Slappy and the Stinkers

Slappy and the Stinkers

TriStar etc.

January 23, 1998

Children's, Comedy
DVD
D+

I tuned out before Slappy the Seal showed up.  Barnet Kellman directed.

Promising Young Woman

Promising Young Woman

Focus Features etc.

January 25, 2020

Dramedy? Horror?  I don't know!

DVD
D

I was prepared to hate this movie, but then it veered off in the direction of revenge, so I only dislike it.  Emerald Fennell wrote and directed.

The Emoji Movie

The Emoji Movie
Columbia/ Sony
July 28, 2017
Children's, Sci-Fi, Comedy
DVD
B-

Well, although most people seem to have hated this (it made history by being the first animated movie to win several Razzy Awards), I was pleasantly surprised watching it today.  It's sweet and funny, and it has the ultimate in spot-on casting, with Steven Wright and Jennifer Coolidge as Mr. and Mrs. Meh.  Tony Leondis directed, co-wrote, and did a few voices.

Best in Show

Best in Show
Warner Bros.
October 20, 2000
Mockumentary
DVD
B

Guest directed and with Levy co-wrote this movie, and the two of them play two of the main characters in it, although each set of dogs & owners gets moments in the spotlight.  I saw this movie at the time and maybe once again in the intervening almost twenty years, and I do think it holds up well, in both humor and story-- all the more impressive considering how much of it was improvised-- but I don't think it has the extra oomph that This Is Spinal Tap (1984, and reviewed here https://reviewingeverymovieiown.blogspot.com/2014/11/this-is-spinal-tap.html) has.  By the way, I think Begley's reference here to a rock band he can't say by name is a Spinal Tap joke. 

I actually forgot which dog won and thought it was Hubert the Hound, but it makes narrative sense for it to be the Flecks' Winky, because that family, especially Gerry (Levy's character), are most the (sorry) underdogs.  And the funniest performance here is Larry Miller's cameo as one of O'Hara's many exes, which surprised me because his humor can be hit or miss for me.  The "not the same Starbucks" line remains classic.

I had to leave Patrick Cranshaw out of the crowded tags, but I will note that he was then 80 and had been playing old men for about thirty years, like on Mork & Mindy.

American Dreamz

American Dreamz
Universal
April 21, 2006
Comedy
DVD
D+

This time it's Dennis Quaid as president, a satire of George Bush II that's about as unsubtle and unfunny as the rest of this alleged comedy, which also includes Mandy Moore as a pop singer, and a terrorist who loves American pop.  Oh, and Hugh Grant turns in a performance that makes his work the following year in Music and Lyrics look Oscar-worthy.  Paul Weitz wrote and directed.

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
Walt Disney
October 10, 2014
Children's, Comedy
DVD
B-

Well, I was not expecting this to be the first modern movie I'd like on this blog, but I found it a satisfying although not great family film,  Yes, it's a family film that mentions butts and penises and there's a scene with a trio of "Australian cowboy" strippers, but it is about the "super Coopers" realizing that as long as they have each other, they can get through the worst days.  Also, I like that the child actors were better than in many other movies I've seen.

Note that Van Dyke plays himself, and it's one of the likably dated things about the movie that parents are scandalized that he reads a book about "taking a dump" rather than "taking a jump" (inexplicable mass typo), when after all, Everyone Poops was published in Japan in 1977, and '93 in the West.

This is based on the much more wholesome 1972 Judith Viorst book, with a younger-than-12 protagonist.  Miguel Arteta directed.