Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home was, box-office-wise, the apex of the Star Trek film franchise (although The Motion Picture sold more tickets). It’s amazing to think that this is the only Trek film to have grossed more than $100M at the box office. This is particularly notable today, when just having […]
Run Ronnie Run is a film spun-off from the HBO comedy series Mr. Showstarring David Cross and Bob Odenkirk. On that show, there was a sketch about one Ronnie Dobbs, a redneck loser who became famous for being captured on COPS-like television shows. Run Ronnie Run is essentially an expanded version of that […]
I don’t have a whole lot to say about Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. It has always been my least favorite of the original crew “Star Trek” films. This is mainly because it feels to me like an obligatory film, not one that grew organically.
Wrath of Khan had proved that Star […]
Batman (1966) is my favorite Batman movie. There, I’ve said it and I’m not ashamed to admit it. I know a lot of Batman fans hate the 1960s Adam West TV show and (by extension) this movie, but I simply cannot agree with them.
“But it debases all that defines the character” the […]
As I think I’ve mentioned before, there are several different ways to bring a television series to the big screen. The two most common ones are to extend the original series (Star Trek, The Munsters) and to “re-imagine” the series (Mission: Impossible, Lost in Space). Other types include the recreation (The Beverly Hillbillies, […]
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is the single greatest piece of Star Trek material ever created. I say that without fear of serious contradiction. It does everything that made the original Star Trek television series work and engages in none of the excesses and fanwank that marked later films and series.
And […]
Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny is a perfect example of how a very funny premise from very funny people can utterly fail to expand to meet the demands of a feature film. While Tenacious D worked very well as a TV series or as an album, the film version is simply […]
When the musical A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum crossed the Atlantic, the lead role of Pseudolus (originated by Zero Mostel) went to British comedian Frankie Howerd. After re-fashioning the role to fit his cheeky sense of humor, it was a huge success for him. In 1969, in an […]
Star Trek: The Motion Picture brought back Captian Kirk (William Shatner), Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy) and Dr. McCoy (DeForrest Kelley) ten years since they had left the small screen (or five if you count the animated series).
The problem is, ST: TMP is never quite able to recapture the essence of the show. It comes […]
What made the classic Muppet films stand out is that, like the Muppet Show before them, they didn’t treat them as a puppet show. These were regular, normal comedies that just happened to have puppets in many of the major roles. This is never better represented than in the best of all Muppet […]
Daleks’ Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D. is the followup to the successful Dr. Who and the Daleks. Like its predecessor, Invasion is based on an original serial from the BBC TV series Doctor Who, in this case, “The Dalek Invasion of Earth”. Also like the first film, this one is a condensation of a […]
I’m not going to say much about Bewitched, as most of my thoughts are covered in my original review.
Basically, re-watching it now has strengthened the negatives in my mind, while the positives come off a bit weaker. I still like the premise a lot. In fact, much of what sells me on Bewitched […]
This one’s kind of for the fans out there. Most of my thoughts on Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie are inevitably tied to my feelings on the show, so those of you unfamiliar with the series might not get most of the references.
Okay. MST3K: The Movie is the project that made Joel […]
Dr. Who and the Daleks is the big screen adaptation of the second Doctor Who serial, “The Daleks”. It takes a lot of liberties with the story, mostly with the characterization of the lead character, who is here known literally as “Dr. Who” (on the show, he is almost always called “The Doctor”) and […]
Viewed December 22, 2006
Beyond the Moon is the first of several films edited together from episodes of Rocky Jones, Space Ranger. (Two other ones were featured on Mystery Science Theater 3000.)
This one introduces us to Rocky (Richard Crane) and the members of his team: Winky (Scotty Beckett), Griff (Leonard Penn) and Bobby […]
Viewed November 17, 2006
Kim Possible: A Sitch in Time is the first of two made-for-TV movies that spin off from the Disney Channel Original Series Kim Possible. For those of you not in the know, Kim Possible is about a teenager, Kim (voiced by Christy Carlson Romano), who acts as a sort-of secret agent […]
Viewed November 10, 2006
The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie takes the exitable ocean dweller and brings him to the big screen for the first (and, to date, only) time. While much of SpongeBob’s comedy translates well to a larger canvas, there are aspects that just don’t come up to snuff.
The plot is no more or less […]
Viewed October 30, 2006
As the month of October drew to a close, I tried to squeeze in as many horror and horror-based films as possible. One of the films I meant to get to was Elvira’s Haunted Hills. I’ve always been a fan of Elvira (real name, Cassandra Peterson), having watched her show […]
Viewed September 12, 2006
Following the sudden passing of Steve Irwin, I decided to watch The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course as something of a tribute. Honestly, I think a better tribute would have been to watch his show or the “Confessions of a Cocodile Hunter” special, as this sad excuse for a theatrical film neither […]
Viewed September 8, 2006
To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the airing of the first episode of Star Trek, I watched the only theatrical film that I had not yet seen: Star Trek: Nemesis. Now, I’m not a big fan of Star Trek: The Next Generation (sorry, Earl), so I didn’t have high expectations. […]
Viewed September 5, 2006
OK, right off the bat, twenty points to Martin Short for kicking off his film Jiminy Glick in Lalawood with an impersonation of David Lynch. I mean, who does David Lynch? Who knows film well enough to know what David Lynch is like? Martin Short, that’s who. In […]
Viewed August 4, 2006
The problem with The Dukes of Hazzard is that it totally fails to capture what made the original TV Show such a success. It is this basic failure that permeats the film and is at the core of everything that goes wrong throughout.
First, the casting is a disaster, despite some ingenious […]
Viewed July 1, 2006
When Brian Henson and Co. revived the Muppet film franchise with 1992’s Muppet Christmas Carol, there was something missing. This continued with the followup, Muppet Treasure Island (1996). A big factor, of course, was the lack of Muppet creator Jim Henson, who passed away in 1990. But perhaps as […]
Viewed June 29, 2006
Poor, maligned Josie and the Pussycats. A parody of mega-merchandising knocked by critics for being too commercial, Josie (based on the Archie comics and Hanna-Barbera cartoon show of the same name) may be the most mis-understood comic book movie ever.
Now, I’m a big fan of Josie and the Pussycats. Or, […]
Viewed June 20, 2006
It’s always difficult to make a sequel to a beloved film. It’s even harder when a significant period of time has passed. Witness The Two Jakes to see it done well and Slap Shot 2 to see it done poorly. The Rutles 2: Can’t Buy Me Lunch falls […]
Viewed April 25, 2006
I don’t know. Maybe I really am just a sucker for Will Ferrell these days, but I enjoyed the heck out of Bewitched. I’m not sure what anyone else was expecting from this film, but I tried to go in with no preconceived notions about it and I just thought […]
Viewed March 24, 2006
Honestly, it was Will Ferrell that made me finally watch Superstar. Although I have felt for some time that Molly Shannon is a gifted performer, her Saturday Night Live character Mary Katherine Gallagher has always irritated me (along with most of her SNL characters, and Ferrell’s, and most of SNL post-Phil […]