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| Home team! |
The original Rocky flick won the Oscar for best picture in 1976. Yes, it really did. But by 1990, moviegoers were pretty much done with Stallone's #1 character. And that's too bad, because they missed out on a darn good movie. You see, the previous Rocky sequels, while all wonderful in their own right, started following a formula in which Stallone has to square off against some bad-ass boxer for the championship. So when Rocky V came along, everyone was in the mindset of "been there, done that" already. What we ended up with was a great story of an athlete who is forced into retirement for his health, but still longs to be in the ring. He's lost his wealth, and is forced to live in the poorest area of Philadelphia. So he takes on a protege that just doesn't have the same heart and passion that he does. This new kid is only interested in the fame and fortune. Eventually, the teacher becomes the student and has to fight for his own pride and self-respect. Really, if the actors were different and the characters had different names, you'd think it was the feel-good movie of the year.
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| Batman Returns Again |
The third Bat-flick isn't really as bad as it gets credit for. Often times, because of it's visual style, the movie gets lumped in with that awful Batman & Robin sequel. "Forever" is the only installment of this series that puts any focus on the psyche of Batman (which is what gets Nolan's movies so much credit) and the DVD has deleted footage of Bruce Wayne reading his father's diary that really adds layers to what makes this man don a cape and cowl. Why it wasn't included in the film, I'll never know. Perhaps it was too dark for the target audience. The movie itself is up and down. At times the story is very genuine, and then in the last twenty minutes they're clearly trying to sell us new toys. In all fairness, the action sequences are really quite good, so most of those toys would be fun to play with. The music is dreadful though. They should have stuck with Danny Elfman's theme. Oh well. I think when watching any movie of the super-hero genre, we have to remember that these movies are primarily made for young boys so we should try to let them re-capture our imagination. The movies, not the young boys.
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| Crunchies & Munchies |
I bet you never thought a Disney cartoon would pretty much bankrupt their animation department.
Well, that's pretty much what happened. Rumors have it that the great profits from The Little Mermaid helped recoup all the damage that was caused by the Black Cauldron. This movie wasn't just under-appreciated by audiences, it was pretty much abandoned by Disney until 1998 when it was released on VHS. The film certainly does not fit in with any other Disney animated feature. It's dark, it has no ridiculous sing-along songs, and it's more aimed at boys instead of young girls who want to someday be a princess too. Personally, I love the movie and wish Disney would take another stab at making animated features like this. More adults are watching animation than ever before, and really, nobody does animation better than Disney, so there's absolutely an unexplored market for them to jump into.
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| ...Doctor Acula! |
People love Johnny Depp. People also love Tim Burton. And people really love when Johnny Depp is in a Tim Burton movie. So you'd think that Ed Wood would be in everyone's top ten. But nope, it seems like nobody's ever heard of this perfect little movie. Maybe it's because the flick is in black and white. This is the story of the worst movie director of all-time, Edward D. Wood Jr., and how he makes some of the worst movies ever made. It's a shame that less and less people have seen this movie (Martin Landeau won an Oscar for his performance in it) but they have no problem shelling out their hard-earned money for a really shitty fourth installment of Captain Jack Sparrow. Johnny Depp has never been as quirky and funny as he is in Ed Wood, and Tim Burton gets the chance to pay homage to one of his inspirations.
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| Greatest movie ever. |
Seriously. How did Hulk Hogan not win the Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal of Rip, the WWF Heavyweight Champion, in 1989's "No Holds Barred"? There's NOBODY that could play that role better than the Hulkster. He was BORN to play that part.
And then there's "Mr. Nanny", a flick that shows Hogan's range as an actor, as he must save some brats from David Johanson (lead singer of the New York Dolls). And wear a tutu while sipping tea.
Hulk Hogan is quite possibly the greatest actor of all-time. I mean, he somehow managed to perform the exact same wrestling match for twenty-five years and keep people watching it.
So there you have it. The weekend is here. Go rent or download these movies if you've never seen them. And if you have, give them another chance.
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