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Reviews
Blue Collar Comedy Tour: The Movie (2003)
Watch it once...that is plenty
I am not a yuppie, country club golfer, or business tycoon. I have been called a redneck among other things, and I went to Agriculture school and am employed as a salesman for a livestock equipment company. I say all that to say this- I am a blue collar North Carolina country boy, and I think this movie just doesn't cut it.
RON WHITE- Perhaps the funniest of the comedians featured here (believe me, there's more on the unfunny ones later), Ron White's material deals with small town life in a different way than Foxworthy/Engvall/LTCG. His comedy is more cerebral than the others, so I'm sure that fans of the other 3 won't find White as funny.
BILL ENGVALL- Bill Engvall's shtick has worn thin by now. The "Here's Your Sign" bit died in 1996, but don't tell that to Bill. Watching this film, I get the feeling that Bill Engvall thinks he is funnier than he really is. If you can make it through Bill Engvall, here's to ya.
LARRY THE CABLE GUY- Larry the Cable Guy I just don't get. His voice is an obvious caricature of the dumb redneck at the gas station and I admit that the first time I saw this movie, I actually thought he was kind of funny, but the more I see his act and hear his voice, the more it grates on my nerves. He has a knack for making up "madder than", "happier than", "meaner than" type quips that some audiences have howled at, but I just scratch my head. The material in this movie isn't so bad and it's not totally unfunny, but if you get a chance (and God help you if you consciously do so) to see Git-R-Done, which is LTCG's full routine, you will see some of the worst comedy ever recorded. And yet, the audiences roar and Larry is hotter than a rocket. Go figure
JEFF FOXWORTHY- Foxworthy is now a guilty pleasure. The "You Might Be A Redneck" routine has worn VERY thin by now, and you can even see apprehension on Foxworthy's part when he is going through this bit later in his act. I think it has pigeon holed him as the redneck comic. His stand-up is better than Engvall & LTCG, but the whole bit is nothing new. The guilty pleasure part of all of this is that I can't turn away from Jeff Foxworthy. When he's on the radio, I can't help but listen to the same routines that I've heard a thousand times before. Maybe that is the appeal of Blue Collar comedy.
Ironically, I think people who get the biggest kicks out of this aren't rednecks at all. I watched this on Comedy Central with 2 guys- one from Maine, one from New Hampshire- and they laughed like this was the funniest thing they had seen.
The beautiful thing about comedy is that it knows no bounds and is broad enough to appeal to every human being on earth. I prefer a Brian Regan or Dennis Miller, while some prefer Chris Rock, David Brenner, or Bob Hope. There is no one alive who doesn't like to laugh and the bottom line is that this is a love-it or hate-it film based on what makes you laugh; there are no gray areas here.
House of Sand and Fog (2003)
Don't see this film on a bad day
House of Sand and Fog is not a bad movie- it's not even close. It's just that there is a sense of darkness to the whole film that lends itself to being a very depressing tale.
This is unique movie that really doesn't have a classic protagonist/antagonist scenario- Ben Kingsley and Jennifer Connelly are both victims of society here and they are pitted against each other in a rare situation that makes you root for and against both of them. My wife had read the book and thought it was great, but the movie doesn't fall along the same lines regarding continuity and content.
SPOILER ALERT!!! This isn't a true spoiler, but take note that the ending of the film versus the book is not the same. The film actually comes across as less depressing than the book, believe it or not.
Ghost Ship (2002)
Guilty Pleasure....not too bad
Ghost Ship is not a blockbuster horror film in the vein of the Exorcist, Halloween, Psycho, or even slasher flicks like Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th, but overall I found this movie to be a guilty pleasure.
This may polarize fans of the genre, depending on where your loyalties lie. I am a fan of the slasher flicks and B-movies, so I found this film to be enjoyable. If your interest lies in the more cerebral horror films, then I highly recommend you skip this movie. There aren't a lot of twists in the movie, and it is a tad gory, but overall there is a certain "feel" to it that harkens back to Joe Bob Briggs' old Monster Vision show on TNT that featured movies that were so bad they were actually good, and that is exactly how I would categorize Ghost Ship- a good bad movie.
Suicide Kings (1997)
Not original, but a great film nonetheless
Suicide Kings is a rare beast of a film- sure, it can be viewed as a knock-off film, but it ends up better than the films it knocks off! It came to light in the late 90's when "crime drama" was the word and though it may seem a direct re-imagining of some greater (and worse) films in the genre, the suspense and whodunit nature of the movie really puts it near the top of the list in my opinion. Comparisons to Usual Suspects will abound, but Suicide Kings holds it's own. I have read contrary views to this, but it is my assessment that Henry Thomas (yes, from E.T.), Jay Mohr, Denis Leary, and Christopher Walken blend really well together in this movie.
Long story short: A group of trust fund preppies kidnaps a known mob boss to fix a situation involving one of the young men's kidnapped sister- he can either pay the ransom or use his connections to find out who is behind the sister-snatching. Walken plays the mob boss to a hilt, and he turns the heat up on his kidnappers by suggesting (through his outside connections) that it may have been an inside job. Once this monkey wrench is thrown into the system, the men start doubting each other and themselves, and it is clear that they are in over their heads.
The DVD of Suicide Kings has a few alternate endings, one of which I personally prefer over the actual ending.
Hamburger Hill (1987)
A Vietnam movie about the forest, not the trees
This is a battle driven film that you will either love or hate. The focus here is on the brutality of war itself, so this is not a character-driven film. Unlike Full Metal Jacket or Platoon, we are not allowed an opportunity to intimately know these characters, so we do not feel any personal sense of loss.
By most accounts, this film contains the most realistic depictions of Vietnam combat ever captured on film, and again, I think it's a great movie, but the story lies in the battle, not the soldiers fighting it. This will polarize some fans of the genre, but overall I think it is worth seeing to see up close the reality of warfare. Chances are if you like Platoon and Full Metal Jacket, you will enjoy Hamburger Hill as well.