This post was originally published in Watch The Skies fanzine – August 2020
Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts.
I will admit that hearing a statistics type description for this show might make it sound unappealing. It’s an animation with a Y-7 rating, meaning it’s generally aimed at an audience of ten year old kids. That does not tell the story at all.
Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts is a Dreamworks production that currently has two seasons on Netflix. It is the story of Kipo and her adventures in a post apocalyptic world. Humans do not dominate here as they did some two hundred years ago – they are now the bottom of the food chain and have moved into underground ‘burrows’ to survive. On the surface of the world mutations have created outlandishly over-sized plant life and many powerful ‘mute’ factions. If you want to survive in the world you’ve got to stay on your toes. You’ll need to deal with all manner of mutes roaming around and staking out territory. The world is a dangerous place for humans.
Kipo’s adventure begins when she finds herself suddenly outside of her burrow. She begins to wander the surface world and has to deal with a knowledge loving wolf pack, timber cats that love pancakes, giant two headed flamingos, mod frogs, scooter skunks, deathstalkers and of course a giant six armed monkey. That really just scratches the surface of the weird. Kipo is also musically inclined. There are a number of episodes that contain songs, musical inspirations for characters and (yes, sadly) even Karaoke. Eventually Kipo teams up with a number of other surface folks to help her along her journey as she attempts to find her way back home.
This show is light, fun and relentlessly positive. Each episode clocks in under a half an hour so it’s also a great show to squeeze in when you might not otherwise get to sit and watch something. It is genuinely the sort of show that feels like a perfect fit for the current times. Grab some popcorn and turn this show on when you want to smile!
This post was originally published in Watch The Skies fanzine – July 2020
Netflix has been dominating in the production and release of new works. It has recently released two comic adaptations, and I am going to recommend one of them. Warrior Nun was released at the beginning of July and it has committed the most egregious of transgressions. It just stops. You invest, you watch, you reach the 10th episode and it just stops. There is no ending and there is no part two. Netflix as a network churns shows at a massive rate and even reasonably successful shows never get more episodes made. I can’t in good conscience recommend Warrior Nun. Instead, I can and will say that you should invest two hours and watch the movie The Old Guard.
The movie tells part of the story of Andromache the Scythian (Andy), an immortal warrior and the other immortal warriors that make up her small team. These warriors join various battles across time working toward some unknown, unclear goal. They fight, sometimes they are killed and every time they survive to move on to another battle in another place at another time. There is no competition between them, there is a connection and a drive to find others. They may not understand the goal, but they do understand the battles. The film itself takes place in modern times. A new immortal warrior is found and the team sets out to fight a new, modern battle.
The movie is self contained. The story, the clips of history, character motivations and action all fit neatly into the allotted time. The acting, the action and the emotion is all extremely well done. The writer of the comic was also the writer that adapted the story for the screen. I believe that genuinely helped make this tight package successful. The actors were all fantastic. Fair warning for those that don’t like action / violence / fighting – there’s a lot of it in this movie. They are after all warriors. Fighting is what they do, and they are very good at it.
Another part of what makes this story work is that we buy in on what the characters are feeling. They are numb to the violence that surrounds them, but they’re all still searching. Living for hundreds and hundreds of years has not dulled the need for them to connect. They have each other, but connections to others slip away as people age and die while the warriors stay as they have always been. Pain and loss are constant companions. Searching for family and a place to fit with others gives this decidedly action flick enough depth to keep non-action fans on board.
The movie isn’t perfect, but it’s easily worth the time to watch it. Yes, there is a set up at the end for more but you can be satisfied with the ending as it stands. I hope the film is successful enough that they decide to produce more. I would love to see the old guard in action again. This is definitely a movie you should be watching.
The longer I go, the more I accept that I enjoy doing many things on my own. I am clearly headed directly to the land of curmudgeon ~ however there can be something said for a shared experience. Having the musical Hamilton released on a streaming service lately brought that into focus for me. During these trying days of “shelter in place” and “social distance” to avoid the plague those shared experiences can be difficult to find. To enable that, some people have turned to technology. What did we do for Hamilton? A Watch Party.
You can’t have your friends over to watch a movie any more. So? Jump on your streaming service of choice and have a watch party… except.
I like the concept of the watch party for certain circumstances. Those circumstances are remarkably similar to when I’d actually like to go and see a movie with somebody… that is to say not very often. A watch party exacerbates the one thing I really hate about watching a movie with others. You’re listening intently in the middle of a deep and moving scene and the person next you says, “Wait. I thought she didn’t like that guy…” or “I think I missed something. What’s he doing that for?”.
Rage.
Just watch the movie. Nobody knows because we haven’t seen it before. Shut up and pay attention. Stop distracting me from my experience. NO, I don’t want to chat about it now, I’ll wait until the end thank you.
Now – If I’ve seen the movie in question before and we’d like to all watch it together to talk about various parts of the film, that’s fine. If it’s a goofy comedy and you’re tipping a couple of adult beverages back on a Saturday night and you want to share that with some friends, excellent plan.
Technology then becomes the barrier.
Are you all on the same streaming service? Are you all in the same region? Yes – services like Netflix change what they have to offer by region. Are you in the same time zone? My daughter is communicating with some students in other countries and they’re off our time by 6 hours. When can we all actually do this? Schedules are still a real thing, even if you can’t go out to do certain activities anymore. Technology is the main barrier here. What platform will you use for watching? Are you all on Discord? Oh, wait, I thought we were doing this through the Chrome app… But what about Facebook? Wait – I run my streaming service through a Roku, how does that work? I don’t want to sit at my computer screen when I have a large TV in a room with a comfy recliner. There are lots of folks out there making this work, but it is very dependent on shared tech and preferred method of consuming media. I suspect this shared preference will not be something that happens to me much as we go forward.
I am not opposed to the concept of the watch party. I don’t suspect I’ll find myself participating in many. I like to view a film and talk about it later, perhaps watching it again for a more nuanced view. Enjoy the entertainment for what it is. Get drawn in by a good story. Go along for the ride… tweet about it when you’re done. Your phone won’t miss you and ‘yousuckland’… I mean twitter, will be there when you’ve got time.
In the end, you could also try reading a good book and joining a group to chat about that. Those don’t seem to have changed as much as the movie going society.
This post was originally published in Watch The Skies fanzine – June 2020
You Should Be Watching OR more precisely, you should watch again.
Netflix has recently made the Nickelodeon show Avatar – The Last Airbender available for viewing. Airbender is an animated series following the journey of Aang, the last of the air nomads as he travels a world where adepts have the ability to change the elements around them using a form of martial arts known as bending. Aang is the Avatar, a person who has the ability to blend all forms of bending (earth, water, air and fire) together. His quest? Save the world.
I originally watched the show with my daughter when it first aired back around 2008. As soon as the show became available we grabbed it up on DVD so we could revisit it when we wanted to. As happens with many discs, the show languished for us at the back of a dusty shelf. We did revisit an episode now and again, but less frequently than we might have. Since the show has popped up on Netflix we sat down and re-watched the entire series in order. It might be more than a decade old, but the show holds up.
This show is one of those rare animated series that combines so many parts that anyone in the family can enjoy it. The world building shows a fantasy world with a number of cultures. There are matters of daily life, holidays, politics and any other sort of thing you’d expect in a world. It’s a place that feels lived in. The characters are as varied as the cultures they visit. Diversity is on display without making a big deal about said diversity. Characters with physical differences and abilities were not treated as if they were somehow lacking, it was the spirit that mattered. As the heroes journeyed through three seasons of shows they dealt with corruption of those in power, sexism, love, loss vulnerability and the use of true power. Heroes can make mistakes. Villains can redeem themselves. Mistakes can be forgiven. I will even say that the ending was one of the most satisfying I’ve watched for any series.
If you’ve seen Avatar, it’s worth a re-watch. If you haven’t seen it you should seek it out.
“I’m not looking for anyone’s approval, I know who I am…” Toph Bei Fong (aka The Blind Bandit)
Like so many people I’ve spent a lot of time with YouTube (and many over streaming services) lately. Along the way I bumped into a list video. These videos are not uncommon. Most of the time I can either enjoy or ignore them. One caught my attention – the top ten sword and sorcery movies list.
This particular list made it difficult to tell if they were in a particular order or not. I chose to believe they were in random, jumble order. If they weren’t, it only made the list more challenging for me. I could only agree with a handful of them. As I thought about it I tried to assemble my own list and realized I needed to narrow down what I meant by sword and sorcery and then what my own top ten would be.
Sword and sorcery is a sub-genre of general fantasy films. They are mythic adventures involving a great deal of action and supernatural or magical entities. They can (and often do) involve romance, but it is not always the case. The story could be a world saving adventure but doesn’t have to be. It can just as easily be a single hero’s journey to achieve some goal.
That definition puts epic scale fantasy in a different category. I love the Lord of the Rings series but I would call that epic fantasy rather than sword and sorcery. I think Narnia falls into the epic category as well, though that one is also clearly a portal fantasy. It also eliminates a really wonderful movie – The 13th Warrior (1999) from contention. While it has swords and action it is very short on sorcery. There is the barest hint of prophecy at one point, but it’s really just a great adventure movie set in the time of the Vikings.
In narrowing the field I found it made the choices here much more clear. My list starts at number 10 and works up to my favorite. It’s entirely possible that this list shifts over time. I haven’t seen a lot of great sword and sorcery coming out recently, but there’s always the chance that something new will jump in here too. The list:
#10 The Sword and the Sorcerer (1982) This is a pure nostalgia pick. The story of a mercenary with a triple bladed sword who is recruited to help stop a tyrant and his sorcerer, this was the very first R rated movie I ever went to the theater to see. It’s a bit dark at times, a bit cringy at times, and I don’t think it holds up well, but it makes the list.
#9 Sword of the Valiant (1984) This movie does not get the credit it deserves. Sean Connery, John Rhys-Davies, Ronald Lacey and Peter Cushing are all in this movie. I’m genuinely shocked more people are not on board with it. The story is of Sir Gawain accepting the challenge of the the Green Knight and the journey he takes to meet that challenge. I am actually looking to pick this one up on DVD to add to the collection. It shocked me that I don’t already have it.
#8 The Beastmaster (1982) I went back and rewatched this one recently. The story of a warrior who could communicate with animals – an ability that those in power tried to eliminate from the world. He and his animal companions set out to track down his father’s killer and take revenge. There are a lot of parts that are very cringe worthy given today’s view of things. I still put this one in the top ten.
#7 Willow (1988) This movie is just a lot of fun. It is the heart of what I think a sword and sorcery film can be. A villager who would be a wizard sets off on a quest to return a lost child ends up protecting her from an evil queen. This wizrad is joined by the great warrior Mad Mardigan – a masterful swordsman with a delightful mercenary streak. I really enjoy this one.
#6 Excalibur (1981) A wonderful film version of the Arthurian legend. It’s soooo shiny! The sword work is all over the place and Merlin is just as nutty and dangerous as you would imagine. One of my favorite versions of this tale.
#5 Jason and the Argonauts (1963) My only real inclusion of the Greek mythos in this list. I clearly remember watching this one on Saturday afternoon television as a kid. The story telling is solid and the special effects are from the one and only Ray Harryhausen. Stop motion battles at an amazing level. Harpys, skeletons, a hydra… just fantastic stuff that is still watchable today.
#4 The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958) Everything I said for the previous entry applies here as well. The fantasy aspects combined with pirates racing to save a princess from a sorcerer who has holed up on an island filled with monsters. Just as with Jason – still totally watchable all these years later. Harryhausen’s stop motion is magic.
#3 Legend (1985) I love the visuals of this movie. I love the soundtrack(s) from this movie. I love the villain in this movie SO much. Legend is the story of a young man who must stop the Lord of Darkness from destroying the last unicorns and ending daylight forever. It is a legend.
#2 Ladyhawke (1985) Significantly more romance than most of my top picks, this is the story of a thief who is rescued by a warrior after escaping from a dungeon. The thief becomes involved with the warrior and his plan to destroy the bishop in the city the thief just escaped from. IF the bishop can not be faced, the warrior will lose his love forever. Some anachronistic parts, but still great sword and sorcery.
#1 Conan the Barbarian (1982) Conan must take the top spot here. The Arnold Schwarzenegger portrayal of Robert E. Howard’s iconic hero is hands down my favorite. It has everything. War, cultists, magic, partying, stealing and vengeance. It is violent and grim. It had one of the first villains that gave me something to measure other villains against. When James Earl Jones plays the cult leader Thulsa Doom and says, “now they will know why they fear the night…” it gives you shivers.
That’s the list. My top ten. Do you agree? Is the order all wrong? Are there any that are missing?
This article was previously published in Watch The Skies
There has been a lot of binge watching out there since folks have gone into isolation. The global pandemic has put a whole new focus on finding something to watch that doesn’t exacerbate the anxiety of the real world. A number of shows have leaped in popularity that might never have gotten the chance in the past simply for the lack of other entertainment. Many of those shows likely won’t last, but parts of them might endure. It’s difficult to predict. The same has always been the case with the big screen. Movies that “flop” in the theater become cult classics. Movies that people had modest hope for endure for generations. These movies can have an impact that lasts long after their run in the theater is done.
That lasting impact, in the form of physical objects, is the focus of the show Prop Culture now streaming on Disney+. The show hosted by Dan Lanigan digs into the physical props that remain from some Disney films that have had a significant impact on pop culture. The first season includes: Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, Mary Poppins, Tron, Nightmare Before Christmas, The Muppet Movie, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Chronicles of Narnia, and Honey, I Shrunk the Kids.
Dan digs in behind the scenes and hunts down various creators and actors to reconnect them with the objects that helped make these films great. Hats, swords, puppets, matte paintings and all manner of samples. Not all props are small either. Ten foot tall models, cars and tall ships are part of this as well. Seeing these real world things give both the creators and the viewer a very strong sense of nostalgia.
At a half hour in length these episodes are just the right length. They don’t drag and they don’t hold back for the sake of false anticipation. There are expected pieces along with little things that evoke strong emotions for all. Along with strong emotion there is a fun sense of humor. You get quotes like, “There’s a lot of bald yaks out there…” from a effects studio head. It hits all the right notes to help the viewer feel good after each episode.
If you have the opportunity and love to know more about the movies this show is definitely worth a look.
I don’t spend a lot of time watching shows or movies that are outside of my comfort zone. I think it’s worth noting that getting outside your own comfort zone is important, but it’s also work. I have declared before that I am a true child of media – the original MTV generation – but over all this time I have really moved away from so many forms of entertainment. I have narrowed my focus and made an effort to get away from the things I just don’t enjoy.
I was drawn to a particular publisher based on the description listed on their submission page:
If it’s a story about a 13 year old girl named Mary coping with the change to womanhood while poignantly reflecting the recent passing of her favorite aunt Gertrude, we DON’T want it! Now, if Mary is the 13 year old daughter of a vampire cowboy who stumbles upon a government conspiracy involving aliens & unicorns while investigating, hard-boiled style, the grizzly murder of her favorite aunt Gertrude, then we’ll take a look at it.
This seemed like a place where I would fit right in. I stick to what I like a lot of the time. It has taken a long while, but I have started to figure out what it is that I like. I can define it. I understand it. Yes, sometimes it’s quite predictable and I’m just fine with that.
So, when I was given a homework assignment for a class I am taking that amounted to reporting on the movie The Peanut Butter Falcon I was… less than enthusiastic. This movie had a lot going against it.
First and easiest, it was assigned homework. I could get past that ~ I am taking the class after all. I’m paying for it, I’m sure as hell going to do the homework.
It’s frequently described as “heartwarming”, “real” and “wholesome” along with a lot of other things that make this story about a man with Down syndrome who goes on a life altering adventure start to sound WAY too close to that description above. Definitely not something I’d consider go-to entertainment.
It also stars Shia LaBeouf. I have never met the man in person. I don’t know him and would genuinely reserve my personal opinions about a person… however he has managed to so thoroughly annoy me that I can’t stand watching him. It doesn’t matter the role, I only see his annoying face. I really can’t stand him. At all. He makes it easy to dislike all things Hollywood.
Normally that’s strike three, that movie would be out. Add to the case against with it’s hard to find. It’s not on any streaming service that I have. I have been told it’s on Hulu, but I wasn’t signing up for an additional service just to dig up this film. Thankfully my Luddite self is still part of the DVD program with Netflix. Yes, you digital natives, I get an actual physical disc in the mail when I request it so that I can play it in my local player. I do not depend on the whims of streaming services nor the speed of the internet when I really want to just sit and watch without interruption. So I added this movie to the que and waited for it to come in.
A couple of Saturdays ago I found myself in possession of said disc and happened to have a couple of hours to deal with it. I treated it like a chore. It was an unpleasant side effect of something I wanted to do, so I sucked it up, sat down and hit play.
I believe your expectations of a film factor heavily in how you feel about the film when you’re done. I had built this up to such a terrible thing in my mind that it would have had to be truly terrible to meet what it had become in my head. Tempered with that in mind, I will tell you that this is a genuinely good movie. It’s not just good, I’d recommend it.
No, I still can’t stand LeBeef. Yes, he was exactly what that part needed. Exactly. I will not hesitate to tell you that Zack Gottsagen’s character hooked me immediately. He’s hilarious and genuine and IS that part. Yes, it was written with him in mind, but I’ve seen films where the script is written with an actor in mind and they still suck. Definitely not the case here. The other characters were dead on. There was no smarmy pandering – Zack is an actor playing a role and he killed it. Yes, it was a little bit predictable, but that does not detract from the story at all. It was real.
Normally I’d write up a media post about “what to watch” for the fanzine, but I really don’t know if I can recommend watching Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045.
I am not an anime purist. I suspect most anime lovers would suggest that I’m barely a fan. Yes, I’ve been hanging around the fringes for a very long time (yes, I still call it Starblazers, thank you) but I’m not super invested. When GITS popped up on Netflix I didn’t rush to it. I was interested enough to start, and finish the series so far.
IF you’d like a review filled with fans and spoilers – head over to Gizmodo and check them out.
I’ll stay away from the spoilers (I think). I’m not sure if Patrick Huge is a spoiler or not… but it was a ridiculous character name in this show. I find little things like that distracting.
Anyway, the story itself is set in the future of the GITS characters, beyond a lot of the other material I’m familiar with. It presents some very interesting world building. There’s a lot of room for action and the creators do not shy away from that. There’s a lot of clunky action.
Why clunky? Because this is all done as 3D render, not traditional anime style. It’s downright distracting and tough to watch. It’s twitchy and looks cheap. I know it can’t be cheap, but I’ve been spoiled. IF you haven’t seen the animation from the Netflix series Love Death + Robots you should definitely go watch that. That stuff is amazing work. This variation of GITS was a struggle.
So, getting past the animation style itself – the story could have continued with the starting point, but then it felt like it changed half way through the episodes. We switched focus from this giant, world building economy based story to this other post human thing and it’s just messy. I’ll probably take a look at the next season to see if they tie all this stuff together, but I’m not in a rush.
IF you’re desperate for some new GITS then you can give these a look, otherwise I’d wait and see what so called season 2 will be… and hopefully we’ll avoid naked back flipping things…
I’m not good at it. Listening is not
easy. Genuinely hearing what other people are saying is active – a
verb. You are doing something, not just passively sitting and waiting
for your turn to speak. Most people don’t listen with the intent of
understanding, most people listen with the intent of responding.
I’m going to frame this conversation in
terms of entertainment, both written and other media, but it is
something that should be applied to any other communication.
The movies have always been for me. The
massive, record breaking, blockbuster films for the vast majority of
my life have been super white. The awards given out have been all
white. The works they were based on were overwhelmingly white. It’s
been a white, white, white world.
February is black history month. The Academy of Motion pictures is holding it’s annual awards this first weekend of February. Will diversity show up? I have my doubts. Check out this video to hear what prompted my thought process.
When the comic book adaptation film
Black Panther came out I was very excited to see another part
of the Marvel cinematic universe come to life on the screen. BP
crushed at the box office and had amazing staying power in the
theaters. It got extremely positive reviews. When I reviewed the
movie the take away for me was “this movie was not aimed at me”.
It was a black superhero telling a story that showed that white
wasn’t the only way. It was aimed at NOT white kids to say, “look,
this is for you too”. I thought that was one of the best parts of
the movie. I have no idea the “realness” of the backgrounds of
characters, the authenticity of the costume inspirations – non of
that is history I know. It was wonderful, but in the end it didn’t
have the same impact it would if I were part of a community that grew
up with, knew or understood those things. I appreciate what it is and
what it did, but it was not going to be inspirational to me or have
the kind of impact it will with people not from my background.
I attempted to explain what I meant to
another white person. This white person said something to the effect
of, “What? You don’t like it? How can you not like it? Look what
Marvel is doing! All those costumes and colors…”
This
person wasn’t listening. To them the film was just another part of a
bigger whole without the context of inclusion. To be fair – I don’t
know if it was a matter of accepting this diversity without question
or completely missing the point. The feeling I got during the
conversation was that they were completely missing the point. It’s
not easy to listen without putting forward your own view and making
things fit into the framework you’re comfortable with. Saying that it
wasn’t for me was not a condemnation of the film, it was an attempt
to understand that an expanded and multi-faceted creation had more to
offer than the same old reworked all white framework that I have
known my entire life.
Sometimes when listening becomes action
it means accepting a different role. Really listening means you’re
open to changing your views. Sometimes the different role is not the
“in charge” role. Not making decisions or leading. If you’ve
always been in the lead it is not easy to relinquish that to anybody
else, let alone someone that doesn’t mesh with the homogenized system
you’ve become comfortable with.
This is also not an easy conversation to have. Being the middle aged white guy makes putting forward any thoughts on diversity of any kind dangerous. It’s easy to go wrong due to lack of understanding and a lack of willingness to listen. There’s a quote I heard in the past about media that essentially said if you let somebody talk long enough you will be able to take six lines out of context and use that against them – even if that was never what they meant. Sometimes you don’t know or can’t know the right context for asking questions. It can be challenging to put forward that you don’t know something. It will make you vulnerable and people don’t generally like that. The landscape of social media makes it easy to hide behind anonymity and scream out about the faults of others. Nobody wants to be vulnerable. Vulnerability scares people.
I am trying to listen. I am hoping to be part of a meaningful change. It won’t be easy. It’s something I’m working on. I think I’m getting better, but that’s not really for me to judge. Diversity matters. It matters an awful lot more than we understand. Listen ~ and be part of the change.
Make no mistake, writing is work. I know there are people out there who throw down thousands upon thousands of words and they just seem to flow out of them, but even for those people this is work.
I’m beginning to get myself back to a creative place and be able to do this work more regularly. This is a boon for actually putting words up here. Sometimes there are extra words that don’t actually fit in the stories I’m working on and they slop over the side of the cup. On good days I can mop up those words and squeeze them out into something vaguely coherent here.
Sometimes those words just leave a ring shaped stain on my desk.
The most difficult times are when I really want to lay down a screed about something that has caught my attention in the news and I just don’t have the ability to get here and do it. It’s a spoon thing for folks that subscribe to that analogy. I just run out of spoons.
A good example of this is the latest Star Wars film. I went to see it on opening day. I was at the theater for the earliest show. I went early and had my favorite seat, right in the middle in the middle. Popcorn in hand I was on board to see more Star Wars!
I watched it. I was confused by so many parts of it. It was big, it was splashy and decidedly a “need to see it on the big screen” kind of film. That was the best thing I could say for it. There were a ton of clearly fan service moments in there. There were a ton of really questionable story telling choices. I would honestly need to see it again just to parse out all the weird combinations of stuff that either did or didn’t work. What I really needed to do at the time was jump on here and write all those things down while they were fresh in my mind…
And here I am a month later mentioning that I wanted to talk about it.
Would the words still be relevant? The moment is past. There are a half dozen other things that have come up and made waves since then. There are tons and tons of reviews in either direction (love it or hate it ~ take your pick) and my take would be a rehash of various parts of a lot of them. I didn’t get to the work in time.
That actually brings up another point. Work. I like putting my thoughts up here and having a place where I can land all this stuff that is my own. It’s my web site ~ I own it. I will put what I want up here, when I want to put it here and not worry if some massive company is going to accidentally “ban” me for a month or whatever. It’s my own and I will do as I please. It is my own, and this doesn’t pay. All these words are free and sometimes I need to focus on the words that pay. I will be the first to tell you that they don’t pay well, but they do pay (from time to time).
So I’m going to continue to work. If you’ve meandered with my train of thought all the way to the bottom of this ~ thank you. I appreciate that you’re reading. I’m off now to hammer out some more of those words that are supposed to pay.
If you’d like to see a really amusing take on all sorts of aspects of the most recent Star Wars film that didn’t really work head on over to YouTube and check out Pitch Meeting. I thought it was more than funny, it was pretty right on.