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BillyDSquires
Reviews
Napoleon Dynamite (2004)
"Flippin' Sweet, ya retard! Jeez! Idiots!" Most Excellent & Funny!
I first heard about this movie that it was "funny, but dumb." So, I'm prepared for something along the lines of Joe Dirt, Dumb & Dumber or Good Burger (all of which I found too dumb to watch all the way through) - that's what I'm prepared for.
But, with the opening five minutes, I'm laughing at the whole thing - Napoleon as a character, his mannerisms, facial expressions, his clothing, his interactions with the other kids - all of it. The whole room of us was laughing like we were high (but we weren't) and pausing and replaying bits of it.
Each character is well developed, with his/her own mannerisms, background and drives. Also, the musical score was just as off the wall as the characters and the movie. This movie is a seamless garment. One thing that made it funny was the intentionality behind having not one swear word in the whole movie, substituting euphemisms like flippin', dang, gosh. jeez, etc. Really was very different from even family TV - and this added to the humor.
I ended up buying my own DVD of it to watch during some of these boring Wyoming nights when I need a laugh and everyone within driving distance is a flippin' retard. Worth watching also with the Director's comments. Sweet.
Marjoe (1972)
Great movie for people in Pentecostal/Charismatic Ministry
I don't think the average non church goer would even "get" this movie in its deepest sense. But, it should be required viewing for every Pentecostal/Charismatic leader. Why? Because Marjoe is warmer, more people oriented, a better communicator and radiates sincerity more than most of the top names in evangelism today. If you could take clips of his preaching and put them along side of any of the top televangelists today, and ask which is real and which is fake, Marjoe would come off as the real one every time! He is more giving, more compassionate and more warm than any of the top ones of today. He also has more integrity than most: He states in the film that he had better go one way or another, because he can't live two lives - he either needs to get in all the way and become "real" or go into acting, because he'd been acting all his life.
Nowadays, various leaders have no problem living adulterous or drunken lifestyles. They want to do what they want and still be in ministry. Hats off to Marjoe for having higher levels of integrity than that. He'd be welcome at our house anytime! Note to Pentecostal/Charismatic leadership: Watch this movie, and ask yourself if you'd have him at your church, based on his performances in church... you'd have him and you'd have him back. He's that good!