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jacgrunge
Reviews
2gether: The Series (2000)
Great show, but haven't I seen it before?
If this were a Saturday Night Live "David Spade Hollywood Minute," Spade's commentary would go a little like this: "I just saw the show '2gether' on Tuesday. I really enjoyed it the first time I saw it...when it was called 'The Monkees.'"
All jokes aside, this show does remind me of the Monkees in it's basic premise: a bunch of spunky young lads who don't play instruments get into wacky and comedic situations over the course of a half-hour, somehow also managing to fit in a musical number.
And also like the Monkees, they do their own singing. They've released albums. They've appeared on TV in character.
In the movie, we learned that there are five types of guy in every boy band: the shy one (Chad), the heartthrob (Jerry), the bad boy (Mickey), the cute one (Q.T.), and the big brother (Doug). In the show, we get to watch them take these roles to extremes. And they do it so well. This show even makes fun of itself, as in one episode we see the guys watching a show on MTV about a fake boy band and bashing the c**p out of it. And it's all very funny. Definitely a great show.
Turn Ben Stein On (1999)
Great show, but wouldn't survive w/o Comedy Central.
This is a wonderful show, especially as late-nite format talk shows go. The show has a very interesting premise. It's a good thing it's on Comedy Central. Why? Four words: The Whoopi Goldberg Show. Whoopi's show had the exact same format: just take a half hour and interview one guest. It had promise, but it was syndicated and therefore put in an asinine timeslot.
Anyway, Ben corrects the Whoopster's mistakes. Besides talking politics with the least likely of guests (Henry Rollins and Bill Goldberg come to mind...oddly enough they kept up some pretty good conversation), Ben went so far as to write and perform his own theme song. Shut up and talk!
Highlander: Endgame (2000)
A two-part episode with boobs.
Okay, people, listen up. This is the real sequel to the Highlander. You can forget 2 and 3 even existed, because to get this movie, all you need to see are the first movie and a few episodes of the TV show.
Right. A few episodes of the TV show. Which make me think. You wanna know how they made this film? Take a two-part episode of the series. Add nudity and even more violence to make it have to be a theatrical release. Give it a really predictable ending. Stir, let sit for NOT A LONG ENOUGH RUNNING TIME.
Who knows. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe this is just a transitional film, like Star Trek: Generations (Which is kind of an excuse). Maybe if we had seen Kell kill Amanda (from "Highlander: The Raven"), the movie would have been worth seven bucks to go see. Maybe not. I always thought Duncan was the better Highlander than Connor, but, that's because we've seen him in more experience (4 2-hour movies for Connor, 1 2-hour movie and 66 hour TV shows for Duncan).
The film really needed character development. They could have played up Jin more instead of killing him off, as well as giving us more of Joe and Methos. And for all the hype the WWF gave us, Edge should have been in more of the film.
Wait for video. But only if you're a fan.
Orgazmo (1997)
Funnier than Boogie Nights
This has got to be one of the funniest films about the Porn industry ever.
Trey Parker proves to us all that he's an expert at feigning naivite, as well as writing a film that is open and fit for a sequel (as opposed to South Park: BLU, which is just going to get one anyway).
Orgazmo is perhaps one of the best superheroes out there, right up there with Freakazoid. This film is perfect for anyone who loves porn, loves South Park, loves superheroes, or any combination thereof. This film should have gotten an R rating, as there is only one scene of nudity and, apparently, less cursing than the South Park movie. There is plenty of innuendo and, of course, the fact that all of Choda Boy's weapons are made of...how can I put this printably...artificial phallic devices.
Blues Brothers 2000 (1998)
A good film...if you overlook the plot.
This film is basically the first movie with a promotion. The only thing anyone should do that has to do with this film is go out and buy the soundtrack. The music saves the film all the way. Nowhere else will you see Darrell Hammond and Eric Clapton in the same film, folks.
ReBoot (1994)
The Granddaddy of CGI shows. (Beast Machines Spoiler)
This is the first and best CGI show of all time. It started off okay at first, but got better during the second season and peaked during the third season. Coincedentally, the story is the same with Beast Wars. That also seems to be the direction Beast Machines is headed, but according to Canadian sources, BM won't have a third season. I don't remember, something about a climactic final battle between Optimus Primal and Megatron...
Anyway, I was overjoyed to hear about Daemon Rising (2001), a ReBoot TV Movie. I'm puzzled though, because the only image I can get in my head is the Guardians of Mainframe fighting...that program that tells you your email couldn't be delivered...
Highlander II: The Quickening (1991)
In a word...odd.
Hey, everybody! Why don't we ask Webster what he thinks?
Renegade Version - noun, referring to the second Highlander Feature Film.
1. One of the weirdest concepts in film history. 2. The best use of DVD since deleted scenes. 3. The best thing that ever happened to this movie. 4. Proof that, The Avengers excluded, Sean Connery can still give a good performance in a bad movie.
Highlander: The Raven (1998)
A poor attempt at a cult classic.
I feel that this show was a poor attempt at a cult classic on behalf of the producers. One of the beauties of syndication is that if you get cancelled at all, you can usually at least finish out the season. If you've ever seen the Highlander catalog, some of the more popular products are boxed sets by season of the original series. I think that was the sole purpose of this series: keep it on for a season, just long enough to be a boxed set. Make money. Well, the joke's on them, good luck getting anyone to buy!
Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (1997)
In a word...crap.
This film could have had so much. I once saw in a special about the X-Men movie that there were two kinds of fans of the film: those who wanted a direct translation and those who were just excited to see the characters on the big screen. The same applies to MK:A. However, in this case, they should have gone for direct translation. It seems as though this film's only purpose was to cram in as many Mortal Kombat characters as could fit in an hour and a half. The film was also ruined by inconsistant casting: there were about eight (Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Blade, Cage, Rayden, Liu Kang, Kitana, and Jax) characters that appeared in both films. So how many were cast the same the second time around? Two (three if you count Ed Boon as the voice of Scorpion). If you're not a fan of the games, don't even bother. If you are, go to an arcade and play the game.
X-Men (2000)
Never a dull moment!
This is, perhaps, the best movie of the 2000 summer season. First of all, Wolverine got all the best lines (e.g. Cyclops asks Logan how they know it's him, and not Mystique. Logan responds by calling Scott a dick. The whole theater laughed.). The best part of the film, as mentioned above, is the Scott-Logan part of the Scott-Logan-Jean love triangle. The character development on Logan and Rogue was wonderful (the only problem was they gave Rogue half an identity. Her name's Marie. Everyone still calls her Rogue), and here's hoping that the next movie will have Gambit to create a Gambit-Rogue-Iceman triangle! Yes! Rockin', man!
Happy Hour (1999)
So sad it had to go...
Why was this show canceled? The premise was perfect: Get together some quasi-celebrities and stick them in a gender war. The prizes? The stuff you would find on infomercials that if the celebs really wanted, they would probably already have! It was brilliant! The last episode I saw was more Zappa than one could handle, with not just Ahmed and the Dweez, but Moon as well! One of the most interesting concepts was the fact that the band's name changed every week!
Brak Presents the Brak Show Starring Brak (2000)
More fun than a bologna sandwich!
This show, the second spinoff of "Space Ghost Coast To Coast," is great. Just the sheer fact that they created new animation for the show was wonderful, and finally seeing the guest/cartoon interaction (such as Diamond Dallas Page throwing Zorak across the stage) was comic genius. I almost busted a gut seeing Zorak dressed up as Slash from Guns N Roses. The show has plenty of musical numbers from the Brakster, including a duet with Freddie Prinze, Jr., on the perrenial Brak favorite, "Highway 40." There have only been two episodes so far, and since you never know when they'll air them again, I suggest you pick up Brak Presents the Brak Album Starring Brak to at least hear the sketches and songs.