My Week In Movies - Never Trust A Movie With "Suck" In The Title

Sucker Punch (2011) There's only one reason to watch this mess of a movie, and it's the only reason I watched it. The lead, Emily Browning, is all sorts of ridiculously hot! If there is such thing as eye candy, she's an Everlasting Gobstopper! Besides her, this is not a good film. I'm not a fan of style over substance, which is what director Zack Snyder is known for. There are some awesome action sequences within this movie but they are presented as fantasy dreams. You know going in to the scene that this isn't really happening, it's her escape from the real world. So, the fights and battles really have nothing to do with the story and therefore I don't need to sit for 45 minutes and watch five hot girls battle dragons and robots! It just doesn't work. There is no emotional investment in what makes up the majority of this flick. The framing story is fairly interesting, about a corrupt insane asylum that is a front for a brothel. But there are so many mind-tricks in this movie that you just end up with two hours of meaningless violence and phony philosophy. I know Sucker Punch is out of my comfort zone but I was willing to give it a try. In the end, it's just an empty experience in fluffy confusion.

Bugs Bunny's 3rd Movie: 1001 Rabbit Tales (1982) I've always found this to be the lesser of the Looney Tunes compilation films, yet I've seen it about 1001 times. This collection of mostly fairy tale based Looney Tunes cartoons was an absolute staple of my childhood. It seemed to be on HBO every summer plus I ended up seeing it at the free movies by the lakefront in Columbia at least two or three times. The film is part of the Looney Tunes Movie Collection DVD set which oddly includes only the first and third of the Bugs Bunny films. I'd been jonesing seeing this again so the other night when my wife had a friend over to watch Insidious, the kids and I cowered upstairs and watched Bugs and the gang. No matter how bad the bridging sequences of newer animation get in these films, you simply can't deny the entertainment value in classic Warner Bros. shorts. This movie chops up the cartoons a little too much but it's still an entertaining tale of Bugs and Daffy as traveling book salesmen who get caught up having to read stories to a spoiled prince. It has some great old cartoons in it including one of my all-time favorites, Ali Baba Bunny.

Murder By Death (1976) Only in the 1970's could you make a movie that is both smart and stupid - and perfectly wonderful on both levels. Neil Simon's spoof of detective mysteries is both dead on parody and silly slapstick. There's an all-star cast including James Coco, Peter Falk, Obi-Wan Kanobi, David Niven, Peter Sellers, and the very beautiful Eileen Brennan. Five of the world's greatest detectives are summoned to the mansion of an eccentric millionaire for a deadly game of Whodunnit. When I was in the 8th grade a friend of mine loved this movie. We watched it one night and I didn't get it at all. This time I got it. They just don't make good silly movies like this anymore.

15 Minutes, I Say 15 Minutes Son

The fine folks at Geico Insurance have produced some fine commercials. What do they, put out like 8 new commercials a week, or something like that? It's always cool when they bring a classic animated character into the mix. Check out Looney Tunes star Foghorn Leghorn getting into the act. This spot features some really nice animation too!


Since we're talking about Geico, let me also run one of my favorite commercials in a long time. The timing in this spot is so dead on! There's also a :15 second version of this commercial and it totally ruins the pace. Both the actors in this spot are so good.

My Week In Movies

Best Worst Movie (2010) I'm not really into the whole "so bad it's good" thing when it comes to movies. So, it's hard for me to fully buy into a documentary all about how much people love a particular bad movie. The movie in question is Troll 2, and quite frankly I was disappointed enough in Troll 1 that I wouldn't need to see Troll 2 no matter how good or bad it was. The thing is, when I like a movie which is considered by many to be crap - I genuinely like it. When I watch something that is considered "so bad it's good" I'm usually quite bored with it. Plan 9 From Outer Space is horrible, plain and simple. It's not fun to watch - it's crap! Others I find, just like to jump on a bandwagon of enjoying something stupid so they can put it down or laugh at it ineptness. Myself, I like to laugh at things that are supposed to be funny. That all said, Best Worst Movie is an interesting look at how Troll 2 took on a life of it's own. What's more interesting in the film is to see how it's given some people who stared in the film and then later went on to live rather normal lives, a little taste of celebrity. Not rated; has some PG-13 cursing.



The Crimson Wing: Mystery of the Flamingos (2008) This new round of Disney nature documentaries needs to find a new voice. The playful charm of Disney's 1950's era True-Life Adventures is missing in these new movies. I thought the narration in Earth was a little dry, and Oceans voice-over was so grandiose it was ridiculous. This bird entry into the series, which skipped theatres in the states and was dumped on DVD this month, takes the narration to incomprehensible heights. These are pink birds: flying, standing on one leg, having flamingo sex, and getting eaten. The narration is delivered as if the viewer is seeing the outside world for the first time. Every image captured in this film is accompanied with so much narrative urgency that it becomes exhausting after 20 minutes. These flamingos lead a similar existence to a certain group of penguins who made a movie a while back, except their tale was a little more exciting. This project seems forced. Rated G even though it contains some mildly intense moments and disturbing shots of baby flamingos getting eaten. There is also a brief flamingo one night stand illustrated.

Daffy Duck's Quackbusters (1988) The fifth and final big screen compilation of classic Warner shorts mixed with new animation was one of the final vocal performances of the legendary Mel Blanc. He provided the voices of almost all the Looney Tunes stable of characters since the 1930's and by 1988 he understandably could not match the voices he had recorded so many years earlier. I believe some of the post production on this film was done with out Mel and as a result, Daffy Duck has three different voices throughout the picture. However, old Looney Tunes shorts are so perfect that a sampling of them in any format is still good stuff. This film also features a few newer shorts that were made in the 80's including The Ducksorcist and Night of the Living Duck, which are alone worth the price of admission. Rated G.

Let The Halloween Cartoons Begin

Halloween is just a few weeks away and the kids and I have been in the mood to kick off the holiday special viewing season. So, this past weekend we decided to relax after a day of pumpkin picking and hay rides with the annual ritual of "Pulling Out The Halloween Videos."

We started things off with a screening of Bugs Bunny's Howl-oween Special, a good ol' fashioned CBS primetime offering from 1978. As with the majority of the Looney Tunes specials, this show mixes a handful of classic animated shorts with some newer low-grade animation to form one continuous half hour cartoon. Even as a young kid, the newer bits of the cartoon stuck out like a sore thumb in the middle of the original masterpieces. Sometimes the new animation was just used to link together three or four complete cartoons, other times (such as the case with Howl-oween) the newer bits are sprinkled in and out the old cartoons to try and make it seem like one whole story. When the latter approach was used, the shows feel disconnected and choppy. Animation style, character design and voices change every couple of minutes and it makes viewing a bit difficult. It's a wonder why they didn't just collect a handful of Halloween themed shorts and air them in their entirty.

I was never really a huge fan of these chop shop Warner Bros. specials, but I watched them every time they were on because that's how we rolled back in the old days before VCRs and 24 hour cartoon channels. In more recent years, I kinda had a nostalgic yearning for some of these specials and have sought some out on video and DVD. Bugs Bunny's Howl-oween Special makes it's debut on DVD this year, having not been released since a 1994 VHS cassette. The special itself features clips and scenes from nine vintage shorts including Broom-Stick Bunny (1956), Hyde and Hare (1955) and Transylvania6-5000 (1954). One of my all-time favorite Looney Tunes shorts, Scaredy Cat from 1948, is also used luckily without too much interruption.

All in all, even though the show alters the original state of the cartoons the special is entertaining and promotes enough Halloween spirit to get everyone in the mood. The new DVD also features the complete short Hair-Raising Hare from 1946. This is the one where Bugs Bunny meets the giant orange-haired monster and does his nails. Good stuff and actually worth the price of admission alone!

In the mood for more classic animated shorts, we then popped in Tom & Jerry: Hijinks and Shrieks. I picked up this DVD at a yard sale a couple of years ago (they had it priced at $3 but I talked `em down to $2...suckers!) but we had never gotten around to watching it. This isn't an old TV special, but rather a collection of 7 top-shelf Tom & Jerry shorts from 1952 to 1965. The bad news is that only two of these shorts have anything at all to do with Halloween, the good news is that they are all pretty good cartoons. The amazing thing is that after 60+ years, these cartoons are still laugh out-loud funny to kids and grown ups alike! And quite frankly, there is no greater sound than hearing your kids crackup to pieces laughing at silly things like animals running into walls and cats getting their tail chopped off!

The two Halloween themed shorts, 1956's The Flying Sorceress & The Haunted Mouse from 1965 are both filled with sufficient levels of spooky fun to carry the other 5 titles into making this a fun collection for the Halloween season. A couple of the shorts were produced in CinemaScope and of course are presented here in pan and scan. I think a DVD of just a handful of cartoons presented in their widescreen glory for new television sets would not only be an awesome addition to the WWoB DVD library, I think it would be a big seller as well!

Both Bugs Bunny's Howl-oween Special and Tom & Jerry: Hiijinks & Shrieks are available at Wal-Mart, Amazon and for rental from Netflix. Good stuff for your pre-Trick or Treat viewing!

10 Great Movie Cameos

If a few text messages back and forth constitutes a conversation then...The other day I was having a conversation with a good friend about one of the greatest, if not THE greatest, cameo appearance in a movie ever! We both agreed that it's got to be Big Bird in The Muppet Movie (1979). Now, The Muppet Movie is a landmark film in cameos anyway. The movie is packed with brief appearances by some of the biggest legends in showbiz: Orson Wells, Bob Hope, Milton Berle, Richard Pryor to name a few. But who would have ever guessed that a Muppet could make a cameo in a Muppet movie? While driving along on their way to Hollywood, Kermit and Fozzie see a strange figure in the road up ahead. It turns out to be Big Bird traveling in the opposite direction. It turns out he's on his way to New York City to break into public television. Comedy gold! That kind of humor is sort of common place today, but that was oddly self-referential for 1979.

So, as the title of this post suggests, this got me thinking about some other great cameos in movies and it was an excuse for me to make a list.

Chevy Chase in Sesame Street Presents Follow That Bird (1985)
My other all-time favorite cameo comes from another Muppet filled motion picture and it's one of my all-time favorite movie stars. Chevy Chase was the number one box-office star when he appeared in this big screen venture for the timeless children's show. Chevy plays a news reporter on television who first breaks the story that Big Bird has run away from Sesame Street...or Sesaim Street as he pronounces it. In just a few brief moments on screen he is hilarious. After a remote spot from on the scene reporter Kermit the Frog, Chevy returns to do the weather: "And now for the weather. It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood....A wonderful day in the neighborhood. Won't you be...my neighbor." It still makes me laugh!

Ethel Merman in Airplane! (1980) At a mental hospital: "It's Lieutenant Hurwitz. Severe shell-shock. Thinks he's Ethel Merman." "You'll be swell, you'll be great. Gonna have the whole world on a plate. Startin' here, startin' now. Honey, everything's comin' up roses..."


Pee-Wee Herman in Back to the Beach (1987) Back to the Beach is the 20 year later follow up to the popular Beach Party movies of the 60's. It stars Frankie and Annette as grown-ups with kids of their own. It is a fantastic motion picture you must see! It has a bunch of great cameos in it, most notably Don Addams, Bob Denver and Alan Hale Jr. all playing off their TV personalities. But the best cameo has got to be Pee-Wee Herman, who appears out of nowhere, for no reason at all, sings Surfin' Bird, and then flies off into the sky on a rocket powered surfboard. Brilliance!

Tim Conway and Don Knotts in Cannonball Run II (1984) Here's the setup: This being a Cannonball movie, everyone is driving a car or one sort or another. Tony Danza is driving a stunt limo which makes it look like an orangutan is actually driving the car. The orangutan is even dressed up in a little valet outfit...classy stuff! So, they're speeding and they get pulled over by two motorcycle cops. The police are none other than The Apple Dumpling Gang themselves, Conway and Knotts. The two try to give the monkey a ticket and then all comedy-heck breaks loose!

Bill Murray in Space Jam (1996) There's two great things about this cameo. First, he's just Bill Murray. He doesn't play a character or even play himself really...he's just there. He just shows up and he's there, and he's funny. Second, he shows up twice. Just as out of the blue as his first appearance, he walks back into the movie for no good reason near the end to help Bugs Bunny and Michael Jordon defeat the bad guys. Bill Murray is so good at what he does that you over look the major loopholes in the story.

Leonard Maltin in Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990) This sequel is not quite as good as it's original, but it's worthy of being a sequel to such a fine film. The gremlins show up in New York City where they take over a mega-skyscraper. Among the many operations in the building is a television studio where film critic Leonard Maltin is doing a show. He's reviewing the classic 1984 film Gremlins, and he's not giving it a favorable review. In turn, Gremlins show up and give Maltin an unfavorable review...by eating him! (Gremlins 2 is also home to two "lost cameos." Hulk Hogan and Bubba Smith appeared in the theatrical cut of the film, but their scene is replaced in video and television versions.)

"Weird Al" Yankovic in Halloween 2 (2009) I haven't seen this or any of Rob Zombie's other movies...nor do I think I ever will. But how great is it that they put my close personal friend Al in a gory horror movie. It's gotta be great! When this finally makes it's way down to cable TV I'll TiVo it and then fast forward (while hiding behind my hands over my face) to Al's part and hope I don't see anything else that will traumatize me for life.

David Letterman in Cabin Boy (1994) We've never gotten a David Letterman movie so his brief appearance in this film will probably serve as our only big screen adventure with Dave. In this otherwise forgettable film, David Letterman shows up as (according to ImbB) Old Salt in Fishing Village. He has a scene where he harasses Chris Elliott for a few minutes and it is easily the highlight of the film. There is no other reason to watch this movie than to see Dave be funny...very funny. Better yet, you don't have to watch the movie...you can easily find the clip on YouTube.

Kenny Rogers and Britney Spears in Longshot (2000) Horrible...HORRIBLE movie which only exists to squeeze as many cameos into one movie as humanly possible. The majority of the Z-list celebs that show up in this stinker, you'll have no idea who they are. But you do get a great pairing when Britney Spears shows up as a flight attendant for 3o seconds. Just long enough for her to make her way into the cockpit of the plane and trade a joke with Captain Kenny Rogers.

Any favorites of yours that we missed....please leave a comment!

My Week In Movies - Bugs Bunny & Richard Pryor

The Looney Looney Looney Bugs Bunny Movie (1981) This in one of five theatrical films where classic Warner Bros. animated shorts are edited together with newer animation to make one feature length movie. Usually, I prefer to experience old-school animation such as Looney Tunes in their original 7-minute presentations, but I've always enjoyed this compilation film. About a dozen of some of the best Looney Tunes cartoons are presented here with limited interruption of newer animation. One of my all-time favorite Bugs Bunny cartoons, High Diving Hare, is featured near the end of the film and it's still just as funny (if not as funny) as the first time I saw it. This great movie is new to DVD. The DVD also features three new animated shorts that were produced in the 1990's. All three of those were hilarious and great to see, making this DVD a solid $10 investment. For me, one of the greatest joys of watching this movie is not only sharing these classic cartoon moments with my kids but watching their sense of humor develop. My son Elias was literally laughing till he had tears in his eyes. I've seen Sylvester get his face blown off a million times, but to Elias it's all new - and that's great!

The Toy (1982) This is one of those super awesome movies that my friends and I loved when we were younger and would watch it any time we saw it playing on HBO. The other night, I turned on the TV, caught a few seconds of it on HDNet and immediately TiVo'ed the next showing and watched it from start to finish the following night. Although not quite as solid as I remembered it, The Toy is still a great movie. In this delightful film, Jackie Gleason plays the super rich U.S. Bates (or as his wife mispronounces it: U. Ass Bates. Ha Ha Ha Ha!). Through wacky circumstances, Bates hires Richard Pryor to watch after his bratty son for a week. Then Richard Pryor yells, screams and makes funny faces for two hours. Good Stuff! I think the massive appeal of this film when we were younger was two things: the rich kid had arcade games in his bedroom and he had little motorized cars that he drove all over the place. To a kid in the 80's, having an arcade game of your own - in any room of the house yet alone your bedroom - just seemed like the most far-fetched awesome thing you could possibly imagine. And driving a little car around your house IS the most awesome thing you could imagine, so it's really a win/win situation for the film makers and the audience!