Movie #326 - John Candy Collection: Going Berserk

Going Berserk
1983 - Rated R - 1 hr 24 min
Director: David Steinberg
Starring: John Candy, Joe Flaherty, Eugene Levy, Alley Mills, Pat Hingle, Dixie Carter, Richard Libertini, Ernie Hudson

I'm not really even sure why this movie was made.  I can't even really say what happens here... But those sneaky people at Columbia Pictures know how to get royalties paid on their lesser-selling titles --  just sneak 'em into a collection with two movies people have heard of.  After watching the first two movies (both written by John Hughes), this one seems like an afterthought, a lowlight from John Candy's career.  But the DVD is on the wall, so I gotta watch it.  Them's the rules.

Honestly, who made up these stupid rules anyway?

John Candy is a drummer/limo driver inexplicably engaged to a hot chick (played by Alley Mills, the mom from Wonder Years) who is also the daughter of a congressman.  His adventures with his male friend Chick and a sleazy film director (who cast Candy in his low-budget kung fu movie... as the lead) get him into trouble. He gets handcuffed to a dead Ernie Hudson, which was my favorite four-minutes of the film, and then makes enemies with the leader of an aerobics cult.  Yes, that's what I said: Aerobics Cult.

While the movie does provide for some fantastic "Let's Get Physical" workout moments, it's a terrible movie overall.  Don't waste your time. Seriously, people.

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 #139 - The Crow

The Crow
Miramax
1994 - Rated R - 1 hr 42 min
Director: Alex Proyas
Starring: Brandon Lee, Michael Wincott, Rochelle Davis, Ernie Hudson

Don't watch this movie if you plan to be in a good mood when it's over. Not that I don't like it, I do. It's just really, really depressing.  Guy and his fiancee get murdered, guy comes back from the grave one year later to seek revenge on their murderers, guy is constantly haunted by memories of his fiancee.  It's just so sad!

Awesome, cuz the Crow kicks butt, but very sad.

And then you realize that Brandon Lee died during the filming of this movie (blank was replaced with bullet, no one admits to knowing how this happened), and you're even more sad. Cuz he's good and he could've been great, but he never made it that far, because some idiot killed him by accident.

See? There aren't many happy points to this movie. Except that he does get revenge and, therefore, can now rest in peace.  So that's good...