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Bill & Ted Face the Music (2020)
for fans of the first film . . . not as much for fans of the sequel.
Although it is a fun original concept, wherin Bill and Ted travel through their own future to find the song that unites the universe, it feels like perhaps it was not the movie they had in mind when they signed the contracts.
It is hard to take Reeves and Winter seriously as Bill and Ted after the amazing work they did together in "Bogus Journey" and the subsequent career paths they took later in life with Winter being an accomplished documentary director (Not an actor) and Reeves being best remembered since for hits like "Speed", "The Matrix" and "John Wick", however it is best to set that aside and enjoy the fact that they are back and seem to really enjoy working together.
frankly, the actors playing their kids are better performers and stand out in the film, even among other more accomplished performers in the film. I could enjoy a continuation of the story with them as the time travelling music aficionados and Reeves and Winter assuming more supporting roles.
some highlights include:
-Jillian Bell as the marriage counselor trying to wrap her head around cast.
-Kid Cudi as himself . . . but with an intense understanding of the quantum entanglements involved in temporal mechanics
-Anthony Carrigan as a killer robot from the future that develops a personality
-Impressive makeup throughout the entire film. perhaps the only shot we have at an oscar nominated Bill and Ted movie.
-The B Plot story line with "B" and "T" looking for historical musicians was more of an homage to music and becomes a bit more than the "Lets bag em" narrative of the first film, with a truly heartwarming few minutes wherin the characters win over Jimi Hendrix with a visit from a young Louie Armstrong.
-it is fun to see William Sadler reprise his role as the Grim Reaper and we find out he is just a much a lost member of Wyld Stalyans as Bill and Ted are.
-Take a drink everytime someone mentions Dave Grohl.
-Decent ending, with an obvious, yet welcomed plot twist. I would not have minded it being a few minutes longer however.
Issues with the film
-Bill and Teds wives are perhaps a decade too young to be playing their characters. although they are decently acted. . . it would have been nice to cast actresses in the same age range.
-Holland Taylor and Kristen Schall play the family of the now deceased Rufus. they both come off as quite annoying despite being 2 of the most experienced actors in the cast. take a drink every time they refer to Rufus as "My Dad" or "Your Dad".
-it really feels like a good 25 minutes of plot is missing from the film.
-the first two films had excellent soundtracks, however there is nothing in this film that truly stands out. although it is not bad . . . I don't see myself collecting this soundtrack.
-It is not really clear who the villains are. the same could be said about the first movie, however Bogus Journey established De Nomolos and the Evil Robots as clear villains. the new movie does not completely do away with villains, it just does not make them pop out as much.
I enjoyed it enough to watch again and it is absolutely as welcome part of the Bill and Ted franchise, however I think the calibre of work done on "Bill and Teds Bogus Journey" in 1991 stands out as the film with the most thought to the plot, abandoning the time travel plot of the first film for a "Heaven and Hell" plot. it would have been nice to find a way to put Bill and Ted in another situation, but I cannot complain. safe for the family.
The War with Grandpa (2020)
Mostly Safe for families and dairy of a wimpy kid fans
Mostly family friendly film with a decent cast.
Based on a classic preteen book, the film discards a chunk of the books outdated narrative frames it well for kids these days.
Cameos by Christopher Walken, Cheech Marin and Jane Seymour allow a bit more screen time for DeNiro, who is shockingly well suited for family films.
Uma Thurman and Rob Riggle play the clueless parents who have great appearances with both of them being unwilling victims in many of the sons practical jokes, but offer very little to the plot. A well done scene with the grownups watching TV and talking parenting shows that there is perhaps more heart to the project than other direct to video faire.
Although the film will fit in well with families who enjoy the Diary of a wimpy kid series, there is times that it comes off a tad cheap.
The Landlord (2009)
A Cheezy bag of indy fun!
I got a copy of this film from either the director or someone in the crew. 10$ for a factory DVD or if I paid 20$ I also got a homebrew Blu-Ray with it. Frankly so many people want to make a movie, but many die of "Natural Causes".
The best sales pitch I heard was from the seller who said to me "I Made this with 50 of my closest friends". It was enough for me to support the craft and schell out 20 bucks. I gave the DVD to a pal and opted to watch the burned Blu-Ray.
So what did I think?
It was cheezy as I expected, with a flair of "I just spent 3 years in film school and need to make sure every scene follows the "WALLDO" method, the makeup is awful and some of the acting is downright amateurish.
But who cares? If 50 friends got together to help someone make a monster movie, that's 50 people who all got to sit down at a premiere in a hall or home and had a good time. If I can be a part of that, cool.
If you want to know what it is about, see it. A few years after it was made, South Park did a shockingly close story which explains that Kenny keeps coming back to life because his parents attended a cult meeting for free beer. That is kind of the background story of this movie, however the consequences of the satanic ritual result in an apartment being cursed with a goofy demon. Despite the cheezy makeup, I love the demon. I have not rewatched the movie in several years, but I still think fondly of that stupid demon!
If you can find it, check it out, but remember . . . It is a project of fun and fellowship, not necessarily art.
Zombieland (2013)
Why copy the movie characters?
First off, I enjoyed the pilot, let me get that out of the way.
there is only one big thing that gets in the way, the characters are just different actors playing the people from the movie.
I am unfamiliar with the folks in the cast, but they have a huge hurdle to attempt to mimic 3 Oscar nominated actors and Emma Stone. so why bother?
Zombieland is big enough that the series could have focused on another group of survivors and be just as fun. it could even be argued that the "Rules of Zombieland" are no secret and have been passed around a bit.
So that is what I do not like.
I really enjoyed the Actor Playing Tallahase, he was not trying to impersonate Woody Harrelson (although the Twinkie gag at the beginning was a cool tip of the hat) and that is the way it should be. I loved the material between him and the off screen "Detroit" . . . if Amazon does pick this up, I will stop watching it if this character is not continued.
The language was a tad too rude, but I will not complain much about that. there was no chemistry between our Boy/Girl lovers and frankly that bothered me a bit as it did not even come off as Awkward attraction, but I liked the actress in the role, Again, should be playing a character that is not Emma Stone.
I say lets see some more, but change the series so that is not the same characters (Keep the cast though, just rename them).
Whitney (2011)
Has Potential to be the next "All in the Family"
When this series started, I was quick to hate it and assume it sooner be cancelled, I felt the characters of Roxanne and Alex were the only characters interesting enough to survive (Even then, Roxanne was a rehash of Mary Ann from "Cybill"). The Jokes were vulgar and I coined the shorter name for the series "Whitey" . . . as it was the whitest show on TV.
And then the characters started to fight.
Last week we met Whitney's sister, who started treatment for a gender reassignment. this topic has been handled very poorly in the past, to the point of being outright disrespectful. there were a few lowbrow jokes in the episode, however they were all targeted at the antagonists misunderstanding of the situation. this was followed by genuine conversation on the subject.
This was not the first time conversation like this was held on the show.
Whitney chooses to focus on genuine feelings and concerns facing the "slightly-starting-to-age" Gen-Y crowd, something that is risky in today's television market, but seems to keep a small but consistent fan base to suggest that it may be worthy of holding on for yet another year.
H8R: Snooki (2011)
I H8 this stup!d s#0w!
I posted this over at notbadtv.com as well.
Here We Go!
I H8 this stup!d s#0w!
it seems the folks over at the CW like to make crap, they seem to be following the UPN side of things rather that the WB side (Veronica Mars and Star Trek excluded from this scenario).
Such is the case for the new series "H8R" as play on the word "Hater" (except for morons).
The concept is simple, there are people out there who like to talk trash about other people. so can it be done on the cheap? produce a show starring the third lead of retro 80's/90's kids show and have him introduce celebrities to the people who trash talk them?
if it is, I have not seen it yet?
for the record, I PVR'd this pile of crap and there is still a smell hours after I deleted it. In a nutshell, you get 2 segments per episode, consisting of 2 trash talkers and the eventual surprise face-off against their H8E. Episode 1 consisted of "celebrities" Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi* and Bachelor Jake Pavelka as AC Slater attempts to make the H8R look like an fool before hand.
I have severe problems with what went down in the pilot, mainly, It was not on MTV, and these two Celebs are about as famous as Beatrice Arthurs Nazi years.
The confrontations between these people are irrelevant. I have nothing more to say on it.
DO: The concept is not a terrible idea, however this needs to be a Celebrity Vs. Celebrity show, lets see Larry the Cable guy face off against David Cross, Lets see Scott Stapp face off Against David Cross, Lets see James Lipton face ff against David Cross! Lets see Bill O'Reilly trash talk the President of the united states to his own face when he is not in the confines of his own studio. (the show wants to get Sarah Palin, Joan Rivers, Mel Gibson and Lady Gaga on the show, however this crap will get cancelled before the back 9)
DON'T DO: Everything that was in the pilot!
VERDICT: Rating for the 8pm airing of H8R placed it dead last even against the ratings challenged "Buried Treasure" and a RERUN of "The Middle", in the end this show will be destroyed by "Survivor"
Good Riddance!