Classic Film Night - Good Morning, Vietnam

 

Good Morning, Vietnam is a 1987 war comedy. The movie was produced by Touchstone Pictures and Silver Screen Partners III and distributed by Buena Vista Pictures Distribution. Good Morning, Vietnam was written by Mitch Markowtiz and directed by Barry Levinson.

The story is radio funnyman Adrian Cronauer has been sent to Vietnam to bring a little humor back into the soldiers' lives. While he's making the soldiers have a good time, he shocks Sergeant Major Dickerson. While he's doing everything he can to fight Dickerson's censorship, he also falls in love with a Vietnamese woman named Trinh, and also sees just how bad things are and can get in Vietnam.

My Thoughts

One thing you have to absolutely praise about the movie is Robin Williams. I want to say, although I could be wrong that this was the first movie or an early example of his acting chops. He of course nails with the comedy, but we also see him show angry and sadness for the more dramatic scenes.

What also made Good Morning, Vietnam such a good film was the humor. I absolutely lost it during a scene with Nixon's recording. That was just hilarious. And as much as I want to go into more detail about the funnier moments, I do think it's best if you see them for yourselves.

The next thing I want to being up is the drama. Sure the movie does give a slight glimpse about the horrors of Vietnam. But what also made it dramatic was how there was constant debate about what Adrian is allowed and not allowed to say. And that aspect is debating upon him and his superiors, despite the fact that the soldiers love his uncensored and unfiltered voice. And then there's one part of the movie where there's a betrayal, and one of our characters is heartbroken about it.

Now since I brought up that the movie has both comedy and drama how do those two things go together? Pretty well. There was a huge moment at bar where right what happened, I thought to myself now the movie's all of a sudden gonna be a drama, but no. While we still get humor, the movie managed to balance both of the genres without one overstepping the other.

Good Morning, Vietnam is without a doubt an essential Robin Williams film. Robin gave a great performance, it's very funny, there's great dramatic tension, and both the humor and drama is perfectly balanced.

My final rating is A Must Watch.

Okay that's going to do it for me. Come back on Saturday, App 2nd for my review of Morbius. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.

Looking Back at the Films of 2021 Part 2 - Chaos Walking & Nobody

 

Alright, I've got a brand new Looking Back at the Films of 2021, and this time I've got two movies to review. So enough of this intro, let's get into Chaos Walking and Nobody.

Why Didn't I See Chaos Walking?

Now I was looking forward to Chaos Walking because of Tom Holland and Daisy Ridley. Yes, it was because one is Spider-Man and the other was in Star Wars, but other than that I was interested in what they do outside of those projects. And there was also the fact that Doug Liman was directing, and he's made so good movies, such as The Bourne Identity, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, and Edge of Tomorrow. So why didn't I see it? It's simple really, my theater didn't have a showing.

What is Chaos Walking?

Chaos Walking is a sci-fi dystopian action film based on the Patrick Ness' Chaos Walking trilogy, mainly the first book of the series, 2008's The Knife of Never Letting Go. The movie was produced by TIK Films, Quadrant Pictures, Allison Shearmur Productions, 3 Arts Entertainment, and Bron Creative and distributed by Lionsgate. Chaos Walking was written by Patrick Ness and Christopher Ford and directed by Doug Liman. The story is young Todd Hewitt lives on a planet without women. His world also consist of all living things being able to hear each other's thoughts with stream images, words, and sounds. One day Todd's life is turned upside down when he meets a woman named Viola Eade who crash lands on his planet. Soon Todd has to do what he can to keep her safe and help her escape.

My Thoughts

The Good: The only two things that are saving this movie from me given it a lower rating is the performances from Tom Holland and Daisy Ridley's performances and the visual effects. Despite the movie's script/story being pretty bad, Holland and Ridley still manage to give it their all for this movie. Those two really did help the movie just slightly. Same with the effects. If they they did look as great as they were it probably would've hurt the movie even more so, thankfully that wasn't the case.

The Bad: One major problem with the movie is our characters motivations. I don't know if Holland's character even had a really true motive of why he's helping Ridley's character. I don't know if this is just me simply forgetting something, or the motivation was so poor that it's forgettable. Either way, not a good thing. And then Ridley's character's motive completely changes during the movie. One point we're told she needs to get a signal out, so her crew won't get ambushed. Then later on she says that she needs to get the signal out so she's not stuck on the planet she landed on. Which is it? I don't know. The movie didn't explain. She just changed her plans all of a sudden. What I also found not bad but odd about the movie was the humor. It would've been okay if it happened once or twice, but they try other times and it really didn't clash well with the movie's action and/or dramatic tone. A lot of times it felt really out of place. Then we had odd pacing. For the most part the movie is being this very character driven and slow film then we're all of a sudden in an action scene. What made those not work was it really messed with the pacing in a way that really made it feel uneven. So for a good portion of the movie you get a slow-burn, then out of nowhere a fast-paced action sequence. Then we have the biggest problem of them all, and that's just adding too much. At first we focus on "the Noise" (the special power in this) and Todd having to protect Viola. Then we get aliens, and this and that and what's this over there and what that over here?! It just felt very overwhelming. It's like the filmmakers weren't just satisfied with the Noise and our main characters needing to survive, so they threw in other things, to I guess keep people interested? But instead they just made a jumbled mess.

The Okay: I've got nothing.

Final Verdict: Bad.

Why Didn't I See Nobody?

The reason why I didn't see this one was because I didn't know about. I didn't know it existed until I saw one the YouTubers that I watch (I forget which one it was), have a picture of it on their thumbnail. Then I saw the movie later on, and boy did I miss out.

What is Nobody?

Nobody is an action thriller comedy movie. It was produced by Perfect World Pictures, 87North Productions, Eighty Two Films, and Odenkirk Provissiero Entertainment and distributed by Universal Pictures. Nobody was written by Derek Kolstand and directed by Ilya Naishuller. The story is Hutch Mansell seems guy like every other ordinary guy. He's life seems to be fine, until one night a group of burglars bust into his home with him and his family still there. After this incident Hutch returns to his dangerous life. However, this doesn't go unnoticed. Soon an anger drug lord finds out, and wants to kill Hutch for he's actions. 

My Thoughts

The Good: One thing that rightfully deserves praise is Bob Odenkirk's performance. Didn't know this guy could pull off being a badass. He did a great job showcasing the character trying not to want to get involved, but at the same time they call to action is really tempting for him. What made he's acting even better was the fact that he did all of his own action scenes (okay maybe not all of them, but a good majority). Despite being as old as he is, he still managed to make his fight scenes look awesome. What I also liked about the film was the dark sense of humor. Lot of jokes really landed their mark, and were quite funny. This was one scene with Christopher Lloyd's character that got a huge laugh out of me. Then we have Ilya Naishuller's directing. This guy really knows how to direct good action movies. He doesn't have too many quick cuts, keeps everything focused, and it's all wrapped up in a lovely widescreen format. Which now brings me to the action. It was truly intense and fun, I loved every moment. It may not be as crazy as Naishuller's previous action flick [Hardcore Henry], but I think if you're a fan of that movie, then you'll still get a good kick out of this.

The Bad: The only problem I had with Nobody was the main bad guy, Yulian. The writer tried to give us something, but it still came off as a very generic character.

The Okay: Got nothing.

Final Verdict: Good.

Okay, that's all for me. Come back on Thursday, Mar 31st for my Classic Film Night review of the Robin Williams' classic, Good Morning, Vietnam. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.

Underrated Films - Man on Fire

 

Man on Fire is a 2004 action-thriller movie, based on the 1980 novel of the same name by A.J. Quinnell. The movie was produced by Regency Enterprises and Scott Free Productions and distributed by 20th Century Fox. Man on Fire was written by Brian Helgeland and directed by Tony Scott.

The story is an ex-CIA operative named John Creasy has reluctantly accepted a job to be the bodyguard for a wealthy businessman's 9-year-old daughter. Just when the two of them have bonded the little girl is kidnapped. Now John must fight he's way through corrupt cops and bloodthirsty criminals in order to find and save the girl.

Why It's Underrated

The reason why the movie is underrated is much like a lot of Tony Scott films (unless it's Top Gun), it just doesn't get enough love despite how good the movie is. I do believe it was shown on TV from time and to time, but like I said I just don't see it enough.

My Thoughts

The only mix bag I have with the movie is the editing. Tony Scott was clearly not only telling a good revenge film, but it also wanted to be very stylized. The problem with that is takes a lot of time to get use to it. I personally didn't get use to it until near the middle.

Now let's get into the more positives of Man of Fire one of those being the music. This is a very gritty movie and Harry Gregson-Williams and Lisa Gerrard's score perfectly reflects. I especially loved how they Incorporated an awesome guitar riff into it. I thought that made the music have a badass vibe to it.

Then we have Denzel Washington's performance. It really goes without saying, that Denzel is an incredible actor and his acting in this one is no expectation. What really made his performance work was how he was able to humanize his character, even in scenes where he's absolutely brutal to the bad guys.

Another aspect of Man on Fire that makes it a good movie is the characterization. The movie does a very good job at giving our characters personalities, letting us know their motives, and who they are as people. All of that is greatly shown during the first hour of the movie, before we finally get to the action.

What also was done really well was the action. It's very gritty and brutal. Although a lot of critics would have you believe the carnage in this is over the top. I truly want to know what movie did they watch? Cause sure, it's intense, but it's far from over the top. Hell, I've seen quite a few action movies where the violence in those, would make Man on Fire look like an after school special.

The last thing I'll praise the film for is the dialogue. I wasn't expecting so much quotable lines. I don't want to give to many of them way, cause I want you to check this out. But one of my favorites is when Creasy said "Forgiveness is between them and God. It's my job to arrange the meeting". Not gonna lie, I get chills whenever I say that.

Man on Fire is quite a thrilling action movie. It has a great score, Denzel gave another great performance, we get a lot of characterization, the action is perfectly intense, and there's a lot of good dialogue throughout. The slight issue comes from the editing. It does take some time to get use too.

My final rating is Good.

Alright that's going to do it for me. Come back on Monday, Mar 28th for part two of Looking Back at the Films of 2021. For that installment I'll be reviewing Chaos Walking and Nobody. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.

Cheaper by the Dozen (2022) Review

 

Cheaper by the Dozen is a family-comedy film based on the 1948 semi-autobiography novel of the same name. The movie also serves as a remake of both the 1950 and 2003 films of the same name. It's produced by Walt Disney Pictures, 20th Century Studios, 21 Laps Entertainment, and Khalabo Ink Society and distributed by Disney+. Cheaper by the Dozen is written by Kenya Barris and Jenifer Rice-Genzuk Henry and directed by Gail Lerner.

The story is two parents live their children from their previous marriages. Now they have to deal with their large group of children, while at the same time manage their family breakfast business.

Initial Reaction

My main reason for want to see this is because I liked the movies with Steve Martin in them. They weren't masterpieces by any stretch of the word, but they had a charm to them. So I was curious how this one was gonna be.

Cons

One huge problem with the movie is they somehow missed the premise. First, there's not twelve kids, there's ten. So the dozen part of the title makes no sense. Second, the family isn't biological, it's a blended family. So this movie isn't Cheaper by the Dozen it's Yours, Mine and Ours. How did they screw up something so basic and easy to understand, I'll never know. Then we have the overall look. The cinematography, and all that is so cheap. Nothing about the movie said cinematic. If anything I felt like I was looking at a TV sitcom, then a movie. What also made the movie an unbearable viewing experience was the humor. I chuckled once. Just once. But before and after that chuckle, it was nothing but cringe. All you get is your typical running into things, people predictable getting hurt, and the dogs' names being puns to Barack Obama and Joe Biden.....that's not me trying to get a cheap laugh, that's actually in the movie. I was getting so annoyed/tried of the poor attempts at humor, that I actually turned it off, watched a movie that's actually funny, and then came back. That's how bad it was. Then there's the fact that I can definitely see this movie being considered outdated. The filmmakers tried so hard to make this movie seem hip and cool, because that actually do make references. Like how one of the characters mentioned how much they love Tiktok. I said it before this gonna be outdated, this whole movie. I give a month before then. Now onto the other big issue with this newer version of Cheaper by the Dozen and that is it's being political. Yeah there's a lot of stuff in this movie that touches on the stuff I roll my eyes at whenever I see it on the news, Twitter, and etc. And nobody (expect for the people who've made that their entire personality) wants to see that. I don't care if it's left-wing, right-wing, somewhere in between, nobody wants to feel like they're listening to someone on their soapbox. The reason why we liked the Steve Martin movies, was because when the filmmakers made those, they were just making a fun family movie, and in a way, they succeed. This one doesn't.

Middle Ground

I've got nothing.

Pros

I still got nothing.

Wow, this felt like a chore to get through. It missed the premise, it looks like a b-movie, but even that feels like I'm giving it a compliment, the attempts at humor were painful, because of some of the references and other attempts at being trendy the movies gonna be outdated before it even comes close to being a year old, and being political, social, whatever the proper word is, isn't helping matters either. If anything, it's gonna turn people away.

My final rating is Destroy It!

So yeah, stick with the Steve Martin movies, or maybe go check out the 1950 film. But that's all for me. Come back on Thursday, Mar 24th, for my Underrated Films review of Man on Fire. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.

Deep Water Review

 

Deep Water is an erotic psychological thriller movie based on Patricia Highsmith's 1957 novel of the same name. The film's produced by 20th Century Studios, Regency Enterprises, New Regency, Entertainment 360, Film Rites, and Entertainment One and distributed by Hulu. Deep Water is written by Zach Helm and Sam Levinson and directed by Adrian Lyne.

The story is married couple Vic and Melinda Van have fallen out of love with each other. In order to save their, or at least he thinks so, Vic allows his wife to have multiple affairs with anyone she likes. But something starts to happen that starts to make them question if this was the right choice.

Initial Reaction

Why did I want to see this? It was Ben Affleck, because whether he's Batman or not, I still want to see what else he's working on.

Cons

One issue with the movie is how slow it is. I don't mean a slow burn, I mean it's just slow. For a movie that clocks in at 2 hrs. and 33 minutes, I didn't feel like that. If anything it felt almost longer. Then we have the fact of it doesn't do a good job keeping you interested. One part of the movie is it's supposed to be a thriller, and yet a lot of times it's now thrilling. And when something does happen or starts to happen, everything in the deck just gets thrown out and then we're left right back with nothing again. What was also a big issue was there was so much story missing. One of the biggest examples of that is Vic and Melinda's marriage. We don't know why it went sour. We're not even left with a slight hint. Which is kinda an odd choice considering it felt necessary given the story we have. Then there's the fact of how tame it is. For an erotic thriller it sure doesn't live up to the erotic part. Whenever something sexy does start to happen, it gets cut away. Which is just hilarious and bizarre to me. Because it came off as look how sexy this movie, but at the same time we're not gonna show you anything.

Middle Ground

I've got nothing to say. Let's move on.

Pros

One bit of credit I do want to give is Adrian Lyne's directing. For someone who's been out of the directing game for 20 years, he sure didn't miss a beat. I mean it. If any of you are fans of his work, I think directing wise, you'll like this. Then we have Been Affleck and Ana de Armas. Despite the very weak script, these two still give good performances.

Deep Water is a letdown. It's pacing can be painfully slow, it barely does it's job of keeping you interested, bits of story feel missing, and even though one of the three things it's as is erotic, it's very tame. The only two good things were Lyne's directing and the performances from our two main stars.

Okay, I'm all done here. Come back on Monday, Mar 21st for my review of the 2022 version of Cheaper by the Dozen. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.

The Adam Project Review

 

The Adam Project is a sci-fi film. It's produced by Skydance Media, 21 Laps Entertainment, and Maximum Effort and distributed by Netflix. The Adam Project is written by Jonathan Tropper, T.S. Nowlin, Jennifer Flackett, and Mark Levin and directed by Shawn Levy.

The story is it's the year 2050 and the future is bleak, Adam has stolen a time jet and escapes. He plans to go on a recuse mission to the year 2018, but he crash lands in 2022 instead and meets his 12 year old self. Now the two have no choice but to team up, fix the time jet, and rescue the person who's in grave danger.

Initial Reaction

The main reason why I wanted to see this movie was because of Ryan Reynolds and Shawn Levy. Shawn's brought us some pretty good movies. Big Fat Liar, Cheaper by the Dozen (2003), Real Steel, and Free Guy. And Ryan Reynolds...do I really need to say anything about him? Not only is he a really good actor, but he's also one cool guy.

Cons

I've got nothing to say. Let's move on.

Middle Ground

Now for the most part, the CGI is really good. It's flawless throughout a good portion of the film. But they do try to make a young looking version of Catherine Keener, and it's very distracting. It's very understandable that trying to make a human face with CG is very challenging. So I will give them an a for effort, but like I said very distracting. I almost feel obligated to agree with people when they said that effect looks like something from the Sims.

Pros

Now let's get to more positives aspect of The Adam Project one of those being the humor. Sometimes it didn't work, for a majority of the movie I had a lot of great laughs. What I also enjoyed was the performances. Not surprised by the older actors such as Ryan Reynolds, Mark Ruffalo, and the others. Of course they would have great performances, they're veterans. But I was very much surprised by Walker Scobell, who plays the 12 year old version of our main character, Adam. Despite being a child actor, he did a really good job. Another positive to the movie was the action. It probably won't be as remembered as other scenes, but for this movie it worked. It was energetic, exciting, and fun. I'm also going to give props to Levy's directing. While things aren't getting as crazy as his last film [Free Guy], he still directed something that's very serviceable and I think something that audiences will like. Speaking of serviceable let's talk about those emotional moments. I honestly thought they were pretty good. Much like the action, this isn't gonna be award winning, but those scenes do the job pretty well. I was actually feeling something between the two Adams and the dad.

Overall The Adam Project is pretty good. We got good humor, good acting, fun sci-fi action, Levy did great behind the camera, and the emotional scenes are pretty effective. The only grey area was the CGI. For everything else, it's good. But that de-aged Keener, yikes.

My final rating is Good.

So that's going to do it for me. Come back on Saturday, Mar 19th for the newest Hulu movie, Deep Water. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.

The Hyperions Review

 

The Hyperions is an action-comedy film. The movie is produced by American Millimetre, Justin Bell Productions, Archstone Entertainment, and ReKon Productions and distributed by The Daily Wire. The Hyperions is written by Jon McDonald and Mike Timm and directed by Jon McDonald.

The story is two former members of the superhero team, The Hyperions, are holding a the Hyperions museum's guest and employees hostage. They demand to talk to a man named Professor Ruckus Mandulbaum so they can get their titan badges back. It seems like a simple hostage situation, but maybe there's more to this than everyone thinks.

Initial Reaction

The reason why I wanted to see this movie was because The Daily Wire was giving us some pretty good movies. Sure, they only disturbed two, this one and Run Hide Fight. But they did make Shut In. So those previous movies that I reviewed left a good impression, and I was curious how this one was gonna turn out.

Cons

I've got nothing to say. Let's move on.

Middle Ground

The only true gray area with the movie is some characters needed more backstory than the others. We get more with Mandulbaum and Vista (one of the members of the team), than anyone else. Some either get surface level story or none at all. So because of that there were only a limited amount of characters I actually cared for.

Pros

One aspect of The Hyperions I want to give credit for is the smaller stakes. Sure the filmmakers had a low budget and all, but think about some of the superhero movies or films inspired by comic book films were the stakes were small. I can only think of a few those being The Batman, Glass, Joker, and Logan. I'm definitely forgetting some but I'm just saying, a lot of times it's almost something either country ending or world ending. What I also liked about it was the focus on character. This definitely played out more like a family drama, but that's also what makes it a pretty interesting watch. With both instances I just mentioned, the filmmakers could've chosen the more easy way out of having more action than anything else. I also kind of liked the humor in this. It can be dry or subtle. And for the most part it worked for me. The last thing I'll give the movie credit for is the overall look. I actually wasn't expecting them to go for an opening in the 60s then fast forward to the 70s. So the movie does have a little bit of an old school charm added to it.

The Hyperions is pretty good. I loved how the stakes were at a smaller scale, more of a focus on character than action, I enjoyed some of the humor, and I kinda dug the retro look it had. While the movie did give some backstory on our characters, some could've used more.

My final rating is Good.

So, that's going to do it for me. Come back on Thursday, Mar 17th for my review of the newest Netflix movie, The Adam Project. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.

Turning Red Review

 

Turning Red is a 3D animated coming-of-age fantasy comedy film. The movie is produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Pixar Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures and Disney+. Turning Red is written by Domee Shi and Julia Cho and directed by Domee Shi.

The story is it's 2002 and 13 year old Mei Lee is just living life as an average teenage girl. However, life decided to throw her a curve ball, and she wakes up as a giant red panda. She also discovers that this transformation happens when her emotions are at her highest. Now she not only needs to find out why this happened to her, but also try to keep it together too not go panda.

Initial Reaction

Now if you saw my most anticipated movies list, you would know that I was looking forward to this one, even if I didn't like the artstyle. Despite that, my interest was still. But overtime I started to have doubts about this movie. Especially after I watched a video from a Youtuber by the name of Crimson Sin, where basically the filmmakers were giving themselves pats on the back for things that have been done WAY before they even got started in the industry. Then you had people defending this movie like it's the finest piece of cinema ever. With the typical buzzwords that have been so misused, that the word no longer has any meaning or weight to it. Then you had the earlier reactions. Some where from people who'll like anything Disney, then you had one critic describe the film as "unapologetically horny".....I really hope someone called the cops after that.

Cons

One of the many things wrong with the film and this is it's biggest flaw, it's really predictable. So predictable that even if things were cut out of the marketing, you still would've seen everything coming a mile away. For instance, the whole thing with her friends being mad at her and supposedly not wanting to forgive her. You know they're gonna get back together again. Especially around that time, because 1) the movie was reaching it's end. And 2) another conflict came into play, which automatically told you, her friends would forgive her. So you couldn't be on the edge of your seat, because the movie never left you guessing about anything. Then there's the humor...I never been more silent for a Pixar until now. None of it worked. Even if ya didn't see a joke coming, you're not gonna laugh because there's no good punchline, or it's just cringe. They were so desperate for jokes, they literally use tampons/periods as a comedic prop.....I wish I was making that up, but it really did happen. What also just destroyed this movie was Mei's friends and her Mom. Let's start off with the mother. There's helicopter parent, and then there's whatever the hell she was. There was not one but two instances where she humiliated her daughter so bad, the kid would've been better off running away and living with some other relatives, or living with one of her friends. I understand they wanted to make it seem like she's a flawed parent, but there's a difference between flawed, and just being an idiot. Then we have Mei's friends, these were the most forgettable supporting characters of recent memory. They're so forgettable that I actually had to search what their names were before typing this review. First there's Miriam (the one who wears green), she's pretty much the only normal one. So you're not gonna have too much of a problem with her. The other two on the other hand, not so much. We have Priya. I got so bored with this character. The whole deadpan gimmick they gave her, got old really quick. Then we had Abby, what was the deal with this character? People have described her as "energetic" but no. There's something else wrong with this girl, and it's not being energetic, that doesn't sound like the right word for her. Then we have the real story. Yeah that whole panda thing, that's still there but it's basically the secondary story. The true story, the real conflict the filmmakers wanted to focus on, is Mei and her friends going to see a boy band concert. Yep, all that marketing where it seems like the transformation was gonna be the focus, that was a lie. I think we spent more time on that freakin' concert storyline, than the red panda stuff. Because why have that be the central conflict, when we can have the girls be excited about a band they're going to outgrow by the time they turn what? 14 maybe 15? What also didn't help this movie was much like Luca, we had a pointless post-credit scene. It's just another attempt at humor, but fails miserably. I swear to God folks, if I witness another post-credit scene like this, I'm spoiling it. I don't care if it's from DC, Marvel, Disney, or if anybody complains to me for giving it away. I'm at my limit with these post-credit scenes that just waste everybody's time. The last thing I'll criticize is the artstyle. Everyone has had enough of this "CalArts" or "bean mouth" whatever this style is, everyone has had enough. Not only is it an overused style, but it was clearly chosen for the very common and understandable complaints of being safe and cheap to animate. But the biggest issue for me was, this artstyle doesn't translate well for the 3D. Just get a load of these facial expressions.

Anytime I see those pics all I can think about is how weird their mouths look in the first one, and in the second pic it's just creepy. Mei is a cartoon character and all, but I still get the feeling of dislocated jaw when I look at the bottom pic.

Middle Ground

I'll give the animation a little bit of credit. It's still good, but sadly, despite that, it's not enough to save the movie.

Pros

The only truly good aspect was the cast. They do deliver some good acting.

I've seen people say Cars 2 is a bad Pixar movie. I've seen people say Onward is forgettable. But if you ask me, Turning Red deserves both those crowns, especially bad. The movie is predictable in every sense of the word, the humor sucked, Mei's Mom and friends are terrible characters, the concert being the real stake was stupid, even more pointless post-credit scene than Luca, and has an artstyle that's not only bland, but doesn't work for 3D animation. The animation is good, but it can't save the film. The only positive was the voice acting.

My final rating is Bad.

So that was Pixar's first real letdown. Hopefully Lightyear will be much better. Anyhow, that's going to do it for me. Come back on Monday, Mar 14th for my review of The Hyperions. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.

What You Probably Didn't Know About Animal House (1978)

 

Here we are yet again folks, another installment of What You Probably Didn't Know About. And this time I'm covering one of my many favorite comedy films, Animal House.

1. During the filming of Animal House, John Belushi would also have to take a flight back and forth for two weeks between Oregon and New York, because he would also be rehearsing and taping Saturday Night Live.

2. It's one of Donald Sutherland's personal favorites of all his films. He described working in it as the funniest experience he had on set.

3. The scene where Bluto crushes a beer against his forehead and would later smash a beer bottle over his head to cheer Flounder up, took a number of 18 times to get it right. This was because Stephen Furst kept breaking character because he was laughing so much.

4. The role of D-Day was originally meant for Dan Aykroyd because of his motorcycle-loving personality. According to John Landis (the director of the movie), Lorne Michaels (the producer of Saturday Night Live) threatened to fire Aykroyd if he took the role.

5. More money was spent on promotions and marketing than the actually film itself.

6. The writers chose to set the movie in 1962 because they saw it as "the last innocent year of America".

7. The University of Oregon reluctantly allowed the film crew to use their campus. They only gave them thirty days to complete filming. This meant that the cast and crew had a six-day work weeks and could only complete shooting in a span of two days.

8. The University of Missouri was going to be the setting for Animal House. Those plans had to change because once the president of the school read the script, he refused to give them permission to film there.

9. The name for the Delta House changes during the movie. Earlier in the film they name was Delta Chi Tau, but when the movers come by and take away their stuff it reads Delta Tau Chi.

10. Ivan Reitman was originally going to direct, but Universal wanted someone with more experience. They first approach Richard Lester and Bob Rafelson, before settling with John Landis.

11. The food fight scene was the source of inspiration for the 1983 Atari arcade game, Food Fight.

12. In the original script Flounder and Sissy fall asleep during the toga party, which was to give another of how uncool Flounder is. This scene was apparently never filmed, but one publicity still photo does show them sleeping on a couch.

13. Because this was Kevin Bacon's first role he naturally went to the premiere. However he wasn't allowed to sit with the rest of the cast because the ushers didn't believe he was in the movie. He had to sit in the back with everyone else.

14. Harold Ramis [the co-writer of the movie] based some of the pranks on his college experience. Pranks like the golf scene with Otter and Boon.

15. Toga parties where originally popular during the 1950s and 60s, following the release of the film, they became popular once again across colleges across America.

16. A sequel was once considered. It was to take place during the summer of 1967 and would've involved the Deltas reuniting at Otter's wedding. The plan stall when Universal saw how badly More American Graffiti bombed at the box office. The sequel was scrapped for good when John Belushi sadly died in 1982.

17. Because of the popularity of the movie it came to no one's surprise that executives tried to capitalize. There would be not one, not two but three tv spin-offs, Delta House, Brothers and Sisters, and Co-Ed Fever. Neither of the shows found any long staying power, and were then cancelled.

18. During the 25th anniversary, a real parade was held in Hollywood Boulevard featuring not only the original cast and crew, but there was also re-creations of the parade floats used in the movie.

Well folks, I hoped you enjoyed this edition of What You Probably Didn't Know About. That's going to do it for me. Come back on Saturday, Mar 12th for my review of the brand new Pixar movie, Turning Red. Until then, enjoy the rest your day, and do watch Animal House if you haven't already. It's one of many great comedy films.