The Trip franchise is an absolute delight and it was a pleasant surprise to hear that Director Michael Winterbottom and stars Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon were headed to Greece for more food shenanigans. Watching Rob and Steve bicker, argue, and annoy each other in beautiful locations has been thoroughly enjoyable since 2010’s The Trip, and it’s always a pleasure to spend time watching them. I’m pleased to announce that The Trip to Greece is a delight, and their fourth film keeps things fresh, and doesn’t feel like microwaved leftovers.
Steve and Rob’s fourth trek across the world has them recreating the steps that Odysseus took on his journey from Troy to Ithaca. Their posh journey sees them singing Grease songs, eating delicious food and recreating the death of Socrates. As always, Steve drives, while Rob sits in the passenger seat and does his best to annoy Steve by challenging his acting credentials, and beating him in swimming races (which is a great moment. Rob is a legit swimmer). What I like the most about The Trip to Greece is how their six day “work assignment” is less antagonistic than their prior trips, and it’s unique how it takes a turn towards melancholy when Steve learns that his father has fallen ill.
There’s something comforting about watching Steve and Rob impersonate Robert De Niro while eating at Michelin-starred restaurants that serve delicious looking food. Their friendship has evolved since 2010, as it’s now on a more level relationship as Rob’s career has been boosted by his The Trip appearances. He’s no longer the second fiddle on the trips, and it’s forced Steve to change his behavior towards him. This allows the two of them to be more relaxed around each other and be more willing to support each other’s nonsense (the cave singing scene is sublime).
The Trip to Greece is a lot of fun, and I totally recommend you go along on Steve and Rob’s journey.
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John’s Horror Corner: Fantasy Island (2020), where your wildest dreams twist the Monkey’s Paw.
MY CALL: Fun first half, painful second half. I was hoping for Inception (2010) meets Saw (2004), but what I got was Jumanji (1995) meets Wishmaster (1997) with a dark moral lesson, a few casualties, and a dash of Escape Room (2019). MORE MOVIES LIKE Fantasy Island: Looking for more recreational horror? Try Escape Room (2019).
Contest winners Gwen (Maggie Q; Live Free or Die Hard, Priest), Melanie (Lucy Hale; Truth or Dare, Scream 4), Patrick (Austin Stowell; Swallow), Brax (Jimmy O. Yang; Crazy Rich Asians, The Happytime Murders), JD (Ryan Hansen; Friday the 13th) are flown to a remote island with no cellular service and goon-like bell hops to live out whatever fantasy they dare to dream or request. If that sounds too good to be true, it’s probably because it is. Owned and operated by Mr. Roarke (Michael Peña; Narcos: Mexico, Extinction, The Vatican Tapes), the island’s fantasy-fulfilment is rumored to be facilitated by holograms, virtual reality and hallucinogens.
Just as soon as we land on the island’s crystal blue waters, the setting is bright and gorgeously shot, and the tone is peaceful yet comedic as we meet our fantasy contestants. JD and Brax bring a twenty-turned-thirtysomething college comedy vibe complemented by Melanie’s out-on-the-prowl forwardness. Gwen and Patrick feel like the only mature contestants of the five. And Melanie just seems petty and shallow.
Their fantasies are all quite different; as different as their personalities. Our man-child party-boys Brax and JD enjoy their fantasy of a wild pool rave; Gwen seeks a second chance at happiness with a lost love; Patrick wants to enlist like he never did in his youth; and Melanie wants revenge on a childhood nemesis (Portia Doubleday; Carrie, Mr. Robot).
I love Michael Peña… but this role doesn’t fit him well—or, more appropriately, he doesn’t fit the role at all. Peña never felt like the wealthy, mysterious type who would own such an establishment and actualize people’s fantasies. He just lacks that air about him; the debonair mannerism falls flat. He felt more like one of Steve Martin’s Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988) playing a smooth part on short notice, lacking the savoir faire mastery of Michael Caine. Still, Peña doesn’t fail to entertain or convince us of his role in this game. Likewise, Michael Rooker (Slither, The Belko Experiment, The Dark Half) felt very out of place playing a very unnecessary character, and Kim Coates (Resident Evil: Afterlife, Skinwalkers, Innocent Blood) was equally squandered.
Director Jeff Wadlow (Cry Wolf, Kick-Ass 2, Truth or Dare) brings us a mean wish-gone-wrong twist on the popular television series Fantasy Island (1977-1984). Much like Escape Room (2019), this starts out strong and then doesn’t know what to do with itself. The first half of this movie was very engaging and interesting. But after that it all fell apart in its own Monkey Paw theme, breaking its own rules and disappointing left and right. The writing felt shallow; in fact, the second half felt like it had different writers entirely. It even wanders into idiotically corny territory. The stakes feel no more real than they did in Jumanji (1995). And that’s just it… I was hoping for Inception (2010) meets Saw (2004), but what I got was Jumanji (1995) meets Wishmaster (1997) with a dark moral lesson and a few casualties. Meh.
If you liked Escape Room (2019), you’ll probably like this. And if you didn’t, you probably won’t. Using a single-movie comparison isn’t the best guidance, but it’s honestly all I can think up. That’s my best advice on whether or not you should see this.
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The MFF podcast is back, and this week we’re talking about Hobbs and Shaw, the ninth installment of the Fast & Furious franchise. We love this film and couldn’t get enough of Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham insulting each other while trying to stop Idris Elba from unleashing a virus that will end the world. In this episode, we pitch new Fast movies, discuss henchmen, rave about Vanessa Kirby, and ponder how many calories Johnson consumed during the breakfast scene.
If you are a fan of the podcast make sure to send in some random listener questions so we can do our best to not answer them correctly. We thank you for listening and hope you enjoy the episode!
You can download the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean,or Spreaker.
If you get a chance please make sure to review, rate and share. You are awesome!
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You can download the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker (or wherever you listen to podcasts…..we’re almost everywhere).
If you get a chance please make sure to review, rate and share. You are awesome!
We here at MFF love the Fast & Furious franchise, and wanted to fill the gap left by the delay of Fast & Furious 9 (it originally was scheduled for May 22nd, 2020, it was pushed to 2021). So, Adam Hodgins, Megan Hofmeyer, David Cross (of the Award Wieners Movie Review Podcast) and I got together to draft our favorite Fast & Furious characters. We each picked our five favorite characters, and our lists are extremely funky and unique. In this episode, we discuss badass truck drivers, hungry characters, and NOS. Enjoy.
If you are a fan of the podcast make sure to send in some random listener questions so we can do our best to not answer them correctly. We thank you for listening and hope you enjoy the episode!
You can download the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean,or Spreaker.
If you get a chance please make sure to review, rate and share. You are awesome!
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I love the Fast & Furious franchise, and I can still clearly remember nearly blowing up my four-cylinder Dodge Shadow while driving home after watching The Fast and the Furious in 2001 (it wasn’t a 10-second car). Ever since that slightly fast & furious night in which I watched some Corona loving street racers attempt to steal DVD players, I’ve enjoyed watching the franchise evolve into a globe-trotting blockbuster series that’s grossed billions at the worldwide box office.
In honor of Fast X on the horizon, I decided to see which Fast movie is the most Fast & Furious. Basically, I wanted to know which of the Fast films has the most races, fights, NOS, corona, BBQ, property destruction, gratuitous party shots, and mentions of family. I rewatched the movies and recorded an insane amount of stats, and used insanely detailed articles from Bloomberg (excellent resource – whoever did this is excellent – stats mostly hold up when I rewatched the films and compared data) and Insure the Gap to score 23 categories (Thanks again Bloomberg).
- Racing time
- NOS usage
- Is there a BBQ? – Fun article about why the Furious 6 BBQ is the best
- Fastest finale (cars driving fast)
- Best Fight
- Engine Revving Time
- Time spent talking about cars
- Time spent where cars are worked on
- Gear shifts
- Tachometer/speedometer shots
- Explosions
- Time a gun is wielded
- Hand-to-hand combat time
- Time spent riding outside of vehicles
- Time spent at social gatherings
- Male biceps time
- Gratuitous party shot time
- Hugs
- Mentions of Family
- Roll ups with team
- Corona consumption
- Property destruction
- Does a main character die?
I ranked each of the nine installments (1-10) according to where they placed in each category. Or, I gave them a one or a zero for Yes/No questions (If there is a BBQ it gets a 0). The film that’s the most Fast & Furious has the least amount of points. How did I add up the points? The Fate of the Furious features 17 mentions of “Family,” so it got 1 point. In 2 Fast 2 Furious, not one person says the word “family,” so it got the most points.
Here’s a couple more examples – The Fate of the Furious features billions of dollars of property damage (Nuclear submarine, thousands of cars, that massive facility that’s blown up in the beginning) so it got 1 point. The Fast & the Furious (2001) features a few destroyed cars and some property damage, so it got 10 points.
Tokyo Drift has over 15 minutes of racing so it gets 1 point. Hobbs and Shaw has no “official” races, so it received 10 points.
Here are the results (lowest amount of points wins)
- Fast & Furious 6 – 71 points – WINNER!
- 2 Fast 2 Furious – 85 points
- Furious 7 – 86 points
- F9 – 87 points
- The Fast and the Furious – 92 points
- Fast Five – 96 points
- Fast and Furious – 102 points
- The Fate of the Furious – 103 points
- Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift – 105 points
- Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw – 118 points
I’ve included some videos to show you why Fast and Furious 6 is the most fast and furious of the franchise.
Family is said 11 times (start at :30 seconds)
There is a BBQ that features Corona
Roman and Brian have a great bro-mance (3:00 in clip)
Brian beats the crap out of Braga and some prisoners (furious fight)
There’s a classic team meeting
Dom gets shot, then completely forgets about it.
Grappling hooks are aided by NOS (grappling hooks are used a lot in franchise).
There you have it! Fast and Furious 6 is the most fast and furious film of the franchise. It features street races, corona, BBQ, family, planes blowing up, grappling hooks, fist fights and everything that makes a Fast movie great.
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John’s Horror Corner: Hell Fest (2018), lame killer and kills yet perfectly entertaining.
MY CALL: Lame killer, weak kills, momentary gore… but it’s so much jumpy fun. I guess this was okay. I enjoyed it, but I’ll never revisit it. Despite all the things I wanted that it completely lacked and all the things I felt it should have had, I found myself consistently entertained by the situations, delivery and character dynamics. Not a bad popcorn flick. MORE MOVIES LIKE Hell Fest: Looking for more recreational horror, try Funhouse (1981), Ghoulies 2 (1988), Hell House LLC (2015), Escape Room (2019) and Fantasy Island (2020).
A group of college friends get VIP tickets to a traveling “horror night” amusement park much like if Universal Studios’ Halloween Horror Nights was more amped-up and less family-friendly.
Hoping for a night of jovial flirtations and jumpscares, Brooke (Reign Edwards; The Bold and the Beautiful), Natalie (Amy Forsyth; We Summon the Darkness, A Christmas Horror Story), Taylor (Bex Taylor-Klaus; The Last Witch Hunter, 13 Reasons Why), Gavin (Roby Attal), Quinn (Christian James; Dollface) and Asher (Matt Mercurio; Sleepy Hollow) enter with high expectations. But when Natalie witnesses a scared girl in the funhouse get murdered by a masked killer, the evening’s entertainment turned out to be more than she’d bargained.
The horror takes a while to build its inertia, but that’s typical of the first 30-40 minutes of most horror movies. And, as a pleasant surprise, the first act was quite enjoyable just for watching the main characters whose relationship shenanigans (typically insufferable in horror movies) was actually entertaining. This movie clearly takes its time and hopes we embrace its impishly playful nature on this jumpy journey as our characters navigate one interactive haunted house after another. And fans of the Final Destination franchise (2000-2011) should recognize the voice of the announcer/barker as Tony Todd (Final Destination, Hatchet, Wishmaster).
The death scenes are okay. Nothing special, just okay. Really, some were even boring. A syringe to the eye might have been the least hard-to-watch eye stab I’ve seen. A head gets brutally hammered, yet its existence on screen is fleeting in a blink. It doesn’t linger on screen long enough to be awed or winced upon. As for our villain—credited as The Other (Stephen Conroy)—his presence was definitely menacing, but his disposition and actions were otherwise flat. A boring bad guy with no personality and no good kills in a slasher movie… that’s not good. So clearly, slashers and gore aren’t this movie’s strength. Shenanigans are. And while that may sound like a cheap defense to a goreless flick, the shenanigans are exciting. This is rated-R, but I’d treat this as a solid PG-13 horror; great for beginners (i.e., adult beginners) to the genre who can stand brief brutality.
I didn’t recognize any of these actors, so I had hesitated to see this for a long time. Thankfully, my expectations were happily proven wrong by the acting, photography and general production value of this movie. Director Gregory Plotkin (Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension) did alright. But whereas “fun horror” and likable characters are his clear strengths, the “meaner” gore was basically absent and the story was as basic as they come.
I guess this was okay. I enjoyed it, but I’ll never revisit it. Despite all the things I wanted that it completely lacked and all the things I felt it should have had, I found myself consistently entertained by the situations, delivery and character dynamics. Not a bad popcorn flick.
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“Some motherf**kers are always trying to ice-skate uphill.” Blade – 1998
I love the final fight between Blade and Deacon Frost. It’s an epic battle between a famed vampire hunter and a yuppy vampire who recently acquired the powers of a blood demon. The sword fight features classic one-liners, blood explosions and Blade spin kicking a vial of serum into Deacon’s head (it’s awesome). In this episode, we discuss matching henchmen, stunt doubles and the excellence of Wesley Snipes. Enjoy!
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It’s lap three of our racing series, and this week we’re talking about the 1990 racing film Days of Thunder. Directed by Tony Scott, and starring Tom Cruise, this big budgeted summer blockbuster focuses on a hotshot driver entering the dangerous world of Nascar racing. In this episode, we discuss Cary Elwe’s tiny sunglasses, road rage, and the excellence of Michael Rooker.
Make sure to listen to our Rush and Driven episodes too!
If you are a fan of the podcast make sure to send in some random listener questions so we can do our best to not answer them correctly. We thank you for listening and hope you enjoy the episode!
You can download the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean,or Spreaker.
If you get a chance please make sure to review, rate and share. You are awesome!
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Listen to the MFF Final Fights podcast on Spreaker, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Podbean or Google Podcasts (or wherever you listen to podcasts)!
The fight between John Matrix (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Bennett (Vernon Wells) is an oddball brawl that features an intriguing matchup between two completely different combatants. Matrix is a muscular and controlled behemoth, while Bennett is a street brawler who is prone to angry outbursts of aggression (I’ll shoot you between the balls!). Together, they put on an epic fight that concludes with one of the greatest action movie one-liners ever (Let off some steam, Bennett). Sit back, relax, and lisen to us discuss the fight. Enjoy!
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John’s Horror Corner: Martyrs (2015), a toothless remake of the 2008 French extreme film.
MY CALL: Maybe entertaining, but woefully disappointing to anyone who appreciated Martyrs (2008) in its emotionally gut-punching true glory. MORE MOVIES LIKE Martyrs: Looking for more extreme French cinema? Go for Martyrs (2008), Inside (2007) and Frontiers (2007).
REMAKE/REIMAGINING SIDEBAR: For more horror remakes, I strongly favor the following: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), An American Werewolf in London (1981), The Thing (1982), The Fly (1986), The Mummy (1999), The Ring (2002), The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003), The Hills Have Eyes (2006), Friday the 13th (2009), Let Me In (2010), Evil Dead (2013), Carrie (2013), The Town That Dreaded Sundown (2014), It (2017), Suspiria (2018) and Child’s Play (2019). Those to avoid include Body Snatchers (1993; the second remake), War of the Worlds (2005), The Invasion (2007; the third remake), Prom Night (2008), Night of the Demons (2009), Sorority Row (2009), Patrick: Evil Awakens (2013), Poltergeist (2015), Cabin Fever (2016), Unhinged (2017) and The Mummy (2017). I’m on the fence about An American Werewolf in Paris (1997), The Grudge (2004), Halloween (2007), It’s Alive (2009), My Bloody Valentine (2009), A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010), Fright Night (2011), The Thing (2011; a prequel/remake), Maniac (2012), Rabid (2019) and Pet Sematary (2019), which range from bad to so-so (as remakes) but still are entertaining movies on their own.
From its opening scene (which mirrors the 2008 original), this remake lacks the dire hopeless urgency of its predecessor. After escaping a horrible confinement, a young Lucie is remanded to an orphanage. Lucie’s (Troian Bellisario; Pretty Little Liars) abductors are never found, she suffers horrible nightmares, and she becomes a loner. In need of sympathy, she meets Anna (Bailey Noble; True Blood) and they become fast friends.
Flashforward ten years. A clearly mentally feral Lucie hunts for those who wronged her, Anna tries her best to be Lucie’s keeper, and Lucie is still haunted by her own demons. But as crazy as Lucie may be, Anna comes to learn that she’s actually right about some things.
Lucie’s “personal demon” may be mean and brutal, especially if this is your first experience with Martyrs. But anyone who has seen the original knows what true disturbing horror can be, and this remake doesn’t have it. 2015’s specter is mean for the sake of being mean, but 2008’s nightmare fuel inspired a nigh Lovecraftian madness. As intense as this film may seem, it’s a cheap and shallow rehashing of its source material.
Comparing 2015 (above) to 2008 (below)–these two young ladies had very different experiences with their death cults. And while more gore doesn’t translate into “better”, just trust that the difference in impact of all aspects of these films mirror these images.
Like Lucie’s demon, the torture scenes may shock those unseasoned to the torture porn subgenre or extreme French cinema, but they lacked teeth. The final scenes (which weakly emulated the flaying and grand revelation of 2008), felt like phoned in, watered down reimaginings that fail to earn my reverence. There is no comparison to the extremity or thoughtfulness of the original, through which you earn your awful shock by enduring Lucie’s wrenching journey.
Directors Kevin and Michael Goetz (Scenic Route) generally succeed in replaying the 2008 French film in softened (i.e., Americanized) fashion and, to those who never saw the original, this may even pass as “intense” and “good.” But given how close this is to an exact scene-for-scene remake, I have difficulty judging it on its own merits. 2008 made me wince and grit my teeth and feel so deeply and awfully horribly for the protagonists. This remake did no such thing. By comparison, it was hollow; a frail husk of its model.
Movies, Films & Flix 