23 - Dear God

Connection To GOD BLESS AMERICA - Larry Miller appears briefly in both.

Dear God's plot can actually be summed up pretty easy - conman forced with jail time or getting a job gets a job in the post office and ends up answering the request of somebodies letter to God, his co-workers end up joining in this good deed even with the legality of it all.

Greg Kinnear is the said conman who does go through the predictable change but it's not a bad thing, I may have watched this on the night, this probably more better suited to the afternoon, a film that's ultimate goal is to give you a nice warm fuzzy feeling about (it's even set around Christmas time - but that's not an overbearing part of the movie), he's always been a pretty decent actor but he only ever touches on a good role every now and again and he is - I am going to go with the overall word that represents this movie - likable...

Yeah, he's likable, everything's likable - it's not meant to threatening - grumpy characters hearts melt, people change for the good - the ending is even crowd cheering the goodness, there's some decent supporting cast including Laurie Metcalf, Tim Conway and in a smaller role Jack Klugman, Maria Pitillo as Kinnear's love interest is not bad per say, she's just not written as much other then be a single mother and be pretty

The film's heart is in the right place as the films message is nice the have-not's doing something for the other have-not's, there's enough that's funny (in a light sort of way - where you'll smile rather then laugh out loud)

Overall, it's say it with me - LIKABLE - The film is not really meant to be anything more I think and so for that reason it's such a short round up this time because they are only some many times you can say that.

22 - God Bless America

Connection To Police Academy 4 - Bobcat Goldthwait 

Dear Mr. Goldthwait,  

I enjoyed you so much as the guy with the funny voice from movies that I love such as the Police Academy films, One Crazy Summer and Scrooged. But wow, as a filmmaker you've really impressed me - I didn't think anybody could make a sweet film about a woman that gives a blowjob to a dog, but you really impressed me with World's Greatest Dad - though it was a trifle unnecessary to see Robin Williams' penis - took a subject and realistically showed how one small lie could go out of control - I am genuinely excited to see God Bless America 

Yours sincerely, 

Me 

P.S. sorry I haven't seen Shakes The Clown, that's why I didn't mention it

That's a short letter I would probably write to Bobcat Goldthwait before seeing God Bless America, for me personally no actor turned director recently have quite impressed me like him, so there's actors who are more flashy, more award friendly (I did like Ben Affleck's Argo), but over the last 10 or so years Goldthwait as being doing some pretty darn good black comedy on the smaller budget scale (you know in comparison). Of the previous Goldthwait films I have seen I have been very satisfied (like that dog) - Sleeping Dogs was good and World's Greatest Dad was better, but anyway onto God Bless America, which I have clearly pretended I haven't watched before writing of all the above.

God Bless America (or GBA I'll call it from now on) feels extremely timely - even as a Brit - I could feel the disenchantment that was felt with the world that is felt with this movie - how people act, the rise of reality TV and who is made famous because of it.

The film opens with a man who daydreams and ends up shooting a baby (which is not seen on-screen), I imagine this could be something that immediately put somebody off the film

That man is Frank (Joel Murray - brother of Bill and a former co-star of Goldthwait), who while at home flicking through the channels he sees a bunch of "reality" shows including something similar to the housewives show which ends up one woman throwing her bloody tampon at the other and an episode of American Superstarz where an handicapped guy is getting humiliated by the judges

he gets fired from his job when the receptionist that he simply nice to puts in a complaint against him and also finds out from a disinterested doctor that he has a brain tumour. Whilst trying to commit suicide a reality show starring a spoiled teenage girl comes on who throws a huge tantrum when her parents get her the wrong colour car and as an Epiphany.

He drives to the girl's school and handcuffs her to her steering wheel and ends up killing her at point blank rage, a classmate of hers Roxy (Tara Lynn Barr) witnesses this, after this he goes back to trying to kill himself in the motel but Roxy tracks him down, convincing him the media will only see him as an obsessed stalker with a crush who killed her, he ends up killing her parents after saying he only wants bad people to die and he ends up taking Roxy along for the ride.

While on paper it could sound like Natural Born Killers updated slightly, we don't end up necessary rooting for the pair and who they kill, because they mostly deserve to be told off rather then be shot to death, what is most scary particularly things like the reality TV shown, they all be fake shows but they are all so very real, Goldthwait as embellished absolutely nothing, the same for the moments of rudeness in people - the horrible cinema goer etc. - you see a lot of people like this in the real world now especially when it comes to technology. 

Murray is great and it's surprise that he doesn't get more roles, even minor, it's seems like he only pops up in roles every now and again, but he really shines, Barr's performance somewhat reminded me of Ellen Page in SUPER, this is not a negative comparison, I loved Page in that movie and to be thought of in the same breath is a compliment.

Overall, a great movie for me but a movie I would imagine would and could divide opinion which many a dark-comedy can, but enough people who will bother to watch this will find that it's a gem.

21 - Police Academy 4: Citizens On Patrol

Connection To THE QUICK AND THE DEAD - Sharon Stone

I really love the Police Academy movies, these are the words I feel I need to start with, this is not any confessional - I am proud of it, I had them all on VHS back in the day (except the last one which hadn't been made yet), they all must have got watched plenty of times - I always insisted on going to bed at a certain time (strange kid I know) where I would a video, very little of them where actually "kid" movies (though some where) and they would often be comedies such as Scrooged, Spaceballs - stuff like that, stuff that had adult jokes, Police Academy since there was 6 of them, where the kings. I think 2 and 6 where probably my least favourite then, so it was a battle between Miami Beach and the other 3 movies that where admittedly pretty similar.

I think 4 was my favourite though if I had to pick, though it stuck to the formula that already established, I think I enjoyed the mix of the pre-established characters and some of the new faces (Mrs. Feldman, House etc.) and thus it's probably still my favourite of the bunch.

1,3 and 4 basically go like this - new recruits put through, wacky hi-jinks ensure, criminals who wasn't a threat for the rest of the movie became a threat and everybody bands together at the end to defeat them. 1 dealt with the original recruits like Mahoney, Hightower and Jones, whilst the 3rd (Back In Training) had them original recruits be instructors against a rival academy (the city can only keep one open), whilst deals with real citizens in the C.O.P. (Citizens On Patrol) initiative, but let's face it these differences are only there to make the films just a little bit different.

Most of the old favourites get a chance to shine from Zed (Bobcat Goldthwait) to Lassard (George Gaynes), but some are close to just being there and I'm thinking the filmmakers just didn't want them left out. I always liked Steve Guttenberg in these movie, he seems to get a lot of flack but he's a very likable presence.

Harris (G.W. Bailey) is back replacing Art Mertano as Mauser, which for some reason was said because he had an accident that left him in a wheelchair for life (which is true) but that didn't happen until 1989 - who replaced him in the 2nd and 3rd, he's even inherited his lackey Proctor (Lance Kinsey) with zero explanation, I guess they didn't need to explain it since it's there job to be the antagonist. I think I prefer Harris of the two, I just preferred his performance and his comeuppance always seemed more satisfactory.

David Spade makes his debut and he's shockingly with the wise-cracks as a skateboarder saved from jail by Mahoney who gets him into the C.O.P. program, Spade's double for the skateboarding scenes is none other then Tony Hawk while Sharon Stone plays the girl-of-the-week (if this was a TV show) for Mahoney, who is a reporter covering the project, another noticeble face for me Corinne Bohrer as a recruit and Zed's love interest is a very pretty lady and remember her in a short-lived sit-com around the early 90s it might have been called Free Spirit something like, I think she was a witch in that, anyway I digress she also later played Veronica's mother on Veronica Mars.

The random funniest scene for me is Lassard is talking about the C.O.P program and forgetting what it stands for and Zed next to him saying Citizens On Patrol in gritted teeth and then Lassard repeating it in gritted teeth, don't know why that still makes me laugh to this day.

Of these new faces only House would appear in the next movie (and that's it) - which would mark no more Mahoney, as well as Zed and Sweetchuck, Billie Bird (Mrs. Feldman) would appear in the sixth movie but is playing a different character for some reason.

Overall I just like it I can still watch this now (like the other films) and get so much enjoyment out of me, if you hate the Police Academy movies as a rule though I can't see this changing your mind.

20 - The Quick and The Dead

Connection To NIGHTMARES - Lance Henriksen

After watching Nightmares it was supposed to lead onto Maximum Overdrive, per the Emilio Estevez connection, and You Tube had it on ready and all planned but in the meantime it was took off which as taught me a lesson not to plan too far ahead and just take it has it comes, there is a list of stuff I have saved with possible connections but I think that has taught me not to stay so close to that.

Anyway I digress, so that brings me up to the second western in as many days - Sam Raimi's 1995 The Quick and The Dead. This is the first time I've seen it since the 90's (when I was a teenager) and you know what I really bloody enjoyed this.

I was a would-be filmmaker at one point and this is the sort of western I would have come up with if I had the chance, I mean that more not about the plot or anything but it's certainly a western influenced by the western film rather then historical if this sentence makes sense.

The motive of Sharon Stone's character is straight out of Once Upon A Time In The West and that of Harmonica (the reveal scenes are very similar) but even though she is the de-facto star it feels more like an ensemble piece ( 2 of the co-stars Russell Crowe and Leonardo DiCaprio where not a-list yet) and it sort of feels like characters inspired from other westerns all mixed together and see if it works - which it does.

Gene Hackman is the bastard bad guy, who holds an annual dueling competition likely in some points to get rid of potential rivals and to show the townsfolk who fear him how dangerous he is, he as the old Freudian excuse which works in showing how much of a cold bastard he is.

The two main support are the future stars - Crowe and DiCaprio -this was Crowe's first US movie (and wouldn't be embarrassing like what was coming up soon for him - Virtiousity) and DiCaprio had the success already of an Oscar Nom for Gilbert Grape and some other well received films both are great in their roles, Crowe as the Reverend who was once part of Hackman's gang forced into the competition and DiCaprio as the Kid, cocky and the son of Hackman.

There's also some cool supporting players such as Keith David and Lance Henriksen, who both have their moments and considering how many duels are in this movie, none of them are ever boring, one even including a cool shot shown from the back of a bullet going right through a head.

Overall a fun western, I don't know if purest will dislike it but for me it was really well done with great characters and performances and it never has a dull moment.