Sci-fi/Horror, 126 Minutes, 2007
This is one of those classic movies that you likely saw long ago and are then reminded about by something so you track it down and re-watch. Since my wife had never seen it, I was able to share it with her and was happily surprised that it held up just as well as I had hoped.
“Hansel and Gretel Get Baked” on IMDB
Comedy/Horror, 86 Minutes, 2013
The best thing this movie could think of for a tag on its poster is: “From the Producer of Twilight”. Sadly enough, that may very well be the best thing about it. I’ve never seen “Twilight” and have now idea who produced it, but still, it may be. I’ll be honest, I only watched because it starred Molly C Quinn [IMDB] whom I adore in “Castle” and who has done a great job of building up geek cred with various comic/sci-fi related projects and appearances lately.
“Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues” on IMDB
Comedy, 119 Minutes, 2013
This is, hands-down, the most ridiculously self-indulgent movie I’ve ever seen. It wanders from location to location for no other reason than to set up a new crop of gags. The characters are bizarre and totally unrealistic. The people who made this movie just threw everything at the wall to see what would stick.
It’s a good thing that they happen to be freaking geniuses.
“Return of the Killer Shrews” on IMDB
Horror, 84 Minutes, 2012
There’s a long, ignoble tradition of terrible movies taking advantage of good – or at least popular – movies. A movie really can’t be considered a success unless a loosely veiled B-version (and at least one even less loosely veiled porn parody) are available within two months of release. This may be the first one to try take advantage of a mostly forgotten horrible movie.
Sci-fi, 121 Minutes, 1994
Wanting to celebrate Pi Day with a movie gets a little difficult after the obvious options are ruled out. “Pi” [IMDB] isn’t exactly a family movie. “Life of Pi” [My Review] is great, but we had re-watched it recently on a whim. “American Pie” [IMDB] was floated as a possibility but dismissed as inappropriate for the audience. The excellent and often overlooked “Waitress” [IMDB], about a waitress who expresses herself through gourmet pies, was suggested as well; this was shot down by a small, but vocal minority who didn’t want any “chick flicks”.
Comedy/Drama, 134 Minutes, 2013
This is Judd Apatow’s [IMDB] “sort-of sequel” to 2007’s “Knocked Up” [IMDB], the growing-up comedy about accidental pregnancy. This features two of the secondary characters, married couple Pete (Paul Rudd [IMDB]) and Debbie (Leslie Mann [IMDB]). Like that film and his last big film, 2009’s “Funny People” [IMDB] this movie is very well done, features a horde of insanely talented people and is long. Really, quite long.
Comedy/Drama, 90 Minutes, 2013
Joseph Gordon-Levitt [IMDB] has made a remarkable transition from television child-actor to featured roles in many critically-acclaimed blockbusters. While luck has likely played a part, there’s no doubting his talent in front of the camera. “Don Jon” is his writing/directing debut. With an excellent A-list cast, he also stars.
Zombie alert!
See the review of “Stalled” on our sister site, MoreBrains.com dedicated to all things zombie!
Comedy/Family, 91 Minutes, 2013
Hey, kids: want to watch a completely bland, totally mediocre, computer animated family comedy! It stars famous people! It has topical references and horribly bastardizes history! It’s 90 minutes long! It’ll cost just as much as a good movie to watch, and you’ll never get the time you spent with it back!
I’m old enough to remember the rise of tabletop role-playing brought by “Dungeons and Dragons”. The popularity of the game (and the personal infighting of the authors) led to many versions of the game, multiple incompatible editions and dozens of imitators. Public confusion about the game led to accusations of demon worship and dumbass TV movies. Despite all this, my friends and I poured our imaginations (and meager allowances) into it.
In retrospect, that the game was so broken may have been a large part of the allure. Sure, it was complex – that kept away the people that we preferred not to deal with in the first place – but it was also versatile. We’d argue about the rules, toss those we didn’t like and make up our own. At every level of the experience the game offered awkward kids power. Imaginary power, to be sure, but power nonetheless. We created the world, we controlled it and we decided how it worked.
These two movies represent separate, but similar, evolutions of my childhood obsession. The first celebrates the transition from the tabletop to online multiplayer. The second to the more physical experience of live action role-playing (LARPing). Both embody such a deep-seated respect for the things I used to hold dear that I couldn’t help having a ton of fun with them.
