Mr. Saturday Night

    I love stand-up comedy, and sometimes I wish to do stand-up for everyone. It could happen, you'll never know. Anyway, this movie deals with having a career in comedy. Basically, it's a struggling success story. Ladies and gentleman, I present to you Billy Crystal as Mr. Saturday Night. Not only did Billy star in this movie, but he also wrote and directed this movie. Also starring David Paymer in his Oscar nominated role, Julie Warner, Helen Hunt (Mad About You and Twister), Ron Silver, and a small appearance by the late Jerry Lewis.
    This is the story of Buddy Young Jr. (Billy Crystal), a comedian who's been beloved by everyone but is struggling in the middle. Nowadays, he performs for small crowds in nursing homes and everyone thinks that Buddy needs to retire. Buddy, however, disagrees. As he looks for opportunities, Buddy realizes that people have forgotten all about him and his golden years.
    One word: underrated. This movie needs more attention and more praise. I sure loved it for the comedic humor of Billy Crystal and the feels of drama in most of the scenes. One example of a dramatic scene was the death of Buddy's mother, who loved her children very much and supported Buddy and his brother/manager, Stan (David Paymer) throughout their life.
    Oh yeah, Buddy and Stan's relationship as brothers and partners was heartfelt too. Let me elaborate on that: Buddy and Stan have been doing comedy ever since they were kids and they made their family, especially their mom, laugh out loud. But when Buddy decides to go solo on their first big break, I felt bad for Stan for feeling, you know, left out. I mean, he wanted the fame, too. And for the rest of Buddy's career, they had some sort of a struggling relationship. But, without giving it all away, they make up.
    What I also loved about the movie is that the late Jerry Lewis made a brief cameo in the movie. Jerry Lewis is my favorite old time comedian, and he does the kind of comedy you don't see anymore. Nowadays, comedians talk about sex and drugs, and that's not right.

    Parents Guide: This movie is rated R for mostly language. There's no sex stuff in the movie. There's a scene where Buddy and Stan have a non-bloody fist fight on the stairs. There's a lot of smoking in the movie. The F word is constantly used in the movie, too.

Robocop

    The future of law enforcement is here as I review the original Robocop, directed by Paul Verhoeven. Starring Peter Weller (Buckaroo Banzai), Nancy Allen (Carrie), Kurtwood Smith (Red from That '70s Show), and Dan O'Herlihy. This classic sci-fi, crime, action movie is one of the greatest movies of 1987. It spawned a great franchise including two sequels, a cartoon series and a remake in 2014.
    Our story takes place in the futuristic city of Detroit, and it's full of crimes everywhere. A company had recently developed a huge crime fighting robot, which unfortunately had a dangerous "glitch". But the company found a way to turn things around when a cop named Alex Murphy (Peter Weller) got seriously killed by a gang of criminals led by Clarence Boddicker (Kurtwood Smith). Murphy's body was reconstructed and put in a steel machine and is now known as Robocop. Robocop is very successful around the city. But his number one priority is to get revenge on Boddicker for killing him in the first place.
     I think this is one of the greatest crime movies I've ever seen. Robocop is also another movie that deals with dystopian dynasties, like a previous movie I reviewed, Pleasantville. What I like the most about the movie is the concept of it. A robot policeman, knowing every crime going on and everything. The action is amazing too. Bloody, but amazing. This movie might be similar to James Cameron's Terminator movies, I think. Maybe I'm wrong, but you be the judge.

         Parents Guide: This movie is rated R for language and bloody scenes. The scene where Murphy gets killed by Clarence and his gang is very graphic. There's also some drinking and drug use, for example, there's a scene with a man with two woman sniffing cocaine with straws. And also, there is a scene where two men try to rape a woman.
  Did You Know?: The screenplay had been rejected by almost every big director in Hollywood. Kurtwood Smith originally auditioned for the role of Dick Jones. The Robocop suit was the most expensive item on set, costing about $1 million. The special effects were done on a Commodore Amiga computer. The repeated line on the TV, "I'd buy that for a dollar," came from a short story called "The Marching Morons" by Clive M. Kornbluth.

History of the World Part I

   If you think you know your history, think again. Comedy legend Mel Brooks shows his satirical take on history in History of the World Part I. Written, directed and starring Mel Brooks. Also starring Dom DeLuise, Gregory Hines (in his film debut), Carol Burnett's Harvey Korman, Sid Caesar, Madeline Kahn (a Mel Brooks regular) Cloris Leachman, and narrated by film legend Orson Welles (Citizen Kane).
     The movie is told in vignettes starting with the dawn of man. Stories include a controversial musical number about The Spanish Inquisition, a brief parody of Moses and the Ten Commandments, the "truth" about the Roman Empire, and the weirdness of The French Revolution. Now, you may be asking if there's a Part II. Well, there isn't. Although, they show at the end what could be a part two showing some more controversial stuff such as a figure skating Adolf Hitler.
    This parody comedy is like any other Mel Brooks movie, hilarious! I laughed a lot while watching. There were a lot of scenes that Brooks got away with that would've got him in trouble today, for instance the Inquisition song. I love the fact that they break the fourth wall in the movie. (Brooks does that a lot in his movies). I've seen other Mel Brooks movies such as Space Balls, Young Frankenstein, and Blazing Saddles, but I honestly can't decide which one is better.

PARENTS GUIDE: This movie is rated R. There is a LOT of sexual innuendos throughout the movie. There is some comical violence. There is a lot of uses of the F word, and there's a character called "The Piss Boy". So, this movie is mostly aimed for adults. Children wouldn't understand this movie at all.

DID YOU KNOW?: Richard Pryor was originally cast to play Gregory Hines' role of Josephus. Orson Welles agreed to narrate the movie with a price of five thousand dollars per day in exchange for his services.  Josephus claims he's from Ethiopia. When he was asked what part, he answers "125th Street" which is considered to be the Main Street of Harlem. John Cleese turned down to be in the movie.

The most controversial musical number in the history of movies.