Comedy

Top Five Gene Wilder Movies

/ / Top Tens & Lists

Top Five Gene Wilder Movies

I was sad to hear that Gene Wilder passed away this week at the age of 83. Rather than mourn his passing this list celebrates some of the best films he left behind. By keeping the list to only five I’m choosing those which I believe are the cream of the crop of Wilder’s career which means you favorite may have just missed the cut, but I’ll stand by my choices. Wilder’s career may not have been as wide or varied as some, but there are gems which will continue to shine brightly for years to come. Let’s countdown the Top Five Gene Wilder Movies.

…

Top Five Gene Wilder MoviesRead More »

Top Five Gene Wilder Movies Read More »

Doc Hollywood

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Doc Hollywood
  • IMDb: link

Doc Hollywood1991’s Doc Hollywood is one of Michael J. Fox‘s better feature films that doesn’t involve a time-traveling DeLorean. On his way to Los Angeles to begin a promising career as a plastic surgeon, Dr. Benjamin Stone (Fox) runs into trouble in a small southern town where he’s sentenced by the local judge (Roberts Blossom) to hours of community service at the town’s hospital. Initially resistant to the situation, Stone eventually becomes enamored with the town’s charms – particularly those of the ambulance driver Lou (Julie Warner).

Doc Hollywood is a simple big city vs. small town story that Cars accomplishes with far more flair, but the supporting cast is strong (David Ogden Stiers, Woody Harrelson, Bridget Fonda), and Fox and Warner are good together on-screen providing the chemistry needed to make the story work.

…

Doc HollywoodRead More »

Doc Hollywood Read More »

Who You Gonna Let Go to Voicemail?

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Ghostbusters
  • IMDb: link

GhostbustersWriter/director Paul Feig‘s lazy adaptation of the much-beloved 1984 comedy Ghostbusters isn’t the complete trainwreck I half-expected. The movie does have its share of laughs, and the CGI ghosts (with a couple of notable exceptions) are impressive. It’s too bad the script is not. While the film offers glimmers of what could have been, we are instead left only with regrets about what is.

Offering us an all-female team-up of three white scientists and one regular Joe who happens to be black, the 2016 lacks the chemistry of the original movie which it attempts to make up for with a variety of cheap body humor jokes and a series of running gags like how hopeless their man-servant (Chris Hemsworth) is. Desperately missing an unscrupulous Bill Murray character on the team to stir the pot, instead we get a stick-in-the-mud (Kristen Wiig), a loud-mouth (Melissa McCarthy), the crazy one (Kate McKinnon), and of course their new sassy black friend (Leslie Jones). I’m almost positive these characters are given names at some point, but they are so paper thin the movie offered me no reason to learn, let alone remember, them.

…

Who You Gonna Let Go to Voicemail?Read More »

Who You Gonna Let Go to Voicemail? Read More »

1986 – Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
  • IMDb: link

“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

On this day 30 years ago audiences were introduced to high school senior Ferris Bueller (Matthew Broderick) in writer/director John Hughes‘ 1984 comedy Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Roping both his girlfriend and reluctantant best friend into skipping a day of school with him, Ferris, Sloan (Mia Sara), and Cameron (Alan Ruck) would have a day they would never forget.

Constantly breaking the fourth wall by allowing Ferris to directly address the audience, the film is set in Chicago where Hughes was able to incorporate several well-known landmarks. Both a love story to the city and to the end of youth, Ferris Bueller is a smart, funny, and surprisingly thoughtful film for a high school comedy. Other aspects of the story involve the principal (Jeffrey Jones) obsessed with proving Ferris is skipping school, Ferris’ jealous older sister (Jennifer Grey) who hates the love and attention her brother receives, Ferris’ clueless parents (Cindy Pickett and Lyman Ward), and Cameron’s constant unease both with skipping school and the trio “borrowing” his father’s 1961 Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder for their jaunt around town.

…

1986 – Ferris Bueller’s Day OffRead More »

1986 – Ferris Bueller’s Day Off Read More »

Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping
  • IMDb: link

Popstar: Never Stop Never StoppingLet’s face it, if you are paying to see Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping you know going in exactly what you are getting. Written by The Lonely Island Trio Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer, and Jorma Taccone, the celebrity mockumentary is variations of one joke stretched to 86 minutes. Lampooning celebrity by highlighting former boy band singer Connor4Real (Samberg) turned solo star adjusting to the unexpected criticism of his new album, it takes shots at everything from vapid celebrities to the media obsessed with them.

Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping isn’t a great movie. Like it’s lead character, it lacks the brains or ambition to make the most out of its talent. That said, even over-stuffed with real-life celebrities playing themselves and jibes at TMZ, the movie does produce several humorous moments. Not all the jokes land but enough do to to keep the train rolling. An 86-minute running time might seem rather short, but for a script with so little to say it’s actually a tad long.

The film’s creators bring their music parody skills to bear here. However all of Connor’s songs, both the hits and horrific misfires, all sound pretty much the same (bad and ridiculous). That’s a problem when the entire plot hinges on some being vastly better than others.

…

Popstar: Never Stop Never StoppingRead More »

Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping Read More »