"Not Another Teen Movie" is Still a Classic Spoof Movie

Lately I have found myself rewatching old comedies, or as Netflix puts it, "late night comedies". I like these type of movies because they are just dumb and fun and a breeze to watch. They are usually under 90 minutes too, which is a total bonus in my book. And by "old", I am not talking Chaplin, or "Dr. Strangelove", but stuff like "Dazed and Confused" or "Orgazmo" or "Half Baked". I'm talking about late 90's and early to mid 2000's movies.

One that I recently revisited I was hesitant on because I truly like this movie, and I was certain that it was going to be problematic and not hold up. The movie is "Not Another Teen Movie". I have revisited some of the movies they spoof, like "American Pie" and "She's All That", and those movies are problematic and do not hold up. I wrote a whole thing about how truly awful "American Pie" now is, seeing it with adult eyes.

I am here to say that "Not Another Teen Movie" totally holds up. It is funny, the movies they spoof, the spoofing is perfect and it is meant to be bad because the movies they make fun of are truly awful. When I turned it on the other day, I was immediately brought back to the first time I saw it, and laughing as hard this time as the first time. It is, for me, the best spoof movie since "Airplane". None of the other spoof movies, like the whole "Scary Movie" franchise, or movies like "Date Movie" or any of those hold a candle to "Not Another Teen Movie". What "NATM" does better than any of the other recent movies like it, they got good actors who had a good time and looked like they enjoyed what they were doing. This was Chris Evans first major movie role, and he is great. He is so perfect as the jock guy that turns it around. He spoofs that character, which is so prevalent in every teen movie. But what Evans does so well, he makes the jokes, and they all land. When he is walking through the hall and everyone is throwing underwear at him, and a guy throws a pair, this could have been such a bad and mean joke, but the way Evans played it, it totally lands. Outside Evans, the rest of the cast is really good too. Chyler Leigh, as the geeky girl with glasses that suddenly becomes cute when she takes her glasses off, she is pitch perfect. Jaime Pressly as the mean girl, she was born to play that role comedically. Eric Christian Olsen as the best friend of Evans, but also his foil, this kid is so perfect for these types of roles. He is funny and goofy and seems to love doing comedy. The side characters stand out too. Mia Kirshner as Evans' sister, playing the Sarah Michelle Gellar character from "Cruel Intentions", is so funny and so disgusting, on purpose. Deon Richmond as the lone black guy, simply pure and perfect. Damn he is funny in this movie. And Eric Jungman as the best friend in love with Janey, playing the Ducky role, awesome, Ron Lester reprising his role from "Varsity Blues", but playing it for laughs, perfect, and Cody McMains as the young high schooler who just wants to hook up with a girl, he is one of the best. "NATM" just works on every single level. It makes inappropriate jokes, but it is on purpose, and it works. The way they intertwine so many different teen movies, yet still make the story work, it is one of the best. The actors are really, really solid. The direction is good. And all the inside jokes, be it from calling the high school John Hughes High School to the cheerleaders ripping off the dance moves to all the football jokes, and everything else, it just works.

I love this movie, and I am happy that it holds up. If you haven't seen it, and are looking for something light and fun, I highly recommend checking out "Not Another Teen Movie". It is really good, thank goodness. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

SeedSing is funded by a group of awesome people. Join them by donating to SeedSing.  

Better Late than Never on "Knives Out"

This past weekend was another quarantine date night for my wife and I, and while we very much enjoyed our local Greek takeout food we had, the movie was the highlight of the evening for me.

We chose to watch "Knives Out" after being told by pretty much everyone we knew to watch it. They were not wrong. This movie was great. It was nearly perfect on every single level. And even when I thought I had everything figured out, the movie would throw in a new twist that made it that much more fun. And my goodness was this cast stacked, and everyone involved did a tremendous job. The list of actors, Jamie Lee Curtis, Don Johnson, Chris Evans, Michael Shannon, Riki Lindholme, Toni Collette, Ana de Armas, Christopher Plummer, Lakeith Stanfield and Daniel Craig. That is a murderers row of actors, and they all played their parts great.

For those that may not know, "Knives Out" is a murder mystery. My wife and I likened it to a less goofy, more updated version of "Clue", another movie I adore. And while it isn't nearly as goofy, and cheesy in a good way, that "Clue" is, it still gave us those vibes. And while "Clue" is great, this movie was better. It was more fun, better acted, better directed and deserves all the accolades it got, of which I found out after watching the movie and reading trivia on IMDB.

In “Knives Out“, Christopher Plummer is the patriarch, and national best selling author of the family. He is the one that is "murdered", and we are taken on a great ride to find out what really happened. At the forefront of the investigation were Stanfield, his partner and Daniel Craig, who plays a PI. Stanfield was awesome, as he always is. He is one of the most reliable actors right now. His partner was also very goofy and funny. He was the comic relief. But it was Craig who stood head and shoulders above all the great names I listed before. He was a southern PI, and when he spoke with his accent I was taken aback at how spot on it was. He legit sounded like Foghorn Leghorn. It was that good. But the way he goes about finding out all the little details in the movie was spot on. He was just absolutely dynamite. I could not take my eyes off the screen when he was doing his thing. And that monologue at the end, where he breaks everything down, that was some the purest, and most exquisite acting I have seen in some time. It was phenomenal. Not to be outdone, Ana de Armas was almost as good as Craig. She plays the nurse, and she is heavily involved in all the beats of the movie. I am trying my best not to spoil anything people. That may be why this seems so blunt. But de Armas really put her stamp on this movie with her role. All those other names, they all gave spectacular performances. Collette, as a failed business lady mooching off her dad was out of her normal realm, but she nailed it. Don Johnson was scummy and sleazy, and by the end, I loathed his character, as I am sure they intended. Riki Lindholme was a stepford wife in the worst possible way, yet she nailed it. Michael Shannon wasn't as creepy as he is in most roles, but that dude can flat out perform. Chris Evans was swarmy and douchey and just when you think you can root for him, he does something that makes him the least likable person in a cast full of not so great people. And Jamie Lee Curtis was simply fantastic as the hard ass eldest daughter of Plummer. This is one of my favorite things that she has ever done. She was so good. As was Plummer. His little scenes int he movie were great, he is great and we should all know that because he is one of the greatest living actors.

I cannot recommend this movie enough. This ranks right up there with "Jo Jo Rabbit" as one of the best movies I have watched on quarantine. And it proves how awesome Rian Johnson is. Not only did he direct this, but he wrote it as well. This, for me, was on the same level as "Brick". I love "Knives Out", and I highly recommend that everyone check it out. It truly is a movie for anyone. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

SeedSing is funded by a group of awesome people. Join them by donating to SeedSing.

A year later "Snowpiercer" is still a movie to watch

This snow needs some piercing

September is a horrible time for new movies. I love to watch movies, but the theaters have nothing good to offer. Channel surfing is the best way to find anything worth watching.

Last night as I was channel searching at 10pm, I came across the movie "Snowpiercer". I saw this movie in the theaters and I loved it, but I also forgot about it. I own it on DVD as well, but I leant it to a friend, and I still don't have it back. I'm here to tell you today that, holy shit, this movie is still totally awesome! First of all, the cast is incredible. You have stars like Chris Evans, Jamie Bell, Tilda Swinton, Octavia Spencer, John Hurt and Ed Harris just to name a few. The set and art direction to this movie is beautiful. The movie takes place in one area, the train, but the train has many different parts. There's the back, aka the poor people, there's sleeping cars, there's a garden, an aquarium and a spa. That's just a quarter of the train. As you get to the higher class people, there's a school, sushi bar, fancy dressed people in one random car, a night club and then the engine. All these cars on the train are beautifully and meticulously designed. For example, the garden looks like a real life garden. I wouldn't be able to tell you if it was on a train or if it was on ground. The nightclub looks like my nightmare of a nightclub. I don't frequent places like that, but the few I've been to are recreated in "Snowpiercer" to haunting perfection. The engine is enormous and beautiful.

The fighting and combat scenes are like watching a bloody ballet. There's one fight scene in particular, where the train's soldiers each gut a fish, presumably to show the passengers that blood will be spilled, and it's awesome. They fight each other with hatchets also. You can hear each plunge into a victim's chest, head, arm and leg. It's brutal, but awesome. When they reach a tunnel, the soldiers turn on night vision and they film the rest of the fight scene from the view of the soldiers. It's really, really cool. Inventive too.

The writer and director, Joon-ho Bong, is very talented and clearly has his own vision for movies. He's only done 13 movies, with "Snowpiercer" being his first, mostly English speaking movie. But, what other people may know him for is the terrifying Japanese horror film, "The Host". That movie is very scary.

Chris Evans, who is great in this movie, gives one of the most heartbreaking yet stomach turning monologues I've ever heard in a movie. I'm not going to spoil it because you need to hear it to believe it. It's so sad and extremely upsetting. When Evans gets to the engine, the back and forth between him and the trains inventor, Wilford(played by Ed Harris) is awesome. You get the viewpoint from the lower and upper class. It's really good, really interesting writing. I cannot recommend this movie enough. It's so great and so much better than crap like the new Transporter movie, or that Agent 47 movie. Hell, I think "Snowpiercer" is better than Chris Evans past two movies, "The Avengers" movies. And, I love "The Avengers" movies. But, if you want to see something super interesting and innovative, watch "Snowpierecer". It also has fighting and explosions and all the stuff you want in a popcorn movie, but "Snowpiercer" has the writing and directing of a small budget independent movie. This movie is incredible and comes highly recommended from me.

Watch it and enjoy.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and co host of the X Millennial Man podcast. With the dreadful movie period coming up he is looking for other great movies to watch from the last few years. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.