Sean’s movie thoughts

The worst comedies I have seen in the last four years include Sisters The House Baywatch Zoolander 2 What, if anything, do these movies have in common besides me not liking them? Amy Poehler is in two of these movies, the House and Sisters. I wonder if I liked any project she was in besides Parks and Recreation. (Which I did really like.) I cannot think of any at the moment. I kind of liked her movie with Paul Rudd, They Came Together. Will Ferrell is in two of the films on the list but he is a costar in Zoolander 2 and maybe it might be fair to say that he has a fairly minor role in the film. He might be bad in Zoolander 2 but he is not in it enough to ruin the film. Zoolander 2 would be bad with or without him. He is part of the problem in the House though. Two of these movies, Zoolander 2 and Sisters, are almost 2 hours long. I remember some critic saying that at as bad as the House is at least it is not as long as Sisters, so he hated the House less. I am not agains...

This movie is set durring 1984 and features a 15 or 16 year old boy who is convinced that his neighbor is a serial killer. He and his friends investigate. This is a story I have seen before in one form or another. Switch serial killer with vampire and you have Fright Night. It is not bad exactly but I did not find it compelling. There is nothing wrong with the cast, no actor seemed to be over acting and no character was unbearable. (One character might have been hard to believe.)The storyline seems interesting at least on paper. I am not sure why the film didn’t work for me. I guess I have seen this before and done better. Also maybe after It and two seasons of Stranger Things, a group of teenage friends investigating weird events during the 1980s seems route. Maybe it would seemed fresher if it been set in the seventies. (Of course the title would need to be changed.) The posters might be better than the film.

I skipped films 3 and 4 and went to film 5 of this series. This the fifth film in the franchise and we have our fourth Scorpion King (Zach McGowan). None of the three Scorpion Kings that followed Dwayne Johnson look like Dwayne Johnson. (I guess we are not supposed to think about it. Two of the three are roughly his size.) In this one, villain has a sword, the Fang of Anubis,that makes him unstoppable and a grudge against the Scorpion King. The villain sends out minions to find the Scorpion King and bring in so the villain can kill him. The Scorpion King was living in disguise as a blacksmith. The Scorpion King is saved by a Nubian Princess/warrior and he is convinced to help her defeat the villain. Her father was the king of Nubia and he knew he he location of the book of Souls, the only thing that can destroy the Fang of Anubis. Apparently I was in the mood for this kind of action/adventure movie when I bought the box set. I thought McGowan was good in the part. If there is ano...

Valley Girl is a 1983 movie about a young couple from different social groups in LA that fall in love. Nicholas Cage stars as Randy and Deborah Forman stars as Julie. As the movie starts Julie is tired of her boyfriend Tommy. Randy and Julie meet at a party and start to date. (Randy and his friend Fred weren’t invited to the party.) Julie’s friends want her to get back together with Tommy. I guess some of them don’t know he is a jerk. At least one does even if she never tells the others. They think Randy’s so different. Julie gives in and dumps Randy and after a while Randy tries to win her back. This is a fun movie. Cage might be at his most appealing in this film. Deborah Forman was likeable as Julie (even if some of her valley slang was silly) and there are some nice scenes with her parents, who are ex-hippies. The supporting cast of Julie’s friends are good and I like Cameron Dye as Fred, Randy’s friend. The soundtrack is good. It includes “Melt with You” by Modern English, “...

This is fun and diverting. Randy Couture makes a good villain (he is not quite the actor that Dave Bautista is) and the hero of the movie was likeable. I could be feeling generous but I enjoyed this movie. This movie went straight to DVD, so it has a relatively small budget. This movie is a prequel to Dwayne Johnson’s movie the Scorpion King. It provides a history for the character Mathayus but it stars an actor who looks almost nothing like Dwayne Johnson (The original Mathayus). I guess we aren’t supposed to think about that. Sort of like we were not supposed to think about how unlikely it would be for Zac Efron to grow up to be Mathew Perry in the movie 17 Again. There is a quest to far off lands and even the underworld. There is a female warrior on hand to lend support and maybe be a love interest, and a British actor suppling narration to give the proceedings an epic feel. I liked some of the action scenes. Some of the effects aren’t good but this movie is almost ten years old...

Stu Bennett stars as a ex British special forces member looking into the death of a friend. Bennet fought Scott Adkins in Eliminators and he brings his presence to this film. He is big at 6’7”, he can fight convincingly on screen, and he takes no crap. This is not revolutionary. It is a good action movie, though. Gary Daniels is on hand as one of the villains, it is nice to see him again. He and Bennett have a good fight. Bennett was a wrestler before he became an actor. He is serviceable in the nonfighting parts but he probably won’t challenge Dwayne Johnson in a charm contest any time soon.This is his first starring role. I’d like to see him in another movie.

Will Ferrell and Amy Poehler star as a married couple in this movie who don’t have the money to send their daughter to college. They were counting on her getting a scholarship from the town, so they need to find a way to pay when that scholarship vanishes. With the help of a friend they open an illegal casino in their home. This is bad. The idea seems like it could be funny but I didn’t laugh. Ferrell’s character cannot do math, that is a running joke that doesn’t work. (I think that came up three or four times.) Okay, I guess it is nice that Poehler isn’t a nag and is a partner in the zaniness. I am not sure the problem is. Did the movie jump too fast into outrageousness? Would a slower build to outrageousness be funnier? Maybe. Is there a term for a running joke that doesn’t work?