My Week In Movies - June of the Penguins

Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011) Let's face it, Jim Carrey is at his best when he's just being Jim Carrey. We like him goofy, silly and just off the wall bonkers - it's why he's a star. It's understandable that he wants to do more than than in movies, but throw us a bone every once in a while and just let loose and go crazy like ya did in your first handful of movies! Mr. Popper's Penguins is a perfect vehicle for Carrey to let loose and be a goofball and there are moments in the film where we see the ol' Ace Ventura Jim shine through. But too much of this movie is wasted on the sappy relationship between Mr. P and his kids and the played out storyline about his career that we never really get the full Jim Carrey experience that this family film should carry. Even the penguins aren't given that much to do, they have some funny scenes and Carrey is funny reacting to them but overall this picture should have been alot funnier than it was. If you're not looking for a Jim Carrey experience and just a nice family friendly flick to take the kids to - this should do you just fine. If you're looking for Jim Carrey in his element - you'd be better off rewatching Ace Ventura or The Mask.


I Am Number Four (2011) Imagine a cross between Star Trek and Dawson's Creek...except without any of the good parts. In this teen oriented sci fi caper, a young fella is on the run from alien bounty hunters while also trying to navigate the complex world of high school. He meets a girl, falls in love, stands up to the school bully, and also discovers that he can shoot light out of his palms. The aliens out to get him are some mean looking bargain basement Star Trek leftovers who wish to take over the Earth but must first destroy nine kids sent to the planet from space. (The kid in the story is the fourth of the nine, get it?!) I hate in movies when aliens are portrayed as basically humans with weird tattoos and bad teeth. In a world with Mike Tyson and the British - you need a little more effort than that nowadays to sell me an alien. That's why ALF continues to be the most realistic depiction of alien life. Well, ALF and that brain thing from the old Ninja Turtles cartoon. I Am Number Four does conclude with a pretty decent action sequence and sets the stage for a series of films, I guess they are hoping I Am Number Five is next? It's kind of lame to force a franchise on an audience. We all knew we were in for 18 Harry Potter movies, but unless you're a broom riding wizard you need box office receipts before you can start filming a number two...or five?!

C.C. and Company (1970) Oh Ann-Margret! You've steered me wrong this time! The still gorgeous Ann-Margret and goofy looking football legend Joe Namath star in this early 70's biker picture. After a cute opening scene where Namath makes a sandwich while shopping in a grocery store, we settle in for a fairly bland adventure. Apparently in the 1970's audiences couldn't get enough of motorbikes because this ain't the first film I've seen where a good percentage of screen time is dedicated to capturing the glory of little mopeds scurrying around a dirt track. There are at least two extended scenes of just people riding around on bikes. This film also features the hilarious comic misadventures of rape and teenage prostitution. I couldn't tell if this was supposed to be a comedy, drama or action flick. The movie's carousel calliope soundtrack didn't help matters either.

Scooby Doo: Camp Scare (2010) They've been making these direct-to-DVD Scooby Doo animated movies at the rate of one a year for the last 15 years. I've seen a couple of them and I rather enjoyed this one. Scoobs and the gang join Fred as he goes back to the summer camp of his youth to be a counselor. Of course there are some mysterious hi jinks afoot. This Mystery Inc. outing plays nice to older viewers with some sophisticated jokes and a funny subplot about Daphine's jealousy over a sexy, curvy counselor at the neighboring camp. I only wish these films were animated more in the style of the older cartoons, but they do retain alot of the fun of the original series.

Space Jam (1996) There are two types of people in this world: The people who think this Bugs Bunny/Michael Jordan basketball movie is a piece of crap and there are those who think it's a fantastic movie. I am from the camp of those who find it awesome! My kids enjoyed it too!

My Week In Movies - The Mule Still Talks

Just Go With It (2011) About 10 minutes into Adam Sandler's new romantic comedy you realize that he's not going to end up with the girl you're supposed to think he's going to end up with because it's not Jennifer Aniston, and Jennifer Aniston is a much bigger star than the other girl. The other girl in question is played by swimsuit model Brooklyn Decker. Her and Adam Sandler's doctor character meet and fall in love, but after a serious of wacky mishaps that only happen in the movies, Sandler talks his assistant, Jennifer Aniston, and her family to pretend they are his ex-wife and kids to impress his new younger girlfriend. Of course, while all this is going on I'm thinking how in movies a relationship built on lies is all going to backfire in the end, we've seen it all a million times. I'm happy to report that Just Go With It wisely skips the majority of the predictable ending they set up and stick mostly to playing the film just for laughs. All I ever ask from a comedy is to be funny and keep being funny, and this fluffy romantic slapstick delivers. Jennifer Aniston is great and even outshines Sandler in the comedy department. Brooklyn Decker sizzles on the screen and proves to be a much more competent actor than anyone would give a swimsuit model credit for. Comedian Nick Swardson is hilarious as Sandler's brother who gets mixed up in the whole affair and pretends to be Aniston's new boyfriend Dolph Lundgren. I also gotta give Nicole Kidman props for hamming it up in a small supporting role. Good times at the theatre. Rated PG-13, for commercial purposes. There is almost nothing offensive in this lighthearted film, except for a few minor curse words and a moment or two of sexuality. It might have been rated PG-13 just because Brooklyn Decker is so scorching hot!?


You Again (2010) Oh boy, was this a bad movie! Kristen Bell returns home for the wedding of her older brother only to find out he's marrying her high school nemesis. As it turns out, the fiance's aunt is Bell's mother's high school nemesis. Then all wacky holy heck breaks loose! The cast is impressive, with Jamie Lee Curtis, Sigourney Weaver and Betty White, but the script is so flat and silly and once again with the "isn't this funny" musical score. Half of this movie is accompanied with wacky, mischievous music cranked up so loud...all the time trying to tell you - wait for it, wait for it, this is going to be funny! Even Betty White can't save this mess from making any sense. Just not a good movie. Rated PG, surprisingly not a single curse word is muttered nor is there any sex or off-color jokes.

Francis Covers The Big Town (1953) In the fourth instalment of the Francis the Talking Mule series, Francis and his buddy Peter end up in New York City where Peter gets a job at a newspaper. Francis gets all the dirt in town chatting to the police horses and passes the news onto Peter who quickly becomes the top reporter at the paper. This seems to be the perfect gig for Peter since he still hasn't learned to keep his mouth shut about his talking animal friend. Now all Peter how to do when questioned about the whereabouts of his information is simply remind everyone that a good report never divulges the source of his information. But trouble soon finds Peter and Francis once again and it's all more fun than you can shake a carrot at! There's three more Francis movies for me to see, but they aren't out on DVD so I'll have a harder time tracking them down. I've really been enjoying these films. Again, this one is not rated but does have some mild violence.

Bedtime For Bonzo (1951) President Ronald Regan stars in this
wacky comedy where he adopts a chimp, hires a young pretty housekeeper to help out and then tries to juggle his girlfriend and a monkey throwing things around. This is exactly like a good ol' fashioned Disney comedy (which it's not) and Bonzo provides plenty of laughs and charm to carry the picture. But the added bonus of having Ronald Regan on board, who didn't usually play roles like this and knowing that he would be president of the most powerful nation in the world...it all makes the movie more fun. Supposedly, this was Regan's least favorite film that he was in - but it also happens to be his most widely remembered role. None of the cast of this picture signed on for a sequel - Bonzo Goes To College - which is not on DVD and that's a crying shame because it would be next on my Netflix queue. Not rated.


Scooby-Doo: Curse of the Lake Monster (2010) Why is it that these direct-to-DVD prequels are better than the two theatrical films. This fourth live action Scooby Doo mystery is every bit as faithful and true to the original cartoon is a cartoon-to-live action film should be. A simple story involving the Mystery Inc. gang getting summer jobs at a country club and helping to solve the mystery of a legendary monster nearby. There are a few supporting roles played by some familiar faces from classic TV and there are a couple of nice hidden references to Hanna-Barbera. The kids and I are definitely on board for a 5th go-round! Unrated, but basically a G. There is some very mild crude humor and some romantic undertones.

In The Navy (1941) After the success of their first staring vehicle, the Army themed Buck Privates, Abbott and Costello enlisted in the Navy for another service picture. This follow up features more of the same ingredients that made the first movie so much fun including The Andrew Sisters and plenty of Abbott and Costello's classic comedy routines. The DVD includes production notes which says that In The Navy went into production in mid-December 1940 and hit theatres by the end of January 1941. That's some turn around that modern day Hollywood could never touch. To top it off, the film was one of the highest grosses of 1941. Not rated - good old fashioned fun!

The Filthiest Show in Town (1973) Via Netflix, I thought I had discovered an unheard of sketch comedy film from the early 70's, instead what I discovered was that I had rented an early 70's soft core porno. The set up is a parody of The Dating Game, complete with commercials and obscenity trail. Besides being dull and boring, this film's biggest crime is that it just wasn't funny! Rated R for language, non-stop nudity, and graphic sexual situations.

House of Straw

My wife and I recently spent an extended weekend in the Bahamas on beautiful Grand Bahama Island. Mrs. South was a bridesmaid in a beautiful beach wedding, we also took a tour on a glass bottom boat and enjoyed some fine local cuisine. One of the highlights of our trip was spending the day at Port Lucaya Marketplace which is a neat little shopping complex made up of little shops, eateries, and bars. One of the other attractions at the Marketplace is known as the Straw Market.

If you've been to the more famous Straw Market in nearby Nassau you haven't experienced quite the same thing as the markets in Grand Bahama. In Nassau the markets are filled with rip-offs of designer handbags and other name brand goods. In Grand Bahama the markets are way more low key. There are over 100 little booths where islanders sell handmade goods and other simple souvenirs like t-shirts and hats. One of the most popular items that you'll find for sale at almost every vendor are straw bags. They come in all shapes and sizes and each is handmade. You can find a bag decorated with almost anything you can think of. It was pretty cool to find tons of bags with the (unauthorized) likeness of several cartoon pals. Of course, I took some pics:

This vendor had a large assortment. We saw alot of Mickeys and Doras...this was the only place we saw Muppets and even Bratz.

This was one of the better looking Disney bags I found.

I was hoping to find a Flintstones bag and spotted this Wilma tucked away in the back of one booth. I took a picture and then turned around and found a Fred bag which instead of taking a picture of, I forked over ten bucks and bought it. I guess I could have taken a picture of it still, since it's sitting in my bedroom now, but for now just enjoy the Wilma.

Yogi Yahooeys Fan For Life

An exciting treasure from the Hanna-Barbera vaults finally made it's way to DVD this week. Scooby's All Star Laff-A-Lympics Volume 1 features four episodes from the fondly remembered 1977 - 1979 Saturday morning series. This has always been one of my favorites from the guys at H-B and I was pretty excited to see the show get a DVD release. Judging from the cover art, Warner Bros. is hoping to ride off the immense popularity of Scooby-Doo. He's featured prominently in the show's opening segment and in most of the episodes but for most H-B fans Laff-A-Lympics stands out due to it's cast of dozens of cartoon superstars.

The Laff-A-Lympics is an Olympics style event, actually a parody of ABC's Battle of the Network Stars. In each episode, three teams compete in an assortment of athletic events at venues all over the world. The teams are: the Scooby Doobies - made up of Hanna-Barbera characters from half hour mystery shows like Scooby Doo, Dinomutt, Speed Buggy and Captain Caveman; the Yogi Yahooeys - featuring the gang from H-B's classic animated shorts like Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound, Wally Gator and Quick Draw McGraw; and there's the Really Rottens - who look similar to other Hanna-Barbera bad guys but are mostly all original creations for this show. The teams compete in different events and are awarded points throughout the competition. Of course, the Really Rottens always try to cheat and it always backfires on them!

One of the coolest aspects of the show was the guest cameos that pop up from time to time. In the four episodes on this collection there are brief appearances from Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble and Jabber Jaw. The other fun thing about this show is how much my kids got into it! They both really got behind the Scooby Doobies and were cheering them on and hooting and yelling like they were watching something on ESPN. Myself, I'm a life long Yogi Yahooeys fan so the line was drawn down the middle of our house and the kids took great delight in seeing their team squash mine. I really like when my children appreciate the simpler cartoons from the past.

I also have to add that "Laff-A-Lympics" is a totally great title! I'm a big fan of 70's programing that incorporates the words "Laugh", "Comedy", or "Smile" into their title.

Here's a rundown of who's who on the Laff-A-Lympics teams:

My Week In Movies - Ladies and Gentlemen, Academy Award Nominated Actor Liam Neeson and Scooby-Doo

Taken (2009) Between the fact that I usually only watch comedies and kids films and that Taken is a really well made action picture, my heart was literally thumping out of my chest watching this fantastically intense thriller. Liam Neeson's daughter gets kidnapped and sold into white slavery while vacationing in France. Luckily, Neeson's character was some sort of top secret government spy trained to kill anyone who gets in his way. So, he hops a plane to France and starts kicking butt left and right on his quest to find his daughter. This movie is tight! And by that I mean there isn't much unnecessary time spent in this film. Once the girl gets nabbed, the rest of the film is about getting her back. Very well done movie that I probably wouldn't have seen if it wasn't for my wife.

Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins (2009) Much better than the previous two theatrical Scooby Doo movies, The Mystery Begins is much closer in spirit to the original 1960's cartoon show. In fact, this direct-to-DVD movie nails the transition from beloved cartoon series to live-action motion picture. Directed by Brian Levant, who also directed both of The Flintstones movies, Scooby-Doo meets up with Shaggy and the rest of the gang for their very first mystery. The special effects are kept to a minimum and the focus is on the friendship that forms between these four kids (and one dog.) There's some nice nods to the TV show while bringing the whole Scooby-Doo universe up-to-date in a non-obnoxious way. I was honestly blown away by how much better The Mystery Begins is over Scooby-Doo (2002) and Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (2004). If you were let down by the first attempt to bring Mystery Inc. into the real world, rent this movie (or catch it on Cartoon Network) and you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Loose Screws (1985) Imagine a film spoken almost entirely in double entendre. It's kind of like a Mad Magazine comic that goes on for 75 minutes. In this Canadian classic, four guys get sent off to a boarding school where they decide to devise a point system for all the girls in the school and then see who can score the most points hooking up with the girls. Yes, it's as tasteless as it sounds. The boys all set their sites on the new French teacher, 100-point Miss Mona Lott. Get it, Mona Lott? Everybody's name in this movie is a pun/entendre...but that's the only one I can publish here at WWoB. None of the guys ever do hook up with Miss Lott, but at the graduation ceremony at the end of the movie a statue comes to life and blows marijuana smoke all over the place causing Mona Lott to do a striptease in front of the whole student body. Oh Canadians, you guys have all the fun!