High Plains Drifter The

High Plains Drifter

The animation is deliberately crude, like elements cut out of construction paper. Characters consist of simple arrangements of basic geometrical shapes in bright colors. The effect is of sophisticated kids slamming stuff around on the project table in first grade. The story: A new R-rated movie has come to town, starring the Canadian cutups Terrence and Phillip. Its titled Asses of Fire. Thats the mildest vulgarism in the movie. The South Park kids, who bribe a homeless man to be their adult guardian, attend the movie, drink in its nonstop, wall-to-wall profanity, and startle their class at school with streams of four-letter words. One of their moms, deeply offended, forms Mothers Against Canada. The neighbor to the north is blamed for all of societys ills, Terrence and Phillip are condemned to death, and in retaliation, the Canadian Air Force bombs the Baldwin brothers Hollywood home. War is declared, leading to scenes your eyes will register but your mind will not believe, such as a USO show involving Winona Ryder doing unspeakable things with Ping-Pong balls. The other plot strand begins after little Kenny is killed. Little Kenny is killed in every episode of the TV series, always with the line, Oh, my God! Theyve killed Kenny! He goes to hell and finds that Hussein, recently deceased, is having an affair with Satan. Hussein wants sex, Satan wants a meaningful relationship, and they inspire a book titled Saddam Is From Mars, Satan Is From Venus. Key plot point: The deaths of Terrence and Phillip would be the seventh sign of the Apocalypse, triggering Armageddon. Its up to the South Park kids to save the world. All of this unfolds against an unending stream of satirical abuse, ethnic stereotyping, sexual vulgarity and pointed political commentary that alternates common sense with the truly and hurtfully offensive. I laughed, as I have reported. Sometimes the laughter was liberating, as good laughter can be, and sometimes it was simply disbelieving: How could they get away with this? This is a season when the movies are hurtling themselves over the precipice of good taste. Every week brings its new surprises. I watch as Austin Powers drinks coffee that contains excrement, and two weeks later I go to American Pie and watch a character drink beer that contains the most famous bodily fluid from Theres Something About Mary. In Big Daddy, I see an adult instruct a 5-year-old on how to trip Roller-bladers and urinate in public. Now this-a cartoon, but it goes far beyond anything in any of those live-action movies. All it lacks is a point to its message. What is it saying? That movies have gone too far, or that protests against movies have gone too far? It is a sign of our times that I cannot tell. Perhaps its simply anarchistic, and feels that if it throws enough shocking material at the wall, some of it will stick. A lot of the movie offended me. Some of it amazed me. It is too long and runs out of steam, but it serves as a signpost for our troubled times. Just for the information it contains about the way we live now, thoughtful and concerned people should see it. After all, everyone else will. copyright, Get updates from posted directly to your News Feed. Sounds like the sort of anthemic sometimes even alternative sounding pop/rock characterized by U2, Coldplay, MercyMe, and The Afters, though as demos, a little more stripped and rougher sounding than usual for Downhere. At a glance because these uncut demos arent always fully developed and polished, is mostly geared at fans, though the smart lyricism and artful music still place it at a different level than typical Christian pop/rock. While some artists write only enough new music to fill one album at a time, others are prolific enough to record several, ultimately having to choose among the best of the batch. This raises an interesting dilemma for those that dont make the final cut. Should the leftovers be thrown out because theyre old and rotten? Can they keep fresh for the next big meal? Or can they be warmed over for something less formal? Not everyone could get away with an album like Thunder After Lightning mdash;Uncut Demos, but proves one of those bands where even the leftovers are worthwhile at least to fans. Available through the online as well as individual song downloads through iTunes and these unreleased demos from the sessions are not of the same quality as a final polished album, but most arent half-finished or under-baked either. Theyre fully formed songs that simply didnt make the cut, save for three early versions of Wide-Eyed songs at the end. Interesting how the lesser production values give Downhere a little bit of an indie-alternative edge, as with rocker Im All About You and the dark, almost psychedelic acoustic pop of Find Me. Marc Martel offers a lot of wild and ambitious vocalizing, some of it intriguing, but often over the top mdash;especially the bombastic Queen-like opening of Close to Midnight! A couple tracks dont work Dont Be So, Sing This Song, but the majority of them have impressively artful melodies with heady lyricism thats still approachable and inspiring, particularly meditations on the nature of faith Not About Wings, reconciliation Thunder After Lightning, and sorrow bringing us closer to the Lord The Invitation. It feels like a lost/underground Downhere release, demonstrating again how this band excels at openly exploring matters of faith with creativity, intelligence, and fresh faith-based lyricism. Some of these songs would undoubtedly work well on the bands next album.