Movie Review: Mascots (Netflix, 2016)

Netflix has grabbed some big names since starting to produce their own movies and television shows. While series seems to be what most of us focus on, they've been quietly ramping up their movie production. Adam Sandler is a third of the way through his six movie deal, Ricky Gervais recently shared both a series and movie on the platform, documentaries are flowing like water, and now Christopher Guest has added a film to the service. His latest mockumentary focuses on a competition between the top twenty team mascots from around the world. It's basically Best in Show with a different setting, but it's still worth watching.

We start with Mike and Mindy Murray (Zach Woods and Sarah Baker) as a couple who performs as an octopus and turtle, respectively, for their local baseball team. The two are clearly in a difficult marriage, partly because of infidelity. Their on screen awkwardness is perfectly uncomfortable, because we've all known or been this couple. In contrast, we see a lovely English couple, the Gollys (pronounced Jolly). Owen Jr. is a third generation soccer mascot trying to prove himself to his father. Chris O'Down is an aggressive hockey mascot known as The Fist. He's a Scottish man living in Alberta because of a cult his parents started. We follow a few other interesting mascots including a worm, a plumber and an armadillo. They are all unique in strange ways.

Movie Review: Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead (Magnolia, 2015)

When you think about Harvard, you generally think of a high class Ivy League university. You expect doctors, lawyers and Wall Street businessmen to emerge after graduation. Hell, our president and first lady are graduates. That makes sense. What most people don't realize is that Harvard gave us a comedy institution, and while not all of it's members came from the famous college, The National Lampoon founders Henry Beard and Doug Kenney did.

I really didn't know much about the Lampoon as a magazine. For my generation, its legacy lies in movies such as Animal House, Vacation and even Van Wilder. Those of us that grew up in the eighties or nineties were more prone to reading Mad or occasionally Cracked. I don't even remember seeing The National Lampoon at newsstands. That could have something to do with the tits. There were so many tits. See, before the internet, we had to find pictures of naked people any way we could. That probably sounds odd to a generation that has seen nudity leave Playboy, but in those days, it was a legitimate selling point. Oh, and they had funny jokes and parodies to go with all of that.