DR. JEKYLL & MR. HYDE (1920): NOT THAT ONE THE OTHER ONE

In 1920 there were actually 3 film versions of Robert Louis Stevenson's novel Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde made.  The first 1920 version released is also the most appreciated and most well known. John Barrymore does a wonderful Jekyll and one of the most terrifying Hydes ever put on celluloid. The final film interpretation of the classic book, Der Januskopf, is unfortunately lost. It starred Conrad Veidt and a smaller role for the little known Bela Lugosi. It was directed by FW Murnau and sounds very much in the vein of his film Nosferatu. While it may be lost, with one of the world's greatest directors and two of horror cinema's biggest legends, something tells me it was an outstanding film. The one I am discussing today falls in the middle both for it's popularity and on the timeline. It is often referred to as the Haydon version after it's director J. Charles Haydon or the Sheldon Lewis version after it's lead. The director did little if anything after this film which he said he hated, but prior to this movie he did direct a pretty creepy Wizard Of Oz film. Mr. Lewis was in dozens of films before and after this one typically playing a dark or villainous role.
   At only 40 minutes it wasn't unusual for the time, but it certainly wasn't feature length as the other Dr. Jekyll interpretations were that same year. Like many cinematic versions of this classic story, we first see Dr. Jekyll helping out the poor and the sick. This makes us feel for him when he turns into a monster and at times this will have you rooting for the villain. I've always felt that some of the best horror movies have the power to do that. To have us cheer on evil. While Lewis' portrayal of the monster does not come close to the job Barrymore did, it is appealing in it's own way. I don't think they did any kind of extreme make up job, but I did initially think that Jekyll and Hyde were being portrayed by two different actors. I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing, but part of it could be due to the ragged condition of the film which is pretty washed out. Hyde's first attack comes pretty early on and it's not nice especially for 1920. The scenes in the slums are particularly well done and the vicious attack on the woman in the slums seems to go on and on. There are actually quite a number of attacks and basic acts of criminality for a 40 minute film and I think that's part of the reason I enjoyed it so much. Too many horror films don't give you enough of the monster and they could all learn a thing or two from this forgotten gem.
   There have been as of this writing 123 film versions of Robert Louis Stevenson's literary masterpiece. While I may be hesitant to call this version one of the best, I think it's well worth a look if you enjoy the Jekyll/Hyde character or horror movies or silent cinema. It is definitely a version that gets lost in the shuffle and I'd like to see that change. It's not easy competing with the likes of Conrad Veidt and John Barrymore much less the hundred other people who have played the character, but I think this movie as a whole does a good enough job distinguishing itself from some of the more popular efforts. Sheldon Lewis and a few other familiar silent faces fit their parts perfectly and while the direction is nothing special or original it does manage to endear you to the villainous main character. I honestly don't think I was so nervous about the evil doer in a film being caught since Anthony Perkins was sinking Janet Leigh's car into the swamp. Add that to an interesting dual ending, some creepy spider like movements from Hyde and a tense capture and escape from the police and you have a film well worth adding to your collection even if it's not the first film to come to mind when someone says Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde from 1920...

*if you have any interest or ideas on a TV, internet or radio project, email me allnewsux (at) gmail.com

GOLDEN AGE OF TELEVISION MY ASS!!!

The other day I heard one of my co-workers say that while he didn't really enjoy new music or new movies that he felt 2017 was the "Golden Age of Television". I have heard a few others proclaim this sentiment and of course if you were to look at TV shows of 2016 and 2017 on IMDb, you'd falsely believe they were the greatest shows ever made based on their absurd, impetuous 9+ ratings. There are so many things wrong with this. First of all, for anything to be "Golden Age" it has to be older, more classic and have stood the test of time. If you're watching or even thinking about Game Of Thrones, Stranger Things or The Walking Dead 20 years from now, THEN you can tell me how classic they were or how these shows came from a superior age of television history. Today, it is not difficult to get a TV series. Of course I don't mean that you and I can just come up with an idea and somebody will put it on TV...that would be a serious exaggeration. What I mean is back when there were only 3 major networks your TV series better be at the top of it's game in order to be picked up. You needed talented stars, interesting plots and original ideas. As with every medium there were some poor choices being made from time to time, but those TV shows were shunned and not given many episodes whereas in the 21st century, a simply awful series can stick around for years and anyone who dares to criticize these shows negatively is simply labeled a "troll". Also in this new century of television there are literally hundreds of networks you can try getting a TV series with along with options from online stations and sources like Amazon, Netflix or Hulu. In part thanks to the simplicity of streaming, suddenly dozens of companies, who have zero television experience and have no business whatsoever creating TV shows are doing just that. If I showed you a TV Guide from 1986 you'd recognize 90% of the shows whether you were alive back then or not because that's what "classic" really is. With 21st century television the opposite is true because if I showed you a listing from your average cable or satellite service, you wouldn't be familiar with 90% of the 852 shows now playing. A few decades ago you would have never seen some Armenian assistant to a blonde trust fund ditz suddenly become the most famous person on the planet who is working on the 8th season of her idiotic, fake, falsely labeled reality show. From at least the 1950s through the 1980s, network execs made a point to get only the best and most talented actors and actresses they could afford and very rarely would they give a series to some flavor of the week actor. In 2017, it's hard to find a flavor of the week pop culture footnote who DOESN'T have his/her own series!
   Some may say I'm coming off like some grumpy old man who says things like "back in my day...". Hey, I'm not saying you can't enjoy some new TV shows, but until you've done your homework don't make silly proclamations about how This Is Us is the best anything or that every episode of Game Of Thrones deserves a perfect 10 out of 10. Remember, there was a time when you could watch Cheers, The Cosby Show, Family Ties and Night Court all on the same night on the same channel. For 30 years every generation of children had wonderful, memorable cartoons to wake up for every Saturday morning...no longer. During the late 1970s you had unforgettable gems like Happy Days, M*A*S*H, All In The Family, The Dukes Of Hazzard and Three's Company all being produced at the same time! If we want to ever properly use the term Golden Age of Television we need simply to remember that the 1950s with I Love Lucy, The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Honeymooners, The George Burns And Gracie Allen Show and The Twilight Zone were that true "Golden Age". The TV shows you see today are simply not of the high caliber that many of the networks played in the decades prior. You enjoy them and you can talk to your friends about the latest episodes and it makes you feel like you're a part of something, but if you're ever going to be a proper critic you need to be able to differentiate between what is actually good and what you happen to like at the moment. If we were all able to do that we'd get a much clearer look at our televised past and in turn it may actually improve the television of the present. I’m just hoping that the next time the chance presents itself for you to watch some older television from Monty Python’s Flying Circus to The A-Team to Ultraman check it out…it just might make you look at your latest favorite a bit differently.

*if you have any interest or ideas on a TV, internet or radio project, email me allnewsux (at) gmail.com

A family of comic geniuses breaking the fourth wall

Years before George R.R. Martin even wrote the books

Horror presented by one of our greatest television writers

When comic book TV shows actually looked like comic books

Wake up early, watch cartoons for a few hours, go play outside

Negan's not a TV icon...these guys are

We could watch Super Friends, Plastic Man and

Spider Woman every week...we were true comic

book fans

Unarguably the greatest and most important TV show ever made

and idiots who rate over at IMDb can't even put it in the top 200

MAKING THE CASE FOR 'QUARK'

Unless you are fanatical about ultra obscure sci-fi or you were glued to your TV set on Friday nights in 1978, you probably have no idea what 'Quark' is. Well, it's a very short lived NBC series that wonderfully spoofed popular science fiction movies and television of the day. Not quite on par with Police Squad/Naked Gun as far as the spoof factor goes, but that just allows the viewer to also care about the action and the plot surrounding the crew of this futuristic garbage ship. Overall, the series is smart, sexy and funny with it's constant potshots at Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers, Star Trek, Star Wars and 2001: A Space Odyssey. While the main focus seems to be Star Trek related, you'll also note plenty of takeoffs on the old science fiction movie serials of the 1930's and 40's.

   The TV show has a fairly recognizable cast and very well respected writers and directors. It was created by the great Buck Henry best known for The Graduate, Get Smart and Saturday Night Live. Director Hy Averback also worked on The Man From U.N.C.L.E., F Troop and the classic 1st season of M*A*S*H. The costume designer who I don't expect anyone to know, Grady Hunt, actually won an Emmy for his work on this TV show. Commander Adam Quark was played by Richard Benjamin who has done many shows and movies as both an actor and director, but I think he'll always be remembered as the lead in 1973's Westworld where he was pursued by Yul Brynner. The main sex appeal is courtesy of the lovely Barnstable twins who didn't do a lot of acting before Quark or since, but they were the Doublemint twins and apparently these days they are very active raising money to fight diabetes. The most recognizable face belongs to Tim Thomerson. Even if you don't know his Trancers movie series, I guarantee you know him from his 100+ other supporting roles that covered every genre of film and television. There are other actors you'd know from more famous projects especially when it comes to the villains in Quark's universe. It seems like they were hoping for that Batman like "special guest villain" formula, but the show didn't last long enough for that to pan out.

   So just how short lived was this series? Well, there are officially 8 episodes of Quark, but the pilot would air almost a full year before the rest of the series and 2 of the episodes are actually just parts 1 and 2 of a long episode. The pilot itself is not quite up to par with the rest of the series, but it's not a bad place to start. However, if you want to witness the series true greatness I highly recommend the second episode which for some reason was an hour long (with commercials) while every other episode is the normal 30 minutes. This episode eliminates the very cliché Doctor of the pilot with a hilarious Spock knock off Ficus who is a sentient plant in human form. All of the episodes are worth watching but skipping the pilot allows us to see the series for what it truly is. We have the full cast, the cheap yet terrific looking Star Trek like aliens and action packed plots which would thankfully help lessen the use of the annoying laugh track. If this series had lasted a few seasons I honestly believe NBC would have shifted towards a more serial like format and Quark would be remembered as one of THE classics of science fiction, but as it is now it should still be considered a classic of sci-fi comedy. Unfortunately prior to the 21st century TV shows were cancelled without reason and without notice. There was so much more quality programming to battle against as when there were only 3 networks instead of 103 every damn TV series better be top notch. Professional critic Donald Liebenson said "the cancellation of Quark after a mere eight episodes makes us ponder yet again the existence of intelligent life in the television universe". If you watch the show I think you'll agree with that assessment as Quark had so much unrealized potential to last for years and finishing up with Commander Quark finally getting off that garbage scow and commanding his own star cruiser with all of his wacky crew mates joining him would have been wonderful to see.

*if you have any interest or ideas on a TV, internet or radio project, email me allnewsux (at) gmail.com

BATMAN & ROBIN: LET’S LOOK SERIOUSLY AT A SERIOUSLY STUPID MOVIE

Only within the last year or two have I come to genuinely enjoy this movie. Despite becoming a bit of a fan of the film I can without question admit that it is the worst Batman project ever. Far worse than the old serials, Batman Forever or Batman V Superman. I know cinema quite well and even though I am entertained by something, that does not make it a masterpiece. These days I certainly do prefer this one even more than the Christopher Nolan trilogy just because I'm into more light hearted fare, but Nolan blows Schumacher out of the water...no argument. The reason I want to stand up for this movie and perhaps get you to take another look at it is because I think what Schumacher TRIED to do was absolutely brilliant. Everything sounded great on paper, but his overall plan just failed miserably! We saw the first 2 darker Burton entries get lightened up a bit in Batman Forever. Much more color was welcomed in and the villains, while still dangerous, spent a bit more time on goofing around. There's no doubt that Joel Schumacher was always a fan of the old Adam West series. No real surprise as if you claim you are a Batman fan and you don't like the Adam West series I got news for you...you're not a Batman fan. Well, as director he was trying to remake the darker movie series into the Adam West series. Things he had just hinted at in Batman Forever, he went balls out on with this sequel. Uma Thurman's over the top performance is not only the showpiece of the film, but it's also something you'd see in the old Batman TV show except with Louie The Lilac instead of Poison Ivy. Mr. Freeze actually has a frozen hideout with snow and ice related goons who are forced to sing along with wintery Christmas songs. He even has an ice sexpot in Vivica A. Fox! This is everything the old 1960's TV series did in every episode. When they did it 9 times out of 10 it worked, but Mr. Schumacher tried and fell flat on his face. I've heard this called by some the worst movie ever made (oh come on). I've also heard people call this the worst comic book movie ever made (Man Thing from 2005 has to take that title). I'm not saying you should be praising this nonsensical flick, but I do think it calls for a reevaluation.
   None of the film is played out very seriously. Yes, Alfred is dying and Uma spouts endless sexual innuendo, but overall it feels more like a movie for the kids. Whereas Batman Forever felt very much like a comic book from the 1980s, Batman & Robin feels more like a comic book from the 1960s. Uma Thurman's initial scene of "he's never let me into his lab...let me go into his lab now that the viewers are watching" is straight out of old comic books. When she enters that lab Bane is extremely comic bookish even having some veins painted onto his arms. Mr. Freeze's mode of escape costs more than the diamond he is trying to steal just like you'd see in the Adam West show or in the comics of that same era. I remember reading really old Batman comics with my brother and pointing out to him that Joker would spend a million dollars to steal something worth 50 grand. It was comic books, it wasn't trying to be reality and that's exactly what this movie is all about. I mean a Batman credit card with it's own cash register sound effect? That's another thing, the Looney Tunes like sound effects had to give some hints to people that they weren't trying to do drama here. You hear empty coconut like bonks, swishes, swirls and noises I can't even explain other than to say "you know the sound from that cartoon where Wile E. Coyote falls". There's also a quip or a pun delivered by some character every two minutes! I mean people took this as a serious piece of work? Need I remind you yet again of that Batman credit card?
   I think many fans of the more serious Burton films just missed the point and didn't want to see Batman revert back to being a bit campy. At the time I didn't either, but now I've come to appreciate it for what it was at least trying to be. Outside of that I can't give you a ton of positive cinematic qualities. I do think George Clooney makes a great Bruce Wayne even if he doesn't make a great Batman. I think his chemistry with Chris O'Donnell is a little better than Val Kilmer's (I hear Kilmer can be difficult to work with). The real positive however is Thurman as Poison Ivy. Out of all the actors, she seemed to best understand what Joel Schumacher was trying to do. She does over the top and PG rated sex appeal to the same lengths as Julie Newmar did back in the 60s. She's a colorful character and she is just a blast to watch. I'd also point out that having the same actors play Alfred and Commissioner Gordon throughout the ever changing four part series does help hold it all together.
   The cinematic negatives though I could go on for pages and pages. No one who worked on this film understands how ice works. No one understood basic scientific principles like gravity and physics. I mean that door surfing from 30,000 feet nonsense is the biggest load of crap I've ever witnessed in a film and not even Adam West and Burt Ward would have portrayed something this stupid and poor looking. The movie itself is unfocused and jumps from scene to scene with all of this exposition and even action sequences that have almost nothing to do with the story. They could have dropped 30 minutes of these scenes and still come in slightly over 90 minutes. I think movie goers would have appreciated the film a lot more and even if they hated it they would not complain as much as 90 minutes is a lot less painful than 125! So why do I like it? Part of it is just loving the four part series as a whole. Another is liking most of the actors and crew. More than both of those things, I appreciate Schumacher's love for the old campy Batman and his attempt to bring some of that back into the mythos of this legendary character that really didn't become a legend until he had a TV show that showed him as a fun character. Something else that really helped persuade me to see this film in a different light were my buddies over at Rifftrax. I thought the riff was so funny that I have probably watched it over 100 times! When I watch the non-Rifftrax version I still laugh out loud at what I'm seeing on the screen and I think that is the way it was somewhat intended to be. If you think of this movie more along the lines of The Room than The Dark Knight you'll be pleasantly surprised and perhaps you'll even get some genuine enjoyment from Batman & Robin as I do every time I watch it...
*if you have any interest or ideas on a TV, internet or radio project, email me allnewsux (at) gmail.com

THE SECRET ORIGIN OF ALLNEWSUX

The story had to be told...the fans demanded it! Of course no one demanded anything, but I figured I'd been using this handle for awhile now on sites like Blogger, Twitter, YouTube and IMDb so why not explain what it is I'm trying to accomplish here. First, who's under the mask. I'm just a guy from Colorado in his early 40s who lives for movies, television, music, art, comics and literature. I don't have a family per se so I am lucky enough to be able to direct my interests into things other than children or anniversary gifts. Selfish perhaps, but it is simply the way I enjoy living and I think everyone should just live what ever way makes them happy. To make a living I can typically be found running liquor or marijuana stores, but I'd love someday to earn a paycheck teaching folks about all of the things from the past that they have missed. Back in the early 2000s I actually did have some professional articles published most all of them about beer which at the time was my biggest area of expertise. I am still well versed in beer, wine, liquor and marijuana, however probably since I connect all of these wonderful things with "work", I have become much more of a master of cinema and music knowledge.
   My tastes are very wide ranging from Johann Sebastian Bach to Slayer. From The Miracle On 34th Street to Zombie Flesh Eaters and from Captain Z-Ro to The Sarah Silverman Program. However while my tastes do have range, they are mostly confined to things made BEFORE the 21st century. This is by no means set in stone and there's no question that I enjoy many movies, books and television from the last 17 years, but most of it is very different and very inferior to the stuff that was around when I was growing up. No, I'm not some superior snob who starts every sentence with "well back in my day...". Actually most all of the novelties I enjoy the best are from long before I was born. The issue here is that since computers really took over we utilize them for EVERYTHING and this has had very subpar results. Between work and my off work time, I spend around 12 hours a day on a computer so there's no question that I love them, but the moment they became the main attraction in things like songs and cinemas I gave up. I mean we actually have movies that are over 95% CGI and songs where every piece of vocalization is run through a computer! Computers have made things easier, but they are also taking away the art from the artist. What's worse is that because of the huge amounts of money involved today, everyone seems to be making an effort to endlessly promote this trash while trying their damnedest to bury all the wonderful entertainment from the past as if it were all just Atari 2600 E.T. cartridges. That's what made me start ALLNEWSUX.
   All of my friends and co-workers have already heard a million times about how underrated Bob Dylan's 1980s work was. Because of me they all know who Dario Argento is and they've probably remembered a few lines from Titus Andronicus. People who had "borrowed" my Black Sabbath Sabotage or Rolling Stones Sticky Fingers albums and never returned them actually made me happy because I knew I had helped interest them in something new. When that dickhead Dan quit the job we worked together and never gave me back my VHS recording of Abel Gance's Napoleon or my book on port wine I thought "good, maybe now that clown will be able to watch the greatest movie ever made all while drinking one of the world's greatest beverages". I love teaching people in whatever way I can and I feel that I am somewhat needed in this day and age when everyone from IMDb to Redbox to Rotten Tomatoes rather push the Zoolander sequel over Citizen Kane.
   Despite my rather negative sounding name, I actually am very positive with what I do. Oh sure, I'll occasionally rip into some vile conservative saying how poor people enjoy being poor or some noob who has seen 46 movies in his whole life and every week proclaims the latest one he's seen as "the greatest movie of all-time", but mostly I try to be fun, humorous and most importantly educational. I don't want you to hate Rogue One, I just don't want you to forget about the original trilogy before George Lucas minimalized it with his offensive CGI add ons. I'm not saying you can't like Beyoncé, but I'd like to introduce you to some really obscure, yet wonderful songs from The Supremes. You can read DC Comics New 52 all you like, but never forget Crisis On Infinite Earths, where all this multiverse rebooting started. Perhaps someday I can parlay all of this into a book, radio, television or internet TV series. After being bombarded all day with the newest everything, it might be nice to come home and hear about Commodore 64 games, Basil Rathbone and old Tangerine Dream records...who knows?

P.S. If you were wondering where my AllNewSux handle comes from, it's about 90% courtesy of one of the funniest Kids In The Hall sketches ever where Bruce McCulloch tells Kevin McDonald "all that new stuff sucks" and the other 10% from Beavis and Butthead simply saying how everything sucks. I went ahead and posted the sketch below and a few other things I hope you'll find favor with.

The Kids In The Hall "Into The Doors"

John Lennon often said he wished The Beatles had done a

slower tempo version like this one

Easily one of the most terrifying zombie films ever made

If you're a fan of the hokey comic books you'll love the TV show

THE 1990s: THE FINAL BREATH FOR GREAT COMEDY

I would probably agree with the argument that the 1990s were a bit weaker than the few previous decades as far as comedy goes. For the most part all the funniest ideas had already been used and all of the greatest comedy troupes, Monty Python, Saturday Night Live, SCTV, The Kids In The Hall, had first appeared on the scene prior to 1990. However that doesn't mean there weren't plenty of fine, innovative comedies on TV and in the cinemas. We were lucky enough to witness the creation of In Living Color and The State, both of which had actors and actresses that gave us some very funny films and some very original ideas back then and even into the 21st century. The Ben Stiller Show lasted only half of a season yet would introduce us to some comedians who are still relevant to this very day and some of the cast would later pivot to more R rated and risqué stuff like Mr. Show and The Sarah Silverman Program.
   The movie theaters and perhaps even more so late night cable television, was full of fantastic comedy films that people are still quoting to this very day whether they realize it or not. The early 90s had plenty of ballsy comedies that would eventually be realized as genius. Certainly titles like The Freshman, I Love You To Death and L.A. Story come to mind from the beginning of the decade. Albert Brooks was still doing excellent comedy (no surprise there), but he had to compete with sillier stuff from the Farrelly brothers and even rap artists Kid 'N' Play. Neither duo made movies as intellectual as Brooks or Woody Allen, but it was still hilarious and as far as the comedy genre goes that should be our main concern. Throughout the 1990s, SNL players who wanted to take their projects to the big screen would show us the good (Wayne's World), the bad (Coneheads) and the ugly (It's Pat). With the movie Clueless, Amy Heckerling would deliver her first masterpiece since 1982. Of course Kevin Smith would show us you don't need a big budget to make a great film. Smith would pretty much create a new genre of comedy with his intellectual under achievers who spend all day referencing nerdy pop culture. Many of my favorite comedies from this decade are actually plotted along these lines that Dante and Randal had perfected. Another commonality of a lot of my favorite comedy films from the era is also that they didn't get much attention and that disappoints me. I decided to make a list of these specific films and what surprised me was that out of the 10, I'd only seen one of the films in a theater. Clearly the VHS era would peak and then crash at the end of the decade. I don't think I rented many of these comedies though. Instead I would watch and rewatch 90% of these movies on HBO, Cinemax, Showtime and The Movie Channel. Of course any fan of fun cinema also remembers watching USA Up All Night which is probably where I caught a few of these movies as well. You just don't see this kind of quality or obscurity on cable/satellite anymore which is why many folks have moved onto other services like NetFlix or Amazon and I can't say that I blame them. I personally haven't had any kind of television or streaming service for 4 years now. Anything I watch is from a DVD I bought and every film on this list is worth getting on DVD. What's crazy is that some of these flicks have no official DVD release and they are never on NetFlix much less Showtime. I'm not sure why this is because in some cases we are talking about some big name comedy stars in them, but if you love to laugh and you've already seen Groundhog Day and Home Alone a million times why not look into these movies from that same great era of comedy films...perhaps the last great era.

Honorable Mentions That Almost Made The List:
Heavyweights (1995)
Canadian Bacon (1995)
Soapdish (1991)
Class Act (1992)
Free Enterprise (1998)


5. Pyrates (1991)

Fires start anytime our wacky couple has sex? A silly plot to be sure, but if you dig smart (some might say pretentious) romantic comedies this should be up your alley. Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick are of course perfect for each other and Bruce Payne is hilarious. All of these bar hopping, womanizing, buddy films appeal to me as I lived that life for probably two decades of my life and yes often times goofy things happened...but no fires.

4. Honeymoon In Vegas (1992) 

Nicolas Cage’s crazy reaction to just about everything makes this film worth seeing. Cage's style of acting may be called overacting by some, but for a film like this it's perfect. A fantastic soundtrack of various artists from many different music genres do takes on songs made popular by the King Of Rock 'N' Roll. Sarah Jessica Parker is a great comedic actress of course, but this movie in particular is for the idiots who say she’s unattractive (Matt and Trey I'm looking at you) because here she is absolutely stunning and like Cage I’d happily fight any obstacle for her!

3. At First Sight (1995) 

Probably the least well known on the list and that’s a crime because Jonathan Silverman and Dan Cortese surprisingly work really well together as a pair of horny bachelors. Because of the huge focus on sex, this film was mostly shown really late night on pay cable which may account for it’s obscurity. Of course there's also the fact that there are like 10 films with this title and it has now been relegated by IMDb to the pedestrian title ‘Two Guys Talkin’ About Girls’. If you enjoy your comedy somewhat raunchy this is the film for you.

2. Opportunity Knocks (1990)

If you put Dana Carvey in the right situation he can be on the same comedic level as a Richard Pryor or a Dudley Moore. As it turns out, making him an overconfident grifter is the most perfect role for him since the Church Lady. How this film wasn't a blockbuster I'll never know, but it has action, romance and a lovely Hollywood ending. Most importantly it has Carvey pretty much performing a one man show while the rest of the cast acts as his straight man. There are hints of the Marx Brothers, but what it really reminded me of was a new take on the George Burns and Gracie Allen Show and from me that's a high compliment indeed.

1. The Stöned Age (1994)

Between this movie and Dazed And Confused these two films are a surprisingly accurate recreation of my life. From age 16 up until my mid-20s my friend Ryan and I were the Joe Connolly and Michael Hubbs of the Denver suburbs. To further connect it to my life, the character of Joe is my buddy Ryan's doppelganger. Like Joe and Hubbs, Ryan and I drove around in my car, blasting hard rock and heavy metal music, searching for parties, drugs and women. The entire film encompasses less than a full day so you get more of a real time feel. I admit that if you didn't live like this, most of this film won't be very funny for you, but if you did The Stöned Age will be your Duck Soup. Overall, the sex and the drugs are minimal because they wanted to leave plenty of room for the comedy which never seems to stop. You just look at these guys or their group of friends and even in this day and age they will remind you of someone you knew from the 1970s or 80s and that in itself will bring a smile to your face.