Dumbo (2019)

Last night I made the mistake of watching Tim Burton’s remake of “Dumbo,” which came out two months ago, which I didn’t like at all. I’ll tell you why.

The decline of Tim Burton continues with “Dumbo,” his horrible remake of the classic animated movie that leads to absolutely nothing, for both kids and adults.

The original “Dumbo” had a runtime of a little over an hour, while the remake checks in almost two hours that feel too long. Bob Grimm said in his review, “Yes, the running time has been padded but, no, it’s not padded with anything that registers as beneficial.” So many superfluous subplots and additional characters are more focused on from the protagonist, who people might find this CGI success cute.

There are not talking animals in this movie, like the remake to “Cinderella,” so Timothy Q. Mouse is only seen in a cage wearing a hat, there’s no singing crows because of the possible racial stereotype and the Baby Mine done by Jumbo is now being sung by Sharon Rooney, playing Miss Atlantis in this film. Timothy Q. Mouse is replaced by the vital talented children, played by Thandie Newton’s daughter, Nico Parker and Finley Hobbins. Grimm said, “Sorry, Thandie Newton’s daughter, but you can’t act and shouldn’t act and need to consider another profession that requires you not to act.”

Colin Farrell plays Holt, the talented children’s dad, back from World War I with one arm, and his wife died from illness while traveling with the circus. The circus is under the management of Max Medici, played by Danny DeVito, who has bought a cheap, pregnant elephant, Jumbo. He wants Holt to be in charge of his elephants, a downgrade from his previous job as a circus cowboy. Farrell, like most of the humans in this movie, looks down.

V.A. Vandevere, the villain of the film, played by Michael Keaton, buys Dumbo and plans to make him the main star at his Dreamland, which looks a whole lot like Disneyland. Grimm said, “So, in a way, Vandevere is modeled after Walt Disney and is portrayed as an evil megalomaniac. So, in essence, Burton gets away with indirectly portraying Walt Disney as a bit of a greedy monster. I’m not saying this is anything inaccurate, but it’s a little odd to see in an actual Disney movie.”

As for Keaton, he’s at his complete worst in this movie, like he was just pushed in front of the camera and told at act particular. It’s horrible, because seeing the man who played Batman in a movie by the same director of “Batman” definitely seems as something that could be fun. Sadly, it is not. Keaton just looks like he’s always close to recreating the part in “Batman” where he snaps, which was one of the worst parts of that movie.

In the original, Dumbo flew in only a couple of scenes for just a few seconds. Here, he has so many flying scenes, which beats a dead horse. Also a bad redoing, the scene in the original where Dumbo gets drunk and sees pink elephants is replaced by a terrible bubble show that is a tribute to the drunk scene in the original, and a terrible tribute when you look at it.

Grimm said, “As much as I did like the original, I’ve always taken issue with the notion that anybody would give Dumbo a bunch of insults for having big ears.” All elephants have big ears, don’t they? The story worked in a one-hour cartoon for kids but really drags out in a big budget live-action remake with real people walking around. The honesty lesson at the center doesn’t sound right with real humans acting it out. It feels wrong.

Burton used to make one classic after another. His last great movie was “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street,” and his career was really damaged with his other Disney live action reboot, “Alice in Wonderland.”

“Dumbo” is much worse than “Alice in Wonderland,” and proof that Burton needs to move far away from Disney and closer to the eccentricities who inspired his career in the beginning. Grimm ended his review by saying Burton should “make another Pee Wee movie before you deface any further Disney properties.”

I take it this wasn’t a “remake” and more of a “reimagining,” as Burton coined that phrase. However, the way they changed the story in this movie around is just a slap in the face for those who really loved the original. I liked the idea of Jumbo actually giving birth to Dumbo instead of the Storks delivering him on the train in the beginning of the original, though. Eva Green is also in this movie, and expect a cameo from Michael Buffer. This is one of the worst decisions that Disney has ever made. They need to stop making live action remakes to Disney classics, although I know two have already been released with another two or three coming out this year, but they need to stop remaking these charming classics. As you might have guessed, don’t make the mistake of seeing this remake, it’s one of the worst.

Thank goodness I’m done with that review. In the meantime, I’m going to cool off. Stay tuned for what I have in store for everyone next month.

Robin Hood: Men in Tights

“Robin Hood: Men in Tights,” released in 1993, is a nice return to the crazy, radical scatological comedies that made Mel Brooks a household name everywhere. It is a film for his loyal fans and for younger audiences who only know Mel Brooks from name. Leonard Klady said in his review, “Virtually a primer of all the familiar visual and literal jokes in his bag of tricks, the film is a paean to the obvious that is more delight than retread. It should sail through the summer on steady business aimed at the funny bone like no other film in the market place.”

Brooks’ loving the residents of Sherwood Forest is honest if hard to see. Klady noted, “In 1975 he covered the basic territory in the television series “When Things Were Rotten.”” On top of that, he really pulled together a classic that it basically looked like his largest success, “Blazing Saddles.” Even classicists will find that one a classic comedy.

The basic story is about nobleman Robin of Loxley, played by Cary Elwes, who journeys with King Richard to the Crusades. He escapes and returns to England, where he finds the kingdom in a terrible shape thanks to Prince John (Richard Lewis) and his evil partner renamed here the Sheriff of Rottingham (Roger Rees). Picking up criminal habits, Robin joins the good country people to help him get rid of the kingdom of the bane. He also falls in love with Maid Marian, played by Amy Yasbeck.

With Brooks in charge, there are so many satires taken on the famous tale. Friar Tuck has been redone by Brooks by renaming him Rabbi Tuckman, and the cast of characters includes a black foreign-exchange student, played by Dave Chappelle, and plenty of anachronistic modern references.

Klady mentioned, “The manic ensemble is grounded by Elwes’ virtually straight-faced interpretation of Robin with a glib assuredness that hits the target dead center. Rather slier is Yasbeck’s Marian, who gets great comic effect from being the girl too good to be true.”

The supporting cast includes a long list of Brooks’ regulars. Best of all are the hilarious crying of Rees’ Sheriff and the ugly old woman Latrine as played by Tracey Ullman.

Klady said, “Taste, never a factor to be considered seriously in the filmmaker’s work, is appropriately questionable. There is tremendous glee to be derived from the spontaneity of his outrageous antics. It’s blunted only when he steals shamelessly from past successes.”

One size of “Tights” won’t be everyone’s, but Mel Brooks stays a brilliance whose audience is always open and willing to see what he comes up with next.

As you might have guessed, I actually had a great time laughing at this movie. If you love all of Mel Brooks’ comedies, this one is for you, especially if you have seen Disney’s “Robin Hood” and “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves,” which it mainly spoofs. This got bad reviews, but I think it’s not as bad as the critics made it out to be. Give it a watch and don’t listen to any of the bad reviews.

Alright everyone, this concludes “Parody Month.” I hope all of you enjoyed this month, as I finally got around to talking about a few of my favorite comedies/parodies. Look out next month to see what I have in store for everyone.

Dark Phoenix

Today I went and saw “Dark Phoenix,” which came out a little over two weeks ago (originally planned to be released last year), and I will let all of you know what I thought about it.

The final film in the other X-Men series that started so smartly with “First Class” may not have the high emotions (and difficulty) of “Avengers: Endgame” recently but still ends in its own special way.

Aside from a lot of the reviews, “Dark Phoenix” is an exciting climax to this specific series of Marvel characters, both improving on “X-Men: Apocalypse,” while also eliminating the memory of the lowest “X-Men: The Last Stand” (which also took the Chris Claremont/John Byrne’s 1980 Dark Phoenix series as their inspiration).

It’s nowhere near being one of the best in the franchise (Days of Future Past, X2 or the previous mentioned First Class) but it does bring a nice method of closure that has its own type of emotions. Disney now has the rights of Fox along with the MCU, and there is that sad feeling of losing actors of the talent of Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy, who won’t have any future roles.

Rob Carnevale said in his review, “Set in 1992, the film finds the X-Men going all Thunderbirds and heading into space at the request of the US President to rescue the crew of a stricken space shuttle.” However, while they are able to save all the astronauts, one of the mutants, Jean Grey, played by Sophie Turner, absorbs all the cosmic force that was going to obliterate the shuttle, giving her even more strength that she had before.

As she has difficulty having this control, her past comes back to trigger this, resulting in violent amounts of anger that puts the lives of her close ones in series danger.

Carnevale notes, “If there’s a major flaw in writer-director Simon Kinberg’s film it’s that it attempts to fit in a lot in a relatively short space of time for a modern superhero film. Where the likes of The Avengers have had anywhere between two and a half to three hours to wrap things up, Dark Phoenix unfolds in under two.”

Carnevale continues, “It means that Kinberg has less time to juggle the action with the emotion and only really offers fleeting moments of psychological exploration. Grey’s internal battle, as she tries to make sense of her own troubled past, is perhaps played a little too quickly and doesn’t give Turner enough to work with to create a genuinely gut-wrenching emotional arc. But there is still enough to make her journey worth taking.”

Meanwhile, McAvoy shows just how great an actor he is by doing a lot by doing so little. Carnevale notes, “His Charles Xavier in this film is a shell of his former self – a leader prone to drinking and egotistic risk-taking, who finds himself at odds with his own ‘family’ at several points. There is arguably more of a journey for him to go on in this film, and McAvoy grasps the opportunity, albeit with less screen time than usual.”

Fassbender’s Magneto, despite being turned into a side character, remains as cool and mysterious as usual, while Kinberg does well to give most of the characters a moment in the spotlight – if not emotionally for everyone, then at least during the film’s climactic fight on a train where they get to show off their super powers.

Mentioning that, a final scene between Fassbender and McAvoy is nicely seen and beautifully played, ending with it that sense of emotion that we’re definitely saying goodbye to two old friends.

Carnevale said, “Another plus is how X-Men: Dark Phoenix also delivers some genuinely rousing set pieces, most of which revolve around Grey and her powers. But an early confrontation in the suburbs is well handled and delivers one of the film’s few genuine shocks, as is a confrontation between Grey and Magneto in New York.”

The final train fight, where the film’s main villain, played by Jessica Chastain, plays a main role, is similarly well set up, though without the sense of danger that maybe made the climax of “Avengers: Endgame” such a great example.

Carnevale said, “Hence, while falling short of that kind of classic status, Dark Phoenix still deserves to be celebrated on its own merits. It does bring a decent sense of closure, it excites on a visceral level, and it still manages – albeit on a smaller scale – to explore some weighty and relevant issues: feminism is touched upon [albeit glibly], while the metaphor for the X-Men as outsiders or people who may be viewed as different is relatable and highly relevant.”

Seeing the downhill slope that this franchise looked like it was going in following “X-Men: Apocalpyse,” Kinberg has created something of a Phoenix-like rise of his own to satisfy that fans, if not critics, can say goodbye to McAvoy, Fassbender, Turner, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, Tye Sheridan, Alexandra Shipp, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Evan Peters and the rest.

I don’t agree with the critics on this movie. It’s not as bad as everyone is saying it is. I personally think this movie did a better job with the Phoenix story than “X-Men: The Last Stand,” it was slow with a lot of dialogue instead of relying on so much action (which is a nice welcome), and the mutants that were in this movie all did their part instead of standing around doing nothing, which a lot of these movies were guilty of doing. Personally, I think this is still a good movie, even if I do think this may be one of the lower ones in the franchise. So I will give this film the benefit of the doubt and rate it with a 9. Don’t listen to the critics, go see the movie and judge for yourself.

Thank you for joining in on my review today, stay tuned this Friday for the finale of “Parody Month.”

Hot Shots!

An expert fighter pilot scarred by the memory of his father’s failure is enlisted to take on a mission into Iraq hoping that his insecurity will be the horrible failure and allow a weapons maker to receive a huge contract for new fighter jets.

The time before Charlie Sheen was obsessed with tiger’s blood and Adonis DNA due to the drugs he takes. “Hot Shots!” released in 1991, is directed by Jim Abrahams, who directed spoofs like “Airplane!” “Top Secret!” and “Ruthless People.” He also helped write the screenplay along with Pat Proft, who had done great comedies like “Police Academy” and “The Naked Gun: From the Flies of Police Squad!” It looked like Abrahams seems to be excited to work together since many of the comedy titles end with an exclamation point. The basic story is about a talented pilot named Topper Harley (Charlie Sheen), who has been living on a Native America area because of being haunted by a problem where his father Buzz Harley’s (Bill Irwin) had died, ‘Mailman’ (Ryan Stiles, who you might remember from “The Drew Carey Show,” “Drew Carey Improv-a-ganza” and currently “Whose Line is it Anyway?”). Lt. Commander Block, played by Kevin Dunn, finds Topper and asks him to join the ongoing war in Iraq. What Topper doesn’t know is that Block has other plans and enlisted Topper not because of his skills, but because of his insecurity. Block has made a deal with a weapons dealer that will guarantee mission failure to that his arms dealer can convince the government to buy new fighter jets.

Lolo said in their review, “Spoofs are almost always outrageous, ridiculous, and downright dumb. What separates the good ones from the bad is their ability to make you laugh, and "Hot Shots!" (1991) is all of those things and simultaneously hilarious.” This great comedy is mostly a parody of “Top Gun,” but it also has other references from “9½ Weeks,” “An Officer and a Gentleman,” “Rocky” and “The Fabulous Baker Boys.” Lolo said, “More often than not when we watch this movie, we find ourselves saying, "wow, that was so stupid," but we're usually laughing when we say it, so that's a win-win in our book. "Hot Shots!" (1991) relies heavily on physical comedy and sight gags, though not all of the humor works. The most consistent source of hilarity comes from Lloyd Bridges's character Admiral Benson, a career military man who has a constant string of physical ailments and an oblivious nature that gets him into some zany situations. Though it's Bridges that shines the brightest, the rest of the cast gets their chance to produce an occasional laugh as well. Charlie Sheen was a very charming actor when he was younger, and he had a terrific knack for sharp, deadpan delivery. He does a great job mimicking a Tom Cruise type of flyboy who thinks his poop doesn't stink.” The main problem when re-watching movie like this is how dated many of the references are. “Hot Shots!” is very much a product of its time, and people who didn’t grow up in the 90s and/or aren’t familiar with many of the political and movie references may not think this is funny than those who were born in the 80s and seen what happened then.

If this film may not be as successful as some of the other 90s spoofs that came out, “Hot Shots!” is still a good one to see at least once for Lloyd Bridges’ hilarious performance mainly. Some movies completely have silly fun, and this is definitely one of them. I think this is one of the funniest spoofs ever.

The sequel, “Hot Shots! Part Deux,” released in 1993, Topper Harley is sent to save some prisoners from evil Middle Eastern villains but on the mission he encounters the girl that got away, played by the great, talented and beautiful, Valeria Golino.

Seeing how I thought “Hot Shots!” was a hilarious “Top Gun” parody, I really liked seeing “Airplane!” and “Naked Gun” partner Jim Abrahams back in spoof form with this much funnier sequel where Sheen’s Topper Harley is thrown back in action with huge muscles, shaved chest and headband as a spoof on Rambo.

His mission is to “save the men who went in to get the men who went in to get the men” following a failed hostage rescue “somewhere in the Middle East.” Angie Errigo said in her review, “His commander-in-chief: US President Tug Benson (Bridges), even more gaga than Reaganbush.” Also in the film is Richard Crenna to reprise Trautman from Rambo.

Errigo said, “Naturally Abrahams and co-jokester Pat Proft are not content just to send up the Stallone action man cycle and plunder everything from The Wizard Of Oz to Star Wars, T2, Basic Instinct, No Way Out and Robin Hood : Prince Of Thieves.” In one scene (a flashback to a better time and a romantic dinner for two in an Italian restaurant) there are references to The Godfather, Casablanca and Lady and the Tramp, highlighting that the best laughs are dependent on the support of a great audience.

Errigo noted, “And as always with Abrahams, what's glimpsed going on in the background is often as funny as what's notionally happening immediately in front of the camera — just check out those saffron-robed monks while Topper is being recruited from his monastery retreat.” Best part: an “Apocalypse Now” reference guaranteed to really excite people. Errigo said, “Shamelessly artless, silly beyond absurd and truly juvenile.” When Charlie Sheen was on “Inside the Actors Studio,” he said that Martin Sheen agreed to have that nod to “Apocalypse Now,” where Martin Sheen’s team was sailing on their mission while Charlie Sheen and his team are sailing towards their destination, if they agreed to donate the salary amount of his choice to the charity of his choice. Charlie Sheen admitted that since he couldn’t keep the lie he’s lived with for a long time that he filled in the missing amount of money since they couldn’t come up with the amount Martin Sheen wanted. What I really found funny about that scene was when both father and son simultaneously say “I loved you in 'Wall Street'.” In case you don't know, they both starred in “Wall Street,” which I'll get to one day.

To end off: this is one of those rare things where a sequel is funnier and more successful. I seriously think everyone should check these two spoof movies out. They are funny and some of the best spoof films out there and I think everyone will have a great, hilarious time watching them, especially when they catch the other film references in them.

Alright, look out next week when I finish off “Parody Month.”

Men in Black: International

Today, I went and saw “Men in Black: International,” which came out four days ago. Long gaps between films let the makers to restart the franchise for this fourth in the series. With Danny Elfman’s theme music as the main attraction, this comedy sci-fi action film has a badly thin plot. Director F. Gary Fray did not have previous experience in action-comedy, so the humor feels sharp but light, while the action is both over-violent and kind of jumbled. Still, there’s some fun fans will get.

After meeting an unexplained extraterrestrial as a child, Molly (Tessa Thompson) grows up in Brooklyn crazy over finding out whom the alien-hunting Men in Black are, eventually finding their office, where boss Agent O (Emma Thompson) hires her. Her first mission is to find out what’s happening in the London office, reporting to Agent High T (Liam Neeson) and partnering with Agent H (Chris Hemsworth) to protect an alien VIP (Kayvan Novak). Then, things change, where trouble happens in Marrakech and a visit to a three-armed weapons valet, played by Rebecca Ferguson, in Italy.

Rich Cline said in his review, “One of the enjoyable aspects of these movies is the freewheeling way the stories evolve, although this one feels like it was made up as it was filmed, with continually dropped threads and sudden twists. Each scene is infused with digital whizzery of a generally high standard, although most visual gags are rather limp (Gray seems more intrigued by the shiny big guns).” Where everything comes together is in the hurtful chemistry between the characters, like H’s competition with Agent C, played by Rafe Spall.

Cline notes, “As usual, Hemsworth undercuts his swaggering machismo with impeccable comic timing, playing scenes perfectly with a range of foils. He and Thompson rekindle their Thor-Valkyrie banter without skipping a beat, while Thompson brings a superbly steely eagerness to the role. Neeson and Spall provide some cool edges of their own, Emma Thompson packs her few scenes with comedy gold, and Ferguson has a ball in her lively but strangely thankless role.” Meanwhile, Kumail Nanjiani (voicing a pawn that swears to protect Molly) is the comedic relief in the movie.

It’s actually a flaw that a small, really pointless character becomes the audience’s main point of entry. Pawny feels instantly forgettable in the story that has been given additional screen time to lighten up the humor. Cline ended his review by saying, “The result is an adventure that's consistently amusing even as it never quite generates enough spark to make it memorable. If audiences click in to its escapist vibe, that might be enough to make us look forward to more.”

Honestly, I still think this is an enjoyable film, despite the fact that the humor doesn’t come anywhere near to comedy in the trilogy and the villain can be predictable from the start. However, I still think you should see the movie, because it is a nice popcorn flick. If you love the original trilogy, then you should see the movie because I think you might have a good time. If not, I completely understand. I saw it because I used to be crazy over the first movie as a kid. I’m not kidding, I wouldn’t stop talking about it, watching it and quoting it. Especially since the first movie gave Warner Bros the idea to come out with an animated series, which was really good. I used to watch that a lot when I was growing up.

Well, thank you for joining in on my review tonight, stay tuned this Friday for the next entry in “Parody Month.”

John Wick

Today I went and saw the new John Wick movie, but before I get to that one, I would have to talk about the previous movies in the franchise, starting with the first “John Wick,” released in 2014.

At first, there is a handful of stuff in this movie’s story that we have seen before in other films.

However, directors David Leitch and Chad Stahleski still are able to create an adrenaline non-stop action film with Keanu Reeves not playing the same boring, bland character that we have seen him play in every movie he has been in to date. The story starts with an injured John Wick (Keanu Reeves), who watches a video on his Smartphone of his late wife, Helen (Bridget Moynahan).

The movie then shows the audience that Helen had passed away due to cancer.

John is at the peak of his mourning process until he a puppy named Daisy arrives at his front door, gifted to him by Helen who did not want him to be alone.

When John is at a gas station filing his classic 69 Mustang, John meets with Iosef, played by Alfie Allen, who wants to buy John’s car, but John tells him no.

Iosef and his gang later break into John’s house, really pull a number on John and killing Daisy before stealing his car.

The movie then shows the audience that John is one of the best assassins, currently in retirement.

John goes out to retrieve his car and avenge Daisy by fighting Iosef’s father, Viggo Tarasov, played by Michael Nyqvist, who John had worked for previously.

A desperate Viggo tries to stop John but nothing can stop John, who is out for pure vengeance.

The movie also includes a star-studded cast in small roles that leave a mark like Willem Dafoe, an assassin colleague who is John’s mentor and friend, John Leguizamo as a garage owner who is friendly with John and his car, Adrianne Palicki as an assassin named Ms. Perkins and Ian McShane as a hotel owner who isn’t bothered by murderers performing their jobs in the hotel.

Lots of action, lots of violence but the directors do include some dramatic moments.

S. Indra Sathiabalan said in her review, “Reeves, on his part, does a good job playing the title character, reminding us that he has displayed some acting chops in the past before his deadpan persona took over.”

Sathiabalan continued, “In fact, he holds his own in scenes with Defoe and Nyqvist, which is no mean feat.”

Overall, this is an enjoyable film that everyone should watch.

If you were a big fan of the first movie, then you will definitely want to watch “John Wick: Chapter 2,” released in 2017.

Keanu Reeves reprises the main role that really helped out his career with a huge leap. By performing most of the action scenes himself in this violent action thriller, Reeves is proving that he can still perform these action scenes, similar to Tom Cruise.

The movie starts with John killing more villains, and it appears that his vengeance is not over, as Abram Tarasov, played by Peter Stormare, the brother of Viggo from the first movie, has John’s car and he wants it back.

After so many car crashes, shooting, damage and murder, John drives off in his precious car hoping to let bygones be bygones once again.

However, the problems come to him through ex-associate Santino D’Antonio, played by Riccardo Scamarcio, who visits him with a marker that means the debt John still owes him.

We see that Santino had helped out John leave this job behind him and marry the late Helen (Moynahan appears in flashbacks).

Now, Santino wants John to kill his sister Gianna, played by Caludia Gerini, who is now the leader of their Italian crime family. John does what Santino asks to return the favor, only to find out that Santino has put out a contract to kill John.

Returning from the first movie are Ian McShane as Winston, the great manager of the hotel that gives murderers rooms, Lance Reddick as Charon, the concierge, and rapper Common as Cassian, John’s enemy who was hired to protect Gianna.

We also have new people in the cast like Ruby Rose as Santino’s deaf female assassin and Laurence Fishburne (Reeves co-star from “The Matrix” trilogy) as a suave crime lord.

Sathiabalan is right when she says, “The action is great, which helps viewers to overlook the many holes in the plot.”

The door is open for more John Wick movies to come out which fans should be ecstatic about. That does happen with the latest installment, “John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum,” released last month.

This movie starts immediately where the second film left off, where famous hitman John Wick is running with his dog after being called excommunicado for killing a crime lord on the central grounds of The Continental Hotel.

This means that John has lost everything to these crime resources.

He also now has a huge money contract out to kill him, with every other assassins’ guns pointed right at him.

Sathiabalan said, “In a last-ditch effort to survive, he calls in all favours owed to him over the years, so that he can get a chance to plead his case to the head of the High Table, the shadowy organisation that sets up the rules for all assassins to follow.”

However, he quickly sees that “forgiveness” comes to him with a huge cost.

The violence really is increased in this movie compared to the last ones, and many new characters are added into the movie.

A few manage to really leave their mark, such as Halle Berry as the assassin Sofia who owes John a favor, and Angelica Houston as the Russian mobster who helps John travel quietly to Casablanca.

However, the real ones here are Mark Dacascos (host of “Iron Chef”) as the murderer Zero, who likes John but still wants to kill him for the reward and the glory, and Asia Kate Dillon as the Adjudicator, a member of the High Table with the job of dealing with those who help John.

Another standout is McShane who returns as Winston, the owner and manager of the Continental Hotel who gave John time to escape.

The fight scenes are great, despite that some look over the top and go on for a long time. Sofia’s attack dogs are really amazing though.

Make sure to spot Indonesian actors Yayan Ruhian and Cecep Arif Raham (both from “The Raid”), who play John Wick fanboys who sadly have to kill him.

Sathiabalan noted, “This movie may lack the brilliant premise of the first, but fans who can’t get enough of Reeves will not be disappointed.”

Seeing how this movie ends, there appears to be another movie being made.

I will be honest, the middle of the third movie felt slow and boring. I guess that was making me feel sleepy, or it was the Father’s Day lunch I had today. However, I still think each “John Wick” movie got better and better, so if you haven’t seen any of them, watch them. If you don’t like how Keanu Reeves plays the same character all the time, this is a welcome change. See the first two first before seeing the third one, because you will be left out if you don’t. For those who have seen the first two, see the third one if you haven’t, you will love it.

Alright, thanks for joining in on my review tonight. Stay tuned Friday for the next installment in “Parody Month.”

Spaceballs

Mel Brooks has done everything. He made Frankenstein’s monster into a song number (“Young Frankenstein”), really brought the attention of tight-wearing weaklings of fairy tale (“Robin Hood: Men in Tights”), and even showed the West for its extreme political unsuitability (“Blazing Saddles”). It sounded exactly the right choice that he would make his well-deserved satire at the only film genre he has not spoofed at, science fiction, with the hit-and-miss 1987 comedy, “Spaceballs.” A film that gets just as many things right as it does wrong, “Spaceballs” is definitely not Brooks’ greatest work to date, but it has got to be his most famous, thanks to an eccentric cast of comedy actors, an incredible cult following, and most importantly: Merchandising!

As we see in the scrolling introduction similar to “Star Wars,” the planet Druidia is going to be extinct due to the work of the evil Dark Helmet (Rick Moranis) and the Spaceballs when they kidnap King Roland’s (Dick Van Patten) daughter Princess Vespa (Daphne Zuniga) and hold her hostage in order to get all of the planet’s clean air. Vespa has run from her wedding to Prince Valium (Jim J. Bullock) with her C-3P0 hybrid, Dot Matrix (Lorene Yarnell but voiced by the late Joan Rivers). Desperate to ask for help to save his daughter, the King asks the help of famous space rouge Lone Starr (Bill Pullman) and his half-man/half-dog partner Barf (the late John Candy) to travel across space, rescue his daughter and save the planet’s special air supply. This hilarious duo of incompetent protagonists happily accept the mission for the unknown amount of space money, a debt owed to the infamous Pizza the Hut (Dom DeLuise), but they first must find the mysterious Yogurt (Mel Brooks) and learn the secrets behind the powers of The Schwartz before Dark Helmet takes over space.

Jason Zingale said in his review, “The main premise of the film (both its plot and characters) is mostly influenced by George Lucas’s sci-fi trilogy “Star Wars,” but Brooks borrows from the likes of nearly every popular sci-fi franchise, including “Star Trek,” “Aliens,” “Planet of the Apes,” and even the not-so-science-fiction tale “The Wizard of Oz.” Brooks includes a good collection of quality gags throughout, but it’s Moranis’ crowd-pleasing re-creation of Darth Vader that ultimately wins in the film’s internal battle for absolute absurdity. Other notable performances include Bill Pullman’s early work as the Han Solo/Luke Skywalker hero character and John Candy as the hybrid wookie. With enough memorable characters and quotes to validate the film as a bona-fide cult classic, “Spaceballs” is one of the few screwball comedies that everyone must experience at least once.” To paraphrase what Dark Helmet would say, “You’d be an idiot if you didn’t.” That’s right; I edited out what he would actually say because this blog is swear free.

I don’t know if I have mentioned this before, but this is one of my absolute favorite comedies. I love the spoof it did on “Star Wars” at a time when spoof movies were actually done the right way. If you haven’t seen this movie, don’t read this review, go find this movie and watch it because it’s one of those comedies that is an absolute must to watch. You will be missing out on a lot of jokes and memes if you don’t see this right now. There are just so many good jokes and quotes that it would take up so much of this blog if I were to list them right now. That’s why I say you need to watch this to know and laugh while getting all of the references to all these great movies, mainly “Star Wars.”

Now that I have reviewed this great spoof, look out next week when I look at two other great spoofs done by a team of great spoof masters in “Parody Month.”

Blazing Saddles

For the month of June, I’m going to look at the classic spoof movies, back when spoof movies used to be smart and funny. To start off this month, let’s take a look at the classic by the great Mel Brooks, “Blazing Saddles,” released in 1974.

Mel Brooks has made his most hysterical comedy right now in the smartly funny “Blazing Saddles,” a Mel Brooks Film for Warner Bros release, produced by Michael Hertzberg.

Right after setting the amazingly disrespectful tone with a hilarious parody in the title song (music by John Morris, lyrics by Brooks), sung by Frankie Laine, Brooks then quickly goes to satirize every Western made, up to and including “Zachariah.” Ron Pennington said in his review, “Unfortunately, he has overindulged himself in the broad comedy of the final scenes and lessens the effect of the film somewhat by allowing the climactic fight to spread throughout Burbank Studios, onto a soundstage where a musical production number is being rehearsed, into the commissary and ending in the forecourt of the Chinese Theatre. It's a funny slapstick bit but it also distracts from the main portion of the film.”

The story partly centers a story by a greedy land thief (Harvey Korman) to rid the citizens out of the town of Rock Ridge by sending them a black sheriff (Cleavon Little). With his stylish resourcefulness and the help of an alcoholic gunman, played by the late Gene Wilder, however, he is able to win against the villains and win the respect, if not really the respect, as said by Pennington, “of the local backward citizenry.”

The screenplay by Brooks, Norman Steinberg, Andrew Berman, Richard Pryor and Alan Uger (from a story by Bergman) is completely mocking, never missing a moment to point out a cliché and offending everyone throughout the runtime. The language is meant for R-rated movies but it never becomes offensive. Pennington said, “In fact, the incongruous pairing of the language and the characters accounts for a great deal of the boisterous humor.”

Pennington continued, “Brooks' fast-paced direction is a masterpiece of comedy detail, filled with delightful and perfectly timed sight gags. The predominant style is one of the extremely broad burlesque but the film is also packed with more subtle touches, especially in Morey Hoffman's clever set decoration and in Peter Wooley's production design.”

Pennington noted, “The performances are all comedy gems, with Korman especially delightful as Hedley Lamarr, scheming and plotting with all the finesse of a precocious brat. Little plays the sheriff with just the right amount of bemused superiority, with a shy grin and a sly twinkle in his eyes, and Wilder presents a perfect parody of the gunslinger, with heavily lidded and steely blue eyes and a lethargic self-assurance.”

Madeline Kahn continues to show her amazing comedic flexibility here as a Marlene Dietrich-type dance hall performer with an accent that is somewhere between German and Looney Tunes. Her I’m Tired song is all the reason to see the movie. Brooks also makes two cameo appearances in the film, as the funny Governor Lepetomane and as an Indian Chief. The other supporting cast is equally perfect with the right physical looks including Slim Pickens, Alex Karras, Liam Dunn, Claude E. Starrett Jr., David Huddleston, John Hillerman, Carol Arthur, Robyn Hildon and Dom DeLuise.

Pennington said, “The technical credits are all excellent, with Joseph Biroc's Panavision cameras giving attractive scope and dimension and capturing the visual humor in perfect setups.” The editing by John C. Howard and Danford Greene keeps the action going at a great pace.

This is definitely one of the funniest comedies ever made. Granted, watching today may make it look like its really offensive, but I guess that was part of the joke. However, I still think this is one that shouldn’t be skipped because this will make you laugh from beginning to end. Give it a watch and have yourself an enjoyably fun time. Also, sorry for posting this late, I completely forgot about my posting for today.

Look out next week when we look at one of the funniest parodies ever made in “Parody Month.”