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Reviews
Who's Minding the Store? (1963)
Clumsy errand boy tries to make good only to make matters worse!
I saw this movie at a Sunday matinee in 1963. The movie was so funny that the mere memory of that movie was enough to get me laughing. And I got sent to the principal's office as a result. So you can say that Jerry Lewis got me in trouble in school!
Jerry Lewis is an incompetant errand boy who is engaged to the store owner's daughter. But to get him out of the daughter's life, the store owner turns the screws on the engagement by assigning him the worst jobs. The store owner then moves him from one department to another, leaving massive chaos and destruction everywhere he goes.
The results are hilarious enough. But the aftermath of his time in the appliance department, alone, is worth watching the movie alone. It left me laughing so hard that I had stomach cramps!
I saw the movie again many years later and it was second childhood all over again.
Pierino contro tutti (1981)
All hell breaks loose as Pierino goes back to school!
This movie, like the bulk of Italian movies of the period, is full of "borderline humor" that consistently borders on what some may call "poor taste". But that is exactly what makes this movie such a laugh riot! This is the type of movie where beautiful women get their dresses torn off by passing buses, blinds fly up at the wrong time and almost nothing is sacred.
Pierino, played by comic genius, Alviro Vitalli, is a juvenile who is determined to drive everybody up the wall, from his older sister at home, to the administration of his school.
Nothing is sacred and nobody in authority is safe from Pierino's pranks. Pierino will go to any length to torment his tormenters. For example, he walked past the school director with an "invisible dog" leash. The director asked him what he was doing. "Oh, walking my dog" replied Pierino. The director thought the "invisible dog" leash was Pierino's prank, until he turned around and saw some doggie droppings that Pierino had placed in the hall.
Pierino cannot stand his teacher, so he drives her up the wall until she quits. Then a new teacher comes in, who has Pierino head over heals in love. But does that mean he becomes a model student? Well, not quite.
A knowledge of the Italian language is required to understand the humor in this movie. It is a shame that there isn't a translated version of this movie. But if your ability to understand Italian isn't quite that good, there is still enough slapstick humor to leave you screaming in wild fits of hysterics.
The People Next Door (1989)
Weird sit-com about a weird cartoonist whose weird imagination causes weird things to happen.
"The People Next Door" follows the plight of a cartoonist and his daughter as they move into an apartment. The peace and quiet of the apartment complex is shattered when the new people next door move in. Weird things happen as the cartoonist's wild imagination causes wild things to happen. The moose he has mounted to the wall, for example, would converse with him as he is looking for ideas. Sometimes the moose would argue with him. All chaos breaks loose as he tries to get his weird ideas on paper. The name of his comic strip is "The People Next Door" and the comic is inspired by Gary Larson's "The Far Side".
"The People next Door" was a really stupid program. But then again, that was why the program was so funny.
Unfortunately, the series got cancelled after only a few episodes!
To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar (1995)
Attitude is Everything
From the outrageous movie poster to the outrageous motto, "Attitude is everything", comes an outrageous story line about two drag queens in New York who win a trip to Hollywood. So they get a hold of an old Cadillac and they drag (pardon the pun) an aspiring drag queen, "Chi-Chi" along for the ride.
Of course the car breaks down in a small town in the middle of nowhere and the three are left with their wits, their wigs, make-up and dresses.
As if this isn't bad enough, now they have the homo-phobic Sheriff Dollard on their tails.
With a script like this, one would expect a lot of potential for non-stop laughs and a lot of surprises. I was expecting perhaps a "3 Stooges in drag" type of script.
Unfortunately, I was disappointed. The movie just didn't deliver what it should've delivered. The storyline was great, but the delivery of the story line was weak.
With a White, a Hispanic and a Black together, there could've been some inter-racial humor thrown in to keep the laughs going. But this was another opportunity that the producers of this disappointing movie failed to act upon.
Sons and Daughters (1974)
A suitable title would be "Not-So-Happy Days"
"Sons & Daughters" is a dramatic counterpart to "Happy Days". Like "Happy Days", the series took place in the 1950s, with a backdrop of fifties music and fifties related activities.
Unlike "Happy Days", the story line was more tragic evolving around Anita Cramer (played by Glynnis O'Connor) and Jeff Reed (played by Gary Frank).
The two were young teenagers growing up in the 1950s, who were in love with each other, but were afraid to follow their hearts. This was due to the fact that Jeff's parents were divorced and Anita was living with her father who was either divorced or a widower. Anita and Frank were both afraid to fall in love because they were uncertain about their feelings and both were afraid of hurting each other or being hurt the way both their parents were hurt.
Though the storyline was bleak, there were a lot of lighter moments provided by the antics of "Stash", "Shark" and "Moose" along with their friends, who were engaging in the typical mischief that made the 1950s such a nostalgic time. There was the soda shop where everybody hung out. There were also the "submarine races" and an "inspiration point" where teenaged couples used to go to "make out".
It was a good program that bordered between "soap" and "drama' with enough "comedy" to make this an entertaining program.
Unfortunately, there weren't enough of the lighter moments to save the series from being cancelled.
Timescape (1991)
Widower must on front both strangers who came to see his world be destroyed. He also has to deal with his own personal demons.
Jeff Daniels, whose place in cinema immortality has been sealed by his role in "Dumb and Dumber", with Jim Carey, was superb in his portrayal as Ben Wilson, a widower who must fight the forces that are about to destroy his world. These forces include a strange group of time travelers who came to his inn to witness the destruction of his world, a judge who considers him to be an unfit father, and last but not least, Ben Wilson must fight his own personal demons.
The movie not only includes spectacular special effects, it also has an excellent storyline.
The movie holds the viewers' attention from start to finish. And the story has a few twists and turns.
Although this movie is a budget priced video, this movie is excellent and would not disappoint the sci-fi fan.
The Jerky Boys (1995)
Two unemployed lowlifes get more than they bargained for!
This movie is too much to handle! It should have a health warning on the box. "People with heart trouble, high blood pressure or any other health problems should not watch this movie!"
The story begins with our star heroes as little boys, making a crank phone call.
Then it continues, 20 years later. Our heroes are older but not wiser, just more devious with their crank phone calls.
They dial a crime boss and mess the mob around, getting them in all sorts of trouble with dear old mom, the mob and the police.
Although I am not a fan of MTV or any of the stars of MTV, the Jerky Boys are an exception! This movie was so funny! I was laughing so hard that I got severe stomach cramps. So I had to turn the VCR off after watching only 20 minutes of the movie.
The next day, I was able to sit through the whole movie. But I was laughing so hard that I almost fell off my chair. By the time the movie was finished, my voice was hoarse and I had stomach cramps from laughing so hard. After watching the movie 5 times, there were still parts that were still so funny that I laughed until I was out of breath!
This movie is too funny for words. Watch it as your own risk!
Sorcerer (1977)
Action packed thriller about a group of outcasts
This movie is an action packed adventure whose sound track is provided by Tangerine Dream. Tangerine Dream's music, alone, makes the movie a worthwhile thriller worth seeing.
The first half of the movie drags a bit and is hard to follow because it follows the history of some of the outcasts who transport the shipment through the jungles of Central America.
The outcasts are a group of undesireables. One outcast, for example, is a terrorist who got caught. The main character, Scanlon (Roy Scheider), plays a small time crook who picked a Catholic Church to rob while the parish is holding its weekly Bingo game. >
While the first half of the movie drags a bit, the individual plots come together in the second half of the movie. The action picks up and the viewer is now left glued to his seat as the drama unfolds and the excitement builds up to a fever pitch.
To get the most of story, this movie should be viewed twice.
Quiet Cool (1986)
A tough NYC plainclothes cop who has always worked within the law, is suddenly forced to go outside the law to deal with some really bad outlaws.
Joe Dylanne (James Remar) is a tough NYC plainclothes cop who has always done things his way, but always within the law. He had faith in the judicial system until a family is brutally murdered in cold blood. The only survivor is the son, who left for dead, became a survivalist, living off the land and waiting for the right time to get even with the murderers.
The plot sounds like your average good guys vs. bad guys action movie. While such action movies are a dime a dozen, this movie is different. The story line is simple, straight and to the point! It involves a small quiet town up in the northwest that is under a reign of terror imposed by some ruthless drug dealers with a huge marijuana farm in the middle of a dense forest.
The movie starts with a plea for help from the girlfriend of Joe Dylanne, a tough NYC plainclothes cop.
From that point on, there is not a dull moment in this movie!
The action is non-stop from start to finish. The plot has a few twists and a few surprises and is guaranteed to leave the viewer glued to his chair. The chase scenes alone make this movie an essential must-see.
Starcrash (1978)
Epic adventure where the forces of good fight the forces of evil in outer space
In this 1979 epic film, the good guys rescue the inhabitants of a small planet from the forces of evil. Like the sci-fi movies of the time, it too had some pretty impressive special effects. It started out like another great sci-fi movie, like Star wars. But the similarities between this movie and Star Wars quickly disappeared shortly after the movie began.
The special effects worsened as the movie dragged on.
By the time the movie ended, I had more than enough of "Starcrash".
When the movie came out in 1979, I wouldn't have missed it for the world. But after sitting through this movie, I wished I had!