Happy Gilmore 2 - watched this Friday night. If you've seen Happy Gilmore, there aren't going to be a ton of surprises. Lots of flashbacks to the first movie, which lets them get Chubbs and Grandma and even a glimpse of Bob Barker in. Basic plot summary - Happy quits golf (no spoilers), then decides to make a comeback to make the money his daughter needs to go to a ballet school in Paris. A rival golf group, presumably created to build on Happy's popularity, makes him an offer, but he wants to stick with traditional golf. The climax is a showdown between the top traditional golfers and the best of the new group (all of whom have had surgery to sever a hip ligament to allow them to drive the ball further). Quite a few celebrity cameos, especially the golfers. It was fun, but it's a few notches below the original for me.

Never saw the original - but wife and I started to watch it last night on Netflix. After 15 minutes we opted out - just was not very funny (and am a fan of juvi-humor and some other Sandler comedies - hell we ended up laughing our asses of to 'Bad Grampa' as an alternative). Basically stopped after Sandler tries to get girl back over intercom and ends up with an older women. So my question, does it get better? Considering its rep, I would have thought I'd find some of it amusing up to that point. Or is it all about the Barker fight? Should we give it a bit more time?

adam sandler is just not funny

and

i am old, so that is most likely why i feel that way.

I haven’t seen it yet but the world wasn’t waiting for a Happy Gilmore 2. Surprised they made it, kinda like Spinal Tap 2.

I liked most of Sandler's movies for what they are, but Gilmore 2 was just unfunny to me. Dumped it midway through.
Plus comparing the shaky camerawork from this one to the original just highlights my hatred of shaky cam,
but that's a story for another time.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025)

While I liked it more than the other FF films, I can't say Marvel got it completely right. Without giving away spoilers, I can say that I didn't care for the casting of the Silver Surfer and the chance for the Surfer's character development was largely rushed, considering the movie length was under two hours. They did get Galactus right this time. Liked the movie's pacing and the final act.

I realized that I was not clear. We attempted to watch the original Happy Gilmore that left us going meh. Bad Grampa was ridiculously juvenile and Hilarious.

For me, both HG movies suffer when the action is away from the golf course. The scenes where Happy is working in a grocery store in HG2 may have a chuckle or two, but there's nothing particularly memorable about them. And the Ben Stiller character may serve a purpose in the original, but in the second, it's very much a forced inclusion. I'd have much rather they made him a different character. And the ultimate conclusion to his storyline just makes no sense in the larger story. So yeah, IMO, it definitely gets better after that first chunk, and that's true in both movies.

We watched it last night and I did have a lot of laughs, not because of Sandler (he is essentially the straight man) but the myriad of over the top cameos!
You have to really love Golf to dig this one and any movie that has Rory, Scotty Scheffler, Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka doing comedy (they are in a ton of scenes) is alright with me. Even has golf legends like Jack Nicklaus, Freddy Couples and Lee Trevino!!

Bad Bunny does a funny turn as his caddy and the opening golf scenes with Margaret Qualley, Eric Andre and Martin Herlihy (SNL) was funny if you have played golf completely rusty on a bad golf course.

And appearances by John Daly, Steve Buscemi and Travis Kelce.

For me it was a fun diversion.

Kadaicha (1988)

This film is included in the excellent All the Haunts Be Ours: A Compendium of Folk Horror blu-ray box set.

It's Nightmare on Elm Street meets Poltergeist Australian style. Aboriginal magic turns up in the dreams of teens whose houses were built on a sacred burial ground. Liked the movie despite it being predictable and enjoyed the soundtrack, too..

Two flicks from schlock/exploitation director Al Adamson:

Dracula vs. Frankenstein (1971)
Brain of Blood (1971)

So bad they're great! First film stars J. Carrol Nash and Lon Chaney as a mad scientist and his mute henchman. Lon does transform into a murderous maniac but unfortunately, not a werewolf.

I liked the second film better as its storyline (what passed as a storyline) was more cohesive and there were less time-wasted scenes, compared to the other movie.

Those Al Adamson-directed films are...something!

Weapons (2025) . Wow just wow what an entertaining time at the movies yesterday. A sold out show on a Tuesday matinee, that’s rare and shows you the buzz this movie is getting. Starring Julia Garner (Ozarks) and Josh Brolin (No Country For Old Men) it is a solid horror/ comedy (yep that wacky ending) had the audience rolling.

The movie title is a bit misleading as some people might think it’s about kids and school shootings or something but it is more in the supernatural occult vein.

Definitely needs to be seen on the big screen.

Hmmmm. Well, yeah, I'd watch that.

My daughter saw Weapons last night and immediately messaged me that she loved it and wanted to see it again, but preferably at home or in a small independent theater because she wanted to be able to concentrate more on what was happening. She found the big screen and loud volume actually took her out of the movie.

Great day at the movies, my wife and I saw JAWS once again on the big screen for its anniversary and man does it look good remastered. What a movie! I saw it originally at 15 years old and remains one of the best cinema experiences, I even remember seeing it at the UA Quartet in Flushing Queens. Packed audience back then all scared to death, today? 5 people in a big theater but what can you do?

We also saw JAWS today, in 3D + 4DX - a wild ride! I told my daughters movies like Jaws are why I have no patience
for half-assed shaky-cam garbage these days and usually dump movies after 10 minutes.