Tucker and Dale vs. Evil - Review

Tucker and Dale vs. Evil is a horror/comedy that lives up to both genre labels, but is more heavy on the comedy than the horror. You're not going to be scared, but you are going to laugh.

The story is as follows: two backwoods country guys (Tucker and Dale) are taking a trip to fix up and renovate a vacation cabin that Tucker has just bought.  While Tucker and Dale are fixing up the cabin, they encounter some stereotypical dimwitted teenagers common to the horror genre.  Quickly, Tucker, Dale, and the teenagers find themselves in a situation wherein the line between who is good and evil is blurry at best.  Tucker and Dale think the teenagers are out to get them and at the same time the teenagers think the same about Tucker and Dale.  There's a kidnapping, people start dying in gruesome, but creative and  hilarious ways.  The movie basically rests on a HUGE misunderstanding due to a lack of communication.  

As I said at the beginning, this movie is classified as a horror/comedy.  However, the only thing about this movie that strikes me as being "horror" is that there is a lot blood, guts, gore, and death.  I suppose that could qualify as horror, but the story that is being told throughout the movie quickly dilutes any elements of "fear" or "scary-factor."  If you wanted to count the fear of dying as consistent with the "fear" representative of the horror genre, then this movie is within its classification.

I recommend this movie primarily because of the story and its hilarity, not necessarily because its scary in any meaningful sense.  There isn't great acting either; however, there are enough characters representing enough personalities that you get a little bit of everything in the way of character development, but don't expect anything deep.  So, if you like exaggerated gore and decent effects that are expected from a horror film and idiocy from characters and if you have an hour and a half to kill one day, then give this movie a shot.

It is currently available on Netflix as of 1/25/2016.   

Resurrecting a comedy classic: Tropic Thunder

Booty sweat, bust-a-nut-bar, Robert Downey Jr. acting in black face, Ben Stiller going full retard, Tom Cruise behaving like a raging hairy (why is he so fucking hairy?) psychopath.  This movie came out in 2008 but, is nonetheless, still hilarious and worth another watch or a first for those who have not seen it.

The plot, without any spoilers, is as follows: five actors, Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr., Jack Black, Jay Baruchel, and Brandon Jackson play the roles of five melodramatic and abysmal actors making a Vietnam war film based on a Vietnam veteran's war experience.  The five actors, after failing to cooperate with their director on scene, are dropped off in the Vietnam jungle and told to follow a map to a location where they will be evacuated from the jungle.  Along their journey, the five man platoon is supposed to encounter simulated wartime explosions, gunfire, and other battle like activities.  However, they are lead off course and Stiller is captured by a gang of Vietnamese drug lords.  The rest are left to fend for themselves in the jungle dealing with Jack Black's character going through heroin withdraw, and Downey Jr.'s character alienating Jackson's character (a black guy by nature) by staying in character as black face, among other things.

This movie is a comedy through and through and not meant to be any kind accurate telling of the Vietnam War or a depiction of true events.  Although there is some blood, guts, and gore, it is related to the shenanigans that these characters find themselves engaged in due to their own dumb-ass antics, not because of any meaningful battles during the Vietnam War.  This is not a Saving Private Ryan or We Were Soldiers type movie so do not come into it thinking it is.

For those of you who have not seen it, I highly recommend this movie if you are not uber-sensitive to people making fun of mentally retarded folks or have low tolerance for race induced humor.  For those of you who have seen it, then I recommend watching it again because, simply put, it's freaking hilarious.  I would almost go as far to say that Robert Downey Jr. should have won an award for his performance because how many other actors can do black face and get away with it without being chastised and publicly ruined for it?

Anyway, let us know what you thought about this movie in the comment section below.

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0942385/?ref_=nv_sr_1

Zombeavers: Yea, I watched it.

So, I finally gave in to Netflix's constant pestering recommendation of Zombeaevers.  The best way I can summarize this movie is to ask the question: what would Jason Voorhees do if he were a beaver?  I do not want to give any spoilers in case anybody reading this wants to give the movie a shot.  I will say that if you have an hour and seventeen minutes or so, you might want to think about trying to watch it.  But seriously, the movie does not seem to be meant for academic or professional criticism.  So, any reviews out there that try and turn this in to an academic enterprise, or apply a lot of fancy vocabulary while staring down their noses critiquing this film are going to come off as awfully pedantic and pompous (yea, kind of like that last sentence sounded).

Zombeavers is a comedy/horror movie, but weighing more heavily on comedy rather than horror.  As mentioned above, you could take any movie from the Friday the 13th franchise formula (expect Jason in space or Jason vs. Freddy) and replace Jason with raging beavers.  A group of females go to a cabin deep in the woods to party, drink, and escape their boyfriends.  A water supply is tainted with toxic sludge and beavers ingest the chemicals becoming zombeavers.  The beavers then begin to terrorize the females and everybody in the small surrounding community.  This is a summary of the plot in a nutshell without giving any spoilers to the "twists" within the plot.

The enjoyment one might receive from watching this film is not from the suspense, intensity, or any passionate love story between characters.  Instead, if you are someone who can stomach some gory scenes, laugh at the ridiculous story, and allow yourself to be entertained by crude and sophomoric humor, then you'll be just fine.  You might even recommend it to somebody else.

Oh and if you do watch it, watch the bloopers and cut scenes at the very end.  You can tell that this movie was fun for the cast to make.  

Tell us what you think in the comment section.

Link to imdb for cover photo and trailer: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2784512/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1