Oklahoma Crude

Great actors and a good, underdog plot
Faye Dunaway plays Lena, a female Oklahoma wildcatter during the Great Depression. Along with a maginally helpful, drunkard of a hired man (The only help she can afford), and her not-much-help father, she struggles against prejudice, being flat broke, sabatoge, and a deadly villan in her attempt to bring in a producing well. No ERA, Equal Opportunity Employment, or feminista BS here. Lena doesn't need them. This woman has the competitive guts, courage, and determination any man would be proud to exhibit.

Saw this film when released in the early 70s. Sure wish they'd bring it out on DVD.

Great movie, good packaging and excellent video & audio quality
There are some that resist this type of media (on-demand DVD burn), but I have to tell you they are professionally recorded and use the same master and quality of reproduction equipment as prepackaged retail products. These DVD's are authorized by the content owner and they supply the master.

I love this film and was so pleased to see it made available. The video and audio quality is excellent and the DVD packaging is as good as most single DVD retail product. This is not the burn-on-my-DVD-player quality you may have purchased before from 3rd parties.

If you love this film, buy it . . . you will be very pleased. My guess is that you'll see the on-demand DVD burn delivery method used more and more for this type of older film with a smaller following.

Should absolutely be a DVD release
Saw this movie once in my life, when I was a 12 year old boy. Dunuways performance as women`s lib fighter in a gastly men`s word is great. And then there`s Mancini`s music that keeps haunting your mind. i can still hum the main tune, but never saw the film a second time. Afer more then 35 years!!!!!I do not understand why this is not yet a DVD release.

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Mr. Baseball [HD]

Captures Japanese life and Baseball incredibly accurately!
For one thing, this movie pivoted on the theme of baseball is a world better than the Madonna/Davis starring "A league of their own" or the more recent travesties like "A field of dreams". For another, the schism between American and Japanese ideologies/way of life is just so truly captured that it is difficult to believe this movie is not the de-facto recommendation for people interested in Japan. Guess it missed out on the major league scene because, well, quite literally it is not about US major leagues?

A US baseball star (Selleck) is traded to a Japanese baseball team and finds himself at intellectual loggerheads with the extant coach of the team. This, plus a slight romantic sub-plot as he falls in love with the coach's daughter.

Barring some minor cheesy moments -- e.g., when the coach takes Selleck to a golf driving range and makes him hit the balls with a baseball bat, only to hear "I want to hit balls" instead of "I want to hit baseballs"...hmm -- the accuracy of...

Mr. Baseball is a HOOT!
I loved this movie! It is so funny and yet so many of the situations in Japan are similar to my own experiences. If you've never been to Japan, you will still laugh at all the right places for the right reasons. If you've been to Japan, it will be that much funnier. The scene where Tom Selleck drags his interpreter into his apartment is great because a Japanese person would NEVER wear his shoes indoors, so the scene where this poor soul is being dragged into the room by his tie and trying to kick off his shoes is classic. Watch it, you won't be disappointed!

Heartwarming drama hiding behind a light sports comedy
MR. BASEBALL is a film of paradoxes. Written and filmed as a "light, sports comedy" it truly has a heartwarming core as human and universal as some of Capra's finest. At the plot level, you have the paradox of baseball, a fine old American game, as it is played in Japan - turned around, with American values cast off and Japanese values imprinted upon the game. (Some of the superficial "sports comedy" results from Jack's uncomprehending disbelief at how "basa-boru" is played in Japan.) You also have a lead character who's presented as an over-the-hill, aging baseball star, but who is actually quite immature - pro ball allowed him to postpone growing up. And you have a lead character who is rudely resistant to the changes in his life that are being forced upon him, refusing to accept the curveball that life has given him, in the midst of a new country, a new manager, a new team, and a new girlfriend, who have all welcomed him and try to accept him. Sound like heavy stuff? Not really...

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Dead Silence (Unrated) [HD]

Creepy dummies will make you scream
One day, Jamie (Ryan Kwanten) and his wife find a box with no return address on their doorstep: It contains a ventriloquist dummy. When Jamie goes to buy takeout that night, he comes back to find his wife's been murdered and her tongue's been cut out. He becomes the number one suspect in Detective Lipton's (Donnie Wahlberg) investigation. Upon returning to his hometown of Raven's Fair to bury her, he begins to think that there might be more behind his wife's murder than he first thought. The old poem about Mary Shaw and her 101 dolls to scare the kids might have been true after all. He starts digging and soon finds out a lot of nasty things about Raven's Fair.

From James Wan and Leigh Whannell, co writers of the Saw films comes a creepy killer doll movie. James Wan, who's directing his second film (he only directed the first Saw film), masterfully directs this very atmospheric film; the fog, eerie lighting, zoom outs, and gloomy score by Charlie Clouser (also a Saw veteran)...

GOOD OLD FASHIONED HORROR FILM ! DOLLS ARE SCARY!
What a breath of fresh air this film was to watch!.....or should I say a breath of good old fashioned "Universal" chills? I finally watched this movie and I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of creepy atmosphere it had. The dolls in this movie are freaky looking and I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up more than once while watching this classic style fright flick.

This is a "ghost story" in every sense of the words and ventriloquist dolls are very, very scary! There are some clever plot twist and excellent camera work in this spooky thrill ride that plays like your riding through an old creepy dark ride at an amusement park or carnival. I also found that the use of 'silence'("Dead Silence")when things are about to go wrong, was ingenious and it worked like the music in 'Jaws' did, whenever it went silent you knew something bad was going to happen! This is one of the cleverest horror movies I've seen in a while and it has little or no gore.

The...

'Dead Silence' will not be what you hear watching with friends.
This is a real CREEPSHOW DELIGHT with lots of surprises in store. Extremely
well directed, and it keeps you thinking trying to figure what is going on. No teenybopper-slasher film, but something to be appreciated by 'Gourmets' of horror, and I used that word for a reason. Yes, there are some plot disconnects with everything not being linear-but that was on purpose and not the result of some bad directing. Crank up the microwave with some popcorn [TWO bags], sit back and just ENJOY! Good Horror Flicks are hard to find and this one is good, IN SPADES!
Rod Serling would love it were he still around, and he is counted among the masters in story telling.

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Raising Cain [HD]

A Fine Suspense Thriller
Okay, bare with me. This movie is kind of confusing. First of all, the horrendous reviews on this page do not do this fine film justice. They must've seen a different film. Brian De Palma directed this stylish thriller With John Lithgow playing twin brothers, who don't know wether or not to help their nutso father(also played by Lithgow)steal children so he can perform experiments on them. It's a dark and disturbing subject matter that might turn off some people. There are a few twists and turns here that keep this movie incredibly interesting. De Palma definitley has a style that's all his own. Odd camera angles, slow motion scenes, etc. Besides the roles mentioned above, Lithgow plays a few more as well. Everybody knows that Lithgow is an incredibly brilliant actor. With this role, he gets to show off his tremendous talent. He steals the show and eats up every scene he's in. A remarkable performance. Lolita Davidovich plays his wife who's having an extramarital affair with character...

Anything with John Lithgow in it is wonderful!
I saw this when it first came out and thought it was fantastic. All the twists and turns keep you on edge. We brought it to our "girls weekend" where we watch several creepy movies..there were some critics, but all agreed for the movie of it's time it was great suspense and creepy. And we just love Mr. Lithgow!!!

Deceptive, Deranged, Demented, DePalma!!
This is a psychological thriller that couldn't have came at a better time than it did, but unfornately it almost got ignored at the theaters. What a travesty! All that was coming out in those days were mindless, generic thrillers like "Sleeping With Julia Roberts", "The Hand That Rocks Rebecca De Mornay", and/or "Single White Stupid Movie". I still remember telling a friend right after seeing "The Bonfire of the Vanities" that (even though I love all of the different genres of film that DePalma has made I think his thrillers are where he excels best), it was time for DePalma to return to the horror genre. And, it's as if he heard me, because this little treasure opened just a little over a year later.
Here it was to save the day! DePalma's most demented, deceptive, deranged piece of work in years. A psychological thriller that weaves back and forth, moving in and out, and in between dreams, thoughts, fantasies, flights of fancy, characters that don't exist outside of the mind, a...

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The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: A VeggieTales Movie [HD]

VeggieTales is Cute and Entertaining Fun for the Whole Family
Avast ye maties! This be a tale of pirates, but it isn't the one you're thinking of. That ones over for now. No, this one is about three vegetables who defy all odds to become heroes. In "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: A VeggieTales Movie."

George, Sedgewick (both Phil Vischer) and Elliot (Mike Nawrocki) were simple cabin boys working at a pirate-themed restaurant when they find a ball that sends them back in time to the 16th century. While there, they are told by a princess that they must save her brother from an evil pirate. Though they know they're not heroes, they accept and end up on an adventure of nutritious proportions.

In this day of incredible computer-aided animation and scripts written to keep audiences laughing, it is easy to get caught up in the quality of the production and the non-stop barrage of jokes while losing sight of another objective that a good movie for kids might--or even should--attempt to achieve: communicating the value of...

"What Kind of B Movie Am I In?"
Imagine a world where vegetables sail the seven seas and the most fearsome pirate is the one with arms and legs, albeit mechanical arms and legs. That's the world of the new VeggieTales release. And it's a full length film.

The movie opens in the 17th century. We are on a ship that is being captured by pirates. While brave Prince Alexander tries to fight them off, he is ultimate captured. Unfortunately, the pirates are being led by Robert the Terrible. Not only is he the king's banished brother, but he has also used mechanics to create arms and legs (well, one leg and one peg leg), making him the most fearsome pirate around. The one thing he wants most is his brother's throne, and he intends to use the prince and princess to get it.

Unfortunately for him, Princess Eloise and the butler Willory (Archibald Asparagus) have escaped capture. And they use a contraption the King has created to send a plea for help.

Fast forward to the present day. At...

Best Veggie Tales Yet!
What a great, fun movie! I enjoyed this Veggie Tales movie so much & so did my 5 yr. old daughter. It has lots of "jokes for the grown ups" as I call them, especially at the end - B52's fans prepare to dance! This movie also manages to work in a spiritual message at the end, but does it so subtly that non-believers won't feel preached at in the least. The spiritual aspect is what I like most about Veggie Tales in general, as a teaching tool for my child, and even my atheist spouse gets some laughs out of most of the shows. This movie is one that will appeal to all types of parents and kids.

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Coal Miner's Daughter [HD]

Biopic of Loretta Lynn Just Gets Better with Age!
To me, the success of a film biography isn't whether fans of the personality will watch the movie; they will, whether it is any good, or not...the true measure of success is how the film captures an audience who DON'T know the person, and wins their hearts.

"Coal Miner's Daughter" does this, better than nearly any other 'biopic', and the film is as passionate and wonderful today as it was in 1980.

There are several reasons for the film's 'staying' power; first, British director Michael Apted, making his first American feature, brought an unbiased eye to the lifestyle of poor but proud rural America. Eschewing the clichés of the "Smokey and the Bandit" and "Dukes of Hazzards" stereotypes, he cast many 'locals' in the film, and attempted to recreate, as realistically as possible, the world Loretta Webb/Lynn knew so well.

Second, the film boasts not one or two, but three powerhouse supporting performances. Tommy Lee Jones, who Apted picked over...

One of the best dat-gum movies ever!
Finally, it's on DVD!

Okay, I'm one of those folks who knows this movie up and down, back and forth, word-for-Kentucky-word, and proud of it!

I remember seeing this film on the big screen in 1980, when I barely knew who Loretta Lynn was, and I loved it dearly from that moment on.

If this film hadn't been up against my other all-time favorite movie for the Best Picture Oscar in 1980, it should have (and would have) won, hands-down.

I waited for years for this film to finally be released on DVD, and I wasn't disappointed. My VHS edition, while as wonderful as a pan&scan movie can be, was worn out from repeated viewing. The quality of the picture and sound on the DVD is superb, as are the special features, including an interview with Director Michael Apted and Miss Loretta Lynn herself, as well as a rememberance by Tommy Lee Jones. Once you've watched the whole film all the way through, you'll want to watch it again with the commentary by Sissy Spacek and Director Michael...

Diamonds From Coal.
I LOVE this movie. This heartwarming, true rag-to-riches film about the life of Loretta Lynn took even the most sophisticated audiences by surprise when it was first released. Sissy Spacek is wonderfully accurate in her portrayal of the legendary but still humble and approachable country music star. This film made people who HATED country music take a second look. The story of the backwards, backwoods, painfully shy little girl whose simple, self-penned, biographical songs made her a huge star with almost unequaled # 1 country hits, is just as touching and great as when it was released. Tommy Lee Jones is perfect as "Doo", the man who stood by his woman, and Beverly D'Angelo gives a memorable performance as the legendary Patsy Cline. The fact that Spacek and D'Angelo so effectively do all their own singing, considering the shoes they had to fill, just makes this film all that much of a wonder. Levon Helm, of The Band, is also very good as "Lorettys" daddy. Just...

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The Andromeda Strain [HD]

Stands the Test of Time
"Andromeda Strain" is one of my favorite movies because it stands the test of time. Although made in the early 1970's, the technology shown,
including the computers still looks up-to-date, with the main difference being that today, the graphical displays of the data would be much more colorful. However, the techniques used to analyze the "Andromeda" organism would be the same ones used today. Of course, much of the suspense of the movie is created by a stuck sliver of paper, and that would not occur today, but 99% of what is shown (including the threat to mankind for terrestrial biological warfare or extra-terrestrial organisms) is still very relevant. In fact, the society in which the film takes place is more "future-oriented" than our current one because reference is made to the Lunar Receiving Laboratory in Houston which processed the samples returned from the Moon by the Apollo astronauts, and which has since been idled by the loss of the...

A Thrilling Sci-Fi Suspense from Michael Crichton
"The Andromeda Strain" was the first of many films produced from novels written by the author Michael Crichton, whose novels-turned-film include "Westworld" (1973), "Coma" (1978), "Jurassic Park" (1993) and "Twister" (1996). Filmed in 1971, "The Andromeda Strain" may seem dated to some, but sci-fi aficionados have long enjoyed the film for its suspense and questions that it raised that may be more valid today than they were three decades ago.

The story begins in a small, isolated town in the desert where a satellite that re-entered earth's atmosphere crashed. Shortly after the crash, most of the town's residents mysteriously die. The government calls in four scientists to determine what killed the townsfolk. The scientists are Dr. Jeremy Stone (Arthur Hill), Dr. Charles Dutton (David Wayne, known for his portrayal of inspector Ellery Queen in 1975 TV series of the same name), Dr. Mark Hall (James Olsen) and Dr. Ruth Leavitt (Kate Reid, known also for her role in the 1977 film...

A true suspense film.
This movie is of a microbiological Armageddon which unfolds with such perfectly metered suspense that no matter how many times you watch it, you find yourself riveted to your couch. Not wanting to miss even a minute, even though you already know.

Even though this movie is over 2 decades old, and the computer equipment at the Wildfire laboratory shows its age, this is a perfect change-of-pace film for any movie monster fan. Instead of the usual radioactive mutated towering apparition that flattens cities and topples skyscrapers, the monster in "The Andromeda Strain" is so tiny, it takes powerful electron microscopes to see it. Though tiny in size, Andromeda has the potential to wreak more havoc than your typical Godzilla. The average movie monster can only cause damage wherever he can stomp, smash or exhale a blast of fiery breath. Andromeda has the potential to be carried to every corner of the world by the winds, where it could conceivably wipe out all life. Try to top...

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Looney Tunes Show: There Goes the Neighborhood

Tune In, Loon Out
Taking a hint from the recently released second half of Season 1 of "Scooby-Doo Mystery Incorporated", "The Looney Tunes Show" finally wised up and did likewise. The last 14 episodes are on two DVDs for you to enjoy whenever you want featuring all your favorite Warner Bros. characters in a whole new setting. Some of these episodes include:

"Newspaper Thief" - Daffy Duck suspects that one of his neighbors is swiping the newspapers off his front step. So when Bugs Bunny organizes an apology dinner party for the neighbors, Daffy leaps into action to find the culprit.

"Bugs and Daffy Get a Job" - Bugs goes to work at the office with Porky Pig, while Daffy gets some work done on his face.
First appearance: Dr. Weisberg (Although he's an original character like Tina Russo, he, too, became a recurring character in the series. Plus, he kinda resembles a bit like Dr. I.Q. Hi from the "Duck Dodgers" series.)

"That's My Baby" - Daffy is forced into...

Bunny In the 'Burbs
It's good to see Bugs Bunny in women's clothes again. I mean it. What's a trickster figure without access to his feminine side? What's the coolest of all animated cartoon characters without his gender bending sangfroid? He's well worth watching in any of his episodic roles here, of course, whether as a would-be restaurateur, a free-spirited office worker, a desperate caffeine junkie, or a frustrated home repair project guy; but without at least the occasional foray into cross-dressing, something's missing.

On the other hand, these discs do emphasize the creepy, sadomasochistic vibe that exists between Daffy (the tormentor) and Porky (his willing victim) which, by the end of the "Murder" episode on disc two, has become more twisted and mirthlessly violent than it needs to be. "Is this funny," my partner wondered aloud, "or just really cruel?"

These fourteen episodes veer off in some mighty interesting directions, though. There's Daffy in an unlikely trial run for...

Looney Tunes...civilized! And THAT'S a funny thing!
This is what I always imagined Bugs, Daffy and the other classic Looney Tunes characters like retired from their everyday jobs and living in the suburbs! Bugs is definitely more of the straight man these days and not as wild and over the top, but his deadpan delivery compared to Daffy's hilarious narcissistic antics are perfect! There is more than enough jokes and "in" gags for the old school fans as well as enough for the kids and newbies to the Looney Tunes universe! My kids (4 and 6 year olds) love this show, and I've gotten them hooked on the classic shorts as well! Now if we could get the rest of the series...and please Warner, no more 4-episode discs EVER AGAIN! Give the rest of the series to us if not in one complete season set, then like this set is: half a season at a time.

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Funny People [HD]

The Marketing was Wrong, but the Film is so RIGHT
This film was really a drama, so, if you go in with the mindset that you are watching a drama, this film will blow you away.

However, if you go into this film thinking it will be like 40-yr old Virgin or Hangover, then you will be disappointed (which is where all the low rated reviews come from).

This film does a great job of showing us the life of a Comedian/Actor who is dying from an illness.

The film has a whole lot of levels going on which is over the head of most of the people who rated the film low.

It is a comedic form of the movie Inception. You have actors playing comedians who have dual lives where they alternate from being "on" and "off"....

The problem is most people have a misconception of how comedians live their real lives.

Anyways, great movie. Go in with the mindset that you are watching a drama and this movie will blow you away.

enjoy

amnightus

Flawed and Meandering Yet Still a Worthwhile Look Inside a Stand-Up Comic's Mind
The psyche of the stand-up comedian is the subject of Judd Apatow's third and most ambitious directorial effort, but the elliptical, rather skewed characters that inhabit this serious-minded 2009 comedy obscure the personal revelations that he ironically attempts to mine. In certain ways, it's a dramatically audacious film, yet in others, Apatow comes back to the comfortably off-kilter humor of his previous ensemble efforts, The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up. Sometimes the balance feels very off here, primarily because the protagonist is so hard to read from the outside. It was inevitable that the director cast his former roommate Adam Sandler as George Simmons, a comic who has become a major movie star based on the type of juvenilia he constantly ridicules. Sandler accurately captures both the demented comedy mind and the innate cruelty...

Jake LaMotta would've made a hell of a comedian
Judd Apatow's Funny People is going to divide audiences (it certainly has divided critics). Those going in expecting a comedy along the lines of The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up or any other of the films in the Apatow-verse will enjoy it but not love it. But that reaction may be more a product of the misdirection in the marketing of the film than anything else. Funny People is going for something more emotionally complex, and it succeeds on that count.

Without dwelling on plot, the film focuses, by and large, on the professional and personal lives of a group of comics and comic actors at various rungs of the show business ladder, from Adam Sandler's George Simmons, a hugely successful film comedy star who came out of the stand-up comedy world, to Seth Rogan's Ira Wright, a novice comic who is drawn into George's world, to Ira's friends, who are his roommates, who are his competitors.

The common thread running through these characters is anger and aggression,...

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The Adventures Of Brer Rabbit [HD]

Delightfully unique!
I loved the story of Brer Rabbit and the Briar Patch when I was a kid. (I had the...(gulp)...album of the story...boy am I old!!) It's great to be able to share these stories with my kids. It's not perfect, but it is enjoyable. Upon repeated viewing, a few things started irritating me, especially considering that my very young children are watching: the party episode, where the song playing in the background says over and over (and over) "Work that body, work, work that body..." The siblings in the skit at the beginning are also pretty rude to each other. This is a movie that doesn't feature cute and cuddly wilderness critters hopping along in friendship...these guys are constantly trying to eat each other. I'm glad we rented it, and we all definitely enjoyed it, but we won't be buying it.

This is a rip off don't buy it!
I was introduced to Brer Rabbit via Uncle Remus' stories in Song of the South. This DVD does not remotely come close to the stories told by the lovable Uncle Remus. They are watered down political correct inaccurate bla bla mindless pap. Uncle Remus' original stories had substance and wisdom I didn't find in this DVD.

Excellent Family Movie
While this movie may not be the same as Disney's classic "Song Of The

South", this direct-to-video film is a beautifully animated, clean,

wholesome, entertaining family film. This movie is filled with very

memorable characters, plenty of adventure, a lot of captivating

stories, great moral lessons, and superb animation. This film also has

a lot of clean humor without any of the sexual innuendo, lame puns, or

gross-out humor that's found in many animated T.V. shows and films

nowadays. Even though this film is aimed at small children, you can

enjoy this movie whether you're 4 or 40, and it's great for the whole

family to watch together (or by yourself). On a scale of 1 to 10, I

give this film a 10 all the way! You will not be disappointed.

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Fighting [HD]

It Tries Hard
This is generally not my kind of movie, but I did like it as it had kind of a Rocky element going. I also thought the actors gave sincere performances and the story was gritty enough to keep your attention - I get bored easily. As I watched it, I really felt this movie had a lot of potential to be great but because it was kind of rushed, it couldn't quite get there. If it could have taken a little more time to develop the characters and their relationships, it might have gotten there. I know that Channing Tatum is always criticized for his non acting ability, but if you really watch this movie, you can sense his potential, there were several times that you got a sincere sense from him that his character really wanted to do the right thing and Tatum does this more with expression than words. The only other thing that I feel could have been better was the connection between Shawn and Zulay, I just didn't get a sense of actual attraction, it really seemed kind of forced, like there...

Fighting deserves a fighting chance...
The main problem with a film like 'Fighting' is the expectations that come with the obvious - fighting, or fight sequences. Although the movie centers on fighting, it seems like attention was spent elsewhere. In other words, the filmmakers did not conceptualize intricate fight sequences that would leave Bruce Lee breathless. On the contrary, the fights here are very low brow, meat and potatoes, bare knuckle, anything goes kind of brawl, which I'm not opposed to whatsoever. Personally, every now and again, the over-orchestrating of fight sequences can be a bit too much for me, but the minimal aspects here lend quite nicely to the main character's plight to survive.

As you've probably read the other reviews, the story surrounds the nicest small-time drifter once could ever hope to meet (quite a stretch I may add). He holds doors for strangers, pays fair prices for goods and aside from the funky smell & shabby clothes, you'd be proud to bring him home to mother for...

Channing definitely picked the wrong movie
This movie sucked badly. Channing's character came off as being kind of slow. His speech was really slow as if even before he even started fighting, he took one to many blows to the head. And he couldn't even fight. He only won his first fight by knocking a guys head into some kind of fountain. He couldn't even beat that big guy. Oh and don't get me started on the fight against the chinese guy; three time world champion Cung Le. Even without me knowing who Cung Le was I could see that Channing's character was no match for him. The only good scenes in this movie was when he fought Evan in the end and when they won all that money. Now that was a real fight.
So glad I waited until this came on cable, because had I'd went to see this at the movies I would have been pissed off. This movie is not even worthy of Channing or Terrance Howard. I can't believe someone actually made this movie as a supposed action movie and then named it "Fighting", it should have been called...

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Wet Hot American Summer [HD]

Now, this was one funny movie.
If you liked The State, the sketch comedy show from MTV, then you'll most likely laugh at the same people here. Most of the cast is in this film, and Michael Showalter and David Wain (also the director) co-wrote it.

It's the last day of camp in the summer of 1981. Janeane Garofalo plays the camp director who falls in love with the local physicist, David Hyde Pierce. But the real star is Showalter, who plays "Coop," trying to get the girl of his dreams to fall for him, in spite of her "love" for vapid Paul Rudd (who reminded me a lot of Trey Parker here, for some reason).

This movie is basically a take-off of the `80's camp films like Meatballs. You know, the ones they used to show on USA Up All Night. And every possible gag is included here, including a few I didn't see coming (like the trip to "town").

One thing, though, keep in mind while you watch it that all of this is happening during the span of one day.

One of THE most underrated movies of 2001!
I had heard good things about this movie when it was at Sundance, but it seemed bypass the Chicago are almost entirely. So I rented the DVD, and this movie was hilarious. It's a shame that movies like American Pie 2 and Dung Pow (or whatever that awful-looking Martial Arts movie is called) are considered 'daring' and 'edgy' because of a few gross-out gags and little else. This movie was edgier and more daring than any comedy I've seen since the classic "Where's Poppa". It is most simply a parody of early 80's summer camp flicks, but it also has a bizarre, absurdist genius to it all it's own. Not every gag works, but it has enough unforgettable lines and sequences to ensure it's eventual evolution into true cult classic. The cast is all great, but the best is Chris Melloni (of Oz and Law & Order SVU) who is freakishly hilarious in his role as the camp cook. You don't just have to be a fan of MTV's the State to enjoy this as I have never seen the show. This film won't be for...

You either get it or you don't
Wet Hot American Summer is a movie which I have to admit I wasn't thrilled by the first time I saw it, but the second time I really started to understand the humor and now it is my favorite comedy. The type of comedy in the movie (as others have stated) is very different then what you would normally see in prime time, but it gets more and more hilarious everytime you watch it... love it...

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The Skulls II [HD]

Low Budget copy of the original
The "Skulls" premise, based on well-established rumors and reports about Yale University's Skull & Bones Order, is a useful basis for a suspense movie. The 1st film was solid and featured quality actors and direction. This sequel has none of the same cast and was straight to video. It basically repeats the same plot theme of the 1st movie. This movie tries to be more racy than the first yet has weaker drama and dialogue. It was disappointing - perhaps someone will make a film about the real "Skulls" which would be MUCH more dark and suspenseful than the fictional "Skulls."

Alright, what did the skulls give you?
So, where should I go with this one? I am pretty sure that most can realize how bad of a film this was without needing me to spell it out for you, but then some of us do need guides, so here it goes. The Skulls II is a classic example of a movie company trying to monopolize on the semi-success of the original. Using the rules of low-budget sequel making, they get lesser-known actors to replace the better known actors from the original. They repeat several select scenes that resemble the original so that the audience doesn't get confused, while all the while continuing with a similar story from the original. At first glance, you may not realize that there is a difference between these two films outside of the grade D actors that are trying to make a name for themselves. When will Hollywood realize that they need to stop doing this? The original Skulls film was not a box-office sensation, so why suck even more money from an already dried well? Then to see that there is already...

Even worse than the first...
...and that's saying alot.

The movie goes nowhere fast. With a plot as transparent as cellophane and a solidly second-string cast (couldn't they afford ANYONE we have heard of), the movie wastes our time with some serious implausibilities spliced together with laughable dialogue and a downright silly ending.

Did the producers really think that this film covered any new territory that the first missed? It seems that both are based on the same book. Now, I don't plan on reading said book anytime soon, but it seems to me that when you make a sequel, you might want to have a few original ideas to make the vehicle interesting. Just a suggestion...

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