Author Archives: jjcwn

Movie Review: The Naked Gun

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There have been three previous Naked Gun movies made; the last one, “Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult,” was released in 1994. These movies are supposed to be ridiculous and stupid. The problem with the latest reboot, “The Naked Gun”, starring Liam Neeson as Frank Drebin Jr, is that it is too stupid, too over-the-top, and ridiculous. Towards the end of these two hours, the whole experience becomes far more annoying than it is funny. I found this experience similar to the Fast and Furious franchise, which, over time, gave us special effects and stunts that were far more idiotic than they needed to be. The concept of “less is more” makes sense for movies like these, when overkill can ruin the entire experience.

The new movie “The Naked Gun” also stars Pamela Anderson as Beth Davenport, who becomes involved after a series of stupid crimes with Drebin. Early in the movie, some of the stupid slapstick was working, but the quality of the sight gags started to degrade midway through this mostly unfunny film. The positive news is that it was good to see Liam Neeson in a major mainstream movie for the first time in many years since the last of the Taken movies was released in 2014. Neeson’s career has been mired in in and out of the theater B movies for about a decade.

This is also a major movie appearance for Pamela Andersonon, who has been experiencing a career resurgence since last year’s “The Last Showgirl” (2024). Anderson was good in her role, which consisted mostly of insane slapstick and word comedy like “take a chair”, where her character drags a chair out of the police department. A scene like this might be amusing once or twice, but throughout an entire two-hour movie, it gets old around the 3rd time.

The Rotten Tomatoes ratings of 90% are about as insane and ridiculous as this movie, which violates the comedy movie rule of an unfunny film calling itself a comedy. This movie is not funny, and I do not recommend it, with a rating of 50%, which is generous.

Movie Review: Together

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The standout issue with the new horror movie “Together” is that its premise and special effects represent a brand-new idea that has never been done before in a film.

A married couple, Tim and Millie, played by real-life couple Dave Franco and Allison Brie, move to the country and on a hiking trip find themselves infected by supernatural water, which tries to physically connect them together.

The remainder of this movie is about conflicts in Tim and Millie’s relationship and horrific scenes where the two of them are like magnets trying to pull themselves apart from each other. There is a side story where another teacher in the school where Millie teaches is familiar with this water and videos are seen of ceremonies where this teacher is trying to bond with his partner, who it seems, passed away some time ago. For this part of the story, not enough is explained, suggesting that perhaps these people are aliens who might have infected the area with this body-bonding water. In the end, we never find out the origin of this supernatural water.

There are the typical gross-out scenes that are common with physical horror movies like this one; most are well done, especially when they show the combining of body parts. The ending was no surprise, and overall, I give this movie a very mild recommendation only because of some of the originality.

The Rotten Tomatoes rating of 94% is way too high, with my rating around 75% and small thumbs up.

Netflix Movie Review: Happy Gilmore 2

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The sequel to “Happy Gilmore” (1996), this time around, is on Netflix, called “Happy Gilmore 2”. As with the original movie, this one is also supposed to be a comedy. For a movie comedy, why lead off the story with the sight of a flying golf ball hitting Happy’s wife, Virginia, played by Julie Bowen, in the head, killing her instantly? It’s hard to understand how two screenwriters, one of them Adam Sandler, would think that the start of this movie, which includes death and huge financial loss, would be considered funny by anyone. What the hell were they thinking?

Following his wife’s death, Happy suffers extreme financial loss. He has 4 sons and a daughter, Vienna, played by Sandler’s daughter Sunny. Adding to Happy’s many problems is that Vienna has been invited to attend a Ballet company in Paris, France, that costs 75K a year. To make money, Happy has to start from the bottom of the Golf profession, playing with low-level players on a very bad golf course. The best parts of both movies have always been the insane golf shots and the visuals of long drives down the fairway, with some other moderately funny physical comedy scenes. There are several flashbacks in this story, showing scenes from the original Happy Gilmore, to remind the audience of characters and situations from 29 years ago.

Due to a new crazy version of Golf, Happy Gilmore very quickly rises to the top of the sport of Golf (only in the movies) and has a chance to make enough money to pay for his daughter’s Ballet and dig himself out of being completely broke. The ending that has many scenes of the new version of Golf falls flat and results in a very unsatisfying ending to this mostly bad and surprisingly dark, unfunny movie.

There are also cameos of many long-retired gold greats, including Jack Nicklaus, Lee Trevino Jack Nicklaus, Fred Couples, Nick Faldo, Corey Pavin, and John Daly, who are more of a distraction and in no way save this film.

The Rotten Tomatoes ratings for this movie are mostly correct 65%, with my rating only 50% and a vote to miss this unfunny, too dark comedy movie.