Yo Joe: GI Joe Stop Motion Mania,Viva the 'Nam
Wednesday, January 27
Alamo Drafthouse Downtown (320 E 6th Street)
7pm
[info] | [tickets]
If you grew up in the decade of hypercolor and Hulkamania, the name G.I. Joe makes you think of badasses like Snake Eyes and sexy villains like…Cobra Commander (what?). If you’re old enough to realize how sacrilegious that recent stink bomb of a movie was, chances are it’s because you loved the action figures of the eighties—Hawk and Short Fuze, Scarlet and Grunt.
What you probably don’t know is that before all of that there was the original G.I. Joe doll. It was (we hear) twelve inches of plastic joy, created back in the day before they’d ever heard of the king fu grip, when they knew how to make things that weren't (always) ruined when you tied an M80 to them.
Well, it’s time to get back to basics and find out just how awesome the Real American Hero™ can be. Showing at the Alamo Ritz Wednesday night, you can catch the stop motion masterpiece Viva the ‘Nam, featuring those old school dolls—not to mention toys from Planet of the Apes, Platoon action figures (yes, that happened), and other legendary films—as they parody every war movie ever made from the great (Apocalypse Now) to the...well, still awesome but maybe-not-so-great (Commando).
Writer-director and Austinite Paul Hanley spent more than eight years making this one-of-a-kind gem that tells the story of Private Joe Holmes as he makes his way into “the shit,” trying to break a curse: every past American conflict has claimed a member of his family. Will it be his fate as well?
This film is not just a bunch of sight gags and silly jokes, although those are in there, too. There’s a cohesive plot, and maybe even a point to this film. It’s up to you to look deep and hard and see it. But hey, even if you don’t, it’s nice to know there’s someone out there spending eight years to make entertainment this awesome. Because, knowing, as they say, is half the battle.
