My Week In Movies - July; Week 2

The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) So many questions with the newest Spider-Man movie. Why did we need to sit through his origin story...again? Why does it take Spider-Man almost an hour to show up to his own movie? Why does the bad guy always have to have a backstory, can't he just be evil? Why does the villain's story always have to be something personal with Spider-Man? Why can't they just make a movie where some robots rob a bank and Spider-Man swings in, battles them, and saves the day? And why, oh why did Spider-Man...NOT ONCE...sling web out of the 3D movie screen and into my face!?! All that being said, I enjoyed the new movie.

21 Jump Street (2011) A silly movie (staring Tatum Channing or Channing Tatum, whichever it is) based on a 20 year old FOX show should not be good. Yet alone, how does it be great. 21 Jump Street is a fantastic movie. Very, Very funny. It pokes fun at itself while still being genuinely funny on it's own. It plays around with the aspect that it's based on an existing property and most importantly it never once lets the story of the film stand in the way of the humor. I hate when a silly comedy gets too bogged down with it's own plot. This movie is perfect. As an added bonus, there's a really great cast including a few people from The Office, Parks & Recreation and New Girl. Plus there's Brie Larson who I thought was kind of cute in Hoot, and she's very pretty here too.

The Cannonball Run (1980) Simply put - my favorite movie of all time. It still makes me laugh from beginning to end. The kids were interested in seeing it since they've heard me talk about it and quote it so often. The youngest fell asleep quickly and my older one found it pretty boring. Perhaps I sprung it on them a little too early. Although I guess I was Elias' age when I first started watching it religiously on HBO. Of course back then, we didn't have 14 new animated films a year competing for our attention. We made do with what we had.

Starcrash (1978) I hate that whole "so bad it's funny" thing. This Italian knock off of Star Wars is not all that funny, but it's so bad and silly that it is very enjoyable. I have no idea what it was about, but there is some girl in a leather bikini fighting bad guys with a robot named Elle The Police Robot. Elle speaks with a slight southern accent and is full of witty C3-PO-esque things to say. Oh, and near the end David Hasselhoff shows up to help Bikini Girl battle some space cavemen. Good times!

Dennis The Menace (1993) I remember this being kind of funny. I think I watched it when I worked at a video store once. My kids love the old black and white TV show so I thought they'd get a kick out of this updated (read: Color) version. They enjoyed it ok but I have to say it is god-awful. The movie is 95% soundtrack. Things aren't funny...but the soundtrack sure works hard into making you think you just saw something funny. Also, Dennis the Menace was never mean spirited, he wasn't out to make people's lives a living hell. In this movie, Dennis is a pretty naughty boy. Also, kids movies shouldn't have so many sex jokes in them! Do I sound old?