I didn’t mean to, but I started today off with two back-to-back TV pilots for cable series that revolve around the Christian faith and those who preach it. Other than that, they couldn’t have been more different from one another or the terrific animated film I saw later (which, bizarrely, was directed by the same guys who did one of the pilots), but it made for a satisfying triple over the course of the afternoon/evening. Plus, I had time to go on a MR. ROBOT themed ferris wheel and play some arcade games, so I guess I’ll chalk up the day as a win.
OUTCAST Episode 1, dir. Adam Wingard.
A kid stares at a cockroach running down the wall. Suddenly, he slams the top of his skull against the wall, crushing the roach and spilling a not inconsiderable amount of his own blood all over the place. That’s how we are introduced to the world of demons, possessions, and exorcists within OUTCAST, and the rest of the pilot was just as aggressive and scary as that opening half-minute would suggest. Like in THE EXORCIST, kids, rather than teenagers, seem to get the blunt end of it on this show, and it’s genuinely perturbing to see what kinda brutal shit the child characters on this show are going to have to go through. This is based on the comic by Robert Kirkman of THE WALKING DEAD, but the violence is far more affecting than on that show with nary a disembowelment in sight and a basically nonexistent body count.
The lead of the show is Patrick Fugit as Kyle Barnes, a bearded, clearly long-defeated dude living in a dilapidated house with no running water, living off of whatever groceries his sympathetic childhood friend still brings around. She invites him over to eat dinner with the family, and he reluctantly goes, but quickly skidaddles when his abusive past with his ex-wife and daughter comes up (it's clear that his guilt over his behavior towards them is the source of his current misery). Meanwhile, a reverend investigates the young kid from the opening, and deduces quickly that he’s possessed, and prepares to go through the process of performing an exorcism. He hears about the possession, which reminds him of his own mother’s animalistic behavior towards him, and decides that he has enough first-hand knowledge of this sort of thing to accompany the priest during the exorcism.
Now, in full disclosure, I had to leave before the final moments of the episode so that I could make it to PREACHER on time, but I still feel like I got a handle on where the series was going and what to look forward to from the rest of the season. It feels like the show is evolving into a sort of buddy investigatory show between Kyle and the reverend where the former’s instinctive talents and the reverend’s holy affiliation make them a superduo against the demons unlucky enough to cross their paths.
Sounds like standard stuff, right? But the weird thing is that this pilot feels so visceral, so atmospheric, so damn cinematic that you don’t even realize the pieces being put into place. Perhaps it was seeing it on a big screen with terrific sound amongst a big group of people, but from the first shots that highlight a vulnerable, open eye (a recurring motif in Wingard’s work), the episode gripped fast and never let go. There’s an effective moodiness throughout, punctuated by sequences of extreme, graphic horror. That unfortunate, possessed little kid gets so tossed, contorted, and beaten that it’s often hard not to laugh like it’s Ash smacking himself with his own hand, though it’s never played for laughs.There’s a flashback to Kyle’s childhood with his mother that’s one of the most effective scenes of its type I’ve ever seen, in either TV or movie form, with a gag timed and executed so perfectly that it’s as sad as it is horrifying.There’s a deep sorta sense of tragedy throughout, and all the core characters have clearly gone through some shit that they’d really rather not talk about, but has clearly dictated the way they live their lives. Fugit’s backstory is effectively handled through a combination of clever writing, evocative filmmaking, and a surprisingly intense performance (my favorite in eons) from the ALMOST FAMOUS actor. We see just enough of the reverend to know that he gambles, smokes, and plays loose with the word of the lord (there were some surprising overlaps between the two pilots I saw today). In general, the show seems to play down the Catholic elements and instead focuses on pulling you and keeping you there with drama and horror in equal measure.
I don’t know if they’ll be able to maintain the strength and tension of the pilot now that they’ve lost Wingard to the DEATH NOTE movie, but Cinemax has already greenlit a second season, so they like what they’ve seen. I definitely want to see more of this show; this first ep does a lot in just under an hour, and creates relatively small, but believable stakes that complement the hardcore possessions and violence towards children. Fugit seems like a reliable lead, and there’s not a weak note so far from the supporting cast (though we barely get any time with Reg E. Cathy’s sheriff). In the worst possible outcome, this is still a very fine piece of work from Kirkman and Wingard that works quite well as it’s own, self-contained piece. But I would still like more on this level.
PREACHER Episode 1, dirs. Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg.
Well, it’s here. After 20 years of waiting, there is now a filmed version of PREACHER finally coming out, and the big question is, does it do Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon’s comic justice?
Weirdly enough, after seeing the pilot, I still have no idea.
Rogen and Goldberg have taken a page from THE WALKING DEAD, and are massively rejiggering the construction of the story. Instead of opening with Jesse Custer already having been touched by the hand of God and the meeting between Cassidy and Tulip, we start significantly earlier in time, with Jesse still a preacher in Annville, Texas. He’s clearly already lost his faith, and spends his days drinking, smoking, and mostly avoiding the local townsfolk. He’s still in touch with Tulip, the ex he left oh so long ago, who keeps trying to get him involved in some dirty local business, but he tries to keep his nose clean despite his rough reputation. And then one night, wallowing in the pit of despair, he’s taken by…something in his Church, and when he comes to the next day, he seems to have gained a hypnotic power over people’s minds as well as a newfound belief in the Lord. And that’s nothing to say of the heavily tattooed, Irish accented madman named Cassidy who enters his life and may, or may not, be a vampire.
A lot of what goes down in this pilot has either happened long ago or goes down in a different manner in the first issues of the comic, and Rogen and Goldberg admitted that part of the reason they went this route was to fit the constraints of TV production (they said they’ve got about 8 days to knock out each episode). It’s best to judge PREACHER the TV show as it’s own beast and not a direct adaptation of the comics, though the creators insist that “all the characters and moments you love” will eventually show up in later episodes/seasons. Even Dominic Cooper’s Jesse Custer, with his shorter hair (that Tulip comments looks like he’s been shocked) and joyless demeanor, feels miles away from the Preacher we meet at the outset of the books, who makes dry jokes and constantly hits on Tulip (one major surprise of this pilot is that Rogen and Goldberg have in fact toned down some of Ennis’ sardonic sense of humor). Me and Quint agreed that there’s plenty of room for Custer to develop into something completely different, akin to Sheriff Rick’s transformation over the course of 6 seasons of THE WALKING DEAD, but it’s a stretch to think that this incarnation of the character will seamlessly transition to a replica of the original character.
The other characters, even if they’re different, are more effective. Rogen and Goldberg said they learned from their E.P. Sam Catlin to leave it up to the audience to decide which character will become the fan favorite, like Daryl Dixon or Mike Erhemntraut on BREAKING BAD; I call bullshit, because based on his opening scene and basically every line or moment they give him, they know that Cassidy is obviously the showiest, most likable character, and they’ve made a coup with the casting of Joseph Gilgun (the villain of that Guy Pearce movie, LOCKOUT). The character comes off differently than I imagined, with a lightning fast, somewhat indecipherable brogue and very animated movements, but Gilgun nails that excellent don’t-give-a-fuck aspect of Cassidy that makes him such a winning creation. I wasn’t quite as bowled over by Ruth Negga’s Tulip as some of the other audience members, but it’s hard not to get won over during her two big action scenes, one involving a judiciously applied corn cob. I also like that they went completely different in regards to her look, which is dark and ethnic as opposed to the white blonde Dillon drew.
We meet Sheriff Root (W. Earl Brown), his son “Arseface” (the result of a performance by Ian Colletti and a hilarious application by KNB), and two Adelphi scouring Texas for…something. But despite the familiar characters, and the presence of the extreme violence and dark sense of humor direct from Ennis/Dillon, the relationships, pacing, and chronology have been so warped that it doesn’t feel like a direct adaptation, which is fine. They’re using Preacher as a jumping off point to do their own thing, which, after 10 years of development, I have to trust was the best, most reasonable conclusion. They promise it’ll get back on track with the narrative of the comics, but when they admit that they confined the action of the first season to a single town for budget/scheduling purposes, it doesn’t sound like we’re going to be spending too much time hopping through celestial planes (one action scene that takes place behind closed doors is a troubling indicator of how hard they’re willing to scale this down).
But who gives a shit, eh? For what it is, this PREACHER show seems like it could be one hell of a ride, with crowd-pleasing violence and character moments galore, and at least some of that messed up mojo from the source material. Every moment with Cassidy is perfectly realized, and Dominic Cooper is really giving it his all as the deeply conflicted, lost Jesse. Rogen and Goldberg execute strong, competent action scenes, and prove that they can handle a tone that’s darker and completely different from their previous films. Sure, a shit-ton of what I love from the comic has been completely reworked, and we have yet to see how fast the story will catch up to the actual opening of Ennis’ story, but that’s secondary to how much I enjoyed it, and how excited I am to follow this rabbit hole down to the crazy shit we know is coming, including Jackie Earle Haley as Odin Quincannon, and, eventually, The Saint Of Killers (who we’d really like to see played by Kurt Russell, if the gods allow it).
This is night and day from what I was expecting from a PREACHER adaptation,, but I’m down for more blood-soaked, wiseass mayhem with these characters. I hope that the fans can make peace with the changes, and embrace it for what it is, which is still pretty friggin’ awesome.
SAUSAGE PARTY, dirs. Conrad Vernon and Greg Tiernan.
Wow. That was really fucked up. I know I wasn’t expecting an episode of ARTHUR or anything. I mean, it’s called fucking SAUSAGE PARTY. But wow. It’s one thing to permeate your animated film with swearing, sex jokes, horrible violence, and even racism. But in a similar method as THE LEGO MOVIE, they’re slipping in some weighty, relevant themes in there, and unlike THE LEGO MOViE, those themes are controversial as FUCK.
To paraphrase Rogen himself, SAUSAGE PARTY is about a bunch of sausages that want to fuck buns. In a supermarket, all the items of food start every day by singing a jaunty tune (written by Alan Menken) about how the point of their existence is to be chosen by the “gods” (people) to be taken to the “beyond” (outside of the store), where they will end up in some mysterious, but ultimately happy and peaceful place. A pack of sausages and a bag of hot dog buns resting on the same aisle flirt with one another like teenagers in high school; their purpose in life is for the sausages to be put in the buns, and Frank (Seth Rogen) an Brenda voiced by Kristen Wiig are all but betrothed. However, they believe it’s the will of the gods to wait until chosen to go through with their copulation, and they eagerly anticipate the “stars and stripes day” where everyone is sure to buy both sausages and buns. But when a jar of honey mustard gets returned to the store, obviously shell-shocked and horrified by the outside world, he instigates a chain reaction that splits Frank and Brenda from the rest of their packages, and sets Frank off to see the veracity of their sacred “beyond.”
This was a passion project of Rogen and Goldberg’s, and it’s not hard to see why; within the confines of this ludicrous, original setting, they are able to get away with stuff that they never in a million years could’ve done in their live-action films (see: THE INTERVIEW). I mean, the examples of jaw-dropping moments, gags, and concepts are way too plentiful to list here. Even Brenda’s mouth is shaped like a vagina, so for most of the movie, you have things that look like dicks and things that look like pussies talking about finally being able to fuck each other, and that’s the A-plot. They pick up sidekicks, a bagel voiced by Edward Norton (doing a straight impression of Woody Allen) and a piece of middle-eastern bread played by David Krumholtz, who are meant to represent Israel and Palestine, and bicker with thick allegory for the entire film (I particularly liked the Arab’s dream to die and bathe in 72 bottles of virgin olive oil). There’s another character, Theresa de Taco, voiced by Salma Hayek (very funny), who spends the entire film trying to sway Brenda away from Frank and towards, um, tacos. Oh, and the villain? A giant douche (Nick Kroll) who acts, sure enough, like a giant douche (who, of course, loves to “juice”).
But ultimately, the most crazy, fucked up thing about this movie is that it’s really all about the hopelessness and pointlessness of existence. The characters live in bliss believing in the notions of “gods” and “the beyond,” and when the cracks in those beliefs start to widen, only Frank feels inclined to investigate. Pretty much everyone else in the film takes it for granted that those things may not be true, and cannot bear to think that their purpose in life is merely to be devoured and forgotten. Frank and Brenda are constantly in debate about whether it’s appropriate to stay chaste, given the possibility that the reason for their chastity (respecting the “gods) is total bullshit; Brenda, racked with guilt that they even “touched tips,” wants to follow the gospel and play by the rules while Frank is seeing fewer and fewer reasons for them not to merely indulge their desires and enjoy the time they have together. It’s a far deeper, and less obvious, dilemma than you usually see in both adult and family animation, and as a result, the film is ultimately more substantive than either THIS IS THE END or THE INTERVIEW (though it should be said, Rogen and Goldberg didn’t direct this one, merely co-wrote and produced).
Ok, so it’s extreme, but is it funny? Oh, hell yes. The film is stacked, wall-to-wall, with food-related jokes and allegories of all sorts of varieties that are consistently guffaw-inducing. One thing that the filmmakers have a ton of fun with is the idea that death is meaningful to these beings, and every spilled drink, sliced vegetable, and chewed morsel is treated like a huge tragedy. It really starts to seem like a horrible life for these food items, and the writers never get tired at exploiting that horror for huge belly laughs (one SAVING PRIVATE RYAN reference in the first third had the audience floored). The names alone, including a clearly African-American Mr. Grits (Craig Robinson) and a Native-American named Firewater (I believe Bill Hader), are rife with puns that never feel cheap or hacky, or even the center of the joke. I think the regionalization of the various foodstuffs is a commentary on the packaging of goods in American markets, where the tequila bottle's got a sombrero on it and ground up pork wrapped in intestines (an ancient practice that predates America) is somehow considered a patriotic dish. I’m telling you, man, this film’s got a lot more going on than you’d expect, and it doesn’t even feel as scattershot and unfocused as ZOOTOPIA; this world actually follows its own nonsense internal logic, leading up to an ending that is terrifically absurd, clever, and ballsy.
There are so many famous voice actors in this thing, and I really couldn’t place most of them (a rarity for me), but Michael Cera and Jonah Hill are good as Frank's sausage bros, James Franco is mumbly and funny as a bath salt-smoking local, and Hader gets a bunch of big laughs as the wise, potsmoking Firewater. I didn’t catch Danny McBride or Paul Rudd in there, but the credits assure me they were in it (I reckon there will be picture accompaniment with the credits when it’s released, but there was nothing in what we saw). Rogen holds down the film as Frank, and Wiig is appropriately shrewish as the conservative-minded Brenda. Norton and Kroll prove to be huge winners, as does Salma Hayek's hard and horny taco.
Now, what we saw was quite unfinished, particularly in the third act, so I can’t completely judge the feature film that’ll be released in theaters this August. That might improve on some of what didn’t work as well here, particularly during the action-filled climax and the conceptually hilarious button (man, if they got some cujones if they follow this ending through to a sequel). But even in this unfinished form, where people would literally laugh every time the animation was obviously unfinished, it managed to bring the house down, and the response after may have been the strongest or anything I’ve seen so far at the festival. I don’t think it’s quite FRITZ THE CAT or SOUTH PARK: BIGGER LONGER AND UNCUT (though only time will tell), but it more than deserves to mentioned in the same breath with TEAM AMERICA: WORLD POLICE, HEAVY METAL, or any other classic animated film where the characters fuck.
