Movie #325 - John Candy Collection: The Great Outdoors

The Great Outdoors
1988 - Rated PG - 1 hr 31 min
Director: Howard Deutch
Starring: Dan Aykroyd, John Candy, Stephanie Faracy, Annette Bening, Robert Prosky

This one is a classic, and most likely the reason we own this entire collection.  Dan and John play brothers-in-law living two very different lifestyles.  Dan's the rich stock broker, John's a bit more humble.  Dan and family crash John and family's vacation: let the hillarity ensue.

Whether he intends to or not, from minute one Dan Aykroyd's ruining John Candy's great outdoor getaway.  Log cabins, lakes, local steakhouses... you name the arena, Dan Aykroyd's causing trouble.  This movie has some great moments between the two comedy legends, which is basically the whole reason to watch it.  Meanwhile, Annette Bening seems to play the young version of her character in American Beauty... kinda fun to go back and watch.

One more movie in the John Candy Collection and we're back to the regular J movies.

Movie #309 - Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
1984 - Rated PG-13 - 1 hr 58 min
Director: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Harrison Ford, Kate Capshaw, Jonathan Ke Quan, Amrish Puri, Dan Aykroyd

Every solid trilogy has a weak point, and I guess Temple of Doom is Indiana's lame movie.  This one differs from the first and third in that it's not a planned adventure.  In fact, the planned adventure takes place off screen before the movie even gets started. The impromptu "how will Indy save himself and friends" adventure is random and kinda nuts.  His usual crew isn't involved and instead his stuck with a high-maintenance singer and the techy Asian kid from The Goonies.

While I like a good "Dr. Jones! Dr. Jones!" as much as the next guy, this movie just doesn't hold up to the other installments in this trilogy.  On its own, it's not bad. But by comparison, it's not great.

Still, it's a nice change of pace away from religious icons and Nazis, I guess.

Movie #292 - I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry

I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry
2007 - Rated R - 1 hr 55 min
Director: Dennis Dugan
Starring: Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Jessica Biel, Dan Aykroyd, Ving Rhames, Steve Buscemi, Allen Covert, Rachel Dratch, Richard Chamberlain

Okie dokie, folks.  The premise of this movie intrigued me. Not because I thought it would be good. Or even a revolutionary film for the gay community.  It's not that, although it has the good intentions to be.  It's really just an awkward comedy about two guys who do what they have to do for each other.  Although Adam Sandler resists as much as possible.

Still, watching these two overweight middle-aged guys embrace a same-sex "relationship" is inspiring while it's disturbing.  (Not disturbing because of the gay thing, just because it's Kevin James and Adam Sandler...) Friends got your back. And what they do - even if it is illegal - inspires those who are gay in the community to step forward and live openly.  Good things come from this trainwreck, so it's not all bad.

Movie #227 - Ghostbusters II

Ghostbusters II
1989 - Rated PG - 1 hr 48 min
Director: Ivan Reitman
Starring: Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Sigourney Weaver, Harold Ramis, Ernie Hudson, Rick Moranis, Annie Potts, Peter MacNicol, Harris Yulin, David Margulies, Kurt Fuller

Yay, they're back! Even Slimer is back!

This movie finds the Ghostbusters in some legal trouble that's quickly solved by a ghostly attack. Cool.  Sigourney Weaver is in trouble again, or her baby is, and this makes me worry for her future.  This poor woman! Will it ever stop?

On a side note, the baby on a ledge scene now makes me nauseous, thanks to motherhood.  Seriously.

As a sequel, this movie holds up well.  It revisits these well-loved characters without overkilling the jokes or self-indulging too much.  They face new problems and come up with even bigger solutions. I cite the "Libby" hijacking incident--a step above and beyond the Stay Puft marshmallow man.  But strangely, it works.

It was fun to watch these back to back, something I'd never done before.  Good times were had by all... or....me. Yay.

Movie #226 - Ghostbusters

Ghostbusters
1984 - Rated PG - 1 hr 45 min
Director: Ivan Reitman
Starring: Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Sigourney Weaver, Harold Ramis, Rick Moranis, Annie Potts, William Atherton, Ernie Hudson, David Margulies

Classic.  Really, this movie is a classic.  I'm not sure how "technical" all that ghostbusting equipment really is (though I'm guessing most of it's imagined), but they make it seem like the real deal, in terms of how they attempt to explain and use it.  Scientific or not, you really want these guys to find and "bust" some serious ghost ass.

Watching the movie this time, I was impressed and surprised at how good the effects are.  They're not as good as they would be today, but for 1984, they're not bad at all.  Actually, the "streams" are decent and, as long as the creatures aren't moving, most of the ghosts/demons look okay.  It's not CGI, but it definitely doesn't distract you.

Anyway, what I love about this movie is the campy approach.  They don't take it too seriously and they embrace the weird concept.  A movie like this was ahead of its time, considering the ghost tv show craze that's happening now. Did they make it trendy to hunt for ghosts? I don't know about that, but they did make it look almost fun.

Movie #189 - Evolution

Evolution
2001 - Rated PG-13 - 1 hr 41 min
Director: Ivan Reitman
Starring: David Duchovny, Orlando Jones, Julianne Moore, Seann William Scott, Dan Aykroyd, Ethan Supplee, Michael Bower, Ted Levine

Another movie I love! The letter E has been very good to me thus far, possibly my favorite letter yet!  Although the G's look promising :)

So aliens come to Earth via a meteorite which crashes and creates a little habitat underground.  Has-been scientist David Duchovny and hack scientist Orlando Jones are first on the scene, then get tangled up in some government red tape (via Julianne Moore and Ted Levine.) But when aliens escape and attack the mall, all hell breaks loose.  Sides will be switched, shampoo will be purchased, and aliens will (eventually) be vanquished.

How can you not love this movie?

Movie #172 - Dragnet

Dragnet
1987 - Rated PG-13 - 1 hr 46 min
Director: Tom Mankiewicz
Starring: Dan Aykroyd, Tom Hanks, Christopher Plummer, Dabney Coleman

Yup, here's a cheesy, dated movie.  I vaguely remember this one as a kid, but haven't seen it in ages.  Actually, this is probably the first time I've seen it all the way through.  Aykroyd and Hanks make a good pair, straight cop and funny cop, good cop and bad cop, by-the-book and by-the-seat-of-his-pants.  They do justice to these characters, which makes the movie palatable.  Otherwise, I'd have been bored to tears.

There's not much else to report from this one.  It's a standard buddy cop movie, your regular uncover the internal corruption kind of plot. Dabney Coleman is funny, mostly for his weird accent.  And Christopher Plummer is in this too, because he's in everything.  I think this is his seventh or eighth appearance on the Wall.  Wow!

All right, one more on this shelf!!

Movie #85 - Blues Brothers

Blues Brothers
Universal Pictures
1980 - Rated R - 2 hr 13 min
Director: John Landis
Starring: John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Cab Calloway, Carrie Fisher, lots of famous musicians...

I'm going to come right out and say it.  This is a movie from another era, one that can be held on a certain pedastal and withstand the test of time.  It's a classic movie with a loyal band of followers and, to them, it's awesomeness will never waiver.  Like Caddyshack.

But to me, it's not as impressive.  I fully admit that I don't admire it the way that most do, and I know that probably makes me wrong in some way.  The premise is kinda weak, with most of it just an elaborate excuse to string together seemingly unrelated "music videos."  It is funny how seriously the Brothers (and the actors who play them) take themselves.  As a comedy, I can certainly appreciate it's integral part in our society's evolution toward really funny comedies... But a lot of it gets lost on me. Ray Charles shooting at customers in his music shop, however, that's just funny stuff.

I did learn a few things, however, by watching this film.  The first is that my husband learned to dance by copying Elwood Blues.  The second is that Aretha Frankin can NOT dance any better than either of them.  And the third is that there's a lot of musicians I'm expected to know on sight that I just don't know. 

If you're reading this and you love this movie the way it's meant to be loved, I apologize to you.  These classics are supposed to be treasured. I get that. But to me, it just doesn't hold my interest.