January Movie Round Up

The first week of the month, I did my traditional weekly round up of movies I saw - then I took the rest of the month off. Here's a quick run down of the rest of the large amount of movies I viewed this past, very cold month!

Frankenweeine (2012) Visually interesting but ultimately boring stop-motion animated tale of a boy who brings his dog back to life. The kids loved it!

Die Hard 2 (1990) This was the only one in the series that I had never seen. Not near as good as the first one, there's some plausibility issues that probably stood out even more in 1990...but it's still a half decent action flick and I'm still on board for Part 5 in a few weeks!

Compliance (2012) I heard so many fantastic things about this movie and it really was a let down. Based on true events about a prank phone caller who, pretending to be a cop,  gets a fast food manager to violate the rights, privacy and body of a teen aged coworker. While the story itself is intriguing, the movie doesn't ask enough questions along the way leaving us with stupid characters on screen. There is also a completely unsatisfying ending.

Airplane II: The Sequel (1982) I know the original Airplane! is technically a better movie, but this is the one I saw first...and a million times on HBO when I was a kid. Love, love...LOVE this movie and can quote pretty much the entire thing.

Mulan (1998) In the Disney Princess cannon, this less marketable tale often goes overlooked but it's a solid film and still alot of fun.

Ernest Rides Again (1993) Thrilled to have this out on a brand new DVD, it's been a long while since I've seen Ernest's 5th big screen adventure...even though it's much lower budget than the four Disney produced films before it, it's really one of the best - perhaps my second favorite Ernest film after he Saves Christmas. Ernest helps a professor uncover an ancient cannon containing the royal jewels of England. Ernest spends over 20 minutes of the film on a runaway cannon and it is a delight!

Iron Man (2008) Finally sat down and watched the origin story of Iron Man and enjoyed it like every other male who has seen it.

Ted (2012) Family Guy guy's movie about a foul-mouth talking teddy bear has some funny moments but it's not going to be the comedy classic that I should have/could have been.

A Haunted House (2013) I loves me some parody films...simply put, this is THE WORST one of these films to come down the pike...EVER! I laughed once and the other three people in the theater snickered at best. This is just an unfunny movie with body parts, body functions and sex as the punch line to every since gag. Horrible.

Rock of Ages (2012) I could not have enjoyed this musical tribute to Hair Bands of the 80's and more. A rocking good time of a movie from start to finish with boat loads of great music and some fine performances in the acting department as well. I can not recommend this movie to anyone enough!!!

Pee-Wee's Big Adventure (1985) You gotta hand it to a movie that makes adults and kids laugh for 90 minutes straight. Also, another one of my "saw it a million times on HBO when I was younger" films.

Deal of the Century (1983) One of Chevy Chase's more overlooked films, never a favorite of mine but I love Chevy so I gave it another watch - pretty dated and not very funny.

Joyful Noise (2012) This is what you get when you mix High School Musical, Glee and a Tyler Perry movie all into one.

Pitch Perfect (2012) What Bring It On was to cheer leading, Pitch Perfect is to acapella singing competitions, in fact this movie should have been called Sing It On. Fun, but not great.

9 to 5 (1980) One of my all-time favorites, my mom and I used to watch this all the time back when it first came on HBO. I can still hear her laughing every time Dabney Coleman gets hoisted up by the garage door opener.

Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012) I'm always proud of myself when I watch one of the Best Picture nominees. I didn't think too much of this one, about a little girl growing up in a strange little town outside the New Orleans levees.

Walking The Halls (2012) Redbox tricked me into renting a TV movie - a Lifetime TV movie nonetheless. It's actually a fairly tight thriller about a high school prostitution ring led by the school's security guard. However, no girls actually "walk" the halls.

Hey There, It's Yogi Bear (1964) This was one of the 5 non-Disney kids films floating around when I was a kid. I always thought it meandered on for way to long, but seeing it for the first time in many, many years it actually holds up very well as a feature length version of the classic animated shorts. Better animation, lush backgrounds, a move involved story and some catchy tunes make this a fun picture.

The Avengers (2012) Finally showed this to my kids, they loved it. It's an awesome movie!

To Rome With Love (2012) Woody Allen's most recent film, four separate stories laid out over gorgeous shots of Rome. This was one of Woody's most enjoyable films in the past few years.

Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993) Some funny bits, but mostly lazy dated jokes...especially when it's coming from Mel Brooks. Jokes about Rodney King, Air Nike, and Arsenio Hall have no shelf life.

Movie 43 (2013) This sketch film is getting horrible reviews, but if you like sketch movies then you should like this collection of silly but funny skits filled with an Oscar winning cast. There is a lame frame story involving Dennis Quaid pitching movie ideas to a studio exec, but the skits are clever and just the right lenght. Not a single sketch overstays it's welcome, something that can't be said for the godfather of skit films The Kentucky Fried Movie.

17 Girls (2011) American audiences expect a certain amount of closure at the end of a movie. The French however do not, and this story of 17 high school girls who all decide to get pregnant together - is interesting but goes nowhere.

The Invisible War (2012) Oscar nominated documentary about the epidemic of rape and sexual assault in the United States military. This is known as an investigative documentary which plays like a 90 minute news story...but it's done very well. A handful of compelling stories will turn your stomach inside out.


January Movie Count: 32
Best New Movie: Rock of Ages
Best Rewatch: Ernest Rides Again


Worst New Movie: Dark Shadows

My Week In Movies - Happy New Year 2013

Dark Shadows (2012) I really liked the idea of taking an old Gothic soap opera and turning it into a comedy. The trailers were very promising and funny. However, this is a text book example of all the funny parts used in the trailer. What's left after the spoiled one liners is some story about rival family businesses and some boring vampire special effects. This was a real letdown.

This Means War (2012) One of the rare occasions where my wife requested a particular movie, she's a fan of Chelsea Handler who appears here as Reese Witherspoon's best friend. Two buddies, who happen to be CIA agents, compete for the love of Mrs. Witherspoon..and get this, they use surveillance equipment and the resources of the United States Government to keep taps on the girl and each other. The plot is totally lame and nothing in this movie would ever happen in real life, but charming performances and a lightweight attitude save this movie from being a completely mindless cookie cutter romcom. Reese and Chelsea are very funny alone and/or together.

Cleanflix (2009) This documentary tells the story of a Nevada based Mormon company that takes Hollywood movies and edits out material which they find objectionable and then resell it. The practice is sick to anyone with an artistic bone in their body and the popularity and demand for such edited films is bizarre and puzzling. As the film unfolds, certain key players in the Cleanflix story become characters and the third act of the film drops a major surprise twist into the proceedings. Just when I thought this picture was going nowhere, it took a sharp left turn into Interestingville. Side note: The movie is unrated but if you think a movie called Cleanflix would be suitable for the family - you'd be wrong. There are several comparisons between the Hollwood original cuts of films and the sanitized Cleanflix versions. In addition, the previously mentioned twist takes the movie down a dark path.

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) It's hard to believe a movie-loving 39 year old male such as myself had never seen this instalment of the Indiana Jones saga. Something has gotten into me the last couple of weeks - last week I watched a couple of Star Wars films and this week I craved some more mainstream big budget popcorn flicks! Gotta say, I absolutely loved Temple of Doom! Perhaps one of the best action/adventure films I've ever seen! I wish I had seen it as a kid.

Only The Lonely (1991) I saw this John Candy vehicle in the theater 22 years ago, I've always meant to revisit it and finally have. It's a really nice story with an unusual part for John Candy as the romantic lead and it also stars Maureen O'Hara from Miracle on 34th St. This was to be her final big screen performance. Ally Sheedy was also very good in it...something I never thought I'd type out.

A Bugs Life (1998)
Toy Story 2 (1999)
Cars 2 (2010)  We had a lazy, pajamas kinda day, New Years Day and had a little Pixar movie marathon. A Bugs Life is a really perfect Pixar film that has seemed to fall through the cracks as far as recognition goes. Toy Story 2 I must have seen at least a dozen times and it still makes me laugh out loud. Cars 2 has got to be near the bottom of the list of Pixar movies, but it's still watchable.

My Week In Movies - December 2012 Wrap Up

As always, December brings hours of Christmas goodness to be watched. This year I fit in some of the traditional classics like one of my newer favorites Miracle on 34th Street. And there is nothing greater than hearing a 7 year old belly laugh at the ABC Family cut of National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. It just wouldn't be Christmas without A Very Brady Christmas and another made-for-TV staple Good Luck Charlie, It's Christmas! I caught some new-to-me classics like The Bells of St. Mary's and Holiday Affair and you can't overlook the really wonderful A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas...even in 2D! I've heard so much this year about Love Actually being a really great Holiday film, but I actually didn't care for it at all. However, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed Four Christmases, another recent holiday flick that was recommended to me by a friend.

New Movies: I caught the new Step Up: Revolution which is just as goofy as the other three, if not quite a fun. Brave was much better a second time around and Monsters Inc. 3D is another example of how the new technology adds a little something extra to an already fantastic Pixar movie.

Here's my monthly rundown from best to worst:

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989)
Monsters Inc. 3D (2001/2012)
Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Return of the Jedi (1984)
Brave (2012)
A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas (2011)
Die Hard (1988)
Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult (1994)
A Very Brady Christmas (1988)
Good Luck Charlie, It's Christmas! (2011)
Four Christmases (2008)
Jingle All The Way (1996)
Step Up: Revolution (2012)
Holiday Affair (1949)
One Magic Christmas (1985)
The Bells of St. Mary's (1945)
Love Actually (2003)

December Movie Count: 18

2012 Movie Count:

236 Movies!!!

up 33 movies from 2011

My Week In Movies - November Wrap Up

Love At The Christmas Table (2012) There seems to be no less than 30 new Christmas movies debuting on television this season, this is one of them. What brought me to this picture was Danica McKeller (Winnie from The Wonder Years) and one of my all-time faves Lea Thompson. I intended to turn the movie off after 5 minutes but I was intrigued by the very first opening frames of the movie. This sappy holiday romcom, which is debuting on Lifetime, was produced by independent film company The Asylum. I've seen some of The Asylum's other work which is all gory horror movies and raunchy sex comedies, so I was surprised to see them producing a movie for Lifetime Television. The Asylum's films are always low budget affairs, with actors who can't act and stories that don't make a whole lot of sense but their scripts always show a flare for creativity and I've enjoyed what I've seen from them, especially the Netflix Classic "Barely Legal". The Christmas flick follows a couple who fall in love over the course of 30 years meeting one night a year at the kids table of their father's company Christmas dinner. Sappy, corny, predictable, confusing, and boring in parts...in the end, it worked for me. It's a cute little Christmas package with some higher than usual production values for The Asylum. It's no "Barely Legal"...or "Abraham Lincoln Vs. Zombies", but it's fun!

Soul Surfer (2011) Second time seeing this feel good surfing movie, it holds up. Good performances from the cast and a script that knows it's treading on familiar cinematic territory - the story of Bethany Hamilton, a young surfer who lost her arm to a shark attack yet learned to surf again, is an awe inspiring journey.


November Movie Count: 17
Best New Movie: Wreck-It Ralph
Worst New Movie: Vamps
Best Rewatch: Tangled
2012 Movie Count: 218

My Week In Movies - It's A New Princess

Sofia The First: Once Upon A Princess (2012) Disney's newest Princess franchise is a show directed at preschoolers, but the debut of Princess Sofia was rolled out in a family-friendly TV movie that sets up the series without being an educational lesson or the usual mind-numbing kiddie show fare. The film follows commoner Sofia, whose mother ends up marrying the King of a neighboring Kingdom. Soon Sofia finds herself in the world of castles and servants and so many other things she's not used to. Ok, I realize this show and starter film is pretty much aimed at little girls but let me tell you why it's awesome. Since it's aimed at an undiscerning preschool audience, the whole thing is just unabashedly Disney! It's like someone said, "Oh, you like Disney?" And then threw a bucket full of Disney at your head at point blank range. There's castles, and bad guys and cute little animals and singing and dancing and the coolest part of all is the Disney references and nods throughout the whole film. The kids in Sofia's new class are all inspired by other famous Disney characters. The real kicker, and the main concept for the show - is Sofia has a magic amulet (of course she does) which when Sofia needs advice, will summon another Disney Princess to help her out. In the movie, Cinderella drops by for some Princess Advice and a song! When they get to The Little Mermaid episode...I'll be watching. The three fairies from Sleeping Beauty are also series regulars as the head masters of Royal University, where Sofia attends. I'm sure the following TV series, which debuts next month, will be more directed at little kids, but this debut movie was a nice family event. And between The Disney Channel and Disney Junior channel, it's on about every two hours between now and Christmas.

Arthur Christmas (2011) Ok, we get it. Everything we know about Santa Claus and his operation is obsolete. The North Pole organization is now updated with computers and hi-tech this and iPad that...we get it. This concept has been done a handful of times already, most notably Disney's charming Prep & Landing specials. Arthur Christmas covers much the same ground, with Santa's spaceship (Sled-1) zipping across the planet, delivering gifts by zip-line all while Santa watches from above on his iPad. It's cute and will provide the necessary amounts of Holiday Cheer for a Christmas movie...but as with most non-Disney animated films, it's just "...eh?!"

Ruthless People (1986) I used to love this very grown up movie about a kidnapping going all wrong. I haven't seen it in probably 20 years, and I don't know if it's because I watched it so many times when I was younger, but I barely cracked a smile watching it this time around. It's still a good movie, with a solid story and plenty of gags...but I guess it's all etched in my mind pretty well because I was just sort of bored. If you haven't seen it, it's worth a look though. It's directed by the team responsible for Airplane!, Top Secret! and The Naked Gun, but this is not like those films at all. This is a normal movie with a real story set in the real world. It's good fun, I think I just wore it out for myself.

My Week In Movies - November part 2

Vamps (2012) Director Amy Heckerling was at the helm of four movies I adore; Fast Times At Ridgemont High, National Lampoon's European Vacation, Johnny Dangerously and Clueless. I was really excited to see her new flick which reteams her with Clueless star adorable Alicia Silverstone. Alicia is fantastic as ever along with Kristen Ritter (from The B- in Apartment 23) as a pair of vampires trying to navigate the singles scene in modern day New York. Sadly, this is the second Heckerling film in a row that I couldn't even make it through all the way. This is just a horrible film with way to much Vampire mythology thrown at you in the first 10 minutes that it just gets bogged down under it's own weight and it's just not funny. Too many special effects driven jokes and a way too complicated set-up make this film hard to enjoy. The longer it goes on, the painful it is to watch. A real let-down, and the fact that it debuted on iTunes the same day as it's alleged theatrical release should have been a clue.

The Last Flight of Noah's Ark (1980) Here's a Disney film that I remember coming out when I was a kid and it's taken me 32 years to finally see it. This is another of the Disney Tries To Go More Mature era pictures, except this one is a very Disney film. A plane crashes on a deserted island and the passengers and a large number of animals onboard try to make the best of it. They eventually build a boat out of the plane and make a go for safety. Well done flick.

The Queen of Versailles (2012) This documentary/reality movie centers on the The Siegel family. Jack Siegel is founder and CEO of Westgate Resorts, the largest time share company in the country. The film starts as a profile on their efforts to build the largest private home in America but when the stock market crashes the company takes a dive and so do their plans to build this huge house. I thought the film was going to be about this gigantic house they were building, but the story is more about this family that is so stinkin' filthy rich they don't even know what cutting back on expenses mean. The film doesn't make a commentary on the wealthy couple, it doesn't need to...these unsympathetic billionaires paint their own sad picture.

Mickey's Twice Upon A Christmas (2004) It's been a good while since I'd seen this follow up to Once Upon A Christmas from a few years earlier. It holds up alot better than I remember it. The film tells 5 short stories about Mickey Mouse and company and their holiday adventures. After a weak opening story about a skating duel between Minnie and Daisy, there are some solid cartoons with Huey, Dewey and Louie breaking into the North Pole to add their name to the "Nice List" and Goofy's son Max bringing a girl home from college for the holidays. Good stuff and a great way to kick off the Holiday Movie Season!

Tangled (2010) Easily, the best Non-Pixar Computer Animated Movie to ever come out of Hollywood!

My Week In Movies - November part 1

Anybody who has ever spent any significant amount of time in an arcade or even in front of a game console needs to go see Wreck-It Ralph (2012), a totally unique and charming film from Walt Disney Feature Animation. Filled with real life video game character cameos and lots of gamer in-jokes, the film follows Ralph - a bad guy from an 80's arcade game who travels into other video games looking for a chance to be a hero instead of the villain. My biggest rule for a comedy is to stay funny throughout the whole picture, Wreck-It Ralph succeeds. In addition to all the great video game jokes, the characters eventually enter a game called Sugar Rush which is sort of a Mario Kart in CandyLand game. There, the jokes and references switch to candy and food and there are plenty of great puns and familiar candy brands that the writers had fun with. This is a great time at the movies. I was worried it wasn't going to be very good since the marketing for the film has been shoving clips down our throats for the past 6 months - but it turned out to be a wonderful, well-done movie!

Before Cinderella III, The Lion King 1 1/2 and Lilo & Stitch 4 there was The Return of Jafar (1994), the very first time Disney made a direct-to-video sequel to one of their beloved animated features - in this case Aladdin. Even though it's just television animation, which is several...several bars below the theatrical original, I've always thought this was a pretty decent follow-up as far as humor, story and music. None of it is as good as the 1992 original film, but it's all still pretty fun. It's hard to track down a DVD of this film now, but you can go to any Goodwill and buy the VHS for $1.97.

I have wanted to see This Is Cinerama (1952) for as long as I can remember. The film is nothing more than an introduction to a new film process called....wait for it...Cinerama. Cinerama was the movie industry's attempt to lure folks away from their new TV sets and back into the theatre with a screen so huge, it wraps around the audience. It took three projectors to show the film theatrically. Turner Classic Movies secured a nice print of the film, presented in Smilebox - which is a letterboxing format that curves the picture on a television set to allow the full scope of the enormous screen. I thought it would be interesting to see a movie whose sole purpose was to simply show off a new size of screen but there is only so much "nothing" you can watch before it gets boring. There's no story just lingering shots of boat rides, helicopter rides, concerts and landmarks. The opening shot is a roller coaster ride, which is pretty neat even on a 42" screen and the finale was filmed at Florida's Cypress Gardens theme park which was very beautiful. But in between was a gosh-awful bore.

From the very first time I saw the trailer for Madea's Witness Protection (2012) I knew something was up with this latest Tyler Perry production. Whereas all of his previous films have been black melodramas sprinkled with comedy, Witness Protection is Perry's bid for a bigger audience by playing it strictly for broad laughs. When Eugine Levy and his family end up in the care of the Federal Witness Relocation program, they end up in the home of Madea. If you are unaware of Madea, she is played by Tyler Perry in drag - she's a huge old woman who don't take nuttin' from nobody! Hi-jinks ensure as Madea tries to adjust to having a wealthy white family staying with her. Whereas most Tyler Perry films end with some heavy duty drama, this one sees Madea and Levy traveling to New York in disguise to fool some investment bankers. It's comedy ahoy! In all honesty, I laughed several times - very loud and very hard. I thought this was a solid comedy!

I wasn't expecting anything from another visit from the Madagascar gang and Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted (2012) was even more lame than I could have imagined. The Madagascar machine is on full auto-pilot here with nothing new to offer except Chris Rock's Marty the Zebra wearing a Rainbow Afro wig. That gag must have gotten so many laughs around the Dreamworks office that the wig is the center of attention for almost half the film not to mention the song dedicated to said wig. Ugg! Also, I can't have one regular bear, with regular bear eyes and a real bear growl surrounded by cartoon animals. It doesn't work that way.

Finally got a chance to see Disneynature's fourth film, Africian Cats (2011). I love the Disneynature films because they are one of the few old-school Disney things the company still does. However, this flick about lions and cheetahs was pretty boring. It's essentially 90 minutes of animals chasing each other. And what's with all the slow-motion? I felt the scenes were completely cut of their true drama by slowing down all the action. What's the point of a chase scene if it's slow? The narration is provided by Samuel L. Jackson, who delivers a down to Earth explanation of what you are looking at but this movie in nowhere near as good as the more recent Chimpanze, from the same series.


Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983) is another mid-80's attempt by the Walt Disney Studios to find their voice in the changing movie market. This time they go for a mature, psychological thriller penned by Walt's friend Ray Bradbury. The result is a concoction of creepy images, strange occurrences and some half-decent special effects which unfortunately don't add up to much. The idea of a Disney Thriller was done much better in The Watcher In The Woods. Still, this is one Disney movie that I hadn't seen - so at least now I can check it off my list.

My Month in Movies - October Wrap Up

After cramming 30 movies into as many days in September, I cooled off from the flicks quite a bit this past month. First, there was the 11 days we were on vacation followed by an exhausting experience with some contractors we hired to do some work on our kitchen. Long story short: I only got to 10 films in October - and I didn't do too many Halloween or scary pictures as I would have hoped to. In fact, the majority of my film watching last month was made up of Disney movies.

I stocked up on quite a bit of Disney this month. Some of it in preparation for going to Walt Disney World, others trying to hold on to that Disney Magic after we returned to the "real world". My kids and I watched a bunch of classics. Lady and the Tramp (1955) is one of our families favorites. We ate at Tony's Town Square Restaurant in the Magic Kingdom, which is inspired by the eatery in the film, so this was some prep work to get the kids excited about going to the restaurant. It certainly enhanced our visit, having just seen the movie.

 

Dumbo (1941) is one of my personal favorites, short and sweet at 64 minutes - it's alot of fun for such a quick movie. I wanted the kids to see this because so much of the new revamped New Fantasyland in the Magic Kingdom takes it cue from the circus theme of Dumbo. The classic Dumbo ride has recently been enhanced as well as the addition of a Casey Jr. water playground and a Dumbo gift shop. Great movie!

 

We watched Alice in Wonderland (1951) which was never one of my favorites, but it's certainly grown on me over the last few years. Perhaps in comparison to the dark Tim Burton take on the tale, I find this cheerful and silly Walt Disney version quite enjoyable now.

 

And my kids didn't have to ask twice the night they suggested we watch The Little Mermaid (1989), one of my all-time favorite movies. Having had the Mermaid shoved down their throats for a week at Disney World, it wasn't surprising they wanted to see it again. Plus, that night we had just come back from a costume party where I was dressed as Ariel's father - King Triton. I looked pretty good if I do say so myself.

 

Without the kids, I watched So Dear To My Heart (1948) which is just about the most obscure animated film in the Disney library. A story about a young boy at the turn of the century who dreams of raising a prize winning sheep for the county fair. It's a mix of live action and animation, similar to Song Of The South which came out a few years earlier. There are no classic Disney characters to be found in this film, just a ditty called Lavender Blue, which had become somewhat of a Disney standard nowadays. It's good nostalgic entertainment even if it's not nearly one of Disney's best. It is said to have been Walt Disney's personal favorite.

 

Two more I watched without the kids, the creepy and well-done The Watcher in the Woods (1980). Disney's only foray into horror, this came out a time when the directionless Disney Studios was really trying to figure out they were going to fit into the changing landscape of movies. There's some genuine scares tucked in this picture along with alot of creepiness. For someone who doesn't like horror movie, I really enjoyed it.

 

As always, I also enjoyed Disney's The Million Dollar Duck (1971). You can't go wrong with a madcap comedy about the Federal Reserve chasing after a kid and a duck that lays golden eggs!

 

Another Disney World prep film the kids and I watched was Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003). My little guys had never seen the original, which I remembered as being much better than the other films in the series. However, after seeing it again for the first time in at least 7 years - it's pretty much just as boring as the other three except for a few references to the Disneyland attraction it's based on.

 

And the only two non-Disney movie I saw in October were: L!fe Happens (2011), a horrible comedy about a girl trying to raise a kid on her own while all her friends keep partying and living the single lifestyle. It stars Kristen Ritter and Kate Bosworth, both who I really like alot, but this direct-to-everything-but-a-movie-theater film was a real bore! The Magic of Belle Isle (2012) is another movie that seems to have bypassed theaters, however it is a really nice little movie about a slightly odd-relationship between older than dirt Morgan Freeman and 50 year old Virginia Madisen and her daughters. The nice surprise is it's a well-told, mature story that is done without anything inappropriate for children to watch. It's a bit over the top in the sappy department, but it's worth a watch!

 

 

 

October Movie Count: 10

Best New Movie: The Watcher In The Woods

Worst New Movie: L!fe Happens

Best Rewatch: The Little Mermaid

2012 Movie Count: 201

 

 

My Week In Movies - August Wrap Up

The Odd Life of Timothy Green (2012) Disney's latest film deals with every kid's favorite topics of infertility and adoption. A young boy mysteriously emerges from the garden of a couple who have given up hope trying to have a child of their own. The boy teaches his new parents and everyone else in town a little something about themselves and each other. While not terribly compelling, this well made family drama should fit the bill if you're ever looking for a family drama.

Pirates! Band of Misfits (2012) I always say, I only ask one thing of a movie - be funny from beginning to end. This stop-motion feature from the folks who do Wallace & Gromit is hilarious from the very first scene up until the last. A band of pirates help their fearless leader, Pirate Captain, win the coveted title of Pirate of the Year. Very smart humor is mixed with some solid sight gags and plenty of slapstick, my kids and I loved this movie!

Casa de mi Padre (2012) Parody is a dying art form. The likes of Mad TV and the Date/Epic/Disaster Movies has reduced parody to just mentioning something from pop culture and then farting. Casa de mi Padre is Will Ferrel's take on Spanish telenovelas, crime movies, and Westerns. There's not a lot of jokes as in one liners or funny situations, it's all in the style of the film and the sincerity and conviction that Will Ferrel holds his own with an entire Spanish speaking cast while he converses in the foreign tongue for the entire 90 minuets. Don't worry, it's subtitled. As the poster says, "It's the funniest movie you'll ever read!"

Superman Vs. The Elite (2012) Love, love, LOVED this new DC animated flick which pits Supes against a group of vigilante super heroes. I was hooked on this movie from the retro opening title sequence, but the humor runs throughout the picture. The relationship between Superman/Clark and Lois Lane is fresh and the message of the film is strong and powerful. I even liked how DC wasn't afraid to take this cartoon to a more adult level with actual cursing and some sexual material. Still, I wasn't bothered with my 6 and 9 year old kids watching it. They loved it too. It's very well done and was worthy of a theatrical release.

The Dictator (2012) This is another strike-out for Sasha Baron Cohen. Da Ali G Show and Borat are both so painfully funny, but he can't seem to capture the magic again with Bruno and now this. The Dictator is scripted, so the outragousness doesn't seem quite so outrageous this time around, and the Hollywood story it's all wrapped up in is just plain stupid.

American Reunion (2012) I laughed once in the two hours this film lumbered across my TV screen.

Friends With Kids (2011) Pretty good Woody Allen-esque comedy about two friends who decide to have a kid together and cut through all the romantic BS of a relationship. It works really well and then with 10 minutes left to go it just derails onto Romantic Comedy Auto-Pilot. It ends on kind of a down note, but otherwise a very good movie.

Step Up 3

Step Up 3 (2010) Ok, this one was just silly...but I still enjoyed it.

Meatballs Part II (1984) I've been meaning to rewatch this great summer camp movie for years and I finally did on the last night of Summer Vacation. It still holds up!

The Silencers (1966) Dean Martin plays Matt Helm in the first of four movies where he pretty much channels his inner 007. That's 007 if he constantly drank and made out with girls.

Little House on the Prairie (1974) The pilot movie for the long running series is a really tight, sometimes intense story of the Ingalls family moving from their Little House in the Big Woods to Indian Country in Kansas. I read the first book in the series with my kids this summer and we all really liked it. It's surprising I never read the book before because my mother was a HUGE Laura Ingalls Wilder fan, but I wish I had read it when she was alive. She would have gotten a huge thrill out of discussing it with the boys and I.

Bloodlust! (1961) Mike Brady and three of his younger friends get stuck on a tropical island owned by a crazy millionaire who wants to set them loose in the jungle and hunt them down. As cheesy as any horror movie from 1961 is going to be, I actually quite enjoyed the film - with a brief running time of 68 minutes, it told it's story quickly and entertainingly.



August Movie Count: 26
Best New Movie: Pirates! Band of Misfits
Worst New Movie: American Reunion
Best Rewatch: In & Out
2012 Movie Count: 159

My week in Movies; August Week 1

Piranha DD (2012) The 3D Piranha remake from 2010 is a masterpiece of goofy gratuitous nudity and violence. The filmmakers strive to cram as much blood and boobs into 90 minutes as they could that the film plays as a parody of the horror genre. The clever title for the sequel, Piranha 3DD, suggests even more over the top amounts of skin and guts - however it just doesn't deliver. Still an enjoyable silly film, the follow-up is almost too self aware of it's silliness and never really goes anywhere. The man eating fish make their way into a water park, and all hell breaks loose yet again. A few of the actors from the first film turn up in small roles and there is still buckets of blood and larger breasts on hand, but as with many sequels it shows that the first film was lightning in a bottle.

LOL (2012) Here we have a mess of film as Miley Cyrus navigates her way through her senior year of high school. I saw the trailer a while back and wanted to see it, then it just showed up on WalMart shelves and Redbox. I should have taken that as a warning. Totally pointless voyage through waters we've already sailed before.

Step Up (2006) I usually like dance and music related films, but I don't always go out of my way to see them. But when a film series rolls around to it's fourth instalment, then I sit up and take notice. How can a silly movie about dancing generate three more sequels? Well, I was pleasantly surprised at how enjoyable Step Up 1 is. The story is nothing new, about a juvenile delinquent proving himself worthy in a performing arts school, but the performances are very good and the light tone and pace keeps things moving at a solid pace. There's some silly side story about some dude's brother dying, but the dancing is what it's all about. I enjoyed it.

Step Up 2: The Streets (2008) However, I enjoyed #2 even more. Why? Because it was even more generic in it's storyline about a dance competition to prove who's the best street dancer in Baltimore. More silly than the first and loaded with way more music/dance interludes, this unnecessary sequel got more hooked on the whole franchise.

Leroy & Stitch (2006) In the fourth and final chapter in the Lilo & Stitch saga, the duo wrap up loose ends after capturing all of the 624 experiments they were tasked with. Still funny and creative after years of churning out Stitch content, this direct-to-DVD flick is well worth a visit.

Bring It On Again (2004) I was saddened when I went to watch Step Up 3 on my DVR and the satellite had gone out preventing it from recording. So, I popped in a copy of another silly franchise that I have no business enjoying - the second Bring It On. The original Bring It On is somewhat of a modern classic, and the DVD sequels they keep churning out are fun and close to the spirit of the original. In Chapter 2, a different bunch of cheerleaders attend college and form a squad to compete with the school's snotty and well funded Varsity squad. Bring It On style hi jinks are then brought on.

My Week In Movies - July Wrap Up

Blue Crush (2002) I know I've mentioned it before, but I'll say it again - I love this movie.

Race For Your Life, Charlie Brown (1977) Quite possibly the 4,000th time I've seen this 3rd Peanuts big screen adventure. I'm pretty sure most of this film's score has been the soundtrack to my nightmares for the past 30-some years.

Gimme An 'F' (1984) Somehow, this low-brow cheerleader comedy for the 80's had escaped being a fixture of my youth. I imagine, had I seen it at an impressionable age I would have a fondness for it to this day, however coming to this flick this late in life - I found the tale of a troubled cheerleading squad trying to outsmart the leader of a cheerleading camp - a bit tedious but overall just not funny. However, you've gotta give big 80's credit to any movie that enforces stereotypes by playing a gong sound every time Asian businessmen characters arrive on screen.

July Movie Count: 17

Best New Movie: 21 Jump Street

Best Rewatch: The Cannonball Run

Worst Movie: Dennis The Menace

2012 Movie Count: 133



My Week In Movies - July; Week 3

The Great Outdoors (1988) Do yourself a favor and go back and watch an old John Candy movie that you haven't seen in a while. Man, he was a great talent who is missed. We really don't have anyone like him anymore. I hadn't seen this summer vacation picture since it came out and don't remember it too fondly but rewatching it now I enjoyed the heck out of it. John Candy and Dan Aykroid take their families on vacation in a cabin in the woods. It's all the standard B-grade storylines running, but it's just innocent, silly fun that all works together.

Mannequin (1987) I hadn't seen this one in a long time either. What a great cast, in addition to the two stars Andrew McCarthy and Kim Cattrall there's also Meshac Taylor, G.W. Bailey, James Spader and the always great Estelle Getty. This is another round of silly 80's fun with a department story mannequin coming to life in the form of Cattrall and romancing store employee McCarthy. As with every 80's comedy, there is an extending music video scene where she tries on different outfits. That scene is always a winner.

Rascal (1969) My kids are on a big kick about raccoons right now, so we watched this vintage Disney comedy about a young boy who adopts a raccoon as a pet even though the whole town tells him a varmint can't make a good pet. Not much time is spent on the relationship between the boy and his new pet, instead there is a storyline involving the town pastor and teacher getting involved with the boy's upbringing and a totally odd and tacked on side story about a car race. Not a very engaging film even for a die hard Disney fan like myself. (The kids fell asleep within the first 30 minutes.)

Stop! Look! And Laugh (1960) I love movies that serve as odd time capsules. At one time, ventriloquist Paul Winchell hosted a Saturday morning kid's show featuring Three Stooges shorts. So, somebody decided to make a movie version of the show. Paul lives at home with a couple of his dummies and he tells them various stories which end up just dissolving into a greatest hits collection of Three Stooges shorts. It's very strange, but both the vintage shorts and the new material work...and work well. My kids were howling at the puppet bits and enjoyed the Three Stooges shorts as well.

Madea's Big Happy Family (2011) This was my first venture into the world of Tyler Perry and Madea. If you're not familiar with Madea, she's a large elderly black woman played by a large younger black man in minimal drag. She's stared in a dozen or so plays and a more recently a handful of movies. I'm always intrigued by characters moving from film to film (a la' Ernest) so I gave this Madea entry a try on Netflix Instant. I was very surprised at how much I enjoyed the film. The writing isn't that great, and alot of the characters are more style than substance...but overall, the film doesn't shoot too high and it works at it's own level. A woman discovers she has only a few weeks to live and she wants to gather her family together to tell them all at once. Everybody in the family has their own dysfunctional story and every attempt at a get together falls apart before the news is sprung. So, the woman asks Madea to gather everyone up for her. I like a good simple story with some heart and big laughs, Madea's Big Happy Family provided in all departments.

Support Your Local Gunfighter (1971) I wasn't really sure what was going on in this charming western comedy, but everybody on screen looked like they were having so much fun that it was hard not to enjoy myself too. James Garner arrives in town and gets mixed up in a plot to...well, I honestly really don't know. But it's fun. The great Jack Elm (who is in my all-time favorite The Cannonball Run) is awesome in this movie, as well as Suzanne Pleshette and Harry Morgan. This movie also features the most well lighted town in the wild west.

Man of the House (2005) Big studio comedies don't get much worse than this horrible attempt at laughter with Tommy Lee Jones playing his Tommy Lee Jones character assigned to protect a cheerleading squad who have witnessed a murder. Any film that explores the wonderful world of cheerleading and can't come up entertaining is a very sad story indeed. I think I laughed once during the painful 100 minutes of film I subjected myself to. Bad.

My Week In Movies - July; Week 2

The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) So many questions with the newest Spider-Man movie. Why did we need to sit through his origin story...again? Why does it take Spider-Man almost an hour to show up to his own movie? Why does the bad guy always have to have a backstory, can't he just be evil? Why does the villain's story always have to be something personal with Spider-Man? Why can't they just make a movie where some robots rob a bank and Spider-Man swings in, battles them, and saves the day? And why, oh why did Spider-Man...NOT ONCE...sling web out of the 3D movie screen and into my face!?! All that being said, I enjoyed the new movie.

21 Jump Street (2011) A silly movie (staring Tatum Channing or Channing Tatum, whichever it is) based on a 20 year old FOX show should not be good. Yet alone, how does it be great. 21 Jump Street is a fantastic movie. Very, Very funny. It pokes fun at itself while still being genuinely funny on it's own. It plays around with the aspect that it's based on an existing property and most importantly it never once lets the story of the film stand in the way of the humor. I hate when a silly comedy gets too bogged down with it's own plot. This movie is perfect. As an added bonus, there's a really great cast including a few people from The Office, Parks & Recreation and New Girl. Plus there's Brie Larson who I thought was kind of cute in Hoot, and she's very pretty here too.

The Cannonball Run (1980) Simply put - my favorite movie of all time. It still makes me laugh from beginning to end. The kids were interested in seeing it since they've heard me talk about it and quote it so often. The youngest fell asleep quickly and my older one found it pretty boring. Perhaps I sprung it on them a little too early. Although I guess I was Elias' age when I first started watching it religiously on HBO. Of course back then, we didn't have 14 new animated films a year competing for our attention. We made do with what we had.

Starcrash (1978) I hate that whole "so bad it's funny" thing. This Italian knock off of Star Wars is not all that funny, but it's so bad and silly that it is very enjoyable. I have no idea what it was about, but there is some girl in a leather bikini fighting bad guys with a robot named Elle The Police Robot. Elle speaks with a slight southern accent and is full of witty C3-PO-esque things to say. Oh, and near the end David Hasselhoff shows up to help Bikini Girl battle some space cavemen. Good times!

Dennis The Menace (1993) I remember this being kind of funny. I think I watched it when I worked at a video store once. My kids love the old black and white TV show so I thought they'd get a kick out of this updated (read: Color) version. They enjoyed it ok but I have to say it is god-awful. The movie is 95% soundtrack. Things aren't funny...but the soundtrack sure works hard into making you think you just saw something funny. Also, Dennis the Menace was never mean spirited, he wasn't out to make people's lives a living hell. In this movie, Dennis is a pretty naughty boy. Also, kids movies shouldn't have so many sex jokes in them! Do I sound old?

My Week in Movies - July; Week 1

As if you cared...My Week In Movies returns in all it's full glory! The main reason I started this feature was to write about movies, and lately I've just been listing what I've seen instead of doing any writing with them, so I thought it was time to get back to basics.

Wild Things 3: Diamonds in the Rough (2005) There's really no good reason why I watched this movie except that I just seem to love crappy made-for-DVD sequels to real films. I enjoyed the original Wild Things and thought I'd give this goofy follow up a try. It is actually pretty good, about a gal who frames her stepfather for rape in the hopes of swindling some money out of him. Her scheme involves several people and as in the original flick, everybody is backstabbing everyone else and the twists and turns are fast and frequent. Any movie with stolen diamonds as a central plot device can't be that bad. The production values are top rate for a direct-to-video cheapie and the cast is all having fun.  From reading up on the other two films in the series, apparently lesbianism is also a theme that runs through the four Wild Things films, and chapter 3 also has no shortage of that. So, you got that going for ya!

Good Eats!

Jaws: The Revenge (1987) You've probably heard how bad this third sequel is. And whatever you've heard is right. This is a bad movie! It's not scary or intense in the least bit. It involves the mom from the first two films traveling from New England to the Bahamas where the shark (Jaws or Bruce, which ever you choose to call him!) has followed her! Jaws somehow knew that Mrs. Brody was booking a flight to the Bahamas and then followed her from the water as she flew 80,000 ft. above it. With a ridiculous set up like that, and then nothing scary to follow...this really is a horrible movie. (It's probably about the 5th or 6th time I've seen it.)

June Movie Round-Up

As the summer sets in, it's harder for me to get a chance to watch a movie without it being family friendly/kid approved. I was a bit disappointed with my beloved Pixar's latest offering Brave. I found it to be derivative of several Disney films before it and it just didn't have that magic that is usually associated with Disney or Pixar. However, I was totally blown away by The Secret World of Arrietty from Japan's Studio Ghibli. I'm not usually a fan of Japaneese animation but this reworking of the story The Borrowers was totally captivating and quite and slow paced (something NO American piece of animation is allowed to do anymore!) I read a book on the Greatest Cowboy Movies of all time which lead me to watch Shane, a really good western that ranked very high in the book. Vibes is an old Jeff Goldblum/Cyndi Lauper vehicle that I used to adore as a kid. I hadn't seen it in a long while...it wasn't quite as great as I remembered it but it was still a pretty solid flick. I'd had the preteen mermaid movie Aquamarine on my back burner for years. Finally saw it and it wasn't half as bad as I imagined it would be. The new Blue Lagoon: The Awakening has nothing at all to do with the first two films in the series except an island and sex. The newer live action Charlotte's Web isn't near as faithful to the book as the older animated film. Once again, here's a list of my June movies from best to worst:

Tangled (2010)
Stitch! The Movie (2003)
The Secret World of Arrietty (2012)
Robin Hood (1973)
Shane (1953)
Ace Ventura When Nature Calls (1995)
Vibes (1988)
Brave (2012)
Aquamarine (2006)
Men In Black (1997)
Blue Lagoon: The Awakening (2012)
Ringmaster (1998)
Just One of the Guys (1985)
Malibu Beach (1978)
Charlotte's Web (2006)
3 Ninjas: High Noon at Mega Mountain (1998)


June Movie Count: 16
2012 Movie Count: 116

May Movie Round-Up

What am I, everybody else? I loved The Avengers!

Continuing to let my DVR fill up with shows, in May I watched a whole bunch more movies. Here, again, is a list from best to worst. The Avengers was really, really good...I'm not a huge super hero fan but I enjoyed the heck out of that movie. We Bought A Zoo made me want to buy a zoo. Usually I move films from my list of movies I love to list of movies I don't love anymore. Get Over It, a feather weight high school comedy with Kirsten Dunst, was way better that I remember when I saw it in the theatre 10 years ago. The bottom four movies on this list were the pits including the mind numbing dumbness of One For The Money and the pale, slow Blue Crush rip-off Beautiful Wave.

The Avengers (2012)
The Simpsons Movie (2007)
We Bought A Zoo (2011)
Get Over It (2001)
Growing Up Brady (2000)
Lilo & Stitch 2 (2005)
Midnight Madness (1980)
Tammy and the Bachelor (1957)
King Ralph (1991)
Charlotte's Web (1972)
How To Frame A Fig (1971)
Blondie Meets The Boss (1939)
Crash Course (1987)
New Year's Eve (2011)
Pure Luck (1991)
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2011)
She's Out of Control (1989)
One For The Money (2012)
Beautiful Wave (2011)

May Movie Count: 19
2012 Movie Count: 100

April Movie Round-Up

Really liked this movie!

I didn't watch too much TV this month, I was really in a movie mood. I was surprised how much I enjoyed the Oscar nominated The Descendants. After watching it, I thought maybe I should add some more drama to my diet and followed it up with Martha Marcy May Marlene and Sleeping Beauty. Both of these new dramas felt fairly pointless and had unsatisfying endings. My only trip to the cinema was to see The Three Stooges, which was pretty darn funny and I was really glad they kept it clean. Shockingly not horrible: Alvin and the Chipmunks Part 720 and Tooth Fairy 2 staring Larry The Cable Guy.

Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)
Lilo & Stitch (2002)
The Descendants (2011)
Hexed (1993)
The Three Stooges (2012)
The People Vs. George Lucas (2010)
Corman's World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel (2011)
Camp Cucamonga (1990)
Popatopolis (2009)
My Father The Hero (1994)
Dumb and Dumber (1994)
Blondie! (1938)
Rock n' Roll High School (1979)
Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked (2011)
Tooth Fairy 2 (2012)
Van Nyus Blvd. (1979)
The Sitter (2011)
High School USA (1983)
Girls Just Want To Have Fun (1985)
Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011)
Dirt (1979)
Sleeping Beauty (2011)

April Movie Count: 22
2012 Movie Count: 81 (up 11 from 2011)

My Month In Movies - March Wrap Up

Just didn't feel like writting that much this past month, so I took a break from the weekly movie updates. Here's a list of what I saw in March from best to worst...

Ernest Goes To Jail (1990)
The Muppets (2011)
Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle (2004)
Young Adult (2011)
Miss March (2009)
The Big Year (2011)
Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat (2003)
Valley Girl (1983)
Ernest Goes To Africa (1997)
Chasing Ghosts: Beyond the Arcade (2007)
Walt & El Grupo (2008)
The Lorax (2012)
Koko: A Talking Gorilla (1978)
Jack and Jill (2011)

March Movie Count: 14
2012 Movie Count: 59 (up 2 from 2011)

My Week In Movies - February Wrap Up

Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie (2012) There's a fine line between making a totally stupid movie and a stupid movie that knows what it's doing. I'm happy to say that this is one of the good ones.

The Prize Fighter (1979) Tim Conway (easily still one of my favorite actors) and Don Knotts appeared in 6 films together. This depression area boxing comedy was the only one of the six I hadn't seen. Overall, not a great film but Mr. Conway can do no wrong.

Brain Donors (1992) I've always loved this remake of The Marx Brothers' A Night At the Opera. I'm really surprised this hasn't become more of a cult classic over the years, but if you like funny, funny movies - find a copy of this great movie and watch it.

Puss In Boots (2011) Very slightly better than average outing for the Dreamworks crew. Shrek's buddy Puss gets his own backstory which is actually well told with some exciting action sequences and plenty of gentle humor spread throughout.

Night Patrol (1984) This is one of the major Police Academy rip-offs that I had not seen. I actually remember my dad telling me about it when he saw it late at night on HBO when I was a kid. There's some solid humor tucked in this movie, but instead of a Police Academy clone, at it's heart the film is really a staring vehicle for The Unknown Comic - a guy who told joke wearing a brown paper bag over his head. He was a real celebrity back in the early 80's...and somebody thought they should capture it all on film. Doesn't mean I had to watch it some 25 years later!?

February Movie Count: 23

Best New Movie: Tim & Eric's Billion Dollar Movie

Best Rewatch: Brain Donors

Worst Movie: Bucky Larson: Born To Be A Star

2012 Movie Count: 45

My Week In Movies - Snap Snap

Saturday The 14th (1981) This is one of those movies that I have fond memories of watching a zillion times on HBO when I was a kid. I haven't seen this one in a real long time, it seems to have fallen quite our of circulation. There was an old VHS release and it still hasn't seen the light of day in the digital age. I was stoked when it popped up on Netflix Instant a few weeks ago. It's not quite the comic gem I recall, but it's not a bad flick about a family moving into an old haunted house and all hell breaks loose before long. The title is probably the only thing that's kept it in the memories of people for so long. The print Netflix is using appears to be from the VHS release, complete with super-outdated looking FBI warning.

Addams Family Values (1993) One of the rare instances where the sequel in WAY better than the original. The second (and final big screen outing) for the Addams' find Fester falling prey to a homicidal seductress. It's fast paced, very funny with really solid one lines and a terrific secondary plot which sends Wednesday and Pugsly off to a summer camp for privileged kids. Good stuff all around.

The Change-Up (2011) This is a neat take on the ol' body-switching movie. Usually, it's parent and kid who switch bodies, but this time they take two best buddies in their 30's. One is married with a high pressure job, wife and kids and the other is a dope smoking, goof off ladies man. The results are pretty darn funny, however at over 100 minutes the film looses a little steam in it's final act. Still, a solid R-rated laugh if you're in the mood for one.