Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Strange Brew (1983)

What do I say about Strange Brew? It's a strange brew of a movie. Answer two of the following questions:

- What is the theme of Strange Brew? Back up your opinion with three specific examples.
- What did you learn from Strange Brew about Canadian culture?
- Do you think this silly movie is good or bad for the world?

So, get to it, hosers!
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13 comments:

  1. AnonymousJanuary 1, 2013 at 7:12 PM

    Tayia Groesbeck-
    I think the theme is, Sometimes the not so smart people can be the smartest. My first reason is they tried to get free beer by black mailing the company which they did get free beer and also a job. My second reason is they ended up finding the game that showed how Pam's dad died by being curious and finding the cafeteria. The third reason is they ended up saving the people from being controlled by making their dog look like a skunk and scaring all the people away.

    I think the movie is good for the world because it is funny and it makes people laugh, and Its always good to have a laugh at times, but its even better when you really need it.

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    1. AnonymousJanuary 10, 2013 at 1:35 PM

      I love the theme statement you pulled out! Good work, Tayia! As I think more about it, I realize this might be the theme of a lot of screwball comedies.

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  2. AnonymousJanuary 7, 2013 at 1:52 PM

    C.J. Barrett: The theme of this movie, is, quite obviously, BEER!
    Except not really, the theme seems to be more about rolling with the flow. If you notice throughout most of this entire movie, the main characters are less than aware of everything that's going on, but still emerge at the end in what could be associated with victory. In fact, it seems like a good majority of this film's plot line is structured a round just doing... whatever, just being Canadian guys, and doing what Canadian guys do, seemed to be the plan throughout most of it.

    I don't think there was much to derive from Canadian culture from this film, except maybe another example as to how much more... lighthearted, I suppose, a lot of the country could be. I love silly movies, laughs are always fun, and the cinematography in this film is somewhat distinct, making it stand out quite a bit from most everything else we've watched in this year.

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    1. AnonymousJanuary 10, 2013 at 1:33 PM

      I love the personal voice you use when you say that the theme is BEER and then how you get serious and state another theme. Great work.

      I would like to more about what you mean that the cinematography is distinct. What makes it distinct? Also, let me know if you need more vocabulary to describe what you are sensing and we can take some time in class to go over cinematography vocabulary.

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    2. AnonymousJanuary 31, 2013 at 12:21 PM

      C.J.:
      Everything in this movie seemed very real, like they didn't manipulate the lighting very much for any sort of filmic effect, etc. Now that we've watched a few other movies, such as Afterlife, its not as distinct in contrast with the rest of the class, but for the Canadian films was different.

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    3. AnonymousFebruary 5, 2013 at 12:50 PM

      Thanks for your explanation. It's kind of funny that such a silly movie has such a "realistic" style.

      Delete
  3. Bluejay VJanuary 15, 2013 at 9:06 AM

    From what is portrayed in "Strange Brew", Canadians love their beer, which, from what I've gathered from experience, is very true. I guess they're a fairly mellow country. Nothing major to make movies about. They wear a lot of warm clothing, and have psychotic drunk fathers? In all honesty, unless this film depicted pure Canadian life, I'm sure it's a terrible portrayal.

    This silly movie is good for the world. It's entertaining. Entertainment warms people's hearts. It helps them to forget their daily problems, and just relax. And people need that. Lighthearted isn't a bad thing. Not sure about the portrayal of alcohol though... But outside of that, people need an escape. Films offer just that. Why not have a little fun?

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    1. AnonymousJanuary 28, 2013 at 2:01 PM

      I agree with your assessment of the value of entertainment. And I think entertainment plays a particularly useful role in society when it is communal because then it connects people.

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  4. AnonymousJanuary 21, 2013 at 7:44 PM

    -Randi Ralston :3

    I think this movies theme is..just because you're not the brightest lightbulb in the shed, doesn't mean you can't do great things. This is another one of the movies I kinda fell asleep on so I will try to make the best out of it as I can >.< I love how they're plan to black mail the company to get free beer kinda flip flopped on them, so they ended up working for the company, yet still got free beer. So, instead of being unemployed with free beer, they got jobs and still got free beer! So it was definitely a win/win sort of thing for them, kind of an ironic twist I suppose. Even though their childish thoughts got them into things they weren't supposed to, it was still for a good cause. Like how they decided to wander off into the Brewmeister's operation room, but then ended up finding out a lot of very important information about Pam's dad's murder, thinking it was only a New Wave disk. Just because of that, they all pretty much saved the day in the end.
    I think this is a good silly movie to exist in the world, because yes it is silly, but it's not stupid enough to the point where you're thinking, "Okay..this is just ridiculous," then turning off the T.V. and thinking to yourself, "Why did I waste those few hours of my life on THAT??" No, not at all. I really enjoyed it, and thought it was pretty funny. This is a perfect example of the kind of silly movies we need in the world, instead of the really cheap and stupid ones people make now a days that make you want to bang your head violently against a wall, since this silly movie is actually funny and worth watching.

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    1. AnonymousJanuary 30, 2013 at 1:05 PM

      I agree with you about the value of silly movies.

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  5. AnonymousJanuary 30, 2013 at 1:06 PM

    Good work ya Hoosier.

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  6. jessi brothersenFebruary 5, 2013 at 1:23 PM

    I believe the theme of this film would have to be not to judge a book by its cover. Yeah, it sounds cliche but i mean honestly... You start watching this movie about two moron Canadians that just wanna drink and argue with each other but these moron Canadians do some pretty impressive things. They, 1. got a job at the brewery when they were just there to cause trouble. 2. figure out how exactly Pam's dad died and the scheme behind that. And 3. They sucessfully broke out of a Looney Bin, WHO CAN SAY THAT?!

    I have mixed feelings about silly movies. I mean, i love a good comedy but some "silly movies" are just TOO silly. To the point where they dont make sense or they just get dumb. But Strange Brew, i believe, has the perfect ammount of silly and seriousness. You got a good laugh when you wanted one but there was enough of a story line that it was interesting.

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    1. AnonymousFebruary 12, 2013 at 1:41 PM

      You write with a very enjoyable voice in this post. I found your list of three things in the first paragraph most entertaining to read.

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