Day 66 - 3/7/09 - Movie #64
BEFORE: Let's move from a parody of "The Fugitive" to its sequel. I've been trying to watch this film for about a decade. I slept very late today (Sat.) so by the time I had lunch, scanned some TV for work, went shopping and then had dinner, it was almost Sunday. And I'm going to lose an hour tomorrow to that damn Daylight Saving Time - don't get me started on that.
THE PLOT: US Marshal Samuel Gerard (Jones) and his team of Marshals are assigned to track down Mark Sheridan, a murderer and robber.
AFTER: Certainly it's action-packed, lots of twists in the storyline. But I question the choice to not let the audience know any facts about Wesley Snipes' character. We cared about Dr. Richard Kimble in "The Fugitive" because we KNEW he was innocent of his wife's murder. We know almost nothing about Mark Sheridan, then we learn he used to work for the government - so is he innocent or not? Suddenly we're not sure who to root for... Still, it's a great thrill-ride, and Robert Downey Jr. was a fine addition to the mix. Lots of great footage shot in some of Queens' finest cemeteries.
RATING: 7 out of 10 badges
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Wrongfully Accused
Day 65 - 3/6/09 - Movie #63
BEFORE: Another spoof film with Leslie Nielsen, I think it's the last one, unless the pay channels run that "Superhero Movie" spoof, I think he had a part in that.
THE PLOT: Ryan Harrison is framed for murder and must prove himself innocent by finding a mysterious one-eyed, one-armed, one-legged man after escaping from a bus accident on the way to jail.
AFTER: Did we need a spoof of "The Fugitive"? Can we put an end to this genre now? None of these films will ever be as funny as "Airplane" anyway... Is this just an excuse for Leslie Nielsen to make out with actresses half his age? Or just to re-use old jokes and show people getting hit in the balls? Forgettable.
RATING: 4 out of 10 crotch-gags
BEFORE: Another spoof film with Leslie Nielsen, I think it's the last one, unless the pay channels run that "Superhero Movie" spoof, I think he had a part in that.
THE PLOT: Ryan Harrison is framed for murder and must prove himself innocent by finding a mysterious one-eyed, one-armed, one-legged man after escaping from a bus accident on the way to jail.
AFTER: Did we need a spoof of "The Fugitive"? Can we put an end to this genre now? None of these films will ever be as funny as "Airplane" anyway... Is this just an excuse for Leslie Nielsen to make out with actresses half his age? Or just to re-use old jokes and show people getting hit in the balls? Forgettable.
RATING: 4 out of 10 crotch-gags
Spy Hard
Day 64 - 3/5/09 - Movie #62
BEFORE: Worked late on Thursday night - so I'm glad that these parody films are so short! Only a couple more to go, this one features Leslie Nielsen as the hero and Andy Griffith as the villain. Again, I mostly know about the film because of the theme song by Weird Al.
THE PLOT: General Rancor is threatening to destroy the world with a missile he is hiding at his secret base. Special Agent Dick Steele is assigned to the case, in order to prevent the worst.
AFTER: This movie so badly wanted to be as funny as "Austin Powers" - but it just wasn't. For a spoof of James Bond films, it actually plays it too straight! And each pun, like the characters' names, just gets repeated over and over and run into the ground. The woman's name is Barbie Dahl, we GET IT already! Do you have to stress it 50 times? And how old is Leslie Nielsen, anyway? 80? And he's still trying to play an action hero?
RATING; 4 out of 10 microchips, and I'm being generous.
BEFORE: Worked late on Thursday night - so I'm glad that these parody films are so short! Only a couple more to go, this one features Leslie Nielsen as the hero and Andy Griffith as the villain. Again, I mostly know about the film because of the theme song by Weird Al.
THE PLOT: General Rancor is threatening to destroy the world with a missile he is hiding at his secret base. Special Agent Dick Steele is assigned to the case, in order to prevent the worst.
AFTER: This movie so badly wanted to be as funny as "Austin Powers" - but it just wasn't. For a spoof of James Bond films, it actually plays it too straight! And each pun, like the characters' names, just gets repeated over and over and run into the ground. The woman's name is Barbie Dahl, we GET IT already! Do you have to stress it 50 times? And how old is Leslie Nielsen, anyway? 80? And he's still trying to play an action hero?
RATING; 4 out of 10 microchips, and I'm being generous.
Fatal Instinct
Day 63 - 3/4/09 - Movie #61
BEFORE: Might as well knock off another one of these spoof films while I'm in the groove, but this one looks fairly stoopid - it's a parody of films like "Fatal Attraction" and "Basic Instinct". 5 spoof films in the last week, with still another 2 or 3 to go...
THE PLOT: A cop/attorney (yes he's both) is seduced by a woman while his wife is having an affair with a mechanic.
AFTER: Well, I'm not a big fan of Armand Assante, but Sean Young managed to turn up the crazy and deliver a solid comic performance. Nothing by itself stands out as hilarious, but there are so many little gags that some of them do manage to connect. Plus it's a genre that's full of things to parody - heck, "Basic Instinct 2" was pretty much a parody of itself.
RATING: 5 out of 10 ice picks
BEFORE: Might as well knock off another one of these spoof films while I'm in the groove, but this one looks fairly stoopid - it's a parody of films like "Fatal Attraction" and "Basic Instinct". 5 spoof films in the last week, with still another 2 or 3 to go...
THE PLOT: A cop/attorney (yes he's both) is seduced by a woman while his wife is having an affair with a mechanic.
AFTER: Well, I'm not a big fan of Armand Assante, but Sean Young managed to turn up the crazy and deliver a solid comic performance. Nothing by itself stands out as hilarious, but there are so many little gags that some of them do manage to connect. Plus it's a genre that's full of things to parody - heck, "Basic Instinct 2" was pretty much a parody of itself.
RATING: 5 out of 10 ice picks
Johnny Dangerously
Day 62 - 3/3/09 - Movie #60
BEFORE: Continuing in the genre of spoof films - this is one of my wife's favorite movies, she and her brother quote lines from it all the time, but I've never seen it all the way through - I only know the movie from the music video for the Weird Al theme song...
THE PLOT: Set in the 1930's, an honest, goodhearted man is forced to turn to a life of crime to finance his neurotic mother's skyrocketing medical bills.
AFTER: Funnier than "Loaded Weapon", maybe about as funny as "Hot Shots". Who knew that "Airplane" would spawn so many copycat spoof films? I guess the gangster movies of the 1930's and 40's were something of an easy target... The songs sung by Marilu Henner's character were pretty clever too - the double meaning of "I Want to Love...Dangerously"
RATING: 7 out of 10 tommy-guns
BEFORE: Continuing in the genre of spoof films - this is one of my wife's favorite movies, she and her brother quote lines from it all the time, but I've never seen it all the way through - I only know the movie from the music video for the Weird Al theme song...
THE PLOT: Set in the 1930's, an honest, goodhearted man is forced to turn to a life of crime to finance his neurotic mother's skyrocketing medical bills.
AFTER: Funnier than "Loaded Weapon", maybe about as funny as "Hot Shots". Who knew that "Airplane" would spawn so many copycat spoof films? I guess the gangster movies of the 1930's and 40's were something of an easy target... The songs sung by Marilu Henner's character were pretty clever too - the double meaning of "I Want to Love...Dangerously"
RATING: 7 out of 10 tommy-guns
National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1
Day 61 3/2/09 - Movie #59
BEFORE: Picking up the parody film genre again - played trivia at Crash Mansion tonight, so I'm short on time, and I think this is a short film.
THE PLOT: An LA detective is murdered because she has microfilm with the recipe to make cocaine cookies. A "Lethal Weapon" style cop team tries to find and stop the fiends before they can dope the nation by distributing their wares via the "Wilderness Girls" cookie drive.
AFTER: It's a funny-enough parody of the buddy-cop genre, "Lethal Weapon" and all the other similar films of the late 80's and early 90's. Good cameos by Charlie Sheen and F. Murray Abraham. Nothing was overwhelmingly side-splitting funny, but there were a lot of little gags, like in "Airplane".
RATING: 6 out of 10 boxes of cookies
BEFORE: Picking up the parody film genre again - played trivia at Crash Mansion tonight, so I'm short on time, and I think this is a short film.
THE PLOT: An LA detective is murdered because she has microfilm with the recipe to make cocaine cookies. A "Lethal Weapon" style cop team tries to find and stop the fiends before they can dope the nation by distributing their wares via the "Wilderness Girls" cookie drive.
AFTER: It's a funny-enough parody of the buddy-cop genre, "Lethal Weapon" and all the other similar films of the late 80's and early 90's. Good cameos by Charlie Sheen and F. Murray Abraham. Nothing was overwhelmingly side-splitting funny, but there were a lot of little gags, like in "Airplane".
RATING: 6 out of 10 boxes of cookies
The Jewel of the Nile
Day 60 - 3/1/09 - Movie #58
BEFORE: 1/6 of the way through the year, and starting Month #3 of my movie year. I'm making progress in that I'm watching a lot of movies, but since I'm still recording new ones off the premium channels, the list itself isn't getting any smaller - I'm adding movies as fast as I can watch them...
THE PLOT: The sequel to "Romancing the Stone". Joan accepts an invitation to go to a middle eastern country as a guest of the sheik, but there she is abducted and finds herself involved with the "jewel". Jack decides to rescue her with his new partner Ralph.
AFTER: Well, I think I liked the first movie better, though this sequel did feature the Flying Karamazov Brothers as a tribe of juggling Arabs... The villain's motives weren't very clear, though, and the identity of the "jewel" was revealed too early - plus it was just lacking FUN somehow...
RATING: 5 out of 10 camels
BEFORE: 1/6 of the way through the year, and starting Month #3 of my movie year. I'm making progress in that I'm watching a lot of movies, but since I'm still recording new ones off the premium channels, the list itself isn't getting any smaller - I'm adding movies as fast as I can watch them...
THE PLOT: The sequel to "Romancing the Stone". Joan accepts an invitation to go to a middle eastern country as a guest of the sheik, but there she is abducted and finds herself involved with the "jewel". Jack decides to rescue her with his new partner Ralph.
AFTER: Well, I think I liked the first movie better, though this sequel did feature the Flying Karamazov Brothers as a tribe of juggling Arabs... The villain's motives weren't very clear, though, and the identity of the "jewel" was revealed too early - plus it was just lacking FUN somehow...
RATING: 5 out of 10 camels
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