Hey, it's almost Christmas, as I am sure you have noticed. So in the spirit of Christmas I decided to sit back and watch an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000. This episode featured the 1959 Mexican film titled Santa Claus, which has been dubbed over for American audiences. Thank God they did, as this film deserves to be appreciated by all of Earth's children. It's just that good. Well, actually it's one of the strangest films I've ever had the pleasure of seeing. Santa Claus was adapted for American audiences by a man named K. Gordan Murray, who also was the narrator in this cinematic effort. In this film, Santa and his child helpers are not situated at the North Pole, but instead they have a compound somewhere out in space, with a powerful enough telescope to zoom in on any house on Earth. Also, Santa has a powerful enemy in Satan, who sends a demon named Pitch to earth to thwart Santa Claus's attempts at bringing joy to all the children around the world. A few more notes about this episode, and yes there are SPOILERS, so in case you want to watch the movie sometime then you may want to stop reading. Then again, I can't see why you would want to, so I encourage you to read on.
- At the beginning of the movie, Santa is sitting on a bench playing a giant organ as children from all around the world sing various songs from their region. The singing is terrible, most of the songs aren't even Christmas songs and the whole thing lasts about seven minutes and is accompanied by Santa playing and laughing like a maniac, which would become a common sight throughout the movie. To make matters worse, the stereotyping of the various kids is politically incorrect at best (especially Africa, and according to this movie, all American children are cowboys). Not only that, but these kids actually spend their days and nights slaving away for Santa's enterprise, taking the place of the elves that normally work for Santa. I guess Santa had his operations base moved into outer space because by golly, there are no child labor laws outside of the Earth's atmosphere.
- After the viewers are tortured with horrendous singing from all around the globe, we cut to Hades, where a few demons in tight red costumes perform a dance number for what I assume is Satan's enjoyment. After that gets completed, a demon named Pitch is selected to muddle up Santa's mission, and if he doesn't do it, Pitch will have to eat a lot of chocolate ice cream. Apparently Pitch is lactose intolerant. Pitch as a whole seems, well, a wee bit effeminate, to say the least, and his skin tight uniform does not do him, or us, any favors. Every time he gets on screen, Pitch is usually seen prancing around like a schoolgirl before doing whatever dastardly deed he's going to do. Although I will say that Pitch does stoop to some rather low tactics to get what he wants, he's mainly used as a source of slapstick comedy until the end, where he finally gets smart and does a couple of things right.
- The story also centers around a few kids from Mexico City. There's Billy, the rich kid who gets a whole lot of toys but only wants more attention from his parents, who instead decide to spend Christmas Eve night at a cocktail party. There's Lupita, a poor girl who only wants a doll for Christmas, yet has never gotten one even though she's been good over the years. Also, there are three young boys who are never named and may or may not be brothers, but they're angry at the world about something so they decide to lash out and eventually, with Pitch's assistance, come up with a plan to kidnap Santa and take all of his toys. Oh please, like they're the first kids to think up that scheme. As it turns out, the worldwide battle of good and evil between Santa and Pitch will be centralized around five children in Mexico. Well, that's nice to know.
- The Santa Claus in this movie is, how shall I put it, crazy as a loon. He is prone to fits of hysterical laughter, has a horde of children working for him, and most disturbing of all, Santa has the power to not only see children while they're sleeping, he can also see their dreams. There are two scenes involving Santa in this film that would freak me the freak out when I was a kid. The first one was when all the kids' letters to Santa came, and Santa, with the look of a Manson follower in his eyes, laughs hysterically while swimming in all of the letters for about a minute before getting to business and reading the letters. The second one is when Santa cranks up the toy reindeer, as in this version, Santa's reindeer are actually toys that need to be cranked in order to work. Anywho, Santa successfully cranks the reindeer, as their toy eyes and legs start to move, Santa starts the chuckle like a madman once again. But what makes it worse is that the toy reindeer join Santa in a laughing fit that makes it both look and sound like a demented creature from a horror film. Also, for some reason there's a pentagram on Santa's wall. Um, I don't think I want this Santa coming down my chimney.
- There are a couple of other eccentricities that I want to mention. One is that Santa has another assistant, and its none other than the wizard Merlin, who provides Santa with some sort of special powder that will put children to sleep, and a flower that allows Santa to disappear. Yes, Merlin the magical wizard works alongside Santa Claus. Why not just toss in Don Quixote while you're at it? The other involves Lupita's dad, who can't seem to find work. The reason behind this might be because he's looking for a job in the early morning hours on CHRISTMAS DAY, where nothing is sure to be open except for the odd bar of club and apparently the nightclub where Billy's parents decided to party at.
Overall, I can't believe this movie was made for kids. It's just way too weird and has a couple of scenes that may very well give me nightmares tonight. It is a rather hilarious episode, as this movie is just begging to be picked apart, and Mike and the Bots do not disappoint in riffing this movie. Overall, I'd give the movie a 0.59 out of 10, but I'd give the episode a 7.02 out of 10. Well, thanks for reading, and if you have any comments about this or previous posts, or ideas for future reviews or posts, than share them either by leaving a comment or by sending me an e-mail at KtheC2001@gmail.com.
Showing posts with label Mexican. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mexican. Show all posts
Friday, December 17, 2010
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Canon Restaurant Review: La Parrilla Mexican Restaurant (Flowery Branch, GA)
In any aspect of life, there are certain things that are so overhyped by people around you or on television or whatever that you think there is no way it could possibly be as good as they say it is. Sometimes, the hype is actually worth it, and other times you end up disappointed, like how many people were disappointed with Guns N' Roses' Chinese Democracy, or how I was disappointed by The Matrix Reloaded. Now, you're probably wondering why I am bringing all of this up during a restaurant review. Well, I have a very good reason, because everything I have heard about La Parrilla is that it is the best by golly Mexican restaurant in the stratosphere. A lot of that talk has come from my good friend and Canon Review reader Dickson S., who is quite fond of the place. But he doesn't seem to be the only one. Go ahead and Google La Parrilla, and you will see a lot more positive reviews than negative reviews. Anyway, today Dickson, my sister Maggie and myself made the trek to Flowery Branch and I finally got to experience the majestically of La Parrilla for myself. Will it live up to the hype, or will it make me feel as if I had once again seen that crappy Matrix film?
We get there, and the place is packed, so we have to wait a few minutes for a table. Although it's a bit annoying, it's also a very good sign because the place wouldn't be so crowded if the food was terrible. There was an open bench outside the restaurant, so I decided to sit my butt down. We waited for about a couple of minutes, not too long, and were seated at a booth not too far away from the bar. The place is decorated like, well, a typical Mexican Restaurant, I suppose. They had a couple of big-screen televisions on the wall, and I was fortunate to sit near one of those TVs, so that was nice. Of course, I couldn't hear anything because they didn't have the sound on, but whatever. There was also a mariachi band in the restaurant, and while it may had added some authenticity, there loud playing also annoyed the heck out of me. The band plays different standard songs and even played a couple of mariachi versions of popular mainstream songs, like "Margaritaville" and Guns N' Roses' "Sweet Child of Mine". I wanted to request a Nickelback song, but neither one of my dining companions liked that idea at all.
Like a lot of Mexican restaurant, La Parrilla provided a free bowl of tortilla chips and some salsa. The chips were good and fresh, and the salsa was decent, although I wouldn't have minded a bit more spice, to be honest. The menu at La Parrilla was at least 10 pages long, and there was quite a wide variety of Mexican flavored foods available. If one were so inclined, they could try the Mexican Cheeseburger or Mexican Chicken Sandwich, or they could order a steak or different seafood or chicken dishes. They also have a selection of vegetarian dishes as well. Well, since this was my first time here, I decided to order something simple, so I went with combination number 2: one taco, one enchilada, and one chalupa. Meanwhile, Dickson ordered his favorite dish, a Burrito a La Parrilla with steak, while Maggie opted for the Seafood Burrito.
To my surprise, the wait for our food wasn't too long at all, especially considering that the place was packed. Actually, the service was very good overall, although I have a feeling that our waiter may have been a bit flustered, as he forgot what drink I had ordered at first and later seemed to forget a refill of Maggie's drink. But he tried hard and was attentive, so overall I have no problem with the service. As for the food, I wasn't all that crazy about the taco, as it tasted no different than a taco you might get at Taco Bell or something. The chalupa was pretty decent, as the beans were good, but there wasn't a lot of cheese on it, which was disappointing. I will say that the enchilada was very good, and if I ever eat here again, I'll probably end up ordering one of their enchilada specials. That was by far the best part of my meal, as the sauce was just right and the meat was cooked very well. Plus, unlike the other two dishes, they loaded up the cheese on the enchilada. Of course, Dickson liked his dish a whole lot, and Maggie seemed to like hers as well, although I found it odd that her rice looked as if it were dumped out of a can and served on the plate. I can't attest to how it tasted, because I didn't have any and I never did ask Maggie how it tasted either, so chalk that up as a mistake on my part.
Even though I probably shouldn't have, I ended up ordering some dessert. I thought about ordering some churros, but instead I went with the fried ice cream dish, which was served with bits of granola and honey and came in a flour tortilla shell, and the whole thing was topped with whipped cream, chocolate sauce, and had a cherry on top. The dessert tasted very good, but it was quite rich and even though I ate it all, I kind of felt sick to my stomach for a few minutes after eating it. That's not the fault of La Parrilla, but still I feel as if you should know these things. It was quite a sizeable portion as well, so if you ever want to order a dessert from La Parrilla, make sure you are able to eat it first, or just do what I did and share it with someone (in this case Maggie).
Overall, did La Parrilla live up to the hype? Well, not really, but then again it was hyped so much that I was led to expect the greatest meal of all-time or something from there. La Parrilla was a very good Mexican restaurant, though, and I certainly wouldn't mind if I had to go there again. I'll probably order something different though. My final score for La Parrilla of Flowery Branch, GA is a 7.43 out of 10.
Well, thanks for reading, and if you have any ideas for future reviews, or thoughts about this and previous reviews, than feel free to leave a comment or send me an e-mail at KtheC2001@gmail.com. Now, for no good reason, here's a music video from Savage Garden:
We get there, and the place is packed, so we have to wait a few minutes for a table. Although it's a bit annoying, it's also a very good sign because the place wouldn't be so crowded if the food was terrible. There was an open bench outside the restaurant, so I decided to sit my butt down. We waited for about a couple of minutes, not too long, and were seated at a booth not too far away from the bar. The place is decorated like, well, a typical Mexican Restaurant, I suppose. They had a couple of big-screen televisions on the wall, and I was fortunate to sit near one of those TVs, so that was nice. Of course, I couldn't hear anything because they didn't have the sound on, but whatever. There was also a mariachi band in the restaurant, and while it may had added some authenticity, there loud playing also annoyed the heck out of me. The band plays different standard songs and even played a couple of mariachi versions of popular mainstream songs, like "Margaritaville" and Guns N' Roses' "Sweet Child of Mine". I wanted to request a Nickelback song, but neither one of my dining companions liked that idea at all.
Like a lot of Mexican restaurant, La Parrilla provided a free bowl of tortilla chips and some salsa. The chips were good and fresh, and the salsa was decent, although I wouldn't have minded a bit more spice, to be honest. The menu at La Parrilla was at least 10 pages long, and there was quite a wide variety of Mexican flavored foods available. If one were so inclined, they could try the Mexican Cheeseburger or Mexican Chicken Sandwich, or they could order a steak or different seafood or chicken dishes. They also have a selection of vegetarian dishes as well. Well, since this was my first time here, I decided to order something simple, so I went with combination number 2: one taco, one enchilada, and one chalupa. Meanwhile, Dickson ordered his favorite dish, a Burrito a La Parrilla with steak, while Maggie opted for the Seafood Burrito.
To my surprise, the wait for our food wasn't too long at all, especially considering that the place was packed. Actually, the service was very good overall, although I have a feeling that our waiter may have been a bit flustered, as he forgot what drink I had ordered at first and later seemed to forget a refill of Maggie's drink. But he tried hard and was attentive, so overall I have no problem with the service. As for the food, I wasn't all that crazy about the taco, as it tasted no different than a taco you might get at Taco Bell or something. The chalupa was pretty decent, as the beans were good, but there wasn't a lot of cheese on it, which was disappointing. I will say that the enchilada was very good, and if I ever eat here again, I'll probably end up ordering one of their enchilada specials. That was by far the best part of my meal, as the sauce was just right and the meat was cooked very well. Plus, unlike the other two dishes, they loaded up the cheese on the enchilada. Of course, Dickson liked his dish a whole lot, and Maggie seemed to like hers as well, although I found it odd that her rice looked as if it were dumped out of a can and served on the plate. I can't attest to how it tasted, because I didn't have any and I never did ask Maggie how it tasted either, so chalk that up as a mistake on my part.
Even though I probably shouldn't have, I ended up ordering some dessert. I thought about ordering some churros, but instead I went with the fried ice cream dish, which was served with bits of granola and honey and came in a flour tortilla shell, and the whole thing was topped with whipped cream, chocolate sauce, and had a cherry on top. The dessert tasted very good, but it was quite rich and even though I ate it all, I kind of felt sick to my stomach for a few minutes after eating it. That's not the fault of La Parrilla, but still I feel as if you should know these things. It was quite a sizeable portion as well, so if you ever want to order a dessert from La Parrilla, make sure you are able to eat it first, or just do what I did and share it with someone (in this case Maggie).
Overall, did La Parrilla live up to the hype? Well, not really, but then again it was hyped so much that I was led to expect the greatest meal of all-time or something from there. La Parrilla was a very good Mexican restaurant, though, and I certainly wouldn't mind if I had to go there again. I'll probably order something different though. My final score for La Parrilla of Flowery Branch, GA is a 7.43 out of 10.
Well, thanks for reading, and if you have any ideas for future reviews, or thoughts about this and previous reviews, than feel free to leave a comment or send me an e-mail at KtheC2001@gmail.com. Now, for no good reason, here's a music video from Savage Garden:
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