MEDIOCREMOVIE.CLUB
  • Reviews
  • Side Pieces
  • Shane of Thrones
  • Podcast
  • About
  • Archives
  • Game of Thrones Fantasy

Turbo Kid

7/31/2017

6 Comments

 

D
​1.07

A post-apocalyptic homage to similar 80's-90's movies.  Or something.

Directed by Francois Simard, Anouk Whissell, and Yoann-Kark Whissell
Starring Munro Chambers, Laurence Leboeuf, and Michael Ironside
Initial Review by Bryan Hartman

Picture
​In a world devastated by acid rain and a nuclear winter, a movie is born to leadoff 80's-90's nostalgia flicks. What I think the makers of Turbo Kid are trying to do is create some 1990s nostalgia with tons of gore to make that good-bad movie. For a while, they were succeeding, I appreciate that Turbo Kid got straight to the point, there wasn't a lot of lolly gagging. Grown men in a bar with their BMX bikes parked out front is funny. When The Kid gives Apple a ride on the pegs of his bicycle, that's classic 90's. I can relate to the bikes, the Viewmaster, and the distractingly bad SNES music. 

But Turbo Kid never does anything. There is no story, there is no apex, and there are no on the edge of your seat action moments. My generation (born circa 1984) seems to love 80s nostalgia movies, maybe they're living vicariously through their older siblings, but I find them mostly lame. And unfortunately Turbo Kid can't survive on nostalgia alone. The gore is absurd and the soundtrack, even while reminding me of playing Super Nintendo, is atrocious.

I glanced at some of the Rotten Tomatoes (89% score) and they talk 80's retro for this movie, but I think it bridges the gap to the 90's as well. Turbo Kid looks retro and is mocking of 80's/90's action movies, so of course condescending critics are going to like it. Chop this movie into a series of it's bike chases and I'm down for 5 minutes of Youtube glory. Otherwise this is bad. C-

6 Comments

Tour de Pharmacy

7/22/2017

8 Comments

 

B+
​3.48

A raunchy satire of a drug-fueled Tour de France.

Directed by Jake Szymanski
Starring Andy Samberg, Freddie Highmore, and Daveed Diggs
​Initial Review by Shane Setnor

Picture
In order for a joke to be funny, there has to be some sort of underlying truth as the foundation of the joke. We’ve talked a lot about Adam Sandler quite a bit in this group since he’s the comedian we grew up with. Sandler’s work suffers oftentimes because there is no foundation of truth underneath him. I love Billy Madison, but objectively it’s a goofy and silly movie rather than one that is funny. You look at Happy Gilmore, a more successful comedy, and you can see why it’s rated better. It’s playfully mocking the perception of the seriousness of golf. It has a foundation to stand on rather than just being a man-child who has a clown nearly die at his pool party. ​

​Tour de Pharmacy is built upon a foundation of something that exists. It relies on something true. It’s a mockumentary that takes on the seriousness of sports documentaries, the rampant and obvious drug abuse in cycling, and the ridiculousness of cycling around France for a month. (I love that they seriously use the HBO Sports logo in the beginning and never bother explaining that this is a joke.)


Read More
8 Comments

Okja

7/8/2017

16 Comments

 

B
3.11

A genetically-modified super-pig and its human best friend struggle to return to their South Korean home.

Directed by Bong Joon-ho
Starring Ahn Seo-hyun, Tilda Swinton, and Paul Dano
Initial review by Jon Kissel

Picture
Bong Joon-ho vacillates between the recognizable (Memories of Murder, Mother) and the bonkers (Snowpiercer, Okja), and he excels at both.  No matter the tone, he always leaves viewers pondering the events of his film and the broader implications.  His latest, Okja, might on its surface be about a girl and her super-pig, but like Snowpiercer, it has big existential ideas on its mind.  Shane, Blair, and I talked for a very long time about it in a podcast review.  While I appreciate any film that prompts me to talk excitedly for more than an hour, Okja is still tonally all over the place.  It also teases an airtight plot in its bravura first hour before jettisoning characters that ultimately have no impact on the final scenes.  This isn't Bong's best movie, and is probably his worst.  However, when a director's worst movie is at a B, he's doing a lot of things right.

16 Comments

    Authors

    JUST SOME IDIOTS GIVING SURPRISINGLY AVERAGE MOVIE REVIEWS.

    Categories

    All
    2017 Catch Up Trio
    80s
    Action
    Adventure
    AI Trio
    Author - Blair
    Author - Bobby
    Author - Bryan
    Author - Chris
    Author - Cook
    Author - Drew
    Author - Joe
    Author - Jon
    Author - JR
    Author - Lane
    Author - Phil
    Author - Pierce
    Author - Sean
    Author - Shane
    Author - Tom
    Best Of 2016
    Best Of 2017
    Best Of 2018
    Best Of 2019
    Comedy
    Culture Clash Trio
    Denzel Trio
    Documentary
    Drama
    Foreign
    Historical
    Horror
    Internet Docs Trio
    Mediocrities
    Musical
    Podcast
    Romance
    Round 3.1
    Round 3.2
    Round 3.3
    Round 4.1
    Round 4.2
    Round 4.3
    Sci Fi
    Season 2
    Season 3
    Season 4
    Season 5
    Season 6
    Season 7
    Shorts
    Thriller
    Western
    Women In Men's Worlds

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014

    Click to set custom HTML