Street Fighter 2: The Movie

 

            After watching Street Fighter: The Movie I lately found its Japanese counterpart on Amazon Prime for a reasonable price of FREE. And it was only 90ish minutes so, I figured why not try this Japanese animated movie about the second best popular, fighting game. And this is my first time experiencing Japanese animation and I got to tell you this may be my only Japanese cartoon movie I'll probably ever watch, though in all fairness our fellow allies have a bizarre way of making cartoons.

            Kind of the same concept as the movie Street Fighter, only this time you see some street fighting, only this time M. Bison is trying to capture some of these fighters like Ryu, who travel around the world to battle other street fighters. Interpol agent Chun-Li teams up with Colonel Guile to help track down and stop M. Bison before his evil plan becomes a reality. 

             Strangely the film makes more sense than the video game or the live action movie to the extent of actual street fighting is happening and yet the tournament is still lost to me, and granted Mortal Kombat's tournament makes a ton of sense to me but Street Fighter's tournament factor is still lost to me because we center around the fact that M. Bison is a terrorist and runs a crime syndicate, while Guile and Chun-Li are teaming up to stop him. Now granted you can take the tournament aspect out of the equation and say that Colonel Guile recruits a group of Street fighters and call them Street Fighter (though it would be a horrible name) and you can make it as a Dirty Dozen treatment to it, either way I can go on and on about how to make this better but I'm going to stop before I go crazy. Interestingly enough I yeah I seen tons of nudity in Heavy Metal but this is another movie where I never expected a shower scene and see full frontal nudity which I was like "HOLY CRAP", like I can almost picture a lot of these street fighter fans that are either kids and loved the live action film and watches this movie and all of a sudden the full nudeness happens and all the kids have a deer in the headlights look and immediate are like "I love BOOBS NOW". And later you see kids at the elementary school telling their friends about the boobies they seen and that's how early nineties kids began to like girls. A side the jokes this movie does have some great moments fun action scenes but in the end I still have to go with the live action just because of the silliness as well as Raul Julia giving it all especially since the man wanted to go out with a bang and this movie does have some fun scenes but then you rarely see some of your favorite fighters and that's basically the reason why Mortal Kombat Annihilation but then again who remembers Mortal Kombat: Annihilation. If you’re a fan of the Street Fighter series I would recommend watching this film on both Pluto TV and Amazon Prime as well as if you’re a fan of Japanese Animation than this movie would for sure be the movie for you to watch from beginning to the very end.  

       

Casino

 

                

            Well as you all know, when you feel that burnt out feeling you get after watch a bizarre mob movie with a crazy a**, middle aged woman that looks like Joan Rivers, you know the best course of action is to watch a movie where a real director knows how to make a movie about the mafia. That's right everyone, today on its 30th Anniversary I've decided for the first time ever to sit down and watch Martin Scorsese's 1995 classic, Casino. And here is a word of advice Ladies and Gentlemen, when you make a movie about the mafia you hire a ton of New Yorkers or people from New Jersey, and not the crazy ones from Jersey Shore you get the guys who look like Robert De Niro or Joe Pesci. Now if you're making a movie about Asian Mafia or Yakuza then you get any actors from Japan.

             In the mid-1970's Las Vegas, low-level mobster Sam "Ace" Rothstein (Robert De Niro) gets tapped by his bosses to head the Tangiers Casino. At first, he's a great success in the job, but over the years, problems with a loose-cannon enforcer and childhood friend, Nicky Santoro (Joe Pesci), his ex-hustler turned crazy wife Ginger (Sharon Stone) and a handful of corrupt politicians put Sam in ever-increasing danger. Martin Scorsese directs this adaptation (Casino: Love and Honor in Las Vegas) from the works of Nicholas Pileggi. 

             I watched this movie twice and granted I needed a second opinion from my end for many reasons when watching the film for the first time I felt a little conflicted mainly because the film is the typical gangster rise and fall. Though watching the film, the second time around I began to realize that there's something more to the movie I never quite give credit to the story telling that's based on actual events involving around these three characters. Based on the book by Nicholas Pileggi the same author who wrote Wise Guys based on Goodfellas, while researching Casino Pileggi read a report from the Las Vegas Sun circa 1980, about an argument between Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal, a casino figure, and his wife Geri McGee, a former topless dancer. Upon which gave Pileggi the inspiration for the next book to write based on 1970's Las Vegas. While filming came to an end for Goodfellas Pileggi came to Scorsese about the next idea to transition into film. Goodfellas was basically based on a true story or bibliography on Henry Hill and sure Casino is based on a true story to the extent of it being based on actual events. While the interesting thing about Casino is, that it's really shows the dilemma of what makes a good gangster to a bad gangster and De Niro's character is a smart gangster to the extent of keeping his distances with the mob but doing gangster things when his casino gets out of line a great example of that aspect is De Niro spotting a pair of cheaters and gives the hammer to one of them as well as giving all the cheaters a warning on what will happen if they come back. Then on the other side you have Joe Pesci's character represents that gangster that obviously gets out of hand as well as gets way to sloppy that you most certainly see tensions between De Niro and Pesci who at the beginning of the film their childhood friends moreover later in the film they become enemies which really when you think about it becomes a sad factor because you have a remorse for De Niro because he loses a lot of things but through the course of the movie he still follows his principles as well as never breaking his own thoughts and beliefs. Both De Niro and Pesci do such an excellent job playing off one another as well as playing reverse roles to where De Niro is the antagonist in Goodfellas and Pesci plays the protagonist but more importantly the friend to Liotta's character and with this movie De Niro is the protagonist and Pesci is the antagonist who gets out of control and unstable that it's kind of a great dilemma  of these guys trying to run a business but the other is so blinded by greed you see how things become a dangerous dilemma till the very end. Either way both men do a great job at playing these gangsters they we're born to play especially in one scene where Pesci has a guy in a gripped vice to his head and you can hear the head cracking or the eye popping out like this movie really does amp up the violence especially when the bring metal bats in the mix. No doubt Casino is up there in the top ten greatest gangster movies of all time and out of the mob movies that Scorsese's done, for certain Goodfellas and Casino are his grand masterpieces and as for his greatest masterpiece well, that's a conversation for another time. The movie itself is a grand total of three hours so if your trying to watch a movie like this my advice would be a ton of coffee but if you can't handle three hour long movie then you can always split the movie in half, and last I check the film alone is on Amazon Prime for now so if you’re looking for a movie to watch I would highly recommend watching Casino, for its great storytelling as well as great list of actors that will make you believe this movie was made by a real filmmaker and not just some amateur director that tries to make a gangster movie but ends up shooting himself in the groin. 

 

September Recommendation: Reservoir Dogs

 

                 Two months ago, I've been reminded of the passing of the late and underappreciative actor Michael Madsen, who's most known for playing the cool and sadistic Mr. Blonde in my latest monthly recommendation Reservoir Dogs. This is Quentin Tarantino's very first movie directed in the early nineties. Back when we never even heard of first-time directors though granted, we never discovered Steven Spielberg's first movie, hell, or even George Lucas's first movie, but when it comes to Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs this is a standout movie with a killer soundtrack and a bunch of well-acted and great appreciative recognition from Michael Madsen himself. 

                 Six criminals with pseudonyms, and each stranger to one another, are hired to carry out a robbery. The heist is ambushed by police, and the gang are forced to shoot their way out. At their warehouse rendezvous, the survivors, realizing that they were set up, try to find the traitor in their midst.    

                 One of the earliest memories and literally has a lot to do with, was Michael Madsen's performance in the movie, sure I loved Harvey Keitel in the movie but to me Michael Madsen's presence on screen as well as his performance was just outstanding that most of the times I couldn't finish the movie mainly because how his time comes unexpectedly, but more importantly he was just a cool looking character from his look to his maniacal laugh you just can't help to love the guy despite him being a true psychopath. During the auditions Madsen actually wanted to play the role of Mr. Pink, as played by Steve Buscemi, mainly because wanted more screen time with Harvey Keitel and Quentin insisted that he'd play Mr. Blonde for which really I would insist him playing Mr. Blonde because Steve Buscemi fit perfect for the role of Mr. Pink and Madsen didn't have that paranoia or basically the Martin Scorsese and Steve Buscemi talk, though I guessing the New York accent but the kind of New Yorker where he talks to much, that kind of guy. And just Madsen has that cool James Dean presents that really feels Mr. Blonde was made for him and Tarantino having Madsen play the role of Mr. Blonde was most certainly the smartest choice, if not one of the many smart choices and he's never made any well, a side from Death Proof. One of the things on why Quentin Tarantino is such an inspirational filmmaker is simply, the man never went to film school he literally worked most of his young adult life at a video store and just watched a ton of movies from classic movies to Japanese films, from film noir to maybe the too even romantic comedies (for which as a hobby maybe?) but he studies from films and just decides to make a movie at an early age as well as taking a leap of faith. But more importantly a lot of his films are inspirations from past movies that he loved and you may think that his films aren't original I think that doesn't really matter when it comes to writing your own movies or directing your own movies an original film is an original film no matter who the director is or what that person's style of filmmaking is. The funny thing is Lawrence Tierney in the movie plays the mob boss in the movie was no doubt a excellent actor in the movie and I'm not going to go into much details about him being difficult to work with and sure the guy was probably difficult to work with as well as a nut job but Chevy Chase is a bigger nut job/egotist throughout Hollywood. Okay getting back to topic,  through my teen years that was the one movie I associated him with until I watched a few episodes of Seinfeld and saw him again as Elaine's father and the way he made Jerry and Jason Alexander uncomfortable was the most funniest thing I've ever seen mainly just because of the guy's presence on screen as well as his age of being a gruff grumpy bastard that would most certainly be one of your relatives and after that I stopped but in all fairness I don't have Netflix anymore so, it's best I don't proceed any further after that great episode. There so many great actors in the movie and really if I had to pick two that deserve recognition it would most certainly be Tim Roth and Chris Penn, Roth for example does a great job playing an innocent guy who you feel like he's going to die but through the course of the film you unexpectedly know he's not what he says he is and that's great acting, Penn on the other hand does a great job playing a pissed off mob boss, son who is a great guy to hang around but when we get to the climax of the film, he does an excellent job playing a savage and scary guy and his eyes when you see him at the climax, speaks for itself. The excellent thing about the movie is you don't need a full scene of how the robbery went down the fact that Quentin allows the characters and the actors describe how the job went down really sells it and the aspect that majority of the movie is basically in a warehouse, is so great as well as you can always transition to the movie in a stage play but also allows the film to let the audience imagine how the robbery happen and the great shot of Mr. Blonde torturing a cop and then the camera pans to not show what is going on is another great example of letting the imagination of the viewers find out what is truly happening. If you ever want to have a bro's night out, Reservoir Dogs is that perfect guy movie, that you can love from beginning to the very end with great soundtrack you wish you can mimic some of those scenes, hell I wished I would look good in those suits they wear but I know that's not going to happen. Still to this day Reservoir Dogs, is one of those classics that you can watch and enjoy but has that cool flair that Geto Boys would always say "Damn it feels good to be a Gangsta" The film is on Peacock so if you’re feeling for a great gangster classic Quentin Tarantino's very first movie I would highly recommend to watch this September as well as paying tribute to the Late Michael Madsen for delivering an iconic performance in cinema history. 

 

       

Blazin'

 

           I think after watching one of the most obnoxious and terrible b-movies of all time, The Amazing Bulk, that I would learn my lesson and not peruse a whole lot of B-Movies. But this movie, upon which I discovered out of Red-Letter Media's Best of the Worst, I had to make an exception for other bizarre reasons it has an over-the-top middle aged crazy woman who thinks she's a gangster and more importantly Fat Joe, hopefully everyone remembers Fat Joe right? Anyway, a fun fact is this is one of three films found in Osama bin Laden's house during the fateful Operation Neptune Spear in which he was assassinated. So, he may or may not have been laughing so hard or was stoned out of his mind while watching Blazin', granted I don't know because I wasn't there but I'm just assuming.

           Basically, a Romeo and Juliet story with the mix of hip hop and a trying attempted to make a movie but, just fails so badly that you get a great performance from a crazy woman. 

            Unlike The Amazing Bulk, which I declare as the worst non-movie I've ever seen or don't believe to be a movie and yet Tubi streams the damn movie. Straight Blazin is surprisingly one of the most fascinating B-movies I've ever seen almost close to like The Room standards. Although this is one of those films that yes it's hilariously bad but it's also embarrassing to see especially with all the actors in the movie, and yet after watching the movie I do wish to find a copy of this movie on eBay and hopefully ask Fat Joe to sign this but I doubt he cares all about the movie since the man is a big success in music. As crazy as this may sound I would highly recommend watching this movie not to anyone who’s ever watched weird B-movies like this but those who, if you’re a person who wants to get into the movie business and you don't have the good education to go on or working at dead end jobs but you want to make movies, hell like me for example who wants to direct movies, I truly believe this is a movie of great importin's to watch, in the sense of "DON'T DO THIS" sense. And like all bad independent movies go when you try and make a movie that's unintentionally bad, but with this film sure it's bad and funny, but it's so, embarrassing to even watch especially guys who are overly large and out of shape and for some reasons know kung fu or martial arts. And coming from someone whose grown up fat and out of shape, I would look silly trying to choregraph martial arts fights and logical sense if you’re trying to make a small, low budget action movie you need to do a lot of experimental shots to get those sequences right. And with this film I feel like the director has only scene Goodfellas and Reservoir Dogs, then after viewing those movies felt like "oh I can do that", but either way he just fails so miserably at almost everything I mean there are some decent ideas that would make it better but I would just be losing my mind thinking about. Hell, I almost feel like Walter White when he must put up with Jessie and after watching the movie and then looking at him goes "Did your mother drop you on your head when you were a baby? There is no way in hell we're going to get our money back from this", and I'm no expert I never claim myself to be a good reliable expert but watching this all the way through, makes me feel great inside with the belief of thanking the good lord that I didn't produce this movie because I would lose my mind. Speaking of thanking our good lord and savior, you know when you feel like your parents or family members are complete nut jobs well after watching this movie, I'm thankful my family members aren't that crazy as the old woman who plays a gangster? I looked up the actress who plays the Drug Lord in the movie and her name is Paula Roth moreover she's hands down the most entertaining part of the movie to the degree where she's playing a gangster who recently just be out of the insane asylum. Like I feel like the director of the movie recently visited a Shutter Island like asylum and visited this woman who was also off her meds and thought she would be perfect for the role. And she played the role like your mother who gets hysteric when Thanksgiving or Christmas Day is happening and all of your family members are all coming and she's losing her sh*t that's basically who she's playing, furthermore I'm so glad I have loving caring parents now (granted I've always been thankful) because I swear to you if my parents was like this actress I would literally be calling the guys in white jackets and tell my parents to put the long shirt on, because that's the kind of toxic family I would never in a million years want to be in. Now I'm trying to get into the film business and I didn't have the good film school education to get me there so, I have to rely on things that I've learned through TV as well as working with a camera of any kind so, a side from this movie being a entreatingly bad movie I would only recommend this movie to the people who want to lean filmmaking but more importantly this film is a good lesson in what you most certainly need when it comes to making a small low budget movie because whenever your actors are screaming at the top of their lungs for which either the boom mic is hitting red or the volume level is bursting to red hot then you need to tell your actors to tone down their voice or if your experimenting with scenes then you most certainly need a microphone or a boom mic to get the soundtrack of the dialogue. Also, you need ton of music to pad out the film, for which I'm sure you can always look for a composer for hire or a small-time musician who works around with a lot of band instruments, either way adding music to your film will make some good adjustments. And here's the most importantly lesson whenever you get the idea of using overweight men to experiment with a strange martial arts fight scene just don't, because I'm extremely fat and I can personally say that even I would look embarrassed as well as ridicules doing a kung fu style of fighting for fat people. So, if you’re a fan of strange, weird b-movies then this movie is strait of your alley and I would recommend watching it, hell that's why Tubi is the greatest streaming service for these bizarre and weird films. And if you’re a normal human being I would definitely say not to watch this movie, either way this film is a great observer for people who really want to get into the film business because this film is a great example of what you need when it comes to making a movie, as well as what not to do when making a movie. 

        

Ten Year Anniversary of The Martian

 

           This great human-interest story hasn't reached its ten-year mark yet. But I'm already at the point where I decided now is the time to discuss Ridley Scott's epic Science Fiction and greatest human story, as well as Matt Damon's greatest performance ever on screen. The Martian, by the time of the film’s release, I knew single handedly I wanted to see this movie because of course it's directed by Sir Ridley Scott, and one of the most bizarre collaborations with Matt Damon, for which yes like Christopher Nolan I'm going to see a movie directed by Ridley Scott no question. But out of this entire adventure comes one of the greatest films of 2015, but more importantly a human-interest story that shows, maybe humanity can strive for great things, especially the entire world working together saving one person in a dangerous deserted planet like Mars.

            When astronauts blast off from the planet Mars, they leave behind Mark Watney (Matt Damon), presumed dead after a fierce storm. With only a meager number of supplies, the stranded visitor must utilize his wits and spirit to find a way to survive on the hostile planet. Meanwhile, back on earth, members of NASA and a team of international scientists work tirelessly to bring him home, with his crew mates hatching their own plan for a daring rescue mission.

            “The Martian” is based off a 2011 Bestseller by Andy Weir. Andy Weir always wanted to be a science fiction writer, loved reading his grandfather's or father’s collection of science fiction books, though through course of his destination like most people wanting to accomplish their dream, had to find a profession to pay bills as well as food. And so, computer technician became his backup plan while trying to find time to write. Through the course of working through jobs Weir picked the time to finally write and do some research on NASA and life on Mars for which came to the concept of The Martian. Having been turned down by literary Agents, Weir decided to put the book online in a serial format, one chapter at a time on his website. While Weir's book has been hitting some great views, fans requested Weir to have the book for full access so Andy made the decision to publish the book on Amazon Kindle for about .99 cents (the minimum allowable price he could set). With 35,000 copies sold as well as launching success for Andy Weir as well as movie release the rest became success. Even after watching the movie for the first time, I decided to buy the book, and it literally became my favorite book to read so that I couldn't stop reading the book. Ten years later the movie alone is still the great and tremendous movie that uplifts you’re spirit that you'd never expect to feel. But more importantly this provides a protagonist that's unlike any protagonist I've ever experienced, for which people for sure compare the movie and book to the movie Cast Away, but this is a lone survivor against all the odds against him and yet he's still able to keep himself calm and still have a sense of humor in the situation he's in. For which, who doesn't respect a man who makes fun of Disco music, I mean that scene of actor Chiwetel Ejiofor worried about Matt Damon's character, and then we brilliantly transition to Damon listening to "Turn the beat around" express his dislike for Disco music, still gives me the chuckles because if I was stranded on Mars having listen to nothing but Taylor Swift music or Adelle, even I would be worrying about my sanity. Hands down the most amazing thing about the movie is the realistic ton and look of Mars, granted it's science fiction but also shows a great tone of what would Mars would look like if NASA traveled to a planet like Mars because really we all don't know what Mars would look like other than it's a desolate planet with no possible way to grow or colonize it so shooting scenes in the Jordan dessert of Wahi Rum is a fantastic choice to shoot the exterior scenes for The Martian. A lot of people will obviously say that Matt Damon's best performance is either Good Will Hunting or Jason Bourne, but for me personally Damon's performance in the Martian is his greatest performance as an actor, granted his playing a character based on a book but the way he's able to not play a miserable/lonely astronaut but a scared to calm astronaut with a sense of humor is really a breath of fresh air and for great reasons we've never seen that type of stranded character before and Damon being able to bring Andy Weir's character of Mark Watney to life is both great as well as showing great emotion range at the same time especially in scenes where he's all by himself with no one to talk to and then hearing his crew member's during that scene of him getting of Mars is just incredible acting on his part and let's be honest Matt Damon is an excellent crier, we can all agree on that. Though Matt Damon isn't the only person that makes this movie in epic film, he also has a list of great actors like Jessica Chastain, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Sean Bean and Jeff Daniels does a fantastic job playing a political NASA director that's always playing it way to safe, you know the typical guy you'd have to put up with knowing he's your boss type character. But Kristen Wiig does a fantastic job in the movie not doing so much comedy though in all fairness she's being directed by a well accomplished filmmaker, just like Seth Rogen doing a fantastic job in the movie Steve Jobs when the only reason the man did a great job because he's directed by Danny Boyle and acting from a screenplay by Aaron Sorkin. Close to ten years of the film’s release and it's still to this day in my opinion one of the greatest and beautiful human interests story's ever to be put on screen, and I usually don't say that a lot when it comes to movies, but when you see two nations like U.S. and China with their space programs coming together to help one man is just great and something special about it because really when you take a look at the world is now, you realize the crash course of reality but the entire world coming together as one to in the hopes of one astronaut escaping the hostile environments of Mars is somewhat of a beautiful thing in hopes that maybe humanity can come together as one. And really that's always been the human instinct that has always been engraved in all of us, and really the movie is set in 2035 so maybe in the next ten years will see NASA or all of the space programs coming together and building a space program to explore mars, and at the age I am I do hope that becomes a possibility. After watching the movie I'm now considering reading the book again because it's a great read as well as addicting to ready because all I remember while at work, helping a broadcast in the two minutes of spare time I would constantly read the book just because of how funny and a great read it was so, if you love any Matt Damon movies or your like me and watch all of Ridley Scott's films then I would highly recommend watching the Martian but also read Andy Weir's The Martian after watching the film, or you can read the book before watching the movie whichever comes first. 

           

Twisted Metal (TV Show)

 

              Now if it we're me and this is just my opinion I would totally change NASCAR into a battle ground where all racers are shooting at each other as well as blowing each other’s cars, while turning left. Though we're not living in a post-apocalyptic world so I guess, discussing the first-two seasons of Twisted Metal on Peacock streaming service, will do. If you’re not familiar with Peacock basically the streaming service for NBC, along with Universal Studio's films as well as Peacock films and shows and surprisingly enough Twisted Metal based on the popular PlayStation game series is a binge worthy show worth watching. 

               Set somewhere in 2002 or 2005 where all the world has gone to shambles, but CDs are a gold mind for anyone who has a car. John Doe and Quiet (Anthony Mackie and Stephanie Beatriz) two unlikely lovers on a quest of redemption as well as participating in a tournament of battle cars. But more importantly there's a killer clown that could makes Joaquin Phoenix's Joker look like a week WAP, if you catch my meaning.

               If you want a good description of what the game of Twisted Metal is to get a clear idea on the show. Basically think of Mad Max in a Video game form which is clearly what Twisted Metal is when you think about it and more importantly you don't necessary need to play the games in order to get into the movie because once I decided to watch the show I basically kept in open mind going in and a result, a surprisingly great, entertaining show that provides great character development from both actors Anthony Mackie and Stephanie Beatriz who both show great chemistry together, as well as great character growth through the course of each season. Granted Mackie and Beatriz are great, but the real scene stealer is both Samoa Joe and Will Arnett, together brings the iconic Sweet Tooth to life and I'm not going to lie both men do a fantastic job at bringing the voice as well as the physic of his killer personality. Aside from some scenes getting way to dark, especially some of the first seasons, it does have some great comedic moments as well as bringing out some great 90's and 2000's nostalgia music to the show as well and I think it does bring a great balance between the dark as well as the comedy. Defiantly, an entertaining show with a span of 30 minutes per episode with great character development and great action and for certainly one of the best Television shows I ever seen on a streaming service so, if you have Peacock and love cars as well as action, then I would highly recommend watching Twisted Metal for you'll for certain, have the craving to listen Rob Zombie's Dragula. 

Days of Thunder

 

               In one of the rare few times, I never thought I would decide to watch an early nineties Tom Cruise movie. Although this was a movie I had never seen and thought it couldn’t be worse, right? Well, this was one of those things when you get feel like you've seen the exact same story line from a past Tom Cruise movie well, this is most certainly that movie only this time it's about NASCAR one of the most boring sporting events on the planet. Furthermore, I should thank NASCAR after watching this movie because it gives me every reason to hate the sport even more. Hell, if you’re going to create a racing event where all they must do is turn left, for f**ksake give some excitement like put some ramps on the track or something because after watching Days of Thunder I slowly realize that even NASCAR drivers are complete douches. 

               Basically, the same storyline to Top Gun only this time yes, it's about NASCAR drivers two guys don't like one another then Tom Cruise has a love affair with a young up and coming actress in Nicole Kidman. When the two bros kiss and make up (literally) Tom Cruise has another douche-bag rivalry in Cary Elwes and well in the end Tom Cruise wins Daytona again it's a NASCAR movie, so they obviously must have Tom Cruise win. 

               Look I love a good quality racing movie, in fact I'm big fan of the movie Rush by Ron Howard and Ford v. Ferrarri directed by James Mangold. But let's be frank, this is NASCAR, basically turning left as well as changing lanes every 50 laps as well as years of my life, hell I don't even know how our fellow Southerners ever can get into this sport to be honest. Now keep in mind I did give this movie a chance, this was one of those days where I literally was bored and didn't find anything better to watch but, although now I'm really glad to of watched and experienced the movie because once again NASCAR proves to me why I hate the sport and more importantly hate Days of Thunder. I really wished that this movie wasn't a carbon copy of Top Gun and really if you haven't watched this movie from start to finish this movie is a lazy draft of Top Gun, basically using the same hot shot driver who has no experience in stock car driving and through the course of the movie these two rivals Tom Cruise and Michael Rooker battle each other off the track both wheelchair battle and then renting cars for which both douches literally damaged in which if I was that person who owned those cars I would tell those a**holes to pay up right now. Then Cruise has another rivalry in Cary Elwes, and the two men begin to bond, look either way this movie has one to many elements of it being the exact replica of Top Gun that's when I slowly begin to realize on how bad this movie is going to suck. Apparently and due to the sources I browsed through there were a lot of arguments going on between producers, Tony Scott and writer of Days of Thunder battle out in terms of arguments for which nothing was getting done and all the crew were sitting around watching this Soap Opera, for which explains a lot moreover there was no finished script during the course of filming and Tom Cruise while filming himself in the car had to rely on cue cards attached to the windshields, and even reading about this just hurts my brain and I don't know about you but I find that sad and say we're not going to film anything until we get a good script, but I'm no Tony Scott so, I guess that doesn't matter. I would love to continue about how bad this movie was but, hell I don't even know what to tell you or how to explain some of these scenes especially when Tom Cruise through the course of the movie is such a dumba** and gets into situations where you'd have to cringe. A side from the fact that this movie is on Hulu I would strongly advise you not to watch Days of Thunder especially if you’re a fan of NASCAR fan, and even if you're a lonely woman, look there other movies to be turned on by besides a young Tom Cruise I would imagine, all you just have to do is look around and find something at least hell just watch all the Thor films for a good start and then find something else because those movies would be ten times better than Days of Thunder. And in all fairness this movie came out in 1990 and in about two years Rob Reiner would hire Cruise to play Lawyer/Naval Officer in A Few Good Men, so I would imagine Reiner after seeing this movie pull Cruise a side and told him "look Tom I seen your film Days of Thunder and I hate to tell you that movie sucked, so the good news right now is that I got a movie role that will launch your career and out of the young hotshot douche", though I'm not a fortune teller but I would love to believe that was the conversation between Reiner and Cruise, upon which Cruise still hasn't changed at all and A Few Good Men for me is still my only favorite Tome Cruise movie. 

  

 

30th Anniversary of Mortal Kombat

 

                  

            There was a point that I was going to hold off on this 30th Anniversary classic, Mortal Kombat till the most recent Mortal Kombat film arrives in October (false alarm coming out next year). But I've been recently reminded about the films 30-year release and I decided upon myself to sit down and watch the film that surprisingly still holds up. Directed by infamous B-Movie director Paul W.S. Anderson long before he impregnated Mila Jovovich and proceeded to make mediocre, sometimes lame movies in which his wife would star in. Strangely enough Mortal Kombat is hands down one of Paul W.S. Anderson's best movie and granted I haven't seen Event Horizon yet but out of all the movies he's done, this is single handedly one of his finest movies, moreover that pretty much say's a lot because if you take away his most recent movies from 2010 till now they are not acceptable to be call movies. 

            Lord Raiden (Christopher Lambert) handpicks three martial artists -- military soldier Sonya (Bridgette Wilson), Shaolin Monk Liu Kang (Robin Shou) and a washed-up movie star Johnny Cage (Linden Ashby). With the guidance of Raiden, these three Martial Artists must fight to survive on an Island hosted by Sorcerer Shang Tsung (Cary Hiroyuki Tagawa). With Earth left in the balance only one will remain victorious.

             I've said before I always loved Mortal Kombat, there's no denying that for good reasons it has one of the simplest yet great storylines in all fighting games, and like Star Wars, Mortal Kombat its storyline is the basis of good vs evil, unlike Street Fighter and Tekken that has a story? Behind it? Some of it makes little sense but with Mortal Kombat you have a mad Tyrant wanting to invade the realm of Earth and the only way to invade the realm is to win ten straight victories at a tournament, I mean that's literally one of the most simplest of ideas that gets me drawn to the game other than yeah it's the most bloodiest video game of all time. One of my earliest memories of Mortal Kombat was at a friend’s house and he was playing the original game and all I remember is Scorpion removing his mask and a Skull appears to burn the opponent down and I already thought that was scary at first as well as Raiden being a scary looking guy with the lightning never though he was a force for good, and at the time I wasn't all that interested in playing games because I was going outside and playing until I got my first PlayStation 2 and thought "oh I can play Mortal Kombat now and so thus began my continuation of playing Mortal Kombat till the day I die.  Somewhere between 1997 to 2000 on Dish Network, Mortal Kombat was on Cable TV and loved watching the movie from start to finish and especially loving Sub-Zero and Scorpion intro and though that was the coolest thing especially Reptile's fight with Liu Kang, furthermore though his look was the best one out of all the Reptile versions especially when he's in a human form. Going back and rewatching the film again I do stand tall as one of the best representations of the very first Mortal Kombat game mainly because you just have the seven original characters in the movie together as well as a few characters from Mortal Kombat 2. Granted you don't get a whole lot of your favorite characters, I still think a lot of the fights are the real scene stealers of the entire movie especially when you see Goro in action, and though Goro looks very stop motion, he strangely looks great on screen and either way I love the way he turns out. If you take away the visual effects and some of the cheesy dialogue it still holds up, almost the same as Street Fighter the movie, but Mortal Kombat is great from start to finish especially when the killer soundtrack of the movie takes it to a whole new level. I still say that the original Mortal Kombat still stands the test of time despite its cheesy cliches it still holds up with the fights to the killer soundtrack as well as the iconic song from The Immortals with Mortal Kombat (Technio-Syndrome), for which is the greatest song ever. There's so many great things to talk about Mortal Kombat especially when you have Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa playing Shang Tsung whose hands down the best Shang Tsung especially when he returns to voice the character in Mortal Kombat 11 and the same goes to Bridgette Wilson who also returns as Sonya in MK 11 as well as Linden Ashby and Christopher Lambert, though Lambert makes a great Raiden in this movie but now when we finally understand he's Asian we have to make adjustments, hell we've been confused on what nationality Scorpion and Sub-Zero were because there were always portrayed as the same white guy until we get to the most recent games where they explain both characters are from Japan and China. Sadly, enough, this is Paul W. S. Anderson's best and only good movie he's ever made and there's no doubt because his movies after Mortal Kombat are just okay to complete utter garbage and I don't know what the best way would be to describe his filmography, other than this is really his only good movie out there. No question I would highly recommend watching Mortal Kombat, it has everything from great fights to killer soundtrack moreover once you see how great this movie is and then when you get to its sequel you slowly realize how bad the next one is, but I can imagine it's not all bad considering some funny moments though still is just blah. And sure, this movie isn't perfect but it's still fun and entertaining to watch especially when you don't have anything exciting to do, as well as want to take a trip down memory lane and realize how fun 90's films were. 

     

Airplane II: The Sequel

 

                       

             Well, we've recently talked about Airplane. I figured, well now we jumped, down this rabbit hole I figured we might as well talk about the sequel to Airplane, that is titled Airplane II: The Sequel. And you know there comes a time when you feel the need to do a sequel to a highly successful disaster spoof comedy, you, probably should just say no in terms of those situations although this is Hollywood and the spend their money like crazy in my opinion on Hookers and cocaine. Also, this movie is technically a Christmas movie and since all stores are already putting up their Halloween decorations we might as well talk about Christmas films, right?

              Like the movie’s predecessor. Ted Striker (Robert Hays) agrees to return to the cockpit to man the controls of Mayflower One, America's first commercial spacecraft. But, as soon as Mayflower One lifts off, an electrical malfunction sends the ship veering off course. A shaken Striker struggles to guide the shuttle through a treacherous asteroid belt, tames its failing computer and stops a disgruntled Sonny Bono from detonating a deadly bomb on board.

              To be truthfully honest this movie reminds me a lot of Major League II, where the film is the same as its predecessor but the jokes are just so flat that you feel so bored and sometimes disgusted at the jokes you chuckled at, granted the joke is this movie are more funny than Major League II, but then again chuckling at some of these jokes just make me want to take a shower. And this was one of these movies like Major League II where I remember watching on TV and though that this was amazing and funny but then watching the film now, I begin to realize that this hasn't aged well, not even close. The trio of ZAZ were in talks to do a sequel although, I'm assuming through a ton of talks with producers they were just tired of suggestions from the studio execs that they decided to just focus on their TV show of what would be The Police Squad with Leslie Neilson. With the trio not returning to directing the first film Paramount decided to turn to a first-time director in Ken Finkleman who later written Grease 2 and basically, I guess Paramount was running out of options and were trying in the best of their ability to get this film out and running for the Christmas season. In all fairness I like to say that the film isn't all bad like, compared to Major League II, is this good? But then when you continue to watch the movie you begin to see yourself bored out of your mind and continue to have this face of disgust on your face that again you'd like to say sure it's funny but it's just not moreover you just want to fix the movie but then you can't fix this movie at all in your mind. For which in all honesty what made the first Airplane movie great was because the film was based on Zero Hour! and the fact that majority of the plot and dialogue are in the movie but that's what makes the movie great and memorable. Airplane 2, you're basically rehashing the same jokes and telling the same story and that's just lazing writing, and really, it's not all Finkleman's fault because he had to write the script with limited time but could at least give some effort in making the jokes funny at least. And that's what makes the Naked Gun films so, entertaining that there's so many cop movies out there you can make ton of jokes, but with Airplane, you only need just one movie and call it good. I think that if your bored or have a lot of house cleaning to do at your house then you can watch this movie while you work mainly just to get things done while there's sound in the air so, really that would be the safe bet in terms of wanting to watch this movie on Hulu, although you don't need to watch this movie sitting down, all the way through because that's when you'd feel bored and in needs to take a shower. 

    

Zero Hour!

 

                     

           Well believe it ladies and gentlemen, for I finally have found the movie that was inspired by the 1980 comedy classic Airplane! Staring Dana Andrews, to me, is most famous for playing Detective Mark McPherson, in the 1944 film noir classic Laura. Sterling Hayden most notably starred in The Killing a year before Zero Hour! was released. And surprisingly a Wisconsin Badgers, halfback legend Elroy "Crazylegs" Hirsch, who I didn't know was a famous football player that would later be in the NFL with such teams as the Los Angeles Rams.

           Basically, it is the same premise as Airplane! Although Ted Striker (Dana Andrews) has a wife (Linda Darnell) and a kid. So, Ted Striker has a good reason to help his own son when a food poisoning outbreak occurs and well, you know the whole story so, I'll just leave it at that.

            When the trio of ZAZ said that they used a good portion and dialog of the film, well watching it for the first time I was surprised at how much they used from this movie, and it was shocking yet funny at the same time. From a movie stand point the film is not the greatest movie I've seen, but it's really fascinating in terms of the story structure as and the characters though granted as the trio of ZAZ states, Zero Hour! is really the serious version to Airplane! and it is this movie takes itself seriously while Airplane! alone takes it on the goofy stage for which is the most incredible hilarious to ever be develop by human hands. The film itself there's not a whole lot to say other than well, it's in okay movie and I can understand why I've never heard of this movie before and surprisingly how either Hulu or Turner Classic Movies was able to put this film out for cable TV or streaming, but in all fairness the film is a real fascinating aspect to watch as well as you can see where the trio was able to go with in terms of jokes and what they were trying to create in terms of what the jokes they were able to create furthermore when you look at the Naked Gun films they did, you know you can find every cop movie out there and that's basically what they were trying to do hell, there's a million cop movies and TV shows that you can mesh together and create the Naked Gun films and yet while creating Airplane you can look at this film and see oh this is how they were able to come up with some jokes that you can laugh at over and over again, not just combining every disaster movie into Airplane!. Again the film isn't good, it's mostly decent, but if you love the film Airplane!, for sure I would highly recommend watching this movie on your local Hulu, just because you never know how much material landed on Airplane!, and watching this movie for the first time I was shocked but laughing at the same time with some of the scenes in the movie and then remembering what jokes reminded me of this scene it's just crazy even to seen on screen and in all honesty it was fascinating to see but more importantly without this movie we wouldn't get Airplane!, so in all fairness Zero Hour! was made for a purpose and that purpose was for three men to come up and write one of the best comedies of all time. So, if you're fan of the Airplane! movie and granted I'm talking about the only one not it's sequel, then you should sit down and watch Zero Hour! for understanding and reasons why this movie exists, but more importantly you only have to watch it once don't make it a habit, don't feel the need to watch it all the time. 

 

Cape Fear

 

           On the quest of finding the best cinema I haven't touched or never got around to watching. I finally decided to watch a movie that was the original predecessor to Martin Scorsese's Cape Fear. Now I've not seen Scorsese's Cape Fear, but after watching this original version to Cape Fear, I suddenly feel hesitant in wanting to watch Scorsese's version, for a gillion reasons I can honestly tell that De Niro is literally chewing the scenery throughout the entire movie despite not seeing it. But for great reasons, Robert Mitchum's Cady has nothing compared to De Niro's Cady just not even close. The 1962 version of Cape Fear I will most certainly say to everyone who has Amazon Prime, I would highly recommend watching the 62 version to Cape Fear.

           After eight-year prison sentence for rape, Max Cady (Robert Mitchum) targets Sam Bowden (Gregory Peck), one of the lawyers who sent him away. When Max finds Sam and his family, he begins a terrifying stalking spree, intending to ruin Sam's life. Desperate to protect his wife and daughter, Sam tries to send Max back to jail. But when his attempts fail, Sam realizes that he must take matters into his own hands if he wants to get rid of his life of Max for good. 

           Night of the Hunter for sure readied me for Robert Mitchum being a villain, but again this movie shows that I'm glad he's passed because I would be terrified of him once I bump into him and then I make a break for it and run for my life shouting "No Robert don't touch my Pee Pee", I mean sure when it comes to any time of horror film or film noir yeah, you have to play that cold hearted character, but something about Robert Mitchum's performance that gives chills down your spine moreover he was way ahead of any of these actors that played infamous movies villains like Anthony Perkins, Robert Englund and even some of these other iconic movie antagonists that you see in other horror movies. Though what makes Mitchum great to watch on screen is that he's normally scary in the sense that he doesn't really need any props or anything to be scary, it's his presence on screen is what makes him so terrifying on screen. In fact, Gregory Peck and director J. Lee Thompson wanted Mitchum to play the role of Cady, but Mitchum refused at first until he relented after Thompson and Peck delivered him flowers and bourbon furthermore reply's "Okay, I've drunk your bourbon. I'm drunk. I'll do it", for which really that's a one good lesson I'm going to use when I want an actor in my movie, I'm going to deliver them flowers and some good whiskey, and if it's Jessica Chastain or Charlize Theron I'm going to give them flowers and maybe tequila depends on what they're choice of booze would be mainly because I want them to chew the scenery and I figured tequila would be the best choice maybe. J. Lee Thompson gets a lot of credit for making Cape Fear one of the most scary and terrifying movies I've seen since Promising Young Woman. Thompson in fact claimed to be a fan of Alfred Hitchcock, and he envisioned the movie black and white, for good reasons he wanted to have every Hitchcockian element into the movie such as unusual lighting angles, eerie musical score, closeups, and subtitle hints to violence rather than graphic depictions of violence, Mitchum's character has in mind for the family. And it works perfectly especially in scenes where Cady is hooking up with this woman and she starts to get terrified of him and then we have these hints of violence that even I was taken back, especially the way it was shot and you don't see anything and as dark as this may sound I loved the way it turned out. The fact that this movie didn't do so well in the box office and later destroyed Gregory Peck's studio company is just insane in terms of people going to the movies it's almost reminiscing to people now than people in the sixties it’s just way to crazy for people to watch all of Hitchcock's films but a movie inspired by Hitchcock nobody goes to see this is just crazy maybe because of the dark elements but come on, that's what Gregory Peck is there for. Hands down this is defiantly in my top list of greatest horror movies as well as list of greatest movies ever made, I mean Robert Mitchum playing a perfect bad guy, you just can't get any better than this but more importantly you have the best of both actors in Gregory Peck and Robert Mitchum facing off with one another you can't get a better use of great actors since Heat. So, if you have an Amazon Prime account furthermore, hopefully is still there I would highly recommend to stop what you’re doing and sit down and watch this great movie hell even have the kids watch the movie so they can get a clear idea about being terrified of stalkers, hell if kids can get into Sabrina Carpenter moreover be like her, then watching Cape Fear with the kids is a great lesson to learn in life. 

             

August Recommendation: Airplane

 

             After watching movie that's so bad that you literally need to take a shower as well as pound five little bottles of fireball (figuratively). I knew firsthand that I had to find a good movie to watch, for me to get back into the game of recommending some movies for all of you to sit down and enjoy. Granted there's no wrong in watching some entertaining bad B-Movies, but the Amazing Bulk was such a mess that just hurts a ton of brain cells. Thankfully I became one of the greatest comedic trios of all time since Mel Brooks. Airplane! (Worthy of a Monthly Recommendation) was one of those movies I remembered watching as a kid, though watched a ton of the sequel but do remembered watching the first movie to the point I remembered the crowd going nuts about a pilot and all of a sudden a half-naked woman comes in for a second and my mom was like "GO TO YOUR ROOM", and in all fairness this movie got me into liking girls growing up in a strange sense.

             This spoof comedy takes shots at the slew of disaster movies that were released in the 70's. When passengers and crew of a jet are incapacitated due to food poisoning, a rogue pilot (Robert Hays) with a drinking problem (figuratively) must cooperate with his ex-girlfriend (Julie Hagerty) turned stewardess to bring a plane to safe landing.

              Shockingly enough although it makes sense, this is in fact Jim Abrahams, Jerry and David Zucker’s directorial debut together for which I at the time didn't know about that, but it makes sense because from this movie to like the Naked Gun films those are there sole movies together. Around 1971, the trio was developing their comic routine, and they would usually record late night television and reviewed the tapes later primarily to pull the commercials. Basically, Abrahams, in a sense of describing or comparing it as "seine fishing", during one of the tapings they unintentionally recorded the 1957 film Zero Hour! and like most comedic writers would find that one source of inspiration this was most certainly fate reaching out to extend its hand towards ZAZ. The group completed their first film script in 1975 titled The Late Show. Having failed to sell their script to major studios, ZAZ met with John Landis who encouraged them to write a film based on their theatre sketches, for which later became The Kentucky Fried Movie, furthermore David Zucker in his own words "it was the first time we had ever been on a movie set. We learned a lot. We learned that if you learned that you wanted a movie to come out the way you wanted it to, you had to direct. So, on the next movie Airplane! we insist on directing". Even though the trio was borrowing a lot of source material as well as dialog from Zero Hour! They needed to negotiate the rights to create a remake of the film to ensure they remain within the allowance for a parody within the copyright of the law. So, before they were able to make the film for Paramount, they had to obtain rights from Warner Bros. and Paramount for about 2,500 dollars at the time. Going back and watching this film, it does have that breath of fresh air sense where you can sit down and have a great time with a lot of goofy and serious comedic humor that's still funny even to its 45th Anniversary. Like the original Naked Gun films what carry's this movie through as well as still being fresh is the seriousness as well as blending comedy, and there's always that sense of being very serious but laughing at the same time especially in scenes where Lloyd Bridges is being serious about picking the wrong time to quick smoking or drinking or Robert Hayes telling his stories and you just have to laugh about his drinking problem and just splashing it on his face it just great humor from start to finish and the best part about it is, as always the fact that it's under a 90 minute movie, but more importantly it works it explains what it is and has a first, second and third act in a quick pace and just finishes it in the best way possible. Robert Hays, Julie Hagerty and Leslie Nielson are excellent in this film, no doubt about it and in fact this was Nielson's first collaboration with the trio of ZAZ who later in 82 began the development of Frank Drebin and the Police Squad TV series. But a lot of credit also goes with the supporting cast in the film with Peter Graves, Lloyd Bridges along with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Stephan Stucker and even Robert Stack who through the course of my childhood, has always been that narrator for Unsolved Mysteries like between the Unsolved Mysteries and Airplane! those are the only movies I've seen of his, and even when watching this movie for the first time I began thinking to myself is this "his voice is familiar". Peter Graves and Jabbar are great and they play off of each other and both of them have the best moments, but the other supporting actor that deserves a lot of praise is Stephan Stucker who plays the actual goof in the movie Johnny Stucker, who knows what the film is and does a fantastic job at playing either the crazy or goofy person through the course of the movie and you know everyone is serious with their acting as well as comedy but he's the only one who plays the goof ball throughout the movie and yet it's still entertaining at the same time. In all summer movie seasons, you always must have that one good comedy through the course of the year and comedies now is just hard to find but whenever you sit down and watch a classic like Airplane! it  has that breath of fresh air that keeps you entertained year after year. Again like the Naked Gun this film is best that you watch once a year so, the jokes can keep fresh and something to laugh at and for the month of August, you always have to have a great comedy to be entertained as well as something to laugh at, because let's be honest you never get to see these kinds of spoofs, especially when they try to copy this format or fail miserably furthermore when you have pathetic comedic actors now that are just lame and not even close of being funny. So, if you’re bored and need some laughter in your life Airplane! is the best movie to watch in that time of need especially if you’re tired and want to watch some classic comedies, but also the film is on Hulu and hopefully will stay on Hulu forever. 

      

                 

The Amazing Bulk

 

              This is probably one of these things that I had to see to believe, although I found this movie by accident. Apparently the guys from MST3K, Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett who've now formed their next movie bashing internet show, Rifftrax and a year ago They made fun of this green screen movie The Amazing Bulk and I just watched some of these on YouTube, until I decided to look it up on the internet and realized holy crap this film is on Tubi? Well, then I had to see this movie and honestly this is one of those things that gives you a chuckle because it's absurd, but then you realize that it's seventy minutes of the same thing.

               Basically, the movie is a parody of Edward Norton's The Incredible Hulk only this feels like a cheaply made and trying to be funny.

               I've always said when you make that passionate movie and just fail or your ego gets the better of you and yet it's unintentionally funny because of the films flaws and we always get that from every Stallone movie in the 90's or Van Damme hell even the Batman TV series in the late sixties. Like all of those elements of which I just mentions were all funny or unintentionally funny, but with this movie, sure you get a few laughs and have a great time looking at how embarrassing they look in the movie, but then through the course of the movie it just feels so dirty and annoying that you want to take a shower. Majority of this film was shot entirely on a green screen with basically one camera in frame with tons and tons of stock footage that you would find on any website, and according to a source, the director of the movie many of the backgrounds on free stock footage website, which you can always use if your trying to make a school project movie, unfortunately a lot of these stock footages have unnecessary cartoons, for which when you watch the film there some absurd cartoon in the background which had nothing to do with the movie. When I first watched the movie granted, I laughed at how ridiculous the movie was but then I had to turn the movie off mainly because it started to hurt my brain as well as having a hard time figuring out if this movie was funny or not. In the end I did finish the movie and wanted to know more, luckily, I found a Rifftrax interview with the director of the movie as well as the actor and they claimed that this was supposed to be a joke, which explains so much how funny it was but then the joke gets extremely old. The Amazing Bulk is not as fascinating as The Room and not as iconic as the Batman TV series though that's obvious when I say that. I'd say check the movie out on Tubi but then you're going to have to shower after thirty minutes in. Though more importantly sure if you love weird B-Movies or loved Sin City then give this movie a watch but you'll probably regret it in the end after thirty minutes but like I said long before if you have Tubi the streaming subscription is free but then after watching the movie you'll need to delete this movie out of your movie and TV list. Even after watching this film, it was claimed from a source that the film was made for 14,000 dollars for which I refuse to believe and I will chose not to believe even till the day I die I mean sure unknown actors I can get by shooting this movie for six days sure, but fourteen grand I just cannot believe that, which fits this movie as absurd. 

   

                   

The Naked Gun

 

                   Well believe it friends, the impossible has happened. Although it all started with me and my dad having a Naked Gun Trilogy watch on Hulu, and with all the fun time we were having my dad wanted to go and see how the newest version of The Naked Gun movie holds up. Now I was a little skeptical since Seth MacFarlane was producing the film and well let’s just say, the last film I saw of his was 8 million ways to die in the West and I left about ten minutes into the movie all because of how miserable the movie made me feel. Though I'll have to admit I never expected the outcome that would lead to the film’s success.

                    Lieutenant Frank Drebin Jr. (Liam Neeson) becomes a police officer like his legendary father and must save the police squad from shutting down by solving the case. 

                    I think we can all agree that before the latest Naked Gun, the Spoof movie genre was completely dead, majority of that thanks goes to Hollywood for making spoof sequels to Scary Movie like Epic Movie, Superhero Movie hell, I'm just going throw in 8 million ways to die in the West because MacFarlane needs to answer for that monstrosity. And even I was not all interested, for a gillion reasons none of them are funny to begin with basically being unrepetitive children trying to gain support from Jim Abrahams and the Zucker Bros, David and Jerry Zucker. With this movie sure they nailed the best joke in the trailer were everyone is paying tribute to the original cast and O.J.'s son is like "Nope", which is funny considering now the man is dead as well as being guilty to killing his wife so on and so on. But when you go into the movie the biggest hope you can wish for is that they at least stay true to what the Naked Gun films are and why everyone loves them which is the dry humor as well as the serious tone to make great comedy, and surprisingly enough they really do stay true to the original Naked Gun films for which I was hoping but knew that MacFarlane was going to f**k it up somehow, but literally was hands off and let director Akiva Schaffer do his thing and, I loved the way it turned out and me and my Dad we're sitting in the theaters just chuckling all the way through the final frame of the movie. And I'm not joking when I say the comedy is actually great, hell Liam Neeson does a fantastic job creating his own version as Frank Drebin moreover him and Danny Huston are great together in terms of playing off one another moreover being great pros of comedy it's almost as if they've done it all of their lives and the trick is trying to be serious and funny but not showing the sense of humor but trying to be serious if that makes any sense. But more importantly everyone in the cast, including Pamela Anderson and CCH Pounder do a great job of backing these great actors up. I never imagine I would be impressed especially when Seth MacFarlane is producing these films but, hands down The Naked Gun was most certain one of the best summer films of 2025 furthermore the writers and directors did a fantastic job staying true to the Naked Gun films but keeping the jokes fresh and new, for which I always believe is the most important thing when your tackling a remake like this or sequel. So, I'm going to end this review short because I don't want to spoil anything, but I would highly recommend spending your money on The Naked Gun, and I would highly recommend your kids watching this great movie or if you’re a bit concerned just give them money to watch the crappy superhero movies, because if I want to have a great father and son bonding I would defiantly have my own kid watch The Naked Gun.

       

30th Anniversary of Street Fighter: The Movie

 

                  

             I will admit their times in my movie watching experiences, I usually don't make the greatest of choices, Vacation is a good example along with films like Charles Bronson's The Mechanic and Kingpin. And for sure those were not the greatest of choices to watch in terms of movies to experience, but then there comes a movie I grew up watching on cable TV or Dish Network TV, and suddenly you feel in urge to take on the world. I'm talking about Street Fighter: The Movie, based on the popular video game series, most notably Street Fighter II. Street Fighter was in fact my first ever Jean Claude Van Damme movie I watched out of his filmography but more importantly is Raul Julia's final film before his death in 1994 right before the film came out in December of 94. With all the silly elements that the film contains, I will argue and say that this is a billion times better than Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li.

             Gen. Bison (Raul Julia), the evil dictator of Shadaloo, captures a busload of relief warriors and holds them for ransom. Col. Guile (Jean Claude Van Damme) leads an international strike force to invade Shadaloo and rescue the hostages. Along the way, Guile recruits Chun Li (Ming-Na Wen), a reporter and martial arts expert, as well as Ryu and Ken, an All-American Boxer and a Sumo Wrestler.

              I've said many times of being a Mortal Kombat fan, though I was actually being a short term Street Fighter fan ever since I saw the Street Fighter II arcade back when arcades were a thing (man I miss the 90's) in fact one of my earlier memories was being excited to go over to my Grandpa's house because we would usually get burgers at the local bar but also had a Street Fighter II arcade and although I wasn't good at the game, there were times when I would usually just play around the joysticks and buttons while the replay mode was playing. Though more importantly if you were a kid growing up in the 90's, G.I. Joe's were the toys to have as well as Street Fighter and I had actions figures of Guile and Bison. While I never seen the movie in the theaters my memory of the film was more of watching the film on Cable TV or Dish on Demand when I was a teenager, and this was before Star Wars Special Edition became my whole favorite and Street Fighter was another one of those trends that became a phase. Following the success of Street Fighter II and the many updates, Capcom wanted to get a live action film in progress and so, with the help of Universal Pictures, they were able to get the movie in progress along with Capcom making the approvals. Steven E. de Souza, writer of your favorite action films 48hrs and the beloved Christmas movie Die Hard, was also a fan of the game, wrote countless drafts of the story as well as putting his name in the ring of helming the director’s chair. Although the film was financed with an estimate of 35 million dollars, the executives as well as Capcom had to get an action star that can sell the movie and Jean Claude Van Damme according to Capcom always envisioned to play Guile, but Van Damme apparently was asking for big bucks and majority of the money went to Van Damme and the remaining cast went to unknowns. Though in the positive note you at least get some uprising stars like Ming-Na Wen (Disney Legend and Fennec Shand) as well as Kylie Minogue, well to all the Gen Z’s, she was a gorgeous pop star with the infamous song "Can't get you out of my head". The positive thing in what gives the movie credit is that Raul Julia who plays M. Bison really wanted to play the character for good reasons he was facing his final years on earth and his own kids were fans of game so, watching his kids play the game really helped him get into character, for which yes the film is silly but this film also gives sympathy considering that Julia in his final days just wanted to be more with his own family and this was the best way to do it by playing one of the characters in Capcom's successful fighting game. Thirty years since the film’s release and it always puzzles me on the film getting the lowest rating in terms of critics’ expectations, granted nobody cares about what the critics think, more importantly they have very lack of what makes a great movie as well as their very high expectations. Although critics have not played the game which would explain why, but if you look at the game as well as the film, it literally doesn't have much of a plot and de Souza had to work out a story that would be suitable as well as put up with a limited budget that would work for the film and audiences who've never heard of the game before. Rewatching the film again, I got to say that this was a breath of fresh air to watch and more importantly fun to watch from beginning to end, furthermore this was one of those films that whenever you have a bad day or trying to vent or don't want to do anything, Street Fighter: The Movie is most certain the film to watch on those days and defiantly a great example of actors like Raul Julia that even when your facing for seeable death, you spend your final days with your family and kids by playing a role that your kids and love and cherish for the rest of their lives. Now as a video game series by itself I would rank the Street Fighter series second to Mortal Kombat mainly because I love playing some of the Nostalgia games such as the re-release of the 30th Anniversary of Street Fighter on Playstation 4, furthermore some of the games now don't have that magic that the original games have which makes the games feel unnecessary to play especially when there's at least four out of the many characters I still don't know how their special moves work, ugh so frustrating. Anyway, if you’re looking for that movie that can give you a unintentional laugh as well as a movie to have a good time watching, then Street Fighter: The Movie is a movie worth watching from beginning to end. Sadly though you'll have to buy the movie considering the film was on Peacock a couple of weeks ago and you'll have to buy or rent the movie, but I promise you all if you love a good comedic action movie than this will fill you with great cliche's as well as great laughter from beginning to the final frame.

 

Escape from New York

 

              When it comes to John Carpenter, I've always been a fan of such great films like the very first Halloween movie, They Live and most recently, close to a year ago, The Thing. Now full disclosure there were other films I remembered watching most notably Christine, didn't realized he directed that movie until I saw his name on the credits and look I'd say I like cars but I'm not going to fall in love with one especially when I have to get the damn thing fixed all the time as well as changing the oil once every 5,000 miles. The other film was The Fog, and it was entertaining for the first minute until I stopped watching The Fog. Which leads us to the latest John Carpenter movie, I sat down and watched and to be truthfully honest I have mixed emotions about the movie especially Kurt Russell's acting.

              In 1997, a major war between the United States and the Soviet Union is concluding, and the entire island of Manhattan has been converted into a giant maximum-security prison. When Air Force One is hijacked and crashes into the island, the president of the United States (Donald Pleasence) is taken hostage by a group of inmates. Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell), a former Special Forces soldier turned criminal, is recruited to retrieve the president in exchange for his own freedom. 

              Originally Carpenter wrote Escape from New York prior to the aftermath of the Watergate Scandal which led to Nixon's resignation. Moreover, he wrote the screenplay during a time when New York City was tearing itself apart with crooked cops running wild especially in 1977 came around. Although Carpenter wanted to pitch this movie to major studios, a good portion of them didn't want to finance the movie mainly because of the film being way too violent, too scary and just too weird. Now granted the writing development is fascinating as well as understanding Studio execs weren't intrigued in wanting to finance the film. All that a side the major problem I had with the film is understanding what Kurt Russell was saying, I mean I don't know if it was the TV I was watching because I had this problem because it's almost the same as watching Oppenheimer the first time, but there were times where I felt that Kurt was speaking softly that I couldn't understand what he was saying and wished that Lee Van Cleef would say "what? Speak up I can't hear you!" and it just got to the annoying point where I was close to turning it off but didn't and just turned up the volume until I can hear him or felt he was either talking gibberish when he gets loud either way I'm not quite sure I could be wrong, just the bottom line is Kurt through the course of the film was talking way to softly almost like a whisper and it just took me into a negative space in wanting to recommend this film to anyone who loves John Carpenter. Granted it was nice to see actors like Isaac Hayes, before he became crazy like Tom Cruise and found space ships in Scientology, and even Donald Pleasence in a real movie for a change, because if you look at the man's filmography he's in a ton of bad to sh*tty movies, and I personally think that Carpenter felt bad for him and just casted him to play the President in the movie. Being a fan of both St. Louis Cardinals and St. Louis Blues I will admit in hearing that some of the scenes like the gladiatorial arena was filmed in the St. Louis Union Station for which I've been there, couple of times furthermore a good portion of the film was shot between the city of St. Louis and East St. Louis Illinois, so maybe in near future if I go up to St. Louis for a baseball game or hockey game I might find some of these locations. Although I have mixed emotions about the film, a lot of that has to do with Kurt Russell's acting but I do love the fact that we're almost close in seeing a New York City being turned into a massive garbage dump for criminals and the way Democrats are treating the city, I have no intentions in visiting the city. Although the film is on Amazon Prime, I really don't feel comfortable in wanting to recommend this film unless you’re a big fan of John Carpenter's films than go nuts, but just keep in mind that Kurt Russell's whispering acting severely scared me for life and I'm not sure if I want to re-watch the film nor have the interest in wanting to watch Escape from L.A..