Creature from the Haunted Sea (1961) review

(3/10)

     Creature from the Haunted Sea is one of the most infamously terrible horror movies with terrible performances, an indecisive plot and style, cheesy special effects and a lack of screentime for the so-called monster. The movie tries to parody so many different styles that it only ends up parodying itself in a mess that's so bad it's borderline hilarious.

PLOT: During a time where Cuba is in political turmoil, criminal Renzo Capetto (Anthony Carbone) makes a deal to transport a group of Cuban exiles out of the country while also taking some of the country's national treasure. Capetto plots while on the boat with American ex-agent Sparks Moran (Edward Wain) to kill the exiles and blame it on an apparent sea monster so he can keep all of the money for himself. However, things begin to go awry when a real sea monster shows up and starts terrorizing the crew. Capetto must escape the sea monster to get away with the riches and the girls he wants. The plot is a hot mess with abundant unnecessary twists and turns. It seems to focus too much on the comedy relief and attempts at satire and not enough on the horror aspect of the movie. So many characters, situations, and quirks were just random and un-called for making the plot of this movie an unbalanced and substantially dead mess.

ACTING: The performances in this movie were very amateur at best. None of the actors or actresses truly stood out or showed any real emotion. In fact, it becomes hilariously evident about halfway through the movie that even the actors have given up. It's like they knew the movie was terrible and just didn't want to even put effort into it anymore. These performances are the equivalent of grabbing some random people off the street and offering pay.

SCORE: The score in here was very quirky and unfitting for most of what this movie intended to be. The music in no way matches the mood of a super-spy flick or a horror movie.

EFFECTS/ANIMATION: The special effects for the creature were very cheesy at best, making the monster appear clearly fake and apparently thrown together. As terrifically cheesy as the monster's costume effects are, his appearance is somehow one of the most widely known of early black-and-white horror films. Maybe Creature from the Haunted Sea is just notorious for being cheesy and bad? In addition to the creature effects, there were some unnecessary animations at the beginning of the movie. They served no purpose, changed the whole tone of the movie, and mislead the viewer in many ways, from under-exaggerating the monster and over-exaggerating the action and comedy. One can start a pure comedy, family movie, or children's movie with light-hearted animations in the title credits, but a horror film? It just doesn't sound reasonable.

OTHER CONTENT: Creature from the Haunted Sea seemed to just not know what it wanted to be. As it begins, the audience is led to believe it's going to be a super-spy satire complete with laughs for all. As it progress, however, it seems to wander into the territory of goofy Gilligan's Island-style comedy and doesn't really touch upon the horror genre or the whole "creature" part until near the very end. Even if it did want to be a comedy or a satire, it should have focused only on that aspect and not try to take the movie in a dozen different directions. Cheesy horror genius Roger Corman has made some ridiculous cinema, but this one seems to be the most brainless and underdeveloped. The movie surely would have been much better had the makers scrapped most of the additional characters and plot twists and added more production value and maybe even more screentime for the monster which bears the movie's name.

     Roger Corman's Creature from the Haunted Sea is widely recognized among classic horror fans throughout the world, but in all reality one of the most terrible and cheesy ones the decade has to offer. The plot has too many unnecessary twists and can't choose which genre it really wants to follow, the special effects are cheesy to iconic excess, and the acting is hollow and ridiculously untalented. Save your time on something much funnier or much spookier, like an actual satire or an actual horror film.

Scary Movie 3 (2003) review

(3/10)

     The Scary Movie series hasn't been good since the first installment, which this addition proves. Though it is an overall improvement over the previous sequel, Scary Movie 3 still falls to the same juvenile and ridiculously unfunny standards. The movie does succeed, though, in its laugh-out-loud moments and some decently clever jokes. It's like everything's the same, but more polished with more experienced writers.

PLOT: Since the events of the previous installment, Cindy (Anna Faris) has become a newscaster on a sexist TV network, and Brenda (Regina Hall) has become an elementary school teacher. As usual, strange things have begun happening in town, from alien crop circles popping up out of nowhere to a killer videotape circulating around town. Cindy finds her way into this tragedy when she watches it herself. Now she must battle the forthcoming evil with her new love interest, an aspiring rapper named George (Simon Rex). The plot is just as typical as the previous movies. The filmmakers take the main plotlines of several films, add a few jokes, then blend them together. In this one, Signs, The Ring, and 8 Mile are primarily being spoofed, causing their plotlines to intermingle together. Had the films been evenly parodied and the jokes been more well written, this would have been a great piece of satire. However, only a few moments are able to bust through the hilarity barrier.

ACTING: The performances in this movie were about the same as the first for the most part. Anna Faris and Regina Hall returned as their original characters and did about as well as usual- just as sarcastic and dim-witted. A couple of characters were introduced in this addition that were decently humorous. These characters were Mahalik (Anthony Anderson) and C.J. (Kevin Hart). The duo played well off each other and their running gag was quite humorous. Other decent performances come from the likes of Charlie Sheen, Queen Latifah, and the late George Carlin.

SCORE/SOUNDTRACK: The soundtrack was pretty much rubbish ultimately. A few obscure rap songs, a couple original rap battles, and a few sheds of composed score make up the entirety of the soundtrack. Nothing much can be said about this one other than the fact it's bland and mediocre.

OTHER CONTENT: Most of the movies in the series are pretty terrible, but this one was kind of in the middle. This one wasn't the worst but it definitely wasn't the best. This one had almost as many juvenile, unfunny, and awkward jokes as the last one, but this one also actually had a few laugh-out-loud moments. A couple of well-timed one-liners and cleverly parodied situations keep this addition from being entirely devoid of laughs. Most of the running gags failed, but the select few that didn't were definitely worth the screen time.

     Scary Movie 3 is a parody not entirely devoid of laughs, but very sparse. A few jokes with good timing, clever spoofing, and quotability made their way past the hilarity barrier, but for most jokes, everything was so juvenile and underdone that it came off as unfunny. This, however, is in no way the worst in the series or the best. This one simply didn't do anything truly significant or entertain well enough to be considered satisfying. It's not bad enough to kill you within seven days of viewing it, but it might want to make you be abducted by aliens to flee.

Office Space (1999) review

(7/10)

     Comedic icon, Mike Judge, makes his directorial debut in Office Space, a workplace satire as true and razor-sharp as his previous animated projects. The movie, though full of great performances and an attention-catching plot, falls at times with Judge's typical hit-and-miss jokes and an overall feeling of underachievement. So much more could have been done with what the audience was provided with.

PLOT: Peter Gibbons (Ron Livingston) lives a fairly normal life working in an office in the city. Every day has grown to seem the same to Peter, even with the constant reprimands his many bosses give him. One day after being hypnotized by a psychiatrist, Peter has a revelation and realizes that he no longer wants work to rule his life. Peter begins to miss days of work and barely work at all while on the job, but they don't fire him. In fact, in an employee evaluation, they promote him as to "provide him an incentive." Peter doesn't mind this at first until he finds out the big bosses will be laying off his two friends, non-singer Michael Bolton (David Herman) and foreign Samir Nagheenanajar (Ajay Naidu). In rebellion towards the company, the three come up with a clever scheme to unknowingly steal money from company funds. However, things go wrong and the team must figure out how to cover up their tracks. The plot idea is very clever and executed in a sharp and clean-cut way. Everything is done in a smooth and smart way. However, as far as the humor goes, the jokes are hit-and-miss. Director Mike Judge does what he has done in his previous animated shows (Beavis and Butt-Head, King of the Hill), which is making sly satirical jokes that don't always work. The movie, nevertheless, is still an intelligent comedy with some extremely memorable quotes and characters.

ACTING: The performances in this movie were actually really great. Some of the characters portrayed engrave their infamous lines and personalities on the audience in such a memorable way. Rob Livingson, Gary Cole (Lumbergh, Peter's boss), and Stephen Root (Milton, the stapler guy) all play their consecutive roles in an extremely unique, memorable, and funny way. Aside from these poster faces, the rest of the cast did great as well. Jennifer Aniston (Joanna, Peter's girlfriend), Diedrich Bader (Lawrence, Peter's neighbor), and John C. McGinly (Bob Slydell, one of the company's big bosses) also all played stand-out roles in which each's dialogue and characters shine.

SCORE: The soundtrack is mainly made up of rap songs from around the time period, such as "Damn, It Feels Good to Be a Gangsta" and "Still" from the Geto Boys as well as other hits from rappers like Ice Cube and Scarface. If one doesn't like rap, the soundtrack won't intrigue that person. However, the soundtrack does have an effect on the movie, making every major scene more ironically hilarious.

OTHER CONTENT: Office Space makes itself known as an intelligent and amazingly memorable, but suffers from both its hit-and-miss humor and the overall feeling that everything starts to rush. After the basic plot and conflict are set up, the action just seems to fall too fast. It takes half the movie to set up the plot and conflict, so the movie overall feels short and underdone or like more could have been done with it. It almost feels like the writers ran out of ideas midway through the movie and just rushed to end it. The movie is still a classic, memorable comedy, but definitely not short of problematic.

     Mike Judge delivers to the audience another sharp comedy with hit-and-miss humor, but in an iconic movie form rather than in another animated series. Office Space is very smart and memorable addition to the list of most-quoted comedies. The movie is very good. However,if  it didn't feel so underdone and laden with the typical hit-and-miss humor, that'd be great.

Club Dread (2004) review

(5/10)

   Aside from the more popular horror spoofs (Scary Movie) and comedy troupes (Monty Python), modern comedians, Broken Lizard, decide to have their take on the horror genre with this mock at a slasher film. Some of the jokes are pretty hilarious and some of the imagery is pretty creepy as well, but most jokes fall flat on their face with acting either suckish or fairly decent.  I doubt one would completely dread Club Dread.

PLOT: A new masseuse, Lars (Kevin Heffeman), comes to fill in for a summer at tropical resort/island, Coconut Pete's Pleasure Island, where women are everywhere, drugs are in circulation, the staff is very colorful, and the party never stops. Leading this tropical resort is Coconut Pete (Bill Paxton), a more-obscured, stoner version of Jimmy Buffet, whom he hates. Everybody's expecting another good time at Pleasure Island, staff and all. However, things start going awry when some of the staff members start disappearing and later are discovered as murdered. The staff almost loses its cool and makes the guests evacuate back to the mainland, but due to the promise of the killer, the staff either has to do their jobs with no worries or die. After some clever investigation, the staff decides that the killer must be another staff member, since he or she has access to the staff's knowledge of the island. The trouble is going to be figuring out who the true killer is. The plot is pretty well established, setting up the perfect scenario for a comedy horror movie. However, the execution is nowhere near as funny as it needs to be to pull the concept off as set up.



ACTING: The acting in this movie is mainly decent. Not very many performances in this movie shine out. The best performances in this movie would have to be from Bill Paxton as Coconut Pete, Paul Soter as Dave, Erik Stolhanske as Sam, and Kevin Heffeman as Lars. Paxton played his role as the smoked-out, played-out rock star with ease as though not worried at all. Soter and Heffeman both put a fair amount of emotion in their work, convincing me of their feelings, as did Stolhanske in more than one tone. Aside from these few, the performances in this movie were fairly average or just sub-par of being good. Even the director, Jay Chandrasekhar, who played Putman, couldn't put enough feeling or proper action in his role.

SCORE: The score is nothing too special. Aside from a few basic themes, there are some club tunes scattered throughout and some satirical tracks from Coconut Pete, including "Naughty Cal" and "Pina  Coladaberg", obviously poking fun at Buffet. The Coconut Pete tracks are fairly enjoyable.

EFFECTS: The effects in this comedy slasher were pretty decent. The blood didn't look completely fake and the dead bodies with severed limbs looked decently scary. The best effects had to be the head-on-the-record, the severed torso, and the speedboat explosion. The effects surprisingly were pretty good for a movie of this genre.



MISC. THOUGHTS: The comedy horror genre has been greatly overdone since the early 2000s, and this one isn't a landmark to prove my opinion wrong. This spoof uses all of the same conventions, poking fun at the usual cliches of horror movies, from fake jump scares to hidden messages. However, the movie does seem to borrow from some of the right places, referencing to Friday the 13th cleverly near the end. Also, some of the imagery was very pleasing to the eye, from some creepy murder scenes and killings to beautiful babes getting into trouble. For a comedy, some of the imagery is actually unintentionally creepy, and it works. Not all of the jokes succeed, however, for a comedy. Some jokes make you question whether it was meant to be funny and others are just too crude, yet some are so ridiculous that you just have to laugh and think about how unexpected they were.

   Broken Lizard is definitely no Monty Python, but this comedy horror could almost, if not, stomp the majority of the Scary Movie franchise. Though a good handful of the jokes fall flat, a fair amount of the performances are bland, and the execution is off-kilter to where it wants to be, there is some truly creepy imagery present with a few clever jokes and nods to other horror films and a handful of key actors that knew what they were doing.

Shock Treatment (1981) review

(8/10)

This movie may be an overall fail as compared to its brilliant predecessor, but it succeeds in putting out great music, some meaningful dialogue, and an overall fun, weird, and spectacular time.

PLOT:Brad Majors (Cliff De Young) and his wife, Janet (Jessica Harper), return to their home town of Denton for help with their failing marriage. However, they find out that their whole hometown has been turned into a giant TV station, ran by a fast food founder, Farley Flavors (Cliff De Young). After having Brad committed to a phony mental hospital for his "condition", Janet meets up with her parents and the doctors for help. In a little while, Janet notices she's being pushed to be Flavors' new star on this station's prime time programs and the new show Fantasy Factory. However, the whole existence of the TV station seems to be out of a lust for power and love for a certain person, with dark pasts leading up to the result. It's a great plot executed very well.



ACTING:The performances in this movie are pretty well done overall. I enjoyed most of them for their balances of humor and seriousness. Jessica Harper and Cliff De Young both did a great job as the leads Brad and Janet Majors, also Farley Flavors. Some parts seemed over-acted, but it all went with the movie. The best performances aside from Harper would have to actually be from Richard O'Brien, Patricia Quinn, Charles Gray, and Barry Humphries as Dr. Cosmo McKinley, Dr. Nation McKinley, Judge Oliver Wright, and Bert Schnick. These few really captured the movie's essence and performed their parts extremely well overall.

SCORE:The musical score in this movie is rockin' and high-energy at most parts, with the ballads being beautifully done. The score in this movie as compared to its predecessor is a bit different a toned down with some pitchy voices and cheesier songs, but overall, the score is well-written and well-performed, from "Bitchin' in the Kitchen" to the title track and even to "Anyhow, Anyhow."



OTHER CONTENT:This movie is a completely different change from its predecessor, Rocky Horror, but the wild-and-wacky tone of insanity stays just as it originally was. The movie itself is a deep, rockin' ride into the insanity of stereotypes of television and the world itself, with metaphor after wacky metaphor. However, the plot twists near the end seem preposterous and unnecessary, with the movie making less and less sense in the end. It may be a cult classic, but lightning never strikes in the same place twice. This movie doesn't reach the same satirical heights as Rocky Horror, but it does attempt to put on an entertaining show, and entertain it does.

OVERALL,a great musical cult classic with a great plot, well done acting, rockin' score, deep study of stereotypes, and wacky fun, however, the plot twists just seem preposterous near the end, and the heights of its predecessor aren't possibly scaled.

The Cabin In The Woods (2012) review

(9/10)

This new twist on the classic horror set-up is a horror fanatic's blast into sharp humor, satire for the horror world, and clever ideas played for campy fun. However, this movie piles on more campy humor than it does scares.

PLOT:Five friends, including innocent Dana (Kristen Connolly), always-blazed Marty (Fran Kranz), flirty Jules (Anna Hutchison), athletic Curt (Chris Hemsworth), and intellectual Holden (Jesse Williams), go out to party at a remote cabin in the woods. As expected in a horror film, bad things happen involving zombies, rituals, and partying gone wrong. However, the story isn't what you expect it to be. The horror in this situation is controlled by a greater force involving two scientists known as Sitterson (Richard Jenkins) and Hadley (Bradley Whitford). For fear of giving too much away, I stop here. It's a great plot executed brilliantly.


ACTING:The acting in here is pretty good. Kristen Connolly and Fran Kranz would have to be the best in their performances as Dana and Marty, as well as the two scientists Sitterson and Hadley, played very well by Richard Jenkins and Bradley Whitford. There really wasn't a bad performance in here, not counting the zombies. The other shiners would have to be Chris Hemsworth as Curt, Anna Hutchison as Jules, Jesse Williams as Holden, Brian J. White as Truman, Amy Acker as Lin, and Tim De Zarn as Mordecai.

SCORE:The score is mainly generic horror score and a few indie tracks, but it balanced out well with the spirit of the movie.

EFFECTS:The effects were actually pretty cool. These had to have been some of the coolest digital effects I've seen. The make-up and blood effects were standard horror quality (but not bad), but the CG and other make-up effects for when you see the other monsters is really cool and does a fairly good job at putting out the scares and spreading the blood.



OTHER CONTENT:This movie was a very clever treat for horror fans. The new twist this added to the classic horror plot was not only sharp-witted, but pokes fun at the horror genre in such a satirical way that it pokes fun at even itself. The obvious and cleverly-placed allusions to other horror classics (Hellraiser, The Evil Dead, etc.) were a big treat for me as I'm sure they were for other horror fans out there. This comedy horror only had one flaw to me. The movie added all of these cool, intense moments near the end, but up until then, the movie isn't scary. The movie almost turns itself into a straight-up comedy parodying only itself. The question to me still remains: Was this made mainly for horror purposes or comedic purposes? I also appreciated how this horror movie came extremely close to breaking the fourth wall, with references to The Director and quotes such as, "We're not the only audience here." The fact that the characters in this movie have become self-aware is one of the best feelings I've ever had about a horror movie. This horror movie was definitely a treat for me that I won't forget too soon.

OVERALL,an awesome comedy horror with a brilliantly-done plot, pretty good acting, generic horror score, pretty cool CG and make-up effects, sharp wit, satirical treatment of the horror genre, a good and intense ending, and a shaking of the fourth wall, but up until the end, the movie isn't scary in any way.

Superhero Movie (2008) review

(2/10)

This overdone spoof movie borrows from the likes of Spiderman and X-Men, but doesn't live up to the epic spoof it wants to be. Most of the jokes are just too juvenile and crude.

PLOT:Rick Riker (Drake Bell) is a nobody at his school, crushing on popular girl Jill Johnson (Sara Paxton) and hanging with his best friend, Trey (Kevin Hart). Things start to change for Rick, however, when he's bitten by a genetically-mutated dragonfly which gives him the strength of ten men and the power to grip nearly anything easily. Now Rick becomes the Dragonfly, the town's new superhero. A new villain forms around this same time as well. Lou Landers (Christopher McDonald), owner of a big company in town, goes through an experiment to cure his terminal disease, but something goes wrong and changes him. Now he can drain the life out of any person by just touching them. With this power, he turns into the Hourglass, bent on taking over the world. It's up to the Dragonfly to stop him now, if he can get his wings. It's a decent spoof plot executed horribly.



ACTING:The acting in this movie was pretty bad. Drake Bell tried to bring things up as Rick Riker/The Dragonfly, but his script mainly brought him down. He was actually one of the better performances of the movie, as was Leslie Nielsen as Uncle Albert and Sara Paxton as Jill Johnson. Most every other performance sucked, mainly Christopher McDonald as Lou Landers, Ryan Hansen as Lance Landers, and Marion Ross as Aunt Lucille. The other performances I want to mention that weren't too horrible would be Keith David as the Police Chief, Tracy Morgan as Dr. Xavier, and Jeffrey Tambor as Dr. Whitby.

SCORE:The score really didn't matter much. It was all generic superhero-type score and a couple of other songs added in.

EFFECTS:The effects don't really matter in this movie, but they weren't good anyway. The digital effects were too fake, the prop effects were even more fake, and some of the more visual effects were just awfully done. Then again, this is just a spoof movie so they only do what can get the job done.



OTHER CONTENT:This was one of the worst spoof movies I've seen. The humor was more juvenile than most of the others I've seen and there were only about two parts that made me laugh out of something besides stupidity. I believe that it borrowed the right superhero movie aspects, but it didn't parody them well. I believe this could have been done way better than it was. Not to mention, the actual theme of "getting your wings" was just plain cheesy overall.

OVERALL, a sucky spoof movie with a decent plot, pretty bad acting, generic score, fake-looking effects, juvenile laughs, and a cheesy theme, but it could have been done better, and there were a couple of moments in there I found funny enough.

Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999) review

(6/10)

This addition to the famous franchise is almost just as funny as the first. A lot of the jokes are just hilarious; however, a good bit of the jokes in here are borrowed or more crude than usual. Did I mention that I didn't like the whole time travel aspect as well?

PLOT:Super spy and sex magnet, Austin Powers (Mike Myers), is back and single again in this comedy adventure. Dr. Evil (also Myers) is also back with another evil plot to take over the world, only this time he's thought of disabling Powers from stopping him. Dr. Evil and his crew build a time machine to take him back to the 1960s and steal Powers' "mojo", the stuff that keeps him going, while also taking over the world. After Austin Powers notices his mojo gone, he also travels back in time to stop Dr. Evil and get his mojo back, all the while trying to woo the new female spy accompanying him, Felicity Shagwell (Heather Graham). It's a great plot executed fairly well.



ACTING:The performances in here are pretty good, and for the most part, just like the first one. Austin Powers still plays an excellent and memorable set of roles as Austin Powers, Dr. Evil, and the newly introduced Fat Bastard. Heather Graham also played a great part as smooth female agent, Felicity Shagwell. Most of the roles are just as equal to its predecessor, but some have been newly introduced or are just better. The other shiners would be Michael York as Basil, Robert Wagner as Number Two, Rob Lowe as young Number Two, Seth Green as Scott, Verne Troyer as Mini-Me, Will Ferrell as Mustafa, and Mindy Sterling as Frau, with honorable mentions to Willie Nelson, Elvis Costello, and Jerry Springer as themselves.

SCORE:The score in here is similar to that of the original, keeping the original theme, but adding an even better soundtrack. The soundtrack includes classic rock and other stuff from the likes of Steppenwolf, The Guess Who, and more.



OTHER CONTENT:This installment to the popular franchise is almost as good as its predecessor. Most of the jokes are hilarious and clever just like the original, but some of them are also too much like the original. A few of the jokes in this addition are either borrowed from the first or more crude than the past. I also didn't really care for the whole time travel aspect in the plot. I know this movie's supposed to be just a lot of fun, but I can't help but hate the fact that the time travel has little to no sense in it.

OVERALL,an okay movie with a great plot, pretty good acting, great score and soundtrack, and a lot of new and hilarious jokes, but some of the jokes are borrowed or more crude, and I didn't care for the time travel aspect of the plot too much.

Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997) review

(7/10)

This classic movie is a lot of fun. It's hilarious and pokes fun at the spy films and flower-power feel of the past.

PLOT:Austin Powers (Mike Myers) is a level-headed, goofy super spy and sex magnet for women all around in the '60s. He was always going against the notorious Dr. Evil (also played by Mike Myers) and his tricks of trying to rule the world. However, both end up being frozen for 30 years by their staff and then brought back in the '90s. Austin Powers, after being unfrozen, meets and falls for Vanessa Kensington (Elizabeth Hurley), who was sent to bring Powers up-to-date with the world. When Dr. Evil's unfrozen, he immediately hatches a plan to take over the world yet again, and it's up to Austin Powers and Vanessa to stop him. It's a good plot executed greatly.



ACTING:The acting in this movie is very good. Mike Myers plays a funny and entertaining role as Austin Powers and Dr. Evil. This has to be one of his most memorable performances. Elizabeth Hurley also played a pretty good part as Vanessa Kensington. The cast is nearly all-star and delivers a great comedic performance. The shiners besides these two would be Michael York as Basil, Robert Wagner as Number Two, Seth Green as Scott, Mindy Sterling as Frau, Will Ferrell as Mustafa, and Joe Son as Random Task.

SCORE:The score was pretty good. It had a few memorable themes and some familiar songs. The theme song to Austin Powers has also become quite memorable.



OTHER CONTENT:This movie is a lot of fun. The humor is very creative and goofy. I like how this movie makes fun of the majority of older spy films and just pokes fun at the genre. This movie has become one of the most iconic comedies to date because just about everyone I know recognizes the name Austin Powers. This movie is just a lot of fun and isn't really meant to be taken seriously, so kick back and lose yourself in it.

OVERALL,a good comedy with a great plot, very good acting, memorable score, creative and goofy jokes, an accurate parody of the spy film subgenre, an iconic comedy name, and just mindless entertainment.

Moulin Rouge (2001) review

(8/10)

Everybody has been trying to get me to see this, and now I now why. It's creative, odd, unique, and overall spectacular.

PLOT:In the old days of the 1890s, young Christian (Ewan McGregor) leaves his father and his teachings to move to France and become a writer. While there, he meets and bunks with a man with a passion for the theatre, Toulouse (John Leguizamo). Toulouse shows him around to all the sights, from drinking abstinthe to a world of sex only found at the local club, the Moulin Rouge. This club is founded by an eccentric businessman named Harold Zilder (Jim Broadbent), who puts his prize girl, Satine (Nicole Kidman), up to sleep with the Duke of Worcester (Richard Roxburgh) so he can get an investment in some way. However, in a twist of events, our young writer is accidentally taken as the Duke and is taken to her room later that night. Later that night when she finds out it was a mistake, Satine has to cover up their newly-formed love story (he pours his heart out about his poetry and sings to her) by getting everybody involved in the play Christian's writing. Things start to go downhill when the Duke is signed over the play rights, as well as Christian and Satine trying to keep thier love story secret. Also, something seems to be up with Satine's health that may not be good at all. It's a great plot idea executed uniquely.



ACTING:The acting in here was brilliant! McGregor and Kidman stole the show as Christian and Satine. I could feel thier emotional turns and sadness with real tears. I believe this is one love story that will live for a while. The other shiners would be Jim Broadbent as Zilder, John Leguizamo as Toulouse, Jacek Koman as the Unconscious Argentinian, and the cameo of Kylie Minogue as the Green Fairy.

SCORE:The soundtrack is one of the best and most memorable parts about this movie. The soundtrack is mainly made up of several love songs and period-accurate adaptations of more modern songs. Some of the songs covered include songs by the Beatles, KISS, Nirvana, The Police, Madonna, and many others. Overall I'd say the soundtrack kicked some tail.



OTHER CONTENT:This was a very different movie for me. Everything about it had a certain kind of style that reminded me much of how a stage play would be executed. It was literally like I was inside a huge trip. One thing I really liked about this movie was the editing. Like Aronofsky in Requiem, this director (Baz Luhrmann) has a certain style of editing that makes this movie very unique and way different from everything else. However, this type of editing and direction also posed a problem; the plot execution suffered from being a bit uneven. I know it's a love story, but the fact that it can be goofy one moment and sad the next just doesn't agree with me, as that of the Lovely Bones. I will say though that I did cry at the end, and this movie also reminded me a lot of other musicals (Rocky Horror) along the way.

OVERALL,a great musical romance with a great plot, brilliant acting, butt-kicking score, a different style as that of a play, a trippy effect, a unique type of editing and direction, a sad ending, and reminiscence of other musicals, but the unique style of direction made it seem a little bit too uneven for me to fully enjoy.

Scary Movie 4 (2006) review

(5/10)

This one has always been my favorite in the series, but I still wouldn't consider it a good movie.

PLOT:When an alien menace attacks the city due to an unforgivable grudge, Cindy Campbell (Anna Faris), Brenda (Regina Hall) and their newfound freind Tom Ryan (Craig Bierko) must band together to break the grudge and save the world, once again. However, Cindy must keep Tom safe, and Tom must keep his negligent kids safe.  It's a simply-spoofed plot executed somewhat better than the past movies, but still badly.



ACTING:The acting was its usual for the past performances, but some of the new characters weren't that bad. The shiners would be Anna Faris as Cindy (just barely), Craig Bierko as Tom Ryan, and Anthony Anderson as Mahalik with honorable mentions to Charlie Sheen as the other Tom, Phil McGraw as himself, and the Girl's Next Door. I believe Hall's acting fell a lot throughout the series and Leslie Neilson's role as the President seemed more sarcastic in here.

SCORE:The score mainly played for dramatic effect, but some songs on the soundtrack were ok and well-placed. Of course, does it really matter?

EFFECTS:The effects actually weren't that terrible for a mere spoof movie. Sure, they were bland, but they weren't completely dreadful as one would expect. Then again, does it really matter?



OTHER CONTENT:This installment in the Scary Movie series mocks the likes of War of the Worlds, The Grudge, The Village, Saw, and Million Dollar Baby among others. Compared to the others, this one is actually a bit funnier in my opinion. I found myself busting out laughing at a handful of parts. However, there were some parts that I just found myself sighing and shaking my head. It still recycles quite a bit of unfunny jokes from the past few movies. In my opinion, the movie's pretty funny until about halfway through, then it starts falling more and more down the drain. I do like how the blended all of the movies together, however. One thing literally led to another.

OVERALL,an alright spoof movie with a somewhat better-executed plot, decent new performances, typical score, not too bad effects, and a handful of laughs, but the plot's still pretty bad, the usual performances seem to fall, and lots of recycled material.

National Lampoon's Animal House (1978) review

(9/10)

Throughout the years of its release, I believe this is still one of the funniest comedies of all-time.

PLOT:It's the 1960's at Faber College, and we follow the college lives of mainly Larry Kroger (Tom Hulce) and Kent Dorfman (Stephen Furst) as they first start looking for a fraternity to join. They try getting into the top house, but are just shunned. So, by being a legacy, Kent and Larry are able to join the Deltas, which happen to be the worst house on campus. Parties every weekend, loads of beer, and sucky grades are this house's forte. There they meet the obnoxious drinker, John Blutarsky (John Belushi), the leader, Eric Stratton (Tim Matheson), reckless "D-Day" (Bruce McGill), and "Boon" (Peter Riegert) among many others. We follow their college lives and how they always keep the party going. However, Dean Wormer (John Vernon) is planning on shutting the house down and kicking them out. The Deltas must show the dean some potential to keep their house or be expelled with hilarity sprinkled throughout. It's a good plot idea executed hilariously and outrageously.



ACTING:The acting in here is pretty great. I believe Belushi stole the show as Bluto; his character was truly memorable in every way. The other shiners were Tim Matheson as Eric "Otter" Stratton, Stephen Furst as Kent "Flounder" Dorfman, Donald Sutherland as Prof. Jennings, Mary Louise Weller as Mandy Pepperidge, Bruce McGill as Daniel Simpson "D-Day" Day, Mark Metcalf as Doug Neidermeyer, Karen Allen as Katy, and Verna Bloom as Marion Wormer. I didn't believe John Vernon played that good of a villain-character; he just seemed like a tired hothead. I'm also sure I forgot to mention some performances, because just about every one in here is great.

SCORE:The score is mainly made up of upbeat oldies music, such as the now-iconic "Louie Louie" and the even more iconic "Shout" by Otis Day and the Knights. The soundtrack is pretty rockin'.



OTHER CONTENT:Every scene of this movie is iconic, to say the least. Every scene is memorable for something, whether it be funny or ridiculous. In my opinion, there's never a dull moment in here. This movie's hilarious, outrageous, true to some college cliches, and overall fun. The only problem I seemed to find with it is that I believe it would have done a little better with some character development with certain characters instead of just plunging us into their lives unexpectedly. Also, some say one of this movie's downfalls is its overloading crudeness, but I disagree, saying that's what makes the movie all the more fun. This movie practically invented the Roman toga party and the beer can smashed-on-the-head move. This was truly the milestone for every college movie.

OVERALL,an awesome comedy with a hilariously executed plot, great acting, rockin' soundtrack, every scene being iconic, no dull moments, outrageous hilarity, some true college cliches, overloading crudeness, and overall fun, but I believe the movie would have worked better with some character development.

UHF (1989) review

(6/10)

This is one of my guilty pleasures, for I love "Weird Al" and simple, weird slapstick.

PLOT:George Newman ("Weird Al" Yankovic) has always been a screw-up and can never keep a job; his creativity has always kept him from acheiving a true business. After he and his best friend, Bob (David Bowe), lose another job, George's uncle Harvey wins the deed to a small, down-the-drain UHF station in a poker game and is convinced to let George manage it. Now George must liven up this station with more interesting shows and compete with the top nework, Channel 8, led by the mean-spirited R. J. Fletcher (Kevin McCarthy), not to mention keeping his love life alive with his girlfriend, Terri (Victoria Jackson). Nothing goes well until the goofy, newly-hired janitor (who was fired from Channel 8), Stanley Spadowski (Michael Richards), is put on-air. He instantly livens the station up and becomes the number one TV icon; this puts the UHF station at the top. In an evil change of events, George must save the station from being bought out and demolished by Fletcher by raising $75,000 and the crew from Channel 8 will do anything to stop it. It's a decent plot executed very comically.



ACTING:The acting in here was pretty decent for a goofball comedy. Yankovic did a pretty funny job as George Newman by just being his goofy, natural self. McCarthy actually did a sucky job of playing the villainous R. J. Fletcher in my opinion. The shiners aside from Yankovic were David Bowe as Bob, Michael Richards as Stanley Spadowski, Gedde Watanabe as Kuni, Fran Drescher as Pamela Finkelstein, and Vance Colvig as the bum with an honorable mention to the cameo of Dr. Demento.

SCORE:The score is mainly made up of "Weird Al"'s parodic songs, from the title track to a parody of "Money for Nothing". The soundtrack was pretty decent.

EFFECTS:There were a few effects in here used for comical measure that were pretty ok, but I mainly liked the effects in one scene were one of the characters turns into an alien and warps off the outer space. The claymation effects of the face molding into an alien were very well done.



OTHER CONTENT:Some might say this movie is stupid, unfunny, and dreadful, but I found more than that in here. The simple slapstick, raving weirdness, and cleverly-placed movie references made this movie just worthwile. This movie mocks many classics such as Indiana Jones, Close Encounters, Rambo, and even Gone With the Wind, and it mocks them pretty well. However, there were some jokes that just fell flat and were too bizarre to enjoy. "Weird Al" definitely has a unique personality and sense of humor, and that's saying a lot.

OVERALL,an ok goofball comedy with a decent plot, decent acting, decent soundtrack, well done claymation effects, loads of simple slapstick, raving weirdness and cleverly-place movie jokes, but some jokes fell flat and were hard to enjoy, not to mention the unconvincing villain.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) review

(10/10)

Give yourself over to absolute pleasure...my favorite film.

PLOT:Newly engaged Brad Majors (Barry Bostwick) and Janet Weiss (Susan Sarandon) leave off to see their friend Dr. Scott (Jonathan Adams) to tell him the news when their tire goes flat on their car in the pouring rain. They walk to a castle where they meet crazed, transvestite scienteist, Frank N. Furter (Tim Curry) and are forced to stay the night with him and his "creation", Rocky Horror (Peter Hinwood). While there, they each fall into seduction, mischief, murder, and "an erotic nightmare beyond any measure". The plot is a very cool twist on the classic Frankenstein/sci-fi genre and helps to express individualty, sexual freedom, and campiness, all in a clever mind-freak.



ACTING:The acting is somewhat timed and precise as a stage show, but that was the goal writer Richard O'Brien and the director were trying to get at. Wooden, yet precise to exhibit the ultimate campiness. I believe everyone did a pretty good job with their parts. The shiners to me are Tim Curry as Frank Furter, Richard O'Brien as Riff Raff, Susan Sarandon as Janet Weiss, Meat Loaf as Eddie, and Charles Gray as the criminologist. This had to be Curry's best performance in a film; he does his job with such a fury that it seemed he was born for the role. I also liked the fact that they cast the writer as one of the characters. Good idea. In my opinion, my least favorite performance was Little Nell a.k.a. Nell Campbell as Columbia. Everyone at one point had to admit she was annoying.

SCORE:The soundtrack is without a doubt the best thing about this movie, next to its message. The soundtrack exhibits a different feel in every song, from seduction in "Touch-A Touch-A Touch Me", to nostalgia in "What Ever Happened to Saturday Night?" and even to a good time in "Time Warp". Beautiful guitar + rockin' sax + sci-fi piano + definitive feelings and moods = a perfect campy musical soundtrack.

EFFECTS:The effects were all pretty low-budget looking, but they all worked to enhance the campy feeling of the film. It ranged from stage props to cheap computer cutouts, but it all worked.

CAMERAWORK:The camerawork in this film is very well done. It's forboding, creative, and captures every aspect of the film's emotions.



OTHER CONTENT:The movie was meant to be so bad, that it came out good in a glossy layer of campiness. The sexual akwardness, zombie-horror feel, rockin' music, pretty ladies, uneven wrongness, and overloaded campiness sends shivers down my spine and sends me into an "orgasmic rush of lust". The whole film gives me a pleasurable, shivery feeling like I can sense and feel everything the characters do. I'm a Frankie fan, or a Rocky Horror buff if you will.

OVERALL,an epic campy film with a cooly-adapted plot with great hidden messages, timed acting that comes off as that of a stage show, a rockin' soundtrack, campy effects, well done camerawork, overloaded campiness, and a feeling that all Rocky Horror fans should end up getting.

Scary Movie (2000) review

(4/10)

I thought this would be good considering it was the original, but I was sadly mistaken. It was only the one that came first.

PLOT:In this horror spoof, we follow a group of friends including naive Cindy (Anna Faris), street-smart Brenda (Regina Hall), fruity Ray (Shawn Wayons), pothead Shorty (Marlon Wayans), stuck-up Buffy (Shannon Elizabeth), jerk Greg (Lochlyn Munro), and Cindy's boyfriend, Bobby (Jon Abrahams). When murders start occuring exactly a year after they killed a man and dumped him in the pier, everybody starts to worry that the killer might be after them. They even start to receive notes and mysterious phone calls from the killer. Now, they must try to keep each other safe and try to figure out who the killer is, comedically all the way. It's a basic plot executed somewhat creatively but in abundance, crudely.



ACTING:The acting in this movie was actually pretty bad. Some of the acting was supposed to be bad, of course, but it really brought the movie further down than it already was. The ones who I could consider shiners in this one are Anna Faris as Cindy, Jon Abrahams as Bobby, and Lochlyn Monro as Greg, with an honorable mention for Carmen Electra as Drew Decker. Though Faris did her typical sacasticly dumb acting, it worked in here. Abrahams was kind of bland, but he wasn't horrible. Monro did actually pretty well with his emotions. As for Regina Hall, Marlon Wayans, and Shannon Elizabeth, I thought they were rather annoying in here, and a couple of them usually made me laugh.

SCORE:The score is made up of some mood-fitting score and a few well-placed songs. It's not too important.

EFFECTS:There were a few effects in here that were used to increase crudeness and the like, and the were actually pretty good for the situation. Of course, the situation doesn't matter if it's no good.



OTHER CONTENT:This movie is what's known as the start of the most-popular spoof movie in modern times, but it's really just the start of a disaster. It's stupid, overly crude, sexually dependent, and at most times gross, but it does have a few clever laughs and even some simple jokes that made me laugh. One thing I do appreciate about this movie is that through all of the gross and crude jokes, it's the simple jokes that make you laugh the most, such as "The Matrix" scene. This movie has some good in it, but not much.

OVERALL,a not-bad-but-not-good spoof movie with a crudely and creatively executed plot, pretty bad acting, unimportant score, good enough effects, and stupid, gross, and sexually dependent jokes, but it did have a few clever laughs, some simple laughs, and an effect that has you craving the simpler stuff.

A Regular Frankie Fan (2001) review

(5/10)

If this doesn't make you a regular Frankie fan, then I don't blame you!

SUBJECT:Rocky Horror Picture Show has been a cult classic since in came out in 1975 with midnight shows being held all over the world. This delves into the spirit and experiences of a midnight show and performance group by interviewing several performers and audience members of the midnight shows. It delves into how it got started, how a performance group lives, the "Virgin Sacrifice", and even how people have gotten laid during a show. I, being a fan of Rocky Horror, love that they touched upon this, but they didn't do the best of jobs capturing the emotion the movie gives.

PEOPLE:Paul Williams narrates parts of the movie, and of what he narrates, he does a great job of. The people intereviewed from the audience and groups give interesting stories about Rocky Horror shows and conventions as well as the feelings they convey, but they don't succeed at fully capturing the theme of Rocky.



SCORE:The score consists of obscure artists performing heavier or more electronic versions of Rocky songs. It lets you know for true that this is an independent documentary, but some of them aren't that bad, trippy in fact.

OTHER CONTENT:With myself being a fan of the Rocky Horror movie and feel, I expected myself to enjoy this documentary, but instead it plunged me into a world of strangeness. I, myself, am strange, but this just mislead me to think that live shows were raving sex parties with people being crazy. That may be part of the spirit of Rocky Horror, but they didn't even choose hardly to cover the feeling the movie gives off standing alone. I found myself asking, "Where's the magic? Where is the feeling I so enjoyed in watching the actual film?" It was greatly missing the point. I still enjoyed the realism it touched upon in the live shows and how it draws everyone together for a wild good time.

OVERALL,a neutral-feeling documentary with a failed execution of subject matter, great narration and indescribable people, indie score that set the mood of the doc, and a wild good time, but it fails greatly to catch the true essence of Rocky Horror.

Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1962) review

 
(8 out of 10)

SATIRE-The third of Stanley Kubrick's favorite subjects, as told by the DVD booklet.

PLOT:This takes its place during the Cold War times when nuclear war was going on. General Ripper (Sterling Hayden) orders his air troops to execute Plan R, which involves all planes attacking Russia and dropping their nukes on it. Now, everyone is against Ripper's orders and is trying to stop it, including a fuming General Turgidson (George C. Scott) and the laid-back German doctor, Dr. Strangelove (Peter Sellers). It is a very unique plot based off the Cold War, but its execution as a comedy is a little flat.

ACTING:The acting is great, brilliant even. Hayden does a great job, but the two stars are definitely Scott and Sellers. These two were both main characters in Kubrick's previous film, Lolita, and they work almost as well in here as they did in there. Sellers did a better job than in Lolita, but Scott doesn't break his acting record.
 
Other shiners in this include Slim Pickens as Captain Kong, Keenan Wyn as Col. Bat Guano (clever word play), and whoever played the phone guy talking to Dimitri.

SCORE:Though most of the score was the, "The Ants Go Marching" played over, what wasn't was pretty good.

CAMERAWORK:This has some of Kubrick's ingenius camerawork, and I admit it was pretty great; maybe even harrowing.


OTHER CONTENT:I find this to be, so far, Kubrick's most overrated flick. I see the satrical parodies in it, but I didn't really find it too funny. I do admit, it had some jokes that left me in stitches, but most jokes I didn't find funny. I find it concentrating more on story than comedy. It's still a great film, nevertheless, but I just believe it isn't as funny as back in '64. Time wasn't the BEST to it. One thing I found particularly brilliant though is the ending. I loved the ending.

OVERALL,a great Kubrick film with a flat but unique plot, great acting, good score, possibly harrowing camerawork, and a brilliant ending, but not all jokes succeeded and time wasn't (IMO) the best to it.