mrbasehart's Film Challenge! - COMPLETE

[Relaxing Dragon]

Apparently I'm a glutton for punishment:

Date Movie [Unrated Edition]:  I'm proud to say that I've now seen all of the entires in the "movie" series, and though this isn't the worst of them - hello Meet the Spartans - this is still a terrible film by any standards.  Alyson Hannigan plays a fat chick (oh how funny the jokes are about how disgusting fat people are!) who is desperate to find Mr. Right, and finds a Niles Crane lookin' fella who seems to take an interest in her.  Getting plastic surgery, she ends up looking a lot like that Willow chick from BtVS, and proceeds to date and get engaged to Niles Crane while "parodying" many of the movies of the time, most notably Meet the Parents.  I'm putting "parodying" in quotes because, like the excellent Joe Barlow at cinemaslave.com said, referencing other movies outright isn't parodying them: there's a perfect example of that at the very beginning of the movie, where a Napoleon Dynamite character shows up, does some fake Napoleon Dynamite schtick, and is never seen again.  It happens over and over again in the "movie" set of films, but all you're doing is saying "remember this bit from this other film? Isn't that funny that we've put that bit of their film in this one, that's totally unrelated to the plot? It's FUNNY." It's even lazier than the exagerations of original jokes from other movies, of which there are plenty too.  I feel sorry for Alyson Hannigan, who seems game and even quite charming in the lead role, though she's given absolutely nothing to work with.  I laughed once, and it was where they beat up a drunk guy.  That's one more laugh than Meet the Spartans gave me, though one less than Epic Movie.

That movie holds a special place in the movie going section of my brain. To date, it is the only film I have ever consciously walked out on and demanded a refund for. Oh, what a naive soul I was, lured in by the ads and my liking of Scary Movie 3... I didn't know!

[mrbasehart]

Super Capers is a lame superhero comedy, that while isn't is bad as the "movie" series, contains enough horribleness to make it a chore to watch.  Justin Whalin (the poor Jimmy Olsen replacement on Lois and Clark and the lead of the Dungeons & Dragons movie) is Gruberman, a wannabe hero who gets his chance to join the Super Capers, a halfway house for up and coming heroic misfits, with members such as Will Powers (played by Chuck's Captain Awesome, Ryan McPartlin), Brainerd (Ted from Scrubs), and cute-as-a-button Danielle Harris as Felicia Freeze.  Gruberman is a bumbling idiot, getting by on lies with respects to his super-powers, but when gold bullion is stolen, and they become the main suspects, it's up to he and the team to discover the real culprit.  There are a lot of things wrong with the movie, chiefly that it's not at all funny; it didn't even raise so much as a smile.  The cast are fine, with the exception of Whalin, who's just annoying, and there are too many references to Star Wars (in a superhero parody movie, it seems out of place), even going so far as to lift entire sections of dialogue.  As I said at the start, it's not on a par with Date, Epic, or the worst Scary Movie, but that's not a recommendation.  At all.

[mrbasehart]

One-Eyed Monster is a horror comedy about an alien that posesses Ron Jeremy's penis, detaches itself from the man's body and goes on a murderous rampage while on-set of an adult movie in a cabin in the woods during a snow storm.  Co-starring are Amber Benson, porn-stars Veronica and Carmen Hart and Russ Meyer stalwart, Charles Napier.  It's not very good, but it's suprisingly never awful, with the efficient cast and relatively short running time keeping it afloat.  The effects are bad though, and while this can sometimes add to the charm of a movie, doesn't help here, with key moments referred to off-screen or shot in such a way that it obfuscates what's happening.  Only one pair of boobs, which might be surprising, given the subject matter.

[mrbasehart]

Let it Ride is a fun, if slight, comedy starring Richard Dreyfuss as a cabbie who has one lucky day at the track.  Receiving a tip from an overheard conversation, he embarks on a series of events that shape his betting habits over the course of the day, infuriating his wife (Teri Garr) and exciting the ditzy, but gorgeous hanger-on (Jennifer Tilly, in a killer dress).  Like I said, it's fun, with Dreyfuss making the most of the script and some fine support. 

[stansimpson]

If you don't know what I've seen, here's my list:

http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=896797

Your link sunk my Firefox.

I'd like to suggest the criminally-unseen "Primer" (independent movie that came out in 2004).  For any fan of intellectual sci-fi (like "2001" or "Solaris"), it's a must-see.  It doesn't take place in space though, but it's def sci-fi.  The less you know about it, the better it is.  I mean, check this trailer out:

So... seriously, like, you will see this movie based on my suggestion alone?

[mrbasehart]

I had Primer for a little while, but I never got around to watching it.  I'll add it to the list!

And yeah, as long as I can get it, I'll watch it.  Some of the titles that have been suggested are proving a little difficult to find.

[Tripe]

Which ones?

[MontyServo]

Let it Ride is a fun, if slight, comedy starring Richard Dreyfuss as a cabbie who has one lucky day at the track.  Receiving a tip from an overheard conversation, he embarks on a series of events that shape his betting habits over the course of the day, infuriating his wife (Teri Garr) and exciting the ditzy, but gorgeous hanger-on (Jennifer Tilly, in a killer dress).  Like I said, it's fun, with Dreyfuss making the most of the script and some fine support. 

Glad you enjoyed Let It Ride.  Dreyfuss, while not someone you would think of as a big comedy star, has starred in several of my all-time favorite comedies - Stakeout, Down And Out In Beverly Hills, What About Bob?, and this one.

David Johansen is great is this as well.

[mrbasehart]

Which ones?

I've made a list and so far:

Vampire Dentist
Rock and Roll Nightmare
Knight Chills
Speed Zone
Rock 'n' Roll High School Forever
Grim Prairie Tales
Quigley
Houseboat Horror

Aren't proving readily available.  I actually wanted to see Rock and Roll Nightmare too.   

[Plastic Self-Cleaning Duck]

Speed Zone?  That Canadian Cannonball Run rip-off that I only saw because I figured seeing Max Headroom paired with Count Floyd could be priceless....

(and it did have it's moments)

You want to see a decent movie with Matt Frewer find Short Time starring Dabney Coleman and Teri Garr.

[mrbasehart]

You want to see a decent movie with Matt Frewer find Short Time starring Dabney Coleman and Teri Garr.

Seen it.  It was actually a bit of a family staple when I was younger. 

[mrbasehart]

A Distant Thunder is the 2nd of 4 (*groan*) Christian post-apocalyptic films, and basically picks up right where the first one left off.  Millions of right-thinking Christians have been scooped up by God to party in heaven while the rest of us languish under the dictatorship of Satan, who demands that for people to be able to live, must renounce their faith by taking a mark on their hand or forehead.  The movie expands the 20 minute sequence at the end of the first movie into 77 long-ass minutes of religious dithering and preachy insanity.  Frankly, all the Revelations stuff at the end of the Bible, no matter how prettily written it is, is about as believable as Scientology, so for it to be taken so seriously here makes it actually kinda funny.  It's probably a better movie than the first one, as it's got a bigger budget - a barn burns down! - and a couple (and I mean a couple) of passable performances. 

[Tripe]

A Distant Thunder is the 2nd of 4 (*groan*)

[mrbasehart]

A Distant Thunder is the 2nd of 4 (*groan*)

And you know they get progressively longer, don't you? The next one's 90 minutes and the 4th is 2 hours!

[Tripe]

All the better to covert you with my dear.

Incidentally, wurwolf, or pretty tell her about this if she doesn't see it, this might be something you and Lita might want to review on your blog should you want a change of pace from Jack Chick.