The response to Star Wars: The Last Jedi has been to say at the very least, polarizing, with a number of fans declaring one of the best films of the franchise, while many others calling it the worst entry of the entire Skywalker saga.
While the film had some highlights(Poe's call to Hux at the beginning of the film and Rey and Kylo Ren's beatdown of Snoke's guards), I felt the movie was sloppy at times and that Rian Johnson, who also wrote the film, was in way over his head when it came to Episode VIII of the Skywalker saga.
This backlash has lead many Star Wars fans to say that they will never see another Star Wars movie again.
I didn't think the movie was that bad, but they are some things that I think could have been done better.
Here are three possible solutions that I think could have made The Last Jedi a better movie. Make Finn + Rose Go Straight To The First Order Ship
My biggest problem with The Last Jedi was the storyline involving Finn and new character Rose having to go a Las Vegas style planet to find a codebreaker(Bencio Del Toro) in hopes of disabling the tracking device on the First Order ship the Supremacy.
The storyline culminates with Del Toro's character betraying Finn and Rose, making their mission a failure and this storyline almost feel like a complete waste of time.
What Johnson could have done is have Finn and Rose try to go straight to the source, the Supremacy, rather than going to Casino Bight, which is the name of the planet they went to find Del Toro, who is ultimately killed and becomes a rather pointless character in the story, but gives him a nice paycheck outside of his Heineken commercials.
I think this way could have better provided more action and mischief as the pair, along with BB-8, prowl through the ship looking for the tracking device while also giving Captain Phasma, the stormtrooper that Finn put in the trash compact in The Force Awakens, in knowing that Finn was abroad the ship a bigger role as she attempted to seek her revenge on the former stormtrooper rather than have her role reduced to like a minute in the final cut.
Or they could have kept the storyline in the movie but instead of meeting Bencio Del Toro, find Lando Calrissian and bring him up back into the fold to help the Resistance. Give Us A Glimpse of What's Inside the Jedi Books
Another thing Johnson did that seem to aggravate fans was give characters new Force powers like Rey and Kylo Ren being able to communicate to each other even though they were on different planets and Luke being to able to project himself onto another planet without leaving Ahch-To, the planet where Luke imposed himself in self-exile.
I believe what could have helped the audience is have a scene where Rey, who is on Ahch-To trying to bring Luke out of exile and back into the real world while also getting lessons from the Jedi, go to the cave where a collection of Jedi books that Luke is protecting, and reading a snippet from one of these books.
That way maybe we could find out that new powers that Force-sensitive people such as Rey can do without having the audience go "Wait a minute, I didn't you could do that". Killing Off Leia
This one I wrestled with, but hear me out on this one.
Everybody was saddened by Carrie Fisher's untimely death last year which was a huge loss for those who grew up with Star Wars.
We believe that Fisher will not be used in some shape or form(unused footage or CGI)in Episode IX, so it could have made sense for Johnson to go back and have Leia killed when the bridge of her ship explodes early in the film when is hit by Resistance TIE Fighters.
That way it would have tied up the loose end of having to deal with Leia now that Fisher is no longer with us and plus giving the audience a emotional gut in the punch early in the film.
Also, it could have created more tension between Poe, the badass X-wing pilot played by Oscar Isaac, and Vice Admiral Holdo, played by Laura Dean.
And for those who didn't like the way Luke was portrayed in the film, maybe Leia's death would have made Luke feel that he needs to help the Resistance and help train Rey in the ways of the Jedi.
Instead, Johnson decided to keep all of Fisher's scenes in the film which meant we had to see that the ridiculousness of her pulling herself back to the ship using the Force after floating in space for 15 seconds without having her head explode.
But on the other hand, if she had been killed off at that point then we never would have one of the film's best moments, when she and Luke reunited toward the end of the movie.
Anyways, I'm sure many Star Wars fans have other ways they think The Last Jedi could have been better but those are three things that I think the makers could have done to make Episode VIII a better movie.
I just recently saw Justice League and while I found the film to be solid, it could have been better.
It seems my sentiments about the movie are shared with the public and critics as the movie has only a 41% rating from Rotten Tomatoes critics and the film is on pace to be the lowest grossing movie of the DC Extended Universe on a film that had a $300 million budget.
So, what can the folks at DC Films do to get their shared universe back on track?
Here are some suggestions: Break Away From Warner Brothers
After seeing Justice League, I began to read articles about how messed up the production on the film was. I knew about director Zach Snyder stepping down during post-production and being replaced by Joss Whedon, but I also found out that Warner Brothers, the studio through which the DCEU distributes its films, meddled in the production by mandating that the film only be two hours and maintaining its November 17th release so that executives could get bonuses.
Since Whedon was brought in to replace Snyder following the tragic death of Snyder's daughter, the film would have been better off if had to been delayed a few months so that Whedon, who rewrote a lot of the script, could do a better job of balancing out what he wanted and what Snyder wanted in the film.
Plus, the next DCEU film doesn't come out till next December, which is Aquaman.
If I were the head of DC Films, I would try to break away from Warner Brothers and find a new studio to distribute the DCEU or at least demand that WB no longer meddle in what DC is trying to accomplish and let DC be 100% in charge of how they want their universe to look like, much like how Disney does not interfere with what Marvel does with the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Release a Zach Snyder Cut of Justice League
Like I wrote above, Snyder stepped down as director of Justice League back in May following the death of his daughter.
Instead of halting production to let Snyder grief, Warner Brothers brought in Whedon, who allegedly rewrote much of the script to please Warner Brothers.
But since the film's release, there have been rumors going around that there is a version of Justice League that is closer to what Snyder wanted to film to look like before Whedon came in and significantly changed the film to his liking.
Having heard this, DC fans put together a petition on change.org to have Warner Brothers release Zach Snyder's cut of Justice League,(https://www.change.org/p/warner-bros-zack-snyder-s-director-s-and-tom-holkenborg-s-score-for-home-release-e90fef07-11c6-4a9a-9ae8-375c7717dafa).
I signed this petition because I think we need to see what the original vision of Justice League was going to be.
Plus, when Batman v Superman was panned by critics and moviegoers for its incoherent and disjointed storytelling, Warner Brothers released the Ultimate Edition, which was a 3-hour cut(30 minutes longer than the theatrical version) and was seen as a significant improvement of what was released in theaters.
Warner Brothers should allow Snyder to come back and have him complete his version of the film so that DC fans can determine whether or not Snyder or Whedon's vision was best for Justice League. Get a Superman film out ASAP
One of the subplots of Justice League was the resurrection of Superman after his death at the end of Batman v Superman.
Everybody involved in Justice League said we were going to see the "true Superman" and not the angst-ridden, gritty version that had been seen in Man of Steel and Batman v Superman.
We did get to see a glimpse of the Superman that was more hopeful and less cynical following his resurrection in Justice League, but I want to see how Superman goes forward following his return back from the dead.
Plus, Henry Cavill said he is signed on for one more DC movie, so DC would be smart to have Cavill(who I think has done a great job)have his own Superman movie one more time before Cavill can decide to leave the DCEU if he chooses.
The post-credits scene of Justice League could certainly set up a Man of Steel sequel and bring in other villains from the comics that we have not seen Superman fight on film such as Brainaic or Metallo.
Right now, the Man of Steel sequel is still looking for a director and a script, so DC needs to come up with something quick. Explore Wonder Woman's past
Much like everybody else, I think Wonder Womanis the best film to come out of the DCEU, thanks to the great performance by Gal Gadot, the chemistry she had with Chris Pine, and the arc of her character in the movie.
There is going to be a Wonder Woman sequel coming out in November 2019 and my hopes is that the film takes place somewhere between the events of the first movie and Batman v Superman, where is revealed she kind of disappeared after World War I.
The sequel could be about her Diana(that's Wonder Woman's real name in case you didn't know)was up to and why she was under the radar until Batman v Superman. Get the Batman solo movie out
It was clear when Batman was brought in for the DCEU's second movie, Batman v Superman, that DC and Warner Brothers wanted to bring in the Dark Knight into the DC Universe as soon as possible, rather than flesh out the Superman story even more.
After his controversial casting, Ben Affleck has done a very good job as the Caped Crusader, and helped craft the story for a Batman solo film, which could come out in 2019, with Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and War for the Planet of the Apes director Matt Reeves in the director's chair.
Reeves has said that he has a vision of a trilogy involving the Dark Knight and that his version will explore the detective side of Batman, which would be a departure from Christoper Nolan's Dark Knight Trilogy, which saw Batman as more of a fighter for the soul of Gotham City.
Reeves said if all goes well, the film could come out in 2019.
I hope so, because I would like to see how the events of Batman v Superman and Justice League have changed Batman.
Plus, in my opinion, I think Batman has surpassed Superman as the most popular superhero so a Batman movie, if it is good, could bring Wonder Woman like success for the DCEU.
Make Flashpoint
For me, the MVP of Justice League, was the Flash, played by Ezra Miller.
His sense of humor were a highlight of the film and made me want see a Flash movie.
While there is no timetable for when the Flash will get his own movie, it is known that the Flashpoint story arc from the comics will be incorporated in the movie.
For those unfamiliar with the Flashpoint series, where the Flash notices the timeline has been altered and that Bruce Wayne's father is not only alive, but is Batman, while Wonder Woman and Aquaman are at war, and that Superman is held captive for experiments by the US government.
The Flashpoint movie would do two things: First, give Miller his own movie since he was outstanding in Justice League and two, a chance to tweak the DCEU so that DC and Warner Brothers(or whatever studio) can reboot the universe if they like and a chance to recast roles such as Batman, as Affleck is 45 and may have to step aside to bring in an younger actor to play the Dark Knight. Make a true Justice League movie
Despite the fact that Justice League is considered a box office bomb, even though its going to make at least $200 million in the US and is the highest grossing DC film in China, there is said to be a sequel in the works.
My hopes for the sequel is to have a true Justice League movie, meaning not having Superman sit out most of the film and have a major role in the movie.
The fact that Superman was going to be AWOL for most of the movie could be a reason why Justice League is underperforming at the box office.
Also, they need to bring in Green Lantern, because no matter if its Hal Jordan or Jon Stewart, the Green Lantern is a quintessional part of the Justice League.
The movie hinted at a Green Lantern and there is a Green Lantern movie scheduled for 2020, so I hope after that the Green Lantern joins the Justice League.
So, those are my thoughts on what DC Comics should do with their cinematic universe going forward.
Let me know what your think about my ideas or what ideas you might have to improve the DCEU.
Today was a great day for lovers of bad movies as Mystery Science Theater 3000 returned with a new cast and 14 new movies to riff on Netflix.
In my opinion, MST3K is the greatest show in TV history as it made me appreciate bad movies and gave me a chance to riff or crack jokes on any movie possible.
Now this is a movie site and MST3K is a TV show, so how do I write an article about a TV show on a movie blog?
Aha, I have come up with a list of what I think are the 25 worst movies that have ever been riffed on MST3K, before today's reboot.
Some of these movies could fight in the "so bad they're good" category while others are just so painful that you needed Joel Hodgson, Mike Nelson, Tom Servo, and Crow T. Robot's jokes just to get through the film
Anyway, in the words of MST3K, we've got movie sign(I mean let's begin the countdown)
25. Pumaman(1980)
This is a superhero film made in Italy where the superhero is Pumaman, who flies sideways in front of rear-projected shots of London, and leaps around like an idiot really not saving anybody, unlike his mentor, a tall Aztec guy who drops guys out of buildings to their death to see if they can fly to prove they are the Pumaman.
The two hook up to fight the villain played by Donald Pleasance, who uses a collection of paper-machete heads to control people's minds in his goal of taking over the world while prouncing Pumaman "Pyu-ma Man".
Add all this plus an annoying theme song and you have a superhero movie that makes Batman & Robin look like The Dark Knight. I take that back, Pumaman is still better than Batman & Robin. Summary: Pumaman! He flies like a moron!(Crow T. Robot) 24. Pod People(1983)
One year after ET: The Extraterrestrial, Spanish filmmakers decided to make their own version of ET with a lonely boy finding an alien egg that hatches into what looks like a rough draft of ALF, which he names Trumpy.
But instead of the focus being on the boy and the alien, we have two other subplots involving poachers and a singer with his entourage camping in the woods, that are being killed by the alien's brother.
It's like the director tried to combine ET with Friday the 13th, confusing the audience on whether this movie should be kid-friendly or a horror movie.
Plus, its opening credits are from another movie(The Galaxy Invader which was riffed by the guys at Rifftrax back in 2011) Summary: It stinks!(After the singer finishes recording Idiot Control) 23. The Skydivers(1963)
MST3K introduced us to director Coleman Francis, who gives Ed Wood a run for his money as the worst director of all time, and shows all three of his films, starting with The Skydivers which is his best film which isn't saying much.
The movie is supposed to be about a couple running a skydiving facility, which Francis emphasizes in great detail with half the movie being stock footage of people skydiving.
There is choppy editing, jarring close-ups, obvious evidence of a wig on the main female character, a pointless dance scene, and obsession with coffee.
And like I said, this is Francis' best movie. Summary: Seems like they forget to have things happen in this movie(Mike Nelson) 22. Werewolf(1996)
When your movie is made during the time MST3K is on the air(1988-1999) and gets riffed while the show is still on the air, you know its bad.
This 1996 "classic" is about a werewolf skeleton that turns people into werewolves if they come into contact with them.
But the movie distracts you from the plot with Yuri, one of the scientists who digs up the skeleton, having his hair change in almost every scene and Natalie, one of the other scientists played by an obvious European actress who cannot perfect her American accent and to makes matters worse is more wooden than a piece of wood with her acting.
This was the latest movie to be riffed on MST3K until... Summary: That was the sound of the director giving up and leaving(Crow T. Robot) 21. Future War(1997)
Another sign your film is destined to be riffed on MST3K? When its not released in theaters and goes direct to video like Future War, the latest movie ever to be riffed on MST3K as it was released on video in 1997.
Why did this movie go direct-to-video? Well, for starters, the plot which involves a runaway slave, who was captured by cyborgs from the future during Earth's past while they also captured dinosaurs to use as trackers, yet somehow they end up in the present.
The runaway, who is played by "Jean Claude Van Darn" as Mike says during the opening credits, doesn't speak English for half of the film, but then suddenly can speak English thanks to reading the Bible.
The runaway with his new nun friend and others, who all wear flannel because it was the '90s, try to destroy the dinosaurs, almost always in front of a bunch of cardboard boxes.
The film ends with a ridiculous fight scene between the runaway and one of the future cyborgs where the cuts keep appearing and disappearing on the runaway's chest which ends when the cyborg decides to blow himself up for no reason. Summary: My theory is that the director shot the entire movie without looking at it(Crow T. Robot) 20. Santa Claus Conquers The Martians(1964)
Just by the title alone, you know this is a crappy movie, though it is a misnomer as Santa Claus doesn't really conquer the martians.
What happens is martians kidnap Santa Claus, so they can bring him to Mars for their children.
During the course of the movie, we see bear and robot costumes(or custumes as the opening titles read custume designer)that look only believable for a elementary school play and the martian Droppo, who gives Jar Jar Binks a run for his money as the most annoying character in film history.
Plus, we get stock footage of military planes taking off but no footage of the spaceships landing as we get the martians saying "We've landed" to tell the audience that they have landed.
You think this would be the worst Christmas movie MST3K riffed until... Summary: Kids, this is Hell(Tom Servo) 19. Santa Claus(1959)
This "holiday classic" made in Mexico, which depicts Santa Claus as a bit of creep as the toys that he delivers to the children all around the world are built by child slaves from numerous countries around the world in a factory while Santa plays the organ.
Santa also uses such surveillance equipment such as the Teletalker, which is a giant set of lips, and The Master Eye, which is a telescope with a giant green eye at the end of it that Santa uses to spy on the children of the world.
Ultimately, Santa with his sleigh of reindeer, which aren't real but are mechanical toys that come to life, goes to Earth to stop the evil plan of Pinch, the Devil who stalks fear into the viewers with his frock ling around, who is trying convince to the children to reject Santa, but ultimately fails thanks to Saint Nick's magical devices of a key that can open any door in the world, a flower that makes him invisible, and a powder, which makes you fall asleep.
If I had know all this about Santa as a kid, I wouldn't have asked for anything for Christmas. Summary: What's happening?!(Mike Nelson) 18. The Dead Talk Back(filmed in 1957, released in 1993)
There are many reasons why this movie sat for 36 years on the shelf before being released to the public.
First, we start off with a scene of two people making out in a car with the woods that has nothing to do with the story.
Second, we get a spoiler alert about how the hot blond girl is going to die thanks to the film's narrator who doesn't identify himself as a cop until several minutes into his narration.
Then, the police turn to a scientist who claims he can talk to the dead with a special radio that features a razor blade attached to a speaker inside a wineglass.
Of course, no one hears anything leading Servo to yell "That's because it's a razor blade in the glass".
And finally, the murder of the hot blond girl is solved with a ruse that her spirit has come back to convince her killer into confessing without actually talking to the dead. Summary: They never talked to the dead(Crow T. Robot) 17. Deathstalker and the Warriors From Hell(1988)
It's hard to believe that they had made two Deathstalker movies before this one and its even harder to believe that they made another Deathstalker movie after this debacle.
This is a sword and sorcery film in which our hero, Deathstalker who drops his English accent after his first scene of the movie, trying to find three stones which is supposed to reveal a magical city I think while protecting the twin of a dead princess for some reason.
The plot gets lost in all the choppy editing, bad fight choreography, and the main villain whose pauses in the movie make William Shatner look like Laurence Oliver Summary: This is one of the most ambitiously bad movies we have ever done.(Mike Nelson) 16. Lost Continent(1951)
Two words can describe this movie: Rock climbing.
The movie is supposed to be about a rescue mission, led by Cesar Romero(who played the Joker on the TV series Batman)and Hugh Beaumont(who was the dad on Leave It To Beaver) of an atomic rocket in the South Pacific, when they crash on an uncharted island.
After spending 20 minutes setting up all this up, the next 20 minutes shows the crew climbing the rock on the island. 20 minutes of rock climbing!
That leaves little time for the crew to deal with the dinosaurs on the top of the rock while trying to find the rocket, because they had to spend 20 minutes of the film showing them climb the rock! Summary: Rock-climbing movies didn't have this much rock climbing in them(Tom Servo) 15. Attack of the The Eye Creatures(1965)
You're reading that right, Attack of the The Eye Creatures, which is one of the many alien invasion movies that Hollywood has made over the years.
However, the eye creatures really don't strike much terror as they arrive in a UFO that resembles a domed yo-yo and have zippers on the back of their costumes while one of the creatures wears sneakers in a small town that constantly changes from day to night.
Perhaps scarier than the eye creatures are two military men who use the military surveillance equipment to watch teenagers make out in the woods. Summary: This movie makes Mannequin 2 look like a masterpiece(Crow T. Robot) 14. Eegah(1962)
You might want to take a shower like Servo and Crow did after watching this movie.
Richard Kiel, the man who played Jaws in the James Bond movies The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker, plays a caveman who is obsessed with a young girl named Roxy after an late-night encounter with her on the highway.
After her father goes missing after looking for the caveman in the desert(probably because he didn't watch out for snakes), Roxy and her whiny boyfriend, who sings to her in a song by the pool but calls her "Vicky" go out looking for Roxy's dad in a dune-buggy ride through the desert where Roxy goes "Whee" even though her dad is missing.
Eventually, Roxy finds her father in a cave kidnapped by the caveman, where she is encouraged by her father to have sex with the caveman but ends up shaving his beard, where Eegah ends up licking the shaving cream with his tongue.
Eventually, they escape the clutches of Eegah, who later returns at a pool party, where he is of course shot and killed, because he is a misunderstood caveman, though the viewers had wished it had been Roxy's father or her boyfriend that had been killed, instead of the caveman. Summary: I'm being punished for something, I know it. What could have I done? I didn't ask to see this movie!(Tom Servo) 13. The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living And Become Mixed Up Zombies(1964)
Billed as the first "monster musical", this film tries to tell the story of a man who is visiting a carnival getting hypnotized by a fortune teller turning him into a killer, but keeps getting interrupted by numerous musical numbers that have nothing to do with the plot.
Plus, we do not see the "zombies" until the last 10 minutes of the film and it turns out there are three of them that have been locked away in the fortune teller's closet the entire film.
Perhaps if the filmmakers had stuck to making a monster movie rather than making a monster movie and a musical in one film, the results could have been slightly better, as the film's budget was only $38,000. Summary: Camera pulls out as if to say, sorry about that everyone, it's my fault(Mike Nelson) 12. Hobgoblins(1988)
I would get tested for a STD after watching this ripoff of Gremlins.
The hobgoblins(all four of them)are alien creatures, that are really hand puppets, that can bring your fantasies to life
But it seems that most of the characters' fantasies involve sex as the hobgoblins bring one man's fantasy to life of going on a date with a phone sex operator while a woman gets to life out her fantasy as a stripper.
Then there is the guy who has come home from the Army and his girlfriend, who all they want to do is have sex in his van.
Plus, there is an infamous two-minute fight scene between the Army guy and our hero, a whiny security guard, involving garden tools and the great "Kiss Kicker" song before the girl's striptease scene. Summary: Can we have a law that in the future, films have to be made by filmmakers(Crow T. Robot) 11. The Creeping Terror(1964)
OK, if TISCWSLABMUZ(the movie at #13) had only a budget of $38, 000 , the budget for The Creeping Terror must have been much smaller
This movie is about a slug-like monster, which is really a shaggy carpet with people underneath it to make it move, eating people in a small town where we do not get to here the people speak much because allegedly the soundtracks were lost so the film's dialogue is mostly just a man narrating the events to the audience.
But the movie has a 5-minute dance scene of girls in tight pants dancing around, so it has that going for it. Summary: Well, it is creeping, you gotta give it that(Tom Servo) 10. The Castle of Fu Manchu(1969)
This is one of the rare films that actually made the crew on the Satellite of Love actually break down into almost madness.
The film is supposed to be about a Chinese supervillian, played by British actor Christopher Lee, whose diabolical plot is to freeze all the oceans in the world.
Other than that, I cannot really explain anything else in this movie as anyone who watches this turd will have no idea what is going on. Summary: I wish this movie was conscious and coherent!(Tom Servo) 9. Invasion of the Neptune Men(1961)
This Japanese alien invasion movie has Sonny Chiba, the famous martial arts star, as Space Chief, a superhero who tries to save the world from alien invaders from the planet Neptune that have record players for helmets.
But by day, Space Chief is an astronomer named Shinichi Tachibana, who help develops an energy shield to help stop the Neptune Man called the "Roji-Panty Complex".
"The Roji-Party Complex" works only temporally as the Neptune Men break through the complex resulting in a nearly 20-minute battle scene that is filled with stock footage that inexplicably includes the blowing up of a building that has a Adolf Hitler billboard on it.
It makes Prince of Space, a similar film which Mike & the Bots riffed earlier, look like Star Wars. Summary: Take this stupid little cockroach of a film, roll up so tight, and then ram it right up your-(Tom Servo) 8. Space Mutiny(1988)
This is the film with "Blast Hard Cheese" no wait "Slab Bulk Head" or is it "Big McLarge Huge"?No, its David Ryder, the beefy hero who wears a wife beater throughout the film, trying to stop a mutiny on the spaceship Southern Sun, while wooing the daughter of the ship's commander, played by Cameron Mithcell who sports a Santa Claus beard for the movie.
While is supposed to be a action-packed sci-fi movie, all you do is laugh at the absurdity that is going on with the overacting of the film's hero and main villain, Calgon, who looks like former NBA head coach Pat Riley, as well as the commander's daughter, Leah, who looks like she maybe only five years younger than her dad.
Then there is the death of a female officer who magically reappears a few minutes later when the movie goes back to the bridge and the Balarians, a bunch of female aerobic instructors who do nothing but gyrate throughout the film.
And then there is the film's climatic chase which takes place in the basement with the vehicles looking the floor polishers at a bowling alley.
All of this plus the fact that they used stock footage from the original Battlestar Galactica makes Space Mutiny one of the funniest movies ever made, though it was not intended to be a a comedy. Summary: A severely impaired box turtle with a very busy schedule, just give him a camera for a day, he'd come up with something better than this(Crow T. Robot) 7. Red Zone Cuba(1966)
The second movie of the Coleman Francis trilogy(though this was the last movie he directed) starts with B-movie icon John Carradine talking to a reporter, then singing the movie's theme song "Night Train to Mundo Fine" and never appearing again in the movie.
The rest of the movie has a trio of convicts joining the US military so they could paid during the "Bay of Pigs" invasion, which apparently failed because we only sent about 10 soldiers to Cuba, according to Francis.
Then after our three "heroes" are captured by the Cubans, they escape back to the US where they go on a crime spree, which includes dropping the father of a frog legs restaurant into a well and raping his blind daughter on their quest to find treasure in a tungsten mine. Summary: I want hurt this movie, but I could never hurt it the way it hurt me(Crow T. Robot) 6. The Wild World of Batwoman (1966)
Trying to capitalize on the popularity of the Batman TV series, director Jerry Warren made this piece of crap that left Servo yelling "End!" at the end of the movie.
The movie's "plot" involves Batwoman trying to stop her arch nemesis, Rat Fink, from selling an atomic-powered hearing aid.
But the hearing aid gets lost in all the madness that ensues which includes several scenes of scantily clad women dancing(who were allegedly strippers that were offered parts in the film to avoid going to jail after a raid shut down their strip club), a seance where Batwoman tries to communicate with a spirit to help her find the hearing aid, only to be constantly interrupted by a Chinese-speaking spirit, and then when Batwoman enters Rat Fink's secret cave, she encounters monsters from the movie The Mole People(which MST3K would riff a few years later).
After all this, you can understand why Servo was yelling for the movie to end. Summary: Yes, the devil made this movie for you(Mike Nelson) 5. The Starfighters(1964)
To call The Starfighters a movie is an understatement, as it is more of an infomercial for the United States Air Force.
The film features long sequences of planes refueling in mid-air, mock bombing runs, and demonstrations of how pilots should use their "poopie suit", which are I learned from Wikipedia are suits used to contain body heat while in water and not suits used for bowel movements.
The film's "story" which consists of maybe 10% of the film, involves one of the pilots falling in love with a waitress while "arguing" with his father on whether or not he should fly fighter planes(the Dad wants his son to fly heavy bombers).
There is no beginning, middle, end as you like I said you feel you've just wathced a promotional film for the Air Force and not an actual movie. Summary: I really think there is more nothing in this movie than in any movie we have seen(Mike Nelson) 4. Cave Dwellers(1984)
Of all the films that are "So bad its good", Cave Dwellers takes the top prize as the #1 movie in that category.
In this movie, which is a ripoff of Conan the Barbarian, has our hero, Ator along with his trusted sidekick, Thong(that's right Thong) protecting the Geometric Nucleus, which according to its creator "Is everything and nothing".
Even though the film is set in medieval times, it seems that many modern innovations have already happened according to this film with handrails around the castles as well as a hang glider that Ator uses toward the end of the film plus grenades.
But who are the Cave Dwellers? Well, there are two sets of creatures with one being invisible monsters that if you put your cape over them, stops them immediately and the other, being cannibalistic cave men that eat human hearts, making the heart-pulling scene in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom seem tame.
However, the cave dwellers are only in the movie for about five minutes as Ator saves the day after fighting a huge puppet snake that growls and then using his hang glider to make sure the Geometric Nucleus does not fall into the wrong hands. Summary: Folks, we have snakes growling(Tom Servo) 3. Monster A Go-Go(1965)
Sometimes when a film is abandoned in the middle of it being made, maybe you shouldn't go back and try to finish the film. After director Bill Rebane ran out of money while making this film in 1961, he abandoned the project, only to be picked up a few years later by Herschell Gordon Lewis. The result: a complete and utter mess as characters come in an out of the movie without explanation, as some of the actors who participated in the '61 production, did not return when Lewis took over, in a movie about an astronaut who comes back to Earth and becomes infected by radiation, turning him into a killing machine. But when it appears the monster is going to be caught, he disappears and it is revealed that the astronaut who was thought to be the monster, is actually alive and well, just to give anybody who was still watching this piece of crap the finger just for watching it. Summary: This is gonna suck(Crow T. Robot) 2. The Beast of Yucca Flats(1961)
This is the last movie directed by Coleman Francis that MST3K riffed, and it is by far his worst.
The movie starts out with a girl getting out of a shower and then being strangled to death, but we're not exactly sure how this ties into the movie which is supposed to be about a Soviet scientist who survives a nuclear explosion to be become the "Beast of Yucca Flats".
The rest of the movie is the "beast" killing people while the narrator, which is Francis, saying random sentences like "Flag on the moon, how did it get there?", "Touch a button, things happen", and "Nothing bothers some people, not even flying saucers".
Yet, this was actually Francis' first film, so its amazing to anybody that he made two more movies after this atrocity. Summary: This movie stops at nothing and stays there(Tom Servo) 1. Manos: The Hands of Fate(1966)
When your movie is ranked #5 on the Internet Movie Database's bottom 100 movies and when the gang behind making MST3K says the movie is the worst movie they ever showed, then it has to be the #1 movie on this list.
The first 10 minutes of Manos make you think you're watching some family's vacation film as the movie begins with a family that is on vacation getting lost as we get to see almost every minute of their plight until they stop at an nearly abandoned hotel where they meet Torgo, a satyr-like creature who takes care of the hotel while "The Master is away".
And who is the Master? A leader of some-type cult that worships "Manos" whoever that is.
But is the sheer incompetence of the filmmakers and actors that make Manos the worst movie ever riffed on MST3K, with numerous uncomfortable moments of silence, the actors repeating their lines just seconds after saying them, a subplot involve a teenage couple making out in a car that has nothing to do with the plot, a endless fight scene between the Master's wives, and another long driving sequence toward the end of the movie.
No wonder Dr. Forrester and TV's Frank apologized to Joel and the 'Bots for showing this movie. Summary: Crew? They had a crew? I do not believe they had a crew(Crow T. Robot)
I was trying to think of an article with the Oscars coming up, but I really had a hard time thinking of you because I have not seen any of the movies nominated and have no interest in watching it.
But then I started thinking about some of the categories and came upon the "Best Original Score" which is awarded to the individual who composed the best score for a movie.
That got to me thinking about the best scores in movie history and the men who composed them, which lead them to this list: The 10 Best Film Composers in History(in my opinion) 10. Vangelis
Though his film composing history is limited, the Greek composer did live his mark on cinematic movie scores.
First, there was his iconic theme to the 1981 Best Picture winner Chariots of Fire, which helped won the Oscar for best original score and was the #1 song on the Billboard charts in May of 1982.
Then, there was his score to the 1982 movie Blade Runner, where his synthesizers combined with pianos and saxophones helped make set the dark tone of the movie and help make it one of the great sci-fi films of all time. 9. John Barry
Barry won Oscars for his scores in 1966's Born Free and 1968's The Lion in Winter, then earned nominations for his musical compositions in Out of Africa and Dances With Wolves, plus wrote the score for the 1981 erotic thriller Body Heat.
But Barry is best known for his work with the James Bond franchise as he composed the score for the first seven films of the series and 12 overall with his last being 1987's The Living Daylights, plus collaborating with Monty Norman on the iconic "James Bond Theme".
8. James Horner
Horner might be best known for his work with James Cameron as he composed the score for three Cameron movies: Aliens, Avatar, and Titanic, which he won the Oscar for.
But Horner also wrote memorable scores to the movies Apollo 13, Braveheart, Field of Dreams, and Glory, which's end theme was used in the trailer for Backdraft, leading me to believe that it was going to be in Backdraft, not knowing it had actually be used before in Glory.
But before all that, Horner composed the score for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, which in my opinion are the best scores out of the Star Trek movies. 7. Hans Zimmer
Zimmer's career began to take off in the late 80s when he composed the scores for back-to-back Best Picture winners Rain Man and Driving Miss Daisy.
Following his Oscar win for The Lion King, Zimmer's work crossed over into summer blockbusters such as Crimson Tide, The Rock, Gladiator, and the Pirates of the Caribbean films(he did not receive credit for the Curse of the Black Pearl, which had the best score out of all the Pirates films).
But his collaboration with fellow composer James Newton Howard on the score for The Dark Knight Trilogy and Man of Steel is what landed him a spot on this list.
6. Henry Mancini
Andy Williams owes a big part of his success to Mancini as he helped compose the song "Moon River" which was part of his musical score in 1961's Breakfast at Tiffany's, which would go on to be Williams' theme song and then had Williams sing the theme to Days of Wine and Roses, which would go on to win Best Original Song at the 1963 Oscars.
Still, Mancini did all right for himself without Williams as his "Love Theme" from the 1968 version of Romeo & Juliet hit #1 on the Billboard charts and wrote the iconic the "Pink Panther" theme from the 1963 movie.
5. Elmer Bernstein
Bernstein made a name for himself in the 1960s by composing the classic themes to The Magnificent Seven and The Great Escape as well as composing the music for To Kill A Mockingbird.
That would have been enough for a career until Bernstein experienced a renaissance when he wrote the score for the comedy National Lampoon's AnimalHouse, which began a string of comedies in which Bernstein would provide the score for(Airplane!, The Blues Brothers, Trading Places, and Ghostbusters).
Bernstein was nominated 10 times for Best Original Score, winning once for 1967's Thoroughly Modern Millie. 4. Bernard Herrmann
When your first movie score is Citizen Kane which many film critics consider the greatest movie of all time, and your last movie score is the 1976 classic Taxi Driver, I guess that would constitute as a pretty good career for a film composer.
But it was Herrmann's collaboration with film director Alfred Hitchcock, that made him one of the all-time great composers as he composed the score for seven of Hitchcock's films including Vertigo, Psycho, and North By Northwest(my personal favorite).
Although he was nominated only five times for an Oscar and won only once, The Devil and Miss Daniel Webster in 1941(the same year he was nominated for Citizen Kane), Herrmann made his mark on cinematic movie score history. 3. Max Steiner
To tell you the truth, I had never had of Max Steiner until I started do research for this article.
But when he saw the films he wrote the music for, I had to include him on the list.
Steiner was the John Williams of his day, which was the 1930s and 40s. as he wrote the score for some of the most famous of that era: King Kong(the 1933 version), Gone With the Wind and Casablanca.
Out of 24 nominations for Best Original Score, Steiner won three times(The Informer, Now, Voyager, and Since You Went Away).
While Steiner peaked in the 30s and 40s, he did come up with the memorable theme to A Summer Place, which was the number #1 song for nine consecutive weeks in 1960.
2. Jerry Goldsmith
Goldsmith was nominated 18 times for Best Original Score, winning once for his work in the 1976 horror classic The Omen, and composed the memorable theme to Patton as well as writing the scores for two of the greatest sports movies of all time, Hoosiers and Rudy.
Goldsmith also wrote the scores for classics such as the original Planet of the Apes, Chinatown, Poltergeist, and Alien to go along with other great scores such as the first three movies of the Rambo franchise and Air Force One.
But Goldsmith's most iconic piece of music is the theme to Star Trek: The Motion Picture, which would be later used as the theme to the TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation.
1. John Williams
Who else do you think would be #1? I mean, you're talking about the man who has come up with some of the most iconic music in movie history: the Jaws theme, composing the soundtrack to the Star Wars Saga, the Raiders march in Raiders of the Lost Ark which become Indiana Jones' theme, as well as the theme to the original Superman movie.
Plus, Williams was responsible for the score on ET: The Extra-Terrestrial, Jurassic Park, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Schindler's List, and the Harry Potter series.
With a record 45 nominations for Best Original Score(five wins) and three of the American Film Institute(AFI)'s top 25 film scores of all time, including number #1 for Star Wars, it is easy to see why Williams is the greatest film composer of all time.
Plus, I can't imagine a world with the Imperial March(Darth Vader's theme);
The other day I wrote an article about what are I thought were the 15 best "threequels" or third installments of a movie franchise of all time were(To view it, click here http://rantingaboutmovies.blogspot.com/2017/02/15-best-threequels.html).
After writing that article, I started to think what are the best "fourquels" or fourth installments of a movie franchise.
So, I've decided to do another list, this one consisting of what I think are the 10 best fourquels in movie history.
10. Thunderball(1965)
When adjusted for inflation, Thunderball is actually the highest grossing James Bond movie of all time.
Anyway, Sean Connery's fourth outing as agent 007 includes a number of memorable moments from the franchise including the climatic underwater harpoon battle scene, Bond killing a would-be assassin with a harpoon, then quipping "I think he got the point" and the famous jet-pack escape in the film's prologue.
9. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire(2005)
The Harry Potter franchise continued its path toward a darker, more serious tone as this was the first movie in the franchise that earned a PG-13 rating .
The film does a good job of telling the audience that Harry, Ron, and Hermoine are no longer children as they deal with romance as Harry and Ron are jealous that their crushes do not attend with them to a dance known as the Yule Ball and have to face death as a friend of Harry, Cedric Diggory, played by a pre-Twilight Robert Pattinson, is killed during the movie.
Plus, we finally get to see a glimpse of Harry's arch-nemesis: Lord Voldemort. 8. Jurassic World(2015)
22 years after Jurassic Park, we finally get to see what a functioning dinosaur theme park looks like in Jurassic World.
Of course, the park comes into danger when their new creation, the Indominus Rex, escapes and creates chaos throughout the park, forcing Chris Pratt to save the day.
While the film might not have much of a story, it is still good popcorn entertainment thanks to Pratt's performance as well as the action sequences including the climatic battle between the Indominus, a T-Rex, and some velcioraptors.
Plus, Bryce Dallas Howard pulls off an impressive feat as she is able to run around with high heels on.
7. Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol(2011)
One of the issues that film critics and some fans of the first three Mission Impossible movies was that it was focused too much on Tom Cruise and not the team, unlike the old TV show(For you kids out there, Mission: Impossible was a TV series that ran from 1966-1973 on CBS
However, in Ghost Protocol, the other members of Cruise's team get to shine as the IMF is disavowed after being framed for an attack on the Kremlin in Moscow.
This forces Cruise's Ethan Hunt to rely on only three other agents: Benji Dunn, the film's comic relief done very well by Simon Pegg, Jane Carter, played by the very sexy Paula Patton(why did Robin Thicke cheat on her?) and the mysterious analyst William Brandt, played by Jeremy Renner.
The film also features a spectacular stunt in which Hunt has to climb the outside of the Burj Khalifa tower in Dubai, which Cruise performed without a stunt double. 6. Live Free or Die Hard(2007)
12 years after his last adventure in Die Hard with a Vengeance, Bruce Willis' John McClane returns to save the United States from cyber-terrorists who have hacked into the federal government to create chaos throughout America.
The film has incredible action, including the tunnel scene which ends with McClane driving a car off a toll booth and into the air to explode a helicopter because he was out of bullets, another great sidekick in computer hacker Matt Farrell, played by Justin Long, and the theme that being a hero isn't all that is cracked up to be as McClane is divorced and tries to repair the relationship with his estranged daughter, Lucy (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) who uses the name "Generro" like her mother did in the first Die Hard. 5. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home(1986)
Some fans might be turned off by the film's environmental message to save the whales, but the fourth entry of the Star Trek franchise is one of the best because of the comedy that ensues as the crew of the Enterprise are like a fish out of water(sorry about the pun) in 1986 San Francisco resulting in numerous funny moments including Chekov's search for the nuclear "wessels", Kirk and Spock being rejected by a bus because they did not know what the driver meant by exact change, and Scotty using a mouse as a device to talk to the computer. 4. Rocky IV(1985)
This is the Rocky movie where Rocky(Sylvester Stallone) goes to Russia to avenge the death of Apollo Creed(Carl Weathers) at the hands of Ivan Drago(Dolph Lundgren).
Having a hard act to follow in Rocky III's Clubber Lang(Mr. T), Lundgren does a good job of potraying the cold, heartless Soviet boxer with classic lines like "If he dies, he dies" when he knocks out Creed and of course telling Rocky "I must break you" before their fight.
While critics panned the movie, Rocky IV became the highest-grossing film of the franchise and was the highest grossing sports film of all time until The Blind Side in 2009. 3. Toy Story 4(2019)
When Woody, Buzz and the rest of the toys were donated from Andy to a little girl named Bonnie at the end of Toy Story 3, many thought that was the end of the Toy Story franchise.
But Pixar was able to come up with another fantastic entry in this magical franchise that gave fans once again the laughter and emotion that comes with every Toy Story.
In this installment, Woody(Tom Hanks) has been regulated to the closet of his new owner, Bonnie, but yet spends the film trying to make her happy when her toy that she made named Forky runs away and Woody attempts to bring him home because he doesn't want Bonnie to be upset.
Along the way, he meets with an old friend in Bo Peep(Annie Potts), that had been given up years before by Andy's sister, and finds a new purpose in his life: to search for lost toys and find them a owner who will love them. 2. Mad Max: Fury Road(2015)
It's not just the fact that this movie earned 10 Academy Award nominations including Best Picture and Best Director for George Miller and that is has a rating of 97% by critics(86% by fans) on Rotten Tomatoes, but the fact that the Mad Max franchise could succeed without Mel Gibson and that an action movie can be made without an overdose of CGI.
Director George Miller says that 80% of the effects were not CGI in creating his masterpiece in which Mad Max, now played by Tom Hardy, helps Imperator Furiosa(Charlize Theron)and the five wives of Immortan Joe escape in an armored truck known as the "War Rig".
Essentially, the whole movie is one long chase, but it works and helps us all get beyond Thunderdome. 1. Avengers: Endgame(2019)
While it is the 22nd film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, this is the 4th Marvel movie under The Avengers moniker and considered by many Marvel fans as the best movie out of the entire 22-movie saga.
Following the events of Infinity War where Thanos wiped out half of the universe, the remaining Avengers(Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Hulk, Hawkeye, Black Widow, Ant-Man, War Machine, Nebula, and Rocket Racoon)go back in time to collect the Infinity Stones that Thanos used in the previous film to reverse the damage he did and bring the other half of the universe back to life.
The movie features some surprise cameos from characters from previous movies such as Tilda Swinton's The Ancient One from Doctor Strange and Rene Russo, who played Frigga, Thor's mother in the first two Thor movies.
The movie also features some of the most memorable moments in comic book film history such as Captain America wielding Thor's hammer, the return of the heroes who turned into dust in Infinity War just in time for the final battle and Iron Man's "I am Iron Man" line.
While there will be more Marvel movies, Endgame provides an satisfying conclusion for some major characters while setting up more fun in the future for the MCU.
