dmblazer Reviews

MacGruber (2010)

Amazingly Horrible

[3/10 · 25 May 2024]

Considering the cast and the budget, this is the worst movie in it's weight class that I've ever seen.

No fine moments, a couple of wry grins at best, and a whole lot of wasted talent.

I star for casting, 1 star for production values, 1 star for cinematography. The rest of the normal components are missing.

How can you waste Val Kilmer as a villain? The answer lies here.

In July 2010, Parade listed the film #2 on its list of "Biggest Box Office Flops of 2010."

At least it lost money. The American public retains SOME taste.

The best thing about this movie is Powers Boothe doing an excellent, seamless impression of Richard Crenna as Colonel Samuel "Sam" Trautman in the first three Rambo movies.

What? (1972)

Divinely Awful

[2/10 · 10 June 2022]

The only interesting thing about this film is that it was filmed at Carlo Ponti and Sophia Loren's Amalfi coast villa.

Even improvisation requires a focus.

You can see the villa, without the movie, various places on the internet.

Save yourself some time.

The Seeds: Pushin' Too Hard (2014)

The Seeds, Present at the Beginning

[7/10 · 12 March 2021]

This documentary is an interesting, well paced film with a whole lot of background on the Seeds in their early days. The soundtrack is appropriate and the quality is very good.

I saw it at the Portland, OR showing in July of 2015. There was a Q&A afterward with Daryl Hooper, the original keyboard player, arranger and backup vocalist and Neil Norman, the director. They were relaxed, fun and informative.

The film is very well done, even working with a relatively limited amount of live footage of the band. Film was expensive in the mid 60s, not something for which everybody had the resources. Director Norman uses stills, period corrected related footage, and the available Seeds material to excellent result, and has a lot of fun with it.

If you want to know more about the mid 60s L.A. music scene, the birth of America's rock and punk music, and what ever happened to The Seeds, you can't go wrong with this great little film.