Pee-Wee is Back for a Big Holiday

When I was little, I was pretty into Pee-Wee.  I grew up watching Big Adventure, and loved Pee-Wee's Playhouse.   When I was little I was scared of Jambi and would run out of the room, waiting until my siblings said it was okay to come back in.  This fact is unimportant, but funny.  Of course after a while I just expected not to get any more of this red bow tie wearing childhood hero.  I think that would have been okay however.  Playhouse is mostly only good if you have the right sense of humor or nostalgia, Big Adventure is still pretty decent but I do understand those that don't like it, and Big Top Pee-Wee is... weird but in a good way.  I have also seen the special Pre-Adventure, and the more recent one.  I guess we really had a decent amount of Pee-Wee but for some reason a lot of us felt just a bit incomplete, waiting for another installment despite our constantly increasing age. Tonight, I finally got this.

The film's story revolves around Pee-Wee never having left his small town, which only works if you consider him not remembering the events of Pee-Wee's Big Adventure and the Playhouse being somewhere in the vicinity.  He works at a diner, which is good for us to know because I always wondered how he got money.  Pee-Wee is quite happy in his life until Joe Manganiello rides in on his motorcycle and hangs out with Pee-Wee for a little bit.  Joe suggests going on vacation and then gives Pee-Wee an invitation to his birthday party in New York.  Then rides off to who knows where.  So Pee-Wee decides for the first time in his life to go on Holiday, except for the one time he tried when he won a trip to Salt Lake City and promptly crashed when leaving town, ending in him getting a metal plate in his head.

Some of the film's jokes and subject matter are a bit adult in nature, which makes sense because Pee-Wee has always been that way.  There is the familiar road trip motif from Big Adventure throughout, as well as dream sequences which are mostly Pee-Wee hanging out with Joe at his birthday party. Those dream sequences, while not as amazing as the Tim Burton themed ones of before, are pretty awesome.

This film didn't have quite the budget of the others, or maybe just didn't use it as well.  That doesn't mean it isn't funny however.  I laughed out loud a couple times and that is pretty impressive for me since I rarely do that.  There is a lot of weird stuff and Pee-Wee related things going on throughout. This is exactly what we want.  It does still feel not as good or grandiose as Big Adventure, and more like a weird copy of that film.  However, it is a good copy of it and certainly isn't the same movie at all.

Is this the movie we were expecting?  Probably not.  Is it the movie we were destined to get? Yes. You see, it has been a long time since Pee-Wee hosted a carnival at his farm in Big Top Pee-Wee, a film which a surprising amount of people don't like.  I like that movie and I expected Big Holiday to be a little closer to that quality of film.  I honestly think this movie captures Pee-Wee and his character a little better though, and will watch this movie again.  I very much enjoyed it because I knew what to expect.  It was awesome to see more Pee-Wee.  The movie didn't quite scratch the itch, but if they never make another Pee-Wee related thing again, I will be satisfied that I got another.  It is worthy of the franchise as a whole and should be appealing to fans.  I rated the film 4 out of 5 stars on my Netflix account so it must be that good right?  Maybe so, but I am already a fan, so I am naturally attuned to give Pee-Wee an extra star.  Regardless, don't hesitate if you are a fan of Pee-Wee.  It is well worth the watch.

Leprechauning Around - A Leprechaun Franchise Retrospective

In 1993, Mark Jones wrote, and directed a film about a killer Leprechaun and films were changed forever.  Though not really.  It seems that no one cares about these movies at all, but a lot of people secretly enjoy or own them.  I have determined that the franchise has legs only due to curiosity.  That being said, most everyone who likes them ironically enjoys these movies.  Is the franchise good, bad, or ugly?  Today I attempt to answer that with a look at the first four of the seven movies in this series.

In Leprechaun 1, we find that Warwick Davis has dressed as the mythical leprechaun and begins to terrorize Jennifer Aniston and Mark Holton as well as some other people I don't care about when Aniston playing Tory finds a crate in the basement of the house her and her dad have just moved into and accidentally knocks the four leaf clover off of it.  As it turns out, four leaf clovers are poison to Leprechauns and have some magical trapping power over them.

You might know Mark Holton as Francis from Pee-Wee's Big Adventure.  In this he plays mentally challenged manchild Ozzie who works with some hunky painter and a kid.  This is every bit as offensive as you might think it would be.  The kid and Ozzie discover the Leprechaun's gold and Ozzie accidentally swallows one.  Yeah this movie is that stupid.

Anyway, horror tropes ensue and we get a killer Leprechaun riding a tricycle and killing people.  At the end the kid shoots a four leaf clover into Warwick's mouth with a slingshot saying, "Fuck you Lucky Charms."  That is sadly the best part of this movie.  This film isn't terrible, it just isn't that great.  If you want to see Jennifer Aniston her first major role, it is interesting to see her play someone so young.  Warwick is entertaining enough, but I wonder if the role is a bit offensive to people of his general size.  In any case he seems to have a good sense of humor about it.  Overall, it's okay.  Not good or bad.

Luck has nothing to do with it indeed.  The first one was so popular (I guess) that they just had to make a sequel.  The sequel is in name only however.  The movie opens up with a storybook type thing and some time in the past the Leprechaun has enslaved a man to do his bidding.  He wants to make some girl his wife and the guy enslaved by Warwick discovers the girl is his daughter, so he sabotages the Leprechaun's plans and forces him to lay dormant until modern-ish day where he finds the descendant of the girl and she surprisingly looks no different.

This time around the Leprechaun has taken to rhyming and does so constantly, making ridiculous jokes as he kills his victims all while trying to bang some blonde chick.  This really adds to the enjoyment of the movie.  The kills are ridiculous, and entertaining as well.  The cast of good guys are Cody, the guy going out with the descendant girl who lives with his uncle and drives a car for some Haunted Tour thing.  Morty, his con artist uncle (I know a bit about having con artist relatives) who is kind of a useless drunk.  Then there is Bridgette, the generic pretty blonde girl who is the reincarnation of the girl from the opening.

Overall this is probably the best Leprechaun movie.  It is funny, and has a bit of violence in it, and you see the chest of a naked lady for a second.  This movie won't change your life, you may not even enjoy it, but it is a solid enough effort.

Full disclosure here, I love Las Vegas.  I am obsessed with its history, culture, and downfall.  So I feel that I am too biased to really give this one an accurate review.  This was the last movie to film on Freemont Street before the Freemont Street Experience screen was built over the area.  Look that up if you like.  At the time it was required to breathe new life into a struggling area.  I love Freemont, so this throws off my ability to decide if this movie sucks or not.  I also love Blackjack and Craps.

There is a lot of gambling in this movie for a film about leprechauns.  A young guy is on his way to college when he stops off in Vegas and helps a girl who in on her way to work.  She works as the assistant to a not so great magician working in a dive casino where this movie takes place.  So people get a hold of the Leprechaun's gold and make wishes with it.  Meanwhile Warwick is out to get his gold back and kill them.

The movie mostly takes place in a seedy pawn shop, a seedy casino, and a hospital.  The magician character is hilarious and reminds me vaguely of someone I know, so I love his character.  He is the best part of the movie.  There is also a plot where the college kid gets leprechaun blood on him and starts to slowly become part leprechaun.  It is stupid, but whatever.  A bit of nudity in this one as a woman comes out of a TV and starts getting naughty with a guy.  This movie also has one of the funniest horror movie deaths ever.  It involves the magic show.  I really like this movie, and have seen it more times than I care to admit.  Warwick rhymes more in this one too so that is cool.  I recommend this movie if you enjoyed the second one.

There isn't really any other way to put this. Leprechaun 4 is a stupid movie.  Essentially it is a bad Leprechaun sequel mixed with a bad Aliens rip off.  There a few scenes that are pretty funny.  This one guy urinates on Warwick after the crew kills him, and later when the guy is getting frisky with a chick the Leprechaun jumps out of his dick to kill him.  There is a part involving this Space Princess where she reveals her upper body assets to a character, which apparently is a death sentence where she's from.

Anyway, same old Leprechaun, same old tricks but in space.  I was surprised by the number of half decent practical effects for this movie though.  By half decent I mean for it's budget.  This movie also went to space before Jason did in Jason X so there is that.  Although this movie kind of sucks compared to Jason X.  No rhyming this time, which is too bad.  This movie is just plain dumb and not worth it overall, but if you like Warwick Davis and the Leprechaun franchise, I guess you could watch it, if you had to.

So in summary, here are the ratings.  Lep 1 is okay for what it is.  Lep 2 is better than it should be, but no masterpiece. Lep 3 is hilarious and entertaining but kind of stupid.  Lep 4 is downright dumb, but it's in space.  If you wonder what I thought about the other three in the franchise I will tell you quickly.

Leprechaun In the Hood is sort of entertaining.  It has a return of Warwick rhymes and a lot of other characters rhyme too.  It is funny, but not a good movie at all.  It does have Ice-T in it.  He is my favorite Def Jam Fight For New York Character.

Leprechaun Back 2 Tha Hood is so stupid.  Easily the worst of the franchise and Warwick seems to have gone goth in it as he wears a very black colored outfit.

Leprechaun Origins isn't really a part of the franchise.  No Warwick Davis, but we have Dylan Postl of WWE fame as the Leprechaun.  The Leprechaun isn't really a leprechaun though.  He is more of an Irish Monkey Demon Thing.  It should be called Irish Monkey Demon Thing: Origins.

So there you have it.  You can now watch or skip whichever you desire based on either my reviews or personal interest.  I don't know that the franchise is worth revisiting, but if you are bored with some friends on St. Patrick's Day and have some alcohol ready you might enjoy these movies.  Except Back 2 Tha Hood and Origins.  They just kind of suck.  Sorry Origins, I know you tried.

10 Cloverfield Lane

Like many people, I was surprised and delighted to see the trailer for this movie earlier in the year.
The trailer was intense, and confusing.  How was this a sequel to Cloverfield?  The answer is it isn't.  I am not going to go over that much however.  If you want that, it is pretty well documented in other reviews, which I am sure you have read by now.

I wasn't a huge fan of Cloverfield to be honest.  So the link to that film in the original had me kind of wondering if I wanted to see this at all.  With that in mind, I decided to see it because I am a fan of John Goodman.  If you are going to see this because you are a fan of him then you have chosen the right movie.

Goodman gives one of his best performances in this film.  Actually the movie is acting gold as far as I am concerned.  Mary Elizabeth Winstead is engaging in this movie and you want to see her get a happy ending.  John Gallagher Jr. is also enjoyable to watch, though he doesn't have as much to do in the movie.  He has a great scene at the dinner table that is great for tension and does he does add to the film.

The basic plot is John Goodman plays Howard who saves Winstead's character Michelle from a crash and brings her to his fallout shelter as some form of apocalypse has just happened.  Emmett played by Gallagher seems to have forced his way in as well and so the three are stuck underground together, at least for the time being.  But did the apocalypse really happen or is Howard just a crazy guy setting them up?

None of that is spoilers by the way.  You could gather all that from the trailers for the movie.  The idea that something is out there, maybe, drives the film and its tension along with the acting of the three people.  I always say when a film has a very limited cast and manages to be good, the actors are clearly very good at what they do.  Each character is worthy of paying attention to and all three have their time to shine.  The tension grows throughout and the answers don't come quickly.  I honestly really liked this film.

With this and The VVitch having come out this year already, I am pretty happy with the future of horror.  Last year plenty of great horror films came out as well.  Maybe there is a renewed interest in the genre.  If whatever the next movie to have Cloverfield slapped onto it is even close to this good, the 'Franchise' of Cloverfield will have a long time fan.  Go see this movie as soon as possible if you are horror fan.  Finally people are making good horror films again, even with the dreaded death nail of a PG-13 Rating attached to them, and this deserves serious attention.