Welcome back everyone to Movies Eye See, the blog that allows me to tell you about a film from the past that I was able to catch during its theatrical run. Unfortunately our scanner is being an asshole so you won't be seeing the movie stub that usually intro's the blog, so I will just go over when and where this viewing took place. We must travel allllll the way back to Monday September 1st 2008 at 7:30 pm when myself, Erikka, Jonathon and Sovi went to the Valley Mall Cinema to check out the latest Ben Stiller flick Tropic Thunder. Here is the trailer for everyone to get reacquainted.
Hollywood had been putting out straight to dvd worthy parody films largely since the Scary Movie franchise began and I did not want anything to do with them. Luckily Stiller and crew knew that you could still make a great movie in this vain and not make it a complete waste of your time. The most important thing that sets this movie apart from the rest is the cast. Stiller gives one of his better performances, Jack Black plays Jack Black on heroin, Nick Nolte, Danny McBride, Mathew McConaughey, Jay Baruchel, and Brandon Jackson round out this great cast that did an amazing job. The show stealer though is Robert Downy Jr. (no not Tom Cruise, fuck him) who was actually nominated for an Academy Award for best supporting actor. You can see in the trailer just how far he is willing to go to get into his character.
The movie starts with four fake trailers each staring one of the four main actors you are about to see in Tropic Thunder. This still to me is one of the best ideas I have seen on the big screen because we instantly get to know enough about each character before the movie even starts. The best is Satan's Alley just to see Tobey Maguire billed as the MTV Movie Award Best Kiss Winner. You get Stiller as the summer blockbuster action superstar, Brandon Jackson as the boisterous rapper turned actor, and Jack Black doing his version of the Clumps with gas.
I recently traded in my blu ray copy because it isn't something that I am going to sit down and watch on a regular basis, maybe in a year if I can stream it on Netflix I will. If you haven't seen it I would recommend it especially if you want a non family friend Jack Black or Ben Stiller comedy. Once you are done checking it out why not see some classic parody films like Young Frankenstein or Airplane.
