al. Just Bonkers.

8 Nov

The Al Yankovic StoryAvailable to view on Roku enabled devices

Weird: The Al Yankovic Story is one of those ridiculous fictional biographies to not take seriously. It’s a parody more than anything else, and it’s delightfully nutters when the humour gets cranked up to 12. If there’s any authenticity to who Alfred Matthew (played by Daniel Radcliffe) was before he found fame as a comedy genius, it’s probably in how much Dr. Demento (Rainn Wilson) is a huge influence. But even before he fell in love with that radio show, he had a talent that needed to be nurtured.

There are some seeds of sincerity here and there, but knowing facts from the heavily embellished moments requires memorizing everything revealed about the man in VH1’s Behind the Music profile. As that documentary revealed, the record label, the Scotti Brothers, took a chance on Al. They knew he had a subtle and understated style. They allowed him to not pull any punches.

Also, MTV helped catapult this comic musician to fame. Without those crazy music videos, I don’t think he’d be as famous as he is now. This detail isn’t explored in the film, and that’s surprising when considering how important it helped this musician’s career than the accordian. I imagine the real Weird Al and Eric Appel who co-wrote the screenplay together didn’t want to bog the story down, since it would have to mean recreating all those manic music video moments–something that an older Radcliffe may not be able to do.

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The Iké Boys and Saving the Day, Namely the Hell that was Y2K

7 Oct

The Iké BoysShout! Factory
Coming to Digital and VOD Oct 11th

The Iké Boys is more than just a hero’s journey about two guys from Oklahoma who want to escape from the ho-hum. It also takes a peek back in time, when Japanese pop culture became part of the western media fixture in the 90s, and recognises what is great. We’re allowed to believe in miracles, and get to be a power ranger! The best part of this movie is that it includes vintage style anime and sentai action in its presentation.

In the case of Shawn Gunderson (Quinn Lord) and Vikram ‘Vik’ Kapoor (Ronak Gandhi), they’re not so ordinary in the sense that they’ve been branded losers in high school. That is, all they have is their anime fantasies to keep them happy. The latter dislikes the label and wants to be part of the crowd. He’s trying to do more with his life, but when Miki (Christina Higa) arrives, that one step forward (he’s crushing hard on her) ends up being two steps back as things go terribly wrong for them.

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It’s Better to Stay Behind than Escape From Area 51 …

4 Sep

Escape from Area 51 (2021) - IMDbBy Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

Cleopatra Entertainment

Available on VOD 

Home Video & Soundtrack Release
Sept 7th (Amazon link)

Not every movie about UFOs deals with conspiracies. The sci-fi stoner comedy Escape From Area 51 momentarily plays with the storm Area 51 movement–which was what caught my attention–before dealing with the plot at hand. This movie’s story pairs well with Shae Sterling’s Alien Addiction for its low brow humour. I’m certain there is no family connection with David Sterling, the producer behind this work. It’s doubtful that director Eric Mittleman, who also co-wrote with Ted Chalmers, Carlos Perez and Robert Rhine, even knows of the New Zealand made film.

Curiosity seekers may well be hard pressed to find something to like about this work. It’s basically a T&A schlocky feature with a lot of sexual innuendo that will get fans of Donna D’Errico (Baywatch) giggling. She plays the alien who was locked up at the facility and when she makes the mistake of using her alien tech; it draws Sklarr’s attention (Chris Browning, Sons of Anarchy). He’s been scouring the galaxy because there was a War of the Worlds between their civilizations in the past… Well, maybe; I had to make this joke somehow.

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Ahoy There! Indie Publisher Immediately Sets Sail into Bookstores Worldwide!

16 Mar

Preview] AHOY Comics' 6/10 Digital Release: CAPTAIN GINGER – Season Two: 'Dogworld' #3 – PopCultHQAHOY Comics—the independent publisher making a name for itself with clever and irreverent titles like Second Coming, The Wrong Earth and Edgar Allan Poe’s Snifter of Blood—will be distributed in bookstores by the publishing firm Simon & Schuster as of March 2021. The publisher also announced its fall publication schedule which will include trade paperback editions of several of its comics. Diamond will continue to distribute AHOY’s titles into comic shops.

“We’re pleased as punch to be partnering with Simon & Schuster with a deal that will allow us to expand our distribution in such a significant way,” said AHOY Publisher Hart Seely. “We can’t wait to foist our stable of oddball titles onto the unsuspecting masses and introduce a whole new audience of folks to Dragonfly and Dragonflyman, Jesus and Sunstar, and the staggeringly drunken Edgar Allan Poe.”

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Taking on Once More With Feeling, Year Two with Buffie the Vampyre Slayer!

26 Sep

null 29By Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

Playing at The Roxy
aka Bluebridge Repertory Theatre
2657 Quadra Street

Sept 24-26 & Oct 2-4
Evening performances: 8:30pm
​Saturday Matinees: 5:30pm

Regular tickets available for purchase online and Virtual screening tickets can be bought here.

Original review posted 2019/10/19 

This year’s version of Starry Starry Skies‘ Once More, With Feeling; Buffie the Vampire Slayer is bigger and I’m sure the plans to even expand it further will take up the entire breadth of the stage. I’m fairly sure this musical will be a staple in the Victoria theatre scene like Atomic Vaudeville’s Rocky Horror Show (unless cancelled because of a certain pandemic). So far, this company is one of two shows at The Roxy offering something spooky for the Halloween season.

Instead of a female narrator demon, this year’s version is male, and there’s more gender swapping going on. One casting difference has another actor playing the role of Spike. Corin Bert Winglet really nailed that role for me with his charm from last year’s show. This time, he’s Sweet, the demon who magically compels his victims to break out into song and dance, and revealing something each character prefers to keep in the closet. But when all the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players, just who manipulates whom in this play is at the core of this musical.

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