Next in the End of July Binge-Watch comes a film that I remember not being a big fan of, but upon second viewing, I liked more than I did.  The original Jumanji was directed by Joe Johnston and would eventually inspire a sequel called Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle.

I love Robin Williams, but it would not be a shock to realize that he made many movies that were not very good.  I had always included Jumanji in that category, but I did like this better than the first time.

The story is simple.  Robin Williams plays Alan Parrish, a young boy who has an overbearing father.  Alan was being pursued by bullies yet his father went to send him to face his fears which led to him being beaten up.  After the attack, Alan found a strange game in a construction site and took it home.  The game was called Jumanji and when he started playing the game, with Sarah, the girlfriend of the bully who beat him up, he realized that it was more than what it seemed.

The special effects were not bad for the time, and helped propel the action.  In this movie, the game would release jungle creatures into the real world after each player’s turn was up and there were some terrifying moments.  The spiders, the crocodiles, and the lion balanced out the more humorous monkeys and mosquitoes.

The plot itself was pretty simple and the conclusion was predictable.  I can see why I may not have been a huge fan of this when I was younger as Robin Williams was not very funny in the role, at least what I expected for him to be.  Still, looking at it today, he brings his charm and wit to the role even if it is not the fall down laughing performance.

I would definitely say that I prefer the sequel to the original, but I found that this was much better than I remembered.

This is one of my favorite, underrated, unknown thrillers and, arguably, my favorite non-Captain America performance from Chris Evans.  Cellular was a small film from 2004, but it was filled with thrills and excitement.

Just as technology started to explode with cell phones, Cellular comes along and shows every little trouble with them and brings out the tension in the situation.  Everything from losing a signal in a tunnel or stairwell, low battery, and crossing lines, Cellular mines these little details into a life and death struggle.

Jessica (Kim Basinger), a high school science teacher is suddenly and unexpectedly kidnapped from her house and thrown into an attic.  Ethan (Jason Statham) and his crew want information from her about her husband, but Jessica is confused.  Ethan smashed the landline phone in the attic and leaves her locked up.

Ryan (Chris Evans) is a young, irresponsible man, out on the beach, trying to get his girlfriend to take him back.  When he picks up a call on his phone, he discovers that Jessica, who has been rubbing wires together on the smashed phone trying to contact anyone, is on the other side, begging him to take the phone to a police officer.  Ryan, despite thinking this was a joke, took the phone to the police station where he encountered Officer Mooney (William H. Macy), who because of sudden chaos breaking out at the station, sent Ryan to a different section.

It was at this time when Ryan hears Ethan arrive and threaten Jessica and he understands that this is no joke.

Then the film dives headlong into a chase film that is as tension-filled and suspenseful as you can get.  Yes, there are a lot of times when you have to suspend disbelief to accept what has happened, but you can say that about any action film.  The films that are successful give you other reasons to suspend that disbelief than just the action bit.  In Cellular, you immediately connect with the relationship between Jessica and Ryan.  Ryan is remarkably likable and Chris Evans shows why he was a great choice to play Steve Rogers in the MCU.

Kim Basinger is not anyone’s victim here either.  She is shown as a mamma lion, willing to do whatever she has to do to protect her family.  She is not a damsel-in-distress and her strength and cleverness is clearly on display.

William H. Macy has a great role as well, providing the audience with a character that is meant to be like us.  He is a disgruntled cop preparing to leave the department and open a day spa.  Everything that happened in the day just stuck with him and he found himself dropped into the middle of the action.

Jason Statham was great as a villain.  This was the time in his career where he played a lot of villains in individual movies, but you could see here that he was heading for more with what he was able to bring to this performance.

There is humor, suspense, thrills.  You may never have heard of Cellular, but this is one that, if you have a couple of hours, will entertain you fully.  I loved Cellular.

In search of the next film for the End of July Binge-Watch, I came across this film on Amazon Prime.  I had never heard of the film before, but the name Stephen King drew me in.

A little town goes crazy when several murders start to occur, but they did not know the truth. The murders were being committed by a werewolf.  When the young paralyzed boy named Marty (Corey Haim) figures out about the creature, he finds in difficult for anyone to believe him.  Even his sister Jane (Megan Follows) and his off-kilter uncle Red (Gary Busey) found the story far fetched.  However, Marty finds himself targeted by the monster and ends up in several dangerous situations.

This film is about as 80s as you can get.  The hairstyles, dialogue and outfits screamed the 80s which tends to date the film a bit.  Like many films of the decade, the special effects were less than special.  The werewolf was clearly a man in a rubber suit with fur on it, but I can accept that since it was the time.  It is not as if there were intricate CGI available.  And truly, practical effects are a good way to go many times.  Problem is that this was still pretty cheap as effects go.

And the cast was quite recognizable and did cause me to be distracted.  Corey Haim was pretty good as our lead protagonist, the boy in the wheelchair.  It was nice that they had a handicapped child as the lead character and they showed him as anything but a victim.  Haim is charming and has a presence about him.  Sure, the dialogue and many of the things they had him do were not the best, but he did what they asked of him.  It is sad that Corey Haim had such a dysfunctional life and had so many troubles outside the movies.  He was a talented young kid who could have been a huge success.

Other people I recognized… John Locke from LOST (that is Terry O’Quinn) was the Sheriff of the town.  Twin Peaks’ Big Ed Hurley (that is Everett McGill) was the preacher, Reverend Lowe.   Bill Smitrovich, who is a character actor we have seen many places was Andy.  The very first werewolf victim was Manager Lou Brown (aka James Gammon) from Major League.  He looked different but I recognized his voice immediately.

Gary Busey was in his full Gary Busey mode and would steal most every scene he was in.  He had a nice, easy connection with Corey Haim and I believed them as crazy uncle and nephew.

There seemed to be plenty missing from the film, including reasons for the werewolf.  The story was fairly simple, but it did have its moments.  It was not the worst horror movie I have ever seen, but it is far from the best either.

I went looking around trying to figure out what the next film in the end of July Binge-Watch would be.  I was feeling in the mood for a black and white horror movie so I started looking through the catalog of the Universal Monsters, but none of those films were tripping the trigger tonight.  Then, I noticed Nosferatu.

Nosferatu was an all-time classic from 1922 in Germany.  It was originally an unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula and wound up having to be destroyed.  However, some copies survived and they became a classic.  The film was eventually released in the United States in 1929.

The movie is a silent picture, meaning that the only dialogue inside the film appears on screen to be read.  The version I saw had the words in German, and then translated into English at the bottom.  Yet, calling this a silent movie is a misnomer because there were no moments in the film where it was silent.  There was an amazing score playing constantly, helping to create the mood of the film.  The subtitle of the film was actually “A Symphony of Horror.”

Probably the most significant thing that Nosferatu has going for it is a distinctly horrifying lead performance.  Max Schreck played Count Orlok, the vampire known as Nosferatu (“The Bird of Death”).  Schreck is as creepy as you could possibly be and the film does a tremendous job of maximizing the use of Schreck to maintain that fearsome appearance.  There are a couple of iconic moments in the film that anyone familiar with vampire/horror movies would have seen.  Count Orlok rising from his coffin is one such scene.

If you are a fan of horror movies or cinema at all, Nosferatu is a film that you must see.  It is a film that took the medium to new heights and inspired countless filmmakers since.

The end of July Binge-watch continues with one of my favorite animated Batman films that I have ever seen.

They had created a new animated series called Batman Beyond, where a young kid named Terry McGinnis becomes a new Batman and old man Bruce Wayne helps him through.  The classic Batman voice, EYG Hall of Famer Kevin Conroy, returned as the old man and there were some great futuristic Batman episodes.  The show was successful and led to this full length animated version.

And how better to up the ante with our Batman Beyond than to bring back the Joker, with his own iconic voice, Mark Hamill?

This is such a great adventure, but it takes it to another level because the film weaves together a real emotional story to bring the Joker into the future.  It is a way that messes with Bruce, Commissioner Barbra Gordon, and Terry.

I would even go as far to say that the flashback the movie includes is one of the best scenes in any Batman movie, animated or live action.  The pain and anguish shown in that scene is real and what happened with Joker, Batman and Robin was forever compelling and affected all three forever.

The third act was also some of the best action, Batman vs. Joker, that you will ever see.  Terry uses the differences between his Batman and Bruce Wayne’s Batman to put himself into a position to stop the Joker.  There was a fantastic use of Ace, the Bat-Hound as well.

Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker is worth the time to watch.  It is one of my favorite Batman films, and perhaps, my number one animated version of the dark knight.

Save it for the stage.

It’s that kind of show.

The next film for the End of July Binge-watch is a documentary of a stage show called The Life of Reilly.  It was the one man show from Charles Nelson Reilly, actor, instructor, storyteller.  Charles Nelson Reilly tells the story of his life as a child in the Bronx with his dysfunctional family.  Charles spares no warts as he relays the stories of some of the horrors that he lived through.

It is surprisingly emotional as Charles moves from one story to another.  He tells about the time he went to the circus and the tent burned down.  He talked about his mother and her racist, obnoxious, mean-spirited personality and his father and his alcohol abuse stemming from his depression over losing a potential job with Walt Disney.  Charles tells how he got into an acting class with an amazing list of award winning actors.

Charles Nelson Reilly is a natural story teller and he can find the humor in anything.  You can tell how the audience is completely enthralled by the way Charles lays out the story.

I laughed.  I cried.  I laughed again.

This is sincerely one of the great performances of a one man show that you will ever see.  Charles Nelson Reilly died not to long after the final two shows of his tour, the shows that they recorded this film from.  Ironic considering one of the earliest jokes in the show was about how people thought CNR was dead when he wasn’t.

If you like Charles Nelson Reilly, this movie is a must.  If you are at all interested in a character of a man, The Life of Reilly is your film.  It is an intimate portrayal of a man’s life, silly and sorrowful.

This is a movie that I have heard about a couple of times on the Top 10 Show podcast that I like to listen to.  I have heard John Rocha sing its praises and, recently, I re-listened to an episode with guest Rachel Cushing and she included this film on her list as well.  Their descriptions were intriguing for me and I had hoped to see it.

So I am starting a three day July binge-a-thon for the Classic Movies since there is not a large number of new films to see (I have to get to Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, but other than that…) and so I thought I would start with this one.

Westerns are not my favorite genre, but there is no denying that, if done well, it can be remarkably compelling.  Unforgiven is more than just a Western, but one of the great movies Clint Eastwood ever made.  I would venture to say that The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is right on the verge of matching that Eastwood classic.

Rachel and John talked about how some people thought the film was boring, but I have no idea what these people were watching.  I would agree that there is a slow build to the story, but I never once felt as if I were bored by this story.  I was completely engaged and fully enthralled with the true story.

Brad Pitt was absolutely astounding as Jesse James.  I would even go as far as to say, for me, this was my favorite performance of Brad Pitt’s career.  He was hauntingly good in every scene, portraying the different sides to the charismatic criminal.  Casey Affleck was nearly as great as the coward Robert “Bob” Ford. The fear and anxiety was palpable for Affleck, and you were never sure exactly what was going to happen, despite the title being a gigantic spoiler.  Bob was such a fan of Jesse James that you can see how he goes from idolizing him to fearing him.  Affleck displays this wonderfully.

The rest of the movie was littered with great performances from a great ensemble.  Sam Rockwell as Bob’s brother Charley, Jeremy Renner as Jesse’s cousin Wood, Mary-Louise Parker as Jesse’s wife Zee, Paul Schneider as Dick Liddle, Garret Dillahunt as Ed Miller and a small role for Frank James, Jesse’s irreparable brother, played by Sam Shepard.

The only role that threw me off a bit was political analyst James Carville as Governor Crittendon.  The role was small, but seeing Carville on screen and not talking about the Democratic Party was weird.  I mean, he was fine performance wise, but I was distracted by him for a few moments.

Director Andrew Dominik has created a masterful Western that retells the legendary story of the death of a man who had become as much of a myth as anyone in the old West had done.  The film is a beautifully shot and developed and the cinematography is special.  There is so much to love about this movie, especially if you enjoy tightly written and developed character pieces.

This year is the 40th anniversary of the first ever movie featuring the Muppets from Jim Henson’s company and I got  a chance to see it on the big screen thanks to a screening by Fathom Events. I had a smile on my face the entire time.

The movie is the story of how the Muppets came to be and how they made the movie that they were showing.  It was filled with fantastic corny jokes, running gags, and just roll-your-eyes humor that has been a trademark of the Muppets since day one.

And the music is brilliant.  I found myself singing along with the songs as each one appeared, staring with The Rainbow Connection, performed by Kermit the Frog in the middle of his home swamp.  Movin’ Right Along is another personal favorite which truly highlights the bromance between Kermit and Fozzie Bear.  Dr. Teeth (who, when I was a child, always scared me) and the Electric Mayhem perform Can You Picture That?  and Miss Piggy’s love ballad, Never Before, Never Again.  The finale with the song Finale: The Magic Store is a perfect finish to the music.  I remember listening to these songs on cassette tape and just loving them.  The music is created by Paul Williams and Kenneth Ascher and they do it masterfully.

As with any Muppet project, there are a ton of cameos appearing because everybody wants to be in a Muppet movie.  Bob Hope, Telly Savalas, Steve Martin, Dom DeLuise, Orson Welles, Mel Brooks, Madeline Kahn, James Coburn, Edgar Bergen, Milton Berle, Richard Pryor, Paul Williams, Big Bird, Carol Kane, Elliot Gould and Cloris Leachman.  That list of stars is beyond anything you could expect today and shows how much love these actors had for Jim Henson’s creations.

We also had Charles Durning appearing as Doc Hopper, the villain of the piece who chases Kermit across country trying to get Kermit to be the spokes-frog for his fried frog-legs restaurant.

There was such joy in the movie and I saw much more in this film than I saw the first times I saw it as a child.  There are a lot of beats in the film that are intended for the adults in the room, and the children will have a great time following along.  This is why the Muppets are such an engaging and entertaining group.

Jim Henson and Frank Oz did most of the heavy lifting here.  Henson performed Kermit, Rowlf, Dr. Teeth while Oz did Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear and Animal.  Dave Goeltz was Gonzo the Great, Zoot and Dr. Bunsen Honeydew.  Richard Hunt was Scooter, Janice and Sweetums.  Jerry Nelson was Floyd Pepper and Camilla.  All of these Muppet performers had other roles as well, showing the versatility of the group with voices and acting.

The movie takes the idea of meta to another level-  Meta-Meta perhaps.  Or maybe Muppet-meta, with tongue planted fully in cheek (Kermit made a joke about his tongue early in the movie).  At one point, they give the screenplay of the movie to the Electric Mayhem so they can catch up on the story without presenting a bunch of exposition because repeating it all would bore the audience.  Brilliant.

The movie may drag a bit in the middle, but there is so much wonder around it that any criticism I may have for the movie feels lackluster.  This is a film that feels magical after 40 years and have stars made of felt.  The Muppet Movie is a triumph.

This is an old classic tale that Disney made into a rather predictable, yet beautiful story of love and acceptance.

The Princess and the Frog has been a known story for years when Disney created an animated version in 2009.  The animation was beautifully rendered and the music took great inspiration from jazz.

Tiana (Anika Noni Rose) was a young and hard-working waitress who, during the 1920s, was saving her tips in order to fulfill her dream.  The opening of her very own restaurant.  Prince Naveen of Maldonia (Bruno Campos) arrives in New Orleans in search of a wealthy southern belle to wed after his parents cut him off from the family fortune.  Naveen runs afoul of the local voodoo priest, the Shadow Man, Doctor Facilier (Keith David), and he turns the prince into a frog.  Facilier enlists Naveen’s valet Lawrence (Peter Bartlett) to scam wealthy social climber Lottie (Jennifer Cody), daughter of wealthy Southern sugar mill owner Eli “Big Daddy” La Bouff (John Goodman), into marriage.  They would then steal her family’s money.

The story is needlessly complex for such a simple tale.  Many of these characters provide little to the advancement of the story.  Lottie, who was one of Tiana’s oldest friends, seemed to change characteristics depending on the plot.  There were too many instances of this in the film.

However, it was beautifully animated and the characterization of Tiana was solid.  She was the best of the characters in this film.  The city of New Orleans was another character in this movie and comes through wonderfully.  The design of the characters, especially Dr. Facilier was great and distinct.  And there was a trumpet playing alligator. You don’t see that every day.

The Princess and the Frog was decent, but it was not as memorable as many of the Disney animated films we have had.

I was looking for a movie to watch this afternoon when I came across Running Scared, a film from the 1980s starring Billy Crystal and Gregory Hines as a couple of hard-boiled cops from Chicago.  I remember seeing this movie in the theater and being a big fan of it so it was the perfect choice for this afternoon.

Problem was, on this viewing, I hated it.

I suppose it was the difference of viewing this movie as a 50-year old man compared to viewing it as a 17-year old kid.  Much of the stuff in this movie was much more aligned for the kid, because it did not ask much of me mentally and I had to suspend all kinds of intelligence for the story to come even close to working.  There are no cops like this in the country and, if there were, they would not be cops for very long.

Positives:  Billy Crystal and Gregory Hines are good together and they have all kinds of witty banter.  The dialogue between them was strong and their friendship was heart-warming.

After that, nothing else was worth my time.

Jimmy Smits was the bad guy, Julio Gonzales, and this guy had zero realism to him.  He was a cartoon villain who could somehow keep getting released after clear criminal acts.  The third act showdown is so unbelievable and made no sense whatsoever.

This makes me wonder what other films from my childhood that I loved would be crap in my eyes today.

Earlier this week, Collider Live brought up Harry and the Hendersons and Josh Macuga stated how much he liked that movie. So when I came across it on Netflix tonight, I thought I would watch it.  I had seen pieces of the film before, but never the whole thing.

It is very much an 80s movie.  It is an action/comedy similar to many of the movies we saw during the 1980s.  There is some definite silliness and the plot is fairly formulaic, but there is a charm and a heart that takes the film to a higher level than it might have been.

Coming home from their camping trip, George Henderson (John Lithgow) and his family hit a legendary Bigfoot with his car.  Believing that they had killed the beast, they put the corpse on the roof of the car and took it back to Seattle, Washington with them.

However, turns out, the Bigfoot was not dead and a late night ransacking of their kitchen looking for food was in line for the Sasquatch.

As the family tried to determine exactly what they were going to do, they discovered that the Bigfoot, nicknamed Harry, was more than just an animal.

John Lithgow was solid in the role of George Henderson, the man who at first tried to get rid of the Bigfoot, but eventually came around to love the creature.  Don Ameche played Bigfoot museum manager Dr. Wallace Wrightwood and David Suchet (who played Hercule Poirot) was big game hunter Jacques LaFleur, who had been chasing Bigfoot for decades.  These are both fairly typical characters that fit into the 1980s films like this one.

Harry was the fish out of water type character here as the Hendersons struggled to re-find Harry and then get him safely back into the woods.  Harry, played by Kevin Peter Hall (who was also the Predator in the Arnold Schwarzenegger film), is very lovable in a realistic way.  No CGI here, only practical effects and they help give Harry his charm.

There is not much to the movie beyond the message of family and respecting life, even animal life, but it is an enjoyable watch with some cute comedic moments.

While it may not be an all-time classic, it is certainly worth a lazy Saturday night watch on Netflix.