papacheesy Reviews

Tokyo Breakfast (2001)

Brilliant!

[9/10 · 15 May 2006]

It's easy for some to call Tokyo Breakfast racist and sophomoric due to the content of what it's parodying. In reality, though, this short film is a completely brilliant and well-executed multi-level satire of:

1- America's emulation of black culture. 2- Japan's blind emulation of American culture. 3- America's stereotyped perception of Asian people.

The execution is nothing short of genius. It's just a shame that most people don't get it. They choose to lump Tokyo Breakfast in with the very dime-a-dozen comedies that it is parodying. That's a mistake.

Watch this short film if you can find it. And just try to remember to think of it as a social critique before you go off, get offended, and start typing out your disgust in the form of an IMDb review. The pair that wrote and directed this thing aren't high school idiots. They've worked with the Onion. They know comedy/satire and they know what they're doing. So let's just trust them, OK?

The New Tom Green Show (2003)

I like it

[29 July 2003]

Why hasn't anyone commented on the New Tom Green Show yet? OK, then I will comment on it. I like the New Tom Green Show. It is a funny show with Tom being himself rather than always yelling and making noises. And Glenn is a Hollywood Humplik.

18 Weapons of Kung Fu (1977)

The greatest American romance movie of our generation

[10/10 · 24 August 2002]

There is a very old saying which goes something like: "Dont judge a book by it's cover." I suppose we could say, in the case of 18 Weapons, "Dont judge a movie by it's title."

Despite being titled 18 Weapons of Kung Fu, there is very little weaponry shown. which is pure GENIUS if you ask me. I mean, look at the movie 12 Monkeys. No surprise about the number of monkeys contained. But 18 Weapons goes and steers into the other direction, not into the realm of campy fighting movies, but into art. Thats what it is. Pure art.

And while some men may prefer to watch pornography with "American" girls, I get off on 18 Weapons, and that Asian chick with the armpit hair. I forget her name, but thats not important right now. What is important is the message. Those who complain about the choppy editing aren't understanding the SYMBOLIC meaning of 18 Weapons, which is that no good comes from fighting....Also not to socialize with women you meet while bathing in the river.

I'm done. THE END.

Ghostwriter (1992–1995)

One of the most important shows of our time

[24 July 2002]

Hey, remember GhostWriter, that show with the little thumb print thing that floated around and solved mysteries with these five or six "hip" kids back in the early nineties (you can tell that the kids are "hip" because they wore their neon orange hats to one side and listened to non-threatening rap music)? Yeah, umm...you remember that?

So anyway, that show was awesome. They'd be all "oh no, some kids joined a "gang" and are participating in the use of NARCOTICS like MARIJUANA!!" and then the thumb print would spell out something like "Only you can prevent forest fires" or whatever the hell it was that he spelled. What was that thing's purpose anyway? "He can't see, and he can't talk, but he can read anything" was the description. Aside from the fact that it doesn't make sense if he can't see but can read, I have the ability to do all three... and so did all of the other kids for that matter (except for Hector, who was a dumbass. We'll get to that later). So what makes GhostWriter such a great partner? Hey, now that I think about it, the show wasn't awesome at all. It was terrible.

But what I must commend the show for would be the opening theme music, where they also established the plot. They would have like a line of poorly-edited "made to sound like a record is being scratched", then a line of talking. I liked that part.

"Guh-guh-guh-guh...GhostWriter! w-w-w-w-woooooord"

"He's this thumb print smudge that we couldn't get off the film, so we made it into a character"

"w-w-w-wooord...."

Yeah, and remember Grandma Jenkins, Jamal's grandmother? Man, she always knew what to say! ...And wait a minute, that's the same woman that claims to be NFL superstar Donovan McNabb's "mother" in those chunky soup ads! You know, where he's doing a commercial and she barges in and feeds him and the director gets p***ed and then she sprays him with the shaving cream? Yeah, that's her! What a scam.

So anyway, I remember how Grandma Jenkins was always helping them solve mysteries and stuff by bringing Jamal some Chunky Soup at the most inappropriate times,and he'd be all "moooom!" (even though she was his grandma, go figure.) and she'd be like "Chunky souuuuuup!" and the director goes "momma, you can fill him up right after I film him up right!" and then she assaults him with the shaving cream. Hilarious! And then she'd be the principal of that school with those kids on that awful TV show. (no, not GhostWriter, ja ja ja...). I can't remember the name now. it's on NBC if you wake up early on Saturday. Eh, screw it.

Where was I? Oh yeah, I liked GhostWriter as a kid, because the kids were so real. So down-to-earth. You know how they say Sex & The City is how women really talk? Well it's the same thing with GhostWriter: That's how women really talk...or something. They'd be all "Reading is fun! I always carry my library card" and I'd be all "oh man, it's like they're projecting my life onto the TV screen!" Amazing, really.

Oh oh, remember the character of Gaby? She was this Hispanic girl for a while, and then she suddenly turned fat and not Hispanic, but the rest of her family stayed the same ethnicity. That was weird. Just one day, she's there and they're all "Buenos dias, Gaby" and she's all "hi" (because you know that she can't speak Spanish) and then she made her way over to the food.

And what about Hector? Can't forget about him. I remember this one part of dialogue from the show where Hector got a letter and (this part of my essay I am actually not making up) it went like this:

LETTER: (written on paper) "you cannot see me with your eyes, but can you find out my disguise?"

HECTOR: (trying to sound out 'disguise') "Dis-Kweez? Man, this guy writes some weird letters"

JAMAL: "Hahah. What a dumb f***!" ...And then GhostWriter wrote something or solved a mystery.

(note- I'm sorry. I forgot how the rest of that dialogue went, so I started making things up, thereby breaking my promise, not that you care.)

Oh, and remember how they would always try to incorporate Lenni singing in all the episodes, but she sucked? Why did they keep doing it? I could see the producers the first couple of times like "She sucks" "...yup." but after a while they should have told her stupid parents to stop hanging around the set and forcing her to sing & tap dance all the time. Honestly.

So, in conclusion, this didn't have a point. So there is no conclusion.