27 - Beauty Shop

Connection To THE BABYSITTER - Alicia Silverstone

The spin-off movie as never really looked like it's took off - films that are not necessarily sequels but feature one or more characters in another situation - Daredevil had Elektra, both of which are considered by the majority underwhelming movies, The Wolverine movies from X-Men are of of mixed opinion and stuff like The Marvel Avengers Universe and to a lesser extent the Kevin Smith View Askew is trickier when it comes to saying what is a spin-off of what, there's obviously a lot of spin-off movies I've left off but the lack of successes in the one's that did happen means some great supporting movie characters through cinema history haven't had the chance to have their day in the limelight.

Beauty Shop is the spin-off or (the sequel) to the two Barber Shop films, both of which starred Ice Cube with Queen Latifah co-starring in the second one, before writing this up I had not seen any of the three, so I am not sure how good this will be (or even how it stands in relation quality otherwise to the other two).

Queen Latifah whose a good screen presence is somebody I would never buy/rent a film because they was in it and hear she plays a beauty shop employee under the management of Jorge (Kevin Bacon) who after a dispute end up quitting as launching her own rival beauty shop and ends up taking the other salon workers and customers with her, that's kind of the plot really - it's one of those films that decides to spend time with it's characters rather then have a proper plot.

There was times I smiled and even laughed at some moments in the film, a lot of the characters are enjoyable, Kevin Bacon particularly is enjoyable even if he's playing a flamboyant foreign stereotype (I hear the character will be joining 2 Broke Girls soon...) as are Alfre Woodard, Alicia Silverstone (still looking pretty) and some of the more minor characters - there's also some familar faces as customers including Andie MacDowell and Mena Suvari who fit in good with the cast.

Overall a likable film that may be about 10-15 minutes too long, the characters are all good enough that's it's enough of a pleasure spending time with them.

26 - The Babysitter

Connection To THE CABLE GUY - George Segal.

Adolescent Confession Time #1 - I remember watching this in bits and pieces (probably seeing it all) in the 90s in what I call for me personally - The Puberty Years - hoping to catch some Alicia Silverstone breast, the internet hadn't really come to my town properly at that point to be be to log on and tell me Silverstone does not show any boob during the course of the movie (despite there being a scene with her in the bath), so yeah my memory of The Babysitter is that it's underwhelming because I wanted me some Cher Horowitz skin!

Anyway, my memory of it that it was called a thriller but I couldn't really remember anything thriller about it, and yeah it's a series of males fantasizing about the babysitter - the father of the kids she's babysitting, her boyfriend and his bad boy friend - it wouldn't be out of line to say all these fantasies are a few notches even below soft core, which is perhaps the way the film should have gone, which I guess could have mean't losing Silverstone for more prudish reasons and the other actors such as George Segal because they don't want to be linked to something a bit more soft core but all that's left is tame.

So from one point of view, Silverstone is well cast, because you can easily see her as this object of affection for these pervs but it's a film that lacks any real bite, the entire film is basically just when it might get cut like out of the fantasy or lets cut away to another character.

Overall, a disappointing experience that would probably not have got noticed if it wasn't released in the same year (1995) as Clueless, I wouldn't recommend it because it's mostly a limp affair.

2 - Batman & Robin

Connection To BATMAN FOREVER - what's the connection? let me think... 

Batman & Robin - a name that strikes fear into cinema-goers and Batmaniacs (is that the term for them, I have no idea) the world everywhere with garish sets, stupid set pieces, constant (and mostly stupid) one-liners and of course BAT NIPPLES (except on Alicia Silverstone, where of course it would be most welcome) - at least those things are my overriding memories of the film.

Like Batman Forever in writing this I am watching B&R for the first time since the 1990's and a lot of what's wrong with the movie is apparent in it's first 10 minutes - unnecessary close up of Bat butt (and Robin's as well) and three of Mr. Freeze's first four lines are literally ice puns (The Iceman Cometh etc.) and the fourth is also a reference to ice (talk about obsession), B&R fight Mr. Freeze and his mooks for a while including a silly ice-hockey scene with a crystal before Mr. Freeze has a chance to kill Batman but literally says he'll kill him next time (would kind of end the movie way too early though)

We then get the origin of Poison Ivy when John Glover thinks he's killed her off when she spots him injecting men with super-strength syrium and sells them off to the highest bidder, she comes back all Ivy like and thus we get the main villains for the film - her partner in crime or big lackey is Bane - a man that was injected with that syrium. One major weakness of the film is that Bane is relegated to being the lackey, Bane here is played by Jeep Swenson, a professional wrestler who died a few months after the film came out, though it's no stretch to say Arnold Schwarzenegger had more impact on wrestling then Swenson ever did.

I won't bore with the plot points, but performance wise of the villains gone are the enjoyable OTT performances of Forever and are left with weak performances, Schwarzenegger we always knew wasn't exactly Daniel Day Lewis but Uma Thurman is just weak here, there's no sexiness here, which is a shame because she has been so enjoyable in other movies.

Chris O'Donnell is still weak for me and if anything a bit more whiny this time and Alicia Silverstone as Barbara Gordon Pennyworth is nothing to write home about but at least she was at her peak hotness, also there is a line about her being schooled in England and her being Alfred's niece, it would make you thinks he would have some Englishness in her accent - whilst there is none at all.

The previous mention of Alfred brings me to my next thing, one of the films postives the scenes between Clooney and Gough (as Alfred), who is suffering from the entirely made-up McGregor's Syndrome are the only scenes that have any heart. Clooney is decent enough as Batman overall but really doesn't have the material to work with.

Overall I sort of enjoyed the film, the trainwreck of a movie that it is somehow makes it watchable for me, whether it's way too much going on or the dumb one-liners I wasn't bored watching this.