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Showing posts with the label john candy

1941 - REVIEW

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Following the runaway success of both Jaws and Close Encounters Of The Third Kind , Steven Spielberg directed war-themed comedy 1941 back in 1979 and, although it wasn't technically a box-office bomb, it wasn't exactly a hit and it's only years later that it gained a cult following. The film is very loosely based on a mix of real yet mostly disconnected events as it explores the growing paranoia post-Pearl Harbor with US citizens fearing that Japan would attempt another attack and dealing with it in various ways. As an enemy submarine slowly tries to make its way to Los Angeles with the unlikely goal of destroying Hollywood, chaos builds in the city and we follow a variety of characters, each of them doing their own thing, with everything culminating in a cartoonish battle around Santa Monica pier. This is very much an ensemble piece in the vein of Dr Strangelove or American Graffiti with some characters having a very clear goal and others just kind of wandering i

NOTHING BUT TROUBLE - REVIEW

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The only film directed by Dan Aykroyd to date, Nothing But Trouble was a dark comedy from 1991 which starred Chevy Chase as a businessman who is arrested for speeding then put on trial in the trash and weirdo-filled little town of Valkenvania, just off the New Jersey Turnpike. With a cast that includes John Candy, Demi Moore, Taylor Negron and Dan Aykroyd himself, Nothing But Trouble looked like a safe bet and its goofy plot had lots of potential. Unfortunately, the film was a massive flop, gathering only about $8M against a healthy budget of $40M, and the critics did not go easy on it. Nothing But Trouble was panned by everyone back in the day, including Chevy Chase himself, it was nominated for several Razzie awards and Dan Aykroyd would never dare direct a film again afterwards. Looking back, the movie's failure at the box-office is hardly surprising: sinking this much money into a story this bizarre was never going to deliver. The film itself, on the other hand, isn't

COOL RUNNINGS - REVIEW

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Loosely based on real events, Cool Runnings was a surprise hit for Disney back in 1993 and it's still one of the most beloved sports movies out there. The story of the first Jamaican bobsled team charmed audiences with its lighthearted tone, likeable cast and Olympic spirit. The film introduces us to the main players as they fail to qualify for the Olympics as sprinters and decide to team-up in the hope of making it to the Winter Games as bobsledders. They hire the help of has-been champion coach Irv Blitzer (John Candy) who, like everyone else in town, doesn't believe in them at first but soon realises they might actually stand a chance. The idea that everyone in Jamaica would be literally laughing out loud at the thought of a bunch of guys putting together a bobsled team is not all that convincing, especially in the over-the-top way the film portrays that. Granted, the lack of ice in Jamaica and the bobsledders' inexperience would no doubt prompt some skepticism but

SPLASH - REVIEW

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Tom Hanks and Daryl Hannah star in this 80's comedy re-imagining of the Little Mermaid fairy-tale which did what Disney is currently trying to do with its live-action adaptations of every animated film they've ever done but without any big special effects. And all before Disney's The   Little Mermaid was even released. Really, on paper Splash should have been awful but in the safe hands of director Ron Howard and with a first class cast which also included John Candy and Eugene Levy, it was a big hit and was even nominated for an Academy Award back in 1984. By handling the movie like a grown-up (and literal) fish-out-of-water story with some romance and jokes thrown in, Howard manages to make Splash more of a modern fairy-tale adults can enjoy rather than corny, kids-only fare. The very good, very funny script keeps a perfect balance between comedy and fantasy and the cast is simply flawless from Hanks' lonely romantic to Daryl Hannah's wide-eyed, innocent

SPACEBALLS - REVIEW

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10 years after the release of the first Star Wars movie, master spoofer Mel Brooks decided to take on the epic space opera trilogy in the childishly titled Spaceballs which starred the likes of Rick Moranis (as Dark Helmet), John Candy (as Barf) and Brooks himself in multiple roles. In typical Brooksian fashion, Spaceballs was incredibly silly from start to finish and even though not all of its jokes work, it remains something of a cult comedy classic. The plot mostly uses the "save the princess" theme of A New Hope , adds a little Death Star business from Empire Strikes Back and poor old Jabba is reduced to Pizza The Hutt, a talking blob made out of pizza bits and voiced by Dom DeLuise. The film opens with a subtle, pretty clever joke as an absurdly long and intricate spaceship passes by the camera for ages and from then on it gets goofy and never looks back. Candy's Barf is half dog, Joan Rivers voices a C-3PO-style droid, Moranis' Dark Helmet is a bumbling f