In Passing

I stayed up half the night with my friends grieving over Robin Williams. Yeah. Due to something that happened when I was eight, I really do not like it when people commit suicide. You know depression has to be serious when your body's self-preservation response doesn't kick in. I can't get as mad at him as I was with Justin though, for some reason. I'm talking Kelly Clarkson "Because of You" type of mad.

MacGruber: My brother borrowed this because of the wrestlers that were in it. Unfortunately their characters didn't last that long. The whole movie is filled with crude humor that is not worth watching. As far as SNL goes, I did like the MacGruber sketch from the episode hosted by Betty White. "Vicki, the door's locked. How many seconds before MacGruber fails to disarm the bomb?"

Magic Mike: Mom wanted to see this one. Mostly because the guy from White Collar was in it. But imagine our surprise when Gabriel Iglesias popped up in it too as their DJ. Unfortunately it went downhill (if you were into the male stripper premise in the first place) when the plot was steered toward the dangers of drugs both doing them and dealing them (including The Fluffy One). Another wrestler was in this too but his character didn't last long either. Incidentally, there is a bonus feature on the Aloha Fluffy DVD (his funniest yet on the whole but I still prefer to pull quotes from his two previous specials) where he talks about the making of the movie. That was perhaps more interesting than the movie itself.

Carpool: I couldn't actually find this one anywhere to borrow, and it's not worth the money to get anyway.  But if someone had it and gave it to someone at TGWTG to review, that would be awesome because this movie is a prime example of bad 90s family movies. It came out in 1996 but I watched it at camp in 1999 or thereabouts. You can see the trailer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DK8xq9F5m9o A work-driven father must take his kids and their friends to school because his wife is too sick to drive the carpool (she doesn't even look that sick in the trailer but I barely even remember this movie). Complications arise as a rather inept criminal robs a bank (or fails to) and takes the carpool hostage as he's trying to get away. The kids are obnoxious in typical 90s style and like the criminal better than the dad. Pee jokes? There's one. Funny moments? Possibly as the dad is still trying to win the kids over to his side while reasoning with the inept criminal. Saving grace? Rachel Leigh Cook is in it. Another movie I can't get my hands on is White Noise 2 starring Nathan Fillion. Only 1 library in the system has it and someone never brought it back.

Mystery Men: Speaking of 1999, this is the movie I most wanted to see again. It was a different experience watching it now than it was back then where I watched it at a sleepover. At first I thought it was a spoof movie (Galaxy Quest was the same year and apparently Corbin Bleu appeared in both) but it's actually a spinoff of an 80s Darkhorse comic called The Flaming Carrot. Cast includes Geoffrey Rush, Ben Stiller, William H Macy, Hank Azaria, Janeane Garofalo, Peewee Herman, and Kel Mitchell (with other pointless cameos by Cee-lo Green, Mark Mothersbaugh, Dane Cook, and *gasp* Michael Bay!). It was a lot more padded (and there were a lot of deleted and extended scenes in the special features) than I remembered, but since I was at a sleepover we were probably talking or something all throughout and I just didn't notice. It's not that great, but it is better than movies like Kick Ass and Super Hero Movie (not that I've seen either of those but still...suck on that, Nic Cage and Drake Bell).