Reviews

The second movie in the Disney renaissance of '89-'99, The Rescuers Down Under was an example of a sequel doing just as well as the original movie, but doesn't get a lot of love from Disney. A lot of the original voice actors came back, Including Bob Newhart & Eva Gabor as the anxious hero Bernard and the fearless heroine Bianca, and brought in George C. Scott as McCleach, the poacher who's greed for a rare bird named Marahute, the golden eagle, causes him to kidnap a child named Cody, whom the rescue aid society must help return home. Along with the help of the fun loving brother of Orville, appropriately named Wilbur, voiced by the late & lovable John Candy, the 2 beloved mice are on their way to Australia to do all of this.

There's a lot of love from Disney fans for this movie, so much so that this movie outdoes the original in a lot of ways. While the original is a good Disney movie, the second is just as much fun and keeps the story going.

One of my favorite things about this movie was that it was the Guinea pig for CAPS. The Computer Animation Production System was a mainstay for Disney animation movies for many years and it all began with Wilbur's swan dive off the empire state building accompanied by a fun surf rock soundtrack. While Disney often has used the sweeping shot of the ballroom from Beauty and the Beast in it's promotional content, arguably it's most famous CAPS animation, it all began with that swan dive. Disney kept using CAPS in movies for years after.

Another thing to note is the scene where Wilbur is in the hospital. That scene divides audiences. Some people find the sadistic nature of the mouse doctor hilarious, others found it traumatizing as children. Modern audiences would not likely find it funny, so a heads up if you have young children who are exploring the world of Disney.

Overall, this is an early example of a Disney sequel doing just as well, if not better than it's original counterpart. There aren't many Disney sequels before this one, but it was a great second entry into the Disney renaissance, and worth a view.

As far as the Mario Party series has come since it's debut in 1998, it's no doubt the N64 games were the ones people remember and the later ones slowly began to lose their luster over time. But going back to 2001, the final Mario Party on the N64 was an absolute treasure, and proved the N64 to be one of the most fun party consoles ever made.

In this one, 2 more characters are added to the fun - Waluigi and Daisy. More mini-games are added, and a few are taken away. There's a few new game modes, plenty enough to keep you occupied and plenty to replay just for the heck of it.

My favorite piece of this game is it's OST - Probably the best one. Ichiro Shimakura did an amazing job for this one, blending whimsical & frantic wonderfully.

Hard copies of this one have skyrocketed in value, so the best way to play this one as close to original is on a flashcart, but it wouldn't be too hard to play this in emulation.

Even Marc Brown disliked the way Arthur's big hit turned out. Unfortunately the writers for this one were too busy focusing on a "violence solves nothing" lesson that they totally ignored the spoiled nature of a 5-year old who should've known better.

In "Arthur's big hit" Arthur is working on a model plane which he constantly warns his little sister DW not to touch. Eventually the curious DW tries to launch the plane & breaks it, and it finally angers Arthur so he hits her. Instead of punishing DW for breaking someone else's property, Arthur's parents punish him for hitting his sister.

There's really no redeeming quality to this story. They were trying to push a moral that violence isn't the answer but they neglected the "consequences for your actions" portion, completely tossing it aside by defending DW by saying she was just a kid.

This episode has potential but ultimately got what it deserved by being the source for endless memes.

There are those who believe that this is a Christmas film, and there are those who are wrong. This is the greatest Christmas film ever made and to this day I can watch this film front to back and every time it's awesome. John McClane is the perfect hero. He's not a Hollywood superhero, he's no Santa Claus, he's an everyman police officer who just happened to get caught up in a wild situation where he has to rely on his guts to survive.

John McClane is a police officer from New York, traveling to Los Angeles to see his separated wife, who took a high paying office job in LA and the kids with her. While visiting her at her office party at the Nakatomi Plaza, he is trying to relax barefoot in his wife's room when terrorists infiltrate the Nakatomi Plaza, setting off a chain of events where John McClane must rely on a small supply of bullets and where every turn he makes could be his last.

I call this movie the apex of 80's action, because no other 80's action film could top it after this, and many films before it set the bar high, but none of them came together so well as this one. Movies like the Rambo series, The Indiana Jones series, the Terminator, Commando, Predator, Lethal Weapon, they are all amazing films and in my opinion the 80's, 90's, and early 2000's are the peak of filmmaking in Hollywood. But in the middle of it all, Die Hard stands tall.

John McClane is one of my absolute favorite action movie heroes, because he's everything that doesn't make a Hollywood hero. It's like bringing a Corolla to race day. You would never expect one barefoot police officer with a pistol to take on a gang of international terrorists armed to the teeth the same way you wouldn't expect a Corolla to beat a Corvette. Most 80's action movie heroes like Arnold Schwarzenegger & Sylvester Stallone look like they could rip the head off a dragon and make a cheesy dad joke while doing so. McClane has to face his fears and often cracks under the pressure, at the same time, has a sick sense of humor that shows the terrorists he's going to mess with them every step of the way.

To me, this movie is the real Christmas tradition. Some people like watching Home Alone. Some older folk still watch It's a wonderful life. But to me, the real Christmas movie to watch is Die Hard.

When it comes to adventure, there aren't that many films that will ever emulate the feel of The Goonies. Set in the seaside town of Astoria, Oregon in the gloomy Pacific Northwest, The Goonies are a group of kids living in a neighborhood, that's about to be torn apart by rich developers who want to turn it into a country club. However, the discovery of a treasure map sends Mikey, Data, Mouth, Chunk, Mikey's older brother Brand, Brand's cheerleader crush Andy, and Andy's bestie Stef all on an adventure which borrows heavily from Indiana Jones & inspired Home Alone.

As far as 80's films go, this one is iconic. It captures that perfect childhood feeling that lots of movies that came after it just couldn't. Whereas kids these days are equipped with enough electronics to be stimulated to the point their imagination is dulled, this movie stirs the imagination like many 1980's flicks did & like many modern flicks never will.

It's a terrific adventure full of scares, funny lines, a touch of slapstick & a satisfying end.

Everything that Mike Clattenburg wanted Trailer Park Boys to be is in this episode. The criminal nature of Ricky & Julian, Ricky's magnetic attraction to getting shot, Julian's empathy for the residents of the park he calls home, Lahey's dedication to his desire to being law enforcement, and of course, marijuana before it was legalized.

In this episode, Mrs. Peterson tells Julian she has to go in for a day surgery and that he needs to look after her little dog, Sparky. Unfortunately for Julian, he's stuck going to the local DMV and has to hire Ricky to watch over the dog for an hour, where Ricky wants to bake a batch of weed brownies to fund his dope operation and get it started again. However, the dog gets into the weed brownies and eats them, setting off a hilarious chain of events.

I would argue that this is the best episode of the first season, just barely edging out the season finale.

The only drawback to this episode? No Bubbles. He must be down at the mall collecting carts.

A desperate Ricky has to make money so he can get his dope operation started up again. This allows J-roc to present him with an opportunity to star in his low-budget adult film, "From Russia with the love bone" but during filming, the pesky Mr. Lahey intercepts the tape and holds it as a threat over an embarrassed Ricky, who could not perform in the heat of the moment.

Of the 6 episodes in season 1, this one's probably the most F'd up of the season, setting the tone for the future of the series. At the same time, it's also one of the first episodes to feature Bubbles as one of the boys, rather than a side character. He also stars in the film, and unfortunately Mr. Lahey ruins the moment for him.

It's definitely the most F'd up episode of the first season but the big secret at the end is what sets in stone. A memorable episode, and full of good laughs.

About 7 years before the Disney renaissance put them in front of the pack for animation studios, there was Hanna-Barbera, Don Bluth, and Rankin-Bass who were all making classics for decades to come, and one that eluded me for 22 years after hearing about it was The Last Unicorn. The Uncle John's bathroom reader book I heard about the movie in, described it as "a gem" in a sea of movies that garnered far more attention, and I finally got to look over this gem to find out that it truly is a gem of an animated movie.

At first glance, The Last Unicorn looks like an animated film from long, long ago, but when you look at the unicorn herself, she definitely looks like a gateway to animations and characters that were to come 20 years later. Her big bright eyes reminiscent of anime characters are no surprise when you learn the people who drew her eventually went on to form Studio Ghibli which is still creating animated masterpieces. Amidst the unicorn lies beautiful animations and paintings of scenery, colorful displays, and with the soundtrack provided by America, The Last Unicorn seems like the end of the 70's animated movies and the beginnings of what we would see in the 80's.

This movie is definitely an animated gem, A visual spectacle of classic hand drawn animation and future visual styles that still exist today. It's definitely worth a watch, not just for it's story but how beautiful of an adaption it is.

If you were around back in the days of the school library, you might have fond memories of the librarian, most of whom are sweet people. However, if you were Al Bundy, you had Miss De Groot, who might have had it in for you. In this episode, Al must face his fears and return a library book to that library, expecting his old nemesis to be dead. However, she is alive and waiting for him with a fine worth over $2,000.

This one is one of my favorites for a few reasons. The first one is because the kid who plays "Book Boy" is Joseph Dammann. If you were a church kid growing up, you'd remember him from the McGee & Me video series, which was a decent little christian production in good taste. In other words, not preachy, yet it was fun.

Second, Al Bundy's terrific speech to Miss De Groot. He talks about us working class heroes who believed that one day we'd be the millionaires, the rock stars, the movie gods, but we turned out to be the guy living paycheque to paycheque. We are winners because we haven't given up on life despite the fact we know it's not going to get any better until we go back to sleep again.

One of my favorites. Al Bundy also gets the last laugh on Miss De Groot too.

The whole Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy is a fun adventure from start to finish. We've come to know and love our growing list of guardians in the strange worlds they've visited throughout the last 9 years. Some regard this one as the best. I disagree. In my opinion, the original from 2014 was the best, but that doesn't discount the sequels. All 3 are terrific motion pictures with plenty of emotion & humor, nostalgia and comradery.

This one begins with the adorable yet feisty Rocket Raccoon being greviously wounded and while he remains in respite, his past is slowly revealed in a series of flashbacks. At the same time, the perverse mind behind his surgeries and mechanical augmentations is looking to create a new world, a perfect utopia which he has no reservations about violently and heartlessly ruining the lives of innocent animals to obtain. At the same time, Gamora returns but cannot remember her past with the guardians, and Star-Lord is questioning whether he should return to Earth after many years in space.

Being a stone hearted person, movies rarely make me shed tears. This one did. Volume 1 was fun all the way through, Volume 2 darn near cracked me in the end, but volume 3 of this series finally drew tears when Rocket Raccoon's dark, abhorrent rage in the first two movies is finally explained, stemming from when he was nothing more than a science experiment along with a small group of other animals.

Because of this, When the movie came out, Some people on the internet demanded a trigger warning be included in the beginning of the film, warning of the subject matter of animal abuse. So far no such disclaimer exists and I doubt it will. Animal abuse exists in real life and real life never comes with a trigger warning.

For the final piece of the trilogy, Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3 is a fair end to what has been a fun series of films. We may never get to hang out with the team again for a long while, but if you stayed put in the theatre to watch to the end credits, Star-Lord isn't through yet.

30 years ago, a character who was beloved by children and teenagers was given a movie that would be the first of many based upon the growing medium of video games. That movie was based upon the popular video game series, Super Mario Bros.

Then the fans came to see it...and either left the theatre disappointed, or simply scratching their heads. The people who made it had no idea who Mario was or the tone the games were trying to set. Now, in 2023, we finally have a movie about the now legendary plumbers that we can be proud of.

Mario and Luigi are plumbers in a cartoonish version of Brooklyn. One night, the city has a plumbing problem that springs the brothers into action, hoping to save the day and be heroes. However, upon exploring the depths of Brooklyn's sewer system, the brothers are transported to a different world through a green pipe, and so begins their adventure into the Mushroom Kingdom.

This movie was great, because the creators, unlike their predecessors, knew their source material and knew it well. There are many, many references to the world of Nintendo within the movie, in objects, musical pieces, and lines the characters say. Each character is well cast. Mario & Luigi behave exactly how they would in the games. Princess Peach is as independent as she is a playable character in many of the games, dating back to 1988's Super Mario Bros 2 on the original NES. Toad is as eccentric as he should be. Bowser is the thirsty simp for the princess that we have gotten to know over the years. The list goes on and anyone who's spent the better part of their childhood playing the games will have a good time noticing all the references to the games.

Two things that disappointed me was the fight between Mario & DK lacking a reference to the Super Smash Bros series. The movie makes a reference to the original game multiple times, as well as the Mario Kart series, but the fight scene had no reference to the Super Smash Bros games. That's a missed opportunity. There were times during the fight the weapons from the games could've appeared (The home run bat, the laser sword, the hammer, the party ball) and there could've been a reference to being knocked off the stage, but there wasn't.

The other disappointment was the eel that was used in place of Big Bertha, the giant cheep cheep. The eel was definitely a terrifying character in Super Mario 64 but Big Bertha was just as terrifying but dangerous in Super Mario Bros 3 and would've been more recognizable in this one.

Regardless, this movie is exactly what the fans wanted 30 years ago and never got. The fact is, movies based upon video games don't have to be bad, as long as you know your source material and don't take a world of liberties you're going to make a great movie. And this movie does it right. Kids, and kids of the 90's and 2000's will have a ball and enjoy this one.

There's likely to be a sequel, hopefully we'll meet the characters this film missed, like Princess Daisy, Wario & Waluigi, Thwomps, Chain Chomp...

In this episode of The Little Mermaid's TV series, an evil manta ray wants to conquer Atlantica and uses the most sinister tactic - Divide and conquer. He goes around Atlantica lying to all of it's residents, telling them that just because they are different that some think they are better than others and getting all of the sea animals to hate each other.

Now if I were a teacher, I would make this episode mandatory viewing. Especially in the wake of what we face with social media and news broadcasting. The news has done everything in it's power in the past few years to amplify the fear and anger that we feel towards our fellow man & woman. Social media has given the uneducated and the ignorant a voice to agitate and lie and conjure up hate.

The evil manta represents the media. His whole purpose is to divide and conquer the people so they spend so much time arguing over trivial things amongst themselves that the manta himself can take over Atlantica.

Like how the media will report what it wants the people to hear, creating hate groups and drumming up fear and anger, and while the people argue amongst themselves, certain 3 letter groups are taking steps to take over the world.

And this episode is from 1992. 3 decades ago. The writers for this show were geniuses.

Maybe a little sweet mermaid singing a song about living in harmony is what this world needs.

In a war, guns are about as common as beer in a bar. And one beer is all it takes to put lightweight Radar over the hill. His drunken escapade in this episode is one of the funniest M*A*S*H moments.

A wounded colonel is brought to the 4077th, and his specially designed 6-shooter gun is placed in a gun safe under Radar's responsibility. However, the gun goes missing, and the colonel believes poor Radar is the thief. When Radar learns what could happen to him if the gun doesn't come up, he turns to alcohol for comfort, and Hawkeye & BJ investigate, so Radar doesn't end up in the stockade.

Any episode that focuses on Radar is always bound to be a fun one. This episode is no exception. Radar gets to experience intoxication and goes on a drunken rant to the colonel who's gun he's accused of stealing from.

Is this episode an anti-gun one? Maybe. It's a real shot in the dark, so to speak.

Aesop wrote a fable once where the moral of the story was "The wise learn from the misfortunes of others."

One could argue that Al Bundy was a prophet, warning future generations, living as the hopeless, apathetic shell of a man who's rantings are often sprinkled with great wisdom that younger men could pay attention to about marriage.

Married with Children is a sitcom with reality thrown out the window and in it's place, looney toons plots, filled with cartoonish violence and unlikely sexual fantasies. In the middle of this world, lies a couch where Al and his family spend most of their time. Al himself is the father figure who was once a high school football star who scored 4 touchdowns in a single game, and has since gotten married and had 2 kids, and supports them by being a shoe salesman, which he argues is the worst job ever. His wife, Peggy, lives at the home and does absolutely nothing other than eat and watch TV. Their son & daughter, Bud & Kelly are always picking on each other, where the sister picks on her brother for his lack of sex and dates, the brother takes advantage of his sister's lack of intelligence, and teases her for her promiscuity. Their next door neighbors are always getting cross with them, and it usually has to do with al's feminist, misandrist, and horny adversary, Marcy Darcy.

A family show this is, but a children's show it is not. This show is chalk full of risque humor meant for a mature audience. Al Bundy is nowhere near politically correct, he is as honest as he is vulgar. The show itself has so many burns that the envelope it pushed in it's day turned to ash. There's no shortage of scantily clad, provocative and sexualised women. There's no shortage of chauvanism and male dominance. In it's 3rd season, the show offended the sensitive people of it's time, prompting one lady to write in complaining about the episode "Her cups runneth over" also in that very season, Kelly appears in "life's a beach" in a bikini, which would've been filmed when she was still a minor, and "I'll see you in court" was filmed in 1989, but audiences did not get a chance to see it until 2002 because it was pulled.

Throughout these unlikely adventures lies working class hero plots to over the top ones. Al has to renew his driver's license, trap a mouse that invades his home, stages a riot over a beer tax, testifies in front of the senate to keep his favorite show on TV, forms a group called No Ma'am, starts his own church, competes in a joust competition in England, makes a deal with the devil to play football but is sent to hell, and gets put on trial by a group of morbidly obese women he offended. With 262 different episodes, Al goes through a lot, spanning from the end of the flashy and colorful 80's into the edgy 90's.

Almost 3 decades after this show ended, the message is becoming clear. Al Bundy was warning future generations of men what they were in for as they grew older. Al didn't sugarcoat anything, but he always found ways to make the audience laugh with brutal honesty. And for the few men & women who have discovered this show long since it went off the air, or for those who watched it when it was on TV, We know it's an offensive show, but we like it that way and as society itself slowly becomes more easily offended by what's in their media, a show like Married with children will age incredibly well for it's intended audience.

I picked up a copy of this film on DVD after seeing clips on YouTube, with comments praising this movie & bragging of its relevance. Its amazing to think that today, this movie still holds up as well as it did in 1993.

Bill Foster is an ex-employee of a defense missile company, struggling to survive in urban Los Angeles. One day while on the highway, he gets gridlocked and simply abandons his vehicle to 'go home' so to speak. Along the way home he encounters first-hand the urban reality of the big city, and with no patience remaining, snaps on everyone & everything in his path. His actions garner the attention of a retiring police officer who wants one last big bust to cap off his career.

This movie came out at a different time, when no one really paid attention to the urban decay of society. Watching this movie now, it's amazing how much of what is in it, has been ignored long enough, from the apathy people hold towards others (the construction workers) to the lack of ambition in some (The homeless guy in the park) and the close-minded mentality of some (The nazi whom D-fens argues about free speech & disagreement with) today, this has all grown all the more common. And sadly, reasonable men, have become unreasonable because of the growing problems this movie puts on display.

This movie was a warning, and sadly it hasn't been heeded by all. Maybe as the audience ages, one day they will understand D-fens.

To me, Fortnite is a cash grab for epic games, designed to be colorful, bright and fun. As I get into my 30's, I find myself less & less interested in playing newer video games. They're getting way too complicated to follow along with anymore. A vast majority of games being made now are what I like to call "Interactive movies" where players can follow a storyline and not actually play a game. Back in the 1970s & 1980s, those were games, there were no storylines or if there were, they didn't really matter. I have grown tired of playing interactive movies at this point.

And this leads me to admit that I have been playing Fortnite since 2019 now and I still like it. The game is simple enough for me to play, and anyone can pick it up and play it. The storylines don't really matter, they're there in case you feel like going along with them. The original characters are colorful and cute, and the well-known heroes & heroines are there to draw in the older crowd. While a Gen Z might be content with the colorful characters introduced every season, older players like myself often choose to run around the island gunning down bots as Kratos from God of War, Master Chief from Halo, Ripley from the Alien films or the Predator from the 1987 film.

However, I'm a grown man so I don't get to practice this game much compared to some of the other players, many of whom are in another stratusphere of talented at this game. Fire one shot at them, and they're building a fort that looks like those old lego commercials where the smiling kid is putting together the set, but the footage is sped up ridiculously fast. Compare that to the numerous bots included to fill out the island to make 100 players. Picking off a bot feels rewarding when you first play but after a few weeks of playing, the bots are a joke. Picking off a human opponent, it's either a challenge or ridiculous, but picking off a player with a username that advertises a Gaming channel on youtube? Satisfying.

However, I see how Fortnite is part of the modern era of gaming - it's free to play, but it's full of content that you need to pay about 10$ every 3 months to enjoy. That's how we've gone from paying $50-$60 once for a game, and it was ours, forever if we wanted to keep it. The game's creators made a big chunk of money once from the game, and that was that. Now, They make the game "free to play" but nickel & dime the player. In some ways, that's fair, because piracy has often eaten into a gaming company's profits. In other ways, some players have paid hundred for battle passes every 3 months and V-bucks for the endless special content that is advertised. Yeah, it's cool to play as your favorite superheroes and TV & movie characters, Some you can unlock for free, but others can cost well over $10.

I get the hate for this game too. Everyone has a right to hate Fortnite for what it is, and how some "sweaty" players can ruin the game for someone just trying to have fun. If you don't take it too seriously, and you're content with the battle passes, which are loaded with added content, you can still have fun. I'm not a "hotel with WiFi builder" like some players are, but if I can make it to the last 10 players on the map and score a few eliminations before getting picked off by a sweaty player, i'm not mad. Once in a while, I can win matches, sometimes against sweaty players.

Fortnite is not for everyone. If you hate it, maybe colorful online shooters are just not your thing. Let the people who enjoy them, enjoy them.

Ever since I watched the first movie when was 12, it has always made me laugh. Johnny Knoxville is always cooking up some scheme to prank his buddies, any way to get a laugh. Jackass forever is no exception.

However, it might have been far better to do this movie sooner, like 4-5 years after 3D. At this point the guys are looking older and the fact guys like Bam Margera barely appear in the film due to his wanton disregard of his well-being & Ryan Dunn dying in a drunk driving incident a decade sooner, It's like being at a party too long and lots of party-goers have gone home and it's not as packed as it once was like the first 3 movies.

But despite the guys aging, 4 of them go as hard as they did in day one - Knoxville, Steve-O, Wee-man, and Ehren. Knoxville gets seriously hurt going one on one with a bull, Steve-O's genitals take a beating from a swarm of angry bees, Wee-man gets pecked by a condor, and Poor Ehren takes a vicious slapshot to the groin from NHL superstar P. K. Subban...and it's still downright hilarious, with the exception of Knoxville's hit from the bull. He gets carted off on a stretcher. Thankfully Steve-O walks away from the bees, Wee-man survives being pecked, and Ehren is absolutely thankful he's wearing a metal cup when PK Subban shoots the puck at him.

A lot of the new additions to the cast aren't really that funny. They're there to be included. There's even a bit where Pontius lightheartedly mentions the word "Consent" and someone else says "21st century, folks."

For fans of the original series, This one isn't as good as the 3 other installments, it feels like this was put together to squeeze a few dollars more out of the fans. But regardless, it still has many laugh out loud bits and Johnny has many great lines out of the blue. For an hour & a half, it'll make you laugh.

7/10.

The United States of America is the largest superpower in the world and also the most violent. Since 1776, the United States has only seen 17 years of actual peace in it's 244 years of history (2020) and has been at war with many other countries. The fact is when war is on, people are needed to build weapons and when a country is at peace, the men & women who build those weapons lose their jobs, which is where Canadian Bacon begins.

Sheriff Bud Boomer (John Candy) and his deputies Honey (Rhea Pearlman) and Kabral (Bill Nunn) and friend Roy Boy (Kevin O'Connor) are Patriotic Americans who have lost their jobs building weapons of war for RJ hacker (GD Spradlin) get caught up in a storm of propaganda, generated by the president of the United States (Alan Alda) after his staff encourage him to try and start a cold war to scare the public and raise his popularity. However, the Americans choose to pick on the least likely enemy - Canada. After a slew of negative propaganda against Canadians, Bud Boomer and his buddies, scared by the constant propaganda, start their own hilarious crusade against the Canadians.

This was John Candy's last film, before he died prematurely at the age of 43 of a heart attack, presumably because of his obesity. He's an absolute riot as Bud Boomer. What makes it even funnier is the fact Candy was Canadian. Alan Alda, best known as Hawkeye from M*A*S*H brings a little of Hawkeye to his president character. Kabral, played by the late Bill Nunn, brings up race throughout the film but does it in way that it's really funny, and sometimes thought provoking.

The real hero of this movie is Michael Moore, who is known for his documentaries such as "Bowling for Columbine" and "Farenheit 9/11" This is his sole contribution to comedy and it is an absolute gem. The movie is full of facts about the history of America and they're well placed throughout the movie. So it's not only funny, it's somewhat educational.

If you need a good laugh and are interested in politics, Canadian Bacon is mandatory viewing.

No matter how old i get, i'll always appreciate poorly made movies. These exist as tributes to the big blockbuster films of hollywood. It's more fun to sit down and laugh at how poorly made they are and how seriously they take themselves. But sometimes, the movies are so bad, that they really just exist to be laughed at.

Jurassic Prey is one of those movies with acting I expect in a church play. It's like a bunch of friends got together and hired a few struggling actresses to play their girlfriends because they don't have any real ones or their real ones wouldn't look good running around in a bra and jeans. Also, the special effects are something I could easily outdo with the very little filmmaking experience I have. There are so many errors in special effects & editing that i'd be embarrassed if my name was slapped on this. The dinosaur they use looks more cute than scary. Actually they could've used Barney as their dinosaur and that would've been scarier.

A woman named Jackie is ripping off her mobster boyfriend & gets tangled up with 3 dimwitted criminals who take her hostage and steal her car, while being chased by 2 police who don't even have sirens in their car. They all hide out at a rural cabin, unaware of the danger that lurks in the forest, in the form of a monster dinosaur.

Honestly, with a little more effort and care, this could've been a fun little Jurassic park fan film knock-off. But the special effects are unacceptable, the acting sucks, and the script could've been fixed to sound a little less cheesy.

But the biggest letdown is the finale. Here's the thing. Throughout the movie, they tease you with that water. There's scuba gear in the cabin. Jackie hints about going skinny dipping in the lake. But it doesn't happen. It's not like they couldn't shoot an ending like that either, they had underwater footage in the movie too. That would've been a far more entertaining end to this atrocious joke of a movie.

If you're a fan of homemade movies like the ones you used to make in middle school, this might be worth a view, but for serious movie goers, stick to Jurassic Park.

In the previous episode we get to see Ricky but we really don't get to know his character all that well. This episode introduces us to Ricky's strengths and why Julian continues to associate with him despite the fact Julian could easily take care for himself as a mature adult.

Julian allows Ricky to stay in his derelict 1975 Chrysler New Yorker that's been sitting on his lawn since he went to jail. Ricky, who isn't all that bright, irritates Julian to the point where Julian tells him he's got to leave. After a series of conflicts, including Lahey harrassing him over unpaid lot fees and the derelict car, Julian calls upon Ricky for help to get the car off the lawn, and to give Ricky a chance to get his life restarted.

This one also explores the relationship between Lahey & the boys. While Lahey absolutely hates Ricky and Ricky hates Lahey, Lahey has a bit of respect for Julian and the two can come to a solution within reason.

My older brother is a police officer, and I've heard him tell stories similar to this episode's story (Some are even more disgusting) and it's sad to think that child neglect isn't anything new.

A call directing Malloy & Reed to an apartment complex unearths a sad discovery - a 6 year old girl stealing milk from a cat dish to feed her 10-month old sister. Over the next few days, the officers untangle a web of lies & revelations that would drive a parent to anger.

The episode also reveals the callous nature of Malloy and why it's safer for him to be the way he is. While Reed is exceptionally angry with the suspects for child neglect (Going as far to using the word "damn" while writing his report) Malloy remains calm while Reed voices how it makes him upset that 3 grown adults don't care about 2 little children, to which Malloy calmly says "We'd better get started on those reports" which is Malloy's way of saying "Get used to this."

This one's a bit tough to watch.

What makes Malloy such a good character is how seriously he takes his job as a police officer. He's seen his partner (Before Reed) get shot and die on the job and therefore knows the danger associated with it. Unfortunately, not every other policeman in his department knows that pain. In this episode he clashes with one such officer who is more reckless than conservative.

This is also the episode that introduces us to Ed Wells, A recurring character who is the closest thing to "Robo-cop" as the common man says. In this episode, Wells is called in as back-up for Malloy and hijacks the call and makes a clean bust but unnecessarily risks his life in the process, agitating Malloy and getting him in trouble with Sergeant MacDonald. But it's only a matter of time before Wells' luck runs out and Malloy's maturity saves the day.

Our story begins when officers Malloy & Reed receive a call from the hospital concerning a 15 year old's near death from an overdose, and when they follow it up they are thrust into a race against time to stop a 17 year old drug dealer from killing himself because he knows his game is up. As Malloy puts it "it's a nice clean cut situation. We can't use gas because we're 10 stories up and there's no other way in there." so the officers have their work cut out for them.

This one was made to keep the impressionable viewers a message to stay away from drugs, with the exchange between Reed & Malloy being the simplest way to put it. Reed says "You'd think a 15 year old would have more sense." to which Malloy replies "Not think, Partner. You hope they have more sense." it also sends a bit of a warning to parents who are hard on their kids. The character of Larry Harris has everything a young man could want but a father who seems to be fond of physical punishment. Even Malloy calls out Mr. Harris for his behavior.

This is a good episode, I would recommend it.

"Video games don't translate well to movies" has been the case since Nintendo put Mario & Luigi in an apocalyptic, futuristic dystopian world which was far from the colorful, innocent, and fun mushroom kingdom most gamers were familiar with. Of course back then most film directors were from past generations that never had a passion for video games. Even the late Bob Hoskins, who played Mario in that 1993 catastrophe of a movie, didn't even know the source material until his son showed him the video game his movie was based upon. In the years that have followed, lots of movies based upon video games have bombed or had no resemblance to their source material.

Thankfully, the people who made this movie, listened to their fans. Sonic is not some weird looking being in a strange world. He's exactly who fans like me would envision him, in a world where we feel he belongs. Part of Sonic's image is that he's a cute, fun blue hedgehog in worlds where the color is largely green, but sometimes he travels to strange, dystopian worlds but for a character like sonic, it's still going to be fun for the viewer.

What makes it good is the attention to detail. Any veteran fans of the series will recognize little Easter eggs and references here and there. It was difficult for me to keep quiet in that theatre when I noticed all the references to Sonic the hedgehog (Right down to the piano cover of the original Green Hill Zone theme) But if there's any character who got the greatest transition to the big screen, it's Dr. Robotnik, played by legendary funnyman, Jim Carrey. Carrey knew EXACTLY who he was portraying and did it well. His spontaneity and wacky, offbeat style made him fun to watch for a bad guy.

And if you think this movie left out certain, even cuter lovable characters with the ability to fly with their 'tails' just wait. If you stick around after the credits you'll smell a sequel with a character that appeared in the 1992 video game sequel to the original 1991 game.

But there's still a few characters missing, in particular a red echidna & a love interest for our beloved Sonic, but hey, like the video games, Sonic's bound to get a sequel.