Steve Oedekerk (not to be confused with Bob Odenkirk) has my sense of humor. I think he must be my long lost dad or something.
When I was going through a somewhat rough patch I got ahold of a screener copy of Kung Pow from where I worked. I laughed so much I’d thought I’d die. I watched that movie three times in like two days. This movie was everything I love about comedy. There was an interesting review about the movie that sums up how I feel about it:
“An incredibly narrow in-joke targeted to the tiniest segment of an already obscure demographic.”
— Wade Major, BOX OFFICE MAGAZINE
I can only assume that since I found so much enjoyment in this movie that I must be this obscure, tiny demographic. From then on I became a Steve Oedekerk fan.
In 1999 Oedekerk released Thumbwars. A Star Wars spoof using thumbs with digitally inserted faces. I have always ragged on people who ‘ride the coat tails of Lucas’ but I seem to turn a blind eye when it comes to anyone who is already established in Hollywood. I guess I should be saying I hate ‘nobodys who ride the coat tails of Lucas’. What I mean by this is doing stuff (like all the fan films and such) in an attempt to get a career in Hollywood.
Anyway the whole gag of the thumb movies is the freaky looking characters. Using technology that apparently was ‘secret’ (which I assumed they were trying to patent) they paste a face and eyes of actors onto the thumbs. I am guessing they didn’t patent the technology since I have seen this technique used on YouTube in some one’s attempt to ride the coat tails of Oedekerk by using it with various inanimate objects (I’m sure with all the hits they have a Hollywood contract is probably in the works). Losers.
Thumbwars is the retelling of Starwars (well, sort of). Steve plays several characters but most importantly Loke Groundrunner. The plot runs somewhat along the same lines at the first movie but skips over stuff (when its funny to do so). Elements of the other movies are blended in as well including Yoda (known as Puppet) in this version. There are some great lines in here including one Imperial Officer who asks Dark Helmet Man (ala Vader): ‘Why do we all speak with British accents when we are in space and there is no Britain?’ Dark Helmet Man promptly ‘de-heads’ the offending officer. The story (like all the thumb movies) is secondary to the jokes and visual gags. If you like this sort of silly nonsense then you will enjoy the thumb movies.
Part 1
Part 2
Batthumb is probably my favorite of the thumb movies (next to Thumbtanic). It’s a retelling of the 1989 Batman movie with Woose Bain and Vicki Nail as the leads and the real story saving character of Blue Jay and extremely effeminate version of Robin. Once again Steve Oedekerk plays the lead character.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Thumbtanic is probably my favorite of the thumb movies because of two parts. The first is the the rich people making jokes about poor people and this part. I had a real hard time stopping laughing when that unexpected bit happened. The captain is the same effeminate character that plays Blue Jay in Bathumb. Flaming character are always fun to watch. Remember The Producers: ‘Keep it gay! Keep it gay! Keep it gayyyyyyy!’
Part 1
The Godthumb is the a take on The Godfather. At this point I am loosing interest since I was never a Godfather fan. Still, like I said earlier, the stories take a back seat to the jokes and visual gags so it still gets the job done.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Frankenthumb is… you guessed it Frankenstein. Like I said with the The Godthumb the story is really ignored for the most part for the jokes (which are still great). I couldn’t find the full movie but here is ‘part 2‘.
The Blair Thumb Project is the last on my list. Of course it is a parody of The Blair Witch Project. Of course it was probably the easiest to make since there were not many sets to build but it still has it’s moments… ‘mallow!’
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3