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matt_zimmerAlso reviews for the next two episodes of Doctor Who.
Batman: Gotham Knight
Or the AniBatrix.
This kind of left me scratching my head. Who exactly is the target audience for this movie? It can't be kids because this movie is completely inappropriate for them. (Of course it's sold in the kids section of my local Target. Nice). And even though this is supposed to take place in the continuity of Batman Begins and The Dark Knight I seriously doubt general audiences would enjoy something this completely dark even compared to the Chris Nolan films. I could imagine Anime fans might like this but I'm kind of skeptical about that too because a lot of anime fans think Superheroes are for chumps. Maybe this movie was made so they could see that Superhero movies can be dark and adult too but I'm thinking that a movie with this huge of a budget had better make mad money for the studio to recoup their investment and only counting on anime fans probably won't do that.
It was good to hear Kevin Conroy as Batman again but I honestly think he sounded too old for the part, considering that this version of Batman/ Bruce Wayne is practically a kid. I think they probably should have gone with Jeremy Sisto from New Frontier again. I feel weird saying that since Conroy is my favorite Bat EVER but his voice didn't exactly jibe with the images I was seeing.
I think I'll review the individual segments now while I try to wrap my brain around the whole thing.
Have I Got a Story For You: This was awful and REALLY had me worried about the rest of the movie. The segment is basically a riff on The New Batman Adventures' Legends of the Dark Knight but instead of being told by excitable and appealing kids it's told by skater punks with the collective IQs of 64 slices of American Cheese. I'll admit I really liked the resolution of that kid hitting the heavy with a skateboard because it was unexpected but this was really quite obnoxious othewise. *.
Crossfire: This was frelling unpleasant. Maybe it's just me but when I want to watch a Superhero cartoon I want it to be at least a TINY bit fun. But this was completely sour. This animation was pretty neat in this segment but I was kind of cringing throughout. **.
Field Test: The best of the segments just because you got a pretty good feeling of Batman and his ethics and a nice amount of screen time for a relatively pleasant Bruce Wayne. ***1/2.
In Darkness Dwells: Definitely scary and ambiguous. I still am waiting for the SLIGHTEST hint of something fun happening. No such luck. The Scarecrow is freaky and Killer Croc is nothing at all like I expected but that's about it for the good stuff.. ***.
Working Through Pain: Oh, man parts of this were frickin' revolting. Nasty. And kind of boring otherwise to boot. *1/2.
Deadshot: This was pretty good although the resolution to the whole thing wasn't exactly a great movie climax. I get that they were telling small stories but it would have been nice if the last one had been mind-blowing. This version of Deadshot was cool though. ***.
Movie Overall: **1/2.
Heart of Ice: Yes, it's a classic. Great music and a sympathetic villain with Mr. Freeze. I'm still not sure who editted the camera work on the tape showing Fries's demise and Batman blowing his nose was quite disgusting but c'mon it's HEART OF ICE. Only bad thing about the episode is that none of Freeze's later appearance (with the possible exception of Meltdown) were able to match it. *****.
I Am the Night: Neither as great as it's admirers claim nor as bad as it's detractors insist, the episode is merely a decent Batman story. I DO have to wonder what intially turned Batman all emo at the opening of the episode. But, yay, Seth Green as Wizzer! ***1/2.
Legends of the Dark Knight: Fabulous episode with a shout-out to the comic book incarnations of Batman over the years. It was both hilarious and in the case of Frank Miller's Batman brutal. It was shocking that they were able to get "This is an operating table. And I'm the surgeon" on the air and the animation was great in both segments. I love Gary Owens as 50s Batman and Micheal Ironside as 80s Batman. One of the stand-outs of the revamp. *****.
Over the Edge: A great ride the entire way through the ultimate nightmare "What if" scenario is hair-raising. Unfortunately, due to the "it was all a dream" ending it loses a bit of impact upon rewatches. I know they couldn't do anything else but you can only appreciate a twist like that once. However a cool thing is that the ending of Gordon turning out to be MUCH cooler than Barb thought just shows that she has a BIG lack of judgment when it comes to the relationships in her life which will be further explored in Batman Beyond. ****1/2.
Doctor Who "Silence in the Library"
This is one of those episodes that is completely strange and you have no idea what's going on until the second part. Some seriously freaky goings-on and some genuinely scary villains make this a keeper. ****.
Doctor Who "Forest of the Dead"
If last week's episode posed mind-bending questions this excellent follow-up provided pretty dang good answers. I love Donna's romance and the fact that that stupid chick from last week became REALLY smart in the afterlife. Excellent. ****.
Gremlins:
Looking back on a lot of entertainment I enjoyed as a child I can safely say that as a decade for kids stuff, the eighties was full of crap. A lot of stuff that I thought was the coolest thing ever oftentimes turned out to be horrible upon a rewatch years later. I expected a similar experience with Gremlins. I was suprised. It holds up pretty well. Though not perfect I understand why I loved it as a kid (even though as a teenager I preferred it's satiric sequel "The New Batch".) It has an arch villain in mean old Mrs. Deagle, nasty puppets in the Gremlins, an adorable sidekick in Gizmo and a wholesome teenage hero who gets the girl at the end (the ultra-hot Phoebe Cates). Trite stuff but it really works.
The first film focused more on scares while the second focused on comedy. The Gremlins are actually pretty frightening in the first picture. Yes, they turned comical towards the end of the picture (where do they get their little biker outfits?) but when you don't know what they are they are freaky.
Billy has the most hardcore mother EVER! She managed to kill three Gremlins right off the bat in delightfully gruesome ways (a blender, a stabbing, and exploding one in a microwave). I was particularly impressed that she survived.
Gizmo is SO cute and cuddly I am glad I still have a plushie of him.
Dick Miller is pretty funny as Futterman and I realize upon rewatching the movie that his return in the sequel was hardly a cheat. The film has a couple of scenes that imply he and his wife survived so it's not like it was a retcon.
Bad things in the movie? Oh, yes there IS one thing that is SO bad it's enough to knock an entire star off the grading I'm giving it. And no, I'm not talking about the black guy dying first. Ten words: "And that's how I learned there was no Santa Claus". Kate's gruesome story about her father's death is SO over-the-top, dark, bizarre, out of nowhere and completely innappropriate for a kids movie that I literally burst out laughing when the movie obviously thought I should be heart-broken. I think the filmmakers realized this after the movie came out and that's why there was a brutal satire of it in the second film (The second film spent half it's time making fun of the first one.) But honestly it's one of those things that is SO bad that you can't help but find it funny and then feel disgusted with yourself. Good times.
I really enjoyed watching this again. I need to pick up the sequel now. ****.
Additional scenes: Most of these deleted scenes are extras dealing with the townsfolk and Billy's relationship with them. Randall meeting the Chinese lady before he entered Keye Luke's shop was interesting but unnecessary. I did however really like the scene of Gerald (Judge Reinhold) locking himself in the vault. That should have been in the movie as Gerald disappears halfway through the flick and you kind of wonder what happened to him. ****.
Ghostbusters:
I haven't seen this movie in years and for a movie that has a bunch of Saturday Night Live and SCTV alums it's actually quite impressive. Bill Murray is absolutely fabulous and the movie has a lot of laughs and scares.
My favorite character is Harold Ramis as Egon Spengler: the coolest nerd EVER.
The special effects are pretty nifty. My only real complaint with the movie is that the story doesn't really have any twists or tricks to it and is pretty straight-forward. But I was having such a great time throughout the movie I didn't care about that too much. Really wonderful movie and one of the better eighties "blockbusters". ****1/2.
Scene Cemetary (Deleted Scenes):
Stake: This deleted scene showed why Ray and Egon were fired from the University too. ***1/2.
Dana: More stuff between Peter Venkman and Dana. Unlike the rest of the movie there wasn't too much of a humorous subtext to this scene. **1/2.
Honeymooners: This scene was wisely cut because it didn't add anything to the story. **.
Winston: This extended scene of Winston's job interview didn't add ANY new dimensions. I can see why it was paired down. **1/2.
Burns: This scene of Bill Murray and Dan Ackroyd playing homeless guys is hilarious but I understand why they cut it. Having the same actors playing different characters is too much like a bad Eddie Murphy movie. ****1/2.
Busy: This scene of the Ghostbuster gearing up for the final battle is an absolute gem and probably should have been in the movie. I love DVDs. *****.
Promotion: I understand WHY they made this scene. This scene of Winston advising the rest of the Ghostbusters to just quit and leave town was there to show he was the sensible one. Unfortunately is also made him look like a coward so I'm glad they cut it. Still, it was a cool scene to see. ****.
E.P.A.: This was a scene of Howard Peck yelling at a police officer to arrest the Ghostbusters during the final battle. It's kind of funny but the movie ALREADY had ably demonstrated how unhinged Peck was without having to cut away from the action for one last instance. ***.
Puft Hat: This was undoubtably an awesome find of a deleted scene but the idea of Stay Puft's hat suriving the explosion just raised a whole bunch of questions that the movie wouldn't have had time to answer and it visually looked kind of wierd. Still, it was a cool find even if it didn't quite work. *****.
"No Louis": This scene was completely unnecessary and was wisely cut. **.
Ghosterbusters II:
It's true that the sequel to Ghostbusters in nowhere NEAR as good as the original but after seeing it again I can honestly say it probably gets a bad rap. Yes, it's a little overlong and the jokes aren't as funny but it's still kind of a nice movie. I have a feeling it would have been better remembered if it wasn't the very last live-action Ghostbusters project.
I wasn't really digging the beginning of the movie just because the idea of Ghostbusters being shut down due to lawsuits didn't really sit right with me. The cool thing about the first movie was one of the funniest things about it: the Ghostbusters unvariably CAUSED as much destruction as the ghosts they were hired to catch and the fact that they were never held accountable was hilarious. But the sequel then brings us back to reality at the beginning and the high that was the first movie feels kind of like a let-down.
Bill Murray is hilarious as always but I kind of wish they had paired Janine (Annie Potts) with Egon (Harold Ramis) instead of Louis.
The special effects were much better this film too. 1989 was right at the beginning of the digital revolution in FX so the contrasts between this film and one made only four years previously are startling. I think we take digital effects for granted nowadays but the differences between to two films demonstrates how much technology can advance in only a couple of years.
An enjoyable film that is probably better than most people give it credit for. ****.
The Real Ghostbusters "Citizen Ghost"
The origin of Slimer! As written by the creator of Babylon 5! Eighties cartoons were weird, huh? I find it interesting that Lorenzo Music took over the role of Peter Venkman from Bill Murray for the Ghosterbusters cartoon and Bill Murray took over the role of Garfield from Lorenzo Music from the Garfield movie. The Real Ghostbusters was one of the better action cartoons from the eighties and while the episode is not as good as the movies, it's not without it's charms. That said, it's hard to see how the cartoon could possibly be in continuity with the second film as they seem to contradict each other. A definite curiosity. ***1/2.
Slimer and the Real Ghostbusters "Partners in Slime"
Speaking of continuity issues I found it fascinating how this episode referenced stuff from the second movie including the empathic Slime when it's hard to see how the cartoon could possibly be in continuity with it. By the way, Dave Coulier (Full House) as Peter Venkman SUCKS and it probably one of the worst replacement voices in cartoon history. And outisde of some cool ghost designs (and a cameo by the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man) the episode stunk too. **.
Tremors:
A REALLY fun movie that is both scary and funny. The cool thing about the humor in it is that it's derived from character interactions rather than a wacky plot. There's LOT of colorful cursing in it too so I doubt if it were released today it would have gotten a PG-13 rating.
I loved Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward as the two guys who decided to leave the town of Perfection a day too late but it's Micheal Gross as Burt Gummer (and Reba McEntyre as Heather) who steal the movie. The scene of them blasting the snot out of the Graboid in their rec room is one of those rare scenes in movie where you want to stand up and cheer because it's topped off by a perfect snappy one-liner. The best scene in the movie.
The characters all act stupid at times which is necessary in a horror fil and it's quite tense at points. Melvin is quite possibly the most annoying kid ever in a movie like this so it was a surprise that he survived. I love how all of the other characters kept pointing out how stupid he was. Hilarious.
The climax was Super-anxiety provoking with a tense stand-off between Valentine and the final Graboid whom Valentine (who isn't the sharpest tack in the box) grumbles furiously ISN'T smarter than he is. Really nice wrap-up and hummable Reba McEntyre song during the end credits make this movie a blast. ****.
Alternate Ending: They were wise to end the movie with a kiss. This ending with Earl and Val going back to town for Rhonda is unsatisfying. **.
Outtakes: The alternate opening was awesome and would have been a MUCH better opening scene than Kevin Bacon taking a whiz. The other deleted scenes were only okay. ****.
Tremors 2: Aftershocks
This sequel can't hold a candle to the original but it was fun enough to watch. Fred Ward as Earl isn't as fun without Kevin Bacon but Micheal Gross as Burt Gummer was as boss as ever.
If I had any complaints about the movie it's that the real tension doesn't start until halfway through and Earl, Burt and the new guy are killing Graboids left and right without any problems.
Surprisingly the effects were better than the original even though this one went straight to video. I guess a lot of leaps in technology can be made in six short years. Jurrassic Park happened between the original and the sequel so I think the FX guys knew how to use CGI monster cheaply. I liked the new monsters but I prefer it when they are underground just because they are more mysterious.
The sequel was nowhere near as good as the original but if you keep that in mind it's still quite fun. ***.
Tremors 3: Back to Perfection
This sequel was nowhere near as exciting or funny as the first one. It was smart to go back to Perfection and it was nice seeing some of the characters from the first movie but the movie takes forever to get going and doesn't have as many funny parts. Yes, Micheal Gross as Burt Gummer brings his A Game but the rest of the movie kind of sucks.
The scene with Burt getting eaten by the worm and actually surviving was cool. They shouldn't have killed of Miguel though.
It WAS a good idea to bring Melvin back as a villain AND to keep one of the Graboids in the town. And the climax was kind of exciting. Still, even the lukewarm second movie was better than this. **1/2.
Tremors 4: The Legend Begins
Easily the best of the sequels even though it's a prequel. I love that Hiram Gummer (Burt's ancestor) is such a girlie-man and awful with guns. REALLY nice irony there. I also liked Billy Drago (The Adventures of Brisco County Jr.) as Black Hand and was sorry he got killed off half-way through.
This movie probably had the lowest death rate of the main cast EVER. Sure the miners were canon fodder (as was Black Hand) but I'm surprised that basically everyone in the town survived. The movie followed the rules set by the previous films and even gave us a look at Baby Graboids right after they hatch. They're still gross.
Of course it's not as good as the first one but it's definitely the finest of the sequels. ***1/2.
Batman: Gotham Knight
Or the AniBatrix.
This kind of left me scratching my head. Who exactly is the target audience for this movie? It can't be kids because this movie is completely inappropriate for them. (Of course it's sold in the kids section of my local Target. Nice). And even though this is supposed to take place in the continuity of Batman Begins and The Dark Knight I seriously doubt general audiences would enjoy something this completely dark even compared to the Chris Nolan films. I could imagine Anime fans might like this but I'm kind of skeptical about that too because a lot of anime fans think Superheroes are for chumps. Maybe this movie was made so they could see that Superhero movies can be dark and adult too but I'm thinking that a movie with this huge of a budget had better make mad money for the studio to recoup their investment and only counting on anime fans probably won't do that.
It was good to hear Kevin Conroy as Batman again but I honestly think he sounded too old for the part, considering that this version of Batman/ Bruce Wayne is practically a kid. I think they probably should have gone with Jeremy Sisto from New Frontier again. I feel weird saying that since Conroy is my favorite Bat EVER but his voice didn't exactly jibe with the images I was seeing.
I think I'll review the individual segments now while I try to wrap my brain around the whole thing.
Have I Got a Story For You: This was awful and REALLY had me worried about the rest of the movie. The segment is basically a riff on The New Batman Adventures' Legends of the Dark Knight but instead of being told by excitable and appealing kids it's told by skater punks with the collective IQs of 64 slices of American Cheese. I'll admit I really liked the resolution of that kid hitting the heavy with a skateboard because it was unexpected but this was really quite obnoxious othewise. *.
Crossfire: This was frelling unpleasant. Maybe it's just me but when I want to watch a Superhero cartoon I want it to be at least a TINY bit fun. But this was completely sour. This animation was pretty neat in this segment but I was kind of cringing throughout. **.
Field Test: The best of the segments just because you got a pretty good feeling of Batman and his ethics and a nice amount of screen time for a relatively pleasant Bruce Wayne. ***1/2.
In Darkness Dwells: Definitely scary and ambiguous. I still am waiting for the SLIGHTEST hint of something fun happening. No such luck. The Scarecrow is freaky and Killer Croc is nothing at all like I expected but that's about it for the good stuff.. ***.
Working Through Pain: Oh, man parts of this were frickin' revolting. Nasty. And kind of boring otherwise to boot. *1/2.
Deadshot: This was pretty good although the resolution to the whole thing wasn't exactly a great movie climax. I get that they were telling small stories but it would have been nice if the last one had been mind-blowing. This version of Deadshot was cool though. ***.
Movie Overall: **1/2.
Heart of Ice: Yes, it's a classic. Great music and a sympathetic villain with Mr. Freeze. I'm still not sure who editted the camera work on the tape showing Fries's demise and Batman blowing his nose was quite disgusting but c'mon it's HEART OF ICE. Only bad thing about the episode is that none of Freeze's later appearance (with the possible exception of Meltdown) were able to match it. *****.
I Am the Night: Neither as great as it's admirers claim nor as bad as it's detractors insist, the episode is merely a decent Batman story. I DO have to wonder what intially turned Batman all emo at the opening of the episode. But, yay, Seth Green as Wizzer! ***1/2.
Legends of the Dark Knight: Fabulous episode with a shout-out to the comic book incarnations of Batman over the years. It was both hilarious and in the case of Frank Miller's Batman brutal. It was shocking that they were able to get "This is an operating table. And I'm the surgeon" on the air and the animation was great in both segments. I love Gary Owens as 50s Batman and Micheal Ironside as 80s Batman. One of the stand-outs of the revamp. *****.
Over the Edge: A great ride the entire way through the ultimate nightmare "What if" scenario is hair-raising. Unfortunately, due to the "it was all a dream" ending it loses a bit of impact upon rewatches. I know they couldn't do anything else but you can only appreciate a twist like that once. However a cool thing is that the ending of Gordon turning out to be MUCH cooler than Barb thought just shows that she has a BIG lack of judgment when it comes to the relationships in her life which will be further explored in Batman Beyond. ****1/2.
Doctor Who "Silence in the Library"
This is one of those episodes that is completely strange and you have no idea what's going on until the second part. Some seriously freaky goings-on and some genuinely scary villains make this a keeper. ****.
Doctor Who "Forest of the Dead"
If last week's episode posed mind-bending questions this excellent follow-up provided pretty dang good answers. I love Donna's romance and the fact that that stupid chick from last week became REALLY smart in the afterlife. Excellent. ****.
Gremlins:
Looking back on a lot of entertainment I enjoyed as a child I can safely say that as a decade for kids stuff, the eighties was full of crap. A lot of stuff that I thought was the coolest thing ever oftentimes turned out to be horrible upon a rewatch years later. I expected a similar experience with Gremlins. I was suprised. It holds up pretty well. Though not perfect I understand why I loved it as a kid (even though as a teenager I preferred it's satiric sequel "The New Batch".) It has an arch villain in mean old Mrs. Deagle, nasty puppets in the Gremlins, an adorable sidekick in Gizmo and a wholesome teenage hero who gets the girl at the end (the ultra-hot Phoebe Cates). Trite stuff but it really works.
The first film focused more on scares while the second focused on comedy. The Gremlins are actually pretty frightening in the first picture. Yes, they turned comical towards the end of the picture (where do they get their little biker outfits?) but when you don't know what they are they are freaky.
Billy has the most hardcore mother EVER! She managed to kill three Gremlins right off the bat in delightfully gruesome ways (a blender, a stabbing, and exploding one in a microwave). I was particularly impressed that she survived.
Gizmo is SO cute and cuddly I am glad I still have a plushie of him.
Dick Miller is pretty funny as Futterman and I realize upon rewatching the movie that his return in the sequel was hardly a cheat. The film has a couple of scenes that imply he and his wife survived so it's not like it was a retcon.
Bad things in the movie? Oh, yes there IS one thing that is SO bad it's enough to knock an entire star off the grading I'm giving it. And no, I'm not talking about the black guy dying first. Ten words: "And that's how I learned there was no Santa Claus". Kate's gruesome story about her father's death is SO over-the-top, dark, bizarre, out of nowhere and completely innappropriate for a kids movie that I literally burst out laughing when the movie obviously thought I should be heart-broken. I think the filmmakers realized this after the movie came out and that's why there was a brutal satire of it in the second film (The second film spent half it's time making fun of the first one.) But honestly it's one of those things that is SO bad that you can't help but find it funny and then feel disgusted with yourself. Good times.
I really enjoyed watching this again. I need to pick up the sequel now. ****.
Additional scenes: Most of these deleted scenes are extras dealing with the townsfolk and Billy's relationship with them. Randall meeting the Chinese lady before he entered Keye Luke's shop was interesting but unnecessary. I did however really like the scene of Gerald (Judge Reinhold) locking himself in the vault. That should have been in the movie as Gerald disappears halfway through the flick and you kind of wonder what happened to him. ****.
Ghostbusters:
I haven't seen this movie in years and for a movie that has a bunch of Saturday Night Live and SCTV alums it's actually quite impressive. Bill Murray is absolutely fabulous and the movie has a lot of laughs and scares.
My favorite character is Harold Ramis as Egon Spengler: the coolest nerd EVER.
The special effects are pretty nifty. My only real complaint with the movie is that the story doesn't really have any twists or tricks to it and is pretty straight-forward. But I was having such a great time throughout the movie I didn't care about that too much. Really wonderful movie and one of the better eighties "blockbusters". ****1/2.
Scene Cemetary (Deleted Scenes):
Stake: This deleted scene showed why Ray and Egon were fired from the University too. ***1/2.
Dana: More stuff between Peter Venkman and Dana. Unlike the rest of the movie there wasn't too much of a humorous subtext to this scene. **1/2.
Honeymooners: This scene was wisely cut because it didn't add anything to the story. **.
Winston: This extended scene of Winston's job interview didn't add ANY new dimensions. I can see why it was paired down. **1/2.
Burns: This scene of Bill Murray and Dan Ackroyd playing homeless guys is hilarious but I understand why they cut it. Having the same actors playing different characters is too much like a bad Eddie Murphy movie. ****1/2.
Busy: This scene of the Ghostbuster gearing up for the final battle is an absolute gem and probably should have been in the movie. I love DVDs. *****.
Promotion: I understand WHY they made this scene. This scene of Winston advising the rest of the Ghostbusters to just quit and leave town was there to show he was the sensible one. Unfortunately is also made him look like a coward so I'm glad they cut it. Still, it was a cool scene to see. ****.
E.P.A.: This was a scene of Howard Peck yelling at a police officer to arrest the Ghostbusters during the final battle. It's kind of funny but the movie ALREADY had ably demonstrated how unhinged Peck was without having to cut away from the action for one last instance. ***.
Puft Hat: This was undoubtably an awesome find of a deleted scene but the idea of Stay Puft's hat suriving the explosion just raised a whole bunch of questions that the movie wouldn't have had time to answer and it visually looked kind of wierd. Still, it was a cool find even if it didn't quite work. *****.
"No Louis": This scene was completely unnecessary and was wisely cut. **.
Ghosterbusters II:
It's true that the sequel to Ghostbusters in nowhere NEAR as good as the original but after seeing it again I can honestly say it probably gets a bad rap. Yes, it's a little overlong and the jokes aren't as funny but it's still kind of a nice movie. I have a feeling it would have been better remembered if it wasn't the very last live-action Ghostbusters project.
I wasn't really digging the beginning of the movie just because the idea of Ghostbusters being shut down due to lawsuits didn't really sit right with me. The cool thing about the first movie was one of the funniest things about it: the Ghostbusters unvariably CAUSED as much destruction as the ghosts they were hired to catch and the fact that they were never held accountable was hilarious. But the sequel then brings us back to reality at the beginning and the high that was the first movie feels kind of like a let-down.
Bill Murray is hilarious as always but I kind of wish they had paired Janine (Annie Potts) with Egon (Harold Ramis) instead of Louis.
The special effects were much better this film too. 1989 was right at the beginning of the digital revolution in FX so the contrasts between this film and one made only four years previously are startling. I think we take digital effects for granted nowadays but the differences between to two films demonstrates how much technology can advance in only a couple of years.
An enjoyable film that is probably better than most people give it credit for. ****.
The Real Ghostbusters "Citizen Ghost"
The origin of Slimer! As written by the creator of Babylon 5! Eighties cartoons were weird, huh? I find it interesting that Lorenzo Music took over the role of Peter Venkman from Bill Murray for the Ghosterbusters cartoon and Bill Murray took over the role of Garfield from Lorenzo Music from the Garfield movie. The Real Ghostbusters was one of the better action cartoons from the eighties and while the episode is not as good as the movies, it's not without it's charms. That said, it's hard to see how the cartoon could possibly be in continuity with the second film as they seem to contradict each other. A definite curiosity. ***1/2.
Slimer and the Real Ghostbusters "Partners in Slime"
Speaking of continuity issues I found it fascinating how this episode referenced stuff from the second movie including the empathic Slime when it's hard to see how the cartoon could possibly be in continuity with it. By the way, Dave Coulier (Full House) as Peter Venkman SUCKS and it probably one of the worst replacement voices in cartoon history. And outisde of some cool ghost designs (and a cameo by the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man) the episode stunk too. **.
Tremors:
A REALLY fun movie that is both scary and funny. The cool thing about the humor in it is that it's derived from character interactions rather than a wacky plot. There's LOT of colorful cursing in it too so I doubt if it were released today it would have gotten a PG-13 rating.
I loved Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward as the two guys who decided to leave the town of Perfection a day too late but it's Micheal Gross as Burt Gummer (and Reba McEntyre as Heather) who steal the movie. The scene of them blasting the snot out of the Graboid in their rec room is one of those rare scenes in movie where you want to stand up and cheer because it's topped off by a perfect snappy one-liner. The best scene in the movie.
The characters all act stupid at times which is necessary in a horror fil and it's quite tense at points. Melvin is quite possibly the most annoying kid ever in a movie like this so it was a surprise that he survived. I love how all of the other characters kept pointing out how stupid he was. Hilarious.
The climax was Super-anxiety provoking with a tense stand-off between Valentine and the final Graboid whom Valentine (who isn't the sharpest tack in the box) grumbles furiously ISN'T smarter than he is. Really nice wrap-up and hummable Reba McEntyre song during the end credits make this movie a blast. ****.
Alternate Ending: They were wise to end the movie with a kiss. This ending with Earl and Val going back to town for Rhonda is unsatisfying. **.
Outtakes: The alternate opening was awesome and would have been a MUCH better opening scene than Kevin Bacon taking a whiz. The other deleted scenes were only okay. ****.
Tremors 2: Aftershocks
This sequel can't hold a candle to the original but it was fun enough to watch. Fred Ward as Earl isn't as fun without Kevin Bacon but Micheal Gross as Burt Gummer was as boss as ever.
If I had any complaints about the movie it's that the real tension doesn't start until halfway through and Earl, Burt and the new guy are killing Graboids left and right without any problems.
Surprisingly the effects were better than the original even though this one went straight to video. I guess a lot of leaps in technology can be made in six short years. Jurrassic Park happened between the original and the sequel so I think the FX guys knew how to use CGI monster cheaply. I liked the new monsters but I prefer it when they are underground just because they are more mysterious.
The sequel was nowhere near as good as the original but if you keep that in mind it's still quite fun. ***.
Tremors 3: Back to Perfection
This sequel was nowhere near as exciting or funny as the first one. It was smart to go back to Perfection and it was nice seeing some of the characters from the first movie but the movie takes forever to get going and doesn't have as many funny parts. Yes, Micheal Gross as Burt Gummer brings his A Game but the rest of the movie kind of sucks.
The scene with Burt getting eaten by the worm and actually surviving was cool. They shouldn't have killed of Miguel though.
It WAS a good idea to bring Melvin back as a villain AND to keep one of the Graboids in the town. And the climax was kind of exciting. Still, even the lukewarm second movie was better than this. **1/2.
Tremors 4: The Legend Begins
Easily the best of the sequels even though it's a prequel. I love that Hiram Gummer (Burt's ancestor) is such a girlie-man and awful with guns. REALLY nice irony there. I also liked Billy Drago (The Adventures of Brisco County Jr.) as Black Hand and was sorry he got killed off half-way through.
This movie probably had the lowest death rate of the main cast EVER. Sure the miners were canon fodder (as was Black Hand) but I'm surprised that basically everyone in the town survived. The movie followed the rules set by the previous films and even gave us a look at Baby Graboids right after they hatch. They're still gross.
Of course it's not as good as the first one but it's definitely the finest of the sequels. ***1/2.
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