I sit in on the CFRA Ottawa morning show with host Bill Carroll to talk about the new movies coming to theatres including the animated anarchy of “Coyote VS Acme,” the dystopopian “The Dog Stars,” the fresh rom com “Finding Emily,” the silly smarts of “Idiots” and the supernatural slasher “Buddy.”
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
CAST: Cristin Milioti, Delaney Quinn, Patton Oswalt, Michael Shannon, Topher Grace, Keegan-Michael Key. Directed by Casper Kelly.
REVIEW: There’s no Tickle Trunk in “It’s Buddy,” the kid’s show within the movie. If there was, it would be used to store the bodies of Buddy’s victims.
A nightmarish version of “Barney & Friends” with a side of “Pee Wee’s Playhouse” thrown in for good measure, the show is a brightly colored kid’s show, hosted by a giant unicorn who should rightly be called Bloody instead of Buddy, where children are taught basic skills, manners and how to run for their lives.
This strange blast of 90s nostalgia begins with increasingly demented episodes of the TV show. The kids dance and sing simple songs—”I love Buddy yes I do, I’m so glad he loves me too.”—while Buddy (Keegan-Michael Key) becomes increasingly erratic when one youngster (Tory Jacqui Malone) refuses to play along.
Soon, the kid disappears and an argument with the show’s nurse turns violent.
“Everything’s fine,” says Strappy, the chipper backpack (Patton Oswalt), “look at how tightly he’s hugging her neck!” The remaining children flee, disappearing into the make-believe world of Diamond City with Buddy in pursuit. “I hate Buddy yes I do, I hate, I hate, I hate you,” they sing. “Stab your heart and kick your knee, Buddy you’re my enemy!”
Meanwhile, in present day, suburban mother Grace (Cristin Milioti) with the help of a parapsychologist is sucked into the television and the deadly world of “It’s Buddy.”
Definitely not kid friendly, “Buddy” is a tribute to an unlikely combo of 90s kids shows and the era’s slasher movies. The mix and match is a one joke premise, but it’s a pretty good joke that sustains the film’s brisk ninety-minute running time.
From the songs like, “You Gotta Be Scared to be Brave,” which sound like echoes from an alternate “Barney” universe, and Keegan-Michael Key’s twisted Pee Wee Herman vocal tribute (“Now it’s time for your hug,” he says before dispatching a victim.), to period perfect set design and Clint Howard’s nutty performance as a former kid show host, “Buddy” is a keenly observed, if somewhat absurd take on its inspirations.
“Buddy” is a cult movie in the making, a bizzarro blast of retro fun.
By Richard Crouse Metro – Canada
When we think of elves at this time of year visions of Santa’s helpers fill our heads.
The cute, industrious and diminutive creatures from the North Pole can be seen everywhere in December in Christmas TV specials, greeting cards and movies like Arthur Christmas and Santa Claus: The Movie.
One of the most famous movie elves is Buddy, played by Will Ferrell in the neo-classic Elf.
“You’re not an elf,” says Leon the Snowman. “You’re six-foot-three and had a beard since you were fifteen.”
So technically he’s not really an elf, just a human raised by elves but he has more Christmas spirit than Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donder and Blitzen put together.
This weekend, just weeks before December 25, Buddy is joined on the big screen by a very different kind of elf.
“She’s slightly reckless and totally ruthless and doesn’t hesitate to kill.” That’s how Evangeline Lilly describes the 600-year-old “she-elf” Tauriel from this weekend’s The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.
The bow-and-arrow wielding character is new to the J.R.R. Tolkien movie franchise, created by director Peter Jackson and his co-writers Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens.
“She’s our redhead,” says Boyens. “We created her for that reason. To bring that energy into the film, that feminine energy. We believe it’s completely within the spirit of Tolkien.”
Buddy and Tauriel are just two of the many kinds of movie elves.
Elves, or (Gelfling as they’re called in the flick), are the main focus of the Jim Henson film The Dark Crystal.
Dobby the House Elf was voted the No. 1 favourite magical creature in the Harry Potter series by NextMovie.com and Thor: The Dark World featured Dark Elves, an ancient race of dangerous beings whose spaceships are powered by black holes.
The cheeseball b-movie Elves features the tagline, “They’re Not Working for Santa Anymore.” Well, if not Santa, then who? Nazis, that’s who.
Finally Tom Cruise consorted with an elf named Honeythorn Gump in Legend, the Ridley Scott film The New York Times called “a slap-dash amalgam of Old Testament, King Arthur, The Lord of the Rings and any number of comic books.”
Swiss actor David Bennett played the feisty elfin sidekick who not only is the protector of the world’s last two unicorns but, along with elves Screwball, Brown Tom and Oona, helps Cruise’s character save the world from the nasty Lord of Darkness (Tim Curry).
