Review: "The 3 Stooges" PG-13
The Farrelly brothers, of 'Something about Mary' and 'Dumb and Dumber' tackle the physical slapstick comedy of Larry, Curley and Moe (but not Shemp), the 3 stooges of the old 1930s to 1950s serials. One might argue the stooges invented the formula for whacked out stunts later popularized on Jackass, and it's a wonder they didn't cast anyone from Jackass in the movie. The disclaimer about stunts is on the end of the movie, when there should be one on the beginning also. The story starts about 25 years ago at an orphanage where three insane toddlers are dropped off, and who grow up to be completely demented, but silly also. The mother superior and the nuns have kept them around despite one attempt years earlier to send them off with rich folks. Then there is this convoluted plot involving the rich folks, an evil fiance, and a crazy hit man, and the stooges attempting to get almost a million bucks to save the orphanage. The casting of the stooges was quite good and the guy playing Moe is especially accurate to the old shorts. They were seen many, many years ago on TV in the 1980s but in rerun. The shorts post 1952 weren't any good. The 1970s cartoon was crap. The movie goes back to the origin stories of the Depression era 1930s but updated to 2012 instead of 1932. They even toss in a reality TV show, 'The Jersey Shore' instantly dating the movie, so in ten years it won't make any sense. But it is funny that they make fun of the genre, and if one thinks about reality TV also, the stooges kind of thought of that too, or at least vaudeville type slapstick humor and that kind of random slapstick angry humor is similar enough so one could be a descendant of the other. And naturally it is Moe who beats the show actors at their game. The other two couldn't have done it. The Stooges aren't so much altruists, as the Ren and Stimpy guys thought, so much as they're fake altruists. If their bunging doesn't kill them, the world will. Actually Dumb and Dumber was in this ballpark too. If you like the physical comedy and crudeness it's your movie. If not, you probably shouldn't rent it later.
Review by Adam Browne
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Review: "Cabin In The Woods" is fun send up to woodland cabin horror
Review: "The Cabin in the Woods" R
Joss Whedon produced this creepy parody of the horror genre type where a band of horny teenagers gets off into the woods for the weekend only to be hacked up by some kind of ghouls. The idea has been around long before being popularized in the 80s, like in 'Friday the 13th' and 'Halloween', and takes the haunted house premise of many of these several steps beyond. The story delights in making fun of the tropes for such a movie, including having a slutty girl, a jock, a stoner, a nerd, and a virginal one, who in this case isn't really because she just doesn't count that one time. It also has elements of reality TV and of various underground classics, with nods to Raimi, Romero and others. The jokes are clever. The gore is splatter punk. It is the kind of thing that was put on screen and was thought about before, but here it is done freshly, coated in crimson. It is quite a messed up movie from an emotional standpoint, but because it is clearly a comedy it never gets as messed up a Rob Zombie's movies. And look for some hilarious cameos! I will not give away the comparisons and the obvious likenesses to other things as it would be giving too much away. It just came out. Since it actually was sitting on an MGM shelf for a year, it is technically from 2011. Ha. Go and see it or rent later. Maybe even own it.
Joss Whedon produced this creepy parody of the horror genre type where a band of horny teenagers gets off into the woods for the weekend only to be hacked up by some kind of ghouls. The idea has been around long before being popularized in the 80s, like in 'Friday the 13th' and 'Halloween', and takes the haunted house premise of many of these several steps beyond. The story delights in making fun of the tropes for such a movie, including having a slutty girl, a jock, a stoner, a nerd, and a virginal one, who in this case isn't really because she just doesn't count that one time. It also has elements of reality TV and of various underground classics, with nods to Raimi, Romero and others. The jokes are clever. The gore is splatter punk. It is the kind of thing that was put on screen and was thought about before, but here it is done freshly, coated in crimson. It is quite a messed up movie from an emotional standpoint, but because it is clearly a comedy it never gets as messed up a Rob Zombie's movies. And look for some hilarious cameos! I will not give away the comparisons and the obvious likenesses to other things as it would be giving too much away. It just came out. Since it actually was sitting on an MGM shelf for a year, it is technically from 2011. Ha. Go and see it or rent later. Maybe even own it.
Review: "Speed Zone" is vapid reject of original Cannonball idea
Review: "Speed Zone" Cannonball Run 3 PG 13
Only one or two connections exist from the original Cannonball Run movies in this odd duck sequel that likely went direct to video in the late 1980s. Eugene Levy (now of the American Pie franchise) takes on the type of character Burt Reynolds was playing, but is only used in cameo at the beginning and the end. The late great John Candy replaces unavailable Dom DeLuise (who died just a few years ago), as the luckless fat driver guy, but this time the girl rides up front with him, because it's a car not a van or a limo. The race is the same, but with the 70s gas shortage and the age of the smog converter, and the compact car, there literally aren't any American made muscle cars that can compete in the 1987 (guessing) race, which likely never happened anyway. All of the American muscle is represented by trucks or larger vehicles, which foreign compact sports cars return, including Lamborghini and BMW. The story though is purely pointless, and given that, has more jokes than 'Gumball Rally' the first movie, the prequel to all of this, from the 70s when the actual race happened, but is not as charming, as it is clearly a knock off sequel done just for money. It does beat Cannonball Run 2 though, which was terrible. By just a hair. Some jokes work. Candy is infectiously clumsy and Levy is slippery, and the mob boss character is almost funny at times, as well as the odd duck tall man who players the villain in many later films. (He's even in the 2000s miniseries Taken). The lackluster send off is just a little too late. The whole action race to the end is lost in tired chase gags. The car skipping the pond part was ridiculous fun and the only reason I wanted to see this is MythBusters did it also and proved it was faked. Well yeah. It was funny however that stock car legends cameo, and even John Schneider 'Bo Duke' plays the guy who jumps the lake. Even so, it was too late. It was done. Newer attempts at the race are called the 'Gumball Rally, ironically and were done in the 2000s and still are. They are all based on the same source material, the book by the creator/stars of the Cannonball Run.
Only one or two connections exist from the original Cannonball Run movies in this odd duck sequel that likely went direct to video in the late 1980s. Eugene Levy (now of the American Pie franchise) takes on the type of character Burt Reynolds was playing, but is only used in cameo at the beginning and the end. The late great John Candy replaces unavailable Dom DeLuise (who died just a few years ago), as the luckless fat driver guy, but this time the girl rides up front with him, because it's a car not a van or a limo. The race is the same, but with the 70s gas shortage and the age of the smog converter, and the compact car, there literally aren't any American made muscle cars that can compete in the 1987 (guessing) race, which likely never happened anyway. All of the American muscle is represented by trucks or larger vehicles, which foreign compact sports cars return, including Lamborghini and BMW. The story though is purely pointless, and given that, has more jokes than 'Gumball Rally' the first movie, the prequel to all of this, from the 70s when the actual race happened, but is not as charming, as it is clearly a knock off sequel done just for money. It does beat Cannonball Run 2 though, which was terrible. By just a hair. Some jokes work. Candy is infectiously clumsy and Levy is slippery, and the mob boss character is almost funny at times, as well as the odd duck tall man who players the villain in many later films. (He's even in the 2000s miniseries Taken). The lackluster send off is just a little too late. The whole action race to the end is lost in tired chase gags. The car skipping the pond part was ridiculous fun and the only reason I wanted to see this is MythBusters did it also and proved it was faked. Well yeah. It was funny however that stock car legends cameo, and even John Schneider 'Bo Duke' plays the guy who jumps the lake. Even so, it was too late. It was done. Newer attempts at the race are called the 'Gumball Rally, ironically and were done in the 2000s and still are. They are all based on the same source material, the book by the creator/stars of the Cannonball Run.
Saturday, April 7, 2012
Review: "American Reunion" is funny at times
Review: "American Reunion" R
The gang from American Pie return in their fourth official outing, as all of the direct to video renditions aren't really canon or official. They all act like the other stories never happened, making it like it's the fourth, not the seventh one. The zany case return for their high school reunion, all of them bragging about their accomplishments, which are apparently for naught, and pining for their old high school days as the class of '99. The reviewer was in the class of '89 and never had a reunion, not officially. So it resonated. In the movie was funny the story is supposed to be the 12th reunion because they couldn't come up with one in 2009. The main stars appear to be Jim and Stiffler and Michelle, with the rest playing bit parts, and Jim's dad playing a larger role, and the gags are grosser than ever.. The drawback is though the previews pretty much tell you all the good jokes. The rest is just a lot of disdjointed sulking and reminiscing about the past high school days. This would be fine if they were having a 20th reunion, but they're supposed to only be 12 years older. Surely after only a decade they can't say they've not lived life enough! Okay, the actors weren't even hi high school when they played the characters in American Pie, but still. Hannigan's Michelle for instance, is actually quite a bit older. Maybe she got held back. Scott's Stiffler gets to be more of a meaty character, but only because he was a producer and such this time around. And it does have a nice twist involving Finch's Mom, and another with Jim's Dad, the great Eugene Levy, (of some of the direct to DVD ones also), and Stiffler's Mom. Your high school reunion will likely not be like this, which is what makes it fun. It's a better movie than American Wedding. It helps they got some of the original producers and writer. The character of Nadia is underused in the story and only has a cameo, which is unfortunate. Not a bad spoof of reunion pictures. These kids make High School Musical look like a grade school special.
The gang from American Pie return in their fourth official outing, as all of the direct to video renditions aren't really canon or official. They all act like the other stories never happened, making it like it's the fourth, not the seventh one. The zany case return for their high school reunion, all of them bragging about their accomplishments, which are apparently for naught, and pining for their old high school days as the class of '99. The reviewer was in the class of '89 and never had a reunion, not officially. So it resonated. In the movie was funny the story is supposed to be the 12th reunion because they couldn't come up with one in 2009. The main stars appear to be Jim and Stiffler and Michelle, with the rest playing bit parts, and Jim's dad playing a larger role, and the gags are grosser than ever.. The drawback is though the previews pretty much tell you all the good jokes. The rest is just a lot of disdjointed sulking and reminiscing about the past high school days. This would be fine if they were having a 20th reunion, but they're supposed to only be 12 years older. Surely after only a decade they can't say they've not lived life enough! Okay, the actors weren't even hi high school when they played the characters in American Pie, but still. Hannigan's Michelle for instance, is actually quite a bit older. Maybe she got held back. Scott's Stiffler gets to be more of a meaty character, but only because he was a producer and such this time around. And it does have a nice twist involving Finch's Mom, and another with Jim's Dad, the great Eugene Levy, (of some of the direct to DVD ones also), and Stiffler's Mom. Your high school reunion will likely not be like this, which is what makes it fun. It's a better movie than American Wedding. It helps they got some of the original producers and writer. The character of Nadia is underused in the story and only has a cameo, which is unfortunate. Not a bad spoof of reunion pictures. These kids make High School Musical look like a grade school special.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)