Weird Al Yankovic | Through the Shattered Lens

I was going to try to get clever with Yankovic’s lyrics when it came to my own personal experience watching The Phantom Menace (1999) in theaters to start off this post. However, the best I could think of was that they might as well have locked the doors because the film was certainly trying to kill us. All these years later, the best thing about the prequels is still this song.

I haven’t seen The Force Awakens yet. It is currently at 187 in my Netflix queue. I’m not that excited. Mission: Impossible III (2006) was pretty bad. Star Trek (2009) was good, but I have no desire to see it again. Super 8 (2011) was fun in theaters, and when The Force Awakens (2015) came out, I had to look up the name because it was that forgettable. Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) was certainly a movie. I can’t say anything about it because it went in one ear and out the other too. Still, just like the other two prequels, I will see it and the other ones that Disney is going to make because…well…nostalgia and all. They can’t possibly have an actor in them that gives Alan Bagh a run for his money in the wooden acting department like the second and third prequels did. I am expecting it to be a Marvel movie, just like the live-action remakes of their old animated IP.

As for the music video and song, I don’t need to add anything. If you haven’t seen The Phantom Menace, then just listen to this song. It sums it up nicely in about five-and-a-half minutes while also being a fun parody of American Pie by Don McLean.

If it is still up, I have included some concert footage of Al from last year for The Force Awakens that includes this song and the one specifically about Yoda.

Beth LaMure and Craig Armstrong were producers on the music video. I can only find a few credits for LaMure, but her IMDb page tells me she worked for many more artists. Armstrong has gone on to do TV Series producing such as on Supernanny and Extereme Makeover: Home Edition.

Clyde Smith is credited for photography. He has worked as a cinematographer on many music related specials.

Dan Butts was the art director. He has worked as a production designer on TV stuff. He has also been the art director on a bunch of Playboy movies. No, that doesn’t include the one directed by Michael Bay.

Matthew Mungle did make-up. He seems to have been the most successful one and has been working in movies since the early 80s. We aren’t talking small movies here either. The list of his some 230+ credits go on and on. He won an oscar for Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992). He even worked on Monster High (1989), which I reviewed for October 2015. I only bring it up because it has a scene that parodies the Emperor lightning hands scene from Return Of The Jedi (1983).

Enjoy both the music video, and the new Star Wars movie.

The thing about praising Rob Zombie’s Halloween is that you’re then contractually obligated to talk about the 2009 sequel, Halloween II. While I certainly don’t have any trouble defending the first film, Halloween II is about as big a mess as I’ve ever seen.

Much like the sequel to the original film, Halloween II opens with Laurie (Scout Taylor-Compton) being stalked in the hospital by her murderous older brother, Michael (Tyler Mane). And the hospital scenes are actually pretty good. Zombie makes good use of Nights in White Satin and the scenes of Michael chasing Laurie are genuinely suspenseful.

However, the film then jumps a year into the future and it’s all kind of annoying. Halloween II follows three separate storylines, all of which converge at the rushed conclusion.

My favorite storyline dealt with Dr. Loomis (again played by the brilliant Malcolm McDowell). Loomis has written a book about Michael and is now traveling the country, promoting himself as a true crime expert and dealing with people who think that he’s exploiting the whole tragedy for a quick buck. McDowell is perfect in these scenes, playing Dr. Loomis as a pompous man who secretly knows that he’s a fraud. “I was as much a victim as anyone,” he occasionally sputters. Perhaps the highlight of the film comes when he’s interviewed by a rather sarcastic Chris Hardwick and finds himself being ridiculed by Weird Al Yankovic (playing himself).

The second storyline features Annie (Danielle Harris) and Laurie struggling to get on with their lives. Laurie is now living with Annie and her father (Brad Dourif). As opposed to the virginal Laurie of the first Halloween, this Laurie is pissed off and out of control. On the one hand, I think Zombie deserves some credit for trying to deal with the PTSD that would obviously be the result of surviving being attacked by Michael Myers. On the other hand, to say that Laurie is never not pissed off would be an understatement. Scout Taylor-Compton does a good job playing her but, in Halloween II, a little Laurie Strode goes a long way. You can only watch someone rage at the world for so long before it starts to get boring.

And the third storyline, not surprisingly, is Michael still trying to track down and kill his sister. Michael continually sees visions of his dead mother (Sheri Moon Zombie), occasionally accompanied by a white horse, telling him, “It’s time.” (Eventually, Laurie starts to see the same thing.) Usually, if you come across someone online criticizing Halloween II, one of the first things that they’ll mention will be that white horse. To be honest, the white horse didn’t both me. I actually appreciated the surreal touch of Sheri Moon Zombie and a white horse appearing out of nowhere. But still, as opposed to first film, Michael is just boring in this film. The first film was memorable because it took the time to explore why Michael became who he became. In Halloween II, Michael’s just another killer in a mask. Leslie Vernon would have kicked his ass.

So, no, Halloween II does not really work. The story is too messy and, with the exception of Dr. Loomis, none of the characters are particularly interesting. I still stand by my claim that Rob Zombie is an underrated director but Halloween II is a definite misfire.