Tango & Cash is a the cinematic manifestation of all the 80s muscle-bound mayhem rolled into one messy package. It’s a part serious, part satirical, part nonsensical tale of dueling cops forced into an uneasy partnership. And as much as it clearly doesn’t work, it somehow is a hell of a lot of fun. Pairing two of the decade’s iconic stars, Sylvester Stallone and Kurt Russell, as the titular duo, Tango & Cash was meant to be a…
Dreamcatcher is based on a novel by Stephen King. King is indisputably this generation’s most prolific writer of horror. Unfortunately, for too long, the film’s based on his novels weren’t up to snuff. Dreamcatcher certainly falls into that category. It’s filled with laughable dialogue, slapstick scares, and a near nonsensical plot. In short, it’s a mess. But it shouldn’t have been. Its cast is excellent, featuring Thomas Jane, Jason Lee, Timothy Olyphant, and Damian Lewis in the…
Idiocracy presents us with a glimpse of a fairly dismal future—one full of idiots and societal decay. That may sound depressing on the surface, but Idiocracy was written and directed by Mike Judge (creator of Beavis and Butt-Head, King of the Hill, and writer/director of Office Space). Thus, it is a satirical look at a not-so-bright America in the year 2505. As Judge’s follow up to Office Space, one would assume it would’ve been highly touted. Not so. Fox, who distributed the movie due…
The Big Lebowski—as shocking as it may seem today—was not a smash hit upon its release in March of 1998. Far from it, in fact. On a budget of $15 million, it grossed barely over $17 million domestically. Its worldwide cume was a shade over $46. Written and directed by the Coen Brothers, The Big Lebowski‘s box office struggles are sort of surprising. After all, it was their follow up to Best Picture nominee Fargo (which was actually…
Face/Off is bonkers. Plain and simple. It is two actors—in the relative prime of their careers—making the zaniest choices imaginable, and having a damn good time doing it. For that reason—despite how dated its script and characters feel—it remains a tremendous watch. It’s a literal game of actor’s oneupmanship. Both Travolta and Cage, playing the same character, relish the freedom of Castor Troy. He has no rules; there are no shackles when they are in that…
The Adventures of Pluto Nash is the epitome of how this podcast came to be. For starters, it is just a terrible film. Critics agreed. With 90 reviews, it sits at just 4% on Rotten Tomatoes; users responded slightly more favorably with 19%. It also stars Eddie Murphy, who at one time was one of the biggest stars on this planet or any other. Despite the bad word of mouth, though, even awful movies inexplicably make money sometimes. Norbit and Daddy Day Care—also…
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer was released on the cusp of what would become the superhero movie boom. A sequel to 2005’s Fantastic Four—which was even more critically panned than this one—Silver Surfer premiered just a year prior to 2008’s The Dark Knight and Iron Man, the birth of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Even without the rising benchmarks or a more crowded field, Silver Surfer does little to distinguish itself; and it is only marginally better than the 2005 film. The action is…
The 1990s were not kind to the legendary John Carpenter. Case-in-point: 1996’s Escape from L.A.—the long-gestating sequel to Carpenter’s 1981 cult classic Escape from New York. L.A., like its predecessor, paints a grisly picture of future America. Los Angeles, which had devolved into a wasteland rife with crime, has been separated from the rest of the United States because of a massive earthquake. Marooned on its own, it would be turned into a penal colony for all those…
The course has been set; there is no turning back; prepare your weapons; and summon your courage for the cinematic adventure of a lifetime—Cutthroat Island! The majority of the words above come from the trailer for the epic shipwreck that is Cutthroat Island. Yet they could also serve as a warning. Once you start watching it, there truly is no turning back; and it is a film that lives up to its infamous reputation. Cutthroat Island is a mess from…
UHF is every bit a reflection of its co-writer “Weird Al” Yankovic. It’s an eccentric and peculiar film, driven by the scattershot musings of Yankovic’s mind. Like his music, none of it is meant to be taken seriously. It is an amalgamation of goofy satire—some great, some not so—that’s best served for repeat viewings. But again, like his music, its appeal is limited to a certain audience. Which begs the question: Why release a film like this…
PCU, or Politically Correct University, is a comedy centered around a college campus that has lost its edge. Everyone is divided into sub-groups, and they are all offended or outraged by something. In a way, the movie was predictive of the times to come. This zero tolerance, fun free landscape is how we are introduced to pre-frosh Tom Lawrence (Chris Young). He’s visiting the fictional Port Chester University for the weekend, and he just happens to…
