Troll 2 Review: Part 3 - Best Worst Movie (2009)

The First Part
The Second Part

So Troll 2 is a spectacle of a movie – it’s so bad in every aspect that it should be indefensible, but somehow it comes out as a glorious, beautiful butterfly of a bad movie. Everything about it is awful. The acting is stale and the writing is confusing. The storyline is so botched that it may very well have come from a coke-addled mental patient, and the special effects are like something a couple of college kids threw together in an afternoon. The directing is a cobble of ridiculous close-up shots and nonsensical ideas that make the film even more of a headache, when it isn’t side-splittingly funny. These things are basically ironclad facts. So why do we love it so much?

Director: Michael Stephenson

Starring: Michael Stephenson, George Hardy, Claudio Fragasso, the rest of the Troll 2 cast

IMDb

Best Worst Movie, released in 2009, is a documentary made by the lead actor of Troll 2, Michael Stephenson, who played Joshua the wonder kid in the movie, and it attempts to shed light on these questions. In Best Worst Movie he takes a camera and documents the cult phenomenon that Troll 2 has grown into, with showings all over the world and lots of devoted fans who don’t quite fit into any other fanbase. Lots of shots are used of people in low-fi theaters laughing their asses off at the movie. It’s heartwarming and really cool to see how a movie like this has affected people. Some journalists quoted in the film call Troll 2 ‘the Rocky Horror of the Myspace generation,’ which is about as accurate a description as anyone can come up with.

But the real treat is seeing what all the stars from the movie are doing 17 years later. George Hardy, who played the dad in the movie, is given a lot of the spotlight, because he is honestly just a cool, wacky character. He’s a dentist in a small town in the Midwest who is well-loved by everyone he knows and a popular face in town even without the Troll 2 fame on his back. You see a lot of dimensions from astonishment that his movie is finally being recognized to discouragement when he goes to conventions and nobody knows him. Some of the best scenes are the actors re-enacting scenes from the original film all these years later. The one with Hardy, Stephenson and Margo Prey doing the “row row row your boat” scene is priceless.

The disconnect between the director’s intentions and the critical reception is just insane here. Claudio Fragasso fashions himself, apparently, a pro filmmaker, and seems to honestly kind of resent the way everyone just laughs at Troll 2 now. To his credit, he does seem to like playing to the crowd for laughs, but I don’t know, the look in his eyes just seems a little annoyed at it all, and he comes off as pretty pompous really. Both he and his wife, who wrote most of the script and story, just can’t seem to see what about the movie is so funny.

The real thought provoking things in this film, though, are the actors who are…different. Like Margo Prey, who played the mom in the movie, and who is obviously a bit off. She’s just a little odd and you feel sorry for her because she doesn’t seem like life’s given her its best hand. Same thing for the general store guy in real life – he lives alone and just doesn’t seem terribly well-off. He tells the story of how he got the part: he was a mental patient at the time, self-admitted, and had no idea where he was or what he was doing. “It wasn’t acting,” he says, and he means it. He also says that when he got on stage at one of the Troll 2 screenings, it was “the first time he ever felt happy with himself, in his life.” That’s really touching, and brings the movie to another level. If a movie like this can make somebody feel like that, I don’t care what you say, it’s not a bad movie. No movie that makes a person feel that way can ever be bad.

Best Worst Movie is a documentary about people. If you want a film that just makes fun of a bad old 80s movie, look elsewhere. This just takes a strange, unique situation from years ago (the filming of Troll 2) and catches up with everyone to see what their lives are like afterwards. It shows that people in terrible movies are just people, too, and that the line of quality between good and bad movies is really rather blurry – what critics and popular opinion says really matters way less than people think. Movies are so much more than just black-and-white good or bad. They’re hard work by lots of people, and Best Worst Movie shows that through every pore, through every odd humorous anecdote and every cheering crowd. For that Best Worst Movie has left an impact on me.

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The Cove (2009)

Starring: Ric O'Barry Brook Aitken, Joe Chrisholm

Director: Lou Psihoyos

IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1313104/

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cove_(film)

"They call him Flipper, Flipper, faster than lighting..."

Well, as it turns out, Flipper was five different dolphins. And they were all female. And one of them offed herself.

Sounds kind of random, don't you think? It is actually part of the Academy Award-winning documentary about a group of activists who have set out to investigate a secret cove in Taiji, Japan that they say is being used as a massive dolphins slaughterhouse. It flows them as they get plan on how to discover the horrors that they think await the creatures. In addition, they offer their thoughts on why these animals are being senselessly killed and why no one, until now, has done anything about it.

The heart and soul of the group is Ric O'Barry. His story is a mixture of "Nixon-goes-to-China" and redemption. As the trainer of the dolphins who starred in the "Flipper" TV show, O'Barry sparked an interest in the creatures and helped create a multi-billion dollar industry that lives on today in aquariums and Sea World. But success came with a price: after the show was cancelled, the dolphins were taken to aquariums, were they suffered from serve physiological stress. The turning point for him came when one of the Flippers, named Kathy, died in his arms after a period of poor health, supposedly at her own will (yeah, this sounds weird, but it makes more sense when he explains it in the film). Right afterward, he transformed into an activist determined to free and protect the world's dolphins. As he puts it, he spent ten years of his life trying to build up the dolphin industry and the last thirty-five years trying to tear it down.

As passionate as he is about his cause, O'Barry is only one man who is nearly his seventies, so he recruits a bunch of young(er) activists in his quest to plug a hole in the dolphin population drain. This brings them to the mysterious cove in Taiji, which is believed be used by local fishermen as a way to capture dolphins in order to either sell or kill them, resulting in the deaths of 23,000 of them each year. They are soon confronted by the fishermen as well as, believe it or not, secret police who are not happy about them being there. As a result, they take matters into their own hands and they use their expertise and technology, like night vision goggles and hidden cameras, to investigate the situation. While this is going on, they talk to the viewers about why this place has been allowed to operate with little or no scrutiny.

There is one thing that this documentary makes clear: the filmmakers REALLY hate Japan! I mean, Jesus, they really go after this country! They talk about the agenda of the fishing industry as well as Japan's questionable deals within the International Whaling Commission. It is here that we meet Masayuki Komatsu, who was then a delegate for the commission. You will learn to dislike him; talk about a cold and calculating bureaucrat! I mean, just look at his photo:

Could they have picked a smarmier or creepier-looking guy as their representative?

Umm, well, the other guy is still pretty bad...

While economics is seen as an obvious reason for why the slaughter is prevalent, they say that it is not the only, or even the principle, cause of the problem. They go on to explain that the country's culture of secrecy, misguided nationalism, and emphasis on conformity have allowed the events in the cove to occur, causing serious dangers not only to the dolphins but also the Japanese people themselves. They are really interesting arguments that look at the big picture and sheds light on topics that many people would probably either ignore or feel too political incorrect about mentioning publicly. It is much more convincing that if they were just saying "The big, bad fisherman don't care about the sweet little dolphins; they just like to make a lot of money and be meanies!!!" Granted, it provides a pretty one-sided view of Japan that seems a little unfair at times. But then again, while bias is encouraged to be minimized, this is a documentary; its suppose to be represent its own point of view (it should also be note that there is one point where the filmmakers interview two local councilmen who appear to be a little more aware than some of their contemporaries of the problems that are occurring in the country). And if all or most of this is true, then...well, there is really not much to argue about then, is there?

Ok, let me address what many of you are probably thinking: why should I care about a bunch of dolphin-hugging hippies who are focused on this one type of animal in this one spot in the world? It is fair to say that the animal rights movement has long been stalled because many of its supporters in the past have broadcast uncomfortably radical views and have used outlandish tactics, both of which have been counterproductive (as anyone who has ever seen them on the news or brilliantly parodied on "South Park" can concur). Thankfully, this is largely absent in the film: O'Barry and the others are primarily asking for the stop to the slaughter and possibly rethinking the entertainment industry surrounding the creatures. The tactics they use, while not exactly 100% legal, are more akin to investigative reporters than crazy activists. True, some of O'Barry's personal, more controversial opinions and actions are hinted at, but they are mostly (and wisely) downplayed to avoid alienating viewers.

Now, to fair, one of the few qualms I have about the documentary (other than the Japanese thing) is that it doesn't focus enough on why it is important that this be stopped. Yes, it does speak about the intelligence of the creatures and obviously hits upon the sympathy of their plight (the finale, which shows raw footage of the fishermen in action, is pretty gruesome). But these aren't enough; the first point can be attack from a multitude of different angles and the second feels a little empty on substance. The filmmakers should have spoken more about the overall environmental impact that the disappearance of the dolphins would have on the ecology and how putting an end to the activities in this one spot can have a tremendous impact on preventing much of the damage.

Overall, this is a very enlightening and well-made production about an important topic. It isn't perfect and it is bound to get a lot of people unset, but for the most part, its message is clear: there is a disruption occurring on the shores of Taiji and it needs to be stopped. As for the documentary itself, I definitely recommend it.

These images are not mine and are used here for entertainment purposes only. Please do not sue me.

The Fog of War - Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara (2003)

Starring Robert S. McNamara

Directed by Errol Morris

The Fog of War is a documentary featuring an interview with former Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara, who tells his side of the story involving the major events of the 20^th century and the role that he played in them.

 

This is a fantastic documentary. It allows people to understand why the late defense secretary made the controversial decisions that came to define his career. What unfolds is an intriguing look into how a war should and should not be operated. It discusses the sacrifices that are involved and dives into the question of whether conflict among human beings is inevitable. It is also a personal story about a man approaching his nineties and wanting to redeem himself in the eyes of the history. It does not take a stance on whether Robert McNamara was right or wrong concerning what he did or the lessons that he gives in the documentary itself; it simply tells his side of the story (granted, with editing and creative control issues involved) and allows people to decide for themselves. This is all enhanced with telling archival footage and strong symbolic imagery, which is accompanied by great music from Philip Glass.

 

When McNamara died in 2009, many people saw him as an intelligent man, but one who would always be known for his role in Vietnam. I do not know how many of them saw the documentary, nor do I know if it would have changed their minds at all. I admit that I did not know about Robert McNamara before I saw this documentary; now that that I have seen it, I know a lot more about him, but still do not know how I really feel about him. Nevertheless, I highly recommend this film because it illustrates how complex one person can be, and in a larger sense, how the world itself can be.