Murder Mystery (2019)

After the bad taste The Waterboy left in my mouth, I tried to find something for the Sandler Saturday that might not be as awful as that one. I pulled up Netflix and put Murder Mystery on next.

According to IMDB, “When an NYC cop (Adam Sandler) finally takes his wife (Jennifer Aniston) on a long promised European trip, a chance meeting on the flight gets them invited to an intimate family gathering on the Super Yacht of elderly billionaire Malcolm Quince. When Quince is murdered, they become the prime suspects in a modern day whodunit.”

So, this movie had the benefit of matching up Sandler with Jennifer Aniston, who is very charismatic in this movie. Sandler was also at a more restrained level with his performances. This film did not have him so over the top as he is in many other films. He is playing a character here instead of just being Adam Sandler and that seems to always be a key.

Unfortunately, the story of the murder case is desperately messy and filled with clichés. The concept was fun, if not realistic, but there was just too much going on with the other characters and the answer to the mystery was not the powerhouse reveal that it should have been. The film ended in a silly car chase.

I would say that Murder Mystery is a watchable movie on Netflix that is not offensive. I would say it is a mediocre film that has a couple of appealing leads.

The Waterboy (1998)

Well, it was nice while it lasted.

After two enjoyable movies in the Sandler Saturday, the streak is over as I watched The Waterboy and I was ready for it to be over ten minutes into the film.

Adam Sandler played Bobby Boucher, a waterboy who was constantly being abused and picked on by the coach (Jerry Reed) and other players. When the coach fired him, Bobby went looking for another waterboy position. When he joined the South-Central Louisiana State University Mud Dogs, coached by Coach Klein (Henry Winkler), he discovered that the years of being abused allowed him to direct his anger into tackling people. This led Klein to offer Bobby a place as a linebacker on the team.

There is a solid cast in the film including Oscar winner Kathy Bates, Henry Winkler, Fairuza Balk, Jerry Reed, Lawrence Gilliard Jr., Paul Wight, Blake Clark, and Rob Schneider. There are a bunch of cameos too including Bill Cowher, Jimmy Johnson, Brent Musburger, Dan Patrick, Lynn Swann, Lawrence Taylor, Lee Corso, Chris Fowler and Dan Fouts.

This was so stupid. I was so ready for this to be done. I did not like the character of Bobby and I thought everyone around him was so mean and rotten that it made things hard to watch. None of it was funny. It was also sadly predictable.

The football game at the end had some giggles to it, but it was way too late to save this.

I have put this one out of the way. It is a crapfest.

Punch-Drunk Love (2002)

We’re off to a great start, this Sandler Saturday.

I would definitely say that Punch-Drunk Love is not an Adam Sandler movie. He stars in the film, but it is an Adam Sandler movie the same way Uncut Gems is an Adam Sandler movie. Uncut Gems was a Safdie Brothers and Punch-Drunk Love was a Paul Thomas Anderson movie.

According to IMDB, “Barry Egan hates himself and hates his life. The only male among eight siblings, Barry is treated poorly by his overbearing sisters. Despite owning his own business, he has gotten nowhere in life largely because of his insecurities. He leads a solitary life, which allows him to hide his violent outbursts that occur when he’s frustrated. His solitude however allows him to think, he stumbling upon a scheme to travel the world on a pittance, travel which he has never done. Concurrently, he meets two people who pull him in two different directions. The first is Lena Leonard, a friend of his sister Elizabeth. Barry is slow to realize that Lena is attracted to him, he making her make all the first moves. Lena is eventually able to get Barry out of his shell, she who sticks around despite his obvious problems. His burgeoning relationship and thus new life with Lena is threatened by the second, “Georgia”, who he contacted in an effort to alleviate his loneliness. Georgia and her “band of brothers” do whatever they can get get out of Barry what they want, no matter the price to Barry.

Adam Sandler is really good in this movie. Again, he is playing a character and it is a character considerably deeper than most characters he plays. Barry is a socially awkward, lonely man who has a horrible self-image. He is extremely compelling during the film even when he is doing some of the strange things that he does. You can see how much talent Adam Sandler actually has as an actor.

The film is very much a PTA film, weird, strange and fairly chaotic. There are many surreal elements to the movie that work well within the context of the film.

I loved the relationship between Barry and Lena (Emily Watson). It was sweet and original. I liked how it did not go the way I expected.

We are 2 for 2 so far.

Happy Gilmore (1996)

I kicked off the Sandler Saturday special event her at EYG with Happy Gilmore. This idea came about because I noticed that, though I have said that I hated Adam Sandler movies, that I really haven’t seen very many of them. So I planned a day to binge as many Adam Sandler movies that I could stomach.

Happy Gilmore was the first of the films and I have to say, I kind of liked it.

I know… I’m surprised too.

Of course, I had seen the infamous scene with the Bob Barker fight. It is easily the most famous fake celebrity fight in movie history.

All of the things that I have hated about Adam Sandler movies in the past were in Happy Gilmore, but it felt to me as if they were kept in check. The traits that I have hated in Grown Ups 2 or Pixels were not as annoying as they were there. Perhaps cause it felt like Happy Gilmore was a real character and not just the same Adam Sandler-type that I have seen him play over and over. Maybe if I had seen this at the end of today it would stand out more. But as the first film in the Sandler Saturday, Happy Gilmore was better than I thought.

That does not mean that there aren’t stupid things that would never happen. The whole ending bit with the tower or the Volkswagen hitting him on the golf course are ridiculous, but, for whatever reason, they worked here. I can suspend disbelief for certain things.

So we are off to an unexpectedly good start for the Sandler Saturday.

Sandler Saturday Starts

It is that time… time to punish myself… it is Sandler Saturday!

Doing my best to keep an open mind, Happy Gilmore will kick off the day.

With the special day, I have come up with three new ratings for the occasion.

The one I expect will be the most used of the day…

YUCK

The middle ground films that don’t want me to tear my eyes out

Hmm

and the one that will be begrudgingly offered…

Okay, That Was Good

Hoping for the best… fearing the worst.

Freakier Friday

I remember seeing the original Freaky Friday 1976 version at the drive-in here in Maquoketa. I remember enjoying it tremendously. Of course, I would have been 7 or 8 years old.

I did not ever watch the rebooted film, Freaky Friday from 2003 and this movie, Freakier Friday, is a sequel to that. However, I assume there is no major need to watch that one. I mean, Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan switched bodies, and they learned lessons.

Now, throw a couple of more people into the mix as Jamie Lee and Lindsay switch bodies with Lindsay’s daughter and her soon-to-be step daughter and hijinks ensue.

Freakier Friday is a one-note joke that gets stretched way too thin. I get it. The older people are in young bodies and vice versa. It depends on the charisma of its main actors. Jamie Lee Curtis, Lindsay Lohan, Julia Butters and Sophia Hammons have moments. This ensemble is decent, but, again, there is only so much you can do with this concept before it gets old.

Because the premise stretches thin, a lot of what they did was just too silly or over-the-top. Most of the film does not work, which does not cover for the moments that do work.

There is a concert scene at the end of the film that is enjoyable.

I don’t have a lot more to say about this movie. It is basically the same as the original concept, but with just four people instead of the two. There is not much original. They do not try and reinvent the story. It is basically the same. It survives on the strength of the actors.

2.5 stars

Weapons

I have been anticipating the new movie Weapons for quite awhile. The premise of the film was truly creative.

According to IMDB, “When all but one child from the same class mysteriously vanish on the same night at exactly the same time, a community is left questioning who or what is behind their disappearance.

I really enjoyed how this film played with POV. The film showed the events of the story from multiple different characters. The first section was from Justine’s POV. Justine is played by Julia Garner and she is the teacher whose classroom had the missing kids. I was amazed how unlikable this character was. She certainly played against the trope of the classroom teacher.

We saw POV from Archer (Josh Brolin), police officer Paul (Alden Ehrenreich), Marcus (Benedict Wong), James (Austin Abrams) and only remaining kid Alex (Cary Christopher).

Cary Christopher did an exceptional job as Alex. His pain and anguish was obvious even through his quite nature.

Josh Brolin was great here too. I loved how he was in pursuit of his missing son and he seemed to be more successful with his efforts than the local police.

The acting from the ensemble was all great. It was well cast and they all brought it. The story was creative and well laid out. I do think the truth came out a little sooner than I thought it would, but it did build remarkable tension during the story. Dialogue was well written and sharp. I do think it dragged a little in the middle, but overall, this is a great film.

4.5 stars

Wednesday S2 E2

Spoilers

“The Devil You Woe”

I have found the second season of Wednesday on Netflix to be a bit of a mixed bag so far. Anything dealing directly with Wednesday and her orbit has been great. Episode two revealed her stalker, an invisible girl who is Wednesday’s #1 fan.

There was also a great scene between Wednesday and Tyler at the insane asylum. Tyler’s psychiatrist makes me suspicious. There is more to this character than the few fleeting moments we get with her.

It was Prank Day at Nevermore, which feels like a horrible idea. Barry Dort is another of the new characters this year that clearly has more to his story than what we know. Will the principal of Nevermore now be like the Defense against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts?

Donovan Galpin, a major character of season one, was found dead by Wednesday, his eyes pecked out by crows. “Murdered by a murder of crows” as Wednesday said. Donovan’s eye found its way to Wednesday and Enid’s dorm room.

All this is fun and I expect will mix together before the end of season two. What I have not enjoyed at all so far has been Pugsley Addams and his storyline. There is just something about Pugsley that is off-putting. I am also not fond of Eugene this season. I loved that character last year, but I am just not feeling him in season two so far. These two together have been dragging these episodes down.

Catherine Zeta-Jones is great as Morticia and seeing her more this season is only a good thing. She has some storyline that requires her to bring in her mother. It ties into Barry Dort’s desire as he blackmailed Bianca to use her siren song on Morticia.

There are two more episodes in the part one of season two.

EYG Comic Cavalcade #165

August 7

Hey there. Welcome back to the EYG Comic Cavalcade. Lots of stuff to discuss this week.

last Friday, I had been invited to a special sale at the comic shop that I go to in Bettendorf. They had received a big collection of back issues, many silver age, and they made it a special night for those of us who are on their pull list. We received invitations and had first crack at the books. It was such a cool idea and it was fun. Lots of others there, shoulder to shoulder, going through these boxes.

I picked up some fun stuff, such as some Marvel Team-Up early issues, a four issue mini-series featuring Shazam written by Jeff Smith (of Bone fame), Daredevil #45, almost the entire run of American Vampire 1976, a six-issue series called Powerless, Amazing Spider-Man #130, and number 1, 2, & 3 of a 1970s Marvel series called Spoof.

It was cool to be involved in this special night. One of the other customers came dressed as Dr. Doom. They had on the wall where they usually had the new books, the big ticket items that I knew I wasn’t getting. The standout there for me was Amazing Spider-Man #129 in the CGC slab, rated 9.4. It was up for $2300. When I was there today getting new books, the guy there working said it had sold yesterday.

This week I also picked up a bunch of Incredible Hulk books from Todd at Comic World. I had some excess space in my Hulk box so I rummaged through those to pick up some older Hulks.

Books this week:

Amazing Spider-Man #9. Written by Joe Kelly and with art by guest artist Michael Dowling. Cover art was done by John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna and Marcio Menyz. After Spidey got his butt handed him by Hellgate last issue, Peter is gun shy and not ready to come back as Spidey. Again, I have problems with this characterization because this feels very much opposite to who Peter Parker is as a character. I hope that by the end, that has straightened itself out.

One World Under Doom #6. “The Conscience of the King.” Written by Ryan North with art by R.B. Silva. Cover art was done by Ben Harvey. It is a worldwide debate between Doctor Doom and Reed Richards. I have to say, about half way through the book, I was feeling like I was on Team Doom. Thankfully, Reed had an ace up his stretchy sleeve from the other Avengers. This was a cool issue and showed the other side of the argument quite well.

Captain America #2. “Our Secret Wars Part 2” Written by Chip Zdarsky with art by Valerio Schiti. Cover art was done by Ben Harvey. I also picked up the negative space variant by John Tyler Christopher. The story of Steve Rogers initial return from the ice continues. We did not know that there had been a replacement Captain America at the time, and they went to Latveria on a mission to face off with Doom. Zdarsky is an excellent writer and this seems to fall right into a strength for him.

Red Hulk #7. “Lab Rat.” Written by Benjamin Percy and art by Jethro Morales. Geoff Shaw & Marte Gracia did the cover art. Thunderbolt Ross is being tortured in one of the most horrendous ways possible. This book could be considered ‘body horror’ and it fits right in with some of the other Hulk books of recent times.

Something is Killing the Children #43. “All Her Monsters Part Three” Written by James Tynion IV and illustrated by Werther Dell’edera. Dell’edera also did the virgin variant cover art. I picked up the foil variant cover too by Suspiria Vilchez (Gold Medalist). The flashback storyline with younger Erica continued as monsters are ravaging another small town with another young girl who saw it happen. I have really enjoyed this storyline with Erica as a younger person.

Moon Knight: Fist of Khonshu #11. “Birthday.” Written by Jed MacKay and art by Domenico Carbone. Davide Paratore did the cover art. Happy birthday to Marc Specter!!! And it is a party! I liked this issue because it goes around with several of the side characters and they are speaking to someone who is with them. It feels like they are speaking to us (though it turned out to be Mon Knight’s daughter). Creative use of POV.

Blink and You’ll Miss It #1. Written by Ethan S. Parker & Griffin Sheridan and illustrated by Keith Browning. Cover art was done by Keith Browning with Brad Simpson. This was one of my favorite books this week. Certainly the best of the new books this week. It is from Boom! Studios and it has a very mysterious and creepy vibe to it. I was thoroughly engaged with it.

Project Chimera: The Hero Trade #1. Written by Matt Kindt and art by David Lapham. Cover art was done by David Lapham and Bill Crabtree. Another really good new book, this one from Bad Idea. There are twins who have some kind of super powers and they are being kept prisoners (unbeknownst to them) because of the dangers. We follow the story through the eyes of two of the people responsible for keeping them. It is presented in black and white, which helps create a definite tone for this book.

Uncanny X-Men #19. “Skin Condition.” Written by Gail Simone and art by David Marquez. Cover art was done by David Marquez & Matthew Wilson. Deadpool and Outlaw make guest appearances in this book. I really have loved Gail Simone’s work on Uncanny. I love the characters she has, I love her new characters that she has introduced and I find the stories extremely fun, emotional and intelligent. I included a pic of this cover because Todd said he hated it. *Smiley face*

Hello Darkness #13. This has a several stories in this issue, all featuring a form of zombies. The cover I have is a variant done by Jenny Frison. My favorite of the stories this issue was entitled “Zag-Aftra.”

Cheetah & Cheshire Rob the Justice League #1. “Chapter 1” Written by Greg Rucka and art by Nicola Scott. Cover art was done by Nicola Scott & Annette Kwok. I do love me a heist film and this comic is setting up a huge heist. Cheetah & Cheshire stealing from the Watchtower. This started with some great character work and setting up what we are going to get. Very good new DC book.

Don’t Forget Yor Briefcase #2. Written by Eliot Rahal and art and cover art by Phillip Sevy. This is a ton of fun, but I have to say, there was a section in the book that was a flashback to Kabul, Afghanistan that seemed to have the characters featured as puppets. It was a weird little tangent inside the story about the missing nuclear ‘football.’ Who wouldn’t check in the dryer? Hm.

Daredevil: Cold Day in Hell #3. Written by Charles Soule and art and cover art by Steve McNiven. One of the best comics of the week was Cold Day in Hell, the finale of the three-issue mini series featuring an old version of Daredevil battling older Bullseye. Frank Castle is here too (though he is in poor shape, to be fair). What a great story with a fantastic ending. Charles Soule outdid himself on this book. I am not a big fan of future stories, but this one is right at the top of the list.

Whatever Happened to the Crimson Justice #3. Written by Frank Tieri and art and cover art by Inaki Miranda. John continues to try and keep his past behind him, despite a hallucination that he was having of a young super hero (an old sidekick perhaps) and Dr. Mayhem unleashing deadly viruses on a subway train. Has John finally reached the point of return?

Tama #1. Written by Adam Schlagman & Doug Pasko with art by Daniel HDR. Dustin Nguyen did the cover art. New independent book by Panick Comics. What happens when a grieving teen named Kit discovers a virtual pet named Tama that turns out to be more than what he expects? Lots of mayhem and chaos. This was an interesting first issue and a creative idea.

Return to Skull Island #2. Written by Simon Furman and art by Christopher Jones. Cover art by The Knott. Kong is in bad shape, but Monster Island has created a new alpha! Can Kong survive another fight?

Orla! #1. “Chapter One: The Ick.” Written by John Lees and art and cover art by Sally Cantirino. Orla is looking for love… or is she? Or is she just looking for loser guys to feed to her monster side? This was a fun book that kind of reminded me of a cross between Love Everlasting and Something is Killing the Children. Although it is more like Something is Eating the Adult Male Jerks. Another winner from Mad Cave.

Godzilla: Escape the Deadzone #1. Written by Ethan S. Parker and art by Griffin Sheridan. Another new Godzilla series. There seems to be a new one every week. However, this one does not have much panel time for Godzilla. We are in the Deadzone, which was a devastated Seattle, Washington by Kaiju. We are following a human monster with a tail.

Other books this week: Napalm Lullaby #10, Resurrection Man: Quantum Karma #5, Marvel Rivals: Hellfire Gala #1, Secret Six #6, Thundercats #17 (Silver Medalist), w0rldtr33 #16, Superior Avengers #5, and Wolverine by Chris Claremont #1.

Quick Hits: Two Ultimate books this week as they continue to build to the return of the Maker. Ultimate Wolverine #8 featured the Ultimate Angel, who kicked ass, and the Ultimate X-Men #18. I missed Vision & Scarlet Witch #2 last month. Not sure how that happened, but issue two helped make more sense about issue #3 which I got last week. This week’s bronze medalist in the favorite covers of the week went to Red Sonja vs. The Army of Darkness #4. Who would guess that Sonja and Ash would work together this well? Obviously Dynamite Comics would. More Dynamite was here with Silverhawks #6. Absolute Superman #10 and Absolute Green Lantern #5 were out this week too. I liked the GL book pretty well. Wolverines & Deadpools #2 shakes off the odor of too much Wolverine and Deadpool together to have a strong book. I think it is truly helped by Ellie and Laura’s presence. Justice League vs. Godzilla vs. Kong 2 #3 is setting up a big rematch between Superman and Godzilla. Todd got me The War #1 virgin variant cover that I debated about last week. I don’t know how a number one issue, reprinted from Hello Darkness, can have so many epic covers. The Thunder War continues in Storm #11. Mary Jane seems to have made a major decision in her life in All-New Venom #9. More ghost pirate action in Ghostbusters: Dead Man’s Chest #3. I grabbed AWA’s book Charlamagne Tha God Presents ILLuminati #1. It was surprisingly compelling. Finally Sisterhood: A Hyde Street Story #2 is setting up some sinister trouble at the sorority house.

Together

I did not know much about this movie. I knew it starred Dave Franco and Alison Brie, but that was about it. As I was watching the trailers before the movie (which were heavily horror), I thought to myself, “Is this going to be a horror movie?” Not only was it a horror movie, it was a body horror film.

Now, while I do love horror, body horror is my least favorite of the subgenres of horror. So it already had that working against it.

According to IMDB, “Years into their relationship, Tim and Millie find themselves at a crossroads as they move to the country. With tensions already flaring, an encounter with an unnatural force threatens to corrupt their lives, their love and their flesh.

After the film was over, I looked at the Rotten Tomatoes score for this and it was 90%. I have to say, that score shocked me.

Because I hated this.

Not only did I not like the body horror stuff, but the biggest thing was I thought there were so many scenes and moments that I found funny. Laugh out loud funny. I was rolling my eyes at some of the scenes because they were so ridiculous. I was trying not to actually laugh out loud in the theater in case others in the room thought it was tense.

However, with the scene at the very end (no spoilers), I could not keep from belting out a laugh. It was the most ridiculous thing I think I have seen in a long time.

The more I thought about this, the worse it became. I thought both Franco and Brie were compelling during the film, but I just was not enjoying the story the film was telling me. It made little sense and I found the stuff that was supposed to be anxiety building to be silly.

I definitely do not agree with the whole world apparently. I hated this.

1.4 stars

EYG Favorite Comic Covers of the Week

August 7

The week is here. I have just one more week until school begins so I’ll be curious to see how it works after that.

Also-Rans: Captain America #2 Variant Cover D, Hello Darkness #13 Variant Cover B, Cheetah & Cheshire Rob the Justice League #1, Storm #11, Something is Killing the Children #43 Unlockable Virgin Variant and Daredevil: Cold Day in Hell #3

Bronze Medalist

Red Sonja vs. the Army of Darkness #4

Cover art by Bjorn Barends

A scary looking beast (definitely has a Godzilla vibe) facing off with Red Sonja and Ash. The more realistic cover is opposite the art on the inside of the book. This makes it stand out well.

Silver Medalist

Thundercats #17

Variant cover T

Cover art by Mark Spears

I do not collect Thundercats, but the cover jumped off the rack at me, figuratively. It is, once again, Mr. Mark Spears, who has been dominating the medal races this year. This was a cover T variant. T. It is beautiful work as always.

Gold Medalist

Something is Killing the Children #43

Virgin Foil Variant Cover

Cover art by Suspiria Vilchez

This foil cover was stunning. Everything stands out on this cover spectacularly. The green eyes are so sensational and real. It is a beauty.

Wednesday S2 E1

SPOILERS

“Here We Woe Again”

The long awaited season two of the hit series Wednesday dropped on Netflix today. Featuring characters from the Addams Family, Wednesday sees Wednesday Addams return to school at the mysterious Nevermore.

The show does not miss a step in jumping right back into the mysteries of Nevermore as Wednesday has to deal with her sudden popularity over her saving the school in season one, Pugsley coming to Nevermore with her, a stalker, black tears, as well as a new cabal of characters.

One of those characters is the new principal, Barry Dort, played by Steve Buscemi in a strangely familiar wig and black mustache.

The first episode certainly threw a lot of different things into the fire (some actually literally) setting up what looks to be a jam-packed season two.

Jenna Ortega reminded us immediately that she was the perfect casting for Wednesday Addams. Her dialogue and character play is wonderful. Seeing her spend her summer vacation hunting down and scalping a serial killer made for a great cold open.

Emma Myers returned as Enid, Wednesday’s colorful werewolf roommate and bestie. The easy chemistry between these two is one reason this show had such an amazing season one. Enid feels as if she will be at the center of another psychic vision mystery as we see Wednesday at the end of episode one have a vision where Enid grabbed her and told her that she was dead because of her.

There are a bunch of new mysteries in the air around Nevermore and I will be working on completing the first part of season two over the next week or so. Four episodes dropped today and the second part of four episodes drop at the beginning of September.

Monster Island

This B-monster movie debuted on Shudder at the end of July. I came across it the other day and thought it might be some scary fun to watch it.

Set during the last days of World War II, a Japanese Hell Ship, which was transporting POWs, was sunk by an American ship. Saito, a Japanese soldier and Bronson, a British POW end up stranded together on a mysterious island. In their attempt to survive on the island despite their differences, they come across a mythological monster from Malay folklore called Orang Ikan.

Orang Ikan means “Fish Man” in Malay and this monster (played by Alan Maxson) looked like a combination of the Creature from the Black Lagoon and the Sleestak from Land of the Lost. This Orang Ikan then went about a Predator-like hunt with the two men, as they struggled to survive.

It was really odd with the film since Saito did not speak English and there were no subtitles on the screen. We, as audiences, were every bit as uncertain about what was happening as Bronson was. You had to watch the way Saito carried himself and his body language if you wanted to see what kind of man he was.

His actions immediately showed that Saito was someone who you could trust and, despite the language differences, would be a friend in this situation. We do find out that Saito had been on the ship and chained together initially with Bronson because he was being returned to Japan to be put to death for being a traitor to Japan.

Dean Fujioka played Saito and Callum Woodhouse played Bronson. Both did a decent job in this clearly low budget film.

The film was short and moved along briskly. I did find myself engaged by the survival attempt by the two men and I did like that the film took some time to build the relationship between them. It was more than just fighting for their lives that brought them together but a little bit of character development.

It was an okay movie that was worth a watch on Shudder. The Orang Ikan may not have been as slick as most horror movies these days in appearance, but the film’s practical effects were appreciated.

3.2 stars

Sandler Saturday

This coming Saturday I am going to do something because I feel I need to punish myself some more.

Last weekend Netflix dropped Happy Gilmore 2. I did not review it because of one major reason.

I do not like Adam Sandler.

Then, I had never saw the entire film Happy Gilmore. I have seen individual scenes, but not the whole thing. That made me think about what other movies of Adam Sandler I had not seen. I pulled up the list of Sandler movies and I had not seen very many at all.

What I have seen: The Wedding Singer, Big Daddy, Anger Management, Grown Ups 2, Uncut Gems, Spaceman, Hustle, all three Hotel Transylvanias, Leo, and Pixels.

That left a bunch of other Sandler movies, including some of the biggest of his career, that I have not seen. I thought that it might not have been fair of me to hate on Sandler so much without having seen some of these films. Of the ones I have seen, I did like The Wedding Singer, Big Daddy, Anger Management, Uncut Gems, Leo and Hustle. I hated Grown Ups 2 and Pixels. I did not like the Hotel Transylvania series, but did not hate them. That was a better percent of liking than I expected.

So I decided that this Saturday, I will watch as many Sandler movies as I can stand. I have not confirmed the actual list of films, but I plan on kicking off with Happy Gilmore and I may then do the sequel on Sunday.

There are times when I wonder why I am doing this to myself. I watched War of the Worlds on Prime this morning despite knowing it was terrible. This could be a massive fail of a day for me. Some of the films on Sandler’s list are just so reviled by the whole (aka Jack and Jill), should I really put myself through that?

Well, I’m going to do it. Pray for me.

Films for Sandler Saturday

#1. Happy Gilmore

#2. Punch-Drunk Love

#3. The Waterboy

#4. Murder Mystery

#5. Jack and Jill

#6. Billy Madison

#7. Mr. Deeds

And that brings the Sandler Saturday to an end. That was about all I can handle of Adam Sandler. My overall thoughts… I think there are some movies of Adam Sandler that I can like. There are too many of them that are just terrible.

Maybe I can approach Adam Sandler movies with a little less hatred before I see them.