After having watched and loved bother series of Karl Pilkington’s An Idiot Abroad, I went off in search of more material featuring Karl. I stumbled upon this show on HBO in a hotel room one night, and I had to check out the rest of it. Watching the progress of Karl from his pre-Idiot days to his post was quite the experience. He’ll always be a bit of a buffoon, but he’s a lovable guy with his own ideas. Leave it to Gervais and Merchant to make him look like one of the biggest raving lunatics on the face of the planet.
So there’s a basic progress to this show. Stephen Merchant, Ricky Gervais, and Karl Pilkington all sit around a table,
His head is rather round…
having “pointless conversations” about whatever seems to come to mind. The filtered through hours of audio and found these sections to be the best. This was thus turned into an animated series, after having been the world’s most downloaded podcast. I’d call that a pretty damn successful feat.
Wassup?
The first series was rather good, seeing Karl as this idiotic manc (I don’t know exactly what that means…) trying to get his ideas across to Stephen and Ricky. Through the use of literal cartoons, Karl’s ravings are turned into stylized representations with the voices supplied by the three of them. Most of the time Karl is interrupted by the other two for being just too stupid, but when Stephen lets Karl roll with an idea, you have animated magic. I can’t even handle it sometimes.
There’s Monkey News (always supplied with a jingle from Ricky), Karl’s Diary (the written down ravings of a lunatic), and a bunch of other topics that take us throughout the mind of Karl and just what Merchant and Gervais think of him. Gervais considers Karl to be his gift (or curse, either way…) to the
Animated comedic timing. Gotta appreciate that.
world and just what a twat he is. His words, not mine.
I think it is only after An Idiot Abroad that Karl actually came into himself. You can tell that he has more of an opinion and more to say more often in the third series. You feel bad for him (if you have any background on him) but you wonder why there is someone in the world that is as boring as Karl. It really is unbelievable. This show proves it, and it’s just great to listen and laugh to. (Nice to look at sometimes as well.)
Every episode ends with Ricky and the last laugh.
So, if you have the opportunity to catch this show (HBO, HBO Go, etc.) then you should. If not, catch clips of it on Youtube for a true taste of the idiocy. Karl Pilkington will truly make you think in a whole different way. I guarantee it. He’s not far off from having actual revelations and epiphanies, but he damn well says what he wants to say. He is a man of the people. And I still wanna meet him. 8.2 out of 10.
1 Comment | tags: actual revelations and epiphanies, An Idiot Abroad, animated magic, Animated Series, basic structure, boring Karl, buffoon, bunch of topics, came into himself, clips on Youtube, curse, gift, HBO Go, HBO series, his words, hours of audio, idiotic manc, jingle, Karl Pilkington, Karl's Diary, literal cartoons, lovable guy, man of the people, Monkey News, more opinionated, pointless conversations, raving lunatic, Ricky Gervais, says what he means, Stephen Merchant, stylized representations, sympathy, taste of idiocy, The Ricky Gervais Show, twat, voices, world's most downloaded podcast | posted in Anime/ T.V.
I love this movie poster.
The second I saw that this film came on Netflix, I pooped my pants, very similar to what Baby Bink would’ve done (although they’re 18 now…) . This movie made me laugh so hard when I was younger and I really found it to be an endearing movie for children of all ages. Heck, I’m 21 now and I enjoyed it just as much as when I was 8. The Worton twins are adorable and have great movie presence for how young they are. It may have taken a lot of shots to get those adorable faces to do what they wanted, but they got the right shots. My childhood was not soon forgotten when I watched this movie again. I remembered every part.
Baby’s Day Out is the story of a baby in a suburb of Chicago. With his well-to-do family always wanting their child to be the center of attention, Laraine (Lara Flynn Boyle) and Bennington (Matthew Glave) want Bink’s picture in the newspaper. (They use such pretentious names to show that all they care about is high class image and money.) Three no-good lousy crooks find the photography company and take their place, posing as professionals. Their names? Joe Matengna, Joe Pantoliano, and Brian Haley. If only they could’ve gotten a third Joe/Italian gangster to fill out the trio…
The dastardly trio.
Baby Bink is kidnapped and the crooks demand a ransom. With the FBI on the job (such a high class mission right?), it’s only a matter of time before Baby Bink is found. But Baby Bink doesn’t need their help. He has the power of comedic timing and slapstick comedy and wit on his side. And this is the exact point where a lot of critics were lost on finding this film redeemable. It is cheesy, but at least they got a good cast to fill out the humor. Look, this is Joe Pantoliano, before Joe Pantoliano was Cypher from The Matrix. Yes, he did good work before, and after, but that was when Pantoliano came into my awareness.
Look at this cute baby. Staring death in the face.
And I have no problem with the cheesiness of this film. It can be cheddar for all I care, this movie appeals to the child’s audience and the child in all of us. And my inner child tells me I loved slapstick back in the day. This movie delivers it well, just like Home Alone. And apparently this did well in the box office… And in Southeast Asia… Weird.
So bring in the wonderful elements of great Italian actors, slapstick, and a cute baby, and this movie is gold. It is so endearing and the music sweeps you away into the children’s book that Bink is reliving. That’s what I liked about it, that element of magical whimsy. The magical sense of adventure that lies in the bottoms of all of our hearts is reinvigorated by a baby crawling around Chicago. Who knew?
This gets a bit ridonkulously funny.
And there are so many great scenes! The apartment rooftop scene screams of parkour gone wrong. (Just watched District 13: Ultimatum. Can’t get Parkour out of my head.) Matengna delivers his big boss with a boo-boo lines so well and, surprisingly, Pantoliano is a great buffoon. I love that he’s bald in this like he always is, it gives a great slapstick element to the trio. My favorite scene in the Primate house is wonderful and gets me every time. Not to mention the fire crotch scene (you’ll get what I mean when you watch this too and relive your childhood). With all things good and cute in this movie, who wouldn’t want to watch this for the coo’s and awwwww’s, mixed with a laugh in there for all ages? It’s a wonderfully nostalgic experience. A well worth it 8.6 out of 10 (by my childhood grading scale).
Look at this cute face. Check it.
2 Comments | tags: adorable, apartment rooftop, awwwww's, Baby Bink, Baby's Day Out, bald, Bennington, big boss, box office, Brian Haley, buffoon, center of attention, cheesy, Chicago, child audience, child in all of us, childhood, childhood grading scale, children's book, comedic timing, coo's, critics, cute baby, Cypher, District 13: Ultimatum, endearing movie, FBI, fire crotch, for children, golden movie, good cast, great comedic scenes, great movie presence, high class, Home Alone, Italian actors, Italian gangsters, Joe Matengna, Joe Pantoliano, kidnapping, Lara Flynn Boyle, Laraine, laugh so hard, magical whimsy, Matthew Glave, Netflix, no good lousy crooks, nostalgic, parkour, pooped my pants, pretentious family, Primate house, ransom, sense of adventure, slapstick, slapstick comedy, Southeast Asia, story of a baby, The Matrix, third Joe, trio, wit, wonderful elements, Worton twins | posted in Movies
After having watched and loved bother series of Karl Pilkington’s An Idiot Abroad, I went off in search of more material featuring Karl. I stumbled upon this show on HBO in a hotel room one night, and I had to check out the rest of it. Watching the progress of Karl from his pre-Idiot days to his post was quite the experience. He’ll always be a bit of a buffoon, but he’s a lovable guy with his own ideas. Leave it to Gervais and Merchant to make him look like one of the biggest raving lunatics on the face of the planet.
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