The Militant's Review: 'The Simpsons Movie'

So The Militant got to go see The Simpsons Movie after all on the evening of opening day at The Arclight. As a self-professed Simpsons geek, it was more of a cultural event than anything else. The movie was funny and entertaining, though the Militant was expecting a little more, even noticing that nearly all of the subplots were done in previous episodes in some form or another (though that might have been intentional as an homage to the series...but after 18 years of episodes, storylines have become cyclical), overall the plot (which also was somewhat derived) stuck to Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie as the primary characters with most everyone else more or less delivering least one token gag. The producers used the movie format to not only show a little more on the sides, but to get away with more kinds of humor or references on the bigscreen with a PG-13 (Or is that a SPIDER PG-13?) than they could even do on FOX.

But back to the cultural experience, it turned the usual adventures of Our Favorite Family (which is normally enjoyed alone or with a living room full of family or friends) into an even larger, communal experience, with hundreds of people laughing at pretty much the same gags you are. That in itself is worth the value of the movie alone.

The Militant gives The Simpsons Movie 8 out of 10 clenched fists.

And oh yeah, Mr. Burns dies at the end.





(Just kidding).

On 7-27-07, The Militant's Picture Is Revealed...In Simpsonized Form!

As promised, here is a picture of the Militant for all the world to see...Of course, the Militant didn't promise a *photograph* but this is a picture of what the Militant may (or may not) look like. In true showbiz media fashion, the Militant reeled you all in with a teaser -- complete with numerical date. The Simpsonization of the Militant's apparent likeness (Or might this be an intended front to distract one from recognizing the real likeness of the Militant?) is no doubt relevant to the date, as today marks the release of The Simpsons Movie.

As many American cities named Springfield lobbied to be the real "Springfield" for the movie's world premiere, as any diehard Simpson fan would know, Springfield is really an amalgam of different cities in the U.S. Still, that never stopped Springfield from having a Hollywood-like "SPRINGFIELD" sign and a Griffith-like domed observatory in its hills. Of course, it never hurt that the animation studio that produces The Simpsons is located in Burbank (previously in Valley Village), and even the studio that produced the Tracey Ullman Show's prototype Simpsons shorts and the first few seasons is located in the heart of Hollywood. Also, having native Angeleno Harry Shearer in the cast, doing the voices of everyone from Montgomery Burns to Ned Flanders to Kent Brockman (who was based largely on the late, great Los Angeles news anchor Jerry Dunphy) makes this Militant say, "Woo-Hoo!"

But for the Militant, the greatest Los Angeles moment in The Simpsons was when the only live-action part of an episode was actually filmed here.
In Episode 3F04 (1995's Treehouse of Horror VI), Homer enters the 3rd dimension and ends up in our 3-D world, ultimately forgetting his inter-dimensional trip by walking into an "Erotic Cakes" store, filmed on-location along a set of storefronts on Ventura Blvd. near Ventura Canyon Ave. in Sherman Oaks:

Homer drops into the 818 in 1995's Halloween episode.

The Simpsons have been not only the mirror, but the instigator of pop culture for nearly the past two decades. Only time will tell whether "Spider Pig" will be as ingrained into the lexicon of Simpsonalia as "The Stonecutters Song."