After catching up with the whole
Charlie Sheen story on
Dateline NBC Friday night, I see why the country is talking about him and paying attention to him. He's a nut job! He's putting on a show for the public, but it's a darn entertaining show because he appears to be out of his freakin' gourd! And my thing is...who does he think he really is? He did a handful of good/popular movies in the 80's and somewhat into the 90's but other than that his body of work is made up of mostly direct to DVD movies over the past decade or so. And his show,
Two and a Half Men, is only the most popular situation comedy on television because it's really the only old fashioned traditional sitcom on right now that plays to the lowest common denominator. I guarantee that show could go on for another couple of years without him! Anywho...I thought I'd take this opportunity to share with you my opinion of the five best films Mr. Sheen has done. Nope, I never saw
Wall Street or
Platoon...I didn't even see
The Three Musketeers. In fact, the only time I've seen
Two and a Half Men was on a plane! But I do love these movies...
Scary Movie 3 (2003) Scary Movie 2 was possibly one of the worst follow-ups in comedy history. That movie is terrible. But what a comeback with the third instalment where they got
Airplane! director David Zucker on board and brought this franchise to new heights. Charlie Sheen spoofs the Mel Gibson role from
Signs and it's a pretty darn funny movie. Sheen's ex-wife Denise Richards is also in the cast along with Queen Latifah, series regular Anna Faris, Leslie Nielsen and George Carlin in one of his last on screen performances.
The Chase (1994) This is a really fun movie where Chuck holds up a gas station and then takes Kristy Swanson as his hostage. Most of the film is a chase, hence the title, and it all is sort of reminiscent of the O.J. Simpson car chase that happened not to long before this flick came out. The highlight of this action comedy is a love scene between Sheen and Swanson, not necessarily because it's sexy or anything like that but because for 2 or 3 minutes the front seat of the getaway car apparently stretches out to the size of a hotel room. Also, they have sex going down the highway at 104 MPH?!?
Major League II (1994) Ok, this movie is actually not very good...in fact it's awful. But it's on my list simply because I was an extra in this limp comedy. Somewhere near the one hour mark, look in the stands behind 3rd base and you can see me and a bunch of my buddies from college. You won't really see me unless you have me standing next to your TV with a pointer and my hand on the freeze button, but I'm definitely in there! What a fun evening it was, sitting around watching a baseball game without a baseball being used. (I guess the balls were CG'ed in later.)
Hot Shots! (1991)/Hot Shots! Part Deux (1993) These two films are comedy masterpieces brought to us by another
Airplane! director, Jim Abrahams. The first film is a hilarious send up of
Top Gun, the second sets it's sights more on the
Rambo films. In each, Charlie Sheen plays Topper Harley along with Lloyd Bridges and Valeria Golino. There are plenty of brilliant sight gags, witty word play and cameos galore. Several other films are spoofed along the way including a classic
Lady and the Tramp homage in the second film. Both these films did big business at the box office and are required viewing in the Ed South School of Movie Comedy.
Men At Work (1990) A quirky dark comedy with Sheen and his brother Emilio Estevez as trash men who stumble upon a dead body while doing their job. I believe this film popularized the classic "golf clap" bit. It's been a while since I've seen this one, but I remember enjoying quite a bit when I saw it in the theatre and watched it several times on home video.
After catching up with the whole Charlie Sheen story on Dateline NBC Friday night, I see why the country is talking about him and paying attention to him. He's a nut job! He's putting on a show for the public, but it's a darn entertaining show because he appears to be out of his freakin' gourd! And my thing is...who does he think he really is? He did a handful of good/popular movies in the 80's and somewhat into the 90's but other than that his body of work is made up of mostly direct to DVD movies over the past decade or so. And his show, Two and a Half Men, is only the most popular situation comedy on television because it's really the only old fashioned traditional sitcom on right now that plays to the lowest common denominator. I guarantee that show could go on for another couple of years without him! Anywho...I thought I'd take this opportunity to share with you my opinion of the five best films Mr. Sheen has done. Nope, I never saw Wall Street or Platoon...I didn't even see The Three Musketeers. In fact, the only time I've seen Two and a Half Men was on a plane! But I do love these movies...
Scary Movie 3 (2003) Scary Movie 2 was possibly one of the worst follow-ups in comedy history. That movie is terrible. But what a comeback with the third instalment where they got Airplane! director David Zucker on board and brought this franchise to new heights. Charlie Sheen spoofs the Mel Gibson role from Signs and it's a pretty darn funny movie. Sheen's ex-wife Denise Richards is also in the cast along with Queen Latifah, series regular Anna Faris, Leslie Nielsen and George Carlin in one of his last on screen performances.
The Chase (1994) This is a really fun movie where Chuck holds up a gas station and then takes Kristy Swanson as his hostage. Most of the film is a chase, hence the title, and it all is sort of reminiscent of the O.J. Simpson car chase that happened not to long before this flick came out. The highlight of this action comedy is a love scene between Sheen and Swanson, not necessarily because it's sexy or anything like that but because for 2 or 3 minutes the front seat of the getaway car apparently stretches out to the size of a hotel room. Also, they have sex going down the highway at 104 MPH?!?
Major League II (1994) Ok, this movie is actually not very good...in fact it's awful. But it's on my list simply because I was an extra in this limp comedy. Somewhere near the one hour mark, look in the stands behind 3rd base and you can see me and a bunch of my buddies from college. You won't really see me unless you have me standing next to your TV with a pointer and my hand on the freeze button, but I'm definitely in there! What a fun evening it was, sitting around watching a baseball game without a baseball being used. (I guess the balls were CG'ed in later.)
Hot Shots! (1991)/Hot Shots! Part Deux (1993) These two films are comedy masterpieces brought to us by another Airplane! director, Jim Abrahams. The first film is a hilarious send up of Top Gun, the second sets it's sights more on the Rambo films. In each, Charlie Sheen plays Topper Harley along with Lloyd Bridges and Valeria Golino. There are plenty of brilliant sight gags, witty word play and cameos galore. Several other films are spoofed along the way including a classic Lady and the Tramp homage in the second film. Both these films did big business at the box office and are required viewing in the Ed South School of Movie Comedy.
Men At Work (1990) A quirky dark comedy with Sheen and his brother Emilio Estevez as trash men who stumble upon a dead body while doing their job. I believe this film popularized the classic "golf clap" bit. It's been a while since I've seen this one, but I remember enjoying quite a bit when I saw it in the theatre and watched it several times on home video.
1 comment:
I guess this is a testament to how not-close we were growing up, or to my incredibly bad memory, but I was at the stadium for Major League II and I dont think I knew you were.
Signed,
Your Brother
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