The Boatniks (1970) As we all know, I'll watch anything with the Walt Disney name on it, especially the films made shortly after Walt's death in 1966. The studio was without their leader, and for a while didn't know what direction to go in. As a result, they produced some bizarre films that are only around to this day because of the Disney name. The Boatniks is one such film as it is drenched in outdated 1970's style. Let's start with the title. I suppose that's supposed to be a play on the word "beatnik"? I don't know!? The story involves the Coast Guard, a marina full of wacky boaters and a trio of bumbling jewel thieves. Now, I have movies about crime...the crime of the century, the perfect crime, the jewel heist of the millennium...I'm not a big fan of the genre. But when you've got bumbling jewel thieves, I'm all in. Here the bad guys are played by the great Phil Silvers, Norman "Mr. Roper" Fell, and Mickey Shaughnessy. Some of you probably don't know who Phil Silvers is, but if you ever see his name on a DVD box you will be doing yourself a favor by watching the movie on that DVD. He is a delight! The cast also includes Don Ameche, Stephanie Powers (Hart to Hart), Al Lewis (Grandpa Munster), the guy from Car 54, Where Are You?, and some guy named Robert Morse, who is apparently on Mad Men now.
Fantasia 2000 (2000) We were listening to the soundtrack for the original Fantasia in the car, and the kids were intrigued by it. They wanted to watch it, but I had a feeling the two hour and 5 minute running time might be a bit much for them, so we went with the follow-up film, Fantasia 2000 which only clocks in at 75 minutes. This movie is every bit the work of art the original 1940 motion picture is. It's beautiful to both the eyes and ears and it's a real nice way to show off a home theatre system. Walt Disney's original idea with Fantasia was to have the film constantly re-released with new segments replacing existing segments. The dream was never fully realized until 60 years later when Walt's nephew Roy took one segment from the first Fantasia and then created seven new musical scenes to wrap around it. The result is very entertaining. One of the segments in this newer film is set to Edward Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance. The visuals involve Donald Duck helping Noah fill his ark with all the sets of animals. This scene alone is worth the price of admission and in my opinion one of the finest pieces of animation to come out of the Walt Disney Studios in the last 40 years.
Miss March (2009) Folks, I love a good "high concept" film. A high school senior falls down a flight of stairs, crashes into a tool bench and goes into a coma. When he awakes four years later, everyone has abandoned him except his best friend. The guy wants to know what happened to his girlfriend and as it turns out, she's the centerfold in this month's issue of Playboy magazine. So, the two guys set off on a cross-country trip to the Playboy Mansion to find the girlfriend. What makes this movie work, is that the movie knows that it's premise is ridiculous. This movie does not take itself serious for a moment and all the situations and wacky predicaments these two guys get themselves into are played out to comic extremes. I have very low expectations going into this movie and I was pleasantly surprised. And I'm glad I got out to the theatre and saw it when I did because it only lasted two weeks in my local cinema. It's grossed only $60 thousand bucks in three weeks.
Grossing slightly higher is Monsters vs. Aliens (2009) which grossed an impressive $60 Million in just three days! My kids were so pumped up for this movie and I've gotta admit I was looking forward to it too. Unfortunately, like so many other movies coming out these days, it was just so-so. They started off with a good idea: the government enlists the help of several 1950's B-movie style monsters to save the world from an alien invasion. It's a well done movie, but all the funny parts were given away in the commercials. And they've been heavily advertising this movie since last Fall. Kids don't care about any of that...they loved it! Both of mine were laughing throughout and spent the rest of the evening after the movie playing Monsters vs. Aliens in their playroom. If you like all the other DreamWorks animated films, they you're sure to like this one too. Myself, I was a little disappointed.
My wife and I saw THE BOATNIKS on our honeymoon. We were at the hotel, sitting in a heart-shaped but flatulant hot tub, toasting each other with Coca Cola in champagne glasses and watching the Disney Channel (as opposed to the free porn) on the room's TV.Then we saw our friend Bob Hastings (McHALE'S NAVY) in the picture! I told Bob the story some time later and he said "I SAW you! You didn't know TV worked that way did you? You NAUGHTY people!"
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