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Reviews
The Next Karate Kid (1994)
Aged well with time
It was a box office flop when it first came out. Why? Probably because people were over the Karate Kid craze and it was seen as dated by its 1990s audience.
I found it a beautiful story about a tragic girl with intense anger issues, finds peace and happiness through karate, a road trip and good ol Mr Miyagi's words of wisdom.
I enjoyed Miyagi's fathering role where he chops up a cucumber in front of the boyfriend on prom night and warns him to treat Juliesan with respect. And when he buys her a dress, reminded me of "Anne of Green Gables."
The film is full of hilarious humour, some of which was unintentional. The writer had also confused 1990s America with 1930s Nazi Germany, where black shirt thugs police a high school. And Juliesan's boyfriend is an underage teen who works as a security guard??? I've never heard of a high school being that dysfunctional.
I also enjoyed Paul Dugan, a true psychopath who is far worse than John Kreese. He's probably an old friend (or enemy) of Kreese. They should introduce him into Cobra Kai as a violent psychotic police officer who abuses his power.
Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot (1992)
I watched it with my mum.
We loved it and laughed the whole way through. It does have a few scenes of ridiculous dialogue and implausibility and over-the-top antics. But it has far more enjoyable scenes that make you laugh and cringe at the same time. We watched it just a few years ago, I guess some films get better with time.
I particularly loved the scene where the man is threatening to jump off a building and Stallone's mother interferes.
It's far more memorable than Arnold Schwarzenegger's bland and boring "Last Action Hero," where Arnie admits he got the same payback for setting up Stallone, to act in a flop.
"Stop or My Mom Will Shoot," is a film that every mother and son should watch together.
Towing (1978)
Dreadful music, hairstyles and fashion of the 1970s
This film is hilariously bad and has acting so wooden, it belongs in the saw mill. But it also had some unforgettable lines.
There are about 3 or 4 songs in this film that are played and played to death throughout. It's the kind of music that did not stand the test of time. I guess it was made on a shoestring budget.
Parts of the film make absolutely no sense. Such as a lighthearted scene that switches to a completely serious melodramatic scene a few seconds later where the girl looks morbidly depressed while the music playing in the background sings, "...you're only a moment..." Then it switches back to the comical movie it's supposed to be.
The film is badly edited with scenes repeating themselves later on in the film. Much of a film seems to be at night time (for no justifiable reason) or at day time in really poor lighting. Maybe it was filmed in Alaska.
The Bradys (1990)
The horrific ending of the original Brady characters
The original Brady Bunch (1969-74) was a corny, cheesy, innocent sitcom of the 1970s, and that's precisely why it was so well-loved and still is, so many decades later. That was it's charm, and the escape it provided to viewers dealing with mundane problems of the world. The producers of the Brady Bunch Movie (1995), and A Very Brady Sequel (1996) understood this and made two unforgettable films.
The Brady kids in 1974 wanted to introduce lots of ridiculous plots into the next season, such as Peter becoming homeless, Jan gets wooed by a European Prince, Cindy gets a pet horse. And they were going to sack Robert Reed, make him divorce Carol Brady, have Mr Brady's brother move in with the family. Fortunately the series got canned before this happened.
The original series was followed by a cringeworthy variety show (1977) good for a laugh, but a very Brady thing to do. Then there was the Brady Brides and A Very Brady Christmas in the 1980s that still maintained the original charm and corniness we loved so much. That's where it should have ended on a high note.
Instead, tv decided to change a comedy sitcom into a serious drama. They changed 9 main characters into over 20. They turned the lovable innocent Brady's into a dysfunctional family: Marcia is an alcoholic with her loser husband and they struggle with homelessness; Bobby gets crippled; Alice suffers dementia, Mike turns into a politician and Peter is a womaniser. How depressing.
It's as if the producers were embarrassed by the original series and wanted to show how hip they were with the 1990s. All they did was ruin everything we loved about the original series so it looked and felt wrong. Even the cast made fun of this series on set and couldn't take it seriously. Changing a comedy into a melodrama was the worst mistake ever - especially for a show like the Brady Bunch.
Seventy Times Seven (2012)
Incomprehensibly silly
A man has the perfect life, perfect wife. That is, until he finds her murdered on the bathroom floor. He is understandably upset.
Since the police are a bunch of buffoons, who talk and act like morons, they have no success in finding the killer.
So it's up to the main star to take the law into his own hands and find the killer. His number one suspect is his own sister-in-law! He rocks up at her door, screams, cries and threatens to kill her without even a shred of evidence! Instead of the police arresting him, they arrest his sister-in-law! The police seem certain that she must be guilty and ready to serve a life sentence, thanks to the baseless accusation made by the widower (whom they also suspect of killing his own wife).
So it's up to the main star, his parents and his pastor to determine who was guilty of this mysterious murder. After learning that his best friend visited his house prior to the murder, e suddenly concludes that his best friend was guilty of the murder. After a struggle the best friend holds him at gun point, tells him all the details of how and why he murdered his wife. Then the widower just casually knocks the gun out of his hand, then the police rock up to arrest the villain, everyone lives happily ever after.
Some films are so-bad-they're-good. This is just plain boring and annoying.
Armenia, My Love... (2016)
The world must remember
This film deals with the cruel and ruthless genocide of the Armenians simply for being Christian and non-Turkish. It is the story of a young boy who watches his pregnant mother get shot, but he survives and lives past the age of 100 to tell the tale. Powerful, poignant and sobering. Lest we forget.
She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
A brilliant return to the 80s TV series
Netflix has brought back the He-Man spinoff. The episodes follow Adora's recruitment into the rebellion on Etheria.
The series has cheesy and over-the-top characters, along with a fair share of comic-relief - but this is not unlike the original series.
The drawings are more like Manga than the original series was, but they are still more faithful to the original and changed less than "The New Adventures if He-Man" (1990) did.
Every fan of He-Man and She-Ra will likely enjoy this.