Movie Walrus: LeVar Goes To The Pictures Part II - Electric Boogaloo... THE REVEAL

Necro

I really wanted to put in an Off Broadway one but the actual movies I selected I *think* you might like a bit better

Now watch me come last and second last :pac:

Also Starring LeVar Burton

Necro wrote: »

I really wanted to put in an Off Broadway one but the actual movies I selected I *think* you might like a bit better

Now watch me come last and second last :pac:

JP Liz V1

Anyone watch In The Heights the new musical from Lin Miranda?

I was trying to think of smaller less known musicals, would Rent count

Also Starring LeVar Burton

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

Anyone watch In The Heights the new musical from Lin Miranda?

I was trying to think of smaller less known musicals, would Rent count

An argument could be made that a lot of musicals start their runs Off-Broadway, so most things would've been fair game... I used Off-Broadway and was looking for more niche offering in an attempt to prevent everyone going for the most popular musicals along the lines of The Lion King or Oliver!...

For me Rent would definitely be somewhere in between the Uber Popular and the Super Obscure, and it's a musical I love, so it might of fared pretty well had it been entered...

I think all Walrus categories are fairly open to interpretation of the submitter... whether the judge, jury, and executioner of a host agrees or not is another thing entirely of course...

aaronjennings

Also Starring LeVar Burton wrote: »

And Nicolas Cage proved most popular among our contenders with a whopping 8 movies in the Caged In mix

I thought he might, so deliberately steered clear of that category

Not that you can ever have too much Nicolas Cage, of course

cee_jay

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

Anyone watch In The Heights the new musical from Lin Miranda?

I was trying to think of smaller less known musicals, would Rent count

I haven't watched it yet... Really looking forward to seeing it.

Sawduck

Have a feeling one of my movies will finish last in this round its a bit of a ridiculous film

Also Starring LeVar Burton

Screw it, I'm ready to get this show underway in about 5 minutes time...

So buckle up b*thces!

Also Starring LeVar Burton

Also Starring LeVar Burton

16th place with 16 pts is

cee_jay

Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse (2018)

Sub-Category: Caged In

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4633694/

IMDB wrote:

Teen Miles Morales becomes the Spider-Man of his universe, and must join with five spider-powered individuals from other dimensions to stop a threat for all realities.

Have I Seen It Before: No

LeVar's Approval Rating: 78%

Review:
This was a tough one to rate because visually speaking this is by far my favourite Superhero Movie, because it is 100% a love letter to comic book fans and literally styled to look like you are watching a comic book, and it's funny, has a great story, nice to finally see Miles Morales get his big screen debut and take centre stage, and when I first saw it in the cinema it made a bigger impression on me than the rating I'm giving it here would suggest (basically I do love this film), however… I've got a bad case of Superhero Fatigue. I'm a comic book fan and a superhero fan, and there are certain Films and TV shows coming up that I'm looking forward to, but in general I'm fed up of how the Superhero & Comic Book genre has completely flooded the market and just become a big money spinner for the bigger studios at the expense of other film genres. As a result of that fatigue, I don't think I would've rated anything from the Superhero genre higher than this, which is unfortunate for the submitter, but them's the breaks. I also wished there was more Nicolas Cage in this film given the sub-category it was being submitted for, his part in this is fairly minimal, but it still fits the category, just would've been a personal preference to have something with more Cage in it.

Also Starring LeVar Burton

15th place with 17 pts is

Kolido

Maniac Cop (1988)

Sub-Category: To B or Not To B

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095583/

IMDB wrote:

A killer dressed in a police uniform begins murdering innocent people on the streets of New York City.

Have I Seen It Before: No

LeVar's Approval Rating: 82%

Review:
Maniac Cop was a lot of fun. It's far from a "good" movie in the traditional sense of the word, but I really really enjoyed it and that's all I can ask for from a B-Movie. The entire second half of this film I had a massive grin on my face the whole time and was fully invested in the story. Always great to see Bruce Campbell and was expecting a good performance from him, but really thought the acting from everyone was great too, which isn't always the case in this particular genre of films. There's some great action sequences in the final act as well, that were very well done. The plot is very straightforward, not remotely original, but is exactly what I was expecting it to be and I didn't need it to be anything but that at the end of the day. I'm glad to see they made two sequels to this too, and I'll certainly be having a look at those at some stage.

Also Starring LeVar Burton

17th place with 15 pts is

Rikand

Loaded Weapon 1 (1993)

Sub-Category: The Estevez Festivez

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107659/

IMDB wrote:

A spoof on Lethal Weapon (1987), other movies, TV commercials etc. 2 unlike LA cops investigate a cocaine in girl scout cookies case.

Have I Seen It Before: No

LeVar's Approval Rating: 77%

Review:
A pretty solid parody movie, it definitely hits more than it misses. Not quite as good as Hot Shots! Part Deux earlier in the competition, but still has plenty of good laughs in it, the best ones coming from some of the cameo appearances. It's not the best movie Emilio Estevez or Samuel L. Jackson have ever done, but it gets the job done all the same. Not much else to say about this one, so I'm going to keep the write-up short and sweet, just like the film was. Good choice, just couldn't quite hold up compared to those ranked above it.

Also Starring LeVar Burton

14th place with 18 pts is

aaronjennings

Final Destination 3 (2006)

Sub-Category: The Teen Scream

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0414982/

IMDB wrote:

Six years after students cheated death, another teen has a premonition she and her friends will be involved in an accident. When the vision proves true, the student and survivors deal with the repercussions of cheating the Grim Reaper.

Have I Seen It Before: No

LeVar's Approval Rating: 83%

Review:
Big fan of the Final Destination series, every single one of them is a lot of fun, and seen them all on multiple occasions. Familiarity is probably what works against it just a little bit here, as it's quite hard to live up to the first time you watch the film, since you tend to miss out on a lot of the shock factor on repeat viewings. I think Final Destination 3 has the least likeable characters, in most of the other films in the series you want to root for the characters and hope (as unlikely as it may be) that they manage to survive, but in this one I'm glad to see death catch up with each of them. It does however have some of the most memorable deaths, which compensates a bit for the unlikeable protagonists. The best thing about this film (or any of the rest of them in the series) is how the threat and danger doesn't come from an axe murderer or monster, but from things that people see and do all the time. When I was younger I used to love going on rollercoasters, but ever since seeing this film (I think it was between my first and second year of college) I've not gone near one and I don't intend to ever again.

Also Starring LeVar Burton

Joined in 18th place with 14 pts each are

Rikand

and

Necro

The Rock (1996)

Sub-Category: Caged In

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117500/

IMDB wrote:

A mild-mannered chemist and an ex-con must lead the counterstrike when a rogue group of military men, led by a renegade general, threaten a nerve gas attack from Alcatraz against San Francisco.

Have I Seen It Before: No

LeVar's Approval Rating: 76%

Review:
Can somebody please call a film editor? The first thirty minutes could easily be condensed into a three minute montage, gotten the same information across, and you'd have a far better film because of it, and I would have been far less bored. Until the moment Nicolas Cage and Sean Connery are in a room together, the beginning of the film is bland exposition and generic patriotic nonsense that didn't endear me to the film in the slightest and I feared I was going to hate the whole thing. Once it gets past that rocky start though, it's a damn good action film, with a great cast, and a fun setting (as an aside, I've been to Alcatraz, the island itself is cool, but so much of the prison is closed off to the public for structural reasons that the overall experience is a bit disappointing and visited better prisons with more historical significance ; don't regret going, just didn't live up to the expectations). Can't forgive the mess that is the beginning of the film as a strong and solid start is hugely important ; if I hadn't been "contractually obligated" to watch it for the Walrus, I would've switched it off fifteen minutes in and never watched the rest of it.

Also Starring LeVar Burton

13th place with 19 pts is

cee_jay

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)

Sub-Category: Off-Broadway

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073629/

IMDB wrote:

A newly-engaged couple have a breakdown in an isolated area and must seek shelter at the bizarre residence of Dr. Frank-n-Furter.

Have I Seen It Before: Yes

LeVar's Approval Rating: 86%

Review:
It's a shame there was only one pick for the Off-Broadway sub-category as I feel some musicals could have done very well in this round, but at least there was one submitted, and it was great to sit down and watch The Rocky Horror Picture Show for the first time in a long time. I've never been as hugely enamoured with Rocky Horror as the hardcore fans are, there are a few musical numbers in it that I just find a tad "meh" which drag it down from being a perfect musical for me, but despite that I've always really enjoyed it, and for an overall experience it's still pretty high up there for me. It's also a significant movie in as much as its success and cult status paved the way for other quirky, obscure, and non-conventional musicals. My favourite numbers that really stand out as highlights from the film are "Science Fiction/Double Feature", "Dammit Janet", "Sweet Transvestite" and "Touch-a, Touch-a, Touch-a, Touch Me". Good choice, and glad the musicals got a bit of love from one of the submitters.

Also Starring LeVar Burton

19th place with 12 pts is

Alfred Borden

Shaun of the Dead (2004)

Sub-Category: It's The End of the World As We Know It and I Feel Fine

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0365748/

IMDB wrote:

A man's uneventful life is disrupted by the zombie apocalypse.

Have I Seen It Before: Yes

LeVar's Approval Rating: 75%

Review:
I'm a big fan of Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, and Edgar Wright, but I've never quite warmed to Shaun of the Dead as much as I have the rest of the stuff they've worked on together. I much prefer the other two entries in the Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy (Hot Fuzz and The World's End) and I don't think Shaun of the Dead hits the same highs. That doesn't mean I don't still enjoy this one, the overall plot is great, the majority of the gags land very well, and the cast are all very likeable, but it does take a while for the plot to really get going and I have always just felt the film in general is just a tad over-rated in the grand scheme of things, so it has never been able to live up to the pedestal others have placed it on, in my opinion.

Necro

Actually the patriotic stuff is a bit daft tbh, who cares why Ed Harris wants to blow up San Francisco :pac:


I like Shaun as well but Hot Fuzz is my fave out of the trilogy tbh

Also Starring LeVar Burton

12th place with 20 pts is

ShaneU

The Family Man (2000)

Sub-Category: Caged In

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0218967/

IMDB wrote:

A fast-lane investment broker, offered the opportunity to see how the other half lives, wakes up to find that his sports car and girlfriend have become a mini-van and wife.

Have I Seen It Before: No

LeVar's Approval Rating: 88%

Review:
This was the first of the Nicolas Cage movies I watched (I decided to use a randomiser to decide the order in which I would watch the Nic Cage ones, and I'm not entirely sure why) and it was a cracking start to my Caged In marathon. It's just a fun, feel good movie, and it's one of those films that makes me think Nicolas Cage is an absolute genius and not just a raving lunatic ; there's a thin line between those two things. The only issue I had with The Family Man was Téa Leoni, who I felt wasn't the best casting choice to be Cage's love interest as there was zero chemistry between them whatsoever, which usually means the actors are just really good mates, clearly neither of them secretly fancies or hates the other, which is how the best on-screen chemistry comes about ; you always hear about actors who can't stand each other but they come across great together in a film or tv show, or that one or both had a crush on the other but never acted on it. In the grand scheme it's a minor thing, but it stood out like a sore thumb to me and dragged the film down a few places in the rankings. Despite all that, great choice, really enjoyed it.

JP Liz V1

I think I should have submitted Raising Arizona than an action Nic Cage flick

Also Starring LeVar Burton

Necro wrote: »

Actually the patriotic stuff is a bit daft tbh, who cares why Ed Harris wants to blow up San Francisco :pac:


I like Shaun as well but Hot Fuzz is my fave out of the trilogy tbh

I wish they had just packed his motives into a couple of lines of dialogue later on in the movie rather (like in Die Hard or Speed), the faffing about at the start genuinely annoyed me... :pac:

Also Starring LeVar Burton

20th place with 11 pts is

mustang shelly

Greenland (2020)

Sub-Category: It's The End of the World As We Know It and I Feel Fine

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7737786/

IMDB wrote:

A family struggles for survival in the face of a cataclysmic natural disaster.

Have I Seen It Before: No

LeVar's Approval Rating: 74%

Review:
This was a lot better than I expected it to be. There are quite a few films I have seen that have more or less the exact same plot line and they've nearly always been spectacular fails for me, and I figured this would likely be a huge let down as well, but it was actually pretty decent. Gerard Butler and Morena Baccarin do a great job, and the fact that I like both of them probably helped me invest into their characters a bit quicker than I might have otherwise. The first two thirds of the film are really really good, they were going an interesting direction with it, but then they dropped the ball and it became very predictable and a bit drawn out towards the end, which is unfortunate because had if it had stayed the course and not gone down the generic route, this might easily have been in the top three in this round. Couldn't really justify rating it any higher since my interest was waning for the final half hour or so, but overall experience was pretty good.

Also Starring LeVar Burton

11th place with 21 pts is

Sawduck

White Heat (1949)

Sub-Category: The Early Bird Special

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042041/

IMDB wrote:

A psychopathic criminal with a mother complex makes a daring break from prison and leads his old gang in a chemical plant payroll heist.

Have I Seen It Before: No

LeVar's Approval Rating: 89%

Review:
This was vastly entertaining and I hugely enjoyed it. The acting from everyone is absolutely flawless, although it's difficult not to get sucked entirely into James Cagney's orbit and spend the whole time focusing on his performance alone, he kind of overshadows everyone else on screen, but there are no weak links at all, and Edmond O'Brien and Virginia Mayo were the other two (as well as Cagney) that I was completely enthralled by. It was a clever cat-and-mouse crime drama, and the character motivations and decisions were clear and three-dimensional, which isn't always the case with films of this genre. The ending wasn't quite as satisfying as the rest of the film, it was still good though and indicitive of that era of cinema, but I personally would have liked to have seen them gone a different way with the ending and continued on with the character study that had been the guts of the film until that point.

ShaneU

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

I think I should have submitted Raising Arizona than an action Nic Cage flick

I did that in a walrus before and it failed spectacularly, some people have no sense of humour. "A baby getting kidnapped isn't funny" :rolleyes:

Also Starring LeVar Burton

That's the middle 10 movies of the round done...

A couple of people have already seen both their choices pop up, while others have seen neither of their selections in the mix thus far...

ShaneU

Necro

Nervous for my second film tbh. Especially given some of your comments on movies from that category...

Also Starring LeVar Burton

21st place with 10 pts is

ShaneU

The Flight of the Phoenix (1965)

Sub-Category: It's The End of the World As We Know It and I Feel Fine

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059183/

IMDB wrote:

After a plane crash in the Sahara, one of the survivors says he's an airplane designer and they can make a flyable plane from the wreckage.

Have I Seen It Before: No

LeVar's Approval Rating: 72%

Review:
I had seen the re-make of this before, and I did like this original better due to the performances of James Stewart, Richard Attenborough, and Hardy Kruger. The cast in general are great here. The story itself is only fine, and the runtime is unncessarily long given how much actually happens in the narrative, but I enjoyed it overall. There's nothing wrong with the film necessarily and I suppose the best way to describe how I feel about it, is that it's the equivalent of getting a Double Whopper meal from Burger King, it does the job and you won't go hungry, but what you really wanted was a Sirloin Steak slathered in a Whiskey based sauce and a bottle of Red from a nice Bistro ; it just doesn't really compare to the more satisfying and delicious meals movies ranked about it.

quickbeam

Also Starring LeVar Burton wrote: »

11th place with 21 pts is

Sawduck

White Heat (1949)

Great pick / pic.

Also Starring LeVar Burton

10th place with 22 pts is

JP Liz V1

The Mighty Ducks (1992)

Sub-Category: The Estevez Festivez

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104868/

IMDB wrote:

A self-centered Minnesota lawyer is sentenced to community service coaching a rag tag youth hockey team.

Have I Seen It Before: Yes

LeVar's Approval Rating: 90%

Review:
Did someone say "cheat code"? It's no secret that I'm a big Mighty Ducks fan, so going for any of the Ducks movies for an Estevez Festivez (well at least the first two anyway, he only appears in a couple of scenes in the third one) is a fairly safe bet. D2: The Mighty Ducks is easily my favourite of the film trilogy, and it may have fared even better here, but this first one definitely puts Estevez front and centre, whereas in the sequel the focus definitely shifts onto the kids a bit more and it's more of an ensemble, so in terms of the category, I do think this was the best choice, because it's a really really strong performance from Estevez. There's a clear character arc there for Gordon Bombay from start to finish, and while I may prefer the zaniness and gimmicks introduced in the sequel, a lot of credit has to be given here for Bombay's journey and emotional development. I could've done without the romantic sub-plot with Bombay and Charlie's mother, and the "fun" montage in order to shoehorn some cameos from actual Hockey players, but they're the only very minor criticisms I'd have.

quickbeam

ShaneU wrote: »

I did that in a walrus before and it failed spectacularly, some people have no sense of humour. "A baby getting kidnapped isn't funny" :rolleyes:

I love Raising Arizona. All films should have babies getting kidnapped :P