Category: Humor

“Corrective Measures” (2022) Starring Bruce Willis and Michael Rooker / Z-View

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Director:  Sean Patrick O’Reilly

Screenplay:  Sean Patrick O’Reilly based on Corrective Measures by Grant Chastain and Fran Moyano

Stars:  Bruce Willis, Michael Rooker and Tom Cavanagh

Tagline: None

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

Overseer Devlin (Rooker) is Warden of a maximum security prison for super powered villains.  When Payback, a vigilante is sent there, things heat up.  Payback sees himself as an avenger who kills super powered villains and the prison is full of them.  In addition as Devlin works out his plan for an early retirement, Lobe (Willis), an evil genius with secret powers is working on his own plan for an early release.

Corrective Measures is a low budget film.  And the amount and type of effects used throughout the film are evidence of it.  Willis and Rooker aren’t given much to do and the film would probably benefited from having their salaries go to unknown actors and a bigger effects budget.  Then again, having Willis and Rooker’s names on the poster probably got more eyes on the film.

State of Emergency earns 2 of 5 stars.

“You Can’t Cheat An Honest Man” (1939) Starring W.C. Fields / Z-View

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You Can’t Cheat An Honest Man (1939)

Directors:  George Marshall, Edward F. Cline (uncredited)

Screenplay:  Everett Freeman, Richard Mack, George Marion, Jr.  from a story by Charles Bogle (W.C. Fields)

Starring: W.C. Fields, Edgar Bergen & Charlie McCarthy & Mortimer Snerd, Constance Moore and Eddie ‘Rochester’ Anderson

Tagline: AT LAST YOU CAN SEE THESE FAMOUS FEUDSTERS CLASH ON THE SCREEN!

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

Larson E. Whipsnade (Fields) owns a struggling circus.  They’re just one step ahead of the law and nearly broke.  Despite being in love with The Great Edgar (Bergin), the ventriloquist in her father’s circus, Vickey (Moore) decides to marry a rich suitor thinking that the money will fix things for her dad.  Will love win out?

W.C. Fields and Edgar Bergen had popular radio shows and a “running feud”.  It was a natural to get them on film.  The great thing about You Can’t Cheat An Honest Man is the jokes/gags keep coming.  Eddie “Rochester” Anderson doesn’t get a lot to do, but it’s always a joy to see him on film.

You Can’t Cheat An Honest Man earns 4 of 5 stars.

“A League of Their Own” Season 1 (2022) / Z-View

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A League of Their Own, Season 1 (2022)

Directors:  Jamie Babbit (Eps. 1-3); Ayoka Chenzira (Ep. 4); Katrelle Kindred (Ep.5); Will Graham (Ep. 6); Silas Howard (Ep. 7); Anya Adams (Ep. 8)

Teleplay by: Will Graham & Abbi Jacobson (Eps. 1 & 8); Abbi Jacobson (Ep.2); Desta Tedros Reff (Ep. 3); Michelle Badillo (Ep. 4); Mfoniso Udofia (Ep.5); Will Graham (Ep. 6); Sanaz Toossi (Ep.7)

Starring:  Abbi Jacobson, Chanté Adams, D’Arcy Carden, Gbemisola Ikumelo, Roberta Colindrez, Kelly McCormack, Priscilla Delgado, Molly Ephraim, Melanie Field, Kate Berlant, Dale Dickey, Saidah Arrika Ekulona, Lea Robinson and Rosie O’Donnell

Tagline: None.

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

A League of Their Own is an loose adaptation of the 1992, A League of Their Own hit movie.  The update introduces new characters and storylines.

The year is 1943.  World War II is raging.  In an effort to increase morale at home the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League is formed.  A League of Their Own follows a group of women from try-outs through the first season on the Rockford Peaches.  The focus is on…

  • Carson Shaw (Jacobson), a married woman from the midwest who’s life has been somewhat sheltered.  Her husband is in the service.  Carson develops feelings for Greta.
  • Maxine “Max” Chapman (Adams) is an African-American woman with a fastball that rivals those thrown by most men.  Maxine won’t even get a chance to tryout for the team because she’s black, but when one door closes…
  • Greta Gill (Carden) is a wild woman, who lives life and encourages Carson in more ways than one.
  • Clance Morgan (Ikumelo) is Maxine’s best friend, a newlywed who wants to be a comic book artist (and not a baseball player)
  • Jo DeLuca (Field) is Greta’s best friend and a power hitter
  • Toni Chapman (Ekulona) is Maxine’s mother who doesn’t support her baseball ambitions

While the above characters get most of the screen time, A League of Their Own does an excellent job of showcasing each of the players on the Rockford Peaches.  It’s interesting that women’s baseball is used as the backdrop for a time in America when women couldn’t open a checking account without their husband’s permission, African-Americans were still segregated from whites and being gay was thought of as a disease or even contagious.

The writing on A League of Their Own is really sharp and it doesn’t hurt that the series is well cast.  All of the actresses that play major characters are excellent.  Kudos also to Lea Robinson as Uncle Bertie,  Nick Offerman who plays the former pro who is brought in to coach the Peaches and Rosie O’Donnell who plays the owner of an underground gay bar.  Maxine “Max” Chapman (Adams) and her best friend Clance Morgan (Ikumelo) have a chemistry as best friends that could sustain a half hour comedy on their own.

A League of Their Own surprised me in how good it was.  I hope we get a second season.

A League of Their Own, Season 1 earns 4 of 5 stars.

“Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” Starring Daniel Craig, Ed Norton, Janelle Monáe and Dave Bautista – The Trailer is Here!

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I liked the first Knives Out mystery and Glass Onion looks to be at least as good.  Oh, and how about that cast!

You’re invited to put the pieces together. In the follow-up to Rian Johnson’s Knives Out, Detective Benoit Blanc travels to Greece to peel back the layers of a mystery involving a new cast of colorful suspects.

Starring Daniel Craig, Edward Norton, Janelle Monáe, Kathryn Hahn, Leslie Odom Jr., Jessica Henwick, Madelyn Cline with Kate Hudson and Dave Bautista.

Me Time (2016) Starring Kevin Hart and Mark Wahlberg / Z-View

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Me Time (2016)

Director:  John Hamburg

Screenplay by:  John Hamburg

Starring: Kevin Hart, Mark Wahlberg and Regina Hall

Tagline:  This is not what he had in mind.

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

Sonny (Hart) and Huck (Wahlberg) were buddies who loved to party and push the limits.  But that was 15 years ago.  Sonny is now a stay-at-home dad who takes care of his successful wife (Hall) and two kids.  Sonny volunteers daily at his kids’ elementary school,  He has no time for outside interests.  When Huck invites Sonny to a weeklong celebration, he declines.  Sonny’s wife convinces him that he should take some “me time”.  She’ll take the week off of work and reconnect with the kids while Sonny spends time with his old friend.

Sonny agrees.  It may be the worst week of his life… if he survives.

Me Time goes all out to be funny.  It has its moments, but unfortunately many of them are more gross than funny: pooping in a bucket, pooping on his wife’s boss’ bed, Sonny getting caught by his young daughter as he pleasures himself and sticking his wife’s boss’ cooking utensils down his pants are just a few examples.  Another problem is the things that happen in a scene have no impact once the scene ends.  Sonny is badly clawed by a mountain lion. Audience laughs.  Move on.  Sonny has his hand smashed by a bill collector.  Hand is shown mangled.  Audience laughs.  Move on.  The pranks that Huck and Sonny pull at his wife’s boss’ house should get them arrested.  Move on and have the boss soon become friends with Sonny.

Me Time has a it’s moments.  If you like gross comedy where reality is secondary to jokes and you’re a Kevin Hart fan, then you’ll probably like Me Time better than I did.

Me Time earns 2 of 5 stars.

“Machine Gun Kelly” (1958) Starring Charles Bronson / Z-View

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Machine Gun Kelly (1958)

Director: Roger Corman

Screenplay by:  R. Wright Campbell

Starring: Charles Bronson, Susan Cabot, Morey Amsterdam and Richard Devon

Tagline:  Without His Gun He Was Naked Yellow!

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

Charles Bronson, in his first starring role, plays Machine Gun Kelly in this fictionalized account of the gangster’s exploits.  Machine Gun Kelly was also the first gangster film directed by Roger Corman and the film that Corman said began to get him respect as a filmmaker.  It was also the first feature film for Morey Amsterdam, who plays the flamboyant Fandango.

Machine Gun Kelly isn’t bad for a low-budget film shot in just eight days.  Reviews were generally good.  There is one unintentionally funny scene that I call Fandango the Escape Artist Who Brought Down Machine Gun Kelly.  If you’re a Charles Bronson fan, it’s definitely worth a watch.

Machine Gun Kelly earns 2 of 5 stars.

The Stolen Jools (1931) / Z-View

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The Stolen Jools (1931)

Director: William C. McGann, John G. Adolfi (uncredited), Thomas Atkins (uncredited)

Screenplay by:  (All uncredited) Al Boasberg, Edwin J. Burke, Arthur Caesar, George Arthur Gray, Howard J. Green, Harrison Greene, Percy Heath, Carlisle Jones, Harry Myers, E.K. Nadel, Edgar Allan Woolf

Starring: Wallace Beery, Buster Keaton, Edward G. Robinson, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, Our Gang: Farina, Stymie, Chubby, Mary Ann Jackson, Shirley Jean Rickert, Echo, Wheezer, Pete the Pup, Norma Shearer, Hedda Hopper, Joan Crawford, Victor McLaglen, Irene Dunne, Bert Wheeler, Robert Woolsey, Richard Dix, Gary Cooper, Maurice Chevalier, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Loretta Young, Barbara Stanwyck, Frank Fay, Jack Oakie, Fay Wray, George “Gabby” Hayes, Mitzi Green and Joe E. Brown

Tagline:  None

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

The Stolen Jools is a comedy short co-sponsored by Chesterfield Cigarettes and used to raise money for the National Variety Artists tuberculosis sanatorium.  The Stolen Jools was distributed by Paramount Pictures but featured movie stars from Paramount, Warner Bros., MGM, Hal Roach Studios and RKO.  After each showing of the short, a theater worker would explain the charity involved and collect donations from those in attendance.

The plot of The Stolen Jools is that Norma Shearer had a huge Hollywood party and afterward her valuable jewels came up missing.  A detective is questioning stars who were there in short comedic scenes.  I love seeing all the star cameos.  I wish we had shorts like this these days — especially to raise money for good causes!

The Stolen Jools earns 5 of 5 stars.

“Fuzz” (1972) Starring Burt Reynolds and Raquel Welch / Z-View

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Fuzz (1972)

Director:  Richard A. Colla

Screenplay by:  Evan Hunter based on Fuzz by Ed McBain

Starring:  Burt Reynolds, Raquel Welch, Jack Weston, Tom Skerritt, James McEachin, Bert Remsen, Brian Doyle-Murray, Charles Martin Smith, Tamara Dobson and Yul Brynner.

Tagline:  Here Come The Fuzz

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

Fuzz follows cases involving detectives of the 87th precinct.  Detective’s Carella (Reynolds) and King (Skerritt) are looking for whoever is setting bums on fire.  Detective McHenry (Welch) is after a serial rapist.  There’s also a string of robberies in the precinct that has their attention.  Those cases lose their priority when city officials start getting murdered.  All of the 87th precinct’s detectives must work together to find The Deaf Man before he kills again.

Fuzz is supposed to be a comedy.  Sadly most of the humor derives from making the detectives look incompetent.  The scenes in the precinct house reminded me of a bad, bad imitation of Barney Miller, except without the interesting characters and funny jokes.  Check out the poster for Fuzz and if you think it’s bad, you can imagine the movie.  Burt Reynolds and Raquel Welch co-star, but she refused to have any interactions on screen with him due to problems on a previous film!

Fuzz earns 2 of 5 stars.

“Parlor, Bedroom and Bath” (1931) / Z-View

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Parlor, Bedroom and Bath (1931)

Director:  Edward Sedgwick

Screenplay by:  C.W. Bell, Mark Swan and Robert E. Hopkins (additional dialogue)

Starring:  Buster Keaton, Charlotte Greenwood, Reginald Denny, Cliff Edwards, Dorothy Christy, Sally Eilers and Edward Brophy

Tagline:   You’ve seen great lovers of the screen- but you haven’t seen anything until you’ve seen Buster Keaton doing his stuff- a dozen sweethearts- and every one landed him in more trouble.

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

Jeffrey (Denny) wants to marry Gini (Eilers), but Gini refuses until her older sister, Angelica (Christy) marries.  The problem is no man is exciting enough for Angelica.

When Jeffrey accidentally injures mild-mannered Reggie (Keaton), Jeffrey brings Reggie back to the mansion to recuperate.   Angelica thinks Reggie is handsome and that gives Jeffrey an idea.  He will pass Reggie off as a dashing ladies man.  This turns out to be harder than first thought.  Reggie is not only timid around ladies, he’s totally inexperienced with dating them.

So Jeffrey gets one of his lady friends to spread the word about Reggie’s prowess.  Jeffrey then reserves a hotel room where Reggie will be “caught” with a woman and a jealous Angelica will want to marry him.  That’s the plan.  Poor Reggie ends up on the run with multiple women, a jealous husband, a hotel detective and bellmen after him.  If you enjoy farce and/or Buster Keaton, you should get a kick out of Parlor, Bedroom and Bath!

Parlor, Bedroom and Bath earns 4 of 5 stars.

Day Shift (2022) Starring Jamie Foxx / Z-View

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Day Shift (2022)

Director:  J.J. Perry

Screenplay by:  Tyler Tice, Shay Hatten from a story by Tyler Tice

Starring: 
Jamie Foxx, Dave Franco, Natasha Liu Bordizzo, Meagan Good, Karla Souza, Steve Howey, Scott Adkins, Oliver Masucci, Snoop Dogg  and Zion Broadnax

Tagline:  Some Jobs Really Go for the Throat

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

Bud Jablonski (Foxx) is separated from his wife who plans to move to Florida with their little girl due to mounting bills.  Bud convinces his wife to give him until the end of the week to raise the needed several thousand dollars.  She agrees.

Although his wife thinks he’s a pool cleaner, Bud is actually a vampire killer.  The trouble is, Bud was kicked out of the vampire-killing union due to multiple rules violations.  In order to get a chance at raising the kind of money he needs, Bud gets Big John Elliott (Snoop Dogg), a legendary vampire killer, to vouch for him and is reinstated in the union.  In order to make sure that Bud follows the rules, he’s paired with a nervous union desk clerk (Franco) with no field experience.  Now all Bud has to do is kill enough vampires to raise the needed cash — little does Bud know that a vampire queen has him and his family in her sights.

If you’ve read this far, you might enjoy Day Shift.  It has it’s moments, but is so far from reality that there’s little tension.  We never really fear for the deaths of any of the stars, and when we’re surprised that one does die, the post credits scene reveals what we thought happened, didn’t.  The lack of tension would be okay if the comedy really hit home, but again, there are moments but not enough to make it a laugh fest.  My favorite scenes involved the Nazarian brothers (Howey and Adkins) who are vampire hunters extraordinaire.  Day Shift isn’t terrible, but I was expecting better.

Day Shift earns 2 of 5 stars.

“The Nice Guys” (2016) / Z-View

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The Nice Guys (2016)

Director: Shane Black

Screenplay by:  Shane Black, Anthony Bagarozzi

Starring:  Russell Crowe, Ryan Gosling, Angourie Rice, Margaret Qualley, Keith David, Gil Gerard, Murielle Telio and Kim Basinger

Tagline:  They’re not that nice

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

Holland March (Gosling) is a sketchy private eye trying to earn enough dough to support himself and his daughter.  So when he’s offered money by Misty Mountain’s aunt to find Misty, March takes the case (and the cash) even though everyone knows the porn star is dead.  March thinks he’ll spend a couple of days “earning” the advance and then he’ll let the old lady down easy.  That all changes when Jackson Healy (Crowe) puts a beating on March and tells him to drop the investigation.  Rather than take another whoppin’, Healy agrees.

When Healy gets home, two thugs are waiting for him.  They rough him up in an effort to get information about the Misty Mountain case.  Fortunately he has nothing to give them.  After the roughnecks split, Healy goes back to March and convinces him that they should team up to solve the case.  Soon they’ll find that they’re way over their head with hired assassins and government officials wanting them dead.

The Nice Guys has it’s moments.  Crowe and Gosling’s characters are mismatched enough that there’s humor and chemistry in them working as a team.  Angourie Rice is excellent as Gosling’s young, but smart-beyond-her-years daughter.  Basinger has a small but important role.  The plot was a little more convoluted than needed, but that’s a small nit to pick.  I’m surprised The Nice Guys didn’t warrant a sequel.

The Nice Guys earns 3 of 5 stars.

“Better Call Saul” by Nate Gonzales!

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Once a week Joblo.com posts Awesome Art We’ve Found Around the Net.  As you can imagine, they post awesome art that they, well, you get the idea.

I always enjoy seeing what JoBlo has found because with each post they list the artist’s name and a link to more of his/her art.  If you check it out you’ll discover amazing artists like Nate Gonzales who did the piece above.