Reaction & Review | Die Hard

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the "Reaction & Review Christmas In July Special". Yes, guys, I'm once again doing another Christmas movie in July. And for this year's special, I'm covering a rather famous movie that has a rather infamous "controversy" of sorts. It is an action thriller from 1988. That movie is "Die Hard".

Yes, guys, believe it or not, I have never seen this movie before. I know of it's premise, which is about our main character, being played by Bruce Willis, as he's trapped in a large building with a bunch of terrorists and he has to escape from the building, while trying to evade being killed by these terrorists. That's all I remember about the plot, which, to me, sounds like a really cool premise already.

But as I just mentioned already, this movie has something else that a lot of people on the internet seem to have an interest about. You see, people who have already seen this movie, whether it be fans of something or the like, debate on whether or not the movie counts as a Christmas movie. Which, to me, I find to be a really stupid debate for two reasons. One, the movie already confirms it itself, as the premise mentions something of a Christmas party that takes place around the building that Bruce Willis's character takes a part in. And two, I watch a bunch of movies around Christmas time, which don't even center around Christmas, whether it gets mentioned or not. For example, "Pokemon The Movie 2000" has nothing to do Christmas, but I watch it every year around that time. And if you want a live-action reference, "Dead Snow" really has nothing to do with Christmas, even though it's set around a wintery area in the mountains of Norway.

Basically, guys, I find the whole debate on whether or not "Die Hard" is an actual Christmas movie to be really pointless. All I care about is whether or not this movie is entertaining. And if it *is* entertaining, then I'm most certainly gonna add it to my yearly tradition of Christmas films that I must watch every year. But the only way I'm gonna find out if this movie is entertaining at all is if I shut up and I push play, and I'm gonna do that right now. So, without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out "Die Hard".

18 minutes later

Well, guys, right now, I don't have a whole lot to say at the moment, but I am, so far, getting into this movie. And it looks like these terrorists are about to start to their takeover, so I'm hoping that our plot will finally get kick in now that they've arrived.

15 minutes later

OK, well, it's good to know that Argyle still has his priorities straight. He's still listening to loud music in his limousine, and I also have to question how Argyle, ignoring the loud music, would be able to hear gunshots from, possibly near the top of the building to which McClaine was a witness to. I'm really kinda curious here.

8 minutes later

OK, I like John's little "calling card" we shall say. And the fact he just indirectly tells them that he has one of their machines guns basically is an indication that, yeah, he's coming for them, and I'm gonna be here for the entire ride.

4 minutes later

Wait, so even though these lady cops obviously heard gunshots going off while John was trying to call for help, they sound fucking casual about the whole thing as if this was a prank call. Yeah, they said they would send a black and white out to check the building, but the fact that they didn't take a hint that there were gunshots going off in the background makes me hope those people on the line get fired for negligence on their part! Just...wow.

12 minutes later

Well, that's certainly one way to get the cop's attention. Just throw one of the terrorists dead body out the window and onto their car. Problem solved. At least, I hope so anyway. However, by the time that this is all done, I don't think they're gonna be all that necessary after McClaine takes care of business by himself. Calling it now.

20 minutes later

You know, guys, out of the things I've seen blown up in movies and TV shows, that might've been one of the greatest ones I've seen of all time. Holy shit, that was amazing.

15 minutes later

So, John is actually going to help Hans out, who, I should mention, John doesn't even know that it's him. Why the fuck is he helping him out? Doesn't he know that there are terrorists in the building, and he doesn't suspect some guy in a suit, and is obviously suspicious? Unless Hans stays unarmed, then John is still kinda stupid for bringing him along. Just saying.

20 minutes later

Sorry, guys, for not saying very much at the moment, I'm really getting invested into the story here. It's been amazing so far.

8 minutes later

Well, guys, after two hours into the movie, Argyle actually did something of value. I was really beginning to question the validity of his appearance in this movie, but he actually did something useful. So, I'll cut him some slack for now.

The Review

Well, guys, that was "Die Hard". And, man oh man, what a way to end a movie. Holy shit...well, I may as well go ahead and shut the movie off here...OK. First things first, I'm gonna answer this question so I can put this debate to bed. Is this movie actually a Christmas movie? Yes. It totally is. And any retard who keeps debating about it is just fooling themselves. It has Christmas decor. Hell, it even ends Dean Martin's rendition of "Let It Snow!". So yeah, this movie totally counts as a Christmas film. And not only that, but it's a fantastic Christmas movie, as well. Which makes me wonder why I even waited this long to finally watch it, but hey, never late than never, I suppose.

So now, let's actually talk about the movie a bit. I'm gonna start with writing. And in most cases, I would probably just disregard writing when it comes to action movies, because, as I've mentioned time and again, most people don't care about the plot. They only care about the action scenes. And there's plenty of it here, mind you. But it also has something else to it that a lot of action movies don't really have. It actually has depth to it. It makes you want to keep watching it to see what happens. This is the kind of action movie that makes you *care* about these characters. Which is something that I don't see a whole lot from action movies that operate on a standard format. Now don't get the wrong idea here. I don't mind when action movies do their own thing, like with most of Andy Sidaris's action films, because he never aims for anything more than just making a cheesy, action film with playboy models with big tits pretending to be action stars. Those are an exception.

But with this kind of movie, it shows that you *can* add depth and personality to your action movie if you take the time to put in that effort. Now granted, the story here is very simplistic, which is fine for an action movie. As I said earlier, it's about Bruce Willis's character, AKA John McClaine, who is a New York cop who gets caught up at the wrong time when terrorists take over a building where his wife is works at. And the terrorists are there to break into a vault to steal shit, while McClaine is a one man army who attempts to take them all on while trying to escape the building. So yes, it's a very standard plot, but it's also so damn compelling that you want to see how McClaine gets out his situation, even when he's battered, bloodied, and, even during one point of the movie, he runs across glass while being barefoot while trying to make an escape, and the entirety of his sole is bloodied to all hell. I couldn't even begin to imagine that kind of pain, and frankly, I don't really want to. Now I should mention that you don't visibly see him running across glass, as it was covered by a flash grenade from one of the terrorists. But still, I think you can get an idea of what happened to him after his escape.

And speaking of characters, all of them are great. John McClaine here is charismatic, and he has depth and personality. He's sorta like the reverse Rambo. Where with Rambo, he was mostly the silent type who would kill you in an instant when he got a chance. With McClaine, he's not like that. While he's still a one man army type like Rambo, he acts more vulnerable, but he's still able to be creative with his mind in very tense situations. Some of the stuff that he actually comes up, like when he tapes a gun to his back while pretending to be vulnerable is something that, if I were put in this situation, I would never have come up with something like that. Or the thing involving that massive explosion. Believe me when I say that this is the kind of explosion that Michael Bay would not be able to recreate, even if he tried to. But yeah, McClaine here can be vulnerable, but he's still able to be a badass, even in scary situations where tries to act calm, even though he's probably scared to death on the inside. But then again, considering he's a New York cop, I would imagine that he's learned to control his fear when he signed up for that job. Though that's just me theorizing.

If there was any sort of negatives to characters, I would probably have to go with Argyle. Because Argyle, for almost the entirety of the movie, does nothing of value. Not only that, but he really has no kind of character to him other than him being a rookie limousine driver. Now yes, I did give him credit earlier in which he stopped one of the terrorists from escaping by disguising themselves as an ambulance worker, but that was towards the end of the movie. Before that, he really just does nothing other than sit on his ass in his limousine while listening to loud music. Now, in some fairness, when he picks up that McClaine was in the building he actually does start to listen a little bit about what's happening to him. But other than that, and beyond his lack of character, I honestly believe that you could've replaced him with any other character, and you wouldn't have missed a thing with him. Aside from that, though, I will still give him credit where credit his due for stopping at least one of the terrorists.

But yeah, our other characters here are also decently developed. Granted, a majority of the hostages aren't really focused on. The only one I can think of is John's wife, who he has been trying to get back together with after being in an estranged relationship with. But otherwise, you're not really gonna care about the hostages because, as I just said, they're not really the focus. Our villains, including Hans Gruber, is incredibly unlikable. However, you're not really suppose to like the villains, and they do a great job of making you want to hate them. Also, I have to mention the cop, Sgt. Powell. The friendship that he and McClaine share, even though they almost never physically meet each other is fantastic. It really is some of the better character depth I have seen between two friends that I haven't seen in a long time with other movies. Although that may be just a personal thing on my part.

So, guys, if it's not made any clearer, the writing in this movie is fantastic. It's an action film that has depth and personality to it, it has characters you can care about, and for a movie that's only a little over two hours, it doesn't feel very long either. But then again, it's not very short either. Basically, this is a movie that is worth the slightly over two hour runtime that it's working with, which is perfect if you ask me. The acting here is also fantastic. Every single actor in this movie is giving it their all here, and it shows. Even if it's a minor actor, they still turn in a fantastic showing. Special mentions go to Bruce Willis and Alan Rickman. With Rickman, he oozes off with a lot of charm to his character, even if his character is slightly on the generic side of things. He's still able to take his character and just makes you want to despise him. And he does a fantastic job of it. And as for our hero of the movie, Bruce Willis is incredibly charismatic here, and he'll even take one-liners and turn them into gold. I obviously don't need to bring up his famous quote because anyone who, even if you have never seen this movie, chances are that you've at least heard it uttered at least a couple of times beforehand. I don't know what else to add to all this other than to say that the acting here is nothing short of fantastic.

Special effects in this movie are also really good, too. Blood effects here are brutal, especially the scene I mentioned earlier where McClaine is taking the time to take out shards of glass out of his bloodied foot. Mind you, that's one of the instances I can think of, other than him having a bloodied shoulder as well. Still though, blood effects are really good here. The pyrotechnics are also fantastic as well, not including the obvious here. Now I'm not sure how much of it was legit or how much of it was done in CG, but I still think it looks great for the standard of late 80's special effects.

Everything else, guys, involving camerawork, lighting, sound-mix, and music is all great here. There's really not anything special I can mention about the technical work. I could also mention that, for a supposed Christmas movie, there's not much Christmas music playing, other than the end credits. But I'm kinda thankful that they don't play any of it during inappropriate moments, otherwise, it might come off as a little bit awkward. At least, to me, it would.

But otherwise, guys, when all is said and done, am I able to recommend "Die Hard"? Oh, fuck yes, guys. This movie is fantastic, and if you somehow still haven't seen it yet, then I would wholeheartedly recommend it. Not just as a fantastic movie, but I would also say it's worth watching during Christmas year. Which I'm totally gonna be doing from now on because this thing has more than proven worthy of that honor. Now is it my favorite Christmas movie of all time? Well, I'm not sure if I would put it that far. I mean, it's gonna be difficult for it top films like the first "Silent Night, Deadly Night" movie or even "Tokyo Godfathers", but I would say it ranks very high up there now, thanks to my first viewing of it. And you bet your ass I'm gonna be watching it a lot more often, even not during Christmas time. It's just that great, and you owe it to yourself to check this movie out. It is fantastic in every single way. Now...seeing as how I brought up Rambo, I'm probably just gonna watch one of my Rambo movies right now. I don't know which one at the moment, but I'm gonna go watch one of them right now.

Anyway, guys, with that, we come to the close of another Reaction & Review. And until next time, ladies and gentlemen, take care, and I will see you all later. Peace.

Reaction & Review | Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to an all new Reaction & Review. And not only that, guys, but it's also the 350th episode, as well. And normally, I would be celebrating this occasion by covering a movie that I've wanted to see for quite some time. And, well...I'm not quite feeling it with this one. As you can probably guess from the title, tonight's movie came out in 2024. That movie is "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice".

Now, just in case you're new here, earlier this month, I reviewed the first "Beetlejuice" movie. Which is already a weird thing to say, but regardless, I actually had never seen the first "Beetlejuice" movie, up until I did that review. And overall, I really enjoyed it. I thought it was really funny at times and, while it's not one of my favorites from Tim Burton, I still really did enjoy the movie, which is awesome to say.

That then brings me to the sequel...and already, I have two major complaints about it before I even push play. Number one, the fact that they're doing a sequel, which came out 36 years after the first film, already feels like a desperate cash grab move from Warner Bros. And two, this film also came out during a time when sequels and remakes were, and still are, unfortunately, a massive thing. And I have a strong feeling that this is gonna be another one of those sequels where it will have no reason to exist.

Now keep in mind, I'm not saying that this movie's gonna be bad because it feels like a desperate cash grab sequel. All I'm saying is that, with what was already accomplished in the first movie, I really feel like there's no reason for this movie to exist because it has nowhere else to go. But who knows? Maybe, just maybe, there's something here that I'm not seeing yet. I have heard some good things about this movie, so there is a possibility that this movie could surprise me somehow and actually wind up being pretty good. Granted, my doubts on that are pretty high. But hey, I would love to be proven wrong here. I'm hoping that this film will actually do the impossible and wind up surprising me in someway. But the only way I'm gonna find out where this film will stand with me is if I shut up and I push play, and I'm gonna do that right now. So, without further ado, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice".

10 minutes later

So, not only did Lydia's stepmother make it into the arts, but also, her stepdad got killed off via a shark, which was all done in stop-motion. Admittedly, that's a rather interesting way for them to write off Jeffery Jones character since, well...they couldn't get him back for obvious reasons, let's just put it that way. But still, I actually really liked how they were able to explain why he's not in this movie.

15 minutes later

So, this lady can actually suck out the souls of people via Shang Tsung style. That's actually sorta cool. I mean, granted, I know she did it earlier, and I don't know what her deal is with Betelgeuse, at least as of yet, but at least the way she's able to suck souls out of people's bodies is sorta cool.

3 minutes later

So, guys, I just got to see more of Betelgeuse's backstory involving him and how he met his ex-wife. And I gotta say, considering that this, I believe, may be the first time I got to see something related to the guy other than him just being weird and goofy. That actually is rather interesting.

13 minutes later

Wait, let me see if I understand this. The reasoning as to why Barbara and Adam from the first movie aren't in this one is because they, who I'm going to assume is suppose to be Lydia and her family, found a loophole and moved on. Um...what loophole? Did they, like, find a way for Adam and Barbara to get out of Betelgeuse's world so that their souls can rest peacefully or what? I really don't get what Lydia means by this. I'm kinda hoping maybe that there's a better explanation for this, otherwise, that's a *really* weak way to write them out of the movie. Just saying.

12 minutes later

Well, guys, I am willing to say that the special effects here are still actually really good. Granted, there is a semblance of CG in this movie, but for the most part, I'm really digging the practical effects that are present here. They're almost as good as they were in the previous movie. That's actually really surprising to me.

11 minutes later

OK, I really need to ask this, because this is starting to bother me now. So, Astrid has been seeing this guy, Jeremy, for the past couple of days, only to learn that he, along with his parents, have been dead for the last 23 years. I won't say how that happened, exactly, but my question is that if they've been dead this long, then why didn't anybody just tear their house down or get other people to buy the house and move into it? I'm asking this, because if 23 years have passed since their deaths, then that house should either look completely different or, like I said, it really should've just been torn down. I'm really curious about this now, and I'm not totally sure if the movie's ever gonna explain that at all.

10 minutes later

OK, I will grant the movie this much. The reference to "Soul Train" is fucking awesome. Then again, that's partially because I actually did watch a little bit of "Soul Train" back when it was airing close to midnight when I was a kid. Regardless, I actually am really digging that reference.

13 minutes later

So, guys, do you happen to remember that goofy-looking scene in the first movie where the characters were singing and dancing really weirdly? Well, they're sorta rehashing the same idea here. However, it is still done in a rather creative way. And the song itself is not too bad either. So, at least I can give the movie that much.

The Review

Well, guys, that was "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice". Let me go ahead and shut the movie off here...OK. Well, um...where to start with this one?

I suppose, first and foremost, I should answer an obvious question. Is this movie as good as the first one was? No, it isn't. When compared to the first movie, it is nowhere near the level of how great that first movie was. But don't take this as it me saying that this movie sucks. It really doesn't. Now part of me when into it with very little expectations because I know that, being that this was a sequel to a very well known movie from way back when, sequels usually don't measure up to how good their predecessor was. And I had a strong feeling that this movie was going to flat out suck because of that. And again, while the movie still isn't as good as the first one was, I can actually say that, on it's own standards, it's actually really decent. Yes, it does have a number of problems, however, I can actually say that, for the most part, this movie is really enjoyable.

So anyway, let's actually dive right into this one here and actually talk more about it. Let's start with the writing. Now, one thing you have to be wary about when doing a sequel is that you really can't just recycle a bunch of ideas that you had already done in the first movie. Otherwise, you run the risk of just doing a barebones sequel that takes little to no chances and is only there to make a quick buck for whatever studio is publishing it. And I still believe that this movie was probably intended as a quick cash grab and not because they wanted to do more with the property. In fact, the most they did with it was the animated series from the 90's. I haven't really seen the whole of it yet, but what is there still looked really cool and innovative. At least as far as movies that had animated tie-ins goes. And trust me, there's lot of movies that got turned into animated series for children. I'm talking about films like the "Rambo" movies, "Conan The Barbarian", "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes", and even "Toxic Crusaders", which was a spinoff of "The Toxic Avenger". And mind you, those are just a few examples of movies that got turned into animated series for younger audiences.

But anyway, getting back on topic, the idea of them doing a sequel over three and a half decades later just seemed like a pointless and terrible idea that really shouldn't have worked. However, after finally watching this movie, I can actually say that it does sorta work. And in terms of them rehashing ideas from the first movie, I can officially say that they mostly go for more of an original idea for it's sequel. The only thing that they actually do rehash is the song and dance sequence from the first movie. And also, they recycle the sand worm that was also in the first movie as well. I won't say how much they use that idea, however, it is almost identical to how they use it here. I'll leave at that for now because, really, there's quite a bit here that I could spoil. But seeing as how this movie's only a couple of years old at the time I'm writing this review, I'm going to not spoil very much here, as I think it would be better for you to watch the movie for yourself to know what I'm talking about.

As for the writing itself, for the most part, it's actually written competently well. In terms of our returning characters, the only ones who return are Betelgeuse (duh), Lydia, her stepmom, and her stepdad...sort of. Yeah, obviously, Jeffery Jones character is now dead, so they had to find a way to write him off seeing as how there was no way in hell they could ever get the actor back to reprise his role. That being said, there is one thing that really bothered the shit out of me, which is how they wrote off Adam and Barbara. Lydia says that they're not around the house that they use to own anymore because, somehow, Lydia found a loophole and now they're suddenly gone. And I ask again: What fucking loophole is she talking about? As far as I can think of, maybe she found some sort of incantation spell to send their souls back to heaven or some such garbage. But even then, that's still a very half-assed answer because she never properly explains what this loophole is. And the more insulting thing about this is that, with Jeffery Jones character, at least they were able to show what happened to him through claymation. With Adam and Barbara, though, they don't get shit! I can overlook the idea of Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis not reprising their roles here, but the fact that they don't get any kind of sendoff here is honestly kinda bullshit. And the loophole explanation Lydia gives out? I can summarize it like this: Fuck you, that is why.

Anyway, moving on from that little fiasco, there are a couple of other problems to address. One of them includes Betelgeuse's ex-wife Delores. They build her up as some kind of big threat to Betelgeuse, however, the big problem with her character is that she's not really in the movie for very long. It's sorta the reverse opposite to how Betelgeuse's character was introduced in the first movie. Because with him, it at least made more sense, because you wanted to see more of him, and that movie kept gradually building him up until you actually to see him in action in all his glory. This movie, though, while it does show more of Betelgeuse himself, you don't get to see much of his ex-wife. And what's even more underwhelming about her is that, despite her buildup, she's really not much of a threat at all. Yeah, she can be intimidating, but overall, she's not really much of any threat and is easily dealt with. Same goes for the police chief, who is played by Willem Dafoe. His whole deal is that he's after Betelgeuse for breaking a law about entering the outside world illegally. Don't ask, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense. However, that, to me, is the probably the least of this movie's writing problems.

I will also say that this movie is kinda juggling with a lot of subplots here. For example, as I just brought up, you have Willem Dafoe looking for Betelgeuse, then you have Lydia and her daughter, Astrid, trying to connect with each other despite their estranged relationship with each other. Speaking of, Astrid ends up meeting a teenage boy named Jeremy, who kinda reveals to her that he's already dead, along with his parents. Which still doesn't entirely make sense, seeing as how their house is still up and it still hasn't been torn down in the 23 years since their death. Also, going back to Betelgeuse's ex-wife for a moment, as I mentioned with her earlier, she can suck the souls out of people via the Shang Tsung method, and those people wind up being dead. Which makes no sense because, since the people who are in Betelgeuse's world are already dead, that means she's just making them more...dead. Again, it really doesn't make much sense, but I still consider that a minor problem, not counting Delores herself. There's also one involving Lydia's aunt, who goes into Betelgeuse's world for reasons involving her dead husband. I really don't remember a single thing about it other than it exists.

So, we have a *lot* going on here. All of this combines with the fact that it's just over an hour and a half long. And with how much they decided to cram in here, I feel like this movie could've worked a little better had they cut out one of the subplots. Specifically, I would've cut out the whole subplot involving Lydia's aunt, because, like I just said, I don't remember a single thing about it. I feel as if the writers did too much in order to get it passed an hour and a half long. And had they gotten more away with it, it could've gotten up to, or even surpassed 2 hours. Which, I'm thankful that's not the case because, most of the time, less is indeed more. And adding so much in here as it is kinda ruins the flow of the story already. Mind you, it doesn't really kill the movie as a whole, it's just that there are certain things here that could've been cut out entirely, and the movie would've flowed better, pacing wise. So yeah, I guess I can add pacing as a little bit of an issue here.

But despite all the problems I have here, the writing is still rather decent for what they did work with here. Our characters here are, for the most part, really likable. Lydia sorta drops the goth motif, even though she is still wearing black. Her daughter, Astrid, is also rather likable as well. Granted, at the beginning, she comes off as rather insufferable, what with her no nonsense attitude and always believe in facts and science over the paranormal. And in a way, it kinda makes sense, because part of it has to do with her father, who Lydia ended up getting married to, and he got killed off at some point. And he had some attachment to that kind of stuff, too. However, with his death, this ended up being an estranged relationship between Astrid and Lydia. I won't go too much further on it, but I will say that Astrid does end up mellowing out later on, so I won't give her too much shit. And as for Betelgeuse, well, he more or less appears as much as he did in the first movie, and he is still pretty funny here. I wouldn't say it's as funny as it was in the first film, but there's still plenty here to where you could get a laugh out of.

So overall, the writing here is still pretty decent, despite it being a bit over-crammed with a lot of subplots. Now as for the acting, I first have to talk about Michael Keaton as Betelgeuse. I'm first gonna say that, acting wise, the man has still got it. Despite him being in his 70's, the man can still move and act like he did back in 1988. However, his vocal work does come off as a little bit rough. I say this, because if you're someone who has seen this movie before, you can tell that his voice has definitely aged a bit. And I can see that, despite his attempts to cover it up, it is still pretty noticeable. That being said, I still think he does a great job here, despite the roughness in his voice. Winona Ryder as Lydia and Catherine O'Hara as her aunt are still at the top of their game, despite a 36 year gap. The acting from them is very solid. The rest of the acting goes the same way, too. Especially Willem Dafoe, who is the only non-returning cast member who is definitely having a lot of fun in his role as the police chief. Well, technically, in this movie, he was an actor turned into police chief, but that's not really all that important in the overall story. So yeah, despite a couple of minor nitpicks, the acting here is very solid from both our returning casts and our newcomers.

Special effects in this movie are mostly really solid. Mind you, this movie was made in 2024, so obviously, they had to work in some CG here. And I will say that some of it does look obvious, such as when you first see Delores putting her body together with a staple gun. Other instances is when you see some CG fire that looks kinda like shit, or the sandworm looking more CG than stopmotion. At least, to me, it did. I could be somehow wrong there, but it did look like CG to me. But other than that, guys, the practical effects are still as creative as ever. Everything you see in Betelgeuse's world looks very creative and I can see that the effects team didn't lose their edge here when it came to using practical effects. The costuming and makeup effects, mostly on Betelgeuse, still looks awesome as he did back in 1988. Puppetwork is still pretty good, our sets here are really good, too. So yeah, guys, without sounding more like a dead horse, the special effects in this movie are awesome.

Camerawork here is really good. Lighting here is mostly good, with one exception that I kinda found to be a little bit annoying. See, sometimes when you're inside Betelgeuse's world, two colors of lighting will stand out to you. Those colors are blue and yellow. And I don't know why the filmmakers chose these two colors in particular. Because, you see, this particular lighting appears quite a bit in this movie and it does stand out a little bit here. Not enough to ruin the movie, but, to me, it kinda got a little annoying to see after a while. But otherwise, guys, the lighting here is still really good. Sound-mixing here is also good. The music, once again, was composed by Danny Elfman. And much like before, the music here is really good. Not quite as good as it was in the previous movie, and some tracks here, while still good, aren't as catchy as they were in the previous movie. But other than that, Elfman hasn't lost his touch here. So I can definitely say the music is still a positive.

And on that note, guys, when it comes down to it, can I recommend "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice"? For the most part, yes. If you're someone who really enjoyed watching the first "Beetlejuice" movie, and you're really curious to see how the sequel can stand on it's own standards, then by all means, go check it out. Whether you find it on a streaming service, or you find it through this 2-pack that I have on DVD, go check it out somewhere. I would say it's definitely worth checking out. However, if you somehow are expecting this film to be better than the first movie, you'll most likely end up being disappointed. Because, like I said way early on, this movie is nowhere near as good as the first "Beetlejuice" film. Mind you, it's still pretty good, it's just nowhere near as good as the first one was. Still though, I would say, for me anyway, that this film turned out to be a bit surprising for me. I thought it was going to flat out suck, but thankfully, I was actually proven wrong here. It still has it's problems, but for what it's worth, I'm happy that was I able to check it out for myself. And I can definitely say that this 2-pack that I bought for both movies is definitely worth the $5. So now, I'm gonna go and watch something else. And you know what? I may have mentioned this in my review of the first movie, but I really enjoyed the first two Batman movies from Tim Burton. Which, to me, are my favorite Burton movies. I'm gonna go and and watch the 1989 "Batman" movie right now, and if I'm really in the mood for it, I may end up watching "Batman Returns" later on. So yeah, I'm gonna go and do that next as soon as I get done writing this review up.

Anyway, guys, with that, we come to the close of another Reaction & Review. Until next time, ladies and gentlemen, take care, and I will see you all later. Peace.

Reaction & Review | Day of the Warrior

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to an all new Reaction & Review. Tonight, guys, I'm taking a look at the 11th entry in the "Triple B" series, which came out in 1996. That movie is "Day of the Warrior".

Now this movie, I do know, has Andy Sidaris back writing and directing this movie after his son fumbled with the previous film in this series, which was "The Dallas Connection". And if you hadn't read my review of that movie yet, to give you a short summary, the movie really kinda sucked. It had all of the ingredients in a regular Andy Sidaris flick, but it lacked a lot of the charm and interest that Andy Sidaris usually puts in his movies.

So with Andy Sidaris back in the director's chair for this one, I'm hoping that he'll be able to rebound after his son's disappointing showing. Granted, I probably shouldn't be too harsh on his son, but honestly, after watching "The Dallas Connection", I'm already happy that Andy Sidaris took over for the next two films. And like I said, I'm hoping for this one to at least be entertaining enough for me to consider worth watching. Mind you, I haven't really heard good things about this movie, but as I said back in my review of "The Dallas Connection", none of these movies are actually "good", they're just cheesy action films that feature what you would expect from Andy Sidaris. And I really only care if they're entertaining. So long as this one is entertaining in a so bad it's good kind of way, then I'm not asking for much else here.

So anyway, I'm hoping this one will be really entertaining in it's own way. But the only way I'm gonna find out if it is entertaining at all is if I shut up and I push play, and I'm gonna do that right now. So, without further ado, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out "Day of the Warrior".

9 minutes later

Well, guys, so far, I can't really say much about the story itself yet, but I will say that gun that our main character was using looks awesome. I really want that gun.

6 minutes later

So, I'm going to assume that this is suppose to be the head honcho of our villains this time, Warrior. And the guy who's playing him is Buff Bagwell. Yes, guys, former WCW wrestler Buff Bagwell is playing the main villain of this movie. That's actually really cool! I'm hoping that I get to see more of him in this movie.

10 minutes later

You guys can't hear this for obvious reasons, but this rock song here is actually sorta catchy. Well, at least, I'm enjoying this song anyway. So, I can at least say the music here is a positive, so far at least.

5 minutes later

So the Elvis Impersonator on stage is, not only one of the side villains from "The Dallas Connection", but his stage name is called "Elvis Fu". Oh god...that name is really fucking stupid. Granted, it's sorta funny, but why the hell did he choose that name of all things?! Just...why?

3 minutes later

So, I've gotten a little bit more backstory for Warrior here. And I'll say this on the record, he's probably one of the most developed villains in the entire "Triple B" series. I want you to process that for a moment. Our villain, Buff Bagwell, who's also a professional wrestler in this movie, has the most development in an Andy Sidaris film, which is mainly about women showing their boobs and overly ridiculous action scenes. I'm...just speechless, guys, just...wow.

15 minutes later

Well, guys, I think somebody might've taken some inspiration from Rambo by shooting a crossbow-looking gun and having the arrow explode afterwards. But what's interesting about the gun is, well, as I just stated, it looks like a pistol with the smaller length-size of a crossbow. Why the fuck anyone would make a gun like that makes zero sense, but I'm gonna say that at least it looks stupid, in a really funny way. Just thought I'd share that with you guys.

11 minutes later

So, guys, I just saw posters featuring films from previous Andy Sidaris flicks like "Do or Die" and "Savage Beach". There was one other, but I couldn't quite make out which one that was. Still though, it was a nice cameo to see there.

The Review

Well, guys, that was "Day of the Warrior". Let me go ahead and shut the movie off here...OK. Before I delve right into this movie, I'm first gonna get this question out of the way. How does this film compare to the other films in the "Triple B" series? Well, it still isn't good, but I will say, when compared to something like "Hard Hunted" and "The Dallas Connection", it's certainly a huge step above those movies. And as for it's own standards, well, I would say that it's just OK. I can't really rank any of these because I don't really do "tier" lists that people take incredibly seriously, but if I were forced to do that with this one, it would be somewhere hanging out in the middle. But still, it's a very entertaining film that I still enjoyed, even if it did go slightly overboard at times.

Let's start with the writing. Now, in case you hadn't read my review for "The Dallas Connection", I talked about the different styles between how Andy Sidaris writes for his movies, and how his son, Drew Sidaris, writes for his movies. With Drew's movies, it seemed like he just took ingredients from his father's previous works and just stitched it together into some mishmash of a half-assed plot, along with things that were done in previous Andy Sidaris films, only he didn't do it in an interesting way. And without go too much into detail, because I've already written a review for it that you can read for yourself, it just made Drew's movies look a lot weaker, when compared to his father's work. Now that's not to say that Andy himself had his fare share of weak movies, but in terms of what I watched from Drew's two movies, I can hardly see myself ever watching his movies again. Maybe I could give "Enemy Gold" another watch, because that was at least partially decent, but "The Dallas Connection" is where I had to put my foot down and say that it completely sucked so much that I genuinely believe it to be the worst movie out of the entire "Triple B" series.

Now with this movie, it's very similar to what Andy Sidaris did with "Fit To Kill" after he kinda fumbled with "Hard Hunted". Basically, this movie is what I would call a "back to basics" sort of film. Where he took what worked in his previous movies, and used his magic to make this film stand out in his own charming way. This movie has everything you could ask for from him. Women showing off their big boobs, over-the-top action scenes, and a lot of T&A. And while, admittedly, this movie doesn't do it as cool as the previous entries did, there is still a couple of moments where the action scenes do shine. Such as near the very end where one of our heroines uses a walking cane to blow up and kill one of the bad guys in an over-the-top fashion. It's out of nowhere and very hilarious, which is another thing I can grant this movie is that the humor is definitely really funny at times. Granted, not every joke here is going to land, but what is here for humor still works in it's own way.

Now as for the plot, well, the only things that I could pick up from it is that a former CIA Agent, AKA Warrior/Buff Bagwell, turns heel and steals a computer database, which has information on all of our agents, who are now in danger of being killed. And it's also here where I can say that Buff Bagwell's character is the most developed out of every character in this series. Because, aside from his status as CIA Agent, he's also a pro wrestler and is also part Native American on his mother's side, which is why you see him dressed up with an Indian's big feather wig as part of his wrestling attire. Honestly, the first time I saw Buff Bagwell wearing that outfit, part of me pictured Tatanka, an actual Native American wrestler from the WWF days, in that role. Now granted, I don't know if they could've made that work or not. But still, what is here for Buff Bagwell's character still works. However, I'll get into all that later when I covering acting.

Speaking of characters, that actually is one of the big problems with this movie. And it's not just that a lot of the characters are bland, but moreover, there are just too many characters in this movie to follow. To give you guys an example, in the beginning of the movie, we follow blonde-haired male agent by the name of Doc Austin infiltrating an enemy unit's camp that's working for Warrior. One of the villains of the movie is named Manuel, who is also the same actor who played the previous two villains in "Enemy Gold" and "The Dallas Connection". I'm going to assume that they couldn't hire anybody else to star in these movies due to budget concerns or contractual obligations. I don't know which is the correct answer, but regardless, we have him and some blonde girl I've never seen before.

Next, we have Cobra, who was also the same blonde-haired lady from "The Dallas Connection". And she's in a lot of scenes that probably could've been trimmed down, because some of them are just tracking shots of where she's going next. She's also one of the agents that's being hunted down. Then you have another male agent by the name of Tyler, who also has another girl with her who's name that I don't remember. Then you have Julie Strain back in this movie, only this time, she's playing one of the protagonists by the name of "Willow Black". Yeah, seriously, she went from "Black Widow" in "The Dallas Connection" to "Willow Black" in "Day of the Warrior". Very creative naming, I know. But anyway, she's in this movie. And also, the Asian dude who got killed in "The Dallas Connection" is in this movie too, and he also has a gig where he becomes an Elvis Impersonator performing in Vegas. And while his stage name "Elvis Fu" is incredibly stupid, he honestly is one of the only other characters in this movie that I can remember who stood out to me.

But you see where I'm going at here, right? There are just too many characters in this movie to follow, and there's probably a couple of more that I forgot about because there really is a lot to follow and keep track of here. And what sorta hampers this is the pacing of the movie. The film's only about 96 minutes long, and while I don't think the pacing here is as terrible as it was in "The Dallas Connection", I admit that it does go on for about 10 minutes too long. Like I mentioned earlier involving the scenes with Cobra, I do believe that they could've trimmed a couple of scenes involving the tracking shots and it could've flowed a little better.

So anyway, the writing here, plotwise, is really nothing you're gonna care about. The only thing most fans care about is what you would come to expect from an Andy Sidaris film. And all of that is, thankfully, here. Especially after the disappointing run of films that came from Drew Sidaris, this is a nice welcome back to basics for Andy Sidaris. And as for the acting, well, much like with a lot of these movies, the acting here is mostly terrible. Most of the acting here sounds stilted and wooden. And even though you have returning actors like Julie Strain, Julie K. Cobra, and Rodrigo Obregon in this movie, most of them still put on wooden performances like they did in the previous movies. The only two standouts I can give is the Asian guy playing "Elvis Fu" and Buff Bagwell, the latter who is just hamming it up whenever he's in the ring. And I don't just mean when he was performing on WCW, I mean his actual role in the movie. Mind you, he's not as bad as he could be here, but it's still laughably bad, which still makes it stand out in a positive way. But overall, guys, the acting here is pretty much the standard terribleness you come to expect from an Andy Sidaris movie.

Special effects are also the same kind of thing from just about every film in this "Triple B series". Pyrotechnics, squibwork for guns, and what little blood effects are just there, really. Costuming here is pretty good, although I'm mainly just saying that for Buff Bagwell's wrestling attire. Then again, as a pro wrestling fan, I take more attention to those whenever I see a wrestler's costume or attire that stands out to me. But anyway, costuming here is pretty good, at least when it comes to Buff Bagwell.

Camerawork here is good. Lighting here is great. Sound-mixing is also good. Music here is definitely a positive, as there is quite a bit of music in this movie, and the songs here are actually sorta catchy. The one song, though, that kinda got to me in slight annoyance is this one piano track that I swear they loop a *lot* here. I can't quite count how many times I've heard it, but it did start to sound a little grating after a while. But other than that, the score and soundtrack here is mostly really good.

Ultimately, guys, when all is said and done, am I able to recommend "Day of the Warrior". Yes, I actually can. Provided, of course, you're into these movies to begin with. And also, if you're someone like me who was disappointed by Drew Sidaris's last couple of films and you want to see a return to form from Andy Sidaris, then yeah, this movie is definitely going to provide that for you. And I'm happy to say that, again, I really did enjoy this movie. Not quite as much as the previous films that he did, but it is still entertaining in it's own right. So yeah, guys, I can recommend "Day of the Warrior" to you all. Which now only leaves one more movie to go in this series. And, my god, I can't believe we're about to reach that cornerstone. But that's not gonna be until next week. I actually have a couple of more movies to go first, one in which includes my "Christmas In July Special". I won't spoil what it is, but if you're curious about it, then stay tuned, because that'll be coming up very soon. Until then, though, I'm gonna go and watch something else. Well, I've been watching a lot action films lately, so I think I need to switch it up a bit and watch something different. I think I'm gonna go and watch something like "The Cat Returns". Why not? It's sorta random, but I haven't seen a Studio Ghibli film in quite a while, and "The Cat Returns" is certainly one of my top favorites from them. So I'll go and do that next as soon as this review gets put up.

And with that, guys, we come to the close of another Reaction & Review. Until next time, ladies and gentlemen, take care, and I will see you all later. Peace.

Reaction & Review | The Secret Agent Club

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to an all new Reaction & Review. Tonight, guys, we're continuing a tradition that I have been doing for the last several years for this series, which is me covering a movie starring Hulk Hogan in July. And it's kinda fitting, since this is around the same that he unfortunately passed away just last year. So, I think it's more imperative that I keep going with this tradition. And as for tonight's movie, well, it's a comedy that came out in 1996. That movie is "The Secret Agent Club".

Now, I'd love to tell you guys anything that I know about this movie, but sadly, I really don't know anything about it. All I know is that it stars Hulk Hogan in another comedy. In fact, those are really the only genre of films that he's, at least, competent at: Comedies and action films. Mind you, I wouldn't say that the ones that I've seen are exactly "good", but I did really enjoy "Suburban Commando", which was rather decent, as goofy as it was. And while a lot of his films, so far, have been rather hit or miss for me, I'm still enjoying the opportunity to give these movies a chance.

Beyond that, I really know nothing about the plot to this thing. I'm gonna assume that it's suppose to be a family comedy, which can really go either way here. I'm hoping that this one is at least decent. I'm not expecting it to be good, but it could still be on the decent side of thing, or perhaps even reach the cheesiness factor of "Suburban Commando". I don't really know. The only way I'm gonna know if this thing is even watchable at all is if I shut up and I push play, and I'm gonna do that right now. So, without further ado, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out "The Secret Agent Club".

2 minutes later

OK, guys, the film's just started and I already have a bit of a complaint. You guys can't hear this for obvious reasons, but for some reason, the music keeps getting cut off at random times. Now I don't know if that's just the version that I'm watching off YouTube right now, or if that was also an issue on the home video releases as well. Either way, it's a little bit distracting at the moment. I'm hoping that's not gonna be an issue later on, but we'll just have to wait and see.

6 minutes later

Wait, so Hogan just grabbed the laser gun that was being protected by security lasers. And even though his own arm was clearly being touched by the security lasers, nothing actually happened and he's already escaping. Unless those lasers give out silent alarms, then the people who were protecting this gun have incredibly shit security systems. Either way, I'm actually kinda shocked he's getting away with it that easily.

17 minutes later

OK, I didn't think using an inflatable blow-up would actually help you in getting down from a building like that. That was actually kind of impressive.

6 minutes later

So this Japanese kid walks into the toy store, and upon discovering the other kids there, he also discovers his father buried underneath the shelf of toys and assumes that he's already dead. How do you know he's actually dead, though? For all we know, he could be totally unconscious. I just think this kid is jumping to conclusions already. Just saying.

6 minutes later

Hold up! So Chase's car was impounded at the police impound lot. Yet, when Jeremy and his friends are trapped in his car, Jeremy notices the keys are still in the ignition! And yeah, he uses it to start up the car so that they can get away from Wrecks. Why the fuck would anyone leave the keys inside the ignition at an impound lot makes no fucking sense whatsoever!

14 minutes later

Wait, so Rosalie is comparing Jeremy's Dad's secret identity to Clark Kent and Lois Lane, in which he never revealed his secret identity to her because the bad guys would use her as bait to get to him. Except, he actually *did* reveal his identity to her in, I believe, "Superman II". And mind you, that movie came out in 1980. This movie came out 16 years after that. Now either this girl never saw "Superman II", or the writers of this movie seemed to think that Clark Kent would never reveal his identity to anyone he cared about, including Lois Lane. Granted, I understand it's a very trivial and stupid thing to be bitching about, but my inner nerd just needed to comment on that very stupid comparison of hers.

18 minutes later

OK, I've been meaning to ask this for a while now, and seeing as how there's only about 17 minutes left to go in this movie, I may as well ask it now. Is there a reason why Wrecks has a mechanical leg? I know it probably has nothing to do with the movie itself, but I feel like that's something they could still explain, assuming they actually do explain that within the short amount of time left on this movie. I don't think they will, but I still would like to know something about it is all.

The Review

Well, guys, that was "The Secret Agent Club". Let me go ahead and shut the movie off here...OK. Well, I'm gonna say this much. As stupid and as corny as this film is, I actually kinda enjoyed it. Mind you, since I watched it off YouTube, I'm kinda thankful that I don't own a physical copy of it. Because, even though I did sorta enjoy watching this film, I would not keep it for my DVD collection. I just don't think it would be worth holding onto, unless I bought it for really cheap. And even then, I don't think it would even be worth that much.

So anyway, let's just go ahead and start this review off proper here by first discussing the writing. The writing here is really kinda stupid. Now, to be fair, a lot of Hulk Hogan's movies are incredibly stupid and nonsensical. This one is really no exception either, however, I feel this one kinda cranks up it's stupidity by a wee bit. Most of that involves these kids, whom we mostly follow throughout the entire movie. And even though this film does star Hulk Hogan, he really doesn't have a whole lot of screen time here, nor does he have many lines to work with. Which is both a good and bad thing, however, I'll get into all that later when I cover acting. But yeah, we mostly follow these kids, including Chase's son, Jeremy, who all get together to try and find his Dad, after he was apprehended by the bad guys. Bad guys, who I should mention are all incompetent as shit.

In fact, let's actually start with the biggest problem this movie has, when it comes to it's villains. Like I just said, they're all incompetent and stupid as shit. Wrecks is the muscle-head of the group. And on multiple occasions, he's outwitted by the kids on almost every turn. And also, I asked a little earlier if they were ever going to explain why he has a mechanical leg, and they clearly don't. I figured they wouldn't, seeing as how the movie was close to ending at that point, but I figured they would try to work in some kind of plot point as to why he has that leg to begin with. They don't, and the only thing you do learn about his leg is that it makes some annoying noise whenever he walks on it. So yeah, the mystery as to why he has that leg boils down to fuck you, that is why.

And as for our main villain, Eve, she is quite possibly one of the most retarded villains I have ever come across in a family film in a long time. And there's one scene that proved, to me, why she's fucking retarded. Right towards the end of the film, she holds Jeremy hostage and demands that Chase give her the laser gun in exchange for his son. Well, right before he does this, he secretly activates a self-destruct button on the gun, which by itself is completely fucking stupid, but I'll leave that aside for now. Anyway, they make the exchange and she tries to fire the laser gun, only for it to not work and she doesn't know why. She then later finds out that the gun is about to explode, and she doesn't know how to turn it off. Even though she's the one who presented the damn gun at the beginning of the movie to a bunch of people during a demonstration! How the fuck she didn't know all about the gun's features makes her, and also her entire entourage of villains, completely fucking retarded on a level that I haven't seen in a good long while! Christ almighty...

So anyway, setting aside the most incompetent villains in history, what about our main cast? Well, as I already mentioned earlier, Hogan is barely in it for a good chunk of the movie. If I had to make a summarized guess, I believe he's only in it for about half an hour tops, where he's mostly just held hostage by our villains. And as for our kids, well, they're not really all that memorable. You have Jeremy, who seems to have something of a neglectful relationship with his father after the mother died. The movies really does nothing with it beyond that. Then you have Rosalie, who's basically the girl that Jeremy likes. You have Bart, who's basically the fat kid. Sly, the black kid who's also a hacker. Then there's Shigeo, who seems to be something of a racist casting choice, because the movie clearly wants to let you know that he's Japanese and that he speaks Japanese, and he's also good at karate. Yeah, clearly, he's not a racist caricature at all. And normally, I don't really care about this kind of thing, unlike most people who deem things in older films as "problematic". However, since this movie is very blatant about this character, it's clear that they weren't trying to hide it at all.

So anyway, setting aside all that, the characters in this movie are, like I said, not all that memorable. Now to be fair to this movie's cast, and setting aside the obvious racist casting choice, they actually do a decent job on making these characters likable. They're not overly annoying, unlike a lot of kid characters I've seen in other family films of the past. Which I know may not sound like much, but I can at least say that it's a slight step above something like "Mr. Nanny", another Hulk Hogan movie where the two leading kids in that film were annoying as shit. Granted, you could say on how they get inside the villain's base by using toy guns and other kids toys to infiltrate the base is incredibly stupid. But part of me is tempted to let that kind of thing slide, since this film is also catered towards children as well. Mind you, there's quite a bit of product placement in this movie involving the Nerf guns. I'm going to assume someone made a deal with Nerf to advertise their products for this movie and, well, at least Nerf got some free money out of it. So, I guess that's something for them.

Anyway, setting aside the product placement, the writing here as a whole is just about as stupid as you could possibly imagine when it comes to a family film like this. Mind you, I still think there is a little bit of charm to this movie in which I could overlook some of the obvious stupidity. Well, except for the villains, for obvious reasons that I've already talked about. But with that said, let's talk about the acting next. And as for our main child characters, they do a a pretty decent job for the material that they had to work with. The only slight exception to all this is Jeremy's actor, because I clearly believe that, at times, his acting sounds very flaky. And in some cases, he always has this weird smile to his face in a lot of his scenes, especially when he's trying to act down or kinda sad. But it's not all that good. And also, there's a couple of scenes where Hogan's being strapped down and he has some kind of device over his eyes, and the video is playing a looped clip of his son demanding him to confess where the laser gun is. These scenes are incredibly annoying, and his acting, minus being looped on repeat, sounds a little bit forced. Mind you, he's not the worst case of child acting that I've seen, but it's still something that I wanted to mention.

Now as for Hulk Hogan, well, it's kind of mixed bag. Seeing as how he doesn't have very many lines in this movie, I'm going to assume that was possibly done intentionally. Allow me to explain. You see, I've mentioned in the past that Hogan's acting in his movies has always sounded wooden. And this movie is no exception, because his acting is very clearly wooden here. And I believe that, given Hogan's limited acting skills, the filmmakers wanted to take advantage of it by not having him doing very much while the kids take over the lead here. Now one hand, I can see the intention behind it, because Hogan doesn't have much of a range in his acting skills and they didn't want hamper him with too many lines that might make him sound terrible. On the other hand, he *is* still the star of the movie, and I feel like they could've given him more screen time to work with, if they wanted to give him something to do, but also not act out a whole lot of dialogue at the same time. Mind you, my assumption on all this is only a theory. So, you have to take what I said for what it's worth. Regardless, his acting is still wooden here, and I don't see that changing for any of his other movies that I might end up covering. I could be wrong there, but I strongly doubt it.

Anyway, special effects range on having incredibly average-looking CG, especially for a mid-90's movie. Granted, a lot of that is limited to the laser gun in the beginning of the movie, and it's really nothing special at all. There's also a lot of pyrotechnics in this movie as well. Granted, it's not as much as, say, what Michael Bay would put in his movies, or as over the top like Andy Sidaris's "Triple B" series, which I'm still covering at the time that I'm writing this review. But still, they do exist in this movie, and it's just kinda average, really. So, overall, the special effects are nothing to write home about.

Camerawork in this movie is mostly good, save for one panning shot in which Wrecks is getting out of his car. And on the reflection of the car door, you can actually see some of the film crew either crouching or standing clearly in the shot, including one noticeable guy whom was wearing a white T-shirt. How the hell that actually got past editors is beyond me, since that's an obvious case of amateurish camerawork. But aside from that, the camerawork here is still fine. Lighting here is really good. The sound-mixing here is decent. The music here really isn't all that memorable. Including a little bit of rap that played during the ending credits, and it sounded really fucking terrible. So, the music here is mostly below average. I would've said it was fine, though what little I heard from that rap song sounded deducted it from being just okay to really kinda shit.

Now with all that said, when it comes down to it, am I able to recommend "The Secret Agent Club"? Well, if you have kids, then yes. I would say this is perfectly fine for children, because kids aren't gonna notice the obvious flaws this movie has. If you, yourself, are curious to know how Hogan would fare in this movie, well...I guess I could say give it a shot. However, keep it mind that he's not in the movie all that much. Unless you're okay with kids being the main lead over the Hulkster, then you can probably just skip this, since there's not much here to work with, at least as far as I can when talking about a movie starring Hluk Hogan. Still though, I do think that it's worth at least a single viewing. I don't know if I would recommend a full physical purchase, unless if you can find it dirt cheap somewhere. And I mean like *really* cheap, something close to a dollar. If not, then you can probably just skip this movie entirely. I myself did enjoy it, but I wouldn't say it's worth getting for my DVD collection. Speaking of which, I still have "Suburban Commando" sitting there to where I can see it. So, I'm gonna go and watch that next, because it's been a good long while since I last watched it, and it would be a nice film to see to honor the late Hulk Hogan anyways.

And with that, guys, we come to the close of another Reaction & Review. Until next time, ladies and gentlemen, take care, and I will see you all later. Peace.

Reaction and Review | The Dallas Connection

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to an all new Reaction & Review. Tonight, guys, we continue the "Triple B" series by taking a look at it's 10th entry, which came out in 1994. That movie is "The Dallas Connection".

Now as I established back in my review of "Enemy Gold", this is the second of two films in which Andy Sidaris's son, Christian Drew Sidaris, wrote and directed in this series. And in case you didn't read my review of "Enemy Gold", I thought the film was just OK. It certainly wasn't the best film I've seen in the "Triple B", but it's also not the worst either. It just kinda stands in being a little bit average.

But now I get to see if Drew Sidaris did anything to improve on this, and see whether or not it can retain the Sidaris charm that almost all of these movies have. I don't know anything about the plot, but then again, "plot" is the last thing that most people will care about when it comes to this series. Still, I'm curious to see what this movie can do here. The only way I'm gonna find out if this movie is interesting at all is if I shut up and I push play, and I'm gonna do that right now. So, without further ado, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out "The Dallas Connection".

5 minutes later

Oh my god, that has got to be one of the fakest-looking mustaches I've ever seen committed to film! I hope that it's just part of a shitty disguise, otherwise, I really have to ask why the fuck is this guy in a suit supporting an incredibly fake mustache? That looks incredibly cheap, even for low budget standards. Just...god, that looks awful.

1 minute later

OK, never mind, it was indeed part of a shitty disguise. Granted, it still looked terrible, but at least the movie was kind enough to address that.

9 minutes later

OK, I do have a question here. Is it normal for women to play golf while wearing a silver-looking tank top? I mean, OK sure, she's a wearing red skirt and white tennis shoes. I mean, that's perfectly normal. But I don't know how common it is for them to be wearing a tank top while golfing. Mind you, I'm not exactly complaining about it, it's just something I wanted to ask is all.

5 minutes later

Well, this is a first, guys. This is the first in this series where I see a golf ball exploding. Granted, that kill wasn't exactly great, but at least the method behind it was sorta creative.

17 minutes later

Well, guys, I can say, so far, that this movie has been a little bit dull for the past while now, but at least we're now finally getting another piece of T&A. You know, one of the actual selling points of these movies to begin with. It's just that I really wish this movie wouldn't drag so much, because the pacing is becoming a little bit of an issue right now. I'm hoping that we get more interesting stuff going on as the film progresses. So far, though, this movie hasn't given me much to work with at the moment.

15 minutes later

All right, guys, this is the second time that this happened in this series, but we now have a fantasy dream sequence where Antonio is fantasizing about Samantha stripping while they're having dinner at a fancy restaurant. Now that, by itself, is weird enough. But do you want to what makes this scene even weirder? The actor who's playing Antonio is the same guy who played the main villain, Santiago, from the previous film "Enemy Gold". That just makes this scene *incredibly* more weirder! Just thought I'd mention that.

9 minutes later

Again, guys, this is the second time that this has happened in this movie, but we're now being treated to another softcore bondage striptease from Black Widow here. I would say that this is full on BDSM, but until I start seeing ball gags and such, I'm going to withhold my status on that. At least, for the moment.

The Review

Well, guys, that was "The Dallas Connection". Let me go ahead and shut the movie off now...OK. God, that song kinda sucked. Well, um...where do I begin here? I'll say this much, guys, I'm not surprised that Andy Sidaris took over after this, because this movie kinda proved to me that Drew Sidaris doesn't know how to write an interesting story. I know that may not sound like much, but I'll talk more about why this film doesn't exactly work here.

Which, on that note, let's start with the writing here. More specifically, I actually want to talk about pacing, because the pacing in this movie is just horrible. There are scenes in this movie that extend themselves way too fucking long, such as the assassinations that go on in the beginning of the movie. That whole sequence took 20 minutes to get through before we actually start off with our "plot". Or lack thereof, but I'll get to that in a second. Another example of this movie's pacing issues has to do with our two male heroes, Chris and Mark, who get seduced by two other girls named Cobra and Scorpion, who are there to steal these microchips for a satellite, which is also, in part, why this movie's called "The Dallas Connection". And these scenes in particular take *forever* to get through. And mind you, the movie's only a little over a half an hour long, but it almost feels like it was extended to a two hour movie. Which is partly the reason why this film feels so dull and boring.

Speaking of, that leads me into the actual writing for this movie. Well, "actual writing" is a bit of a stretch here because there is no fucking writing. The story feels like it was lifted from an older film by Drew's father and he just kinda reworked it in a way that it doesn't feel interesting to watch. In fact, there are scenes in this movie where they just rehashed ideas from previous movies in the "Triple B" series. Such as when Cobra, the blond haired girl, uses a remote controlled toy as a bomb to blow up her targets. Or when I mentioned Antonio having a fantasy dream about Samantha stripping over dinner. Well, the idea of a villain fantasizing about a girl was also lifted from a previous film by Andy Sidaris. And if I'm not mistaken, both of these ideas were lifted from "Fit To Kill", which was the 8th film in this series. Now I understand that when you're doing a long-running series that you begin to run the risk of running out of ideas, but I was still at least expecting something interesting here, despite the blatant rehashing of ideas. And unfortunately, that's the not the case here.

In fact, I'm gonna tell you guys the difference on how Andy Sidaris handled his movies, and how Drew handled his. You see, for all of the varying qualities that Andy's films had, all of his films, barring "Hard Hunted", had a unique charm to it that made you want to keep watching them. And the plots he had, while, again, varied in different qualities, he was still able to at least write something that was kinda sorta interesting. The only exception was "Hard Hunted", because it felt like Andy just phoned it in with that one. But the thing is, Andy was able to at least rebound with "Fit To Kill", because it was actually kinda interesting. Not exactly "good", mind you, but then again, none of these movies are actually "good", they're just cheesy, action movies with a lot of bad acting, sexy women, and over-the-top action scenes. And with "Fit To Kill", it was a return to basics with what made Andy Sidaris's films so interesting in the first place.

Now, with Drew Sidaris's movies, it's the complete opposite. With "Enemy Gold", he had an interesting idea for a plot, but never really did much with it. In this movie, he didn't have an interesting idea to start with and it just results in a boring plotless action movie. And I know I've stated at the start of this that nobody watches these particular action movies for plot, but as I said earlier, you still want to make your stories somewhat interesting, which is what Andy Sidaris did for almost all of his movies. But with his son, he didn't do that here. There's almost interesting that happens, storywise. And as for the Sidaris charm that I've brought up before, well...the ingredients are there what with your standard T&A, along with over-the-top action scenes. The problem here is that it's just not utilized very well. And on top of that, the tone for this movie feels very off. Because with the previous films, most of those were comedies, while this one, to an extent, tries to take itself seriously. Sure, there's cheesy dialogue here and there, but most of that is sporadic, and you don't get most of that until the final climax of the movie. Which, even then, is also not very interesting, because they don't really do very much here.

And as for characters, well Chris and Mark, who were in Drew's previous film "Enemy Gold" do make a return here. What happened to Becky Midnite is anyone's guess because she doesn't make a return here. Instead, we have a new blond bombshell agent by the name of Samantha. And, much like with Becky and our two male agents, they're all completely bland as hell. Now again, I'm not expecting character depth from an action movie of this caliber, but I was still at least expecting something out of our characters. Instead, they're all just there, really. Same with our villains, although two of them are also very similar because they're played by the very same actors who played villains in "Enemy Gold". One of them is Black Widow, who is played by Julie Strain, and Rodrigo Obregon, who also plays the film's villain. Although they tried to make it as a twist, though, really, it's a half-assed twist which doesn't make very much sense. But then again, the lack of story here really doesn't do this twist any justice.

So yeah, guys, the "writing" here is completely plotless and what little is here feels like a lifted idea from one Andy Sidaris's films. And while the ingredients for an Andy Sidaris flick are here, it's just not utilized very well at all. It just feels like, similar to what I mentioned about "Hard Hunted", Drew Sidaris just phoned it in and didn't even try at all to make this film interesting. And on top of all that, the acting here is also completely terrible. OK yes, I know that's pretty much a standard when it comes to a Sidaris film, and, if there's any real credit I can give this movie, is that at least the acting here is on par with what I saw in the previous films. Which, for any other movies series, I would completely blast this movie to high heaven with it's horrible acting. But, at the very least, it's still kinda on par with it being so bad, it's funny. So, I can at least grant this movie that much, for better or worse.

Special effects are also another thing that are a standard when it comes to these movies. Squib-work, pyrotechnics, etc. It's still there, though admittedly, it's also very sporadic. Because you know how I mentioned the golf ball explosion from way early on? Well, the next explosion doesn't kick in until well over an hour later, during the film's climax. Which I normally wouldn't cover this sort of thing, however, with how boring this movie is, I couldn't help but notice that much. The only thing I can mention about costuming is Black Widow's outfit, because it basically just looks like she's wearing a dominatrix outfit. Which probably is that, though it does come sorta close to it being a BDSM costume. I don't know if that's the exact same thing, but whatever. It's just the only noticeable costume I saw while watching the movie.

Anyway, camerawork here is decent. Lighting here is fine. The sound-mixing here is also decent. The music here ranges on a lot of saxophone, guitar, and they even had a couple of songs here. Granted, I've never heard of these songs before, and both really kinda suck, but at least it's something that I haven't seen in a Sidaris project in a while. So, I guess that's something.

But overall, guys, when all is said and done, am I able to recommend "The Dallas Connection"? Honestly...no. Because, like I said earlier, it felt like a phoned in performance by Drew Sidaris, and I'm, once again, not surprised that he didn't get any other directorial work after this because this movie is just so damn boring and lazy. I can give "Enemy Gold" a little bit of a pass because at least it kinda had a little bit of spirit from Andy Sidaris's previous movies. This one, though, just didn't have that. And because of which, you can honestly just skip this movie and you wouldn't be missing a thing. Unless, of course, that you want to watch all of the films in the "Triple B" series, like I've been doing. But when I do eventually rewatch these movies again, I'm going to skip this one because it has nothing of value for me to go back to. And speaking of, I'm gonna go and rewatch another film from this series. Don't know which one yet, but I'll just marathon a couple of these movies because I need to watch something better right now that doesn't have Drew's name attached to it.

So anyway, guys, with that, we come to the close of another Reaction & Review. Until next time, ladies and gentlemen, take care, and I will see you all later. Peace.

Reaction & Review | Beetlejuice

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to an all new Reaction & Review. Tonight, guys, I'm gonna be covering a horror comedy from 1988. That movie is "Beetlejuice".

Now, I have a story about this movie. You see, I have technically seen this movie before. However...when I say that, I've really only seen the ending to this film at least a few times before. Most of the time I saw this movie is when they would usually air it on the Freeform channel, AKA ABC Family. And despite me having seen the ending to this film a few different times, I don't understand the whole context to it. So I finally decided to track this movie down via a two-pack, which also comes with it's sequel. And yes, I will actually cover the sequel later this month.

For now, though, I'm only gonna focus on this movie. As for what I remember about it, I do know that it stars Michael Keaton as our main titled character, and I also know the film is directed by Tim Burton, who usually tends into the dark fantasy that he's usually comfortable with. This movie is obviously gonna be no exception. As to whether it'll be good or not has yet to remain seen. I am aware that it is one of Burton's most popular movies, but just because something's popular doesn't mean that it's necessarily going to be good.

That being said, I am still looking forward to finally watching this movie in it's entirety. I am hoping for it to be good, though I am prepared for the slight possibility that it could also suck. I don't know yet, but I am gonna find out. And the only way to do that is for me to shut up so I can push play, and I'm gonna do that right now. So, without further ado, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out "Beetlejuice".

19 minutes later

OK, I have a question here, and it's starting to bug me a little bit. So, our main couple are now ghosts, and they're trying every way to scare the new people moving into their house. Adam has now closed the door to the attic and apparently locked it, too. But since he and Barbara are now ghosts, then how is Adam able to interact with his door and is able to lock it, too? I mean, if they're dead, then they really shouldn't be physically interacting with *anything* in their house, right? I'm really kinda curious here.

14 minutes later

You know, guys, for the amount of time that Adam and Barbara have been dead, they're surprisingly taking everything that they've seen so far rather well. And I mean more of the horror imagery rather than their house being taken over, obviously. I guess, after being dead for a while, being surprised by anything isn't really that much of a common occurrence anymore to them.

9 minutes later

Hold up. So earlier, either Adam or Barbara was wearing a sheet to act as a ghost and scare the people living in their home. The daughter can see them, even without their sheets. And yet, just a few minutes ago, when they were scaring her Dad, he could see the sheets, too. So...does that mean then that if you are wearing something like a sheet, then normal people can actually see you? I admit, that doesn't entirely make sense, but I'm gonna wait and see if this movie attempts to explain that at all.

5 minutes later

OK, I have been meaning to ask this for a while now. Why is the name Beetlejuice spelled differently in this film? I'm going to assume maybe there's some kind of actual reason for it, but it's starting to bug me a little bit because I've seen his name spelled like this throughout the entire movie. Maybe that's how his name is supposed to be spelled, but it still kinda bothers me slightly, you know what I mean?

8 minutes later

OK, I was gonna ask what the hell kind of plan they had in mind. And I will say that, while that plan was goofy as shit, the pay off was actually really cool. So, I really gotta give Barbara and Adam props for coming up with something that was sorta creative.

15 minutes later

You know, I'm a little surprised that Adam and Barbara are still talking to each other, despite changing their faces to look scarier and such. By the way, the makeup effects here look awesome. However, I'll talk about that later when I get to reviewing this film.

The Review

Well, guys, that was "Beetlejuice". And now that I've seen the whole thing, I know kind of understand the context of the ending...kind of. Still doesn't entirely make sense, but I'm not gonna continue to question it further. I'm just gonna shut the movie off now...OK. Well, I suppose I should let you guys know, first hand, that I really enjoyed this movie. Now is it my favorite film from Tim Burton? No. Personally, I would never put it above something like the 1989 "Batman" movie, or even "Batman Returns" for that matter. But I still enjoyed this film for what it is.

So let's start this review off here by first talking about the writing. Now, you may have noticed that I started to ask questions about certain things that didn't really make sense to me. And as the film went on, I continued to ask more questions. And you might think that, even though I just said I enjoyed this movie, that I would end up disliking it because some of those questions kept piling up. And I'm gonna tell you guys that a lot of those issues that I had are very trivial in the long run. As long as you're willing to suspend your disbelief and just accept certain things for what they are, then you are going to enjoy this film immensely. Especially if you're someone who still hasn't seen this movie yet and you enjoy the works of Tim Burton, and you're into the kind of horror that doesn't necessarily go overboard into straight up slasher territory, then this film will be perfect for you. Provided, again, that you're willing to suspend your disbelief here.

Our characters here are fleshed out and each have their own unique personality. Which I believe helps make this film stand out because there's a character here for everyone to like. In which, I mean, that you're not required to like every single character here, but there is enough to where you could pick a favorite out of our cast here. Whether it's our two main characters trying desperately to get their home back, or Lydia, or her two parents. Well, correction, the mother from "Home Alone" is technically her stepmom. I personally didn't care for her character here at all, but I can see someone being attached to it for whatever reason. And, of course, you have our titled character as well, who is amazing. Granted, there are a couple of noticeable problems that involve him, which I'll talk about in a second here. But to summarize, our characters here are great, and they help make this movie stand out immensely.

Now as for our titled character, there are two issues that stood out to me about him. The first one is that, even though henis technically the star of the movie, he's not in it for all that long, especially for the first half of the movie. He only has about three appearances in the first half, and each scene with him is very sporadic. For the first half, most of it is spent on our two main characters, Adam and Barbara, as they try to scare out this new family that bought out their house after their deaths. And you don't really see enough of our titled character outside of several brief moments. Now in fairness, the movie actually does make it a note to our main couple that they shouldn't ask for his help by calling his name 3 times. Instead, they should scare out this new family that took over their home by themselves. Which makes some sense, because our titled character has his own unique ways to scare people. I won't spoil how exactly on the off chance that you still haven't seen this film yet. But still, seeing as how he doesn't appear in the film all that much is a little bit underwhelming at times.

Now the other issue involving our titled character actually to do with his name. You probably noticed that I haven't been using his name. And it's not because of "fear" that if I repeat his name 3 times, he'll appear. It's more so with how his name is actually spelled here. See, while the film itself is called "Beetlejuice", his actual name is spelled as B-E-T-E-L-G-E-U-S-E, or "Betelgeuse" for short. Now I genuinely don't know what the issue was regarding his name. I don't know if his actual spelled name would've been a hit for the title of the movie, or if it was some sort of inside joke that I didn't get. But regardless, his actual name is different from the title, and it's just something that I think you just have to take for what it's worth. It's ultimately not a big deal in the long run, but it is something that could make you raise an eyebrow, especially when you first notice his actual name popping up on screen.

And yeah, as you probably guessed, both of these issues are incredibly minor in the end. And you're not really not gonna notice them very much unless you have a stickler attention to detail like I do. And even if you do notice it, you're not gonna really care about it because the film itself has more than enough quality to where it outweighs the negatives by a mile. And the film is also very entertaining, too. Which is great, and it also has great pacing as well. It doesn't really slow itself down too much, but also isn't rushing things either. It has a near perfect balance of where it wants to go, and it doesn't overstay it's welcome. Then again, the movie's only about 90 minutes long, which, to me, is a perfect runtime that most comedies should have. Though that's just more of a personal bias, really.

So yeah, guys, writing here is really strong, and our characters are all likable and fleshed out. And when you make both of those elements work together, especially with Burton's own kind of flair added to the mix, it makes for a really entertaining movie. And as for the acting, well, the acting here is fantastic, guys. Every single actor turns in 110%. The biggest stand out, of course, is gonna be Michael Keaton as Betelgeuse. The man is having a blast with his role. And even though I would've like to have seen more of him here, what he's able to do is still amazing. And I'm grateful that he did live up to his character here. Everyone from Geena Davis, Alec Baldwin, Winona Ryder, to Jeffery Jones and the late Catherine O' Hara, they give just about as much effort as Keaton did, and it's fantastic across the board. There wasn't a single actor who phoned it in, which is also great to see.

Special effects are also absolutely phenomenal. Now again, since this is a film from Tim Burton, you're gonna be expecting to see a lot of his style added into the effects. And the best part about it is that, even though he likes to rely a lot on Gothic horror, he never takes it too far. Well, except for "Batman Returns", although that's more of a different issue with how that film was received by fans. But my point is, since this is technically a family film, he knows when to reign it in, but still is able to add his own creativity here. And a lot of it here comes from the stop-motion animation. There is quite a lot of stop-motion used in this movie, such as the sand worm that you see in the beginning, or the infamous snake version of Betelgeuse you see in the latter half of the film. Both instances look fantastic. This is some of the best stop-motion animation you'll ever see, at least for 1988 standards. The makeup effects are also great, too. The most noticeable one is Betelgeuse himself, though that one's more iconic than anything else. Costuming here is really good. The sets are amazing, especially for anytime that you are inside Betelgeuse's world. It looks really cool. If I had to nitpick anything, I would say the backgrounds for the sand world might look like it was shot on a blue screen. If it was a legitimate set, then I would be shocked. Though I don't know if that was the case or not. Regardless, it looked really cool, so I'm not about to dump on it.

Camerawork here is really good. Lighting here is great. The sound-mixing here is also good. The score here is great, as it is composed by Danny Elfman. Granted, he's done a lot of musical scores for Burton's movies. And while the score here is, admittedly, not as good as his other ones, it's still really fucking good. And I'm never gonna say that his music is crap or anything. It's just not as good as some of his other scores are in other films.

So anyway, guys, when all is said and done, am I able to recommend "Beetlejuice"? Oh yes, guys, most certainly. I mean, at this point, it's very much a Burton classic. And I completely understand why this film has been beloved for all these years. Now again, I don't consider this to be a high favorite of mine, especially from Burton, but I can't deny that it has a lot of charm to it. And I'm really glad that I actually got to finally watch it for this series. Now, as I mentioned before, I do have it's sequel as part of a 2-pack, so I will be covering it later this month. Whether it'll be any good or not is something that I'll eventually figure out for myself when I get to covering it. Now, there is one neat feature about this 2-pack. Both movies come individually as their own movie, unlike the "Gremlins" 2-pack where both movies are together on one disc. And on the first disc for the first "Beetlejuice" movie, it actually comes with 3 bonus episodes from the "Beetlejuice" animated series. I've never seen it before, so I'm gonna go and watch those 3 episodes right now, because if they're any good, I may end up checking out the rest of the series on YouTube, provided it's available anyway.

And on that note, guys, we come to the close of another Reaction & Review. Until next time, ladies and gentlemen, take care, and I will see you all later. Peace.