Just returned from a screening by Fathom Events of Mel Brooks’ classic comedy The Producers.  The Producers was a film I had never seen before despite the fact that I love Gene Wilder, one of the stars of the film.

Of course, The Producers had become a huge hit on Broadway a few years ago with Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane assuming the roles made famous by Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder.

Zero Mostel played theatrical producer Max Bialystock who was struggling to find the success that he once had.  He had succumb to romancing older women in hopes of finding “financing” for his plays.  When Leo Bloom (Gene Wilder) came to look at his books, an inadvertent comment from the accountant gave Max an idea.  Find the worst play ever, find huge backing from his cadre of older women, have the play fail and close on opening night and collect the remainder of the money for himself.  After some doing, Max convinced Leo to join him in his fraudulent activity.

And they found the perfect play, something no one could possible enjoy… “Springtime for Hitler” written by a former Nazi soldier (Kenneth Mars) as a love letter to Hitler.  There was no way their plot could fail.

But strange things happen on Broadway.

The film is hilarious.  Everything in the play within a play of Springtime for Hitler is laugh out loud funny.  I loved the song “Springtime for Hitler” which I had known as a child from hearing it on the EYG Hall of Famer Dr. Demento show.  The tune can’t help but get into your head and the lyrics are downright funny.

The first film directed by Mel Brooks, The Producers led the way to a series of remarkably funny satires and parodies from Brooks.

I could also see how controversial this could have been when released in 1968.  Stories go that it took an intervention from Peter Sellers to get the studio to agree to release the film.  It is also said that Brooks received many letters from Rabbis complaining about the use of the Nazi symbolism in The Producers.  Brooks said that he responded to each letter he received.

The film does get a little too frantic at times, but the satire shone through everything else.  Gene Wilder received an Oscar nomination for his role, though he did not win.  The film did receive an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.

The Producers is a lot of fun and extremely witty and funny.  Filled with biting satire, Mel Brooks was able to go after Hitler with humor and got people laughing at him.

The tenth and final movie among the Memorial Day Movie Binge Watch Weekend is one of the great films of the 1980s, and a member of the EYG Hall of Fame.  It is the Robert Zemeckis classic Back to the Future.

“Roads?  Where we’re going we don’t need…roads.”

Back to the Future is a near perfect film that is full of fun, adventure and comedy.  The cast is wonderful, including Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly and Christopher Lloyd as the EYG Hall of Fame character Doc Brown.

Doc Brown creates a time machine out of a DeLorean and, through a series of events involving Libyan terrorists, Marty ends up in 1955, thirty years ago.  He immediately interacts with his mother and accidentally prevents his mother and father from getting together.

Going for help from the younger Doc Brown, Marty has to set things right by getting his parents back together while Doc has to go about solving the problem of getting Marty back to the future.

There is so much right with this movie that it is a wealth of positives.  The cast is great, including Lea Thompson as Marty’s mother Lorraine, Crispin Glover as Marty’s father George, and the key villain Biff Tannen, played by Thomas F. Wilson.

The story is clever and funny, complete with surprises and unexpected twists.  There is emotional beats with Doc and Marty as well as a suspenseful conclusion that keeps you on the edge of your seat.

Who knew that Chuck Berry has Marty McFly to thank for his own Hall of Fame career?

SPOILERS (for a 33 year old movie)

There is only one plot point left dangling that I have always wondered about.  When Marty gets back to the future, he returned ten minutes earlier to prevent Doc from being shot by the Libyans.  Arriving too late, he witnesses Doc being shot and himself, the Marty of this time, jump in the DeLorean and go back in time.  However, we know that this time line is not the same as the one that Marty had left from initially.  His father was successful, Biff was not his father’s supervisor, his mother was thin, his siblings were successful.  The Marty that went back in time here was the Marty who grew up in this environment.  So what happened to that Marty?  That is the one thing that Back to the Future has never sufficiently explained.

Besides that dangling plot thread, Back to the Future is a fabulous film that spawned two above average sequels, though neither reached the level of brilliance of the first one.  Michael J. Fox, who was not the first actor cast for the role (Eric Stoltz was cast, but Fox became available and was the director’s first choice so they replaced him), became iconic as the time traveling teen.

Funny, exciting, dramatic, suspenseful, well-written, Back to the Future has it all.

The next film on the Memorial Day Movie Binge Watch Weekend is one of the greatest films of all time and certainly the greatest mockumentary ever produced.  It is a movie about a fictional band that turned out to release a couple of actual albums: director Rob Reiner’s This is Spinal Tap.

I first saw this film my freshmen year at the University of Iowa at a showing at the Iowa Memorial Union.  My roommate took me to the showing and we absolutely loved it.  I did not know until later that this film had been out for three years already and the showing at the Union was a re-showing.  I became obsessed with Spinal Tap, purchasing the soundtrack and playing it consistently.

Spinal Tap, made up of David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean), Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest) and Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer), is shown by documentarian Marty DiBergi (Rob Reiner) as they return for an American tour trying to support a new album despite a declining fan base.

Like most of Christopher Guest’s movies, this is mostly improvisation showing how amazing these performers are.  The film is remarkably funny and the banter and dialogue of the band is a huge part of that.  It is clear that these men have worked together for years

There are many situations portrayed in This is Spinal Tap that may seem ridiculous, but have really happened to other rock stars.  There have been many rock stars who say the scene where Spinal Tap gets lost backstage has happened to them as well.

The whole arrival of Jeannie (June Chadwick) is meant as a parody of Yoko Ono and her affect on the Beatles.  The album cover controversy which many heavy metal bands faced.

This is Spinal Tap is one of the most quotable films of all time.  Lines such as “This one goes to 11,” or “You know, several, you know, dozens of people spontaneously combust each year. It’s just not really widely reported,” or “You can’t really dust for vomit.”

It is one of the greats and I loved getting a chance to watch it, sing along with it, and laugh at the absurdity once again.  It is a satire done with love.

Happy Memorial Day everyone.  The Memorial Day Movie Binge Watch Weekend continued this morning with a film starring Al Pacino and Robin Williams called Insomnia.

Alaska can be problematic.  Days of light without a sign of darkness can really mess with your psyche.  There is a scene here where Pacino’s character wants to go to the school and interview a suspect, but the other local police officers told him that it was 10 PM despite the bright sunshine outside.

However, there was not only the endless days that wound up messing with Will Dormer (Al Pacino).  His recent actions had caused him to suffer through a bout of insomnia.

Dormer had come to Alaska to aid in an investigation of a murdered teenage girl, beaten to death.  He bought his partner Hap Eckhart (Martin Donovan) with him, a partner who was preparing to give information about Dormer to Internal Services.

During the investigation in pursuit of a suspect, accidentally shoots and kills Hap.  Dormer decides to keep the truth of the shooting to himself.

Robin Williams plays the killer.  This was one of the early examples of Williams going for different type of characters that he was not normally recognized for.  This came out about the same time as One Hour Photo, and Williams was amazing at how warped he could be.  You never once wonder why he is playing these parts.  He fits perfectly.

Al Pacino is great here too as he plays a detective struggling with his conscience over his deeds and a man whose mental capacities are being affected from a lack of sleep.  There are also strong performances from Hillary Swank as an Alaskan detective who is a fan of Dormer and Maura Tierney as the owner of the hotel Dormer is staying at.

Then, former General Hospital star Jonathan Jackson was here as the creepy boyfriend of the murdered girl.  Jackson does his normal great job.

This psychological thriller dives into the mental problems of guilt and the physical stress of sleep deprivation.  Great performances from Pacino and Williams really carry the film and you are never sure exactly what they may do.

The final film for today in the Memorial Day Movie Binge Watch is my favorite of director Kevin Smith’s filmography, Dogma.

There was a lot of protesting against this film because of its special take on religion, but I think that is just silly.  There is nothing here that should cause anyone to question their faith or that could be considered blasphemous.  In fact, the film is steeped in religion and religious lore that should be appreciated for what it is.

Bartleby (Ben Affleck) and Loki (Matt Damon) are angels that have been permanently banned from Heaven. However, a church in New Jersey has started a “rebranding” of sorts and they have offered the chance for any sinner to pass through the archways of their church and be forgiven… to have a clean slate.  This would allow Bartleby and Loki the chance to re-enter Heaven and prove God wrong and thus undo all of existence.

Kevin Smith grew up Catholic so he was able to weave plenty of Catholic dogma into the film that included some things that perhaps few people have heard of.  For example, Metatron (Alan Rickman) as the Voice of God, an archangel that is really a thing.

There is way more depth than some of Smith’s work and, although there is still the foul mouthed Jay and the super quiet Silent Bob, most of these characters are understandable and still relatable.  Bethany (Linda Fiorentino) has a remarkable arc for her character, going from an abortion clinic worker to someone recruited by God to save the day.

In fact, one of my favorite scenes was on the train when Bethany and Bartleby were drinking together and sharing experiences about how they lost faith in God.  It was such a real conversation that you forget that one of them is an angel and the other one is meant to kill the angel.  Both Fiorentino and Affleck do some of their best work in this scene.

It is amazing to see Alan Rickman again.  He is truly missed.  Every scene that he is in is raised to a new level.  You can see the others in the scene working on raising their game as well.  It is just something that an actor of Rickman’s quality does.

The story is wonderfully laid out as the characters work their way to this church in New Jersey.  We meet other religious figures such as The Muse Serendipity (Selma Hayek), the 13th Apostle Rufus (Chris Rock), and the demon Azrael (Jason Lee).  George Carlin has a small, but pivotal role of Cardinal Glick who introduces the world to the Buddy Christ, one of the best jokes in the whole film.

Those of you who object to this film on religious reasons should listen to the quote from Alan Rickman about God, “I told you she was funny.”  There is no way that God is not laughing at all of this.

There are great relationships throughout, including Bethany and Rufus, Bethany and Metatron, Loki and Bartleby, Rufus and Serendipity, Jay and Silent Bob and each one brings something special to the film.

There is so much greatness in Dogma. Dogma is filled with pop culture references that really entertain.   It is a fantastic ride from start to finish, without any letdown at all.

One of the benefits of having these Memorial Day Movie Binge Watch Weekends is that it gives me a chance to fill those holes that might exist within my movie viewing.  One of those holes for me is the Martin Scorsese’s classic, Taxi Driver.

I had never seem Taxi Driver, but, of course, I am familiar with the iconic moments (“You lookin’ at me?”).  However, I was unaware of exactly what the story would be or even the general style and tone of the film.

Travis Bickle (Robert DeNiro) is a former Marine suffering from insomnia gets a job as a New York taxi driver where he realizes how much the scum and lowlifes have corrupted the city and, with his mental imbalance, starts plotting on ways to get involved.

Robert DeNiro is brilliant as the mentally unstable vet who seems to have a streak of decency inside him.  I was surprised that Cybill Shepherd was in the film as a beautiful blonde who works for a presidential candidate.  She was one of my favorites from Moonlighting, a TV show from the 1980s.

Taxi Driver explores what causes someone to snap.  Bickle was clearly already not right, but the weight of the world around him slowly sent him to the side of violence despite wanting to be good.

A great movie with a terrific performance.  I am glad I finally got the opportunity to see it.

I never watched Pee Wee’s Playhouse on CBS back when I was younger.  I was never much of a fan of the character.  Yet, I had watched Pee Wee’s Big Holiday one year and found myself loving it.  Who knew?

So as the next Memorial Day Movie Binge Watch, I chose to watch the first of Pee Wee Herman’s movies, Pee Wee’s Big Adventure.

I am consistently surprised at how entertaining and charming these films can be despite starring a character who is anything but.  Pee Wee Herman is not without his good points, but it seems to me that a little goes a long way.

In this movie, Pee Wee has his beloved bike stolen and he goes on a cross country adventure to try and retrieve it.  He finds himself in one troublesome situation after another, only to come out of it because of his likeability and friendliness.  I’m not sure there is a great message here for children, but there is certainly plenty to laugh at.

By the way, this is a Tim Burton film.  Yes, that Tim Burton.

Paul Reubens plays the iconic childlike Pee Wee and he is completely in on the jokes.  When something happens to Pee Wee, you can see the light in the eyes of Reubens.  Pee Wee is actually much like many of the old slapstick comedians of the past, trading in appearance for the jokes.  And most of them work very well.

“Be sure and tell them Large Marge sent ya!!”

A high level of goofiness marks this film and really sets the tone for what we see.  Tim Burton continues to make weird films like this, his first one.

So as I am going through Netflix to find the next film for the Memorial Day Movie Binge Watch, I came across Mamma Mia, the musical featuring Meryl Streep and the music of Abba.  I know there will be a sequel to this movie this summer (Mamma Mia: Here I Go Again) and I thought this would be a good film to watch this Sunday afternoon.

I mean, I do like some of Abba’s songs.

Of course, I do not like Abba THIS MUCH.

And who exactly has the blackmail photos of Pierce Brosnan?  Or was it just a really, really, REALLY big check?

I don’t hate musicals.  In fact, I have several that I love (Grease, Sweeney Todd, most of the Disney films) but they have a couple of things that Mamma Mia didn’t have.  One- people who can sing.  Two- a story that can make up a movie.

Seriously, the story of this movie might be able to fill a half-hour sitcom (if there were enough commercials) but it is way too thin to fill up a nearly two hour movie.

Young and beautiful Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) is getting married but she has always wondered about her father.  So when she finds her mother Donna’s (Meryl Streep) diary, she discovers the names of three men whom could be her daddy.  So she invites all three of the men (Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth and Stellan Skarsgard) to the wedding, without telling her mother.  Hilarity ensues.

Or not so much.

Most of the movie is a group of people who can marginally sing (except for Brosnan, who cannot sing at all) performing Abba songs, some of which do not fit the scene that they are used within.  I mean, Meryl Streep does a decent version of “The Winner Takes it All”, but the song lyrics do not fit at all with the moment in the film.

Some of the big production numbers, like “Dancing Queen” are fun, if you like Abba.  It is kind of nice to see these quasi-stars dancing around making fools of themselves. It truly is amazing that these actors look to be having a lot of fun in this film.  But almost none of them can sing very well and that is a true drawback to the movie.

Brosnan, Firth and Skarsgard are charming and they do avoid the cliches such as fighting about who the actual father is (which is refreshing).  However, they must be really stupid because it took them a real long time to figure out why Sophie invited them to the wedding despite being absent from Donna’s life for over 20 years.

The end scene is even too unrealistic for a musical, but it puts a cap on this film perfectly.  It makes little sense, but …hell, let’s just sing and dance.

I wonder if Brosnan is singing in the sequel?  Maybe the blackmail photos have since lapsed.

Next up on the Memorial Day Binge Watch is a mockumentary from Christopher Guest, director of Waiting for Guffman and Best in Show.  Guest was one of the members of Spinal Tap, but now we are looking at the world of folk music.

The three members of Spinal Tap, Guest, Michael McKeon and Harry Shearer are here, but now they are the Folksmen, one of three acts brought together for a special one night only concert to honor folk icon Irving Steinbloom, who had just passed away.

Steinbloom’s son Jonathan (Bob Balaban) organized the event along with his brother and sister, reuniting the Kingmen, the New Main Street Singers and Mitch and Mickey.

Each group had great stories about the good old days and their lives since.  Mitch and Mickey in particular was top notch as Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara showed their skills and their chemistry.  Mitch and Mickey had had a terrible break up that sent Mitch into a mental institution and the questions about whether Mitch would even be willing to return to sing with Mickey surrounded the performance.

Like most of Christopher Guest’s movies, the actors are presented with ideas about their characters, a back story and most of their actual lines are improvised.  It shows the talent of this group of actors that they can make this story not only cohesive but wildly entertaining through their skills and their familiarity with one another.

The music included in the film is tremendous.  The music here is written by Michael McKeon, Eugene Levy, Christopher Guest and Harry Shearer.  The four of them show a great understanding of the folk music genre because the songs do more than satirize folk music.  Through the humor, it shows a real love of the music.  The Kiss at the End of a Rainbow was nominated for Best Song at the Academy Awards.

There are some true laugh out loud moments of dialogue here.  My favorite one is when Mitch has seemingly disappeared moments before he and Mickey was set to take the stage, Mickey, as she is searching for him, turns to Jonathan and asks if there is a cockfighting ring near the theater.  LOL

There is so much heart in A Mighty Wind that it is more than just a satire.  It is a mockumentary that not only mocks but also shows a great deal of love.

My opinions on the next film in the Memorial Day Binge Watch will not be very popular.

I am not a fan of Inception.

In fact, I have found more films in the oeuvre of Christopher Nolan that I am not a fan of than those that I am.

I know this puts me in the minority of the movie critics world, but that is okay.  I can handle it.

Clearly, the film is a masterwork of CGI and visual effects.  I would be foolish to attempt to downgrade this accomplishment.  Visuals are stunning. I also believe that there should be credit given for the attempt to bring something original and for his intense ambition for the project.  I really wanted to like Inception.

Back when I saw it in the theater, I found it to be okay, but it just did not connect with me.

There is a ton of exposition involved in the film.  There is little way to get around that, but it does not excuse it.  There is a great cast, but I am not as enamored with Leonardo DiCaprio as some people are.

The dreamscape invented within this movie can be difficult to follow and it can cause the audience to be uncertain of exactly what is going on, leaving only the spectacle of the imagery.  That might be enough for some, but I wanted more.

Even the twist at the end could not save this one for me.  While I did not hate Inception, I would not revisit it again or commit the necessary cognitive attention necessary to perceive what was going on.

The Memorial Day Binge Watch began last night with a movie that I had never seen before, but one that I had heard a lot about… The Usual Suspects.

Unfortunately, I knew the ending of the film which took a little bit of the magic away from it.  Still, this movie was filled with great performances and a well organized narrative that keeps you glued to your seat.

This is one of the best films from director Bryan Singer, whose inventiveness shows here in a much more effective manner than some of his other more big time attempts.

The police have brought in a group of five con men as suspects in a truck hijacking, but none of them are involved.  However, this group has something more in common than this suspicion.  They have all done something, inadvertently, against the legendary ghost and mastermind criminal Keyser Söze.  Söze’s associate approaches the men with a job that would square them up with the criminal, and he gives them little choice about accepting.

The great cast included Oscar winner Kevin Spacey as Roger “Verbal” Kint, the crippled con man, Gabriel Byrne as Keaton, a former dirty cop trying to go straight, Kevin Pollak as the thug Hockney, Benicio Del Toro as flashy crook Fencer and Steven Baldwin as thief McManus whose temper gets the best of him.  Throw in Chazz Palminteri as police detective Dave Kujan, Pete Postlethwaite as Söze’s associate Kobayashi, and our ever beloved Agent Coulson, Clark Gregg as Dr. Walters and you can say that this is a fantastic ensemble cast.

However, the main performance is from Kevin Spacey, which, with what we now know about Spacey, can be difficult to watch.  If you cannot divorce yourself from the person Spacey has shown himself to be, then The Usual Suspects would not be for you since he is all over the movie.  If you can remove the real life issues permeating this actor, then you should be able to enjoy this film.