Movie Monday: DodgeBall

This week for Movie Monday I’m back with another Comedy. It’s DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story!

Plot: The plot of this movie is beyond silly, which is to be expected when the two lead actors are Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn. Honestly I enjoyed this movie for what it is, a satire of most Sports films. Looking for deeper meaning than that is kind of pointless to me.

Casting: The casting is great, with Stiller and Vaughn as stated above being the lead actors. However this movie includes cameos from people like Lance Armstrong, this was before the doping scandals, and Chuck Norris. Yes he really did have a part in this.

Cinematography: There isn’t much special effects that were used, although the iconic scene of “If you can dodge a Wrench, you can dodge a ball” is probably one of my all time favorite scenes from a non-Mel Brooks film.

Music: The music fit the plot of the film, nothing more needs be said.

Overall: A fun movie, but don’t expect to be watching a serious film.

For those who like: Comedy, Sports, Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above.

Movie Monday: Ace Ventura

This week for Movie Monday I’m back with another classic comedy film. It’s Ace Ventura: Pet Detective!

Plot: The plot is ridiculously silly, but when you consider that the lead star is Jim Carrey that’s par for the course. It’s an okay family movie, but it will be a bit grating for the older members.

Casting: The cast of course includes Jim Carrey as Ace, but also has Dan Marino as himself and Courtney Cox as Melissa Robinson with Tone Loc as Officer Emilio and Sean Young as Einhorn. Despite the plot being pretty terrible the acting itself is fairly good, with Carrey being his normal outrageously expressive self. Fun fact: Alan Rickman (who played Severus Snape in the Harry Potter Films) was once pitched as Ace Ventura.

Cinematography: The film really didn’t have much special effects to speak of so it’s fairly lackluster in that area.

Music: The music fit the film and that’s really all that can be said of it.

Overall: A silly movie that most kids will enjoy, but older family members will cringe quite often.

For those who like: Jim Carrey, Pets, “Mysteries”, Ridiculous Plots.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above.

Retro Game Friday: Mario Hoops

This week for Retro Game Friday I’m back with a Mario game that really doesn’t deserve any praise except for one specific part. It’s Mario Hoops!

Gameplay: This was almost entirely a purely gimmick game to take “advantage” of the DS’ touch controls. Honestly it sucked, and the fact this was never expanded on or got a sequel should be extremely telling. Making matters worse was the lack of online multiplayer, which really sucked.

Art: The art is mediocre, it’s aged very badly and looks little better than the Mario 64 port that happened for the DS on launch.

Music: Here is the one positive from this disaster and that is the fact it was Masayoshi Soken’s very first game he composed for. Since he’s since gone on to become one of Square Enix’s best musical wizards that is something I’ll be happy about regarding this game.

Overall: Stay clear of this game, it’s controlled purely through gimmicks and isn’t that great a game even taking that out of consideration.

For those who like: Mario Games, Mediocrity, Great Music.

Not for those who don’t like: Either of the first two, the last one is perfectly acceptable.

Retro Game Friday: Mario Superstar Baseball

This week for Retro Game Friday I’m back with another Mario game. It’s Mario Superstar Baseball!

Gameplay: The gameplay is pretty good, although the fact that they implemented a Mercy rule in gameplay was pretty hilarious to me at the time. It still is, but the main appeal of the game was to recruit players on the opposing team by performing certain acts to earn flags towards recruiting the player. You’d try to do that without recruiting the team’s captain at the same time, which could lead to you intentionally performing poorly, although never to the point of throwing a game since you had to win to recruit someone. If you recruited the captain you’d have to face off against the people you didn’t recruit on a team led by Bowser Jr. which was a pain in the butt from what I remember.

Art: The art was good at the time, but it’s aged poorly since it’s release. That isn’t surprising at all, but required mentioning nonetheless.

Music: Classic Mario music, nothing more need be said really.

Overall: A fun game, but skippable if you weren’t really wanting to play a baseball game that had a Mario spin.

For those who like: Sports Games, Baseball, Mario Games, Good Gameplay.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above.

Movie Monday: Rookie of the Year

This week for Movie Monday I’m back with another movie I watched as a kid. It’s Rookie of the Year!

Plot: The plot is pretty standard kid movie plot. Still it was interesting to see instead of something like Big, the kid taking part in an adults world as a kid instead of as an adult. Still the plot isn’t that amazing and is corny at times. Still I loved it as a kid, both because it was fun to watch and because it helped me connect to Chicago as I didn’t remember my birthplace at that time of my life.

Casting: The cast is pretty good, with Thomas Ian Nicholas as the lead character Henry. The rest of the cast is just as interesting, but I remember Henry the most.

Cinematography: There was no really spectacular special effects in this film, but it was filmed on location in Wrigley and a few other stadiums.

Music: The music fit the film, that’s really all that need be said here.

Overall: A fun movie, but if you aren’t watching with a kid it could be boring for an adult.

For those who like: Sports, Comedy, Baseball, The Chicago Cubs.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above.