Wow, if you weren’t excited before you’ve seen this trailer you darn sure oughta be now. The Avengers are back and facing one of their most brutal challenges. I’ll tell you, this is one of my favorite trailers in the last few years and I cannot wait. Check out the trailer and be in line on: May 1st, Friday! I’ll see you there.

Kevin Costner‘s excellent performance, a great story and some absolutely wonderful characters make McFarland, USA one of the best movies so far this year. What’s more, it’s based on a true story that seems really likely. Too many of these films depend so much on created drama that it’s hard to see the real people. That’s not a problem in McFarland, the personalities shine through and make this film a joy to watch.

McFarland, California is a mostly Hispanic and very poor agricultural community. Many of the community’s workers are “pickers,” which simply means they spend hours every day harvesting produce by hand. It’s extremely hard work and the rewards are slim. When Coach Jim White (Costner) is forced to find a job, any job, he’s stuck with McFarland, one of the poorest towns in America.

White was consigned there because of his temper and an incident in Idaho. As football coach, according to the film, he threw a cleated shoe and accidentally hit his team captain. He was forced out and almost no school in the country wanted to touch him. Enter McFarland, where the choices were equally slim. Few coaches wanted to end up there.

Upon arriving White notices something startling; many of the local teens are forced to get up before dawn to pick produce until school and then do the same after. What’s even more startling is the speed they must run to be on time. An idea forms: what if he could take these kids and their blistering speed and create a cross country team? That is McFarland, USA. The story of an inspired coach and some very talented boys.

What makes the film so special is that it dives into the intense relationship the White family developed with this so different community. Director Niki Caro managed to skillfully break down the barriers between this very “white” family, even using the name White as a running pun, and a very Hispanic village. What was unexpected was that he was also doing that with the audience. I soon found myself relating more to the Hispanic youngsters and their  parents than the Whites (yes, pun intended). By the end of the film I too wanted to live in McFarland.

The easiest way to talk about McFarland, USA is a comparison to Hoosiers. Caro, in McFarland, managed to get nearly that same involvement in the lives of the players as David Anspaugh did in Hoosiers. I really wanted to know more about the players. I couldn’t wait till the end to find out where everyone ended up. Having said that…Hoosiers gets a 5 out of 5 stars (it’s just flawless), but alas, McFarland, USA gets a measly 4.5.

Both movies though are very, very re-watchable.
 

Hi, this is me, your Movie Maniac, one of the professors at the Movie Madness Podcast University. I’m here with something quite disturbing; I woke in the middle of the night with visions of Mel Brooks tap dancing in my head (sugar plums are far more comforting); I also had an epiphany. I finally know what happened between High Anxiety and Spaceballs. Well, History of the World: Part 1 happened too, but that doesn’t count.

In my dream, Brooks was doing the Putting On The Ritz number from Young Frankenstein, complete with the scantily clad Mel Brooks dancers, when like a lightning bolt I knew why I loved High Anxiety and hated Space Balls. Now, be patient I’ll get there…

Earlier in the day, the wonderful documentary, Mel Brooks: Make a Noise, was on Netflix and I couldn’t help but watch it. While enjoying the film an old concern struck me: what de hell happened, as Mel might have said.  That’s when the disturbing dream came in to play. I realized as Brooks was dancing, “harrumph,” that, in the earlier films, Brooks was paying homage. The original movies were always in the background as subtext. In the new films he was making fun, or mocking: Robin Hood: Men in Tights, really?

In Make a Noise, Brooks explains that he sat with Alfred Hitchcock to watch High Anxiety and nervously awaited his opinion. When Hitch liked the film, even commenting on the draining ink from the newspaper seeming eerily like the blood circling the drain in Psycho, Mel was thrilled. With Spaceballs he just kind of asked George Lucas for permission. According to Brooks, in the documentary, all Lucas made him promise was “no action figures.”

Before all you fellow movie geeks get up in arms, I actually grew to like Spaceballs, despite it mocking one of my favorite films: Star Wars. Even worse, is the aforementioned Robin Hood: Men in Tights. I was horrified when I first watched it…horrified I say! Swashbucklers are my favorite genre and to mock them is tantamount to celluloid blasphemy. To this day I can’t even look at a clip of Tights without cursing. I want to find Mr. Brooks and violently shake my finger at him. (H’m, do you think maybe I’m wound too tight?)

I grew up on Errol Flynn, Tyrone Power and Douglas Fairbanks, et al.. I expected to see an hilarious homage to the original The Adventures of Robin Hood, not just lots of vaudeville style mocking. Certainly Mel Brooks is incredibly funny but the artful crafting of his earlier films seemed to have been replaced by scatological humor and the equivalent of fart jokes, Blazing Saddles notwithstanding.

Lest you think I’m being too sensitive I’d like to bring up some examples. The Court Jester is a wonderful spoof of Robin Hood (and the genre in general). Airplane is about as silly as a film can be but still maintains a loving relationship to the disaster films from whence it sprang. Scream is another great film, that just happens to make it easier for me to watch slasher films, and yet, as “spoofy” as it may be, maintains the integrity of the original.

The last example is Dr. Strangelove. One of the great comedies of all time and also one of the best spoofs. Stanley Kubrick was at his absolute best when directing it and Peter Sellers at the top of his career. Each of these films was wildly funny and yet serious film making. Not to be too harsh, but it seems Mel Brooks should have stuck to the date that brought him.

Having expostulated enough I shall step down from my soapbox and say that Mel Brooks, I love you. Your performance as the 2000-year-old-man is classic comedy at it’s best and your earlier movies are some of the best comedies ever made. I just have one wish. I would love to see you remake Young Frankenstein for the 21st century. That would make up for Men in Tights. Few people have remade their own movies and done it as well as undoubtedly you could. Though you may have to update the humor and enlist a few writers from the hip-hop generation, but I think it would be great!

This is definitely one of my most anticipated films of the year…even more now that I’ve seen the trailer! The Man From U.N.C.L.E. looks like great fun and Henry Cavill seems a pretty good pick for Napoleon Solo. Even more, Armie Hammer might be a very credible Ilya Kuryakin-my favorite character! I’m putting all my hopes on Guy Ritchie and his unusual sense of the serious amid the absurd. I loved the 60s TV series and hope to love the movie as much. Enjoy! Release date: Aug, 14, 2015

Hey guys, Join us as we race to the finish of our Top 10 Most Anticipated Movies of 2015! Who will win out in this battle of the blockbusters? Which member of the team makes a surprise pick in his top 4? And who once again opens himself up for ridicule betting against a beloved franchise? You’ll have to listen in to find out and see if your guesses are right!  There may be a surprise or two! Once again, feel free to let us know your Top 10 Most Anticipated Movies of 2015 at: # 260-573-0015, for voice mail, or email us at: moviemadnesspodcast@gmail.com. You can also post them to Twitter, Facebook or the Ultimate Movie Geeks community on Google+

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This is one we love: Kingsman: The Secret Service, and the trailer is one of the best! With Colin Firth and Michael Caine leading the cast this film almost has to be fun. I think Kingsman looks like a great mix of the 1960s TV show, The Avengers, and 007 and I cannot wait. Release Date: Feb, 13, 2015.

Yep, Fifty Shades of Grey‘s a phenomenon, but not so much for the guys at the Movie Madness Podcast. Well, maybe Jeremy, but surely not for the Doug or the Maniac. But for those of you that happen to like the book here’s a look at the trailers! Release Date: Feb, 13, 2015

Spills, Chills and Thrills…Action Packed Adventures and Massive Blockbusters-the Movie Madness crew tells you which movies we’re most anticipating. Of course we can’t wait for Avengers: Age of Ultron and Star Wars: The Force Awakens (it’s all about the colons), but I can guarantee some real surprises (think: weird yellow people). Doug, Jeremy and I join in a Battle Royale (dramatic exaggeration for effect) and come out fighting mad! This was so much fun for us and we know it will be for you…but if not, you can always call us at: # 260-573-0015, for voice mail, or email us at: moviemadnesspodcast@gmail.com. You can also post them to Twitter, Facebook or the Ultimate Movie Geeks community on Google+

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Monumentally stupid, ridiculously unfunny and devoid of any redeeming value, Mortdecai is quite possibly the worst comedy ever made. There may be worse, but I take a great joy in not having seen them. I have, however, seen Mortdecai and it is terrible.

Four of my favorite actors: Johnny Depp, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ewan McGregor and Paul Bettany manage to take a horrible plot and story elements and, with great skill and dexterity, make them even worse. Not to be too harsh, but I think a good horse whipping is clearly in order.

I cannot express enough my extreme disappointment in Johny Depp. With a goofy accent, foppish eccentricities and a cowardly aspect he manages to destroy any hope of Mortdecai, his character, being engaging. He is as close to an opposite of Captain Jack Sparrow as possible. For an actor famous in his quirky roles Depp simply flopped.

Paltrow is Johanna Mortdecai, as always, beautiful, charming and clever, but even she does nothing to elevate this worst of all films. Her character is stuck in a one joke loop with Depp and her flirting with McGregor’s Police Inspector Martland is bland.

Paul Bettany is Jock, Mortdecai’s manservant and stuck in the same type of one joke loop as Paltrow: he gets shot, stabbed and run over in place of his boss over and over again to no point.  Unfortunately Jock plays the fool. The fool that gives his loyalty to Mortdecai, a cowardly, sniveling wretch who’s only positive characteristic is that he’s not too dishonest.

Perhaps this story works as a novel but it fails horribly as a movie. Far better to have been written as the Pink Panther hero: Jacques Clouseau (Peter Sellers)-heroic, but clumsy. Clouseau at least has some strong positive traits. There is no trait to Mortdecai that makes him worthy, either of Jock’s respect or Johanna’s love.

The cast and creators of this reprehensible piece of work should be turned over to Seth Rogen and James Franco for six months as punishment. The inane conversation and constant dope smoking could, at the least, do no harm. And their movie, The Interview, was watchable.

Please, I beg of you…be prepared before you see this movie. Perhaps get plastered or loaded before seeing this movie. At least have a  large bottle of stout wine by your side. This movie is so bad it deserves never to be seen sober or straight.

Rating: 0 stars out of 5

Monumentally stupid and yet quite funny, The Interview stars Seth Rogen and James Franco. James Franco is Dave Skylark, the Jerry Springer-like star of a gotcha style tabloid show and Rogen is Aaron Rapaport, his producer/sidekick. Rapaport is fed up with the slimy, low class style of the show and is bent on leaving for hard hitting journalism. He is ripe for a change.

When Skylark discovers that North Korean President Kim Jong Un (Randall Park), is a big fan, he approaches Rapaport to propose interviewing the leader. When the communist dictator happily agrees, the CIA approaches them with a brilliant idea: lets have the idiots assassinate him. Since Skylark is a notorious lecher they send in a rather exposed CIA operative, Agent Lacey (Lizzy Caplan), to literally titillate him into complying. He succumbs and we have a movie.

Surprisingly, The Interview is quite funny and wonderfully reminiscent. Watching Interview is like finally seeing the sequel to Chevy Chase and Dan Akroyd‘s Spies Like Us. I only wish they’d added a scene with the two Saturday Night Live superstars to add a cherry to the otherwise tasty idiocy.

The chemistry between the guys, Franco and Rogen, is classic and they’re like a marijuana hazed, and modern, version of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy: great friends, but we’re always waiting for “another fine mess.” There is definitely love between the two in this classic comic bromance and I love it.

With all of the silliness it’s surprising that the directors, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, worked so hard to make Kim Jong Un and Agent Lacey such good characters. Much of the credit goes to Randall Park and Lizzy Caplan of course. Park brought a wonderful crazed humanity to his role and when he switches from loveable to insane, it’s startling. He was endearing as the good guy and scary as the bad one.

Caplan too was quite good. She brought a weird charm to her role as a recruiter for assassination. She could have phoned this one in and gotten away with it, but instead made a little magic. She was strangely likeable even in the strangest roles. I’ve liked her since her quirky True Blood and New Girl characters and would love to see her bring a little of that oddness to romantic comedy.

The Interview is, by no means, a brilliant break out comedy, but it is fun to watch with some rather good characters working hard to make the film fun. Congratulations to Sony for following through and making this movie so easy to access. You can find this one everywhere on the internet, but checkout out The Interview Website.

Rating: 3 Stars out of 5 and no reason to see it at the theater.