TheRetroCritic

Released in 1932,  Pack Up Your Troubles was Laurel & Hardy's second feature film and it threw the clueless duo in the middle of WWI as they are sent to fight in the trenches despite them initially trying to dodge the draft. They are quickly found to be incompetent and are sent to work in the kitchens but they eventually redeem themselves by (accidentally, of course) capturing a whole bunch of enemies when they take over a tank and ride it out-of-control over the trenches. When one of their soldier buddies is killed in action, Stan and Ollie have a new mission: take care of his little girl until they can find her grandfather. Most Laurel & Hardy features tend to be just farce but this one has a bit more heart and is therefore more reminiscent of Charlie Chaplin's films like The Kid or City Lights . There's something refreshing about seeing Stan and Ollie actually care about someone else and do everything they can, however clumsily, to see their good deed thro

Laurel & Hardy star in A Chump At Oxford , a feature released in 1940 in which a reliably down-and-out Stan and Ollie go to an employment agency and try out a couple of different jobs before realising that what they really need is an education. They first attempt a butler and maid job with Laurel pretending to be the maid, of course. A shambolic dinner party ensues as they unsurprisingly trash the classy gathering, and they are soon chased out at gunpoint. After unwittingly catching a bank robber who bumps into them when trying to flee while they were working as street sweepers, Stan and Ollie are offered a job by the thankful bank manager but, since they lack a proper education, he enrols them at Oxford University instead and they are promptly off to England. There, they somehow get lost in a garden maze where some undergraduate students play a bunch of pranks on them. This lands everyone in trouble with the Dean but then we discover that Stan is in fact Lord Paddington, an e

Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy star in Sons Of The Desert , a 1933 feature that's often quoted as being one of the legendary duo's best comedies. The plot sees the two friends, who are also next door neighbours, having to announce to their wives that they are planning to go to some convention related to the Freemasons-style organisation they're somehow a part of, whether they are given permission or not. Of course, the ladies aren't impressed and Hardy is promptly forbidden to go. This leads him to fake an illness and get Laurel to hire a doctor (or veterinarian, rather) to prescribe a stress-free holiday to Honolulu so both pals can sneak off to Chicago for the convention and make it back without their wives knowing. Unfortunately, the plan backfires when the boat that was meant to bring them home from Honolulu sinks, much to their spouses' chagrin. Laurel and Hardy are then forced to improvise by hiding out in the attic overnight. While this may not be one of

Here's the video version of my Silver Streak review.

Here's the video version of my Stir Crazy review.

After the success of Silver Streak , Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor were cast as the leads in Stir Crazy , a comedy from 1980 about two friends on a road trip across America who are mistaken for bank robbers and sent to prison after a particularly harsh ruling. We follow Skip (Wilder) and Harry (Pryor) as they enter the Southern prison and try to survive as long as possible behind bars while their lawyer attempts to prove their innocence. Skip is the optimistic writer who believes there is good in everyone and Harry is the realist who just wants to keep his head down. Later on, when the warden is testing prisoners to take part in a rodeo competition, Skip proves himself to be a natural and agrees to ride in the hope of somehow using this opportunity to plan some kind of jail break. There's something almost tragic about seeing these two innocent guys being sent to such an unforgiving place and Sidney Poitier's film does have its dark Cool Hand Luke moments but it's also

Back in 1976, Gene Wilder starred alongside Jill Clayburgh in Silver Streak , an action comedy directed by Arthur Hiller set on a moving train. The film was a box-office success and was significant for being the very first on-screen collaboration between Wilder and Richard Pryor. If you're expecting another Stir Crazy , however, don't because you're setting yourself up for disappointment as Pryor doesn't really enter the picture until about halfway through. The film isn't quite the farce you'd expect considering the always hilarious Wilder/Pryor duo so anyone going back to check this film out might be surprised to find that Silver Streak is, in fact, a surprisingly sophisticated comedy with a Hitchcockian tone. Which is not to say that the film isn't funny, quite the opposite. Gene Wilder is excellent from start to finish nailing both the dramatic, romantic scenes and the goofier moments which begs the question: why no Academy Award nomination? The fil

As far as Western spoofs go, it doesn't get any more classic than Mel Brooks' Blazing Saddles . The film, which follows Cleavon Little's black sheriff as he is sent into a small racist town to defend it from bandits, was a big hit back in the day and it's still seen as one of the greatest comedies of all time. As with many other Mel Brooks comedies, Blazing Saddles could have easily backfired and been dismissed as being in poor taste but the writing (Richard Pryor helped with the script) is so clever and so funny that it somehow completely works as a biting parody of Western clichés and the genre's reluctance to acknowledge the unapologetic racism of the times. The plot is set into motion when Harvey Korman's corrupt State Attorney General Hedley Lamarr decides to drive the people of Rock Ridge out of town in order to lower land prices. He appoints an African American sheriff to shock the inhabitants away but when that doesn't work he tries various oth

Here's the video version of my Pete's Dragon review.

You may not remember this but prankster par-excellence Andy Kaufman once had breakfast with professional wrestler Freddie Blassie and filmed the whole thing turning it into a cult film of sorts. My Breakfast With Blassie opens with Kaufman attending the premiere of the film dressed up like Robert DeNiro in Taxi Driver and you're already in typically bizarre territory. Then we cut to him taking the bus to a cafe where he meets Blassie and they have breakfast. Of course, this being an Andy Kaufman film you can expect the entire thing to be a unique piece of performance art to a certain extent as the breakfast slowly but surely goes awry when Kaufman starts to get into arguments with the women sitting at the next table before hitting on one of them and, ultimately, having one guy throw up all over the breakfast table. The latter character being played by the comedian's right-hand man Bob Zmuda. The idea of Andy Kaufman making a parody of My Dinner With Andre is already f

Directed by Gordon Chan, Fist Of Legend is a loose remake of Fist Of Fury in which Jet Li takes on the role of Chen Zhen, made popular in the 70's by Bruce Lee. Set during the Japanese occupation, we first meet Chen Zhen as a student who learns of his master's death and returns to his old kung-fu school to pay his respects. Soon enough, he starts to suspect foul play and a rival martial arts school causes trouble over and over. Add to that the fact that Zhen's love interest is Japanese so not exactly popular with his peers and you've got yourself a busy little movie with plenty of tension but also plenty of fighting. Li may not be as expressive or charismatic of an actor as Bruce Lee but he knows his kung-fu and the fight scenes are impressive throughout the film. Gordon Chan not only makes them look fantastic but he successfully makes them feel like timeless, iconic set-pieces. The best may very well be the fight between Zhen and Fumio Funakochi (Yasuaki Kurata)

In this review, I debate whether Ghostbusters II is as good as the original classic. Doesn't that sound nice?

Remaker Alan Aalda talks about his remake of the Ghostbusters remake, among other things, in this potential new series. Did you enjoy this video? Would you like this to be a continuing series? And if so, should Alan remake Jumanji or Star Wars: The Force Awakens next?  Please let me know in the comments!

As Disney puts the final touches on its upcoming remake of Pete's Dragon , it's about time I look back at a film I really enjoyed as a kid but did not get the chance to revisit... until now. This is certainly one of Disney's more dated live-action films: it's a pretty stagy Mary Poppins -style musical with an extremely earnest main character and most of the others hamming it up big time. It's also one of the Mouse House's most adorable movies ever and Elliott the dragon (animated by Don Bluth) is quite simply a joy from start to finish and even if the rest of the film is not your cup of tea it's likely you'll still fall in love with this endearing animated creation. I should point out it was ambitious of Disney to mix live-action and animation back in 1977 and, while it doesn't always merge that well, Elliott is so likeable that it doesn't matter how smooth that mix is plus younger viewers won't care, I sure didn't. By essentially

I talk about the original Ghostbusters after checking out the re-release. Boo!

Shot entirely in front of a bluescreen, Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow was one of the few movies in the early 2000's to be ahead of its time in attempting something visually very different. Produced and starring Jude Law, the film was a throwback to the old adventure and sci-fi serials. Sky Captain may have been a flop at the box-office when it was released in 2004 but it received predominantly positive reviews and, looking back, it's not only a hundred times better than Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull , which came out a full four years later, it's a surprisingly good film in its own right. Paying homage to the likes of War Of The Worlds , Buck Rogers and many others, this was clearly made by a fan of old movies for fans of old movies as it's not only packed with clever in-jokes and references but it has that old-fashioned yet timeless quality to it. The reason this movie works and something like The Phantom doesn't is the focus

I review Popeye 2 for the original Game Boy.

An unlikely favourite comic-book movie of mine growing up was Doc Savage: The Man Of Bronze , the 1975 big-screen adaptation of the old Lester Dent pulp magazines. I was later surprised to learn that, not only did the film receive negative reviews and failed at the box-office upon its release but the French dub inexplicably gave Ron Ely a lisp. Don't ask, I don't know... While the film tries to stay true to the character of Doc Savage and his story in the comics, it also keeps a tongue-in-cheek tone throughout, occasionally poking fun at the dated nature the pulp hero. This might have confused audiences back in the day who may have expected a more earnest action film, sort of like how Last Action Hero didn't do well with reviewers who weren't expecting a flood of in-jokes. But although Doc Savage has its cartoonish moments, it's not really a spoof and it captures the spirit of the titular hero and his adventures rather well. Doc Savage is given his own patri

I talk at length about Disney's new version of The Jungle Book .

A selection of my deaths at the hands of the Grim Reaper during my last Castlevania playthrough.