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JeffTylerSmith
Co-Host of When Geeks Collide
Reviews
Christmas Vacation 2: Cousin Eddie's Island Adventure (2003)
Not the greatest!
Being a fan of the Vacation series, yes even Vegas Vacation, I was looking forward to Christmas Vacation 2. Unfortunately the script lacks the comedic genius of the first Christmas Vacation and Quaid's acting as Eddie now seems stressed to make up for the lack of script. I do like the fact though that they kept series continuity (mentioning that Eddie's oldest daughter is a stripper in Las Vegas) and having Miriam Flynn return as Catherine and MY FAVORITE of the Audrey's Dana Barron back as Audrey Griswold. It would have being nice to see the rest of the Griswold's, even for a short time. I do hope though this isn't the last vacation, I still think one more truly good one could be made.
Hairspray (1988)
Truly a classic
This movie is terrific. It oozes John Waters even though it is very toned down compared to his earlier films. I love the storyline because it has to do with very realistic themes that were happening in those times. It's sad to know that this was Divine's last movie but he went all out in it. Obviously, this movie was good enough to have a musical made out of it. Of all the musical type films out there, Hairspray remains one of my favourites.
Desperate Living (1977)
The last of the good old-fashioned Waters
So it didn't match up to Pink Flamingos but in my mind I enjoyed it just as much, if not more, than Female Trouble. I mean it was one of Mink Stole's best work. I listened to the commentary and Waters admitted that at that time in movie making, the fan base was changing and the cult status of movies were beginning to phase out. I believe that Waters made the best of what he could. He knew a change was happening and he overcame it. Desperate Living is one of my personal favourites in the Waters series of films and will remain that way. Edith Massey's portrayal of Queen Carlotta was very humourous, especially the absurd line "Seize her a f**k her". It's outrageous.
Pink Flamingos (1972)
Purely gross, but a good storyline none the less
Other than Serial Mom, Pink Flamingos was my first movie that I saw of John Waters early days. I was blown away. It was like nothing I had ever seen before and from what I've heard, something that no one else had seen before. Waters created a storyline so obscure that it was more or less interesting. Divine's portrayal of Babs Johnson was one of her best, next to Dawn Davenport (her role in Female Trouble). My favourite still lied with the Marbles, especially Connie (played by the fabulous Mink Stole). She was truly meaner and sicker than any of Divine's crew. It was wonderful. I had friends see it and recommended it for drinking parties (since watching it sober isn't as amusing). It remains one of my true favourites from Waters early days.
2 Fast 2 Furious (2003)
It outdid my expectations. The storyline was more developed.
When I first heard that the sequel was coming out, I immediately wondered what cast members would return. I was surprised by Dom not returning but then again that was due to behind the scenes payment negotiations between the production company and Vin Diesel. Anyways, this story focuses on Brian O'Connor and does a good job of that. Where the original did not give alot of character development to O'Connor, this film took the time to explore his past and give him much more development. The storyline was also much more mature and had a higher level of intensity. In the first, we got introduced to the world of street-racing and how it works so now we have moved ahead, we know what it's like and how it's done so it doesn't need to be explained. The car chases were also much improved over the original, credit to the direction. Overall, this movie surpassed my expectations by more than a "quarter mile". Whether or not there will be another one, well, I don't know but if this is an indication of a continuing storyline franchise with Brian O'Connor, I think it could work.
X2 (2003)
What can I say, I loved it.
With the first X-Men being as good, I knew that Bryan Singer would not fail us fans when bringing the characters back to the big screen for X2: X-Men United. I was happy by the little cameos (ie. Colossus, Siryn, Kitty Pryde) and I was happy that Rogue got more character development, especially with Bobby Drake (a.k.a Iceman). The way Pyro has done his expected turn and joined Magneto, I saw it happening and being an X-men fan, I knew Pyro wasn't gonna be good for long. The action was better, all the characters were portrayed much better, even the actors seemed comfortable with their roles and how the character speaks and moves. The fight between Wolverine and Lade Deathstrike was flat out amazing (thank god for those healing powers). I cannot wait for X3. The only thing I hope is that Psylocke is brought in. Oh, and we can't forget Phoenix...