2008 documentary Rating: 14/20 (Jen: 15/20)
Plot: A look at the history of the Showbiz Pizza Place animatronic animal house band, The Rock-afire Explosion. The 'Splosion's fame was short-lived, but Creative Engineering, Inc. founder and band creator Aaron Fechter noticed a strong Internet fanbase early in the 21st Century. This documentary explores Rock-afire merchandise collectors, some who've even purchased their own Rock-afire Explosion in order to never have to completely grow up.
It's probably fitting that Michael Jackson footage found his way into this thing. Like the King of Pop, there are some people in this documentary who just can't or won't grow up. Jen seemed more startled about it all than I did. Me, I was filled with nostalgia while watching this thing. I loved Showbiz Pizza Place growing up (not that I ever dreamed of owning the Rock-afire Explosion like the guy in the documentary), and I'm sure those special trips to the restaurant contributed to my love of puppets and talking animals today. After all, it was the place where a "kid can be a kid," no matter how crappy the pizza tasted. So it was fun for me seeing the old commercials, footage of the band itself, a guy blowing in a Nintendo game to get it working. A scene in this also caused me to flash back to a turning point in my life. There's a scene near the end of this thing where you can hear the mechanisms, the clanking sound that the band members' parts make when they move around. I remember as a slightly older kid sitting up close to the Rock-afire Explosion and hearing that same sound and thinking, "My God! These guys aren't real at all! It's time for me to grow up." Soon after, I told my friend that it sounded like Mitzi Mozzarella needed some grease and that I was man enough to handle the task. I think that was the end of that friendship actually. My favorite scene in this was when they're taking Mitzi apart. It's like a Mitzi striptease, and like all my favorite stripteases, it goes all the way below the skin, right to the parts you've got to oil. Hot! I liked seeing the behind-the-scenes stuff in the Creative Engineering, Inc. factory. I was amazed at how quickly it all came together since animatronics, according to Fechter, is "everything in the universe put together." But he was making gasoline-conserving automobiles and leaf-eaters in 1973 with no interest in singing animals and then by 1978 had this band together. I really thought Fechter, a college graduate at 19, was a semi-impressive guy. Jen was less impressed, but I thought the guy was a genius. I wondered just what this guy could have accomplished if his brain wasn't as messy as the empty factory he still owns. He seems like the type of guy who should be saving the planet. And that sort of brings us to the central question this documentary explores--is the creation of an animatronic pizza joint band enough of a legacy? It doesn't seem to me that Fechter would say it was. He had bigger dreams left unfulfilled. The fans of the band, however, would surely tell you otherwise. There's a weird contrast set up by all this. You've got Chris Thrash (seriously, is that a real name?) who's had his dream realized just by owning his own Rock-afire Explosion and poor Fechter who, in the interview segments and that sad tour of Creative Engineering, seemed to have trouble deciding whether he was perfectly content or completely dejected. I could have done without the Cannibal Run-esque outtakes at the end or the whole thing about Thrash finding his Mrs. Thrash, she of the giant chest band-aid, and marrying her at skating rink or Fechter apparently hooking up with Rock-afire groupie who realized that Fatz Geronimo would never be interested in nailing her and figured Fechter was the next best thing.
Mitzi, if you're reading this, call me.
5 comments:
Really dug this just for the peek into some superfreaks lives. And the fact that the internet proved that if you think you have the weirdest fetish going, just go online and find friends!
I wanted more about the making of the music! And I can't believe that dude got married... I felt bad but she seemed really dumb and he likes Mountain Dew!
I can't believe they hand made molds and hand airbrushed all those dudes. And fuck Chucky Cheese.
I found this to be the most pointless documentary in history. Why? Because we have finally reached a point where we are doing movies on the most minute items. So I am watching this thing, expecting the great reveal about how its become a huge thing since it got sucked into Chuck-E-Cheese, but to my surprise, there are a grand total of SEVEN people interviewed for this entire thing. So over and over again you get the same people talking about the same things in the history of Rock A Fire, and almost always from the same perspective. (Oh it was so magical, we were doing all these great things in mechanical guitar playing gorilla technology...blah blah blah)
Thats where this documentary fell apart for me. Yeah it was sweet and nice to everyone, and treated them with respect...but why? What have these people done to earn respect? They either talk about their ability to create creepy talking bears, they moan about the loss of creepy talking bears, or worst of all, they live in a creepy house with all the now dead, non talking creepy bears.
Was it worth making a documentary about? A very few people who look back at this time as something special, when they could have bad pizza and worse music all in one place? I guess my major point is this. I went and looked up the Facebook page for Rock-A-Fire. With this sort of movie made about them, and the people in it talking about how magical it was for kids to be there, I figured it would be filled with nostalgia goons talking about this.
The Rock-A-Fire Explosion Facebook page has 330 members. Something like Pac-Man has a million and a half members. So you have a documentary with seven people showing enough interest to be interviewed, then 330 people who care enough to join the Facebook page (Which is the only fan club I could really find). Its just naval staring now. Its finding even the most unimportant, irrelevant events in life, and glorifying them with overlong documentaries. To me its something like this.
"Hey, do you remember when we were kids, and Mr. Wilson had that fence we had to climb to get to the baseball field easier? That was a great old fence, wasnt it? There were like 20 of us that would climb that fence every day. We should make a documentary on that fence, and how it impacted our lives. I hear that Crazy Eddie actually kept a whole section of the fence, so we can talk to him about it too. Damn it brings a tear to my eye to remember that old fence....we better tell the rest of the world about our obsession."
I give the movie a 13, and it gets that much because they are so nice to everyone, and its a technically well done doc....enough with the freaks though. One month of insane freaks in an asylum from the 1960's, now this naval staring look at freaks who are obsessed on singing pizza animals. Can we get an actual movie here to watch?
Well, you've got the next pick, Barry...now you've put all kinds of pressure on yourself! I'm guessing you won't be picking 'Freaks'...
By the way, I know a guy who worked at Chuck E. Cheese and stole a Chuck E. Cheese head from the costume before he left. In fact, it might be one of my 4 1/2 blog readers. In fact, it might be the one who recommended this movie.
I'll agree that the pizza was terrible, Barry, but calling the Rock-afire's music bad borders on blasphemy. You owe Dook LaRue an apology.
I see what you're saying about the importance or non-importance of the whole thing, but I think that's part of the beauty of documentary filmmaking. It doesn't have to be about something big. It just has to be about something that matters to a few people. After all, it's really only a few people who are going to see your documentary anyway unless your name rhymes with Smichael S'more. To me, this reminds me of the ol' (overused, now-cliched) Andy Warhol quote about how we'll all be famous for 15 people. The fact that the guy founded a company that made some singing robots that made even 15 people happy and remember a childhood experience that they'd describe as magical matters...and if it matters, it's documentary-worthy, right?
Keep in mind though...I'm the type of guy who would probably enjoy a documentary about Mr. Wilson's fence.
It's weird to call a barely 70 minute documentary "overlong" but this one did feel a little redundant after a while. And as I think I mentioned, I don't really need to know anything about Thrash's beverage choices or his wife unless said wife is in the middle of leaving him because she caught him pleasuring himself in his Rock-afire Explosion garage or something.
Oh, I had a question...
Should we make Movie Club bi-monthly or keep it monthly? Seems to me that there's not much difference in finding and watching a movie in two weeks and finding and watching one in a month. What do you all think?
I think I'm going to go enjoy a Mountain Dew now.
So now I am torn between picking a great movie, that I am sure everyone has probably seen. (How many great movies remain hidden forever?) or going after a really bad movie that I enjoy, but its doubtful that everyone else will appreciate like I do.
I will have an answer within 48 hours. I will try to take this responsibility seriously.
I do like the movie "Freaks" by the way. Mainly because it was more than just a freak show, and actually had a bit of story there.
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