Shake, Clown, Shake!

Shakes the Clown (1991)
Director- Bob Goldthwait
Starring- Bob Goldthwait, Julie Brown, Tom Kenny

What, no "Bobcat"? And who expected to see a pre-Spongebob, pre-Rocco's Modern Life, pre-just about everything that's made him currently famous Tom Kenny?

Anyway, Shakes is a birthday clown, which in Palukaville, USA apparently means celebrity status. He hangs out at a clown-filled bar, sucking back whiskey and not-meaning-to mistreat his girlfriend, Judy (Brown). Although being the life of every child's party (and he's apparently great at his job!), he struggles with his career. His dream is to get on a local kids show, replacing a retired clown, but he loses out to Binky (Kenny), a not-very-funny clown with a sinister temper and a lack of ethics. Shakes also has a nasty drinking habit, which leads him into more trouble when he's framed for murdering his boss.

One thing that made this movie great was an unwillingness to explain things like why clowns are celebrities in this movie, why exclusive cliques, like rodeo clowns and mimes are sworn enemies of them and eachother, why they keep their makeup on even while at the bar, etc.

The humor is good, dialogue is about what you'd expect from this. I remember thinking after the Police Academy movies and Scrooged that Bob Goldthwait just sounded like that or had some speech thing--I wish I had seen this when it was new, I would have known better sooner.

Some cameos include Kathy Griffin, Adam Sandler, and Robin Williams, and Florence Henderson as a slutty, drinky mom!

Overall, the movie was surprisingly funny and I loved seeing the rivalry between mimes, clowns and rodeo clowns.

Rating: 4/5 Bonedaddies.

An Adult Superman Cartoon?

Superman: Doomsday (2007)

Directors- Lauren Montgomery, Bruce Timm, Brandon Vietti

Starring- Adam Baldwin, Anne Hesche, James Martsters

This was a severely condensed and revised version of the Death of Superman story arc from DC Comics. It starts out on a fairly familar note, detailing Doomsday's birthing from the bowels of his earth prison. It moves on quickly to his collosal battle with Superman that left both of them dead. In the aftermath, Superman appears to have reemerged, but with a sinister edge. People realize something is seriously wrong when Supes actually resorts to killing in the name of justice.

I was terribly conflicted while watching this. When I realized there was actual violence and bad language, I was hooked, couldn't take my eyes off it. But then, I started seeing the changes. The final punch that killed them both was changed. There was no Justice League coming in to pay their respects. I hoped to see 4 different Supermen like in the comics, but no, it was a stupid Luthor clone, and instead of being revived by Metallo (?), he was revived by a helper robot.

I really do love a cartoon that can go into that dark place (Bruce TImm needs to do a Batman cartoon like this), but I just can't reconcile the complete revision of the storyline.

Rating: 3/5 Bonedaddies.

Let's Do the Hustle!

The Hustler (1961)

Director- Robert Rossen

Starring- Paul Newman, Jackie Gleason, Piper Laurie

Pool hustler Fast Eddie Felson gets the game of a lifetime when he challenges Minnesota Fats to a game. Unfortunately things don't turn out the way he'd have liked. I read a review from someone else about this movie that related this as a metaphor. Fats was considered the "establishment", and Felson was a rebel trying to buck the establishment. In the end the establishment won out, making for not the happiest of movies, but oh well. Whether or not that relation is true, I can see where the reviewer was coming from. The acting was great, and you've never seen a cooler Jackie Gleason.

Rating: 3.5/5 Bonedaddies.

Ahh, a Real Vintage Bad-Girls Flick!

So Young, So Bad (1950)

Director- Bernard Vorhaus

Starring- Catherine McCloud, Anne Jackson, Rita Moreno

A nurse and a psychiatrist try to help a bunch of reform school girls that are being abused and neglected by their head master & mistress. At first I thought, 'Yay! a women in prison movie!', but soon found that there was a lot more going on. Certain scenes (like when the head mistress pursued the bunny or the firehose scene) seemed pretty ballsy for 1950 and made me think this was actually a cult movie, as opposed to something mainstream. The acting is ordinary, but the subject matter is great.

Rating: 3.5/5 Bonedaddies.

I Rule the Ghoul School! Not.

Ghoul School (1990)

Director- Timothy O'Rawe

Starring- William Friedman, Scott Gordon, Paul Venier

A couple small-time crooks try to get money hidden in the basement of a school one of them once attended. They find a hidden room, push a button on the wall, and somehow release toxic gas that turns people into flesh-eating zombie-type monsters. It sounds like a Troma film, and in fact has been compared to movies like Nuke 'em High. The difference is a smaller gore budget, and less acting abilities. The movie is a good indicator of where the youth of this were were in terms of late 1980's fashion, but otherwise is almost a total loss. The band that gets hired to play for the school is rehearsing in the auditorium at one point, and the music is so off-sync that the guitarist front man (the ONLY guitarist, mind you) sets his guitar down while we still hear a solo playing!

Everyone seems to get killed in the end.

Rating: Despite a good ending, it still only gets 1/5 Bonedaddies.

Offensive? Not As Much As I Thought...

Duck! The Carbine High Massacre (1999)

Director- William Hellfire, Joey Smack

Starring- William Hellfire, Joey Smack, Misty Mundae

This movie is a spoof of the Columbine High Massacre that occured just a year before--actually, it's more a spoof of high school massacres in general, with a slight focus on Columbine. We are introduced to shallow stereotypes in an average high school--the over-masculine jocks who make fun of the meek, the popular (possibly slutty) girl who looks down her nose at unpopulars, the over-religious girl pushing her beliefs down your throat, the muscle car greasemonkey that doesn't want you to touch his piece of shit car, the white-hating black guy, the overly-sympathetic-to-those-who-are-"different" goths, and the two neo-nazi main characters, cloaked in trench coats and interested in things like guns and Hitler.

I didn't care for the portrayal of the goths as "understanding". Frankly, I myself got into goth culture when I was younger, and I took some things into adulthood with me--thinking I was unique or different becuase I wore a black trenchcoat was NOT one of them.

Acting was bad, but not horrendous. Special effects were low-budget, but actually pretty creatively maneuvered--especially when the gun violence begins.

I did like how the movie spoofs the influence of music, also how it plays with the concepts that the parents do have something to do with how the kids turn out--though by teenage years, that parental influence has obviously become limited.

All in all it wasn't quite as offensive as I thought it would be--then again, I viewed it a full ten years after the massacre, so maybe that factors in significantly. Also, I was pleasantly surprised to see Misty Mundae in an earlier role. I've seen her in quite a few low-budget indies--she's a great actress who's never afraid of a nude scene--her role in Sinful was disturbing and awesome.

Rating: I give this one a generous 3/5 Bonedaddies.