The best bad movie ever made

in

I have a confession to make... I love the movie "Armageddon" In my humble opinion, I believe it is the best bad movie ever made period. It is great and horrible in it's over the topness. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjNxUguxwjU&feature=related]

Some reviews of the film:

"A real movie about courage in space is Apollo 13, in which fear and sacrifice have meaning. This jingoistic, overblown spectacle is about whistling in the dark."

"...full of sound and fury but without a single new idea to add to the conversation."

"...why couldn't the film have tapped into a more noble and stylish tradition? Why couldn't these men have been interesting instead of cartoons?"

Somebody also called it an "ugly mess" but I think it's a beautiful mess of excess that takes itself so seriously even as it becomes more and more over the top.

Now we have this video from Tim Pawlenty to promote his new book.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfkNEq1XioE]

Wow, now that's a video. I love the production values, wow, how much did they spent on this thing? So much for fiscal restraint. And I'll say this for the video, it makes Pawlenty, a guy who has never really impressed me much seem Presidential, so it deserves some credit for that.

But here's the rub, it seems so over the top, so lacking in anything authentic, I get that the guy is running for President, but he's not giving the Gettysburgh address or saving the world from Astroids. The video while beautifully executed seems so out of proportion, it's full of sound & fury, but there's no there there. I guess if the only take away is that this guy can appear presidential, then it serves it's purpose. But I'd worry that it also could make him appear smaller ironically. It is so excessive that it makes me wonder why? Why does he need so much propping up?

Over the top works for Armegeddon (in my opinion). Sure it sucks, but it doesn't seem to care, it's so earnest and so overindulgent that it wins me over despite it's paper thin characters, plot and excess. But this video isn't a movie, so that same earnestness feels manipulative to me in this context. Like big dramatic music, fast editing, extreme close ups and iconic shots can compensate for a boring candidate.

Still, it must have been fun to film this one.

Now, I'm going back to a real american hero Bruce Willis.

There's over the top and then there's over the top

in

Tax day is here.  A day when conservatives can rail against paying their hard earned money to the government for wasteful programs like public schools, roads, a military, police and fire departments. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9b5bSxL6DR4]

In honor of April 15th, a conservative group railing against taxes.  Now Ken Buck is in a Republican primary against conservative Jane Norton. So maybe this spot is aimed for a very angry conservative base, still I can't help but feel they could have appealed to that base, and to more independent/less angry Republican primary voters. From the graphics to the music to the voice talent to the writing ("Washington loves Tax Day, but despise conservative leaders....).  It's just too much, and it risks getting

Compare that spot with this web video, which also over the top:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xULUb98TNwk]

Copyright violations aside, this is pretty funny and great parody.  Often when I watch these longer videos (over a minute) I get bored pretty fast, this one I watched through to the end. Now that says something about my attention span and the quality of most web videos.

Look it even made "Mars Attacks!" look funny, that's an accomplishment in itself.

The difference between this video and the first spot is that the first one is deadly serious, this one has its tongue firmly planted in cheek.  Its tone is over the top, but its message is not.  Even though its message is loud and clear, its not being shouted at you.

In that way it's able to deliver it's message without a viewer turning it out.