TYTD Reviews

The final installment of the original ‘Naked Gun’ trilogy finishes off the series with a fine enough tone and vibe, though, maybe isnt *quite* as strong as the first two entries.

We pick up again, a couple of years on from the events of the last film, Frank and Jane are married and Janes got baby fever. Frank on the other hand has recently retired from the force, and a new life as a domestic goddess and house husband conflicts with his old ways of blasting baddies and keeping the city well stocked in justice!

Things reach a head when Jane confronts Frank about his recent lack of lovemaking, and his anxiety about becoming a Father, causing the couple to drift, things get even more complicated when the guys at Police Squad desperately try to get Frank back on the force for one more gig, Papshmir is back on the scene from the first film, and he has a devestating plan to rock L.A to its core, utilising the deadly femme fatale Tanya (Anna Nicol Smith) and criminal psychopath Rocco (Fred Ward) Frank must go undercover and get close to these criminals to find out what they’re up to, save the day one final time, and hopefully win Jane back for good!

And; this one does feel like a little bit of a step down for the series…kind of across the board. While there are multiple layers of comedy still present, the quality of the jokes is notably lower here, not so much so that this is a ‘bad’ comedy movie, this still is WELL ahead of a lot of more contemporary films, but it just feels a bit like the energy is running out of the series.

The multi layered foreground/background gags are reduced heavily here, they lean more on potty humour, sex jokes and some questionable race/trans gags which land in 2025 with a bit of a thud. But, counterbalancing that, the 3rd act of this film is probably some of the funniest of the series. The script is still fairly well written and the plot feels like a pretty decent sendoff for the characters. While overall; it may be the lesser of the trilogy, it still manages to really amuse me and I laughed pretty consistently throughout.

I dunno, I dont want to say they ‘dumbed down’ the series, because thats not quite right, but it feels like a series thats starting to drift a little bit off its moorings. It feels much more like a standard comedy fare for the time and a lot of the more memorable gags are just reworkings or redo’s of other Zucker comedy movies.

That being said, this is probably the best looking of the three films, It feels rock solid and the studio polish is definitely out on show. And; I cant honestly fault the casting either. They’re all still bringing their A-game and their performances are as good here as they are in any of the films, or the series honestly.

This is the Naked Gun movie im most familiar with, it was one of the first movies I got on DVD and I for me, its a total comfort movie. Though I can appreciate its maybe not quite as sharp as its predecessors, if Frank’s gonna bow out, bowing out on this; I’d still consider a High.

This is a great trilogy of films, and I’d definitely say they were more than worth your time.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/naked-gun-33-the-final-insult/

Hey…is that ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic!?

• The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!
• The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear
• The Naked Gun
• Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/list/the-naked-gun-films-ranked/

Was a sequel to ‘The Naked Gun’ one of the biggest studio ‘no brainers’ of our time? maybe. But hey, a good things a good thing, and ‘Naked Gun 2½’ continues the series with more of the same, more or less…

The plot picks up a year or so after the events of the first film, Frank and Jane are seperated after Frank was jilted at the alter by Jane who wasnt quite ready yet, and things are fairly morose, that is until a bomb attack happens at the facility of one Dr. Meinheimer, an environmental energy consultant whos set to deliver a key note speech to the president about recommending a move away from fossil fuels and into more eco friendly alternatives. Frank goes to investigate and who should be working with Dr. Meinheimer…But Jane.

The pair slowly start to rekindle feelings for each other, but a complication arises when its revealed Jane is now seeing one Quentin Hapsberg, the head of an evil energy kabal with a plan…and that plan is to kidnap Dr. Meinheimer and replace him with an identical stooge who’s going to promote the continued use of fossil fuels and oil!

With time running out Frank and the team go undercover to get to the bottom of the strange attacks or DIE trying…

And…If you wanted more of the same from ‘The Naked Gun’, this is pretty much that. The same variety and unrelenting sense of humour, the same pacing, same astounding cast…same…everything really, only OJ Simpson gets a bit more of a look in in this one, and he’s fun too!

I’d say pound for pound, while the first Naked Gun has more jokes land more consistently, Naked Gun 2 does have some misses, but also has stronger laughs than the first one…So I dunno, its kind of six of one, half a dozen of the other for me. I think (by a hairs whisker I might add) that I marginally prefer the first one over the second, but they’re both brilliant comedies really showcasing the peak of the genre at its finest. To the point that I cant really watch the first one, without watching the second.

Equally good in almost every way, if you really need cheering up. The Naked Gun 2’ll do yer just fine!

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/the-naked-gun-2-the-smell-of-fear/

The jump from TV to Film for ‘Police Squad!’ was probably one of the best decisions a comedy series has ever made. ‘The Naked Gun’ offers the same style and pace as the series, but with the enhanced budget and scope enabled by the studio and film medium, they were able to go much bigger and much dafter than even some of the biggest slapstick films of the period.

The plot see’s Frank engaged in an assassination attempt on the Queen of England while on a visit to the US, and if that wasnt enough, he’s also contending with drug dealers, a new love interest AND the risk of losing his badge…It all goes about as well as can be imagined.

This is, essentially a masterclass in comedy. Theres barely a 10 second window that goes by without SOMETHING happening, whether its word play, sight gags, innuendos, puns, full blown slapstick, surrealist humour, Stoogery, just clean cut jokes. If its a comedy style, its front and center present in this movie. But what REALLY sets this apart from other comedies of the time (apart from the callibre of the comedy, which is A+ in my opinion), is its dedication to layering that comedy and interweaving it throughout the film. They’re not just doing gags in the foreground, for most of the movie, if you check in the background you’ll find equally hilarious gags, be it sight gags, parodys, weird billboards. and THAT, is what sets it apart from others of its time. The fact that its SO intrinsically wired to fill every. single. shot with AT LEAST 2-3 gags both in the foreground and background of the shot, that it makes rewatching these films even better.

The pacings breakneck, the characters PERFECT pastiches of the old Noir and gritty cop series of the 50s and 60s. the humour is pretty much all killer no filler. I’ve seen this film now WELL over a half dozen times at this point and I STILL crack up like an idiot and some of the STUPIDEST gags here. Its a perfect reworking and modernising of the Vaudville routines that captivated audiences almost 50 years prior.

Directions solid, landing every joke with ease, but it also aids in the storytelling, helping create genuine drama at times, before dropping the floor on the audience for a good gut laugh. The cine is probably the only element i’d say is a bit wobbly, and despite the framing being comedically perfect and the sequences/edits being sound enough. there were just a few shots that felt a little misframed or wobbly to me…nothing to kneecap the film mind, just…the cine is something I feel has a bit of weakness to it.

The performances are superb with Leslie Nielsen absolutely aceing this role. He was great in ‘Airplane!’ he’s PERFECT here. honestly, no notes, I dont believe anyone in the industry at that time could have done this performance, its perfect. Priscilla Presley as Jane is a fantastic comic foil equally bringing a femme fatale element to proceedings, but goofing around just as hard as Nielsen, which is ABSOLUTELY a compliment here, she brings a perfect complimenting energy to the film that again, I dont think could have been topped at that time.

Add to this George Kennedy, O.J Simpson and Ricardo Montalban, who are equally incredible in a supporting role…AND the insanely brilliant score for this film (why they didnt use Franks intro theme in the new Naked gun I have NO idea…) and all in, this is a pretty incredible work, and probably the peak of the Zuckers film making abilities, I sincerely think this was likely their peak.

I have a lot of fond memories with ‘The Naked Gun’ Its a superb comedy, expertly crafted and seems designed intrinsically to crack a smile on almost anyones face. An absolute must see for any comedy fan in my opinion, and almost guarenteed to add some sun to even the rainiest of days.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/the-naked-gun-from-the-files-of-police-squad/

Whenever I watch any film, my first question really is; ‘Is this a film that can justify its own existence’, as in, if this film didnt exist, would I really be sad that it never got made. ‘Jurassic Park 3’ is a film where honestly, had it not been made, i’d have probably been 90 minutes richer.

The plots pretty straight forward Sam Neill returns as Dr. Alan Grant, 8 years on from the events of the first film and notably abscent barring a passing reference in the last film. Here? while he’s still largely doing the whole palentology thing, he’s really more of a fundraiser now than an active member of the field. travelling from campus to campus to give lectures on his theories on Veloceraptors using their throat muscles to communicate hunting instructions and updates to their pack…while also putting sly notes in that funding these researches would be infinitely benefitial to increasingly tepid crowds who are more interested in his experiences in Jurassic Park, or the events his coworker Dr. Malcolm experienced in ‘The Lost World’.

That is until a couple flag him down with a proposition, they wish to visit Isla Sorna as they claim to be thrillseekers looking for the next big thing to add to their extensive lavish lifestyles. They want Alan to effectively be their tour guide as they fly low over the island, to essentially see the animals and get a feel for the majesty of what could have been ‘Jurassic Park’. Alan refuses at first, but the couple offer him a blank cheque and eventually he reluctantly accepts.

Shortly after arriving at the island however, the pilot lets slip that they intend to land the plane, something Alan forbid as part of the terms of him accepting the tour guide role…he’s then promptly knocked out. When he wakes up, the planes landed, and its revealed that the couple who hired him misled him, they arnt a married couple of thrillseekers, they’re divorcees who lost their son 8 weeks ago when a boat trip with him on board skirted past Isla Sorna, got into difficulties and the paraglider he was attached to was seperated from the boat and crashed onto the island. They’ve essentially hired Alan to be their navigator as part of a rescue mission to get their son back.

Alan then promptly informs them that he has NO idea what the georgraphy of this island is, as he’s never been to ‘Island B’ before, and only had fleeting panicked experience with ‘Island A’…they get stubborn with him, but this is quickly put to one side when the landing strip is attacked by large dinosaurs, and on trying to escape, the plane is clipped by a T-rex, who cuts the fuel line, causing the plane to nose dive through the canvas and down into a revine…forcing the survivors to form a search party to try and find this couples son, locate ANY kind of communication tool, and once again; escape ‘The Lost World.’

I didnt really enjoy this one, the 90 minute runtime was probably the best part for me, as had this been 2 hours i’d have likely turned it off.

I enjoyed the original Jurassic Park, it was a fantasy, adventure film for the family that felt like a melding of ‘Jaws’ and ‘ET’ giving some rock solid action pieces, but largely focussing on complex characters working through their own problems and discovering that ‘life finds a way’ in many MANY different interpretations.

‘The Lost World’ I felt tried to capture that same energy, but with the lack of Laura Derne or Sam Neill and a stripping back of those more humourous ‘slice of life’ moments, it wound up feeling a bit dry and a bit bleaker than the original, which wasnt really what I wanted out of it.

Jurassic Park 3 seems to overcompensate and course correct in the opposite direction, taking the character complexities more or less out of the picture entirely, as it becomes a ‘we’re not so different you and I’ picture about parents trying to reclaim their children that I felt was very heavy handed, and all the nice interwoven character arcs and complexities are boiled down to a divorced couple of melts who I had absolutely no patience for, being tempered by Sam Neills Alan Grant.

We lose the wonder and charm of the first 2 films, and this is essentially just an all out survival action film that seems more interested in set pieces and chase sequences than it does about the smaller character moments that make you ACTUALLY give a damn about the people your watching.

The plot itself is a bit too daft for me, the idea that an top secret and heavily restricted island could have been compromised by ‘some guys in a boat’ and later by ‘a couple from oklahoma’ is a bridge too far for me to take this one seriously. It really screams ‘direct to video’ for me, and I really struggled to ratify the idea that this film shared a universe with the original.

The pacing is WAY too slow, its a 90 minute film that feels like its 120, they seem to think the action sequences will help push the film along, but they’re clunky, not particualrly well choreographed and felt forced in when things got a bit too dry. The tone is playing much more to just flat out comedy than the whimsy of life, but its not the best comedy in the world (if a gag about t-rex pee is your thing, then go right ahead) It felt at times like it was trying to just remake moments from the last 2 films, but on a significantly smaller budget and WAY more emphasis on CGI, and it just absolutely fails to capture that energy of the first two films. This at times, felt just like a generic monster movie from this period.

The act structuring is fine enough, though the 2nd act feels like it drags for an eternity, the characters are sanded off to be just the barest elements needed to give them one hermoginised character arc. The characters of Paula and Amanda Kirby are, for most of the runtime, just quite thick and unlikable people. and I get that their arc is them finding their son and learning that family is important, but the fact they willfully had 4 people killed and misled and assaulted a palientologist in order to GET that life lesson, I feel is both horrendous, and unearning of redemption. These were unlikable characters who got the ‘redemption’ ending for not really doing a whole lot, and It left me feeling by the time the credits rolled that they’d really missed a trick by not making them just…likable people.

Direction wise, it just feels like a generic monster movie, for 2001 its maybe still a bit ahead of the curve given its a studio picture. I dont think its inherently bad really. But the fight scenes feel messy, the chase scenes feel drawn out and an overeliance on CGI, which at this point in time was supposed to be a ‘WOW! See what we can do with modern tech?!’ has backfired SPECTACULARLY 24 years on, and now looks frankly hideous and painfully distracting for most of the runtime.

The cine is fine, but again, it feels almost like its relying on apeing the more memorable moments from the last 2 films to try and keep people on board, strip away the grander dino reveals that borrow from the other films and your left with a pretty slim set of okay shots, with maybe the Pterydactily sequence being the strongest of the pack. But its an underwhelming experience to say the least.

The edit also feels a bit over frantic at times, its hard to really get a read of what im supposed to be focussing on, and this is the kind of film where, when a thrilling action moment happens, rather than curate a select number of prime cuts for maximum impact, they seemingly just cut EVERY SINGLE B-ROLL clip they had into the sequence at 3 cuts a second. its disorienting, not helped by some of the bigger set pieces taking place at night or in heavy fog. Which makes it hard to even see whats really going on most of the time.

Performance wise, this is just Sam Neill’s show honestly, Dr. Alan Grant as a character was a good bonding agent for Laura Derne and Jeff Goldblum, here? he’s the best performer, and I think he does a fine enough job, but its clear this is really just a paycheque and a holiday for him. He delivers his lines belivably, he’s physically very present, but its not the same energy as the original Jurassic Park, and there are a quite a few moments where it felt like the energy needed to be high, and he DOES go high…but not high enough.

I love William H. Macy usually, but his turn here as Paul Kirby is just really not for me, I feel like theres just an element of personality, some kind of ‘good guy’ spin thats just missing from his performance here, and what we’re left with is just a guy who’s done a bad thing for selfish needs and doesnt really ever apologise for that. Same goes for Tea Leoni. The physical elements there, but I feel like had the pair of them played it with just a tinge of sincerity and desperation, rather than just a sense of a shrugging ‘well…we’re here now, so might as well do the thing we were explicitly told not to do!’ i’d have probably liked them more.

I think the funny thing for me in all of this was that Laura Dearne DOES return in this film as Ellie. But its clear they could only afford her for a day or twos shoot in one location, because she appears in one scene at the beginning of the film, she appears for collectively about 45 seconds near the end of the film, and at the VERY end theres a moment where clearly there should have been some kind of ‘sign off’ reunion with Dearn and Neills characters that just…never pays off. Shes a core mechanic in how the film resolves, the film spends a good chunk of the runtime setting up that Alan should thank her for her friendship and kindness over the years…and it just NEVER comes to anything. god bless her.

The soundtracks basically just tracks from the first 2 films with half a dozen new compositions that stick rigidly to John Williams original scorings…its meh, and again; really doesnt help the ‘direct to video’ accusations…

I first saw this film being illegally projected in the bar of an all inclusive hotel in Spain around 2004. the bar was full of screaming children, their were hornets everywhere and I could only hear every 4th word, and had to rely on the subtitle track running on a heavily faded screen in order to figure out what the hell I was even watching…and I had a more enjoyable time watching it then, than I did now. This film has aged like milk, I didnt really care for it, I probably wont watch it again for a long time unless fulfilling my duty as a caring partner. and I absolutely cant recommend it.

I totally understand why it was 14 years before another one of these got made.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/jurassic-park-iii/

I recall the time they found those fossilized mosquitoes
And before long, they were cloning DNA
Now I’m being chased by some irate velociraptors
Well, believe me, this has been one lousy day
Jurassic Park is frightening in the dark
All the dinosaurs are running wild
Someone shut the fence off in the rain
I admit it’s kinda eerie
But this proves my chaos theory
And I don’t think I’ll be coming back again
On, no
I cannot approve of this attraction
‘Cause getting disemboweled always makes me kinda mad
A huge tyrannosaurus ate our lawyer
Well, I suppose that proves
They’re really not all bad
Jurassic Park is frightening in the dark
All the dinosaurs are running wild
Someone let T. Rex out of his pen
I’m afraid those things’ll harm me
‘Cause they sure don’t act like Barney
And I think that I’m their dinner, not their friend
Oh, no
Jurassic Park is frightening in the dark
All the dinosaurs are running wild
What a crummy weekend this has been
Well, this sure ain’t no E-ticket
Think I’ll tell them where to stick it
‘Cause I’m never coming back this way again
Oh, no

1. Jurassic Park
2. The Lost World: Jurassic Park
3. Jurassic Park III

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/list/the-jurassic-park-films-ranked/

A few years ago when they announced that there was going to be a new ‘Toxic Avenger’ movie (the first in almost 2 decades) I was somewhat hopeful. Troma are not really known as bastions of high quality media. Post millenium Troma even more so. In fact, I’d go as far as to say that pretty much all of the Troma outputs released past 2001 have been frankly quite dire. But Toxie having been rested for so long, I felt had a more than reasonable chance of maybe breaking the curse.

Then they announced the core cast would include Elijah Wood and Kevin Bacon as bad guys and Peter Dinklage was picking up the mantle as Toxie, that the production was being largely handled outside of Tromas production house and that the film would serve more as a modernisation of the original. Essentially a reboot…and I didn’t really know how to feel about it. On the one hand, after ‘Citizen Toxie’ the series probably needed some kind of clean slate to get things back on track. But then; equally, there was concern with the casting that maybe they were stunt casting to mask a bad plot, or even the idea that maybe, with direction and scripting being wrestled away from Lloyd Kaufman, if this would still be the lovable Toxie we know and adore.

Well; I caught this one recently and, I enjoyed it, but it Is a different ball park from the usual fare…

The plot follows Peter Dinklage as ‘Winston’ a widowed father with a disconnected young son who works as a janitor for an evil ‘rejuvenation’ company led by Kevin Bacons Bob Garbinger. Garbingers company is indebted to the mob and pressure is building on Bob on all sides to start producing big stock gains asap after a series of mixed publicity stories claiming Garbingers ‘treatments’ are pumping tons of toxic waste into ‘St. Roma Ville’. While this is going on Winston goes for a check up with his doctors, where they deliver the tragic news that he has a border inoperable brain issue that isn’t clarified, but WILL leave him dead within a year…they say ‘border’ inoperable, because there is one option…But because Winstons on the wrong tier of insurance, he’s inelgiable for it.

Desperate to stay alive for the sake of his son. Winston crashes a fancy banquet hosted by Bob where he manages to get in front of his boss, explain his situation, and plea’s with him to help save his life. Bob seems sympathetic, offering to fully fund Winstons medical costs, before ushering him downstairs and through a door where he promises he’ll discuss things further with him. Only, once Winstons through the door, he finds out that its just a back ally, and listening through the door, he hears Bob sneeringly berating the janitor, telling his staff to ‘fire him, rehire him and then fire him again.’

Devastated and running out of options, Winston goes to steal money, but on escaping from his heist, he gets caught up in a hit on a different person, by a weird rock band dressed as goth clowns, led by Elijah wood. He gets severely injured, and the gang, in an attempt to get rid of the body, dump Winston in a giant storage tank of toxic waste. Transforming little Winston into THE TOXIC AVENGER!

And what follows, is Winston learning about his new found powers, and turning them out for good in an attempt to win over his Son who was very critical of him. While this is going on an undercover group of protestors are trying to find evidence that Bobs business is killing people, and an unholy union forms between them and Toxie, in a action packed 3rd act to bring Justice to St. Roma Ville!

And, there’s kind of a bit to unpack with this one. But on the whole? I enjoyed it. Is it the best Troma movie of this millennium and a new lifeblood into a studio that’s anti PC’d its way through the floor? Im not so sure…

The script itself is sharp, Its leading with a more traditional ‘Super Hero Origin’ trope, which I think is sensible given how much time there’s been between this film and the last time Toxie was anything near a mainstream staple. I would say its less an MCU styled film, and more one borrowing themes and tropes from the likes of ‘Kickass’, ‘The Boys’ and ‘Super’. In the sense that its clearly aimed at a more mature audience who are probably quite aware of super hero origin movies, and because of that it tries to subvert things a little bit to create a sense of comedy or surprise. I think that aspect of this movie works quite well.

However; in that same measure, feels like once the films established that Toxie is a kind of weird looking mutant guy, it doesn’t really seem to know where to go much past there. The promotional material promised over the top gore, guts and blood, and while I can’t say they DIDNT deliver that, those moments are very much relegated to key fight set pieces and that kind of leads me to one of my biggest issues with this movie.

I realised going into this film that this wasn’t going to be the same calibre of strange of bizarre as the original ‘Toxic Avenger’ movies. This isnt an attempt to give Troma fans what they want. Instead? This is more of an attempt at getting a foot in the door with mainstream audiences, especially younger viewers, with the hope of maybe channelling them down to the original films once they’ve invested in this movie. And, I’m fine with that. The way series and franchises survive is to evolve and grow to change styles and to appeal to new people, rather than just giving the bedrock fans exactly what they want by the bucket load, because those guys are always going to turn up.

The secret is to balance giving the existing fans enough to keep them sweet, while modernising and diversifying the series enough to ensure the new people art absolutely alienated by a 40 year old series that AT BEST could be described as ‘incoherent mania on film.’

And that’s kind of the issue I have here, the film is a LOT more ‘straight cut’ than I envisioned it would be. Yes there are still silly, gross out and weird moments. But it feels very much like the production decided to try and tidy things up a bit, winding down the more whimsical cartoony moments, toning the gore and violence down to key fight sequences, and standardising the more surreal elements into a ‘…WELL THAT JUST HAPPENED!’ Style punchline system that a lot of modern films use.

I can appreciate what they’ve tried to do here, and when they do go off the leash on this, it’s great! I think it’s a good balance that’s presented, giving mainstream audiences a fighting chance of getting on board with this series. While giving long time Troma viewers something to savour. But I really do wish this film just had a bit more whimsy about it, I really genuinely missed that cartoonish edge, I don’t need incoherent screaming, or anything like that…But the way this film handles its more surreal elements is to essentially coral them into specific scenes that are signposted heavily. which I thought was a bit disappointing.

There’s also just a broader lack of comically mean villains here, thinking back to the original ‘Toxic Avenger’ the bad guys in that film actively ran over children and dogs for fun. And had an almost childlike hysterics over anything and everything that happens. The main bad guys here are Elijah Woods band…and they don’t get NEARLY enough screen time, nor do they get to do anything particularly comedically scurge worthy. They just shoot some people…and that’s kind of it.

I just feel like there’s an element of total disregard missing from this film, and that kind of energy is what I sought out with Toxie movies. It has its moments, and some of it is genuinely funny. But there was a dark humour to the original series that was so bleak at times it tipped into being hilarious…and this film doesn’t really have that same spark.

I also had some issues with the pacing. The films an hour and forty one minutes long, and it absolutely didn’t need to be. It could have been an hour and twenty and been 20 times better. We get a lot of extended scenes of Winston/Toxie just kind of…going about there day, reflective scenes that happen multiple times that could really have done with being shortened, extended sequences of the villains just…existing. That again, could have been cut all together at no real loss.

The result of them not trimming these moments is that through a chunk of the first act I ended up clock watching waiting for the film to actually get going, then the second act picked up the pace a little bit, but still had extended scenes of just…kinda nothing happening. And finally the 3rd act got the pacing about right, but even so couldn’t quite nail a consistent pace. Slowing and speeding up in places it really didn’t need to, to share information we already kind of knew.

The characters are fine enough, I enjoyed Dinklage as Winston, Bacon and Wood are good foils who, are maybe a little dryer than I’d have liked…But do the job and made me laugh. The supporting cast kind of drift in and out of the film, and while we do ultimately get to know their motivations and drives. I never quite feel like we fully get under the skin of them.

Visually? I have no notes really. The cine has a kind of ‘dirty vibrance’ about it that really appealed, I enjoyed the design choices for Toxie and the villains, the editing is pretty superb all things considered, I really enjoyed the use of practical effects here, and felt that that added some much needed realism. The CGI for establishing shots…I was less keen on.

Direction wise, if the brief was ‘Make a more easily accessible take on ‘The Toxic Avenger’ then I think they absolutely succeeded, this is a tightly orchestrated, grimy, grubby feature that I think most normal folks who wouldn’t have DREAMED of seeing a Troma movie , may actually check out and enjoy. And I really hope that this film gets a TV/streaming distribution deal after its time in theatres, because I’d LOVE to see the elderly guy or gal, channel hopping at 11pm on a weekday who lands on this one!

I’ve largely talked about what I disliked about this movie, but the reality is, I did still have fun with it, I still found it enjoyable, I’d absolutely recommend checking it out for its themes on greedy evil corporate CEOs (something WONDERFULLY relevant in this day and age) its entertaining, made me openly laugh a few times over the runtime and its technically pretty rock solid. Is this the best ‘Toxie’ movie? Absolutely not. In my opinion, the first 2 films are still the high water mark for the franchise. But I’ll say this; ‘Toxic Avenger 2023’ blows ’Toxie’ 3 and 4 clean out of the solar system, and pretty much every Troma and Troma adjacent movie since 2001 out of the dock while its at it!

If you can tolerate the slower portions, and temper your expectations on wacky weird gore and splatter. I think you’ll have a fine enough time with this movie. And I sincerely do hope this one gets a sequel. Or at the very least, that they use this as a base for a ‘Class of nuke’em High’ remake.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/the-toxic-avenger-2023/

The one good thing I can say about ‘Blood Eaters’ (AKA: Toxic Zombies, AKA: Forest of Fear) is that its mercifully short…That and that the behind the scenes and life of the films director Charles McCrann is INFINITELY more interesting and bizarre than this movie.

Charles was a Yale Law graduate and self proclaimed ‘Movie Buff’ who decided to bite the bullet and have a go at making a movie himself, settling on horror because it was the most likely to get distribution. He’d had no prior film making experience, and this is his only credit.

The plot? the federal government are tracking a group of hippie drug dealers as they grow a huge amount of weed in a remote part of a federally controlled forest. The film opens with two federal agents being killed by the gang, who realise that, if the feds were able to find them, they know about the operation, so they decide to cut what SHOULD have been a weeks worth of harvesting down to 24 hours (much to the rest of the gangs protestation).

Unfortunately for them, the feds ALSO realise that the gang now know that THEY know, so they decide to do the rational, calm and managed thing. and hire an alcoholic crop duster to fly a plane full of an experimental herbicide that hasnt been tested for safety over the region and kill all the crops as soon as possible. When the fact that this could also dust the gang members, the feds shrug and laugh it off.

The only problem for them is that a local wildlife agent called Cole is present in the area, and an annual patrol is scheduled for the day of the dusting. So they send a memo to his office to tell him to basically cancel all surveys for the next 3 weeks. Cole however, who is dutiful to the end (see: Has arranged a fishing trip) decides to ignore the warning and head up anyway.

On the day of the dusting, the gang are out in force picking as much of the crop as they can, when they suddenly get pelted with white powder which makes them vomit blood and slowly pass out. Even the guy dusting gets covered in it and quickly becomes ill too. Cole meanwhile gets his partner and brother together and the three all head up to a lake in the zone for a day of fishing. Only…a short time after landing and setting up, the gang members all turn into killer low budget zombies!!!

Oh…and as a bit of a weird B-plot a family consisting of a 30 year old mum and dad, a 40 year old kid daughter and a 35 year old son with learning difficulties all rock up in the zone as well to give the kids a chance to experience the wilderness, the parents are quickly picked off by the zombie gang, leading to the kids having to fend for themselves.

and thats basically the first act…what follows after that? is walking…lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of walking around aimlessly in the woods, occasionally being chased by some painfully low budget zombies…its…its a whole thing.

Im gonna be honest, Didnt much care for this one, didnt outright HATE it. but its a movie thats essentially just a HUGE waste of time to get it up to feature length.

The script basically has all of 20-25 minutes worth of actual plotting, as in, the entire film could be cut down to that, and not a shred of the ACTUAL story would be lost as a result. The remaining 50-60 minutes of this film is quite literally just badly framed, shakey and low res footage of people running or walking around in the woods, occasionally saying dialogue that serves no purpose. characters basically just saying ‘it’ll be okay’ or ‘dont worry about it’ over and over again.

its glacial, and I realised right around the 40 minute mark that it wasnt really going to get any better than this, and settled in on a LONG grind waiting for the end credits. Its amazing really that this film clocks in at around 84 minutes, but feels like 120.

To give it some credit, the actual plot elements arnt the worst thing in the world, but they arnt good, they function to tell a story that if it were any thinner Durex would be chasing a patent violation. the dialogues poor quality, the character development basically begins and ends with ‘Coles’ character, and he gets basically nothing either.

The act structuring is almost non existent, with an opening act that runs over, and a second and third act that kind of fuse together with no clear transition point. Its most definitely a script written by someone who hasnt really written anything before and probably improvised a lot of it along the way.

The directions poor, sloppy, handheld and the film stock jumps around multiple times, im not sure if its the version I saw, or if the film just is that way, but the quality of the film. stock will change scene by scene, from some realtively clean footage, to high grain footage with a lot of print damage, to incredibly low resolution images that almost look like 8mm blown up.

theres no real lighting set ups, other than the absolute barest lighting to keep the inside locations from being pitch black, the sound recording is awful, the camera work seems to have mainly just been Charles. and I think he shot this mainly for function over form.

The cine is a mess, badly packed together sequences, shots that regularly cross the line, the camera moves before enough times been given to cut in places, shots cut too soon or too late, there’s b-roll, but for the most part its just random cutaway B-roll that doesnt really tie into whats happening on screen. the edits horrendous and the compositonal choices are incoherent, awkward and nauseating at times.

The performances are terrible for the most part, I dont think a single person here comes across as even REMOTELY believable, and theres a hearty dose of ablism and just flat out racism right in the middle of this thing…again for no reason other than I think the director thought it would pep the film up a bit during a dry patch…it did not. NOONE is good here, with the best performances here, being ‘the best’ because of how woefully awful they are.

A glimmer of hope is in the soundtrack, its bad still, its all synth farting for the most part. but it at least suits the tone of a low/no budget 80s zombie movie and some of it sounded passable to my ears (though the ‘knock off’ Halloween by way of the exorcist main theme song WILL have your ears bleeding…)

In the UK, this film was known as ‘Forest of Fear’ and the company who released the film on tape couldnt even be bothered to use the standard thicker quality glossy paper that most VHS releases recieve. For this release? they used lined printer paper. Which I honestly think is more than this film deserves.

It was classified as a ‘Video Nasty’ over here, one of the big bad ones that actually got banned in the UK, it was even refused a rating for theater screenings…which is especially wild, as that puts this film in the same catagory as ‘Passolini’ and ‘Ken Russells’ offerings…The Evil Dead got a cinema certificate…But this film didnt. and, having watched it…I have NO idea why the BBFC hated this film so much. I can only assume they thought it was beneath them.

Theres a shot of a naked woman in the opening 5 minutes, a scene where the cops kill that same woman (now dressed) a few scenes of people briefly vomiting blood, a scene of the old kid girl killing a cop with an axe (no gore and heavily cut away from) and a few fake limbs thrown about…maybe the plot about harvesting weed, and the government crop dusting people with experimental chemicals…or the fact a boy with learning disabilities is shown in mild peril a couple of times did it ultimately…I have NO idea, this is one of the tamest horror movies i’ve ever seen. the fact it got banned in UK cinemas and made a Cat 1 video nasty is frankly bizarre to me. Like finding out Mr. Rogers had an armed malitia ready to mobilize on New York at a moments notice or something.

This is just a badly made film, by someone who had a love of film, but wasnt a film maker really…Its not worth your time, its a runaround and nothing more. But hey, if you want to get your monies worth from this film, go take a look at how the director of this movie died. its crazy.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/bloodeaters/

Probably one of the least ‘needed’ sequels i’ve seen in a good while, ‘The Lost World’ came 4 years after the original ‘Jurassic Park’ blew through cinemas like a tornado. And…im gonna be completely honest with you, up until a couple of years ago. I didnt even know this film was a seperate film to ‘Jurassic Park’, I always assumed that ”The Lost World – Jurassic Park” Was the full title of the original ‘Jurassic Park’ and that it had just been shortened by the pop culture machine because the full titles a bit of a mouthful…

So the plot picks up 3-4 years after the events of the original Jurassic Park, and Dr. Malcolm is called for to attend a SECOND island that Hammond purchased that was supposed to be the ‘factory floor’ creating the dinosaurs that would then be shipped over to the original island from the first film.

He’s reluctant, but when he’s told his Girlfriend has already gone ahead of him, he agrees, if only to bring her back. Anyway; they get there, and it turns out that one of Hammonds Nephews has wrangled away some rights to the park and intends to send hunters to the island to tranq a few Dinosaurs and bring them back to the mainland, where they’ll be on display in an amphetheater, which was supposedly being built BEFORE the islands were procured, but was never finished. The idea being that, a smaller enclosed park in the city could be so successful that a global franchise could be launched.

And…thats basically the rest of the plot of the movie, Dr. Malcolm, his kid, his girlfriend and crew of documentarians fighting to stave off hunters, who are getting slowly picked off one by one by dinosaurs…and its just kind of meh to me…

I really dont think this needed to be made, it lacks the whimsy and fun of the original, it feels darker, colder and less pleasent, the lack of consistent humour throughout makes this 128 minute film about dinosaurs sluggish and uneven. The act structuring is lop sided, the characters just arnt that interesting and dont really have good motivations or drives to really be doing anything here. It all feels quite rushed and a bit boring at times honestly.

Theres a sense that the magics gone with this one, that extroadinary feeling the first film still gives me after multiple watches, this film just…doesnt really try to match it, or even surpass it. Hell, it only ever fleetingly even feels like a Speilberg film, for the most part, it just kind of feels like a generic action movie/creature feature.

The direction and cine are fiiine, Theres nothing inherently bad here, it just again, doesnt really feel like anything other than ‘more of the same’. There are moments where you can tell they just repurposed the old animatronics from the first film, and this ones weighted a little heavier in favour of CGI, which is a shame as its much more noticable here, and it all just feels kind of beige as a result.

Technically, I think its good, its a strong film. But then, its a studio film, so I kind of expect, at minimum on a 73 million dollar movie healmed by a legend of the directors chair, for it to be AT LEAST good. anything less than that would be cause for concern…

Even Jeff Goldblum cant really save this. Dr. Malcolm in the first film only really worked because he had an enigmatic cast to bounce off of, and because he was 3rd in line to the lead role position, it meant that he could spend most of the film being playful and sarcastic, which was endearing…Here? they have to write him as a much more serious, stoic character, and while he still gets the occasional dry joke here and there. It really kind of feels like a different character to the first films.

The rest of the cast as well just…didnt cut it for me, they didnt quite have the presence here. There are no bad performances really, but rather, theres just a lack of energy, a lack of spark, a lack of the kind of tone and vibe that I enjoyed with the first film. Im sure there are folks out there who will enjoy these performances. But I just couldnt vibe with them.

Even the scores kind of dry, when the highlights of the films music are the best tracks from the last film…thats a problem.

I dunno, this just felt like a long, dry and kind of generic movie. The kind that, I wouldnt mind if its running in the background and I dont have to give it my undivided attention, but not one that I feel like I could solely focus on other than for the purpose of this review.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/the-lost-world-jurassic-park/

Im someone who’s always down for some Stoogery, and over the past few years i’ve been slowly, meticulously working my way through all of the Stooges short films (im currently up to 1942 as of the time of writing). But what got me into these loveable guys and their ‘nyuk nyuk’ antics? Well, it was this film by the guys who wrote ‘Dumb and Dumber’.

The plot? Well, the films presented in ‘episodic’ format, with each of the acts simultaineously covering there own respective shenangians, while a ‘through’ plot runs across the three ‘acts’. In the first episode, we’re introduced to the Stooges as kids, living in an orphanage and raising holy hell for the nuns who run the place, the episode concerns the stooges attempting to get out of the orphanage by way of adoption, with a loving family dropping in looking for the right kid, and they pick Moe…Only. Moe doesnt want to be adopted without the other guys, one thing leads to another, and he’s sent back to the orphanage.

We then jump forward to the Stooges as adults, as they’re still trying to be adopted, while also acting as the orphanages ‘effective’ groundskeepers. hilarity ensues. But when the orphanage needs to raise 830 grand to cover the various insurance claims caused by the Stooges over the years, Larry, Curly and Moe set out into the big world to raise the money and save the orphanage by hook or by crook.

‘Episode 2’ is then essentially the stooges working various jobs trying to raise the cash, and failing to do so, while also ending up embroiled in a murder plot by a wealthy wife who wants rid of her husband. as you can imagine…shenanigans ensue, leading to a fracture in the Stooges as Moe decides to leave the group to fend for themselves. and in a VERY outspoken display, hes noticed by some TV execs who pick him up (im not kidding…) to be the new person on the latest season of MTV’s ‘Jersey Shore’ (it…it was the early 2010s…its basically a different world now…)

‘Episode 3’ sees Larry and Curley trying various jobs to raise the cash, realising that ‘HEY! That wife who wanted us to kill her husband MAY be a bad guy! and, when they see Moe is performing slapstick shenanigans on the Jersey Shore crew on TV, the pair race to reunite with Moe, and get to the bottom of a deadly murder case that THEY now may be embroiled in.

And I say this sincerely, barring a couple of scenes, this film QUITE surprisingly, is an absolute love letter to the Stooges in my opinion. The script and pre production process must have frankly been insane, because they’ve managed to capture the mannerisms of the boys so effectively, its like they’re in the room more often than not.

Its effectively like they’ve taken these Vaudville tropes, and rather than modernise them, they’ve just tried to write in the style of, but set it in the modern day. and I think that works incredibly well here, giving this film a quite distinct ‘Pee Wees Big Adventure’, with just a hint of ‘Rocky and Bullwinkle’ vibe to it. That ‘fish out of water’ tone and the intense dedication to word play, puns, screwball comedy, effective and complex slapstick and even the sly nod and a wink to the original Stooge run, I think is incredibly effective, and I can honestly say I gut laughed through most of this.

The pacing moves at a clip, the act structuring is superb, the characters are solidly written, have complexity and show the Stooges in a somewhat more caring, deeper way that the original run never really tried to. The dialogues immaculate…Honestly? I only have one problem with the scripting for this film, and thats the Gross out humour and what im going to politely refer to as ‘Studio Notes’.

Im not opposed to a little gross out humour, the Stooges wernt really known for it, but did dabble rarely. But here? there are a couple of blocked out scenes where they almost exclusively go all in on gross out, and it just didnt land with me, it felt weirdly forced in…like they were ideas for another movie that got cut and pasted into this one. and it kind of killed the vibe and momentum for me…it took a while to build it back up.

The other issue? is the moments where it feels like the studio sent down notes asking for more popular figures to be integrated into the film. The entire Jersey Shore subplot has aged like milk, doesnt work for me, isnt really funny, the Shore crew dont really seem to understand or get the humour. The whole thing feels crowbarred in, and mercifully, its only about 10 minutes of the total runtime…But it reeked of Studio intervention for me, and did once again kind of grind the vibe and momentum to a halt. A lot of this film worked for me…but those bits…those bits did not.

Outside of that, everything else just feels like classic Stoogery with a decent bit of money behind it, the direction is light, fun vibrant, they absolutely nail the physical effects and stuntwork with some of the best Stooge-play i’ve seen in a LONG time. its honestly quite remarkable, simultaineously how they build on what the original Stooges developed here, and the restraint they had in not simply rehashing the old gags. Im not saying they NEVER do ‘the classics’…but I am saying that the way they handle it feels natural and not veying for attention.

The cine too is frankly lovely, rich, colourful, well composed shots, the blending on physical effects and digitial CGI is smooth and feels unintrusive, the editing is phenominal. All things considered, this film to me may be the best comedy film on a technical level of the 2010’s if not of the 2000s up to this point. Its such a labour of love on this front and it really shows.

Performance wise? its a celebrity who’s who, with Will Sasso, Sean Hayes and Chris Diamantopoulos transformation into the boys being frankly eerily accurate, like; if you’d told me they’d pulled the stooges into the present day via time travel, id probably believe it. they clearly studied their absolute backsides off, because the performances are 1:1 with the original stooges, high energy, whimsical, unpredictable, but charming. Honestly; they’re just incredible.

And throw in celebrity cameos from Sofia Vergara, Kate Upton, Jane Lynch, Jennifer Hudson, Brian Murray and my personal favourite, Larry David as ‘Sister Mary Mengele’ who is just PERFECT here in role…I just cant fault this cast, its rock solid.

Easily though, my favoruite part of this film is the sound design, they sourced all the original Stooge sound effects for every ‘bonk’, eye polk, hit, crash and bang sound. and they use them perfectly, not to mention reworkings of all the older stooge music pieces…the only weird part, is that they meld this with modern (to the 2010s) soundtrak choices…which again, feel a bit like studio notes honestly…But hey, beggers cant be choosers.

All in all? I found ‘The Three Stooges’ to be a love letter to fans of the original antics, and a carefully curated attempt at showing the characters at their best in an attempt to win over new fans. A sequel to this film was in the works for years, but it appears its all dead in the water now, and I think thats a shame, because who wouldnt have loved a follow up where Larry Curely and Moe go on a big adventure to find their 4th brother ‘Shemp’?! I know i’d be there day one…

Yeah, I love this one. the script feels sincere and genuine in its intent, the direction and cine is vibrant and handled well, the humours delightful and the performances brilliant. Definitely worth owning to show your kids, Hell, definitely worth owning if your a ‘Stooges’ fan. I think you’d have to have a cold COLD heart not to at least appreciate that in the year of our lord 2012, someone out there had the heart and mind to want to make this work. and I think they succeeded.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/the-three-stooges/1/