Hotel Transylvania 2

You know if we follow this trend I seriously think Hotel Transylvania 3 could be the best of the series.

I had a major blast watching Hotel Transylvania 2. It is a fantastic, highly entertaining, very funny movie that does what any great sequel should do. So Mavis and Johnny get married, we fast forward a year and they have a son Dennis and speculation starts on whether he will be more on his mother's side or not. Drac of course, wants a vampire grandson so he tries his best to bring out the fangs in the kid before Mavis and Johnny move away. For a basic plot, very much like the first with no real conflict, it is surprisingly entertaining and holds your attention from beginning to end. It's more about the adventure than a central conflict, which is one of many reasons why I love this series. I'm already a sucker for monsters, but you add in very good comedy, fun characters, and just this sort of ramble on story with no real problems, and you got a movie that could not be up my alley more. I especially love the true sense of love and family between Mavis, Dracula, and Dennis though Johnny is there he is surprisingly more in the background. I don't know, it's very easy to experience the movie and enjoy it so much and yet very intangible to explain why I love it so much. It's just fun, and there is much to enjoy whether a horror fan or not. I love the relationship between Dennis and Winnie, it is so friggin' cute I can barely stand it, I love the sort of underlying I guess situation where old school parenting meets modern parenting, for some weird reason I crack up when the gps has the voice of Peter Lorre, seeing Mavis experience human culture is a lot of fun, there's just so much to love. The animation style is still energetic and fast, the colors are vibrant with my own special favorite being California at dusk, the jokes are fun and hardly ever crass, and it just makes me excited to see the 3rd movie this Friday. I of course highly recommend this series and this movie, 2 thumbs up, and I will see you this Friday.

Spaceballs

You know, for a parody of Star Wars I quite like it.

There's some good humor in this movie, and the story does go on it's own course while still hitting Star Wars moments throughout. The story involves an evil galactic government trying to steal an entire world's atmosphere, while meanwhile the princess of said world escapes marriage, is captured by the evil government and her father asks the help of a mercenary to find her. It's a decent story, with good humor, and fun characters! Best part of the whole movie is Rick Moranis, that guy is amazing in everything. It's also great to see John Candy again, so it was just good to go back to this movie for me. I especially like how the story is it's own but still hits Star Wars bulletpoints, if memory serves this came out just after Empire Strikes Back so it takes advantage of the new material. Hell I've been hearing these jokes and references for years and it took me so long to go back to the source but I was not disappointed. I was just watching little clips of Mel Brooks' movies and I wondered if I did any of these movies, and I didn't so I had to correct that mistake fast! This week was one of the most fun weeks I have had doing reviews and I hope for those of you who have not seen these movies to check em' out and have a ball like I did! I look forward to seeing you all next week for more adventures in cinema. See ya later!

Blazing Saddles

This is an absolute crime that it took me almost 3 years to get to this movie. I friggin' love this movie!

If someone asked me what's your favorite western, my answer in all seriousness would be Blazing Saddles. I love it that much. This is easily of the funniest and downright out there types of movies I've ever seen and I appreciate everything it has done for comedy and humor for the decades since it first hit theaters in 1974. So our story follows a pretty involved story about a young man named Bart who is picked to be the new sherrif of a little town threatened to be torn down for the railroad by an evil assistant governor and the various hijinks to be followed in order to save the town. Basic story when summarized, far from it when you watch the whole thing. I do really believe this is Mel Brooks' finest work, I really love Young Frankenstein but Blazing Saddles is the best out of his work. It pulls every joke from sheer slapstick to play on words, to just background jokes, it runs the full gambit and it works so damn well! Bart played by Cleavon Little is believe it or not, the standard for how I want to be. He's intelligent, friendly, has a good sense of humor, and is all around a pretty flawless dude when you analyze him and he really makes this movie for me. But Bart is nothing without Jim, The Waco Kid played by good ol' Gene Wilder in one of his more subdued roles but honestly I think it works. Him and Bart are more the straight men to the comedy though they do partake in it a bit. Jim is a laidback guy, with a great and I'd almost want to say true backstory of a broken old gunslinger that gets back on track when Bart employs his help and friendship. Christ, I kinda wanna watch the movie again after I finish this review and when can I say that about most movies? If that doesn't clue you in on how great this movie is and it's sense of humor, I have no idea what will. It's an amazing movie that stays true to the time period it is set in and the look and feel of western movies while still being fresh and new, flat out exploits the absurdity and stupidity of racism, and tells a fun and highly entertaining story with characters you can't forget about. Who can forget Lily von Schtupp, I ask you? Madeline Kahn didn't get an Oscar nomination for nothing people! God I miss her. I've always watched her movies pretty much all my life, and she never ceases to make me smile. I really could not praise the movie more if I tried, so I'm telling you to go see it immediately even if you have watched it. But we got one more tomorrow, a parody of my favorite movie of all time. See you then!

The Producers

That's gotta be the best musical I've ever seen. But not for the reasons you think.

The Producers is...an odd film. One of Mel Brooks' earliest comedy films, before he really hit his stride with other movies we will look at this week, focusing on the subsequent parody and genius breakdown of everybody's favorite topic. Nazism. Hooray! But Mel knew how to do it and do it well. A washed out musical producer teams up with a fragile and immasculated accountant who gives a rather confusing and yet logical idea of how a musical that bombs big time can garner more money than a hit. You have to watch the scene to try and comprehend the full scope of the idea, because I could barely make heads or tails of it. Which leads to them finding the most flawless musical bomb in human history, "Springtime For Hitler", and thus production begins. It has been awhile since I've seen this movie, the last time I saw it I was in high school and I enjoyed the humor and parody, but I think I enjoyed it even more now. Zero Mostel is a brilliant, slimy, swindling man in this movie and my God is it beautiful. He is enjoying every last minute of it and plays this to perfection. And then we have Gene Wilder. Oh Gene, I miss you. He never ceased to make me laugh, and delivers one of his most neurotic, crazed, and frantically energized performances and I just have to say, thank you Mel. Thank you so much for bringing Gene into your productions, he really made these movies beyond great for me. And surprisingly this movie holds one of the most inspirational and triumphant moments in cinema, and it barely lasts for maybe 2 minutes but it really lifted me up! And now for the parody, now I totally get Mel's standpoint on it, and I know fully well I am nowhere near intelligent enough to discuss parody on such a touchy subject matter. And honestly I'm surprised recently people had to enforce the idea that nazis are bad, that blew my mind that such a statement had to be enforced and repeated, it's kinda depressing we live in a world where people still don't exactly mind following an ideology that caused the deaths of over 6 million people. Laughter at nazis cannot bring justice to the people that died, but it can tarnish their image and strength and bring them down, and truthfully I can't argue that. It's not American History X where the movie almost romanticizes being a neo-nazi or Life Is Beautiful where it is an utter and complete slap in the face of every single last one of those people that were in a concentration camp, it parodies the nazi party in a musical. Could you take anybody who is a nazi seriously after that? It tarnishes and rips and burns their reputation and stance in history through a ridiculous opening number. Comedy is controversial, comedy is a global way of breaking down barriers and addressing problems, all comedy stems from misery. Mel Brooks could make fun of nazis but nobody else really can, why? Well it takes someone far smarter and well read than me to explain it, so go see Lindsay Ellis once again, this woman seriously has taught me more than any film school could. Her video essay on The Producers is not only worth your time, but explains everything that I simply cannot. But I'm not here to discuss comedy and nazis, I'm here to tell you if it is a good movie and it really is. The comedy, while not the endless punches of Blazing Saddles, or the well paced and clever jokes of Young Frankenstein, is still funny especially with Gene Wilder on screen, and the story while odd is still engaging and entertaining, it's a really good movie. But tomorrow we look at quite possibly my favorite Mel Brooks' movie, Blazing Saddles!

Young Frankenstein

Alright, one more before the week is out.

Out of all the Mel Brook's movies this is probably my favorite, either this or Blazing Saddles. You know, it's been awhile since I've seen this movie and surprisingly it's even better than when I first saw it. It's a spoof, but a excellent spoof of the single most famous monster movie in history. The more you know about the original Frankenstein films, the better this movie is. It takes many, many odes from the first two films both of which I reviewed for Halloween and not just from those movies but german expressionist films. The humor is just hit after hit, and will certainly entertain you. The casting is spot on, I believe the cast was chosen based around the humor of each character. Dear sweet Jesus, Gene Wilder can do no wrong! He is both gut busting hilarious, and piss your pants terrifying! He's always a passionate, commited actor and it shows. Marty Feldman is a great comedic sidekick to Gene Wilder and probably his character plus Bela Lugosi's character in Son Of Frankenstein began the staple of Dr. Frankenstein having a hunchback assistand named Igor. I forgot Madeline Kahn was in this movie, both she and Teri Garr bring more hilarity and charm to the movie and they just crack me up. Terrific comedy actresses to say the least. The film is shot completely in black and white, and it makes me feel so at home. Spoof or not, it has that Universal horror look to it and that gets bonus points! All in all, a great comedy and a terrific cult film.

And now for the mystery week. What will happen next? Even I do not know. But the review must go on...