NIRVANA THE BAND THE SHOW THE MOVIE: Parody and Homage...Canadian Style

NIRVANA THE BAND THE SHOW THE MOVIE (Blu-ray)

2025 / 100 min

NEON/Decal Releasing

Review by Princess Pepper😽

Until this movie came along, I had no idea Nirvana the Band was even a thing. It was first a Canadian web series, followed by an actual TV show that ran for a couple of seasons. In both, Matt Johnson and Jay McCarrol play a couple of guys obsessed with getting their band booked at the Rivoli, a famous Toronto bar. They also use the set-up to parody various aspects of popular culture.

Nirvana the Band the Show the Movie expands the same concept into a feature length film, which is sure to please fans. But even if you’ve never heard of these guys, Johnson and McCarrol have the good sense to make it accessible to newcomers. No prior knowledge is required, so if nothing else, these guys could teach the good folks at Disney a thing or two about continuing a TV property on the big screen.

Storywise, the film is both a parody and homage to Back to the Future. For their next publicity stunt, Matt decks out the inside of their RV like the time machine from the movie. But when it surprisingly works, they end up back in 2008. While in the past, they have a heated argument and go their separate ways. Upon returning to the present, however, Jay has since become a rock star, while Matt struggles in a Jay McCarrol tribute band, the result of having altered the past.

"Wireless? Not in my lifetime!"

Complications and plot twists ensue, of course, some of them pretty clever spins on sequences from BTTF. But as a comedy with largely improvised dialogue, it’s kind of a mixed bag. While it’s occasionally very funny, Johnson’s character is really abrasive, his personality, dialogue and actions a little cringeworthy, which is probably intentional. The film is done in cinéma vérité style (including camera operators as characters) and many of the bystanders they encounter are unaware they’re in a movie, so their reactions to him are real.

But even if Nirvana the Band the Show the Movie is seldom laugh-out-loud funny, the story is fun, as are many of its satiric elements. And while Matt’s character isn’t someone I’d want to hang out with any longer than I have to, the friendship between him and Jay is ultimately charming enough that we’re invested in both of them. 

EXTRA KIBBLES

FIRST EPISODE OF THE ORIGINAL SHOW

FEATURETTES - Back to 2008; Running Cable.

ALTERNATE OPENING, DELETED SCENE, POST CREDIT SCENES, OUTTAKES

HOME MOVIES

2 AUDIO COMMENTARIES - 1) By Matt Johnson & Jay McCarrol; 2) By Matt Johnson & post-production team.

DVD COPY

VAMPIRE ZOMBIES…FROM SPACE!: More Homage Than Parody

VAMPIRE ZOMBIES…FROM SPACE! (Blu-ray)

2024 / 98 min

Cleopatra Entertainment

Review by Josey, the Sudden Cat🙀

Don’t be fooled by the deliberately silly title, which suggests yet-another “outrageous” zom-com thrown together by would-be auteurs operating under the conceit that being intentionally stupid qualifies as parody. Great parody has always been more than just making fun of stuff. It also displays genuine affection for the genre, which Vampire Zombies…from Space! does, sometimes quite brilliantly.

The title is indeed accurate, with a basic story that features Dracula (Greg Closter), who hails from a planet of vampires, returning to Earth in 1957 to take over the small town of Marlow by turning everyone into a legion of undead. Of course, the plot is just a vessel for the film’s collection of oddball characters, some truly funny dialogue and, of course, plenty of gory ‘splatstick’ action.

But really, this is more of a clever homage to horror-sci-fi films of the 1950s than pure parody, especially regarding the overall aesthetic. It’s shot in black & white, with deliberately hokey special effects. Yet at the same time, these effects are extremely well done, as is the production design. If it weren’t for the pristine image quality (probably because it was shot digitally), this could pass for a relic from the decade when the story takes place.

"Come-oooon Yahtzee!"

Though teen couple Wayne and Mary emerge as the main protagonists, the movie is stolen by Andrew Bee as police chief Ed Clarke, who’s hilarious without ever looking like he’s trying to be. Elsewhere, Closter makes an amusing Dracula, and look quick for none other than Night of the Living Dead’s Judith O’Dea as a Vampira-like alien.

Unlike similar films that quickly run out of gas and wear out their welcome, the cast, dialogue and special effects keep this one fun throughout its running time. And once the invaders’ inevitable weakness is discovered, the climax is similar to that in Mars Attacks!, only funnier. Vampire Zombies…from Space! is an entertaining (and great looking) horror comedy that’s worth seeking out. Despite the limited budget, there’s a lot of creativity up there on the screen, as well as an obvious love for the old movies it pays homage to. I think Ed Wood would be proud.

EXTRA KIBBLES

AUDIO COMMENTARY

PROMOTIONAL CLIPS

DELETED SCENES

TRAILERS

FACKHAM HALL: British Buffoonery

FACKHAM HALL (Blu-ray)

2025 / 97 min

Decal Releasing

Review by Stinky the Destroyer😼

God knows such stuffy British dramas as Downton Abbey and Merchant-Ivory’s entire catalogue could use a good ribbing, which the director and team of writers (including comedian Jimmy Carr) attempt to do with Fackham Hall. 

By their very nature, parody films are a challenge to pull off successfully. For every stone cold classic like Airplane!, there are a slew of celluloid suppositories that operate on the conceit that simply shoving pop culture references and bodily functions down the viewer’s throat qualifies as satire. Speaking of the latter, are they still letting Friedberg & Seltzer make movies?

Fackham Hall lies somewhere in the middle. Though never quite as clever as Zucker, Abrahams & Zucker’s best films, it’s generally pretty funny, even though it sort of runs out of gas before the credits roll. While certainly unfolding like the period pieces it satirizes, the plot is perfunctory, a clothesline on which to hang a rapid-fire whirlwind of gags, both visual and dialogue-driven. 

The titular estate is home to the Davenports, an aristocratic family headed by their patriarch, Humphrey (Damian Lewis). With no surviving sons left (they all died in previous accidents), he arranges for daughter Poppy (Emma Laird) to marry her cousin, Archibald (Tom Felton), in order to keep the house in the family. But when she leaves Archibald at the alter, Humphrey and wife Prudence (Katherine Waterston) insist their other daughter, Rose (Thomasin McKenzie), marry him instead. However, she’s smitten with streetwise orphan pickpocket Eric (Ben Radcliffe), much to the consternation of everyone in the house (including the help).

Liberal amounts of AXE makes men irresistible.

But what am I saying? No one watching is really gonna care about the plot, even after Humphrey’s murdered and Eric’s the primary suspect. The movie’s so busy stampeding from one gag to the next that the story almost seems intrusive. Still, a lot of it works. While not above throwing in scatalogical humor and a ton of incest jokes, the dialogue is frequently funny, if not always particularly clever. Sometimes I laughed out loud, sometimes I chuckled, and occasionally, I checked to see how much more I had to sit through. But by and large, the movie’s batting average is pretty good.

Another reason Fackham Hall works as well as it does is the casting of actors not typically associated with comedy. Most look like they’d be right at home in a genuine British drama, and for the most part, everyone plays it straight. Even during the more slapsticky moments, there are no heavy-handed reminders that these characters are in on the joke.

Though probably not destined to be a comedy classic, Fackham Hall is mostly pretty amusing and one doesn’t necessarily need to be well versed in period dramas to enjoy it. It looks and sounds like one, but a good portion of the gags have little or nothing to do the genre it parodies. 

EXTRA KIBBLES

15 DELETED SCENES - Some are very funny, but you can see why most were cut.

THE NAKED GUN: Not Bad For a Sequel Nobody Asked For

THE NAKED GUN (Blu-ray)

2025 / 85 min

Paramount

Review by Mr. Bonnie, the Bulldozer😽

For a belated sequel that nobody was asking for, The Naked Gun ain’t bad at all.

The original Naked Gun, based on an even-funnier, short-lived TV series, Police Squad!, is an all-time classic that (along with Airplane!) firmly established Leslie Nielsen as the king of movie parodies. Along with rapid-fire dialogue & visual gags courtesy of the legendary ZAZ team, a big reason for its success was the casting of actors not typically associated with comedy, who played the material straight.

The idea of another film without the original cast and writers seems unthinkable, especially in an era when parody films are about as fresh as curdled milk. However, director Akiva Schaffer is no stranger to the genre, and while filling Nielsen’s shoes is arguably a fool’s errand, The Naked Gun similarly benefits from a cast mostly known for serious roles, starting at the top with Liam Neeson.

Neeson plays Frank Drebin Jr., the son of Nielsen’s character and also a member of LA’s Police Squad. Since even movies like this need a perfunctory plot, Drebin is investigating the death of software designer Simon Davenport. Initially deemed a suicide, Simon’s sister, Beth (Pamela Anderson), insists he was murdered. It turns out that Richard Cane (Danny Huston), the head of the tech company Simon worked for, has nefarious plans for the software.

A reminder to always use your turn signal.

But that’s neither here nor there. Like all the rest of the franchise (with plots we barely recall), the story is a clothesline on which to hang a plethora of gags, both visual and dialogue-driven. With perhaps a bigger emphasis on slapstick than previous films, not everything works, but a surprising amount of it does. For every joke that falls flat, a couple are genuinely funny, if not laugh-out-loud hilarious. Quite a bit of this is largely due to Neeson, whose performance never reeks of look-at-me-being-funny. 

Did the world need another Naked Gun movie? Of course not, but the fact that it’s actually pretty good is one of this year’s more pleasant surprises. While never getting the mileage from its gags that Nielsen and the ZAZ team did with the original, this one often captures the spirit of that film, at least enough to justify its existence. 

EXTRA KIBBLES

FEATURETTES - A Legacy of Laughter features interviews with the cast and crew; Son of a (Naked) Gun features actor Liam Neeson; The Funny Femme Fatale features actor Pamela Anderson; The Really Unusual Suspects features other members of the cast; Dropping the Balls focuses on the making of the finale.

OUTTAKES

DELETED/EXTENDED/ALTERNATE SCENES - There are a bunch of ‘em.

FAUX COMMERCIALS - Full versions of a couple of fake commercials that appear in the film.

SPINAL TAP II: THE END CONTINUES...But Not To 11

SPINAL TAP II: THE END CONTINUES (Blu-ray)

2025 / 84 min

Bleecker Street/Decal Releasing

Review by Stinky the Destroyer😺

To paraphrase…41 years and three albums later (since Smell the Glove), Spinal Tap is still going strong. And their film, This is Spinal Tap, has earned a distinguished place in movie history as one of the funniest satires. So when I heard that Rob Reiner, Harry Shearer, Michael McKean and Christopher Guest were releasing a new film called Spinal Tap II: The End Continues, needless to say I jumped at the chance to review the mockumentary - or, if you will - superfluous sequel, that you’re gonna read about here. But hey…enough of my yakkin’...

Obviously, a little more yakkin’...

A movie like Spinal Tap II: The End Continues doesn’t really need to exist. You can obviously say that about most sequels, of course, but the original 1984 film was so damn funny and satirically spot-on that it not-only became a cult classic, it practically invented the mockumentary. Since then, the infinitely quotable dialogue, scenes mocking rock tropes and even the band itself have wormed their way into our culture over the years. So to quote Nigel Tufnul, “Where do you go from there? Where?”

Well, The End Continues certainly doesn’t go to 11. How could it? Even if the rock music world the original film parodied still existed in any relevant way, there’s simply no stone left to unturn. In fact, large portions of this sequel end up revisiting the same legendary scenes and gags (drummers' untimely deaths, problems with the Stonehenge prop, etc). Secondary characters from the first film show up in where-are-they-now bits. Even most of Tap’s 'classic' songs are revisited. 

Where's Bruno Kirby when you need him?

Still, I can’t say I was disappointed, because let’s face it…David St. Hubbins (McKean), Nigel Tufnel (Guest) and Derek Smalls (Shearer) are still wonderfully endearing characters. And you know what? I was kinda curious about what they’d been up to during the 15 years since they last played together…even if it is made-up. The story also has Tap reuniting and preparing for one last concert. Along the way, there are conflicts (especially between David & Nigel), new drummer auditions and plenty of gratuitous cameos. It culminates with a show of Tap classics before an excited crowd (which goes spectacularly awry, of course). 

The film is seldom uproarious, nor does it really make much of an attempt at satire. But even though I didn’t laugh all that much, I found it consistently amusing. It’s great seeing these guys returning to their most famous roles, the only difference being the passage of time. In a way, watching this is like a visit from old friends who haven’t changed much. Nigel, David and Derek remain as blissfully clueless as ever.

Spinal Tap II: The End Continues plays more like a tribute album where its creators are ultimately paying homage to themselves. We get the impression they’re happy to get the band back together - even if the song remains the same - and their enthusiasm is kind of infectious. The movie never goes to 11, nor should anyone have expected it to, but there are plenty of real bands that have made worse attempts at a comeback than Spinal Tap.

WHEN WE WENT MAD!: Thanks For The Memories

WHEN WE WENT MAD! - THE UNAUTHORIZED STORY OF MAD MAGAZINE (Blu-ray)

2025 / 107 min

Gravitas Ventures

Available at www.MovieZyng.com

Review by Princess Pepper😸

I feel kinda sorry for kids these days. They missed-out on the thrill of playing with toys specifically designed to maim them, dropping the needle on that new Rush album just purchased with hard-earned lawn mowing money, and grabbing the latest issue of MAD magazine while grocery shopping with Mom.

Being of a certain age, I enjoyed all those things, and had the good fortune to discover MAD during its glory years.

For many of us coming-of-age during the mid-seventies, traditional comic books were kids’ stuff. As we hit our early teens, MAD became sort of a rite of passage into young adulthood. Just subversive enough that we sorta felt like we were getting away with something, the magazine was sometimes racy, threw in the occasional mild expletive and simply seemed more adult. MAD was a baby step into a more grown-up world, and our first introduction to the concept of satire.

As adolescents, we didn't always "get" some of the adult subject matter they poked fun at, but that was part of its appeal. MAD was a kids' magazine that never felt like a kids' magazine. As an avid monthly reader throughout my teens, I sometimes judged the worth of a film or TV show based on its treatment by “The Usual Gang of Idiots” at MAD.

But the magazine’s history extends far beyond my personal experience, which is affectionately chronicled in the documentary, When We Went Mad. Beginning with founder William F. Gaines reluctantly taking the reins at his estranged father’s struggling company, EC Publications, we see how MAD began life as a comic book in 1952 and eventually became EC’s lone surviving publication after switching to a magazine format (and therefore wasn’t required to adhere to new Comics Code regulations).

Did you bring enough gum for everybody?

MAD evolved from a fledgling comic to a wildly popular cultural barometer with a monthly circulation of over two million at the height of its popularity (the mid 1970s, when yours truly first became a fan). Though enthusiastically narrated by Patrick Warburton, the film wisely leaves a majority of the storytelling to most of the surviving editors, artists and writers who contributed to the magazine for years, included Mort Drucker, Sergio Aragones, Paul Coker, Angelo Torres, Jack Davis, Al Feldstein, and my personal favorite, Al Jaffee.

MAD’s eventual forays into games, television and movies are discussed, as is the origins of its iconic mascot, Alfred E. Newman (who’s been kicking around a lot longer than you think). And of course, the magazine’s slow decline in popularity (largely due to changing times) adds a somewhat bittersweet tone towards the end, but along the way, there are plenty of testimonials to its massive cultural and personal impact, offered by the likes of Quentin Tarantino, Gilbert Gottfried, Howie Mandel, Bryan Cranston and David Zucker (whose classic, Airplane!, was heavily inspired by MAD.

If you grew up on the magazine, When We Were Mad is a can’t-miss documentary. Fascinating, fun and even boasting a bit of the irreverence MAD was renowned for, the film works as both a cultural history lesson and endearing slice of nostalgia. And for those born too late for MAD to help shape your view of the world, here’s what you missed out on.