My Top 10 Comedy Movies

There have been so many great comedy movies over the years. There are plenty of others that could easily make up a top 10 list. These just happen to be my personal favorites. I come back to them time and time again as examples of very funny and well-made comedy movies. So, in no particular order, here they are:

1. Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997) - So hard to choose one of the Austin Powers movies. The sequels were equally good! Plus, his work in Shrek, Wayne's World and So I Married an Axe Murderer was all amazing. I have to say this is Mike Myers at his best though! So witty and hysterically funny.

2. Christmas Vacation (1989) - This is my favorite Vacation movie. It just beats out the original movie for me, but both are great. Chevy Chase and Randy Quaid were instrumental in making this the best of the series. Very funny and extremely watchable. We watch it EVERY Christmas season!

3. Back to School (1986) - Rodney Dangerfield stole the show in Caddyshack and was great in Easy Money, but it all came together in this movie! Genius!

4. Dumb and Dumber (1994) - I had to have at LEAST one Jim Carrey comedy on here. Again, so tough to choose. Both Ace Ventura movies were insanely funny. Liar Liar, Me, Myself and Irene and Bruce Almighty also topped the list. However, teaming up with Jeff Daniels and being led by the Farrelly Brothers, took this comedy to the highest level of funny!

5. Airplane! (1980) - I think this was the best vehicle for the team of Abrahams/Zucker. The Naked Gun was a very close second. I love this type of silly and zany comedy!

6. Pee-Wee's Big Adventure (1985) - There is nothing else like this movie! It's visually unprecedented, has a fantastical music score, is very witty and will have you laughing throughout.

7. Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987) - I think this is the best comedy movie for both Steve Martin and John Candy, so we get two of the greats for the price of one! Very funny and touching. Steve Martin is a genius, and we lost John Candy way too soon!

8. Groundhog Day (1993) - This movie stands as not only one of my favorite comedies ever but also as one of my favorite movies of all time. A beautiful movie that is very funny, while having a great message. It is meticulously crafted, with every word and moment adding to the whole. The highest level of praise goes to Bill Murray for his performance and Harold Ramis for his direction!

9. City Slickers (1991) - Hands-down, Billy Crystal's best comedy movie! Great dialogue!

10. Billy Madison (1995) - So original and ridiculously funny no matter how many times I watch it! Adam Sandler's crowning achievment!

Again, these are just my favorites, so I'd love to hear some of yours.

Review: All is Lost

I saw this movie a couple of months ago on DVD, but it still really deserves some attention. It had a limited release in 2013, and it just didn't quite catch on. That really is a shame. Try to find it on DVD, cable or other form of media. The movie's solo acting credit goes to 76-year-old Robert Redford, as Our Man. The story involves an older man well into a solo voyage somewhere in the Indian Ocean. It begins with him waking up to find his sailboat has collided with a lost shipping container. The boat is badly damaged, as well as the radio. He tries to repair the ship and the radio, and he has to battle a major storm. His plan is to make it to the nearest shipping lanes to be spotted and rescued. I'll stop there, not to give away too much more of the plot. Overall, it's one man against the elements, using his strength and wit to survive. Redford delivers an amazing performance and carries the entire film. The only thing I can compare this achievement to is Tom Hanks in Cast Away or Ryan Reynolds in Buried. There may be other examples, but it's not a common practice. All is Lost is also visually captivating and emotionally compelling. A very well-crafted film. Dead Calm is a good example of another thrilling movie on the sea, but it had a couple more characters. See that one if you haven't. This movie was only nominated for one Academy Award, and that was for Best Sound Editing. It did not win that award, and it's dissappointing that it didn't receive ANY other nominations, especially Best Actor for Robert Redford. This would not have been a sentimental favorite nod either! It would have been a legitimate nomination for an outstanding performance. It is highly rated on www.metacritic.com, www.rottentomatoes.com and www.imdb.com and by me too.
Grade: A

Who is Your Favorite Superman?

Who is your favorite Superman? I expanded the list from movies to also include television Supermans. There have been three distinct movie Supermans and three distinct television Supermans. Probably the most well known version has been played by Christopher Reeve. He appeared in four Superman movies in the 1970s and 1980s. The first two films were outstanding. The original set up the story for Clark Kent/Superman, and the effects for the time were amazing. A man who could really fly and had super strength! The sequel, Superman II, is one of those rare cases where a sequel is considered even better than the original movie. It had an iconic villain with Terence Stamp as General Zod, and it was more intense and emotional than the first. The second two films had much weaker scripts and even became comical, not in a good way. However, Christopher Reeve did not phone in his performances, he was still great not only as Superman, but especially as Clark Kent. He truly embodied the bumbling, naive, honest, good-natured and loveable qualities of Clark, while then pulling off portraying the strength and resolve of Superman. I grew up watching Christopher Reeve as Superman, and he will always be my favorite.

For the other movie versions of Superman, there was Brandon Routh in Superman Returns (2006) and Henry Cavill in Man of Steel (2013). Out of these two, I preferred Brandon Routh. I thought while he had the perfect look and quality for Superman, he also was a more believable Clark Kent. The story was unique, and Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor was a real bonus. Now, in Man of Steel, Henry Cavill definitely captures the spirit of Superman, but his Clark Kent was less than to be desired, for me.

For the television versions, there was the original George Reeves in Adventures of Superman series from the 1950s. I saw some of these years ago, and they were well done and pretty exciting. Then, there was Dean Cain as Superman in Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman from the early 1990s. I never saw this show, so I can't really comment. Finally, there was Tom Welling as Clark Kent in the Smallville series from the 2000s. The show went on for a decade with Welling only playing Clark Kent. I watched the first few seasons, but then it just seemed to be dragging on. Go to Metropolis already! Well, apparently in the final episode, he finally emerges as Superman. I've included a screen shot of just this. So, I think he deserves to be included in the discussion. He was a great Clark Kent and definitely had the look for Superman. I thought they were grooming him for a movie role, but it doesn't look like that will happen now. It looks like the next movie installment will be Henry Cavill returning as Superman in a yet untitled Superman-Batman project. That could be really interesting! Wait and see. These are my thoughts on the subject. Please share yours.

Review: Attack the Block (2011)

The basic synopsis here is a London teen street gang must defend their block against an alien attack. A young woman, played by Jodie Whittaker, is mugged by the gang in the beginning of the movie. They meet up again and must join together to fight their common enemy. It sounds totally ridiculous, but it actually works! Very similar to the way that the films Tremors, Evolution and Galaxy Quest worked. If you liked any of these movies, I feel strongly you would appreciate this one. The genre of science fiction action comedy is a tough one to pull off, but all of these films did. They blend all of these unique elements together perfectly. The characters are varied and believable, and the action is intense. I especially liked the character of Pest, played by Alex Esmail; he is all talk. However, he is loyal to his friends and will fight for them. The actors are mostly unknowns, especially to Americans. This also lends itself to the level of believability. That strategy worked great here and in movies like The Goonies, The Sandlot and Super 8. There are plenty of comedic lines along the way. It is Rated R and the expletives do fly, but it seems fitting to the characters. The alien creatures are somewhat different from what you have seen in the past. This also adds to the unique spin on the genre. Highly rated on www.rottentomatoes.com and well received on www.imdb.com. Get some popcorn and enjoy this well-done, light and entertaining movie. Grade: A

Review: Badlands (1973)

I finally got around to seeing this one. Written and directed by Terrence Malick (The Thin Red Line and The Tree of Life) and starring Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek. It’s based on an actual story from the 1950s, where a young man and younger girlfriend take off on a killing spree through the American Midwest. Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek deliver outstanding and believable performances. Warren Oates also does a fine job in the smaller role of Sissy Spacek's father. It’s beautifully filmed, and the characters are compelling from the start. A unique and somewhat haunting musical score adds to the experience. I should point out that this movie does NOT glorify the crimes being committed, but it sheds a little light on those involved. Although quite violent, it's not graphic in nature and is rated PG. This was only Sissy Spacek's second credited feature film role; the start of quite a career. Martin Sheen was previously a regular in various television series, but this was his debut feature film role. He was compared to James Dean in the movie, and this comparison holds true. There is a toughness and vulnerability to his character. This was also Terrence Malick's debut as a feature film director. I personally appreciated this film more than his follow up Days of Heaven, released five years later. I saw that film recently and thought it was disjointed and the characters were underdeveloped. While this film is easy to follow along with, there are several layers at work here, and the character development is complete. I highly recommend this movie. Grade: A

Don't Miss Tom Hanks' Oscar-Worthy Performances from 2013

Although Oscar-Worthy, Tom Hanks was NOT nominated for either his leading title role in Captain Phillips or his supporting role, as Walt Disney, in Saving Mr. Banks. He could have added 2 more statues to his collection, as far as i'm concerned. Both were at the highest level of performance, so i'm not sure why at least one of them did not make the cut. Regardless, don't miss seeing both movies. Not only are his performances phenomenal, but the performances of all of the other actors involved in both films are superb, and they are equally engaging and entertaining.

Biggest Movie FLOPS Ever

Whenever someone mentions a big movie flop, a couple of names get tossed around a lot, Waterworld and Ishtar. Well, while they weren't what is considered successful, they don't even make the top 10 list for box office bombs! Waterworld did have a bloated production budget of
$175 Million, but it did make $264 Million worldwide. Now, Ishtar did cost $55 Million, and only made about $14 Million back. That is a pretty hefty loss, but it's not even near some of the total net losses of the biggest flops. The animated film Mars Needs Moms stands as the current biggest movie flop of all time. It cost $150 Million to make and only earned back $39 Million worldwide. Studios didn't back down and animated films are currently some of the biggest money makers. Four recent films however, round out the top 10 biggest money losers ever. They were Disney's The Lone Ranger, R.I.P.D., John Carter and Jack the Giant Slayer. They collectively lost about $400 Million! Another famous movie failure was Eddie Murphy's The Adventures of Pluto Nash. This movie cost right around $100 Million to make, and it only earned a pitiful $7 Million total! Somehow, it didn't seem to hurt Eddie's career. He has been able to make numerous films (including many flops) since. As production budget soar higher and higher, the list continues to change. There will always be movie failures, but figuring out why still seems to be the mystery.