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joe dante's homecoming
Mar. 18th, 2010 12:22 amI try not to talk too much about non-religion politics on here, and I'm not a huge fan of endorsing random political shit. But Homecoming, an episode of Showtime's Masters of Horror series, is really good. It's also really political. I mean, it's satire (the director is the guy that made Gremlins), but... not really. It's almost too dark to be satire, especially toward the end. The trailer:
The protagonist is a Republican politico who inadvertently starts a gooey catch phrase about "if I had one wish, I would wish all the dead soldiers could come back" because he's "sure what they would say"... thanks for letting me give my life to serve my country, basically. Which is a strange catch phrase, but the reason he says it is revealed eventually. Bush (not named) says it in a big speech, and suddenly the dead soldiers are coming back to life. More specifically, the ones who died mad and discontented (not the ones who believed they died for a good cause). Except they're not after brains, they just want to have a chance to "have their say" - i.e., to vote. And it's all about what a big political mess this becomes for the Republicans (the most amusing bit comes when a Falwell type makes a total 180 from calling the undead soldiers a gift from God to calling them hell spawn... there are much less amusing moments as well). Oh yeah, there's also an obligatory Ann Coulter type.
I didn't find any of this funny, by the way. It's not funny or scary. It's just sad and angry. It's also too political, the kind of movie that isn't going to change any minds. There are definitely moments that are too heavy-handed. Judging by the comments on Netflix, it's incredibly polarizing - and not just along political lines. I wish it hadn't been so obviously about Iraq, because then it becomes all "topical" in a way it didn't have to be. The "Republicans" here could be of many political ideologies (much like W., there are no liberal characters - it's one side talking to itself). This is much, much more about war in a democracy than it is about American Republicans or Democrats. So, I liked it.
Uh... anyway.
His adaptation of The Screwfly Solution is pretty good too. That one is definitely scary as shit for various reasons. Too bad it's marred by the annoying as hell acting by everyone except poor old Elliot Gould.
The protagonist is a Republican politico who inadvertently starts a gooey catch phrase about "if I had one wish, I would wish all the dead soldiers could come back" because he's "sure what they would say"... thanks for letting me give my life to serve my country, basically. Which is a strange catch phrase, but the reason he says it is revealed eventually. Bush (not named) says it in a big speech, and suddenly the dead soldiers are coming back to life. More specifically, the ones who died mad and discontented (not the ones who believed they died for a good cause). Except they're not after brains, they just want to have a chance to "have their say" - i.e., to vote. And it's all about what a big political mess this becomes for the Republicans (the most amusing bit comes when a Falwell type makes a total 180 from calling the undead soldiers a gift from God to calling them hell spawn... there are much less amusing moments as well). Oh yeah, there's also an obligatory Ann Coulter type.
I didn't find any of this funny, by the way. It's not funny or scary. It's just sad and angry. It's also too political, the kind of movie that isn't going to change any minds. There are definitely moments that are too heavy-handed. Judging by the comments on Netflix, it's incredibly polarizing - and not just along political lines. I wish it hadn't been so obviously about Iraq, because then it becomes all "topical" in a way it didn't have to be. The "Republicans" here could be of many political ideologies (much like W., there are no liberal characters - it's one side talking to itself). This is much, much more about war in a democracy than it is about American Republicans or Democrats. So, I liked it.
Uh... anyway.
His adaptation of The Screwfly Solution is pretty good too. That one is definitely scary as shit for various reasons. Too bad it's marred by the annoying as hell acting by everyone except poor old Elliot Gould.
