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GBUF Spotlight: SNL – The Movies

Sorry for the late post, but I totally forgot to edit everything. 🙂 Listen in to John, Ross and myself as we discuss Saturday Night Live, MacGruber, and its attempts to break into the movie market.

We also give our Good, Bad and Ugly SNL movies. Do you agree with us? Think we’re way off? Send us an email to podcast@goodbaduglyfilms.com or a voice mail via Skype to let us know what your favorite SNL movie is and why.

Mark

GOOD: Blues Brothers BAD: Blues Brothers 2000 UGLY: It’s Pat

John

GOOD: Wayne’s World BAD: Superstar UGLY: The Ladies Man

Ross

GOOD: Wayne’s World BAD: Night at the Roxbury UGLY: Stuart Saves His Family

Download This Episode Here

GBUF Podcast: May 18, 2010 – All Reviews

Ross hosts this episode of the GBUF Podcast, an all reviews show. Today, we review the new releases of: Valentine’s Day, Legion, Edge of Darkness, and The New Daughter.

What did we think these movies did right? What did they get wrong? Why didn’t one of the lead actors in Valentine’s Day wave a shotgun or a handgun around? Get the answers to almost all of these burning questions by listening to the podcast. 🙂

Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day follows the lives of several couples in this light-hearted comedy. Their ups and downs in the game of love. All of the stories are inter-connected in a bit of a ham-fisted way, but it still works as a good date movie. The cast is populated with many stars, including: Ashton Kutcher, Bradley Cooper, Julia Roberts, Jamie Foxx, Jessica Alba, Jessica Biel, Taylor Lautner, Topher Grace, Queen Latifah, Hector Elizondo, Patrick Dempsey and Jennifer Garner.

John: BAD Mark: GOOD (after I finished) Ross: N/A

Legion

Legion takes place in a diner on the outskirts of Las Vegas. The angel Michael comes down from heaven to protect a pregnant woman and her unborn child, who, no surprise here, is going to be the next saviour of mankind. The other angels don’t like this idea so much, feeling that the time of man is coming to a close and try to speed up the apocalypse by killing the woman and anyone trying to help her. This stars Paul Bettany, Dennis Quaid, Lucas Black, Charles S Dutton, Tyrese Gibson and Kevin Durand.

John: BAD Mark: BAD Ross: UGLY

Edge of Darkness

Mel Gibson stars as Thomas Craven, a homicide detective that loses his daughter to an unknown assailant at his house. Working under the impression that he was the intended target, he is set straight by Jedburgh, a corporate “fixer” played by Ray Winstone. His investigation into his daughter’s life leads him to darker and darker places in his search for justice and revenge.

John: BAD Mark: BAD Ross: BAD

The New Daughter

Kevin Costner plays a father with two children whose wife has recently left him for another man. He and the kids move to an idyllic town in South Carolina. The daughter, played by Pan’s Labyrinth’s Ivana Baquero, starts acting even stranger than a regular teen girl acts, which leads the dad to start investigating the strange mound on his property. This movie went directly to DVD/Blu-Ray.

John: UGLY Mark: UGLY Ross: UGLY

If you’ve seen any of these movies and would like to add your comments, then please feel free to do so right here on the article, or email us at podcast@goodbaduglyfilms.com. You can also leave us a voice mail via Skype. You never know… we might just play your message on one of the podcasts.

Download This Episode Here

GBU Today: May 14, 2010

GOOD: I’d go to New York for this

The Spider-Man Musical may actually live again. Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark, will be starting rehearsals soon… after years and years of nail biting suspense amongst purveyors of Superhero Musicals. All silliness aside, the main musical number may actually be the one song by Bono I actually like to listen too (although it sounds more like The Edge). Sadly, Alan Cumming has decided to quit the gig as “Green Goblin” – Must be due to all the other fine work he’s been caught up in as of late.

I love the whole “Turn Off the Dark” subtitle. Maybe I should quit my day job and work on Broadway designing witty subtitles to the onslaught of Superhero Musicals that will be on the way after Spider-Man does gangbusters. I can see it now. “Hulk: Green Dreams and Smooth Jazz”, “Iron Man: Electronica Symphonica”… f*ck I suck at this! Regardless, I want to see this BAD. I was unfortunately too young to get a chance to see “Carrie: The Musical”, so I gotta go this time.

BAD: Sam’s Pact with Devil (Part 5)

Who could dare take the greatest acting role of all time from the greatest actor of all time? Are you thinking Olivier and ‘Hamlet’? Brando and ‘Steetcar’? Of course not! You’re thinking Richard Chamberlain as Alan Quatermain… Everyone’s B-List Indiana Jones is getting a modern day revival. And modern day revival only means one thing: Big Explosions and Outer Space! Oh, and of course Sam Worthington. Sam will bring the new exploits of ‘Quatermain‘ in a new adventure of daring-do. With Sam on board, at least there’ll be some do-do acting.

UGLY: This Week in Poo

Actually it’s “This Week in Pooh”, but strangely enough, the picture on the right with Sharon Stone and Dick Chambermaid cut the ‘H’ from the title and turned it to “Poo”. Yes, I’m that crazy. Speaking of poo, ‘Winnie the Pooh’ is going for attempt number 3, 284 on the big screen on July 15, 2011. I shudder to thing how Disney will mess it up in the next year. 3-D Honey Pots or Tigger played by Sam Worthington come to mind. Why does Disney keep trying with the ‘Pooh’ stories? They don’t translate well on the big screen. Perhaps it’s the confines of PooH Forest or whatever the hell the animal friends live. They need to get out of there. Like the animals in ‘Madagascar’. Now that’s funny stuff!

GBUF Spotlight: Judd Apatow

In Allen’s final podcast, we discuss the films of writer/director/producer extraordinaire, Judd Apatow. From his early days as a writer and producer for TV shows, to the comedy film power house that he is now. We visit every film in his career and Ross, Mark and John weigh in with their Good, Bad and Ugly choices.

Ross GOOD – Forgetting Sarah Marshall BAD – Pineapple Express UGLY – Year One

Mark GOOD – Forgetting Sarah Marshall BAD – Drillbit Taylor UGLY – Step Brothers

John GOOD – 40 Year Old Virgin BAD – Funny People UGLY – Fun With Dick and Jane

If you think that we’re WAAAAAAY off-base, feel free to leave us a voice mail with Skype, or send us an email to podcast@goodbaduglyfilms.com.

We here at GBUF are going to miss all of Allen’s hard work on both the podcast and the website. We wish him well in his future endeavours. – Mark

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GBU Today: May 12, 2010

Good: More 3-D Terror!

According to an article at techeye.net, a porn film shown in 3-D was the reason a woman got pregnant while her husband was fighting in Iraq. This sounds pretty far-fetched, but some technophobes will buy into anything. Like photographs stealing your souls, or Satanic messages on songs played backwards. Speaking of 3-D Porn, Hugh Hefner is jumping into the craze with the latest Playboy Centrefold getting the Red/Green Glasses treatment. I don’t get it… that’s ancient technology! Why didn’t Playboy ever think of that before? I remember reading National Geographic in the 1980s with 3-D Pictures; not to mention many attempts at the format by comic books over the last few decades. And you know this was coming: Avatar Porn. I’m too disgusted to provide any links to the latter – This is just wrong… But I’ll gladly take any pics of Michelle Rodriguez.

Bad: Lego Gambles on Persia

There was this article a few years ago about how the Lego Company took a big hit in its revenue by releasing licenced stuff that didn’t sell. Star Wars will always bring in the bucks – because it’s a format that appeals to the Lego Universe. Cool spaceships and vehicles work really well, even though I hate some of the weird plastic bricks that come with the new stuff. What the hell am I gonna use a brown plastic bendy tube for, other than the hub of my Sandspeeder model? Harry Potter wasn’t as good of an idea for Lego. Many of the kits remained unsold. Who really wants to recreate Hogwarth’s Castle? And there aren’t many types of vehicles to go along with it. Strangely, even with losses due to Harry Potter, a new video game is being released a la the popular “Star Wars Lego” series. Then there’s Indiana Jones Lego, which I don’t know how well it’s selling. Same problem: Building big Lego brick scenes (like the Temple of Doom) just don’t translate as well as vehicles. Vehicles can be turned into hundreds of cool variations… Castles and set pieces can be turned into other same old environments. So what the hell are they doing with a licence for “Prince of Persia” now? The movie hasn’t even come out, yet you can pick up a few kits that recreate castle scenes and stuff. I took a look at the new stuff at ‘Toys R Us’, and it looks totally BLEH Boring. This just reeks of a major misfire – And I’m saddened to think of other cool ideas that get dumped to make way for these silly film tie-ins.

Ugly: No Iron Man Slurpee in Canada?

I’ve looked everywhere the last few weeks, but still no Iron Man slurpee. I don’t get it! We’ve been getting movie tie-ins every other year – But nothing so far. All I get to play with are NHL Fun Straws for now. Dammit!

GBUF Podcast: May 11, 2010

John, Mark and Ross go completely off the rails with this episode. There are so many tangents and side trips, it’s amazing that we get from start to finish. 🙂

Listen in as we review some of the stuff we’ve posted over the last little while, including:

• You’re So Wrong… about Stephen Sommers by Ross
• A new MPAA warning label
• Mark shows Grindhouse some love
• Ross reviews Nine and gives a comparison to Sex in the City
• Sean Young’s Dune home movies

The movie that we review this week is the relatively low budget vampire flick, Daybreakers. It stars Ethan Hawke as a vampire haematologist, trying to create an artificial blood supply for a world filled with vampires and a dwindling human blood supply for food. He teams up with a band of rogue humans (that includes Willem Dafoe) in an attempt to find a cure.

Listen in to hear the finer points of what we thought of the movie.

Ross: BAD

John: BAD

Mark: BAD

 

If you’d like to add your opinion of the movie or anything that we’ve talked about today, please send us an email to podcast@goodbaduglyfilms.com, or you can also leave us a voice mail with Skype.

-Mark

Download This Episode Here

The GBUF Vacation Planner: Disneyland

Yeah I’m a film junkie, but I’m also a bit of a theme park junkie. Every summer, I plan on travelling to at least one of the big parks: Disney, Universal, Six Flags, or Wonderland. This September, I’m planning on hitting Disney for my 21^st time… (Technically, I’ve gone to Disney World 19 times, and Disneyland twice). Over the years, I’ve noticed the saturation of movie themed rides in each park – “Ride the movies!”, proclaims the popular Universal ad campaign. Disney has been creating movie and TV themed programming in its parks since it opened in 1955. Although Disney’s original park concepts mined literary classics by Mark Twain and Jules Verne, the modern park is inundated with Pixar tie-ins. Six Flags and Wonderland has also joined the bandwagon, tagging many of its popular attractions with pop culture characters. I’m going to start my series with Good Bad Ugly Disneyland Anaheim – perhaps giving enough time for an update after my next visit. I don’t include Theme Rides that eventually were made in movies – like Eddie Murphy in “The Haunted Mansion” – but could include “The Pirates of the Carribean”, as movie elements were added to the ride after the success of the film. The only problem is that I haven’t seen the Johnny Deppified ride in person… the attraction was shut down for maintenance on my last 2 visits.

Good

“A Nightmare Before Christmas” Haunted Mansion Holiday.

OK, I already broke the rules… or not. The Haunted Mansion is one of my favourites at Disney (although I like the gothic exterior design of the Disney World attraction over the New Orleans aesthetic of Disneyland’s). Almost a decade ago, I was shocked to learn that The Haunted Mansion would be refitted with a Nightmare Before Christmas motif during the Fall months. I went down to check things out on the Grand Opening (October 3,  2001), and was blown away at how amazing things turned out. I was surprised at how seamless the Disney Imagineers infused the Nightmare elements into a theme park ride that was nearly 40 years old. It didn’t feel like the new additions had an ‘out of place’ cheap feel to them. All of the main Nightmare cast made an appearance thoughout the ride, and Danny Elfman’s amazing score was featured prominently. The ride is still a seasonal fixture at Disneyland, but I noticed it’s being called “The Haunted Mansion Holiday”. I’m pretty sure it was called “Nightmare Before Christmas” when I first visited, but I guess the f*cking ‘Political Correctness’ police caught up with this ride and removed the ‘Christmas’ moniker. What’s next? Will future versions of the film be called “Tim Burton’s A Nightmare Before the Seasonal Holiday that you may or may not Celebrate”? I’m still have lingering sadness over the removal of the few horny pirates over at ‘Pirates of the Carribean’. Whatever its current name, a ride worth planning your next trip around – and the park crowds are pretty manageable at this time of year (Labor Day – American Thanksgiving).

Bad

“Indiana Jones Adventure”

This’ll get me some serious flack from die-hard fans of this ride, but it’s a bit of a personal gripe I have with a major selling point of this whole experience. One thing touted with the attraction is the fact that you get to embark on 3 totally different adventures! All of this is completely random (depending on which ride car you get on from the line up) – so you never know which ‘path’ you’ll head down. Each time, the ride will offer ‘countless variations’ and the ‘adventure is almost never exactly the twice’ as some weird goddess named Mara offers varying rewards to each visitor. Those last few lines are from the official brochure. Notice the words “almost exactly”. That means you might ride the same thing twice. And it’s a pretty surefire bet you’ll be riding the same bloody experience over and over and over – as there are only 3 different paths on the ride. And what exactly is your unique adventure experience? It’s the first major room in the ride where the goddess Mara thing says “You have received Earthly Riches!” or “You have received Eternal Youth!” or “You have received Future Knowledge!” Of course, my first time on this ride, I didn’t receive the gift of Future Knowledge or else I would’ve known that this whole multiple path concept was a bullsh*t notion. I wasted so much time lining up for this ride multiple times, only to get the same ‘Earthly Riches’ path! Arghh. When I finally went on all 3 paths (after more than 10 tries and countless wasted hours), the experiences aren’t really different from one another. Basically that first room you enter has some minor differences that make it unique, but it isn’t a game-changer. After the first room, the rest of the ride is pretty much the same every single time. The rest of the ride is pretty fun (and on par with the first 3 Indiana Jones movies). I hear they’re adding another section to the ride, however, where elements of ‘Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’ are added. In this part, the ride shuts down for uncomfortably long time while you get pummeled in the head by a giant hammer.

Ugly

“Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin”

A zany Roger Rabbit Ride? Sign me up! Maybe not… This ride is possibly the most inane and uninspiring of anything offered in Disneyland. Although there’s other candidates like the stuff with the Pixar moniker hastily slapped on like “Buzz Lightyear AstroBlasters”, most of it is geared for little kids, and I’m a discerning adult who doesn’t meddle in such nonsense. Roger Rabbit is one of my favourite films, and the ability to enter the zany Toon Town seems to have limitless possibilities for a ride experience. Initially, the ride looks pretty cool. You get to sit in a toon cab and move the steering wheel! Apparently on this ride: “Each time you ride is a different experience!” You hear that, Indiana Jones?! Every ride is different, not “almost exactly” different. And if a different experience each time means you get to movie the steering wheel which jerks the cab you’re sitting in slightly left or right on a fixed track, you’re in for the biggest treat of a lifetime!  Regardless of this ‘unlimited possibilities’ nonsense, at least Indiana Jones was well designed and interesting. The Toon Town of ‘Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin’ is dull, gloomy and feels quickly slapped together. Most of the environmental props are presented in 2-D flatness and rarely do you see anything that feels interactive. If you a Disney ‘dark ride’ that really works, check out “Mr. Toads Wild Ride”… before they tear it down to make way for “Pixar’s Pixallating World of Infinite Possibilities – Where every Ride is never almost exactly totally the same”.

GBUF Today: May 7, 2010

GOOD: BRAD BIRD

The guy who brought us the animated classics “The Iron Giant” and “The Incredibles” has been tapped to direct the next “Mission: Impossible”. I love this notion – Imagine how cool this film will be with all the cool tech and spy stuff that we saw in his previous efforts? Hoping this goes very well for Brad Bird.

BAD:  A New Scary MPAA Warning Label

If the MPAA hasn’t scared you in the past – warning us of films that may contain: Violence, Extreme Violence, Gory Violence, Brief Nudity, Nudity, Full Nudity, Drug Use, Drug References, Drug Abuse, Nicole Kidman, Coarse Language, Profanity, Extreme Coarse Language, Sexual Language etc. etc. etc… There’s a new kid on the block: MATERNAL NUDITY!

The MPAA has decided to warn the 3 people who will likely see the new documentary “Babies” this weekend that the film contains MATERNAL NUDITY! First of all, who is being warned about this? I’m kind of excited. I mean “Iron Man 2” doesn’t have any MATERNAL NUDITY. Maybe if “Iron Man 2” did have bosom sucking, it wouldn’t have sucked in so many other ways. My review shortly…

UGLY: “Nine, Nein, Nein!!!”

"Nine" is a feature film extravaganza that features 6 very talented and
beautiful actresses, and Nicole Kidman. I happen to be a straight guy
that likes musicals, so I picked up the new Blu Ray on Tuesday - having
missed the film when it briefly appeared in theatres last Fall. I still
can't figure out why this movie cost so much, but it's enjoyable
nonetheless. Perhaps it was the cost of CG to make Sophia Loren look
like she's still younger than 100. The songs are catchy, and the setting
in 1960s Italy is beautifully constructed. I didn't like Fergie the
Whore's song (What?! She plays a whore... sheesh!). It was called
"Italia", I think, but throughout the song I kept hoping she'd just
switch over to singing about her humps, her humps, her lovely lady
lumps. Penelope Cruz is stunning as usual as the Mistress to this aloof
director played by Daniel Day Lewis. Both solid performances, as usual.
I also thought Judi Dench did a great job as part of the fictional
production team. Then there's Marion Cotillard, playing the wife of the
director, who has an uncanny semblance to Audrey Hepburn. I hadn't
followed Cotillard's career thus far, but now I'm intrigued to check it
out. Kate Hudson has a brief turn as a reporter - just enough screen
time without derailing the ensemble cast. Wonderful support from other
minor roles such as Ricky Tognazzi and Andrea Di Stefano. A much better
follow-up by Rob Marshall to his Oscar Winning work 'Chicago'. It's sad
that this movie got lost in the shuffle last year. Nicole Kidman. 
So why is this whole thing ugly? Well... I bought the Blu Ray for $28.99
on Tuesday. That's a pretty good deal. On Wednesday, however, the same
store was selling it for $27.99 - but here's the catch - it came bundled
with a Blu Ray of "Sex in the City". WTF!? I went to exchange the Blu
Ray for a dollar less, but was told I also would have to pick up "Sex
and the City". The Hell! I was being forced to take "Sex in the City"
for a dollar. I wasn't going to fall for such a sloppy bribe. And what
does something like "Nine" have anything in relation to "Sex in the
City". Are they supposed to appeal to the same demographic? This
conundrum haunted me the last few days. Sleepless nights. Until I
finally had to jot it all down at 3AM. My comparison started out a bit
choppy, but then ideas started to flow together and everything make
sense in crystal clear clarity...

GBUF Spotlight: Summer Movie Preview, Part Two

We’re back with Part Two of our Summer Movie Preview and our choices for what looks good this summer, as well as out picks of best all time summer blockbusters. (Note how some of us forgot the definition of “blockbuster” ;)) We also discuss a few more summer releases that for one reason or another stand out.

Mark The Good Perrier’s Bounty Get Him to the Greek The Switch Predators The Expendables All-Time Favourite Summer Blockbusters 1. Jaws 2. Robocop 3. Gladiator 4. Poltergeist 5. Alien

Ross The Good Love Ranch Jonah Hex / Ironman 2 Joan Rivers – A Piece of Work / Jean-Michel Basquiat – The Radiant Child Inception Scott Pilgrim VS the World All-Time Favourite Summer Blockbusters 1. Terminator 2: Judgement Day 2. The Empire Strikes Back 3. E.T. The Extraterrestrial 4. Aliens 5. Die Hard

Allen The Good Splice I am Love The Kids are All Right Inception Sex and the City 2 All-Time Favourite Summer Blockbusters 1. Jaws 2. Star Wars 3. E.T. The Extraterrestrial 4. The Sixth Sense 5. The Hangover

Other Summer movies discussed in this episode: Letters to Juliet Eat, Pray, Love Killers Cyrus Dinner for Schmucks The Killer Inside Me Ondine Just Wright Valhalla Rising Toy Story 3 Grown Ups

Download This Episode Here