Bubba Ho-Tep (2002)

Bubba Ho-tep is definitely not your average Hollywood fare.

Based on a quirky short story by author Joe R. Landsdale, Bubba Ho-Tep supposes that Elvis Presley, in an attempt to get a break from his fame á la The Prince and the Pauper, traded places with Elvis impersonator Sebastian Haff, only to have Haff die on the toilet at Graceland, leaving the true King of Rock 'n' Roll trapped in obscurity and left to waste away in an East Texas nursing home, where he eventually must team up with the likes of an equally underwraps John F. Kennedy to prevent an evil Egyptian mummy from conquering the world, of course starting his quest in a sleepy rest home...I warned you...it's not typical Hollywood fare.

But surprisingly, it works, and this film is a delightful surprise that completely breaks the mold from anything you would ever expect.

The real highlight of this film is the performance of Bruce Campbell (The Evil Dead, Army of Darkness). Campbell, a b-movie cult icon who can't seem to escape the shadow of Ash, the role in the aforementioned films he is so closely identified with, does a great job portraying the elderly Elvis with an unexpected dignity and respect, delivering a remarkable performance that rises above simple caricature. The zany Egyptian curse plotline is offbeat and puts the King into some funny situations, but I can't help but wonder how good this film could have been without it.

As Elvis conspiracy theory lore alone, just the story of Presley switching places with an impersonator and then being condemned to die alone and unrecognized in a nursing home could have been a great story in and of itself  — without the soul-sucking mummy thing. The great Ossie Davis delivers a very likeable performance as JFK (after the shooting in Dallas, apparently he was dyed black and a bag of sand was used to fill the space in his head where he lost brain tissue!). 

The film kind of walks a tight rope between being a silly farce and a creepy creature feature, and these alternate polar genres amazingly fuse well into an entertaining mix that is as poignant as it is surprising.  It's too bad the rights to use Elvis' music were beyond the production's budget; this should have had a killer soundtrack album!

RATED 4 STARS - COCONUT-OIL POPPED, DRIZZLED IN FAKE BUTTER, CLASSIC THEATER TREAT

Batman Returns (1993)

With the teasers and early previews for Summer 2012's Dark Knight Rising, making the rounds online, the promise of a Nolan-revamped Catwoman from Anne Hathaway had me thinking about  Tim Burton's take on the feline seductress in his big-budget caped crusader sequel, Batman Returns, so after many, many years, I recently re-screened this film, and I found myself surprised at how much I detested it — I did not have the same reaction back when it was released in 1993.

Maybe it was Joel Schumacher's two abysmal follow ups that put the rose-colored glasses on my memories of this film...or maybe Batman Returns was a decent film that became dwarfed by the excellence of Christopher Nolan's re-imagined Batman franchise reboots, Batman Begins and The Dark Knight.  I don't know, but after all these years, I harshly swallowed this thing like a giant bite of a weeks' old moldy cheeseburger — all that black crud coming out of the Penguin's mouth at the end of the picture seems an apt metaphor for where Tim Burton ended up taking this film.

The first problem here is that this film is even less about Batman than the Jack Nicholson love-fest of the original.  Burton, who obviously didn't understand what made Frank Miller's graphic novel The Dark Knight Returns so great, doesn't seem to grasp that people love Batman not for the kooky bad guys, but for the internal dichotomy of a man at war with himself.  I would not even consider Batman a major character in this film, as the three villains (The Penguin, Catwoman, and Max Schrek) get more screen time and character development than the film's namesake hero. 

Another problem is the total lack of charm all of the characters displayed. Nicholson's Joker was buffoonish and over the top, but at least he had some panache.  DeVito, Pfeiffer, Walken, and Keaton have all the mirth of a funeral dirge and make Christian Bale look downright cheery at times.  Burton goes for dark, but comes up dreary and somewhat ludicrous.  He starts out well by concocting an interesting origin story for the Penguin (despite its wide departure from comic book canon), but it all quickly falls apart from there, as Burton dips a little too deep into his usual bag of whimsy for a silly plot surrounding Penguin's desire to capture the firstborn children of Gotham City's elite citizenry using a fleet of rocket-bearing penguins to do his bidding.  Yes, it's as ridiculous as it sounds.

Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman...meow!

Michelle Pfeiffer's turn as Catwoman is memorable and sexy, but she is given too little to do, and though the chemistry between her and Keaton is pretty good at times, it's hurried and misses the golden opportunity to create a great love triangle situation with Bruce Wayne's girlfriend from the first film, Vicki Vail (Kim Bassinger), whose absence is puzzling since she is one of the only three people to know Batman's secret identity.  There are plenty of missed opportunities in Batman Returns, as the film is filled with a few short moments of brilliance that get completely bogged down in a cacophony of too many villains, too many unrelated plot turns, and cinematography/art direction that mires the entire production in despair and apathy.  It's hard to imagine that this series could sink further than this, but this ends up as a high-point when compared to the two films from Schumacher that followed.

RATED 2 STARS - DRY, AIR-POPPED (BUT GOOD FOR YOU—GAG!) STYROFOAM

Roman Holiday (1953)

Many could easily make a case to dismiss this William Wyler classic as a simple "chick flick" — but I beg to differ.  I consider myself to be just as much of a red-blooded, football-watchin', testosterone-filled, all-American Neanderthal as the next guy, and I contend that Roman Holiday has plenty to interest the gentlemen viewers as well.

Sure, on the surface, this Cinderella-esque narrative about a European princess who slips the strict guard of her royal entourage to seek out romance and adventure disguised as a poor commoner in the streets of Rome will tend to appeal to a female audience, but there's plenty here to attract the guys, too:  a police chase through the streets of Rome, a great fight scene, loads of witty dialogue, and Gregory Peck's best effort at playing an opportunistic reprobate (although, I must admit, Cary Grant, who was originally sought for the role, might have pulled it off better).  As the runaway princess having her first, and perhaps only, chance at experiencing true freedom, Audrey Hepburn is beautiful and disarming in her Oscar-winning Hollywood debut (and far better than Liz Taylor, Wyler's first choice for the role, would have been).



Screenwriter Dalton Trumbo with wife Cleo Fincher in 1947.



Great acting, a terrific — and finally recognized and credited — Dalton Trumbo script (Trumbo wrote the screenplay under a pseudonym as one of the infamous "Hollywood Ten," black-listed for refusing to testify about supposed communist ties before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1947.) , and incredible locations make this a gem.  Oh, and the DVD is packed with nice extras and an incredible digital restoration of the picture and sound.

Guys, please, there is no shame in enjoying this one, and pulling this out to watch with the lady in your life just might earn you a few romance points!

RATED 5 STARS: HOME-MADE, WHIRLEY-POPPED, AND LAYERED IN REAL BUTTER...YUMMM!

The Invention of Lying (2009)

The great mind of Ricky Gervais (BBC's The Office, HBO's Extras) follows up the success of his first big-screen effort, Ghost Town, with an even better story in the quirky, honest comedy, The Invention of Lying.  While the premise, a look at one man who discovers how to lie in a world where people are incapable of telling lies, at first appears absurdly whimsical, it provides the framework for Gervais to plumb the allegory for a spot-on critique of our world's blind-faith acceptance of illogical religious dogma and the difficulty we all have in accepting, and loving, people who are just a little bit different from ourselves. 

This film has received a great deal of criticism because some of the characters go beyond simple truth-telling by blurting out their innermost feelings in a hurtful way...this on the surface may be unrealistic, but I find that it is consistent with Gervais' premise, as it shows exactly the way insensitive people would act in a world where lying is impossible...plus it yields some truly gut-busting comedic moments that are as cringe-worthy as any of Gervais' other creations. 

The cast is simply perfect: Jennifer Garner is winsome as the love interest/best friend who is out of Gervais' league; Rob Lowe plays the perfect superficial jerk; Tina Fey is hilarious, spitting out blunt observations with venomous dead-pan timing; and Louis C.K., Phillip Seymour Hoffman, and Jonah Hill are terrific as the loser buddies. And lastly, there's Ricky...once again playing the soft-bellied loser with a pug nose...a witty, intelligent observer for the everyman. While not quite as good as The Office, The Invention of Lying is every bit as funny and poignant as Extras, and is a triumph of subversive satire.

4 STARS - COCONUT-OIL POPPED, DRIZZLED WITH FAKE BUTTER, CLASSIC THEATER TREAT

Firefly (TV series - 2002)

And now the award for "Best Television Series That Nobody Watched"...the nominees:

Sports Night, Pushing Daisies, Freaks and Geeks, Firefly, and Arrested Development...and the winner is...

**rips open envelope**

...FIREFLY!

Yes, Joss Whedon's (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel) 2002 sci-fi series is truly the best show that no one had a chance to really fall in love with.  Fox repeatedly moved Firefly from one time slot to another and showed episodes out of order, and the ensuing confusion ensured that this gem of a show never picked up enough viewers to build the following it so richly deserved, and it was subsequently canceled before the end of its first season.  Release on DVD, however, has created a well-deserved cult following for Firefly, which led to the creation of an excellent followup movie, Serenity (which also unfortunately did not become a big enough hit to reignite the series).  Whedon clearly borrowed heavily from Star Wars, Star Trek, and numerous westerns as inspirations for this series, but he successfully created a completely original vision, and populated his creation with a crew full of diverse and highly interesting characters set in stories filled with action, humor, and more than a little anti-establishment subversiveness — and by the time you finish watching the fourteen episodes, you'll feel almost like a member of the Serenity crew yourself, and you'll find yourself wishing for more. 

Sharp, witty dialog and action-filled plot lines are prevalent throughout the series, and the cast—most notably Nathan Fillion (TV's Castle) as the cynical, Han-Solo-esque captain with a heart-of-old; Alan Tudyk as the sardonic, wise-cracking pilot, Adam Baldwin (My Bodyguard) as the thick-headed hired gun; Summer Glau (TV's Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles) as the dangerous and mysterious weaponized savant whose presence endangers the entire crew; and Jewel Staite (TV's Stargate: Atlantis) as the cute-as-a-button, brilliant but naive, ship's mechanic — each bring to life their distinct roles perfectly.  Give this great series a try — everyone I have introduced this to has echoed my outrage that this was ever canceled.

RATED 5 STARS - HOME-MADE, WHIRLEY-POPPED, AND LAYERED IN REAL BUTTER...YUMMMM!