Jackass Best And Last

If it truly is the end, I'm happy.

As a final hurrah to a rather fascinating phenomena that has lasted a quarter of a century, Best And Last surprisingly doesn't go for the biggest, loudest, and most outrageous finale but more stays consistent with the previous four films adding a fair bit of looking back and reflection on the last production we may see. I could potentially see this might upset some people, you know if you're going out go out with the biggest bang you could do but the new antics they get into while also showcasing a few of the old favorites was really good. It still got a few strong laughs out of me and while it wasn't nearly as packed a crowd as last movie the audience seemed to be having fun with it too. It's funny to see the stark difference between early Jackass and right here right now Jackass, that show looked like it had zero budget and yet look at the legacy it produced. Something that truly shocked me is we got Bam back for a little bit, that's a bit of a big deal and how appropriate that his first segment back has him scared shitless with snakes. We also got a few bits of unreleased footage from the veeeeery early days, so it feels like a well rounded sendoff. Despite not knowing about this series until really my mid to late teens catching the movies on cable, I'd be pretty down to own all five of the movies. It seems almost an impossible task to review a Jackass movie so this probably was more rambling than usual, but I dig it! It's a good movie, fans will be pleased I think, I give it 3 stars and a 7/10! We'll have a bit of a gap between the next new releases so I'll see you at the movies, and be good people.

Jackass Number Two

This is weird to say but Jackass is one of those movie series where the sequel is better than the first.

It goes to show how much the quality got a boost, it looks to be shot on a better camera, the stunts are more varied, it's a good strong production. I actually love a good few chunks of the segments, with rarely any of them falling flat for me, pun fully intended by the way. But boy does the pain from the first movie seem like a stubbed toe, I mean dayum! The impacts and pain is visceral, and bloody too sometimes so once again I have to show some respect for the cast going through so much hell strictly to entertain. I feel like Steve-O got the most punishment mainly because he's the one wild card down to do anything, and even I was surprised how many of the cast refused to do certain stunts. Granted I don't know how the name game goes for who does what, but even these guys have their limits. And this is just a sidebar but I kinda hate the public stunts and jokes not so much because of the performers, but I can't see comedy in people who don't give a shit and give zero reaction to some weird ass stuff on the side of the street. At least in the first movie, when they were in Japan people laughed, people kind of rolled with the joke in some situations, that's why I liked those segments so much. Am I just gonna be one grumpy old bastard and say get off your phone and pay attention, cause I could have sworn people sure as hell did before they were invented. Back in my day I wasn't a broken, bitter, old ass about people and now I'm all for everybody getting a pro footballer kick to the groin. I do however love seeing Bam's mom April, she is precious and a caring individual who puts up with these f***s, and never fails to make me laugh. Favorite segments, we got a list here: Bicentennial BMXing, Lake Jump, Riot Control Test which was horrifying, The Magic Trick with special guest magician John Waters (I love that man), The Gauntlet, Toro Totter, and Big Red Rocket which I feel should have been the finale. I mean that's a lot of segments, and each have their own way of entertaining to the point where despite the no doubt bigger budget, the third movie has a lot to surpass in terms of segments. So definite improvement, had more fun, and we got one more before the opening day. 3 stars, 7/10.

Jackass The Movie

How the hell do we talk about Jackass?

It kinda defies reviewing but I was game to see the fourth movie so why not have some fun. And it still to this day boggles my mind how this got a feature film shown in theaters, not direct to video, not broadcasted strictly to MTV, but a proper movie. I was 7 when this movie came out and even younger when the show was on so I had zero concept of this show for some time, and I still don't know how succesful the show was. I don't know if it was a surprising big success or more of a cult hit show that had a small but very dedicated fanbase, but obviously it has had some legacy. And it is nothing short of interesting to see the evolution of quality for these movies, cause honestly the first movie isn't that big and wild, more of a feature length episode of the show and boy it doesn't look much different. There be no Cinemascope here good buddy, this is shot on the same video cameras the show was and it is gloriously early 2000s in quality. I'm serious man I'm actually a fan of the lower quality, and it suits the filmmaking too cause it's documentary-esque, with just these dumbasses going out and shooting this stuff wherever they could. I will admit this is the one I've seen the least out of the three soon to be four movies, not at all because it doesn't stack up well to the other two despite the budget of $5 million which actually turned a profit of almost $80 million worldwide which is unbelievable. It barely has a set up better than home movies but it's the actions and antics that count. My favorite might actually be the Night Pandas segment, it hit my funny bone in just the right place and if anything looked like the most fun anybody had shooting. And of course it was in Japan so that helps, though I'm kinda bewildered they decided to shoot in Japan to begin with, cause just what? But screw it I liked it. A close second goes to Sweaty Fat F***s, just seeing these guys in bulky fat suits doing skateboarding tricks and BMX bike stuff made me commend the talent. I'm naturally big and I would have a hard time standing on a skateboard. It's gonna be interesting seeing how much it changes from movie to movie, it starts off humble but it gets more involved which only makes sense, you gotta raise those stakes. All good if not even great comedy stems from misery, it's f***ed up but if you saw some guy run face first into a wall, you'd laugh. And not many people would actively not only subject themselves to very physical damage but film it solely for the purposes of comedy. You could walk straight up to me and be like, "Dude, $10,000 bucks cash for you to go one round with this badass japanese kickboxer chick." and I would tell you to get the hell off my planet. No way. Are they masochists? Probably. Apparently the secret of dealing with pain is to laugh, who woulda thunk it. I'm stumped. I don't even think I know the right way to watch these movies, cause I've done it solo and in a group but I think the core matter is state of mind. If you wanna see people go apeshit and rough their bodies up and well...act like braying jackasses, have at it. There's a place for everything, from cinematic classics to sleazy exploitation and I'd put this somewhere in the middle. 2.5 stars, 6/10, part two coming up tomorrow.